Chapter 446 Favorite to win the championship

After all, Portugal is not Crystal Palace, and they have never been known for their defensive ability. The Dutch team pressed the offense like crazy and soon achieved results.

After de Jong stole the ball from Meireles, he immediately passed the ball to Sneijder.

Sneijder didn't pause after receiving the ball, and directly penetrated Portugal's defense with a through ball.

Robben on the left understood this and quickly moved forward, catching the ball before Portugal's right back Miguel.

After shaking off Carvalho who rushed over to defend, Robben flicked his ankle and sent the ball into the Portuguese penalty area.

In the penalty area, Van Persie failed to jump up under Pepe's close pressing, and the ball passed through the Portuguese goal from the air.

But Kuyt on the right suddenly rushed out from behind Coentrao, made a diving dive, and headed the ball into the Portuguese goal guarded by Eduardo.

Before the end of the first half, the Dutch team tied the score to 1:1.

During the halftime break, Chen Ran did not blame the players for the equalizer.

In addition to giving the players blood injections as usual, Chen Ran also walked up to Nani specifically.

"Louis, in the second half of the game you can make more inward cuts."

"Really, boss?"

Hearing Chen Ran's order, Nani was surprised and happy. He couldn't believe his ears.

Nani has always been criticized for preferring to work alone and being unwilling to pass the ball.

Unexpectedly, Chen Ran encouraged him to knock on the door directly, which was exactly what he wanted.

"It's true. Perform well and try to score goals."

"Haha, don't worry, boss. I won't let you down!"

Seeing Nani's fighting spirit, Chen Ran nodded with satisfaction, then turned to look at Ronaldo.

"Chris, if there is a free kick in the second half, you will take it. As long as the position is right, you will hit the goal directly. Do you understand?"

"Okay, boss, I understand."

After laying out the tactics, Chen Ran quietly opened the system and first used a "Level 1 Accuracy Card" for Nani, and then used a "Free Kick Master Card" for Ronaldo.

As for the Dutch team, Van Marwijk was quite satisfied with the score in the first half. Apart from reminding the players to keep up their efforts and not to relax, he did not make any substitution adjustments.

After the second half of the game started, the two teams continued to fight against each other.

When the game reached the 61st minute, Nani cut in from the left and took a long shot.

This shot was of high quality, and the ball flew directly towards the Dutch team's goal.

Fortunately, goalkeeper Stekelenberg reacted very quickly. He dived sideways and barely saved Nani's shot with his fingertips.

However, the rebounded ball did not fly far.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who has an extremely keen sense of smell in front of the goal, grabbed the Dutch team's two central defenders Oyer and Heitinga before they could react. He made a flying tackle and hit the Dutch team's net with the ball.

"GOAL!!!!!"

With Ronaldo's supplementary shot, Portugal once again led the Netherlands 2:1.

Seeing that the team had taken the lead again, Chen Ran immediately called Villas to his side.

"Andre, please arrange for Bruno Alves to warm up now. Later, replace Quaresma with Bruno Alves and let him partner with Carvalho as a central defender. Then you can use Pepe's position to

Move and let him play the defensive midfielder."

"The team's formation also changed from 433 to 442. Except for Ronaldo and Nani who stayed in front to fight back, the other players moved back to strengthen defense."

"Okay, boss."

Soon, Van Marwijk saw the substitution adjustments made by Portugal.

He immediately understood Chen Ran's intention, which was to maintain a one-goal lead.

Van Marwijk looked at the game time. If you include injury time, there is still about half an hour. The difference of one goal is not big, and there is enough time.

Immediately afterwards, he called Huntelaar and Van der Vaart from the bench.

After the warm-up, Van Marwijk replaced Kuyt and De Jong with Huntelaar and Van der Vaart.

Huntelaar and Van Persie will serve as double forwards, Van der Vaart will play left midfielder, Robben will move to the right to play right midfielder, and Sneijder and Van Bommel will provide support in the center.

The team's formation has also changed from 433 to 442 on the surface.

However, the Dutch team is now aggressively attacking, with Van der Vaart and Robben in extremely advanced positions. Most of the time, the Dutch team's formation has actually become a very extreme 424.

"The Dutch team is going to fight hard!"

Not only Chen Ran, but also many fans saw the situation on the field.

"The Dutch team has always been known for its strong offensive power. I don't know if Portugal can withstand it."

"It should be possible. After all, Chen Ran started out with defensive counterattack tactics."

"But that was at Crystal Palace. There is still a big gap between the strength of these Portuguese defense players and the Crystal Palace players. Pepe, who plays the main force in the Portuguese national team, can only play as a substitute at Crystal Palace."

"It doesn't matter. Anyway, Portugal is now leading by one goal. Even if they are equalized by the Netherlands, they can still play overtime or even take a penalty kick."

Just as the fans were worried, Portugal's defense was really struggling when facing the Dutch team's indiscriminate bombardment.

Even though Chen Ran deliberately added a central defender, the players' limited abilities still failed to prevent the Dutch team from equalizing the score.

When the game reached the 79th minute, substitute Bruno Alves made a serious mistake and went up when intercepting Van der Vaart's pass.

After receiving the ball, Van Persie did not stop the ball and directly volleyed it. In a hurry, goalkeeper Eduardo had no time to react and could only watch the ball fly from his side into the Portuguese net.

Near the end of the game, the Dutch team tied the score to 2:2.

Seeing this situation, Chen Ran could only helplessly shake his head.

After all, the strength of the Portuguese team players is not as good as the Crystal Palace players he carefully selected from all over the world.

Moreover, he is just a coach and cannot replace the players on the court, let alone know when the players will make mistakes.

Seeing that there was not much time left in the game, Chen Ran could only prepare for overtime or even penalty kicks.

However, Ronaldo soon brought a surprise to Chen Ran.

Just when the game was about to enter stoppage time, Nani once again wanted to cut in and shoot.

But he had done this trick several times today, and the Dutch defender was already on guard.

Just as Nani was about to hit the goal, he was brought down to the ground by Van der Wiel with the ball.

"beep!"

The referee on duty immediately blew the whistle, awarding Portugal a direct free kick and also giving Van der Wiel a yellow card.

The position of this free kick was not very good. It was just outside the upper right corner of the Dutch team's penalty area and far away from the Dutch team's goal.

Since Chen Ran had made arrangements in advance, Ronaldo picked up the ball without hesitation and placed it in the position determined by the referee.

Looking up at the Dutch team's goal, Ronaldo frowned slightly. He was not sure about taking a free kick at this position.

However, Ronaldo quickly remembered Chen Ran's special instructions, and decided to knock on the door directly.

After taking a deep breath, Ronaldo took a few steps back carefully.

Then, take a running approach and swing your legs.

"boom!"

The ball had almost no spin and just flew towards the upper left corner of the Dutch team's goal.

The reason why the elevator ball is difficult to prevent is because it is difficult for the goalkeeper to determine the direction of the ball's flight. By the time the goalkeeper determines the direction of the ball, it is already too late to save it.

Stekelenberg is now facing the same problem. The ball is erratic in the first half of its flight. When he is sure that the ball is flying towards the upper left corner of his own goal and pounces on it, the ball has already entered the net one step ahead.

"GOAL!!!!!"

Killer!

Ronaldo scored the Dutch team's goal with a shocking elevator ball. At the end of the game, Portugal once again led the Netherlands 3:2.

"Holy shit! Cristiano Ronaldo is so awesome!"

"Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat trick in this game. He saved Portugal by himself!"

"Today, Cristiano Ronaldo is the hero of Portugal!"

On the sidelines, looking at Cristiano Ronaldo who was surrounded by his teammates celebrating his goal crazily, Chen Ran smiled slightly. The preparations he had made before finally saw results.

On the Dutch team's side, whether it was the players on the field or Van Marwijk on the sidelines, everyone's faces were full of despair.

Because they have no time.

A few minutes after the game restarted, the referee blew the whistle to end the game.

In the end, with Ronaldo's hat trick, Portugal narrowly defeated the Netherlands 3:2 and successfully advanced to the semi-finals of this World Cup. Chen Ran also received a "Level 1 Chicken Blood Card" from the system.

"Chen Ran is indeed amazing. He actually led Portugal to eliminate the Netherlands, the favorite to win the championship. If you include Brazil, the indirect victim, he has now caused the two teams that are the favorite to win the championship to go home early."

Thousands of miles away in China, the fans who had just watched the goal battle were not sleepy and went to the Crystal Palace forum to discuss the performance of Chen Ran and Portugal.

"Ahem, this game should actually be said to be dominated by Cristiano Ronaldo. Without his hat trick, Portugal would have been in a much worse situation."

"Upstairs, don't you think about who brought Ronaldo out? Without all these years of experience in Crystal Palace, would Ronaldo be able to achieve what he is now?"

"That's right. If Chen Ran hadn't brought Ronaldo to Crystal Palace, who knows where he would be playing football now."

"Now that Portugal has entered the semi-finals, can we look forward to the scenario of Portugal winning the championship?"

"Upstairs, I think it's better for us to keep a low profile."

"That's right. Maybe by just holding on, holding on, I can get the championship trophy."

After eliminating the Dutch team, Chen Ran quickly received another piece of good news.

Portugal's semi-final opponents have been announced. After Uruguay eliminated Ghana, they will compete with Portugal for a spot in the final.

The two teams in another semi-final were also born. After the German team defeated Argentina 4:0, they will compete with Spain, which defeated Paraguay 1:0, for the remaining final spot.

Compared to Germany and Spain, Portugal's opponent Uruguay is obviously much weaker.

Coupled with the presence of Chen Ran, Portugal suddenly became the favorite to win the championship.

"According to the latest data from the betting company, more and more people are optimistic about Portugal winning the World Cup."

"After monopolizing the Premier League and Champions League, the Chinese has extended his clutches to the World Cup."

"If he can lead Portugal to win the World Cup trophy, then Chen Ran will become one of the few coaches in the world to win the highest honors for both the national team and the club."

"If Chen Ran can really help Portugal win the World Cup trophy, then the Brazilian team will not be the only one who wants to invite him to coach."

Chen Ran simply ignored the disturbances from the outside world. He is now focusing all his energy on preparing for the semi-finals with Uruguay.

Chen Ran is most familiar with this Uruguay team, the two Uruguayan forwards Suarez and Cavani who have just made their mark at Crystal Palace.

As for the other players, except for forward Diego Forlan and center back Godin, there was no one who impressed Chen Ran.

Compared to Suarez and Cavani, who are still a little immature, Diego Forlan, who is 31 years old this year, is the backbone of this Uruguay team.

In his previous life, Diego Forlan not only led Uruguay to fourth place, but he also won the Golden Boot award at this World Cup.

Head coach Tavares is also a genius. He has been the head coach of the Uruguay national team since 2006 and has been there until 2021.

Under his leadership, Uruguay has achieved many brilliant results, such as fourth place in the World Cup and championship of the America's Cup.

Tavares also knew that Uruguay was not as strong as Portugal, but he still insisted on his usual tactical play and was ready to compete with Chen Ran, a coach who is much more famous than him.

Forward Diego Forlan, Forward Cavani

Left midfielder Pereira, central midfielder Alvaro, central midfielder Gargano, right midfielder Perez

Left back Caceres, center back Victorino, center back Godin, right back Gonzalez

Goalkeeper Muslera

On the Portuguese side, apart from minor adjustments, Chen Ran basically still has the same main lineup.

There is no way, this is the characteristic of a second-rate team.

There was only one main lineup available, and most of the remaining substitute players were too different from the main players in terms of strength, so Chen Ran did not dare to use them easily.

Left winger Simao, center forward Cristiano Ronaldo, right winger Quaresma

Central midfielder Meireles, central midfielder Deco, central midfielder Thiago

Left back Coentrao, center back Carvalho, center back Pepe, right back Miguel

goalkeeper eduardo

In order to contain Diego Forlan, Chen Ran specially arranged for the most experienced Carvalho to be responsible for guarding.

Suarez was not included in the starting lineup, which made Chen Ran secretly happy.

If this kid gets crazy, it will be really difficult to deal with him.
Chapter completed!