Chapter 234 Greece Reluctant to Give Up and Happy Football Sterling
Seeing her son's clever free kick, unlike the angry Greek fans, Xia's mother thought Xia Qi was very cute and doted on him, saying, "How could this child be so bad?"
Because of the system, Xia Qi was once regarded by his family as a patient with "severe social phobia". He always had an aloof look on and off the court. Seeing him so down-to-earth today really made Xia's mother feel a little excited.
Compared with Xia Qi's achievements, Xia Qi's health is more of a concern to Xia's mother.
However, the student next to him misunderstood. He hurriedly explained to Xia's mother that this was allowed by the rules of the game, which made Xia Qi's parents laugh.
After the goal was ruled valid, the Greek players were filled with anger and surrounded the referee in protest.
Captain Karagounis shouted at the top of his lungs, his face full of reluctance: "You should just help England advance."
The referee stood there with a solemn expression on his face, unmoved, and with a firm look in his eyes he asked the excited Greek players in front of him to disperse, otherwise he would show them a card.
On the sidelines, Greek head coach Santos also looked angry and a little helpless.
He was well aware of the referee's decision and strictly speaking, he was not at fault.
They are already inferior to England in strength and now they are two goals behind. How can they play this game?
Walcott's goal made the Greek players emotional and they behaved extremely immaturely in the subsequent game.
After the game resumed, they played impatiently and confused. Even though the Greek head coach Santos loudly encouraged them and asked them to calm down, he was unable to calm their inner anxiety.
The game was repeatedly interrupted due to some unnecessary fouls. In the remaining time, the referee showed four yellow cards, but still failed to calm the Greek players.
The Greek team paid the price of four yellow cards and failed to score even a single goal. Instead, a core player received a yellow card, which will more or less affect the subsequent games.
The only good thing was that England failed to expand the score at the end of the first half.
England 2:0 Greece, this was the final score at the end of the first half.
During the half-time break, Xia Qi had to change into a new jersey.
In the last ten minutes of the first half, he was the target of the most violations by Greek players, and his red jersey was smashed like a camouflage uniform.
At the beginning of the second half, Greek head coach Santos replaced two players who had received yellow cards.
However, Greek captain Karagounis, who also received a yellow card, remained on the field, which will be a time bomb buried in the Greek team.
Santos had no other choice. Karagounis was the hub of the Greek team's offensive and defensive transitions. Replacing him would be almost like surrendering.
There is still half a game left and the Greek team wants to fight hard. Karagounis is an indispensable part, so Greek head coach Santos can only take the risk and use him.
After the game started, Greek fans in the stands of the Pernambuco Stadium shouted at the top of their lungs: "Attack! Attack! Attack!"
The Greek team had no other choice but to retreat! Unfortunately, Santos' tactics had already been seen through by England coach Hodgson.
During the halftime break, he said to Xia Qi: "In the second half, we will continue to attack until the opponent surrenders. They have no choice but to attack, so they will definitely press forward. Xia, I need you to seize the loopholes in their back line when they attack and give them a fatal blow."
In the stands, Greek fans sang the national anthem to cheer for the players on the field, and English fans were not to be outdone.
The stands instantly turned into a karaoke competition!
The music was very infectious! Chinese fans also joined the game, singing the "Ice Cream Prince Song" (Chinese version) created by Arsenal fans for Xia Qi.
Because of the large number of people, this song immediately became the main theme in the Pernambuco stadium. This was the first time that a Chinese song appeared in a World Cup.
Fans of both teams were singing fiercely in the stands, and the England and Greece teams were also engaged in a fierce offensive battle on the field.
The Greek team pressed forward to attack, but the English team did not return to defend, but launched a counterattack. For a moment, the scene was very lively.
Unfortunately, both sides made many mistakes, often losing possession of the ball due to passing or dribbling errors before entering the opponent's 30-meter zone. The main reason for the increase in mistakes on both sides was the rush to score.
Especially Rooney of England team, he has three goals in the scorer list. He is eager to win the Golden Boot and envy Walcott who can score twice. He also wants to score points against the weak Greek team, thus becoming the offensive cancer of England team.
On the field, the Greek team is attacking.
Their attack ended with striker Christodoulopoulos' shot going over the goal.
The English fans immediately gave him a warm round of applause, which made the Chinese fans who supported Xia Qi at a loss. They didn’t know whether they should follow suit and applaud the opposing players, or behave themselves.
Joe Hart placed the ball on the goal line and saw Xia Qi hooking towards him.
After Xia Qi received the ball, Karagounis immediately pressed forward. Xia Qi passed the ball to Luke Shaw, turned around and ran forward, and received the ball from behind Karagounis.
"Xia Qi is playing two-on-one!"
When Xia Qi received the ball, Karagounis was behind him and Maniatis was in front of him.
Perhaps worried about being double-teamed, Xia Qi passed the ball again. This time the pass was a bit far, from the left side of the court to the right side. It was still passed to Walcott.
Walcott was in excellent form tonight and immediately started to run towards the side after receiving the ball.
Greece coach Santos still failed to solve his team's left defensive problem in the second half, and his plan was to fight with England on the right wing.
So Walcott's breakthrough on the right side was extremely smooth, and he quickly passed two defenders.
On the right side of the penalty area, Walcott did not cut further into the penalty area, but directly kicked the ball into the middle.
His passing point was not Sterling at the far post of the goal, nor Rooney in the middle of the penalty area, but Xia Qi who suddenly inserted into the penalty area.
In the crowd, Xia Qi jumped up like an onion in the dry land and headed the ball! The football flew to the far corner of the goal.
Since Rooney and Sterling were closer to the goal, Greek goalkeeper Karnezis focused all his attention on them.
When Wo-Sha suddenly connected with the goal, Karnezis took a step on the goal line and gave up the save.
Seeing that the football was about to pass under the crossbar and over the goal line, Sterling, who was guarding the far corner of the goal, jumped high and headed the ball into the goal.
His level was much better than Lukaku's. His header from close range did not hit the stands but successfully went into the net.
However, he brings no less joy than Lukaku! His position is offside!
After being stunned for a second, Karnezis was so ecstatic that he could hardly control his body. He hugged Sterling's head and kissed him.
The Pernambuco stadium was quiet for a moment, then burst into laughter!
"The goal is invalid!"
"Sterling is offside, the linesman raises the flag!"
"What kind of trick is this? Don't they want Greece to lose too quickly? Or is this the reinforcements that the monkey invited?"
"Want to steal Xia Qi's goal? It doesn't matter if you succeed. Squandering opportunities like this will backfire."
"Sterling's happiness, Xia Qi's internal injuries, England's tears..."
(Working hard on typing, there is one more update, it will be very late.)