Soccer: Maxed-out ball control, the skill is too overpowered.

The match ended in a 1-1 draw with Portugal.

Both sides became much more cautious.

It's like two swordsmen pacing around without making a move, waiting for their opponent to make a move and reveal a weakness.

In the knockout stage, every single match determines the winner, and any single ball can affect advancement to the quarterfinals.

Twenty minutes later, the scene slowed down again.

"The two teams were locked in a fierce battle near midfield, with both sides playing very aggressively and tightly limiting the attacking players on both flanks."

"Lu Xiao attempts a breakthrough with the ball... Meireles' collision! Foul!"

"Belgium won a free kick in their own half. Meireles only received a verbal warning from the referee. No red or yellow cards have been issued so far in the match."

Seeing Lu Xiao wince in pain from the impact, his small body scrambled to his feet from the grass,

He Wei felt a little reluctant.

Lu Xiao was known for her poor competitiveness when she debuted.

No matter how good Lu Xiao is at controlling and dribbling the ball, he can easily lose possession if someone uses their body to touch him.

This led him to place great emphasis on strength training, and he has improved considerably in the past six months.

When I first joined the club, I was a skinny stick.

Now, the outlines of muscles are faintly visible on his upper body.

However, they are still at a disadvantage compared to a strong midfield, and the World Cup is more competitive with higher intensity physical challenges.

Even without cheating, Lu Xiao didn't dare to hold onto the ball too long.

When under pressure, I try to pass the ball out as quickly as possible to avoid being intercepted.

He had just passed the ball and was knocked to the ground; his shoulder looks like it's about to fall apart.

"That's disgusting, isn't that against the rules?"

Even the good-natured De Bruyne was enraged, his face turning red.

He was also kicked several times by the dirty Portuguese defense, especially Pepe.

"There's nothing we can do; the referees are from South America, they've seen it all before."

The referee is Colombian.

Compared to the dirty tricks and rough fouls in South America, the physicality of this game was nothing.

Portugal's instigation of the conflict has ignited a fierce fighting spirit in the Belgian team.

They retaliated in kind.

"It's just a matter of who's dirtier, who's afraid of who!"

Fellaini, step forward!

When it comes to dirty play, Fellaini can definitely sit at the same table as villains like Diego Costa, De Jong, and Pepe.

He had already made a name for himself in the Premier League during his time at Everton.

This has caused considerable distress to many technically gifted Premier League players.

Having just joined Manchester United last season, Fellaini committed 80 fouls in the season, the second highest in the entire Premier League!

If you include the total number of fouls committed in the 2012-2013 season, Fellaini is definitely the Premier League's number one!

Later, when Fellaini went to play in the Chinese Super League, he was also widely recognized as "the dirtiest player in the Chinese Super League".

Many "child-ending kicks" don't even come close to Fellaini's skill level.

Hitting people with dirty tricks and elbowing them is commonplace.

beep—

During the scramble, Portuguese midfielder William Carvalho fell to the ground, clutching his face.

Portuguese players surrounded the referee to complain, with Ronaldo loudly accusing Fellaini of elbowing him and threatening to give him a red card.

The Colombian referee knew it all too well.

He was lenient with the rules from the start, and Portugal's Pepe committed several malicious fouls without receiving a card, so Fellaini didn't need to either.

The referee only gave a verbal warning and glared fiercely at those around him.

"Are you questioning my authority? Say one more word and I'll definitely play my cards!"

The Portuguese players were intimidated and dared not speak out against their anger.

They only got a meaningless free kick in the attacking third, about 34 meters from the goal.

"Cristiano Ronaldo, holding the ball, personally takes the penalty kick."

In the group stage, it was Ronaldo's free-kick winner that helped Portugal secure three crucial points, which later helped them narrowly advance to the knockout stage.

Whenever the team is in dire straits, they have to rely on Ronaldo's performance.

His resolute gaze was fixed on the Belgian goal...

Looking at Ronaldo's expression, Lu Xiao suddenly had a strange thought.

"Could it be...? Surely not?"

Lu Xiao wasn't sure either.

After all, in the original timeline, Portugal would have already flown home and wouldn't be staying in Brazil.

Belgium's opponent was the United States, and they easily eliminated the United States to advance.

They were subsequently eliminated by Messi's Argentina, ending their 2014 World Cup journey in the quarterfinals.

In theory, Belgium's performance in 2014 was acceptable.

Losing to the World Cup runner-up is not shameful; it also lays the foundation for what happens four years later.

But Lu Xiao was not willing to accept this.

Having already been eliminated by Ronaldo once, he will absolutely not repeat the same mistake!

At the very least, we should help Belgium achieve the results they achieved in the original timeline.

Otherwise, adding it yourself might become a side effect?

No!

Ronaldo was 34 meters from the goal, which was a bit far and the angle was quite straight. Courtois should be able to save it... right?

"It's up to you, Tibbo."

Although his character is questionable and he has no sense of brotherhood whatsoever.

Lu Xiao still believed in Courtois's goalkeeping skills.

For a period of time, Courtois was the world's best goalkeeper. As the main goalkeeper for Real Madrid, his level of skill was evident to all.

beep—

The referee blew the whistle, Ronaldo took a run-up and shot!

Lu Xiao could even see that the muscles in Ronaldo's thigh twisted together the instant he shot.

Standing in the wall of players, Lu Xiao tried to jump up with his teammates to stop Ronaldo's shot.

But his signature elevator ball still bypassed Lu Xiao's head and flew towards the goal frame.

As everyone landed, they couldn't help but look back.

The football was about to fly over the crossbar.

"fine……"

Hazard, Origi, De Bruyne, Witsel, and others all breathed a slight sigh of relief.

wrong!!

Lu Xiao felt a chill run down his spine!

The football, which was flying out of bounds, suddenly plummeted!

Courtois leaped at full speed to try and save the ball, his fingertips barely touching it, but he still couldn't stop it!

The football grazed the bottom edge of the crossbar and went in!

"Holy crap?"

Lu Xiao was completely dumbfounded.

"Goal! Cristiano Ronaldo scores from a free kick!!"

"Just before halftime, Portugal scored two goals in quick succession, taking the lead!!"

1-2!

Belgium is actually behind!

Cristiano Ronaldo could no longer contain his excitement and rushed to the sidelines to celebrate again.

The Belgian players' morale began to plummet.

"This is the World Cup arena. Everyone thought that Portugal, who had a tough time in the group stage, would be eliminated."

But you can never predict what will happen in the next second!

Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice, both goals coming from situations where he seized his only chance, not from any other opportunity.

……

The atmosphere inside the locker room was rather somber.

Head coach Wilmots looked at the dejected players and didn't know how to start a conversation.

"It seems the young men are really not in a good mood."

"You're still making fun of me, how awful."

Wilmots gave Henry a disapproving look.

"Anyway, I'm not your team's official coach, so whether they do well or not is none of my business. I support the French team."

"Stop making sarcastic remarks. Give me some advice. You were a player before, so you should understand their mentality."

"To put it bluntly, it's just a lack of experience in major competitions, which is quite normal."

Henry shrugged, not taking the fall behind seriously.

"Their mentality is not good to begin with. Young people are easily overwhelmed when they encounter adversity."

Do you remember their first group stage match? They almost lost too.

"really."

In their first group stage match against Algeria, Belgium fell behind 0-1, which made them anxious and caused them to miss several opportunities.

It's incredibly shameful that such a lavish entourage, worth over 4 million, was arrested by an unknown country like Algeria.

The situation was stabilized thanks to Lu Xiao's substitute appearance.

They advanced from the group stage with a perfect record and took an early 4-minute lead over Portugal.

The Belgian players are getting a bit cocky.

So much so that Ronaldo's two goals could easily destroy their mentality.

"What should we do then?"

"What else can you do? The only key to your team's comeback is already in the squad."

Following Henry's gaze, head coach Wilmots spotted a young man in the locker room trying to communicate with his teammates.

The only Chinese face, looking young and like an idol trainee.

In reality, he had a resolute gaze and a calm demeanor, subtly displaying the qualities of a team leader.

Wilmots even felt a kind of immoral sense of relief:

"Thank goodness Benteke was injured, so we can bring this kid on. The Football Association really struck gold!"

With Lu Xiao on the court, Wilmots is confident of turning the tide against Portugal in the second half!

Turn it over!