Chapter 51 Showdown with Pogba

In football games, it is said that if you defend for a long time, you will lose, not to mention the Portuguese defense, which is already unreliable.

In the 88th minute of the game, Gonzalo Bueno, who came on as a substitute, pulled one back for Uruguay.

This is a huge incentive for Uruguay.

After the game restarted, they launched a wave of attacks on Portugal's goal. For a time, even though Portugal's eleven players retreated to the penalty area to participate in defense, it still gave people a feeling of being precarious and might collapse at any time.

However, there is still too little time left for Uruguay. The Uruguayans were unable to wait for their second goal until the referee blew the full-time whistle after three minutes of injury time.

As a result, Portugal defeated Uruguay with difficulty with a score of 2:1, and was able to reach the finals of two consecutive World Youth Championships.

Two years ago in Colombia, Portugal, which reached the final, fought fiercely with Brazil for 90 minutes. The two sides tied 2:2 and entered overtime.

In overtime, Brazilian star Oscar scored another goal, but Portugal failed to score. In the end, they lost with a score of 2:3 and missed the opportunity to win the World Youth Championship again after 20 years.

Two years later, Portugal once again reached the World Youth Championship finals. Their opponent in the final was the French team that was eliminated in the semi-finals of the World Youth Championship in Colombia two years ago.

Therefore, for the French team, the upcoming World Youth Championship final is not only about whether they can win the championship for the first time, but also about revenge for being blocked from the final two years ago.

For Portugal, they also hope to win the World Youth Championship again after 22 years.

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For the two teams that reached the finals, the lineup was star-studded.

As for the French team, their number one star is Paul Pogba, a super star who is currently playing for the Serie A giants.The French genius, who had already had the opportunity to play in the Premier League and Europa League when he was at Manchester United, switched to the Old Lady in the summer of 2012 and quickly established himself. He played 27 games for Juventus in Serie A last season and scored. He scored 5 goals and was one of the important members of Juventus' defending Serie A championship. In addition, he also played 8 games for Juventus in the Champions League, helping the Old Lady reach the quarterfinals of the Champions League again after seven years.

It can be said that before the World Youth Championship started, Pogba was the number one star of this World Youth Championship.

In this World Youth Championship, although Pogba did not score many goals, he was France's midfield brain and the number one contributor to France's ability to reach the World Youth Championship finals.

In addition, the French team also has stars such as Zouma, Digne, Umtiti, Kondogbia, Veretout, Thauvin, Areola and other stars.

It can be said that there are stars in every line of the French team, from goalkeeper to forward.

As for Portugal, before the start of the World Youth Championship, there was no one who was very famous. Only Bruno, the best player in Serie B, still had some influence.

However, as Portugal's performance in the World Youth Championship gets better and better, the fame of the players in the team has also skyrocketed.

Not to mention Bruno, he has become a super genius comparable to Pogba and is the biggest discovery of this World Youth Championship.

Many people say that not only will Bruno and Pogba compete for the best player in this World Youth Championship, but this year's European Golden Boy Award will also be a competition between the two.

In addition, forwards Bruma and Aladegui are already rising stars in football; midfielders Joao Mario and Andre Gomez, together with Bruno, are the Portuguese midfield troika; the defense is weak A little bit, but right back Cancelo also showed very good strength.

For a time, fans all over the world turned their attention to Istanbul.

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July 2013, 7, 13:21 local time in Türkiye.

Pogba stood on the side of the center circle, waiting for the game to start.

This is the final of the 2013 World Youth Championship in Turkey, a focus game that attracts worldwide attention, between France U20 and Portugal U20.

In the history of the World Youth Championship, the French team can only be regarded as a rising star. This is only their fourth time participating in the World Youth Championship. In the previous three participations, their best result was fourth place in the last World Youth Championship in Colombia.

And it was Portugal that blocked them from the final.

Portugal is the team with the third best record in the history of the World Youth Championship. This is their ninth time participating. In the previous 9 participations, they won the championship twice, finished runner-up once, finished third once, entered the quarterfinals once, and entered the top 8 twice. Only in 1, they stopped in the group stage.

However, the last time Portugal won the World Youth Championship was 22 years ago.

Therefore, both the French team and Portugal attach great importance to this game.

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Pogba himself also attaches equal importance to Bruno Fernandez in the opponent's formation!

<divclass="contentadv">Originally, with his outstanding performance at Juventus last season, Pogba thought he had a handle on the 2013 European Golden Boy Award, but Bruno's rapid rise made him feel A huge threat.

In this game, the Frenchman played as a left midfielder, while Bruno played as a right midfielder. Therefore, when the French team kicked off, Bruno's position was very close to Pogba.

Before the game, the two shook hands politely and chatted for a few words in the tunnel, but now, when Pogba looked at Bruno, his eyes were full of provocation and competition.

Bruno was equally rude to him.

The two men looked at each other with sparks in their eyes.

As a Manchester United fan, Bruno has a very complicated attitude towards Pogba, who came from Manchester United's youth training camp.

As the core of the midfield, Pogba led Manchester United to win the Europa League, which was the highest honor Manchester United won in the post-Ferguson era. He once became the favorite star of Manchester United fans and was considered the hope of the team's revival.

However, the Frenchman's behavior in the following seasons at Manchester United was almost ruinous, especially the fact that he lasted until the end of the contract and left Manchester United for free for the second time, which deeply hurt the hearts of Manchester United fans like Bruno.

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"The game is about to start!"

"The chief referee of this game is Turkish referee Güneit Cakir. France, as the home team, will wear home jerseys. Portugal, as the visiting team, will wear away players."

"When guessing the side before the game, Portugal's captain Joao Mario won and they chose the side that was more advantageous in the first half, so the French team got the right to serve."

"The lineups of both teams in this game are relatively well-organized, and they basically send out their main players. Both sides attach great importance to this game."

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"Okay, the referee Cakir blew the whistle to start the game. The French team took the lead and Portugal took the initiative to press and press."

"With continuous passes, Portugal's opening tactics seemed very proactive. This is also their consistent style in this World Youth Championship. Perhaps this has a lot to do with the instability of their defense."

……

"The French team's pass was intercepted, and Portugal counterattacked on the spot and passed it to the left."

"Esgao takes the ball, follows up, and shoots directly from a long distance..."

"Oh, I'm too impatient!"

"Esgao's shot was still a bit far from the goal, and it was a little too hasty. As a side that takes the initiative to attack, the most important thing for Portugal to do at this time is to stay calm."

………………

"It's still an attack from Portugal."

"Cancelo made a pass from the right and the football was pushed out by Zuma!"

"Bruno controlled the placement... made a beautiful stop... and then passed the ball into the penalty area..."

"Aladeji failed to stop the ball, and Zouma and Sarr double-teamed him at the same time."

"The French team still started very steadily. Maybe they were also wary of Portugal's fast break. After all, both South Korea and Uruguay became victims of Portugal's fast break."

……

"The ball is still in Portugal's feet and Bruno once again orchestrated an attack."

"Kondogbia successfully intercepted the ball, and the French team launched a counterattack on the spot and passed it to Pogba."

"Pogba picked up the ball in the penalty area and volleyed directly into the goal, hitting Thiago Ilori out of the baseline. Ilori's block was still in place this time. The Portuguese high school defender is said to have He has been noticed by Liverpool for a long time and is likely to join a Premier League giant this summer."

"France won a corner kick."