The Chinese fans in the stands burst into loud cheers. In fact, they also knew that the chance of defeating the Brazilian team was very slim, and it was an unexpected surprise to score a goal.
Even the Brazilian commentator was shocked by Ding Huaiyi's handsome ox-tail action just now: "Oh! What a beautiful move. The Chinese team got a goal back, but most of the credit goes to the person who assisted."
Shortly after Zou Weijia scored, the referee blew the whistle for the end of the game. In the end, the Brazilian team defeated the Chinese team 3:1. The latter's dark horse journey to the Olympics ended, while Brazil entered the championship.
In the runner-up final, they are one step closer to Brazil's first Olympic football gold medal in history.
After the game, the Brazilian coach praised the Chinese Olympic team. At this time, good words are worthless anyway.
It was rare for the domestic media to comfort the national football team after losing. Everyone summarized the game as a dignified defeat for the Chinese team. Ding Huaiyi who assisted and Zou Weijia who scored the goal were praised to a new level.
Perhaps the match against Brazil exhausted everyone's enthusiasm. Although the Chinese team had medals to win in the bronze medal match against Nigeria, everyone still paid far less attention to this match.
In recent years, the performance of Nigerian football has been relatively poor, and the status of domestic football has also declined. In addition, many players do not want to miss the club's pre-season preparations for the Olympics, including Iheanacho, Simon, Iwobi and Sukese.
All the slightly famous players such as Si are absent due to various reasons. Only Mikel, who cannot play the main role at Chelsea, is the biggest big name.
What's even more funny is that on the trip to Brazil, they had an own goal. When the team flew to the United States to transfer, they were told by the airline that the money for the air ticket from Atlanta to Rio had not yet been paid.
In this way, with 36 hours left until the start of the Olympic Games, the Nigerian Olympic team can only stay in a hotel in Atlanta, waiting for the domestic football association to help solve the air ticket problem.
Although the president of Nigeria eventually came forward to coordinate and the Nigerian Sports Ministry, which was responsible for the air tickets, settled the matter, it still made countless people laugh.
If you think this is the most ridiculous thing, you are wrong.
Before the match between Nigeria and the Chinese Olympic team, a bigger own goal occurred when the Brazilian organizing committee misplaced Nigeria's national anthem.
After the Chinese team's national anthem was played, it was Nigeria's turn to play the national anthem. The Nigerian players also looked solemn and prepared to sing along with the national anthem. However, when the singing started again, all the Nigerian players looked confused.
I have no idea what song was played at the scene. Some Nigerian fans asked each other on social networks, is this the national anthem of Venezuela or Gabon?
Perhaps affected by the national anthem own-goal incident, Nigeria's players were obviously a little distracted after the kick-off. Just half a minute after kick-off, their center back Ekong actually passed the ball to Nie Jiang when he played the ball in the backcourt.
At his feet, how could Nie Jiang let go of this great gift? He immediately rushed into Nigeria's penalty area.
Ekong, who is 1.92 meters tall, has great aerial control ability, but turning around is not enough. In order to make up for his mistake, he was left behind by Nie Jiang and knocked Nie Jiang to the ground from behind. He hoped that the referee would think that
This is legitimate physical confrontation.
However, the referee did not give him a chance to explain. Instead, he directly showed the yellow card and awarded the Chinese Olympic team a penalty kick.
Facing the penalty kick, Nie Jiang made it in one stroke, turning the score into 1:o.
The next game was easy to play. Although Nigerian players are generally very strong, their overall midfield pressure coordination is not very strong. The Chinese Olympic team began to frequently control the ball in the midfield.
, but the Nigerian side is getting more and more anxious.
In the 22nd minute of the first half, Azubuike received a yellow card for a foul on Xu Mingyu in the midfield. As a defensive midfielder, this yellow card is very fatal, which means that unless he is not worried about getting another card, Nigeria will
The midfield defense will become timid.
But Nigeria, which is lagging behind, can't control that much now. It's important to equalize the score first.
As a result, most of the Nigerian players passed the half court and attacked the Chinese Olympic team. Then the Chinese Olympic team counterattacked and they chased back desperately.
However, I have to say that the physical fitness of Nigerian players is really good. The running ability, running speed and physical confrontation ability of these players are obviously better than those of the Chinese Olympic team.
From the 33rd minute, due to the hot weather, the referee suspended the game, and both sides went to replenish water. You can see that the Nigerian side hurriedly returned to the court after replenishing water. Captain Mikel even went over to remind the referee that he hoped to hurry up.
Keep playing.
The anxious mentality of the Nigerian players almost caused them to concede another goal.
In the 37th minute, Nigeria's backcourt kicked a big kick to the frontcourt, and the pass was blocked by Du Zhenyu. Then Qin Minghao didn't make any pause after taking the ball, turned around and passed the ball to the frontcourt.
, Nie Jiang got up and was obviously faster than the Nigerian defender who still needed to turn around, and he once again got a single shot.
After reacting, Nigeria could only resort to foul tactics again. Their No. 2 Seth put his hand on Nie Jiang's shoulder and brought the high-running Nie Jiang to the ground.
The referee gave the same package of yellow cards and free kicks to Nigeria. Nie Jiang alone made Nigeria pay a heavy price.
In the last game, due to the disparity in the overall strength of the team, it was difficult for Nie Jiang to gain support from his teammates in the frontcourt. This made Nie Jiang only shoot once in one game, and the rest of the time he completely disappeared from the field.
Now the anger he had held in his chest was finally released on the court, and one person turned Nigeria's defense upside down.
When the first half ended, the Chinese Olympic team led Nigeria 1:0 and took the lead.
After the start of the second half, Nigeria changed its strategy. The center with Mikel as the core played very little, and everyone including Mikel was pulled to the wings. They began to take advantage of physical confrontation and play in relatively small areas on the sidelines.
Seeking physical confrontation, frequently attacking from both sides.
Nigeria's style of deliberately seeking confrontation and intensifying fouls in the frontcourt makes the Olympic team very uncomfortable, especially Ding Huaiyi on the left. His physical fitness is not very good, and he is a threat when he has the ball.
The players were constantly violated by Nigeria, and they became a little angry.
At the 11th minute of the second half, Ding Huaiyi was kicked in the calf from behind by the opponent's right back guard Shehu again. This time he became angry and started fighting with the opponent.
The referee hurriedly came over to separate the two people, and then called them to his side one by one. First, he gave Ding Huaiyi a yellow card, and then gave Shehu a yellow card, warning him to be careful with his little moves later.
Next, Ding Huaiyi was obviously a bit vindictive with the opponent. In the 17th minute, he insisted on taking the ball to Shehu, but the opponent used his body to carry it and intercepted the ball. Nigeria got a very good chance to counterattack.
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In order to intercept Nigeria's counterattack, Qi Ming had to pay the price of a yellow card to intercept the opponent outside the penalty area, and at the same time gave the opponent a very well-positioned free kick.
Rick Link was furious on the sidelines. After Nigeria's free kick was high, he replaced Ding Huaiyi. The score of 1:0 is indeed not a safe score. Personal emotions cannot affect the whole team.
The person who was replaced was Ni Kai, who was making his first appearance in the Olympics at this time.
Nigeria was obviously careless about Ni Kai, a skinny winger.
Both wingers, Ni Kai and Ding Huaiyi are very different. This is a player who relies on absolute speed to make a living. Shehu also thought that he was strong and could snatch the ball away from Ni Kai with just a slight lean. As a result,
, he suffered a big loss.
In the 23rd minute of the second half, Ni Kai got the ball from the wing and Shehu came to defend. As a result, Ni Kai suddenly got up completely unreasonably. Shehu also didn't expect the opponent's explosive power to be so strong.
Shehu, who was defending, was a step too late to take a step. When Ni Kai had already thrown the ball away, his foot arrived. As a result, Ni Kai was disturbed by him and rolled on the ground for no less than five times before he stopped.
Shehu was obviously frightened by Ni Kai, thinking that he had caused a major foul on the opponent. In fact, the main reason for such a visually impactful foul was the huge weight difference between the two. Shehu, who is 1.78 meters tall, is nearly 1 meter tall.
He weighs more than 140 kilograms, while Ni Kai, who is only 1.72 meters tall, only weighs just 130 kilograms.
Such a huge difference in weight made Ni Kai's violation infinitely magnified.
Rick Link on the sidelines hurriedly complained to the fourth official about Shehu's foul. The referee also rushed to the scene of the incident. Without thinking, he took out the yellow card and gave it to Shehu. Then the ruby card came out and Shehu was fined.
Got off the field.
At the same time, the team doctor from the Olympic team also rushed into the court and quickly examined Ni Kai.
Fortunately, although Ni Kai rolled very hard just now, most of it was actually to protect himself. After the team doctor sprayed his legs a few times, Ni Kai limped to his feet and was helped to the court.
Bian, after drinking some water, returned to the venue.
The Chinese team in the stands also stood up collectively and applauded Ni Kai. While encouraging him, they did not necessarily approve of him for taking the opponent's players off the field.
Nigeria, which had one less player, didn't care at this time. The head coach replaced Amuzea with Atebo. This was a substitution from frontcourt to frontcourt, and it did not reduce the number of people in the frontcourt because of the lack of defenders.
This kind of all-or-nothing substitution is all about taking a chance and changing the bicycle into a motorcycle. If it cannot change into a motorcycle, the bicycle will fall apart.
Nigeria's crazy attack really put great pressure on the Chinese Olympic team. After Aitebo came on the court, they got three shots and two corner kicks in just ten minutes.
At the 35th minute of the second half, Nigeria made another substitution. The taller Madu replaced center Ezegere. The team focused on playing high ball.
Rick Link also made targeted substitutions. Xiong Jian, who has stronger defensive ability, replaced Xu Mingyu, vowing to defend to the end.
In the 40th minute of the second half, Nigeria even used their last resort. The taller defender Ezhimya replaced Seth. Except for the midfielder Azubuike, they stayed behind.
All the team's high points were put on the field.
In the first minute of overtime, Nigeria kicked the ball into the penalty area of the Chinese team and was picked off by Zengcheng. Then Zengcheng kicked the ball into the frontcourt. Nie Jiang flew across the half-court and met Azu.
Booker went to fight for the header, but Nie Jiang, who was taller, took advantage and headed the ball ahead of Azubuike.
Without thinking, Azubuike hugged his waist and stopped Nie Jiang. After the foul, he realized that he had a yellow card. When the referee rushed over and gave him a second yellow card, he also
Don't argue, just leave.
Azubuike's sending off was a huge blow to Nigeria. The players completely lost the confidence to equalize. The Olympic team took the free kick slowly and dumped the ball into the backcourt. They delayed the decision at this time.
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When the referee blew the whistle to end the game, everyone on the Olympic team rushed into the field and began to celebrate this historic moment crazily. This was also a breakthrough for Chinese football in the history of the Olympics. They won the
Arrived at the bronze medal in the Brazilian Olympics.
A few years ago, no fan would have dared to think that the men's teams from China's three major football cities could win medals in the Olympics, especially for football. Countless people made countless excuses, and some even escalated to the so-called bad nature of the Chinese -
One Chinese is a dragon, three Chinese are three worms, and the Chinese football team is a slug. Some people ignore the history of Japan and South Korea winning Olympic bronze medals and swear that football is not suitable for yellow people, let alone Chinese people.
The Chinese team's bronze medal this time has overturned all the previous fallacies. The third place result proves that as long as there is a wide range of talent selection, scientific methods are used to train players, and enough patience, the Chinese can still play football.
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What Zhang Sheng didn't know was that in reality, after the development of the Chinese League, the Chinese team was able to defeat South Korea and Uzbekistan in the top 12, and broke one fear after another just by relying on those inexperienced players.
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In Zhang Sheng's case, with the emergence of more outstanding players, it is not inconceivable to win a bronze medal in the Olympics where many teams are not taken seriously.
In addition to the team's overall performance, the Chinese Olympic team's individual performance in this Olympics was also very good. Among them, Nie Jiang's six goals ranked alongside Germany's Gnabry and Petersen.
As for the top scorer position, even Zou Weijia scored as many goals as Neymar with 4 goals.
Nie Jiang even won the best player of the Olympic Games together with the first two.
This 18-year-old youngster has won these two honors again after the World Junior Championships. It can be said that he is very hot now.
