Chapter 124 Start of the knockout match

The day after the group stage, the first round of the knockout round of the World Cup in South Africa began. In the first match, Uruguay, the first in Group A, faced Argentina, the second in Group B, a direct dialogue between the former World Cup champions in South America.

Although many young people worth looking forward to have emerged in this World Cup, the game is not as fierce as people think. Argentina confirmed the advantage of two goals in the first half. Tevez and Higuain made contributions respectively. Messi sent assists, and Uruguay played in the second half. Suarez scored a comforting goal at the last moment.

Messi's first World Cup goal still did not appear. Although Messi performed very well in this game and was selected as the best player by FIFA after the game, he is still very far from his first World Cup goal.

Maradona's team was able to move forward after defeating its close neighbors in South America, and people even began to expect that Maradona would become the second person to win the World Cup as a player and head coach after Beckenbauer.

Of course, the promotion road in front of the Argentines is still not smooth. If you want to finally win the Hercules Cup, the Argentine team needs to show more.

In the second knockout match, the United States played against Ghana. Before the game, people unanimously expected that the Americans who performed well in the group stage could laugh to the end, but when the whistle at the end of the game sounded, the Americans who wanted to go further in the World Cup finally fell. 1:2 They lost to Africa. Black Star Ghana missed the top eight.

Donovan looked very irritable and angry. When he returned to the bench, he did not talk to anyone and failed to advance to the top 8. He regretfully and simply looked up to the sky. He wanted to continue to help the U.S. team move forward, but the team stopped abruptly.

When the reporter handed the microphone to Donovan a little ignorantly, Donovan only said one sentence: "Football is a cruel sport."

Then he bowed his head and went straight to the player channel. He didn't want to stay here for another second.

The players of the American team have different expressions and are sure that they are uncomfortable. The veteran Demerit walked to the sidelines and applaud all the American fans at the scene. Later, Bernstein joined him. Captain Bocanegra could not forgive his mistakes in overtime and sat quietly on the bench to experience it. In his tragic life, the saddest thing was that Edou, who was replaced in the first half, fell on the court and cried into tears.

For the American team, the World Cup is over, and the players feel unwilling, but this is life. No one can do anything about it. However, all Americans and even fans from other parts of the world have reasons to thank them, because the spirit of the Bradley team interprets the charm of sports, and Because of their efforts, the World Cup has become suspenseful.

Because of the World Cup, football surpassed other sports in the United States for the first time and became the mainstream. Former President Clinton came, NBA superstar Kobe came, and rock superstar Jagger also came. Because of football, the United States became the focus without using the army.

Because of the World Cup, South Africa came with more stars and superstars, attracting more attention. The day before this game, South Africans "besieged" the American bus. They did not attack players because of the United States itself, but liked these young men rather than to get close contact with them. I'm afraid it's the first time I've felt this kind of treatment.

Because of football, people like the American team, at least not as annoying as before. Because of the World Cup, the American team also made Americans fall in love with football. This is their greatest contribution to this event, even if they don't enter the top 8?

Everything the U.S. team has contributed so far is enough.

The Ghana team, which defeated the United States, has become a legend of the World Cup in South Africa after the end of this game.

Rely on Boateng and Gian. Asamoa's goal, Ghana defeated the United States in overtime and advanced to the quarterfinals of the World Cup in South Africa. 18 years ago, Cameroon also reached the quarterfinals in the Italian World Cup. Eight years ago, Senegal also reached the quarterfinals at the World Cup between Korea and Japan, and this time it was Ghana.

As the only team in Africa that qualified, as long as it can go further and defeat Argentina in the next game, it means that a new history is about to emerge. For the first time, African teams have a place in the top four of the World Cup, which Cameroon, Nigeria and other strong African teams have not been able to do before. Of.

The technical advantage is the basis of Ghana's victory. Their two goals make the Americans who are good at fighting back powerless, easy and elegantly, showing the beauty and charm of football.

Especial striker Ji'an. Asamoa, who scored another goal against the United States in this game, has scored four goals in the World Cup. As long as one more goal, he can equal Cameroon legend Mira and become the African player with the most goals in the World Cup.

But why did Ghana make it to the quarterfinals instead of the more famous Cameroon or host South Africa?

Personal skills and physical fitness are outstanding, but its loose nature, lack of tactical discipline and weak will have always been the impression of African football.

However, Ghana's performance has been different from traditional African football. Its tactical organization has reached a very high level. Ghana is the youngest team on average among the top 32 teams in the World Cup, but it is based on the runner-up team of last year's World Youth Championship. It does not have stage fright when facing big-name teams, and has physical advantages. More importantly, the strength of the team in all positions is average, which is why they can eventually surpass Cameroon, South Africa and other teams to enter the top 8.

After the game, striker Ayu said in an interview: "We are very disappointed that no other African team has reached the top 16, so we have to fight, not only for Ghana, but for the whole of Africa, which is why we won this game."

In the next game, Ghana will compete with Argentina for a place in the top four. Anyway, this African team's South American quarterfinals is worth looking forward to, because a new history may arise here.

The next day, another knockout match began. The two sides were Germany and England. The Mars hit the earth that people had been expecting did not appear. People only saw the unilateral massacre of England by the Germans, and a door line that was destined to become unforgettable in this World Cup.

In this game, Germany's young player Mueller is undoubtedly the most dazzling star. His two goals completely destroyed England's will to resist, but the flip after Klose's goal is obviously more memorable than Mueller's goal.

After scoring the first goal against England, Klose has scored 12 goals in the World Cup finals. If Klose's red card was sent off against Serbia, Klose has scored two goals in the two games played in this World Cup.

Although it is almost impossible to surpass Degan's goal record, because Degan continues to score goals, Klose is eager to catch up with Ronaldo, the second in the total scorer list.

Moreover, after scoring a goal, Klose has now competed with the achievements of the two famous players. Before this game, the "Golden Bomber" Klinsmann originally tied the sixth place in the World Cup scorer list with 11 goals, while Brazil's king Pele slightly won by 12 goals, but after this battle, Klose has left his German fellow villagers behind, and Pele's situation of "exclusively" 12 goals has also faded.

Klose's goal certainly has a lot of luck, but it also shows his sensitive forward consciousness and excellent physical fitness.

At that time, German goalkeeper Neuer kicked the goalball to the front court, and the ball bounced to the front of the penalty area. At this time, Klose quickly plugged in. Central defender Upson saw that the situation was not good to stop it, but Klose's physical advantage was very obvious. He forcibly knocked it away and shot it in the lower right corner of the goal in the face of James. The goal is also Klose's 50th goal in his 99th appearance for the German national team.

Claude's goal surpassing his predecessors is indeed worthy of a great book, but what is doomed to be controversial in this game is the goal line. England stopped at the 1/8 final of the World Cup and lost to Germany 1:4. The biggest watershed of the whole game is undoubtedly the misjudgment ball in the 39th minute of the first half, which changed The "potential" on the field.

Lampard's hanging shot hit the beam and hit the gate nearly half a meter, but the referee and the linesman made the wrong decision, which made Lampard and Capello's celebration freeze in the air in an instant.

This ball immediately reminds people of the classic suspense of the 1966 World Cup Anglo-German final. Hearst's goal in overtime was also hit by a beam. At that time, the lineman decided that the goal was valid, but there is no accurate conclusion as to whether the ball crossed the goal line, which has also became the biggest mystery in the history of the World Cup. One of them.

Compared with the 1966 ball, the nature of the misjudgment ball in this Anglo-German battle is completely different. The former is a "controversial ball" and the latter is the most obvious "misjudgment ball". The English people's grievances are obviously heavier than the Germans. If the ball 44 years ago made the Germans have been worried, then today For a long time, it was the turn of the English to talk about the crossbars and the goal line.

It can be expected that this goal line ball will become one of the focus topics of this World Cup, which has been discussed for a long time and will even go down in history as one of the biggest misjudgment in the history of the World Cup.

So many goals crossed the goal line and did not enter. Judging from the severity of the mistakes, in the misjudgment that can be "commenable" in England's history of participating in the World Cup, people will immediately remember that Maradona's "Hand of God" at the 1986 World Cup are all World Cup knockout matches, which are all misjudgment that changed the trend of the game. After 24 years, the Englishman became the victim again.

If this goal is counted, the score will be 2:2, and England will score two goals in three minutes, which will have a huge impact on the second half in terms of momentum and style of play. It can be said that this misjudgment has changed the trend of the game and has an impact on the final result.

Almost everyone except the referee saw the football crossing the line. Capello waved to celebrate for a long time on the sidelines, and then was surprised to find that the ball "not scored". Lampard raised his arm to celebrate, but had no choice but to see the referee.

Beckham on the bench naturally saw clearly. He couldn't believe the referee's decision. At half-time, he stood on the sidelines and encouraged his teammates who walked to the lounge. When the referee came over, Beckham would naturally not be idle.

Beckham put his hands together and made a "half a meter" gesture. What he meant was obvious. The ball crossed the goal line nearly half a meter. Are you blind?!

In the face of Beckham's protest, the referee and the linesman were expressionless. I don't know how they would feel after watching the video.

At the end of the game, although Capello replaced Beckham and England launched a wild attack, the trend of the game has been determined in the first half, and the Three Lions can only do nothing.

A defeat, many people have to take responsibility for it, and Capello, who has an annual salary of 6 million pounds, is inevitably at the forefront of the storm.

England has been sluggish since the start of the World Cup and barely broke out of the group stage. Now, the stubborn Capello has finally led England to wave goodbye to the World Cup. At the moment the Three Lions left, Capello's departure has become one of the hottest topics.

At the press conference after the game, when asked by the reporter if he would resign voluntarily, Capello gave a clear answer: "About my future? I still need to talk to the president in detail before I can decide what will happen in the future. I need to know whether the FA will continue to trust me.

During the following interview, Capello still refused to bear the responsibility for England's defeat: "When the team loses, we will naturally blame the coach. Our performance in the first game against the United States was not bad, we just made some small mistakes, and then we also qualified from the group, and in today's game, if The referee did not misjudge, and the result will be completely different. This is a very serious misjudgment.

However, some previous remarks of the FA suggest that despite England's poor record in this World Cup, Capello will continue to stay in office. It is reported that many senior officials of the English Football Federation have expressed their support for Capello, and Capello is still the most suitable candidate to lead the Three Lions.

Capello may continue to lead the England team, but Beckham can only say goodbye to the national team with helplessness. It is obviously impossible for him to wait until the next World Cup, but this time Beckham did not shed tears. He even showed his iconic smile in front of fans around the world, one by one Go to comfort his teammates.

Beckham's performance on the World Cup stage is worthy of the time he got. This time, Beckham did not lose!