Chapter 430 World Cup Top 4: Hat trick, killing the game!

Chapter 430 World Cup semi-finals: Hat trick, killing the game!
Martin's two goals helped Portugal take the lead. The Croatians felt a huge gap from leading to falling behind, but they knew that if they could not equalize the score in a short time, the result would be a loss.

This is very cruel to the old comrades in the team.

This World Cup will most likely be the last World Cup of his career.

Increasing the number of attackers is one of the few ways to attack.

The game time is approaching eighty minutes, and there is no way out.

As for whether the game will be killed by Portugal's counterattack, there is no room for consideration.

Portugal, which was leading the score, quickly shrank its defense, leaving only Ronaldo in front to act as a counterattack point.

In the 78th minute, Portugal made personnel adjustments.

Quaresma replaced seat B, who was lacking in physical fitness.

The intention of this adjustment is obvious.

Use Quaresma's abundant physical fitness to enrich the coverage area of ​​the overall defensive system, and at the same time serve as Ronaldo's wingman when switching from defense to offense, preparing to kill the game.

Croatia's ball possession ratio has improved rapidly and has gone from lagging to leading.

The four "wonderful" men of Modric, Rakitic, Brozovic and Kovacic have conflicting functions to some extent, and will appear to be a bit slow in terms of offensive organization.

It seems that the proportion of ball possession is getting higher and higher, but most of them are passed back and forth outside the 30-meter offensive zone without any threat.

Dangerous area passes that actually get into the final third are few and far between.

"aoaooaooooooo——"

The Portuguese fans at Fisht Stadium were impassioned and shouted one wave after another.

The Croatian fans were worried and looked nervously at the players who were patiently organizing the offense.

They are looking forward to scoring an equalizer, but are also worried about Portugal's transition from defense to offense.

The player wearing the red No. 10 is likely to create enough scoring opportunities again at some point.

Once he helps Portugal expand the score, the game will completely lose suspense.

Croatia took full control of the game and put enough pressure on the Portuguese defense. While attacking with all their strength, they also consciously paid attention to protection when switching from offense to defense, and did not give Martin, Moutinho and others a chance to touch the ball.

The advantage of having more people in the middle is highlighted at this time.

Even if there is a mistake in the offensive pass, pressure can be quickly formed based on the proximity principle to increase the opponent's passing success rate.

Even Cristiano Ronaldo, Moutinho and Quaresma will not be able to handle accurately under strong pressure.

Martin is the exception, and his catches look like they've been calculated with computer precision every time.

The only way to delay Portugal's transition from defense to offense is to commit a foul.

For this reason, Brozovic and Kovacic, who came on the bench, received yellow cards respectively.

The time came to the 87th minute, and there were still three minutes left before regular time. Including injury time, it was only seven or eight minutes at most.

Ten minutes have passed since the score fell behind. The Croatian players are getting more and more anxious, but the decline in physical fitness cannot be ignored.

At the beginning, I could grit my teeth and persevere with the spirit of not admitting defeat, and make full use of my steely willpower to run without any physical effort, but this situation obviously cannot last long.

In the 1/8 finals, Rakitic, who played for 120 minutes and took part in a penalty shootout, fell to the ground during a fight for five or five goals and kicked down William Carvalho who kicked the ball away early. The referee Li Qi called a foul.

Rakitic didn't have time to explain. He felt that the calf muscles of his right foot were violently twitching. He quickly hooked the instep of his right foot forward, and his right hand followed his upper body to break the sole of his foot.

Within half a second, he felt cramps in his left calf muscle again.

Therefore, I could only use both hands to force the front soles of my feet apart.

Anyone with a little bit of brain would know Rakitic's movements... cramps.

Rakitic has rich experience in the game. He quickly greeted the team doctor who was about to enter the court and said not to play. Otherwise, according to relevant regulations, he would have to wait on the sidelines after receiving treatment from the team doctor.

However, the cramps in both feet were really severe, and with the timely arrival of teammates and enthusiastic Portuguese players to help compress the legs, the team doctors did not see it at all. They just ran to the court for treatment according to the referee's gestures.

There are two types of players who cramp.

One is that you can't continue playing after you've finished taking it, and the other is that you can continue to play after you've finished taking it.

Rakitic is the kind of player who can continue to play after being processed.

It’s just that he needs to go to the sidelines after receiving simple treatment from the team doctor.

Head coach Dalic suddenly felt uneasy.

Rakitic had to wait on the sidelines according to the rules of the game before playing, and Portugal immediately had a chance to get a free kick from the backcourt that was long enough to advance forward.

Even if Rakitic can enter the court immediately after serving, it will have immeasurable consequences for the team's overall defense.

In his thoughts, the whistle sounded, and Pepe kicked the ball to William Carvalho, who quickly handed it to Moutinho on the right front. Rakitic, who was standing on the sidelines waiting to come on, was anxious and kept waving his hands. , trying to attract the referee's attention.

If the fourth official hadn't stopped him, he would have played directly.

"wuwuwuuwuuuu——"

The Croatian fans in the audience were also impatient and gave harsh boos to the referee Ricci who turned a blind eye.

After receiving the football, Moutinho turned 360° on the spot, shook off Kovacic's defense, took the ball two steps forward, passed the center line, and entered the Croatian defensive half.

Kovacic, who was thrown away, could only keep a safe distance from Moutinho to ensure the tightness of the overall defense.

Martin, who ran forward, took Brozovic and Modric back to defend, but at this moment, he braked suddenly on the spot.

Brozovic and Modric realized it later and reacted too late.

Moutinho passed the ball decisively.

Referee Richie seemed to have finally thought of something, and hooked his left hand in the direction of the substitution technical area.

Rakitic immediately rushed into the field like a 100-meter sprint and ran to his own position on the defensive end.

The football came to Martin's feet, and Modric, who had a low center of gravity, took the lead to push it out.

Unexpectedly, Martin took advantage of the situation and made a pass. The outside instep of his right foot moved the ball to the right, just past Modric.

Brozovic was very aggressive after the captain was passed, obviously trying to catch Martin off guard.

Unexpectedly, everything was under Martin's control.

He originally planned to pass the ball out, but when he saw Modric and Brozovic rushing forward one after another, he decisively broke forward with the ball.

Martin's connection movement was very fast. He had just finished playing with the ball on the outside of his right foot, stepped forward to catch up, and made full use of the flexibility of his ankle to slam the ball out on the inside of his instep.

The reckless Brozovic suddenly felt a cold feeling under his crotch, but his left foot was half a beat too slow, and the football rolled over first.

He was just about to raise his leg to kick Martin down, but he thought that he had a yellow card on his back. If he fouled to prevent Martin from moving forward with the ball, he would most likely receive his second yellow card of the game, and he also thought that he would definitely get it behind him. There were still teammates, so he retracted his half-stretched right foot.

Little did he know that his choice directly ruined his last chance.

Rakitic has just been informed by the referee that he can return to the court, but... he has not yet returned to his position.

Martin passed Modric and Brozovic, which meant he passed the entire midfield and directly faced the three central defenders!

Cristiano Ronaldo and Guedes reacted very quickly, like two sharp arrows shooting straight into the right rib and center of the Croatian defense.

It is equivalent to saying that Martin, who got rid of Brozovic, only has left center back Vida in front of him! Facing this central defender who has not proven himself in the five major leagues, Martin, as the most capable player in world football today, lowered his left shoulder and stepped out with his left foot to move the forward-rolling football to the left.

The extremely nervous Vader instinctively moved his center of gravity to the right side of his body.

Martin originally planned to use multiple pendulums to knock him down, but he didn't expect that the opponent would directly transfer the center of gravity.

The next thing will become simple.

Martin stepped forward with his left foot and made a feint, landed on the ground to support his body, and at the same time pushed hard on the ground. The huge reaction force completed the rotation of the center of gravity, and the body followed the ball with the outer instep of his right foot and broke through in the opposite direction from Vader's center of gravity.

When Vader reacted, he was powerless.

Martin is explosive and fast, and it takes time for Vader to turn his center of gravity back...

What happens next is very familiar to fans who often watch the Premier League and Champions League.

After the pendulum passes, Martin will take advantage of the trend to speed up. The shortcomings of Croatia's three central defender system are also exposed at this time.

Wing-back Perisic was affected by Quaresma's movement and was not in his ideal position.

Lovren in the center was also affected by Guedes and was unable to make up for it immediately.

Martin, who passed Vida, did not lose speed. He used the inside of the instep of his right foot to smash the ball into the penalty area. He passed the penalty area line with a speed visible to the naked eye and caught up with the football.

"The pendulum passes!"

"Speed ​​attack!"

"Martin! One-shot!"

Along with the loud shouts of the Central 5 commentator He Wei, goalkeeper Subasic abandoned the goal and attacked.

But the Croatian fans in the audience knew that there was a high probability that he would not be able to stop Martin, who was fighting alone, so many people closed their eyes in pain.

The vast majority of Portuguese fans and neutral fans in the audience were vaguely aware of something. They stood up one by one and raised their hands naturally, obviously preparing to celebrate in advance.

From the beginning of Martin's career to now, he has scored all the goals with a single shot!
Martin, who broke into the penalty area, did not perform stably. Facing Subasic's attack, he first straightened the arch of his foot and looked like he was going to shoot into the near corner. In fact, at the moment when the opponent handed over his center of gravity, he took a rubbing shot that tested his footwork.

"It's over..."

Subasic closed his eyes in pain.

Dalic, who was standing in the visiting team's coach's technical area, did not close his eyes, but he covered his forehead with both hands and his despair was palpable.

Others who have the same action include Modric, Rakitic, Kovacic...

In other words, every Croatian player has lost confidence.

At the end of the game, Martin scored a single goal, extending the score to two goals.

This... means killing the game!
"Goooooooooooooal——"

"The ball went in! A single goal!"

"Hat trick! Martin's tenth goal in this World Cup! There are only three goals left behind the 13 goals set by French legendary star Fontaine in a single World Cup! This goal means that Portugal has reached the semi-finals again after 12 years. There is a high probability that we will set our own scoring record in the last two games!"

"Oh My God! In the 88th minute of the game, Martin scored a hat trick! Portugal 3:1! The goal that killed the game!"

……

The commentator in the commentary box blurted out.

After scoring the goal, Martin was no longer as low-key as the previous two goals. He opened his arms and ran to the front of the Portuguese fans gathering area behind the goal. He raised his right hand and raised three fingers, which meant the first goal of the game. Three goals!

hat trick!

Cristiano Ronaldo, who mainly focused on attracting firepower in this game, was also very excited. He hugged Martin from behind excitedly and vented his ecstasy about expanding the score.

Expanding the score in the 88th minute means sealing the victory with a high probability!

When the Portuguese players celebrated the goal, the live director restored the entire scoring process.

Central 5 commentator He Wei laughed and said: "Modric and Brozovic's defense certainly has problems, and Vida is also responsible for the early surrender in the face of Martin, but Rakitic's out of position is the most serious problem. If Modric, Brozovic and Rakitic had pressed Martin at the same time, would it be possible for him to complete the breakthrough? It's possible... but the probability is not high!"

"Indeed, according to Martin's more cautious style of play, it is very likely that he will pass the ball out immediately. It can only be said that Martin's ability to seize opportunities is really strong. The go-ahead score and the goal to expand the score have the same effect. There is still the last minute of regular time, and there is not much time left for Croatia..."

Guest commentator Xu Yang talked eloquently.

The game restarted, and Croatia, which was two goals behind, was directly forced to a dead end.

Including injury time, there are still four or five minutes left, and two goals in a row are enough.

Although everyone knows that the probability is very low, there is no way out.

There was no previous regular attack. After kick-off, the ball was kicked directly into the penalty area, using the height of Mandzukic, Perisic and Lovren who went to the penalty area to compete for the landing spot.

This kind of tactical routine is a common play method used by many teams that are generally lagging behind. There is nothing new. Portugal's defense has long been wary of it.

Martin has absolute air superiority in the penalty area. As long as the target is near him, other players cannot compete with him.

After pushing the ball out of the penalty area twice in a row, the fourth official held up the electronic sign indicating stoppage time and came to the technical area on the sidelines.

"There are only five minutes left!"

The Croatian players put so much effort into offense that they no longer thought about switching from offense to defense.

For them, only by narrowing the point difference can they have a chance to equalize, otherwise... no matter how many goals they lose, they will have to buy a plane ticket home.

In the second minute of injury time, Portugal truly killed the game!
Modric's cross with the outside of his right foot, which was attacking the left rib, was pushed out of the penalty area by Pepe at the front point. William Carvalho and Kovacic at the top of the penalty area took off at the same time, but neither of them hit the ball. .

The ball bounced off the ground but Martin, who judged accurately, used his chest to cushion it away, not giving Rakitic a chance to get closer. Without making any adjustments, he directly raised his right foot and kicked the ball towards the Croatian half.

Of course, his big foot was not a clearance, but a deliberate pass.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been waiting for an opportunity, pressed the center line before Martin released the ball, and quickly crossed the center line after hearing the sound of 'Boom'.

All members of Croatia devoted themselves to the attack, completely defenseless against Ronaldo, who was waiting for an opportunity.

"aoaooaoaooooooo——"

The Portuguese fans roared loudly, and the Croatians knew...

Completely finished!

Subasic, the only Croatian player left in the second half, naturally knew that it was difficult to stop, but he also needed to stand on the last duty.

Cristiano Ronaldo is experienced in the game and directly uses disguised acceleration to easily pass him.

The rest is very simple for a player of Cristiano Ronaldo's level. With a powerful push, the football passed the big penalty area line... the small penalty area line... the goal line... under the watchful eyes of the whole world.

Finally, it hit the snow-white net.

"Cristiano Ronaldo!"

"Secure the victory!"

After scoring the goal, Ronaldo's iconic 'siu' celebration was once again displayed in front of fans around the world.

The score displayed on the scoreboard then became 4:1.

(End of this chapter)