Chapter 466 Strong Enemy

Chapter 466 Strong Enemy

"In the 23rd minute, the Portuguese team took the lead! They finally scored!"

After the goal, Quaresma hugged his teammates. This goal gave everyone reassurance: No matter what happens in the future, we are in the lead now, and we have the advantage.

The Portuguese team is very good at playing when they are in the lead. Even if they are equalized, they are confident of scoring goals.

The Portuguese players were celebrating the goal, while Mexico's head coach Osorio was furious with the team's defense.

"Three passes! The opponent only used three passes and they scored in our goal! What are our people doing? How are they defending!" Osorio complained to his assistant coach.

In his opinion, since the Mexican team is the Gold Cup champion, it should not be so easily scored by its opponents.

The entire scoring process of the Portuguese team is very simple and clear, not fancy. Bruno and William Carvalho teamed up to steal the ball, and then Carvalho passed the football to Bruno. Bruno dribbled the ball forward, attracted the attention of the opponent's two defensive players, and then distributed the football to the wing. Then Nani received the ball and passed directly, and Quaresma scored again. From the offensive line point of view, it is center-side-center, and then the football rolls into the goal.

The Mexican team failed to defend such a simple offensive routine. No wonder Osorio was dissatisfied. He walked to the sidelines and shouted to the players on the court: "Cheer up! What are you doing! We must score!!"

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After the game restarted, Mexico launched a fierce attack on the Portuguese goal under the roar of Osorio, hoping to equalize the score as soon as possible.

The Mexican team's strong attack had an effect. Wave after wave of offensive attacks hit the Portuguese players, causing them to make some mistakes in the game. For example, if you think your teammates will advance forward, you pass the football ahead of time, but your teammates don't notice this at all, and the football just falls at the opponent's feet.

During this period, the Portuguese team played very awkwardly after taking the lead.

Seeing this situation, Santos also made adjustments. He signaled Bruno to stabilize his defense during this period and stop rushing out to attack the opponent. The Mexican team is now in full swing, and Portugal's goal angered them.

If they continue to attack under such circumstances, with the Portuguese team's defensive level, it will be easy for the Mexican team to score.

Just four minutes had elapsed since Portugal's goal, and Mexico came close. At that time they got a corner kick, the Mexican team took a corner kick on the right, and Hernandez nodded in front of the goal.

The little pea appeared at the front point so suddenly that the Portuguese defenders were completely unaware of it. Fortunately, Xiao Wandou's header was slightly higher and did not fly into the goal. Otherwise, it is hard to say in what direction the game would develop.

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Patricio was dissatisfied with his teammates' defense. He roared at them: "Keep an eye on someone!! There is no one of ours around such an obvious target! Pay attention to defense! Pay attention to defense!"

When the Mexican team was on the offensive, Patricio became the busiest and most photogenic person on the team. If this situation continues, he might even get the best of the game.

Of course, he would rather not receive such a reward, as long as the team can successfully win.

The Mexican team bombarded the Portuguese goal for nearly twenty minutes, and in the 41st minute, they finally received rewards.

Raul Jimenez dropped back to take over, and then when facing Bruno's defense in the middle, he did not insist on entangled with Bruno like Herrera did, but chose to distribute the ball very neatly.

Dos Santos, who came in from behind, received the ball and passed the ball across the left side of the penalty area. Hernandez, under the close defense of Pepe, grabbed the point from behind.

Pepe had no choice but to make a tackle, which could easily knock someone down and result in a penalty kick. But at this time, Pepe couldn't care so much and just started.

The little pea was indeed tackled by him, but at the same time he also mentioned the ball. This defense resulted in an unconventional lying shot by Hernandez. He swept the football into the goal with his left foot!

Patricio was guarding the front point. When he saw the football passed to the back point, it was too late to pounce on him. He could only watch the football roll in front of him and into the goal.

"The ball went in! Mexico equalized the score!"

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The Portuguese team, which had equalized the score, did show a certain degree of panic. On the contrary, the Mexican team became very energetic after the goal, pressing the Portuguese team in the 30-meter area and bombing indiscriminately. Every attack was quite threatening.

Fortunately, Bruno and William Carvalho continued to use their strong defense to interfere with the Mexican team's offense and boosted the team's morale.

At this time, the Portuguese fans in the stands also used singing to encourage their team.

<divclass="contentadv">"A draw is no big deal!" Taking advantage of a corner kick from the Mexican team, Bruno returned to defend in front of the goal and said loudly to his teammates, "Even if we draw, we can still be first in the group. Advance! So there’s nothing to panic about! Just keep playing!”

His shout made many people wake up from their dreams: Yes, this is the first round of the group stage. Even if we draw, we still have a chance to compete for first place in the group in the next two games. Why were we tied? After the score was determined, we acted as if we had lost? This makes no sense!

During the rest of the first half, the Portuguese team, which had gradually adjusted, defended the Mexican team's offense and did not concede any more goals. However, the Mexican team was no longer able to attack continuously after a period of furious attack, and they also needed to adjust. , to avoid attacking too hard, and the Portuguese team seized the opportunity to counterattack and score a goal.

With Bruno, Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani, Quaresma and many other offensive players, the Portuguese team has a reputation for sharp offense that makes its opponents fearful.

In this way, the two sides entered the halftime break with a score of 1:1.

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Osorio did not criticize his team's performance at halftime, but offered encouragement.

He also knows that criticism may not be a good idea at this time. It was not easy for the players to equalize the score. In the second half of the first half, they kept besieging the opponent's goal. They didn't score because they were unlucky. There is not much to blame.

If you criticize the team, it will only destroy the team's morale and desire to win. So he chose to encourage and told them that as long as they continued to play like this in the second half, they would definitely win.

How to continue playing? Of course it's an attack. It would be better if we could lay siege to the Portuguese team's goal.

"We must score goals as soon as possible. The first five minutes of the second half are the best time to score goals. Seize the opportunity to score a goal for them and let us take the lead! Then the pressure will be on Portugal's side and make them perform abnormally!" Osorio said excitedly.

On the other side, during the halftime break of the Portuguese team, Santos did not criticize the team. Because a draw is also a good result for the team.

After all, the Mexican team is Portugal's strongest opponent in the group stage. Even if it draws with Bus Pipe, as long as it can defeat Russia and New Zealand in the last two games of the group stage, the Portuguese team can still compete for first place in the group.

During the halftime break, Santos praised the team's performance and encouraged them to continue playing like this. After saying a few words, he left the locker room and left the remaining time to the players themselves.

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As soon as Santos left, Bruno said: "Brothers, although a tie is an acceptable result, in the second half I think we should continue to attack and pursue goals. The Portuguese team's football is offensive football. If we don't score a goal, , is abnormal.”

"But the Mexican team's defense is very good. What if we attack and fail to score for a while, but the opponent seizes the opportunity to counterattack?" Pepe asked.

As a central defender, the first consideration is of course defense. He is worried that after Bruno leads people to rush forward, he will lack protection in front of him.

"This is not a problem." Ronaldo said, "We will have such worries when playing against any team, but what about the result? I believe that our offensive ability can break their goal before they score."

As a forward, Ronaldo naturally wants the team to attack, which means he has more scoring opportunities. Bruno's words speak to his heart, so he supported Bruno's opinion without hesitation.

"I also think it's better to win. This is our first time participating in the Confederations Cup, and this game is also our first game in the Confederations Cup. I hope it can be won with a victory, not a draw!" Nani He also said with high spirits.

"Yes, attack!" Quaresma also said. As a forward, of course he wants the team to attack. Only by attacking can he score goals.

The opinion of the discussion was that the vast majority of people supported the offense, so the team's thinking in the second half was unified: offense.

"In fact, there is an advantage to offense." Bruno continued to analyze for everyone. "After all, this is just a group match. People in the Mexican team also know that they will definitely think that we will play more conservatively in the second half, so in fact they will not We can defend and counterattack, they can attack, and their defense will have gaps. We can seize these opportunities, so if we also attack, we will definitely surprise them, and we will score before they have time to react. If we score one more goal, they'll be finished!"

"Bruno is right. As long as we score another goal, the Mexican team will be finished!" Goalkeeper Patricio, who performed well in the first half and blocked Mexican players' shots many times, also expressed support.

Finally, Bruno said again: "So in the second half, we will follow the way we are used to. We have to strive for early goals, preferably within the first five minutes of the game, so that the initiative will return to us. If If we don’t score in five minutes, we will slow down the pace. Anyway, the sooner we score, the better it will be for us!”