Chapter 541 European Cup Semi-Final, Spain VS France
July 8, 2016, Stade de France.
The second semi-final of this European Cup kicked off here.
This game received great attention from the outside world before the game started. A large number of fans flocked to the stadium before the game started.
Among them, the host French team has significantly more fans.
In a stadium that can accommodate 80,000 people, at least 50,000 are fans of the French team, and the number of fans wearing red Spanish jerseys is less than 20,000.
Relying on their numerical advantage, the French completely suppressed the visiting fans in terms of momentum.
They sang the French national anthem, shouted the name of every player who came on the field, and filled the entire stadium with applause and cheers.
This may be the closest they have been to the championship in the past decade.
As long as they can beat Spain, they will be able to beat Portugal, a team of average strength, in the final. The French seem determined to win this game, which can be seen from the fighting spirit of their players.
During the pre-match warm-up, each of the French players seemed extremely excited and nervous, as if they couldn't wait to start the game.
Compared with them, Spain seems much calmer.
After all, the team's average age is several years older than the opponent's, and they have won various honors before. Whether it is the mentality towards such a big competition or the desire for the championship, they are not as strong as the opponent.
This is both a good thing and a bad thing for Spain! Staying calm in the face of great events is the mentality of a strong person.
Keeping a calm mentality can reduce their nervousness and prevent them from making mistakes easily during the game.
But the decline in desire for the championship will also damage their fighting spirit.
For many teams, after winning the championship, the morale of the players quickly dropped, resulting in a sharp drop in performance.
This is what happened to Inter Milan in the 10-11 season. After winning the treble, this team, which was mostly composed of veteran players, experienced a cliff-like decline in the second season.
This is certainly related to the change of head coach, but it is also closely related to the players' own loss of desire and motivation for the game.
The Spanish team is now in this state.
After the warm-up, the head coaches of both teams seized the last bit of time before the game started to give the players a pre-match mobilization in the locker room.
Compared to the bustling French team locker room next door, the Spanish locker room can be described as quiet.
Bosque is not the kind of coach who is very good at arousing the emotions of his players. He arranged his tactics in a rigid manner, and then after encouraging the players, he asked them to prepare for the game.
Deschamps was making the final mobilization in the French team's locker room. Although there were two doors between them, Deschamps' voice could still be faintly heard through the crack of the door.
Although I couldn't understand what the other party was saying, the ups and downs of the tone and the loud responses from the players below showed that their pre-match mobilization seemed to be done well.
Sure enough, when the two sides left the locker room and met in the player tunnel, Lin Quan could clearly see that the French players on the opposite side seemed to be full of energy.
Even Kante, who is usually introverted and shy, seemed unable to contain his excitement and was about to explode.
What kind of magic potion did Deschamps give to these French players to make their morale so high?
Thinking of this, Lin Quan was a little worried that the opponent would launch a fierce attack at the beginning of the game, so he told several teammates about his concerns in advance.
"At the beginning, be steady and wait until the opponent's momentum is exhausted before you make your move!"
Young players are easily motivated, but this motivation will not last long.
Spain has many old players with rich experience, so they can patiently wear them down.
But the prerequisite is that they can withstand the impact of the French.
When passing through the player tunnel to enter the stadium, France coach Deschamps glanced at the starting lineup of the Spanish team. When he confirmed that Iniesta was not among them, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Just as he thought, Iniesta's injury was very serious and he would not be able to recover so quickly.
In this way, France has a better chance of winning this game.
As the game time approached, the referee began to lead the players onto the field.
The 22 players from both teams, each holding a caddy, walked through the player tunnel and onto the court.
After the national anthem, pre-match handshakes, exchange of team flags and coin tossing, players from both sides took their positions and the game was finally about to begin.
Just as Lin Quan thought, the French team did not choose to choose the venue after winning the coin-tossing game, but chose the ball.
It seems that they really intend to seize the opportunity to launch a fierce attack on Spain while the chicken soup prepared by the head coach is still effective.
Beep! With the referee's whistle, the European Cup semi-final match between France and Spain officially began.
After the game started, Giroud kicked the ball to Griezmann and quickly rushed towards the Spanish half.
At the same time, Sissoko, Payet, Pogba and others were also rushing forward.
As soon as the game started, the French team showed a desperate attitude and rushed forward to kill Spain.
Seeing this scene, the French fans at the scene were extremely excited, and they all started shouting loudly, trying to create more momentum for the French team's attack.
Seeing the opponent attack so fiercely from the start, the Spanish fans who traveled far away to watch the game couldn't help but become nervous.
Although this Spanish car is luxurious, it is actually a classic car.
Faced with the young and powerful lineup of the French team, they were very worried that the Spanish team would not be able to withstand it and would be directly overwhelmed.
Fortunately, what they worried about did not happen.
Because of Lin Quan's reminder before the game, the Spanish people were well prepared for the French's intentions.
Seeing the opponent launch an attack at the start of the game, they immediately chose to shrink their formation backwards to prevent the opponent from launching a fast break.
When Griezmann dribbled the ball to the opponent's half, he was surrounded by defensive players. He had no way to continue to break forward, nor could he pass the ball to Giroud who was surrounded by multiple players and could not retreat to force a shot.
So he had to stop and pass the ball back to his teammates so that they could reorganize the attack.
Although Spain's formation was slightly pressed forward because the opponent passed the ball back, it did not cross the center line as a whole.
This means that the French team still has little room to attack forward. Every time they pass the ball forward or dribble the ball, they face huge resistance, and they may lose the ball if they are not careful.
As a last resort, the French had to give up the intention of attacking, began to slow down the pace, wait for their teammates to follow up, and then patiently organize the attack forward.
In the French team's coaching booth, although the team's plan to get a good start failed, Deschamps' expression did not change.
The Spanish team is not a weak team. If we could defeat them so easily, there would be no need for us to spend so much energy and make so many preparations.
If one plan fails, there are other ways.
Even in a positional battle, the French team's lineup may not be afraid of the opponent.
Compared to the French team who were eager to attack, the Spanish team was not in a hurry.
After successfully defending against the opponent's attack, they did not attempt to launch a quick counterattack to give the opponent a taste of their own medicine.
Instead, under the leadership of Lin Quan, they patiently controlled the ball in the backcourt, mobilizing the opponent's players to run back and forth and consume the opponent's physical strength.
Except for a few people like Lin Quan, the Spanish players on the court are all veterans with rich game experience.
Maybe in terms of impact, they are not as good as the young guys of the French team.
But with their richer experience, they were able to make fun of this group of young guys.
Giroud, Payet, Griezmann, Sissoko and others who were at the front were very active in running around at the beginning, pressing the ball holder, trying to intercept or even steal the opponent's pass.
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But these Spanish players were very calm and cooperated very well.
They can move and respond quickly when the opponent rushes towards the ball holder, allowing the ball holder to always find a safe route to pass the ball at critical moments.
If that doesn't work, they can pass the ball back to the goalkeeper.
As the goalkeeper of the Spanish team, having excellent passing ability is a necessary skill for them.
Moreover, in this game, the starting goalkeeper arranged by Bosque is still Casillas who performed well in the last game.
He has been cooperating with the players on the field for a very long time, and they have a very good understanding with each other. With him backing them up, his teammates feel very relieved.
Therefore, this scene often appeared on the court: when the French players were approaching a Spanish player aggressively, the Spanish player passed the ball dangerously at the last moment.
From the perspective of Spanish fans or neutral fans, it seems very thrilling, making them feel scared.
But from the perspective of French fans, it is completely different.
They felt that the other side was deliberately teasing or even humiliating their players. Otherwise, why was the timing always just right and the ball was passed just when they were about to succeed?
If it happens once or twice it can be considered a coincidence, but if it happens every time it is definitely not a coincidence.
"The Spaniards are really skilled and daring. They are almost playing with fire in front of their own goal!"
In the CCTV studio, several commentators couldn't help but worry for the Spanish team after seeing this scene.
"Maybe apart from Spain, no other team would dare to do this?"
"Even if other teams have the courage to do this, they may not have the skills to do this!"
A commentator couldn't help but shake his head, perhaps thinking of the Chinese national football team.
The Chinese national football team is the kind of team that simply cannot hold the ball. The football seems to be hot under the players' feet, and they cannot hold it even in their own backcourt. They panic and become confused as soon as the opponent tries to grab it. It seems that only by kicking the ball far away with a big foot can they feel at ease.
Compared with the Chinese national team, Spanish players not only have better skills, but their psychological quality is many times better.
Under the huge pressure of possibly losing the ball if it was intercepted, they still played so steadily and did not make a single mistake. It seemed that they were surrounded by danger, but in fact they were as steady as an old dog, playing the opponent around.
This level of skill is not something that ordinary teams can possess.
Being walked by the dog is a very bad experience. It not only quickly consumes the players' physical energy, but also seriously undermines their morale.
After trying for several minutes without even being able to touch the ball, the Frenchman gave up.
They have already deployed four players to press the ball, so they can't possibly continue to deploy more troops, right? If they really continue to increase the pressure, if the opponent suddenly takes advantage of the opportunity when their rear forces are empty to launch a quick counterattack, then the French team may be in trouble.
The French told everyone from their own experience not to try to steal the ball from Spain when they are passing the ball back in the backcourt.
Seeing that the opponent's morale has been almost exhausted, the enthusiasm before the game has basically subsided.
After Lin Quan received the ball again, he no longer participated in the backcourt pass, but dribbled the ball forward.
This is the signal that the Spanish team is about to launch an attack! Seeing this scene, the players on the scene were immediately cheered up.
Spain's back-passing in the backcourt had made them drowsy, and many of them had already started cursing.
Was it an attempt to hypnotize us to sleep by passing the ball back so shamelessly at the beginning of the game? Fortunately, Spain was not so shameless and finally started to attack.
This made the fans look forward to it, wanting to see what wonderful cooperation the Spanish side could perform.
Because Iniesta was resting in this game, Lin Quan's position retreated to the midfield and Pedro replaced him on the wing.
As the core of Spain's midfield, Lin Quan was immediately targeted by the French team as soon as he approached the center line with the ball.
Kante, Payet and others almost all had their eyes on him.
Especially Kante, he was like a piece of taffy, he rushed up and stuck tightly to Lin Quan. No matter whether Lin Quan had the ball or not, he would turn into a cage and cover Lin Quan tightly.
Kante has extremely strong one-on-one defensive capabilities, and he has abundant physical energy and high morale. He is the most difficult defensive midfielder currently on the planet.
I guess no one wants to face this guy in the middle, not even Lin Quan.
However, compared to others, because Lin Quan and Kanter are teammates, he is very familiar with Kanter's technical characteristics and personal habits.
In addition, the two have practiced against each other a lot in the club, so he knows very well that he has a high probability of defeating Kante in a one-on-one duel.
This gave Lin Quan a certain psychological advantage and also made Kanter much more cautious when defending him.
In some opportunities where he might have kicked out to intercept when defending other players, Kante chose to play it safe and did not kick rashly, preferring to miss the opportunity rather than make a mistake.
Kante's caution gave Lin Quan a headache.
It is not easy to get past Kante one-on-one, and the opponent is so cautious. What's more, Kante is not fighting alone, he has teammates to help him.
This made Lin Quan's situation even more difficult!
(End of this chapter)