Chapter 286 The whole team arrives in Brazil, the Brazilians' tricks! (Transition chapter)
As the runner-up of this year's Champions League, Atletico Madrid has four players selected in this national team roster, even surpassing Real Madrid.
In order to play it safe, this time Bosque recruited almost all players who have performed very well in their respective clubs this season, have secured their starting positions, and have strong combat effectiveness.
Players like Isco, Cazorla, Morata, Xabi Garcia, Negredo and others were all abandoned by him.
This list did cause controversy after it was announced, and the biggest controversy actually came from the forward line.
“Isn’t it too much to have five strikers on the front line?”
A few years ago, the biggest headache for Spanish fans was the team's lack of forward power.
In just a few years, they no longer have such worries, but instead dislike the team's forward line being too bloated! "To be honest, we don't need to bring so many people forward. Iniesta and David Silva can play as wingers, Lin Quan and Villa can play as center or wingers, and Lin Quan can even play as attacking midfielder. Torres and Costa only need one center forward!"
"That's right, Torres' performance in the past few seasons has been too poor. Last year, he played 32 games for Chelsea and only scored 9 goals. This is too shabby!"
Torres has indeed struggled in recent seasons. His goal statistics are far behind those of Lin Quan and Diego Costa, and even compared with the 33-year-old veteran Villa.
Many Spanish fans recalled the last World Cup.
During the World Cup in South Africa, Torres played 7 games for Spain, but surprisingly did not score a single goal.
Football fans are just as idiots as military fans.
Once you get a new favorite, you'll quickly put the old one aside.
Since you can't score a goal, naturally no one wants to play with you.
"Didn't Diego Costa just retire from the Champions League final due to injury? Is his injury healed?"
"It can't be that fast, right? There's less than a week left until the finals, it can't be that fast!"
"Since his injury hasn't healed, why recruit him?"
Fans also have doubts about Diego Costa, who was selected for the national team for the first time.
He was injured in the Champions League final and the outside world doubted whether he could make it in time for the World Cup.
There is less than a month between the Champions League final and the opening of the World Cup. In such a short time, even if he can recover from his injury, he will not have enough time to train and get along with his teammates.
In the absence of tacit understanding and cooperation, it is doubtful how much effect he can play if he is allowed to play directly on the court.
If Spain is still the team lacking a striker, the fans of the Spanish team might be hungry and indiscriminate.
But now, they already have Lin Quan.
As a result, many people were puzzled by Bosque's decision, and doubts arose one after another.
In any case, after the final 23-man roster was announced at the end of May, the framework of Spain's lineup was basically finalized.
After the team gathered, Bosque conducted a week of closed training.
Spain's traditional tactics are passing and controlling tactics, which have helped them win numerous honors in various competitions.
Logically speaking, they shouldn't change their playing style easily.
However, Barcelona's successive failures in the league and the Champions League this season have caused Bosque to feel a serious sense of crisis.
Passing and controlling football has come to this point today and has long lost its original mystery. Everyone has a comprehensive understanding of it and knows its advantages and disadvantages, as well as how to limit it.
In the La Liga, Atletico Madrid's high-pressure defense and defensive counterattacks made it very difficult for Barcelona to play, proving that this method can effectively limit passing and controlling football.
In Group B where Spain is located, the Netherlands team, which is good at all-round attack and defense, is a team that likes to press high.
As the uncrowned king, the Dutch team has a very luxurious lineup.
A team that can play all-out offense and defense will naturally not be weak.
Therefore, they will undoubtedly be Spain's biggest rival in the group stage. The Dutch, eager for revenge, will definitely show their best form when they meet the Spanish team and avenge their defeat in the South Africa World Cup final.
In this case, the situation is a bit unfavorable for Spain.
The match between the two teams is the first match of the group stage, and the outcome of this match is crucial to the two teams' qualifying situation in the group.
The winning side will undoubtedly have the upper hand in qualifying, while the losing side is in danger of being eliminated.
Moreover, the second-placed team in each group will face the leaders of other groups. If they really qualify as the second-placed team in the group, the subsequent games will be difficult to play.
As the defending champion, Spain will undoubtedly receive a lot of attention from all sides.
In this situation, their every move is put under a magnifying glass by the outside world.
If they lose the first game, they will be completely overwhelmed by the criticism from the outside world, and the players and coaching staff will be under unprecedented pressure.
If this situation continues into the next game, they might suffer two losses in a row, and two losses in a row means they will be eliminated!
As a World Cup champion, they lost two games in a row at the start, failed to qualify for the group stage, and went home at the speed of light. This will probably create a new world record!
This kind of record is not a good record, but the kind of record that will be remembered and laughed at for a lifetime.
During the World Cup in South Africa, the defending champion Italy managed to make it to the third round of the group stage, and Spain could not break their record no matter what.
So, to be on the safe side, Bosque plans to make some adjustments to the team's tactics.
Of course, due to limited time, he couldn't create a new set of tactics.
These adjustments are mainly prepared for the first group match, which is against the Netherlands.
Facing the Netherlands, which is all-out attack and defense, how to launch a threatening counterattack is the key to limiting or even defeating them.
And this is the main reason why Bosque recruited Diego Costa into the team!
To this end, he specially designed a set of playing methods and practiced them within the team.
The results of the drill were pretty good. During the drill, he also played two friendly matches with two lower-level league teams in Spain to test the players' condition.
In general, except for some older players, Spain is in good overall shape.
However, the problem of the team's aging lineup is very obvious.
Playing a whole season without getting any rest has led to a decline in the competitive form of Xavi, Villa, Alonso and others.
And their physical fitness may not be able to support them to play the whole game.
Therefore, in the next game, if these people are to be arranged to play, it is necessary to reduce their simultaneous appearance on the court as much as possible, so as to avoid having insufficient substitutions in case of unexpected situations.
Fortunately, there are a lot of substitute players on the bench, so Bosque does not have to worry about personnel issues for the time being.
On June 6, 8 days before the start of the group stage, the entire Spanish team boarded a plane and set off from Madrid to Brazil, the host city of this World Cup! Spain was not the first team to set off, as the Three Lions and Germany had already set off before them.
However, as the number one favorite in this World Cup, Spain has received much more attention than the other two teams.
The entire Spanish team first flew to Washington, the capital of the United States, and after a short stay there, they transferred to Curitiba, Brazil.
During their stay at the Washington airport, they caused a huge sensation at the airport. After many fans spotted the Spanish national team, they surrounded them and asked for their autographs and photos. The situation was a little out of control at one point.
The airport had to dispatch hundreds of security personnel to maintain order and isolate the area where they were, which stabilized the situation.
When they entered their base in Brazil, they were enthusiastically welcomed by local fans. A total of more than 5,000 local Brazilian fans and Spanish fans who arrived early came to the airport to welcome them.
As for the reporters from various countries who came to the scene, their numbers were countless.
Seeing the hundreds of reporters with their cameras and thousands of fans crowding outside the airport, the Spanish players finally felt the atmosphere of the World Cup.
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As players who have experienced countless major competitions, they have seen many such scenes.
However, the World Cup is very different from other competitions.
Even players who have experienced it personally will be infected by the atmosphere when they arrive at such an occasion and can't help feeling excited and nervous.
Not to mention newcomers like Lin Quan who have never participated in the World Cup before.
"Relax, the game is still early!"
Puyol noticed the players' nervousness and clapped his hands inside the bus to comfort them.
"Besides, we are the defending champions, why should we be nervous? It's other people who should be nervous!"
This sentence caused everyone to laugh, and the tense atmosphere in the bus immediately dissipated a lot.
Lin Quan secretly gave Puyol a thumbs up.
Inviting Puyol to join the team was indeed the right decision! In order to welcome the Spanish team, 500 security personnel were dispatched from Coritiba Airport and Cahu Sports City Base to escort the Spanish team's bus to the training base.
However, even so, when leaving the airport, players including top star Lin Quan, Spain's coach Bosque, captain Casillas and Iniesta were hugged and asked for autographs by fans.
There's no way, there are too many fans at the scene.
Moreover, the security personnel arranged by Brazil were not professional enough. While stopping the fans, they took advantage of their position to ask for autographs and take photos with the Spanish players before the fans.
This made the Spanish players laugh and cry: Brother, you are working, can you be more serious? However, not everyone was welcomed. Spain's new striker Diego Costa was booed by Brazilian fans when he appeared at the airport.
Some fans even made the "international friendly" gesture to him. Diego Costa looked very unhappy, but he did not dare to get angry. He could only pretend not to see it. He hurriedly left the airport under the escort of security personnel and boarded the team bus.
As for his teammates, they were still surrounded by fans and could not escape for the time being.
In view of the commotion caused by Spain at the airport, the organizers of the event attached great importance to the security of the defending champions.
In order to ensure the safety of the Spanish team, starting from the day they arrive, at least 200 security guards will be deployed in every corner of the Kahu Sports City every day to ensure that the defending champions' training and daily life are not disturbed by the outside world.
After a 16-hour long flight, everyone in Spain was exhausted.
After arriving at the World Cup training base in Coritiba, Bosque did not arrange any training but let the players go directly to rest.
There is a 5-hour time difference between Brazil and Spain. The players need to adapt to the time difference as quickly as possible and adjust their physical condition as soon as possible.
Otherwise, a poor rest would seriously affect their competitive state and make them miss the starting lineup for the opening game! The players were naturally aware of this, so they all honestly returned to their rooms to rest.
During the World Cup, in order to prevent players from fooling around and causing scandals.
Bosque allowed the players' families, also known as the wives, to travel with the team.
Regarding abstinence, Bosque does not explicitly prohibit it like Germany coach Loew.
As long as the players don't mess around, he won't object to the players' wives and girlfriends appeasing the players.
Of course, the premise is that it does not affect the game.
With such an open-minded head coach, the Spanish internationals are naturally grateful.
A few days after Spain arrived in Brazil, most of the teams participating in this World Cup arrived one after another.
The atmosphere of the World Cup is becoming more and more intense, and slogans and pictures promoting the World Cup can be seen hanging in every street and alley.
Spanish players can gradually feel this even when staying in the training base.
Because there were gradually more and more Brazilian fans outside the training ground.
Moreover, unlike those Brazilian fans who liked and supported Spain before, these fans who rushed to their training base were almost all die-hard fans of the Brazilian team.
They waved the Brazilian flag, put Brazilian flag patterns on their faces, made a lot of noise outside the training ground, and from time to time they could be heard shouting insults at the Spanish players.
Brazil is finally able to host a World Cup in their home country, and everyone in Brazil is extremely eager to win the World Cup in their home country! However, judging from the result of last year's Confederations Cup final, in order to realize this dream, they need to overcome the huge mountain of Spain.
However, facing this almost invincible team, the Brazilians are not very confident.
Therefore, many Brazilians place their hopes on the Netherlands and Chile, hoping that they can join forces to eliminate Spain.
To this end, they went to great lengths to run outside the training base in Spain to disrupt their training, affect their condition, and make their games more difficult.
The opponent's behavior was too bad, so the Spanish team's coach immediately called the security personnel and asked them to send people to disperse these fans.
However, the security personnel dispersed the fans in a perfunctory and routine manner and then left it alone.
When the fans saw the attitude of the security personnel, they suddenly became bolder. Not only did their numbers increase, but the distance between them also got closer.
This made Bosque very angry. He asked someone to urgently contact the hotel to change the resting place, and at the same time contacted the Spanish Football Association to ask them to protest to FIFA.
The game hasn't even started yet and the Brazilian team has already resorted to this kind of trick. It's really embarrassing!
(End of this chapter)