Chapter 316: The first goal in the final!
"CCTV, dear viewers, welcome to watch the final of the 2014 Brazil World Cup - the match between Spain and Germany!"
"I'm He Wei!"
"I am Xu Yang!"
"First of all, let us take a look at the starting lineups of the two teams. Spain's starting lineup is..."
In the CCTV studio, two commentators were introducing the starting lineups of the two teams.
However, before they finished their introduction, the situation on the court suddenly changed.
Spain launched a fierce attack on the German team without any probing.
"The ball passed to Lin Quan's feet. Iniesta was in a good position. The two might cooperate. Lin passed the ball... No, he shot directly!"
"Danger!"
"Neuer's position is very forward!"
Seeing Neuer's position, the two commentators couldn't help but exclaimed.
Neuer is known as the doorman. He stands very forward and has a wide range of activities.
This radical position also makes Neuer easily vulnerable to lob shots from opposing players.
Lin Quan played against Neuer when he was in the Bundesliga and knows this guy's playing habits very well.
That's why I specially observe his position when dribbling the ball, and then choose to take a long shot.
The ball was hit very suddenly. Neuer was near the penalty area line at this time, about fifteen meters away from the goal.
Seeing Lin Quan's lob, Neuer's face changed with fright, and he quickly retreated, not daring to jump on the spot.
The arc of the ball is very high, and he may not be able to hit it if he jumps in place.
However, the flight speed of the football was much faster than Neuer expected. He only took two steps back and the football was already flying over his head.
Neuer had no choice but to jump up and try hard to straighten his right hand to intercept the football.
The arc of the ball is very high. If it were an ordinary goalkeeper, it would be impossible to reach the ball.
But Neuer is 1.93 meters tall and his jumping ability is even more amazing.
After he jumped up, he barely touched the football with his fingers and slightly changed the flight trajectory of the football.
With a crash, the football hit the top of the crossbar and bounced off the baseline.
Seeing the football being thrown out, the fans of the German team subconsciously slapped their chests and could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
The ball just now was too thrilling. The opponent's long-range shot was of very high quality. If Neuer hadn't shown bravery and made a save, the ball would have probably been scored.
This time, the German team fans' eyes changed when they looked at Lin Quan.
This guy should not be underestimated.
After Neuer fell to the ground, he glanced at his own goal. After confirming that the ball had not gone in, he breathed a sigh of relief, and then couldn't help but look at Lin Quan who shot with some fear.
This guy, after not seeing him for a few months, feels stronger again.
If I want to defeat him, I'm afraid I have to work harder!
Lin Quan also felt a little regretful when he saw the ball saved by Neuer.
This guy's physical fitness is also very good, right?
This jumping ability makes me feel like I can play basketball.
To be fair, Neuer's sweeper style of play created a new genre.
For modern football, goalkeepers like De Gea who stay in the small penalty area almost all the time and seldom attack are increasingly out of tune with the times.
And Neuer likes to attack, has a wide range of activities, can act as a sweeper, and can even be the initiator of attacks when attacking, which has begun to increase.
However, few of these goalkeepers can achieve the level of Neuer.
Thanks to his excellent footwork, stable mentality and the continuous transformation of Bayern coaches Heynckes and Guardiola.
Neuer's style of play has become more and more stable and mature.
Not only did the number of his mistakes decrease year by year, but also because of his proactive choice to attack, which effectively made up for the shortcomings of several Bayern central defenders who were slow to turn around and were easily beaten behind.
It seems that it is not that easy to seize the opportunity to hang his door.
Maybe you can wait until he leaves the penalty area before trying, but in that case, the position of the hanging goal may have to be near the center line or even further.
After defusing the Spanish team's offensive, the German team's players began to increase their pressure and double-teaming on the Spanish midfielder.
Khedira's absence had a big impact on the German team, and on the Spanish side, Busquets, who was injured in the semi-finals, failed to make it to the final.
The lineups of both teams are not the neatest. In this case, it depends on which head coach of the two teams has better adjustment ability.
The German team's formation today is 4231. In the midfield, Loew chose to use Kramer and Schweinsteiger as the defensive midfielders.
Of the two, Kramer is more defensive, while Xiaozhu is more versatile and good at both offense and defense.
Bastian Schweinsteiger is the core organizer of the team's midfield and the metronome of offensive and defensive transitions, but after Kroos gradually grew up, the German team's organizational work was dispersed.
Among the three attacking midfielders, Muller plays more of a second forward role.
Ozil is responsible for passing the ball and can be used as a passing fort.
Kroos is tasked with controlling the tempo of the game, which is very similar to his role at the club.
During the attack, Kroos will use his broad vision and precise passing to help the German team plan its offensive route, avoid the opponent's tightly defended areas, and hit the opponent's weak points.
When defending, he will move back and cooperate closely with the two teammates in the defensive midfielder to form an airtight interception network in front of the back line to stifle the opponent's offense in the midfield.
This tactic is already familiar to the German team, but Khedira's sudden injury has had an adverse impact on them.
Kramer, who was born in 1991, is still very young and far less sophisticated than Khedira.
Moreover, he has no experience in such competitions, and his personal strength is obviously not as good as Khedira's.
In the German team's midfield, the defensive midfielder's responsibilities are very important, which puts a lot of pressure on Kramer.
If something goes wrong on his side, the German team will easily lose control of the midfield.
Spain cannot ignore such a weakness.
Before the game, Spain originally planned to target Ozil.
Since moving to Arsenal last summer, Ozil's personal weaknesses have been completely exposed to the world.
Ozil's breakthrough ability, escape ability, and physical confrontation ability are very weak.
What's even worse is that this guy always looks like he's not awake. Not to mention his weak personal fighting spirit, he also seems to lack the desire to win or lose the game.
Such people can easily become a breakthrough point.
However, after Khedira was suddenly injured and missed the game, Del Bosque temporarily changed his strategy and planned to try Kramer to see what the effect was.
In the 5th minute, the German team organized an attack and the ball passed to Ozil's feet.
Xavi Alonso rushed forward, physically pushing past his former club teammate and snatching the ball away from the dead man's feet.
Muller immediately counterattacked on the spot, but Alonso was faster.
He took the lead and passed the ball to Lin Quan, who immediately sent a long pass to Diego Costa in the frontcourt.
Diego Costa relies on his strong body to squeeze away the opponent's defensive players.
However, Boateng and Hummels cooperated well, and the two teamed up to close the door and stuck Diego Costa.
The football was obtained by Neuer who struck out.
Diego Costa felt a little regretful, but still gave a thumbs up to Lin Quan who passed the ball.
He started the ball slowly and failed to keep up with his teammates.
If Xavi Alonso had started running the moment he stole the ball, he might have scored a solo goal.
Lin Quan didn't think so. He noticed that the two defenders of the German team were consciously creating an offside trap.
If Diego Costa starts the ball too quickly, the ball will definitely be called offside.
It seems that this simple offensive tactic is not very effective, and ground penetration is still needed.
After Neuer took the ball, he made a precise hand throw and threw the ball back to the front court.
Under the interference of Alonso, Cross sent a through ball and prepared to hand the ball to Muller.
Muller was knocked down by a defensive player when he was unloading the ball in the frontcourt and preparing to break through. The German team got a free kick opportunity at the front of the penalty area.
Cross stood in front of the football. He took a look at Casillas' position and wanted to lob the goal into the upper right corner.
Unfortunately, his free throw was blocked by the wall. Diego Costa's height played a huge role.
The ball's landing point was snatched by the German players on the outside. Xiaozhu tried a long shot from the top of the penalty area, but unfortunately he failed to suppress it and flew over the crossbar and out of the baseline.
In the first five minutes, the two sides were basically evenly matched on the court.
The two teams were attacking and defending each other, and no one had the absolute initiative on the court.
After testing each other's opponent's strength and status, both teams focused on the midfield stranglehold.
Due to Busquets' injury, Del Bosque arranged for Xavi Alonso to start in this game.
As a result, Spain's midfielder has two veterans over 33 years old.
On the other hand, on the German team, several of their midfielders are very young.
Except for Xiaozhu, who is slightly older, the other players are all under 25 years old.
Being younger means having more physical energy and stronger physical resistance.
Therefore, according to Loew's vision, once the German team strengthens the fight in the midfield, it will be easy to overturn Spain's classic car.
However, after the midfield stranglehold began, he found that he seemed to have overestimated the strength of the German team's midfield.
Spain initially focused on dealing with the newly replaced young player Kramer.
Lin Quan, Iniesta, David Silva and others took turns attacking the area he defended.
Perhaps because of nervousness, Kramer made many mistakes under the attacks of Spanish players.
Fortunately, captain Lahm and piggy Schweinsteiger consciously protected him, and there were no particularly serious consequences.
After adapting to the rhythm of the game for a while, Kramer's performance gradually stabilized and even tended to get better and better.
Seeing Kramer gain a firm footing made Loew feel at ease on the sidelines.
But there's something wrong with Ozil!
As the midfield battle gradually became more intense, Ozil's weakness in physical confrontation was quickly exposed.
The persimmons are soft and pinched. Since Ozil can't fight physically, just find a breakthrough from him.
With the help of this, Spain not only frequently steals the ball from Ozil's feet, but also immediately counterattacks after stealing the ball.
This makes the German team very uncomfortable. Ozil's passing ability is very strong. Giving the ball to him when attacking can effectively improve their passing threat.
However, the more Ozil receives the ball, the higher the risk of a mistake.
The opponent kept pressing Ozil, and it was difficult for Ozil to hold the ball. The result looked like the German team kept giving the ball to the Spanish team!
In the 17th minute, Spain once again stole the ball from Ozil's feet.
The ball was quickly transferred to Lin Quan's feet. Lin Quan took two steps, avoided Kroos's attack, and looked up to observe the German team's position.
Because Lin Quan passed the ball to Diego Costa many times before, the players of the German team formed a habitual thinking, thinking that it would happen again this time.
However, Lin Quan just glanced at Diego Costa's position and decisively gave up the idea of passing the ball to him, and instead handed the ball to Silva on the wing.
Silva cooperated with him tacitly in a two-on-one. Lin Quan received the ball again and cut inside towards the penalty area.
Kramer appeared in front of Lin Quan, wanting to stop his advance.
But Lin Quan deceived his center of gravity with just one fake move, completed his breakthrough, and broke into the penalty area.
Boateng immediately rushed towards Lin Quan, but he learned from his previous defeats to Lin Quan and kept a reasonable distance. He did not get too close and did not give the opponent a chance to easily get past him.
Boateng no longer wants to be the backdrop for Lin Quan’s goals!
He was originally expected to compete for the world's No. 1 central defender, but because the videos of being passed by Lin Quan were made into animated graphics and widely circulated on the Internet, fans generally did not recognize his strength.
Knocking yourself down without any physical contact, how dare you say that you are the world's number one central defender?
Have some face!
Boateng is a person with self-respect. He wants to get up wherever he falls!
Therefore, for Boateng, this time in the World Cup final is his battle to clear his name!
As long as he can successfully freeze Lin Quan and lead the team to victory in this game.
Then the humiliation of the past will most likely be completely washed away, and Boateng will be able to start a new life!
However, it is not easy to freeze Lin Quan?
Seeing that Boateng was far away from him, Lin Quan used Boateng's body as a cover and decisively took a shot.
Boateng didn't expect the opponent to be so decisive and quickly raised his foot to block it.
However, Boateng was not able to touch the football. Instead, he was in front and blocked Neuer's sight, causing Neuer to fail to make the save immediately.
The German fans in the stands were heartbroken when they saw this scene!
Is his team going to fall behind so soon?
At the critical moment, a small player wearing the armband of the German team captain appeared in front of the goal, fell to the ground and made a sliding tackle, hooking the ball out!
Philipp Lahm!
Among all the players on the field, the shortest one stood up!
After completing the rescue, Ram roared excitedly.
Neuer, who escaped, couldn't help hugging his teammate and kissing his forehead gratefully.
Other defenders of the German team also ran over, hugged Lahm and thanked him for his rescue at the critical moment.
Lin Quan glanced at Lahm. He saw Lahm's position before shooting, but he didn't expect the opponent to make such a difficult clearance.
If I had known earlier that the kick would have been higher, hit the upper blind corner or hit a half-high ball, the result might have been different.
However, Lin Quan did not feel depressed because of this. Such a divine rescue could not happen every time.
Last time it was the crossbar, this time it was Lahm. Next time, luck may not be on the German team's side.
Although it didn't go in, Lin Quan's shot still shocked everyone in the German team into a cold sweat.
"We must guard against Lin Quan!"
In the commentary box of German TV, the commentators began to worry again after being thankful that their team had escaped.
"Although Lin failed to score on several shots today, he is in very good condition. If he continues like this, scoring will only happen sooner or later."
"We must find a way to solve the passive situation on the field!"
German fans think so too, and they also know very well where the problems are on the field!
It's that damn Ozil!
However, we have only played for less than 20 minutes. Do we need to make substitutions now and replace Ozil?
Is this a bit too radical?
Loew was also a little hesitant. Although Ozil is not good at physical confrontation, his passing is very powerful. If he is replaced in advance, it will definitely have a great impact on the German team's offense.
If you continue to cut off, you will be subject to chaos!
Loew soon paid the price for his hesitation!
In the 31st minute of the game, after the German team completed a corner kick, most of the players participated in the attack in the frontcourt. Spain quickly launched a counterattack.
Xabi Alonso sent a precise long pass from a long distance, and Diego Costa grabbed the landing spot.
He couldn't turn around, so he gave the ball to Lin Quan who came in from behind.
Lin Quan took the ball away, passed Cramer's interception, and after taking a look at Neuer's position, he chose to hang the goal again.
This time, Lin Quan's hanging goal was very far away, a full 48 meters away from the goal!
However, Neuer's position is also further away from the goal than last time.
Everyone else has already run outside the restricted area!
From such a long distance, Neuer is completely unable to do anything about the ball.
As long as Lin Quan's long-range shot hits the goal frame, it will be a goal!
Fans of both teams stood up nervously, staring at the football flying rapidly in the air without blinking.
The German fans who had watched Lin Quan hit the corner of the door frame multiple times from 30 meters away were already in despair at this time!
That guy can hit such a small spot on the door frame accurately, how could he not hit such a big door frame?
Under the watchful eyes of nearly 100,000 fans, the football drew a beautiful arc in the air and roared into the German team's goal.
1:0!
Spain took the lead and Lin Quan scored a crucial goal in the World Cup final!
