Chapter 501: Cristiano Ronaldo reconciles with himself, Martin plays in the World Cup as Portugal ca

Chapter 501: Cristiano Ronaldo reconciles with himself, Martin plays in the World Cup as Portugal captain for the first time
"aoaoaoaooaooooo——"

There was a continuous loud shout above the 974 Stadium.

Martin, who scored a hat trick, became the most eye-catching player in the game.

Then came the overwhelming shouting, one wave after another.

Portugal expanded the score again, from 3:1 to 4:1.

The Ghanaian players, who had previously been looking forward to scoring three goals in a row, were instantly convinced and accepted the outcome of losing to Portugal.

Portugal, which is leading by a large margin, does not want to put in too much effort in the first group match, lest the tournament system consume too much, which will have an impact on the knockout rounds with a high probability of advancement.

The last game of the first round of the 2022 Qatar World Cup group stage came to an end at Lusail Stadium.

Brazil, one of the favorites to win the championship, defeated Serbia 2:0.

The next day, the Portuguese team resumed training on the spot and prepared to face Uruguay in the second round of the group stage at the Lusail Stadium.

Since the draw between Uruguay and South Korea in the first round was 0:0, it meant that Portugal only needed to defeat Uruguay to qualify from the group one round ahead of schedule.

However, before resuming training, captain Ronaldo took the initiative to find head coach Santos: "Mr. Fernando, if your coaching team assesses that I am not qualified to be a starter, I can accept a substitute."

Santos was surprised that Ronaldo came to find him.

Unexpectedly, something even more surprising was to come.

Cristiano Ronaldo actually said directly that he was not qualified to be a starter and could accept a substitute.

what's the situation?
His first reaction was that Ronaldo was testing his tone.

How could Ronaldo not see that Santos had misunderstood?

"What I said is true. At my current age, I do feel very strenuous. It is a bit too much to compete continuously at such a high level. For the performance and stability of the national team, if your coaching team thinks that what I have accomplished in training If the quality is not up to standard, you can communicate with me directly, or even remove me from the starting lineup."

He smiled and shrugged: "After all, I am now over 37 years old and will be 38 soon. I cannot accept old age."

"Cristiano, are you serious?"

Santos started getting serious.

"of course."

After confirming that Ronaldo was serious, Santos smiled and patted him on the shoulder: "Train well and prepare for the second group match against Uruguay."

The first round of the group stage is over, and the second round follows.

Persia, who suffered a disastrous defeat to England in the first round, had a long face at the Ahmed Ben Ali Stadium. With two goals in stoppage time, they defeated Wales led by Bale 2:0.

Later in the second round of Group A, the host Qatar lost to Senegal 1:3.

Qatar's two consecutive defeats in the group also meant they were eliminated early, setting a record for the earliest elimination of a host nation.

Another battle in the same group ended in 1:1.

The last game was an upset.

England drew 0:0 with their master country.

Saudi Arabia, which upset Argentina in the first round of Group C, lost 0:2 to Poland led by Lewandowski in the second round.

Argentina beat Mexico 2-0 in the second round.

France in Group D defeated Denmark 2:1, winning two consecutive group wins and qualifying early.

Tunisia in the same group beat Australia 0:1.

Fans who have been watching the World Cup group stage feel that time is passing very fast, and in a blink of an eye, they have arrived at the third match day of the second round of the group stage.

Portugal's group match against Uruguay at the Lusail Stadium starts at 9pm tomorrow night.

The whole team went to the competition venue in the afternoon the day before the game to adapt to the venue before the game and participate in the regular pre-match press conference.

Santos and the attending player Martin gave ordinary answers to media interviews and received little attention.

Uruguayan head coach Diego Alonso and attending player Cavani were very low-key in their interviews with reporters and did not fall into the trap deliberately dug by reporters. They said that Portugal is the biggest favorite in this World Cup and their biggest goal is to win the championship. retreat.

Immediately, the four group matches on the third match day began one after another.

Sakura Country, which upset Germany in the first round, lost 0:1 to Costa Rica, which defeated Spain in the first round. Spain, which had a strong dialogue, drew 1:1 with Germany.

There was a big upset in Group F.

Belgium lost to Morocco 0:2 at the Atumama Stadium.

Croatia in the same group defeated Canada 4:1.

On the fourth match day of the second round, the first game to start in the morning was from Group G.

Cameroon VS Serbia played a hearty goal battle.

The two teams drew 3:3.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, South Korea, which drew 0:0 with Uruguay in the first round, lost to Ghana 2:3 at the Education City Stadium.

Regarding the defeat in this game, South Korea fans were a little bit upset.

Salisu and Kudus scored two goals in the first half, and within three minutes of the second half, Cao Guicheng scored two goals to equalize the score.

Unexpectedly, with morale boosted, Kudus scored another goal that exceeded the score.

The score of 2:3 was maintained until the end of the game.

The third game starts at 6 p.m.

Brazil, which won the first round, relied on Casemiro's 83rd-minute strike to defeat Switzerland 974-1 at the 0 Stadium and take the lead in qualifying from Group G.

At this time, Portugal and Uruguay had just started the necessary warm-up before the game.

Martin has three old friends in rival Uruguay.

Cavani, Valverde and Torreira.

Among them, he has the best relationship with Cavani. The two have played many exquisite collaborations in the Premier League and Champions League.

Many of Cavani's goals also came from Martin's assists.

The two had a very friendly pre-match communication on the court before the game.

Since Uruguay drew 0:0 with South Korea in the first round, the result against the seeded team Portugal in the second round is particularly important.

Valverde is the younger brother at Real Madrid.

Torreira can only be said to have been a teammate, but due to Arsenal's overall strength at the time, Torreira did not have the ability to play in games at all. He was basically loaned out, and he only cooperated in pre-season preparations.

It didn’t take long for both sides’ starting lists to appear on the popular social media platforms.

Portugal is still in the 433 formation.

Goalkeeper: Diogo Costa
Defenders: Nuno Mendes, Ruben Dias, Danilo Pereira, Cancelo
Midfielder: B Fee, Martin (C), Ruben Neves
Forwards: Felix, Gonzalo Ramos, Seat B

……

When Portugal's starting lineup appeared on major social platforms, it immediately became a hot topic.

Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo did not appear in the starting lineup!

This... is very exciting news for many media.

Based on my understanding of Ronaldo, it was a minor injury but not in the line of fire.

Judging from the on-site warm-up situation, Ronaldo has no problems and no physical constraints. For media reporters who are good at fabricating news, they see a different situation.

Cristiano Ronaldo had a conflict with head coach Santos and was removed from the starting lineup.

Some media, citing people familiar with the situation, claimed that Martin and Ronaldo had a heated argument during training, which almost escalated into a fight.

However, this possibility was quickly dashed by reality.

After entering the ball training, Cristiano Ronaldo and Martin were fighting and arguing. The team atmosphere was also very good and seemed very relaxed.

If there really was a heated argument, how could the atmosphere be so harmonious?
The media and fans from Dragon Country were particularly excited about Portugal's starting lineup.

the reason is simple.

Martin is the vice-captain of Portugal. He became the starting captain of Portugal when both Ronaldo and Pepe were unable to start!

【Shock! Martin will play as the captain of Portugal in the second round of the World Cup group stage against Uruguay! 】

[First time in Dragon Kingdom football history! Martin, who was once selected for the Dragon Country U19 National Youth Team, will play in the World Cup group match as the captain of Portugal! 】

[Those who were in charge of the former Football Association knelt down to speak! This is the number one player in world football that you don’t recognize! Open your eyes and take a good look! 】

……

The current senior management is all about doing practical things, but it is difficult to achieve results in just a few years after many years of work.

The most important thing is that the generation of talents is so great.

The 04-05 class, which was touted to be very powerful earlier, has been verified by reality. It is obviously an exaggeration by the unscrupulous media. It is the 06-07 batch that can really be entrusted with important tasks.

Closer to home, the starting lineup also announced at the same time is the opponent Uruguay.

Uruguay has a 352 formation.

Goalkeeper: Lochte

Defenders: Coates, Godin (C), Jimenez

Midfielder: Matias Oliveira, Vecino, Bentancur, Valverde, Guillermo Barrera
Forwards: Nunez, Cavani
……

The pre-match warm-up time for both teams lasted about thirty minutes.

If the weather is too hot and the warm-up time is too long, it will affect the subsequent competition.

Martin, who served as the captain of Portugal for the first time in an official game, walked out of the locker room wearing the captain's armband, and the on-site director also gave a close-up shot for the first time.

Fans watching the live broadcast of the game could see Martin's meticulously combed back hair, shining brightly under the light.

At the age of 26, he is in the best years of his career. His handsome face and unique temperament all attract female fans watching the live games on TV, even if he gets married to Savannah Blade this summer.

To these female fans, married men seem to be more attractive...

Every Portuguese player hugs and high-fives Captain Ma in the tunnel.

Cavani and Valverde, who have a good personal relationship with Martin, also took the initiative to chat for a few words, fully demonstrating what it means to be competitive second and friendship first.

Central 5 commentator He Wei looked at Martin in the broadcast and laughed loudly: "Portugal easily defeated Ghana in the first round. As long as they beat Uruguay in the next game, they can advance to the top one round ahead of schedule! This is Martin serving as the captain of Portugal. Participating in the main match for the first time, we just broke the World Cup total scorer record set by Klose in the first round. This game...may also bring us the ideal result!"

……

At 9 p.m. local time, the second round of the Group H match between Portugal and Uruguay officially kicked off with a whistle from the Asian referee Fagani.

Uruguay, which has a kick-off advantage, just like what it said before the game, focuses on stability and retreats as much as possible. The tactical play is to seek offensive opportunities through patient passing.

After a series of passes back and forth, the football was not passed into the danger zone.

Faced with the pressing pressure of Martin, B Seat, B Fee and other midfielders and frontcourt players to increase their running range, the Uruguayan players in the midfield and backfield did not dare to neglect and directly drove the ball forward with their big feet.

The central defender partnership of Ruben Dias and Danilo Pereira is tough enough and has the upper hand in the battle with Nunez.

The control of football changed hands, and Portugal, which had the overall advantage, launched an attack under Martin's organization.

Both Cavani and Nunez focused most of their energy on defense, which perfectly fit the questions and answers they received from the media before the game.

But if we really believe that Uruguay's greatest wish is to escape unscathed, then it will be an ugly loss.

A football match is like a battle, there will always be some smoke bombs thrown out.

Portugal currently has a lot of offensive talents. Martin is not the only offensive organizer. Ruben Neves, B Seat, and B Fedor have strong offensive organization capabilities. Even Felix, who serves as the left winger, can participate in the offensive organization. Interfering with the normal deployment of Uruguay's defensive system.

Portugal, which has a strength advantage, launched a mercury-like attack on Uruguay's defense.

Uruguay, who was forced to defend, performed well overall and did not expose any defensive loopholes due to being on defense for a long time.

From time to time, Portugal can take advantage of the more impatient mentality of the offense to launch some counterattacks.

It's a pity that Portugal is very disciplined in transitioning from offense to defense and will counterattack on the spot as soon as possible, which makes Uruguay's counterattack unable to succeed.

The 0:0 score remained until the 26th minute.

Godin predicted in advance and intercepted the through ball from B fee to the advancing Gonzalo Ramos.

He spotted Valverde's forward path and sent it over without hesitation.

Unexpectedly, Martin had already noticed Uruguay's usual counterattack routine, and he was waiting for the opportunity to switch from offense to defense to from defense to offense!
His accurate prediction appeared in Godin's passing route to Valverde.

Stop and speed up.

Bentancur was very timely when he stepped up to the plate, but it was easy for Martin to pass by with a false dunk.

Godin, who made a mistake in passing the ball, immediately stepped forward to defend, even if he committed a foul.

Unexpectedly, Martin took advantage of the change of rhythm and explosive power to easily complete the change of direction.

"aoaoaooaooooo——"

As Martin passed two people after stealing the ball, the Portuguese fans and the fans in the middle of the Lusail Stadium immediately realized what was going on, and the huge cheers instantly swept the audience.

Jimenez, who was lagging behind, didn't know what to do.

Gonzalo Ramos kept pressing him.

But time waits for no one.

Martin arrived in front of him in a blink of an eye. Without any fancy technical moves, he directly moved the ball to the right with the outside of his right foot and fired furiously from the top of the arc in the penalty area.

The ball was kicked out with great force, and goalkeeper Lochte reacted immediately. Unfortunately, he couldn't touch the ball after stretching his body, so he could only declare that it was beyond his reach.

"Martin!"

"Steal the ball personally! Pass Bentancur and Godin and then shoot!"

"Nice goal!"

Central 5 commentator He Wei shouted passionately: "If you want to break the deadlock, you still have to look at Martin's performance! 1:0! Portugal leads Uruguay!"

Martin, who scored, turned around and hugged his teammates who came forward to celebrate the goal.

The entire stadium became a sea of ​​joy for Portuguese fans, with overwhelming and huge cheers coming one after another.

The Uruguayan player who lost the ball shook his head repeatedly, feeling depressed.

However, considering that in the last round they faced Ghana, which defeated South Korea this round, Uruguay, which was lagging behind, was not very panicked.

Unless Portugal can be defeated, regardless of whether the game is a draw or a loss, Ghana, which has three points in hand, will have to defeat Ghana in the final round to qualify for second place in the group.

The restarted game is still a step-by-step game.

(End of this chapter)