Meanwhile, the national team's football matches were also in full swing.
Russia is also the host country for this Confederations Cup, and this venue will also be the host of the next World Cup.
The Confederations Cup consists of eight teams, one of which is the host team, and the other seven are all champions from each continent, as well as the previous World Cup champion and the European Championship champion.
It seems like this tournament is full of champions, and the lineup looks impressive, but in reality, many national teams aren't very enthusiastic about this somewhat lackluster event.
To ensure the safety of their players, some national teams even send their second or third teams to the matches.
For example, the fact that Australia was able to defeat Brazil, the reigning World Cup champions, in 2001 speaks volumes.
Despite the pessimism, the Portuguese national team will always put in their best effort in any national competition, especially Cristiano Ronaldo, who absolutely hates losing. Even in matches that are considered unimportant, he will give his all to do his best.
However, the result was that they were extremely unlucky today.
After advancing from the group stage, they successfully entered the semi-finals to face Chile. After a hard-fought 90 minutes, the two teams played to a goalless draw, ending the match 0-0. In order to determine the winner, the two teams went to an exciting penalty shootout.
Originally, the Portuguese players were full of confidence for the penalty shootout, as they had several excellent players in their team. However, when the penalty shootout ended, the entire Portuguese team remained silent.
Especially Patricio, the team's main goalkeeper, felt very embarrassed and had an urge to crawl into a hole.
Three consecutive penalty kicks were miraculously saved by Chile's Bravo, who successfully sent Chile into the finals.
Compared to the other two, I feel like I'm just a piece of trash.
Following this match, Portuguese fans once again brought up the importance of goalkeepers.
Santos was immediately subjected to online ridicule and mockery.
After all, they all know that a very talented goalkeeper has recently emerged in the country, namely Jonas Reming, who was known as the "goalkeeper god" in Monaco last season.
Monaco's unbeaten record was created by this talented goalkeeper, who also helped the team win the Ligue 1 title and the individual Golden Glove award.
Are you blind, Santos, to be unable to see these things?
You had such a good goalkeeper, but instead you called up Patricio to be the starting goalkeeper. What kind of idiot are you? You must have a screw loose.
And most importantly, as everyone knows, Jonas Reming's skill in saving penalties is simply superb; he has almost never missed a penalty in Ligue 1 or the Champions League.
You didn't even bring such a strong player along?
"I'd heard rumors that Santos was a racist old man, and now it's practically confirmed!"
"How on earth did this old bastard Deng get chosen as head coach? What abilities does he have to get the position? There are so many excellent coaches in our country, any one of them is better than him!"
With the madman Mourinho in the past and the newly crowned Ligue 1 champion Jardim in the future, how did such an old geezer become the national team coach?
It was after this match that Ronaldo realized the importance of Thunder.
Lei Ming's penalty-saving ability is indeed very impressive, something he had witnessed during their previous sparring matches. This was why he strongly recommended Lei Ming to Santos. However, in the end, the old man did not summon Lei Ming but instead chose Patricio.
Actually, it's not that Patricio is bad; after all, he's one of the top goalkeepers in the country. But when you compare him to Lei Ming, almost anyone with eyes can see who is stronger.
In the post-match interview area, some media members were visibly excited after hearing Ronaldo's comments, as the usually composed Portuguese captain publicly criticized the coach's player selection.
"I don't understand the choice of head coach. I think he didn't take his responsibilities seriously."
"Lei Ming's unexpected failure to be selected makes me feel that he was being targeted, but I'm not quite sure who it was!"
"We could have done better and gone further, but unfortunately, we lost this game because of the penalty kick!"
As the most influential player in football today, Cristiano Ronaldo's public criticism is undoubtedly big news. Even Portugal's head coach Santos never expected that he, who had always treated the two with respect, would be betrayed after this match.
Cristiano Ronaldo's action infuriated Santos, who felt as if a player was urinating on his head. He believed that no coach in the world would tolerate such a situation, and if possible, he would definitely kick the player out of the national team.
But in reality, he was unable to do things according to his own ideas.
Because Ronaldo's influence in the national team is so great that even he has to be mindful of Ronaldo's feelings. Just think, even the president is a fan of Ronaldo, so what can he do?
Following this incident, he quickly responded, publicly stating in the media that Lei Ming had long been under his observation, but he felt that Lei Ming might be too tired after playing on three fronts simultaneously this season, and he wanted to give talented players like him more rest and better development opportunities, which is why he did not include him in the roster.
He also stated that he would definitely be called up for the next national team tournament.
Thanks to Santos' timely handling of the situation, this crisis of trust between the national team fans and players was resolved immediately.
Santos has made up his mind that he can train this guy during the next training camp, but whether or not he gets a chance to play is still up to him. As long as he's in this position, the players can't expect to get ahead of him.
...
"Lei, where have you been? I've tried calling you so many times but I can't get through."
"Something big has happened! Ronaldo publicly spoke out for you, but the head coach took the initiative to admit his mistake and even said that you might be included in the squad next time. But I think you might also be resented by this head coach! Hey, hey, are you even listening to me?!"
"Slurp~"
"Holy crap, this is amazing! Paul, it's such a shame you didn't come with me to try it!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
