Chapter 631 The Spanish Team’s Achilles’ Heel!

After being beaten down by the Spanish team at the beginning, Croatia became a little cautious.

They had anticipated before the game that this game would be a situation where the enemy is strong and we are weak, and the enemy is attacking and we are defending.

But I didn't expect Spain's offense to be so strong. In the first minute of the game, when most of the Croatian players had not yet entered the match state, they almost scored.

The opponent's attack power seems to be not only stronger, but also ridiculously strong.

But Croatia's tactics today are very targeted. Including forward Mandzukic, the six players in the midfield and frontcourt are all capable of both offense and defense.

They are very active in intercepting and fighting in their own half, using active running and fierce physical confrontation to limit the opponent's passing tactics.

"Why does this move look familiar?"

On the sidelines of the court, the Spanish coaching staff all widened their eyes after discovering the opponent's tactics.

The Croatian tactics gave them a sense of déjà vu.

"Isn't this what Atletico Madrid uses to deal with Barcelona in the league?"

Assistant coach Tony blurted out, making everyone suddenly realize.

No wonder it looks so familiar. It turned out to be a tactic copied from Atletico Madrid?

"There are still some differences. Atletico Madrid presses high and presses, while Croatia does not push the formation very aggressively. You see, even their forwards only move around the center circle and never go deep alone. ”

Bosque has watched many Atletico Madrid games. Simeone has become famous throughout Europe with his coaching experience at Atletico Madrid in recent years.

And after he achieved success at Atletico Madrid, more and more people from the outside world studied him.

Bosque has also gone to many Atletico Madrid games and is very familiar with Simeone's tactics.

The tactics Simeone uses at Atletico Madrid are still defensive counterattacks, but his defense is a pressing defense.

By actively running and grabbing, the emphasis is on physical confrontation, making it impossible for the opponent to comfortably hold the ball and pass the ball, and increasing the opponent's forced errors.

Goals on the court will most likely occur when the opponent makes a mistake. The more mistakes the opponent makes, the more scoring opportunities Atletico Madrid will have.

What's more, many of Atletico Madrid's defenses are high-position pressing, and the position is very high. Once the ball is obtained, there is no need to expend a lot of effort to pass it from the backcourt to the frontcourt, and it often relies on the interaction between several offensive players in the frontcourt. If you cooperate, you can complete the shot in the first time.

As a result, Atletico Madrid's counterattack speed and quality have been greatly improved, which greatly increases the difficulty of the opponent's defense and further improves its own scoring efficiency.

Simeone's tactics are unbeatable in La Liga. Let alone ordinary teams, even Barcelona and Real Madrid are not used to it when facing them.

La Liga was originally dominated by two heroes, but in recent years it has been abruptly transformed into a three-legged structure by Simeone.

Compared with the star-studded Barcelona and Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid's lineup is far less thick than their opponents. The ability to achieve such outstanding results in the league shows the power of their tactics.

Because of this, the trend of high-pressing has spread throughout European football, and many mid- and lower-tier teams have begun to learn from Atletico Madrid's style of play.

It's just that this is the first time I've seen someone use this move in the World Cup.

Guardiola in the stands has a different opinion. He has also watched Atletico Madrid games and even led his team to play against Atletico Madrid.

Let's face it, Croatia's style of play is really not Atletico Madrid's.

Not only is the position different, but the playing style is also different.

Their attack is not aggressive, and they are very careful to protect their backs and will never leave any gaps easily.

The players are not man-to-man, but more like controlling the zone.

Especially Modric in the midfield, he is like a fire captain, going to reinforce wherever there is danger.

Guardiola has seen a technical statistics of the World Cup. Modric's average running distance in this World Cup is more than 11 kilometers per game.

This is a very exaggerated statistic. You must know that Modric is 33 years old this year and is an "elderly" veteran.

Compared with him, Iniesta, who is one year older than him, has far inferior running data in this World Cup. In many cases, Bosque even had to put Iniesta on the bench because of his His condition no longer supports him playing consecutive games.

So after watching for more than ten minutes, Guardiola summed up the characteristics of this Croatian team:

The tactical execution ability is strong, the players' fighting spirit is high, the defensive enthusiasm is very good, and the tacit understanding is good.

The shortcomings are also obvious. This team has relatively few top players, only a few such as Modric and Rakitic.

If the standards were stricter, Modric might even be the only one left.

Rakitic is a puzzle piece for a strong team, but he cannot serve as the core of the midfield. He is more suitable as a wingman. If there is a top midfield master in the team, then he will be a good choice.

But if he is to be the brains of the team, his organizational and command abilities are not enough to handle this important task.

This role is assumed by Modric in the Croatian team, while in Barcelona it is Iniesta and Messi.

Relying on their tenacious fighting spirit, the Croatians blocked Spain's attacks again and again.

They can even occasionally launch a counterattack, proving that they still have the ability to fight back and are not just passively beaten.

But this does not change the passive situation on the court at all. During this period, Spain's offensive was very fierce.

The main reason why Spain attacked so fiercely was that they did not want the suspense of the outcome of the game to drag on.

Although the average age of the opposing lineup is not low, Spain's average age is older.

Among the 11 starting players, except for Lin Quan, De Gea, Isco, and Nacho, the rest are all veterans over 30 years old.

De Gea, Nacho and others were all players born in 1990 and are already 28 years old this year.

If Lin Quan hadn't significantly lowered the average age of the Spanish team, their average age would probably be over 31 years old.

Why has Spain's dominance in football declined in recent years?

The lineup is aging so badly, there will be trouble if it doesn't decline.

For veterans, physical condition is their biggest bottleneck.

And the older you get, the harder it is to concentrate, and the longer the time drags on, the more obvious it becomes.

Therefore, the Spanish team must end the game as soon as possible and must not drag the game into overtime or even a penalty shootout.

If they are really dragged into overtime, these old arms and legs of the Spanish team will not be able to run, so what can they do to fight their opponents?

The opponent obviously knew this very well, so Croatia's focus in the first half was entirely on defense.

As for the offense, it means hitting three poles with or without dates. It doesn't matter if you don't score. At least it can deter the opponent and slightly relieve the pressure on your own defense.

But if they are lucky enough to win, they will make a lot of money, and they can stick to it with more peace of mind.

After 20 minutes of ineffective attack, Lin Quan realized that it would be very detrimental to them if they continued to play at this pace.

In addition, after attacking for so long, the physical fitness of the players was a little bit exhausted, and they needed to slow down the rhythm a little to let everyone take a breath.

So he did not continue to attack after getting the ball, but began to control the rhythm.

Seeing that the opponent had suspended their attack, Croatia also breathed a sigh of relief.

Although they were able to defend, the sudden and violent attack just now really overwhelmed them.

The Spanish team's offense is not the kind that makes big noise but little rain. Their cooperation in the frontcourt is very sharp, especially Lin Quan's passing in a small area with Iniesta, Isco and David Silva. The perfect cooperation makes it even more difficult to guard against.

At the most dangerous time, there was a lot of noise in front of Croatia's goal, as if a goal might be scored at any time.

If it weren't for the strong goalkeeper and the persistence of the whole team, relying on tenacious willpower to survive, they would definitely have fallen behind now.

The more than 80,000 spectators at the scene also had the same feeling as the Croatian players.

Although the score was still 0:0, the first 20 minutes of the game were definitely exciting and not boring at all.

One side's attack is wonderful, and the other side's defense is good to watch.

Being able to watch such a wonderful game live is totally worth the price of admission.

"Whoever said that the Spanish team's game is hypnotic and makes people sleepy is just nonsense!"

"That's right, I was so nervous that I almost suffocated while watching this game, and I didn't even feel sleepy at all!"

"Spain played very unSpanish today!"

"It's a bit like a combination of Germany and Brazil, aggressive but very disciplined."

"Yes, coupled with Spain's unique and delicate skills, to be honest, just watching these first 20 minutes, I feel that the peak bullfighting team is completely back!"

Taking advantage of the slowdown in the pace of the game, fans started crazy discussions online.

The most discussed thing is the Spanish team's abnormal performance.

Old fans all know what the Spanish team is like playing football, but new fans don't understand this. Many people just follow the trend and join in the fun.

So after watching the first 20 minutes of the game, the new fans were still shouting that Spain is awesome, this is the strength of the defending champion and so on.

The old fans frowned and began to analyze seriously:

"The Spanish team played very abnormally today!"

"Yes, it feels like they are in a hurry to attack."

"Even a veteran like Xiaobai attempted 7 dribbles in the first 20 minutes, which is indeed abnormal."

"Such a fierce attack on the opponent without any effort, and a posture of not giving up until the goal is broken. Maybe you don't want to drag out the game?"

"I think they know that they have many veteran players on their side and don't dare to delay. Moreover, the resilience of the Croatian team is obvious to all. In addition, the last penalty shootout with Denmark was too outrageous. I'm afraid there won't be any The team wants to have a penalty shootout with them.”

"So the suspense of the outcome of this game should not last long, either Spain will be unable to attack for a long time, be attacked by the opponent, or it will be dragged into overtime and then lose.

Either Croatia cannot withstand the opponent's onslaught and concedes too many goals and is eliminated. Those are the two outcomes. "

…

Lin Quan took a look at the game time while controlling the ball.

Only 20 minutes passed in the first half, leaving plenty of time for the Spanish team.

Their offensive tasks are indeed very heavy, but as long as they can score in the first half, everything will not be a problem.

But if no goal is scored in the first half, the outcome of the game will be difficult to predict.

Seeing that the opponent was not attacking anymore, the Croatian team naturally began to push the defense line outward.

They were pressed too tightly by the Spanish team's attack before. At this time, they need to push out a little to restore the distance and flexibility between the three lines.

Moreover, if the opponent passed it back and forth in front of them, they naturally could not ignore it.

So when Lin Quan received the ball near the center circle again, Mandzukic rushed toward him aggressively.

When Mandzukic moves, the positions of several teammates behind him also move.

But they are all conservative and don't move forward much.

Lin Quan saw all this, and then when Mandzukic was about to rush to him, he calmly handed the ball to Busquets next to him.

I would also like to praise Busquets' football intelligence here. Although Lin Quan did not discuss it with him, he seemed to understand Lin Quan's intention, so when he received Lin Quan's pass, his position was half way to his own side. The field moved a few steps.

It was just a few steps, not obvious on the court, and it looked like Lin Quan's pass was too powerful, and Busquets had to drop back to catch the ball.

The Croatian players on the field did not raise any suspicion. Mandzukic trotted away from Lin Quan and pressed towards Busquets.

Mandzukic actually didn't really want to take the ball away from the opponent's feet, which can be seen from his running movements.

He just stepped forward casually to do some errands and didn't want to waste energy on Busquets.

In the past, his teammates worked hard to grab the ball in their own half for so long, but failed several times. Now it is even more impossible for him to steal the ball away from the opponent's feet with him alone.

I mean, put a little pressure on the opponent, let them pass back or hit the ball horizontally, don't let them organize calmly, just pass the ball forward.

Busquets saw Mandzukic coming and took the initiative to dribble the ball towards his own backcourt.

Seeing this action of the opponent, Mandzukic hesitated a little.

I don’t know if I should continue to follow.

The opponent's back is turned to him. If he follows up and grabs the ball from the opponent's feet before he is prepared, he is likely to win a chance to shoot.

If he doesn't follow, Busquets can pass the ball at will without interference after opening a distance.

Mandzukic is not an indecisive person. After just a moment of hesitation, he made a decision: Go!

According to the coach's pre-game arrangements, the teammates must have been ready in the rear at this time.

Even if he is missing as a forward, it will not have much impact on the defense.

But if he does steal the ball, the reward will be huge.

Thinking of this, Mandzukic suddenly accelerated while trotting, like a cheetah eyeing its prey, and rushed towards Busquets quickly.

The Spanish fans in the stands widened their eyes when they saw the opponent's forward suddenly having a fit, and some of them opened their mouths and shouted, trying to remind Busquets.

Busquets turned his back to his opponent, seemingly unaware that the danger was approaching.

But just as Mandzukic rushed behind him and stretched his feet to grab the ball, Busquets passed the ball out.

National team and club teammate Pique received a pass from Busquets. As soon as Pique received the ball, Mandzukic immediately abandoned Busquets and rushed over.

But Pique was facing him and had already noticed his upward movement, so he took the initiative to retreat when receiving the ball, creating a safe distance.

At this time, Pique ignored Mandzukic, looked up and observed the position of his teammates, and then passed the ball to the teammate wearing the red jersey No. 10 on the field! (End of chapter)