[Football] Bad Boy Batty

[There is a place where their football is very pure, it is——]
[Unfortunate! Belgium lost 0-2 to Morocco and missed the chance to advance to the next round]
[The dark horse is fully revealed, youth is the capital, Morocco uses running to disperse the European Red Devils]
[The Belgian team is not in good shape, Ding Ding tried his best]
[De Bruyne must miss his Manchester City teammates, but the reality is that there is only Hazard who can't run and Lukaku who can't receive the ball]

With Belgium losing to Morocco, the second round of the World Cup group stage has come to an end. Compared with the first round, the second round was much more normal. Host Qatar lost to Senegal and was eliminated early. Argentina beat Mexico 2-0 to rise to second place in the group, and France beat Denmark 2-1 to advance early.

当然也有出人意料的, 比如B组威尔士0-2输伊朗，英格兰0-0战平美国，再比如E组日本0-2不敌哥斯达黎加，德国1-1战平西班牙。

目前B组英格兰1胜1平，4分4个净胜球排名小组第一；伊朗1胜1负, 3分-2个净胜球位列第二；美国2平，2分0个净胜球；威尔士1平1负，1分-1个净胜球, 理论上讲, 谁都有出线的可能。

而被称为死亡之组的E组则西班牙1胜1平, 4分7个净胜球排在小组头名；日本1胜1负，3分0个净胜球排在第二的位置；哥斯达黎加1胜1负，3分-6个净胜球；德国1平1负, 1分-1个净胜球, 同样理论上都有可能出线。

It's just a little more complicated than Group B. Germany's qualifying situation is not optimistic. Apart from having to win in the final round, they also have to look at the results of other teams. They no longer have the initiative.

Hot comments on Twitter:
This is the World Cup with the most knockout chances I've ever seen, no kidding
After the game, Batistuta contacted every Manchester City teammate who was playing in the World Cup. Everyone seemed to be in good shape and their emotions did not seem to be affected by the qualifying situation, except for one person, De Bruyne.

De Bruyne didn't answer his call or reply to his message, as if he had turned on a shielding mode. If it weren't for the Belgian officials and fans posting the team's training status and internal strife gossip on social media, Batistuta would have thought he had lost his internet connection.

It was not until the afternoon of November 11, before Brazil's second match against Switzerland, that Batistuta, who had already finished praying in the locker room, received a reply from the Belgian midfielder.

The content of his reply was also quite strange, consisting of only two short words: "Good luck in the game."

Tsk.

Now Batistuta is starting to worry about whether he can meet Kevin De Bruyne in the knockout round.

"Hey, don't you want to say anything today?" Neymar tapped Batistuta's back from behind and said in a relaxed tone: "I just went out to throw something, and there was a roar in the next locker room."

Batty put down his phone and refocused his attention on the game that was about to begin.

"The legendary Viking roar? Remember that's when Iceland tied with Argentina in the last tournament." He turned his head and jokingly said, "Maybe we should invite a shaman to give us a blessing or something."

Neymar was amused by the way he teased Argentina, and then he jumped a few times crazily like a wizard. Suddenly, he snapped his fingers as if he had thought of a good idea, and looked at Batistuta with excitement as if there were two light bulbs in his eyes.

"That's a great move!" he said. "How about we change the expected goal celebration to this?"

"Not very good." Batty commented without hesitation.

"O quê? Por quê? (what? Why?)"

"Because it looks stupid, even stupider than what you learned from Tik Tok." Batty gave him a fake smile, "And what if a real shaman saw you doing this curse? Do you want to run around the court and trip over the air?"

Neymar obviously didn't expect this. He said "oh" and shook his head with regret.

Batty didn't say anything else. After adjusting the height of his socks, he stood up and asked everyone to come over, put their arms around each other's shoulders, and pray to God together, just like they did in every game before.

"Although we didn't have much time to prepare, that doesn't mean it's inadequate. We understand our opponents and know every step they take. We have conducted countless drills in the past four days, so—"
"Just follow what we have trained and believe in ourselves. We are not Argentina, Germany, England, or Belgium. We are five-star Brazil and we come only to win!"

"Yeaaah!"
“We will qualify early!!”
"victory!"

……

At 19:22 local time in Qatar, the penultimate match of the second round of the 974nd World Cup group stage between Brazil and Switzerland was contested at Stadium .

This stadium is very special. It is made up of 974 shipping containers and is the first fully detachable stadium in the history of the World Cup.

In order to protect the earth's environment, after the World Cup, it will be dismantled and converted into a green area. The containers, together with all the movable seats and roof steel beams in the stadium, will be dismantled and donated to countries in need to be rebuilt in other places.

Therefore, its capacity is much smaller than other stadiums and can only accommodate 4 spectators.

However, although the number of people decreased, the enthusiasm of the fans on the scene remained unabated. Before the game started, thunderous cheers and encouragements passed through the door of the player tunnel and reached the ears of the players.

"Gentlemen, let us go."

Led by the referee, the players from both teams entered the field, followed by the national anthem, handshakes, photos, and then the sides. The Swiss team kicked off first.

[Okay, the game has begun with the DJ's countdown! The Samba Army vs. the Swiss Army Knife. In the last World Cup, Brazil won 4-1. I wonder what kind of exciting game the two teams will present to us this year? ]

……

In terms of starting lineups, neither side had any surprises.

The Brazilian team is still represented by all-out attack and defense, with goalkeeper Ederson; Militao and Sandro take turns to play in the back line, and Thiago Silva and Marquinhos are still the central defenders; the midfield remains unchanged, with Casemiro and Paqueta, and Batistuta as the attacking midfielder; Jesus replaces Richarlison on the front line, and Neymar and Vinicius are still on the left and right sides.

Switzerland lined up a similar formation, with Sommer as goalkeeper; Widmer, Akanji, Elvedi and Ricardo Rodriguez on the back line; captain Xhaka, Froyler, Reid and Sow in the midfield; and Balzac at the front and Embolo as the shadow striker on the front line.

It is worth mentioning that the current head coach of the Swiss team looks similar to the former German head coach Loew, which has become the object of ridicule among many netizens. Just now in the player tunnel, Batistuta couldn't help but take a few more glances at him.

In the 3rd minute, Brazil intercepted the ball in the backcourt and made a long pass to counterattack. Switzerland showed their aggressive style of play for the first time. When Neymar took the ball and turned around, the Swiss defender pulled his jersey and caused a foul. The referee gave him a verbal warning and gave Brazil an indirect free kick.

[At the beginning of the game, the two sides were already tense. It can be seen that both teams wanted to seize the opening. Brazil's skills in a small area were obviously better than Switzerland's, but Switzerland's counterattack was also very fierce. After suffering from physical confrontation, Brazil may not be able to easily break into their penalty area again. ]

The Brazilian team took a tactical free kick. Batistuta tried to feint the ball to the right, but his Manchester City teammate Akanji saw through his trick and intercepted the ball in advance, and then cleared the ball with a long kick. The Brazilian team failed to form an effective attack.

Two minutes later, Marquinhos passed the ball back to goalkeeper Hedong of the Swiss defense line. Ederson made a mistake in passing the ball in the backcourt and it was intercepted, which made the Brazilian fans at the scene break out in a cold sweat. Fortunately, the Swiss team did not seize the opportunity to counterattack on the spot, and the forward kicked the ball into the stands with a cannon.

"Pay attention, Eddie!" Batty gestured to Ederson across most of the court, "Don't do it again!"

Ederson gave a thumbs-up with his gloved hand to show understanding.

In the 13th minute, there was another conflict between the players of both teams. The Brazilian team attacked from the backcourt and quickly passed through the midfield according to the training route. They effectively avoided the physical confrontation of the Swiss team with a quick decision.

But Neymar was targeted again.

Batistuta passed the ball to the wing, and Ricardo Rodriguez grabbed him from behind with an almost coercive move. Neymar failed to receive the ball. He watched the ball roll out of the baseline in front of him, and then he was pulled backwards.

The referee blew the whistle.

Neymar sat on the ground and helplessly raised his hands to the referee who came over.

"Hey! That's a bad foul! Sir! You - Hey! FU! Stay away from him!" Batty rushed over there angrily, "He's about to strangle him, sir you have to do something!"

"Back off, back off." The referee put his hands in front of his chest and used his body to block the Brazilian captain, whose eyes were about to spit fire, to prevent him from doing anything irrational to the Swiss players.

"I have my judgment," the referee said. "Calm down, back off."

Zidane on the sidelines also went to the fourth official to put pressure on him. If the Swiss team could start the game with one less player, it would be a very favorable situation for them.

But at this moment, the French received very bad news.

It was so bad that he had to stop talking to the fourth official and come up with a solution with his assistants. Otherwise, the situation might get out of control if the opponent was one man down or half of the team was sent off.

"Just heard that Batty's godfather, the gangster Bloodhound from the slums, was betrayed. He got into a fight with a rival gang during a shipment and went missing," the assistant coach said seriously. "His godfather has rushed back as soon as possible. Since Batty and Edmundo are involved, international news is reporting on what happened there."

Zidane's eyes darkened.

"Take away the players' cell phones and all communication devices," he said without hesitation. "Don't tell them what happened. Try to keep things normal. Quickly disconnect the TV in the locker room and replace it with game clips."

But Batty must not be allowed to know this. At least, he must not hear any news about it before the end of this game.

(End of this chapter)