Chapter 636 The powerful French team!

As Spain eliminated Croatia and reached the semi-finals, all the semi-final teams of this World Cup have been born.

They are France, England, Spain and Belgium.

It can be seen from the distribution area of ​​these teams that this is another big victory for European football.

The Europeans monopolized the semi-finals of this World Cup, while their fierce rivals in Latin America were completely destroyed.

Since the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, Latin American teams have missed the finals of four consecutive World Cups.

In 2006 and this year, they didn't even reach the semi-finals.

Gone are the past situations where South American football competed with European football and even had the upper hand. Now football has officially entered a new pattern in which European football dominates the world.

This result is not surprising. The local leagues in South America cannot compete with the leagues in Europe. This has led to a large loss of local players and entered the five major leagues.

The loss of a large number of outstanding players has lowered the competitive level of South American leagues, causing the level of local players to begin to decline.

The decline in the level of local players will directly affect the combat effectiveness of the national team, causing the national team's performance to deteriorate.

To solve this problem, in the final analysis, we still need to do a good job in the local league and retain as many talents as possible.

Otherwise, so many outstanding players have left their homeland since childhood and went to Europe to make a career. Even if they succeed in the end, I am afraid they will become the shape of European football.

However, these issues are things that South Americans need to consider, and European football is cheering their victory at this time.

After the semi-finals of this World Cup were released, some debates inevitably occurred within the football world.

Everyone is arguing over who is more optimistic about winning the championship.

Among these four teams, Spain is the defending champion and has won two consecutive World Cups before, so it was regarded as the favorite from the beginning.

But the French team's performance is not inferior to them at all. In addition, the French team's overall lineup is younger and more reasonable, and the players in all positions are very strong. They are not as dependent on Lin Quan's performance as Spain.

Football has always been a team sport, so many people are more optimistic about the French team.

As for England and Belgium, the Three Lions' entry into the semi-finals this year has surprised the British. As for honors such as championships, they cannot say that they have no ideas in their minds, but they themselves also know that with the strength of the England team, they will win this tournament. There is little hope of winning the World Cup.

Not to mention anything else, just whether they can survive the Spanish team in the semi-finals is a question.

Even if they are lucky enough to defeat the Spanish team, there is a high probability that they will encounter their nemesis, the French team, in the finals.

Since the beginning of this century, in the 7 games between England and France, the England team has 1 win, 2 draws and 4 losses, and is at a disadvantage across the board.

Moreover, the French team was still in a state of recovery. Now that they have met the French team at its peak, their chances of winning are even slimmer!

As for the European Red Devils Belgium, although their lineup is very strong and everyone thinks they are good, people who have watched their games don't have much confidence in this team.

I always feel that this team can only fight against the wind and cannot fight against the headwind.

Their opponent in the semi-finals, the French team, is a tough opponent. Belgium will probably have a hard time passing this test if they meet them.

…

Although the outside world is more optimistic about the French team, Belgian players expressed their confidence in defeating the French team when interviewed by reporters before the game.

Hazard: "The French team is very strong, but we are a better team. My teammates and I will defeat them in tomorrow's game and prove ourselves!"

Although Hazard is the captain of the Belgian team, the performance of the Blues' top player in this World Cup is not good.

Among the 14 goals scored in five games in Belgium, Hazard only scored one goal, and it was a penalty kick.

This is completely incomparable with Lukaku who scored 4 goals. As for the number of assists, De Bruyne and Lin Quan, who scored 4 assists, tied for the top of the assist list in this World Cup, while Hazard only had 1 assist. .

Hazard's performance did not match the expectations of the outside world before the game. As recognized by many fans as the player who is best at breakthroughs besides Messi and Linquan, Hazard should have achieved a more explosive performance.

After all, Belgium's opponents in the group stage are not strong, and Hazard should have better data.

But that didn't happen, so Hazard was anxious.

He is eager to prove himself. If he can't make any achievements in this game, then he may be disappointed by the fans who support him.

Compared to Hazard, who is eager to prove himself, Lu, who has performed well in this World Cup, is inexplicably optimistic:

"The forwards of the French team are very strong. Their No. 10 is very fast and can almost catch up with me. But I am better than him and their defenders cannot guard me, so the final winner must be us!"

The reporter who was interviewing him was speechless when he heard what he said: Are you a center who wants to compete with a winger on the other side?

Although Lukaku is indeed not slow, he is still far behind Mbappe. According to official World Cup statistics, Mbappe is the fastest wide player among all teams in this World Cup.

His terrifying impact is impressive to anyone who has watched the French team play.

The last person to be interviewed was Belgium’s core midfielder De Bruyne. Compared with his first two opponents, De Bruyne, who is not good at dealing with reporters, is completely honest:

"The French team is stronger than us, so this game will be difficult, but we will not give up easily. We will definitely play our own things and try our best to win this game!"

The reporter who was interviewing De Bruyne looked at De Bruyne, then at his two teammates, and couldn't help but wonder: Is this really someone from the same team?

Lin Quan saw the video of De Bruyne's interview on TV and couldn't help but put his hand on his forehead.

How could this guy boost the opponent's morale and destroy his own prestige before the game?

Although the overall strength of the French team is indeed better than Belgium, such words must not be said. If you want to say it, you have to wait until the game is over, and you can only say it after defeating the French team.

It would be inappropriate to say this kind of thing at other times. Thinking of this, he called De Bruyne:

"Hey, what's the matter? The lights are going out here!"

De Bruyne seems to be in a hurry to sleep. The semi-finals will be played tomorrow and he does not want his sleep schedule to be disrupted.

"There was something wrong at first, but now it's okay. Come on and play tomorrow. See you in the final!"

After Lin Quan finished speaking, he hung up the phone.

De Bruyne on the other side of the phone felt a little baffled. He called him so late at night just to say something like this?

He is not surprised that the Spanish team will enter the final, but the current situation may not allow the Belgian team to make it!

…

July 11, St. Petersburg Stadium.

The first semi-final of the 2018 Russia World Cup has begun.

The two sides in this game are the French team in blue jerseys and the Belgian team in red jerseys.

Another classic red-blue battle!

Although everyone was more optimistic about the French team before the game, it was the Belgian team that took the initiative after the start.

In this game, it was obvious that the Belgian team had done a lot of homework in advance. They were fully prepared for the opponent's attack from the wing, which made the French team's quick counterattack ineffective.

On the contrary, it was the Belgian side. Under De Bruyne's outstanding performance, they made several threatening attacks in the first half.

But the forwards seemed to have forgotten to bring their shooting boots today, and they actually spat out the cake that had been fed to their mouths several times.

De Bruyne's outstanding performance aroused the vigilance of the French team. His club teammate Kante was specially arranged by French coach Deschamps to mark De Bruyne.

Kanter's defensive ability is among the top levels in the world. Even if Lin Quan is entangled by him, it will be troublesome, let alone De Bruyne.

After being targeted, De Bruyne's performance began to decline, and it was difficult for him to complete such high-quality passes anymore.

This caused the Belgian team's offensive threat to plummet, and Hazard, who declared before the game that he would lead the team to victory, fell into a hard fight in this game.

He tried many dribbles and succeeded several times, but maybe he was too anxious to prove himself, or maybe he didn't see the position of his teammates.

He chose to shoot the ball himself instead of calmly passing it to a teammate in a better position. This resulted in his breakthrough having no momentum but actually no threat at all.

The first half of the game ended quickly, and the two sides tied at 0:0.

Judging from the scene, the Belgian team has an advantage in the number of dangerous attacks and ball possession rate, but the threat created by the opponent's counterattack is even greater.

Courtois had already made three wonderful saves in the first half, while France's goalkeeper Lloris only made one.

This makes Belgian fans very worried. As we all know, the French team is a relatively slow team.

Their performance in the first half does not represent their true strength. This team is accustomed to breaking out in the second half, catching their opponents off guard and killing the game in a short period of time!

This is how Argentina fell at the feet of the French team, and another South American team, Uruguay, also lost to the French team in the same way.

Therefore, do not think that the Belgian team had the advantage in the first half and it will be the same in the second half.

The situation in the second half may very well be unfavorable to them.

"The French team and the Spanish team feel like they are two extremes!"

"Yes, the French team has too many young players, and their status fluctuates. It takes time to find the status. It seems very slow, but once you find the status, it feels a bit unstoppable!"

"Looking at the Spanish team, because there are many veterans in the team, there will be physical problems in the second half, so they are more accustomed to ending the battle in the first half."

"I really hope these two teams can meet in the finals. One is slow to start, and the other is the first to attack. Haha, I really don't know who will have the last laugh!"

Although the outcome of this game was not decided, many fans had already sentenced Belgium to death in their hearts.

After having the advantage in the first half, he missed a good opportunity and failed to score. In the second half, he wanted to block the French team's attack?

I want to eat shit!

Sure enough, at the beginning of the second half, the French team seemed to be a different team.

The players seemed to wake up from their sleep, and each one became energetic and high-spirited.

Belgium's goal was continuously tested. In the 51st minute, it finally couldn't hold on, and the opponent used a corner kick tactic to score a header.

This goal caused Belgium's situation to take a turn for the worse. Now it has become an offensive round for the opponent. They can only fight back and cannot attack at all.

On the other hand, the French team, after scoring a goal, their offensive became more fierce, with more attacks in various positions. Various tactics such as positional warfare, mobile warfare, and quick counterattacks made the Belgians unable to take care of themselves.

In the 63rd minute of the second half, Mbappe received a pass from Pogba, quickly attacked along the wing, cut inside the penalty area and scored a successful shot, rewriting the score to 2:0.

Sure enough, just like the script, the French team regained consciousness and killed the game in just ten minutes in the second half.

Thirty minutes later, the referee blew the whistle to end the game.

The French team, the favorite to win the championship, easily defeated Belgium 2:0 and took the lead in reaching the final.

Their opponent will be the winner between England and Spain.

Seeing the French team defeat Belgium so easily, the entire football world was shocked after the game.

Although everyone knew that the French team was very strong, they did not expect it to be this strong.

So many Belgian fans publicly shouted to the Spanish team after the game:

"Team Spain, are you ready?"

Lin Quan watched the entire game live on TV. To be honest, the Belgian team was not unfairly defeated.

They wasted several opportunities in this game that should not have been wasted. The French team was not easy to play in the first place, and they themselves wasted opportunities. What can they do to win?

But seeing how strong the French team was, Lin Quan himself was a little shocked.

Mbappe feels more powerful than he did two months ago. It feels like he has suddenly upgraded and evolved.

This kid's ability to run long distances and shoot inside has been greatly improved.

If we meet him in the finals in the future, it's hard to say whether his teammates can withstand his offense.

Moreover, the French team's style of play is actually very restrained against Spain. They were very strong in the second half, while Spain was very weak in the second half.

Facing the invincible French team in the second half, even if they score 2 or even 3 goals in the first half, they may not be guaranteed to win.

What's more troublesome is that the French team's defense is actually not weak, at least it is much stronger than Lukaku thinks.

The combination of Umtiti and Varane cannot be said to be very strong, but they make up for each other's shortcomings. One has fast turning speed and flexibility; the other is strong and strong, with frontal defense, physical confrontation and blocking ability. powerful.

Coupled with the fact that the opponent's midfielder has Kanter, who is a difficult obstacle to overcome, it is not easy to score goals against the French team.

Therefore, I am afraid that this final will be difficult to play. Spain's chance of winning against the French team is probably no more than 50%.

If it weren't for me, my chances of winning would probably be less than 20%. (End of chapter)