Go score!coach

Chapter 333: Showdown with Maradona! I will live and die with the team! [A big chapter with ten thousand words, please beg me to subscribe]

The gold content of the Confederations Cup is still not strong enough.

The main reason is that the strength is uneven.

Except for South Africa, the host of next year's World Cup, the other seven teams are cup champions from all continents.

Since Brazil won the World Cup in 2006 and then the Copa America, as usual, Argentina, the runner-up of the Copa America, took over.

When grouping, Spain was grouped with Oceania Cup champion New Zealand, host South Africa and America's Cup runner-up Argentina, while defending World Cup champion Brazil was grouped with Asian Cup champion Iraq, North American champion the United States and African Cup champion Egypt.

As usual, the host country is usually taken care of in the opening game.

Being placed in the same group as Spain and Argentina, it doesn't take much to figure out that South Africa's opening match will definitely be against New Zealand.

Then Spain's first match in the Confederations Cup can only be Argentina.

When Yang Hao led the team to Rustenburg, he got first-hand information about Argentina.

His first reaction was that not only the South American Football Association was cheating on him, but the Football Association was also cheating on him.

In order to support Spain's participation in the Confederations Cup, UEFA made special adjustments to the schedule and postponed Spain's World Cup qualifying matches, which gave Spain more time to prepare.

But what about South America?

No, the World Cup qualifiers will continue.

Today's Brazil is very powerful in South America. Under the leadership of Kaká, they defeated Uruguay 4-0 in an away game and have almost qualified for the World Cup finals.

After returning home, they reversed Paraguay 2-1.

In these two games, Alves' performance was the most impressive. In the first game, he had one pass and one shot. In the game against Paraguay, he also provided an assist, helping Adriano equalize the score.

Argentina's situation is less optimistic.

After a 1-0 win over Colombia at home, they suffered a 0-2 away defeat to Ecuador.

Argentina's situation in the World Cup qualifying rounds is not optimistic.

The two South American teams only finished their World Cup qualifiers on June 6th, and only departed for South Africa on the 10th.

On June 6, Spain met Argentina.

On June 6, Brazil met Egypt.

You know, the international players of Brazil and Argentina only returned home at the end of May, especially the international players like Real Madrid, after playing in the Champions League. After returning to the country non-stop to compete, they played two games and then flew to the United States non-stop. South Africa.

This kind of long-distance traveling has a great impact on the international football players.

Yang Hao had known Argentina's schedule before, so he specially arranged for Mendio and Caminero to go to South America to spy on Argentina and Brazil's game intelligence.

By the time Yang Hao and his team arrived in Rustenburg, they had already sorted out the scouting reports and handed them into Yang Hao's hands, allowing Yang Hao to have a better understanding of the two strongest opponents.

……

After Yang Hao arrived in South Africa, apart from training, the most important thing was to watch Argentina's two World Cup qualifying matches. He saw Maradona's transformation and the new problems that arose after the transformation.

The most interesting thing is that the tactics used in these two peripheral qualifiers are different.

Mainly in the midfield.

Playing Colombia at home, Argentina adopted a 433 tactic.

Mascherano plays as a single defensive midfielder, Veron and Gago are forward, and the front three is Tevez, Aguero and Messi.

Diego Milito came on as a substitute.

Judging from these games, Maradona still prefers small players in the frontcourt, with Diego Milito and Higuain both as substitutes.

In addition, he did not recruit Cambiaso from Inter Milan and Riquelme from Argentina.

In this game, Argentina's offense was still not smooth. In the end, they relied on a free kick to assist and barely scored a goal. They defeated Colombia 1-1 at home.

When it came to the away game against Ecuador, Maradona adopted another style of play and turned into 442.

The four midfielders are Gutierrez, Gago, Maxi Rodriguez and Battaglia.

As a result, the fourth midfielder was beaten 4-0 by Ecuador in the away game.

"Judging from the two games, the key to Argentina's problem lies in two words, chaos!"

Guardiola pointed out the problem sharply when the coaching staff met to discuss it after watching the two games.

"To this day, I can't see Maradona having any ideas at all. I don't even know what kind of football he wants the team to play. They don't even support the minimum movement without the ball in offense, and they don't even have support in defense. They did a very poor job of maintaining distance.”

These are really the basics.

Take the most typical example.

In the 433 game against Ecuador, Tevez and Messi were separated on the wings. It often happened that when they got the ball, there was no one around to respond, and there was no way to pass the ball. In the end, they had to rely on their personal ability to play.

So what appears on the court is what the fans see: Digging, are these international players stupid?

Don't you know how to cooperate or pass the ball?

Everyone just immerses themselves in taking care of and doing the work on their own, without even the most basic cooperation. What do they do for food?

Also, the distance between the players is too long.

It often happens that when a player takes the ball, there is no teammate within 20 meters to respond, which is very problematic.

At Atletico Madrid, Yang Hao's requirement is that under any circumstances, there should be at least two contact points about 10 meters apart.

Why two?

With only one word, the opponent easily cut it off, and the passing intention was too obvious.

And what about Argentina?

There are often no contact points within 20 meters, and most only have one.

So the question is, what should the players do on the court?

You can only rely on your personal ability to dribble the ball, break out, shorten the distance between you and the players, and then pass the ball.

Playing under this tactical system is very painful and tiring for the players.

But it’s a bit painful and tiring, but it’s actually not bad.

This is true when you get the ball, but what about when you lose the ball?

There is often no one within 20 meters of the person who lost the ball. What is the concept?

In other words, Argentina cannot counterattack immediately. From a distance of 20 meters, it would take 3 seconds at the fastest to react and then chase.

When you react and rush over, the situation is completely different.

Under the chain reaction, the entire defensive system collapsed immediately, let alone being established.

"Maradona was a great player."

Yang Hao took over the assistant's words and analyzed Maradona's current environment.

"But for such great players, they often cannot understand how other people think, and it is difficult for others to understand their interpretation of football."

"This reflects the actual situation. He feels that many things do not need to be said at all. To him, they are all the most basic. All players should know how to run as soon as they get on the field. How to respond, how to pass the ball and cooperate, these are all taken for granted, do I need to emphasize them?"

"But for players, this is not the case at all. No one can interpret the game like Maradona. Otherwise, they will not be what they are now, but will become the second Maradona."

Everyone nodded, understanding what Yang Hao said.

This is why great players often fail to become great head coaches.

Of course, this is not absolute. Beckenbauer, Cruyff, Ancelotti and others are all successful players and coaches, as well as Zidane and Guardiola in Yang Hao's previous life.

"Many people say that the head coach of the national team is very special. They always think that they have to be older before they want to be one. It gives people the feeling of being a retired person, but in fact it is not the case."

"The national team head coach has very high requirements for experience and pays special attention to details."

Yang Hao has been coaching the Spanish national team for three years. Taking this opportunity, he also wanted to share his differences between the national team head coach and the club head coach.

"You see, the biggest difference between the club's head coaches is that they have a wide range of talents to choose from. Of course, this is not always the case. Some small and medium-sized teams do not have such treatment, but they can play together for a long time."

"This kind of tacit understanding established when playing together for a long time, as well as the habits they have developed by playing under the same tactical system for a long time, are something that players in the national team do not possess anyway."

"Even in a country like ours in Spain, where many players are teammates in the youth team, we still can't do it."

Everyone nodded.

This is really critical.

They have always felt that the most important reason why Yang Hao is willing and confident to take over the Spanish national team is that there are too many players from Atletico Madrid in the Spanish national team.

This gives Yang Hao an advantage in coaching.

Situations like this are actually very common.

For example, the German national team often uses Bayern as its team to build its team.

The advantage of this is that it can make up for the players' shortcomings in tacit understanding and playing habits to the greatest extent.

What is the biggest difference between coaching the national team and coaching the national team?

Just dig into the details.

For those who can be selected into the national team, there is absolutely no problem with their player ability. Their performance in the club can also be used in the national team. The difference is the ups and downs in form.

The key question is, how to let them play their role?

At this time, the head coach has to be very, very detailed and tell the players, under what circumstances, in which area should they appear to respond to whom?

Under what circumstances is the main activity area located?

When defending, should you position yourself immediately and where should you position yourself?

Fill in? Whose position needs to be filled, and which area needs to be filled?

Because players have different playing habits and characteristics, the head coach has to dig into all the issues very, very carefully.

One that everyone is familiar with is England's double virtue.

Yang Hao had seen many interviews and autobiographies in his previous life.

Capello, Gerrard and Lampard all think it's weird. Why are they incompatible?

Obviously both of them are so strong and can perform very well when separated, but why can't they be together?

Some people would say that because they have similar characteristics, they conflict.

However, the question on everyone's mind cannot be thought of by Capello and the coaching staff, or by Gerrard and Lampard?

The fact is, they all thought of it.

At first, Capello meant that the two world-class midfielders should cooperate on their own, with one going up and the other retreating.

This looks harmonious and difficult for the other team to defend, right?

But the problem arises.

Who goes up and who comes back?

When will you go up and when will you come back?

So it often appears in games, either both go up, or both come back, which is very troublesome to coordinate.

The final result was that they were not unwilling to accommodate each other, but it was precisely because they were too accommodating to each other that they both put shackles on themselves during the game, and in the end they were unable to perform at their true level.

At first, everyone thought that the tacit understanding problem would be solved by getting used to it, but then it got worse and worse, causing them to lose confidence.

How was it solved in the end?

Capello simply acted arrogantly, one was responsible for pushing forward, and the other was responsible for holding back. This was agreed upon before the game.

Therefore, after having a clear and detailed division of labor, the performance of the two people improved.

This question can actually reflect the biggest difference between the national team and the club.

The time left for the national team head coach is very limited, and he must quickly discover and solve problems in the shortest possible time.

This requires a lot of experience.

This is exactly the problem Maradona is facing now.

His understanding of football exists in his mind and no one knows it.

Moreover, he lacks coaching experience, and he has no way to instill it in others, so no one knows what he wants to do.

Anyone who has read the book knows that answering a question correctly and teaching others to answer a question correctly are two completely different dimensions.

Whether Maradona can do it now, no one knows, but he certainly can't teach.

"Actually, in a situation like Argentina, I personally feel that it is better to learn from Pellegrini's Villarreal." Yang Hao gave his answer to the point.

"Yes, but Maradona will not recruit Riquelme." Juanma Lillo shook his head and sighed.

It's really difficult to work with two people with such personalities.

Given the current situation in Argentina, Yang Hao is absolutely right.

Rather than letting everyone run around like headless flies, it is better to simply sort out a core and let them run and pass around this core.

The advantage of this is that everyone has a lighthouse in their hearts.

After Pellegrini coached Villarreal, he quickly created the South American style of play of the Yellow Submarine with Riquelme as the core, especially running and passing.

After everyone became familiar with this tactical system, Pellegrini had the courage to break with Riquelme.

There are many things that outsiders don't know at all, including Yang Hao.

It stands to reason that the current Argentina national team is full of talents, not just players.

The current sports director of the Argentina national team is the legendary Bilardo, who led Argentina to win the World Cup.

They equipped Maradona with three assistant coaches, namely Sergio Batista, Jose Luis Brown and Miguel Angel Leme.

Among them, Batista is the head coach of the Argentine National Youth Team. He has also coached the Argentine national team before and has very rich experience; Brown and Leme are both assistant coaches of Bilardo. The former coaches in Argentina and now He also plays for the Argentina U17 youth team.

LeMay has followed Bilardo to coach Sevilla in La Liga since the 90s, and has followed him all the way until now.

From the perspective of coaching level, these people are not bad.

But the problem is that none of them seem familiar to Maradona.

Perhaps, by moving out Maradona at this time, the Argentine Football Association hopes to use Maradona's influence in the hearts of Argentines to unite the team.

Therefore, after coaching, Maradona paid little attention to tactics and emphasized more on spirit, hard work and unity.

But the problem is, times have changed.

In the past, when individual ability was paramount, it was useful to emphasize the individual abilities of Argentine players.

But now?

In the face of overall football, this style of play is of no use at all.

Sometimes, the harder you work, the more outrageous your mistakes will be, and the worse you will lose.

"I'm a little worried now. Will my relationship with Messi get worse after this game?" Yang Hao said with a headache.

Juanma Lillo and others all laughed.

It seems that Yang Hao already has a plan in mind.

……

On the evening of June 6th, Royal Bambafken Stadium, Rustenburg.

The showdown between Spain and Argentina attracted 42000 fans, filling the Real Bambafken Stadium to overcrowding.

When Yang Hao walked into the stadium, he happened to see Maradona standing in the coaching command area on the other side. He immediately walked over with a smile.

When the pot-bellied Maradona saw Yang Hao, he immediately came up to him with a smile.

"Hello, Yang, so nice to see you, my friend!" Maradona smiled and gave Yang Hao a warm hug.

"Nice to meet you, Diego!"

When Maradona led the team to a disastrous defeat to Bolivia and was unable to step down, Yang Hao gave him enough face. This made Maradona have a very good impression of him. He always said that he would go to Spain to meet Yang Hao. , have a chat.

As a result, the two are now rivals.

"Diego, you have to be gentle with your feet tonight."

"You should tell Messi this and ask him to be merciful." Maradona smiled.

"Tonight, nothing I say will work. He only listens to you."

Maradona smiled very happily, "Yang, thank you very much for cultivating Messi for us. He is a very unique player. I am studying how to make the most of him."

"I'm glad to hear you say that, but tonight, we're going to do our best to stop him!"

"You can't do it." Maradona looked particularly confident.

In this game, Argentina still adopted a 442 tactical play.

Goalkeeper: Andujar;

Defense: Heinze, Demichelis, Otamendi and Zanetti;

Midfielder: Gutierrez, Mascherano, Veron and Maxi Rodriguez;

Forwards: Tevez and Messi.

Yang Hao found a very interesting phenomenon that Maradona's starting lineup for this game seemed to be compatible with the tactics of the previous two games, but the players in the starting lineup were different.

For example, before he arranged for Gago to play as a deep-lying organization, but in this game he used Mascherano to partner with Veron to play as a double midfielder.

interesting!

Yang Hao is full of confidence in tonight's game.

Spain's starting lineup tonight still played 433.

Goalkeeper: Casillas;

Defence: Antonio Lopez, Puyol, Pepe and Ramos;

Midfield: Xavi Alonso deep, Iniesta and Xavi in ​​the middle;

Forwards: David Silva, Torres and Villa.

In the locker room just now, one of the points Yang Hao emphasized before the game was that the team should remain compact and meticulous in formation.

This will be the key for Spain against Argentina tonight.

As long as Spain makes good use of its advantage in passing and controlling the ball, Argentina will be defeated.

……

When the referee Kofi Kodeja from Benin blew the whistle to start the game, Argentina came out in full force.

Before this game, Maradona publicly issued an inspiring mobilization order in an interview with Argentina's authoritative media.

"In South Africa, we have only one goal, and that is to win the championship!"

"The first battle against Spain can only have one result, and that is victory!"

"I will live and die with the team!"

"We must strangle Spain, we must rush out and fight like a man, we must go out with our testicles!"

Obviously, Maradona's mobilization is still effective.

As soon as the game started, Veron sent a through ball to the right side of the penalty area. Messi moved forward at high speed, but when he received the ball, he was blocked by Puyol with his right foot at close range. Messi had no room to use his left foot and had to go to the baseline. He hit the goal with his right foot from a small angle and was saved by goalkeeper Casillas.

Corner kick.

Argentina took advantage of the situation and launched a wave of attacks.

This was within Yang Hao's expectation, so he was not in a hurry and signaled the team to play steadily and remain patient.

After winning the European Cup, Yang Hao has maintained tactical stability.

Messi soon discovered that the coach he respected the most had placed a tight cage on him.

Although Argentina played 442, both Tevez and Maxi Rodriguez were a bit far away from Messi.

After the opening, Argentina controlled the advantage, but Messi soon discovered that he had to withdraw and retreat to the midfield to receive the ball.

Because if he stayed in front, the ball would not reach his feet.

But after withdrawing, he had to stay away from the penalty area.

Often, after dribbling the ball, he can only reach the outside of the penalty area, where he will be blocked by defensive players.

Xabi Alonso, his teammate at Atletico Madrid, now became a barrier preventing him from entering the penalty area.

For example, in the 12th minute, Zanetti stepped in from the right and passed a low pass to Messi who was retreating to meet.

After the Argentinian dribbled the ball forward, there was no one within a radius of 20 meters with him as the center of the circle.

This is the problem Yang Hao mentioned.

Messi can only rely on his personal ability to beat Xavi Alonso, but can he beat Puyol again?

So, I could only reluctantly take off my foot, but the shot was a bit far and failed to hit the target with force.

Just 4 minutes later, after Messi retreated to catch the ball, he dribbled the ball forward, this time to the line of the penalty area. As soon as he passed Xabi Alonso, Puyol came up to fill the gap.

There was no one around to respond and there was no passing point. Messi started to hit the goal again, but this time the shot was blocked by Puyol.

In the first 16 minutes, through this kind of attack, Argentina had a ball possession rate of nearly 70%. This was a very outrageous and incredible phenomenon, and even Messi himself was scared.

This is anything but unusual!

Messi knows Yang Hao very well. Although Yang Hao does not regard possession of the ball as his life like the former Barcelona, ​​he is definitely not a person who will give the initiative to his opponent.

So what is he doing now?

He is biding his time!

Especially when Messi saw Zanetti actively moving forward to participate in the attack, he was really worried.

But I don’t know how to say it.

Now that the team has the initiative, if they come out and express their concerns at this time, wouldn't it be disturbing the morale of the military?

Just when Messi was a little worried, when the game reached the 21st minute, Spain finally launched a quick counterattack.

After stealing the ball in the midfield, Xavi quickly handed it to Villa. After the latter received the ball with his back, Ramos had already quickly inserted it.

After Ramos received a pass from Villa, he dribbled the ball quickly along the left wing and diagonally into the right corner of the penalty area. When he was about to pass to Torres, Demichelis rushed out and fouled.

Spain was given a free kick opportunity from the outside right corner of the front court.

Demichelis also received a yellow card.

"Be careful and cheer up." Messi shouted loudly.

"Watch out for Ramos and Pepe."

The Argentinian knows these two teammates very well, and their header abilities are very strong.

Especially Ramos.

Xavi stood at the penalty spot and smiled slightly after hearing Messi's shout.

We truly have been teammates for many years, we know each other very well!

This makes Xavi really envious of this group of players at Atletico Madrid.

But he still took a deep breath, quickly stepped forward, and sent the ball into the penalty area.

If time slows down at this moment, you will find that Argentina's two central defenders Demichelis and Otamendi have been pulled away, and they directly follow Pepe and Puyol to rush to the left post at the back point.

And just when Argentina's defense focused its attention on the left post, there was a large gap in the middle and front points.

When Xavi's free kick came over, Ramos quickly rushed out of the crowd, and Heinze was one step behind.

Ramos leapt high, shook his head like a lion, and sent Xavi's free kick into the lower right corner of the Argentine goal.

"The ball went in!!!"

"Ramos!!"

"Spain's first goal in the Confederations Cup!"

"Sergio Ramos opened the scoring for Spain with a wonderful header!"

"This is Spain's third shot of the game, Ramos' beautiful header."

"1 to 0!"

The Spanish players all rushed towards Ramos, who had already forgotten what he was doing and celebrated.

Messi looked very depressed.

He had already reminded his teammates to pay attention to Ramos and Pepe. As a result, they paid attention to Pepe and missed Ramos.

Messi turned his head and looked towards the sidelines. His eyes habitually found Yang Hao first, but soon moved to Maradona.

Unlike Yang Hao who clenched his fists excitedly in celebration, Maradona looked very helpless and stood there, looking a little overwhelmed, or in other words, he didn't know what he should do at this time.

This is what worries Messi the most.

……

After Spain scored first, the Argentine players seemed a little panicked.

They began to launch a counterattack, hoping to equalize the score as soon as possible.

At this time, Maradona did not seem to have given very clear instructions. He just kept shouting from the sidelines, calling on the players to attack and maintain pressure on Spain.

But just 5 minutes after the goal, Spain once again stole the ball and launched an offensive.

When the ball reached the feet of David Silva on the left side of the frontcourt, he failed to break through Zanetti on the left sideline and was forced to pass back.

Antonio Lopez also came up and passed the ball to Xabi Alonso.

Xavi Alonso passed the ball directly to Iniesta who dropped back to connect.

Xiaobai didn't stop the ball and directly hit a half-high ball to David Silva who was close to the left sideline in the frontcourt.

Gutierrez used a big kick to try to clear the ball, but missed the ball and slipped instead.

David Silva got ahead of Zanetti and returned Xiaobai's pass.

Antonio Lopez quickly crossed into the penalty area from the slipping Gutierrez, caught up with David Silva's pass, went directly to the left side of the penalty area, and crossed to the center.

Torres followed up and pushed with his right foot, sending the ball into Argentina's goal again.

2 is better than 0!

Torres quickly rushed off the court and ran all the way to the sidelines to celebrate.

All the Spanish players chased him out, all of them looking extremely excited.

Sure enough, the head coach's pre-game deployment was absolutely correct.

The defense of the Argentine players is really good.

Everyone is becoming more confident as they play.

And just when the first half was about to end in the 42nd minute, the Argentina team played an offensive on the left and passed it to Tevez's feet. The beast tried to dribble the ball into the Spanish penalty area, but was stopped by Pepe.

After the ball was stolen, Xabi Alonso quickly passed it forward to Iniesta's feet.

Xiaobai quickly dribbled the ball forward along the left rib, instigating Spain's quick counterattack.

The Argentinian quickly retreated, but when Xiaobai advanced the ball to the 30-meter area, he distributed the ball to the left before Veron could grab it and handed it to the feet of David Silva.

When David Silva got the ball in the left corner of the penalty area, he passed the ball directly to the baseline before Zanetti was in place. After catching up, he passed the ball low with his left foot and hit the goal.

After Torres used his body to push away Demichelis, he fell to the ground and shot in the middle of the penalty area, sending the ball into the Argentina goal again, 3-0!

All the fans in the stadium were cheering for Spain’s wonderful counterattack!

Judging from the performance in the first half, although Spain did not have the advantage in passing and controlling the ball as it did in the past, it had more threatening attacks and scored 3 goals.

Argentina really couldn't come up with an effective solution when facing Spain's style of play.

Especially in the second half.

As soon as the game started, Maradona's team wanted to attack again and create some threats.

But this style of play had already failed in the first half.

Although Maradona replaced Veron and replaced Aguero at halftime, trying to play a 433 three-forward tactic, neither Aguero nor Messi could form several shots. threaten.

They were all closely watched by Spanish defensive players and it was difficult to find effective scoring opportunities.

On the contrary, Spain retreated in the 67th minute after a frontcourt counterattack failed to threaten.

Xabi Alonso spotted the opportunity and suddenly hit a long shot.

This shot was very sudden, the ball was very fast, and it went straight to the upper right corner of the goal.

Although goalkeeper Andujar struggled to make a save, he was unable to do anything and could only watch the football go into the net.

4 is better than 0!

Failed!

A complete fiasco!

At this point in the game, the suspense has been completely lost.

Yang Hao also successively made substitutions to retain his strength.

But in the end, Spain maintained the 4-0 score until the end.

……

In the opening game of the Confederations Cup, the host South Africa defeated New Zealand 2-0 and got off to a good start.

The second game shocked the world.

In this world-renowned peak showdown between Spain and Argentina, Spain defeated Argentina led by Maradona with an overwhelming 4-0.

And everyone can still notice that Yang Hao's team saved their strength in the second half.

Especially after taking a 4-goal lead, Yang Hao began to make continuous substitutions to save energy for the next group stage instead of pursuing victory.

Otherwise, Argentina will lose even more miserably.

After the game, the media and fans in Spain were extremely happy, but the fans in Argentina were filled with grief.

As a football powerhouse, Argentina was ambitious before the game and wanted to compete with Spain.

As a result, we lost so miserably. Why?

……

Yang Hao and the Spanish national team, who are far away in South Africa, do not have time to accompany the media and fans to cheer and reflect.

After playing Argentina, the team returned to the hotel to rest.

The next morning, the team set off south from Rustenburg to Bloemfontein.

Regarding the first game of the Confederations Cup, the Spanish national team also launched internal discussions and analysis, mainly focusing on the problems that occurred during the game, and Yang Hao also affirmed the team's wonderful performance in the first game.

"But this is just the beginning."

Arriving in Bloemfontein on the 15th, we ushered in the second game of the Confederations Cup on the evening of the 17th.

At the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein, Spain welcomed host South Africa.

The game attracted 48000 fans.

But despite this, South Africa is still very pragmatic.

Brazilian head coach Santana repeatedly emphasized the strength of Spain before the game, saying that South Africa needs to do its best to have a chance.

In the game, they adopted the most pragmatic defensive counterattack tactics.

Throughout the first half, Spain played very patiently, and South Africa's defense was also very solid.

Pienaar created the most threatening offensive opportunity in the first half. He dribbled the ball into the penalty area and passed in, but the subsequent shot was saved by Casillas.

Spain also had several very good shooting opportunities, but they were unable to convert into goals.

After changing sides in the second half, Spain launched a wave of attacks.

In the 51st minute, after the cooperation of Antonio Lopez and David Silva on the left, a pass was made. After Torres stopped the ball on his chest in front of the goal, he volleyed with his left foot and scored the first goal for Spain!

The Spanish center has scored in two consecutive games.

Just 3 minutes later, still on the left, Iniesta was fouled after dribbling the ball into the penalty area after a one-two with David Silva, and the referee had to award a penalty kick.

This foul was too obvious. He couldn't block the player and just knocked him down from behind. This was not a foul or a penalty kick. It really insulted the fans' intelligence.

Torres gave up the right to take the penalty kick, and Villa calmly pushed the ball and scored in one stroke, giving Spain another victory.

After taking a 2-goal lead, Yang Hao made substitution adjustments again.

In the 82nd minute, Villa created a free kick opportunity on the right. Xavi quickly took the free kick. Fabregas, who came on the bench, passed the ball, and high center forward Llorente, who also came on the bench, headed the ball. The attack hit the goal and expanded the score.

3 is better than 0!

Spain finally relied on the goals of three forwards to defeat the host 3-0 and win two consecutive victories.

In another game, Argentina defeated New Zealand 2-0 with Messi's brace.

As a result, Spain advanced with two consecutive victories, and Argentina faced South Africa in the final round. Whoever wins will advance.

……

The evening of July 6.

Still at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein.

Spain, which has already obtained the right to qualify in advance, almost rotates the entire starting lineup. Yang Hao allows all substitute players to play, while the main players take turns to prepare for the semi-finals.

Llorente, Juan Mata, Reyes and Fabregas all scored. Llorente scored the second and third goals of this Confederations Cup, helping Spain finally win by 2 Beat New Zealand by 3.

The disparity in strength in this game is indeed very large.

In another game, Argentina and the host South Africa played an inseparable game. In the end, it was Messi's goal that helped Argentina narrowly defeat South Africa and win 1-0.

In the end, in the group stage, Spain won all 3 games and qualified first in the group.

Argentina qualified second in the group with 2 wins and 1 loss.

The host South Africa stopped in the group stage.

……

The evening of July 6.

Still at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein.

Confederations Cup semi-finals, Spain versus the United States.

As early as the European Cup, the coaching staff reminded Yang Hao that if he wins two consecutive games in the group stage, strong rotation in the third round will be like a double-edged sword.

Used well, the main players can get adequate rest.

But if it is not used properly and it leaks out in one breath, then the situation will be quite bad.

In Yang Hao's previous life, in the 09 Confederations Cup, the reason why Spain lost to the US team in the semi-finals was because Vicente del Bosque was significantly rotated in the third round of the group stage. As a result, Spain's overall performance in the semi-finals was poor.

Just in time, they met the United States, which has outstanding running ability and defensive counterattacks.

But after much consideration, Yang Hao decided to make a substantial rotation.

However, he also pays great attention to the mental state of the players.

In the semi-finals against the United States, Spain focused on passing and controlling the ball for a period of time. They first stabilized the rhythm under the running and impact of the United States.

Until the 18th minute, Harvey made a low pass from the right. After Torres stopped the ball near the penalty spot, he turned around and kicked the goal, opening the scoring for Spain.

But in the 27th minute of the American team, after a quick counterattack by Dempsey, he passed into the penalty area. After Altidore blocked Puyol with his body, he kicked the ball and hit the goal to equalize the score.

But before the end of the first half, Torres received a pass from Villa on the right, dribbled the ball into the penalty area, dunked past central defender Bocanegra, and hit the goal, surpassing the score again, 2-1!

After changing sides in the second half, Spain continued to control the situation.

In the 64th minute, Ramos moved forward, dribbling the ball into the right side of the penalty area and then passed the ball. Torres headed the ball to the back point. David Silva followed up and hit the goal with his left foot, further expanding the score to 3. Than 1!

This score remained until the end.

Spain beat the United States 3-1 thanks to Torres' brace.

In another game, Brazil relied on Kaka's pass and shot to defeat Argentina 3-1.

The scores in the two semifinal games were actually the same.

In the Confederations Cup final, Spain will face Brazil.

The decisive battle between third and fourth place is Argentina versus the United States.

　Feel sorry! Yesterday's plan for that chapter was disrupted. Originally, I planned to cover the Confederations Cup in one chapter. After all, the opponents in the group stage were not strong, but suddenly I came to Argentina, so I had to reorganize and check some information. It was almost 4 o'clock in the morning when I finished writing. Situations like this are the most annoying. Unexpected changes make me very confused. There are also things like updating. Everything was fine before, but suddenly I got sick, and my biological clock and updating habits were completely messed up. I finished one chapter on Saturday, and I still owe 4 chapters. I won’t take a break on the weekend and will continue to finish it. Thank you everyone for your understanding! Thank you!

　　

　

(End of this chapter)