Chapter 164 Tears and Hope (2)
Rita watched the boy with "21" printed on his back slowly walk towards the goal, and complained with a little concern: "Why did that Swede send Alan to play? He is just over 17 years old!"
After this period of time to understand the field of football, she understands very well that in such international competitions, taking penalty kicks can certainly reflect the team's trust in the players, but the pressure that one has to bear is also imaginable!
"You have to believe him, Alan performed very well in the previous games!" Victoria said slowly. In fact, her heart was not here, but she was looking at Beckham standing on the sidelines with worry. The result of the game was not important, but it was important that Beckham should not bear too much pressure. For her, family was the most important thing, maybe all women were like this.
"The old man is very optimistic about him. I originally thought it would be Frank who played." Lampard's wife Brickley.
"I hope he can score, otherwise the England team will be in danger!" Colleen took over the conversation, "But I don't know how Wayne's injury is."
"You see, he got treatment after he came off the court and has been sitting there the whole time. There shouldn't be any big problems. Don't worry."
At this moment, Angela, who was far away in Los Angeles, was also sitting at her computer, watching the game. But the tragedy was that she had just seen Beckham miss a penalty kick. It seemed that the development of computer networks around the world had not yet reached synchronization...
…………
Wang Li put the ball on the penalty spot and looked up at goalkeeper Ricardo. He had taken a penalty kick in the game before, but that was at least a few months ago. Although there was no expression on his face and he seemed to be a little excited, he was actually a little nervous.
Perhaps, no matter who it is, when participating in such a large-scale international event for the first time and taking a decisive free kick on behalf of the team, they would be a little nervous!
Although he was nervous, he was very confident!
Although he rarely practiced the accuracy of the angle when he was practicing shooting, he believed that as long as he kicked the ball hard, even the best goalkeeper in the world would find it difficult to save the shot at that speed! In any case, martial arts and internal exercises, which are ways to train the human body to its limits, have declined in this world.
That’s why there is ** in football!
Imagine if all the masters of the Tianlong world came to play football, what would happen? At least, there would be no situation where people retired in their 30s due to physical problems! For practitioners of internal martial arts, the older they are, the higher their skills are, and the more powerful they are. For example, Wang Li's master Xu Zhuzi...
At this time, perhaps Wang Li had a lot of thoughts in his mind, but in fact only a dozen seconds had passed. After he straightened the football, he stood there, waiting for the referee to blow the whistle.
A crisp whistle sounded, announcing that Wang Li could shoot! He channeled his internal energy into his right foot, swung his right leg back about 60 degrees, and then slammed the ball hard!
"scold……"
Goalkeeper Ricardo was completely stunned by the ball. He could even hear the sound of the ball rubbing against the air as it flew through the air. What kind of speed was this? ! So, Ricardo -
I was shocked!!
He had no time to react, and at this moment he even had the thought that he was going to get injured and leave the field! Being hit by the ball and getting injured and leaving the field, what a ridiculous thing!
In the end, Ricardo failed to get what he wanted. The ball brushed his right ear and flew into the goal. Only after Collina blew the whistle to indicate that the goal was valid did he react. He immediately touched his right ear and made sure that the parts on his body were still there. Then he let out a long sigh of relief and relaxed.
"Oh! Alan's shot was really powerful, at least I think, even faster than Steven's shot just now! It reminds me of the Brazilian super defender Roberto Carlos of Real Madrid! It's hard to imagine how he could kick a ball like that with his skinny body!" Graham couldn't help but said in surprise, but he regretted it right after he said it. Using 'skinny' to describe Alan would definitely offend a lot of people, most of whom are female fans...
Portugal 5:6 England.
Nuno Maniche, Porto's all-around defensive midfielder and Portugal's midfield engine, has long straight hair but a chubby round face, which seems to make people feel a little mismatched. Of course, appearance does not mean anything, but his strength is beyond doubt. The 26-year-old international has impressed Scolari with his good performance in Porto, and now he has become the team's main force and has the opportunity to take the fifth penalty.
At this moment, almost all the supporters of the England team were cursing that he could not score, because if so, England would win directly!
James in front of the goal was also a little nervous. He knew that as long as he saved the ball, he would be able to stay as England's goalkeeper for a few more years. For James, this kind of opportunity was indeed very attractive. Of course, the premise was that he had to save the ball.
Success? Failure?
Just within this second!
Under the gaze of everyone in the stadium, Maniche was very calm. After two slow run-ups, he swung his right foot in rhythm and kicked the ball towards the left corner of the goal!
James misjudged and dived to the right!
The ball goes in!
Portugal fans cheered again immediately. It was obvious that the pressure was back on England! The alternation between expectation, disappointment and excitement is perhaps the charm of penalty shootouts!
Now, after 5 rounds, the score is tied at 6:6.
The rules of a penalty shootout are: if the two sides are still tied after five rounds of penalty kicks, they must use the "sudden death method" to impose additional penalties: that is, the two sides continue to punish each other until a round ends with one side scoring and the other side not scoring, in which case the side that scores wins.
Off the field, Eriksen's face was full of disappointment. Under this rule, he had to choose another player to take the penalty kick, and if he missed once, he would almost lose the game. This rule was too cruel!
In the sixth round, England sent Phil Neville. This all-around defender of Manchester United has excellent skills. He can even play as a striker. In this game, he replaced Scholes as the left winger, which shows that he is also unique in passing the ball. For Neville, set pieces are also his forte. You know, before Beckham's transfer, he was the team's third free kicker.
Ricardo looked at the sturdy defender, feeling a little timid in his heart. He was frightened by Wang Li's kick. Now there was another power shooter taking the penalty kick. While he was staring at the ball, he cursed his opponents in his heart, saying they were all barbarians. Couldn't they just use their skills and look for angles? They had to rush in and shoot hard. Alas, goalkeepers nowadays are in danger of "traffic accidents" at any time. It's really terrible... So he decided to stand still, maybe he could save the ball this way!
Unfortunately, Neville kicked the ball to the left, and the ball rolled into the goal easily.
Portugal 6:7 England, the pressure is back on the Portuguese team.
Luis Miguel, the 24-year-old Benfica local player, had already entered Scolari's main list last year, and now, he has once again gained the trust of the head coach. After the referee blew the whistle, he stepped back a little, then took two small steps and trotted directly. The ball hit the left goal post and bounced into the net!
Portugal 7:7 England, the pressure is once again on the England team!
Frank Lampard, the Chelsea superstar and England's powerful midfielder, finally made his debut. Perhaps Eriksson trusted Beckham or Owen more, but in fact, the fans trusted this strong midfielder more because his condition was always so stable!
At this moment, Ricardo felt mixed emotions. Except for the captain David Beckham, almost all the players on the England team who took penalty kicks were looking for the speed of the ball, not the angle. Not to mention Lampard in front of him! He even wondered if he would have a mental breakdown if he persisted in this way for a few rounds. If the rules of the game did not allow the goalkeeper to be replaced in the middle of a penalty shootout, he might have proposed a substitution long ago!
So, he still decided not to move this time! Because he had no confidence to save that powerful shot!
Lampard stood there, looked at the direction of the goal, swung his right foot and kicked the ball directly at the bottom! The ball whizzed towards the goal!
"Ball...!!" Graham's high-pitched voice got stuck in his throat, and his voice turned low and lost, "The ball hit Ricardo..." Hearing his low tone, the fans already knew the result.
No words can express the feelings of the English fans at this moment! They had already persisted until the seventh round of the penalty shootout, but Lampard made a mistake!
On the court, Wang Li closed his eyes tightly and covered his face with his hands. Seeing that the ball didn't go in, he had a bad feeling. Yes, it wasn't just him, the other players were like this too. All they could do now was to pin their hopes on that 'nervous knife'.
Although most players have some hope in their hearts, they are more distrustful. Even if James played well in this game, it cannot change his position in the hearts of his teammates.
'Maybe the big guy from Bristol Rovers is pretty good, isn't he? 'At this time, many English players thought of the warm-up match before the game. The most impressive player in that match was the tall goalkeeper, because his performance was indeed much better than James.
If Thomas, who was watching the England game while watching a Japanese movie on his computer, knew what these stars were thinking, I wonder if he would get excited and turn off the computer to focus on watching the game...
The England team failed to score a goal, which means that if the next Portuguese player can score, then England will be eliminated directly!
Perhaps, for the current England team, this rule is too cruel. However, rules are rules and cannot be easily changed.
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