Football: The strongest post-zero generation

Brazil's 2:0 victory over Mexico in ninety minutes can be said to be an expected result, and naturally it will not cause much sensation, unless Mexico defeats Brazil 2:0 in an upset, but the possibility of this theory has not appeared.

Since Brazil, which advanced to the quarter-finals, faced England in the quarter-finals, the sports media around the world went crazy.

England and Brazil have faced each other for 26 times in history, with England at an absolute disadvantage with 5 wins, 10 draws and 11 losses. They met four times in the World Cup, with one draw and three losses, and no victory.

The first time the two teams met at the World Cup was in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. The two sides drew 0:0 in the group stage. The second meeting was four years later in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Chile. With Garrincha's outstanding performance, Brazil won 3 :1 beat England.

The third confrontation was the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, which was the first World Cup in history to be broadcast live globally. Brazil defeated England 1:0 with Jair Guinho's only goal in the game.

The most recent confrontation was the World Cup between Korea and Japan 16 years ago. It was still the quarter-finals. Ronaldinho's stunning free kick tricked England's legendary goalkeeper Seaman, helping Brazil reverse England and advance to the semi-finals of the World Cup between Korea and Japan. , and finally won the championship.

The most recent confrontation was in a warm-up match in November last year. England defeated Brazil 2-0 at the New Wembley Stadium with Li Qing's two goals.

Although Brazil has the absolute upper hand in the historical confrontation with England, these data can only represent that Brazil was too strong in the past and cannot prove that Brazil can still defeat England in the future quarter-finals.

The most important thing is that England is not what it used to be. As Li Qing's overall strength gradually improves, it gives people a feeling of invincibility. Now England has surpassed Brazil and become the biggest favorite after France. .

The Brazilian media certainly knows that England is now strong, but they can fully exploit their strengths and avoid their weaknesses and use fishing boats to put pressure on England, which will lead to England's poor performance in the quarter-finals and contribute to Brazil's advancement to the World Cup semi-finals.

England and Brazil have met in the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the first time in sixteen years. They have lost all three quarter-finals in the past. The English media and fans, as well as the Chinese media and fans, do not believe that Brazil will win again. Therefore, the media and fans of both sides are There is such fierce competition on the Internet that the other 1/8 finals starting at nine o'clock lacked enough attention.

In other words, the 1/8 finals between Belgium and the Sun Country were clearly strong and weak and lacked anything to watch.

But what about reality?

The Kingdom of the Sun burst out with amazing energy and almost overturned the European Red Devils Belgium, one of the favorites to win the championship.

In the first half, neither side made any achievements, but in the second half, an unexpected result occurred. Shibasaki Yue counterattacked and sent a direct pass. Vertonghen made an interception and Genki Haraguchi succeeded with a low shot into the far corner from 12 yards on the right side of the penalty area.

Four minutes later, Sun Country expanded the score. Kagawa Shinji passed back to Inui Takashi, who used a curve ball from 25 meters away from the goal to break Courtois' goal with a long shot, helping Sun Country to an unexpected 2: 0 ahead of Belgium.

Belgium, which was two goals behind, woke up from a dream. In the 69th minute, Vertonghen, who made a mistake, scored a high-quality header from the left side of the penalty area, reducing the score to 1:2.

Just like the Sun Country expanded the score, it only took five minutes for Belgium to equalize the score, which was the 74th minute of the game. Hazard made a pass from the left, and Fellaini, who was over 1.9 meters tall, made a pass from the left. On the edge of the penalty area, he defeated two defensive players of the Sun Country to complete the header.

2:2

The score became a draw, and the game time was getting shorter and shorter. Both sides played very carefully. At the end of the 90 minutes of regular time, the scoreboard showed still 2:2, just when everyone thought it was the second overtime of this World Cup. When the game came, the Belgian completed the winner in the fourth minute of extra time.

Courtois threw the ball with his hand to instigate a counterattack. De Bruyne, who got the ball, passed the ball diagonally from the center to the right. Meunier passed the football into the penalty area at 45 degrees from the right. Lukaku, who was in front, made a clever move and passed the ball from the center. Chadli followed up with a shovel shot to kill Sun Country.

The Sunland fans at the Rostov Arena obviously did not expect that conceding the goal would come so badly. Every one of them was stunned. The reaction of the Belgian fans was in sharp contrast. They celebrated ecstatically and vented the huge pressure brought by advancing to the quarterfinals. freed.

Belgium was once two goals behind the Sun Country. As the favorite to win the championship, this result was obviously unacceptable. Fortunately, the subsequent adjustments were timely and they scored three goals in a row...

The game that should have been easily won became a thrilling victory. The 1/8 finals between Belgium and the Sun Country became the focus of heated discussions among the media and fans. However, England and Brazil, who were preparing for the World Cup quarter finals, were just happy to relax and devote all their attention to Place the quarter-finals starting three days later.

The last two 1/8 finals were held at 6 pm and 9 pm local time on July 3 in Russia. Sweden relied on midfield commander Forsberg to score the only goal of the game in the 68th minute of the game. The team defeated Switzerland 1:0 at the Zenit Arena in St. Petersburg and advanced to the quarterfinals of the World Cup again after 24 years.

The 1/8 final between Colombia and Croatia was the last quarter-final match. The game was full of drama. Mandzukic's goal once helped Croatia maintain the score until the third minute of injury time. As a result, Mina's header was a winner. The draw helped Colombia draw with Croatia 1:1, dragging the game into overtime.

I thought that the morale-boosted Colombia would win in one fell swoop, but no goal was scored until the end of overtime. They made three of five free throws in the penalty shootout, while Croatia made four of five free throws. This meant that Croatia eliminated Colombia with a total score of 5:4. , becoming the last team to advance to the quarterfinals of the World Cup.

Fans who watched the game were speechless, saying that Colombia's equalizing goal was unnecessary...

With the end of the last 1/8 finals, the World Cup in Russia once again ushered in a two-day break.

According to the schedule, Uruguay VS France is the first quarter-final, which will be at 6 pm local time in Russia on July 6 at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium. England VS Brazil will be the quarter-final later. The nine o'clock game will be held at the Kazan Arena.

For the fans, the two-day break is quite painful and they can't wait for the quarter-finals to start immediately. However, the participating coaches and players hope that 24 hours can be used as 48 hours or even 72 hours.

It can be seen that the tournament system leaves too little time for players to prepare.

However, what is more beneficial to England is that their 3:0 victory over Denmark did not consume much physical energy, and they had one more day of rest. Brazil did not confirm that they would eat Mexico until the end of the game. Their physical and energy consumption was more serious than that of the English players. The rest period But there was still one day less, one day and another, allowing fans who supported England to see the team they supported once again advance to the semi-finals of the World Cup after 28 years.