The sixth professional football player who started with Manchester United

Chapter 73 Fighting Croatia 4
Bell rolled his eyes behind Dabao's back, but to be honest, he really admires this guy's force value. He is so provocative that the other party dare not make a move. If it were him, he would have been pinned to the ground long ago.

It feels quite safe to be a teammate with this guy, Bell thought to himself.

The next game continued, and the referee's law enforcement standards became stricter.

Three yellow cards were shown in just 10 minutes. Gradually, the players on both sides of the field were no longer vindictive. They were mainly afraid. After all, this was only the first half of the game. If they were punished by the referee because of their vindictiveness, If you choose the red package, you will have one less player on your side. By then, I am afraid that both Croatia and the leading Wales will collapse.

Croatia, which is behind on the scene, is also constantly speeding up the pace of the game, and has been implementing high-position pressing tactics against Wales' midfielders. However, Wales has gradually adapted to this style of play. You must know that most of these gangs are in England. Players who play football are not afraid of physical confrontation at all, especially some small balls in England can play football. The Premier League has always paid attention to physical confrontation. Teams like Reading, Swansea, and Queen this.

Therefore, after adapting to the opponent's intensity and rhythm, the advantage Croatia had just gained was gradually regained by Wales. At this time, Stimaqi realized that he did not know the opponent well enough. The strength of the team in front of him was indeed He was looked down upon.

In fact, even though Stimach said he was very cautious before the game, in fact, in his heart, he still felt that he had a very high hope of winning this game. He did not think Wales was his opponent, regardless of the two teams. Whether it is based on historical results or the strength of the players, Stimach thinks there is a certain gap.

In his eyes, the failure the last time the two teams met was a complete accident.

But now he no longer thinks so.

The first half of the game ended in anxiety. With the referee's whistle, Wales returned to the locker room with a one-goal lead.

The 15 minutes of halftime passed quickly.

As the players from both sides stood on the court again, it was discovered at this time that Wales not only made substitutions, but also made tactical adjustments to the players' positions.

Koeman replaced Morrison with Collins, and Collins appeared in the central defender position after coming on. Ricketts, who was originally in that position, came to the midfielder and was in a parallel position with Dabao. It seemed that he was serving as a defensive midfielder. , while Collison moved forward and became a central midfielder.

On the field, Wales' formation in the second half suddenly became a 451.

And after the start of the subsequent game, the Welsh players on the field used actual actions to prove that the tactics on the Welsh field have become defensive and counterattack tactics.

It seems that Koeman wants to use this one-goal lead to lure the opponent to pull out the formation.

Moreover, Koeman's defensive counterattack did not station troops in the back defense, but increased the thickness of the defense in the midfield. The advantage in the number of midfielders and the slight contraction of the formation ensured that Wales can always guarantee to form a pack in some areas. The defensive tactics of the clip, so that the competition between the two sides in the midfield will be more intense.

From the beginning of the second half of the game, the midfield showed an anxious and intense situation.

The ball basically kept switching back and forth in the midfield.

Croatia was also at full strength in the second half. Even though they were at a disadvantage in terms of numbers in the midfield, they were not at a disadvantage on the field, and Croatia had a slight advantage in the situation on the field.

It's just that this advantage was gained by Croatia's crazy attack, and such tactics also put Croatia's defense to a great test.

In particular, Dabao's long pass made the Croatian defensive players very afraid.

It seems that the long pass with precision guidance is always threatening Croatia's defense.

In the 57th minute of the game, after a beautiful one-two match between Croatian Modric and Rakitic in the frontcourt, Modric sent a ground ball through the ball, and Mandzukic stepped in. Collins, who had just replaced, was very focused and made a sliding tackle to scoop the ball out of the penalty area.

Although there was no shot, the threat to the Welsh goal was very great.

But then Wales used practical actions to tell the Croatians that your offense is threatening, and my counterattack is not a vegetarian. The ball that was shoveled out of the penalty area by Collins was picked up by Ricketts, and then handed over to Dabao. After receiving the ball, Dabao adjusted on the spot, and then sent the ball to the left again with a long pass.

All Bell had to do was speed up, speed up, speed up.

Bell, who hit the bottom line, sent the ball into the penalty area with a cross, but it was a pity that Bellamy, who followed up in the middle, was interfered by his opponent, and the ball went wide.

The back-and-forth offense and defense from both sides made the atmosphere on the scene more and more tense.

The competition was also extremely lively.

There is no way, everyone knows what losing this game means to them.

Once the game is lost, it may take another four years. A player can have several four years in his career. No one will willingly give up the opportunity to pursue the highest dream in football.

It's just that no matter how crazy Croatia attacks, they always miss opportunities on the final kick.

And Wales also used counterattacks to create some opportunities, but several people in the frontcourt failed to seize them.

As time passed by, although the competition on the field was still very fierce, the mentality of the Croatian players changed.

Unable to attack for a long time, they became more and more impatient.

What follows is a variety of unreasonable passes and shots. After the players take the ball to the 30-meter danger zone, they often pass the ball several times and find that they can't find any good opportunities, so they will just shoot from a long distance. Done.

In this way, the defensive pressure faced by Wales will be much less.

Stimach on the sidelines is also getting more and more anxious, and keeps signaling to the Croatian players on the field to calm down, but the effect it can have is not great.

Finally, with the referee's whistle, the game ended with 3 minutes of stoppage time.

The moment the whistle sounded, all the Welsh players and staff on the bench rushed into the field frantically. Although the game in this group was not over yet, the victory in this game finally gave Wales hope.

1-0, Wales won this life-and-death battle with the connection between Dabao and Bell after the opening.

(End of this chapter)