Chapter 133 The Victory of Defense

Chapter 133 The Victory of Defense

In the seventh 1/8 knockout match of the World Cup in South Africa, the two sides are Paraguay, a traditional strong team from South America, and Japan, the last only Asian seedling in the World Cup.

After 90 minutes of fierce fighting, the two sides drew a tie in the regular time. After that, the two sides still had no achievements in the extra time, and they were not allowed to decide the winner through a penalty shootout.

The first penalty shootout of this World Cup started, and in the end, the more experienced Paraguayans had the last laugh, making it to the top eight of the World Cup for the first time in history.

After the game, Paraguay's Argentinian coach Martino could no longer restrain his emotions and couldn't help bursting into tears.

In this game, since the strengths of the two teams were almost the same, neither side dared to attack rashly since the start of the game. The confrontation was mainly concentrated in the midfield. The two teams tried to control the ball, and there were not many threatening balls on the field.

Except that the Japanese team hit the opponent's crossbar once in the first half, and Paraguay had a few shots that were threatening.

After the start of overtime, the Paraguay team once formed a siege and got many opportunities, but facing the stable defense of the Japanese team, it failed to translate into victory.

In the second half of overtime, the Japanese team launched a desperate onslaught, and Uruguay's defense was jittery. However, with a solid defense, the two teams finally entered a penalty shootout.

In the penalty shootout, the Paraguay team played more steadily, but the Japanese team Yuichi Komano missed a penalty kick. In the end, Paraguay defeated Japan 5:3 and advanced to the quarterfinals.

When Cardoso made the final decision and scored the penalty kick, the Paraguayan players burst into cheers and rushed into the field. Martino could no longer restrain his emotions, not only burst into tears, but even after the game In an interview, Martino also said that he really couldn't believe that all this happened for real.

"We played very hard, but we fought to the end. Fortunately, luck is on our side today. Now, the whole world is paying attention to Paraguay. We have completed an important step to advance to the quarter-finals. I still can't believe it. , we have reached the quarter-finals! This is the first time in the history of Paraguay that we have reached the quarter-finals. If Japan wins, we are lucky in the penalty shootout. This is the difference between the two teams. How the players played, what kind of unity and enthusiasm they showed, we know that they will be famous in history. Maybe today's game is not the game that people want to see, but I think there is nothing important for these two teams. Where we were blamed, hopefully we can recover and continue to make history."

Paraguay's defensive ability is considered top-notch among the teams participating in the World Cup. In the process of the continuous evolution of international football styles, the stability of Paraguay's defense is becoming more and more important.

Since Martino took office, he has always asked the national team to pursue defensive tactics, which makes Paraguay look very different in South America, which generally respects offensive football.

Today's Paraguay team under the leadership of coach Martino, the defense line is as strong as reinforced concrete. Throughout the entire World Cup qualifiers, Paraguay only conceded 16 goals, only one more than Brazil.

With this defensive skill alone, Paraguay has surpassed Uruguay, and has participated in eight World Cups, becoming the third most South American team to participate in the World Cup after Brazil and Argentina.

In this World Cup group match, Paraguay drew with the defending champion Italy in the first match. Martino also believes that this battle has established the confidence of the whole team.

In the second game, Paraguay formed a three-forward formation and defeated Slovakia 2-0, which also made people see the attacking power of the South American powerhouse.

In the last round, Paraguay drew with New Zealand and remained unbeaten in the group stage, conceding only one goal.

In the 1/8 finals, Paraguay's defense was still impenetrable. Although the Japanese team tried their best in the second half of overtime, they were unable to break through Paraguay's gate, whether it was sports or set kicks.

The Netherlands is called conservative if it plays more steadily, Brazil is called utilitarian if it plays more efficiently, and Chile is called barbaric if it plays more aggressively. them.

Have you seen Paraguay?

Paraguay's games can even make their own fans fall asleep, and they can also make the opponent's fans fall asleep. More importantly, they can also make the players who are playing fall into a dream.

The Paraguayans have practiced their feet to become a reality with chest hair. A group of roughs hide in their own half, denying the opponent's attack thousands of miles away. Of course, they also firmly isolate themselves from the opponent's goal. Surprisingly, They are actually neighbors of Argentina and Brazil.

Can you imagine that the World Cup slogan painted on the Paraguayan team bus is: Guarani lion roars in South Africa!

The lion pretends to be a turtle, and the antelope dares to be a security guard.

What are slogans for?

In fact, the bus in Paraguay is not used to swear an oath. They must think that if possible, they will really park the bus at their own goal.

Then the opponent will never be able to score, but Paraguay seems to never want to score. They are more like passengers sitting on the bus. Once they succeeded.

A team whose mission is to drag the game into a penalty shootout has appeared in history. It was Argentina in 1990, but that Argentina team still had Maradona and Caniggia's one pass and one shot. As for the "second in history", everyone has seen it. At the kick-off in the second half of overtime, Valdes directly passed the ball back to the goalkeeper.

The only one who supported this team was the unrestrained girl who stuffed her mobile phone into her bra. To be honest, the brothers who put on the sheets were really sorry for her unrestrainedness.

But Martino said: "Italian defense is a good example for us to learn from, it is our goal."

Interestingly, the "Master" Italian team has been eliminated after the group stage, while Paraguay is better than blue and continues to write wonderful things in the World Cup.

In terms of defense, the Paraguayan team can be said to be at its peak, but in terms of offense, the performance of this Paraguayan team in the World Cup in South Africa is hardly satisfactory.

Currently, the Paraguay striker has Santa Cruz, Barrios, Valdes and Cardoso four forwards. In the league last season, Cardoso scored 26 goals to win the Portuguese Super League Golden Boot, Barrios scored 19 goals in the Bundesliga, and the other two veteran main players Santa Cruz and Valdes joined forces in the World Cup qualifiers Contributed 8 goals, accounting for one-third of Paraguay's total goals.

With such a luxurious striker combination, I believe that every team will be afraid of three-pointers, but after four games in this World Cup, the four forwards handed over the report card is 110 goals.

Although through the penalty shootout, the Paraguayans were lucky enough to reach the quarter-finals and created the best result in the World Cup, but if they want to go one step further, Paraguay's strikers must perform. Urgent problems.

The Paraguay team will continue their journey in the World Cup in South Africa, while Japan, the only seedling of Asian football, can only bid farewell after this game.

In this game, the strength of the Japanese team and Paraguay can be said to be evenly divided, but the tactics of Japanese coach Takeshi Okada seem too conservative. He believes that goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima can become a hero in the penalty shootout. Such a bet is too big.

In a contest between 11 people and 11 people, if you only put the hope of winning on one person, it would be a bit desperate and unreliable. The Japanese are the victims of this unreliable gambling.

Takeshi Okada firmly let the Japanese team play a defensive counterattack in the World Cup, and the Japanese have indeed shown excellent overall defensive capabilities.

It is true that this tactic is pragmatic when facing those traditional tycoons, but in this game, Japan's opponent Paraguay is not much stronger than the Japanese team. If Takeshi Okada can make some adjustments to the tactic and strengthen it a little With the control of the midfield, perhaps the Japanese team will have a better chance.

Japan finally fell in the quarter-finals and failed to move forward. It is indeed a pity for Asian football, but judging from their performance in this World Cup, they are no matter in terms of skills and tactics. At the psychological level, they have made a lot of progress, and they can already compete with the first-class teams in Europe and America.

However, he stopped in the top 16 and failed to go further and create history. After the game, Takeshi Okada could not hide his disappointment. He originally wanted to go back to the locker room immediately, but the on-site staff stopped him, and he politely accepted the official decision. TV interview.

Later, he appeared at the press conference: "We have no regrets. The players performed perfectly in this game. They are very good. They won honors for Japan and even Asia. I am proud of them, but they did not win. It is my responsibility."

At the pre-match press conference, Takeshi Okada said that he would try his best to win the game, but they still regretted losing in the end. As for the reason for the loss, Takeshi Okada said it was difficult to say clearly: "This is football. We have a chance, but I am not prepared for it." Better, as a coach I should have prepared more carefully and paid attention to more problems, now that our World Cup is over, I feel as sad as my players."

But even though he lost the game, Takeshi Okada can still leave South Africa with his head up. Since he took office, he has been questioned by the media, even before he came to the World Cup, he was questioned and criticized, but he proved it with only one World Cup Own.

Paraguay's solid, if not ugly, defense kept going, but what next?

Obviously, neither Spain nor Portugal are easy to deal with!