Trailing by two goals, the game was basically over for England.

Although there was still a lot of time, it would not be easy for them to break through the Spanish goal, and scoring only one goal would not help, they had to score at least two goals.

This is a bit too difficult!

On the sidelines, Southgate could no longer sit still and replaced Sterling, who was performing poorly, with Vardy.

Sterling wasted several good scoring opportunities in this game. If he could seize even one of them, England's situation would not be so passive now.

Of course, this cannot be entirely blamed on Sterling, after all, he plays happy football.

After Vardy came on the pitch, he had an immediate effect on the front line.

With his cooperation and attracting firepower, Kane played much easier.

Vardy is the kind of player who achieves success late in life, and his experience makes him an inspirational figure in the football world.

Vardy was abandoned by the youth training camp of a professional team due to his height in his early years. Later, he played football part-time in the amateur league while working.

At the age of 25, Vardy was still playing for an unknown English League Two team.

English League Two is the fourth-tier league in England and the lowest-level professional league in the UK. Below English League Two is the National League, and most of the teams in the National League are amateur teams.

A 25-year-old player who plays in such a low-level league would normally be lost in the crowd and waste his career in obscurity.

But Vardy was lucky. His talent was not buried. Instead, he was spotted by Leicester City, which was still in the Championship at the time, and transferred to the Foxes for 1 million pounds. In the following years, he helped the team successfully advance to the Premier League and almost created a miracle in the 15-16 season.

The most impressive thing about Vardy is his fighting spirit. He seems to be tireless on the field, constantly attacking and fighting, and is extremely aggressive.

In the 72nd minute of the second half, Vardy's successful counter-attack won England a great opportunity.

Unfortunately, Kane's one-on-one shot was saved by Spanish goalkeeper De Gea, and England missed the chance to equalize a goal.

When De Gea played for Manchester United, he studied Kane a lot. After all, as a super striker who has become famous in the Premier League in recent years, Kane is very famous in the Premier League and poses a great threat to the goalkeepers of various teams, so it is natural that he is on the list of goalkeepers' focus.

Thanks to this, De Gea was able to predict Kane's playing habits when saving the ball, and thus successfully resolved the opponent's one-on-one opportunity.

Kane, who missed this good chance to score, felt very guilty and made an apology gesture to Vardy.

But Vardy didn't care and devoted himself to pressing again.

Around 70 minutes into the game, the Spanish players, especially some veterans, began to have physical problems.

The England team is made up of a group of young people, and the only one who is not born in the 1990s is Vardy, who is a new player who just came on the field, so there is no problem with their physical fitness.

Their abundant physical strength allowed them to gradually gain the upper hand in the midfield stalemate. Vardy frequently used his physical advantage to force hand-to-hand combat with the Spanish defenders, further accelerating the opponent's physical consumption.

The advantage in physical confrontation, as well as the morale boost brought by Vardy's constant physical fights with opponents after he came on the pitch, made the situation on the field begin to turn in England's favor during this period.

One very obvious change that can be observed is that England's ball possession rate began to increase, and even in certain time periods, there was a trend of overtaking Spain.

"It's a very clever tactic, and it's an inevitable conspiracy, but unfortunately, the British don't have much time left."

In the stands, the coach of the French team, who had already advanced to the finals, came to the scene again.

Seeing the crazy counterattack launched by the England team, he couldn't help but sigh.

It was almost 75 minutes when England started to gain momentum, but it was too late.

Moreover, the disadvantage of being two goals behind was too great and it was difficult for the England team to catch up.

What's more, Spain was only temporarily suppressed, but it was not beaten to the point where it had no power to fight back.

What's more, Bosque still has several substitutions available but they are not being used!

Thinking of this, Deschamps turned his attention to the Spanish coaching bench.

Sure enough, on the Spanish bench, some people had already changed into jerseys and various equipment, and were standing on the sidelines listening to Bosque's instructions, apparently preparing to play.

In the 77th minute, Spain made its first substitution.

Thiago came on, replacing David Silva.

This is not a positional substitution. After Thiago came on the court, Lin Quan moved to the side and gave the center position to him, and Spain's formation became 4231.

Although Thiago is in the attacking midfielder position, his job is not to attack but to defend.

When defending, he acts as the first line of defense in front of the two defensive midfielders, blocking and interfering with the opponent's passing and advancement, and buying defensive time for his teammates behind him.

Among Spain's double defensive midfielders, Busquets has a good sense of position, high football IQ, and his defensive positioning is very reasonable. Koke has a large coverage area and strong running ability. The two can complement each other very well.

If the two of them have sufficient physical strength, it will be difficult for the opponent to break through their blockade.

Even if his physical strength has declined, he can still exert 70% to 80% of his strength, which is enough to intercept ordinary attacks.

After Thiago came on the pitch, Spain's defensive strategy changed significantly.

They began to consciously cut off the connection between England's forward line and midfield. They could do whatever they wanted to Kane and Vardy who were at the front line, as long as they cut off the connection between them and the midfield and prevented the ball from being smoothly delivered to their hands.

"Haha, the England team suffers from the lack of a core midfielder. If they were given Belgium's De Bruyne, they would have an easier time."

"What the hell are you thinking? If De Bruyne is given to the England team, then the England team will take off immediately!"

The combination of De Bruyne and Kane in midfield and forward is scary enough, add Vardy and the young personnel structure of the England team.

If they start mobile warfare, who can withstand it?

After Thiago came on the pitch, Spain's defense improved significantly, but the initiative was still in the hands of the opponent.

Because of Isco's physical decline and his lack of skill in physical confrontation, Spain's attack on the left side was silenced.

Defense alone is definitely not enough. Being constantly suppressed by opponents is not a good thing for the Spanish team, which is in poor physical condition.

They still need to push the battle outwards and not put too much pressure on their own defense in the backcourt.

Thinking of this, Bosque used his second substitution.

The 34-year-old veteran Iniesta came on to replace Isco.

When Iniesta came on the field, there was warm applause from the audience.

Spanish fans have great respect and love for this veteran player of the team.

And considering Iniesta's age and his form in the league and national team over the past year, this will definitely be his last World Cup.

He wears the Spanish jersey and plays for the national team. Every time he plays, he becomes less and less likely to play.

And this game may be his second to last game for the Spanish national team.

After Iniesta came on, Spain's attack on the left quickly improved.

He and Lin Quan are both players with balanced left and right feet, and can play on both sides, so the two often cross positions and cooperate in the process.

Although Iniesta is old, he has accumulated extremely rich experience over the years.

Lin Quan came over to him for cooperation. The two of them didn't even need to communicate. He could keenly perceive Lin Quan's intentions and keep up with Lin Quan's rhythm. Whether it was running, interspersing, receiving and passing the ball, the cooperation between the two was seamless.

With the god-level cooperation of these two people, the opponent's players were like rusty machines and could not keep up with their rhythm at all.

In the 79th minute, Lin Quan received a pass from Iniesta and rushed to the right side of the penalty area.

The players of the England team were already exhausted and many of them had lost their defensive positions. When they saw the ball at Lin Quan's feet, they almost subconsciously rushed towards Lin Quan.

Lin Quan saw an opportunity in the middle and pretended to rush forward, but actually passed the ball straight into the penalty area.

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Diego Costa saw the ball in front of him and thought he could continue his streak of scoring goals. In his excitement, he failed to control his strength and kicked the ball high.

He was in the middle of the penalty area, less than ten meters away from the goal. It was a bit too outrageous to fire such an outrageous anti-aircraft cannon from such a close distance.

"Mine, mine!"

Diego Costa's face turned red, and he cursed himself in his heart for wasting the opportunity, while hurriedly apologizing to the teammate who passed the ball.

In fact, Lin Quan could have shot the ball himself, but he chose to trust himself and kicked the ball into the stands.

I am guilty, damn me! Although Diego Costa's shot did not go in, it scared the opponent's players.

I was lucky this time, but I may not be so lucky next time.

So they strengthened their defense against Lin Quan and Iniesta, but it proved to be too difficult to defend against both of them at the same time.

With Iniesta's physical fitness being fine and Lin Quan consciously helping him attract firepower in front of him and reducing the defensive pressure he faced, Iniesta's condition seemed to have returned to his peak six or seven years ago!

Not only was the cooperation between the two not blocked by the opponent, but it became more and more felt as the game went on, with each time the cooperation became more tacit and more exciting.

The fans in the stands and those watching the game in front of their TVs around the world were all stunned by the dazzling and incredible cooperation between the two players.

"This passing and cutting coordination is amazing!"

"Forgive my lack of culture, but I can say 'f*ck' to you!"

"Is this the combined strength of Xiaobai and Lin Huang? It's so terrifying!"

"Haha, this isn't even Xiaobai in his prime. If he were replaced by the omnipotent Xiaobai back then, the scene would be even more explosive!"

"Ah, seeing the cooperation between these two, I can't help but think of the Barcelona team back then, when Messi also cooperated with Iniesta on the field in this way!"

"Yes, those are truly nostalgic days for Barcelona fans!"

Although Barcelona is still a strong team, it can no longer be considered one of the top teams.

They are facing the same problem as the Spanish national team, that is, an aging lineup and a large number of core players have passed away and there are no replacements.

"It would be great if Xavi was still on the court. Lin Huang, Xiao Bai and Xavi would be a true replica of the original Universe Team!"

Led by these two players, the Spanish team turned from defense to offense and regained the upper hand.

The England defense line faced enormous pressure and was forced to withdraw its forces from the front and retreat to consolidate its defense line.

And time was consumed little by little in this struggle.

In the 85th minute of the game, the score was still 2:0. At this time, there were almost no people who still believed that the England team could create a miracle.

Although Vardy and others were still working hard in the attack, all they were pursuing was to score a face-saving goal.

But Spain's defense was solid and did not give them such an opportunity.

In the end, the game ended with Spain defeating their opponent 2:0 without any major fuss and reaching the World Cup final once again.

This is the third consecutive World Cup final for Spain. They finally won the championship trophy in the first two times. I wonder if they can create a miracle this time and complete the first three consecutive championships in World Cup history? As for England, although they stopped in the semi-finals, their World Cup journey is not over yet.

Before the final begins, they will compete with the loser of the other semi-final, Belgium, for third place.

After the game, Kane, Lingard and others ran to Lin Quan and wanted to exchange jerseys with him.

"Uh, how about you guys play rock-paper-scissors?"

Lin Quan took off his jersey, held it in his hand, and said to the two people who were somewhat embarrassed with a smile.

He only has one autumn shirt, he can't split it in half and give it to the other person, right?

"Forget it, that's fine. He was here first. Just give it to him, Lin."

Harry Kane voluntarily withdrew from the competition and gave the opportunity to exchange jerseys to Lingard.

Lingard happily completed the exchange with Lin Quan, and borrowed a camera from somewhere, and also borrowed a photographer to take a photo for the two of them.

Lingard planned to take this jersey and this photo back as a souvenir. He had already thought of a name for them: "Two Lin Huangs"! He is the Lin Huang, and I am also the Lin Huang. There is nothing wrong with calling them two Lin Huangs! Bosque waited until the referee blew the whistle, straightened his clothes, and walked towards the England coaching bench with a red face to shake hands with the opposing coach Southgate.

“Congratulations on advancing to the finals. I hope you can do well in the finals!”

Southgate felt a little bitter, but still sent his blessings.

Compared to letting France win the championship, the British are more accepting of Spain winning the championship.

And if Spain really wins the championship, it will make World Cup history, and they will be witnessing history.

"Thank you. Your players are also very good and young. I believe the results will get better and better in the future."

Bosque's words were sincere. He was actually quite envious of England's young lineup.

Eight years ago, when he led the team to the World Cup in South Africa, the Spanish team's lineup was also so young.

Unfortunately, time is merciless! The veterans of the Spanish team are now almost gone. (End of this chapter)