The days of playing football with Da Luo

Chapter 548 Group First
Two games, two goals, two assists, Ricardo is undoubtedly the most dazzling player in the Brazilian team.

And his odds of winning the World Cup Golden Boot have risen to 1 to 3.7. From this astonishing odds, we can see how optimistic the gaming companies are about him.

The odds of Cristiano Ronaldo in the second place are 1 to 6.2, and the odds of Messi in the third place are 1 to 6.8, which is a big gap with Ricardo. Muller, Villa, Forlan, Klose, Rooney, Higuain and other well-known shooters have even lower odds.

In Group G, Portugal slaughtered North Korea 7-0 in the second game. Now the situation of the group is very clear. Portugal is basically guaranteed to qualify, unless they lose 4 goals to Brazil, and Côte d'Ivoire wins North Korea by more than 7 goals.

As long as the Brazilian team does not lose to Portugal, it will be the first in the group.

There is theoretical hope for Côte d'Ivoire -- only theory.But their probability of qualifying is comparable to the probability of the Chinese team entering the World Cup.

Côte d'Ivoire, which was unanimously expected to become a dark horse, was unable to even enter the knockout stage, which is also embarrassing.If their opponents were France, England, Italy or Argentina, they might not be so embarrassed.

With Chile's victory over Switzerland in Group H and Spain's victory over Honduras, the third round of the World Cup group stage began.

The French horses in Group A stumbled and lost to the host South Africa. They ranked bottom in the group and lost the qualification for promotion.South Africa did not please, they were squeezed to third place by Mexico due to a goal difference disadvantage, and they were unable to qualify.Uruguay and Mexico qualify together.

The French team missed the knockout round, which made the fans and the major media stunned.

But bigger news is yet to come.

The situation in Group B is not surprising. Argentina won all 3 games and ranked first in the group. South Korea won 1 draw and 1 loss. Due to mutual wins and losses, they squeezed out Greece to advance, and Nigeria came to the bottom of the group.

In Group C, England finally did not lose the chain in the last game. They narrowly beat Slovenia 1:0 and ranked second in the group due to a goal difference disadvantage, but they also successfully qualified.The United States unexpectedly became the first in the group.

There is not much suspense in Group D. Germany is first in the group and Ghana is second.Ghana is the only African team to advance to the knockout stages.Relatively speaking, the Asian teams have a better record, and both South Korea and Japan have advanced to the knockout rounds.

The teams that qualify from Group E are the Netherlands and Japan. To be honest, it is a bit surprising that Japan can squeeze out Denmark and Cameroon. These two teams are not underdogs. Japanese football has indeed made great progress over the years.

Group F broke the big news.Defending champion Italy 2:3 is not inferior to Slovakia, and the group is at the bottom.It is rare to see the defending champion in such a miserable situation in the history of the World Cup...

Then it was the turn of Group G.

Group G is a group that has lost suspense. Perhaps the only suspense is who will qualify first in the group between Brazil and Portugal.

Before the game, the media analyzed that Brazil and Portugal would play a tacit match, each scoring 1 point.

After all, qualifying first or second in the group only matters to the next opponent.

The winner of Group G will play the runner-up of Group H, and the runner-up of Group G will play the winner of Group F.

The current situation in Group F is a bit complicated. The Chilean team won 2 games and ranked first in the group.Spain has one win and one loss, and Switzerland has one win and one loss. Due to the mutual win-loss relationship, Switzerland is currently second and Spain is third.Honduras finished fourth in both games.

In the final round, Spain will play against Chile, while Switzerland will win against Honduras.

From the media's point of view, it shouldn't be a problem for Switzerland to win this game, so Switzerland will have 2 wins and 1 loss. If Chile draws with Spain, or wins Spain, then Chile will be first in the group and Switzerland will be second.

If Chile loses to Spain, there will be 3 teams with the same points. The relationship between them is very confusing. We can only look at the goal difference. The situation is very complicated. It depends on how much goal difference Spain and Switzerland can get from their opponents to determine the order.

But in general, the performance of these three teams feels similar.

Therefore, neither Portugal nor Brazil in Group G will try their best to compete for the first place, it is not worth it.

For Portugal, it is better to save energy to beat the next opponent in the fight with Brazil now.

For Brazil, it doesn't matter who the opponent is, it's just a flat putt.

There was not much smoke in the press conference before the game.

Dunga complimented Queiroz and greatly praised Ronaldo; Portuguese coach Queiroz praised the three superstars Ronaldo, Kaka and Ricardo, modestly saying that Portugal still has a lot to learn.

It can also be seen from the starting list that the Brazilian team has no fighting spirit.Dunga made a major adjustment to the lineup in this campaign, and the defense did not change much, but Alves replaced Maicon in the starting lineup, but the midfield and frontcourt changed drastically.Gilberto Silva and Felipe Melo partnered as midfielders, Ricardo left winger, Hernanes attacking midfielder, Rico remained right winger, and Fabiano single forward.

In fact, before the game, Dunga asked Ricardo if he wanted to rest. Ricardo believed that his physical fitness was fine, and the match against Portugal was not destined to be too intense. He really wanted to win the World Cup Golden Boot, so he took the initiative to apply for the game.

Portugal has also made several personnel adjustments, with Dani, Pepe, Duda and Costa entering the starting lineup.

In history, Brazil and Portugal have played against each other 19 times, and Brazil has an absolute advantage with 13 wins, 2 draws and 4 losses.The loss to Portugal was mainly during the Eusebio period.

The last time they met in the World Cup, the Brazilian team defeated their opponents under the leadership of Ricardo. Ronaldo's tears are still fresh in the fans' memory.

But in this game, the two sides played very harmoniously.

After the opening, both sides played very steadily, preferring to fall in the backcourt when there is no chance.Ordinary fans may not see anything, but in the eyes of senior fans and professional media, the players on both sides are indeed playing tacitly and lack of investment in the game.

Some one-half-chance balls that may cause injuries will not be fought hard.

After playing for more than 20 minutes, both sides were threatening their opponents with long-range shots and set kicks, and there was no chance to really make a final decision.

But in the 30th minute, Gilberto Silva took a free kick into the Portuguese penalty area. Ricardo from the back point outflanked him. Called the football, but couldn't get it out the door.

Brazil leads 1:0.

Portugal, which was behind, still played unhurriedly, and the Brazilian team did not chase hard.

In the 60th minute, Portugal got the best chance of the game. Ronaldo single-handedly entered the penalty area of ​​the Brazilian team. After attracting the attention of the defenders, he passed the ball to the back point. Meireles shoveled and kicked wide.

In the 71st minute, Ricardo disrupted the opponent's defensive formation by cutting inside, and then passed the ball diagonally to the right. Rico inserted at high speed, received the ball near the baseline and made a pass. Fabiano scored with a header. Brazil leads 2:0.

Then both sides replaced the core players, and the score was tacitly maintained until the end.

The Brazilian team won all 3 games and successfully qualified first in the group.

(End of this chapter)