Chapter 11 Questioning and Change
At this time, the Suwon Stadium in South Korea was a place for Portuguese fans to party, and perhaps they would express their dissatisfaction with the team after the game, but at this time they were completely immersed in the joy and passion of the goal brought by this rare equaliser. In addition to the Portuguese fans, the most excited at this time should be the neutral fans. Six goals, worth the value of this ticket.
Lao Lei's Φ trick also appeared for the first time in front of fans in the world, and this novel way of passing people made some football lovers shine. Because of his outstanding performance after coming off the bench in this game, Lao Lei, a rising star in Portuguese football, began to shine on the stage of world football. Originally, only those clubs who were interested in Lao Lei were concerned, but now those fans outside of Portugal have also begun to pay attention to the 20-year-old Portuguese young man.
After the celebration, the game was already 87 minutes into the game, and if you add the injury time, it is estimated that it will only be 5 or 6 minutes. After conceding the goal, Arena hugged his head in remorse and regret. As long as his team persists for a while, it can break out the second big upset of this World Cup. It's a pity that the appearance of Lao Lei has changed all this, and now the morale of the American team is low, and he can only hope that this draw can be maintained until the end, which can be regarded as a small upset.
At this time, Arena made another substitution, using up his last spot. Beasley was substituted and put on a midfielder to strengthen his defense, ready to survive the last few minutes, and consume a little time along the way.
After the resumption of the game, a morale-boosted Portugal launched their own worst attack. However, by this time, the physical strength of both teams was almost gone, and Portugal's attacking strength did not last long before it subsided, and the heart was more than enough. And although Lao Lei still maintains an excellent physical condition because of the devil's muscles, after that assault, he was obviously on the blacklist of the American team's defense line, and his defense was tightened. In the face of the tight overall defense of the American team, Lao Lei's advantage alone was not enough to break down the defense of the American team.
Portugal's powerful long-range shot in the last few kicks was more like a weakness to express dissatisfaction with the result. The players on the field also had more or less cramps, especially the players of the Portuguese team. Because of the huge disadvantage in the score, they had to strengthen their running and adopt a more proactive offensive approach, which consumed more physical strength than the usual game.
In the end, neither side changed the score on the field, and the referee blew the whistle for the end of the game, and Portugal and the United States were unexpectedly tied. As soon as the whistle blew, most of the players sat down, they were too tired. A neutral commentator may have summed up the game best: "The game ended 3-3. First the Americans scored three goals in a row, and then the Portuguese scored three goals in a row, it was like a fierce chase, and from the process of the game, it was the Portuguese who forced the Americans to draw. The Americans have earned the respect of the world, they did their best, and they can walk out of Suwon with pride. Portugal's performance was disappointing, careless and sluggish, which was not the Portuguese team that everyone expected before the game. Compared with Figo, Rui Costa and others, but the 20-year-old who was replaced in the second half, No. 13 Remaia has become the most outstanding person in Portugal.
It was a draw for the Portuguese to be thankful for, with the USA playing better. “
In the official selection after the game, Lao Lei, who played in the second half, became the best player of the game, completely changed the unfavorable situation of Portugal after coming on the field, created an own goal, and in the final stage with a beautiful individual breakthrough, sent a stunner assist, for Portugal This is a disastrous, ugly game, and for Lao Lei, this is the perfect national team debut.
After the game, Lao Lei was interviewed by the media and asked some questions about the game. Among them, after Agus scored an own goal, Lao Lei's 1:1 gesture to the camera and Lao Lei's Φ trick after the most coarse time became the focus of the media's attention. And when Lao Lei was interviewed outside the court, as long as it wasn't about his sworn enemy, he was very restrained, and if the hostility was obvious, he would set up unnecessary enemies, after all, no one would like more people to target him. For that own goal, I played a halu ha and fooled it over. Of course, when it comes to the question of Φ's trick, Lao Lei doesn't mind answering it in detail.
Oliveira, on the other hand, was not so far, and was attacked by a crowd at the press conference. Even though Portugal completed the feat of chasing three goals in a row, Oliveira's Portugal and himself were still questioned by reporters. Because Portugal should not have experienced this situation, the script of the game was beyond everyone's expectations, and the pre-match expectations of Portugal did not live up to everyone's expectations.
Oliveira's line-up layout, as well as Figo and Rui Costa's porous backline, were the focus of the attack, including a number of Portuguese journalists. With three goals conceded in the first 36 minutes, Oliveira's set-up was undoubtedly a complete failure in the eyes of journalists. And the sluggish form of the biggest superstars Figo and Rui Costa in this game is also the basis for criticism by reporters.
In fact, before the game, the state of these two was considered doubtful by the outside world, the reason is very simple, Figo played seventy or eighty games in Real Madrid this season, not to mention physical exhaustion, and the ankle injury has not healed. Rui Costa, on the other hand, was in an up-and-down state due to a long-term injury at AC Milan and only picked up slightly in the second half. Originally, the outside world was prepared for the two not to play well, but to the surprise of the outside world, they didn't expect that the state of the two people would be so bad.
Oliveira was a little tired of the bombardment of reporters, but he was still firmly on the side of his disciples, and backing players such as Figo and Rui Costa would soon find their form. In addition, he also took the initiative to admit his tactical mistakes, saying that the American team played respectably, causing the team to be so passive, and he had an unshirkable responsibility. But at the same time, he also hopes that Guoming will have a more tolerant attitude towards this national team and not put too much pressure on the players.
And Lao Ray became Oliveira's lifeline. His move to replace Lao Ray at the beginning of the second half became Oliveira's only commendable aspect of the game. The question of concern for reporters is whether Lao Lei will appear in the next game against Poland, and you must know that when Lao Lei is not available, the weakness of the Portuguese backline can be vividly displayed in this game. Oliveira didn't give a positive answer to this question, wondering if it was a smoke bomb or if he was really still thinking about it.
On the other side, the elder Lei Ke didn't have the heart to care about Oliveira, who was being tortured by the media, and he was busy recovering congratulatory text messages from family and friends. Especially Kayla's text message, so that Lao Lei, who did not consume too much energy in this game, felt that Xiao Lei had a rising trend. The next game against Poland will be played in five days in Jeonju, South Korea, so the players will have one day off after this game, which will give the old ray and Kayla the time and opportunity to have a romantic exotic tryst.
Not to mention how Lao Lei and Xiao Lei fell into Kayla's gentle hometown, the battle between Portugal and the United States became the front page headline in the newspaper the next day. The outside world expressed their surprise at the game, "Portugal draws with the United States!" The titles of "20-year-old will retain Portugal's most reluctant" and "The Golden Generation is almost buried" have been repeatedly reported in the newspapers, and some of the Portuguese media have also shown great negative views, playing the title of "The Dream of the World Cup is Leaving Us", believing that such Portugal has no hope of winning the World Cup at all. In the midst of the mourning, Lao Lei became the only commendable point in the entire Portuguese team. There are also a few media outlets that have expressed their support for Oliveira, including Portugal's Record newspaper, which believes that the Portuguese national team and Oliveira should not be denied on the basis of a single game, and that they should be given time.
Regardless, this Portugal team is currently under great skepticism. The current situation in Group D is that South Korea is at the top of the table with three points, Portugal and the United States have one point each, and Poland is at the bottom. Portugal's qualification situation is uncertain. If you want to take the initiative to qualify, the next game will be crucial. The last game will be against the host team, South Korea, and the host team is always difficult to play in the World Cup.
After a short sweet period with Kayla, Lei will return to the Portuguese team to train and prepare for a game. Oliveira, meanwhile, is pondering his line-up and tactics against Poland. The last game had already proven that his one-man style of play could not stop the opposition's sharp breakthroughs on both flanks, so he had to change his formation and make changes.
In the first three days of the match against Poland, Oliveira finally decided on their line-up, switching from a 4-4-2 formation to a 4-2-3-1 formation with two midfielders. Oliveira has made no changes to the backline and he has shown continued to believe in it. Rui Costala and Lao Lei were paired in two midfield, retaining Figo, Conceição and Joao in the attacking triangle up front, and Pauletta, who was in good form, stepped forward to squeeze out the in-form Gomez.
Over the next few days, Oliveira arranged for his players to practice the lineup. Now everyone knows that Lao Lei, a newcomer who entered the team for the first time, got the starting position in the second official game. However, no one objected, and Lao Lei's performance in the last game had conquered his teammates and proved that he was worthy of a starting position.
It's June 10th, and Portugal will play Poland today. It also happens that this day is Portugal's national day, and Oliveira's 50th birthday, everyone wants to know how Portugal will behave on such a meaningful day, and whether the golden generation can be reborn.
Before the start of the game, there was a light rain in the sky, which seemed to indicate that this would be a hearty game.