1190 Veterans Don't Die
Before the third round of the group stage, the situation in Group C was generally clear.
Colombia basically advanced with two consecutive victories, Côte d'Ivoire basically eliminated with two consecutive losses, and the rest was the second place in the group.
Both China and Greece win and lose. According to the promotion rules of the World Cup group stage, since Greece lost to Colombia by 0-3 in the first round and was behind the Chinese team in terms of goal difference, Greece was very unfavorable in the group qualifying situation.
In the last round, Greece can only advance if it defeats China.
For China, a draw can advance.
This should have been extremely favorable news, but for China, for Chinese players and fans, this is a worrying situation, because in the past few decades, the Chinese team has always confirmed one thing again and again, that is, being able to advance with a draw, which is equivalent to failure.
In recent years, with the emergence of a group of players such as Yang Yang, the overall strength of the Chinese team has improved a lot, but this nightmare still lingers over the heads of Chinese football because it has brought too many painful nightmares.
More importantly, the Asian teams in this World Cup are still as sluggish as ever.
Australia lost three games and ranked last in the group, but considering that they were in the death group with the Netherlands, Chile and Spain, and even Spain failed to qualify in the group, it would be understandable that Australia was at the bottom.
But South Korea and Japan are also at the bottom of the points, and both teams draw and lose, and they fail to win in one game.
Only the Chinese team won a victory against Côte d'Ivoire, which is also the only victory for Asian teams in this World Cup. It is a must-have to admit that the Chinese team is indeed the strongest team in Asia.
Of course, according to some foreign media, this is the Chinese team with Yang Yang.
Under such circumstances, the focus battle between China and Greece is undoubtedly even more eye-catching.
One is an Asian upstart, or even an Asian overlord, and the other is Greece, which won the European Cup championship ten years ago as a dark horse. The two teams competed for the second place in the group, attracting strong attention from Asian and European fans.
...
When it comes to Greece, we have to mention the European Cup in 2004.
Chinese national team head coach Queros mentioned Greece ten years ago many times before the World Cup, and Yang Yang also played for Ajax, the Netherlands, so he knew that before the European Cup in 2004, Greece was just a bottom team at the mercy of others.
This team is not prominent in Europe, where there are many strong players. Even if they enter the official European Cup, no one will be optimistic about this team. The only impression that their defense is not bad.
But as a result, such a team that was not seen by anyone and did not even have a number of players, ended up winning six consecutive games in the European Cup, creating another dark horse miracle in European Cup history with an almost impossible miracle.
Otto The Great Rehager, this is a famous coach who cannot be erased anyway when he misses European football.
Many people remember him because of the miracle of Greece's championship, but that was not his first miracle. As early as the late 1990s, he led Kaiserslautern to create a miracle of winning the championship in the Bundesliga, which is also an extremely rare legend in the world football world.
A legend can be said to be accidental or luck, but if a legend is created both times, there must be a reason.
Queros believes that Rehagel's success in Kaiserslautern and Greece is the overall success of football.
In fact, almost all European football today are emphasizing their nature.
The overall level of Chinese players is not high. If you want to gain a foothold in the World Cup where strong people gather and gain a place, you must rely on the whole, which requires every player to do his best.
Greece is the target that the Chinese team needs to learn!
This is also the direction Queroz has been working hard to train for the past four years.
Today, Greece is no longer as brave as it was ten years ago, but they are not the bottom teams of the past. Even if they are reduced to the third place in Europe, they are still not something that Asian teams can despise.
Despite having a top scorer like Yang Yang, the Chinese team still acts as a weak player in the face of Greece.
Greece also attaches great importance to Yang Yang. They are in European football and naturally know how strong this superstar in Real Madrid is, so they dare not be careless at all.
The first half was very dull, and the two sides played to zero to zero, and the pressure was very high.
The Chinese team has the advantage in the qualifying situation and is more patient.
But after the second half of the game, Greece strengthened its offense, but the Chinese team was still tenaciously defending, and even Yang Yang often retreated to the front of the penalty area to participate in the defense.
But in the 79th minute, when a midfielder intercepted the ball and counterattacked, Greece quickly launched an offensive.
Captain Zheng Zhi returned to the front of the penalty area to assist in defense in time. When facing the opponent's pass from the right and was about to form a single strike, he had to use tactical foul behind him, pulling the Greek forward to the top of the penalty area, without giving the opponent a chance to strike alone.
But because of this foul, Zheng Zhi was sent off with a red card.
The foul was obvious and the intention was clear, so there was no need to justify it.
Zheng Zhi did not explain to himself. After seeing the referee holding up the red card, he turned around silently and moved forward.
While walking, he pulled off the captain's armband on his arm, and gradually his eyes turned red.
He is about to be thirty-four years old. As early as three years ago, he could not stay in Europe and returned to China. He is still in good shape and is able to participate in the World Cup.
Now, he has tried his best.
"It depends on you next!" Zheng Zhi came to Yang Yang, put on the captain's armband for him with his own hands, patted the national emblem on his chest vigorously, hugged him, and turned around and left.
At this moment, Yang Yang felt the weight of the captain's armband on his arm.
Other players of the national team had no objection, because if it weren't for Zheng Zhi, Yang Yang would have been the captain of this national team long ago.
And the international players were more moved and regretted Zheng Zhi’s red card at this time.
The touching was for Zheng Zhi's efforts, because this was a red card in the final stage of the game, a tactical foul, and regret was because they made a mistake just now, which led to Zheng Zhi needing to make up for it in this tactical foul.
The veterans did not die, but they just gradually withered.
...
After Zheng Zhi was sent off with a red card, the Chinese team made a substitution and replaced Wu Lei with Zhao Xuri.
Zhao Xuri played in the Russian Super League, performed well and had strong defensive ability, but he was a little frivolous, but no one would forget the world-class kick in the World Youth Championship back then.
Missed the opportunity to score, Greece further strengthened its offense, and it could even be said to have sacrificed its position.
For them, there is only one way to win this game, and there is no second way to go.
Greece's crazy offensive created huge defensive pressure on the Chinese team. Even after entering the eighty minutes, it created two very threatening attacks, but they were both held tightly by the Chinese team.
There was a panic in the penalty area, the goal was in danger, and there was one less person on the court...
Under such circumstances, the Chinese team's situation is in turmoil and may never be defeated at any time.
In the 88th minute, Yang Yang once again returned to the front of the penalty area to participate in the defense.
Zhao Xuri intercepted the ball with a fierce but accurate steal and quickly passed it to Chen Tao.
Chen Tao passed Yang Yang again, Yang Yang took the ball with his back and knocked it back to Zhou Haibin, and pointed his hand behind him.
Zhou Haibin and Yang Yang have been cooperating with him for many years. After seeing his gestures, they immediately understood them. When they saw the Greek defense line pressing, Yang Yang turned around and rushed forward. He immediately passed the ball with a long pass and accurately sent the ball to the left side of the frontcourt.
The opponent's two central defenders were dragged at the end, and Yang Yang retreated further. If he passed to the middle, he would definitely not be able to catch it.
Yang Yang sprinted forward as fast as possible, which made the fans on the scene excited. Even the commentator couldn't help but exclaim: "In the last stage of the game, he still had the physical strength to maintain such a fast sprint. In this regard, Yang Yang is really worthy of our admiration and worthy of learning from all professional players."
But Yang Yang on the court didn't take this into consideration, and he just stared at the ball.
Sure enough, after Zhou Haibin was assigned to the left, Yang Yang stopped the ball before Greek central defender Papastasopoulos.
As soon as he stopped, Papastasopoulos leaned over.
One-to-one!
Yang Yang almost didn't leave any reaction time for the other party. He started as soon as he stopped, and directly shook his body and made a move to cut inward, which scared the Greek central defender on the opposite side to intercept it quickly.
But Yang Yang dunked the ball towards the bottom line with his right foot.
The Greek central defender played for Dortmund and had a lot of experience. He immediately adjusted his body's center of gravity and kept up with Yang Yang.
But as soon as his center of gravity was adjusted, Yang Yang dunked the ball back to the right side with his left foot.
This continuous false movement changes, causing Papastasopoulos' center of gravity to lose balance, and a gap appeared in defense. Yang Yang accurately cut the ball inward, blocking the Greek central defender with his body and cutting inward horizontally.
Central defender Manoras and midfielder Maniatis who returned to defense also returned to the front of the penalty area at the same time. The two of them looked like a net inside and outside, and at the same time, they were towards Yang Yang's cover, wanting to put his net in the middle.
But before Yang Yang could wait for the opponent to lean over, he broke through Papastasopoulos, and after dribbled the ball horizontally, he directly shot with his right foot, without giving the opponent any chance to think.
The ball was like a shell, from the left side of the penalty area twenty-one meters away from the goal, directly into the upper right corner of the goal, piercing through the Greek team's goal, one to zero!
"The ball is in!!!"
"The ball is in!!!"
"Yang Yang! Yang Yang! World Wave Again!!!"
"Far shot from twenty-one meters away!
"It's another world wave, and the Yangyang area has worked again!"
"At the critical moment of the final stage of the game, Yang Yang played with Greek defenders in the area he was most familiar with, and shot three with his right foot, opening the door to victory for the Chinese team, one to zero!"
"Greece is sure to lose!"
"The Chinese team will advance to the quarterfinals again!"
Chapter completed!