Chapter 549: There is not much time left for the Portuguese team

Portugal's locker room was filled with gloom and gloom. Coach Fernando Santos felt the solemn atmosphere in the locker room and was thinking hard about what to do to boost morale.

In the first half, their performance was not particularly bad. There was not much difference in statistics between the two sides. Spain also had a higher ball possession rate than Portugal. There was not much difference in the number of shots between the two sides. Portugal even scored more times in the 30-meter dangerous area. a bit more.

Spain's goal was more like an accident than a goal through coordination in a positional battle to break through their defense.

But being behind is being behind. It doesn't matter what method the opponent uses to score, in short, the opponent scores.

This is a huge headache!

Going into the second half with a disadvantage was not the script he had planned.

"In the second half, we have to change our tactics!"

Fernando clapped his hands, and after attracting the attention of all the players, he slowly spoke.

…

In the Spanish dressing room, Del Bosque was also arranging tactics for the second half.

"The second half is mainly about defensive counterattacks. Portugal will definitely attack. Their backcourt will definitely be very empty. As long as we can seize the opportunity to switch from defense to offense at the appropriate time and send the ball to the feet of the forwards, there will be success. Chance to score!"

Portugal's defensive intensity was very high in the first half, and Spain did not take much advantage in the positional battle.

But once the opponent attacks in the second half, it will be impossible for them to have such a strong defensive ability.

In this case, it was even easier for Spain to score than in the first half.

Of course, this is also risky. After the opponent increases their offensive intensity, the probability of Spain conceding the ball will also increase. If they fail to withstand the pressure and are equalized by the opponent before the counterattack succeeds, the situation may be difficult to predict. .

So Del Bosque made certain adjustments to Spain's formation. He planned to replace Francesco and Martinez, and then let Martinez's position retreat and change to a five-back formation.

However, Fabregas is an important outlet for the Spanish team in the counterattack. Once Lin Quan also joins the counterattack, he will even be the only outlet.

In this case, if he is replaced, all the responsibility for delivering the ball during the counterattack will fall on Lin Quan.

It's not that Bosque doubts that Lin Quan doesn't have such ability. In fact, with Lin Quan's organization and passing skills, he is fully qualified for this job.

But Lin Quan is not only an important member of the Spanish midfield, but also an indispensable attacking cone on the front line and the most stable scorer in the Spanish team.

If you put him behind and rely on Morata, Pedro and others on the front line, Del Bosque will always feel a little unreliable.

It's not that these people are not good at it. They are definitely considered first-class or even top players internationally. But if you compare them with Lin Quanyi, the gap is comparable to the Mariana Trench!

So, he looked again and again at Iniesta and Thiago on the bench.

Both of these two have good organizational and passing abilities. If they can be replaced on the court, there will be no such concerns.

However, the defensive abilities of these two people are a bit worrying.

If you replace them, you can only let Busquets come off, but Busquets is very important to the defense of the Spanish midfielder and cannot be let off easily.

Spain will face a lot of defensive pressure in the second half, and in this case Busquets cannot be replaced.

So Bosque was very entangled and had not yet made up his mind.

…

The fifteen-minute break passed quickly, and the players from both sides returned to the court to start the second half of the game.

As expected by Del Bosque, Portugal immediately accelerated the pace of the game after the start of the second half, wasting no time in kicking, pulling and probing, and directly launched a fierce attack on Spain's goal.

They initially tried to attack from the center, but Spain's center was densely populated and their formation was tighter.

The Portuguese players' foot skills are not as delicate as those of the Spanish players, and they cannot produce exquisite coordination. After several strong attacks to no avail, the Portuguese decisively changed their tactics and began to focus on wing attacks.

Nani's performance was very active, frequently creating threats on the wing, and even sent a very threatening cross to Ronaldo in the penalty area. Unfortunately, Ronaldo failed to seize the opportunity, and his header was too high. By pursuing the angle, it was slightly higher than the crossbar and missed this great opportunity.

When Ronaldo saw that his shot missed, he hugged his head in annoyance. The Portuguese fans in the stands were even more uncomfortable than him. They were all beating their chests and wished they could take Ronaldo's place on the field and score the ball just now.

Of course, this is impossible. Cristiano Ronaldo is already the player with the strongest header ability among active players. If he were to be replaced by anyone else, he may not be able to do better than him.

Although the goal was not scored, the Portuguese seemed to see an opportunity.

In the subsequent attacks, they frequently made passes, trying to replicate the attack just now.

Cristiano Ronaldo played very hard in this game. As long as his teammates passed the ball, he would fight hard regardless of whether he could catch it or not, even if he was injured.

For Ronaldo, this may be the closest he has come to a championship in his entire national team career.

If we cannot seize this opportunity, we may never have the chance to win the championship again in the future.

So, if we don’t fight now, when will we wait?

It's just that sometimes you may not succeed even if you try hard. Ronaldo's header threatens so much that Spain cannot be unprepared.

As a teammate of Ronaldo's club, Ramos is very aware of Ronaldo's header ability.

So after Cristiano Ronaldo entered the penalty area, he stayed close to him, trying every means to interfere and destroy his header opportunities.

There is always no way to grab the landing spot immediately, and he has to use physical confrontation and even some hidden tricks to prevent Ronaldo from exerting his strength, at least not giving him a chance to jump comfortably to compete for the top.

Ronaldo was very helpless about this and protested to the referee several times, but the referee was indifferent.

Ramos's level of pulling was still within the scope of reasonable physical confrontation, and both of them were in the penalty area. His whistle could not be blown easily.

In this crucial game, human intervention in the game must be minimized.

Unless the opponent committed a very obvious foul, if he easily awarded Portugal a penalty kick, wouldn't he be poked in the spine by fans all over the world?

Seeing that Ronaldo was alone in the penalty area, Portugal immediately made substitutions, replacing the 190-meter-tall Ed and replaced the left midfielder Sanches.

The intention of this substitution is very obvious. It is to increase the Portuguese team's impact in the penalty area and better seize the opportunity of crosses from the side to break the deadlock.

Ed played a big role after he came on the field. At least he shared the pressure of Ronaldo, so that Ronaldo didn't have to be flanked by others.

Moreover, in positional battles, he can also use his back to take the ball to Ronaldo, allowing Ronaldo to get better shooting opportunities.

After Portugal replaced Eder, their offense improved significantly, and the threat to Spain's goal suddenly increased.

In the 65th minute of the second half, Ronaldo received a pass from Ed and suddenly took a long shot from the top of the penalty area, almost piercing the Spanish goal.

If Casillas hadn't been highly focused, worked with Ronaldo for many years, and knew Ronaldo's shooting habits very well, the goal might have actually been scored!

Seeing that the team fell into a passive position, the front door became noisy.

Del Bosque immediately made substitution adjustments. He replaced Fabregas and replaced Martinez.

Martinez is 1.92 meters tall, and when he was at Bayern, he was transformed into a central defender by Guardiola, which allows him to adapt to both the defensive midfielder position and the central defender position.

Del Bosque's purpose of subbing him on the field was to strengthen defense, but when attacking, his position should be forward and return to the midfielder position as a ball release and receiving point.

After Martinez came on the field, Spain's defensive intensity greatly increased, and the position of the five defenders also compressed the opponent's offensive space from the wing.

The Portuguese team also wanted to blast from the side as before, but found that the effect was not ideal, so Nani began to try changes. When attacking, he chose to cut in instead of passing the ball.

But in this case, Ronaldo and Ed were a little embarrassed.

Ronaldo is not a standing forward. He lacks the back-up ability of a traditional center. After no teammates pass the ball to him, he actively retreats to the comfort zone of the ribs, intending to complete the attack from here.

This choice cannot be wrong, after all, Ronaldo hit some very beautiful shots after returning to this position.

But when the opponent's defensive formation is tight, it is not so easy to score the goal in this position.

It will be very difficult for Ronaldo to replicate his club success in Portugal because Portugal's midfield is far inferior to Real Madrid's.

While Portugal was launching a massive offensive, Spain was not idle either.

They seized the opportunity and counterattacked several times. Morata even scored a single goal, but unfortunately it was offside and was ruled off by the referee.

Morata felt that he was in good condition today, especially when there were not many people marking him. He felt that he might really be able to score in the finals.

Spain's counterattack was effective. After the Portuguese team felt the threat, they did not dare to attack as unscrupulously as before.

But after Xiaofa was substituted, they realized that as long as they could contain Lin Quan's passing point, they could completely stifle the Spanish team's counterattack.

As a result, several midfielders of the Portuguese team took turns, using various means to interfere and block Lin Quan's passing, denying the Spanish team a chance to quickly counterattack.

On the field, the best opportunity to score is when the opponent switches from offense to defense. At this time, a large number of personnel are participating in the attack in the frontcourt, and the defense is extremely empty. As long as someone can pass the ball out in the first time, past the opponent's personnel. The dense midfield can directly threaten the opponent's goal if it is passed to the empty back.

It is not easy to complete this passing task, because the ball holder must not only have broad vision and accurate passing, but also have strong escape ability. When the defensive player pounces on him, he can quickly get rid of the interception and complete the pass. Pass forward.

People who can possess these abilities at the same time are all the world's top midfielders, such as Manchester City's De Bruyne and Real Madrid's Modric.

The national football team lacks such key players, causing every counterattack to be ineffective. If it is blocked by the opponent, it will either lose the ball or be forced to pass back, and then it will become a positional battle.

Once forced into a positional battle, it will be more difficult for the weak national football team to score when the opponent is well prepared. Therefore, it is not surprising that there were no goals in three games in the Asian Cup.

No one in the midfield and frontcourt of the national football team can hold the ball. The five-back formation can only defend and cannot counterattack. It is passively beaten. If you are lucky enough to not lose the ball, you will score a draw and get a point. If you are not lucky and cannot defend, then... We can only lose.

The Portuguese are lucky, Lin Quan happens to meet these conditions.

His vision is very broad and he can not only capture opportunities and openings keenly.

He even knows the position and movements of every player on the court, and his foot skills are very delicate, and his passing ability is extremely outstanding. He can often deliver the ball to his teammates in the most comfortable way, so that they can feel comfortable Complete the shot.

More importantly, Lin Quan has top-notch escape capabilities.

When a defensive player faces him one-on-one, it is easy for him to be passed. Especially when he rushes to intercept in a hurry, being passed is almost inevitable.

Therefore, the best way to deal with him is to have many people double-team him. But in a hurry, how could there be so many people to double-team him?

So the Portuguese chose another method-foul!

In the 69th minute of the second half, Spain had a chance to counterattack. Lin Quan had just picked up the ball and was about to pass it out when he was severely knocked to the ground by Adrian who rushed from the side.

Beep!

As soon as the whistle blew, the referee immediately stopped the game and took out a yellow card to warn the Portuguese midfielder.

Adrian neither reached out to pull Lin Quan nor protested to the referee. He just lowered his head and left without speaking.

There is nothing to protest about this foul. His foul action is very obvious and cannot be denied even if he wants to.

If he hadn't been the last defensive player, it might have been more than just a yellow card.

Adrian was not the only Portuguese player to receive a card on Lin Quan. Sanches, who had been substituted before, was given a yellow card for fouling Lin Quan in the first half.

Including Cedric, who received a yellow card at the beginning of the game, Portugal received a total of five yellow cards in this game, three of which were due to Lin Quan.

This shows how much Portugal paid to restrict Lin Quan.

Seeing midfielder Adrian take a card, Portugal coach Fernando couldn't sit still.

He called Moutinho from the bench, gave him some face-to-face instructions, and was about to send him on.

The position of the midfielder is very critical. If a player dares not commit a foul because he has a yellow card, he may end up conceding the ball.

Therefore, we must replace him with someone who can commit tactical fouls.

The number of fouls on Portugal's side is indeed a bit too high. With so many yellow cards, it's a bit difficult to play.

But strangely enough, with all his teammates receiving cards one after another, Pepe, who is known as the warrior monk, has not received a yellow card until now. This has to be said to be a very surprising thing.

Pepe actually felt lucky. Lin Quan was not particularly active on the wing in this game. The main targets he had to defend were Morata and Pedro.

It is not particularly difficult to defend these two people. With Pepe's own ability, it is not impossible to deal with it, so he cannot commit a foul.

Many times, Pepe's fouls are retaliatory fouls after becoming angry.

The nature of this kind of foul is relatively bad, which is the main reason why he often receives red cards and even gets additional suspensions.

It was a good thing that Pepe didn't get a card, but seeing the game time passing by and the Portuguese team failing to score a goal, the Portuguese fans at the scene couldn't help but become anxious.

Now you don't have to worry about taking cards or not. You should hurry up and score goals!

There is not much time left in the regular time of the game!

There is not much time left for the Portuguese team!