Chapter 111
During this period, national football matches were also in full swing.
The host of this Confederations Cup is also Russia, which will also be the host venue for the next World Cup.
The Confederations Cup is composed of 8 teams, one of which is the host team, and the remaining seven are all from the champions of various continents and the winners of the previous World Cup and the European Cup.
It seems that all the champions participate in this event, and the cards seem to be very strong, but in fact, many national teams are not very enthusiastic about this somewhat useless event.
In order to ensure the safety of the players, some national teams even directly send the second or third team to compete.
For example, Australia in 2001 was able to defeat the Brazilian team, the champion of that World Cup, which is enough to explain everything.
But no matter how pessimistic they are, for the Portuguese national team, as long as it is a national event, they will fight hard, especially C Ronaldo, he doesn't like the feeling of losing at all, even if it is some games that are considered unimportant, as long as he participates, he will go all out to do his best.
However, the result is that they are surprisingly unlucky today.
After making it out of the group stage, they successfully entered the semi-finals to meet Chile, but after more than 90 minutes of hard fighting, the two teams ended up with a goalless draw and 0-0. In the end, in order to decide the winner, the two teams also entered an exciting penalty shootout.
Originally, the Portuguese players were also full of confidence in the penalty shootout, because there were several excellent players in their team in terms of footwork, but when the penalty shootout ended, the whole Portuguese team was silent.
Especially the team's main goalkeeper Patricio, felt very embarrassed and had an urge to find a crack to get in.
Three consecutive penalties were saved by Chile's Bravo without exception, and Chile was successfully sent to the finals by Bravo.
In comparison, I felt like a piece of trash.
After this game, Portuguese fans once again brought up the "importance of goalkeepers".
Santos was directly criticized online.
After all, they all know that a very talented goalkeeper has appeared in the country recently, that is Jonas Leiming, who was known as the goalkeeper in Monaco last season.
Monaco's unbeaten record was born in the hands of this talented goalkeeper, and the player also helped the team win the French Ligue 1 championship and the personal Golden Glove Award.
Are you blind, Santos, and you can't see these?
You didn't want such a good goalkeeper, but you called Patricio to be the main goalkeeper. You old guy, what is wrong with your brain?
And the most important point is that, as we all know, Jonas Leiming is a master in saving penalties. Whenever he encounters him in Ligue 1 and the Champions League, he almost never misses.
How could you not even bring such a strong player with you?
"I've heard that Santos, the old man, is racist, and now it's basically confirmed!"
"How did this old man Deng get selected as the head coach? What ability does he have to get to the top? There are so many excellent coaches in our country, any one of them is better than him!"
There was the madman Mourinho in front, and the new Ligue 1 champion coach Jardim in the back, how could such an old man Deng become the head coach of the national team?
It was also after this game that Ronaldo realized the importance of Leiming.
Leiming's ability to save penalties is indeed very strong. He had seen this when the two of them were sparring, which is why he strongly recommended Leiming to Santos. However, in the end, the old guy still did not summon Leiming, but chose Patricio instead.
Actually, it's not that Patricio is bad. After all, he is one of the best goalkeepers in the country. But when comparing him with Lei Ming, almost anyone with a discerning eye can tell who is stronger and who is weaker.
After the game, in the player interview area, some media were obviously excited after hearing Ronaldo's speech, because the always steady Portuguese captain actually publicly criticized the head coach's selection issue after the game.
"I am very puzzled about the head coach's choice. I think he did not fulfill his responsibilities seriously."
"Lei Ming's unexpected failure to be selected made me feel that he was targeted by someone. As for who it was, I don't know.
It's not clear yet!"
"We could have done better and gone further, but unfortunately, we lost this game on a penalty kick!"
As the most influential player in today's football world, Ronaldo's public attack is undoubtedly a big news. Even Portugal coach Santos did not expect that he, who has always been respectful to each other, would be stabbed in the back after this game.
Ronaldo's move made Santos very angry. He felt like a player was crawling on his head and urinating on him. I believe that no coach in the world would tolerate this. If possible, he would definitely kick the other party out of the national team.
But in fact, he couldn't do it according to his own ideas.
Because in the national team, Ronaldo's influence is really too great, even he needs to look at the other party's face. Just imagine, even the president is a fan of Ronaldo, what else can he do?
It was also after this incident that he responded quickly and publicly in front of the media. He said that Lei Ming had been his target for investigation for a long time, but he thought that the opponent might be too tired after fighting on three fronts at the same time this season. He wanted to give a talented player like him more rest and better development space, so he did not include him in the big list.
He also said that he would definitely call him back for the next national team event.
Due to Santos' timely handling, the trust crisis caused by the national team fans and players was resolved by him in the first time.
Anyway, Santos has made up his mind that he can lead the next training camp, but he still has the final say on whether to give him a chance to play. As long as he sits in this position, the players will not think of him.
. . . . . . .
"Lei, where have you been? Why can't I get through to you after calling you several times?"
"Something big happened. Ronaldo publicly called for you to speak up, but the head coach took the initiative to admit his mistake and said that you are likely to be included in the big list next time, but I want to say that you may also be hated by this head coach! Hey, hey, are you listening to me? "
"Slurp~"
"Fuck, it smells so good, Paul, it's a pity that you didn't come with me to experience it!"