The sixth professional football player who started with Manchester United

Chapter 43 Croatia
On the afternoon of October 10, the entire Wales team arrived at the Maximir Stadium in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia.

Today's away game against Croatia will be played in this stadium.

The stadium is also the home stadium of Dinamo Zagreb.

The game between the two sides officially started at five o'clock in the afternoon.

Koeman still has a cautious attitude towards this game, and Dabao still appeared on the bench.

Croatia's starting lineup for this game is the goalkeeper Pletikosa, the back line Simunić, Luka and Strinić form a three-back lineup, and the midfielder is Srna and Vukojavic , Rakitic, Modric and Perisic, with Eduardo and Mandzukic on the forward line.

The starting lineup for Wales is Koeman's 442-[-]-[-] formation, with Prince as goalkeeper, Chris Gaunt, Ashley Williams, Blake, and Matthews at the back, and David Vaughn in the midfield. , Edwards, Bell and Joe Allen, with Morrison and Simon on the forward line.

With the whistle of the referee, the game also kicked off at exactly five o'clock in the afternoon.

Croatia also showed a strong desire to win as soon as they came up. The whole team played openly and closed, and the offensive was wave after wave. Wales quickly fell into a disadvantage in the situation of the game.

Fortunately, the three-back defensive system was still a little uncomfortable when facing the counterattacks of the two Welsh wingers, Bell and Joe Allen. Therefore, despite having an advantage in offense, Croatia's two midfielders had to allocate part of their energy to He helps the team defend, so he is unable to devote himself fully to the offense.

Coupled with Prince's heroic performance, although Croatia had the upper hand, they failed to score.

But judging from the scene, if Wales does not change anything, it will be a matter of time before Wales concedes a goal in this game.

In the 17th minute of the game, Modric sent an overhead kick in the midfield. Mandzukic got into a favorable position and then hit a wonderful volley.

It's just that Croatia's luck is slightly worse today.

Although the football passed Prince's hands, it was blocked by the goal post.

When the football hit the post with a loud noise, the Croatian fans in the stands also let out a huge sigh.

Immediately after 5 minutes, Modric's long-range shot from outside the penalty area was lifted out of the crossbar by the brave Prince with one hand.

For a time, Croatia's offensive on the field became more and more fierce.

And Wales was directly suppressed in the half.

Finally, Wales still failed to defend. In the 35th minute of the game, Perisic received a pass from Modric on the wing, shook off the Welsh full-back and sent a cross.

Eduardo, who followed up from the previous point, feinted a shot, and Mandzukic in the middle finally broke through Prince's ten fingers with a header.

1 to 0, the Croatian fans in the stands are also very excited.

After taking the lead, Croatia consciously retracted its formation and began to play a defensive counterattack.

Fortunately, it seems that Wales had already expected to fall behind, so this goal did not affect the team's morale, and they did not rush to attack after falling behind, but still based on defense.

In fact, this is also because Koeman learned a lesson from the game against Serbia. In that game, it was precisely because after falling behind suddenly, the team was eager to equalize the score, and then fell into the trap of the opponent's defensive counterattack, which led to the final result. Conceded 6 goals in a game.

In the first half of the game, neither side found any good opportunities.

Finally, at the referee's whistle, Croatia entered the intermission with a one-goal lead.

"Jack, you can replace David in the second half, is that okay?"

Back in the locker room, Koeman walked to Dabao and said.

"No problem, sir!"

"OK!"

The 15-minute break passed quickly, and when the players from both sides returned to the court, Wales requested a substitution, and No. 29 Dabao replaced David Vaughn.

At the beginning of the second half of the game, Dabao gave the Croatian players a blow.

Eduardo retreated to the midfield to meet Modric. After receiving Modric's pass, Dabao's sliding tackle, which had just completed his turn, also arrived. With a very clean tackle, he directly shoveled the ball to the side. Edwards, then Dabao quickly got up and rushed forward. When he passed Modric, Edwards' pass also arrived.

It's just that the pass was not good, so Dabao had to slow down to catch the ball. In this way, he was also entangled by Modric, but the physical gap between the two was still not small, and Modric's pressing As if encountering a wall, he was bounced away, and then an emergency stop and change of direction temporarily threw Modric away, and then Dabao adjusted his pace, and sent the ball directly to the left with a long pass.

Bell jumped in at high speed, received the ball before the opponent's full-back, then stopped suddenly and dunked the ball back, dodged the opponent's tackle, and then sent a cross.

It's a pity that Simon's header, which followed up from the middle, was a little too high, and it missed the crossbar and flew out.

Although he didn't score, this was the most threatening attack Wales has played since the start of the game.

After seeing this, Koeman slapped his forehead with some annoyance. At this time, Koeman was not only annoyed that Simon's shot missed, but also a little annoyed that he had become less courageous and did not arrange for Dabao to play early. , He can see from the ball just now that Dabao understands the game very well. Although the tacit understanding with his teammates has not yet been formed, with this long pass, it can completely cover up many weaknesses.

Moreover, the tacit understanding itself can be formed quickly through competition.

Wales' attack also scared Croatia into a cold sweat, especially Modric in the midfield, who frowned a little. Modric was not familiar with the young player his opponent had just replaced. He transferred to Real Madrid this summer. Although Dabao played last season and played against Tottenham, Modric did not play in that game.

But the head-on collision between the two just now also gave a midfield star like Modric a new understanding of Dabao.

The Croatian coach Stimac on the sidelines was also yelling towards the court, signaling the players to pay attention to Dabao.

The game continued, and Dabao's appearance did bring great changes to Wales.

(End of this chapter)