Chapter 23 Chapter 23 How many times did I look back...
During the European U17 competition, a scandal that shocked the football world broke out in Italy. Gazzetta dello Sport released the recording and transcript of the phone call between Juventus general manager Moggi and the Serie A referee designator.
Shortly after the "Phone Gate" broke out, the president and vice president of the Italian Football Association resigned one after another, the Juventus board of directors resigned collectively, and eventually Juventus was relegated, Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio were deducted points, and Juventus was deprived of the league championship for nearly two years. The former "Little World Cup" quickly declined.
Several players of the Italian team were involved in the incident, including the most watched Italian goalkeeper Buffon.
Against such a turbulent background, the 2006 World Cup in Germany opened. The old king of football, Pele, appeared with the World Cup trophy in his hands and the German supermodel Claudia, attracting the attention of the whole audience.
The opening match was between the host Germany and Costa Rica. In order to see the Lion King Kahn, Leandri and Eric bought the home game tickets early. It's a pity that after the Golden Bomber Klinsmann took over the coaching of the German national team, he not only took away Kahn's position as the main goalkeeper, but also deprived him of his captain's armband. The current German goalkeeper is Lehmann who plays for Arsenal.
Although we didn't see the Lion King's demeanor, Lehmann is also an interesting person. He was spotted by Wenger at the "advanced age" of 34 and brought to England from Dortmund. In his first season in the league, he conceded only 0.68 goals per game. Although this guy used to say things like "I should be Germany's No. 1 goalkeeper" and "I'm better than Kahn" all over the world, in fact, this German, like his good friend Bierhoff, the king of headers, is highly educated, a rare sight in the football world. He has always believed that goalkeepers need to learn more in order to be more focused.
After taking a look at Kahn who was sitting bored on the bench, Leandri's attention was immediately attracted by the players entering the field.
The referee on duty was Horacio Elizondo from Argentina. With his whistle, the World Cup officially kicked off.
In the 5th minute, 22-year-old Bayern youngster Lahm received a pass on the left side of the court, made a sudden stop sideways to get rid of the opponent's defensive player, and just as he stepped into the penalty area, he found the gap left by Costa Rica's defense against Klose and shot!
This world-class shot into the dead corner left Costa Rican goalkeeper Porras helpless. As soon as the ball kicked off, the home team Germany got off to a dream start.
Leandri stood up and cheered with the German team to celebrate. Although they were not their home team, who wouldn't give their applause to such a high-level world-class goal?
In the 11th minute, the German team failed to create offside and Wanchope equalized the score with a single shot.
In the 16th minute, Schneider chested the ball and went deep inside, then knocked the ball back to Schweinsteiger who came forward to receive the ball near the right corner. The little pig dribbled past two defenders and sent the ball into the small penalty area. Klose stretched his legs and shoveled the ball directly into the net!
The whole audience cheered again!
Leandri heard a small voice behind him that sounded excited but also a little restrained.
In the 60th minute, Borowski passed the ball to the advancing Lahm from the left, and Lahm lifted the ball into the penalty area near the baseline, Klose!
Header!
The ball hit the post and bounced off.
It was Klose again, shooting the ball with his left leg. Bolas, who hadn't stood up yet, could only watch the ball fly into the penalty area over his head.
Klose scored twice!
With a score of 3-1, Germany could basically win the game, and German fans began to wave the national flag in the stands to celebrate.
Leandri heard a familiar voice behind him, calling out "Mino! Happy birthday!"
Indeed, today is Klose's 28th birthday. He wished himself a happy birthday with two goals on his birthday, accompanied by the applause of German fans all over the world.
Leandri looked back and felt that the person looked familiar, so he searched his mind carefully again.
Wide face, acne, and golden hair.
Oh, it’s the German midfielder who didn’t exchange jerseys with him before.
"Hello, you are here too." Leandri took the initiative to greet the German in English.
Kroos also recognized the Spanish goalkeeper sitting in the row in front of him, raised the corner of his mouth and nodded politely to Leandri in response.
The game started again and the two didn't talk much. When Leandri turned his attention back to the court, he noticed that there was someone sitting next to Kroos who looked somewhat similar to him. He should be his younger brother.
The two Kroos brothers should have a good relationship, Leandri thought, after all, Tony kept the jersey of his last European U17 game for his younger brother.
The game resumed and Wanchope scored again, with only one goal difference between the two sides.
In the 78th minute, Klinsmann replaced Klose with Neuville. When Klose ran to the sidelines, all the German fans in the stadium celebrated for him and affirmed his contribution on the field today.
Leandri heard Toni Kroos talking to his brother about Klose again.
The opening match ended with Germany defeating Costa Rica 4-2, and the host country continued to maintain its unbeaten record in the first match. Before the game ended, Ryan said hello to the two brothers behind him.
In this World Cup, Spain is placed in Group H, together with Ukraine, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia, so there is basically no big obstacle for them to qualify.
On June 14, Spain faced Ukraine, a strong group opponent, at the Leipzig Central Stadium.
Nuclear warhead Shevchenko played with an injury. This was the first time that the stunning "White Ronaldo" participated in the World Cup. Today was his World Cup debut.
Although Raul did not start, goals from Alonso, Villa and Torres helped Spain win the first match, with Villa scoring twice from a free kick and a penalty.
Spain won their first World Cup victory 4-0.
On June 20, Spain easily defeated Tunisia 3-1.
On June 23, they beat Saudi Arabia 1-0.
Spain won all the games in the group stage and advanced. In the last match against Saudi Arabia, Raul saw Leandri sitting on the sidelines after the game and took the initiative to come over and put his jersey in his hand. Casillas, who did not play, also came over in a refreshing outfit and chatted with the two of them.
Leandri also saw Fabregas, who was staying affectionately beside Xavi and Iniesta. Seeing Leandri surrounded by Raul from afar, he also came over.
When the few of them were still in La Fabrica, Leandri always had conflicts with Pique and they confronted each other openly and secretly several times. The relationship between Fabregas and Leandri became smoother as their mediation skills improved.
Considering that Fabregas has been inexplicably blamed several times on the field, and compared with the bad-tempered Pique, Fabregas is considered to be the player with the best impression of Leandri in Barcelona.
When Leandri saw Fabregas, his mind was filled with the fact that Pique traveled more than 300 kilometers every week to cook for Fabregas.
"Cesc, is the food cooked by Pique delicious?" Leandri was really curious, but his relationship with Pique was not very good. After knowing each other for so many years, he never thought of calling him by his name.
"British food is simply inhumane. Every day... I miss Spanish food so much. Gerrard is a great cook and will cook for me..." Fabregas, who was substituted by Xavi, had almost rested. He angrily complained about the mind-boggling British cuisine and gave Leandri a brief introduction to the famous delicacy "Looking Up at the Stars". He said that if Wenger hadn't been so good, he would have run back to Spain long ago. All these things made Leandri stunned.
Spain, which had a smooth group stage and qualified as the first place, was originally looking forward to playing against Switzerland or South Korea. On paper, France was definitely first in this group.
As a result, the French team drew 0-0 with Switzerland and drew 1-1 with South Korea. The situation was so urgent that they almost had to pack up and leave after the group stage. Fortunately, they beat Togo 2-0 in the last game and Switzerland also beat South Korea, so they barely advanced with a one-point advantage.
The two teams competed for the last spot in the quarterfinals at the Lower Saxony Stadium in Hannover. Coincidentally, this game was also Raul's birthday and his 99th appearance for the national team.
But today Raul did not have the same luck as Klose. Zidane and Abidal returned to the French team after suspension. Pablo of Spain scored the first goal. Ribery, Vieira and Zidane scored three goals through Casillas' goal. Finally, Spain was eliminated by France 3-1.
Leandri met the depressed Spanish Real Madrid team after the game. Ramos was particularly sad. Vieira's header hit Ramos' leg and then deflected into the net.
In the quarter-finals, Leandri accompanied his youth training coach Redondo on the sidelines to watch Argentina being eliminated by Germany on penalties. The angry Redondo chose to immediately enter vacation mode and stay away from the upsetting Germany.
The final was held at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, and the referee was Horacio Elizondo, who had played in the opening match.
Leandri was sitting in the stands on the French team's side, and coincidentally, the German Kroos brothers were sitting next to him.
In more than a month, they met three times. There were so many connections that Ryan wondered how many 500 times they had looked at each other in their previous lives.
Both of their national teams were eliminated one after another, and they happened to meet each other several times. Now they sat together openly and talked about the situation on the field. It must be said that Germans generally speak very good English, and there is no big obstacle for them to communicate. The regular season has not yet decided the champion, and it is now overtime.
"Wow!" they both exclaimed.
Horacio Elizondo then raised a red card high to Zidane!
The big screen replayed the slow motion of what had just happened on the field. In the eyes of all the fans, Zidane did not make any further explanations. He took off the captain's armband and slowly walked out of the stands. When he passed by the Hercules Trophy, he didn't even look back!
The penalty shootout ended with Italy winning the championship. Totti, wrapped up like a wolf, bowed his head to kiss the World Cup. They could have another star embroidered on their blue jersey, and Italian football could also take a breather.
After the celebration, the fans left one after another. Toni Kroos recalled that they had played against each other and had met by chance before. He, who was not sociable by nature, suddenly asked, "When are you going back to Spain? Do you want to play in Germany for a while?"
Felix looked at his brother with a strange look. Tony rarely took the initiative to have further communication with others.
"Have you been in Berlin recently?" Leandri asked.
"No, I'm going back to Munich tomorrow."
Felix: ...Brother, are you really inviting your friends to hang out?
Leandri thought about it. He didn't have any German friends yet. Tony's enthusiasm was a little cold, but he didn't reject it. "Okay, I haven't been to Munich yet."
After agreeing on a departure time for tomorrow, Leandri said goodbye to the Kroos brothers and asked Eric to go back first. He was going to find Zidane, who might be crying with regret in his heart but was as hard as a diamond on the outside.
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