Chapter 113 This is such a sad story
The drainage facilities at the Dragon Stadium are very good, but due to the heavy rain, water began to accumulate on the ground.
Inter Milan tried to equalize the score and took the initiative to strengthen the attack.
But the slippery ground and water on the lawn seriously affected their performance.
There were continuous coordination errors between the players, and based on past experience, this would definitely not work on the slippery grass.
The ball was either passed too far or too small, which made it impossible for Inter Milan to carry out ground coordination.
As a last resort, Inter Milan had to give up ground cooperation and use a simpler method such as high balls to launch an attack.
But after taking the lead, Porto took the initiative to shrink its defense line and put defense first.
It is extremely difficult for Inter Milan to break through the opponent's defense with this simple tactic.
At the end of the first half, Inter Milan failed to score a goal and had to return to the locker room with a two-goal deficit.
In the second half, Porto made the first substitution.
They replaced a forward with a defensive midfielder, further strengthening the protection of the 30-meter area outside the penalty area.
Mancini originally planned to let the players try more long shots in the second half, but this trick did not work due to the interception of the opponent's three midfielders.
Inter Milan players' several long shots from the periphery were either too high or too off target due to interference from the opposing defensive players, and failed to pose any threat at all.
Seeing that 60 minutes had passed and the score was still 2:0, Mancini and his Inter team began to get anxious.
In the 64th minute, Inter Milan had the best chance to score since the start of the game.
Veron passed the ball directly to Lin Feng, who made a wonderful pass with his heel at the top of the arc, and Cruz received the ball and had a one-on-one opportunity.
Unfortunately, the shot of Inter Milan's super substitute was saved by Porto goalkeeper Baya!
After the ball fell outside the penalty area, Lin Feng volleyed the ball without stopping. The ball hit the post and bounced out of the bottom line.
The Inter fans in the stands and Mancini in the coaching booth made exactly the same move - everyone held their heads, feeling frustrated and unbelievable about it all.
Cruz and Lin Feng, two of Inter Milan's most stable scoring points, missed opportunities one after another.
Lin Feng’s ball is fine.
It is very rare to complete a volley of such high quality from that position, and we couldn't ask for him to do better.
In the end the ball didn't go in and I can only say that it was just bad luck.
But Cruz's failure to score on that single shot is unacceptable in any way.
If he had scored this one-on-one shot, the situation of the game would probably have been completely different.
In the last thirty minutes, Inter Milan, with its morale boosted, had a full-scale attack and it was entirely possible that they could have equalized the score.
But unfortunately, his ball didn't go in.
Cruz was also extremely disappointed with his performance after wasting a good scoring opportunity.
He stood in the penalty area with his hands on his hips, looking at the goal so close at hand with a wry smile on his face.
He has scored so many goals this season, but most of them are icing on the cake.
When the team needed him to step up the most, he performed poorly.
Cruz, who missed the opportunity, was obviously affected mentally.
In the 71st minute, he raised his hand too high during a tackle and elbowed the opposing player, and was warned with a yellow card by the referee.
Porto took advantage of this free kick opportunity, quickly sent a free kick and launched a quick attack.
Quaresma used his signature outside of his foot to create a flowing arc from 25 meters in front of the goal. The ball was very beautiful, but Inter goalkeeper Cesar was highly focused and flew to save the ball.
Seeing that the time of the game was running out, the ground cooperation could not be carried out.
Mancini chose to replace midfielder Solari with striker Recoba to further strengthen the attack.
In the 79th minute, Figo made a breakthrough on the right and passed the ball back to the penalty area. Lin Feng's shot was blocked by Baya, and the rebound ball was caught by Favalli, but his follow-up shot from 10 meters in front of the goal missed.
Inter Milan once again missed the opportunity to narrow the score gap.
In the 82nd minute, Pepe knocked down Lin Feng while defending.
Pepe received a yellow card for this, and Inter also got a free kick opportunity in a good position outside the penalty area.
Lin Feng took the shot himself, but the football went slightly off the post.
With little time left in the game, Inter's attack became more and more fierce.
In the 85th minute, Recoba's shot from a small angle on the edge of the penalty area on the right went wide of the post.
Three minutes later, Lin Feng dribbled the ball through on the left and made a cross.
Cruz, who was covering the middle, failed to touch the ball, but Figo headed the ball into the goal at the back post.
But unfortunately, Figo's shot hit the post and bounced out of the bottom line.
This was the third time that Inter Milan was blocked by the goal frame in this game. Their luck was really bad.
As the game time passed, Inter Milan's hope of equalizing the score was fading little by little.
In the stoppage time, Bosingwa fouled Recoba and Inter Milan got another free kick.
This time Lin Feng's shot hit the goal frame, but was saved by the goalkeeper.
Cruz's shot missed again, and Inter Milan was ultimately unable to turn the tide, losing 0:2 to Porto.
This was Porto's first international win since beating Chelsea in late 2004.
After the game, the Dragon Stadium fell into a carnival.
Countless Porto fans were celebrating the victory crazily.
Getting this victory means that they have regained hope of qualifying from the group.
As for Inter Milan, their plan to qualify early failed as they failed to beat their opponent away from home.
Not only can they not slack off in the next games, but they must go all out.
If they lose the next game, let alone qualifying in advance, it may even be a problem whether they can make it out of the group.
……
After the loss, everyone in the team was in a bad mood.
Especially Zanetti, Cambiasso, Veron, Cruz and others.
In this game, the performances of several players from the South American gang were very poor on the field, far from their expected level.
The main reason for this is the influence of national team competitions.
A few days ago, Argentina played a World Cup qualifier against Uruguay away.
Argentina played its main players in this match, but still lost to Uruguay 0:1.
It was Recoba who scored for Uruguay.
But Recoba was a substitute in this game and only came on in the second half, so his condition was much better than those starting players.
However, Zanetti and others played the entire game and had almost no rest.
South America is too far from Europe. Every time there is a national team match, they have to be tossed around. The exhaustion of the journey, the exhaustion of the match, plus the jet lag, can torture people to death.
But these people just can't refuse the call-up to the national team, because if they don't go, they may never have the chance to go again.
South American countries are generally very strong in football, and competition for positions within the team is very fierce.
I wonder how many players are watching the same position!
It is true that 'if you don't do it, there are plenty of people who will do it', and they don't ask for a penny, and people will bring their own food and rush to do it.
Therefore, they must not only actively respond to the national team's call-up, but also try their best in the national team games in order to impress the coach and fans and keep their position.
Even a guy like Adriano who is not very caring was well-behaved when he was on the national team, and he turned into a workaholic on the court, fighting for every ball, even at the risk of getting injured.
We have to admit that in terms of patriotism, South American players are indeed worthy of praise.
They truly regard serving the country as a source of pride and pursuit, and are willing to even abandon their own careers for the sake of national honor.
A typical example is Kaka!
During the World Cup in South Africa, Kaka forced himself into the game despite having a closed leg, which ruined his career.
……
The South American players also knew that their performance was not good and were worried about being criticized by the outside world after the game.
So on the way back to the hotel, the team bus was very quiet.
Even the players who usually like to joke around sat obediently in their seats.
Lin Feng's mood was not very good actually. He only got a score of in this game, which was almost the lowest score since he joined Inter Milan.
Unlike his South American teammates who performed poorly, Lin Feng's poor performance in this game was mainly due to the opponent's tactical restrictions.
After Porto unexpectedly took the lead, they took the initiative to retreat and launch a defensive counterattack.
There was not enough room in the frontcourt for Lin Feng to use his speed advantage, and he was forced into a positional battle, which was equivalent to wasting half of his martial arts.
However, what was worse was that the rainy weather made it difficult to achieve any effect with ground coordination, which also destroyed the other half of his martial arts.
The score of was achieved by running at all costs and actively looking for opportunities.
He shook his head and threw away the mess in his mind.
Lin Feng took out his mobile phone, plugged in headphones, listened to JJ's new song while checking the Internet for other shows.
The four Serie A teams all had poor records in this round of games. Juventus lost 1:2 to Bayern Munich away and was forced to give up the top spot.
AC Milan was tied by PSV Eindhoven at home. Neither team scored a goal, and they jointly presented an extremely boring game to the fans.
Udinese drew 1:1 with Werder Bremen at home. It is worth mentioning that both goals came from Udinese players. Like Inter Milan, Udinese players also scored an own goal.
After taking a look at the game results of other teams, Lin Feng felt much better.
Sure enough, happiness comes from comparison.
If other teams are making great progress and Inter Milan is the only one that suffers a setback, then I'm afraid all the criticism will be focused on Inter Milan.
But if everyone plays badly, the outside criticism will not be directed at any one team.
After taking a look at the points situation in each group, Juventus in Group A, Arsenal in Group B, and Lyon in Group F can basically be declared to have qualified for the group stage three rounds in advance.
Although Juventus lost to Bayern, they still hold the initiative to qualify.
As for the Vienna Rapid team where Zhao Xuri is, they have lost all three games and have basically been eliminated in advance.
They have not been able to defeat any of the three opponents in the group, and have not even scored a goal so far.
It has to be said that there is still a big gap in strength between the major European leagues.
The situation at Werder Bremen where Chen Tao is located is also very serious.
They had 2 losses and 1 draw in the first three rounds, and now have only a pitiful 1 point.
2 points behind main rivals Udinese and 3 points behind Panathinaikos.
It is worth mentioning that in this round of the game, Panathinaikos tied the powerful Barcelona 0:0 at their home ground, which was a not-so-small upset.
Naturally, Barcelona is in the best position to qualify from Group C. With 2 wins and 1 draw at the moment, they only need to win one more game to advance two rounds in advance.
If Werder Bremen wants to advance, they must win at least two of the last three games, especially the direct matches against Udinese and Panathinaikos, which they must win.
I don’t know how Klose’s injury has recovered. If he still can’t recover before the next round, Werder Bremen’s situation will be bad.
Thinking of this, Lin Feng opened the chat group and prepared to find Chen Tao to inquire about the situation.
Chen Tao: "His injury has almost recovered. He is now undergoing recovery training. He should be able to play in the next game."
Klose is Werder Bremen's top scorer, and his absence directly affects the firepower of Werder Bremen's front line.
If the Parrots want to advance to the knockout stage, Klose must stand out.
Lin Feng heaved a sigh of relief after hearing this: "That's good, I hope you can win the next game!"
Honestly, he was looking forward to meeting his friends in the knockout stage.
But the teams that these guys are in are not very strong. Currently, the only team that has any hope of advancing is probably PSV Eindhoven where Zhou Haibin is.
But unfortunately, Zhou Haibin has not yet appeared on the court. Even if we meet him in the knockout round, we may not be able to compete with him on the court as we wish.
Thinking of this, Lin Feng tagged Zhou Haibin and asked about his situation.
Zhou Haibin: "One good news, one bad news, which one do you want to hear?"
When they saw the message sent by Zhou Haibin, a group of divers were all blown out.
Cui Peng: "Lao Zhou, did you play in the game in PSV?"
Zhu Ting: "Brother Haibin is awesome. He even played in a big club like PSV Eindhoven!"
Zhao Xuri: "Will he be the starter or a substitute? Will he play in the league or cup?"
Gao Lin: "Who are you looking down on? Can't my brother Haibin just play in the Champions League?"
Zhou Haibin didn't expect that at this time, there were still so many people awake.
He quickly explained: "Ahem, I was playing in the league, I came on as a substitute, I didn't play for long, don't get too excited, I'm still a long way from gaining a firm foothold in the team!"
The first half of the league was almost over when he got his first chance to play, and he only came on as a substitute for a few dozen minutes.
This person is clearly a marginal figure in the team, not even a marginal figure.
He still has a long way to go to gain a foothold in the team!
Cui Peng: "Brother Haibin, don't worry, no matter if you are the starter or not, as long as you can play, there is hope.
Just like me, since my last substitute appearance, I have been included in the 18-man squad by the head coach in the past few league rounds, and occasionally I can get a chance to play. At least compared with last month, there is still obvious improvement! ”
Zhu Ting also echoed: "Cui Peng is right. As long as you can play, it means you are in the coach's sight. If you perform well, you will have more opportunities to play in the future."
Gao Lin asked curiously, "Brother Zhu, why haven't I seen you play in the past few rounds?"
Zhu Ting's face turned red: "Hey, it's not my fault for not doing well!"
Chen Tao added: "Zhu Ting played active defense in the match against Wolfsburg, but his good intentions led to bad results. He scored an own goal and helped the opponent beat Hamburg. Then he was put on ice by the head coach..."
Everyone was speechless when they heard this. This was truly a sad story.
(End of this chapter)
