Chapter 552 Group Stage Ends

RheinEnergyStadion, Cologne.

The final round of the World Cup Group B match is underway, with England and Sweden taking part.

In this game, neither Wang Li nor Beckham were included in the England team's roster, and almost all other players who could play were on the field or on the bench.

Due to Ferdinand's injury time, McLaren really made up his mind.

Regarding this match, before the game, the media thought that the England team would use the match to train their players, and the facts were similar to what they thought. Wang Li, the absolute main player, and England captain Beckham failed to enter the starting lineup, but almost all other main players were on the field.

Importantly, Rooney was in the starting lineup.

This may be McLaren's powerful response to Ferguson!!

Before the game, Manchester United coach Sir Alex Ferguson had been criticizing the England team. Ferdinand's injury made the already bitter old Sir Alex even more critical of the England team led by McClaren. And now in this game that means little to the England team, McClaren directly sent Rooney to start.

I'm afraid this has a lot to do with Ferguson's criticism. McLaren has been patient and has reached a point where he can no longer tolerate it.

What can Ferguson say?

At least Rooney wants to play. No player would object to playing in the World Cup, which is the world's top football tournament held every four years.

In fact, for the England team, the game still has some significance, such as tracing back history!

Since beating Sweden 3-1 at Wembley on May 22, 1968, England has drawn 8 and lost 4 of its last 12 games against Sweden without a single win.

England hasn't beaten Sweden for 38 years!

Such a historical record is really embarrassing for the England team, but it has no effect on McLaren's ranking and lineup. After all, those are not important. The most important thing is to achieve good results in the World Cup.

But this 'historical record' seems to mean a lot to the Swedish players. They looked very confident against England, and they became even more confident when they saw Wang Li did not play.

There are no BUG-level stars on the court. We are all mortals, so it is not surprising to win. After all, England has not beaten Sweden in 38 years. What's so surprising about losing again?

Swedish players all think so.

So, after the game started, the fans saw an excited Swedish team. Their cooperation was very smooth, and their attacks repeatedly broke through England's defense. These players all had a very good mentality for the game.

And England played very well.

After Wang Li joined the team, McLaren's game strategy was attack! attack! attack!

Although the current England team's playing style is still influenced by the team's style, their offensive strategy has changed. They use simple and direct attacks to seek more opportunities for the team, rather than staying in the backcourt ready to counterattack at any time.

This style of play is obviously more popular with fans, and the offensive battle between the two teams at the beginning of the game has made the atmosphere of the game instantly hot!

"Come on! Come on! Come on!" Similar voices filled the audience seats.

The lively sidelines of the game also made little Princess Angela in the VIP box feel much better, because there were fewer fans paying attention to her. While watching the performance of her teammates on the field, she performed the most primitive sport in the box. This exciting feeling made Wang Li and Angela somewhat intoxicated.

Young people!

Of course, this was just the impulse of two young people and not the focus of the game.

Although the Swedish team tried their best to attack and their mentality was very stable, in fact, their strength was a little worse than that of the English team. Finally, in the 34th minute, the English team won a free kick 30 meters away.

Beckham did not take the field and Joe Cole walked to the penalty spot.

"Come on, Joe! Carly will be happy if you can score!"

Seeing Joe Cole walking to the penalty spot to take the free kick, Wang Li poked his head out of the VIP box to cheer for his friend, but his words jokingly mentioned Joe Cole's girlfriend.

Then, many fans around also shouted: "Come on! Joe! If you can score, Carly will be happy!"

Soon, the shouting spread throughout the stadium, which made Joe Cole, who was standing on the stadium, extremely embarrassed. He turned around and glanced at Wang Li's VIP box, and almost started cursing.

"Fuck!! I will give him a hard time after the game!" Joe Cole thought.

At this time, Gerrard came over and wanted to take over the penalty kick from Joe Cole. After all, the fans' shouting was too loud, which would definitely affect Joe Cole's performance.

"NO! I can do it myself!"

"Carly will be happy! But I am not happy"

Joe Cole muttered angrily, then trotted forward two steps and kicked the bottom of the football. The football flew high into the air and was about to fly out of the field.

"Oh my god, it seems like the fans' shouting has a huge impact on Kerr! My~God~~~~~!!" The commentator suddenly changed the subject - "The ball went in!!"

After the football flew high into the sky, it suddenly turned and flew directly into the blind corner of the goal. Faced with this sudden change, the Swedish goalkeeper had no reaction - "Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooal!!!!!!"

The commentator shouted: "The ball is in!! The ball is in!! A world-class goal, Joe Cole kicked a world-class goal!! So beautiful!!"

"In the 35th minute of the first half, Joe Cole scored a world-class goal to help England take the lead. It was really outstanding. I think Cole's wife Carly will be very happy after the game, but perhaps the person she should thank the most is Alan."

"Even if he doesn't play, Allen will still be the focus of the game"

After scoring the goal, Joe Cole was obviously very happy.

It was a world-class shot, and he himself didn't expect that he could score a goal, but the ball went in. It has to be said that sometimes a game requires a lot of luck, and this ball also had a lot of luck involved.

Perhaps every fan present was a hero of this goal. It was their shouts that gave Joe Cole the motivation to score. He should thank the fans.

However, this is obviously not a situation that the Swedish team wants to see.

"I want to protest!! Protest!!"

After Joe Cole scored, Lagerback kept protesting in the fourth official's ear: "He affected the fairness of the game. I want to protest. Such a player should not be allowed to enter the stadium. He disrupted the order of the game."

The fourth official sent by FIFA listened to Lagerback's "protest" with a smile on his face, but he secretly despised him in his heart. When the fans in the stadium cheered just now, this old man did not protest, but now that the England team scored a goal, he protested. This behavior is too "shameless".

In fact, Wang Li's actions did not violate any rules of the game at all. He was just a spectator and did not participate in the game. From a fan's perspective, he led other fans to cheer for Joe Cole, and there was nothing wrong with that. As for the content of the cheering?

There are no restrictions.

FIFA's competition regulations are very lenient towards fans, after all, they are consumers.

Therefore, Lagerback's protest was completely groundless, and he knew it himself. It's just that these coaches like to vent their anger on the fourth official when they are in a bad mood. I'm afraid that this is the biggest purpose of FIFA allowing this fourth official to appear on the court.

Joe Cole's goal was great, but it was the only goal in the first half.

Amid the fans' expectations, both teams were still looking for offensive opportunities after the start of the second half. This time England's luck was not so good, as Sweden scored first and equalized the score.

The goal was scored by the opponent's midfielder Auerbach. In the 51st minute, Auerbach received a corner kick from the left side by Lindroth and headed the ball directly into the goal!

It is worth mentioning that this is also the 2000th goal in the history of the World Cup.

1:1, the two teams are back to the same starting line.

As the most luxurious team in the world, in front of so many fans and media, the England team obviously did not want to admit defeat easily. After the game resumed, they launched a strong attack on the Swedish team's half.

For a while, this powerful offensive pressure made it difficult for the Swedish team to launch a decent counterattack, and the English team took the advantage on the field.

And this time, Steven Gerrard made a contribution!

In the 80th minute of the game, Gerrard received a pass from Joe Cole and headed the ball directly into the penalty area, scoring the leading goal for England.

All the fans in the stadium cheered for the goal, and Wang Li also applauded Gerrard to celebrate.

From Wang Li's point of view, Gerrard's header was absolutely beautiful and his performance was much better than Lampard's.

Perhaps many fans and media think that the levels of Gerrard and Lampard are similar, but Wang Li thinks Gerrard is stronger than Lampard.

This is the influence of the environment.

At Chelsea, Lampard is always surrounded by a group of outstanding teammates. His task is only to make the team's offense smoother, and that's all, because he doesn't have to worry about the team's goals at all.

But Gerrard is different. In Liverpool, Gerrard is the star player. The other players are far behind Gerrard in terms of fame or strength.

That's why many fans say that Liverpool is Gerrard's one-man team.

In this football environment, Gerrard must play better to ensure the team's performance. Maybe the strength of Gerrard and Lampard is not much different, but in terms of the ability to seize opportunities, Gerrard is much better than Lampard.

At least judging from the number of goals scored by the two each season, as well as the player performances judged by the FA and UEFA, Gerrard always performs better than Lampard.

And now, Gerrard has scored another World Cup goal.

"Beautiful! Gerrard's performance is still outstanding. When Lampard was injured, he led the entire England attack with his own ability. This time he acted as the savior and England took the lead again!!"

Savior, it might be better to say this word after the game.

Because 10 minutes later, when the game reached the 90th minute, Larsson became the savior of Sweden!!

In the 90th minute, Edman threw the ball into the penalty area from outside the left sideline. Taking advantage of Campbell's mistake, Larsson scored from five meters away and made a light volley, equalizing the score for Sweden in the final moments of the game.

However, even though they scored a goal and the score became a draw, the Swedish players were not in a good mood, because the other game was only halfway through. No matter which other team won, the Swedish team would face the embarrassing situation of being eliminated from the group stage with three draws and three points.

At this moment, except for the England team which is certain to qualify, everyone is waiting for the result of another Group B match.

The teams of Trinidad and Tobago and Paraguay obviously already knew the results of the match between England and Sweden, so they all saw hope of advancing - as long as they won the game!

In the second half of the game, both teams could almost be described as attacking frantically. Everyone wanted to score a goal first, and then as long as they could keep the goal clean, they would be able to qualify from the group.

The result once again proves a proverb from an ancient oriental country: When the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman gains!

In the end, the two teams tied 0:0. After the Swedish team experienced a difficult 45 minutes in the locker room, they received this news.

All the Swedish players were excited!

All Swedish fans are boiling!

All Swedish supporters were excited!

At this time, a post-match press conference was being held at the RheinEnergy Stadium in Cologne. McLaren was expressing his views on the game with a calm face, while the Swedish head coach faced the reporters' questions with a gloomy face.

But the next moment, a voice suddenly came from the microphone next to the Swedish coach's ear, and then the old coach's face was immediately filled with smiles, and he was completely different from before.

Lagerback's on-the-spot facial expression made all the reporters and media in the hall understand what was going on. A large group of reporters immediately rushed from McLaren to Lagerback to interview the old coach about his feelings.

Life has its ups and downs like this!!

After Sweden qualified, reporters became interested in the team again. In fact, the Swedish team performed well in this game.

Before the game, fans from almost half of the world were optimistic that the "Three Lions" would end the 38-year curse of not beating Sweden - even though England did not field its entire main lineup.

The Swedish team used the game to prove that the current World Cup does not belong entirely to young people.

At critical moments, veterans are often more useful than young people. In the 90th minute, Larsson's goal stopped the England fans who were ready to start cheering.

McLaren was very dissatisfied with this result.

Even with a substitute lineup, McLaren felt that they should have won the game, after all, the opponent was just Sweden, that's all.

It is gratifying that Larsson, the offensive hero of this game, is full of respect for England. Before the game, he also complimented England as the most likely team to win the World Cup.

“If they work together, England will really succeed.”

In an interview with the media, Larsson said: "But I am a shooter. It is my job to kick the ball into the goal. And the feeling after scoring a goal is also a comfort to me."

Sweden had plenty of chances in the first two games, but Larsson failed to score each time. Fortunately, he did not suffer that disappointment again against England.

After the game, the media did not give a good evaluation of England, and the public's opinion was mainly focused on the mentality of the England players.

"This is an immature team."

In introducing this game, the Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport said: "They had the most gorgeous lineup, but after Alan Wong and David Beckham both missed the game, they showed immaturity."

Germany's Kicker newspaper said that England is still a 'young team' and that such a team clearly has 'Arsenal characteristics', that is, they play well when the wind is in their favor, but not at all when the wind is against them. 'England is not suitable for big games'. The article tried to express this view - 'We have seen an immature England team. If they only have this kind of England team in the World Cup, they do not have the potential to win the championship because they are completely immature and will perform poorly in big games.'

"However, England still has a great chance of winning the championship because they have a captain who can keep the morale of the team stable and a world-class star player."

This view is not just the opinion of one media outlet, in fact most fans feel the same way.

England only scored two goals in this game, but when Wang Li and Beckham were on the field at the same time, such as in the first two games, their performance can only be described as gorgeous.

Wang Li and Beckham changed the entire England team.

"No, it should be said one person!" The Sun obviously disagreed with this view.

“It was the same team when Alan wasn’t in the England team and when Alan was on the pitch, it became the unbeatable team.”

"Every player believes that Alan can score goals, so they become confident in the game, and Alan has proved time and again that he is worthy of everyone's trust."

"He is a genius who shocked the world!!!"

This is the general view of the English media. Although this may be somewhat suspected of flattering Wang Li, the fans all think it is true. At least the results of the three World Cup games have proved this.

From 6:0, 8:0, to 2:2, the gap between them is really immeasurable.

After the group stage, England will start preparing for the knockout matches. Their first opponent will be the second place in Group A of the World Cup - Ecuador!

(To be continued)