Chapter 445 The semi-finals begin

Chapter 445 The semi-finals begin

After the England-Germany war, the German team's locker room was quite lively after the game. After everyone celebrated, Loew signaled the staff to close the door to the locker room, then clapped his hands and walked to the center of the locker room, signaling that he was carrying The beer-loving German players calmed down first.

“First of all, congratulations, we are one step closer to our dream this summer!
We defeated England and sent away our old rival with an unprecedented victory! "

While Loew spoke with a smile, he stretched out his hand, opened his fingers and shook them excitedly, reminding everyone of the exciting 5-0 match just now.

At this time, the locker room also burst into warm applause and cheers. After everyone vented again, Loew continued to speak:
"The World Cup, the World Cup title, is not new to us.

Four years ago we won that exciting trophy. Four years later, after we defeated England again, we once again reached the critical position of the World Cup semi-finals!
The next step is the finals. If we work hard again, we will be crowned king again! Complete two consecutive World Cup titles!
That would be an unprecedented and huge honor! "

"After entering the semi-finals, I have completely let go. No matter who the opponent is, Croatia or Russia? No matter who they are, we now have the confidence to defeat them!
Because we are the best and strongest team in this World Cup so far!

The best team deserves to win the championship! "

The German players sitting below were boiling with excitement. The German players, who had a sense of arrogance in their bones, were instantly tinged with blood.

Loew's ambition also reached its peak at this moment. Who is the opponent behind that the Germans should fear? !
Whether it is the tenacious Croatia, or the luxurious lineups of Belgium and France in the first half of the zone, Germany has the strength to fight with them!

After the celebration in the locker room, Loew took Zhao Jinge, today's best player, to today's post-match press conference hall.

As soon as they entered the exhibition hall, the reporters gathered below gave today's winner endless applause.

"After confirming your advancement to the semi-finals, Yoachim, do you have anything to say?"

After the applause, a reporter from Germany was the first to ask the question.

"Oh, to be honest, I am still immersed in passion. I was in the locker room just now and I was telling all the players that we must continue to fight. We still have higher goals to sprint towards!"

LeFou rubbed the bridge of his nose and said with a serious but slightly smiling face.

The reporters saw that he was in a good mood, so they all actively asked questions.

“Coach Yoachim, we thought you would be celebrating, but we didn’t expect you to be preparing for the next battle in the locker room.

Your team has entered the semi-finals, and their next opponent is the winner between the host Russia and Croatia. Are you confident that you can lead your team to defeat them? "

Loew smiled: "Of course, why not? We are the defending champions!"

"Are you that confident?"

“It’s not that I’m confident, it’s that I’m confident in my players, I’m confident in our team!

In order to achieve the goal of this year's World Cup, all of us have the determination to pursue victory and championship.

That is the World Cup champion. No one dislikes it. It is the dream goddess of every player. Our goal when we came to Russia is to bring it back to Germany!

And compared with our opponents, we also have Zhao. This is the confidence that I can win! "

Loew stated his point of view very quickly.

He was proud of his players as the German team advanced.

“OK, next question, we’re going to ask something about the World Cup semifinals.

You have entered the World Cup semi-finals. Along the way, you have become the biggest favorite in this World Cup!
This is enough to prove your strength, so now after promotion, do you think you will be the favorite to win the championship?

How will you ensure players are focused on the job at hand? "

"That's a good question."

Loew rubbed his nose again:

"Every game we play throughout the World Cup is very important.

We know how important the game is, but I don't control what people think about game situations, I just have to focus on what needs to be done.

Therefore, in the following period, I will analyze our opponents' quarter-finals as much as possible, understand them as much as possible, and try to play our game well.

Ultimately, it all ends with a football match where the better team in a match wins and only the winning team can be called favorites.

What matters is not which team people say is the favourite, or which team Germany is the favourite.

What matters is who can win the game in the next few days.

Facing our semi-final opponents, each of us must remain focused and calm. This is our biggest weight in winning. "

……

After Loew answered all the questions, Zhao Jinge's interview was over.

After thanking the media at the scene, the master and apprentice walked back to the locker room.

"Congratulations, Zhao, I haven't congratulated you on your fourth birthday today!"

Loew looked at his beloved general walking beside him, his eyes full of affection.

"I really hope I can hear your congratulations after every game in the future."

"Then you have to behave well, otherwise I won't have any reason to congratulate you!"

"Haha, then you have to behave well!"

Early the next morning, the German team had packed up their luggage and took the bus to leave St. Petersburg, Russia, heading for their capital, Moscow, where their World Cup semi-final opponents would be waiting for them.

After checking into the five-star hotel in Moscow arranged by the World Cup Organizing Committee that afternoon.

Loew immediately organized coaches and players to watch the last quarter-final match of this World Cup.

After witnessing Croatia defeat the host Russia in a penalty shootout, Loew also has a deeper understanding of the tenacity of this Croatian team. It seems that if the German team wants to successfully win this semi-final, they may have to go through a tough battle.

After watching the game, Loew sent staff to inspect the semi-final venue, the Luzhniki Stadium, and a series of equipment such as turf and venue facilities.

The team was assembled early the next morning and led the whole team to the stadium for their first on-site visit and obtained the qualifications to conduct simple training on this stadium.

After a series of intense and intensive pre-match rest and training.

On July 11th, all the members of the German national team, who had been in Moscow for four days, had a day of rest in their hotel to prepare for the semi-finals on July 12th!
On the match day of July 12th, the Luzhniki Stadium was bustling with activity.

The powerful showdown between Germany and dark horse Croatia was staged in the World Cup semi-finals. A large number of fans from all over the world gathered at the Luzhniki Stadium, ready to enjoy such a wonderful football feast.

Before the game started that day, the Luzhniki Stadium was packed with nearly 70,000 seats filled with enthusiastic fans.

The highly anticipated semi-final between Germany and Croatia is about to begin.

For the Croatian team, their head coach Dalic deployed a conservative 414 formation:

Goalkeeper: Subasic.

Defenders: Vrsaljko, Lovren, Vida, Strinic.

Single midfielder: Brozovic.

Midfielder: Modric, Kovacic, Rakitic, Perisic.

Forward: Mandzukic.

For the German team, Loew also tried his best to field his strongest lineup, a 4-2-31 formation:
Goalkeeper: Neuer
Defenders: Kimmich, Hummels, Boateng, Hector.

Double defensive midfielder: Toni Kroos, Gundogan.

Three attacking midfielders: Reus, Thomas Muller, Draxler.

Forward: Zhao Jinge.

The German team almost came up with their most balanced offensive and defensive lineup.

While waiting to play in the tunnel, Zhao Jinge looked at his opponent today, the Croatian national team.

Just like in my memory, the Croatian team's lineup in this World Cup semi-final is indeed very neat.

After a series of opening ceremonies,
The game officially started, and Germany won the right to kick off. After Zhao Jinge kicked the ball to Toni Kroos who was holding the ball behind him,

Reus and Draxler on both sides followed Loew's instructions before the game and constantly attacked the Croatian's two wings.

First, Draxler on the right used his body, which is much younger than that of Strinic, who is almost 33 years old, to wreak havoc on the left side of the Croatian team.

Draxler is no worse than Strinic in terms of speed and skills on the wing. The young and strong Draxler is much faster than him in speed and flexibility.

Coupled with Thomas the Tank Engine's elusive running ability, at the beginning of the game, Draxler relied on his several deft moves to penetrate the Croatian team's defense on the left.

If it weren't for Brozovic's timely defense, the Croatian team's left defense would have been on the verge of collapse at the beginning of the game.

On the other side, Royce did not hold back at all when facing Vrsaljko, who was a substitute at Atletico Madrid.

He has not been a starter in the previous few games and has been tolerated by Loew as a trump card until now.

Although there have been several opportunities to come on as a substitute, the feeling of starting in such an important game and being entrusted with important tasks is completely different!

If Strinic on the other side collapsed because he couldn't hold Draxler, then Vrsaljko here was completely eaten alive by Reus.

As an offensive full-back at Atletico Madrid, he didn't dare to press against Reus at all. He could only keep calling his teammate Vida to help him defend behind him, trying to prevent Reus from getting in trouble as much as possible. Room for breakthrough!

Dalic looked at the Croatian team's wing, which had been completely suppressed in less than ten minutes, and couldn't help his emotions. He stood up from the coaching bench and walked to the sidelines to watch the game.

"Reus plus Draxler, it seems that Vrsaljko and Strinic can't handle it at all!"

Dalic frowned and sighed. The whole world is touting the strength of the Croatians, and the golden generation of the Croatian team is indeed as strong as the world says.

Croatia's midfield and frontcourt are definitely among the top in the world, but as a little-known country, while Croatia has a large number of top midfielders and frontcourt players, it is simply unable to support a group of world-class backcourt players!

At least not at the moment! Compared to their luxurious midfield and frontcourt, their backcourt defense can be considered second-rate in the world at best.

In their previous games, they relied more on the diligent defense of the midfielders and frontcourt players to help the team persist until overtime or penalty kicks, and then relied on Subasic's strong ability to save penalty kicks. With a little luck and perseverance, you can laugh until the end!
But now facing the German team in good condition and the ferocious German offensive line, Croatia's backcourt weaknesses have been exposed to great extent.

Looking at the disadvantages of the two wings at the beginning, the Croatian team's head coach Dalic also sighed. Substitutions are impossible, not to mention that he does not have a suitable candidate on hand.

Even if there is, this substitution operation within less than ten minutes of the opening is definitely a bad idea to mess up the situation.

Therefore, Dalik had no choice but to shout to the court, asking the Croatian team to retract the overall formation, and let Rakitic and Perisic also withdraw to help the full-backs stabilize the defense as much as possible.

So not long after the game started, the Croatian team directly set up a steel barrel formation at the Luzhniki Stadium and completely retreated to defend.

Such a decisive attitude made the more than 10,000 Croatian fans at the scene who had been singing the national anthem a little unable to hold back, and the loud and powerful singing became a little dim.

Yes, after watching the German team's targeted attack after the opening, every Croatian fan already has a vague idea of ​​how Dalik will adjust based on the personnel reserves of his own team.

Defensively, Dalik's Croatian team is like this. Facing weak teams with 433, they directly engage in solid defensive counterattacks when facing strong teams.

This idea is definitely not wrong. After all, no matter how ugly the game is, winning is the last word. But again, seeing their team in trouble at the beginning, the Croatian fans who came from afar can't bear it. ah!

Just when the Croatian fans were a little confused, the German team on the field made a sudden diagonal pass from the side, allowing Zhao Jinge to almost penetrate the Croatian team's rib defense area with his movement!

(End of this chapter)