On the evening of June 29, in the round of 16 of the World Cup, Spain played against China.

The match was held at the Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, and the Spanish team also fielded their strongest line-up.

The goalkeeper is Iker Casillas, the backline is Capdevilla, Pique, Puyol and Ramos, the midfielders Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Xavi and Xavi Alonso are a pair, and the front is a double striker duo of Villa and Torres.

Spain's style of play is still sticking to their long-standing tradition, locking in possession.

The Chinese team also played with a full main lineup, and even put on a four-five-one formation, leaving a Yang Yang in front of him to counterattack, and three backs behind him, and both wings were also retreating very badly, but even so, in the game, the Chinese team still easily lost the ball.

Spain's set of pass-and-control play is too skillful and tacit, and even in many cases, Chinese players can't catch up with their pass-and-control balls at all, so they can only be forced to retreat closely within the 30-meter area of their own side, allowing the opponent to plan and organize the attack.

Alihan drew on Spain's first matchup at this World Cup, a 0-1 defeat to Switzerland, and Heathfield's team relied on tight defense and sharp counter-attacks to defeat Spain.

But it's clear that Bosque has learned enough lessons from the opening game that the Chinese team can't match the defensive intensity of Switzerland.

In the 37th minute, Spain finally broke the deadlock on the field.

Xavi Alonso broke the ball at the back and played a long pass to the left side of the field, and Liverpool striker Torres won the ball and forced it into the penalty area, forming a single knife and facing the goal directly.

Chinese goalkeeper Wang Dalei decisively abandoned the goal and saved Torres's shot to resolve a crisis, but the saved ball fell to the feet of Villa, and the Spanish striker directly shot through the Chinese team's goal.

One to zero.

Chinese players have long been mentally prepared for falling behind, or even losing, so they are not in the slightest disorder, and they still organize a tight defense, they all know very well that it is quite rare to be able to break through from the World Cup group stage in a historic way, as long as they don't lose too ugly, they will become heroes.

The first half ended in the strict defense of the Chinese team and the threats of Spain.

But after the rematch in the second half, the Chinese team suddenly played a quick counterattack.

Chen Tao picked up the ball on the right side and divided the ball to the front court, Yang Yang ran to the gap to get the ball, suddenly started, turned around to get rid of Puyol, and drove straight into the ball alone, under the pursuit of Ramos and Pique two players all the way, Yang Yang rushed into the Spanish penalty area with the ball.

Stop! Spike! Buckle again! Volley!

The ball was sent into the goal guarded by Casillas by Yang Yang.

……

“GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL！！！！！”

"Yang Yang! Great Yang Yang! ”

"It was his fifth goal of the tournament!"

'Five goals in four games is unbelievable.

"The only threatening counterattack opportunity of the Chinese team in this game was seized by Yang Yang."

……

After Yang Yang scored the goal, he turned around and rushed out of the field quickly, rushed all the way to the sidelines, slid and knelt in the corner kick area, and roared to the sky.

Behind him, the Chinese players also rushed up one after another, and the group surrounded him.

One to one, the two sides returned to the same running line.

It was a sudden, but not easy.

……

"No one could have imagined that in just two minutes of the second half, Yang Yang suddenly exerted his strength, single-handedly rushed into the Spanish defense with the ball, and single-handedly stirred up the opponent's defense and scored with a goal."

"This is definitely a wonderful goal, from Yang Yang!"

"Looking at the expressions of the Spanish players, they looked very helpless, they all tried their best, but Yang Yang's form tonight was obviously very good, and the sudden move in the second half also caught Spain off guard."

"One-to-one, the current situation is still back to a stalemate."

"Moreover, after the equalizer, the Chinese team will obviously have more morale."

……

After the two sides returned to the court, the Spanish players' eyes looking at Yang Yang suddenly changed.

Spain then continued to control the situation on the pitch but were never able to threaten it.

Bosque made a quick substitution in the 58th minute, with high striker Llorente replacing Torres, which was a clear signal of a strong attack.

Five minutes after Llorente came on the pitch, Spain played a very delicate team play up front.

Several Spanish players passed in succession, completely messing up the Chinese team's defense, and then Iniesta went straight outside the penalty area, Xavi inserted his heel and knocked the ball, and Lottren pressed Feng Xiaoting to shoot directly, but it was saved by goalkeeper Wang Dalei.

Before the Chinese team could rejoice, Villa caught up with the missed hit, 2 to 1, and the score exceeded again.

This wonderful cooperation, in the whole process of more than a dozen foot passes, the Chinese team did not even have a chance to grab the ball, which shows the disparity in strength between them.

After that, Spain failed to play such a match again, but the Chinese team also failed to play a counterattack.

Especially at the 70th minute, Bosque was replaced by Xavi Martinez.

The Spanish midfielder, who is rumoured to be looking to move to Real Madrid this summer, is tall, physical, defensively strong, but also has a decent ability to play the ball and looks to be a very dominant midfielder indeed.

In the end, the Chinese team lost to Spain 1-2 and had no choice but to stop in the round of 16.

…………

…………

The Chinese team stopped in the top 16 and achieved remarkable results, and domestic public opinion also gave high affirmation.

Especially for the number one star Yang Yang, who single-handedly won all the goals of the Chinese team in the World Cup, it can be said that he single-handedly brought this national team out of the group stage, which made Yang Yang win high recognition from the domestic media and fans.

There are even people, this is Yang Yang's team alone.

The day after the Chinese team finished playing Spain, Alihan officially submitted his resignation.

The Dutch coach has achieved quite good results after bringing the Chinese team into the World Cup for two consecutive years, but before this World Cup, he was under huge pressure from public opinion, which made him physically and mentally exhausted, and his resignation was also a matter of early preparation.

Football Association officials symbolically failed to retain him and accepted Alihan's resignation.

When Yang Yang led the team back to Beijing from South Africa, he attended a press conference and expressed his gratitude to Alihan and the national team in an interview with the media, believing that his achievements in leading the team in the past few years are worthy of recognition, and I hope he can have good luck in the future.

As for the upcoming selection of coaches, Yang Yang said that he should continue to focus on high-level foreign coaches, and he always firmly believes that high-level foreign coaches can help Chinese football, and he believes that the current situation of domestic football should be taken into account and foreign coaches who are good at cultivating young players should be properly considered.

The Football Association also said on the spot that it would seriously consider Yang Yang's opinion and come up with a list of coaches as soon as possible to finalize it as soon as possible.

……

While the Chinese team ended the Alihan era, the World Cup in South Africa was still in full swing.

Spain beat China and then beat Paraguay 1-0 and Germany 1-0 to reach the World Cup final, and their opponent was the Netherlands from Europe.

The Dutch team, led by Sneijder and Robben, performed well in this World Cup, especially the core of the Dutch midfield, Sneijder, who performed perfectly, leading the Netherlands all the way to the World Cup final.

But unfortunately, in the final final, the Netherlands unfortunately lost, and Spain narrowly defeated the Netherlands 1-0 and won the World Cup with Iniesta's stunner in extra time.

This is the second time that Spain has won a major international championship after Euro 08, and the limelight can be described as unparalleled for a while.

And after the final, FIFA also began to reward meritorious deeds.

All-star squad for the World Cup in South Africa: Head coach Bosque.

Goalkeeper Iker Casillas, Lahm, Puyol, Ramos and McCone at the back, Andres Iniesta, Schweinsteiger, Xavi and Sneijder in midfield, and Villa and Diego Forlan in front.

Among them, Brazil's right wing-back McCone is the only player from a non-semi-final team selected for the best team, although the Brazilian team was eliminated early, but McCone has performed quite well in this World Cup, especially in the group stage, scoring a zero-angle volley, which is extremely impressive.

In terms of individual awards, although Uruguay only won the fourth place, Diego Forlan still won the Ballon d'Or and became the best player with his outstanding performance in this World Cup.

As is customary, the Ballon d'Or winners are selected by FIFA's technical research team, which selects 10 candidates based on the performance of all participating players, and the top three are selected by the media.

And these ten candidates, without exception, are basically from the top four teams, not only Yang Yang, who stopped in the top 16, missed it, even Messi in the top eight is difficult to enter, and Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal also stopped in the top 16.

In the Golden Boot award for top scorers, China's Yang Yang, Germany's Thomas Muller, Spain's David Villa, Netherlands' Sneijder and Uruguay's Diego Forlan all scored five goals and tied for the top scorer.

But in terms of assists, Germany's Thomas Müller was the better and eventually took home the Golden Boot.

This also made many media and fans feel sorry for Yang Yang's experience, because China has only played four games in total, and Yang Yang has scored five goals, in terms of efficiency and importance, Yang Yang far surpasses all other competitors.

There are even many people who believe that if Yang Yang can lead the Chinese team to stand out purely in terms of performance and importance, he should get the best player.

But unfortunately, without the backing of the results, no rhetoric is convincing.

In the end, Yang Yang failed to gain anything in the team and individual awards, but he himself was more open to it.

"For me, the best reward for the Chinese team to qualify from the group stage is the best reward."

"We are the only team in Asia to advance to the round of 16!"