Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 641 This won't be our last match

The group stage continues.

For the Chinese team, they have already qualified from the group stage, and their opponent in the round of 16 has also been determined. There's not much to pay attention to in the matches of the other groups afterward.

Shan Yongzhuo just glanced at it casually.

In Group E, France and Switzerland both advanced to the knockout stage.

Argentina and Nigeria advanced from Group F.

In Group G, Germany and the United States finished first and second respectively, advancing to the next round.

In Group H, Japan, the last Asian team to advance, lost 0-1 to Belgium and was eliminated. Belgium and Algeria advanced to the next round.

Overall, there weren't many unexpected results.

All eyes were on the two knockout matches on the first day.

The first match was between the host country Brazil and Chile, and the second match was between China and Uruguay.

Brazil's match is at midnight Beijing time, while China's match is at 4 a.m., which is not a good time for Chinese fans.

However, this did not dampen the enthusiasm of fans online at all.

This is the first knockout match in the history of the Chinese team. If they can defeat Uruguay, they will be able to advance to the quarterfinals of the World Cup.

Aside from South Korea's highly controversial fourth-place finish in 2002, reaching the quarterfinals already meant they could match North Korea's best-ever World Cup quarterfinal result in 1966.

Moreover, this achievement is more impressive than North Korea's quarterfinal appearance, since the World Cup at that time had not yet expanded to 32 teams, and advancing from the group stage was enough to advance to the quarterfinals.

For the Chinese team, the most important thing to pay attention to right now is their opponent, Uruguay.

Uruguayan football once had a glorious period, winning two World Cup titles. After years of decline, in the second decade of the 21st century, Uruguay, under the leadership of veteran coach Tabárez, ushered in a revival, achieving a commendable fourth place in the last World Cup in South Africa.

Under Tabárez's leadership, a large number of talented players emerged in Uruguay, including Diego Forlán, Suárez, Cavani, and Godín, and the team subsequently won the Copa America in 2011.

However, Uruguay's performance in this World Cup has been somewhat disappointing.

The aging of Diego Forlán, the absolute core player, and the inconsistent form of another key player, Cavani, have greatly weakened Uruguay's midfield and attack.

In the group stage, Uruguay defeated Italy and secured the other group qualification spot entirely thanks to Suarez's outstanding performance.

However, due to the biting incident, Suarez was suspended for the knockout stage matches, which was a huge blow to Uruguay.

However, this is good news for the Chinese team.

With Uruguay missing Suarez and China's Shan Yongzhuo in red-hot form, domestic media and fans are eagerly anticipating China defeating Uruguay and advancing to the quarterfinals.

Shan Yongzhuo didn't have any particular feelings about Uruguay.

Uruguay also has some of his old rivals, such as Cavani, Forlan, and Godin.

However, for Shan Yongzhuo, who has already achieved great success, he has played too many games and has too many old rivals. So, although they can be considered old rivals, they have actually faced each other very few times.

The day before the match, the whole team arrived in Rio de Janeiro, where the game will be played at the legendary Maracanã Stadium.

This also delighted many Chinese national football players.

Zheng Zhi, his eyes gleaming, said, "The final was played on this very stadium, so we're kind of 'piggybacking' on this?"

"Brother Zhi, don't get so excited. If we make it to the finals, we'll still need to come to this stadium."

"Uh..." Zheng Zhi rolled his eyes at Shan Yongzhuo and complained, "Shan, don't be silly, that's the final, us?"

"Um..." Shan Yongzhuo thought about it and it seemed to make sense. Although he really wanted to make it to the finals and win the championship, upon closer inspection, it really wasn't very realistic.

Despite advancing from the group stage through tactical maneuvers and clever tactics, including victories against Ivory Coast and Colombia, the Chinese national football team's true strength is still not up to par.

After training, Shan Yongzhuo was interviewed by reporters. Everyone wanted to hear what he had to say about tomorrow's match.

"Of course we will do our best to win this game, and this will definitely not be our last game in the World Cup."

Shan Yongzhuo spoke very seriously, and his somewhat aggressive demeanor made the reporter feel the heated atmosphere.

In the past, Shan Yongzhuo was an absolute veteran cadre. It was hard to find fault with what he said in interviews. You could even say that he talked eloquently, but he was just spouting a lot of nonsense.

But in this World Cup, Shan Yongzhuo has become somewhat different.

First, they made a bold statement, aiming for the championship, or at least the top four.

Now they're making aggressive statements about being certain of victory, seemingly completely disregarding Uruguay.

This decisive declaration of victory won the favor of many Brazilian journalists.

After all, Brazilians would rather see an Asian team in the quarterfinals than a South American team.

Brazil's arch-rivals are not limited to Argentina.

South American teams are their arch-rivals.

One of the Brazilian journalists asked, "So, you mean you're sure you can eliminate Uruguay?"

Shan Yongzhu spread his hands: "Of course."

"China has me on the team, while Uruguay has lost Suarez, so in my opinion they are no threat."

"Fran is old, and as for Cavani... I'm sorry, I don't think he's much of a threat. In my opinion, his only redeeming quality is his diligence."

"The only thing we need to worry about is their free-fighting style of play. To avoid more player injuries, let's eliminate this rough-and-tumble team."

Shan Yongzhuo's words were almost provocative.

However, the reporters were very pleased and gave extensive coverage to Shan Yongzhuo's words.

Gao Hongbo didn't understand Shan Yongzhuo's provocative words. After all, provoking the opponent like this before the match was not a good choice.

But Shan Yongzhuo didn't care at all.

He directly pointed out Uruguay's rough playing style.

Uruguay is a team known for its rough playing style, and to call it rough is an understatement; they have always been like that for many years.

This is a world-renowned, brutal team. When playing against them, the most important thing to be aware of is their rough playing style.

Although this Uruguayan team's playing style is somewhat more refined than the Uruguayan style we've come to know before, that's only in a relative sense.

When it comes to rough playing style, Uruguay can be compared to this year's Brazil.

Shan Yongzhuo pointed this out aggressively out of desperation.

After all, he is the only person in the Chinese team who has some say in world football. If he points this out before the match, the referee will be somewhat influenced by such remarks and will be stricter with Uruguay's fouls.

If someone else from the Chinese team said it, or even if Gao Hongbo said it, not many people would care.

(End of this chapter)