The night before the World Cup finals began, a third-place battle between third and fourth place was staged at the St. Petersburg Stadium, 700 kilometers away from the Russian capital Moscow.

Although the title of third place no longer means much to the two teams of Belgium and England, there is still a big difference between going back with a victory or a defeat. In addition, both teams have completely given up.

The biggest burden of competing for the championship has been removed, so I am more able to fight hard again without any scruples in this final battle of honor.

The whole process of the game was quite exciting, but today it was obviously Belgium who played much better. They scored a goal in each half, and finally defeated their opponent England with a score of 2-0, setting up the third place battle.

closed the curtain.

One day later, on July 15, the final of the World Cup was held as scheduled at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. The attention this game received has exceeded the highest peak since the start of all previous World Cups, but this is not the most disappointing thing.

What’s surprising and even weirder is that 30% of the attendance in the live auditorium is contributed by Asians, of which the vast majority are from country C and other Chinese from around the world. This phenomenon-level heterogeneity

Xiang once again set a new historical record.

At the last moment before departure, Portugal's current President de Sousa appeared at the door of the lounge as a heavyweight special guest, and then delivered a mobilization speech before the start of the war and encouraged the team members who set off today.

A similar scene happened in the lounge on the other side. As the opponent, Croatian female Prime Minister Kitarovic was doing the same thing for his players at this time.

Teams that can advance to the final stage are already proud of their country, so under normal circumstances, participating countries will send enough heavyweights to watch the game at this time, and the phenomenon of the head of the country personally leaving the game has also been seen here.

It's not a rare thing anymore.

On the one hand, this is undoubtedly a great opportunity to highlight the national destiny and show off. On the other hand, leaders can take this opportunity to complete some informal meetings that are usually inconvenient. If they are lucky, they may even achieve some unexpected things.

Cooperation matters. And if your own team is lucky enough to become the final champion, it will be a great thing. There is a high chance that the leader will personally participate in awarding awards to his country's athletes, and use this to further deepen his influence.

Being able to be praised and encouraged by the top leader of the country before the game is naturally something that makes the team members happy and proud. Li Zhao also tried his best to behave like everyone else, but he always felt something wrong in his heart, even vaguely.

There was also a strong feeling of loneliness. Although Portugal could indeed be regarded as his second hometown, it was still not as good as his eastern homeland thousands of miles away. It’s just that this situation now and now

It was something that was unimaginable for the previous C national team.

But precisely because of Li Zhao and his brothers, this extravagant hope has the hope that it will become possible in the near future, and Li Zhao also longs for the day when he leads the C national team to successfully break into the

After the World Cup, maybe a certain top leader will come to the scene in person at that time!

Another small episode before the game took place in the player tunnel. After coming out of their respective lounges, the players from the two teams gathered here for the last time before the game. The players from both sides also began to look at each other intentionally or unintentionally.

The opposing team.

At this time, Ronaldo suddenly said to his former Real Madrid teammate Modric on the other side: "Old Mo, I didn't expect that we would meet in the final and become opponents. But this is also good, I am very happy

I look forward to beating you in such a competition."

"Yes! I will never forget the moment when we fought side by side and successfully won the Champions League trophy. It's a pity that from the moment you left Real Madrid, we were destined to be rivals. But on the other hand, I am very eager.

I can have a chance to compete with you head-on, and finally defeat you openly and openly. Although we had the opportunity to compare notes when we were together in the past, due to our status as teammates, it was always difficult to let go completely. Fortunately, today it is finally

With such an opportunity." Modric also responded with deep emotion, and he understood that both sides will try their best in today's contest, and there will be no concessions in their actions.

"Very good, then let us have a good fight today for the glory of our respective countries, and no matter who loses or wins, we must send blessings to each other in the end!" Ronaldo smiled and stretched his fist in the air.

.

"Agree!" Modric also extended his fist to touch the opponent, completing an agreement.

Li Zhao on the side naturally saw all this. Although he didn't say much except the necessary greetings, he actually felt a little emotional about it in his heart, but he didn't want Modric to turn around again at this time.

He looked at him and said: "Richard, I have heard Cristiano mention you many times a long time ago. I have been paying attention to you during this period, and your recent series of wonderful performances have really made me feel...

Surprised. So in addition to my old buddy Cristiano Ronaldo, you will also be our focus today."

"I should really feel honored to be praised by the Magic Flute King, and I sincerely hope you can take care of me when the time comes!" Although Li Zhao respects this opponent very much, he will never give in on the spot.

, and the name he gave to the other party when responding also deliberately used the latest nickname of some domestic fans for him. It is said that its inspiration came from a certain popular cartoon in the island country many years ago.

However, Li Zhao vaguely felt that the reason why the other party said this was probably a pretext. If Croatia really wanted to keep an eye on him and Ronaldo at the same time, it would definitely take a lot of effort, and doing so would obviously be more than worth the gain.

In addition, the average age of the Croatian team is many years older than that of the Portuguese team. It is obvious that most of the players in the team cannot compete head-on with the young and powerful Portuguese players in terms of physical strength and endurance.

Although Modric, who has the title of another "Old Monster", is an exception, it is difficult to resist the overall trend on his own. If you insist on doing so, the result will inevitably be a situation where you lose sight of one thing over time.

In that case, it would be Portugal's best opportunity to counterattack. Therefore, the opponent must still be holding back some hidden tricks, but he could not guess what they were in a short time.

Li Zhao obviously didn't want to think too much about this at this time. The Hercules Cup was placed on the stand directly in front of the exit of the tunnel. The players from the two teams walked out of the tunnel one by one and passed by where the trophy was placed. Although they kept walking,

, but they still couldn’t help but turn their heads and look around.

Li Zhao, who was in the queue, was naturally unavoidable. When he glanced at the trophy that represented the world's highest honor, his eyes couldn't help but become sharp. While his heart was full of perseverance and determination, a wave of momentum burst out from his body.

Who else will have the momentum to gain it and give it up to me?

Not long after, when the players from both sides finally lined up in the stadium and sang their respective national anthems, the starting lineups of the two teams were finally announced on the big screen.

First of all, the Croatian side has arranged a 4141 formation that is almost identical to the previous game. The specific lineup is goalkeeper: Subasic; defenders: Vrsaljko, Lovren, Vida, Strinic; center

Midfielder: Brozovic; front midfielder: Ante Rebic, Modric, Rakitic, Perisic; lone forward: Mandzukic.

Although this 4141 formation has not been widely used by most teams in the past, its practicality has been proven through very effective practice. Its advantages are that it is conducive to regional defense in the half court, and the formation is flexible and changeable.

And Croatia relied on it to defeat opponents who should have been stronger than them time and time again.

But its shortcomings are equally obvious. One is that as a midfield free agent, there are dangerous areas on both sides, which can be easily exploited by opponents. The other is that the single forward protruding at the front cannot get limited support and is easily surrounded by the opponent.

District. Croatia’s coach Zlatko Dalic is naturally well aware of these pros and cons, but the effect of temporarily switching to a new formation that is rarely used can be imagined, and let’s put it aside.

It would be unwise to not use the most capable and effective lineup at present, so I can only believe that it can create miracles again.

In contrast, the Portuguese team had more options in this regard, but after weighing the pros and cons, they finally chose the 4-4-2 formation that they are best at and familiar with.

The starting lineup is goalkeeper: Patricio; defenders: Rafael Guerrero, Jose Fonte, Pepe, Cedric Suarez; midfielder: Bruno Fernandez, William Carvalho, Lee

Zhao, Joao Mario; forwards: Cristiano Ronaldo, Leonard. It can be said that except that the choice of left back was changed to Mario, the rest of the lineup is almost the same as the previous game.
Chapter completed!