Chapter 525 The battle for the top spot, Spain VS Croatia

"Coach, I want to play a game!"

In the third round of the group stage, before the start of Spain's match against Croatia, Lin Quan took the initiative to find Del Bosque and applied to play.

Bosque refused without even thinking:

"No, no, how can this be possible? It's only been twenty days since the Champions League final. You must not have had a good rest yet. You should have a good rest and recharge your batteries. It will be of great use in the future!"

Lin Quan was helpless: "Coach, I'm ready to rest!"

Bosque's head shook like a rattle: "No, you didn't!"

"Then if I don't play, you put me in the squad and I can sit on the bench, right?"

Del Bosque thought for a moment. It was a good thing for Lin Quan to actively seek a fight. If he blindly suppressed the players, it would easily make the players frustrated.

So he nodded and agreed: "Okay, I will bring you to the next game!"

He only said that he would bring Lin Quan with him, but did not say that he would definitely give Lin Quan some time to play.

Bosque had this plan in mind. If the Spanish team takes the lead without Lin Quan, Lin Quan will not be sent to play.

If the team falls behind and is forced to do so in the end, Lin Quan can be asked to play to try to save the defeat.

Although Spain can afford to lose this game, bringing Lin Quan is also a guarantee!

The outside world was originally convinced that Lin Quan would miss this European Cup completely because he missed two consecutive games.

As a result, when Spain announced the team's roster before the start of the third round, they were surprised to find that Lin Quan's name was included.

Could it be that, as Del Bosque said, Lin Quan's injury has recovered and he can play for the national team?

This news immediately caused a heated discussion in the football world. Spanish fans couldn't wait to tell each other and agreed to stay in front of the TV to watch this last game.

Some neutral fans or fans from other countries are debating whether the news released by Spain is a smoke bomb!

"I think it must be a smokescreen. The last game was a battle between Spain and Croatia for the top spot in the group. They released this kind of news at this time. It must be Bosque's psychological tactic. The purpose is to disturb Croatia and let Croatia Out of consideration for Lin Quan, we chose conservative and prudent tactics. In this case, Spain, which can win the first place in the group as long as it is a draw, can easily take the initiative!"

"Yes, I think so too. If Emperor Lin was really okay, he would have gone to war long ago. This must be a Spanish conspiracy. The Croatian side cannot be fooled!"

When the Croatian coach learned the news, he also suspected that Del Bosque was deliberately setting off a smoke bomb.

He had previously learned about the situation from Modric, who participated in the Champions League final, and judged that Lin Quan was indeed seriously injured and was unlikely to play.

So he decided to continue using the previous tactics and ignore the smoke bombs from Spain.

On June 20, the final round of the European Cup group stage begins.

The focus of Group A focuses on the game between France and Switzerland. The two teams currently rank among the top two in Group A. This game will determine who can take first place in the group.

Since it involves the competition for group qualifying and group top spot, the last two games of Group A are held at the same time.

Under tremendous pressure, all four teams played conservatively and did not have many scoring opportunities.

At the end of the first half, the score on the field was still 0:0, with neither team scoring a goal.

At this time, news came from another stadium that Albania was temporarily leading Romania 1:0.

This news is good news for the French and Swiss teams. If Albania really defeats Romania, the two teams will advance together.

Affected by this, the Swiss team played more conservatively.

The French team played at home. After the opponent became more conservative, they took the initiative to attack. However, they were not very lucky. They failed to score in many consecutive shots. One of Pogba's shots hit the crossbar.

At the end of the 90-minute battle, the two teams shook hands and made a draw, joining hands to qualify.

The other game ended with Albania 1:0 Romania, and the two teams were also eliminated together.

Group B is more dramatic here.

England, which occupied the top spot, faced Slovakia in the last round and wanted to play more conservatively.

As a result, news came from another game that only 11 minutes into the game, Wales' Ramsey scored.

Now, Wales is temporarily ahead of England in points, and the British are suddenly anxious.

So they immediately stepped up their attack, but before they could score, bad news came from the other side: Wales scored again!

This time the British were really anxious!

If Wales defeats Russia and they are tied by Slovakia, the top spot in the group will be gone.

So, the British began to work hard!

Rooney and Kane both gave me top marks. As long as they have one goal, as long as they can score one goal, they will still be the first in the group!

For a time, the British attacked like a wave, attacking the Slovak goal.

In the whole game, the British completed a total of 26 shots, but the number of goals scored was an embarrassing 0!

On the other side, Wales' wing counterattacks were accurate. In the 67th minute of the second half, they scored again. The goal was none other than Wales' top star Gareth Bale.

With this victory, Wales counterattacked England and successfully won the first place in Group B, while England fell to second place and may encounter strong enemies in the next round.

After the game, the British were scolded by their own fans.

Even though he had the upper hand, he was counterattacked by his younger brother. This was even when his younger brother gave him warmth. This was simply a shame!

Compared with Group A and Group B, the match in Group C does not have so much suspense.

In the last round, the German team easily defeated Northern Ireland with an overwhelming advantage. Northern Ireland was passive throughout the game. It was difficult for the ball to pass through the midfield. There was only one shot in the entire game, let alone a goal.

In another game, Poland defeated Ukraine and successfully secured a promotion spot. However, it was ranked second because of a smaller goal difference than Germany.

In this round of competition, Group D once again became the focus of attention.

There is no other reason than the big list released by Spain.

Everyone was full of curiosity and wanted to see if Lin Quan would appear.

The answer is: Not sure!

Lin Quan was not seen among the starting 11, but people saw him on the bench.

Compared to the previous days when you could only go to the stage to search for him, being able to see him on the bench is already a huge improvement!

"Last time it was in the stands and this time it was on the bench. Will he be in the starting lineup next time?"

Optimistic fans have already begun to count with their fingers when Lin Quan will start!

The questioning fans still have not given up their doubts:

"Bosque has not arranged for Lin Quan to play in such a crucial game. It seems that he is really seriously injured!"

"I think Del Bosque is just using a tactic to make Lin Quan sit on the bench, creating a situation where he may play at any time and increasing the psychological pressure on the opposing players and coaching staff!"

Even these fans who were sure that Lin Quan was really injured and would not play could not help but feel palpitations when they saw Lin Quan appear on the bench, let alone the other players and coaches.

Therefore, the analysis of these fans is not unreasonable. After all, Lin Quan does have such a deterrent effect.

"We know that Lin Quan is injured and cannot play, but he is sitting there, but people still can't help but make random guesses. This will definitely affect the opponent's mentality!"

"I didn't expect that old man Bosque is actually a master of psychology!"

Seeing the cameras and the fans looking at his side's bench frequently, Bosque nodded with satisfaction.

Psychological tactics?

That’s right!

Lin Quan's intimidation in the stands is obviously not as great as sitting on the bench. As long as he sits on the sidelines, the opponent has to be on tenterhooks and worry about whether he will suddenly get up and appear in the game.

Such a continuous influence on the opponent's mentality will definitely increase Spain's chances of winning.

In fact, Del Bosque also missed something. After seeing Lin Quan sitting on the bench, the Spanish players suddenly felt a sense of security in their hearts, as if they felt that someone was protecting them, and they played more confidently and proactively.

After the game started, Spain played very resolutely and wanted to attack Croatia.

Morata continued his outstanding performance in the previous game. Only 7 minutes into the game, Silva sent a wonderful through ball on the right rib. Fabregas's shot from the right side of the penalty area was saved by the goalkeeper. Morata followed. The supplementary shot was successful and the score became 1:0!

Spain took the lead in scoring, and Morata also increased his number of goals in this European Cup to 3 goals, temporarily tied for the top scorer list with Bale.

"Well done!"

On the sidelines, Del Bosque was so excited when he saw his disciples opening up the situation so quickly. He clapped his hands very vigorously and enthusiastically embraced his colleagues on the coaching bench in celebration.

On the bench, Lin Quan was chatting with his teammates. After seeing the ball, his eyes couldn't help but light up.

Morata's last shot had no technical content, and a three-year-old child could do it, but his movement before shooting was too smart and his sense of smell was too keen!

This guy does have the foundation of a top forward, but he still needs to improve his shooting skills.

Sometimes I always feel that his handling of the final shot is not meticulous and reasonable enough. In this regard, we can actually learn more from top shooters such as Messi and Ronaldo.

After taking the lead, Spain became more proactive and almost formed a siege on Croatia.

Spain created a lot of opportunities during this period, but unfortunately they failed to seize the opportunity to expand their lead. Instead, at the end of the first half, they were attacked by a sneak attack and Kalinic scored a goal to equalize the score. .

Being equalized by the opponent at the last minute had a certain impact on Spain's morale.

But Bosque did not blame the players, he still encouraged and even praised them.

He could clearly feel on the sidelines that in the three games without Lin Quan, the Spanish team played better and better.

The first game was the worst and chaotic. In the second game, we found the rhythm and new attack points, and played much better than the first game.

Compared with the second game, the third game made great progress. The frontcourt players cooperated more and more tacitly. The team became more and more like a smooth-running machine, and the state has been completely adjusted.

He firmly believes that as long as he continues to play like this in the second half, there is a high possibility of winning this game.

On the other side, Croatia is a little unhappy.

The opponent's strength was much stronger than they imagined. Even if Lin Quan was not on the court, the Spanish players on the court would not be easy to deal with.

What's more, Lin Quan, who was sitting on the bench, put tremendous pressure on them, making it difficult for them to completely let go.

"Don't have any psychological baggage. When you go on the field, use all your strength to attack the enemy's goal. We need to continue to launch high-quality counterattacks like the last attack in the first half!"

Croatia's goal in the first half proved that they have the ability to break through the Spanish defense, but the players have never been able to seize such opportunities.

Although from the situation point of view, they are being beaten by their opponents, and their ball possession rate, number of passes and number of shots are not as good as their opponents, but in terms of offensive threats, they are the dominant side.

Therefore, it is possible for Croatia to win this game, and the possibility is not small.

The key is that they can't give in. If they do, it's over!

After carefully listening to the head coach's arrangements, Croatia's performance improved a lot after the start of the second half.

In the 57th minute of the second half, Croatia immediately launched a counterattack after successfully defending.

Srna took the ball along the right wing to the baseline and immediately sent a cross. However, the cross was too close to the goalkeeper and De Gea destroyed the ball in advance.

A few minutes later, Croatia launched a counterattack again. After receiving a pass from his teammate, Jedevai chose to volley into the near corner. De Gea reacted quickly and quickly fell down to block the ball.

Croatia took a corner kick, but the first goal was destroyed by Spain. Piazza tried an overhead kick, which was very handsome and highly completed, but unfortunately it missed the goal in the end.

After withstanding the opponent's counterattack, Spain immediately responded in kind.

In the 67th minute, Silva cooperated with Iniesta in the middle and took the ball to attack along the left.

The opponent's full-back put a shovel and destroyed the ball out of the baseline. The Spanish team took a corner kick. Ramos overwhelmed the opponent's defender, jumped high and shook his head to attack the goal. Unfortunately, the football hit the crossbar.

Ramos's header scared the opponent. After Modric's reminder, Croatia focused on sending people to mark Ramos when defending set kicks, and did not give him a comfortable header opportunity.

In the 70th minute, Iniesta made a successful breakthrough in the middle and passed into the penalty area. Croatian defender Forsajko tripped David Silva. The referee decisively awarded a penalty kick.

However, because Lin Quan, who took the penalty kick, was not on the court, the players on the court were at a loss as to who would take the penalty kick.

Finally, captain Ramos stood up. Since you don't come, then I will!

Ramos then took the penalty, and the ball was saved by Croatian goalkeeper Subasic.

Well, this is a bit embarrassing...