Mister Legend

Chapter 479

On the second match day of the quarter-finals, Li Mudi once again sat in the broadcast booth of the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. Together with the famous CCTV host Hong Gang, he became the live broadcast commentary of the match between the host Russia and the favorite Spain. partner.

Regarding his second home country, the Turin coach is still very optimistic before the start of the World Cup. Although he has experienced the downturn in the two World Series in South Africa in 2014 and France in 2016, after Lopetegui took office, the newly formed team The Matador Legion, which is a combination of old and new, still showed the strength of the world's top teams.

Although due to the previous record, this team has not been able to squeeze into the top ten positions in the FIFA rankings for four years, but Lopetegui led this group of players to play an art that everyone appreciates. football.On the basis of the former coach Aragones and Bosque's emphasis on Barcelona-style pass control, this young coach who played for Real Madrid in the player era has also integrated the old club's fast-forward tactics into his own thinking, making the ball The team's tactical style of play has become a type that is both threatening and enjoyable, and it will naturally be loved and valued by everyone.

In the previously announced World Cup 23-man roster, Iniesta, David Silva, Ramos and Pique are four veteran players, together with De Gea, Diego Costa and other top players who are in their prime. The combination of stars and the new generation of potential teenagers represented by Asensio and Saul just formed a perfect personnel structure, which is a typical championship team configuration.Coupled with being drawn into a relatively easy group, and the schedule of avoiding many strong teams once they qualify as the top player, no matter how picky they are, they can't underestimate this team. Team predictions to come.

It's just that the weather is unpredictable. Who would have thought that the Spanish Football Association would make a brain-dead decision to change coaches two days before the start of the game?Even in the face of strong doubts from the outside world, the team has always emphasized unity from top to bottom, but anyone with a discerning eye can see that the emotions of the players have been seriously disturbed.

Another factor that affects the outside world's confidence in this matador corps is the head coach Hierro who was appointed in danger.I mentioned his extremely pale coaching resume before. Let’s not list these for the time being. Just looking at his on-the-spot reaction ability in the three group matches, it seems extremely amateurish, and those coaching staff members don’t seem to play much role. .

Of course, the poor performance of the team is not just the fault of the interim coach and his team. The defense led by Pique and Ramos, two of the world's top central defenders, especially De Gea, the world's number one goalkeeper, is in a sluggish state. , is also unavoidable.Conceding five goals in three games, it is obviously too whimsical to rely on such poor defensive performance to advance to a further stage or even win the championship.And the problem in the midfield is not small, we will analyze it later.

Looking at it roughly like this, it may be difficult to realize their wish to win the gold cup again after eight years.Li Moody thinks that Croatia, which eliminated Spain in the European Cup two years ago, is a strong obstacle. In the semi-finals after that, it would be better if they meet England in the big competition. If it is against Colombia, it will be difficult for Hierro to lead the team past that one off.

It's just that he never imagined that in the first round of the knockout round, his second motherland would encounter such a big trouble, and in the end it would be defeated by the host who was far inferior to him, which really disappointed him.

In fact, the collapse of the Matador Legion has been recruited before the game. When the team is at a disadvantage in terms of on-site support and has a lot of advantages in other aspects, the first thing Hierro considers is how to strengthen the defense of the midfield. Ability, and for this reason, Cork replaced the starting position of the organizational midfielder Thiago, which is a bit too weak.Moreover, the famous Real Madrid star also adjusted the formation, abandoning the 4-3-3 position that the team used to use before, and discharged the 4-2-3-1 that is no longer popular. The emphasis on the defensive end is already very obvious .

However, this is a knockout game after all, and the opponent is still the Russian team, which is blessed by the host's halo. It is understandable to adopt a strategy that focuses on stability.However, Hierro's other adjustments in the starting lineup have ushered in many people's doubts, including Li Moody.If the replacement of Carvajal with Nacho at right back can also be explained by the mediocre state of the latter, then Iniesta sat on the bench and let Asensio, David Silva The choice of the frontcourt attack combination with the three of Isco is a bit inexplicable.

After the two games against Saudi Arabia and Monaco after the group stage, the outside world generally believed that although Spain's frontcourt maintained a consistent and delicate technique, it obviously lacked impact and could not tear apart through running positions when it had a lot of ball possession. opponent's defense.Perhaps because of this weakness, Hierro and his coaching staff made the decision to remove Xiaobai from the starting list, but Li Moody disagreed.

The biggest problem facing Spain on the offensive end is not the sluggish state of a certain person in the midfield, but the incompatibility of their tactics of emphasizing pass control and running positions with the single striker Diego Costa.Compared with the dynasty period from 2008-12, Thiago is naturally unable to be compared with the master Harvey. Although the other two veterans, Xiaobai and Silva, although their physical fitness has long lived up to the courage of the year, their technical ability is still It has been well maintained, and the consciousness has improved compared with that of the past. Overall, it is not much different from that of the past.

But when the person at the top changes from a speedy and technical striker like Villa and Torres to an all-around center like Shengshi Meiyan, the offense of the entire team will be very obviously stagnant, because the latter Although he can complete the role of covering the forwards of his teammates in turn, he is not good at playing football by creating direct pass opportunities for his teammates after moving flexibly.This makes Iniesta and others, whose running ability is severely reduced, but still has the ability to send deadly passes, unable to exert their full energy on the field, and finally forms a super high ball possession rate, but rarely has a chance Sending the ball into the opponent's dangerous area to help teammates get an easy kick.

So when the game lasted for about half an hour, after Spain took the lead early in the score in the 10th minute with the opponent's central defender Ignashevich's own goal, the audience has been watching this possible team. It is the team that is best at passing and controlling the ball in the history of football. It has always been performing seemingly endless inversions in its own midfield and backcourt. The hypnotic effect is definitely comparable to the most powerful sleeping pills.

Facing Russia's seemingly 3-4-2-1, but actually 5-4-1 iron barrel formation, the Spaniard's superb pass control ability helped them obtain [-]% of the ball possession, but it was difficult to find a direct attack. Akinfeev's chance in goal.The opponent's retreat not only wiped out the speed advantage that Asensio could give full play to in the counterattack, but also greatly restricted Diego Costa's space for movement. Like Ronaldo, he can combine the ball to create a threat. Doing so will also cause his side to lose his only bridgehead, so he can only suffer from hand-to-hand combat between the opponent's tall central defenders.

The two Spanish wingers also tried to send a few crosses, but when the two central defenders Ramos and Pique did not assist, the air supremacy was completely controlled by the Russians, and Isco and others could not do more. It's just an unreliable long-range shot by fighting for the second landing point, which is very inefficient.

In addition, Busquets and Isco also passed two through balls, but because the opponent deployed a lot of troops inside and outside the penalty area, they were either cleared by the defender first, or they were too powerful because of the pursuit of speed. Tried to no avail.

Moreover, from a personal point of view, Li Moody also noticed that the Spanish team seems to be quite satisfied with the situation of leading by one goal, and there is no strong will to rush to score another goal to seal the victory, which made him unavoidable during the commentary process There was a slight dissatisfaction, and there were even more words of criticism.

Since the starting center of the Russian team is Juba, who is tall and heavy, and has no speed advantage at all, the former Real Madrid player Cheryshev, who played well before, is sitting on the bench again today, so the Matador Corps actually needs to guard against counterattacks At this point, there are only two wingers Samedov and Golovin left. It should be said that it is relatively easy to carry out targeted deployment.However, Hierro committed an excessively conservative problem at this time, and did not direct the players to increase their investment in the offense, which kept the stalemate in the game until the defensive player made a mistake.

No.309 minutes, Djuba hit Pique's raised hand with a header in the penalty area that was not too threatening, and the referee decisively awarded a penalty.This process was almost carved out of the same mold as the penalty kick that Umtiti gave to the Oceania team in the first round of the group match between France and Australia.This pair of partners in Barcelona defended in the middle, and made the same fatal mistake within more than ten days of a tournament. This is also a rare scene in the history of football.

Juba personally took the penalty kick and hit the penalty kick, bringing the two sides back to the same starting line, but the state of the game did not change much after that, which really puzzled the Turin coach.

If it is said that when they are in the lead, Spain can also use their long possession of the ball to kill time, or completely grind the opponent to death, or force the opponent to attack aggressively to create another goal for their frontcourt players.But when the score became 1 to 1, Hierro and his disciples acted as if nothing had happened. They still maintained the same rhythm but had almost no effect on the ball-handling tactics. This is too weird.

After 10 minutes of the second half, Russia used up three substitutions in a row. When this attitude of actively responding to changes in the field was in stark contrast to Hierro's calm attitude, it was unbearable. Li Moody directly opened his mouth and lashed out at his old friend more violently.He bluntly said that this Spanish team is very weak on the spiritual level, just a paper tiger, and the head coach did not fulfill his due obligations, making the world's top players lose their original aggressiveness and fighting spirit.

The side with the superior strength should try its best to win the game, otherwise, once the opponent is dragged into overtime, then the consumption of one's own physical energy will definitely be an extra burden, and if it enters a penalty shootout, it will affect the victory. If the factors are not related to the strength of the team, it is definitely not the result that any popular team would like to see.So the Turin coach doesn't quite understand why the players of the Spanish team are still keeping their feet in the backcourt area of ​​​​the side, and what is the significance of this.

It wasn't until No.607 minutes that Hierro made the first adjustment, replacing Silva who was trapped by the opponent's strong body with Iniesta, and then replaced Nacho with Carvajal. In the end, Costa was replaced with the dexterous striker Aspers. At this time, the lineup on the field is the team's most theoretical starting lineup.

After these adjustments, the Spanish team immediately got a good chance. Unfortunately, Xiaobai's volley from the front of the penalty area was saved by Akinfeev, and Aspas's small-angle supplementary shot still failed. The Russian goalkeeper's ten fingers are off, but at least the team's offensive development has become much smoother than before.

It's a pity that under the all-out resistance of the host who retreated, the Matadors still failed to seize even a chance to rewrite the score. After the regular time ended, they went through an overtime match like a half-court offensive and defensive drill. The two sides finally Still had to use a brutal penalty shootout to determine the winner.

As a result, Spain, which was not good at this in the past World Cup (lost to Belgium in 1986, defeated Ireland in 2002, and lost to Kimchi Country in 2002, with a 1-2 win rate of only 33%), fell on the 12-yard line again, and It was the second time since 2002 that they lost to the host team.Cork, who took the third penalty, and Aspers, who was the last to play, became the unlucky ones today, but the whole team became the country's sinners, especially the head coach Hierro and the goalkeeper who played the worst performance in history De Gea is the culprit among them.

In the post-match commentary session, looking at Iniesta and other veterans with sad faces, Li Mudi couldn't bear the depression in his heart, and burst out happily.First, he criticized his friend Hierro for his conservatism and the players for not thinking ahead, and then suddenly pointed the finger at Lafayette and Spanish Football Association President Rubiales, thinking that it was the reckless actions of the two that caused the innocent Lopetegui to be dismissed suddenly , directly ruined this group of players who had the opportunity to create greater achievements, and at the same time failed the trust of all Spanish fans.

As for Hong Gang, who was sitting next to him, his job industry was still biased towards the host of thematic columns. Even if he was a game commentator, he was more familiar with badminton, volleyball, curling and other sports.This time, as one of the five people who came to the World Cup to comment on the CCTV Sports Channel, the relevant level can be said to be the most lacking one, so they did not react in time to stop it, so that Li Mudi's controversial comments were spread through the signal , although it is not a live broadcast error, but it also caused some bad effects.

Not long after, the words of the Turin coach spread through the Internet and were quickly learned by several parties involved.Hierro is not dissatisfied with this, after all, his poor performance is obvious to all, and he is quite open-minded, and he has no dissatisfaction with his friends' criticisms.

However, the president of the Spanish Football Association was not so polite. When Rubiales faced reporters, he identified Li Moody as a keyboard man who had nothing to do with the Spanish national team and would only talk nonsense to create a negative impact on the team. He claimed that As long as he is in power, he will never agree that such a person belongs to the Spanish football circle.His statement temporarily cut off the possibility of the Turin coach combining with Spanish national teams of all levels and many professional clubs, but Li Moody has no relevant plans at all, so he doesn't feel any inconvenience.

Only Lafayette's attitude gave him a headache.As the helm of the world's largest club, the chairman of Real Madrid will naturally not react to the criticism of a coach in front of the outside world.But through the FM system, Li Mudi can clearly find that the personal relationship between the two has suddenly changed from the previous harmony to indifference, which is really not good news.Although the grudge with that football boss may not cause much negative impact, it is definitely a result that no one is willing to bear. It really comes from the mouth!
(End of this chapter)