Chapter 510: French supercar takes the lead, what’s next for Martin?

Chapter 510: French supercar takes the lead, what’s next for Martin?

"aoaoaoaoaoooooo——"

The 60,000 fans at the Bayfront Stadium were excited, creating a frenzy atmosphere for the game.

The Portuguese players who organized the attack gradually looked for gaps in the French team's defense as Martin deliberately slowed down the offensive rhythm. Facing the French team's tough frontal defense, they did not rush to send the ball to the ribs or pass it to Ronaldo, but used continuous passing to distract the French players' movement.

Through the passing and cutting cooperation in the first ten minutes, Martin found that the French team's defense was very targeted, with one link after another, and it was difficult to tear through the defense through conventional offensive organization.

Martin, who already has a lot of competition experience, is not in a hurry.

He knew that it would be very difficult for the French team to maintain such a defensive rhythm for a long time.

In other words, the reason why the French team was able to be perfect on the defensive end was entirely due to the players' tireless running.

Every player is a mortal with limited physical strength.

Perhaps the attack in the first half would not have much effect, as the French players' physical strength would decline in the second half.

That was the best moment to score a goal.

In general, the most important thing in the game is patience.

When you have the strength to defeat your opponent, the first thing you need to do is be mentally prepared to switch from offense to defense.

How to avoid problems when switching from offense to defense and passing the ball more often to ensure safety becomes particularly important.

Ruben Neves was responsible for sending the ball to the safe area, and Martin's long-range running connected the midfield and the frontcourt.

Palinha's role is to protect the safety of the football during attack.

That is to say, he would run around Martin and Ruben Neves who were responsible for organizing the offense in the middle, and get close to teammates who made mistakes and clean up the mess as soon as the offense switched to defense.

However, in the first twenty minutes, Portugal did not initiate any threatening passes and had a very low error rate.

Deschamps, standing in the lower left corner of the broadcast screen, frowned, obviously worried about Portugal's steady approach.

The detailed tactics he formulated before the game revolved around Portugal's quick counterattack after a strong attack.

The tempo never picked up, and the lack of a well-balanced rhythm made it difficult to threaten the Portuguese goal when switching from defense to offense.

The key is that the team's defensive security is based on the players' large-scale running, ensuring that too many gaps are not exposed in the ever-changing movement of the defensive line.

If there is no way to score the first goal in the counterattack from defense to offense for a long time, it will have a great negative impact on the overall defense.

The first thing that comes to mind is enthusiasm.

The game went on for 20 minutes without a single shot.

Fortunately, his players were very humble and all wanted to defeat the arrogant Portugal in this world-renowned World Cup semi-final.

They were in good spirits and were cautious enough in the game, not giving any chance to Martin and C. Rowe Sion's Portugal.

Time passed second by second, and Portugal, who always held the initiative in the game, gradually became more and more anxious in an unnatural way.

France coach Didier Deschamps realized that the counterattack opportunity he wanted was about to come.

Martin had a very good grasp of the rhythm and was extremely sensitive. He realized that his teammates were becoming more and more anxious to score.

Just when he was about to let Ruben Neves pass the ball back, Ruben Neves saw the space and decisively sent a long diagonal pass.

Leao made a high-speed forward run, and Kounde jumped high while retreating, just in time to intercept Ruben Neves' long diagonal pass to the empty space.

Varane approached in time and headed the ball out against Ronaldo.

Chuameni used his strong body to gain position and decisively passed the ball to Griezmann who was in an open space to receive the ball.

Martin realized that it might be too late to retreat, so he moved towards Griezmann in advance.

However, Griezmann seemed to have anticipated this. Instead of taking the ball and turning around, he passed it directly back to Chuameni who was running forward.

Chuameni made a diagonal pass directly to the left front from the right rib, and the estimated distance was more than 40 meters.

The target is the French supercar waiting for its opportunity!
Kylian Mbappe!

The two full-backs of the Portuguese team, which formed an attacking trend, almost became wingers, so that Dalot had no time to return to defense!

"aoaooaoaooao——"

The French fans in the audience instantly became excited and let out hysterical cheers.

Mbappe was seen running at high speed like a blue Lamborghini with the accelerator pressed to the bottom, approaching the long diagonal pass from Chuameni at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Ruben Dias, who was defending deep, was a little panicked. He had never encountered such a one-on-one defensive opportunity in the five World Cup games he had played for the national team in the past. Suddenly, he didn't know how to defend.

If he had adapted to this defensive rhythm long ago, as Manchester City's main central defender, he would definitely think of a way to deal with it in an instant.

However, being used to an easy defensive style, he was unable to switch to the fast and technically skilled Mbappe for a while.

Mbappe was running at high speed and used the outside of his right foot to send Chuameni a perfect long diagonal pass more than ten meters in the direction of travel in front of him, then he increased his speed to catch up.

Ruben Dias, who was running side by side in space, quickly realized how abnormal Mbappe's speed was, and the distance between the two was widening at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Mbappe is so fast!"

"Overtaking on the outside line!"

Central 5 commentator He Wei’s voice rose an octave.

With just a few steps, Mbappe overtook from the outside and got ahead of Ruben Dias.

The game had just started for less than half an hour, and Ruben Dias strictly followed the tactical requirements formulated before the game to avoid fouls as much as possible.

When faced with a blocked position, the only option was to wait for opportunities behind as much as possible and cooperate with goalkeeper Diogo Costa to create psychological pressure on Mbappe.

In a blink of an eye, Mbappe brought the ball to the front of the penalty area on the left. He used the outside of his right foot to push the ball two or three meters in front of him, slowing down slightly.

Diogo Costa leaves the goal.

Mbappe slowed down and had already thought about what to do next. He adjusted his steps and did not give any chance to Ruben Dias behind him and Diogo Costa. He broke into the penalty area and swung his right foot to kick the ball with a very large inner instep arc.

Goalkeeper Diogo Costa reacted quickly, but Mbappéla's arc was very large and the distance was relatively close, so he couldn't react immediately.

The kicked football had a strong inward arc and passed by Diogo Costa's left hand, which was trying to save the ball. It was like a rainbow across the sky, brushing against the inner edge of the right goal post and flying into the net.

"Goooooooooooooooal——"

Sky Sports commentator Andy Gray subconsciously lengthened his voice.

The commentator of France Sports TV in the live commentary booth was extremely crazy, shouting hysterically to express his ecstasy about Mbappe's first goal.

Mbappe, who scored the goal, was also extremely excited. He opened his arms, bypassed the goalkeeper Diogo Costa who was lying on the ground, and ran all the way to the corner area on the right side of the attack, sliding on his knees to vent the rapid surge of adrenaline.

The French players on the field, the French fans in the stands, the French coaching staff in the bench...

Everyone was dancing excitedly, going crazy for Mbappe's first goal.

After a brief moment of depression, the Portuguese fans at the Bay Stadium quickly returned to normal.

France's first goal doesn't mean anything.

What is there to be afraid of with Martin around?
The Portuguese players in the stadium looked at each other in disbelief.

Martin realized that this was the best time to remind his teammates. "Brothers, have you seen the French team's counterattack? It is much more threatening than our attack, but don't lose heart, with Cristiano and I here, there will be no problem scoring goals."

Martin changed the subject at this point: "But the premise is that we have to be careful and not give them any chances to counterattack. Leave the last pass to me if possible, okay?"

Ruben Neves' face turned red, Martin's words were obviously directed at him.

He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, then waved and apologized to his teammates.

The last pass just now was indeed reckless, doing something beyond his ability, which gave the French team a chance to counterattack from defense to offense.

After the switch from offense to defense, the Portuguese players on the field also realized that the French team was completely different from the five teams they had encountered in the past.

The French team has the ability to break defenses, so everyone knows that they have to be extra careful when the game restarts to avoid being caught by the French team and scoring another goal.

After celebrating the goal, Mbappe couldn't help but turn his head to look at Martin, the number one man in football.

His eyebrows were slightly raised, obviously dissatisfied.

After finally helping the team score the first goal, can't you take your pursuers seriously?

"Beep~"

Referee Cesar Ramos blew his whistle and the game resumed.

Ronaldo kicked the ball to B席, who scored the first goal. The excited French players actively ran across half the court to see if they could complete a steal, and launched a high counterattack in the first time to expand the score in one go.

The ball was passed through Ruben Neves and landed at Martin's feet.

Giroud and Mbappe didn't even look at the person and just rushed forward.

Martin, who received the ball, turned 360 degrees on the spot, followed by a Cruyff turn + fried meatballs, and a series of fancy operations to get rid of the pressure from Giroud and Mbappe on the spot. Facing Griezmann who was trying to steal the ball, he made a light crotch pass to pass the ball.

"aooaoaooaooao——"

In an instant, a thunderous cheer rang out over the Bay Stadium.

"Nice dribble!"

Central 5 commentator He Wei said impassionedly.

Martin, who passed three players in a row, did not indulge in showing off his excellent footwork. The active pressing of Giroud and Mbappe caused a partial emptiness in the left side of the defense.

So he quickly passed the ball to Dalot who had reached the center line on the right.

However, the French players had a strong sense of defense and quickly made up for the small defensive gap left by Mbappe through active cooperation.

The Portuguese team, which took the initiative again, looked for opportunities to pass threatening balls step by step.

With the French team's fatal counterattack goal, the Portuguese players on the field learned their lesson. They were not in a hurry to achieve everything at once. Instead, they learned to adopt a step-by-step tactical style with Martin as the absolute core.

According to past practice, as long as you have enough trust in Martin, he will definitely repay you with victory.

Although the French team was in a defensive phase for a long time, they would also try to control the ball and fight a positional battle when they gained possession of the ball. However, the number of people involved in the attack was relatively limited, in order to prevent the defensive shortcomings from being inadvertently exposed when switching from offense to defense.

The French team focused all their energy on defense and always kept their formation compact, not giving Portugal, led by Martin, any chance.

However, the physical exhaustion caused by large-scale high-intensity running made Deschamps in the French coaching bench a little worried, as if it was a sword of Damocles hanging over his head.

Fortunately, the score on the scoreboard did not change until the end of the first half.

The French team entered the halftime break with a 1:0 lead.

The live director gave close-up shots to the core players of both teams on the field. To everyone's surprise, the players of both teams behaved very naturally, with smiles on their faces, as if they had performed very well.

But the score shown on the big screen scoreboard was 1:0.

Players from both sides entered the player tunnel one after another and returned to their respective locker rooms.

The substitute players went to the court to warm up and prepare for possible substitute appearances in the second half.

The fifteen-minute halftime break is boring for many fans, and social platforms become their best platform for venting.

Weibo, INS, Twitter, Vibrato, Tiktok...

They have all become gathering places for fans.

There were French fans who were ecstatic, there were Portuguese fans who were hesitant to speak, and more neutral fans were looking forward to the second half.

Of course, there are also fake fans and fans who cheer because they bought the [win or lose] or [win or draw] numbers.

Warm-up time for substitute players at the Bayside Stadium lasts only ten minutes, as the remaining five minutes are left for the sprinkler system to water the field.

During this period, all TV stations with the rights to broadcast the World Cup focused their attention on reviewing the end of the first half.

"Portugal's maturity is beyond our imagination, but France's resilience is also admirable. The goal in the first half was caused by Portugal's too hasty passing of the ball, which resulted in the inability to switch from offense to defense."

In CCTV-5's Imperial City Live Room, host Shao Shengyi said in a deep voice: "The fact that the French team was able to enter the locker room with a one-goal lead has a lot to do with all their players' physical training. Judging from the players' running hot spots in the first half, each player on the French team ran at least one thousand meters more than the Portuguese players. However, human physical strength is limited, and the second half must be very difficult for the French team. But as long as they grit their teeth and find an opportunity to score another goal, perhaps... it can bring them a huge psychological boost."

The fifteen-minute intermission passed quickly, and players from both sides returned to the court one after another.

"Beep~"

The whistle sounded, and the second half of the final semi-final of the 2022 Qatar World Cup officially began.

The French team, which had the advantage of kick-off, tried to launch a positional attack in the opening stage.

After several passes, Dembele finally made a cross from the bottom right.

Under the pressure of Cancelo, the cross quality was poor and flew directly to the other half, where the ball was easily caught by Dalot.

The French team was not upset after losing the ball. They retreated to the half court one after another and did not give Portugal any chance to counterattack.

During the half-time break, head coach Santos also anticipated the situation while explaining the tactics and was not surprised at all.

Martin, who served as the core of the midfield, concentrated and held his breath, focusing all his attention on the court, and pulled the French team's defense through passing and cutting.

After the half-time break, the French players have recovered some of their strength, so as usual, they need to be more patient in attacking.

The Portuguese players on the field also resolutely defended the offensive method organized by Martin, constantly engaging the French defense line, waiting for the opportunity to strike a fatal blow.

Only Ronaldo seemed a little anxious.

He will be thirty-eight in less than two months, and his health is not good enough...

Taking advantage of the dead ball opportunity, Martin ran to Ronaldo and gave him a few instructions.

Ronaldo, who was originally quite anxious, has returned to normal.

Because Martin had already vaguely grasped something during this period of time.

He believes that as time goes by, the defensive shortcomings exposed by the French team will continue to be magnified.

France head coach Didier Deschamps keenly captured the conversation between Ronaldo and Martin. He frowned and felt a little uneasy.

Before we knew it, the second half was almost fifteen minutes in, or sixty minutes.

He sat back in the coaching seat and planned to discuss with his assistant whether to make any personnel adjustments.

(End of this chapter)