Chapter 77: The National Team's First Hat-trick

Chapter 77: The National Team's First Hat-trick

During the pre-match press conference, Bosque announced the starting lineup for Spain in this game.

To the surprise of the journalists, Spain's main forwards, Torres and Villa, were both on the bench.

Instead, starting the match was 16-year-old prodigy Lin Quan from Werder Bremen, which got the journalists excited.

Bosque is taking such a bold approach? Just recruited this young striker from the youth team and immediately entrusted him with such a heavy responsibility.

If anything goes wrong, the blame for improper selection will definitely fall on the coach.

Moreover, it would have a huge negative impact on this young player.

Of course, if Lin Quan performs well in the national team, the journalists will also praise him and Bosque.

Praising and criticizing like this is a tradition among journalists.

In any case, regardless of the result of this match, a big news story is inevitable!

The coach of Belarus on the side was speechless. He knew Spain was strong.

But does that mean you can look down on others like this? Am I Belarus so weak?

You put a 16-year-old player on me, who are you looking down on? ??

At nine o'clock local time, the match between the two sides kicked off.

Spain once again deployed a strikerless formation. Although Lin Quan stood in the striker position, he actually played as a false nine.

Bosque gave him great freedom in the attacking third, allowing him to roam between the winger, striker, and attacking midfielder positions.

He could go wherever he felt comfortable.

Of course, this was a risky move, so Bosque only planned to give Lin Quan half of the game.

If Spain couldn't score in the first half and establish a lead, he would replace Torres and Villa in the second half and switch to a regular tactic.

"Although it's a bit risky, we have to do this. We're playing against France in the next match, and we don't have much time left!"

Looking at the team's starting lineup, Bosque sighed and said to his old companion, Coach Toni.

France is a traditional European powerhouse. Although Spain is slightly stronger than them, they can't guarantee a hundred percent victory.

If anything goes wrong, the situation will be very unfavorable for Spain.

There are 13 slots allocated to Europe in the World Cup, and only the top team in the group can directly qualify for the World Cup finals.

If they don't get first place, they will have to play in the playoffs.

The playoffs consist of two matches, and they will face some strong teams. It's much more difficult than the group stage.

To avoid any mishaps, they must secure their ticket to the World Cup during the group stage.

"Now, why talk about these? Since we've chosen him, we can only trust him!"

Toni appeared fearless. After all, they had already won the World Cup and defended their European title.

They had achieved all the honors they could, so they had no regrets.

Bosque nodded and remained silent, focusing on watching the match.

Just as Spain's coach was worried about Lin Quan's performance in the match, Lin Quan almost created a goal right from the start.

Less than a minute into the game, David Silva made a clever through pass from the right side of the penalty area.

Lin Quan anticipated it, made an early run, and received his pass inside the penalty area.

But unfortunately, Lin Quan's shot from a tight angle hit the right post, and Belarus escaped.

Although the goal wasn't scored, Spain's dominance was evident early on.

In the 5th minute, after evading defenders, Xavi chipped the ball, Silva passed it to Lin Quan.

Lin Quan sent a through pass, Silva charged into the penalty area and formed a one-on-one.

But his shot missed slightly, and the ball grazed the post and flew out of bounds.

These two chances left the Spanish fans in the stands both frustrated and excited. The team couldn't score, which was absurd!

But the excellent performance of the new player in the team's attack was truly surprising.

In the 8th minute, Belarus launched a quick counterattack, but Ramos intercepted the cross from the right flank.

The performance of Real Madrid's main defender in the backline was reassuring.

In the 11th minute, Spain came back again.

Alba's cross from the left, Xavi passed directly to Pedro after receiving the ball, and Pedro flicked it to Lin Quan.

Lin Quan made a feint to fool the defender, passed the ball back to Iniesta as he entered the penalty area.

Iniesta was already in a one-on-one situation when he received the ball. He could have shot directly, but he chose to pass to the unmarked Lin Quan.

Lin Quan didn't expect the pass, but he reacted quickly and tapped the ball into the empty net.

Spain led Belarus 1-0 away.

After scoring, Lin Quan excitedly pointed at Iniesta, ran over to him and hugged him, thanking him for the selfless assist.

This pass from Iniesta was optional, but he chose to pass it.

This selfless pass was obviously his special care for the newcomer.

Teammates ran over one after another, huddling the two in the middle.

Leading against Belarus wasn't much to be happy about, but Lin Quan's excellent performance in the team's tactics was truly something to be happy about.

Just 11 minutes into the game, Lin Quan had already played three positions in the frontcourt.

Whether it was dribbling on the wing, shooting as a striker, or organizing attacks as an attacking midfielder, he performed admirably.

Teammates had completely dispelled their doubts about him; this kid wasn't one of those who faltered in major tournaments, his performance in the tournament was as stable as in training matches!

Therefore, the players had fully accepted this newcomer in the team.

"Leading by one goal isn't secure enough. Let's try to score a few more, so we can save some energy in the second half!"

Team leader Casillas stepped forward and said.

Everyone nodded.

The match resumed, and Belarus organized an attack, but couldn't even get past the midfield, as Spain's strong midfield began to dominate.

In the 20th minute, after Silva intercepted the ball in midfield, he made a precise diagonal pass.

Pedro entered the penalty area after dribbling past Vyalempko and took a shot that was blocked by the goalkeeper. Lin Quan smartly followed up and scored with a rebound.

The score on the field became 2-0!

Pedro was a bit regretful; his shot was too straight, a bit of an angle would have made a difference.

But it was still good that a teammate could score on the rebound.

In the 27th minute, Belarus finally launched a counterattack.

But Rodionov's turn and shot lacked power, and Casillas easily caught the ball. This was Belarus's only shot in the first half.

In the 29th minute, Lin Quan dribbled past a defender on the wing and cut inside. With a feint, he passed the ball to Silva.

Silva started a bit early this time, and the linesman raised his flag for offside.

A minute later, Lin Quan broke through the middle, attracted three defenders, and passed the ball to Xavi.

Xavi passed to Silva, and this time Silva reacted cleverly, waiting until he saw Xavi's pass before starting his run.

He received the ball on the left side of the penalty area, turned and shot immediately. The ball flew into the net, but Silva was about to celebrate when he heard the linesman's whistle.

This time Silva was unhappy; he was a hundred percent sure he wasn't offside, so he ran over to argue with the linesman.

Seeing his teammate's somewhat agitated mood, Lin Quan hurriedly ran up to pull him back.

"David, calm down a bit. We'll have more chances later, no need to be so worked up!"

Fortunately, he acted quickly, and the main referee was already preparing to show a yellow card to Manchester City's core player.

Seeing the referee put back half of the yellow card he had taken out, Silva felt a bit relieved.

"Thank you, Lin, I won't waste the chances you give me next time!"

Seeing Lin Quan comforting a teammate ten years older than him on the field, Bosque and Coach Toni looked at each other, feeling a bit strange:

Who's the newcomer in the team, and who's the big brother?

"This kid's mindset is even more stable than some older players!"

Lin Quan's performance greatly reduced the coach's worries. At least for now, this kid's performance had met, or even exceeded, expectations.

The first half of the match wasn't over yet, and Spain's lead was still expanding.

In the 32nd minute, Silva was penalized for offside again after receiving the ball in the frontcourt, but this time he calmly didn't protest.

In the 35th minute, Xavi passed to Silva, who made a low cross from the right side of the penalty area.

The ball was a bit difficult to handle, a half-high ball.

Without thinking, Lin Quan instinctively performed a sideways volley.

He blocked the goalkeeper's view, and the goalkeeper didn't see his shot motion in time.

By the time he saw the ball flying towards the goal, it was too late to save.

The score on the field became 3-0, and in less than forty minutes, Lin Quan had already scored a hat-trick!

(End of this chapter)