From the man behind the football king to the football king

Three days later, the Portuguese team challenged the second opponent in the group stage, the host Russia, at the Spartak Stadium in Moscow. As a result, Ronaldo's header in the eighth minute of the game helped the Portuguese team defeat the host 1:0.

This victory allowed the Portuguese team to advance to the knockout rounds one round early and basically locked in the first place in the group.

On the afternoon of June 24, the final two games of Group A began at the same time. Russia faced Mexico at the Kazan Arena to compete for another promotion spot in Group A; while Portugal faced Oceania champion New Zealand at the St. Petersburg Stadium.

Since the Portuguese team has advanced to the knockout rounds one round ahead of schedule, Santos has made substantial rotations. Several generals, including captain Ronaldo and Bruno, were on the bench in this game.

However, even if they played with a rotating lineup, the Portuguese team still showed their strong strength. Two Silva goals helped the Portuguese team beat New Zealand 3:0. Bernard, who has been transferred to Manchester City for a sky-high price of 43 million pounds, Do Silva scored a goal, and another talented forward Andre Silva scored twice.

In another group match, the Mexican team defeated the host Russia 2:1 and won another qualification.

One day later, the two games in Group B ended. Germany won the first place with 7 points and 2 wins and 1 draw. South American champion Chile ranked second with 5 points and 1 win and 2 draws.

As a result, the Portuguese team's opponent in the semi-finals has been announced, and that is the Chilean team that defeated Argentina led by Yossi in the America's Cup finals for two consecutive years and won the America's Cup championship.

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For Portugal, this is not an easy opponent to deal with. The Chilean team has gained momentum in recent years, winning two consecutive America's Cup championships, defeating Brazil and Argentina, becoming the strongest South American national team, and therefore qualified for the Confederations Cup. This time they recruited Sanchez, Vidal, The series of warm-up matches previously arranged for star players such as Bravo, Medel and Vargas are very targeted, which shows that the South American powerhouse cherishes this opportunity to participate.

In this Confederations Cup, Chile and Germany are evenly divided in Group B. Also in the same group are African champion Cameroon and Asian champion Australia. This is their best chance to prove their strength to the world.

The Chilean team arrived in Russia on June 7 and was the first team to arrive at the competition venue.

The current head coach of the Chilean team, Pizzi, is from Argentina. He was the top scorer in La Liga as a player. In the 1995-1996 season, Pizzi won the La Liga Golden Boot while playing for Tenerife. Now as a coach, Pizzi has continued the fast attacking style brought to the Chilean team by his predecessors Bielsa and Sampaoli, continuing the glory of Chilean football.

This Chilean team has average offensive and defensive strength. The wing attack is still very distinctive, and Sanchez and Vidal are still the core of the offense.

Compared with the German team, the Chilean team cherishes the opportunity to participate in the Confederations Cup more. It is their first time to participate in the competition and they are eager to bring the championship trophy to Chilean fans for three consecutive summers.

In the group stage, because the overall strength of Group B is stronger than that of Group A, Chile's record of 1 win and 2 draws does not look as dazzling as Portugal's in Group A. However, it was able to defeat the African champion Cameroon and draw with the powerful Germany. The Chilean team still showed Demonstrated extraordinary combat power.

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The venue for this game was the Kazan Arena. This was the Portuguese team's return to Kazan after ten days. They defeated another team from the Americas, the Gold Cup champion Mexico, at this stadium.

The time is approaching 9pm local time on June 28th in Russia. Players from both sides are ready to play. The commentators in the commentary box are explaining the starting lineups of both sides to the fans and audiences.

Chile (433): Goalkeeper Bravo; defenders Isla, Medel, Jara, Posejour; midfielders Diaz, Aranguiz, Hernandez; forwards Vidal, Varga Sanchez.

"The Chilean team unexpectedly pushed Vidal to the right wing position today, and formed a three-forward formation that is not commonly used. Does this mean that they want to focus on offense and want to win a victory at the Kazan Stadium?"

Portugal lineup (433): Goalkeeper Patricio; defender Cedric, Font, Alves, Eliseu; midfielder William Carvalho, Adrian Silva, Bernardo ·Silva; Strikers Bruno Fernandez, Andre Silva, Cristiano Ronaldo.

"The Portuguese team made many substitution adjustments in this game. Among them, Eliseu replaced Guerrero, who had already missed the Confederations Cup due to a fracture, as the left back, and the two wingers Quaresma and Nani were also replaced by coach Santos. He was placed on the bench and Pepe was suspended due to accumulation of yellow cards.”

"Bruno was also promoted to the front line by Santos in the national team, forming a front trident with Andre Silva and Cristiano Ronaldo. The important task of midfield organization fell on the shoulders of Manchester City's new aid Bernardo Silva . For the Portuguese team, what kind of performance can the team perform with such a new formation? "

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Bruno is pushed up the front line, and it is difficult to expect Bernardo Silva to reach Bruno's level, so Adrian Silva will take on more midfield organization tasks.

On the left is the combination of Ronaldo and Eliseu. Bruno was assigned to the right wing. With him alone on this side, his threat cannot be underestimated.

This is almost the strongest lineup Santos can come up with at the moment. He wanted to see how his new formation would perform against a team of Chile's caliber.

Although the Chilean team, the two-time America's Cup champion, is not a giant in world football, it is a traditional powerhouse in South America. It is very strong, but not unusually strong. Use Chile as a test stone to determine the size and depth of the team. The most suitable.

A basic judgment can be drawn from Chile's starting lineup. Pizzi's team will focus on offensive tactics in today's game. Moreover, in the coin guessing round, Portuguese captain Ronaldo beat Chilean captain Bravo.

Bruno felt that this was playing into Pizzi's hands, as it would allow Chile to gain the right to kick off. They can take advantage of the opportunity to kick off the ball first and strike first.

And just as Bruno expected, after the game started, Chile took advantage of the opportunity to kick off first and launched a fierce attack on Portugal's goal.

The Portuguese team had already planned for this. Facing Chile's opening offensive, Portugal chose to avoid the limelight and actively retreated, but this only made Chile even more energetic.

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Chilean coach Pizzi was sitting on the coaching bench, staring at the court and exchanging words with the assistants beside him from time to time.

For more than ten minutes after the game started, Chile had a strong momentum. They almost overwhelmed Portugal and attacked.

If it weren't for the outstanding performance of the 29-year-old goalkeeper Patricio who started today, Portugal's goal would have been penetrated long ago.

Especially Sanchez, who is Arsenal's thigh player. This player who has been in extremely hot form recently is full of motivation and fighting spirit. In the past Premier League season, Arsenal once again lost all four players. This made Sanchez very humiliated and determined to avenge Bruno on the battlefield of the national team.

He is very active in looking for opportunities in the frontcourt.

The activeness of this in-form shooter also put a lot of pressure on Portugal's defense. Coupled with the fact that other Chilean players seemed to be in good condition, Portugal had to return to defense across the board and defend the penalty area.

Just watch these ten minutes of the game.

It's hard to imagine that Portugal, which won last year's European Cup, is being beaten by Chile.

And watching Chile besiege Portugal, beating Portugal to the point where they couldn't even get past halftime, Pizzi, who had been feeling anxious, finally had a smile on his face.

On the other side, Portugal coach Santos also seemed very calm. Although Chile bombarded Portugal's goal for more than ten minutes, Santos did not panic.

Although Chile had an absolute advantage on the field, they did not have any great scoring opportunities and it was still early to score.

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"It's almost time." Bruno judged.

This kind of crazy attack right after the start cannot last for long. If the offense is effective and goals are scored quickly, this may stimulate the players to become more excited. However, there has been no goal, and it is difficult to form a truly threatening scoring opportunity, so the team's morale and momentum will not be able to sustain for long.

Sure enough, just as Bruno predicted, at the fifteenth minute of the game, Chile began to slow down the pace of the game and could no longer sustain its pressing attack.

This wave of offensive consumes a lot of energy and physical strength of the players, and Chile needs to take a break.

Soon Portugal took the opportunity to regain the initiative on the field.

Santos walked back to the coaching bench. He sat on his seat and stared at the court. Then he seemed to feel that sitting was not as good as standing to have a wider field of vision, and sitting still can easily slow down the brain's reaction. He walked to the sidelines again to watch the game.

The tactics the team has practiced these days are now being put to the test. He wants to know if the team can give him an answer, an answer that he needs and that satisfies him.

Santos' eyes stayed on his own player Bernardo Silva.

Bernardo is the core organizer of the Portuguese team today and is responsible for controlling the rhythm of the game. Whether the team attacks or defends, when to attack, where to launch... these are all controlled by Bernardo.

It can be said that in the eyes of many people, the most direct and effective way to freeze Portugal is to freeze Bernardo.

Of course, Santos himself definitely doesn't see it that way. His Portuguese team still has Bruno, but Bruno is the core of the offense and Bernardo is the core of the organization. The division of labor between the two is different.

As for Ronaldo, in Santos' view, the Portuguese captain is a scorer, but his tactical role is not as good as Bernardo and Bruno.