Chapter 295 The knockout match is revealed (transition chapter).
After Spain defeated Australia and advanced as the group leader, the Netherlands and Chile’s hopes of competing for the top spot in the group were completely shattered.
The two teams can now only fight to the end for the last qualifying spot!
As opponents in Group A, the match between Netherlands and Chile not only attracted the attention of fans from both countries, but also fans of the host Brazil team were particularly concerned about the outcome of the match.
As the first in Group A, Brazil's opponent in the round of 16 will be the winner of this match.
In terms of strength, the uncrowned champion Netherlands team is definitely stronger. That is why the Brazilians are not very willing to meet them in the round of 16.
Relatively speaking, Brazil has a better understanding of Chile, its old rival in South America.
Brazil and Chile have played against each other as many as 68 times in history, with Brazil winning 48, drawing 13 and losing 7, scoring 158 goals and conceding 58 goals.
In addition, Brazil's home record is 15 wins, 4 draws and remains unbeaten. In the last 12 matches between the two sides, Brazil has 10 wins and 2 draws and remains unbeaten.
Judging from these data, the Brazilian team has advantages in all aspects. If they meet Chile in the round of 16, their probability of advancing to the quarterfinals is very high.
But if the opponent is the Netherlands, Brazil's chances of advancing will be much smaller.
Brazil and the Netherlands have fought against each other 11 times in history, with Brazil winning 3, drawing 5 and losing 3, scoring 15 goals and conceding 15 goals, without gaining any advantage.
The two teams' most recent encounter was a friendly match in June 2011, where Brazil and the Netherlands drew 0:0. Going back further, it was the 2010 World Cup quarter-finals, where the Netherlands sent Brazil home with a 2:1 victory.
Therefore, almost all the Brazilian fans who came to watch the game suddenly transformed themselves into fans of the Chilean team.
They claim to be cheering for their fellow South Americans, but in fact they have their own agenda.
The match between the Netherlands and Chile was very tense, and it was obvious that the Dutch team was not yet in their best form.
Having learned the lesson from the bloodbath at the hands of Spain in the previous game, Chile made many targeted adjustments in defense in this game.
These adjustments effectively curbed the Dutch team's attack! Until the 75th minute, the score was still 0:0. Chile's goalkeeper Bravo really seemed to be on fire, blocking high and low shots and blocking all the threatening shots of the Dutch team.
This outstanding performance has completely conquered the scouts of those giants. The scouts from Barcelona have submitted a report to the club, suggesting that the club should recruit this outstanding Chilean goalkeeper after the World Cup!
If the game ends with this score, Chile will advance to the round of 16 with a goal difference of -2.
However, in the 77th minute, the first goal of the game finally came.
The Netherlands team took advantage of a corner kick and Robben passed the ball to Janmaat outside the penalty area.
The Dutch full-back who was almost beaten by Lin Quan in the previous game made a contribution in this corner kick tactic.
After stopping the ball, he did not pass it immediately, but waited for the defensive player to rush out, then passed the ball into the penalty area, assisting Fell, who replaced Sneijder, to score the first goal of the Dutch team in this game! The score became 1:0!
This goal saved the Netherlands team from the brink of elimination, and now it was Chile that fell into the abyss.
The Chilean team had to give up defensive counterattacks and attack with all their strength!
In the final stage of the game, the situation on the field turned into a situation where the Chilean team went all out to besiege the Dutch team.
However, this siege not only failed to score a goal, but also gave the Dutch team an opportunity to launch a quick counterattack.
In the 92nd minute, the 20-year-old Depay scored his first goal in the World Cup, helping the Netherlands team secure the victory.
In the end, Chile was eliminated by the Netherlands in the last round of the group stage even though a draw would have allowed them to qualify.
With Chile's elimination, the qualifying teams from Group A and Group B have all been announced.
Brazil, which ranked first in Group A, and Mexico, which ranked second, faced the Netherlands, which ranked second in Group B, and Spain, which ranked first in Group B, in the quarter-finals.
Regarding this matchup, except for the Spanish fans who were relatively detached and didn't care, the fans of the other three teams were very dissatisfied.
Mexican fans had already been wailing, feeling that their team was about to be carried away.
Fans of the host Brazil team and the uncrowned champion Netherlands team are feeling very nervous. Their opponents are very strong and the game is bound to be very intense. Neither team is absolutely sure of advancing.
However, there is also good news for the Netherlands and Brazil. After avoiding Spain, the two teams will not encounter Spain before the final.
However, in addition to Spain, there are many strong teams in this World Cup, and it is not easy to reach the finals.
After the matches of Group A and Group B ended, the final round of matches of other groups also began.
In Group C, the Japanese team suffered a 1:4 defeat to Colombia in the final round, and ultimately ended their World Cup journey with a poor record of 1 draw, 2 losses, 2 goals scored, 6 goals conceded.
The Japanese team is not a traditional strong team, and their best result in the World Cup was only the round of 16, so this result is not surprising.
However, the elimination of the Japanese team still caused Asian fans, especially those in East Asia, to wail.
The Japanese men's football team is considered to be the strongest in East Asia, but even they were beaten so badly in the World Cup. If other teams were to play, the results would probably be even worse.
Compared with the Japanese team, the Greek team, which suffered a crushing defeat to Colombia in the first game, performed a miracle.
After a crushing defeat in the first round and a draw with the weak Japanese team in the second round, the Greek team defeated Côte d'Ivoire in the last round.
Côte d'Ivoire also became the second team in this World Cup that could have qualified with a draw but was eliminated.
In Group D, Italy lost 0:1 to Uruguay in the last round and was also eliminated when a draw would have allowed them to qualify.
As for another European team, England, they drew 0:0 with Costa Rica, which had no desire to win, and were eliminated at the bottom of the group with a record of 1 draw and 2 losses.
In the end, the teams that advanced from Group D were Costa Rica and Uruguay. The two South American teams had the last laugh, while the two European teams went home.
As the qualifying teams from the two CD groups were confirmed, their matches in the knockout rounds were also revealed.
In the quarter-finals, Colombia, the first in Group C, will face Uruguay, the second in Group D.
Greece, second in Group C, will face Costa Rica, first in Group D.
It is worth mentioning that if Spain defeats Mexico and advances to the quarterfinals, their quarter-final opponents will be between Costa Rica and Greece.
In Group E, the two teams that qualified were France and Switzerland, while two teams from America, Honduras and Ecuador, were eliminated.
In Group F, Argentina defeated Nigeria 3:2 in the last round and advanced to the next round as the group leader with three wins.
The game was very dramatic, with Messi scoring a goal just three minutes into the game.
As a result, Moussa on the opposite side equalized the score in the 4th minute, Boss Mei scored another goal in the 45th minute, and Moussa equalized again in the 47th minute.
Messi is beginning to doubt his life. Who is this guy? Why is he so powerful?
Fortunately, Argentina's third goal was not scored by Messi, and Musa on the opposite side seemed to have lost his magic and failed to equalize the score again.
Although Argentina won all three games, the outside world is even more pessimistic about them.
Before Rojo scored this goal, all of Argentina's goals came from Messi.
If Spain is only a little dependent on Lin Quan, then Argentina would have been eliminated long ago without Messi! They have many shooters in the frontcourt, but the performance of these shooters is really disappointing.
Higuain, Aguero, Di Maria and others did not score a single goal in three games. This poor performance is a far cry from their outstanding performance in their respective clubs!
Fortunately, Argentina's opponent in the round of 16 is Switzerland, which is not very strong, so Argentina has time to adjust its condition.
Iran, another Asian team in Group E, had a similar final record to Japan, with 1 draw and 2 losses, and was eliminated at the bottom of the group.
Moreover, they scored one goal less than Japan, scoring only one goal and conceding four goals in three games.
This huge gap once again made Asian fans feel extremely frustrated and pessimistic.
Including Australia, the transfer student, three of the four Asian teams have been eliminated, leaving only South Korea.
The South Korean team, which has one draw and one loss in two rounds, theoretically still has a chance of qualifying, as long as they win a big victory over Belgium, the group leader, in the last round.
Before the game, South Korean fans were clamoring on the Internet.
They say Japan and Iran are scum.
Only the South Korean team can defend the dignity of Asia, and the South Korean team is Asia’s last hope, etc., which is just flattering words.
They seemed to really regard themselves as saviors, and firmly believed that the South Korean team would be able to create a miracle in the final round and become the only Asian team to make it out of the group stage.
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However, the South Korean team failed to create a miracle. Instead, they lost 0:3 even though their opponent was given a red card. This caused all the balls under their crotches before the game to become boomerangs, attracting criticism from countless Asian fans.
"Koreans, stop pretending to be dead and come out and take a walk!"
"Where are those guys who shouted before the game that they looked down on Japan and Iran? Don't they dare to show up?"
"Haha, they used exaggerated acting skills to trick themselves into getting a red card. They outnumbered their opponents for most of the game, but still got beaten so badly. How can they be the pride of Asia? They are clearly the shame of Asia!"
"What do you know? In a parallel universe, the South Korean team has already beaten Germany and Spain and reached the top of the world!"
"Haha, it's worthy of being the country of origin of the universe!"
With the South Korean team's crushing defeat and elimination, all Asian teams participating in this World Cup were wiped out, becoming the first continent to be completely wiped out.
Moreover, they had difficulty winning any of their 12 games, achieving a dismal record of 3 draws and 9 losses, scoring 6 goals and conceding 27 goals.
This is definitely the darkest moment for Asian teams in the World Cup!
With the disastrous defeat of Asian teams in the World Cup, many Asian countries have been awakened and realized the gap between them and football powers. As a result, more and more young Asian players have begun to study abroad.
Their choice of studying abroad is no longer limited to the five major leagues. Asian players are beginning to appear in leagues like the Portuguese Super League, Russian Super League, Dutch Eredivisie and Belgian First Division.
It is worth mentioning that in this game, De Bruyne played very well. He scored one goal and sent two assists, scoring all the goals by himself! De Bruyne was therefore awarded the MVP of the game, and was praised by the Belgian national team coach Marc Wilmots after the game.
"Kevin is an outstanding player. His creativity on the field amazes me. With him, the football seems to have countless possibilities!"
Marc Wilmots is a coach who started out as an attacking midfielder, so he has a strong preference for players like De Bruyne who play the same position as himself.
After training in the Bundesliga and the Premier League, De Bruyne grew quickly and became the core of Belgium's midfield early on.
With him, the European Red Devils look strong and it seems that they can compete with other favorites for the title of this World Cup!
Moreover, Belgium's opponent in the round of 16 is the United States, which is not very strong, so their probability of advancing to the quarterfinals is very high.
As for the semi-finals, it depends on whether they can get past Argentina!
If they can get past Argentina, Belgium will face Spain in the semi-finals.
Lin Quan and De Bruyne may appear on the field as opponents for the first time! …
After the match with Australia, Spain began preparing for the knockout stage.
Although the outside world generally believes that Mexico cannot cause much obstacles to Spain, Spain itself dare not be so careless.
There are three group matches after all. If you lose one, you can just make up for it in the next two.
But the knockout round is a decisive match, and if we fail, there will be no recovery.
As the number one favorite to win the World Cup, if they fail to win against Mexico, they will be scolded to death by the fans.
"Mexico is not weak. We cannot face them with the mentality that our opponents are not as good as us in the world rankings and look down on them!"
During the pre-match preparations, Bosque gathered the players together and did some hard ideological work.
He felt that the team's consecutive victories could easily make the players develop a mentality of complacency and underestimation of the opponent, so it was necessary to give them a warning.
Especially the main central defender Ramos. As a defender, this guy actually dreamed of becoming a striker.
He runs forward boldly in every attack, and the desire to score a goal is almost written on his face.
Bosque could see that Ramos was very excited.
This guy has scored 2 goals so far and is the second-highest scorer in the Spanish team, second only to Lin Quan.
For a defender, there is reason to be excited about scoring so many goals.
However, the defender's job is to defend, and scoring goals is the responsibility of the forward. If everyone goes to attack, who will guard the goal?
After being scolded, Ramos felt a little depressed.
His mood seemed to be much lower, but fortunately Bosque did not kill him completely. He allowed Ramos to leave his own half and go to the opponent's penalty area to participate in the attack when the team executed set-piece tactics.
Although Ramos is not very tall, his heading ability is extraordinary. Such excellent heading ability really needs to be put to good use.
After all, there are not many tall players in the Spanish team. Although Pique is very tall, his heading skills are average and not as good as Ramos.
Therefore, when executing set-piece tactics, allowing Ramos to participate in headers can effectively improve the Spanish team's header threat ability.
Lin Quan did not participate in heading training. With his height, it was too difficult for him to compete for headers in the penalty area.
Bosque arranged for him to conduct special penalty kick training with several shooters.
Because of conservative tactics and strong defense, penalty shootouts often occur in the knockout stages of the World Cup.
If you don't practice penalty kick tactics in a targeted manner, if you are dragged into a penalty shootout, you will really have to rely on luck.
The forwards had no objection to Bosque's arrangement, but they were very dissatisfied with the goalkeeper who was arranged to practice with them.
"David, is it your habit to save penalties in only one direction?"
After scoring 10 consecutive penalties, Lin Quan stopped the ball and asked De Gea with some confusion.
(End of this chapter)