Capítulo 89: Chapter 291 The Brazilian team accidentally overturned, Spain VS Chile!
Although a big victory was achieved, it was not without hidden dangers for Spain.
Diego Costa's old injury has recurred, leaving Spain less abundant on the front line than before.
Without Diego Costa, Spain lacks a strong center and scoring point on the front line. Other positions in the frontcourt, especially Lin Quan, will have greater scoring pressure.
After the game, Del Bosque immediately sent someone to the hospital to understand Costa's injury and confirmed that he had a recurrence of an old injury on his right thigh.
Based on the results of the examination, the national team's doctor determined that Costa would have to be out for at least 2 weeks before he would have a chance to continue playing.
Two weeks means that not only will he not be able to catch up with the remaining two games in the group stage, but he might not even be able to make it to the quarter-finals.
But after hearing the news, Bosque breathed a sigh of relief.
In his view, there is no problem with Spain qualifying for the group stage.
After finishing first in the group, their opponents in the first knockout round will not be very strong, and it will not be difficult for them to break into the quarterfinals.
The quarter-finals will be played from July 5th to 6th, which is more than 20 days away, almost three weeks.
This time should be enough for Diego Costa to recover and still have time for him to get into shape with the team.
However, to be on the safe side, Del Bosque decided whether to let him play in the quarter-finals based on his recovery.
If it really doesn't work, just wait a few more days and let him play in the semi-finals and finals after he recovers well enough.
Of course, the prerequisite is that Spain can break into the semi-finals.
On June 18, the match between Brazil and Mexico started first.
Compared with Croatia, its opponent in the first game, Mexico is much stronger.
Therefore, this game is a real test for the Brazilian team.
The outside world is paying a lot of attention to this game because it is a key game to judge the quality of the Brazilian team.
Judging from the performance of each team in the first round of the group stage, there are four favorites to win this World Cup, namely Spain, Brazil, Germany and Argentina.
If it weren't for the terrifying dominance shown by Spain, the Brazilian team as the host would most likely become the favorite to win the championship.
Even if it is not the biggest favorite, the Brazilian team's game still attracts countless spectators.
When the game started, more than 60,000 fans came to the stadium.
Countless Samba fans who support the Brazilian team come from all over the country to cheer for their home team.
When the Brazilian national anthem sounded before the game, the 60,000 fans in the stadium sang in unison with the players and coaches on the field, showing the unprecedented unity of Brazil.
Brazil's number one star Neymar was even moved to tears during the playing of the national anthem.
Thiago Silva, the world's No. 1 defender, sang with his eyes closed, feeling every drop of blood in his veins boiling.
He can't wait to kill the Mexicans!
However, after 90 minutes, Thiago Silva felt cold inside, and Neymar, who had shed tears before the game, shed tears again.
What was displayed on the big screen in the stadium was a number that all Brazilian players and all Brazilian fans could not accept - 0:0.
After 90 minutes, Brazil, the second favorite to win the championship, was tied with Mexico.
It doesn't matter if it's a draw, the key is that they still have zero shutouts.
The Brazilian team, which has always been known for its strong offensive firepower, performed very poorly in this game, and all their powerful forward lines failed.
With the whole game taking the initiative, Brazil's shooters wasted numerous opportunities and were eventually punished.
After losing this victory, they have the same points as Mexico and both teams have a chance to win the first place in the group.
If Brazil does not want to encounter other strong teams that are first in the group in the knockout stage, they must win in the last round of the group stage and have as many goal differences as possible. Otherwise, they are very likely to fall to second place in the group.
According to the rules of the World Cup, the first place in Group A will play against the second place in Group B, and the second place in Group A will play against the first place in Group B.
The current number one in Group B is Spain. If Brazil cannot qualify first in the group, they will encounter Spain in advance in the top 16!
With the current state of the two teams, if the Brazilian team wants to defeat Spain, the winning rate may be less than 30%!
Therefore, the score of the Brazilian team not only harmed themselves, but also affected Spain next door.
Originally, we only had to play second-rate teams like Mexico in the quarter-finals, but it turned out to be better now. Because of Brazil's upset, the No. 1 seed and No. 2 seed that won the championship might have to meet in advance.
This intensity is immediately maxed out!
For Mexico, they can completely accept this score.
After all, compared to losing, the current score is more conducive to their fight for first place in the group.
If they want to reach the quarterfinals, they must not meet Spain.
Therefore, in the next game, they will fight against Croatia and try to annihilate Croatia and get enough goal difference.
The best player of the game was awarded to Mexico's goalkeeper Ochoa.
In this game, he made a total of 6 wonderful saves.
In the 26th minute of the game, Neymar aimed a header into the blind corner, but Ochoa miraculously saved it.
Later, slow motion showed that he almost fished the ball out of the baseline as soon as it crossed the goal line!
This is not even the most amazing thing. At the end of the game, Ochoa used a subconscious reaction like a divine help at the goal line to block Thiago Silva's close header attack from the small penalty area line with his right hand. Door.
This save made the Brazilians feel extremely desperate. Their commentator sighed: The Mexican team is not standing on the goal line today, but a god!
Brazil and Mexico tied, which is definitely good news for Croatia and Cameroon.
As long as the two teams can defeat each other, they can maintain their hope of qualifying until the last round. As long as they defeat their opponents in the last round, they can successfully qualify.
As a result, both teams played very unrestrainedly in this game, and in the end, the stronger Croatia had the last laugh.
In the game, Modric and Mandzukic jointly contributed 3 goals, helping the team sweep Cameroon 4:0.
After winning this game, Croatia can finally breathe a sigh of relief.
As long as they defeat Mexico in the last round, they can qualify from the group. If the Brazilian team loses, they can even qualify first in the group.
Cameroon, who had lost both matches, was eliminated one round early and became the first team to be eliminated in this World Cup.
The incident in Group A alarmed Del Bosque: "Damn Brazilians, why did they overturn?"
Brazil does not want to encounter Spain prematurely, and Spain does not want to encounter them prematurely.
Diego Costa has not returned from injury yet. If they encounter Brazil in the first round of the knockout round, it will be more difficult for Spain to win against their opponent.
Therefore, he planned to make some preparations in advance.
"Go all out for this game. After winning Chile, we will send substitutes to play in the last round. Let the main players rest as much as possible. After recharging their energy, they can better deal with the opponents in the knockout stage!"
The knockout matches of the World Cup are determined by one game, regardless of home and away games, so the error tolerance rate is very low.
Even a strong team can easily fall apart.
What's more, facing an equally powerful opponent, it will be even easier to overturn.
For the Chilean team, being assigned to Group B, a group that includes the winners and runners-up of the last World Cup, is definitely the biggest misfortune.
However, as a strong South American team, they will not give up easily.
The Dutch team is currently in poor form. They were massacred by Spain 5:1 in the first game. In the second round that just ended, they only defeated the weakest Australia with a score of 3:2.
This gives the Chileans hope of qualifying!
In terms of paper strength, the Chilean team is definitely not as good as Spain and not as good as the Dutch team.
But football is round and anything can happen on the field.
If they defeat the powerful Spain in an upset, their qualifying situation will be very optimistic!
Of course, even if you lose, it's not the end.
The Chilean team currently has a goal difference of 4, while the Netherlands team's goal difference is -3.
This means that in the last round they face the Dutch team, and they can advance as long as they defeat or draw with the opponent.
The prerequisite is that you don't lose this game too badly!
Therefore, the Chilean team naturally set up a bus for this game.
Lose as little as you win. If you can draw the opponent, that would be even better!
Even if they lose, they must keep the number of goals conceded within 2 goals. In that case, their goal difference will still be greater than that of the Dutch.
Seeing the iron barrel array set up by his opponent, Bosque's mouth twitched slightly.
Sure enough, it was the Iron Bucket Formation. He really guessed it right.
Breaking a dense defense is a problem for all teams around the world, and Spain is no exception.
In this game, the opponent's contraction of defense was even more exaggerated than the Dutch team's previous game. Spain had no choice but to use ball control and pressure play, trying to find opportunities around the opponent's goal.
The first 30 minutes of the game were uneventful. Spain's ball possession rate was astonishingly high, and the players' passing success rate was also very high, but they just couldn't score.
Their attacks were blocked by the opponent time and time again. Even if they could not be blocked occasionally, the opponent would use decisive fouls to destroy Spain's attack.
In thirty minutes, the Chilean team had already received three yellow cards.
It can be seen from the number of cards they received that they still felt the tremendous pressure brought by the Spanish team.
In this game, Chilean goalkeeper Bravo performed very well.
In the 15th minute, he saved a single shot from Torres, and in the 27th minute, he saved a long shot from Lin Quan.
These two shots were very threatening. If it weren't for Bravo's brave performance, Spain would have taken the lead by now.
On the World Cup stage, in addition to fans who are keen to watch the football, there are also scouts from major clubs.
With his outstanding performance, Bravo has won praise from many scouts, including some from wealthy clubs, such as Barcelona!
Facing the opponent's iron-like defense, the Spanish team began to try to use set pieces and long shots to make a fuss.
In the 35th minute, Lin Quan opened up space at the front of the penalty area and then suddenly shot a cold arrow and hit a high-quality long-range shot.
It was Bravo again. He lifted the ball over the crossbar with one hand, once again resolving the team's crisis.
Seeing the opponent's save, Lin Quan put his hands on his hips, feeling a little helpless.
Why does this person feel stronger than Buffon and Neuer?
Every time the World Cup comes, there are always a lot of goalkeepers who perform bravely.
Harvey took a corner kick, and there was chaos in the penalty area. Ramos and the opponent's defender Wenner both fell to the ground during the fight, and the referee did not say anything.
Pique grabbed the spot, but his header failed to hit the goal, and the football was easily confiscated by Bravo.
The latter was bold and careful. Seeing that most of the Spanish players were in his own half, he rushed out from the goal and threw the ball to winger Sanchez with a hand throw.
Sanchez dribbled the ball along the wing and accelerated like a sports car, quickly heading towards the Spanish half.
The Chilean team did set up the bus today, but this does not mean that they gave up attacking.
With an ace like Sanchez, how could they give up their advantage?
Spain's defense is empty, and both central defenders are grabbing points in the opponent's penalty area!
At the critical moment, Busquets stood up and brought down his club teammates with a tactical foul.
Although Busquets had a good attitude in admitting his mistake, the referee still punished him with a red card!
Seeing this penalty, Busquets was stunned.
He committed a foul on the wing and was quite far away from the goal. Sanchez had not yet formed a single goal. This should be a yellow card, not a red card?
He desperately explained to the referee, trying to get the opponent to change his decision.
But the referee insisted that it was a red card and did not accept Busquets's protest.
His judgment was simple. Sanchez had already passed half-time and was about to cut inside with the ball. Busquets was the last defensive player. His foul destroyed the Chilean team's single chance, so this was a red card!
Seeing this penalty, Del Bosque on the sidelines was also a little excited.
He ran to the fourth official and protested loudly, but to no avail. It was obviously impossible for the fourth official to stop or change the referee's decision.
Just like that, before the first half was over, Spain had one less player to play.
In desperation, Del Bosque could only make passive substitutions.
He replaced Torres and brought on Xavi Alonso.
The opponent's dense defense made Torres lost again. His performance in this game was very poor, and he was almost invisible in the frontcourt.
Replacing him will have the least impact on Spain's lineup, and the key position of midfielder cannot be left out.
Torres, who was replaced, seemed a little unhappy. He also felt it and struggled to play.
He does not have Lin Quan's excellent dribbling and passing abilities. In the case of intensive defense, it is difficult for him to get the ball and run out of space.
Therefore, he has no complaints about Del Bosque's decision to replace him. If he wants to blame it, he can only blame himself for his lack of strength.
However, Torres was obviously very unwilling to do so.
The team was missing one player, and the opponent set up a barrel formation again.
The situation of the game became very unfavorable for Spain, which made the fans who came to the Maracana Stadium couldn't help but worry:
Could it be said that Spain will follow in the footsteps of Brazil and be tied by Chile?
However, at this moment, someone stood up.
In the 43rd minute, after Lin Quan and his teammates played wonderful cooperation in the frontcourt, they entered the penalty area and received a pass from Iniesta.
Facing Bravo, who had deflected his own shots countless times before, Lin Quan did not shoot directly, but continued to take it inside!
He actually wanted to beat the goalkeeper!
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