Chapter 305: Lin Huang who plays football with his brain!
During the half-time break, Bosque indeed adjusted the team's tactics.
Although he did not go for a defensive counterattack against Costa Rica, he chose to replace Xavi with Xabi Alonso to strengthen the midfield's control ability.
As for the adjustments in the frontcourt, if Spain can score another goal before 70 minutes, he will replace Torres with Pedro and change to a strikerless formation.
The strikerless formation tactic was originally used by Spain, but recently the German team also began to follow suit and learn the strikerless formation tactic.
However, Bosque felt that the German team's strikerless formation was a bit out of place.
They lack as many top midfielders as Spain, and also lack explosive players like Lin Quan.
By forcing a strikerless formation, the German team lost its fine tradition.
I don’t understand what’s going on in Löw’s mind. The football ecosystems in Spain and Germany are different, and their tactical thinking is also very different.
Are they really not afraid of forcing the German team to go down a road of no return by forcibly imitating Spain's tactics? He speculated that it was probably because the German Football Association saw Spain's use of passing and controlling football in the world arena, and they were very envious. They were eager to win the World Cup again, so they could only forcibly imitate it and give it a try regardless of the consequences.
In this regard, Bosque can only say that the Germans don't even know how to write the word death! Passing and controlling football was indeed strong a few years ago, but now it is obviously not as strong as it used to be.
After being studied specifically for so long, the advantages and disadvantages of passing and controlling football have long been exposed to the world.
After Spain finishes this World Cup, their golden generation will gradually fade out of the national team. Even Bosque himself doesn't know whether Spain will still have such a strong dominance at that time.
In this situation, the German team actually abandoned their own traditions and came to imitate the Spanish team.
Bosque couldn't understand it! "Play well in the second half, don't be careless, don't underestimate the enemy, we are only 45 minutes away from advancing to the semi-finals, and because of this, we need to be doubly vigilant and can't fall before dawn!"
Spain had a very smooth journey in this World Cup, so Bosque had to repeatedly emphasize to his players not to relax and not to underestimate the enemy.
Once you make a mistake like this, there is no chance to make up for it.
Therefore, it is not excessive to emphasize it a thousand times before the game!
On the other side, in Costa Rica's locker room.
Coach Pinto pulled his hair over and over again.
The opponent's No. 30 is too troublesome. If we can't restrict him, we dare not use many tactics.
Because they were behind in the score, Costa Rica would definitely increase their offensive efforts in the second half.
However, when attacking, how to prevent being counterattacked by Spain is his biggest concern.
Spain used a defensive counterattack tactic in the group stage, and under this tactic, Spain's counterattacks were very effective.
Their quick counterattacks were fast and fierce, aided by excellent passing.
The previous second, our team was besieging the opponent's goal, but in the blink of an eye, the football ran to the front of our own penalty area, and we lost the ball if we were not careful.
Costa Rica's lineup is not very strong, which is why they were able to achieve such good results.
On the one hand, the tactics were used properly, and on the other hand, the players worked together as one, using teamwork to magnify their own advantages and make up for their own weaknesses, which led to such results.
However, in this game, they were unable to bring out their strengths and their weaknesses were seized upon by Spain.
This is a very difficult thing to deal with!
“We kick like this!”
In the end, Pinto chose an offensive tactic that he felt was the least risky among several available tactics.
The fifteen-minute halftime break ended quickly and the players from both teams returned to the field.
Costa Rica indeed stepped up its attack, and started attacking right from the start.
It seemed that they wanted to take advantage of the start of the second half of the game, when the Spanish players had not yet entered the game, and use a sudden attack to catch Spain off guard.
For some teams that are slow to warm up, they are often not in good shape at the beginning of the game. If they are suddenly attacked by the opponent at this time, they are likely to lose the ball.
Spain is such a slow-starting team. In previous major competitions, their performance would always be very sluggish at the beginning, but as the game progressed, their condition would get better and better.
This was the case in the World Cup in South Africa four years ago! However, Costa Rica obviously underestimated the Spanish team in front of them.
Under Bosque's coaching, Spain's old problem of slow start has not been completely changed, but it is undoubtedly much better than before.
Moreover, the competition has now reached the quarter-finals.
At this time, Spain's form has already improved. Expecting to win by taking advantage of Spain's lack of form is a bit wishful thinking.
"Sure enough, the strong attack at the start was actually guessed by the coach!"
Seeing the opponent's massive attack, the Spanish players looked as if they expected it.
They all cheered up, focused on defense, intensified their pressing and interception, and did not give Costa Rica any chance.
Costa Rica's offensive capabilities were not strong, and their attacking tactics quickly became ineffective as Spain was prepared.
After a few minutes, the momentum of the Costa Rican players began to disappear, and the Spanish players began to take control of the situation, bringing the game back to their familiar rhythm.
On the sidelines, Spain coach Bosque glanced at the time and saw that five minutes had passed since the start of the second half.
He was a little skeptical. Would the Costa Rican coach give up the game so easily?
From the looks of the game, they didn't seem to plan on continuing the attack, but they were currently trailing in the score.
If they hadn't attacked, the victory would have gone to Spain.
"There may be other preparations waiting for us, so we can't be careless!"
Bosque did not get complacent because his team successfully curbed the opponent's initial counterattack. On the contrary, he felt a little uneasy because of the opponent's abnormal behavior.
The players on the field didn't care what tricks the opponent used. After the game entered their rhythm, Spain's offense became fierce.
In the 53rd minute of the second half, David Silva dribbled the ball from the wing and made a high-quality cross near the end line.
Torres, who was outflanking in front of the goal, finally got the ball this time, but unfortunately he kicked the ball too straight and it went directly into Navas' arms.
Navas rushed out quickly with the ball and threw it to his own winger with a toss.
He wanted to take advantage of Spain's attack and launch a counterattack against the opponent.
However, Spain was prepared for this. Alba rushed over and took advantage of the opportunity to fight for the ball's landing point to interfere with the opponent's attack, making Costa Rica's fast break unsuccessful.
The Costa Rican coach frowned, having just observed that when the Spanish front players launched an attack, at least four or five defensive players would be left in the backcourt.
With this level of defensive intensity, it is very difficult to counterattack the opponent because the opponent is obviously guarding against this move of theirs.
In the first half, because Costa Rica focused most of its energy on defense, it was difficult for Spain to form a numerical advantage and launch a threatening attack with only the few players in the frontcourt.
But the situation was completely different in the second half. After the offensive pressure came to Costa Rica, they had to make a choice between offense and defense in order to enhance their offensive capabilities.
This caused their defensive intensity to drop significantly, so even without having to press across half the court, Spain could frequently pose threats relying on the players in the frontcourt.
This made the Costa Rican coach feel very difficult! It turns out that it is not possible to find a sword by sticking to the boat!
Before, I thought that the opponent would do the same as in the first half, with the entire team pressing across half court and launching an extremely oppressive attack on them.
That way, they would be able to threaten the Spanish goal with quick counterattacks whenever they had the chance.
The deeper the opponent pushes forward, the greater the threat of their counterattack.
But the problem is that the current situation is different from what they expected. After they made tactical adjustments, Spain also made corresponding adjustments.
Their counterattacks were not threatening and their defense also declined because they had to distract from the offense.
Therefore, Costa Rica's tactical adjustment seems to have put itself in a very embarrassing situation, unable to attack or defend.
Not only Coach Pinto realized this, but the Costa Rican players on the field also noticed it one after another.
The reason is simple, they felt very tired after playing in the second half of the game.
They had only been playing for less than ten minutes when many players began to breathe heavily.
The main reason for this phenomenon is not the physical consumption under normal circumstances, but because Spain's offense is very threatening, forcing them to exert force on the offensive end and be cautious on the defensive end.
If you try to catch both ends, you will end up catching neither.
With all this going on, it would be strange if the players weren't tired.
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We can't go on like this. If we continue playing like this for more than ten minutes, the players' physical strength will be exhausted.
On the sidelines, Coach Pinto paced back and forth anxiously.
He really wants to make substitutions now, but it's a little too early.
Moreover, it was too close to the second tactical time point he arranged. If he changed players at this time, it would likely cause confusion and disrupt their original tactical arrangements.
Thinking of this, he decided to wait a while.
But before that, he asked the players on the bench to warm up and be ready to play at any time.
On the other side, in the Spanish coaching booth, after seeing the opponent's actions, Bosque called out several players on the bench and asked them to warm up.
"Costa, Pedro, Koke, you three go warm up!"
Hearing what Bosque said, Costa and the other two quickly stood up from the bench and happily ran to the sidelines to warm up.
"Should Costa be sent on?"
Coach Tony asked in confusion, didn't they say they were going to play without a striker? Why did they bring Costa in again? "He has just recovered from his injury, and I don't know how he is doing yet. I plan to send him out to play in the 80th minute!"
Eighty minutes?
Toni looked at his watch. It was only the 55th minute, and there were still 25 minutes left before the substitution time that Bosque mentioned.
There is still so much time left, but they called him out early. Do they want to let him warm up for 25 minutes? "It's not a bad thing to move more and get your body fully active. This kid is a bit unlucky. He was injured in the first game of the World Cup. If he gets injured again in this game, he will waste a precious spot for us!"
Bosque seems a little scared by Diego Costa's injury. He recruited him into the team, hoping that he and Lin Quan will form a powerful striker partnership.
As a result, Costa was injured after playing just one game and has been recovering until now.
The semi-final is approaching. If he is not allowed to move around and integrate into the team as soon as possible, Bosque will not dare to put him in the starting lineup when facing Argentina in the semi-final.
The two were chatting, and the game time soon reached the 60th minute.
Costa Rica, which had previously retreated to its own half, once again launched a fierce attack on the Spanish goal.
This scene made Bosque slightly stunned: the opponent's offensive tactics were not only used at the beginning, but also at a certain period? The second half of the game had already been played for 15 minutes, which means that the opponent attacked once every 15 minutes? On the field, the Spanish players were originally besieging Costa Rica's goal.
The opponent suddenly rushed out like a mad dog, and multiple people double-teamed their player with the ball, catching the player off guard.
The ball was quickly intercepted and Costa Rica quickly began to counterattack.
However, the experienced Xabi Alonso took the initiative to stick to the opponent's midfield core Ruiz when he saw the opponent suddenly speed up.
This choice has made great contributions to Spain.
When Costa Rica's attack reached Ruiz, it was intercepted by Xabi Alonso.
Ruiz can't win in terms of physical strength, technique, or experience.
He was a little bit stuck with the ball and didn't pass it out immediately, so he couldn't pass it out.
After Busquets double-teamed, the ball quickly returned to Spain.
Professor Bu made a very deceptive fake move. He pretended to dribble the ball forward, but after kicking the ball, he suddenly jumped over the ball.
Xabi Alonso followed up with a long pass and hit the ball directly back into Costa Rica's penalty area.
The ball was for Torres, but the opponent's defender was very close to him, so Torres couldn't overpower the opponent's defender and complete a header, but he was able to pass the ball to his teammate in front of the penalty area.
There are two Spanish players in front of Torres, Iniesta and Lin Quan.
He subconsciously chose to pass the ball to the player he trusted the most - Lin Quan! The chance of scoring a goal was the highest when the ball was passed to this guy!
Although Torres and Iniesta have fought side by side for a longer time, he still thinks it is safest and most secure to give the ball to Lin Quan! Maybe he will get an assist because of this pass? However, Costa Rican goalkeeper Navas will not give such an opportunity!
He reacted extremely quickly and chose to attack the moment Torres passed the ball.
By the time Lin Quan received the pass from Torres and passed the defender to enter the penalty area, Navas had already appeared in front of Lin Quan, blocking his way!
Face me, you bastard!
Lin Quan observed with the corner of his eye that when Navas attacked, he maintained a good position with the two central defenders of Costa Rica.
Lin Quan didn't have enough space and time to break through him!
Of course he could choose to shoot, but there was a high probability that the ball would be blocked. The opponent's blocking area was already very large, and with the blocking of the defenders on both sides, Lin Quan no longer had much space in front of him.
So he chose to pass the ball.
This is the most reasonable choice, but also the most unexpected choice!
He's already in this position, but he's still passing the ball!
Do you still want the World Cup Golden Boot?
Navas felt he was fooled!
Lin Quan knocked the ball to the left side of the penalty area, where a figure rushed in and easily kicked the ball into the empty goal! The goal was scored by Spain's No. 21 - David Silva!
Seeing Silva score a goal, Lin Quan glanced at Navas.
He was confused as to why this guy had such an expression? Did he think that he was a reckless man who played football without thinking?
If he really thinks so, then Lin Quan doesn't mind teaching him a lesson: Playing football depends on your brain, not recklessness! David Silva's goal made the Spanish fans at the scene as happy as if it were a holiday.
The fans of Costa Rica on the other side were heartbroken, and many of them even shed tears of sadness.
They all knew what this goal of Spain in the 61st minute meant for this game! It is no exaggeration to say that this goal completely killed the suspense of this game! Thank you for your concern. Let me report my mother's condition again. I had angiography at 1:30 this afternoon. The coronary artery blockage was not bad. It did not meet the indication for stenting. I will see what the director says during the rounds tomorrow. If there is no problem, I will have a gastroscopy in the afternoon to check the gastric ulcer problem. My mother should be able to be discharged from the hospital.
These past few days have been really scary! PS: Today is De Bruyne’s birthday, so I wish Ding Ding a happy birthday, eternal youth, and keep up the good work to win another Champions League! (End of this chapter)