We agreed to play football together, and you will be the head coach?

Chapter 416: Top Eight Showdown, Top Four Competition

In the 83rd minute, Ronaldo made a cross from the right.

Switched positions with Nani again.

Nani volleyed the ball from the left side of the penalty area, but the ball hit Maguire and was easily caught by Pickford.

Maguire seemed to have gravity in the penalty area and was always hit by the football.

Isn’t this a successful defense?

In the 85th minute, Ronaldo faced Ashley Young and Smalling, successfully took on two of them and broke into the penalty area.

Then he forced a shot with his left foot.

Unfortunately, the strength was not enough and the ball was caught by Pickford.

After Ronaldo shot, he fell to the ground and lay in the penalty area, gasping for breath for a while.

My physical strength is almost exhausted.

This game was too intense for him.

But Pickford did not give Ronaldo a chance to breathe, and the other forwards of the Portuguese team did not interfere with Pickford.

The young English player just made a long pass and launched a counterattack.

Sterling ran away.

Almost at the speed of light, Pepe was eaten alive in an instant.

"Pepe is not strong enough!" Southgate clenched his fists. "Vardy's attack consumed a lot of energy from Pepe and other Portuguese defenders. Now Sterling is full of energy and no one can keep up with him!"

In a flash, Sterling got a super one-on-one opportunity.

As he ran through the center circle, he heard the voice of He Tianqi on the sidelines.

"Get past the goalkeeper! You must get past the goalkeeper! Don't shoot easily!"

He Tianqi also seemed a little excited.

Because of Sterling's finishing kick, everyone has to understand, happy boy, I just want to ask you if you are afraid!
In comparison, in this kind of one-on-one opportunity, He Tianqi would rather let Sterling pass the goalkeeper.

This way the chances of scoring a goal will be greater.

When Sterling heard this arrangement, he became very excited!

He Tianqi, who has never allowed players to dribble past the goalkeeper at will, actually let him dribble past the goalkeeper. Is he trying to promote him?
After Bale, will Aston Villa's next Ballon d'Or winner be me, Raheem Sterling?

Sterling was delighted.

After receiving the ball, he headed straight for the Portuguese penalty area.

Portugal goalkeeper Patricio waited for the right opportunity, and when he found that his teammates could not keep up with Sterling at all, he knew that this was a duel between the two of them.

"Attack! Patricio attacks! Great timing..."

"Sterling changed direction and passed Patricio! But the ball rolled a little too fast. Can Sterling catch up?"

"He's caught up! Sterling can actually speed up! His explosive power is amazing!"

"Maybe Sterling is a little worse than Bale in terms of absolute speed, but in terms of explosiveness, Sterling may really be no worse than Bale."

"Bale is the long-legged starter, while Sterling is the turbo-duck type, with two small feet that flip very fast."

"Sterling shoots into the empty goal from a small angle!"

"Almeida slid into the goal and was a step too slow."

"GOAL!!!"

"Two to zero! Sterling killed the game!"

"Too fast! Too strong! I haven't seen Ronaldo at the age of 20, but I have seen Raheem Sterling at the age of 20!"

"England's strongest striker in the future may have surfaced! If the most powerful striker on the field before this game was Cristiano Ronaldo, then at least in this game, the most powerful striker is Chris Sterling!"

"This was an assist from goalkeeper Pickford! The British stars launched an extremely concise and deadly attack!"

"The Portuguese were in despair! Their last-ditch effort failed, as the gap left by one missing full-back was taken advantage of by Sterling, who was too fast!"

"There is not much time left for the Portuguese team!"

The camera turns to the Portuguese players.

They were all panting and looked gloomy.

Ronaldo also blamed himself. If he had scored, the team would have been tied at 1-1 and would not have been counterattacked and become 2-0.

Back and forth, this feeling of powerlessness is enough to kill any player.

So depressing.

But the Portuguese team quickly restarted the game, buying time to create a miracle.

In the 87th minute, Postiga created a free kick from a far position.

After the ball was kicked out, Ronaldo had an opportunity to run into the penalty area and was about to head the ball, but the referee blew the whistle.

Offside!

Ronaldo was very angry and argued with the referee, and was eventually given a yellow card.

In the 89th minute, Nani made a cross and Ronaldo headed the ball, but unfortunately it missed.

He Tianqi then made a substitution, replacing Welbeck with Henderson to further strengthen the defense and kill time.

There are three minutes of added time in this game.

In the 90th minute, Almeida made a cross from the side.

Maguire heads the ball away.

In the 91st minute, Moutinho made a cross from the side.

Henderson forced his way out and kicked the ball. Both sides fought for the ball and finally Moutinho was given a yellow card for a foul.

In the 92nd minute, Portugal won a corner kick.

Cahill confronted Postiga in the penalty area, and both of them fell to the ground. The ball was left unattended and rolled out of the other sideline.

Both sides complained about fouls from the other side.

In the end, the referee did not whistle.

In the 93rd minute, Henderson pulled down Nani outside the penalty area and received a yellow card.

At the end of the extra time, Portugal had one last chance to attack.

As Smalling used his head to head Portugal's uncreative and threatening cross out of the penalty area again, the referee had to blow the whistle to end the game.

"Congratulations to the England team! They have advanced to the quarterfinals of the World Cup!"

"It was a wonderful game, both sides showed great ability! It was a pity that Portugal was eliminated, as they were recognized as the favorites to play in the semi-finals before the game."

"Among the six Ballon d'Or winners in the past few years, Bale's Wales team lost in the qualifiers and missed the World Cup finals. Ribery was forced to withdraw from the French national team due to a back injury."

"Now Ronaldo is out. Only Messi from Argentina, De Bruyne from Belgium and Kaka from Brazil are left."

“I wonder if we’ll be lucky enough to see the Ballon d’Or derby this year!”

"C Ronaldo feels very aggrieved and very dissatisfied. He is at his best age, but this is not the best Portugal team."

On the field, He Tianqi found Ronaldo and comforted his former favorite student: "It's good to feel wronged and unwilling to accept. These are better than the fear that a player will feel when he gets older and suddenly realizes that he doesn't have much time left to play football, but he hasn't achieved a certain goal."

"You still have time, I believe you can achieve your goal."

Ronaldo nodded, knowing that he still had time to pursue more honors.

And if he suffered the same defeat again four or eight years later, he didn't know whether he would cry, because the situation then would certainly be different from now.

Time is the enemy of every warrior.

Sterling also came over and he wanted to exchange jerseys with Ronaldo.

With He Tianqi there, Ronaldo couldn't refuse and could only nod in agreement.

Otherwise, according to his temper, he really doesn't want to bother with Sterling, the guy who killed the game.

This scene happened simultaneously in many places on the court.

Ashley Young and Welbeck comfort Nani.

Vardy found Pepe and exchanged jerseys with him.

Amorim is chasing Gerrard.

Moutinho and Lampard exchanged jerseys.

Almeida found Albrighton, who had frequently fought against him. In this extreme duel, there were not many wrong calls or missed calls.

Portugal may not be happy with themselves, but they will not think that England did not deserve the victory.

However, the best players of the game were not Gerrard and Sterling who scored the goals.

But it's goalkeeper Pickford!

His magical saves are the basis for the team's victory.

Keeping Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo scoreless is an excellent record.

What's more, he also gave an assist!
After this game, everyone knew that at least in the next game, England's starting goalkeeper would still be this 20-year-old young man.

England's number one goalkeeper, Joe Hart, was confined to the bench.

Pickford became popular.

His worth continues to soar, having risen from less than one million euros to fifteen million euros!

This is already the value of many famous goalkeepers at their peak.

Once it exceeds 20 million euros, it becomes a star goalkeeper, with a huge premium.

Considering Pickford's age, it is basically equivalent to a sixteen-year-old striker.

Just like Buffon's 54 million euro deal, it seems outrageous, but he has played for Juventus for so many years since then, and the overall transfer fee is shockingly cheap!
At this point, all the World Cup quarter-finals have been completed.

Later, the draw for the World Cup quarter-finals began.

Continue to fight against each other!

First of all, it’s the Ballon d’Or derby that everyone is looking forward to!
Brazil VS Belgium!

La Liga's new dribbling king, Barcelona star Neymar VS England's dribbling king, Chelsea's true god Hazard.

Two world-class attacking midfielders, Villa derby, Kaka VS De Bruyne.

Oscar, Fernandinho, Gustavo, Paulinho, Alves, Thiago Silva, David Luiz, Cesar, Hulk...the Brazilian team is full of stars.

Lukaku, Courtois, Fellaini, Alderweireld, Moussa Dembele, Januzaj, the rising stars of Belgium.

The war is about to start.

The second matchup was between German tanks and the Checkered Army.

Can Croatia's golden generation, led by Modric, counterattack Germany and take Berlin directly?

Or was it that they were ambushed and strangled by the Bayern group in Munich and failed at the last moment?
The third matchup is between Argentina and the Netherlands.

The former has the most artistic individual football performer Messi, and the dirtiest South American defense "This is Iron Blood", while the latter has all-around attack and defense, as well as terrifying forwards such as Robben and Van Persie.

Which one is strong and which one is weak?

England was lucky and once again fell into the last group, getting plenty of rest time.

Their opponent is the French team!
……

During the World Cup, the pace of play is very fast.

As a result, Brazil and Belgium have already started fighting.

After 90 minutes of fierce battle, Brazil defeated Belgium 2-1.

The defenders won the game, with Thiago Silva and David Luiz scoring goals from corner kicks.

On the Belgian side, De Bruyne assisted Lukaku to score a goal, but unfortunately it was too late.

After Kaka defeated his teammate De Bruyne, countless South American fans believed that it was time for Kaka to win the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year again this year!

Because Kaka and De Bruyne are teammates in the club and are both main players.

Even if there is a distinction between primary and secondary, it is not too big.

But as for the national team, it is a fact that Kaka defeated De Bruyne, doesn't that mean they have regained the advantage?

The remaining candidates.

C Ronaldo has not won any top honors for either the national team or the club.

Dong Fangzhuo is the same as Cristiano Ronaldo, and faces additional resistance in terms of identity recognition.

Bale's poor record with the national team is his Achilles' heel.

Messi's club record was crushed by Villa.

Besides Kaka, who else but me?
Therefore, the Brazilian fans support with all their heart.

But Argentine fans have some small ideas.

The above content remains unchanged, but if Argentina meets Brazil next and defeats Brazil... Kaka is greater than De Bruyne, Messi is greater than Kaka, then he is naturally greater than De Bruyne, Bale, Ronaldo and so on.

As the saying goes, it is better to be in the right group than to play well. Messi has always been a bit lucky in the group.

Soon, the second battle began.

Germany also defeated Croatia 2-1.

Modric scored the only goal for his team with a long-range shot from the outside of his foot, giving it his all.

But they couldn't withstand Muller's continuous fire and Hummels's header that final blow.

In the third match, Argentina and the Netherlands went to a penalty shootout.

Neither side scored a goal during regular match time.

Argentina used rough defense to interrupt the game again and again, but the referee of this game was very lenient and used Argentina's logging tactics to injure Van Persie early on.

Both sides failed to score again in overtime.

In the end, thanks to Sneijder's key missed penalty, Argentina defeated the Netherlands in a penalty shootout and advanced to the semi-finals.

After the game, Messi's fans said that Messi deserved the FIFA Ballon d'Or that year, and Sneijder had never been able to compete with Messi, but this time he was defeated by Messi.

Clara's Viewpoint criticized this voice in an article: "Ah, yes, yes! The victory in 2014 can be used to prove the award in 2011. Congratulations to Argentina for inventing the great time machine!"

The match sparked intense controversy.

The Netherlands team had a clear advantage, but lost due to the referee's poor judgment.

After the game, the Dutch team constantly criticized the referee, but was suppressed by FIFA and received a fine.

Finally, the match between England and France started.

The French team's lineup is:
Griezmann, Benzema, Valbuena
Pogba, Cabaye, Kante

Evra, Sakho, Varane, Debuchy
Lori
-

France coach Deschamps has his own understanding of the use of some players.

The first is the compatibility issue between Giroud and Benzema. In the first leg, Benzema played as left winger and Giroud as center forward, but after the game failed, Giroud became Benzema's substitute.

The former is more popular and has stronger independent offensive capabilities.

As for the choice of defensive midfielder, Deschamps trusts Kabaye more than Kante.

However, Kante was protected by Villa's record and could not be taken down, so he was finally arranged to the right midfield position.

But Kante didn't perform well in right midfield.

In the second half, Deschamps replaced him with the more offensive Matuidi.

Because England took the lead.

Sterling dribbled into the penalty area and his shot was saved, then Ashley Young scored a super world wave from outside the box.

As time went on, Deschamps replaced Cabaye with Sissoko and Benzema with Giroud.

Unfortunately, none of them could reverse the situation.

Benzema lost control of his emotions when he was substituted and had an argument with Deschamps.

In the end, England advanced to the semi-finals with Ashley Young's only goal.

What's worse is that their midfield core Gerrard will be suspended for the next game due to accumulated yellow cards!

Considering that their midfield was already weak and their only core player with organizational skills was suspended, their opponents in the semi-finals almost won without any effort.

Although Lampard is strong in offensiveness, it is generally recognized that he still has some gaps compared to Gerrard in terms of organization, defense, long passes, etc.

As expected, the England team was drawn by Argentina.

Germans and Brazilians, fighting each other!

(End of this chapter)