Fox in the Penalty Area

The joys and sorrows of No. 1 are not the same

Spain's 3:1 victory over Nigeria was the last game of the second round of the group stage.

After this game, the third round of the group stage started the next day.

Starting from the third round of the group stage, the World Cup schedule began to accelerate.

Because of the final round of the group stage, the two games in the same group must be played at the same time.

In the same time period, two group matches are played at the same time, two time periods in one day. This day is four group matches, and the games of the two groups are completed.

There are eight groups in total, two groups a day, and the entire group stage is played in four days.

Then without rest, the quarter-finals started directly.

Wait until the quarter-finals are over and have a day off before playing the quarter-finals.

After the quarter-finals, we have two days of rest and then play the semi-finals.

After the semi-finals, there will be two days of rest for the third and fourth place finals.

The second day of the third and fourth place finals is the final.

This is the rough schedule of the World Cup.

After two rounds of group matches, the situation of each group has gradually become clear, but some are more complicated.

Some qualified early, and some kept the suspense of qualifying until the last second.

But this is the charm of football and the charm of the World Cup.

The competition between different countries and the joys and sorrows between people from different countries will be condensed into ninety-minute games.

One day later, the roads diverge in front of the participating teams, one leading to heaven and the other leading to hell.

And those teams that have already fallen into hell actually have the opportunity to pull down teams that might have gone to heaven.

Those teams that were eliminated early chose to fight for the sake of team honor and national honor.

At this time, there is no need to talk about "forgiving others when you have to."

Why should I be spared?

Everyone is pursuing victory and pursuing their respective country's breakthrough in the World Cup.

Why should I let you go just to qualify?

So in fact, the more teams that have already been eliminated early, the more dangerous they are.

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The situation in Group A is more complicated, because the host country lost an upset to Norway in the first round, so after two rounds of group matches, there has not yet been a team that can qualify early.

There is no team that can get out early.

Even last place Senegal, with only one point, still has the possibility of advancement. Because their opponent in the last round was Norway.

Norway tops this group with four points. If Senegal can defeat Norway and also accumulate four points, it is possible to squeeze Norway out with a goal difference advantage.

Portugal with three points and Colombia with two points are relatively simple - without looking at the result of another game, whoever wins can qualify, and whoever loses will definitely not qualify. Only a tie will complicate the qualifying situation for the entire group.

This time, Portugal did not overturn in front of their home fans. With the cheers of tens of thousands of fans, they defeated Colombia with a score of 2:1, and finally advanced to the top 16 with six points.

The Norwegian side almost overturned.

Because they lost to Senegal 0:1!

In this way, Senegal and Norway both have four points and the same points. Let's compare the goal difference first.

Norway's goal difference is 0, Senegal -1, one less than Norway, ranked behind Norway, and was eliminated.

Senegal scored in the 67th minute of the game.

In the remaining time, the Senegalese team went crazy and besieged the Norwegian team.

The offensive was so fierce that even though the Norwegian team knew that all the space behind Senegal was perfect for counterattacks, they never succeeded and were completely suppressed by Senegal.

Senegal knows very well that as long as they score another goal, they will have an advantage in the goal difference comparison - Senegal and Norway currently have a total of three goals. If they score another goal, the goal difference will change from -1. became 0, while Norway's goal difference changed from 0 to -1. Senegal had one more goal difference than Norway, pushing Norway into third place.

Of course, Norway is also very aware of Senegal’s plans. In the last fifteen minutes of the game, Norway retreated from all fronts and set up a bus in front of the goal.

Every time Senegal attacks, it can draw exclamations and cheers from the stadium.

In the end, the Norwegian team withstood Senegal's crazy offensive, maintained the 0:1 score until the end, and advanced to the top 16 as expected.

After the game, the players of the Norwegian team who lost celebrated wildly, and the Norwegian fans in the stands almost turned this stadium into their home stadium. Cheers and songs mixed together.

The Senegalese players, who fought until the last minute, all collapsed to the ground and shed sad tears when the final whistle blew.

This is football, there are always people who enjoy the joy of victory and others who have to endure the pain of failure.

From now on, there will only be more and more tragic and joyous stories like this in the World Cup, and the joys and sorrows of each story are not the same.

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"The game is over, the game is over... The game is over, and the Japanese team's World Cup journey is also over... Although they worked hard to defeat Mali 3-0 in the game, they still cannot control their destiny in their own hands. Previous - In another stadium, Brazil and Croatia played a 0:0 game... So Brazil ranked first in the group with seven points, and Croatia ranked second in the group with five points. The Japanese team with four points could only be eliminated! "

Junpei Morikawa stood on the court with his hands on his hips, looking up at the sky.

Beside him, a Malian player collapsed on the ground, covering his face with his hands, crying.

As the second-to-last FIFA team in this World Cup, Mali's strength is indeed not very good. The last time they participated in the World Cup was 60 years ago in 1970.

After returning to the World Cup this time, they failed to score in all three games, without scoring a single goal and conceding a total of nine goals.

This kind of performance cannot satisfy Mali's players anyway.

They were sad that they had such a failed World Cup journey.

In fact, they were eliminated early before this World Cup match. But they still prepared for this game very seriously, not hoping to defeat the Japanese team, the leader in Asia, but hoping to score at least one goal and break their zero-scoring breakthrough in the World Cup.

As a result, their aggressive play style of trying to score a goal gave the Japanese team more offensive opportunities.

In the end, Mali failed to score a single goal due to his lack of strength, but the Japanese team scored three.

But the Japanese team is also desperate. Even if they can score another goal and change the score to 4:0, because they have lost to Brazil 0:2, their goal difference is still two points less than Croatia.

Unless the Brazilian team can beat Croatia by the same score, or by a score greater than 2:0, the Japanese team will be able to advance to the top 16 with a goal difference advantage.

But the Brazilian team and Croatia have always played very restrained.

The Brazilian team, which qualified early for this game, withdrew most of its main lineup. Even the absolute core Kabangca rested for 69 minutes and was replaced in the 70th minute.

From the beginning, the Brazilian team did not plan to go all out to win against Croatia, because Croatia actually did not need to win. If the Brazilian team tried too hard, it might stimulate Croatia. In the end, the two teams fought a tough battle, which actually damaged Brazil. The team initially planned to take turns to adjust their condition.

So the Brazilian team just kept playing.

Croatia saw that the Brazilian team was not exerting its strength, so they stopped exerting their strength. Because they are also afraid of irritating the Brazilian team.

Croatia now has four points and Brazil has six points. The Brazilian team is guaranteed to qualify, but it is not guaranteed to win the first place in the group. If Croatia "accidentally" defeats Brazil, it will accumulate seven points and directly become the first in the group.

The Brazilian team will have to fight Portugal, the first team in Group A. This is obviously not the result that the Brazilian team wants.

So if Croatia wants to defeat Brazil, it will encounter a crazy counterattack by Brazil.

In the end, no matter who wins or loses, both teams are actually losers.

That's why they had such a tacit understanding.

There is no doubt that this is a "tacit understanding of the game", but it is not the same thing as the "match-fixing" that the betting dogs call it.

It's just that Japanese fans may be very angry, because Brazil and Croatia have such a tacit understanding that they let the Japanese team out of the World Cup...

Not to mention Japanese fans, Japanese players were very angry after hearing the score of that game there.

"Despicable Brazilians and Croatians! They joined forces to get us out!" Japanese national team midfielder Yuki Shi Maruyama shouted in a tearful tone. "This is a shame for the World Cup! The biggest scandal!"

Although Maruyama Yukushi's mood is understandable, his last words were still a bit excessive. As the captain, Kengo Yamayama was afraid that if Maruyama Yukushi said this and was photographed by the media, it would bring great trouble to both Maruyama Yukoshi and the Japanese team. .

So as the captain, he stepped forward to dissuade him: "Shut up, Maruyama! Don't talk such nonsense!"

After being reprimanded by the captain, Yuki Maruyama stopped crying, but the dissatisfaction and anger on his face were still quite obvious.

Everyone could see that he was still worried about this result.

It's just that because Kengo Yamayama is the captain and his senior, he has to listen.

And I'm afraid there are many people in the team who have the same idea as Maruyama Yukishi, who all feel that they were eliminated by Brazil and Croatia.

It's just that they didn't lose their temper like Maruyama Yukishi and directly yelled out what was in their hearts...

At this moment, Morikawa Junpei, who had been silently looking up to the sky, lowered his head, looked at the still angry Maruyama Yukishi, and said in a very serious tone:

"It has nothing to do with Brazil or Croatia. In the final analysis, we did not perform well. If we can beat Croatia in the first game, if we can draw with Brazil in the second game, how can we need to play in the final round? What about other people's faces? This is indeed a shame, but it is not a shame for the World Cup, but a shame for our own Japanese team. Maruyama-senpai, if you are angry about being eliminated, please join me and work hard in the next four years. Do your best!"

Having said this, Morikawa Junpei also bowed to Maruyama Yukishi, who was five years older than him.

He looked like "please, senior".

Maruyama Yukishi was stunned. He wanted to say that in four years, I will be thirty-six years old. How can I have a chance to do it again? What’s the point of working hard in the next four years?

But facing Morikawa Junpei like this, the groove in his heart was blocked in his throat and he couldn't express it. Because he knows that Morikawa Junpei is stubborn, and it is useless to reason with him...

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Tatsuya Sugiyama, who scored one goal and one assist in this game and helped Japan defeat Mali 3-0, was elected the best of the match.

Sugiyama Tatsuya, who won the first World Cup Man of the Match in his career, was not happy when accepting the award.

There were even tears on his face that had not been wiped clean.

The second World Cup between him and Morikawa Junpei, the first World Cup in which he really played the leading role, ended like this.

And FIFA can finally hire cleaners to clean the dressing rooms and stands. (Note 1)

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Note 1: Funny.jpg

PS, updates are resumed today. However, since my body has not fully recovered, I don’t dare to stay up late now. If the situation is not right, I may fall into interruption at any time.

After all, life is still important...

Hope everyone understands!