Chapter 84 Puyol's Thoughts

When they saw Fabregas standing at the penalty spot, Bosque and the assistant coaches stood up, ready to celebrate.

I thought this was the ball that would seal the victory, but unexpectedly it was kicked away by Fabregas.

This made the two men who had their arms half raised feel a little embarrassed. Bosque and assistant coach Tony looked at each other, and a bitter smile appeared on both of their faces.

Why is it so difficult for these guys to take a penalty kick? "Who will take the next penalty kick?"

Tony thought for a moment and replied, "Xavi, he's pretty stable when it comes to penalty kicks, so he shouldn't miss, right?"

Bosque agreed on the surface, but he was worried in his heart:

Is Xavi really that stable?

It seems to be a glorious tradition that Spain is not good at penalty kicks. It was still relatively good during the Bosque era.

Even though Enrique's Spain practiced 1,000 penalties before the game, they were still eliminated in the penalty shootout, and they were eliminated in the penalty shootout for two consecutive World Cups...

Fabregas' missed penalty had little impact on Spain's morale, but had a big impact on France's morale.

After the restart, the French team pressed forward and launched a series of fierce attacks on Spain.

Since the referee's previous decision was controversial, after the restart, the referee seemed to be intentionally or unintentionally giving the French team some compensation.

In the 41st minute, Ramos and Ribery kicked each other down during a fight and were given yellow card warnings by the referee.

Two minutes later, Lin Quan was tripped by a defender in almost the same way when he was dribbling the ball. The referee was close by but did not make any comment.

This naturally angered the Spanish players. Busquets, Xavi and others also ran up to surround the referee, believing that his decision was unfair.

Even if they don't draw a card, they should at least give a free kick.

The referee didn't even give a verbal warning, but directly took out the yellow card, but not to the French team's defensive players, but to the Spanish midfielders Xavi and Busquets.

This penalty was booed by more than 50,000 fans at the scene, and the fans were very dissatisfied with the referee's decision.

If you count the two yellow cards he showed to the French team before, he showed four yellow cards in the first half because players from both teams protested against his law enforcement standards.

The existence of these four yellow cards is itself evidence that there are problems with his law enforcement ability.

Bosque couldn't stand it anymore and rushed out to protest to the fourth official:

"Hey, look at what you did, it was a yellow card, you didn't punish the offending player but showed my player a yellow card, is that how you offence people?"

The fourth official signaled to Bosque to calm down and told him to complain to FIFA if he had any problems. He was only the fourth official and could not change the referee's decision.

Bosque actually knew that it was useless to protest to the fourth official, but if he didn't protest, he would feel unhappy.

"I will complain to FIFA!"

After saying this, the old coach returned to the coaching seat angrily.

Perhaps it was because of the boos from the fans at the scene, or perhaps it was because after he made the mistake, the referee finally calmed down.

After showing the two yellow cards to the Spanish team, the referee's officiating returned to normal standards.

In the 44th minute of the first half, the Spanish team committed a defensive foul in their own half, giving the opponent a free kick in a not-so-good position.

There was nothing wrong with the penalty on this ball, but the fans at the scene will boo the referee whenever they see him make a penalty that is unfavorable to their team.

The French team was not affected by the boos from the audience because they were not being booed at them anyway.

Cabaye took the free kick, but because there was not much time left in the first half, they did not choose to make tactical coordination, but directly lifted the ball into the penalty area and let their teammates score.

Benzema, who is of similar height, overpowered his club teammate Ramos in the penalty area and grabbed the first point.

He did not choose to attack directly, but passed the ball to his teammate. Menez jumped high from the other side, completed a header in the air, and broke through the Spanish goal.

This was a wonderful combination of efforts. In the last minute of the first half, the French team equalized the score with a header.

However, the big-screen replay at the scene showed that the ball was suspected of being offside.

At the moment Benzema headed the ball, Menez seemed to be on the offside line.

This time, Spanish fans are even more unhappy.

Protests against refereeing fouls continued, with some conspiracy theorists even believing that the referee of this game was sent by FIFA on a mission.

FIFA doesn't want to see Spain defend the World Cup, so it wants to find an opportunity to get rid of them.

Although this speculation lacks actual evidence, once the conspiracy theory spreads, more and more people will believe it.

Even if FIFA immediately came out to clarify the matter, it would probably be difficult to completely eliminate the impact of the conspiracy theory.

After the goal, the French team was extremely excited and celebrated wildly at the Calderon Stadium amid the boos of more than 50,000 fans.

The fact that the French team was able to tenaciously equalize the score even when they were behind, the situation was unfavorable to them, and the referee was suspected of unfair treatment was like a shot in the arm for them, making them excited and their blood boiling.

The Spaniards felt that the referee had called a unfair whistle on them, and the French team thought so too.

If the French team loses this game, they will definitely protest to FIFA.

Of course, winning is another matter.

By the time the French team finished celebrating, the first half was over.

After the restart, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half.

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

On the home team's side, the Spanish players were upset by the referee in the last few minutes of the first half. The players all looked unhappy and the atmosphere in the team was terribly gloomy.

"Forget the first half of the game and the unfair penalty of the referee. All you have to do is play a good game and not be affected by these factors."

Bosque is not a coach who is good at encouraging players, boosting morale and making them full of fighting spirit in the locker room.

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He is more like the Huang-Lao school's policy of governing by doing nothing, explaining tactics and playing methods step by step, and telling players how to play in a specific way on the field, and that's it.

Asking him to use hairdryers on the players like Ferguson did is a bit out of character.

The mobilizers of the Spanish locker room are several old captains of the national team, such as Puyol and Casillas.

Seeing his teammates were in a depressed mood, Puyol stood up:

"Hey guys, we're not behind, it's not the end of the world, no need to be so depressed!"

“Even if this game ends in a draw, with our previous goal difference advantage, we can still qualify as the first in the group and get a ticket to the World Cup directly!”

The players looked up at the old captain who did not play due to his age and declining form.

Puyol underwent knee surgery this summer, but his recovery from the surgery is not optimistic.

This World Cup trip may very well be the last time for the old captain to fight alongside them.

For them, if they miss this World Cup, there may be another chance next time.

But for Puyol, who is 34 years old, there is no next time.

"With our strength and the support of more than 50,000 fans at home, isn't the 45 minutes in the second half enough for you to change the score?"

"Do you really think so?"

"Guys, you are world champions, you are European champions, you are the best players in the world, no one can beat you!"

Puyol recalled the years he had fought with his national team teammates, the scenes of lifting the trophy together and the honors they had won after their hard work, and said emotionally:

“As many people may know, my knee injury was very serious and I was planning to retire next year.

But Xavi advised me that he hoped I could accompany everyone to play in the World Cup again.

I accepted Xavi's advice. It's not that I think the national team cannot do without me, but I want to witness with everyone that we reach the top of the world again and create an immortal dynasty for the Spanish national team!

I hope that after playing in the World Cup and winning the World Cup trophy, I can calmly announce my retirement under the spotlight of everyone.

Rather than being a frustrated player who left the court sadly after being tormented by injuries and defeated by illness. "

"I can't play in this game, so I can only put my hope on you guys, please!"

Puyol's heartfelt speech deeply moved his teammates.

Several old teammates from clubs and national teams came forward and gave him warm hugs.

The gloomy atmosphere that permeated the team had now dissipated.

Even after Puyol publicly proposed to defend the World Cup title, a goal that everyone only dared to keep in their hearts and not say out loud, the players' fighting spirit was rekindled.

The road to defending the title will definitely be very bumpy and it will not be smooth sailing.

The French team is just a stumbling block on the road ahead, and there will be many more such stumbling blocks in the future.

If they can't even get past the French team, how can they defend their title? Seeing his teammates regain their fighting spirit, Puyol joked: "Besides, we have players like Lin in our team. As long as we pass the ball to him, he can perform miracles!"

It was a surprise, and I was lucky to be on Sanjiang Recommendation. Thank you all for your support. Well, I still have some manuscripts in hand. Do you want to add another chapter? Um~~

(End of this chapter)