Chapter 567 Parting from injury
The top 32 are waiting for the day, and they are actively preparing for the World Cup battlefield waiting for the war. The world's major sports betting companies are also unwilling to lag behind at all. They have kept pace with the times and offered the latest World Cup odds - the Argentine team, with a madman like Li, who has a complete victory over the coach, is naturally ranked first without surprise!
However, the Argentine team did not take the lead, because the old coach Bosque's Spanish team ranked first in the odds list with the Blues and the Whites with the same odds!
The second place is the Three Lions England!
Since England won the 2008 European Cup, its international influence has soared, and its own strength is also growing wildly. Recently emerging rookies such as Nicholas Gigi and Andy Carroll of Newcastle, Manchester City's Richards, Adam Johnson and James of Aston Villa. Milner and others were summoned by Capello!
If you don't care about winning the championship in 2008, the strength of the Three Lions will not decline but rise!
The civilian five-star Samba Legion built by Dunga over four years ranked third, and the fourth was the German team of the 'German chariot', Van Malvik's 'paradigm Dutch team' ranked fifth, and the French team ranked sixth. It is worth mentioning that among all the old giants, only the Italian team of [Silver Fox] Lippi. The most popular gambling companies are only ranked 10th in the top 32, and even worse than Portugal and Ivory V!
The host South Africa ranks 18th in the odds list!
It seems that although it has the geographical advantage of the host, this team, which is not a strong team in Africa, is also not optimistic about the betting company!
Interestingly, in addition to the team odds of the betting company, a brochure compiled by Reuters called "2010 Top 32 Tour" also attracted the attention of the media of various countries, because Reuters ingeniously evaluated the strength of a top 32 coaches!
According to the four standards of coaching results, tactical layout, on-the-spot command and motivation ability, the head coaches of the 32 princes were scored one by one and their abilities were evaluated. To many people's expectations, the madman Li only ranked fourth in the list of coaches. The three people before the madman Li were [Silver Fox] Lippi, [Gold Medal Instructor] Capello and [Otto Emperor] Rehagel!
And the last two are the two Asian coaches - the head coach of the Japanese team, Takeshi Okada, and the head coach of the South Korean team, Xu Dingmao!
Reuters' ranking has aroused great dissatisfaction among Argentine fans, and the Argentine domestic media is even more reproachful. Reading News unabashedly mocked: "A head coach like Crazy Li, who never loses, only ranks fourth? Don't forget that in the 2008 European Cup, the madman Li defeated the old [Oto the Great] Rehagel with his own hands..."
The game has not yet started, and the fans and the media have set off the first wave of confrontation!
... As the opening of the quadrennial World Cup is approaching, this southernmost country on the African continent has gradually become lively. Just half a month later, a large number of foreigners continue to flood into South Africa in horrible numbers every day!
According to Reuters statistics, ten days before the start of the World Cup, more than 40,000 reporters from more than 2,000 media in more than 70 countries have come here, and the number of fans is even more!
South Africa's tourism department has given authoritative data on this - the latest data released on June 3 shows that as of June 2, at least more than one million foreign tourists have poured into major cities in South Africa, especially in the cities where the competition venues are located, hotels and hostels. The opportunity is even more intense than the tickets for the game!
In addition to fans, the arrival of the World Cup has brought huge business opportunities to South Africa!
At least a small joke is very illustrative - according to the survey statistics of the British newspaper The Sun, the number of girls in South Africa has rapidly increased tenfold in a month. At least about 10,000 Dutch and German girls have seen the huge business opportunities brought by the World Cup and come in a disciplined and organized way. South Africa uses the large flow of people during the World Cup to earn foreign exchange!
... The media and fans are busy, and the 32 teams are not idle.
The day after arriving in South Africa, Argentina ushered in a warm-up match against the African strong team Ghana!
Four years ago, Ghana was once the youngest average age in the World Cup in Germany. After four years of accumulation, many super stars have emerged in this team, such as Montari for Inter Milan, Mensa and Panderhill in the Premier League!
Ghana's biggest loss in this World Cup is that their number one midfielder [buffalo] Essien was absent due to injury, so their strength was greatly reduced!
The reason why Lao Li chose the Ghana team is very simple. This is an African team that has always advocated strength. In terms of the style of the ball, it will restrain the play of Argentina's technical team. Lao Li needs to use the Ghana team as a grindstone to sharpen the confident Argentine hammers!
In addition, the Ghana team is also located in Pretoria, which is convenient to contact!
The game began at 4 p.m. local time on June 6. It was a completely closed friendly match. The HPC Sports Center was completely closed, and reporters and fans did not get a chance to watch it. People only knew that after 90 minutes, according to the staff, the Argentine team did not win Ghana as they wanted. Team, both sides played 2:2 draw!
This news makes many people hard to believe that the big hit of the World Cup actually lost to the mid-class team Ghana? Crazy Li didn't win? Did he deliberately save his strength?
In the face of questions, Li Tongfan only responded with a simple sentence "Ghana's strength is very strong" at the regular press conference the next day. It seemed that he did not win the game and did not hinder his good mood... However, in fact... on the training ground of the HPC Sports Center.
The big stars of the Argentine team, who have just finished intense physical training, are like dead dogs lying on the ground and gasping for breath. Everyone's faces are complicated, with fear, shame, perseverance and fear... At the gate of the main building not far away, two players are carrying themselves. The luggage, sadly left the HPC Sports Center with tears, the city of Pretoria, and South Africa... It was the young goalkeeper Ustari from Getafe and Villarreal veteran Gonzaro Rodriguez!
The two of them performed badly in the game against Ghana, especially the young goalkeeper Ustari from the Getafe team. They were sometimes distracted and lazy in training, and even openly violated the ban of the head coach madman Li, slipping out of the HPC sports center and dating his girlfriend at night... For such a phenomenon, Li Tongfan is absolutely intolerable!
"Coming to South Africa does not mean that you can already appear in the World Cup a week later, let alone that you will own the Hercules Cup a month later. The odds list of the gambling company is bullshit, if you continue to immerse yourself in the praise of the outside world. Well, you can get out of here as soon as possible. I can recruit new players to replace you at any time in China. Remember, no one in this team is irreplaceable!"
Li Tongfan stood on the side of the training ground, with an angry face, giving no face to the superstars, and scolding.
Although at the press conference, he didn't care about his performance in the face of the reporters, but in fact, the result of the friendly match with the Ghana team was almost angry with Lao Li. The two-time lead was actually equalized by the opponent twice. The state of the players in the game made Li Tongfan feel obvious. I feel that at present, in this blue and white army, there is slowly a atmosphere of pride!
Among them, the representatives Ustari and Gonzaro Rodriguez were expelled from the team without hesitation by Lao Li and became the 'chicken' killed by the 'monkey'. The remaining players were scolded for a dog's blood spray in today's training!
So far, the number of Argentine players staying at the HPC Sports Center of the University of Pretoria has dropped from 32 to 28. Although four people have left the team, five more people must leave here before June 9th!
Today, the departure of Ustari and Gonzaro Rodriguez taught the big-name stars who were very relaxed after coming to South Africa. Only then did everyone realize that the competition was not over. On the contrary, it had just begun!
Everyone's heart is full of energy again, facing the cruel competition!
The head madman Li has made it very clear that no one in this team is irreplaceable. The madman Li's iron-blooded wrist for a long time makes everyone understand that the head is not just a joke!
............It is not the originality of Argentina to find a team for a personal match in a nearby area. In fact, the 32 princes are doing this, and the media and fans are no longer paying attention to the latest developments of their teams all the time!
Soon, there was bad news again - June 6th.
In the internal training class, the Three Lions England lost a general, Manchester United central defender Leo Ferdinand's left knee ligament**, and had no choice but to withdraw from the World Cup in South Africa!
June 7th.
Ivory d'Ivoire center [Warcraft] Drogba was hit on the arm with his knee by Japanese defender Tanaka in the warm-up match with the Japanese team, resulting in a fracture of Drogba's elbow, which is likely to bid farewell to the World Cup... June 7th afternoon.
Dutch coach Van Malvik announced at a press conference that [Peter Pan] Robben's ligament was torn in a warm-up match with Hungary, which is likely to stop the road to the World Cup!
The continuous injuries of superstars made the atmosphere before the World Cup suddenly tense. The team's supporters were afraid that one day, in the blink of an eye, they would sadly find that their favorite stars would have to say goodbye to the World Cup... Fujimoto's defender Tanaka and Ghana's Boatten, because of the serious injuries to Drogba and Ba Lark, who became the most unpopular player among fans for a while, was scolded everywhere!
... As the opening day of the World Cup is approaching, the atmosphere in the streets and alleys of South Africa is hot. Fans in various football uniforms can be seen everywhere. Adidas and Nike launched a new round of fighting in South Africa... During this period, the Argentine team There was a warm-up match against the Slovak team, which was also stationed in Pretoria. The Blue and White Legion performed well this time. Relying on the goals of Messi and Aguero, they defeated the opponent 2-0!
On June 9, the Argentine team handed in the final 23-man list to FIFA!
Bundesliga upstart Hoffenheim's midfielder Zukurini, Ligue champion Lyon's top scorer Alexandro Lopez, Genoa striker Palacio, [Madman] Pallmo and [Witcher] Perón became the last Argentine players to bid farewell to the World Cup in South Africa!
On the official website of the Argentine Football Association, Li Tongfan thanked the five people for their contributions to the Argentine team during this period and wish them good luck!
June 11th.
The much-anticipated opening ceremony of the World Cup in South Africa has finally begun!
The 2010 World Cup in South Africa has really begun!
(to be continued)