Chapter 624 Advance to the Top 6

The schedule of the World Cup is still very tight. Taking Spain's Group B as an example, the first round of the group stage will be held on June 6, the second round of the group stage will be held on June 16, and the third round will be held on June 6.

The three games were played within 11 days, an average of one game every four days.

On June 6, the final battle of the group stage started in Group A.

The host Russia failed to continue their previous winning streak. In this game, they first gave out an own goal, and then received a red card. In the end, they lost to Uruguay 0:3 and advanced to the top 16 as the second place in the group.

According to the order of the matches of this World Cup, the host country's opponent in the knockout round will be the first place in Group B, and the first place in Group B has been decided in the previous round, which is the Spanish team.

Therefore, after the game, Russian fans had very mixed emotions. They were happy that the team successfully advanced to the top 16, but also worried that the team was about to meet the defending champion.

But this result cannot be blamed on others. If they are to blame, they can only blame themselves.

If they could win Uruguay in the previous game, they wouldn't have to face the powerful Spanish team.

Completely opposite to the feelings of the Russian fans, the Spanish fans felt very happy when they learned that their next opponent was the Russian team.

The host country is not very strong and can only be regarded as a second-rate team in Europe.

With the strength they showed in their loss to Uruguay, it will be extremely difficult to defeat the Spanish team.

Therefore, meeting such an opponent in the top 16 is a huge benefit for the Spanish team.

Although the opponents in the next round were not strong, Bosque did not despise them just because their opponents were weaker than him.

In the final game of the group stage, Bosque deliberately hid a large number of main players and replaced them with a half-main and half-substitute lineup.

The purpose of this is also very clear, which is to give the main players enough rest time so that they can reserve sufficient physical strength to cope with the next game.

"Remember, this is the World Cup. Never underestimate any opponent, especially in the knockout stage. Once you make a mistake, you may never have a chance to make up for it. When you look back in the future, you may regret it for the rest of your life."

This kind of life-or-death cup match is inherently full of uncertainty, and anything can happen.

Even if they have an absolute advantage, they cannot relax before they completely defeat their opponents.

"Yes, coach!"

The team members obviously understand this very well. The World Cup, held every four years, represents the highest honor in football.

Players' careers are short and they don't have a few four years to waste.

So they must seize every opportunity, because in the next four years, they are not even sure whether they can still stand on the World Cup stage.

Spain's opponent Morocco has been eliminated early, so this game is a battle of honor for them.

Perhaps because of this, the Moroccan players relieved all their psychological burdens, played very relaxedly, and performed much better than the previous two games.

Every player participating in the World Cup celebrates what the World Cup means to them, which results in all players experiencing extreme psychological pressure on the field.

Excessive psychological pressure will make them feel nervous on the field, resulting in a series of side effects such as deformed movements and accelerated physical energy consumption.

If their strength can reach 100 points in training on weekdays, then on the field, under huge psychological pressure, they cannot even reach 60 points.

In this regard, a certain national football team in the East is one of the best, and the mentality of the players is terrible.

But now, the Moroccan team on the field has exerted 100% of its strength without any psychological burden.

In the 14th minute of the first half, Morocco scored first and temporarily led the defending champion 1:0.

After the goal, the Moroccan players were very excited.

Because this is their first goal in this World Cup, and it was scored by the defending champion.

If they can win this game, even if they are eliminated, they can leave the World Cup stage with their heads held high.

The Spanish team that was scored looked unlucky, being scored by the team at the bottom of the group, and the players on the field felt disgraced.

So, they fought back and quickly equalized the score in the 19th minute of the first half.

Saul sent a beautiful pass from the wing, assisting Isco to score a sweep.

This goal was so brilliant that even Lin Quan and other main players sitting on the bench stood up and applauded the players on the field.

Although there are not many main players on the field, most of them are substitutes, but if they can become the substitutes of the Spanish team, their strength is naturally not much weaker.

Therefore, after Spain equalized the score, they gradually began to control the situation on the court, and their offense became smoother and smoother.

The opponents were obviously aware of this, so their head coach quickly changed his strategy and began to use lethal tactics.

Starting from the 22nd minute, Morocco's number of fights and fouls on the court increased rapidly.

In just nine minutes, they committed 7 fouls and received 4 yellow cards.

You can often see Spanish players falling on their backs on the court, which makes the Spanish coach on the sidelines very dissatisfied.

Del Bosque ran to protest to the fourth official, thinking that the opponent was not playing football at all.

"Hey, did you see it? They are coming for our players. They want to destroy our people!"

Del Bosque was extremely anxious. The opponent's tactics made Spain very uncomfortable.

Morocco was eliminated and it didn't matter how many cards they drew.

But Spain is different, they still have to play in the knockout rounds!

If a key player of the team is injured by an opponent, it will have a huge impact on their subsequent games.

Bosque's protest had no effect, and the opponent continued to play rough.

Threatened by the opponent's lethal tactics, the Spanish players on the field were obviously a little timid.

After getting the ball, the number of reverse kicks in safe areas such as one's own half increased, and the number of forward attacks decreased a lot.

But as a result, their siege of Morocco can no longer be maintained.

Fortunately, the opponent's offense was also very bad, and neither side was able to change the score.

The audience at the scene looked drowsy. The Spanish team's ball control tactics were really a bit hypnotic, especially when they frequently reversed their feet in the midfield and backcourt and only made a handful of forward attacks. I almost fell asleep watching it.

Morocco wanted to attack, but they couldn't get the ball.

In the first half, Spain's ball possession rate once exceeded 80%, and the ball appeared at the feet of Moroccan players only a handful of times.

No wonder many people say that Barcelona and Spain's passing and possession tactics are defensive tactics. I'm honest!
Shortly after the start of the second half, Del Bosque made personnel adjustments one after another.

The main players such as Thiago and Alba were replaced, leaving only three main players on the field.

This gave Morocco a chance to counterattack. They took advantage of a mistake by Spain in the 81st minute and scored again, rewriting the score to 2:1.
The Moroccan players were very excited and the fans at the scene were applauding them. There is no way, everyone loves to watch the story of David defeating Goliath, where the weak defeats the strong.

Besides, Spain's pass-and-control play made everyone sleepy. If you didn't boo the Spanish team, it would have been a big loss.

Bosque put his hand on his forehead. At this time, his opponent scored a goal. Is he going to lose?

Although they don't care much about the outcome of this game, even if they lose, it will not affect their advancement as the group leader.

But if we really lose to the team at the bottom of the group, I always feel a little uncomfortable.

Thinking of this, Bosque looked at Lin Quan on the bench.

Do you want to replace him?

Including injury time, there are still more than ten minutes left in the game. If Lin Quan is replaced, I wonder if the score can be equalized?
Just when he was thinking this, Spain scored.

Carvajal made a cross from the bottom line, Isco's shot was saved by the goalkeeper, and Asensio made a quick follow-up shot and scored the goal.

After seeing this goal, Del Bosque gave up his plan to replace Lin Quan.

Let's just say it's a draw, it's not unacceptable.

In the 87th minute of the second half, Spain made its final substitution.

David Silva, who had been recuperating from injury and had not played, was replaced to find the feeling of the game.

David Silva is a key part of the Spanish team, and in the knockout stages, the team needs him to step up.

Therefore, Del Bosque is very eager to hope that he can return to form as soon as possible.

After playing, David Silva was very active, showing his superb skills and excellent awareness.

In stoppage time, David Silva dribbled the ball into the penalty area after a two-on-one with Isco.

But it is a pity that although his push passed the goalkeeper, it was saved by the opponent's defender on the goal line.

In the end, the two sides fought to a 2:2 draw, and the Spanish team advanced to the top 2 with a record of 1 wins and draw.

When the game on Spain's side ended, the game on Portugal's side was not over yet.

Ronaldo missed a penalty kick in this game and failed to continue his record of consecutive goals.

However, Quaresma once again stood up and scored the only goal of the Portuguese team.

At this time, the game has entered injury time, and the Portuguese fans have already begun to celebrate the victory.

However, just as they were popping the champagne to celebrate, the Iranian team won a penalty kick in the second minute of injury time...

Iran's No. 10 made no mistakes like Cristiano Ronaldo and made the penalty steadily.

Both sides are back on the same starting line!

At this time, as long as the Iranian team scores another goal, the Portuguese team will be eliminated.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who had performed well in two consecutive games before, will also be the one responsible for the team being eliminated!
The entire stadium was filled with a tense atmosphere. Fans of both teams stood on tiptoes and craned their necks to look at the stadium, not daring to take a breath.

This penalty kick greatly boosted the morale of the Iranian team. After realizing that the team had hope of entering the knockout rounds, the Iranian team went all out and attacked with all their troops. They seized the last moment and launched a crazy counterattack against Portugal's goal.

As long as they score one more goal, they can break the curse of never qualifying from the group before!
Facing the fierce attack of the Iranian team, Portugal defended with all its strength, using various tricks such as tactical fouls and substitutions to delay time.

After a long few minutes, the opponent's winger shot the ball into the side netting, and the long game finally came to an end.

In the end, the two teams tied 1:1.

The records of both sides are 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss, and even the goal difference is the same.

Thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo's hat trick against Spain, the Portuguese team relied on the advantage of total goals to beat the Iranian team and advance to the top 16.

The players of the Portuguese team, who had confirmed their promotion, celebrated crazily on the court the moment the referee blew the final whistle.

The players of the Iranian team seemed to have been drained of all their strength, lying or kneeling, and collapsed on the lawn.

Their World Cup journey is over once again.

As usual, this time they still failed to qualify from the group.

But this time it was obviously so close...

……

The Spanish players were very surprised to learn the result of the Portuguese team's match.

The Portuguese team is obviously much stronger than the Iranian team, but this Iranian team has a tough style of play, good defense, and a well-organized offense. It is not a weak team.

If you underestimate them because they are an Asian team, you will really pay the price.

The Spanish team almost overturned against them in the last game.

"So, don't underestimate any opponent on the field, let alone be careless. If Ronaldo scored that penalty kick, there wouldn't be so many things later!"

Del Bosque had already emphasized the importance of paying attention to his opponents. After learning the result of the game next door, he emphasized it again to the players.

What worries him most is that some players in Spain are complacent and arrogant because of the team's past results.

This kind of thinking will really go wrong, especially when the overall strength of the Spanish team has declined, and they have no capital to waste at all.

……

Since there was still a week left before the quarter-finals, Del Bosque gave the players a day off so that they could spend time with their families.

Not long after the international players set off, their relatives and friends, mainly their wives, had already set out en masse.

The players have been in Russia for more than half a month, and it's time to let them go out and pay public wages.

Compared with some teams with stricter management, the Spanish team is relatively loose in this regard.

After all, blind suppression is not a good thing. Instead of letting players go out secretly and cause some scandals, it is better to let them have sex with their wives and girlfriends.

As soon as Bosque announced the news, the animals in the team suddenly shouted long live and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Bosque looked at it and shook his head: "I forgot to remind these guys to control themselves!"

When I think about the fact that these people's girlfriends are either supermodels or female celebrities, and they have to have good looks and a good figure, I guess even if I remind them, it will probably be in vain.

Let them be!
Old man, I'd better find a place to have a drink and relax! (End of chapter)