Chapter 547: Portugal's Iron Bucket Formation
July 11, 2016, Paris, France.
At the Stade de France, not far from Paris, the stands that can accommodate more than 80,000 people are already full.
The Delaunay Cup, which symbolizes the European champion, was placed in a prominent position at the entrance of the player's tunnel so that the players could see it first.
Many UEFA presidents and high-ranking FIFA officials came to the match, and even politicians from Spain and Portugal came to the stadium. In addition, there were hundreds of reporters from major media outlets around the world and countless cameras.
They will witness this game together with more than 80,000 fans on site.
With about ten minutes left before the game started, players from both teams had left the locker room and were patiently waiting in the player tunnel to enter the stadium.
Faced with such an important game, players on both sides felt tremendous pressure, and many young players seemed nervous and uneasy, frequently making the sign of the cross on their chests, as if they were praying.
Even though Ronaldo had experienced various major competitions, he was still a little nervous at this moment. While feeling uneasy, he couldn't help but glance at the No. 10 player diagonally opposite him.
Lin Quan looked very calm, without any sign of nervousness. After noticing Ronaldo's gaze, he turned around and looked at him.
Their eyes met, and Ronaldo quickly looked away, but he couldn't help wondering in his heart: Why is this guy so calm and not nervous at all? This was Ronaldo's first time participating in the final of such an international competition, but Lin Quan on the opposite side had participated in it twice.
Although Ronaldo is eleven years older than Lin Quan, he is obviously less experienced than Lin Quan in such international competitions.
Fortunately, the head coach was very well prepared for this game. When Ronaldo thought about this, he felt more at ease and was no longer so nervous.
The players of both teams did not wait too long in the player tunnel. When the referee saw that the time was almost up, he led the players onto the field.
Although everyone in the player tunnel had already felt the warm atmosphere outside, when they stepped onto the stadium, they were still shocked by the huge noise waves that hit them in the face.
The fans attracted by this game were mainly from Spain and Portugal. As the French team was eliminated, there were not many local fans who bought tickets to watch the game.
Without these French players who were just slacking off, the fans of both teams naturally tried every possible means to build momentum for the home team.
Although Portugal and Spain are neighboring countries and they have many players playing in La Liga, when it comes to football, the Portuguese are not so convinced of Spain.
They are trying their best to prove themselves in front of the powerful Spain, and today's game is undoubtedly the best opportunity.
As the overlord of world football, Spain will naturally not give up the top spot easily, so they will naturally not give a good face to those challengers who try to subvert their rule.
As a result, fans from both sides started arguing before the game even started, each trying their best to overwhelm the other side.
Portugal is a small country with a small population, and the number of fans who came to watch the game was not as many as Spain, so they were slightly at a disadvantage in momentum. But when they saw Ronaldo and others come on the field, they all screamed at the top of their lungs as if they were injected with chicken blood, and actually suppressed the Spanish fans for a short time.
This was particularly evident during the national anthem before the game. The Spanish national anthem has no lyrics, and everyone, including the players, only listens but does not sing.
On the other hand, in Portugal, tens of thousands of people sang the national anthem together, which immediately overwhelmed Spain in terms of momentum.
At the side of the field, Bosque, who had just walked over to shake hands with the opposing coach and was walking back, felt a little nervous after feeling the momentum of the Portuguese fans.
The atmosphere of the game has a great impact on the players. If the Portuguese players take advantage of this momentum and launch a fierce attack on Spain at the beginning, even if he has made some arrangements before the game, he may not be able to withstand it.
However, what surprised him was that after the kick-off, the Portuguese team did not rush to attack, but instead took the initiative to shrink their formation and put up a defensive posture.
Seeing this scene, Bosque was a little stunned: Could it be that what the guy said before the game was true, was he really going to park the bus in the final?
In the stands, the fans were also very surprised when they saw the defensive formation adopted by the Portuguese.
Spain hasn't even started attacking yet, but the Portuguese are already eager to retreat back to their own penalty area. Are they really so afraid of the Spanish attack?
Since the opponent did not take the initiative to attack, Spain naturally could not waste time passing the ball back and forth in the backcourt.
They began to try to advance forward and launch a tentative attack on Portugal.
Spain has encountered the bus parking tactic many times, especially in the past few years.
After they defended the European Cup and the World Cup, other teams that were a little bit weaker than them would put up an iron bucket formation when they met Spain, not seeking to win, but to not lose, or at least not lose too badly.
You know what, this trick is actually quite effective.
If these weak teams dare to fight against Spain, Spain will be able to score four or five goals or even more.
But if they parked the bus, Spain's number of goals would be greatly reduced, and they might even be forced into a draw.
After all, breaking through dense defense is a global problem!
Back to this game, although Portugal is not one of the top teams in Europe, its strength is not weak. If they are determined to park the bus, it will be difficult for Spain to play against them.
In the first ten minutes of the game, Spain tried to attack from the flanks and the center, but was blocked by Portugal's impenetrable defense.
During this period they only had three chances to shoot, and none of them were good opportunities. Among the three shots, except for Lin Quan's shot on target in the ninth minute, the other two shots failed to pose any threat.
For a while, the Spanish team seemed to be helpless against their opponents.
This choice of the opponent was obviously somewhat beyond Bosque's expectations. He had previously guessed that the opponent might use their physical advantage to press them high and fight a war of attrition with Spain, but he did not expect the opponent to be so negative.
The Spanish team is now in a difficult situation. The longer the game drags on, the more disadvantageous it will be for them because their physical fitness is not as good as their opponents.
If the fight is dragged on, the opponent can completely turn the tables and suppress them after exhausting their energy.
At that time, just one goal would be enough to kill the game and make Spain lose.
Bosque didn't believe that the Portuguese really wanted to drag the game into a penalty shootout, but he absolutely believed that the other side wanted to drag the game into overtime! Since time was not on their side, they had to score as soon as possible and take the initiative.
Thinking of this, Bosque called Ramos over and gave him some detailed instructions.
Soon, everyone at the scene noticed the change in Spain's formation.
When attacking, their back line completely crossed the half court, and Ramos was aggressive like a full-back, frequently joining in the attack.
Ramos has played as a full-back before, and letting him participate in wing attacks can further increase the Spanish team's offensive threat on the wing.
In this game, Portugal's starting defender on the left was 24-year-old Cedric, who was only 1.71 meters tall and had great defects in competing for high balls.
Bosque obviously wanted to use this to make a fuss! After Ramos joined the attack, Spain's defense became even thinner. Once the opponent launched a sneak attack, it would likely cause a huge threat.
Therefore, Bosque's decision is very risky!
Bosque was feeling nervous and couldn't sit still, so he stood on the sidelines to watch the game.
On the other side, Portugal coach Fernando could no longer sit still.
After Ramos came on, Portugal's left side came under tremendous defensive pressure.
The presence of Lin Quan had already disturbed their flanks, and now with the addition of Ramos, players including Nani, Sanchez, William and others had to devote more energy to the defense on the left side.
Although Nani is not as famous as Ronaldo, he is a key link in Portugal's counterattack because he is very fast and can make a good pass.
Without Nani's assistance, even with a goal-scoring machine like Ronaldo on the front line, the Portuguese team would not be able to launch a threatening counterattack.
Even though Portugal has set up a solid defense, it doesn't mean they are really negative.
In fact, Fernando has a lot of ideas about offense.
It's just that his idea was to rely on a quick counterattack to sneak attack, rather than to fight against Spain in an upright manner. After all, the last team that dared to fight against Spain had been carried away! However, because of the fall of the left wing, his plan completely failed.
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The reason why Cedric was chosen for this game is because he is short and fast. He can keep up with Lin Quan's pace in defense and keep up with Nani's speed in attack. He can cooperate with Nani on the wing to ensure that Portugal can launch a quick counterattack.
But unfortunately, Cedric's offensive talent was not displayed, but instead his defensive weaknesses were exposed.
Although his speed was not slower than Lin Quan's, it was still too difficult for him to keep up with Lin Quan's pace.
Lin Quan dribbled the ball and changed directions very frequently. Cedric could barely keep up at the beginning, but after playing for more than ten minutes, he could no longer keep up.
If it weren't for the help from teammates, the left side would have been completely lost.
And now, with Ramos coming on, another weakness of Cedric has been exposed.
Due to his weight, he is not very good at physical confrontation and ball protection.
Ramos does not need Lin Quan's strong ability to vary his moves. He can easily gain the upper hand in the confrontation by relying solely on his physical and height advantages.
After finding the weakness of the Portuguese team, Spain naturally showed no mercy and attacked them hard on the left side.
From the 15th minute onwards, Spain's attacks were almost all launched from the left.
Even with the help of his teammates, Cedric still had a hard time defending and in the 18th minute, he received the first yellow card of the game.
It was already a little difficult to defend, and now it got a card. Portugal's left-wing defense was in danger of total collapse.
Seeing this, Fernando had no choice but to order all the players, including Ronaldo, to retreat and participate in the defense.
Let’s put the counterattack aside for now. We must fill the hole on the left first.
Spain played very vigorously, but the advantage on the flanks was not able to be converted into victory.
Portugal's goalkeeper Patricio performed very well today, making high catches and blocking the ball, destroying the several scoring opportunities that Spain had finally gotten.
Thanks to the goalkeeper's outstanding performance, the Spanish team still failed to break the opponent's goal 30 minutes into the first half.
Spain couldn't beat their opponents, and Portugal wasn't much better.
After 30 minutes, they had only managed two shots, both of which missed the target.
Obviously, the high-quality counterattack that the Portuguese wanted did not take place.
After thirty minutes of fierce attack without any results, Lin Quan began to control the tempo of the game.
The fierce attack just now consumed a lot of the team's physical energy, and it would be easy to lose the ball if they could not attack for a long time. They must slow down first and then reorganize the attack.
Seeing that the Spanish team stopped attacking, the Portuguese team also breathed a sigh of relief.
Although we didn't lose the ball, it was not a pleasant feeling to be besieged by the opponent.
So they took advantage of the opportunity when the Spanish team retreated and started to push forward to restore the flexibility of the defense line to prevent the three lines from being compressed into one line.
Seeing that the opponent expanded its formation outward, Lin Quan had an idea in his mind.
The opponent's weakness on the left has been completely exposed, and since he appeared on this side again, the opponent will most likely think that he will continue to attack from the left.
But this time, Lin Quan plans to do the opposite.
In the 33rd minute, the Spanish team suddenly accelerated. After Lin Quan dribbled past Nani who was trying to steal the ball, he immediately passed the ball to Pedro's feet.
Pedro ran wildly along the sidelines, attracting several defensive players, and Lin Quan was lying in ambush behind him. When Pedro was blocked and forced to pass the ball to Lin Quan, as many as five Portuguese players had gathered around him!
Good opportunity! Lin Quan didn't even think about it and made a long pass to move the ball to the other side.
At this time, Portugal's defensive formation has completely shifted to the left, and there is a large space on their right.
When Lin Quan passed the ball, David Silva had already noticed his gesture and started to sprint before the ball flew over.
Fabregas, Busquets and others also moved towards the right.
The Portuguese players were shocked when they saw this and hurried back to defense.
However, how can a person’s speed match the speed of the ball?
Before they could return to defense, David Silva, who received the pass from Lin Quan on the wing, had already cut inside and prepared to shoot.
Full-back Rafael and center-back Jose rushed forward to block it, but David Silva only feinted and passed the ball back to the middle when the opponent blocked it.
Since there were no defensive players around, Fabregas followed up and kicked a long shot! This long shot was of extremely high quality and went straight into the dead corner of the goal!
(End of this chapter)