Fox in the Penalty Area

1st quarter final

The Chinese team and the Dutch team have just arrived at the match. They have not come out to warm up in the locker room. Fans from both sides are already entering the stands.

The fans who entered the stadium stared dumbfounded at the big screen, because the match between Italy and Argentina was being played on it.

There was no change in the score, still 1:0, with the Italian team leading.

And there is not much time left for Argentina.

Melli dribbled the ball from the wing and broke through with a horizontal dribble. After passing two defensive players in a row, he picked up his left foot and shot the football towards the Italian goal!

Albertazzi didn't save the ball this time!

But after the football bypassed his fingers, it also bypassed the far goal post.

Finally got around the bottom line!

The exclamations in the stands mixed with those on the big screen.

After completing the shot, Melli lost his balance at the same time. He fell directly on the turf and watched his shot miss.

He did not get up immediately and continue fighting. Instead, he lay down on the turf and closed his eyes in pain.

Immediately afterwards, his close-up shot suddenly switched to a long shot, and the Italian players guarding the sideline were seen rushing into the field with open arms. Just after Melli's shot missed, the referee sounded the end of the game. The whistle!

South American powerhouse Argentina, who was also the favorite to win the championship... was eliminated in the quarter-finals!

Their two consecutive World Cup trips ended in the quarterfinals!

On the big screen, Melli had already gotten up from the ground. He put his hands on his hips and looked at the cheering Italian players in the distance, his eyes blank.

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"Argentina is coming home!"

"Melli was actually eliminated! He was in such good shape before, I thought he could at least lead the team to the finals..."

"This is the quarter-finals... ugh!"

The Chinese team players in the locker room also knew the final result of that game, and they started talking about it one after another.

Although not many people in this national team have a favorable impression of Argentina and Melli, a team that was generally optimistic about winning the championship before the game was eliminated. A top star who was in excellent form before failed to win. Save the crisis in the game...

This is very inconsistent with everyone's "common sense".

After Argentina fell behind, many Chinese players felt that Melli would definitely take action and he would use his super personal ability to help Argentina equalize the score.

After all, Melli has proven how good he is in this World Cup.

As a result, by the end of the game, Melli was stunned that he was unable to break through the goal guarded by Albertazzi.

He was blocked by Italian players during the game.

The Italian players who defended him were like sticky mud, clinging to Melli's legs one after another, increasing the weight of his legs, slowing down his pace, making his feet no longer flexible and unable to move. Make magic...

Until he was completely stuck in the quagmire and couldn't move.

Wang Guangwei took over the words of his last teammate and said: "This is the quarter-finals, brothers! It is not strange in the World Cup that Italy, which is weaker than Argentina, can eliminate its opponents. So even if we are weaker than Netherlands, why can’t we eliminate them?”

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"This is the quarterfinals, gentlemen."

Dutch national team coach Joseph Droste spread his hands and warned his players.

"Don't think that since the Chinese team lacks its main central defender and main left wing-back, we can easily defeat them. Argentina may have been full of confidence before this game, but the result? The drama of football is often overshadowed on the World Cup stage. It is magnified exponentially, especially in the knockout stage. Argentina lost well and in a timely manner, which reminded us all again before our game against the Chinese team. We will face the Chinese team later, even if the lineup is not complete The Chinese team must also go all out and show our best form!"

All the Dutch players in the locker room looked serious, and no one was smiling.

"Now go out and warm up. During the warm-up, you must also concentrate and concentrate on trying to make your body meet the competition requirements as soon as possible. Remember, the competition starts now!"

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Wang Guangwei stood at the exit of the players' tunnel, looking out.

Because there are outer walls of fan stands on both sides of the player tunnel, his field of vision is severely limited and he can only see the area of ​​the stadium framed by the outer walls of the stands on both sides.

That's the middle area of ​​the court.

It's where the kickoff begins.

But during the warm-up period, it was the most deserted place.

Because the players from both sides were concentrated in their respective halves near the goal, Wang Guangwei couldn't actually see much when he looked around here.

But he still stood there and watched. Occasionally he would walk around, trying to peek out a little more without violating the rules, just hoping that he could see more.

In fact, there is nothing interesting to watch in the warm-up before the game.

Wang Guangwei himself has experienced it countless times, and he can't see the flowers.

He was wearing the uniform of the Chinese team and did not change into training clothes or game clothes. He also wore a pair of ordinary sports shoes, not sneakers.

He couldn't play in this game because he was suspended due to a red card.

Since there is no need to warm up, there is no need to change clothes.

After waiting for the game to start, he had to sit in the audience in the stands and watch the game with other Chinese team staff who could not go to the coaching bench or the bench.

This game actually has nothing to do with him.

But he still chose to be with his teammates, even if he could only watch and wait from afar.

Wang Guangwei didn't know that the way he was wandering around the entrance of the passage was all captured by the camera, and then transmitted to the eyes of viewers around the world through broadcast signals.

When He Feng saw this scene, he sighed: "Wang Guangwei cannot participate in this game due to a red card suspension. He is definitely one of the biggest contributors to sending the Chinese team to the quarterfinals. But as a hero, he cannot participate in the fourth round. How cruel is this in the quarter-finals? Of course, Wang Guangwei committed a foul on the court and needs to bear the punishment he deserves, so being suspended is no problem at all. But... seeing this scene, it is still a bit touching. Yes. He may also be worried about the team..."

He Feng kept some words in his heart and did not say them out.

Mainly because at this sensitive and critical moment, he was afraid of losing his character.

After all, Wang Guangwei cannot play in this game and Chen Xingyi cannot start.

The Chinese team is equivalent to using a remnant formation to face the powerful Dutch team.

And this Dutch team is fully staffed.

It can be seen from the starting lineup that all their main players are out.

In terms of pre-match predictions, major media in the world are generally not optimistic about the Chinese team.

Although the Chinese team just eliminated England in the quarter-finals, everyone still doesn't think highly of them.

This is by no means a slight. In fact, the problem of the Chinese team itself is indeed too big.

The captain is suspended, the main players are injured, and there are physical problems.

The World Cup is now coming to an end.

The Chinese team's first World Cup match was on June 19th, and they played four games in a total of thirteen days from July 2nd to the quarter-finals, with an average of one game every three days.

The intensity of the game is comparable to playing in a club.

Coupled with today's game, the Chinese team will play five games in 16 days.

And the further the World Cup goes, the shorter the rest between games becomes.

This is a huge test for the thickness of the team's lineup and the physical fitness of the players.

The Chinese team has a shortcoming in terms of lineup thickness.

As far as the main lineup is concerned, the Chinese team can almost be regarded as the top among the second-tier teams in Europe.

But if you include the substitute lineup, in the entire world of football, it is still... second-rate, second-rate in the world.

In a competition like the World Cup, it is definitely not possible to conquer the world with just one lineup.

After seven games in less than a month, relying on one lineup to reach the end will collapse.

It is impossible for the main players not to get injured, nor to always have sufficient physical strength.

At this time, it is necessary to have substitute players of sufficient level, or rotation players, to make up for the decrease in combat effectiveness caused by the absence of the main players.

It must be said that Dillon has done his best in terms of rotation, trying to minimize the impact of the absence of main players.

However, the huge gap in hard power between substitute players and main players is still difficult to make up.

For example, against England, before Luo Kai came on, the Chinese team's right wing was almost useless. It could only defend and was completely unable to organize an offense.

As soon as Luo Kai stepped forward, it was as if he had changed sides, extremely vigorous. The Chinese team's 3:3 equalizer was scored from a pass by Luo Kai on the right.

His substitute Cui Zexu's performance was actually very good. He did not make too many mistakes in defense and used his body to block the opponent's eye-catching desperate performance in the game.

But he is helpless because he is not capable enough. He has to try his best to defend, but there is no chance of attacking.

It can be said that whichever side Cui Zexu is on basically loses the ability to attack and threaten opponents.

In this game, Cui Zexu replaced Chen Xingyi as the left wing-back.

Then there is no hope for the Chinese team's left-side attack, which had troubled Johnson Law in the last game.

In addition to Cui Zexu, the gap between the strength of the Chinese team's starting lineup and the bench in other positions is also obvious.

For example, Zhang Qinghuan and Guo Junfu. Guo Junfu actually works very hard, but his efforts seem helpless in the face of Zhang Qinghuan's four years of experience in the European League.

Therefore, in this World Cup, he could only get a chance to play when Zhang Qinghuan was replaced early due to lack of physical strength.

Four years ago, the gap in strength between him and Zhang Qinghuan was not as big as it is now.

Gao Ruimin was the main defensive midfielder of the Chinese team four years ago - if he had not been injured, he should have finished the World Cup.

And now he is Ou Yangjin's substitute, but in fact he cannot replace Ou Yangjin. He basically played side by side with Ou Yangjin.

Xia Xiaoyu is even more exaggerated. He doesn't even have a dedicated substitute in the current Chinese team. At the same time, he is currently the only player in the Chinese team, together with Lin Zhiyuan, to have played in all games - he started all four games and played in them all, and he is tied for first in playing time.

This shows his importance.

However, such an important player did not even have a substitute. Thanks to Xia Xiaoyu's good luck in this World Cup, he was not injured in the first group match like Gao Ruimin four years ago. Otherwise, it may be difficult for the Chinese team to reach the knockout rounds.

After four years studying abroad, the Chinese team now has ten players playing in Europe.

They are of course the guarantee of the Chinese team’s combat effectiveness.

But the other Chinese team players were pulled further and further away by them.

At this point in the World Cup, the main players of the Chinese team have inevitably begun to become tired.

Especially in the last game, they played for 120 minutes - actually more than that, because the injury time in the first half, second half and overtime was more than ten minutes, so the Chinese team played for 100 minutes. A game of about forty minutes.

It is also a very intense game, which consumes more physical energy.

Although the Dutch team also played 120 minutes in the quarter-finals and even had a penalty shootout. But the Dutch team's lineup is thick enough. In the past four games, head coach Joseph Drost has also continuously adjusted the lineup and let the players take turns, so their physical fitness is actually better than the Chinese team.

With so many unfavorable factors, it is reasonable for the outside world not to be optimistic about the Chinese team. It is normal.

He Feng didn't feel slighted or humiliated.

He also knew that it would be difficult for the Chinese team to eliminate the Dutch team.

He even wished that the outside world would try their best to belittle and look down on the Chinese team, so that the Dutch team could think so too.

Then the Chinese team has a chance of winning.

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PS, I will finish this game in one day tomorrow!