Chapter 92: The Thirty-Two Tours (2)
The World Cup is about to start, with Shakira's hip twisting dance, the passion of the World Cup has ignited the African continent, South Africa, which hosted the World Cup for the first time, has also become the center of the eyes of fans all over the world, and the African continent full of mystery has also opened their arms to the world for the first time.
Group C: This group looks like a suspenseful group, but it is full of mysteries, England is the golden generation every year, the United States is the best in everything, Algeria is the African mystic, and Slovenia is without Zakhovic.
After missing out on Euro 2008, Fabio Capello's England had a rare feat in many years in World Cup qualifying, with England comfortably qualifying for the World Cup in South Africa, Croatia in Euro 2008 qualifying and Croatia convincingly beating Croatia home and away in 2010 World Cup qualifying.
Fabio Capello's arrival has made England significantly improve in terms of technical tactics and team discipline, unlike the previous World Cup when he shouted the strongest in history in addition to his own family, but was generally not favored by the outside world, this time England is regarded as the favorite to win the championship.
Capello, who has an eye for detail and a strict discipline in the team, has enjoyed success in charge of AC Milan, Real Madrid, Roma and Juventus.
After taking over England, Capello quickly conquered the English fans who were still skeptical of him, England had an excellent record at the same time, in the game, England was able to play a rare wonderful scene when the previous managers led the team, and at the same time in solving the problem of Gerrard and Lampard starting at the same time, on-the-spot scheduling, fully exploiting the physical advantages of the players, and many other aspects, Capello has shown superior coaching ability, and this is only the first time that Capello has managed the national team with a record when he has a good record in charge of the club.
With the exception of a successful World Cup victory on home soil in 1966, England's performances in the rest of the World Cups have been lackluster, and the team has failed to reach the World Cup final again.
As the undisputed leader of the Liverpool team, in addition to failing to win the Premier League title with Liverpool, Gerrard led Liverpool to the championship with impressive performances in both the Champions League and FA Cup.
At international level, the 2006 World Cup was Gerrard's only previous World Cup, but England failed to go far in 2006.
After Capello took over England, Gerrard's position was predicated, which was conducive to Gerrard's better performance in attack.
The 30-year-old is still in the prime of his career, and this will most likely be the last time Gerrard will play in the World Cup as a regular player.
Gerrard's midfield partner is Frank Lampard from Chelsea, Frank Lampard, who came from a football family, has gradually developed into a world-class midfielder after moving to Chelsea from West Ham United, in the past few seasons, Chelsea have continued to bring in stars and become a European giant, but Lampard's main position has always been unshakable, in the past few seasons, Frank Lampard has played well and played amazingly, as a well-rounded midfielder, Lampard has made great progress during his time at Chelsea.
At international level, Frank Lampard has not been able to fully demonstrate his level at the club, particularly at the 2006 World Cup, when the midfield combination of Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard was unsuccessful.
The 32-year-old is still in high form, and this will also be Frank Lampard's last World Cup as a regular player, and Lampard will also have his last chance to fight for England's glory in the World Cup.
Rooney is England's biggest attraction in this World Cup, as England's biggest support on the front line, Rooney's performance will largely determine England's record in this World Cup.
In the Manchester United team this season, the strong Rooney is unstoppable, in the England team, the team's attack is also built around Rooney, strong containment in the front, excellent finishing and tenacious fighting spirit, so that the outstanding individual Rooney in the England team role is irreplaceable, in addition to injuries, it seems that it has been difficult to stop Rooney's progress.
In addition, the most eye-catching player in the England squad is undoubtedly Fiorentina David Beckham, who is already 35 years old and finally impressed Capello and came to the World Cup stage with his excellent performances in the last two seasons.
However, the captain's armband is already on Gerrard's arm and there is no hope for the main position, but Beckham is still full of pride that he will represent his country in his fourth World Cup.
"I don't expect to be in the main position, whenever the team needs me, I'm going to step up at the first time, Steven and Frank are great players and I just want to be in their reserve squad now!"
Despite his age, although his competitive form has declined, Beckham is still the star of the England team in this World Cup, especially in the last two consecutive Champions League finals, it is hard to believe that the heartthrob is approaching the twilight of his career.
Similarly, Capello will not ignore Beckham's excellent performance in Fiorentina, although he will not be the main team, but at key moments, Beckham will still be a big surprise in Capello's hands.
In this group, the only threat to England is probably the United States, which has the same roots as them, and this World Cup is the sixth consecutive time that the United States has participated in the World Cup finals stage, and American football, which was once regarded as a football desert, has begun to make a difference on the World Cup stage.
In the CACAF qualifiers for this World Cup, the United States easily qualified for the COMCACAF region, and in CONCACAF it has become equal to Mexico, the former regional hegemon.
At the 2009 Intercontinental Cup of Nations, the United States caused a lot of surprises, beating African powerhouse Egypt in the group stage, and then beating Brazil, who are considered the favourites to win the World Cup in South Africa, and in the final, the United States only narrowly lost to Belgium.
Since the 2009 Intercontinental Nations Cup was held in South Africa, the United States, which played against many strong teams, was able to get a fairly ideal training before the start of the World Cup.
The United States has repeatedly performed impressively in the World Cup, and after participating in five consecutive World Cups, it has continued to gain experience and players continue to play in the Europa League, which has strengthened the United States.
The United States does not have many well-known stars playing in the European leagues, but the excellent players are emerging, the overall style of play of the team is quite formed, and the players are quite aggressive, and the United States still have a good chance of qualifying from the group in this World Cup group.
The number one star Donovan, who has made a difference in the World Cup in 2002, is currently 28 years old, and is still in his playing years.
Another star in the team, Dempsey, is well known to fans for his outstanding performances at Fulham, and in the United States, Dempsey is the absolute main force of the team's midfield, and in the United States team, Dempsey is an indispensable part of the team's attacking end.
Dempsey, who has a strong individual technique, is a very active runner on the court and has a good scoring ability, and was a key player for the United States to reach the final of the 2009 Intercontinental Nations Cup, and like Donovan, Dempsey is a player that the United States rely on on the offensive end.
In this World Cup, there will also be a rare scene of father and son going to the World Cup together. Bradley is the head coach of the United States, Bob. Bradley's son, but the handsome Bradley can occupy a place in the main American lineup, not because of his father's care, but more because of his excellent personal ability.
After joining Borussia Mönchengladbach last season, Bradley has established himself in the main squad of Borussia Mönchengladbach, as a defensive midfielder, the active Bradley is a member of the main squad in both Borussia Mönchengladbach and the United States, while the 23-year-old Bradley still has a lot of room to rise.
Slovenia, also in Group C, is not favored, but the Slovenians, who are accustomed to creating miracles in tournaments, are obviously not the target of slaughter, as a former Yugoslav republic, Slovenia did not become independent until the early 90s of the last century. Slovenia is a small country in Europe in terms of territory and population, and the team has only qualified for the World Cup finals once before, after eliminating Romania in the World Cup play-offs, Slovenia participated in the 2002 South Korea-Japan World Cup, but lost all three games in the group stage, Slovenia went out early.
Slovenia also won the World Cup play-offs this time, only to get the World Cup ticket, the team eliminated in the play-offs in the pre-game generally more optimistic rival Russia, you must know that Russia in the 2008 European Championship, under the leadership of the magical coach Hiddink, but once entered the semi-finals, but this time Hiddink's magic is really gone.
It is worth noting that Slovenia have conceded only six goals in a total of 12 matches in the European qualifiers and play-offs for the World Cup, and a solid defense is the key to the team's success.
There are not many well-known stars in the Slovenian team, and the team's bench depth is quite limited, especially the shortage of midfielders, the lack of strong substitutes for several main midfielders, and the overall strength of Slovenia may not have much hope for qualifying, and striving for the team's first victory in the World Cup is their more realistic goal.
The team's number one star is Handanovic, who is currently playing for Udinese in Serie A, he is also the undisputed core of the Slovenian team, and is also the most well-known star of the Slovenian backline, Handanovic, who joined Udinese as early as 2004, and after being loaned to other teams for many seasons, Handanovic has gradually become the main goalkeeper of Udinese in recent seasons.
As the main goalkeeper in the Slovenian team, Handanovic's performance in the national team is quite solid, and in the World Cup qualifiers, the solidity of the Slovenian defense is inseparable from Handanovic's high and low blocking.
At only 26 years old, Handanovic is in his playing years, and as one of the few outstanding goalkeepers in Serie A, Handanovic has already attracted the attention of big clubs.
Handanovic is in charge of the backline, and the attacking line needs to rely on the late bloomer Novakovic, a striker who was not well known until recent seasons, and his good performance in Cologne has not been familiar to fans.
The advantage of the tall Novakovic in the air is quite obvious, and what is rare is that he is also flexible at the feet.
How well these two players play will also be directly related to Slovenia's future in this World Cup.
The last team in Group C, Algeria, is a bit mysterious, the African team has only twice qualified for the World Cup finals, in the 1982 and 1986 World Cup competitions, in this World Cup qualifiers, Algeria's road to qualification is not easy, and Algeria, which is in the same group as the African powerhouse Egypt, is finally inseparable from Egypt in the top 20 stage of the African zone, and the two teams with the same number of points, goals and goals conceded can only determine the winner through the play-offs. After a 1-0 knockout of Egypt at a neutral venue, Algeria advanced to the World Cup finals for the first time in 24 years.
Algeria, the only North African team to qualify, is also the only team from the Arab world to participate in this World Cup.
Unlike West African teams such as Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, and Nigeria, which lack overall offensive and defensive integrity, Algeria pays more attention to teamwork, and the team's passing and cutting coordination has been quite formed, and a number of well-known stars who play in major European leagues form the main framework of Algeria.
Most of the players in the squad play in Ligue 1, the most famous of which is captain Berhadge, although he has certain illusions about qualifying, but his own strength determines that their prospects in this World Cup are still focused on participation.