Chapter 557 One man's revenge!

5:2! ! !

This is the final result of the match between England and Ecuador.

After Wang Li scored the third goal, although the Ecuadorian players were still fighting for a glimmer of hope for victory, the strength that the English players showed after regaining their morale was absolutely unimaginable. The team's open attack on three fronts left the Ecuadorians powerless to fight back.

In the end, Beckham and Joe Cole scored goals to add icing on the cake for the team.

The Ecuadorians won the first half but lost the game.

Ecuador's head coach Sutarez seemed helpless about the result, but the old coach was not too sad after the game. After all, for Ecuador, reaching the World Cup knockout stage is already a historic breakthrough.

At the post-match press conference, Ecuador coach Suarez said in an interview: "This was a very difficult game, very tough and demanding tactically. We didn't have many scoring opportunities, while they had many opportunities. This is the gap in strength between the two sides. I think I am very satisfied with the performance of the players. We were ahead in the first half, which I didn't expect before."

When a reporter asked about Wang Li's performance, Suarez said: "Sometimes a world-class superstar can influence a game. I admire the opponent's No. 21 Allen Wang. He has been performing very well. If he performs a hat trick in other games, I will definitely congratulate him."

"It's very difficult to maintain a very high level of shooting in the game, but he did it, three shots and three goals. I have nothing to say about it, I can only say that his performance was great. Unfortunately, he is not an Ecuadorian player, but an opponent. I can only congratulate the England team for better results in the future."

Regarding the defeat in this game, Suarez did not avoid the topic, but joked: "We have given everything for our jerseys and we feel very calm about what we have done. After the game, McClaren told me that we are a very good team. If we continue in this way, we will make great progress."

"This sentence is very encouraging to me. I also hope that the team can continue to develop in this way and hope that we can always enter the World Cup, which is very good for us."

But it's not just the Ecuadorian head coach. Many Ecuadorian players also accepted interviews. As losers, they have the right to say a few words after the game, which will be seen by the media as their "last words" before leaving the World Cup.

Ecuadorian player Valencia said in an interview: "We have tried our best and the team makes me happy. We lack a little luck and some strength. I think it would be better if the team had more star players like England. However, I think England can be more conservative. They played too open, which is why we easily scored two goals in the first half."

Forward Delgado said: "We told the world that we are an excellent team, and that may be enough. We have come step by step in this World Cup. This is our last game and I am very sad. We had a very happy time in Germany and we enjoyed it."

The game was fiery, and after the game the two teams were friendly.

The quarter-finals ended just like that. On the second day, the quarter-finals of all the knockout matches were also over. As expected, the host Germany easily defeated Sweden 2:0, and Argentina also defeated Munich. These two teams that were considered to be dark horses in the early stage, all came to an end in their journey to the World Cup.

Others include the Italian team, which has always been favored, led by the "Silver Fox" Lippi, easily eliminated the Australian team 1:0; the Brazilian team easily defeated the Ghana team 3:0.

In the two highly anticipated matches, Portugal beat the Netherlands 1:0 and Spain lost to France 1:3. These two matches were the focus of the World Cup round of 16.

The only match in the round of 16 that could be called an upset was between Switzerland and Ukraine. There is no doubt that since it was an upset, it was of course the Ukrainian team, which made it to the World Cup for the first time, that advanced to the quarterfinals.

After 90 minutes of the game, Ukraine scored three goals and Switzerland had no chance to fight back.

This one-man team led by Shevchenko made it directly to the quarterfinals in its first appearance in the World Cup, which created a historical record of the World Cup, that is, the best result achieved by a team participating in the competition for the first time.

Of course, these have nothing to do with the England team, because after defeating Ecuador, the entire England team was caught up in the tense atmosphere before the big battle, which was rarely seen in the past.

Just because England's next opponent is Portugal...

Portugal!!!!!!

The match between England and Ecuador just ended, and the official website of the German newspaper Kicker called this match a "fateful showdown". There are always endless topics to talk about between England and Portugal, whether it is history or the present.

Forty years ago, at the 1966 London World Cup, England reached the final by standing on the shoulders of Portugal and won the only World Cup title in England's history. This semi-final match was regarded by the Portuguese as a shameful history of the team.

Eusebio, known as the "Black Pearl", is a football player who was born in Mozambique, Portugal.

In the hearts of Portuguese people, Eusebio is like Maradona in the hearts of Argentine people. And like Maradona, Eusebio has always inspired his national team to move forward courageously.

In the 1966 World Cup semi-finals, England beat Portugal 2-1 to advance to the final and eventually win the championship. Although it was a great shame for the Portuguese, Eusebio was still the most dazzling star in that World Cup. He was the top scorer of the World Cup, scoring nine goals alone. In Portugal's 5-3 victory over North Korea, he scored four goals alone.

Eusebio's performance was so outstanding that soon after, Madame Tussauds in London quickly made a wax statue of him.

Now that Eusebio is old, all he can do is cheer for his team in the stands.

In an interview with Kicker, Eusebio hopes that "the Brazilian team (Portugal) of Europe" can achieve unprecedented success and stand on the highest podium.

Now the first thing Portugal has to do is to beat England at the Gelsenkirchen Stadium on Saturday.

Eusebio had been Portugal's top scorer until Pauleta broke his record last year. Eusebio firmly believed that Portugal could reach the final and win the trophy.

In the group stage, the 64-year-old Eusebio shed tears of excitement after watching Portugal's 2-0 victory over Iran. He said: "I have a strong feeling that Portugal can do better than we did in 1966. This is not boasting at all. I can fully feel the confidence shown by the team. I am optimistic that they will make it to the final. Ironically, this is the first World Cup final for most of our golden generation of players."

Yes, in the early 1990s, the players of the Portuguese youth team were called the golden generation of Portugal. This was not self-praise from the Portuguese, but an evaluation from the world media, because this golden generation won the World Youth Championship.

There are many famous players, such as Rui Costa, Couto and Figo, who are all from the golden generation. Figo is still playing for the national team and serves as the captain of Portugal.

Now Eusebio has been staying with the Portuguese players. It is a very meaningful thing for all the players of the Portuguese team and coach Scolari to have Eusebio with the team and provide them with some pertinent advice.

In this regard, the head coach of Brazil, Scolari, said: "Eusebio is considered the greatest player of Portugal, there is no doubt about that. Every word he said is a treasure to the players, because he is the idol of many players, some of whom are engaged in football under his influence. I also saw some players write down what Eusebio said in a small notebook as a motto to motivate themselves."

When asked about this by a reporter, Eusebio admitted that he could only say some encouraging words and offer some pertinent advice.

He was still recalling the failure of the World Cup 40 years ago: "After losing to England, the feeling of collapse was unimaginable. When we were about to make history and advance to the final, we were suddenly eliminated. This was a heavy blow to our hearts. I just want to convey my feelings to the Portuguese players, hoping that this will further strengthen their determination to win."

Compared to Portugal's high morale, England wants to win even more as they want to defeat England to avenge the "humiliation" they suffered 40 years ago.

Because in the European Cup two years ago, England lost to the host Portugal on penalties in the round of 16 and ended its European Cup journey. This scene is still deeply engraved in the minds of every English player, and even Wang Li is no exception.

In that match, Wang Li came on as a substitute, but his goal could only help the team to a draw. Therefore, David Beckham's missed penalty kick made him the culprit of England's defeat.

And now, the same England team has hope of revenge. They don't have to wait half a century, they get the chance in just two years.

The England players were obviously very happy with the result. After the match with Ecuador, they started to train seriously. Everyone hoped that the team could defeat Portugal head-on and avenge their previous defeat.

"I'm excited to play against Portugal. Two years ago I made a mistake and England were eliminated. I still remember that moment vividly."

After the match against Ecuador, Beckham told reporters: "I can't forget this scene. Eriksson asked me to take a penalty. I was a little nervous, but as the captain I had to set a good example for my teammates. Unfortunately, I failed."

"Now, we meet them again. I think we will not be afraid of anything now. Any team that stands in our way of winning the championship will fail, including Portugal, of course."

The day after the results came out, the media began to report and comment on the England-Portugal battle crazily.

Compared with the other three games: Germany VS Argentina, Brazil VS France, Italy VS Ukraine, there are too many stories to tell between England and Portugal. The most important thing is that the players of the two teams are also tit-for-tat, and no one avoids this topic. Each of them looks excited and wants to defeat the opponent in the big battle.

However, at this time, many football commentators began to speculate on the final result. According to some historical records, various "England penalty failure theories" emerged from nothing and instantly dominated all arguments - England and Portugal would draw, and England would lose to Portugal on penalties!!!

Such an argument may seem strange, but it is understandable, simply because England has failed in penalty shootouts too many times in important international arenas: the 1990 World Cup in Italy, the 1996 European Cup, the 1998 World Cup in France and the 2004 European Cup. In these recent events, England has failed on the penalty spot, and the last time was when they were eliminated by Portugal.

This is the blood and tears history of the England team!!

What others don't know is that on the second day after the match with Ecuador, head coach McClaren had the England players do penalty training specifically targeting the last player for a whole morning. Even this young head coach was afraid that this kind of thing would happen to the England team again.

Fortunately, McLaren is not very afraid of penalties, because the current England team is not the same team it was two years ago. The most significant change is that the team has a goalkeeper who is quick to react and good at saving penalties - Thomas Clarke.

In this way, even if it really comes to a penalty shootout, McLaren feels that England has a higher chance of winning.

On the third day, June 29, all members of the England team went directly to Schalke Gelsenkirchen in North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany. The whole team has begun preparing for the next big battle in two days, on July 1.

On the same afternoon, the Portuguese team also arrived in Schalke.

The war seemed to be imminent. At this critical moment, most of the players of both teams were concentrated in the training ground for training. No team disclosed their training content, and the media reporters could only take advantage of the free time in training to "chance" meet some players outside the training ground and obtain some news materials.

On June 30, with only one day left before the quarter-final, Portugal's midfielder and superstar Luis Figo made a bold statement, saying: "90 minutes is enough to play against England. We don't need to practice penalties."

In an interview with The Sun, Luis Figo revealed that the Portuguese team did not spend any effort practicing penalties because they firmly believed that they could defeat England within 90 minutes.

"We haven't practiced penalties until now, but we may practice tomorrow or the day after tomorrow if the coach needs it. I hope to beat England in 90 minutes, but if the game goes to extra time, it won't be a problem for us. Our goalkeeper is good at saving penalties, but in a penalty shootout, anything can happen. It's a psychological problem, and we hope to be stronger than England. I think we have shown good psychological qualities in the game, and we hope to be better than the English in every aspect."

When asked by reporters what he feared the most in the game, Figo focused on Wang Li: "Alan Wang, before I left Real Madrid, I went to East Asia with him to participate in several commercial games. I have some understanding of his abilities. He will be our most difficult enemy in the future."

At this point, Figo changed the subject: "However, I am confident that I can lead the team to defeat England. Because that team is Alan's team, there is a gap between their other players and us, I think there will be no obstacles for us to win."

"He (Wang Li) has always said that he wants to score more goals than the opponent. I also believe that he will score a goal the day after tomorrow, but we will score more than them and we will finish the battle within 90 minutes."

Figo's attitude is indeed very high, and he seems to be full of confidence. When a reporter asked whether Portugal's performance would be affected by the absence of two major players, Deco and Costina, Figo said that he would move to the middle and said: "No matter where I am, I will give everything for my team and my country."

It seems that he has decided to retire from the national team after the World Cup. "Maybe the English want revenge. We beat them two years ago and now we are concentrating on beating them again."

Such words, to the ears of the English, became naked contempt.

At least, during the training that afternoon, the entire England team was in an atmosphere of revenge. Every player was training hard and they were very serious.

Perhaps Figo did not expect that the words he used to boost the team's morale also successfully aroused the fighting spirit of the English players.

However, at least on the day before the game, no English player accepted an interview. Even Wang Li continued to do shooting training silently and did not appear in the sight of media reporters to fight back against Figo's remarks.

This made reporters all over the world feel a sense of loss, because Wang Li would basically make a winning statement before every game, and then the team Wang Li was in would easily win.

"Maybe England is really going to lose this time." Many people think so.

However, at the same time, Wang Li was working hard to get into training. He was never optimistic about other competitions and some historical records. However, he had personally experienced the match between England and Portugal where they lost on penalties two years ago. That match was also the only defeat he had suffered since he joined the professional league.

That feeling of powerlessness is still deeply engraved in his mind and cannot be erased!!!

This game may become his own revenge!!!

(To be continued)