Chapter 157: Neymar is criticized for diving, while Lin Quan receives praise.
The first match of the semifinals was between the host and Uruguay.
This match was a South American showdown, with a lot of history between both teams, so before the match began, tension could be felt in the air.
As the star player of the Brazilian team, Neymar has no rival in terms of personal skill, he has already gained recognition from fans during the group stage.
However, Neymar's morality has been questioned by fans.
This guy has barely joined Barcelona, but it seems he has already fully mastered La Masia's acting skills.
His clumsy and exaggerated diving on the field has made many fans feel ashamed for him.
What's worse is that Neymar doesn't even notice it, he often uses this tactic on the field and even manages to deceive the referee, getting free kicks and even yellow cards for his opponents.
This is no longer embarrassing, it's shameless!
Fans of teams that have played against Brazil detest this kind of acting from Neymar, and they have attacked him online, calling him shameless.
And so, before the match began, Uruguay's captain, Lugano, publicly criticized Neymar for relying too much on fouls to deceive the referee.
"I don't understand, a talented young man like him, why doesn't he use his skills with the ball to win the game fairly and openly, instead of turning football into a spectacle with these clumsy tactics?"
The statement from Uruguay's captain caused a great stir after it was reported by journalists.
Brazilian fans, naturally, were outraged and attacked Lugano online.
The Brazilian Football Association also quickly came out to protest, issuing a statement before the match:
"Neymar is an important player for the Brazilian team, his threat to opponents on the field is evident to everyone. Faced with a brilliant player like him, opponents will tend to take more aggressive measures, even fouls, to stop his attack. Neymar's movements are not acts of theater, but self-defense. The attacks from the Uruguayans are ridiculous, they are afraid that Neymar represents a great threat on the field, so they try to use these words to influence the referee, leaving him with a bad impression and taking advantage of that. We strongly oppose this, we protest vigorously!"
The response from the Brazilian Football Association has some logic.
It cannot be ruled out that the other team might try to use foul tactics to stop Neymar, but Uruguay's counterattack was also particularly sharp:
"Haha, morality is morality, what does it have to do with football skill and talent? Equally brilliant and outstanding talent like Lin Quan. Why doesn't he have diving and feigning performances? We lost to Spain on the field, but we never attacked the morality of the opponents, because we recognize their superiority on the field!"
This response was a direct hit, momentarily leaving the Brazilian Football Association speechless.
In terms of creating threats, Lin Quan is not behind Neymar at all, he might even surpass him.
However, none of Spain's opponents have attacked his morality with diving, feigning, or injury simulation.
Comparing both sides, Lin Quan has directly surpassed Neymar in this aspect.
Lin Quan once again finds himself unfairly praised.
Originally, this was just a showdown between Uruguay and Brazil, but it turned out he was also dragged into it!
But, what about the results? Aren't they bad?
Before, there wasn't such a clear comparison, so people didn't think much of it.
But now, with Neymar as a negative example, Lin Quan's image in people's minds suddenly became bigger.
"I never noticed, but Lin Huang's football quality is so good!"
"He has so much skill, he's so handsome, and his football quality is so good, I love him, I love him!"
"I originally didn't care about Lin Huang, but now, because of his football quality, I've become his fan."
"The one who wrote above is showing their true colors! We, the true fans, call Lin Huang 'Brother Lin', who would still call him Lin Huang like the haters?"
Faced with doubts from all sides before the match, Neymar had to come out and express himself publicly:
"Every person has freedom of expression, criticism about my diving doesn't affect me. I don't care about verbal attacks from my enemies, I only think about how to help my teammates and my team, and bring joy to all Brazilian fans and those who support the Brazilian national team."
His statement was quite fitting, but just talking isn't enough. Neymar has to prove it on the field with real actions! And Neymar didn't disappoint, barely started the match, he offered a world-class diving performance on the sideline.
In the 3rd minute of the match, Neymar, while dribbling the ball, encountered Uruguay's captain, Lugano. First, Neymar tried to get past him with his bicycle skill. But Lugano, with his experience, didn't fall for the trap, instead, he looked at Neymar with an expression of disbelief.
Neymar saw his strategy wasn't working, so he abruptly accelerated, trying to get ahead. But do you think Lugano would be easy to surpass? As soon as he saw the situation, he blocked his position immediately, with constant movements under his feet, trying to take the ball from Neymar.
During the struggle, they both pushed each other, and there were some hand movements. And taking advantage of Lugano raising his right hand, Neymar's show began: First, he suddenly stopped, leaning his body backward and covering his face in the air, with an expression of extreme pain.
Then, forcefully, he threw himself in the opposite direction, falling heavily to the ground, like a gymnast, in an extremely exaggerated manner. This "gymnastic exercise" by Neymar caused strong dissatisfaction among the Uruguayan players, who surrounded him to reproach him.
Lugano was standing nearby, extending his hands to the sides, showing his innocence while silently mocking Neymar: "See? I told you this guy would fake a foul!" The main referee, with a serious face, approached, ignoring Neymar's performance, indicating him to get up and giving the ball to Uruguay.
The nearby Uruguayan players applauded the referee's sharpness, while the Brazilians looked embarrassed. Only Neymar continued to protest to the referee, feeling aggrieved. But in the referee's mind, he had already been labeled as "foul play", so he simply ignored his protests. Seeing that his protests were futile, Neymar finally stopped.
In the 13th minute of the match, Uruguay launched an attack, and Lugano personally took the ball into the penalty area, about to shoot, but was brought down by David Luiz. The main referee quickly decided to sanction a penalty, leaving the host team with one foot in the abyss.
The Brazilian fans in the stadium were starting to worry: Could it be that the disaster of fifty years ago would be repeated? Would they be eliminated by their eternal rival, Uruguay, in their own country? At a crucial moment, the goalkeeper, César, who had played for Inter Milan, stood out, stopping Diego Forlán's shot and saving his team. Afterwards, both teams engaged in an intense struggle in the center of the field, but made many mistakes, making it difficult to control the situation in the center of the field, and the match became increasingly tense! Seeing that their team couldn't gain the advantage, the Brazilian fans in the stadium began to get nervous. They shouted the players' names, hoping they would stand out and help the team win. Among them, the most called name was Neymar.
Inspired by this, the mood of the Brazilian team improved. In the 41st minute, after the Brazilian team regained possession of the ball in the center of the field, Paulinho passed it into the penalty area.
Neymar received the ball in the penalty area, got rid of the defenders, and instead of passing the ball to a teammate, decided to try it himself. The Uruguayan goalkeeper was alert and managed to deflect Neymar's shot with the outside of his right foot. But the rebound fell to Fred, who shot with the inside of his right foot from five meters away, changing the score to 1-0. Seeing their team take the lead, the Brazilian fans in the stadium erupted in celebration, with smiles on their faces.
It seemed like they could already see their team reaching the final at home! However, at the start of the second half, there was an unexpected twist.
Barely two minutes later, taking advantage of an error by the Brazilian defenders, Uruguay equalized the score.
The culprit of this goal was Marcelo, the left-back of Real Madrid
And the other Brazilian defenders couldn't recover in time, allowing Cavani to have a one-on-one opportunity against the goalkeeper. As the summer's most expensive signing, Cavani didn't waste the chance. After the score was leveled, the match became even more tense.
Both teams attacked strongly, but neither managed to score. As the 85th minute approached, the score remained 1-1. This result left the Spanish players who were following the match somewhat undecided about who would advance to the final. "Brazil is having problems. We have played against Uruguay twice, we know them better.
If Uruguay advances to the final, it would be more advantageous for us!" "It's also hard to say. Uruguay has clearly improved their momentum. In this match, their defense has been much stronger.
If we face them again, it won't be as easy as before!" "Why worry so much? Whoever reaches the final, we have enough confidence to beat them and bring home the Confederations Cup." Sergio Ramos, full of confidence, seems not to take these two rivals very seriously. In his opinion, Spain's current lineup is stronger than the one that won the World Cup three years ago.
With such a powerful force, is there really anything to worry about? Seeing the match heading towards extra time and Neymar, who hadn't performed outstandingly throughout the match, finally stepped up.
In the 86th minute, Brazil had a corner kick opportunity. Neymar stood in the corner area, observed the positions of his teammates and opponents, and launched the ball towards the far post. Brazilian midfielder Paulinho, lurking there, rose above the rival defense, and with a header, changed the score to 2-1. This goal at this moment of the match practically secured the victory.
There were less than four minutes of play left, even with injury time added, it wouldn't reach eight minutes. If they managed to maintain this lead and prevent the opponent from scoring, they would advance to the final.
As Brazilian fans and players celebrated the goal, the stadium's giant screen replayed the conflict between Neymar and Uruguayan player González in the corner area. It seemed they had a verbal dispute, and when González left the field, Neymar made a gesture towards him that seemed to be a blown kiss. Undoubtedly, this "blown kiss" from Neymar and the altercation with González would be the focus of journalists' attention after the match.
Finally, with goals from Paulinho and Fred, Brazil defeated Uruguay 2-1 and advanced to the final. Although the match between Brazil and Uruguay was controversial and some of Neymar's actions caused a dispute among fans of both countries after the match.
However, after the match ended, people's attention quickly shifted to the other semifinal. Perhaps due to Neymar's exaggerated performances on the field, or maybe because he couldn't maintain his scoring streak in the last match.
So before the match between Spain and Italy began, it seemed there was already an answer to the dispute about who was better between Lin Quan and Neymar. Currently, Lin Quan already leads Neymar by 2 goals in the top scorer's table.
If he scores in this match, he will surpass Neymar in the number of consecutive games with goals and will not give his opponent the chance to catch up. Additionally, if he scores in this match, his goal advantage over Neymar in the final will be at least 3 goals.
Historically, finals are always unpredictable, and scoring a hat-trick or even more in the final is very difficult. Especially against an elite team like Spain. So if Lin Quan can score against Italy in this match, he will practically ensure the top scorer award of this year's Confederations Cup.
Considering that Lin Quan has already scored 5 goals so far, he is only 2 goals away from the historical record of 7 goals in the Confederations Cup set by Romario in 1997. Of course, breaking that record would still be a challenge. Spain's next opponents are not weak, and scoring three goals against Italy and Brazil will not be easy. With all eyes on him, a day later, the semifinal match between Spain and Italy began. However, it was not as fans imagined before the match. After the match started, the Italian team performed exceptionally.
Their block defense seemed to have regained its wit, frustrating opponents' attacking attempts time and time again outside the area. At the end of the first half, the score was still 0-0. Spain couldn't find scoring opportunities and had to return to the locker room with the score tied.
This result surprised all the fans! Recently, Italy had conceded four goals in a single match from Brazil and three goals from Japan, which has inferior quality. Why was the world champion so powerless against them? Wasn't the world champion as strong as they thought? In the locker room, Del Bosque spoke seriously with the players:
"We underestimated the opponent!"
End of chapter.