Football: The Strongest Hexagon Warrior

"aoaoaoaoooooo——"

As the Portuguese and Spanish players emerged from the tunnel at Fisht Stadium in Sochi, the roar from the fans in the stands was deafening.

Almost every player who entered the stadium was also affected by the fanatical atmosphere from the audience, including top stars such as Ronaldo and Ramos, who were moved and had heavy expressions on their faces.

Only Martin had a calm expression and was not affected in any way.

For him, participating in the World Cup is not something to be particularly proud of.

The reason why I chose to represent Portugal in the World Cup was entirely to fulfill the dream of my late adoptive father.

Therefore, the ritual before every game on behalf of Portugal is never to sing along with the Portuguese national anthem.

The same was true for the World Cup group stage this time. He kept his eyes straight and went through the entire process in a coping style.

The great momentum began to drop to a minimum as the game approached. It was obvious that fans from both sides and neutral fans wanted to explode again after the game started.

"Beep~"

The Italian referee Rocchi blew the whistle, announcing the official start of the focus match between Portugal and Spain in Group B of the 2018 World Cup.

Diego Costa kicked the football under his feet to David Silva, and the Portuguese attack group headed by Cristiano Ronaldo pounced on it amid the roar of the audience.

"Longguo TV, Longguo TV, the game we are broadcasting for you now is..."

Central 5 commentator He Wei blurted out: "The one wearing the white jersey and white shorts is Spain. They attack from the left to the right of the broadcast screen. The one wearing the red jersey and red shorts is Portugal..."

Spain, which had the right to kick off the ball, did not rush to launch a forward attack, but adopted a step-by-step approach to advance the overall offensive formation.

The commentator in the on-site commentary box took advantage of this less intense situation to re-announce the starting lineups of both sides to the fans in front of the TV.

Spain's offensive tactics are very different from the past, from the original penetration of the center to the main focus of the wing.

Obviously, this is due to Martin's defensive coordination ability in the middle.

Santos naturally made targeted arrangements before the game, knowing that Spain's offense is likely to adopt a wing attack like many teams that compete with Martin.

Therefore, Spain's offense on the wing is not very smooth.

The most critical thing is that the attack from the wing must ultimately pass the ball to the center.

Diego Costa is Spain's only fulcrum in the Portuguese penalty area. Even though he is very aggressive, he does not play his due role under the combined defense of veterans Pepe and Font.

After a series of uninterrupted passes, the football was given to Alba on the left.

The left-back who plays for Barcelona is full of offensive attributes. He used his left foot to pass the ball while running, tricking Cedric into jumping to block it. Then he used his left foot to knock the slowly rolling football forward. He walked forward a few meters, looked up at the penalty area again, adjusted his steps with a few lunges, and passed directly without giving Moutinho a chance to cover up the defense.

The soccer ball shot up from the ground and flew towards the Portuguese penalty area with strong rotation. The Spanish fans in the audience suddenly became interested.

But Diego Costa, who was stuck in the penalty area, did not get any advantage from the struggle with Pepe. Neither of them could take off, and the football was firmly held in the arms of Patricio, who was attacking.

Spain's defense was very timely when switching from offense to defense. Someone would be responsible for approaching Martin at the first time and not giving him a chance to touch the ball during the transition from defense to offense.

Patricio did not rush to launch an attack. He chose to stabilize the rhythm according to the tactics formulated before the game.

He waited until the players from both sides dispersed before throwing it to Moutinho, who was making a circuitous move.

Before Martin regained his Portuguese passport, Moutinho was Portugal's true midfield core, and now he is also responsible for the offensive organization of the midfield and backfield.

Spain is also quite wary of Portugal's super offensive ability. It does not use high pressure in the frontcourt, which is a killer. They all retreat to the half-court to defend and compress the space needed for Portugal's offense.

Of course, the most important defense is Martin.

As we all know, whether it is Arsenal or Portugal, Martin should be restricted the most.

Busquets and the all-around warrior Koke have a clear division of labor on the defensive end. One is following closely, and the other is responsible for checking for gaps in the middle.

Unexpectedly, Portugal's first threatening attack at the beginning did not come from Martin.

Martin, with his back to the attack, passed the football option sent by William Carvalho directly to Moutinho, who was facing the direction of the attack, and the latter handed it to Ronaldo, who wandered to the left rib of the attack.

Cork stayed close to Martin, with Busquets shouldering the defensive burden.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Busquets have played against each other many times in La Liga. They are very familiar with each other and know how to break through.

There are no fancy technical moves, just take the ball and accelerate forward.

Busquets was afraid of giving Portugal a free kick in the frontcourt, so he quickly retracted his right foot that was stretched out half a beat.

Carvajal, who was retreating, did not expect that Busquets would let Ronaldo over so easily, and it was already a bit hasty to defend Ronaldo.

Facing Ronaldo's iconic bicycle ride, he seemed a little anxious, and he instinctively stretched out his right foot to poke the ball.

Unexpectedly, Ronaldo's feet were faster and he got the ball out a few tenths of a second earlier.

Carvajal realized what was happening and it was too late to shrink back.

Ronaldo fell forward and fell to the ground.

The referee Rocky saw it very clearly. He blew the whistle decisively and pointed his finger in the direction of the penalty spot.

"Penalty kick!"

Central 5 commentator He Wei said impassionedly: "Carvajal tripped club teammate Cristiano Ronaldo, and referee Rocky decisively awarded Portugal a penalty kick in the second minute!"

Spanish captain Ramos has a very good relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo. Carvajal, who committed the foul, is also a Real Madrid teammate. Instead of questioning it as usual, he interceded with the referee Rocky, hoping to have his life taken back.

After all, the contact between the two people just now was not particularly obvious, and it fell into the category of whether it could be judged or not.

Pique and Busquets, who play for Barcelona, ​​are not very friendly to Ronaldo. He mocked Ronaldo for diving.

Cristiano Ronaldo is also a superstar who is used to big winds and waves, and he doesn't pay attention to the two of them at all.

Anyway, the referee Rocky's intention to make the penalty is very firm, but the VAR allowed to be used in this World Cup is a bit of a headache.

After an eight-minute review by the video assistant referee, it was finally determined that there was no problem with Rocky's penalty.

In the Portuguese national team, Ronaldo originally took the initiative to hand over all the free kicks and penalty kicks to Martin, but Martin only wanted the free kicks, so the penalty kicks still belong to Ronaldo, unless he is not sure. Only then will he take the penalty kick under great pressure.

Cristiano Ronaldo, the captain, was active at the start and was very confident in his condition, so he stood at the penalty kick spot holding the football.

'Evolution' means that Ronaldo's shooting skills have reached the peak, and his penalty kicks are almost always on target.

Facing the Premier League Golden Glove, De Gea did not make any fake moves and kicked the ball directly to the lower left corner of the goal.

De Gea's judgment was correct, but the angle of the penalty kick kicked by Ronaldo was very strong. Before the body of the thrower could stretch, the football flew into the net against the lower edge of the left goal post with an unstoppable momentum.