The match between Spain and Croatia is the latest one to start among the four matches in this round.

So it's not just the French team that is interested in this game.

According to the World Cup match arrangement, England, which has already advanced to the semi-finals, will be the next opponent of the winner of the match between Spain and Croatia.

So England coach Southgate was also paying close attention to the game. Seeing that Croatia was already three goals behind before the end of the first half, Southgate couldn't help but frowning.

"It is basically certain that Spain will be our opponent in the next round."

Although he was prepared for this result, Southgate still felt very heavy when he saw that the Spanish team was about to advance.

How much he wants to see the Spanish team fail and lose to Croatia!

Although Croatia performed very well in this World Cup, and even won a big victory over Argentina 3:0.

But in the eyes of outsiders, they are not as strong as the Spanish team. If you choose one of these two teams as your opponent, I believe most people will choose Croatia.

Although Spain's lineup is aging, the guy in their lineup is really amazing, which causes everyone to feel a lot of psychological pressure when facing Spain.

Because no team has 100% confidence in defending Lin Quan, any slight mistake may result in punishment.

The strength of this England team is actually quite good, but Southgate does not have much confidence in defeating Spain.

To be honest, after watching the first half of the match between Spain and Croatia, he felt that Croatia's defense had done an excellent job.

But there is really no solution to these three goals conceded. If they were to replace them, they would most likely lose the same goal.

Therefore, after seeing the outcome of the Croatian team, Southgate immediately ruled out the tactic of relying on defense to deal with the Spanish team.

Although England's defense is stronger than Croatia's, its midfield is obviously inferior to that of its opponent, and it may be difficult to limit Spain by defense.

The England team has good strength in the midfield and frontcourt, with Kane, Sterling, Rashford, Lingard, Vardy and others in the team.

These people can only exert their full strength when attacking. If they retreat to defend, their talents will be wasted.

So, Southgate began to think, should he go all out and fight Spain vigorously? Even if he fell in the end, he would fall on the way to attack.

But he was a little nervous. Croatia defended very well, but Spain still scored three goals in the first half.

If the England team really went all out to fight against the opponent, would they be beaten badly by the Spanish team? Thinking of this, Southgate was in a dilemma.

It's really like not being able to defend or attack.

…

Just as Southgate was pondering how to deal with the Spanish team, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half.

Players from both teams left the field and returned to their respective locker rooms.

In the Spanish team's locker room, Bosque stood at the door of the locker room with a red face. Every time he passed a player, he would hug the player, pat him on the back, and say: "Well done, young man!" The old man seemed to be motivating the players in this way, but he ignored that the players had just finished the first half of the game and were sweating all over. The "towel" that Bosque took the initiative to deliver to the door was naturally fully utilized by the fans.

He had only hugged half the team when he was completely dirty.

So much so that Lin Quan, who entered the locker room last, rejected the old man's hug with disgust:

"Coach, you didn't play on the field, why do you stink more than us?"

Lin Quan pinched his nose, lowered his body, and escaped from Bosque's "iron clamp".

Bosque didn't care: "If I were younger, I would definitely go up and fight alongside you!"

Shui Ye, who also played as a defender, was not convinced: "Come on, boss, with your level, you will only hold us back and make us lose the game!"

Bosque's face turned red, and he felt a little embarrassed after being criticized by Ramos.

"Is it as bad as you say? I am a veteran of Real Madrid and your predecessor!"

Bosque also played as a defender. He played for Real Madrid for more than ten years in his career and appeared in hundreds of games for Real Madrid.

Although he is not outstanding among players of the same era, he is not as bad as Ramos said.

"Really? Then why isn't your name in the top 20 appearances in Real Madrid's history?"

Ramos said proudly that he had not played for Real Madrid as long as Bosque, but his number of appearances had exceeded Bosque.

It seems that the question of who is strong and who is weak has been determined.

"Okay, okay, stop teasing the coach and let the coach tell us the tactics!"

Seeing that Bosque was about to burst into tears, Iniesta, who had just finished a quick shower and walked out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, came to help clear the ball.

"Ahem, alright, since you guys asked me to, I'll just briefly explain the tactics for the second half!"

Bosque lowered his throat and said, "For the players' outstanding performance in the first half, please forgive them!" The tactics for the second half were actually very simple, allowing the players to control the rhythm of the game and reduce physical consumption.

"I will make substitutions after 60 minutes based on the players' physical condition. If anyone feels that they can't hold on in the second half, they can tell me in advance and don't force themselves. There are less than four days until our next semi-final, so everyone should maintain their physical condition and not consume too much energy."

As soon as Bosque said this, some people immediately started to make a noise:

"Boss, are you opening the champagne at halftime?"

"That is to say, the game hasn't even ended yet, how can we be so sure that we will make it to the semi-finals?"

"Hiss, I feel like something is wrong. AC Milan was also leading by three points at halftime, but then they opened champagne in the locker room and were overturned by their opponents. Coach, are you cursing us?"

Bosque was furious and kicked the players who were making trouble one by one: "Did I ever say we were going to win? I told you to allocate your energy properly and win the game in the most economical way!"

"Ohhhh, the coach is scared!"

"That's not what you said just now!"

The players didn't buy it at all and continued to make noise, causing great jubilation in the locker room.

…

Compared to the optimistic and positive Spanish players, it is unknown what the Croatian head coach said to his players in the locker room.

Anyway, when the Croatian players left the locker room, each of them had a very solemn expression and a feeling of low pressure emanating from their whole body.

At the beginning of the second half, Croatia took the initiative to launch an attack, and it was a quick attack.

They didn't have much time left, and the task of scoring three goals in the first half was too heavy. They couldn't wait until the Spanish players' physical fitness declined, so they had to start attacking now to speed up the opponent's physical consumption.

Croatia's attack looked fierce, but in fact it failed to pose much threat.

Although Mandzukic was very active, he did not lose to Pique and Ramos in many confrontations.

But the embarrassing thing is that it is difficult for his teammates to pass the ball to his feet smoothly.

As Spain was well prepared, it would be too difficult to break through their defense through positional warfare.

Seeing that the strong attack in the middle did not work, the Croatian team immediately changed their strategy and began to send high balls from the wing for Mandzukic in the penalty area to compete for the header.

Mandzukic is very strong in heading and is a true air king.

The two central defenders of the Spanish team are not very tall. Ramos is only 1.84 meters tall, and it is difficult for him to compete for headers with Mandzukic, who is 1.9 meters tall.

Although Pique is very tall, Mandzukic's physical confrontation ability is too strong, and it is difficult for him to gain an advantage in a one-on-one duel with the opponent.

If the quality of his teammates' crosses was better, Mandzukic's header would have created a huge threat.

In the second half, Croatia did create a threat with headers and scored a goal in the 55th minute.

Although Mandzukic did not score the goal himself, he assisted it.

He passed the ball to his teammate, who shot the ball into the goal without any defense.

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The score became 3:1, and Croatia was still two goals behind.

This goal greatly boosted the morale of the Croatian team and gave them the possibility of equalizing the score.

But after realizing the danger, Bosque immediately made a substitution.

He replaced Iniesta, who was almost exhausted, with Koke to further strengthen the interception in the middle and the protection of the flanks.

This substitution achieved obvious results. Thanks to Koke's excellent running ability and coverage area, the Spanish team's defensive quality has improved a lot.

Croatia's attack began to falter and they were unable to score a second goal.

The head coach of the Croatian team could no longer sit still and started making substitutions.

But the effect of the substitution was not ideal. The situation on the field came to a standstill. The Croatian team attacked vigorously, but the threat to the Spanish goal became lower and lower.

In addition, Mandzukic consumed a lot of physical energy in the long-term and intense physical confrontation. Although he gritted his teeth and persevered, his physical strength was no longer enough to support him to complete such a heavy task.

Seeing that the opponent's offensive was suppressed, Bosque chose to replace Carvajal with Nacho.

Although this substitution was a positional substitution, Nacho's appearance injected new vitality into the Spanish team.

Nacho, who was full of energy, was very active after coming on the court. He was tenacious on the defensive end and blocked the opponent's attacks from the flanks time and time again.

On the offensive end, he spared no effort to frequently make contributions, providing strong support to the team's offense.

With the assistance of Nacho, Lin Quan's wing was a little out of control. Not only was the Croatian team unable to attack, but they were forced back to their own half to defend.

Seeing this, Bosque boldly replaced David Silva with Asensio.

This substitution caused exclamations from the audience. Spain, which was leading in the score, actually wanted to attack?

According to their predictions, Spain should play more conservatively at this time and replace offensive players with defensive players.

But Bosque did not follow the usual path. When the team was leading by a large margin, he did not choose a conservative substitution, but instead very aggressively replaced it with a winger.

Spain further strengthened its offensive capabilities and had a great attack in the final stages of the game.

The Croatian team was very frustrated. They wanted to attack, but the defensive pressure in the backcourt was too great, so they had to come back to defend.

The other side has a new winger who is full of energy and extremely fast. As long as he gets the ball, he can make their exhausted teammates unable to take care of themselves on the wing.

As a result, their counterattack was completely strangled in the cradle.

In the end, at the end of the game, Spain defeated Croatia 3:1 and advanced to the semi-finals.

After the game, the Croatian players collapsed to the ground one by one, as if all their strength had been drained away.

They were really tired in this game. They were completely suppressed by their opponents in the first half, and their counterattack in the second half was difficult to be effective.

The players were caught in a dilemma and were harassed by the opponent. Not only were they physically exhausted, but they were also mentally exhausted.

Although reaching the quarterfinals was a mission accomplished for them, the players were still very unwilling to accept the result.

They were so close to the semi-finals, but they still couldn't get over it! After the game, Modric took the initiative to find Lin Quan and wanted to exchange jerseys with his opponent.

Modric didn't feel wronged at all for losing to Lin Quan in this game.

The opponents certainly performed better than them, so they fully deserved the win.

“Congratulations on your victory. I hope you can go further in the next games.”

"Thank you, your tenacity is impressive. I hope to see you again in the next World Cup!"

Modric laughed: "At my age, I may not be able to participate in the next World Cup, but if I really go, I hope I won't meet you again, whether in the group stage or the knockout stage!"

Modric is 33 years old this year and will be 37 years old at the next World Cup.

At the age of 37, most players have already retired. Modric himself is not sure whether he will still be able to play football or join the national team by then.

"For a player like you who gets better with age, 37 is nothing. I think it's no problem for you to play until you're 40, so see you at the next World Cup!"

After exchanging jerseys, Lin Quan hugged Modric and left with his jersey.

Modric looked at his receding back, still thinking about what he had just said.

The older you get, the more evil you become? Why do I feel like he is scolding me? Am I an old evil spirit?

However, Lin Quan's words still made him concerned. Although he is 33 years old this year, which is considered an older player among professional players, Modric is actually in very good condition.

He feels that he should have no problem playing for another two or three years.

However, it is still very difficult to maintain the current state for four years until the next World Cup.

But considering that Croatia is not a traditional strong team, the reason why this Croatian team can achieve good results is entirely because they have caught up with this group of excellent players.

If he retires and other players in the team leave as well, the Croatian team will probably fall apart immediately, and the team will be back to its original form.

Therefore, as the soul of the team, he cannot leave the national team easily.

If he is still playing football four years later, he may be able to wear the Croatian jersey again and fight for his country! (End of this chapter)