"Mr. Messi, regarding this time's A
Moreover, the Polish team is ranked fourth in the entire World Cup in terms of valuation. How could they be inferior to an Asian team? Therefore, a reporter immediately asked, "Coach Messi, aren't your words somewhat one-sided? I believe the echelon arrangement cannot represent a team's true strength, and Poland's failure is more due to their carelessness. Do you dare to guarantee that you can still defeat Poland in this match?"
"I originally wouldn't dare to guarantee it," Messi said very seriously, "but my players just told me that they believe they can definitely defeat Poland. They guaranteed it to me, so I'll guarantee it to you too."
"Clap clap clap clap!" Countless flashes of light flickered again, and countless excited reporters recorded Messi's words with microphones and cameras.
It is known that in pre-match and post-match interviews, some things cannot be said carelessly.
Especially regarding the victory or defeat of the team in the next match, such words cannot be spoken.
Firstly, such words are very likely to offend people. Saying one's own team will definitely win offends the opposing team, and saying the opposing team will win completely demoralizes one's own team.
But this is not the key. The most crucial point is that the media will absolutely seize this statement and make a fuss about it.
Take Messi's guarantee for example. If the match is won, the media reporters will generally not exaggerate too much. But if this match is lost, then these words will become one of the biggest blemishes in Messi's life. Countless media and fans will use this point to attack Messi, thereby generating a large amount of cyberbullying and social public opinion.
Even if Messi doesn't care about these things, it doesn't matter, because sponsors do. Once sponsors find that their sponsored team's social fairness is declining, they will definitely use this as an excuse to demand a reduction in sponsorship fees, or even directly stop sponsoring, which is very normal.
What, you say Team Am has only one sponsor, Jiangnan Group? Oh, then it's fine.
Anyway, under Messi's guarantee, the match officially began.
At the same time, the Polish team launched a fierce offensive. It is said that the 4:0 score in the previous match caused Poland to lose face completely and suffer immense pressure domestically.
More importantly, if they are eliminated in the group stage of the World Cup, then all players will inevitably face a dire outcome, which is that everyone's valuation will decline, and the personal interests of all players will be fatally affected.
On one occasion, between these two matches, the players who had been slightly at odds quickly reached an agreement: no matter how they fought in the locker room, they must maintain high默契 (mòqì - tacit understanding/harmony) and cooperation on the field.
Regardless of anything else, they must at least advance from the group stage. Only in this way can their valuations be preserved. Otherwise, they can all wait for their signing fees to plummet next year.
Under the influence of this sentiment, the Polish team's strength was completely unleashed. In the first 15 minutes of the first half, they put immense pressure on Team Am, comparable to a machine gun. Team Am was caught off guard, and their entire defense line became riddled with holes.
It was thanks to Han Zi'ang's continued calmness, fiercely guarding the team's last line of defense, that Team Am's goal was not breached in the first 15 minutes.
However, by the 28th minute, Poland was awarded a free-kick, and Poland's top star directly sent the ball into the goal. Poland led 1:0.
This score remained until the end of the first half. The Polish national anthem echoed throughout the stadium, and all Polish fans sang loudly. The Polish players also knelt on the ground to respond to their fans, and the scene was very passionate.
Team Am's players silently returned to the locker room. It was later reported that Messi had a fierce argument with the two assistant coaches in the locker room, but the winner and loser were not clear. It was just that in the second half, Team Am maintained the same lineup as in the first half, and Messi chose to trust his players.
However, contrary to expectations, where Team Am would launch a frantic attack in the second half to catch up, Team Am maintained a relatively normal offensive. There was no excessive attacking, nor was there a situation where all players pushed into the opponent's half. They played as they normally would.
Seeing this situation, Poland's defense naturally relaxed. They thought of the humiliating 4:0 score in the previous match and naturally wanted to extend the score. This in turn led Poland to continue launching strong attacks, wanting to break through the opponent's goal again.
Unfortunately, this time the entire defensive line was extremely stable. Team Am did not give Poland any more opportunities. On the contrary, as Poland attacked proactively, their defense was left exposed.
In the 73rd minute of the second half, the team's center forward received a long ball from a defender and then made a divine pass, directly sending the ball to Liu Xu's feet.
What followed was an epic breakthrough. While most of the Polish players were still in the opponent's half and had not turned back, Liu Xu had already broken through the opponent's defensive line and directly sent the ball into the opponent's goal.
Afterward, Poland became more conservative. Both sides tried their best to defeat each other, but neither side found a suitable opportunity. In the end, after the end of both halves, neither side could score.
If it were the 2022 World Cup, the group stage would have ended at this point. Even if there were ties in group points, they would have been determined directly by goal difference or head-to-head results.
However, with the change in the competition format, the World Cup group stage also adopted an elimination-style intense format. After both sides drew 1:1, there would be a 30-minute extra time.
After entering extra time, almost all spectators could feel the astonishing change in tactics between the two sides.
Poland began to press forward with the entire team, attacking at all costs, with a strong desire to win against their opponent in extra time.
Team Am, on the other hand, decisively abandoned defense. Except for the forwards, almost all players retreated to their own half. At the same time, the captain on the field seemed to have become Han Zi'ang, who was fiercely directing the positional changes of each player, thereby creating an impenetrable defense across the entire half.
Therefore, even though Poland put all their strength into attacking, after the previous 90 minutes of the match, all players' stamina had significantly decreased.
So, naturally, defense is more stamina-saving than offense. Thus, Team Am gradually gained an advantage in stamina. Poland's attacks became weak and powerless, and finally, they could only watch as the final whistle blew, and the match officially entered the penalty shootout segment, which filled all Poles with despair.
"Darling, why do I feel like all the Poles have despair written on their faces when they hear about a penalty shootout? Everyone still has a chance to continue!" a casual female fan, who normally doesn't watch football and doesn't allow her husband to watch it, and only generously allows it during the World Cup, asked in confusion.
"Because Poland has already lost. They are about to face a divine defense in goal!" Unlike his wife, the husband was extremely excited at this moment, because after waiting for so long, he could finally see the super star he had been anticipating appear.
Since the invention of the sport of football, most of the legendary super stars have been forwards who charge ahead and launch attacks as sharp as a scalpel.
Besides them, there are a small number of midfielders skilled in passing, and a very small number of defenders as strong as iron walls. This almost encompasses all the super star slots.
And the only position where a super star has never emerged is probably the goalkeeper.
But in the 2034 World Cup, many old fans were surprised to find that many people were waiting for a super star to appear, but this super star was still sitting on the substitute bench.
It's not unusual for a super star to be on the substitute bench. After all, everyone has low points, or conflicts with the team and coach, which can also lead to them being benched directly.
But no super star has ever stayed on the substitute bench continuously, because a person who constantly stays on the substitute bench cannot become a super star. This is an unsolvable logical loop.
But now, one person has achieved it, and he is now striding forward, under the fearful gaze of all Poles, step by step, he walked to the forefront, to the goal that belonged to him.
He patted the lime off his hands, put on his gloves decisively, and then showed a naive smile to the opposing players and opponents.
This clearly looked like a harmless fellow.