Chapter 296: Ending England's Last Hope (1)
“2:1! 2:1!! Portugal once again went beyond the score with a stunning direct free-kick from Reimaa and England was once again in a desperate situation. Last time, David Beckham completed England's redemption before going off injured. But what about this time?! Who will it be this time?!! Will there still be heroes in England, stand up?! ”
As the commentator said, with 20 minutes remaining, England, a goal behind Portugal, is once again on the brink of elimination. While it may not seem like a hopeless scoreline, just a one-goal scoreline, given Portugal's dominance and England's previous lack of attacking performance, there are few people who are optimistic about England at the moment, as they don't have their heartthrob now.
Of course, England fans may be the exception. But so what, they can't help England who are stuck on the pitch. Anxious, anxious, anxious to go crazy, this is the general mentality of English players at the moment. The eagerness gave them more motivation and made their pressing on the court more ferocious. Fortunately, several of England's main midfielders are fitness maniacs, otherwise, if they were replaced by Spanish midfielders, they might have been scrapped long ago.
But light can run, but it's not enough. After all, football is always faster than people, and that's an unbreakable truth on the football pitch, and it's not afraid to let the mad Englishman test it again. Since he is in a hurry, then bite him to make him more anxious, and he must be in a hurry to explode. Adhering to this concept and idea, Lao Lei once again suspended the offensive rhythm. Honestly stay in the midfield, like a monkey again. Slipped away the whole English team.
Compared to the previous times, England's pressing this time was even stronger. They are no longer looking for solidity at the back. Already facing a desperate situation, they played the last card of all the soldiers at this moment. At the same time, Eriksen on the sidelines finally made the most correct substitution of the game, and the inactive Joe Cole was replaced by the whole game, and the tall Crouch finally came on the field.
While Crouch's own quality is not too fearful, his innate height advantage has put a lot of pressure on Portugal's backline. Although football is not a basketball game that is born a giant game, at some point, height can still play a very important and crucial role in this sport. For example, now. Crouch, who is 2.01m tall, pointed the way for England's chaotic attack and became a beacon of England standing up front.
Crouch, who grabbed the ball and went directly to the front, finally returned to his rough line and did the most difficult thing in the simplest way when the conventional attacking system could not bargain on Portugal. Crouch's presence made the power of England's long pass rush skyrocket. The tall guy controls the highs steadily up front. It made England's attack swift and simpler, and also provided the most advantageous guarantee for England to avoid the interception of the Portuguese midfield.
Even if England don't have many chances to snatch football at the feet of Portugal at the moment, they can make the most of every opportunity. Play threatening. This alone is enough to make Lao Lei and Portugal more vigilant. There is the example of David Beckham in front and who knows England in the next game. Will you have good luck? The matter of capsizing in the gutter, Lao Lei was not interested in learning about it.
But. No matter how hard he tries, the Portuguese players are so skilled at their feet. It's also impossible to never concede a goal. In the 72nd minute of the second half, Deco in front of him was squeezed directly by Frank Lampard behind him while protecting the ball with his back, and while he couldn't support the ground, he also smoothly walked the football.
Immediately after receiving the ball, Frank Lampard showed a talent for long balls that had been overshadowed by Ray, and the ball found Crouch in front of him accurately. At this time, Mela was behind Crouch and tried to fight for the high ball. Crouch's thin stature may make his high center of gravity look quite unstable, and he can't knock away Mera, who is a head shorter than him, all at once. However, the power of his bug-like height was revealed at this moment.
With his hands spread back and his upper body leaning back slightly, he put this position out, and Mela behind him immediately fell under him like a child who was spoiled by his father. Crouch, meanwhile, effortlessly used his height to complete and accurately head back.
Next, it's about Rooney, who has been walking around Crouch. After winning the ball, the little fat man was as happy as picking up a gold ingot, and this was the only time he got a pass so easily in this game. For a striker like Wayne Rooney, the ball is easy to hold, and the threat naturally comes up immediately.
Although he is surrounded by Carvalho, who has already made a name for himself at Chelsea, Lu Xiaopang is born with the spirit of a newborn calf who is not afraid of tigers. Even though he has suffered a lot of losses from Carvalho in the Premier League, he is still confident at the moment and thinks that he will definitely be able to solve Carvalho's defense. This kind of self-confidence for no reason can be regarded as the type of big nerve, but I have to admit that this kind of big nerve is a necessary quality for the kind of character who is born for big scenes.
Therefore, it can be said that Rooney is the kind of person who will be more excited the bigger the scene. Just like at this moment, after getting the ball, instead of feeling the slightest anxiety, he seemed very calm and excited. After winning the ball, he didn't say a word, he immediately accelerated and went directly to the goal. Since Rooney was already in the penalty area at this time, Carvalho didn't dare to kick off at will, but just firmly blocked in front of Rooney, ready to guard against Lu Xiaopang's shot or inside breakthrough, wanting to force Rooney outside the penalty area.
It's a very mature centre-back's thinking and approach, but this time Carvalho ran into Wayne Rooney, who was completely out of the question, after all, excited and calm youngsters often have the most wild imagination. In the anticipation of England fans, Rooney's next move immediately caused them to burst into cheers like shaking mountains.
After an acceleration trip, Rooney had just caught up with the football. Suddenly there was an emergency stop, plus to kick back the ball. This not only caught Carvalho off guard. It also surprised him. Rooney didn't want to buckle Carvalho this time, but was more daring to go straight through the crotch to get past Carvalho. Wear a crotch pass in the penalty area. It may seem like a crazy decision, but in fact, it's Rooney's best decision at the moment. He knew that with Carvalho's experience, he would not be unprepared for his sudden stop-and-go changes, and even if he was caught off guard by the Portuguese central defender, the opponent should have a follow-up preparation.
So, he was very bold and followed his instinct and made this seemingly bold decision. The difficulties and risks are naturally very large, but once successful. That will usher in a matching benefit. And fortunately, Rooney was right, Carvalho was not prepared enough for this, maybe he didn't think that Rooney would have the courage to play with him in the box at such a time, instead of being in a hurry to immediately get up and hit the goal and equalize.
After Wayne Rooney wore the crotch past Carvalho, the England fans in attendance immediately cheered in unison and began to wait for the goal to arrive. Because. Wayne Rooney was already outside the box at this point, facing Ricardo alone. This kind of opportunity that is close to a penalty kick should be a goal with a high probability of scoring no matter how you look at it.
Call! But it was at this point that a swift sliding shovel was made. But at this moment, it suddenly attacked Rooney's feet. And Lu Xiaopang himself obviously didn't notice anything, and he didn't have any defenses against this halfway Cheng Biting Jin. Eventually, the ball was shoveled into the arms of Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo. Rooney also fell in the box. So, the problem comes. Is it a penalty, or is it a good defense?
At such a fateful moment. It's a really terrible sentence. In light of this, it is only natural that the players, managers and even fans of both sides will be very excited. Not to mention the two parties, the players on both sides took the lead and immediately rushed to the side of the referee, and began to argue fiercely with each other, regardless of whether the shrewd quarreled scene or whether the referee could hear what they said.
At the same time, the fans of both sides also worked together at this moment, one booed and faked the fall, the other took a penalty, and the scene was suddenly full of boos. As a result, the Schalke Stadium once again fell into an extremely chaotic situation today. In addition, the two parties at the place of the incident, Rooney and Lao Lei, have quarreled again, forming a situation of bull topping.
The next moment Rooney fell, he got up instantly, turned around and wanted to take a penalty to the referee. However, Lao Lei, who had just finished the tackle, was not slow to get up at all, and immediately stopped in front of Rooney, and pointed at his nose and scolded: "Shit! Cowards who fake falls!! ”
In fact, Lao Lei himself didn't know whether he shoveled the football first or ran into Rooney first. After all, things happened so fast that Lao Lei's sensory systems all over his body couldn't separate these two things in order. However, no matter what, Lao Lei felt that he should show his attitude first, and as for whether he really fouled, he didn't care. Anyway, it's not the first time he's done to reverse black and white in football, as long as he insists on doing everything, resolutely doesn't suffer losses, and only takes advantage of the principle of doing things.
In addition, at this time, Rooney actually didn't know whether Lao Lei had a foul or not. However, in view of the bad situation of England on the field, and the fact that Lao Lei is an old enemy, Lu Xiaopang, who has always been upright, naturally knows what choice he should make at this time.
So, when he saw Lao Lei's hideous face of "the wicked sue first", Rooney immediately made an extremely angry gesture of being wronged, pointed at Lao Lei's nose, and scolded back viciously unceremoniously. In this way, the two old rivals, who had the same hideous faces and the same terrifying, once again bit each other on the court.
In the end, the referee did not decide to take a penalty, which immediately escalated the strength of this bull. This time, regardless of whether he was really wronged or not, Rooney was really out of anger.
Although he is not as brilliant as Lao Lei's record, the little fat man has never been a good child, and he has never been born cowardly about eating a red card, and his perceptual thoughts and actions can always be faster than his own rational thoughts.
Next, a red-faced appeal with the referee is naturally indispensable. However, under the referee's righteous refusal, Lu Xiaopang naturally had nothing to do, unless he wanted to eat a second yellow card directly.
In this way, his fierce and scorching rage like magma, which had nowhere to vent, naturally found Lao Lei again.
"You shit bitch!!"
Seeing Lao Lei's mocking and disdainful sneer, Lu Xiaopang was angry, and then he was about to break free from the arms of his teammates with a hideous face, waving his clenched fists, and was about to rush towards Lao Lei. It's just that England, which can't lose Rooney at this time, naturally won't let him make trouble, so a few people have to hold him firmly.
However, Rooney's anger did not subside. On the contrary, like a beast trapped in a trap, it began to struggle more and more powerfully, and made the English players busy.
His appearance is terrifying, but it can only be a source of fun for Lao Lei.
Looking at Rooney like this, the disdainful smile on the corner of Lao Lei's mouth couldn't help but stretch it even bigger.
At the same time, he couldn't help but spread his hands, shrugged his shoulders, and made a gesture of "I'm innocent, what can you do with me". In addition, he was very annoying to Rooney, moving the four fingers of his right hand except for his thumb.
It's a global gesture that can be summed up simply, you're going to hit me! You're going to hit me!! Why don't you come!!
"Ah!!!h It's angry roaring, roaring.
In response, Lao Lei smiled again.
A mocking, disdainful smile! (To be continued......)