ball magic

The Argentine internationals got a precious day off, as did the coaching staff.

It's just that the players' vacation is to get together with their relatives, and the way Bielsa arranges for himself to relax is to watch the game.

Lots and lots of games.

But in these games, his most important thing is Brazil.

This is not because of his arrogance, but because of the current situation.

In order to guarantee the two hosts, the teams where the two hosts are located, one is in the upper half and the other is in the lower half.

In the upper half is South Korea.

At present, it seems that the strong teams in the same half as them are Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal.

South Korea and Portugal are in the same group, and there is almost no chance of meeting after qualifying.

Japan is in the bottom half.

Joining them in the half are Argentina, Brazil and the winners of England and Sweden.

Before the start of the World Cup, France, which was also considered to be the favorite to win the championship, had lost their core because of Zidane's injury in the pre-match warm-up match with the Koreans, and they are now doomed to be cold.

Yes, even if France tried their best in the last round and Zidane came back with an injury, he was destined to be completely cold.

Whether England is saved or not, Bielsa doesn't care. Sweden is in the same group as them, and they can only meet in the semi-finals after qualifying, so it can be ignored.

As for Senegal...

In the first round of the group stage, they defeated France. Bielsa respected them, but among the four African teams participating in the World Cup, Argentina has already surpassed two. His attention to Senegal is also limited.

Of course, Japan, as the host, also has a small possibility of defeating Turkey.

But the problem is that Argentina had already played Japan in the warm-up match, and it also won easily at that time.

Therefore, Bielsa's current focus of preparations has become Brazil and Türkiye.

Putting Turkey and Brazil together, Bielsa's key preparation target is of course his old enemy Brazil, not Turkey, a team that is difficult to define whether it is a European team or an Asian team.

After watching Brazil beat China 4-0 almost without bloodshed tonight, Bielsa also came to a conclusion——

More than half a year after Scolari temporarily took over the team, he has completed the transformation of this Brazilian team. This is already an opponent that must be attached great importance to!

The reason why Scolari did this is because he established Rivaldo's absolute core position.

How important is this to Brazil?

Argentina has Rafael, Aimar, Kiley, Gallardo in the 10th position, as well as Riquelme and Ortega who were not selected.

These players can be said to be very good No. 10 players.

But with so many No. 10s, there is only one who can become the absolute core, and his choice is Raphael.

Riquelme and Ortega were not even selected for the national team, which also put him under great pressure.

In Brazil, there are several such top 10s.

Rivaldo, Jaminha, Ronaldinho and Kaka.

Especially before the World Cup, Jaminia and Kaka's outstanding performance in the league and the Champions League also won them great support.

However, Barcelona, ​​where Rivaldo is located, collapsed prematurely, and their performance in the league is not as good as Real Madrid.

Under such circumstances, Scolari still has the ability to overcome all opinions and give his trust to Rivaldo. Bielsa knew that he must be under tremendous pressure when he made this decision.

But judging by the results, Bielsa thinks he was right.

After all, the value of the core players is not in the number but in the quality.

With the determination of the core position, coupled with Rivaldo's excellent state, Brazil has finally entered a stable state and also resolved the contradictions in the locker room.

Take the match against China as an example. Brazil blossomed a lot, and all four players scored goals. It can be said that the whole team played very easily and confidently.

A relaxed and confident Brazil is the biggest problem for the Argentines.

Bielsa also paid attention to the game in the upper half.

After observing the opponent, Bielsa began to think about the lineup for the next game.

The media headed by England are now frantically advocating the "BAA Showdown" and hyping the "Archangel vs. Alien" gimmick.

And such a gimmick has also attracted the follow-up of other European media, and even media from all over the world.

But there is still half a month before Brazil and England play against each other. Why are you so anxious now?

Of course, it was to put pressure on him and let Rafael play when he played Sweden.

Even if the British media doesn't add fuel and vinegar, Bielsa will focus on this point——

Because Raphael's physical fitness is very good, and more importantly, he is in better condition. He has now scored 4 goals.

And Ronaldo also had 2 goals, and more importantly, Brazil's opponent in the last game was Costa Rica.

Compared with Sweden, Costa Rica is obviously an opponent that will not pose much challenge to Brazil.

If Ronaldo scores 2 more goals in this game, the Brazilian's goals will be tied with Rafael.

One of them is a shooter and the other is a midfielder. It is obviously unfair to Rafael to directly compare the number of goals, but the Brazilians don’t think so, the fans all over the world don’t think so, and more importantly, the Argentine The natives don't think so either!

Bielsa and Robson Sr. met, and although they didn't understand the language, their communication was very pleasant.

Although Raphael didn't come to talk to him, he knew how Raphael, and even Simeone and Zanetti felt about the old Robson.

But what Bielsa can do is to this extent.

He is the coach of Argentina, and his first consideration is the interests of Argentina and the future of Argentina.

Is it any good for them if England qualify?

No.

Does England qualifying do them any harm?

Fans are not happy.

But other than that, there is nothing else.

Since it doesn't matter whether England qualify or not, why should he think about England?

When thinking about this game, except for whether Raphael should rotate, he thinks from the perspective of the team and tactics.

Sweden is an interesting team for Bielsa.

The fun is in their style.

England has been invincible in Fengrui for even longer than Fengde's invincible time, and the reason why these two teams have become England's sufferers also shows that their styles are similar.

Judging from the current situation in the upper half of the division, the German team, which is based on the Sanya King Leverkusen and half of Bayern, has a very high probability of being "recommended" to enter the semi-finals.

Therefore, this game against Sweden can be used as an early rehearsal for Germany.

Although it seems to be going too far, there is no harm in thinking ahead, isn't it?

Although he attaches great importance to the Swedish opponent tactically, Bielsa still made a rotation decision in advance.

Rotation, rotation, mass rotation.

On the evening of June 6th, two days before the final round of Group F, the Argentine "Clarion" broke an exclusive news:

In the game against Sweden, Batty, Redondo, Aimar and Ayala will all rotate.

Even Zanetti may be in the rotation.

As soon as the news came out, the Swedish fans were very happy, and the British media all sent affectionate greetings to Bielsa's family.

The reason why the reaction was so strong was because the Argentine media betrayed their own family, which is an old tradition.

As long as they break the news in advance, they are basically no different from the starting lineup.

What is it called?

This is called Ming Pai!

In the anxiety of England fans, the time finally came to the 12th. At 12:30 noon, the final round of Group F will start at the same time!

An hour before the game, England fans got the starting rosters of England and Argentina at the same time.

Let's start with England.

Goalkeeper: Seaman

Defenders from left to right are: Ashley Cole, Campbell, Ferdinand and Brown.

Scholes and Butt in the middle, and the left and right wingers are Joe Cole and Beckham.

The forwards are Husky and Irving.

It seems that the arrangement is not very different from Eriksson's arrangement, but the fans took a closer look and saw a Scot's name in this old Robson's starting lineup——

Ferguson!

Wasn't Brown replacing the injured Gary Neville the last tactic United used this season?

When playing against Inter Milan in the Champions League final, it was the same way.

Let's talk about the midfield, four midfielders, three Manchester United made, and the left midfielder boldly adopted rookie Joe Cole, isn't this a weakened version of Giggs?

Fans don't know how to comment on this starting full of Red Devils, while bbc and itv have already focused on the game between Argentina and Sweden.

after all……

It is not they themselves that determine their fate, but the Argentines!

Argentina's starting lineup looks like this:

Goalkeeper: Caballero

The three central defenders are: Pochettino, Chamott and Samuel.

The left and right wingers are Sorin and Zanetti.

The defensive midfielder Simeone, the forward midfielder Rafael, the left forward Keely, and the right forward "Bug" Lopez.

As for the striker, it is Crespo.

How to describe the mood of England fans seeing this starting lineup?

They are so subtle, so complex, so subtle that you want to hug Bielsa.

Did the Argentine start change?

Changed, the central axis has been changed.

But Argentina, which has been changed, seems to have not changed at all!

Moreover, Bielsa's ranking is still 3313. No matter how you look at it, they are going to attack Sweden. They are still very hopeful!

The legendary bbc commentator John Mortensen even said this: "I used to be jealous when I saw the list of Argentina's midfielders, but now I won't. I thank them for having such a deep bench..."

Compared with this legendary commentator, itv's commentators are more adhering to the "milk is a mother" policy, and have begun to blow up Bielsa and his offensive football philosophy in advance, wishing that Bielsa, who swept South America, would sweep Europe again.

Well, if the European teams pull their hips, it's not just England that's ashamed, is it?

Huang Jianxiang also got Argentina's "rotation, but not complete rotation" lineup an hour before the game. When the players were about to enter the field 15 minutes before the game, he also teased the England fans.

"I think the mood of England fans must be like this now-we are cold, it seems that we are not cold enough."

However, after the game started, Huang Jianxiang realized that he was obviously too optimistic!

In other words, Sweden is much stronger than they expected!

Because a tie can qualify, or as long as you don’t concede more than 3 goals, Sweden will be able to qualify, so Swedish coach Tommy Soderbergh’s tactics are very conservative.

Defense, we defend from the start!

What is offense?

We don't even know each other.

Besides, Argentina scored 10 goals in two games. What kind of fighting power is this?

Many teams have not scored 10 goals in all the games.

Why do they want to compare goals with such a team?

The Swedish fans at the scene were not only not ashamed but proud after seeing such extreme tactics of the coach.

The players are applauded for every excellent defense and clearance.

With such support from the fans and such a request from the coach, the Swedes gradually got used to Argentina's offensive style after they survived Argentina's offensive at the start, and even took the initiative to try to counterattack.

In the 12th minute, Larsson, who was only 1 meters tall, almost helped Sweden break through Argentina's goal first after receiving a cross from the right from captain Mujarbi.

Huang Jianxiang also saw the problem: "Belsa's 3313 is a single arrow, except that Crespo can put pressure on Sweden's tall central defender, but this also causes him to be taken care of by the Swedish defense. Even Keely and Crowe Dior has considerable breakthrough ability, and it is difficult to form a threat under Sweden's tight defense.

And Sweden also proved through this counterattack just now that they are capable of threatening Argentina's goal.

If the Argentine coach Bielsa has no way to deal with it, then Sweden may instead break out of the group of death as the top of the group. This may be the result that all fans never thought of when the lottery was drawn! "

Of course Bielsa saw the problem, but his solution was quite... Bielsa!

After Caballero launched a long ball, Simeone easily defeated Larsson in the aerial duel, and then passed the ball to Rafael's feet.

Then the only barrier in the backcourt suddenly went up!

Before Huang Jianxiang complained about Simeone or Rafael who was the defensive midfielder, Raphael, who passed the ball to Keely's feet, went forward again.

After receiving the ball, Kiley easily won the contest with Swedish full-back Lucic and sent a cross.

When he saw the scene of Rafael's header fighting for the top, Huang Jianxiang only felt hot eyes.

Why, why does Bielsa insist on fighting for the top when he is playing against a tall Nordic team like Sweden?

This is not your advantage!

At this time, the camera was also given to Pekerman among the Argentine staff.

Just when Huang Jianxiang was about to complain, England's score appeared on the screen!

England 1 to 0 Nigeria!

But one goal is obviously not enough. If England wants to live, Argentina must win. Huang Jianxiang said with a smile: "All my England fans may be confused now. Maybe they think Bielsa is a Premier League coach."

England fans do think so now!

They really want to greet Bielsa, why do they have to compete with the Swedes for headers?what do you think?

In the entanglement of the England fans, Keeley was brought down on the left side of the penalty area.

When Raphael ran to pull him up, Keeley leaned into his ear and said, "It won't work like this. If we continue to do this, we will keep losing the ball and be easily counterattacked. Especially the number 11, I think he's more Irving than Irving."

Raphael fully agrees with Keely's judgment: "We should cooperate more, penetrate more, grind slowly, control slowly...but we must get Marcelo's permission."

Keeley also looked concerned.

The most controlling coach he has ever encountered before was Cooper in Valencia.

But Cooper and Bielsa are also different.

With Bielsa's personality, if they change their tactics on the field arbitrarily, they will be greeted by violent storms after the halftime, and there will be a dispute between the generals and the generals. They have already qualified for the group. It's worth it.

Seeing his expression, Raphael said to him: "You play this ball, I will give Javier (Zanetti) a signal. I will ask for instructions when I have a chance."

Keeley immediately smiled, thinking that the captain who gave up the limelight to him was extremely cute.

When Raphael and Keeley both stood in front of the penalty spot, the Swedish fans were under pressure.

In the first two games, Argentina scored at least 3 free kicks, both direct and indirect. If it weren't for their low probability of scoring through corner kicks, they could have been rated as the team with the most efficient set kick scoring.

Now it's their turn to be put to the test!

Is it Raphael or Keeley who handles the free kick?

I saw Rafael take a few steps back, observe the front field, make gestures, and then take the lead in running. At the same time, Keeley also crossed and ran towards him.

The Swedish national goalkeeper Hedman was staring at the ball closely at the moment, but when Rafael's foot slid across the ball and the ball didn't fly to the goal, but flew to the right side of the penalty area, he knew he had been fooled!

Zanetti did not wait for the ball to stop, but directly made a brilliant arc, and he knew it was over...

The ball went in!

Zanetti is simply ecstatic, three games, three starts, two goals, this is his happiest World Cup!

Who is happier than Zanetti?

Of course England fans!

In the distant Osaka, during the match between Nigeria and England, the England fans burst into cheers at this moment, and the old Robson sitting on the coach's bench also got the news that England was leading.

"Did Rafa score the goal?" Old Robson asked curiously.

"No," the assistant told what he heard on the tape recorder, "it's Zanetti."

Zanetti?

The old Robson immediately understood: "It's a free kick again? Their free kick coordination is too annoying."

But talking about the annoying old jazz, his face was already smiling, and then with such a smile, he walked to the sidelines and kept raising his hands, making the fans cheer for the players loudly.

Children on the field, see?

We still have hope!

When Zanetti was surrounded by his teammates, Raphael had rushed to the sidelines.

When he came running, Bielsa waited for him with a bottle of water, and passed the water to him after he came.

Today's game was held at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and the temperature exceeded 30 degrees. Raphael just put the straw in his mouth after taking the water, when Bielsa asked, "Do you want to hit the ground?"

Raphael nodded.

Bielsa said decisively: "Kili and Claudio have a very good understanding. Hernan (Crespo) and them are also teammates of the club. You can discuss with Kiley to see how to play. Now we are ahead, you have enough to try. Wrong space, but you have to allocate your physical energy reasonably, after all, it’s too hot today.”

This sent Rafael back on the court with a stomach full of shock.

He didn't expect Bielsa to give in so decisively, even to give them such freedom.

If Maradona in the stands knew what he was thinking, he would definitely feel that the "little angel" has the innocence of a child——

Although Bielsa only missed a game, although he and Pekerman have a good personal relationship, Pekerman led Argentina to a victory over England, which has proved Pekerman's success and also shows that his handsome position is not Not so indestructible.

Under such circumstances, the tactics of this game were not so successful. How could Bielsa, who is only in his 40s, have no pressure?

And Raphael came over, making it clear that he had an opinion on the tactics. In this case, Bielsa was still stubborn and passed it to Grondona's ears. Maybe he would be replaced by Pekerman after the game.

Maradona even thought Rafael was doing something wrong.

The kid obviously didn't put himself in the right position——

If it was him, why would he come to ask Bielsa, and just say it himself?

Well, talk to him after the game.

When Raphael ran to the command area, Swedish coach Soderbergh's heart was half cold.

When Rafael returned to the field, he found that Argentina had changed their style of play, and he knew that his idea of ​​continuing to consume the physical energy of Argentine players was basically in vain.

This made him start to shout frequently on the sidelines, let the players stick to it, don't be easily drawn out, don't lose their position...

Even if they lose 1 goal, England must score at least 3 or more goals in Nigeria to have a chance.

But if they drop it, wouldn't it create opportunities for England and reduce the pressure?

This made Soderbergh wish he could put the bus in front of the goal.

In the face of this Nordic iron-blooded bus, Argentina has no good way for a long time.

When it came to stoppage time, the Swedish fans in the stands were in a commotion, and the commentators in the media area were telling fans all over the world——

England 2-0 Nigeria!

If this offensive momentum continues, Sweden will be in danger!

Maybe he guessed something, or maybe he was affected by the atmosphere in the stands. In the 46th minute, Rafael broke into the penalty area and tried to cooperate with "Little Worm" when he hit the wall, but was brought down by Melberg in the penalty area. .

The referee Ali decisively pointed to the twelve yards, which was also Argentina's first penalty kick in this World Cup.

And this also made the distant Osaka full of joy!

As long as this goal is scored and England scores another one, they will have a chance to qualify!

A few seconds later, while the old Robson raised his arms and shouted, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half.

The England internationals with a 2-goal lead suddenly discovered——

We, have a chance to live?

No, we are resurrected!