June 30th is the bye day after the third round of the group, but it is also the last training day for the quarter-finals the next day.
The last training session of the day was acclimatization training at the respective competition venues. The training time was exactly the same as the competition time, both at 9 p.m.
After adapting to the field training, the head coach of the participating team will attend a pre-match press conference to answer questions of concern to some media reporters.
After doing all this, the team left the stadium and returned to the hotel to rest and wait for tomorrow's game.
Back at the hotel, head coach Qin Lin called Zhang Qinghuan to his room alone.
"Actually, I called you here because I want to tell you something..." Qin Lin said, "You will start in tomorrow's game."
While saying these words, Qin Lin had been observing Zhang Qinghuan and found that Zhang Qinghuan had a calm face and showed no signs of surprise or excitement.
Then he smiled and asked him: "Why do you react so flatly?"
Zhang Qinghuan said: "Brother Lin, we have been practicing 352 for so many days, can I still not guess it?"
Qin Lin smiled, raised his hand and patted his shoulder: "For tomorrow's game, perform normally and don't think too much."
Zhang Qinghuan nodded: "Okay."
After signaling Zhang Qinghuan to leave, Qin Lin also went out and knocked on the door of assistant coach Ding Gaoyi.
After Ding Gaoyi opened the door, he immediately asked: "How is it? Is there any new news from Burkina Faso?"
"You're here by chance, their pre-match press conference is being shown on TV." Ding Gaoyi pointed to the TV that was playing.
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A Chinese reporter raised his hand and wanted to ask a question.
Maxime Lenormand, the French coach of the Burkina Faso national team who was sitting on the stage, pointed at him, indicating that he could ask questions.
The Chinese reporter stood up, first greeted Lenormand politely, introduced himself, and then asked: "We noticed that the four players who were injured in the previous game against the Korean team and three of them did not practice with the team.
, I would like to ask Mr. Lenormand, can they catch up with the Chinese team?”
Lenormand smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Oh no... I hope they can catch up with the match against the Chinese team, but the team doctor told me that the situation is not optimistic. The only thing I am thankful for is that our main center back Oladapo caught up
Playing this game gave us more confidence when we defended..."
Then he talked about "faith":
"Although we are missing three very important players, Burkina Faso is a united team and our combat effectiveness will not be affected by the absence of individual players. Anyone who has watched our games understands this
One point. All players will work very hard to make up for the negative effects of the absence of their teammates...
"Being able to reach the knockout stages of the World Cup is already a great achievement for us, and it is inevitable to pay a heavy price. We have no right to complain. We can only accept our fate calmly and go all out.
"I know the host country is strong. But we came to the World Cup and became the only African team to reach the top 16. At this moment, we are by no means fighting alone. We are fighting for the honor of African football.
"
When he said this, Lenormand's expression was calm, his tone was gentle, and his words were clear, giving people a feeling of being unhurried and not impatient, as if he was really not worried about the absence of the team's main players.
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Qin Lin crossed his arms and stood in front of the TV, watching Burkina Faso's pre-match press conference.
Then he asked Ding Gaoyi: "Do you think he is in the old suspicion formation?"
Ding Gaoyi shook his head: "I can't tell. Lenormand has always had this style. How else would our national media give him the nickname 'Confucian and handsome'? On such a hot day, he still has to button up the collar of his shirt."
, wearing a tie, wearing a suit...at least the demeanor is nothing to say."
Qin Lin couldn't find any useful clues from Lenormand's speech.
Before the game, the head coach talks loudly or acts very firm. These are common methods used by everyone.
He also said at the pre-match press conference that the Chinese team will go all out in this game, and he also gave Burkina Faso a high hat, saying that they can defeat the South Korean team and advance to the top 16, which is "
"Light of Africa".
I wonder if if his words fell into Lenormand's ears, the other party would think that he was paralyzing him.
But I was really paralyzing him, but it wasn't just a simple piece of obedient words...
"I wonder if they have discovered that we have been secretly training 352..." Qin Lin murmured.
As a training player, Zhang Qinghuan certainly knows that the national team has been practicing 352 during this period. However, externally, the national team still attaches great importance to confidentiality.
There were a large number of reporters present during today's field adaptation training, so Qin Lin specially arranged a simple confrontation training, and the tactics used were still 442.
He did this to deliberately confuse the African media.
Although he was playing against Burkina Faso, which was recognized as the weakest among the top 16, Qin Lin still used these deceptive tactics.
When a lion fights a rabbit, he also uses all his strength.
After all, this is a knockout stage match, completely different from the group stage.
Losing a game in the group stage is not the end of the world, there is still room for maneuver.
And in the knockout rounds...if you lose one game, you're really out.
Qin Lin didn't dare to gamble or take it lightly. He could only try his best to prepare and add as much weight as possible for victory.
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In fact, the first quarter-finals was not the game between England and Serbia.
Judging from the game sequence numbers, the game between China and Burkina Faso is the first game of the quarter-finals.
It's just that in order to allow the host fans to have a better viewing experience and to take care of the host country's TV broadcast, the match between the Chinese team and Burkina Faso, which is not a strong dialogue, and the match between England and Serbia were swapped.
It’s game time.
The match time between England and Serbia has been moved up to 5 pm. The match between China and Burkina Faso, which was originally supposed to be played at this time, will kick off at 9 pm.
A game that kicks off at nine o'clock in the evening is definitely better than a game that kicks off at five o'clock in the afternoon. On the one hand, the weather is not so hot, and on the other hand, the Chinese fans can have dinner and enjoy the game again.
For Chinese fans, the only regret is that after the nine o'clock game, if the Chinese team beats Burkina Faso, it will have to wait until tomorrow to be broadcast on "News Network" - if it is the five o'clock game, the game will be broadcast as soon as possible.
At the end, it seamlessly connected to the "News Network" of the day.
In the simple understanding of the majority of Chinese fans, being on "News Network" is really awesome.
During this World Cup, the Chinese team has appeared on "News Network" three times - each time after winning the game.
It's a pity not to be able to go to "Xinwen Lianbo" right away, but it's not a big problem. At most, it's just a day's delay.
The advantage is that before the match between the Chinese team and Burkina Faso, everyone will know who the Chinese team's opponent will be in the quarter-finals.
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"Darren Hunter! Oh! Ooooh! Aha! Hunter opened the scoring for England! It's only been twelve minutes since the game started and England are already leading!"
Amid the laughter of England commentator Matthew Cox, the Dashun Ocean Stadium seemed to be boiling.
Tens of thousands of England fans burst into loud cheers.
An England player wearing jersey No. 18 is running wildly on the pitch.
In a close-up, above his jersey number is his name:
D.HUNT
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"Hunter! Hunter! Hunter—!"
Darren Hunter dunked past the Serbian center back Dejord Ingor who was guarding him, and before the second Serbian defender pounced on him, he kicked and kicked!
Although the football was saved by Serbian goalkeeper Vladimir Ukasinovic, because Hunter's shot was too sudden, Ukasinovic was not prepared enough and just touched the ball slightly, which was not enough.
Change the rolling trajectory of the football, so the football still rushes into the goal!
“WOOOOOOOOOOOOW!
Darren Hunter! Scored twice! Oh wow! This is the first World Cup for young Hunter! He has already scored twice in the World Cup!"
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"Williams...shoot!"
Pete Williams volleyed a shot from the penalty area line, and the football went straight to the Serbian goal!
Goalkeeper Vukasinovic leaped into the air and made a sideways movement, using his hand to support the ball and the ball hit the crossbar.
But it didn't fly out of the bottom line, but bounced back to the door!
There was chaos in Serbia's small penalty area.
In the chaos, it was Darren Hunter again. With his excellent jumping ability, he jumped up and hit the ball through the Serbian players!
The football was pushed toward the goal!
This time Ukasinovich was still on the ground, but he could no longer make a save!
Everyone watched helplessly as the football flew into Serbia’s goal for the third time...
Matthew Cox put his head in his hands and screamed:
“HUUUUUUUUUUUUUNT!
! Unbelievable! It’s simply unbelievable! The first hat-trick of this World Cup was born! From Darren Hunter, who is only 22 years old! Ladies and gentlemen, this is his first World Cup!
He has scored four goals and is tied for first place with Hu on the scorer list!"
After Darren Hunter saw the football flying into the goal, he pushed away the Serbian captain Milos Vukovic who was blocking him, and ran towards the corner flag while shouting wildly.
Then he gave a military salute to the cheering England fans in the stands - this was his signature celebration!
And those England fans also responded to him with the same military salute.
Behind the excited England players were the miserable Serbian players.
Vukovich, who was pushed so hard that he almost sat on the ground, showed no anger, only an expression of despair and pain on his face.
At the 71st minute of the game, Serbia was already three goals behind. In the remaining game time, it was too difficult to come back from defeat...
Vukovich's first World Cup trip is likely to end here.
He also wants to break into the top eight and join forces with Hu Lai...