At the end of May, the 2002 World Cup soccer tournament, co-hosted by Japan and South Korea, opened.
Arthur and Steve watch the highlights of each round together in addition to practicing every day. Because of the time difference, it's easy for fans to watch live kickoffs in the UK, which are always in the morning and at noon.
The tournament got "extraordinarily exciting" from the round of 16 onwards, with two superb cold streaks.
The Korean player staged a full martial arts fight, kicked the Italian player to death and elbowed Koke to a bloody head. Because the referee didn't blow for any of the South Koreans' injurious maneuvers in regular time, the referee decisively blew for a fake punt to send Totti off after Italy's star Totti was gently brought down by the South Koreans in the penalty area at a crucial moment in extra time.
South Korean referee Moreno did a great job and led South Korea to eliminate Italy with a golden goal in overtime. Moreno was very arrogant, with an obscene smile, and lived to tell the tale after the match, so it was clear that the blown-up Italian mafia was nothing to sneeze at.
The quarterfinals were even more outrageous, with impeccable play on the defensive end by the Korean referees. Bookla
Both of Spain's goals in regular time were blown (pounced on) by the referee's heroics after entering the goal, shocking the jaws of the fans. In the 119th minute of extra time, when the game was clearly not over, the referee blew his whistle early to end the game, not daring to give Spain a chance to serve a corner kick.
The two sides eventually went into a penalty shootout, with South Korea knocking out title favorites Spain in another blowout.
Since then, it has been difficult to see Koreans in Serie A and La Liga. Soccer officials don't know what to think, but the fans probably think of Koreans as "kill one if you see one."
On the other hand, Turkey beat Senegal 1-0 to advance to the quarterfinals, which was also unexpected. China's goal was to "win, draw and score a goal" to finish second in the group, and the one they wanted to draw with was the underdogs, Turkey.
England were knocked out of the last eight by Brazil, 1-2, after Owen scored an early goal.
Ronaldinho crossed the ball and scored the most spectacular world wave of the World Cup. His ghostly free kick from 35 meters out on the right was enough to go down in history.
England's ability to beat Argentina in the Group of Death proved their strength, and as long as they didn't meet Brazil and South Korea, they had a good chance of reaching the quarterfinals. Unfortunately, luck was not on their side and they disappointed their fans again.
There were countless curses in London after the game, all from people who had lost their bets on the game.
The UK is the birthplace of betting, with the concept of odds introduced by the British in 1790. Betting is a part of people's lives with a prevalence rate of nearly 60% amongst adults in the UK.
Steve gloated, "The bookies must be through the roof this year, there's no way anyone could have guessed all 16, there's just too many cold ones."
"Maybe some Koreans can buy in." Arthur laughed.
In fact, Arthur could have bought in and remembered the results of important matches. But buying football bets in the UK requires a real name, and he doesn't want to risk it to win a few tens of thousands of pounds, which would leave a stain on his soccer career in case he is questioned about betting in the future by someone going over old ground. There is also an upper limit on bets for the football lottery, and it is unlikely that the player will get rich on this.
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Ten gambling nine cheating, gambling always win money less people, lose money scolding fake ball more people. Always make money people certainly also have, from this year, all international matches have been to buy the Chinese team to lose people, it is estimated that can earn a lot.
Before the semi-finals began, the most talked about by London fans was not the elimination of England, but the fact that South Korea had made it to the quarter-finals. Everyone thought it was an insult to the game and a dark moment in the history of soccer.
It was indeed the most blatant blackout in history. Years later, former FIFA vice president and South Korean Chung Mong-joon himself told the secret: "If I was perfectly capable of fixing the referees in that World Cup, why not?"
He was justified and not at all ashamed. Koreans are also generally proud of the way their national team hacked their way into the quarterfinals, and the shamelessness gene runs deep in their bones.
Fortunately, the German team in the FIFA also people, Beckenbauer in the pre-match requested the replacement of the three Korean referees, Germany only 1-0 successfully prevented the South Korean team's "dark horse" road.
On June 30, Ronaldo, with his afro head, rabbit teeth and golden voice, twice broke through the goal guarded by Lion King Kahn and led Brazil to the World Cup title.
German midfielder Barack reached a single-season "five runner-up" magical achievement. Unfortunately, Barack is not a NBA player, according to the NBA standard five runner-up is equal to two championships, he is one step closer to becoming a goat.
Arthur practiced every day in his flowery socks and grew accustomed to being able to ignore the onlookers and have no distractions during practice.
Steve was amazed at the progress he had made in that time. It wasn't as if Arthur hadn't practiced his skills as a child and had been bad at it before focusing on being a goalkeeper. Why was it that as an adult he trained the basics so much better?
Steve could only understand that Arthur hadn't been attentive enough before, and that only by being attentive could he play his best football.
Because of the World Cup, fans in London have a greater desire to play soccer. Arthur played 11 more regular games for the Arsenal fans in a month and was able to complete 20 before going on trial to Fiorentina.
The effect of the 20% increase in Arthur's training experience was obvious, and in July the attributes became Balance 86, Physical Fitness 90, Speed 88, Agility 83, Accuracy with the ball 55, Accuracy with short passes 51, Accuracy with long passes 48, Shooting Technique 62, Shooting Strength 85, Free Kicks 23, Jumping 85.
While the first four items are the same as the initial attributes, his accuracy with the ball goes up by 23 points all at once.
Before that he stopped the ball too often wide and would break or release the ball if there was a defender around him. His dribbling was even worse, he could only shield the ball one on one and often tripped the ball wide when he accelerated.
Arthur is now able to stop quick ground passes well, occasionally completing chest stops, and high balls are dominated by headers and direct attacks on goal. He is also much better at protecting the ball than he used to be, being able to use his physical strengths to shield the ball under pressure and watch his teammates make runs to pass it out.
With physical talent at the bottom, Arthur can't reach Henry's level of ball protection for the time being, and can compare with Li Yi.
The second fastest thing he improved was his shooting skill, which increased by 20 points because of the low starting point. He can break through with pokes, pushes, headers, and can kick powerful overhead kicks, much better than when he first crossed over.
Arthur hits high when the ball is on the ground with a power shot, and while an overhead kick is theoretically much more difficult, he is able to press and hit it with power. This has to do with his personal traits, excellent reaction time, agility, the overhead kick is powered by a quick swing of the calf and his chances of hitting the kick are high.
Arthur was very pleased with his progress, gradually becoming more professional. Protecting the ball with his back and turning to hit the ball is a skill that must be practiced by a winger, and Steve isn't too good at it, Arthur will have to practice it when he joins Fiorentina.
On July 3, Steve announced that the special training was over.
"Next you'll have to practice on your own, or join a team to train systematically. I think with your current strength, it's more than enough to play in the third or fourth division in Italy, and you can crush your opponents by your physical strength." Steve gave a high rating because Arthur's body could crush him.
Two people playing a game of one-upmanship is definitely better for Steve, but the game of soccer is not one-upmanship.
Arthur asked, "How far off am I from the Arsenal first team guys?"
"You don't have a physical gap or even an advantage, there's a big gap in skill and awareness. You have too little game experience and don't handle the ball well enough. Everyone in the first team handles the ball well, makes fewer mistakes passes accurately and doesn't rely solely on individual ability."
"That means I have to work with my teammates more, I can't just go it alone right?" Arthur laughed.
"The opponent is weak and you can solve the problem by your individual ability. If the defender is at the level of Vieira or Campbell, you'll know how hard it is to break through and get a shot. Take your time to practice, you're already improving much faster than I thought." Steve was a little envious.
He played against Arsenal's first team stars and he struggled to keep his weight steady when the other team went up against him. He knew Arthur would never be as woeful as he was against those guys physically.
In that respect, he thinks Arthur playing in the lower leagues is purely a big deal and deserves to be at least in the second division. It's just that well-known teams won't sign him, and Fiorentina are the only well-known team likely to sign him, having hit rock bottom.
Both men had the same goal of becoming stars to be selected for the national team within a few years and helping England to compete in the World Cup in 2006. At this point Steve would never have guessed that it would be much easier for Arthur to accomplish this goal than it was for him ......