Chapter 314 The final is coming, and one billion viewers around the world are watching!
While the coaches of the two teams were busy fighting, the battle for third and fourth place in the 2014 World Cup kicked off.
The host Brazil team, which was slaughtered by the German team, faced its South American compatriot Argentina at the National Stadium in Brasilia.
Both teams are in the same boat, and their dreams of participating in this World Cup were shattered. They had to watch the Europeans meet in the World Cup finals for the third time in a row on their own doorstep.
This is the darkest moment for both teams and even for South American football as a whole.
Latin football, which once led the development of football, gradually lost its advantage in the competition with European football and even began to fall behind the times.
This result has caused countless South American football players to reflect: Have we really taken the wrong path?
If the trend continues, will South American football still have a future? No one can answer this question for them, so they have to find the answer themselves.
If they don't want the next World Cup to become a backdrop for European performances, they must start reforming now.
That being said, pondering the future of South American football should be left for another day.
Now let’s think about how to defeat the opponent in this game!
The feud between the two teams was already deep, and at this time they both needed a victory to stabilize their morale.
Therefore, under the new and old grudges, the game was played very unrestrainedly.
Although Neymar is missing, Thiago Silva's return has made Brazil's defense much stronger, and it is no longer easily broken like in the previous game.
Without the pressure of results, the performance of Argentina's strikers has improved significantly.
The condition of several of their front players, including Messi, has improved visibly.
In the 7th minute, Messi scored with a single shot, changing the score to 1:0!
In the 11th minute, Brazil scored a goal using a set-piece tactic. The goal was scored by their captain, Thiago Silva, who had just returned from suspension.
In the 24th minute, Higuain showed his shooting qualities. He received a pass from Messi in the penalty area, seized the fleeting opportunity, and calmly shot into the far corner, helping the team take the lead again.
The score became 2:1. Brazil immediately launched a counterattack. Oscar completed a long shot in the middle, but Romero focused and saved the ball.
But Brazilian striker Fred suddenly appeared like a ghost, completed the follow-up shot in front of the goal, and scored the ball, helping Brazil to equalize the score again.
The fans who came to watch the game were not in a very high mood. Their team had lost hope of winning the championship and could only fight for a worthless third place, which made them a little demotivated.
But after the game started, the wonderful performances between the two teams, the intense attacks and the dense goals stimulated their adrenaline and made them feel that the trip was worthwhile.
Not only the fans who came to the scene had this feeling, but also those fans who sat on the sofa at home and watched the game on TV had similar feelings:
"If they had shown this form earlier, they might have made it to the finals!"
"Yeah, the Brazilian team was just unlucky, and the Argentine team just messed themselves up!"
"Argentina and Spain are in the same half of the group. It seems their luck is not much better than Brazil's..."
"If Argentina were in the top half, maybe they could beat Germany and advance to the final!"
"It's hard to say. In the past two World Cups, Argentina has been defeated by Germany. They may not be able to beat this German team."
"I think FIFA needs to come up with a solution. Why not just put the two strong South American teams into the same semi-region? That way, they can guarantee a spot in the finals, and there won't always be civil wars in Europe!"
The World Cup is said to be a feast attended by all teams from all over the world, but there are huge regional differences in the level of football among continents.
So the World Cup is actually a stage for European football and South American football to compete against each other, and the main theme has always been the confrontation between these two regions.
Others, such as Africa, North America and Asia, can only act as spoilers at best.
The weak Asia is not even a spoiler and has completely become a gift-giver in this World Cup.
In this case, if South America continues to decline, European teams will really become the only dominant force, which is not a good thing for increasing the ratings and international influence of the World Cup.
"Come on, even if these two teams are really put into the same half, who can guarantee that they won't be defeated by a strong European team?"
"You're right. There are too many strong teams in Europe. Germany, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, these six teams are not to be underestimated. No one knows if they will suddenly explode in the next World Cup. So, unless FIFA manipulates the game openly, there is still no guarantee that South American teams will advance to the finals!"
"In my opinion, the best way to make a good football is to work hard on yourself. Instead of relying on the lottery and the division, it is better to work hard to improve your football level."
Many European fans feel that after experiencing a series of failures, Latin Americans should lower their proud heads and learn from Europe's advanced ideas.
After all, European teams have proved with their outstanding records and honors that European football is the direction of development of modern football.
The strength of European football is based on the high-level training of the five major leagues and strong youth training transfusions.
European countries are generally wealthy, have large middle-class populations, and relatively sound social welfare systems.
They have a large football population and a large number of young people who are engaged in football but are unable to make a living from it.
This makes their professional football system run very stably and healthily, which is completely different from the Chinese Super League and those money-burning leagues of the Middle Eastern tycoons.
However, Latin America lacks such conditions. Their outstanding local players have gone to Europe to seek their fortune, and their own leagues have limited appeal to these top stars.
This makes it very difficult for them to improve the level of the Brazilian and Argentine Leagues.
The fans discussed it over and over again, but couldn't come up with any better solution.
Some people even suggested that since the local league cannot be developed, we should just send as many outstanding local players as possible to Europe to play football.
This is exactly what some countries in Asia are working on!
South American players can fully utilize the platform of the five major leagues to train and improve their abilities, and even learn advanced European football concepts and bring them home.
But in this way, the style of South American football will gradually be erased and move closer to European football little by little.
Fans were discussing the game heatedly on the internet, and the two teams were also playing with sparks on the court.
After the start of the second half, Argentina launched a wave of offensive.
In the 55th minute, Messi scored his second goal of the game, helping the team take the lead again.
And his total number of goals in this World Cup has reached 8!
After Messi scored the goal, the Argentine fans who came to the scene shouted Messi's name and gave him warm cheers and applause.
Hearing the huge cheers from the fans, Messi, who had been in a bad mood since losing to Spain, finally smiled.
He smiled and waved to the fans in the stands, thanking them for their applause and cheers.
The Argentine fans were extremely excited, but the Brazilian fans next to them were angry!
This is our home ground. How can we tolerate you Argentines acting so unruly here?
They booed Messi without hesitation, and some even made insulting gestures towards him.
The Brazilian players were also deeply stimulated. While launching a fierce counterattack, they also frequently fouled Messi.
However, Argentina's condition has been completely improved. They just fouled Messi, which cannot solve the problem.
In the 75th minute, Di Maria dribbled into the penalty area and was tripped by David Luiz. The referee decisively awarded a penalty.
Judging from the slow-motion replay, there was actually nothing wrong with the refereeing of this ball.
But the problem is that the person who was violated was Di Maria, and Di Maria is a famous diver.
In recent years, Di Maria has created many penalties in European competitions, far ahead of other players.
You can say that he has strong personal strength, is good at breaking through, and is prone to fouls.
However, when it comes to breakthrough ability, Lin Quan is much better than Di Maria, right? But Lin Quan has not created as many penalties as Di Maria! The reason why Di Maria has created more penalties is mainly due to his good performance.
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Once I enter the penalty area, as long as someone touches me, I will just fall down, regardless of whether it is a foul or not.
Among the penalties created by Di Maria last season, nearly half of them were suspected of diving through slow-motion replays on television.
This made the fans give him the title of "Porcelain Man"! In the last game against Spain, Di Maria had such a performance in the penalty area.
And this time, the victim was the host Brazil team.
The Brazilians were naturally unhappy! In the National Stadium in Brasilia, calls of black whistles and insults against the players were heard one after another.
Brazilian fans wanted to rush into the stadium and kill Di Maria! However, the referee did not change his mind because of the protests of the fans.
He insisted it was a penalty.
Messi stood on the penalty spot.
Facing Cesar, Messi still chose to kick the ball into the upper left corner of the goal.
The opponent was so skilled and daring that Cesar could only sigh in despair and had no way to deal with the ball.
After scoring this goal, Messi completed his first World Cup hat trick and raised his total number of goals in this World Cup to 9! Currently, Lin Quan, who ranks first in the World Cup scorer list, has a total number of goals, no more, no less, exactly 9! This means that Messi has finally tied his opponent on this list.
If Lin Quan fails to score again in the upcoming World Cup final, he will share the Golden Boot of this World Cup with Messi.
If he can win a World Cup Golden Boot, it won't be a complete loss for Messi.
However, compared with the World Cup, this kind of personal honor may not be worth mentioning for Messi. After all, he has won four Golden Balls.
After Messi scored the penalty, the morale of the Brazilian team suffered a great blow.
They became the same as in the previous game, a little impatient, the players were in a very unstable emotional state, and received yellow cards one after another for excessive actions.
Moreover, their performance on defense was subpar and almost allowed the Argentine players to expand the score again.
Fortunately, Scolari made timely adjustments in the end to stabilize Brazil's defense.
The score of 4:2 remained until the end.
In the civil war in South America, Argentina led by Messi had the last laugh and won the third place in this World Cup.
As for the host Brazil, after losing two games, they can only rank fourth.
After the appetizers, it's time for the main course.
The day after the match between Brazil and Argentina ended, the final of this World Cup, the match between Spain and Germany, will be held at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
This stadium is very famous because it can accommodate 200,000 spectators.
The Brazilians had originally planned to witness their team win the trophy at home, but they did not expect the Brazilian team to fall in the semi-finals. The performance stage they carefully prepared ended up serving as a wedding dress for others.
However, this does not seem to be entirely a bad thing. After all, it can attract fans from Germany and Spain to watch the game and consume on site, which is of great help in boosting the local economy of Brazil.
Before the game, FIFA predicted on its official website that the number of viewers around the world watching this game tonight would likely exceed 1 billion.
This data was estimated based on the ratings of the semi-finals and the final of the previous World Cup.
In the two semi-final matches, Germany swept Brazil 7:1 and attracted a total of 390 million viewers to watch simultaneously.
In another match, in which Spain defeated Argentina 3:2, more fans watched because both teams had more stars, including superstars like Messi and Lin Quan who have many fans.
The match was watched by 670 million people, surpassing the previous record of 530 million viewers for the 2010 World Cup final in South Africa.
Therefore, FIFA's speculation that the audience number for this final may exceed 1 billion is not an exaggeration.
Before the final began, the head coaches of both teams tried to relieve the pressure on their players.
The World Cup final is a huge test for any player.
Many of them may only have one chance to stand on the finals stage in their lifetime. Once they miss the championship trophy, they will regret it.
The expectations from the outside world and the players' own nervousness and anxiety will put them under very heavy psychological pressure.
This pressure is likely to cause players to perform poorly and lose the game.
Therefore, psychological intervention is needed for the players before the game.
Both teams brought psychologists to the competition, who took turns to provide psychological counseling to the players before the game, calming their emotions and reducing their psychological pressure.
I don’t know if it will work, but if they don’t do something, they will definitely feel uneasy.
However, this work seems to be in vain.
Because, that evening, the King and Prime Minister of Spain came to the team's training base and cordially met with the team's players.
The team members, who had finally let go of their nervousness, started to get nervous again!
The situation on the German team was not much better. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also came to the team, met with and expressed her condolences to all members of the German team, and encouraged them to work hard and win glory for the country! (End of this chapter)