Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 630 The Familiar Tie-Beat Guarantees Qualification
The match between Japan and Russia was the last game of the first round of group matches.

After that, the second round of the group stage will begin immediately.

The teams from Group A were the first to take the field again.

The host team Brazil will face Mexico. If they can defeat Mexico, they will definitely advance to the next round with two consecutive wins.

But despite the cheers of the fans, the Brazilian team went silent. After 90 minutes of trembling play, they ended up with a 0-0 draw against Mexico, with neither team able to score.

Then, on June 19th, three more matches were played.

Croatia, who lost to Brazil in the first round of Group A, won 4-0 against Cameroon, thus keeping their hopes of advancing alive.

Cameroon, suffering two consecutive defeats, became the first team to be eliminated. Their next match against Brazil will be Samuel Eto'o's swan song in the World Cup.

In the two matches of Group B.

As expected, the Netherlands defeated Iran, but the process was very thrilling. Iran displayed great fighting spirit and ultimately lost 2-3 to the Netherlands, thus being eliminated early.

In another match, Chile, who defeated Iran in the previous round, defeated Spain 2-0 this round, led by Sanchez and Vidal.

This match has captured the attention of the entire world.

The performance of defending champions Spain was astonishing. They not only suffered two consecutive defeats and were eliminated early, but also ranked behind Iran due to goal difference.

Chile emerged as the dark horse of this group, decisively defeating Spain and securing their place in the knockout stage ahead of schedule.

Next, the Group C matches began.

In the first match, Colombia defeated Ivory Coast 2-1, securing their place in the knockout stage of Group C with two consecutive wins.

Ivory Coast, after two consecutive losses, was unfortunately eliminated.

This result was not too surprising, as Colombia was the strongest team in this group.

In the next match, if the Chinese team can defeat Greece, they will secure their qualification for the next round.

Domestic media and fans have already begun to endlessly anticipate the Chinese national football team qualifying for the World Cup.

Optimists believe that Greece, despite being a European team, has struggled since the qualifiers.

By the time they reached the group stage, their performance was hardly convincing.

They suffered a humiliating 0-3 defeat to Colombia in the first leg, performing terribly.

If China can defeat Greece, it will be able to qualify for the next round ahead of schedule.

The broadcast of this match also set a new record in China, with everyone looking forward to seeing the Chinese national football team advance to the round of 16 in a historic manner.

For Greece, defeating China would be the best-case scenario. In that case, China would have to fight tooth and nail against Colombia in the final round, while Greece would only need to face Ivory Coast, who had already been eliminated.

Even if they manage to draw with China, they will still have a chance to advance.

Under these circumstances, the Greek team fielded a 4-1-2-3 formation, hoping to overwhelm the Chinese team through physical confrontation and attack.

On the Chinese team's side, Gao Hongbo also adjusted his strategy.

Against a physical style of play like Greece, which relies on long passes and crosses, simply defending is not a good option.

The formation remains 4-2-3-1, but the overall formation is now positioned much further forward.

In this match, the Chinese national football team no longer opted to park the bus, but instead wanted to engage in an attacking battle with Greece.

Natal's Dune Stadium.

The match began soon amidst the cheers of the fans.

After the match began, the Chinese team adopted a completely different strategy than in the previous match. Instead of playing defensively, the team launched an offensive against Greece.

In this match, the central midfielder position was changed from Chen Tao to Hao Junmin.

Although Hao Junmin is slightly inferior to Chen Tao in speed and physical strength, he is slightly better at organization and coordination.

Greece also used physical confrontations to actively compete with the Chinese team. Their strategy was simple: to use physical confrontations and long passes to overwhelm the Chinese team and gain an early lead.

Unfortunately, it was the Chinese team that took the lead.

In the 18th minute of the match, Hao Junmin's short pass found Shan Yongzhuo, who used his "ghostly grappling" technique to shake off Papastathopoulos and create a shooting opportunity.

1-0. The Chinese team quickly took the lead.

However, this lead did not last long.

In the 22nd minute, Greece crossed from the wing, and Mitroglou headed the ball into the goal, leveling the score.

However, in the 35th minute, Shan Yongzhuo once again took the lead by taking advantage of a corner kick.

The first half ended with a score of 2-1.

The second half began.

The Greek team launched the first attack.

In the 59th minute, Zheng Zhi made a mistake in passing back in the middle, which was intercepted by Greece's Kone, who then played a through ball to Samaras.

Samaras successfully broke the offside trap, got past Zeng Cheng one-on-one, and scored into an empty net.

2:2.

Greece has equalized.

Just two minutes later, the Chinese defense was breached again. The Greek team crossed the ball from the wing, and it was cleared out of the penalty area. Constantine, who had made a run into the box, then fired a powerful shot into the net.

3:2.

In just 3 minutes, the Chinese team conceded two goals.

In the following match, the Greek team adopted a defensive strategy across the board, while the Chinese team found themselves in a difficult situation.

For more than 20 minutes, nothing was accomplished.

Shan Yongzhuo used all his skills but still couldn't score a goal.

Until the very last moment of the match, in the 88th minute, Shan Yongzhuo took a desperate long-range shot, which was saved by the Greek goalkeeper and luckily rolled to Hao Junmin's feet.

Hao Junmin scored into an empty net.

The Chinese team then managed to tie the score with great difficulty.

3 is better than 3!

In the 94th minute, the referee blew the final whistle.

This back-and-forth battle, or rather, a clash of weaklings, ended in a draw, and a 3-3 draw at that, a high-scoring affair.

The Chinese team was very disappointed after the match.

A match where a victory would have secured early qualification ended in a draw.

The defensive problems were very noticeable in this match.

Greece's attacking strength is actually quite average, but Gao Hongbo did not adopt the "park the bus" tactic. Given the Chinese team's defensive strength, conceding three goals is a fairly normal performance.

The offense also doesn't have too many problems.

Shan Yongzhuo scored twice, which is already a good performance.

However, if it weren't for Hao Junmin's quick thinking at the last moment, they probably would have lost the game.

A draw has sobered up domestic media and fans, as well as the team as a whole, and even Gao Hongbo himself.

Now, the Chinese national football team is facing the same old situation again.

In the final round against Colombia, a draw would be enough to qualify.

When this very familiar phrase appeared in domestic media, the feelings of fans and players alike were incredibly complex.

A draw or qualification.

It's like a curse.

It happened again.

(End of this chapter)