Chapter 423: Leading the Scorer List
The media around the world focused on either the England-Argentina match that ended yesterday, or the two strong matches that started that day, Brazil vs. Switzerland and Germany vs. Mexico.
Li Qing and the entire England team took a flight from Moscow to Rostov-on-Don, the capital of Rostov Oblast, to prepare for the second round of the focus battle with Nigeria at the Rostov Arena.
The two teams that defeated Argentina and Iceland in the first round played against each other in the second round of the group stage, which means that the winning side can get the group qualification in advance, so both England and Nigeria attach great importance to this game.
The biggest feature of the tournament system is that the schedule will become more and more intensive as the event progresses. If a team can qualify in advance, it can allow many players who have not had the opportunity to play to experience the World Cup.
The entire England team prepared for the second round of the group match with Nigeria in Rostov. During this period, the outside world continued to report on the latest preparations of Li Qing and England.
The highly-watched Li Qing is very focused and puts all his attention on the second round of the event.
The four-goal performance in the first round also made him top the World Cup scorer list. Some media predicted that Li Qing would create a record that would be difficult for future generations to surpass by the end of the second round!
Two rounds of competitions to determine the World Cup Golden Boot!
Of course, this is just a guess, but many fans think this possibility is very high.
Facing a team like Argentina, he can score four goals, so how can he easily score five goals against Nigeria?
The focus battle that night revealed a very big upset. The defending champion Germany lost to Mexico 0:1, and also gave those pseudo-fans who like to gamble on football the possibility of buying a villa near the sea in the opposite direction of the game!
The 1998 World Cup champion France did not qualify in the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup group stage, the 2006 World Cup champion Italy did not qualify in the 2010 World Cup group stage, the 2010 World Cup champion Spain did not qualify in the 2014 World Cup group stage, will the 2014 World Cup champion Germany fail to qualify in the 2018 group stage?
Big competitions are always prone to upsets, so the bold fake fans tried to buy the opposite to see if they could get a villa by the sea.
Group F, where Germany is located, revealed an upset, and Group G naturally had to show some respect. Brazil, the favorite to win the championship, tied with Switzerland 1:1.
There were no upsets in Group G, and the games with clear strength and weakness ended with the strong team winning.
When we thought that upsets would not occur again in the first round of the group stage, a very big upset occurred in Group H, where Colombia lost to the Sun Country 1:2.
With the emergence of this upset, the first round of the 2018 Russia World Cup group stage was declared over, and fans who followed the World Cup ushered in the second round of group matches.
Li Qing was more concerned about Egypt's second round match against the host. Egypt, which drew with the strongest team in the group in the first round, was likely to defeat Russia, but the host showed extremely strong fighting power and once led 3:0. Unfortunately, Salah's efforts were too late, and his one goal and one assist failed to help Egypt equalize the score.
Before the time travel, Li Qing did not see what was wrong with Russia, but this time he found that the host was in such a strange state. A big guy like Giuly, who was over 1.9 meters tall, could actually walk briskly for 90 minutes, giving people a feeling of being tireless...
Could it be that he took banned drugs?
Thinking of this, Li Qing shook his head and smiled bitterly. Even if the host took banned drugs, so what?
It had nothing to do with him. At that time, there would definitely be an anti-doping organization responsible for investigating.
Portugal won the match against Morocco at the Luzhniki Stadium with Ronaldo's final victory, winning the game 1:0, and Spain also defeated Wolves 1:0 with the same score, tied with Portugal for first place in the group.
The England VS Nigeria match started at 9 pm on June 21st, local time in Russia, which was 2 am on June 22nd, imperial time. Although this time period is the work and rest time of the Chinese people, a large number of Chinese fans chose to stay up late to watch this focus battle.
The Chinese men's football team did not enter the World Cup in Russia, but England, led by Chinese-Chinese Li Qing, entered the World Cup finals and scored four goals in the first round of the group match against Argentina, which also gave a lot of Chinese people expectations for the second round of the group match.
In addition, Nigeria has two main players playing in the Chinese Super League, which also gave Chinese fans a new focus to stay up late to watch the game.
The second round of the group match between England and Nigeria in Group D was the last match of the day. The first match was a 1:1 draw between Denmark and Australia at the Samara Stadium. The second group match was held at the Central Stadium in Yekaterinburg. France beat Peru 1:0 with Mbappe's winning goal. France, which won the game, advanced from Group C with two consecutive wins. As for whether it is the first in the group, it will have to wait until the end of the last round of the game with Denmark.
After the group match between France and Peru, the players of England and Nigeria came to the Rostov Arena to warm up, and the fans who followed this game also saw the starting lineups of both sides.
England still uses a 343 formation, but has made some adjustments in personnel. Goalkeeper Pickford, defenders Maguire, Stones and Kyle Walker, midfielders Ashley Young, Henderson, Li Qing and Arnold, and forwards are Rashford, Harry Kane and Sterling.
The official formation given by Nigeria is 352, with goalkeeper Juanfran, defenders Omero, Ekon, and Balogun, midfielders Edowu, Etebo, Mikel, Ndidi and Moses, and forward I Xinacho partners with Ighalo.
The Rostov Arena, which can accommodate 45,000 fans, was packed. The England fans wearing white jerseys and the Nigerian fans wearing green jerseys were clearly separated. However, looking at the overhead camera, the England fans were crushing.
The game that started at 9 o'clock in the evening was also a crushing one. In the second round, Southgate only sent Henderson as a defensive midfielder for offense. Li Qing, who played No. 10, was further away from the goal, but that didn't mean that He couldn't score.
England's first goal came from Li Qing. He passed Leicester City player Ndidi from the front of the penalty area and completed a powerful and heavy long-range shot. The ball was like a cannonball, and goalkeeper Juanfran reacted repeatedly. None were made.
"Eleven minutes into the game, Li Qing helped England open the scoring!"
China Channel 5 commentator Zeng Kan shouted hysterically: "Cristiano Ronaldo scored a goal worth three points in the second round of the group stage and tied with Li Qing for the top spot in this World Cup. The arrogant Li Qing He definitely doesn’t want to be tied with Cristiano Ronaldo! His world wave helped England break the ice and also led the scorer list again! His fifth goal in two games!”
Nigeria midfielder Ndidi looked at Li Qing celebrating his goal, put his hands on his hips, and sighed, Li Qing is still Li Qing...