Chapter 540: Messi quits the national team, Lin Quan's secret weapon
While the European Cup is in full swing, the America's Cup, a football event for North and South America, is also in full swing across the ocean.
At the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, the Argentina team, which had been highly favored by all parties, once again fell in the final.
They drew 0:0 with Chile and lost 2:4 in the penalty shootout. Messi missed the championship trophy again.
The result of this game not only broke the hearts of tens of millions of Argentine fans, but also completely saddened Messi.
After the game, Argentina captain Messi announced a shocking news to the football world - he would quit the Argentina national team! "My national team career is over. I made this decision for myself and for many people who hope so. I tried very hard to win the championship with Argentina, but unfortunately, the result was not the case."
When announcing the decision, Messi's eyes were red and his voice was choked.
Obviously, this decision is very difficult and painful for Messi.
However, Argentine fans did not sympathize with him.
After the game, the internet and newspapers were filled with the voices of Argentine fans denouncing Messi.
Even though the loss was not his sole responsibility, as the captain of Argentina and the most famous and strongest player in the team, he naturally became the vent for the fans' emotions.
For Messi, this is not the worst situation.
The worst thing was that in the semi-finals of the European Cup held a few days later, Portugal led by C Luo reached the final.
If Portugal wins the final, the outside world will inevitably compare Ronaldo and Messi again.
Ronaldo, holding the European Cup trophy, is naturally more convincing than Messi, who failed again. Therefore, the doubts Messi will face will probably be even greater.
As early as after the 2010 World Cup, there has been a voice in the outside world that Messi is a system player.
His success stems from Barcelona's powerful tactical system and a large group of strong and well-coordinated teammates.
Once he leaves Barcelona, he will immediately lose his magic.
This voice was not mainstream at first, but after the failures in the 2010 and 2014 World Cups and the 2011, 2015 and 2016 America's Cups, it gradually spread around the world and even gained the approval of more and more people.
Argentina's team has a luxurious lineup, but in this situation, Messi's performance is far from his performance in the club, which makes people doubt his true strength.
Is Messi's ability really overestimated? In fact, there is another voice, mainly from Argentine fans.
They believe that Messi is not working hard for the national team, perhaps because he is afraid of getting injured and affecting his ability to make big money in the club, or perhaps because he immigrated to Spain too early and has no feelings for Argentina.
In short, Argentine fans feel that Messi did not use his full strength, otherwise Argentina would not have failed again and again, especially in the America's Cup. They have lost to Chile twice in the finals, and each time they were dragged into a penalty shootout by the opponent.
If Messi had scored a goal, the final result might have been different.
For Messi, his failure to achieve results in the national team and even his decision to quit the national team had a great impact on his personal image and commercial value.
His withdrawal from the national team can easily make people think that he is a deserter and a coward, while his failure to succeed in the national team can easily make people more firmly believe that he is a system player.
It is very easy for Messi to prove that he is not a system player. He just needs to leave Barcelona and go to another team to prove himself.
Therefore, while withdrawing from the Argentina national team, Messi also had the idea of leaving Barcelona.
…
Messi's difficult situation has also affected his fans. Fans who support Messi may not necessarily support the Argentina team, but when they see their idol so sad, they naturally feel the same way.
Therefore, the last thing they want to see now is Portugal winning the European Cup.
They felt sick when they thought about the way Ronaldo's fans jumped in the face after Portugal won the championship.
Therefore, a large number of Messi's fans went online to make remarks that belittled the Portuguese team and supported the Spanish team.
Compared to Ronaldo, they would rather see Lin Quan's Spanish team win the championship.
Firstly, Lin Quan has a good personal relationship with Messi. Lin Quan came from the La Masia youth training camp and is considered Messi's junior apprentice. There is not such a strong smell of gunpowder between the two, and the conflict between the fans of both sides is not deep.
Secondly, Lin Quan's playing style is very similar to Messi. The better Lin Quan's performance, the more he can fight back against the outside world's doubts about Messi.
Lin Quan was unaware of the battle between fans. He was busy training set pieces and was planning to make good use of them in the next game.
The French team's defense is very fierce, and they will probably commit a lot of fouls, especially since the opponent is likely to target them.
In this case, practicing more set pieces can further enrich Spain's offensive options and also make the opponent cautious.
Lin Quan wants to practice set pieces, and his teammates are very supportive.
De Gea volunteered to come and cooperate with Lin Quan in training, but when he saw Lin Quan holding the ball and walking towards the center circle, he felt very puzzled.
"Brother Lin, are you planning to practice long-range free kicks?"
De Gea estimated the distance between the two men and it was probably more than 40 meters.
How could someone practice free kicks from such a distance? "Yes, I'll try my footwork and get a feel for it!"
Ever since the last Mihajlovic-style free kick in the game, Lin Quan has been trying to find the feeling of a free kick.
But unfortunately, that kind of free kick was not easy to take, and his subsequent attempts were unsuccessful.
De Gea nodded and said nothing more.
Whatever Lin Quan wants to practice, I will just practice with him.
But at such a long distance, it takes a lot of strength to shoot.
If the force is too great, the angle of the ball will be difficult to control and there is a high possibility that it will go over the goal frame.
If the force is not strong enough, even if the ball hits the goal frame, it will be easily blocked by the goalkeeper because the ball is too slow.
So De Gea didn't take it too seriously, but if Lin Quan's serving point was moved forward ten meters, he would definitely take it seriously.
Lin Quan placed the ball on the lawn, took seven or eight steps back, and then stopped.
He looked up in the direction of the goal, took a deep breath, and started his run-up.
With a loud bang, Lin Quan's left foot hit the football heavily.
The football flew into the sky with a whoosh and flew towards the goal.
De Gea's attention was very focused. When he saw the flight trajectory of the ball, he immediately determined where the ball would land and quickly moved in the direction of the landing point.
However, De Gea had just taken a step when he felt something was wrong.
The trajectory of the ball was a bit erratic as it fell, sometimes going left and sometimes right, and it seemed to be somewhat different from the position he predicted.
At this time, as the distance got closer, De Gea could clearly see that the football was spinning strongly as it flew in the air.
Because of the Magnus effect, when the football is spinning at high speed, its actual flight trajectory is likely to be completely different from the trajectory predicted by the goalkeeper.
As an experienced goalkeeper, De Gea has seen this kind of free kick before.
However, he rarely saw a free kick with such strong rotation, which made him completely unsure of the next flight trajectory of the ball.
De Gea began to sweat on his forehead, and for a moment he didn't know which direction to rush.
However, just as he hesitated, he heard a swish and the football fell into the net not far from him.
"nice shot!"
When the teammates who were watching on the side saw this goal, they all cheered loudly.
"David, were you distracted just now? Why didn't you react at all?"
Fabregas looked at De Gea curiously, puzzled by the fact that De Gea did not make any save just now.
De Gea is Manchester United's main goalkeeper after all, and he was almost bought by Real Madrid.
Such a top goalkeeper shouldn't make such a low-level mistake!
"Haha, could it be that he was thinking of some girl and got distracted?"
Ramos said something irrelevant and teased De Gea.
He also felt that De Gea's performance just now was too abnormal and not like his normal performance level.
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"Ahem, I wasn't distracted. That ball was a bit difficult to save, and I was a little hesitant. As a result, the ball was too fast, and it scored before I could make a decision!"
De Gea is a otaku and is rather thin-skinned. After being teased by Ramos, his face turned as red as a monkey's butt.
"Really? Is it that mysterious? Kakashi, you have quick reactions, go and try it!"
Ramos shouted to Casillas who was sitting on the sidelines.
Casillas rolled his eyes at him and said, "Fuck it, my name is Casillas, not Kakasi."
However, Casillas was also very curious about what De Gea said, so he also wanted to come and see for himself whether Lin Quan's free kick was really as mysterious as De Gea said.
"Okay, I'll give it a try. David, you go down and have a rest!"
Casillas changed into a pair of dry goalkeeper gloves, put them on and came to the goal, replacing De Gea, and gestured to Lin Quan, indicating that Lin Quan could continue.
Fabregas picked up a ball from the sidelines and passed it to Lin Quan.
Lin Quan raised his right foot, and the football seemed to be stuck to his instep and stopped on the top of his foot, and he easily took it off.
“Good stop!”
The teammates who came over to watch the fun started to make a noise. They were all professional players and they could tell how good others' ball-stopping skills were just by looking at them.
Lin Quan smiled and bowed to his teammates, thanking everyone for their support.
This action made his teammates laugh even harder, and they all looked forward to Lin Quan's performance.
After adjusting his breathing, Lin Quan placed the ball on the lawn in almost the same position as last time, and retreated the same distance.
With a bang, the football flew high into the sky.
Here we come!
Casillas perked up and stared at the football intently.
However, under the watchful eyes of him and more than 20 Spanish internationals in the stadium, the football flew higher and higher, and finally disappeared over Casillas' head.
“…”
There was a moment of silence on the field, and everyone looked at each other.
"What's going on? Lin, why are you imitating Morata and firing anti-aircraft guns?"
Ramos shouted, "Everyone is looking forward to your performance, but you gave them this? What a waste of everyone's expression!" Morata immediately protested when he heard Ramos' words:
"Brother Ramos, I don't like what you said. My anti-aircraft guns have never been this high!"
Morata's serious protesting expression made everyone laugh. This guy loves to play fast and loose on weekdays. His teammates have created countless chances for him. If he had a better ability to seize opportunities, he would probably have dominated the scorer list of the European Cup by now!
"Sorry, sorry, I couldn't hold it down. Try again!"
Lin Quan was also a little embarrassed. He was only focused on pursuing power in the previous shot, and ended up not controlling the part that touched the ball well. He performed a performance of using an anti-aircraft cannon to shoot a mosquito in public.
"It's okay, it's just practice, mistakes are okay!"
Not only did Casillas not laugh, he also comforted Lin Quan.
Some young players are thin-skinned and may perform poorly when surrounded by a large number of people.
Lin Quan's free kick was too far away, making it extremely difficult to kick well. It is normal not to kick it well, but it would be abnormal if he kicked it well.
If he could really do it every time like he did on the first free throw, he would have been a killer with this free kick.
Therefore, Casillas not only did not underestimate Lin Quan's long free kick, but was rather looking forward to it.
If Lin Quan's free kick really works, it would definitely be good news for the Spanish team.
In a game, as long as you can seize one opportunity, it is very likely to change the outcome of the game.
After hearing Casillas' words, Lin Quan took a deep breath and adjusted his mentality.
This time he paid attention to controlling the part that touched the ball, and the ball he kicked out did not hit the target.
However, the ball did not spin enough, the flight trajectory of the football was too easy to predict, and there was no human wall blocking him and the goalkeeper, so Casillas easily caught the ball.
"Well, there is some progress, but if it is only to this extent, it will not pose much threat to the goalkeeper!"
Casillas still gave some encouragement, saying that it was not easy to hit the target from such a long distance.
Moreover, the ball was very powerful. When he caught it, he misjudged its power and almost lost his hold.
If it slips out of your hands, it could be a fatal mistake in the game.
Lin Quan didn't say anything and immediately made a third attempt.
This time, his run-up and free throw were perfect. When the ball was kicked out, Lin Quan felt that he had it.
As expected, although Casillas made a save, he was shaken by the erratic movement of the football in the falling stage and failed to save the ball.
"Wow, it actually works!"
On the sidelines, teammates were all stunned after witnessing this goal.
"Could this be our team's secret weapon?"
(End of this chapter)