Chapter 750 Farewell, Maradona!
Things seemed to be developing in the direction Su Dong expected.
After Argentina narrowly defeated Nigeria in the first match, they defeated South Korea 4-1 in the second match.
Real Madrid's young player Higuain scored a hat trick, Messi created an own goal, and Argentina performed very well.
In the third game, although Argentina only defeated Greece 2-0, its advantage on the field became more obvious. Whether it was the number of shots or the ball possession rate, the Pampas Eagles had an overwhelming advantage.
Rehhagel's Greece ultimately failed to repeat the miracle of the 2004 European Cup.
Under Maradona's coaching, Argentina won three games in the group stage, with each performance getting better than the last. This also made the outside world quite optimistic about this Argentina team. After all, it has the most luxurious attacking lineup in this World Cup.
Wenger even believed in his column that Argentina and Germany are the teams with the best chance of challenging Spain.
But in an in-depth analysis, Wenger believes that Argentina's biggest problem is that the lineup is too loose and lacks integrity.
"Three consecutive wins is a very positive signal for Argentina. Maradona should take this opportunity to integrate the team and let all the players play more as a whole, instead of the scenes that often appear in the game where the players fight on their own."
Wenger believes that this is also related to Maradona's personality.
Rebelliousness has always been a label for Argentines, such as their long flowing hair.
But today's football is more about integrity. Even if someone is as strong as Maradona, in the current football environment, he certainly can't be as reckless as before.
"Argentina today is like Maradona's style of play. On the offensive end, it is manifested in the lack of teamwork and the players fighting on their own. On the defensive end, this is Argentina's biggest hidden danger so far."
Wenger made no secret of the fact that if Argentina could solve their defensive problems, he believed the team could go further in the World Cup.
…
Su Dong watched Argentina's three group matches. After the match against Greece, Su Dong had a phone call with Messi. When analyzing the group matches, he focused on his own experience of watching the games.
He believes that in addition to defensive problems, Argentina has also exposed a very serious problem.
"Core!" Su Dong said on the phone.
In both the games against Nigeria and Greece, Veron started, and Argentina played quite awkwardly in both games. The reason was that the 35-year-old Veron no longer had the physical strength to play the entire game.
Although Veron had a rest for one game before the match against South Korea, he was exhausted in the second half of the third match against Greece and was basically jogging and walking. It was obvious that the White Wizard was exhausted.
But Su Dong’s point of view is not just that, it also means that Veron’s style is difficult to be compatible with Messi in the frontcourt.
Veron has rich experience, a strong sense of the overall situation, and excellent control of rhythm, but his passes are mostly long-distance passes, and his playing style is of the bold and open type. Ferguson saw this very clearly at the time and felt that Veron was very suitable for Manchester United.
But Argentina now has no physical advantage at all. Messi, Tevez, Di Maria and even Higuain, did not gain much physical advantage when facing strong opponents, and Messi mainly relied on short passes.
This has led to a lack of unity in thinking.
Then comes a new problem. Veron is very old, but now Argentina's trump card is Messi, so who should the players on the field listen to? Su Dong believes that if Argentina wants to go further and Messi wants to achieve results, they should think carefully about this aspect.
Messi also admitted on the phone that he did not play well in the three group matches. He had the will and the strength but failed to produce any results.
…
There was also a lot of discussion about whether Veron would start after the group stage.
The most surprising thing in this World Cup group stage was the elimination of France and Italy.
France was placed in the same group as Uruguay, Mexico and South Africa, but it was eliminated at the bottom of the group after only getting one point in three games. This was really surprising.
But France is relatively excusable.
The situation of defending World Cup champions Italy is absolutely shocking.
Italy was drawn into the same group as Paraguay, Slovakia and New Zealand. Logically, given Italy's strength, it shouldn't be difficult for them to advance from the group, right? But what happened?
Italy was eliminated with two draws and last place in the group, even worse than New Zealand, which surprised everyone.
Switzerland, led by iron coach Hitzfeld, created a surprise in the first game, defeating Spain 1-0.
But then, Spain quickly adjusted, defeating Honduras and Chile in succession and successfully advanced.
Bosque's team, more inclined to possess the ball than Aragones' team two years ago, took this concept a step further and firmly established a concept centered around Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets.
Among them, Bosque went against all odds and recruited Manchester City midfielder Busquets into the national team and entrusted him with important tasks. He was under considerable pressure from public opinion, but in this national team, Busquets performed very well.
Su Dong also took the time to watch a Portugal game, in which they beat North Korea 7-0. However, Ronnie only scored one goal in this game, and it was an unnecessary goal in the final stage, which made him very dissatisfied.
…
In late June, the World Cup entered the knockout stage and the competition became increasingly intense.
Su Dong watched three knockout matches, namely Germany's 4-1 victory over England, Argentina's 3-1 victory over Mexico, and Spain's 1-0 victory over Portugal.
After the game, Su Dong also met with Ronnie and Pepe.
The most depressed player in this World Cup is Pepe. He failed to play in the first two group matches. He did play in the third match against Brazil, but he played in the defensive midfielder position which he was not familiar with.
In the knockout match against Spain, Pepe started again, but still played as a defensive midfielder.
Unfortunate Pepe, his World Cup journey ended before he could fully display his strength.
"It's okay, at least you played in the World Cup, unlike me..."
Su Dong's words really comforted Pepe.
Who says it’s not true? How can he be the best player in the world football but not even play in the World Cup?
Just as Argentine star Kempes said in his column before, he, like fans all over the world, feels a sense of regret about this World Cup because they were unable to see the brilliance of Su Dong, the world's number one footballer. This is a regret for the World Cup and a loss for all fans.
Kempes also said that Sudon is one of his favorite players. He believes that Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo should learn from Sudon because he did not show any obvious decline after winning the Ballon d'Or and the FIFA World Player of the Year.
"Before Su Dong, every Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year award would decline to some extent after winning it, but Su Dong did not. On the contrary, his performance has been on an upward trend, which is very, very rare."
Wang Chuqing has been silently accompanying Su Dong and watching the World Cup in South Africa.
Although Su Dong didn't say anything, she knew that this was how Su Dong participated in the World Cup.
Deep down, he still longs to participate in the World Cup, but he just hides it.
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The biggest surprise in the quarterfinals was Germany's 4-0 win over Argentina.
Just three minutes into the game, Thomas Muller's goal put Argentina in an absolutely passive position.
At this time, Argentina's problems gradually became exposed.
There was a lack of a real core on the field, with players fighting on their own and lacking integrity, which led to Argentina being suppressed by Germany as a whole on the field. The players were also separated, making it impossible to form a combined force.
Especially in the second half, Argentina played more and more anxiously, but was finally scored by Germany again and again.
In the end, Germany defeated Argentina 4-0.
It was a massacre that shocked football fans around the world.
So far in this World Cup, the best performing team is Argentina, which won four consecutive games and scored many goals. However, they met the German team in the quarterfinals and were beaten 4-0, which was really shocking.
But on the other hand, this also represents a trend in football.
In this World Cup, the German team played a passing and controlling style of play, which was completely different from previous German teams.
Especially someone like Schweinsteiger, who has become the core of the German team's midfield and the best performing player.
With integrity and advanced technical and tactical concepts, Löw finally led the German team to play at the most realistic level.
The 4-0 victory over Argentina can be regarded as the most satisfying victory in this World Cup so far.
The German media also used an eye-catching headline "Goodbye, Maradona!" to express their affirmation of Germany's tactical concept, believing that Maradona's coaching philosophy in Argentina has failed to keep up with the times.
However, after defeating Argentina, the German team encountered Spain, a team with stronger ball control and more skilled overall combat.
After the two sides fought for 90 minutes, Spain defeated Germany 1-0 with Puyol's goal and successfully advanced to the final.
This is also the most questionable aspect of Bosque and his Spain.
When it comes to ball possession, Spain is definitely top-notch, and when it comes to lineup, this team is also not afraid of any opponent.
But Bosque was too cautious in his use of his troops, so much so that he only won by one goal in almost every game, relying on constant passing and controlling the ball to exhaust the opponent. This was a bit like a passing and controlling version of Capello.
Su Dong also felt that Spain did not play aggressively enough, but that was understandable.
After Aragones led Spain to win the European Cup two years ago, the team had reached its peak. Anyone who took over under such circumstances would face a very difficult problem, which is how to continue to lead the team to maintain this state and continue to achieve results.
It is difficult to build a kingdom, but it is even more difficult to maintain it! Bosque has really done a very good job in this regard.
In the end, in the World Cup final, Spain and the Netherlands tied 0-0 in regular time, and Iniesta's lore in stoppage time helped Spain win the World Cup.
This is undoubtedly the best recognition for Bosque!
Su Dong also returned to Europe the day after the final.
But this time he didn't fly to Germany, but went to London.
(End of this chapter)
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