Chapter 474: Fight again
During the World Cup group stage, there are four matches each day, so there are only a few days between the two rounds of the group stage. The Chinese team adopted a fully enclosed training regimen. Although many players' families came to the venue, they couldn't meet.
This move was also to keep everyone focused. In fact, many European national teams are managed this way, so Wang Feng could only call his family to chat during the gaps in the evening, just to hear Xiao Siyao's soft voice, which was enough to motivate him.
In the second round of the group stage, the Chinese team faced the African star Ghana, who had just gained three points and was in high spirits, hoping to win again to secure an early spot in the knockout stage. Therefore, everyone was prepared for a tough battle.
The match between the two teams was scheduled at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg, a city about 650 kilometers from Durban. The day before the match, the Chinese team flew to their destination.
In Group A's second round, Uruguay defeated South Africa 3-0, while defending champions France surprisingly lost 0-2 to Mexico. With one draw and one loss in the two group stage matches, their chance of advancing is only theoretically possible.
In the 2002 World Cup, the defending champions France were also eliminated in the group stage. Now, history seems to be repeating itself, making people wonder if France has been cursed with winning the championship and then getting eliminated in the group stage.
In Group B's second round, Greece came from behind to defeat Nigeria 2-1, while Argentina defeated South Korea 4-1, with Higuain scoring a hat-trick, which silenced those who called him weak.
Messi still couldn't break his drought with the national team, as he created an own goal for the South Korean team.
In Group C, the United States drew 2-2 with Slovenia, while England shook hands with Algeria with a 0-0 draw, making the four teams look "especially friendly".
In Group D, the match between Germany and Serbia produced another major upset. After Klose was sent off by Klinsmann and Podolski missed a penalty, they lost 0-1 to their opponents.
This made many people who favored Germany greatly disappointed, and they couldn't help but ask, "Where is the momentum you showed against China? Where are your high-altitude bombardment and possession penetration?"
But this is the World Cup, where upsets happen at any moment, just like four years ago when no one believed the Chinese team could make it to the quarter-finals.
At 4:00 PM local time on June 19th, the match between China and Ghana officially began.
Ghana's head coach Rajevac arranged a 4-3-2-1 "Christmas Tree" formation, with goalkeeper Kingston.
The four defenders are Andy, H?nefoss, Salpingidis, and Pantxi.
The three midfielders are Tago, Anan, and Asamoah, with the two forwards being Ayew and P-Boateng.
Gyan is the lone striker.
Compared to the first match, the Chinese team's head coach Ar?kan made a slight adjustment to the starting lineup, with Gao Lin replacing Shao Jiayi, while the rest of the players remained the same.
After the kickoff, the Ghana team first created threats through long passes, and they earned a corner kick, but Gyan's header missed the goal slightly.
The Chinese team gradually realized that compared to Germany, Ghana was obviously less pressing. Their physical confrontation and speed were first-class, but their ball-handling was rough, and they often made mistakes in passing, which made it easier to create counter-attack opportunities.
In the past ten minutes, Wang Feng broke through the defense twice, creating threats, but unfortunately, one shot was saved by Kingston, and one assist to Gao Lin resulted in a high shot.
Although they were in a passive situation on the field, the successful completion of the attacks boosted everyone's morale. They became more determined to stabilize their defense, and for a while, Ghana couldn't easily form truly threatening attacks.
In the 21st minute, Zheng Zhi made a tackle in the backcourt to intercept the opponent's pass, quickly passed it to Dong Fangzhuo, who then flicked it forward with his outer foot after rushing past the midfield.
The ball formed a beautiful arc on the lawn, just crossing over Ghana's midfielder Anan to reach Wang Feng's feet. The Chinese superstar continued to dribble forward into the opponent's half.
Anan and another defender H?nefoss desperately chased back, trying to form a closing-down situation to stop Wang Feng, but he suddenly stopped the ball with his right foot, immediately followed by a left-footed flick to start.
This stop-and-start movement made the two defending players lose their rhythm, allowing Wang Feng to easily shake them off and face Salpingidis near the edge of the penalty area. In the blink of an eye, Wang Feng completed a feinting move that looked like cutting inside but actually went to the byline. Even though Salpingidis was fooled and adjusted his position in time, he could only closely follow behind him.
Entering the penalty area and seeing that his teammates had not caught up yet, Wang Feng simply took a shot at a tight angle. The ball flew past Kingston's outstretched hand and into the goal.
"The ball is in! The Chinese team scored! It's a quick counterattack from Wang Feng, and now we lead 1-0!"
"A very high-quality shot from a tight angle. Wang Feng's ability to seize scoring opportunities in front of the goal is simply unparalleled in the football world!"
"Zheng Zhi's tackle in the backcourt, followed by Dong Fangzhuo passing it to Wang Feng, his speed is just too fast, shaking off three defending players and entering the penalty area."
"You can see that at this moment, his teammates are a bit slow to follow up, the two Ghanaian defenders are tightly guarding, and Salpingidis is also closely following behind after being tricked by him. So the Chinese superstar didn't hesitate to shoot directly, creating this high-quality goal."
"This is his second goal of this World Cup, and his total goals have reached 12, surpassing Ronaldo's record of 15 goals, which is within reach!"
After scoring, Wang Feng once again came to the stands to interact with the domestic fans, pounding his chest with the flag in his hand, and the fans responded by waving the red color vigorously. This was a moment belonging to China!
The trailing Ghana team played even more aggressively, immediately pressing for a counterattack whenever they lost the ball, and even resorting to fouls, causing the Chinese team to be knocked around, and the referee's whistle sounded incessantly.
The Hungarian referee Kassai showed three yellow cards in a row, and the veteran Li Weifeng also fell to the ground injured during the confrontation with the opponent, forcing Ar?kan to replace him with Wang Qiang.
But this also sparked the blood of the Chinese players. "Come at me, who's afraid of who?"
In the 39th minute, Gyan's attack was unsuccessful, and the ball was caught by goalkeeper Qiu Shengjiong, who immediately threw it to Feng Xiaoting, who passed it to Zheng Zhi without any delay, and then passed it to Deng Zhuoxiang.
During this time, Zheng Zhi was tripped by Asamoah after the ball was passed, but the referee signaled to continue the attack because it was advantageous, and he endured the pain to quickly get up and receive the ball to cooperate.
A series of rapid and precise passes allowed the ball to quickly pass through the midfield to the edge of the penalty area, where Ghana had no chance to counter-press!
Finally, Gao Lin's through ball successfully tore open the opponent's defense, Wang Feng successfully avoided the offside trap, and after receiving the ball, he shot directly without adjusting, sending the ball over Kingston's hand into the net.
2-0! The Chinese team expanded their lead! Wang Feng once again scored twice on the World Cup stage!
Whether it was the fans at the scene or the audience in front of the TV, they were all stunned by the Chinese team's cooperation this time. Such a smooth passing game, I'm afraid it's not inferior to Barcelona.
Not only them, even the players on the field felt unbelievable, and the head coach Ar?kan on the sidelines was contemplative. The reason why they were able to complete this perfect attack had two essential elements.
One was Wang Feng's guiding role, from the backcourt to the frontcourt, he always appeared in key positions to guide the players, and the other was concentration and flashes of inspiration, the players did not want to be entangled by the opponents, and their ball-handling was very efficient.
But such a situation is hard to come by, and if they really go for possession play, it would be a dead end for the Chinese team.
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦