Golden Greenery

( ) Russia has a vast territory and is the largest country in the world. The World Cup was held in 12 stadiums in 11 cities in Russia. The Chinese team first went to Kaliningrad in the far west, where they drew 2:2 with Germany in the warm-up match.

Then we went to Yekaterinburg, the easternmost of the 11 cities, where we defeated Peru 3:2.

Now, the Chinese team has come to Sochi, the southernmost of the 11 cities, which is the location of the 1/8 match against Portugal.

Sochi is located at the foot of the Greater Caucasus Mountains on the border between Russia and Georgia, on the east coast of the Black Sea. The Russian coastline is terrifyingly long, but there are not many good ports, and Sochi is one of the few good ports.

Historically, Russia fought with Turkey for nearly a hundred years to compete for this place.

Sochi is at the same latitude as Changchun in China, but because the Great Caucasus Mountains block the cold current from Siberia and the Black Sea brings warmth, the climate here is more like Changchun than Changchun.

In winter, temperatures of minus 2 and 30 degrees Celsius are common in Changchun, but the lowest temperature in Sochi in a year is 5 degrees Celsius and above zero.

Since other places in Russia only freeze to death dogs or old dogs, Sochi, which is warm as spring all year round, has become a health resort, similar to Beidaihe in China.

This is also the hometown of Stalin. The Chinese team left Stalingrad and came to Stalin’s hometown.

Sochi is a small city. It is known to most Chinese people not because of this year's World Cup, but because of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics four years ago.

Frankly speaking, that session was the most successful one in the history of the Winter Olympics, at least one of them. The Russians showed superb organizational skills and event service standards.

Zhuo Yang always believes that as the most widely participated ice and snow sport in the world, snowball fights should become a Winter Olympics event.

After arriving in the new city, Zhuoyang did not engage in any more tourist activities, although Sochi had beautiful mountains, water and hot springs. Having completed the lowest-level qualifying goal, in a sense, the Chinese team's World Cup has truly begun.

The current situation of the team is very ideal, there are no injuries, no red or yellow cards, suspensions, and the best performance in the group stage also makes the young and old players very excited. It’s not that I’m not tired, but winning is the best stimulant.

Following the move of the national team, the vast expeditionary legions of Chinese fans also stationed in Sochi. Many of them started following the team from Kaliningrad, full of enthusiasm... and financial resources.

Sochi is different from the previous cities.

Because the location of the group stage schedule was clear half a year ago, fans can book in advance and choose the time to occupy it. However, the location of the knockout rounds will only be known after all the results are clear, which makes the arrival of a large number of Chinese fans seem sudden.

Fortunately, the Chinese are naturally highly organized, and the major travel agencies and fan organizations are experienced in the previous two World Cups. Therefore, despite the haste, the occupation of Sochi was still very orderly.

Sochi, nestled between mountains and the sea, is one of the longest and narrowest cities in the world. As far as the eye can see, you can see the snow-capped mountains that never melt all year round. The influx of Chinese people turned Sochi from white to red in an instant.

At the Radisson Hotel, not far from the Sochi Olympic Stadium, Ronaldo and Pepe watched from the windows as red lava poured into and engulfed the city.

The matches in Group B ended one day earlier than those in Group C, so Portugal, which moved immediately, came to Sochi two days earlier than the Chinese team, which had a day of rest and then moved.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored 4 goals in the three group matches. For him, this is a huge breakthrough because he scored one goal in each of the previous three tournaments.

But in the past two days, Ronaldo has been involved in a war of words, not because he missed a penalty kick against the Iranian team, but because Queiroz, who used to be the same as his father and son, fired at him.

As we all know, Ronaldo, who had yet to grow hair, made up his mind to go to Manchester United at the suggestion of Queiroz. Ronaldo was at Queiroz's house when he signed the contract with Sir Alex Ferguson. In the first two years of the Red Devils, Ferguson's chief assistant Queiroz cared about and cared for Ronaldo very much.

The relationship between Queiroz and Ronaldo broke down and it was he who coached the Portuguese national team. After the 2008 European Cup, Queiroz replaced Scolari as the head coach of the Portuguese national team and worked there until the end of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Let’s not talk about Queiroz’s interpersonal skills, and no matter how messy his tactics are, just look at the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo, who was already the European Golden Ball at the time, only scored a goal for 16 months under his command. This cannot be justified.

After being eliminated by Spain in the 1/8 World Cup in South Africa, Cristiano Ronaldo couldn't bear it anymore and sprayed Queiroz with all his firepower. This also became an important trigger for Queiroz's dismissal. From then on, the two became strangers.

After the New Year, Queiroz, who has always regarded himself as Portugal's chief coach, devalued himself and went to the Iranian national team and has been coaching it ever since. He ranks fourth in terms of time spent leading a team among the top 32 coaches, only shorter than Uruguayan Tabarez, Germany's Loew and France's Didier Deschamps.

Iran and Portugal are in the same group at the World Cup today, and Queiroz and Cristiano Ronaldo are enemies.

In the final round, if Iran, which has 3 points before the game, defeats Portugal, which has 4 points, Queiroz will not only get revenge, but Iran will even have a chance to win the first place in the group.

Perhaps because he knew the basics, Ronaldo was severely restricted. Four of his five shots were long shots from outside the penalty area, which can also be called stray shots. In the 53rd minute of the second half, the penalty kick was saved by Iranian goalkeeper Beiranvand.

The 25-year-old Beiranwand and the 27-year-old Yan Junlin have surpassed Australia's Matthew Ryan and are tied for the top goalkeepers in Asia in the German transfer technology. Beiranvand was a sheepherder when he was a child. It is said that he developed a pair of unicorn arms while throwing stones to drive away the sheep.

Ronaldo's missed penalty kick was the first penalty missed by the Portuguese national football team in the history of the World Cup, which can be regarded as writing a new chapter.

The controversy arose in the 82nd minute when Cristiano Ronaldo elbowed each other in the face while fighting with Iranian center back Polariganj. Under Queiroz's strong protest, Paraguay referee Caceres reviewed VAR and then showed Ronaldo a yellow card while smiling.

But Queiroz thought this was a red card. After the whistle blew and Iran was eliminated 1:1, Queiroz bombarded the referee and Ronaldo.

"Obviously because he is Cristiano Ronaldo, it is just a yellow card. If there is fairness in football, of course it is a red card, and Iran will win."

He also said a lot, and the central idea was to criticize referees for taking care of strong teams and stars.

To be honest, Cristiano Ronaldo's elbow hit is still very obvious, and he is absolutely speechless when he is sent off. Queiroz's resentment and the point of his resentment are all justified.

The media doesn't take things too seriously, so both Cristiano Ronaldo and the Portuguese team are under a lot of pressure, and they need to reduce pressure before the war.

"Lao Pei, I feel bad... Zhuo Yang and the Chinese team came back... want to do something big..."

"They are here for the championship."

"Who can tell for sure? It looks like it."

"It should be." Peipei said, "Zhuo Yang is also 33. If we don't do it this time, it will be even harder in the future."

‘Tsk~’ Ronaldo let out disdain in his nose, but he actually didn’t think so.

"Whatever, I'll notify the news department and ask them to start boasting that Zhuo Yang will win the championship and divert the media fire away."

Pepe: "...Good idea..."