Reborn Liverpool

Chapter 333 The Eve of the Sino-Arab War
On June 6, the first match of the Russia World Cup knockout round will start, and Huaguo vs. Argentina will be the first 30/1 final match.

Hua Guo and Argentina entered the top 16. The two teams experienced two completely different processes: Hua Guo team went smoothly after a draw with France in the first round, while the Argentine team suffered a lot of disasters and narrowly escaped death in the last round.

Hua Guo is at a disadvantage in terms of team lineup configuration. The Argentine team is strong in offense and weak in defense.

In terms of age structure, the Huaguo team, with an average age of 27, is in the middle of the top 32, but their World Cup experience is very poor.

The Argentine team, with an average age of more than 29, is the fourth oldest team in this cup. Half of the main players, including Messi, are over 30 years old and have rich experience in World Series.

The only major advantage of the Huaguo team is the sudden emergence of the "two Zhangs" of overseas players, especially Zhang Mai's strong ascent to the top of European football, and his efforts to turn the tide when the national team was in adversity many times. The national team has the possibility to continue to advance in Russia.

It was tied 1:1 by the new Iceland team and 0:3 by the Croatian team. The Argentine team, which was once hopeless for promotion, was criticized.

But for the knockout round, the Argentine team has undoubtedly withstood the most brutal test of pressure during the process of escaping from death.Therefore, the Argentine team will be more fully prepared for the fierce battle of the knockout round, both psychologically and in terms of technical and tactical arrangements.

The 19-year-old Zhang Mai and the 31-year-old Messi, who are nearly a round apart in age, are the most outstanding representatives of the new and old international football stars. The contest between the two generations of stars is also a highlight of this campaign.

Four hours later, the second round of 1/8 will be held between Portugal and Uruguay. Messi and Ronaldo will appear on the stage tonight. Coincidentally, once the two break through the danger, they will lead the team to victory , will meet head-to-head in the next round of quarter-finals and stage a peak battle.

The outside world generally believes that it is not a problem for Argentina to cross the Chinese barrier, but it is doubtful whether Portugal can overcome the South American powerhouse Uruguay.

Whether in terms of fame or world rankings, Portugal led by Ronaldo is in an advantageous position compared with Uruguay.However, world ranking and fame are only one part of football. It is not very easy for Portugal to win and advance.

If you talk about Portugal's strongest weapon, it is undoubtedly their number one superstar and captain Ronaldo. This star has achieved "reverse growth" at the age of 33.

Facing the heavy pressure from Spain in the first match of the group stage, Ronaldo broke out with the strongest combat power, scored a penalty kick, scored a goal with a long shot, and tied the game with a free kick. Ronaldo led Portugal forward almost by himself.

Facing Morocco in the second game, Ronaldo made another lightning goal.But after that, Ronaldo and Portugal failed to show a convincing performance, and the hot state of Ronaldo and Portugal cooled down.

Uruguay, on the other hand, is just the opposite. In the group stage, this South American powerhouse started to decline and then rose, gradually getting better. Uruguay became the only team that conceded 0 goals in the group stage. The record of 3 victories in the group stage is only Croatia and comparable to Belgium.

Although Uruguay is not well-known overall, its strength should not be underestimated.Suarez and Cavani's striker is their biggest trump card, and Bentancur has also become the most outstanding young player in the World Cup.Godin on the defensive line is hailed by Maradona as "the world's first central defender", and Atletico Madrid's "guard with a knife" Jimenez who has returned to training from injury, Uruguay's defense line will bring Ronaldo. Come to great trouble.

From this point of view, contrary to Argentina's strategy of relying mainly on Messi, if Portugal wants to defeat Uruguay, it must minimize Ronaldo's burden, promote the overall operation, and create opportunities for Ronaldo to make the final decision.

But Argentina has never thought that the Hua Guo team can cause resistance to itself. Argentine fans, including the world champion Maradona, believe that Messi and Ronaldo can meet in the 1/4 finals.

After 1990, Argentina has stumbled in every World Cup group stage, but this does not prevent them from reaching the finals twice. After 1986, except for the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, Argentina has entered the top 8 in every session.Among them, 2 championships and 2 runner-ups!
The duel between Zhang Mai and Messi is certainly exciting, but besides a young Bundesliga silver boot, who else is there in the Huaguo team?

Our Mascherano, Otamendi, Rojo, Di Maria, Aguero, Higuain and Dybala, which one is not famous!
The group stage is just a warm-up for a strong team. For a team with a big killer star like Messi, the knockout stage is the beginning of the real one-hit kill.

The World Cup has never lacked climaxes. Argentina did not pay too much attention to its opponents, but instead focused on the Argentine team and Messi.

Tonight, Argentina will usher in the knockout match with the Chinese team. What kind of tactics will Sampaoli adopt?
This is particularly attracting people's attention.According to the Spanish "Daily Sport", Sampaoli will use no striker in this campaign, and Messi will play a false nine position.

In the three games of the group stage, Sampaoli changed three sets of tactics in one breath, from 4231 in the first game to 343 in the second game, and changed to 3 in the third game, and let Higuain start the game instead of Aguero .However, Sampaoli's crazy experiment did not mean to stop. In this game against Huaguo, he had another bold idea, which is to let Higuain and Aguero sit on the bench, let May Xi served as the false nine and played without a striker.

In addition to Messi, Pavon will also start this game to assist Messi.

In the past three games, Pavon came off the bench, but the tacit understanding between him and Messi is obvious to all. If Pavon can start the game, his support on the wing can make Messi play even more Comfortable.

Considering the team's poor performance in the group stage, it is almost certain that Sampaoli will change again. He hopes to let Messi exert his maximum energy.

Argentina must at least enter the quarterfinals. For Sampaoli, this is a task that must be completed.

The Argentine team came to the fore from Group D in a thrilling manner. Messi was temporarily exonerated and was still worshiped by Argentine fans, while the coach Sampaoli became the one who took the blame.

At the pre-match press conference, the unwilling Sampaoli responded to discussing with Messi during the game and then replacing Aguero:
He dismissed claims that Messi is in charge of the team.Sampaoli also told critics that he is still in charge of the Argentina team, not Messi.

He said: "I was saying to Messi, use some of the game strategies that we have practiced before, put more attacking players, that's all there is to it."

Speaking of the number one star Messi, Sampaoli commented: "Messi has a great talent, so that he can see a lot of things that others can't see at a height that ordinary people can't reach. Messi is a beacon on the court. His understanding of football is his first instinct, that's what he was born with."

Speaking of the next opponent, the Huaguo team, Sampaoli believes that the team will use fighting spirit to defeat Huaguo and advance to the top 8:
"I will experience this for the first time as an Argentine coach. I see the enthusiasm of all the players in the Argentine shirt. Their emotions form a bond with the team. This makes us a dangerous team for all teams. Exist. Tomorrow, you will see a competitive team, we do not accept defeat!"

On the contrary, Lippi, the head coach of Huaguo, showed the majesty of the eastern power in the pre-match press conference.

When asked about his mood against Argentina at the moment, Lippi said:
"We have mixed feelings. We are happy to reach the knockout stage. Now our opponent is the experienced Argentine team. We will work hard."

Speaking of preparations for this game, Lippi said:
"I told my players before the game that we have been thinking about this World Cup for months, we have been preparing for it for a few weeks, and we are going to play our own game."

Lippi said that for Messi, the Hua Guo team made targeted deployments:

"We will arrange it specifically for Messi, hoping to achieve results. We have two measures: prevent him from taking the ball, and once he has the ball, the No.2 player will post it."

Before the game, people were not very optimistic about the promotion of the Hua Guo team, and Lippi also expressed his understanding of this:
"Hua Guo is just a newcomer to the World Cup. It is normal to lack strength and experience. This will be a difficult game. We will show our style tonight."

Talking about Zhang Mai's performance in this World Cup, Lippi is very proud:
"He is a very young player, but he has become a world-class superstar, even though he is only 19 years old; he will improve, to a level that you and I can't imagine; his ability to read the game is very strong, I hope Being able to fully demonstrate his talent in this important game."

Speaking of possible opponents after the promotion, hoping to be Uruguay or Portugal, Lippi said:
"We haven't thought that far yet, but both teams are good-looking teams."

(End of this chapter)