Chapter 804: Becoming Famous in One Battle
The long-awaited World Cup finally officially kicked off at the Maracana Stadium in Sao Paulo.
Unlike his previous life when he sat at home, in front of the TV and watched the live broadcast, this time, Yang Huan was sitting on the main stand with the best view, holding a ticket as a senior VIP guest of the World Cup Organizing Committee.
Moreover, he was a lone man in his previous life, but now, Zhuang Ziqing, Zhang Ning and Lin Yuna are all here.
However, they were all disguised, so they shouldn't be recognized.
It has been four years since he traveled through time, and Yang Huan’s impression of what the World Cup was like in his previous life has become a little vague.
However, the opening match of this World Cup was quite exciting.
The match between Brazil and Croatia was fierce, and Brazil finally defeated Croatia 3-1.
Neymar, the Brazilian star who moved from Southampton to Barcelona last summer, seemed very excited in this opening match. He not only scored the first goal of this World Cup, but also scored twice.
After the game, Neymar was also selected as the best player of the game.
Southampton midfielder Oscar also started in this game, serving as the core of the midfield. He made one assist and one shot. He was the second best player in the game after Neymar, which was very impressive.
But Oscar not only performed well on the offensive end, he was also very active on the defensive end and his counter-attacks were very effective.
After the game, Oscar won unanimous praise from the media and fans. Many people even believed that he was the number one contributor to Brazil's victory in this game, because Neymar's first goal came from his beautiful assist.
Croatia's performance was generally sluggish. Modric was one of the few bright spots. His shot before the end of the game saved face for Croatia, but he could not prevent Croatia from losing.
In the Saints midfield, the talented young player Kovacic also got the qualification to start, but his performance was mediocre and he was replaced halfway.
It is worth mentioning that Bernard, the Brazilian international introduced by Yang Huan from Shakhtar Donetsk, also came on as a substitute in this game, but did not perform well, while Danilo and Alex Sandro failed to make the roster.
After watching the first group match between Brazil and Croatia, Yang Huan and others immediately rushed to the next game.
The next day, he appeared in the stands for the match between Spain and the Netherlands.
Interestingly, in the last World Cup, Spain unexpectedly lost 0-1 to Hitzfeld's Switzerland in the first game, but eventually won the World Cup championship.
This time, Spain suffered a shocking 1-5 defeat in the first match against Van Gaal's Netherlands team, which shocked everyone. I'm afraid many people were shouting that it was a fixed match.
This also made Yang Huan full of disappointment, because Bosque was obviously complacent.
They had already lost to Switzerland four years ago, and four years later they were still doing the same thing. What is this?
This is a typical case of lying on one's laurels and waiting to die!
The midfield is still the same midfield, the defense has basically not changed, the goalkeeper is still Casillas, and the striker who starts is Atletico Madrid's striker Diego Costa.
But Switzerland had already figured out this set of tactics four years ago. Using it to fight Van Gaal's Netherlands four years later, isn't that courting death?
As the main central defender of the Saints and the core of the Champions League champion, Javi Martinez was unable to compete with Ramos and Pique, which really made Yang Huan speechless.
Instead, Azpilicueta started as the right back, but how could one person stop the entire team from collapsing?
Fabregas, Torres and Pedro came on as substitutes after 60 minutes of the second half, while players such as Javi Martinez, Juanfran and Koke did not even have a chance to play.
This also made Yang Huan very disappointed, and he also realized one thing clearly.
Spain’s defeat is a lesson for Southampton!
Why did Bosque lose?
Because he stuck to the Spanish tactics, even though Xavi, Iniesta, Xabi Alonso and others were old, he still insisted on playing like that, because he didn't have the courage to revolutionize himself!
This is how the world is. If you don’t dare to revolutionize your own life, then let others take your life!
Southampton has won the Premier League title before, and was the double champion of the Premier League and the Champions League last season. The Saints have reached their peak, especially with technical double defensive midfielders like Modric and Toni Kroos, and Ibrahimovic's frontcourt partner, this tactic has basically reached its limit.
In this situation, either you kill yourself or wait for someone else to kill you!
Yang Huan has never been a passive person, he likes to take the initiative.
It was a bit like giving a gift. After watching a disappointing match between Spain and the Netherlands, Yang Huan received three big gifts in succession.
In Chile's matches against Australia, Colombia's matches against Greece and England's matches against Italy, Sanchez, James Rodriguez and Sturridge all scored, while Verratti also contributed an assist for the Italian national team.
This also made Yang Huan very happy.
Afterwards, national teams such as France, Argentina, Germany, and Belgium made their debuts one after another. As long as there were international players from Yang Huan's team, or as long as there was a match that Yang Huan was interested in, he would go to the scene to watch it in person.
This required Yang Huan to travel back and forth between the major World Cup hosting cities in Brazil in the following period of time.
At first, Zhuang Ziqing, Zhang Ning and Lin Yuna followed with great interest, but later, they were so tired that they simply didn't go. They spent more time visiting major tourist attractions in Brazil and South America.
Only Yang Huan was left, or occasionally brought Charlene Lahiri with him, happily shuttling between various stadiums.
It is in this kind of compact, game-by-game situation that time passes quickly.
After the group stage, it can be said that some are happy while others are sad.
Some have already rolled up their bedding and returned home, but others are still preparing intensively for the knockout rounds.
Speaking of the group stage, the most eye-catching star is definitely James Rodriguez.
Among the hundreds of players from all 32 teams, Colombians scored the most points in the game.
Especially in the last group match against Japan, James Rodriguez came on the bench to rest after starting two games in a row.
Unexpectedly, the two sides tied 1-1 in the first half.
In the second half, James Rodriguez replaced Cuadrado and within 45 minutes, he made two assists and scored a goal, which directly dazzled all the fans and media around the world.
No one had high hopes for Colombia because the team's top scorer and biggest star, Falcao, was out due to injury.
But what was unexpected was that James Rodriguez suddenly appeared from the side, which surprised everyone.
But even with the world paying attention, the Saints' midfield still performed impressively.
In the round of 16 knockout match against Uruguay, James Rodriguez scored twice, helping Colombia eliminate the traditional powerhouse Uruguay and successfully advance to the quarterfinals.
No one expected that James Rodriguez would perform so well.
More importantly, he not only has eye-catching offensive data, but his contribution on the defensive end is also outstanding. He can play in multiple positions such as attacking midfielder, left winger, right winger, and even central midfielder. He is really comprehensive.
But unfortunately, even though James Rodriguez led Colombia to advance all the way on his own, he ultimately failed to go further.
In the quarter-finals, they lost 1-2 to the host Brazil team and were eliminated in the quarter-finals.
But James Rodriguez became famous in this World Cup. His dream-like performance undoubtedly made him the most dazzling star.
Also in the quarter-finals, the German team relied on Toni Kroos' assists to Hummels' attack to eliminate the French team 1-0 and successfully entered the semi-finals.
The core midfielder of the German team played in all of Germany's games in this World Cup. His performance was quite steady and very impressive. This assist was also his second assist in this World Cup.
But in the semi-finals, they met the host Brazil team.
As a result, Toni Kroos, who was in great form, assisted Thomas Muller and scored against Brazil at the start.
After that, he scored two goals in less than two minutes, completing his brace.
From then on, the situation was basically one-sided, with the German team beating the Brazilian team badly.
After the game, the score was shocking, seven to one!
In the end, Toni Kroos was named the best player of the match in this clash against the host nation.
Yang Huan was sitting in the stands, and he was also completely stunned.
In his previous life, he couldn’t understand why and thought the match was fixed, but this time, he understood.
Brazil's problems lie in its defense, where David Ruiz is simply not capable of carrying the team on his own.
When his partner was Thiago Silva, he was like a wild horse pulled by a rein, slightly controlled, but once his partner became Dante and the reins loosened, he became the team's nightmare!
More importantly, the German team's forwards, whether it was Thomas Muller or Klose, were running actively and patiently looking for opportunities, which caused the Brazilian defense to make mistakes again and again.
After Toni Kroos scored twice, the game had completely lost its meaning.
The first half hour determined the entire game.
As for whether the score was four to zero or seven to one, it was meaningless.
In Yang Huan's view, this is a game in which the advanced learn from the backward.
Although Yang Huan always believed that Löw was soft, at least the German football he promoted was very advanced.
In contrast, Scolari plays the football of the late last century.
He couldn't even pull off this trick at Chelsea in the Premier League, so how could he pull it off at the World Cup?
In the end, Germany defeated Brazil with a 7-1 victory and successfully entered the final.
Five days later, Germany faced Argentina, which had eliminated the Netherlands, in the final. In the end, with Schurrle's cross from the left and Götze's winning goal in the middle in the stoppage time, Germany defeated Argentina and won the World Cup.
But probably few people would notice that the ball passed to Schurrle came from Toni Kroos.
In the World Cup final, Yang Huan accepted the invitation from the host country Brazil and appeared in the chairman's stand accompanied by Zhuang Ziqing.
Next to him, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, presidents and leaders of countries such as Brazil and Argentina also appeared in the stands. As the owner of a football club, Yang Huan had the unshirkable responsibility to serve as a commentator.
Fortunately, he has good eloquence and his explanation is quite interesting.
However, after the World Cup, Yang Huan will not be able to leave Brazil immediately, because the domestic leaders will officially visit South America tomorrow, with Brazil as the first stop, and the focus will be on cooperation in areas such as cloud computing and smart city construction.
Yang Huan and Zhuang Ziqing will both be members of the delegation.