Chapter 107 Chaos and Clarity (2)

Chapter 107 Chaos and Clarity (2)

Because of consecutive draws, the qualifying situation in Group C became more chaotic and confusing. Slovenia, with one win and one draw, ranked first in the group, followed by the United States and England, which had two consecutive draws, and even scored a point. Algeria still has the hope of qualifying. I'm afraid we can only wait until the last round to see what will happen to this group.

In Group D, Germany and Ghana, who both won the first game, obviously took the initiative. Almost everyone believed that the teams played by the Boateng brothers will finally qualify, but when the second round of competition is over, people But I found out that I was wrong. Not only did the situation not become clear, but it became more chaotic.

In the first contest between Germany and Serbia, almost everyone was expecting the Germans to appear earlier, but the result was unexpected. The Germans lost the game 0:1.

After the game, although goalkeeper Stojkovic who saved Podolski's penalty kick was awarded as the best player in the game, the one who really brought three points to Serbia was none other than the long-line striker Zikic.

Zikic is Antić's confidant and favorite player. In the latter's World Cup plan, the 202cm tall guy in the single forward lineup firmly occupies the main position.

Zikic can carry the ball and has a good header. On the front line, he can either score by himself or set up guns to create opportunities for his teammates. In the first game, because the midfielder did not support Zikic enough, Antti Qi also criticized the relevant players after the game.

Antić emphasized the importance of Zikic, and the effect was obvious. In the first minute of the game, Zikic's header played a powerful role, and his almost assisted Jovanovic to score.

The two German central defenders, Friedrich 185cm and Mertesacker 196cm, are not too low, but the problem is that Zigic is tall, but his movement is flexible, which makes it very difficult for the two German central defenders. manage.

In the 22nd minute, under the double-teaming of two central defenders, Zikic received a corner kick from his teammates, threatened the German goal with a header, and the ball went slightly wide.

In the next game, the German team had nothing to do with Zikic's high point. In the 38th minute, Krasic made a pass from the bottom and hit the back point. There was only 170cm Ram around him. How could he block the 202cm Zikic? strange?

The answer is of course no.

Gao Lao ferryed easily, and Jovanovic, who was unguarded in the middle, volleyed into the net in the small penalty area, and Serbia took the lead 1:0.

After that, the confident Zikic "bullyed" the German central defender to an almost heinous level, heading the goal and ferrying the header. The German defender standing on the top of Europe has never been so embarrassed under Zigic's bombardment.

There is no shortage of elders in football. There used to be Jankel and Jan Koller, and now Zikic.

For him, most fans know him from La Liga. In 2006, he transferred from Belgrade Red Star to Santander Racing. He scored 12 goals in 32 games in one season. "Tiger Brother Leopard Brother".

Because of his outstanding performance, he then moved to Valencia, but was not reused. In the two seasons of 2007/09, he only played 28 goals and scored 5 goals. In the summer of 2009, he was loaned back to Santander, regained his feeling, scored 13 goals in 19 games, and helped Serbia enter the World Cup.

Regrettably, fans will not see Zikic in next season's La Liga matches. Before the start of the World Cup, Valencia sold him to the Premier League's Birmingham team for a transfer fee of 8 million euros.

When seeing Zigic's outstanding performance in the game against the German team, did Valencia regret selling someone cheap?

With Zikic's outstanding performance, the Serbs defeated the mighty Germany, and Germany's loss was obviously not only because of a Zikic, but their own problems were even bigger.

The German team seems to be strong, but in fact, in their 23-man roster, how many people are really available?

In this game, Marin, who came off the bench and did nothing, barely made the 23-man roster by virtue of his performance at the end of the warm-up match and the team's extensive injuries.

Marin is regarded by Loew as a wing assaulter, but in fact the role Marin can really play is far less than what Loew thought. When Marin became famous in the Bundesliga, he relied on sharp breakthroughs. Known, but in fact, in the season that just ended, Marin's performance in the league was far inferior to Ozil's, and his prospects in the national team were once very unclear.

Marin's breakthrough is indeed very characteristic, but he has no chance at all in physical confrontation. As long as the defender does not rush out and be completely passed by him, he can use his physical advantage to carry Marin behind him.

As for Gomez, his performance in the German national team has been unsatisfactory. It is undeniable that in some stalemate games, Gomez's physical condition and hard work can become a good attack point for the team. He can use his crazy running and strong impact to create opportunities, but recalling his performance in the 2008 European Cup, Loew should be sober. This Mario is not super at all.

There is also Cacau, the Brazilian with German nationality. After coming off the bench in this game, there is no bright spot. The contribution data is 0 shots, not even a single offside.

On the bench of the German team, Kisling is actually sitting. In the Bundesliga, Kisling has scored 21 goals this season, but in the eyes of Loew, Kisling is far from the number one. Among the German forwards, he is Just a backup at the end.

However, seeing Kakao's performance today, Loew should consider moving Kisling's position forward. After all, the game against Ghana is related to qualifying for the group. It is really not reassuring to count on Kakao's performance today.

In fact, the problems in Germany's attack line today can expose a dangerous signal in other aspects of Germany. Khedira and Schweinsteiger in the midfield are now carrying yellow cards, but there are no real midfielders on the bench for the German team.

If any of them are suspended, they can only use Ogg or Boateng on the bench to make cameo appearances, and these two players now appear more in the position of full-backs.

The biggest headache for Loew in this game is probably Klose's suspension. After losing the number one main striker, who can stand on the front line as an arrow?

In the previous series of games of the German team, Gomez must be the first choice, but now Gomez's performance is disappointing every time he plays, and his position in Loew's heart has been shaken.

As for Cacau, there is hardly any Brazilian shadow on his body. Regardless of the ball stopping and extraordinary skills, he is really German.

After today's game, Loew needs to face two problems, how to relieve the team's pressure and let the players perform normally in the next game. In addition, just think carefully about what to do with the substitutes in the team.

The substitutes are not good enough. In this game, the main players also failed to make Loew happy. It is not that the German team has a good chance to tie in this game, or in fact the German team has enough chances to win this game. However, Germany's highly anticipated striker Podolski ruined everything with his volleying performance.

After Podolski opened, he got a good chance to score. Although he didn't score, his condition looked quite good. When everyone thought that Podolski could continue his excellent form, in the following games, Podolski Ki's performance is getting worse and worse, and he even ruined the glorious tradition that the Germans have maintained for 28 years.

After Klose was sent off and when Germany fell behind 0-1, Loew didn't switch to a striker. In Loew's eyes, there was still Prince Polti, although in the previous league, Poldolski had only two. Goals can only be scored once every 900 minutes, but because Podolski has always performed well in the national team, in Loew's heart, Podolski is the absolute core of the team.

Podolski got a lot of chances in this game, even with one less player in the German team, he created a lot of shooting opportunities. But Podolski's poor state has allowed opportunities to slip away from his feet again and again.

The most unacceptable thing is that in that penalty kick, God gave the Germans a chance to equalize. Of course Podolski stood in front of the penalty spot. At this most critical moment, when the Germans are best at Before the penalty spot, Podolski kicked the ball into the arms of the Serbian goalkeeper.

Podolski missed a penalty kick this time, which is the first penalty kick missed by the German team in the World Cup since 1982. Before that, Stielike missed a penalty kick against France in 1982, and in the non-penalty kick final The German penalty missed was Hoeness in 1974, and Podolski has been away from this record for 36 years.

Podolski obviously broke the rules of the Germans. With his penalty kick banquet, the magical monument of German football's 28-year penalty kick collapsed.

Excluding penalty misses, Podolski had seven shots in this game, but none of these seven shots hit the goal range. The penalty kick was the only time Podolski hit the goal range tonight. He finally The shot was right on target, but he really shot it too well.

In the next life-and-death battle against Ghana, perhaps Loew should really think about the choice of striker.

In the next game of Group D, the Australians took the lead early, but in the 23rd minute of the game, a red card and a penalty kick completely pushed the Australians into the abyss, and the sent off Kewell also almost bid farewell to this World Cup ahead of schedule because of this red card.

At that time, the football did concentrate on Kewell's arm, but judging from the slow motion, Kewell did not take the initiative to use the ball to block the ball, but the ball hit Kewell's upper arm, even if the referee decided to continue the game, I believe Ghanaian players will not have too many complaints.

After the penalty kick, the score was tied, and the Australians still lacked one of the team's most skilled core players, Kewell, and because of an equally severe red card in the previous game, another Australian star, Cahill, also There was no way to play, and two core players were lost at once, putting Australia at a complete disadvantage in the ensuing game time.

Moreover, Kewell will not be able to play in the next game. They have to win Serbia to have a chance to appear. The prospect of Australia qualifying is getting more and more difficult. Rossetti's red card may be an important reason for Australia to leave the World Cup. .

If the absolute core Cahill received a red card due to a misjudgment and was ruined for the World Cup, it has already made the Kangaroos look miserable enough, then Kewell, who is terminally ill, replaced Cahill today. Being sent off with a red card again added a lot of sadness to the Australian's World Cup trip. The limited 20 minutes of playing time against Ghana will most likely become Kewell's swan song in the World Series.

In the limited playing time, Kewell, who started as a single arrow, has done his best. After the opening, he once stole the ball in the opponent's penalty area. After being knocked down by the Ghanaian defender, the referee There was no indication of any whistle blowing.

When responding to his teammate's cross, Kewell was repeatedly pushed to the ground by Ghanaian defender Jonathan, but the 31-year-old veteran still tried his best to compete for the spot.

After leaving the field, Kewell was on the sidelines, crying sadly, which made countless fans in front of the TV feel more worried. After the half-time whistle, the fans booed all the fans. These boos were undoubtedly given to the referee. Because he killed a star's last World Cup dream.

The 2010 World Cup in South Africa was the last World Cup trip for Kewell, who was diagnosed with a strange disease as early as eight years ago, because as early as 2002, during a routine physical examination of the national team, Kewell It has been found to be suffering from a rare disease, the scientific name is "autoimmune hepatitis".

At that time, the doctor concluded that Kewell could still live for 5 to 8 years at most, but under effective long-term treatment, Kewell has been alive and healthy until now, and has been active in the professional arena.

For any veteran Premier League fan, Kewell is a character that will never be erased from their memory. After making his fortune in the youth guard Leeds United in the early years, Kewell not only helped the team reach the semi-finals of the Champions League, completing the incredible myth of the youth guard, but also won the title of the best young player in the Premier League.

After moving to the Red Army Liverpool, Kewell also made his debut on the night of Istanbul. Although Kewell missed most of the games due to injury during his career at Anfield, in the history of the Premier League in the past 10 years, Kewell Erdu is definitely a milestone figure.

The Australian team doctor once urged Kewell to stop his football career, but Kewell said: "If one day, I can no longer fulfill the expectations of the team, then I will choose to quit, but only when this time really comes, I just make myself stop."

Even in such a bad physical condition, Kewell still helped the Turkish Galatasaray club play 23 games in various competitions in the past season, scoring 12 goals miraculously.

With a life-threatening disease and an injury-ridden body, in only half a season, he was able to hand in almost two games with one goal. Kewell's willpower and efficiency are enough to make many wealthy forwards feel ashamed .

Far away from his wife and daughter in the UK, he went from Liverpool to Turkey to play football alone. All this is not only to repay the Galatasaray Club for their never-separated love for him when they knew he was terminally ill, but also to play football in Turkey. At the same time, it is to accumulate enough savings for the family in a limited life.

Before the World Cup, Kewell asked Australian coach Welbeck to play. He himself said: "I came here across the ocean just for the World Cup. It's not as important to me as the World Cup, if it wasn't for the World Cup I wouldn't be here, it's as simple as that."

Terminally ill, a cowardly person cannot face such a cruel reality, and will often curl up and wait for death. Most people would choose to give up football when they encounter this situation, but Kewell did not. He is a real A warrior, a warrior who fights to the end.

But now, with a red card and a draw, Kewell's World Cup may really have to say goodbye early.

With Ghana and Australia winning 1:1, the first two rounds of Group D of the World Cup are over. In the current group standings, Ghana ranks first with one win and one draw with four points, and Germany ranks second with three points for one win and one loss. Serbia ranked third with one win and one loss with three points, and Australia ranked bottom with one point for one draw and one loss.

In the final round of the group stage, Ghana, which is temporarily ranked first, will play against Germany, which is ranked second, and Serbia, which is ranked third, will face Australia, which is ranked bottom.

Theoretically speaking, the four teams still have a chance to qualify, but the qualifying situation of Germany, Ghana and Serbia is in their own hands, while Australia's chances of qualifying are very slim.

The German team must not lose in the last round. Since Serbia will meet Australia in the final round, there will be a team with more points than the losing Germany. Therefore, once Germany loses in the final round, they will definitely be eliminated.

Because Serbia and Australia cannot win together in the final round, the German team's victory over Ghana will ensure that they qualify with six points, and because of their dominant goal difference, they are likely to qualify first in the group.

If the German team draws, it needs Serbia to draw with Australia, or not lose to Australia with a super high score of 0:8 or above, but the probability of such an ending is very small and almost impossible.

Sending a group to the final round, Australia basically can only fight for their honor, and the other three teams will compete for the two qualifying places in the group.