"Brazil beat Canada 3:1, Belgium beat Denmark 1:0. Germany beat South Africa 2:1, and Switzerland tied 1:1... Today it's our turn for the Chinese team to play again. I feel like the time has passed well.
Quick. In the blink of an eye, it will be the second round of the group stage. If we win this game again, we will qualify early..."
Xie Lan lamented about the schedule.
On June 22, Thursday, the fifth match day of the China World Cup, the second round of the group stage begins.
The first to appear is Portugal and Iceland. Their match will be at two o'clock in the afternoon.
The next kick-off is not the match between the Chinese team and Peru, but the match between the Netherlands and South Korea. The kick-off is at five o'clock in the afternoon.
The match between China and Peru is at 8pm, prime time.
This staggered arrangement is also a small "privilege" of being a host.
The game at eight o'clock in the evening is a very suitable time, whether it is watching the game live or watching live TV, and it does not affect dinner, work and study.
It can ensure the maximum TV ratings.
Of course, this is also because it is not the third round. If it is the third round of the group stage, the host country does not have the privilege to move its game time to the prime time in the evening.
For Portugal and China, both of which have won separately, the second round of the group stage is crucial. As long as they can defeat their respective opponents, they will qualify one round ahead of schedule.
The only suspense in the third round is who takes first place in the group and who takes second place in the group.
Of course, considering the strength of the opponents in Group B, Portugal and the Chinese team should both strive to pursue first place in the group.
Therefore, the direct dialogue between the two teams in the third round will not be reduced to a tasteless game.
"Playing against Peru...sigh." Xie Lan, who was staring at the schedule, suddenly sighed again.
"What are you sighing for?" Hu Lixin asked.
"Don't go through the process, just come out with the results." Xie Lan shook his head. "If the Chinese team can still have a heartbeat on qualifying from the group, they can retire collectively!"
Hu Lixin was obviously used to his wife being so unrestrained. He reminded her, "Don't talk too much."
"What else?" Xie Lan retorted. "Could we lose to Peru this time, then beat Portugal in the last round, and then rely on the goal difference advantage or the advantage of victory or defeat to become first in the group?"
At this point, Xie Lan spread his hands and made a grimace: "It's just the group stage, there's no need to make it so complicated, right?"
Hu Lixin was also amused by his wife's behavior.
It’s true that in this World Cup, the Chinese team playing at home has very lofty goals.
If they are so stumbling to qualify for the group stage, spending a lot of energy and paying a heavy price to qualify from the group, then how can anyone have confidence in their performance in the knockout rounds?
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In order to prepare for the World Cup, the Yunyang Phoenix Football Stadium was specially expanded and renovated. It is a professional football stadium that could originally accommodate 30,000 people, but now it can accommodate 45,000 people.
Today, nearly 30,000 of the 45,000 people are Chinese fans - this is a conservative estimate, and the actual number may be more.
Because this is a game related to whether the Chinese team can advance to the top 16 in advance.
Everyone hopes to witness the Chinese team reaching the knockout round of the World Cup again.
The tickets for this game were sold out well before the game. Even if someone is willing to increase the price several times, they may not be able to buy a ticket.
But now the atmosphere in the Phoenix Stadium is a little solemn.
This is not because the Chinese team is lagging behind Peru in score.
On the contrary, the Chinese team is now leading Peru 1:0...
At the same time, the game also reached the 77th minute.
Time is running out for Peru!
But with the situation so favorable to the Chinese team, the Chinese fans in the stands did not wait to start celebrating.
They are worried about Portugal's mistakes.
In the game that ended at four o'clock this afternoon, Portugal was evened by Iceland when it was leading until the last ten minutes...
In the end, Portugal's "dream" of qualifying from the group one round early was shattered, and they might not even be able to qualify!
At the 87th minute of the game, Portugal still led Iceland 2:1.
Perhaps it was the lead at this time that made the Portuguese players feel relaxed and also gave the Iceland team hope.
Since they lost to the Chinese team in the first group match, the Icelandic team had no way out, so they did not have a bus in front of their home in this game like they did in the previous game against the Chinese team.
Instead, he is very proactive and goes out looking for goals.
Such an open style of play naturally plays into Portugal's hands.
So they took a two-goal lead in the first half.
Although the Iceland team got a goal back at the beginning of the second half, the overall rhythm of the game was still in the hands of the Portuguese team.
Who would have thought that in the last ten minutes of the game, the situation would change.
The Icelandic team actually used high-altitude bombing tactics to fight to the death and score a goal!
At the 88th minute, it could almost be considered a "perfect tie".
In this way, Portugal just missed the honor of being the first team to qualify for the group stage in this World Cup.
Then he was picked up by the Netherlands.
In the match at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, the Dutch team defeated the South Korean team 3:1 cleanly, accumulating six points with two wins from two games, scoring seven goals, and conceding only one goal, occupying the top spot in Group C, and also qualified for the group one round ahead of schedule.
right.
It is precisely because of Portugal's "lessons" that Chinese fans are uneasy when facing almost the same game time.
They are worried that the Chinese team will be like Portugal, allowing Peru to score a goal in the last few minutes...
1:0 becomes 1:1.
After all, a one-goal lead is the most unsafe score in the world.
The Peruvian team also realizes this.
Starting from the 70th minute, they increased their offensive intensity.
In the first round of the group stage, they lost to Portugal 1:2 and were also forced to a dead end.
If you still want to keep the hope of qualifying from the group, you must at least draw with the Chinese team in this game. Then while defeating Iceland in the final round, expect the Chinese team to beat Portugal.
In this way, Peru can compare the goal difference with the same points as Portugal.
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In the box in the stands, Xie Lan watched the game through gritted teeth and said nothing.
After the game entered the second half, she gradually fell silent, just watching the game and not chatting and laughing as usual.
She also teased this morning that it was impossible for the Chinese team to survive in this game, right?
As a result, things are looking bad now...
Do you want to become a crow's mouth?
So she didn't dare to speak anymore, for fear that she would "do what she said"...
Hu Lixin noticed something strange about his wife and understood what she was worried about.
Originally, he wanted to comfort his wife as usual, but he opened his mouth, but no words came out.
Because he realized that this was not a problem that he could solve by just saying a few nice words.
On the contrary, it may cause him to get angry and make his wife point the finger at him...
So at this time, silence is the best.
Only middle-aged men understand why "silence is golden"...
But just when Hu Lixin was abiding by his duties as a middle-aged man, Li Qingqing took Xie Lan's arm and said to her in a very firm tone:
"Mom, you have to believe in Hu Lai and his teammates."
With just such a sentence, Hu Lixin could feel that his wife's mood suddenly relaxed and she was no longer as anxious as before.
What a good daughter-in-law...
Thinking of this, Hu Lixin turned to look at Li Ziqiang on the other side.
Li Ziqiang, who was watching the game, noticed the gazes of the people around him and looked away and asked Hu Lixin: "What's wrong?"
Hu Lixin shook his head: "Nothing..."
Li Ziqiang did not get to the bottom of it. He turned his attention to the court again and continued to pay attention to the game.
As a professional coach, his mentality is still better than that of a "fanboy" like Xie Lan.
Of course he does not want the Chinese team to be equalized by Peru.
But even if they were unfortunately equalized, Li Ziqiang did not think this was the end of the Chinese team.
As a coach, you cannot always hope that the game will go as you envisioned.
No matter what the outcome is, try to stay calm and collected...
And he didn't think the situation was as bad as his biological mother thought.
Now Peru has indeed stepped up its offensive, and the Chinese team has obviously adopted a defensive counterattack strategy.
Despite the fact that Peru seems to have a strong offensive on the scene, I am afraid that the Chinese team's counterattack is more threatening.
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On the court, the Peruvian team launched another attack against the Chinese team.
The game time is getting shorter and shorter, and they also know that there are not many opportunities for them.
At the same time, they are also worried that they will be attacked by the Chinese team's counterattack.
But they didn't have a choice.
Losing one goal is a loss, losing two goals is also a loss, it is better to give it a try.
Soon the football was hit to the front of the Chinese team's penalty area.
Peruvian team's main forward Benjamin Alcedo received a pass from his teammate.
He swung his feet to shoot, trying to deceive the Chinese defender Qin Qi who was guarding him.
He did succeed - following his fake move, Qin Qi turned around and jumped up, intending to block the hole of the gun with his body.
But he was not completely successful, because he had just dunked the football away from Qin Qi when he encountered Wang Guangwei who was trying to grab him.
The latter took advantage of his unsteady footing, stretched out his foot and poked the ball away!
"Wang Guangwei! Good shot! Excellent defense!"
After stealing the ball, Wang Guangwei moved his foot and passed the ball to right midfielder Xue Ming, who came on as a substitute in the second half.
When the football was passed to Xue Ming, the Chinese fans in the stands cheered again.
They all saw that this was an opportunity for the Chinese team to counterattack!
As long as Xue Ming can stop this ball...
Amid the cheers, Xue Ming firmly stopped the football in front of him and then accelerated to throw the ball out!
The Chinese team sounded the clarion call for counterattack!
"Xue Ming drives forward with the ball!"
He Feng in the commentary box also became excited.
If this counterattack can be scored, everyone will not have to worry!
The Peruvian players are desperately trying to defend.
Xue Ming soon attracted the pursuit and interception of two Peruvian players.
He did not force a breakthrough, but passed the football to Xia Xiaoyu who came up to meet him.
Just when the football was passed to Xia Xiaoyu, Hu Lai, who was originally in the middle, suddenly crossed into the Peruvian penalty area!
Xia Xiaoyu stopped the ball from Xue Ming with the inside of his left foot, and then pushed the football directly into the penalty area with his right foot.
He tried his best to pass the ball as soon as possible, but it was still a little slow.
Just when Hu Lai was about to run past, the football came and was passed behind Hu Lai...
I saw Hu Lai looking back during the forward run and saw the football being passed behind him. He immediately stopped and turned back, and at the same time used his right foot to pull the ball that was about to be passed back to him!
Not only did he regain control of the ball, but he also used this sudden stop and turn to shake away the Peruvian center back who was returning to defend!
After he turned around, there was no Peruvian defensive player in front of him!
This is a perfect opportunity for him!
He Feng yelled: "What a fool! Opportunity!"
Hu Lai had completely turned around. He used his left foot as a supporting foot to support his body. At the same time, he swung his right leg and used the outer instep of his right foot to whip the football toward the far corner of the goal!
Peruvian goalkeeper Salazar stopped the ball when facing Hu Lai, turned around, and shot in one movement, but his reaction was half a beat too slow.
When the football passed by him, he fell to the ground and made a save. It was too late...
"What a fool! The ball went in! Beautiful!"
Finally! He scored twice! The Chinese team leads Peru 2:0!"
The Phoenix Stadium, which had a somewhat solemn atmosphere before, suddenly turned into a volcanic crater, and it was an erupting crater!
Xie Lan hugged her daughter-in-law, laughed, screamed, and jumped up and down, regaining her former vitality.
Both Li Ziqiang and Hu Lixin were shaking their fists.
The stands of this stadium are full of excited people like them.
The Chinese fans cheered because they knew what the goal meant.
That's what the commentator He Feng didn't dare to say:
It is a foregone conclusion that the Chinese team will qualify from the group early!
The Chinese team, which has a two-goal lead, cannot turn over!