Beep!

The referee blew the whistle to stop the game and immediately went forward to check on the injured.

Lorenzo had a painful expression on his face. He lay on the ground, holding his stomach, his body bent into the shape of a shrimp.

From the cold sweat constantly coming out of his forehead, it can be seen that he is in great pain at this moment.

The referee took a look and waved to the sidelines to signal for a stretcher to be brought up to carry the person, while looking at Lin Quan with some fear.

This guy's kick just now was really powerful, and Lorenzo has walked into trouble.

Modric breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the opponent's penalty missed.

But seeing Lorenfu in such pain, he felt a little worried.

Although the team doctor is giving Lorentz treatment, the effect does not seem to be good. Looking at the team doctor's frown, they may be forced to make a substitution.

Lorentz is Croatia's main central defender. If he unexpectedly leaves the field so early, it will be a huge loss for Croatia's defense.

Thinking of this, Modric looked at Lin Quan deeply.

Although there was no direct evidence that his kick was aimed at anyone, he suspected that Lin Quan did it on purpose.

After all, how could someone who had never missed a penalty make such a low-level mistake?

Modric had to suspect that Lin Quan was targeting Lorentz. The reason why he didn't score the penalty was because the previous penalty was a misjudgment by the referee. Lin Quan didn't want to take advantage of the situation, so he didn't take it.

As for why he targeted Lorentzo, it was probably to avenge the tackle and the rude remarks made against him just now!

That would explain it.

After realizing this, Modric looked at Lin Quan with even more complicated eyes.

Should we praise this guy for showing mercy and not taking advantage of others' misfortune?

Or should I blame this guy for being vindictive and hurting his teammate? In short, I am very conflicted. It is difficult to thank him, but there is no reason to blame him either.

In Croatia, there are quite a few people who have this idea.

Many people were glancing at Lin Quan with complicated eyes, but Lin Quan, who was being closely watched by the opposing players, looked calm.

Croatia's reaction was within his expectations, or rather, this was the effect he wanted.

I can refuse the penalty given to me by the referee, but you have to pay the price for your actions.

As for why he didn't want the penalty, it was because he had his own bottom line, and secondly, he had enough confidence that he could defeat his opponent even without relying on penalties.

"Oops, Lin made a stupid mistake when taking the penalty kick and it didn't go in!"

"If this goal had gone in, the suspense of the game would have been killed."

"Hey? Wait a minute, the opponent's defender who was just injured seems to be unable to hold on. As expected, he was replaced!"

In the commentary booth of the Spanish TV station, the commentators all looked incredulous when they saw Lin Quan missed the penalty.

But then, seeing the opponent's central defender injured and leaving the field, they all became happy again.

Judging from the situation on the field from the first half to the present, the game has been completely under the control of the Spanish team. The opponents can only take the beating and have no power to fight back at all.

Croatia's defense had already begun to crumble under the fierce attack of the Spanish team. If a main central defender was injured at this time, their defense would be even more vulnerable. This was Spain's chance.

The entire Spanish team was aware of this, so after the opponent's substitute central defender came on the field, the Spanish side focused on him and repeatedly attacked him.

Because it was a passive substitution and it was very sudden, Joel Luca, who came on as a substitute, had almost no time to warm up and was rushed into the game.

Players who have not warmed up sufficiently will definitely feel very uncomfortable when they first come on the court, and may even be afraid to do any strenuous movements.

At this moment, he is the weakest point in Croatia's entire defense line, and it will definitely be a good idea to attack him at this point.

The entire Spanish team thought the same thing, and soon everyone came to check in together.

As soon as Joel Luca came on the scene, he felt the opponent's malice.

Not only did forward Diego Costa rub against him and flirt with him, but even breakthrough players such as Lin Quan, Iniesta and Isco would occasionally dribble the ball from the area he was defending and try to get past him.

For a moment, Joel Luca felt so flustered that he didn't even have time to catch his breath.

Although his teammates were supporting him as much as possible, this could only help him share a small part of the pressure, and most of the pressure was borne by himself.

What's worse is that when other teammates were forced to divert some of their defensive energy to Joel Luca in order to support him, other positions began to become empty, which created opportunities for the Spanish team.

In the 40th minute of the first half, Lin Quan, who got the ball in the middle as usual, did not choose to continue to attack from the middle. Instead, he made a feint and left the ball in place while suddenly speeding up and sprinting towards the middle.

His fake move was so real that Rakitic, who was defending him closely, didn't realize that the person he was following no longer had the ball at his feet.

Taking advantage of the space created by Lin Quan taking away the defensive player, Busquets followed up and calmly transferred the ball to the right side.

This side is already empty, with plenty of room for activities.

After the Croatian players realized that this was a feint by the opponent, they immediately began to move to the right, trying to fill the space on the right.

But it was obviously too late to return to defense at this time.

David Silva successfully received the ball on the right side. Instead of taking the ball to the bottom, he cut inside and into the penalty area.

At this time, the Croatian full-back belatedly appeared in front of him, but David Silva immediately passed the ball sideways, created space, and swung his leg to prepare for a shot.

Seeing this, the opponent's left back and center back all rushed forward to block, but it was just a feint.

David Silva changed the shot into a pass and sent the ball to the wing near the baseline. Spain's right back Carvajal had already assisted and immediately knocked the ball across the goal after receiving it.

Diego Costa defeated Joel Luca, who had just come on the field, in a one-on-one duel, broke through the opponent's two central defenders, and sent the ball into the goal with a sliding tackle.

The score became 2:0, and the Spanish team further expanded their lead! The ball was played very suddenly, and the Croatian team had not yet reacted before the opponent scored.

Losing another goal was a huge blow to their morale, and the Croatian players on the field were visibly frustrated.

The number of goals conceded in the first half exceeded their expectations, even though the opponent missed a penalty.

It would take at least 20 minutes in the second half to exhaust the opponent's physical strength, but within these 20 minutes, they had no way to guarantee that the opponent would not continue to score.

If the opponent really scored another goal, even if the Spanish team ran out of physical strength, it would be too difficult to score three goals in a row at the last moment.

Not to mention scoring three goals in a row, even scoring two goals in a row was very difficult for the Croatian team.

This Croatian team is very motivated and fighting hard, which greatly improves their defense and makes it difficult for opponents to break through their goal.

But offense is different from defense. Offense tests the creativity and talent of the players more. Fighting spirit and hard work are helpful for offense, but they cannot necessarily help them score goals.

This can be seen from Croatia's last game against Russia. The opponent's defense was very strong and did not leave Croatia with many opportunities.

In this game, Spain's defense was stronger than Russia's. It was extremely difficult to score two goals against such an opponent.

Joel Luca, who failed to defend Diego Costa, felt very guilty and he was largely responsible for the goal.

Another central defender, Domagoj, also blamed himself. If he had not run to block David Silva, Diego Costa might not have had the chance to shoot under the joint suppression of him and his partner.

Diego Costa, who scored the goal, didn't care about all this. He was very happy to have scored again in the World Cup.

Since leaving Chelsea and returning to Atletico Madrid, his performance has been much worse than before.

Nowadays, it is difficult for him to compete with top forwards such as Suarez and Lewandowski.

Many people even doubted whether he still had the same strength as before after the serious injury.

So this World Cup is a battle for him to prove himself.

If he performs well, all the doubts from the outside world will naturally disappear.

But if he fails to perform to everyone's satisfaction in the World Cup, then the doubts will get out of control and eventually drown him out completely.

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By then, I’m afraid even Atletico Madrid won’t be able to accommodate him.

The fans in the stands gave Diego Costa a round of applause out of respect, and the applause was quite enthusiastic.

Of course, if it was Lin Quan who scored the goal, it might have been a little more exciting.

After all, even fans have preferences for different players!

If 20 minutes ago, the team had not been able to score a goal, Bosque would have been a little worried.

Now, with two goals scored, he felt a lot more relaxed.

"The opponent's morale is on the verge of collapse. If we can score another goal at this time, I'm afraid we can directly defeat the opponent. Then the second half will be much easier!"

Bosque observed his opponent's condition and thought with certainty in his heart.

"It's a pity there wasn't much time left in the first half."

The referee came over and poured a basin of cold water on the team. Bosque looked at the time and saw that when the Spanish team finished celebrating their goal, the game time had reached the 43rd minute of the first half.

Including the injury time in the first half, there would probably be no more than 4 minutes left until the end of the first half.

It is indeed quite difficult to continue scoring goals in these four minutes.

"It doesn't matter if I can't score, there's still time in the second half!"

Although he said this, the old coach had already started thinking about the defensive problems in the second half.

There is no doubt that the opponents intended to take advantage of the weakness of the Spanish team, which has many old players and cannot sustain their physical strength for too long, and launch a counterattack after the Spanish team's physical strength declined in the second half.

Their calculations were good, but they never expected that the Spanish team would score two goals in the first half.

In this way, Spain will have sufficient guarantee in the second half.

If it really doesn't work, he still has three substitutions in his hand, so he can replace the exhausted veterans, and at the same time delay the opponent's counterattack time and disrupt the opponent's offensive rhythm.

As an experienced coach, this method comes easily to him.

While Bosque was thinking about how to defend in the second half, the Croatian head coach not far away was thinking about how to launch an attack at the end of the first half.

He didn't want to play the second half with a 0:2 deficit, as that would be too difficult and the players would doubt whether they could achieve their goal.

But if they can pull one back and narrow the opponent's lead, the players won't have such doubts in their minds.

So, after the restart, the Croatian team broke with their usual attitude and no longer retreated to defend. Instead, they boldly pressed forward and launched a fierce attack on the Spanish team.

Doing so is actually somewhat risky, because at this time the Spanish team did not have any physical problems, and they would easily be counterattacked by Spain if they pressed forward in large numbers.

But opportunities and risks coexist, and high risks naturally bring high rewards.

In addition, there was not much time left in the first half. As long as Croatia was careful, the opponent would not have the time and opportunity to launch a threatening counterattack.

The Croatians' uncharacteristically aggressive attack did catch the Spanish team off guard, and they were caught off guard.

In the 45th minute, Modric made a crucial through pass in the frontcourt.

Mandzukic carried Ramos on the penalty area line and passed the ball back to the attacking midfielder Kramaric who was following up in the middle.

The latter shot directly without stopping the ball. The shot was very sudden and tricky.

De Gea failed to react and was a beat late in saving the ball.

Seeing the ball about to fly into the Spanish goal, Kramaric, who took the shot, and the Croatian fans in the stands raised their hands, preparing to cheer and celebrate.

As a result, there was a loud bang, and the football hit the inside of the post and bounced out.

Pique was quick-eyed and quick-handed, and cleared the ball with a big kick!

The Croatian players were left in disarray in the wind! The ball...actually...didn't go in!!

Is even God on Spain's side?

It would have been fine if it had hit the outside of the pillar and bounced out, but it actually bounced out after hitting the inside of the pillar. This is really unacceptable.

After this blow, the Croatian team, which was already in low morale, completely collapsed at this time.

"Attack, attack quickly, the game is not over yet!"

On the sidelines, after Bosque saw the trajectory of the ball in the air after Pique's long kick, he jumped up from the coaching seat and shouted.

It's no wonder he was so excited, it was really Pique's clearance that was so good! I don't know if Pique did it on purpose or accidentally, anyway, this clearance turned into a wonderful pass.

The other side's half was so empty that one could run a horse. Except for a goalkeeper who was very far forward, there was no one else! On the Spanish side, a figure was sprinting quickly, racing against the opponent's goalkeeper! In the end, the player in red defeated the goalkeeper in green, and kicked the ball towards the goal before the goalkeeper could break it.

Subasic looked up at the flying football in despair, as if he was saluting it.

This is an ultra-long lob shot from more than 40 meters!

The football drew a beautiful parabola in the air and fell accurately into the net under the desperate gaze of the opponent's goalkeeper and tens of thousands of Croatian fans!

The ball went in! The score became 3:0!

Lin Quan killed the game with a super long-range lob shot! (End of this chapter)