Chapter 623 Another tragedy happened in Argentina, Messi was scolded
Under normal circumstances, once a team that plays defensive counterattack falls behind, their opponents will score more goals because they are eager to tie the score, and then fall into a state of collapse.
This situation is now happening to the Iranian team. After falling behind, they were forced into a corner and had to use all their strength to launch a counterattack.
However, in front of a strong team like Spain, if a large-scale counterattack fails, the consequences will be serious.
In the 65th minute, Carvajal sent a cross from the right wing and assisted his club teammate Isco to score a goal, rewriting the score to 0:2.
In the 74th minute, the Spanish team played a wonderful combination of passing and cutting in the frontcourt. After successfully countering offside, Diego Costa received an assist from Lin Quan and sent the ball into the goal.
The score became 0:3, and the Iranian team was in despair.
Seeing that the overall situation of the game was decided, Del Bosque used the last substitution place. Lin Quan was replaced in the 75th minute, and Rodrigo Gordon from Valencia came on.
When Lin Quan left the field, he once again enjoyed a standing ovation from the fans.
He performed well in this game, contributing an assist and a goal, which was the key goal to help the Spanish team break the deadlock.
Without his goal, it might not be so easy for the Spanish team to win over their opponents.
After successfully defeating their opponents, the Spanish team also won two consecutive group stage victories, advanced one round ahead of schedule, and secured first place in the group.
In another game in the same group later, Cristiano Ronaldo continued his hot form in the previous game, scoring quickly in the first four minutes, leading Portugal to a 1:0 victory over Morocco and their first victory in the group stage.
So far, all four goals scored by the Portuguese team in this World Cup have been scored by Ronaldo.
In what may be his last World Cup, Ronaldo put in a superb performance.
Considering that the Portuguese team's last opponent was the weakest Iran team, their hope of advancing to the top 16 is still high.
Compared with Lin Quan and Ronaldo, who are going smoothly, the situation on Messi's side is much more serious.
In this round of competition, the Argentina team led by Messi was swept 3:0 by the Croatian team.
Messi's performance in this game was still sluggish, and Argentina as a whole was completely suppressed by the Croatian team.
The Grid Army, led by Modric, Rakitic and others, declared their strength to the world with a hearty victory.
The Croatian team has quickly become the number one dark horse in this World Cup, the shiny black one!
"I have long said that the Croatian team should not be underestimated. They defeated the world's number one Spanish team in the last European Cup!"
"Yes, if they hadn't had bad luck and met Portugal in the round of 16 and were dragged into a penalty shootout, they would definitely have gone further!"
In the last European Cup, the Croatian team faced the champion and runner-up Spain and Portugal in succession. They first defeated Spain and then drew with Portugal. In the end, they were unlucky and fell in a penalty shootout.
To be able to achieve such a result with the European Cup champions and runners-up, Croatia is certainly not a loser.
If you have better luck and draw a better lottery, you might make it to the top eight or even the top four.
Although there are more top teams in the World Cup than in the European Cup, the group stage of the World Cup may not be as difficult as the group stage of the European Cup.
With the strength that Croatia has shown now, it is certain that they will advance to the top 16. The only question worth discussing now is, how far can they, this dark horse, go in the World Cup?
While the outside world was inquiring about the situation of the Croatian team and was shocked by the excellent performance of the Croatian team, many media reporters began to report on the defeated Argentina.
Argentina was held to a draw by Iceland in the first game and lost to Croatia in the second game.
After two rounds, Argentina has only 1 point and is currently ranked last in the group.
The Croatian team has qualified early and secured first place in the group by winning two games. Nigeria has one win and one loss, ranking second with 3 points.
Iceland and Argentina both have one draw and one loss, but Iceland's goal difference is minus 2, one more than Argentina, so it ranks ahead of Argentina.
Argentina, the favorite to win the World Cup, is actually ranked last.
This result was completely beyond everyone's expectations!
Who would have thought that Argentina's performance would be so poor? Could it be that they would stop in the group stage, fail to win even a single victory, and be eliminated in disgrace?
The world champion Maradona came to the scene to cheer for his national team. When he saw his team being bloodbathed by his opponents, he almost had a heart attack.
The scene of him grabbing his hair, eyes wide open, and an expression of disbelief on his face was captured by reporters and fans, and spread throughout the Internet after the game.
"I feel sorry for Lao Ma!"
"Lao Ma must be thinking that if I let this guy Sampaoli take charge, I might as well do it myself!"
"Haha, Lao Ma is great at playing football, but let him coach? Let's forget it. After all, he has caused so much trouble to Argentina in the past 10 years!"
"What the heck, Alwas Club of the UAE League, coveting Lao Ma's fame and achievements in football, spent a lot of money to hire Lao Ma to coach, but was led into a ditch, and finally fired Lao Ma directly! "
"Haha, it's true. Isn't this too outrageous? Is Lao Ma's coaching ability really that bad?"
"It's absolutely true. Lao Ma really has nothing in his stomach and is not suitable for coaching at all."
The Internet suddenly became a sea of joy, with jokes about Lao Ma floating everywhere.
"Hey, you feel sorry for me, but I feel even more sorry for those gambling dogs. I don't know how many gambling dogs will lose their money tonight!"
Originally, after Argentina was tied with Iceland in the first game, there were many betting dogs on the rooftop.
After Argentina was bloodbathed by Croatia, the wind on the rooftop was probably even stronger.
The Argentina team is simply the end of dog betting!
Although Messi is not entirely responsible for Argentina's loss, as the team's captain and number one star, he naturally has to bear the greatest infamy and take the biggest blame.
On the day after Argentina lost, the Internet was full of verbal criticism against Messi and the Argentine team.
Calls such as dwarf, dwarf, and coward were thrown at him.
Even Argentina’s head coach Sampaoli blamed the blame at the post-match press conference:
"I always look for the best position of the players on the pitch and every player has a responsibility, but we couldn't find the link between the team and Messi."
Then Sampaoli also said: "I think we are still good, but we need to show cohesion, and I hope we can improve!"
These words directly put Messi on the fire, making him unable to get off the stage.
"I have long said that Messi is a cancer. He is completely out of touch with his teammates on the court. He cannot play any role as a leader at all. Instead, he will only drag down the team."
"That's right. You Messi fans used to say that Messi was too powerful and his teammates couldn't keep up with him, so they didn't cooperate well. But look at the Spanish team, why can Lin Lin integrate perfectly? In the end, it’s your own business, don’t make so many excuses.”
In these two games, Lin Quan has been quietly doing the green leaves' work from behind, giving up all the opportunities to shine to his teammates. And his way of sacrificing personal data to support the team is seen by every fan.
So they all have a question, why can Lin Quan play like this but Messi can't?
Facing the overwhelming accusations and abuse from outside, Messi was extremely tired and once again had the idea of retiring from the national team.
When he plays in the club, he cooperates very well with his teammates, plays very easily and freely, and truly enjoys the happiness that football brings to him.
But every time I return to play for the national team, I feel very heavy, as if there is a weight of thousands of kilograms on my shoulders, and every step is difficult.
Not to mention happy football, he is always scolded and blamed. Some people even criticize him for not working hard in the national team because he does not love Argentina as a country and only has Spain in his heart (Messi is a dual citizen of Argentina and Spain) .
These accusations made Messi very hurt. He really loves the Argentine national team and really wants to lead the team forward.
But he really can’t carry him!
Although the teammates of the national team are good, they cannot reach a tacit cooperation with him. The players are not completely convinced by him. Many people have their own ideas, which makes both sides play awkwardly on the court.
What the head coach said at the press conference was not unintentional, but it was true. This Argentine team is not united.
But just because he was the most famous, everyone thought it was his fault and came to scold him, ignoring the problems of other people.
It’s not that Messi didn’t try to be a green leaf, but the effect was not good.
And when he wanted to stand out on his own, his teammates only wanted to show off and didn't pass the ball to him...
He felt that it was too difficult for him!
……
This time Lin Quan didn't stand up and say anything. He himself thought that Messi did have a problem with his game.
As the leader of the team, he can't even handle the locker room. This in itself is a dereliction of duty.
The situation within the Argentina team is complicated and there are different factions, but which national team does not have factions?
There are also two powerful factions in the Spanish national team: the Barcelona Gang and the Real Madrid Gang!
Without the support of the head coach, you were stabbed in the back by the coach. You were unable to control the locker room and were isolated by your teammates on the court. You failed too much as a captain.
After learning about Messi's experience, Guardiola took the initiative to stand up and help Messi speak some fair words.
It can be seen that he still cares about his former proud disciple.
But compared to before, the relationship has faded a lot, and the reason is very simple, because Lin Quan has completely replaced or even surpassed Messi's position in his heart.
He stood up and spoke out of past friendship!
……
After two rounds of play, the qualifying situation of each group is basically clear.
In Group A, the host Russia and Uruguay both won two consecutive victories and jointly advanced to the top 16.
The direct confrontation between the two teams in the next round will determine the final winner of Group A.
As for Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the two brothers in trouble, both have a record of defeat now, and they will have to rely on each other to save face in the final round.
In Group C, the French team lived up to expectations with two consecutive wins and a perfect start. They qualified one round early. In the next round, they will compete with Denmark for first place in the group.
The Australian team in the same group currently has only 1 point, but retains theoretical hope of promotion.
They have to beat Peru in the next round and pray France beat Denmark to advance, otherwise they will be eliminated.
As for Peru, they currently have 0 points and have been eliminated one round early.
The situation in Group D is a bit chaotic. Croatia has already advanced, and Nigeria, Argentina and Iceland all have hopes of advancing.
Among them, Nigeria, which has 3 points, is in the best qualifying situation. As long as they draw in the next round, they will be able to steadily qualify by relying on the advantage of winning or losing.
As for Iceland, the conditions for them to qualify are relatively strict. Not only do they have to defeat Croatia, who is first in the group, but they also have to pray for Argentina to defeat Nigeria. Moreover, Argentina cannot win too much, otherwise the goal difference will exceed them and cause them to be eliminated.
As for Argentina, their qualifying situation is the worst.
Even if they defeated Nigeria in the last round, they would not be able to qualify stably.
If Iceland also defeats Croatia, Argentina is very likely to be eliminated because their goal difference is at a disadvantage.
Therefore, the final battle is a real battle of life and death for Argentina.
In fact, Argentina is not the only favorite to win the championship. The German team, the runner-up in the last World Cup, performed equally poorly in this World Cup.
In the first round, the German team unexpectedly lost to Mexico. Although they beat Sweden in the second round, main center back Boateng received a red card, which caused worries for the German team's defense.
But compared to Argentina's desperate situation, the German team's situation is slightly better.
At least they have 3 points in hand. As long as they can defeat the South Korean team in the next game, they can lock in the last promotion spot.
The German team is also full of confidence in this game. In an interview before the game, Loew said that they will learn from the lessons of the previous two games and let everyone see a real German tank in the next game.
The tune was set very high, and it successfully aroused the curiosity of the outside world, but I don't know how the final scene went.
It would be fun if we unexpectedly lost to the Korean team in the end.
In addition to these traditional strong teams and favorites to win the championship, Lin Quan is also paying more attention to the Group G competition.
In Group G, there is not only De Bruyne's Belgium team, but also the re-starting Three Lions-England team.
Because the other two teams in the group are relatively weak, both teams have won two consecutive games. In the final game, the two teams will compete for the top spot in the group.
Because of De Bruyne's relationship, Lin Quan naturally supports the Belgian team even more.
This European Red Devils are quite strong on paper, but I don't know how far they can go.
It is worth mentioning that compared to other Asian teams that have basically been eliminated one round ahead of schedule, the Japanese team in Group H is currently tied for first place in the group with Senegal and has great hope of qualifying.
The Japanese team now has 4 points. As long as they don't lose too badly in the final round, they have great hopes of advancing. (End of chapter)