Chapter 297 Damn it, let him pretend!
Mexico goalkeeper Ochoa looked nervously at Lin Quan, who was more than ten meters away.
He really couldn't complain in his heart, this penalty kick came too fast and too sudden.
Like the shadow of a famous tree, Lin Quan's reputation is so great that the Mexican coach emphasized his threat to the players many times before the game.
This caused the teammates to be too nervous. When Lin Quan dribbled the ball into the penalty area, Rodriguez could have trusted his teammates who were covering up after being passed, but he subconsciously dragged the opponent down and received a yellow card. At the same time, he also sent an uncontested penalty kick.
For the penalty kick, the Mexican players had nothing to say.
But a penalty kick was given to the powerful Spain only five minutes into the game, which made them a little desperate.
Fortunately, he still has a chance to save the team. As long as he saves this penalty, Mexico still has hope of advancing!
Come on, let me see your strength!
Ochoa took a deep breath, cheered up, and stared at Lin Quan's every move attentively, as if he wanted to see through the other person.
Seeing that both sides were ready, the referee blew the whistle to indicate that Lin Quan could shoot.
Lin Quan took a deep breath, glanced in the direction of the door, and started to accelerate.
One step, two steps, three steps...
His pace was getting faster and faster, and Ochoa accurately judged that Lin Quan would shoot with his right foot!
In other words, he is going to hit the left side of this ball!
After making his judgment, he immediately pounced towards the left side of the goal without any hesitation.
The audience at the scene held their breath. Whether they were Spanish fans or Mexican fans, they all stared at the goal with their eyes wide open, not even daring to blink for fear of missing this most critical moment.
Ochoa judged the right direction, and the ball did fly towards the left side of the goal.
But it was a little different from what he thought. The ball did not go to the lower left corner of the goal, but went straight into the upper left corner.
His wonderful save had no effect. Instead, it became the best foil in front of Lin Quan's almost unsolvable shot.
Lin Quan's goal silenced the stadium for a moment, and then erupted into a roaring tsunami of cheers and applause.
"You really used this trick in the game!"
"This shot is so beautiful!"
"Damn it, you kid is just pretending!"
"Haha, seeing you take a penalty kick in this way, the coach and the others must have been really scared!"
When the teammates rushed up to celebrate, they didn't forget to joke a few words.
Lin Quan glanced in the direction of the coaching bench. Del Bosque was obviously very happy. Judging from his excited fist pumping, he was not scared at all!
On the sidelines, after Bosque vigorously pumped his fist in celebration, he felt a little scared:
"This kid Lin Quan is so courageous. He actually dares to use this method in the game. If he misses the penalty, will he be scolded by the fans?"
But the result was good, the goal was scored.
When he misses a penalty kick and suffers a loss, persuade him to make a change!
After the Mexican players lost the ball, the expressions on their faces looked very frustrated.
In this game, they were prepared to use defensive counterattack tactics to deal with the powerful Spain, but they fell behind at the beginning, making it impossible to continue executing their tactics.
With such a hasty adjustment, the Mexican players have no idea how much combat effectiveness they can exert.
After the Spanish players finished celebrating, the game restarted.
Even Mexican fans can see that their team is struggling.
"Alas, this lineup is prepared for defensive counterattacks and is not suitable for positional warfare at all. If substitutions and adjustments are not made in several key positions, positional warfare will definitely not be effective!"
But the game has just begun, and if we make substitutions now, what if there is any injury in the second half and they run out of substitutions?
Even if a substitution is really necessary, it will have to be at least until the end of the first half.
Only by making adjustments to tactics and personnel during the halftime break can the greatest effect be achieved.
But this also means that the first half will be very difficult for the Mexican team!
Their opponents won't give them any time to breathe!
After containing Mexico's counterattack, the situation of the game quickly returned to Spain's control.
In this game, Spain used their familiar passing and control tactics. Under the control of a group of top midfield masters, Spain's offense was extremely oppressive.
The football was passed back and forth at their feet, tearing apart Mexico's defense with each passing pass.
The Mexican players had to work hard and carefully respond to every pass from the opponent.
Because if you are not careful, loopholes may appear, giving your opponents an opportunity to take advantage.
This tense state of mind makes the Mexican players feel very tired.
It was only the first half, and many players were already gasping for air.
The physical consumption is secondary, the main reason is that the mental consumption is too great.
They don't know how long they can maintain this kind of concentration, but they are extremely sure that once their concentration drops, they will lose the ball again.
On the sidelines, Mexico's head coach Herrera looked extremely anxious. He looked at his watch frequently, wanting to move the hour hand to speed up time!
This damn first half should be over quickly. Mexico's counterattack has no threat and its defense is in jeopardy. If he continues to play, he is really worried that he will lose the ball.
Compared with the Mexican head coach, the Spanish coaching staff is much more comfortable.
"Can we still score in the first half?"
"I don't know. It depends on whether the opponent gives me a chance, but there is not much time left in the first half. If the opponent does not make mistakes, there may not be a goal!"
Del Bosque glanced at the game time. It was already the 37th minute, and the first half would be over in 8 minutes.
This time is enough for these players in Spain to complete several attacks, but when the opponent is fully defensive, it is hard to say whether these attacks can score goals.
Thanks to Mexico not making random adjustments after losing the ball, otherwise, their defense may not be able to withstand Spain's fierce attack in these dozens of minutes.
But just like a string, if it is stretched too tight, it will break easily!
In the 44th minute, as the first half of the game was about to end, the Spanish players began to control the rhythm of the game and fell to their feet in the backcourt, seemingly not intending to continue attacking.
This made the Mexican players couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief!
After being pressed for half a game, they were already out of breath.
This suffocating feeling of tension is finally over. I hope the coach can make some adjustments during the halftime break so that they can regain some initiative in the second half and no longer be so passive!
However, just when their first half was about to end, Spain suddenly sped up.
Pique took the ball out of his defensive position, took a few steps toward the midfield, and passed the ball to Xavi.
Xavi beat the Mexican player's press and passed the ball to David Silva.
David Silva quickly transferred the ball to Lin Quan's feet, and Lin Quan passed it straight to Torres.
Torres passed to Iniesta on the other side, and Iniesta passed to Lin Quan who reached the front of the penalty area.
These passes were almost all delivered with one kick. In just a few seconds, the football moved from the front of Spain's penalty area to the outside of Mexico's penalty area.
This extremely fast offensive rhythm made it impossible for the Mexican players to keep up.
When Lin Quan received the ball again at the edge of the penalty area, there were only two defensive players left in front of him.
Mexico's defenders were a little numb. The opponent's attack was too fast, and their own midfielder was penetrated with little interception.
There are now three Spanish players appearing around their penalty area, but there are only two of them.
If they rush towards Lin Quan with the ball, the opponent will most likely pass the ball to an open teammate.
However, it would not work to leave Lin Quan alone at this time, because this guy himself is the most threatening player in the Spanish team.
There was no other way. Mexico defender Moreno had to rush towards Lin Quan to block and interfere with the opponent's shot.
In order to prevent being passed by Lin Quan, he did not rush too far forward and always kept an appropriate distance from his teammates. In this case, if Lin Quan forced his way past him, there was a high probability that his teammates would be caught up after passing him. Steal the ball.
However, Lin Quan is not a reckless man. It is obvious that the situation is overwhelming, so why should he act recklessly?
After attracting Moreno's attack, Lin Quan quickly passed the ball to Iniesta who came in from the side of the penalty area.
Iniesta dribbled the ball into the penalty area without hesitation, preparing to shoot.
In the penalty area, Mexico's last defender had to step forward to block it.
However, like Lin Quan, Iniesta also chose to pass the ball.
Instead of passing the ball to Torres, who was in an offside position, he passed the ball to David Silva, who entered the penalty area from the other side.
David Silva did not waste his teammate's wonderful pass. After receiving the ball, he pushed the ball lightly into the far corner and scored, helping Spain expand its lead to 2 goals!
This goal was thrown at the wrong time, and the first half would be over in just a few dozen seconds.
When Mexico returns to the locker room, they can calmly arrange their tactics and prepare for the counterattack in the second half.
But losing the ball before the midfield buzzer sounded completely ruined their plan.
Being behind by one goal and falling behind by two goals puts completely different pressure on players and coaches.
If they only concede one goal, a successful counterattack in the second half can equalize the score. If they score another goal, they can even reverse Spain.
But now they are two goals behind, which makes it much more difficult for them to equalize.
As for advancing directly to the quarterfinals, that is almost impossible!
Score three goals against Spain in half time?
Mexicans would never dare to think of such a thing!
So when the midfield whistle sounded, all their players were worried, very worried about the team's promotion situation.
In addition to the Mexicans being anxious about the score on the field, several other teams in the lower half that may encounter Spain are also very worried.
Spain is in really good shape. From the group stage to now, they have maintained a winning streak and won every game very easily.
If Spain achieved such results through abuse, that would be fine, but the problem is that the opponents they defeated were not weak at all.
The Netherlands, Chile, and this time Mexico, are all strong teams in the World Cup, and some even have the strength to win the championship.
But they all fell at the feet of Spain, and they didn't even have the strength to fight back.
"Who can stop this Spain!"
The Costa Rica coach sighed, feeling that their good luck had ended and gave up hope that the team would advance to the semi-finals.
But for them, making it all the way to the knockout rounds and even having a high chance of advancing to the quarterfinals is enough.
After all, the best result in the history of the Costa Rica team was only in the top 16. Reaching the quarterfinals has already made history for them.
The open-minded mentality of the Costa Rican coach is obviously not something everyone can have.
The head coaches of Belgium and Argentina, who were also in the bottom half, had worries written all over their faces after seeing the score in the first half.
They will not face Spain in the quarter-finals, but if they advance to the semi-finals, they are likely to meet Spain in the semi-finals.
Judging from the situation of this game and the opponents that Spain may encounter in the next game, they have a very high probability of advancing to the semi-finals.
Unless Spain makes a huge mistake, or their opponents produce a god-level performance, no one can change this result.
Thinking that they are likely to encounter Spain in the next round, the head coaches of Belgium and Argentina feel very uneasy. It seems necessary to start collecting information about Spain in advance and study how to deal with them.
Del Bosque praised the players in the locker room and made no tactical or personnel adjustments.
On the contrary, on the Mexican side, they went all out and directly replaced two players, assuming a desperate fight.
In this regard, Spain expressed its willingness to accompany.
After the second half started, the Mexican players played very proactively.
They know very well that if they don't want their World Cup journey to end, they must risk their lives.
Mexico's head coach Herrera made certain adjustments to the team's offensive and defensive tactics during the halftime break.
The main thing is to increase the intensity of fighting in the midfield, in an attempt to contain Spain's offense by restricting Spain's midfield.
Spain's midfield lineup is so luxurious that it can be said to be second to none among the 32 teams participating in the World Cup.
Because of this, he felt that if he could limit and disrupt the smooth operation of the Spanish midfield, he could regain the initiative in the game and relieve the huge defensive pressure they faced.
Moreover, in addition to destroying the opponent's offense, playing in the midfield has another advantage. Once they steal the ball in the midfield, they can attack Spain's counterattack on the spot.
This is closer to the opponent's goal than if they counterattack from their own half, and the threat of counterattack is much greater.
If it were Spain four years ago, they would certainly not be afraid of the Mexicans' tactics.
But it doesn't work anymore. Their midfield lineup is a bit aging. Harvey is 34 years old, and his physical function and physical condition are far inferior to what he was four years ago.
Therefore, under the fierce pressing of Mexican players, his performance declined significantly.
Harvey was very capable of protecting the ball when he was young, but as he gets older, he can no longer perform many actions.
It's not that his skills are gone, it's just that he doesn't have enough physical strength to support him in completing these actions, especially under fierce physical confrontation.
This led to Harvey making several consecutive mistakes after the start of the second half.
Mexico took advantage of his mistakes and tried to organize several counterattacks. However, before their counterattack even started, Busquets strangled them in the cradle.
Professor Bu relies on his brain to play football. He is very aware of Harvey's situation, so he consciously approaches him to provide him with support and protection.
This choice made a great contribution in these defenses!
On the sidelines, the Mexican coach pulled out his hair in annoyance when he saw that the team's counterattack had been defused once again.
Damn Busquets, why does he show up so promptly every time?
If this guy hadn't been in the way, Mexico might have been able to fight back in these several counterattacks!
Their morale is still relatively low at the moment and they urgently need a goal to boost their morale.
As long as they can get a goal back, the morale of the players will be completely different. Then the Mexican players may be able to catch up with two goals in a short period of time and even the score!
It's a pity that his opponent is not a wooden stake, he just takes a beating without fighting back.
Del Bosque keenly sensed the opponent's intentions, and the opponent seemed to be planning to beat Xavi.
Xavi is getting older and his competitive form has declined greatly. Vicente del Bosque has long known this.
He also had a countermeasure for this, which was to replace Harvey when his physical condition declined in the second half.
However, after taking a look at the bench, Bosque was in trouble.
Who would it be better to replace?
There are so many backup candidates!
Forget it, play it safe and change to a player with a more solid defense!
Thinking of this, Bosque called Cork's name and asked him to get up and warm up.
Kok is much younger than Xabi Alonso, which gives him more physical fitness to deal with Mexico's midfield stranglehold.
And under Simeone's training, Cork not only has excellent offensive ability, but also greatly improved his defensive ability.
Young, able to run, and with a positive defensive attitude, these are what the current Spanish team needs.
The reason why Bosque gave up Cazorla and brought Cork was to use a competition stage like the World Cup to train these young players and lay the foundation for the next generation of Matadors!