Chapter 296: The knockout round begins, a brutal penalty shootout!

"Is there?"

De Gea was confused by Lin Quan's question, and he himself did not realize that he had problems in this regard.

Lin Quan nodded seriously: "Not only is it true, but it's quite serious!"

In order to verify his guess, Lin Quan found a camera and then took 10 penalties again.

After recording the entire process of De Gea's save, it was proved that his guess was correct.

De Gea always habitually dives to his left side, and his movement in saving the penalty is awkward, just like a player who just woke up, looking listless.

After scoring 10 penalties again, Lin Quan was unhappy.

This free throw didn't improve my ability at all, but it actually affected my mentality.

"David, you need to train your ability to save points!"

The assistant coach also discovered De Gea's weakness in saving penalties, so he found him and spoke to him seriously.

De Gea is Spain's second goalkeeper. If Casillas is injured or suspended, he will have the opportunity to play for the Spanish team.

Considering his weakness in saving penalties, if Spain is really dragged into a penalty shootout, it would be very dangerous.

De Gea was a little frustrated, but still nodded and said that he would seriously strengthen his training in this area.

For a goalkeeper, 24 years old is definitely very young.

The goalkeeper position requires a lot of game experience to complete the transformation. De Gea still has a long way to go in the future and has enough time to slowly adjust.

Spain's main goalkeeper Casillas is already 33 years old and may not be able to make it to the next World Cup.

Therefore, De Gea needs to grow up as quickly as possible, as he may have to guard the Spanish national goal in the future.

Compared with De Gea, Spain's other substitute goalkeeper Reina is much better at saving penalties.

Facing the goal guarded by Reina, at least 3 out of 10 penalties taken by the Spanish forwards will be saved.

The most unlucky one was Torres, who took 10 penalties but 5 of them were saved! No wonder Torres never took penalties at Chelsea, as almost all of Chelsea's penalties were taken by Lampard.

This hit rate is indeed a bit dismal! However, Lin Quan felt that Torres' penalty kick technique was not bad, and the power, speed and angle of the ball he kicked were all good.

But Reina was able to make an incredible save and saved the penalty!

To be honest, this shocked Lin Quan a little.

He never thought that a goalkeeper's ability to save penalties could be this strong! "Haha, you don't know this, do you? Reina is a man who has won the Premier League Golden Glove and also set a record for Liverpool's clean sheet!"

Torres and Reina worked together at Liverpool for several years and are very familiar with the strength of this teammate.

After hearing what Torres said, Lin Quan finally understood.

No wonder Reina saved Torres' penalty so easily. It turned out that the two were once teammates, and he should be very familiar with Torres' playing habits.

Thinking of this, Lin Quan was eager to try: "Let me give it a try!"

Reina smiled and waved at Lin Quan: "Come over here!"

Although he had been loaned out by Liverpool when Lin Quan joined Manchester City, he was unable to play against Lin Quan in the league.

However, Reina has long been paying attention to his national team teammate and has noticed Lin Quan's extremely high penalty success rate in the league and cup competitions.

From his time at Werder Bremen to now, Lin Quan has scored all of his penalty kicks and has never missed one.

Of course, this has something to do with the fact that he takes fewer penalty kicks.

But a 100% hit rate is still quite terrifying!

Generally speaking, a penalty shooter with a hit rate over 80% is considered excellent, and over 85% is considered a very stable penalty shooter.

There are very few people who can achieve 100% success rate, and most of them are players who take fewer free throws.

For example, Lin Quan’s club teammate Yaya Toure currently has a 100% penalty success rate, but he has only taken 11 penalties, which is too few.

Lin Quan placed the football in position, took a few steps back and looked towards the goal.

Reina cheered himself up, bent his knees slightly, and was ready to save the shot at any time.

He planned to judge the direction of the opponent's shot by observing Lin Quan's steps and rhythm. This was the experience accumulated by experienced goalkeepers through a large number of games. It was very effective and simple.

For the first goal, Reina judged the direction correctly, but Lin Quan's penalty kick was too fast.

Before he could finish pressing his body down, the football rolled into the net from under his armpit.

"Great fight, come again!"

Reina was a little excited. Lin Quan's ball hit the lower left corner of the goal, which is the safest penalty kick position that most players would choose.

He was not far from saving the ball. If his reaction was faster, he might have saved it! For the second goal, Lin Quan still shot at the lower left corner, but in a different direction.

This time Reina also judged the direction correctly, but his action was still a little slow when he saved the ball.

His reaction speed is already very fast, but when a person makes a save, his body has to fly out first and then press down. The time consumed during this period is enough for some players to kick the ball in at a faster speed.

Therefore, if you want to save the ball, you need to predict it in advance! For the third ball, Reina predicted that Lin Quan would hit the lower left corner and made a save in advance.

However, after he jumped out, he realized that he had misjudged the direction. Lin Quan's shot was towards the lower right corner of the goal.

"Come again!"

Reina was not discouraged, but became more and more courageous.

He felt that he was very close to making a successful save! Lin Quan nodded and continued to shoot the fourth goal expressionlessly.

Reina once again predicted ahead of time and got the direction right.

However, this ball was not a low shot, but a half-high ball.

As soon as Reina fell to the ground, the football flew over his body.

Seeing Lin Quan's free throw, Reina's face changed slightly.

A half-high ball is the easiest type of penalty to save, and it is very risky to take this type of penalty.

Based on his understanding of Lin Quan, he didn't seem like the kind of person who liked to take risks. In other words, he made this shot with absolute certainty.

In other words, the other party guessed what he was thinking! "Are you coming again?"

The 10 free throws had not been completed, but Lin Quan saw that Reina did not shout "again", so he stopped and asked.

"Come!"

Reina gritted his teeth and chose to continue the challenge!

The confrontation between the two caused quite a stir. Just at this time, the players who were practicing set pieces had finished their training, so they all ran over to watch out of curiosity.

"What is this situation?"

"Hey, Reina and Lin Quan are 1v1!"

"Oh, how's the battle going?"

"All 4 free throws were made, Reina didn't gain any advantage!"

Amid the watching and discussion of the players, Lin Quan took the fifth penalty kick.

Still in the lower left corner, Reina did not predict the situation in advance this time. He made the save only after observing the opponent's shooting action. As a result, he was of course half a step slow.

"What a pity for this ball, if it had been faster it could have been saved!"

Villa said with some fear.

Casillas on the side shook his head:

"It's hard to save it. Lin's penalty kick is too fast. It's hard to save such a penalty kick just by relying on the body's reaction speed."

As a goalkeeper, he understands the dilemma of goalkeepers when saving penalties.

"So how do you save a penalty like this?"

Torres asked curiously.

Only the goalkeeper knows the goalkeeper best. He plans to learn from Casillas so that when he takes a penalty kick in the future, he will have the opportunity to use this knowledge.

"Bet!"

"bet?"

Everyone looked at Casillas in surprise.

"Well, to put it nicely, it's prediction. To put it bluntly, it's gambling. Betting on what direction the other party will attack next time!"

"Oh! No wonder I always see the goalkeeper diving in the opposite direction to the direction of the shot. In this case, it should be that the goalkeeper made a wrong prediction?"

“Yes, that’s it!”

Reina actually heard everyone's discussions, but he couldn't say anything.

It’s not like he hasn’t tried this method of prediction before, but it didn’t work!

Both of his predicted saves failed, and one of them was a half-high ball, which shows that the opponent saw through his thoughts and found a solution.

If you continue to predict, the possibility of success is very low.

However, if you don’t predict the outcome, every save will be just a little bit off, which is really frustrating!

So, he thought again and again and decided to continue gambling! For the sixth goal, Reina predicted it in advance and judged the direction correctly.

His fingers successfully touched the football, but Lin Quan's shot was so powerful that he failed to kick the ball out and only slightly changed the direction of the football.

With a bang, the football hit the inside of the post and bounced into the goal.

“What a pity!”

“Almost!”

There were voices of regret at the scene, and the Spanish players watching the scene all felt sorry for Reina.

After watching for so long, this time was the best chance to save the ball! Although Reina felt a little disappointed, he actually touched the ball, which gave him more confidence.

"Come again!"

Lin Quan nodded, took a few steps back, but did not choose to take the free throw immediately.

After he scored six consecutive penalties, almost all of his teammates stood on Reina's side, which made him feel like the big villain and the big boss.

Haha, this feeling doesn’t seem bad?

Since he is a big villain, he must have the ultimate killer move that only big villains have!

Then let's use that trick this time! Reina had been observing Lin Quan's movements, and he suddenly had a feeling that Lin Quan seemed to be different from before.

The whole person seemed to be filled with murderous aura, making people afraid to look directly at him! He forced himself to get rid of the strange thoughts in his head, and paid close attention to every move of Lin Quan. Then, based on the movement of the opponent's supporting foot, he predicted that the opponent would hit the right side of the goal.

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Reina moved ahead!

This time he started faster than before. If he judged the direction correctly, he should be able to save the ball this time!

However, his hands didn't touch anything, and the football didn't fly from the lower right corner, but flew into the goal from the upper right corner! "Damn it!"

"Blind spot!"

"Is this a guess?"

After seeing this goal, the Spanish players who were watching the game were all excited.

The reason is very simple. The direction of Lin Quan's penalty kick was an absolute blind spot of the goal.

There are two blind corners of the goal. Unless the goalkeeper is standing right below them, it is impossible to save a shot aimed at this position.

However, there is a high risk in pursuing an absolute blind spot when taking a penalty kick.

Even if a player has outstanding footwork, there is a risk of failure if he shoots in this position.

The most typical example is the 1994 World Cup final between Italy and Brazil.

Roberto Baggio wanted to kick the ball into a dead corner, but ended up kicking the ball away. His sad back became a pain in the hearts of many people.

Of course, there are successful penalty kicks, but the probability of failure is very high, so many players dare not use it easily!

This was just a team training exercise and had nothing to do with winning or losing, so it wasn't too surprising that Lin Quanyi was so bold as to use this method to shoot.

With his footwork, it is not difficult for him to kick a shot like this.

Although Reina suffered some blows, he did not seem too desperate.

"Come again!"

He still didn't give up! He admitted that Lin Quan's footwork was excellent, but he always made mistakes in the penalty corner.

All I have to do is wait patiently for him to make a mistake! However, one after another, Lin Quan has already taken 10 penalties, even exceeding several more, but he is still very stable and has not made any mistakes.

Reina was hit hard. The opponent shot into the blind corner every time and he was too lazy to even save the shot.

The goalkeeper who can save the penalty kicks aimed at the blind corners on both sides has not been born yet! Anyway, Reina thought to himself that he couldn't do it! "No more playing, no more playing, I give up!"

Reina was deeply shocked and didn't want to go on.

In just a few moments, he lost all the confidence he had accumulated before, and even began to doubt whether he could save the penalty.

"Uh, Lin, don't be so modest when it comes to penalties in the future. If there are any penalties, just let you take them. That way it will be safer!"

Xavi, who was conceded a penalty by Lin Quan, watched the entire match between Lin Quan and Reina and spoke to Lin Quan in a serious tone.

Several other players who were qualified to take penalty kicks also nodded. If the guy who could hit the absolute blind spot every time didn't take the penalty kick, then who would?

I wonder if Lin Quan will use this trick in the game! If he does, I really look forward to seeing the surprised expression on the opponent's goalkeeper's face!

After a few days of rest, the knockout round officially began.

The first match to start was between host Brazil and the Netherlands.

This was a evenly matched matchup and both teams played very excitingly.

Just 18 minutes into the game, Neymar took a corner kick, Thiago Silva touched the ball with his head and passed it to the back post, where David Luiz swept the ball into the goal with his thigh.

Brazil leads the Netherlands 1:0! The Netherlands quickly responded. In the 28th minute, Robben cut inside and faked a shot, assisting Sneijder to score from outside the penalty area.

The score became 1:1. After the two teams scored goals, both teams played very cautiously and their defense was very strong.

This made it extremely difficult for both sides to score, and the score remained 1:1 until the final whistle sounded.

The game entered overtime! However, during the overtime, both sides missed good chances to score due to their declining physical strength, and the score remained 1:1 until the end of the overtime.

The game entered a brutal penalty shootout! Seeing the first knockout match enter a brutal penalty shootout, the fans at the scene stood up anxiously and apprehensively, praying in their hearts.

The Spanish players who were watching the game were all impressed by Bosque's foresight.

Sure enough, it was right to practice penalty kicks more!

Before the penalty shootout began, Van Gaal made a bold decision. He replaced the outstanding Cillessen with substitute goalkeeper Krul.

Obviously, this substitution was aimed at the penalty shootout!

The first player to appear on the Brazilian team was a bit unexpected. Everyone thought it would be Neymar, but unexpectedly it was the Brazilian center back David Luiz who stood up.

Luis has good footwork and a stable mentality. After a run-up, he made a powerful shot to help the team score the first point.

Krul jumped in the right direction, but was a little slow.

The first player to appear on the Dutch team was their striker Robin van Persie. He made a low shot with a tricky angle but a slow speed. Cesar reacted quickly and fell to the ground in time to save the ball! Robin van Persie held his head in frustration, with a look of disbelief on his face.

Tens of thousands of Brazilian fans at the scene were in a frenzy. The Netherlands' first penalty was saved. As long as Brazil scored all four of the remaining penalties, they would advance to the next round! However, the Brazilians' joy did not last for half a minute.

William, who played the second game, made an extremely outrageous shot. The ball didn't even hit the goal frame and went straight out of the bottom line! This time, it was the Dutch fans who cheered and celebrated.

Half a minute ago, they all thought their team was going to hell, but unexpectedly, the goddess of fate played a joke on them.

The second player to appear for the Netherlands was Robben. He deceived Cesar and scored with a powerful shot to help the Netherlands equalize the score.

The two sides are back on the same starting line! It's Brazil's turn again, and the third player to appear is Marcelo.

He chose to hit the ball towards the middle and hit it half high.

Krul misjudged the direction, and although he reacted quickly and used his hand to block the ball, he was unable to stop it from flying into the goal.

2:1, Brazil is temporarily leading.

The third player to appear for the Netherlands was Sneijder, who steadily scored the penalty.

2:2, the two teams are back to the same starting line again.

The fourth player to appear on the Brazilian team was Hulk! Krul accurately judged the direction and saved his shot!

The Brazilian fans at the scene held their heads, with disbelief written all over their faces.

The penalty kick was missed! As long as the next player from the opponent can score the penalty kick, the Netherlands will take the lead!

The pressure came to Brazil goalkeeper Cesar. If he could not save one of the last two penalties, Brazil would be eliminated in the round of 16.

The fourth player to appear on the Dutch team was Kuyt, who felt a little excited and a little nervous.

Cesar is experienced and saw that his opponent was nervous, so he jumped on the goal line to disrupt his opponent's mentality.

This trick really worked. Kuyt's mentality was affected. He was not decisive enough when taking the free throw, and Cesar predicted the direction and rushed out!

Cesar saved the Brazilian team from the abyss with his outstanding performance.

Neymar was the last to appear. He took a deep breath and leaned over to touch the grass on the field.

Neymar did not take the penalty kick directly. Instead, he suddenly changed his rhythm during his run-up to shake the goalkeeper before kicking the ball out.

Krul didn't expect his opponent to have this trick. After being shaken, he was unable to adjust in time and could only watch the football fly into his own goal.

At this point, Brazil had taken all five penalties, scoring 3 goals and missing 2.

The pressure is on the Dutch team. If the last player cannot score the penalty kick, the Dutch team will be eliminated!

The last player to appear for the Netherlands was defender Vlaar.

Maybe because he is a defender, the quality of this penalty kick was very poor. He shot it with the arch of his foot, and not only did it have little power, but the angle was also not tricky.

Such a shot obviously did not pose any difficulty for Cesar. He accurately judged the direction and saved the ball!

3:2!

Brazil defeated the Netherlands in a penalty shootout, avenging the defeat four years ago, and was the first to advance to the quarterfinals.

The Brazilians are one step closer to their sixth World Cup title! They only need to win three more games to reach the podium!

However, the next three steps are destined to be very, very difficult!

After the match between Brazil and the Netherlands ended, it was soon the turn of Spain to play against Mexico.

Perhaps influenced by the previous game, Spain got a penalty kick just 5 minutes into the game.

Seeing Lin Quan standing at the penalty spot, the Spanish players were extremely excited.

(End of this chapter)