Chapter 82: The Battle between the New and Old World Champions
After the opening, Spain did not rush to attack, but instead controlled the ball and slowly tested the French defensive strength.
The French team played with three defensive midfielders today, and their ability to clear the backcourt was very strong.
Judging from their running and interceptions at the beginning, the battle in the midfield between the two sides will probably be fierce.
Five minutes into the game, Spain firmly controlled the ball.
After testing the strength of the opponent's defense, Spain began to speed up.
In the 7th minute, Lin Quan dribbled the ball through on the right side of the penalty area.
However, just as he passed the defender and was about to enter the penalty area, he was tripped by the defender from behind.
Spain won a free kick in the frontcourt.
The ball is very close to the penalty area line, and a direct shot will be blocked by the wall. The position is not particularly good.
Lin Quan discussed with his teammates and took a tactical free kick. He passed the ball back to his teammates.
Xavi, who was originally behind Lin Quan, suddenly moved away when the ball approached him, giving the shooting opportunity to his teammate.
Spanish center back Ramos unexpectedly appeared from behind and kicked the ball towards the goal with a powerful shot.
The French players were shaken by Xavi and never expected that the final shot would be taken by the opponent's central defender.
Goalkeeper Lori stood still and did not react to the ball.
However, Ramos' shot went over the crossbar, which made the French players breathe a sigh of relief.
Ramos couldn't help laughing when he saw the ball fly into the stands.
It is somewhat unreliable to let the defenders take long shots, after all, they are always accustomed to clearing the ball with their feet.
In the 11th minute of the game, Lin Quan retreated to receive the ball, Iniesta moved to the side, and the two performed a wonderful combination on the wing!
Two passes, two passes, and they were about to enter the penalty area, but the ball was cleared in time by the opponent's defender and kicked out of the sideline.
Spain's attack was quite powerful in the past few minutes, but their attack could hardly penetrate the French team's defense.
The opponent's midfielder had a large sweeping range, high defensive intensity, and excellent physical fitness. The Spanish players could not gain any advantage in the physical confrontation.
However, most of the French team's energy was put into defense. They had too few players in the frontcourt, and several counterattacks were ended by Spanish players in their own half due to lack of support.
The game time passed little by little, and it seemed that both sides had no way to deal with the other.
Seeing that the opponent's defense in the penalty area was very tight and the fighting in the midfield was so fierce, Lin Quan took the initiative to retreat and formed a diamond position with Iniesta and others.
The advantage of doing this is that the teammates on the front line and the front midfielder line are closer, shortening the passing distance and reducing the risk of interception.
And after he retreated, his position actually became attacking midfielder, which was equivalent to adding one more person in the midfield.
As a result, the Spanish team gradually gained the upper hand in the midfield battle, and their ability to pass threatening balls also improved.
On the sidelines, Bosque saw Lin Quan's choice and nodded with satisfaction.
He had just noticed this problem and was about to remind the players on the field.
Unexpectedly, the other party discovered this himself and made timely adjustments.
This kid has a strong ability to read the game! In the 18th minute, Iniesta was intercepted when he broke through the left side of the penalty area, and he passed the ball back to his teammate.
Xavi passed the ball to Lin Quan, who dribbled the ball sideways and then moved away, glanced at the goalkeeper's position, and suddenly shot with his right foot at the top of the penalty area.
The quality of this shot was extremely high, but because the angle was too focused, the ball hit the goal post.
More than 50,000 fans in the Calderón Stadium sighed in unison. If the ball had been just a little off target, it would have been there! The French team was startled and quickly strengthened their defense against long shots.
Seeing that the opponent had strengthened the defense near the top of the penalty area, Lin Quan decisively ran to the wing and began to attack from both sides of the penalty area.
In the 22nd minute, Lin Quan broke through on the right wing and moved down the flank, attracting the defense of the opponent's defender, then passed the ball to his teammate Pedro who cut inside.
Pedro faked a shot and passed the ball directly to David Silva on the other side.
Silva received the ball on the left side of the penalty area and shot low with his right foot. The ball passed through the defender's legs and was easily caught by Lori.
This was a good opportunity and the shot was well taken, but unfortunately it didn't get past the goalkeeper.
Three minutes later, Lin Quan dribbled the ball down the line again, and when he reached the baseline, he passed the ball horizontally in front of the goal.
It was a low ball with a very fast speed. Iniesta, David Silva and Pedro all fell to the ground and shot in front of the goal. As long as one of them touched the ball, it would basically be a goal.
But these three are all small players, and the tallest one, Iniesta, is only 1.71 meters tall.
The legs of the three players were slightly shorter, just a dozen centimeters, but none of them touched the ball, and the ball slipped past the goal.
There was another sigh in the Calderon Stadium. Iniesta and the other two who missed the goal looked at each other and couldn't help laughing.
There is no way, I was born this tall, what can I do?
The French team was scared out of their wits. If a center forward like Giroud had played the ball, it would probably have gone in.
We can't let this kid continue to pass the ball so recklessly. Who knows if they will have such good luck next time?
The French team was under great defensive pressure during this period, and even forwards like Benzema had to return to the back to participate in the defense.
However, this seemed to be of no use. On the contrary, their retreat greatly reduced the defensive pressure on Spain, allowing them to devote more troops to the offense.
In the 25th minute, Lin Quan dribbled the ball down the field again, and France's full-back Debuchy rushed up immediately to try to stop his cross.
De Buich used to play as a winger, but was later transformed into a full-back in Lille.
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This is a player who is strong in offense but weak in defense. After recalling the opponent's characteristics in his mind, Lin Quan made a decision.
Instead of passing the ball, he dribbled towards the penalty area.
Derbyshi stood in front of him, leaning sideways and retreating while positioning himself, trying to push him to the baseline.
Lin Quan bent his right knee and made a forward breakthrough motion.
Based on his defensive experience, Derbyshi judged that the opponent was planning to break through from his right side, so he immediately moved his feet to defend the right side.
But after he adjusted his center of gravity, he found that the opponent's move was a fake.
As he moved, Lin Quan quickly touched the ball with his left foot, pushed the ball to the baseline, circled his body outside the baseline, and overtook on the curve.
Derby was dumbfounded. Is this the way to play? Benzema, the little prince of the bottom line, was also dumbfounded. Did he learn this from me?
From the perspective of French fans standing behind the French team's goal, the ball seemed to be out of bounds.
So they booed Lin Quan and put pressure on the referee on the field, shouting that the ball was out of bounds and asking the referee to blow the whistle.
The baseline referee opened his eyes wide and stared at the ball intently. He would blow the whistle immediately as long as the ball went out of bounds.
But the ball just touched the baseline and never went out of the line.
After Lin Quan passed Debuchy, he took the ball, accelerated and entered the penalty area before the French player who came to defend could make a move.
Derby was dribbled past and Lin Quan broke into the penalty area again. The right side of the French team's penalty area became tense.
They didn't forget the coach's advice before the game: the biggest threat in the Spanish team is the No. 30 player! In the last game, this kid scored 3 goals. If the defense against him is a little lax, he may score.
Without thinking twice, Scocierny and Sacco almost subconsciously pounced on Lin Quan.
Lin Quan saw that the two men were attacking very aggressively and he was not sure he could get past them and shoot in such a short time.
He glanced at the goalkeeper's position and found that the goalkeeper was standing near the goal, blocking the angle of his shot.
This position means that most of the French team's goal is empty!
As long as the ball can be passed, it is a chance to score an empty goal.
So he pushed the ball and pretended to shoot.
Scocierny immediately raised his leg to interfere, and Sako also hurriedly stepped forward with his arms behind his back to block.
This is what Lin Quan was waiting for. When he saw Skachelny raise his foot, he immediately knocked the ball across to the open space in the middle of the penalty area.
If the teammates are in good sync, someone should be able to move forward and shoot at this time.
Sure enough, when he passed the ball, a red figure wearing the No. 6 jersey rushed out from behind, caught up with the ball, fell to the ground and kicked the ball into the goal.
In the 26th minute of the game, Lin Quan assisted Iniesta to score, and Spain temporarily led France 1:0.
I haven't been in good shape these past few days, and I always get the update time wrong. I wanted to set this chapter to be updated at 6pm tonight, but somehow it was set to 6am tomorrow, and I didn't even notice it. If I hadn't seen you guys urging me to update, there would be another problem tomorrow...
(End of this chapter)