With a clean sheet of 734 minutes and an unbeaten streak of 14 games in the European Championship, Spain, who were all in the game, fell in front of Croatia, who were semi-mainstay. Sticking to the original staffing but changing the established tactical routine, Vincent del Bosque's alternative "rotation" cost Spain dearly.

The match was a fateful affair, with Euro 2012 facing Spain and Croatia in the final round of the group stage with four points. The Matadors, who were at their peak, dominated the Plaid Army and eventually squeezed Croatia into third place in the group with winger Jesús Navas's 87th-minute stunner, saving Italy's life.

And today, also in the final round of the group stage, also in the top two, most of the people who played in that game four years ago are still standing on the pitch, also in the 87th minute, but this time it was Croatia who had the last laugh, and they avenged the victory four years ago with a perfect performance, sending Spain to face their old rivals Italy who they saved in the group stage four years ago.

Did both teams surprise the media with their starting line-ups, with only a draw at the top of the table to ensure that group winners Spain surprisingly did not rotate any personnel. Due to the clear situation of qualifying from the group, in the case of early qualification, Bosque did not respond to Spain's call for public opinion to rotate in the final game, on the one hand, because Spain needs to work hard to stay in the upper half of the strong team, and on the other hand, it is also affected by the incident of his big player Pedro Rodriguez, the "stability" brought by retaining the starting 11 is not only limited to the tactical level, but also shows that Bosque attaches great importance to Croatia.

Croatia, who must win to get a better position in the knockout round, faced the defending champions who played all the main players, but they hid the main center Mario Mandzukic, Domagoy Vida, Marcelo Brozovic, Ivan Strinic with yellow cards, plus Luka Modric, the core of the midfield who was absent due to injury, Croatia almost rotated half of the team.

Judging from the arrangement of the lineup, it seems that Croatia has given up the fight for the first place in the group and is ready to fight for Italy. But the course of the game was very dramatic.

From the first minute of the opening game, until after the reversal of the lead until the end of the game, Croatia did not adopt an iron bucket defense like most teams against Spain, but actively launched a frontcourt press, whether it was against Spain's midfield, defenders or even goalkeepers, not allowing the Spaniards to comfortably start to take the ball from the back to organize the attack, and at the same time waiting for the opportunity to steal and launch an attack on the spot.

Croatia's pressing tactics up front worked very well, and several successful tackles up front formed a very dangerous attack, but unfortunately they were all very close, and the closest thing to scoring was David De Gea playing with fire at the back, conceding the ball and then being curled by Ivan Rakitic, but fortunately the post saved him.

However, there are pros and cons to high pressing, and if the pressing is not successful, it will leave the opponent with a chance to counterattack. Although Croatia retreated very quickly most of the time after the unsuccessful press in front, Spain still seized an opportunity to avoid the pressing and quickly advanced to the front, where Francis Fabregas assisted Alvaro Morata to open the scoring.

The Real Madrid youngster also tied for the top scorer with three goals, along with Gansheng and Gareth Bale.

Due to the absence of Modric, the core of the midfield, Kacic targeted two full-time defensive midfielders to strengthen the interception at the edge of the penalty area and dense defense in the middle, making it difficult for Spain to find opportunities in the middle. Since shrinking the middle will inevitably open up the wing, fortunately, Spain's starting center Morata is not physically able to resist, so Spain's wing-center tactics do not create any threat.

However, the two backs are both strong and weak attacking types, and the forward Rakitic is very high and rarely returns, so that the midfielder lacks a contact point in the core area, and the distance between the front and back is too large, which makes it very difficult for Croatian defenders to play forward, so Kacic arranged two wingers Marco Pujatsa and Ivan Perisic to fly on both wings, relying on their speed and personal ability to focus on the Spanish side.

At the end of the game, Croatia made a whopping 24 attempts to break through with the ball, including Perisic who successfully broke through 4 times out of 6, and Pujatsa who successfully broke through 7 times out of 8 times, and the wing attack tactics were very successful.

Croatia's first goal was caused by Perisic's breakthrough cross from the left, and the defenders who were marking on both points in the Spanish penalty area were left behind by the attacking players, and the goal of central striker Nikola Kalinic was spectacular.

The winning goal also came from a quick counter-attack by two wingers, Pujatsa won the ball at the back and passed a long distance to Kalinic, who distributed it to Perisic, who cut in at high speed on the left, who shot from a tight angle, and Pujacha, who launched an attack at the back, was also outflanked in front of goal.

Perisic, the hero of the game, scored 1 goal and 1 assist, 4 shots on goal, 4 breakthroughs, 2 tackles, and 3 successful aerial duels, and was officially selected by UEFA as the best player of the game.

On the other hand, Spain, which played with all the main players, still adhered to the famous passing and control tactics in this game, but in the past games, Andrés Iniesta, the core of the midfield who was responsible for a lot of ball promotion, front-court reception, and passing threats, was focused on by the opponent and his power was greatly reduced. The only shining point was a catch-up at the back that helped his team-mate avoid Croatia's pressing up front and quickly pushed the ball forward to create a fast-break chance that would eventually lead to Alvaro Morata's goal. Spain's penalty in the second half also came from Andres Iniesta's cross, but Sergio Ramos did not take advantage of the opportunity.

But what makes Spain strong is that he has more than one player who can organise the attack, and when Andres Iniesta is targeted, right winger David Silva has dropped back more to pick up the load, taking on the burden of organising the attack, establishing an effective link in the midfield, and playing very well. After the game, Silva was the first rated in the team and the third in the game.

However, Croatia's successful defense made Spain's fast attack, positional warfare, side crosses, and central attacks useless, and in the face of Croatia's targeted tactical arrangement, Spain did not take effective countermeasures, but blindly insisted on their own passing. In the case of the opponent's difficulty in getting the ball out of the backfield due to the absence of Modric, the core of the midfield, he did not resolutely take the front court pressing, and let go of a great opportunity. After Croatia equalized, Spain felt that this should be an acceptable score for both sides, thinking that the other side would be a tacit understanding of the two brothers, so they replaced winger Nolito with Bruno early to strengthen the defense, and spent time at the back for a long time.

As a result, the unenterprising Spaniards have paid a huge price, and the weak Spain will meet the defensively solid Italy early in the knockout round, will they be avenged by the opponent in the 2012 Euro 2012 final, or will they return to form and advance to the quarterfinals? Everything is unknown.

After a stubborn Croatia conceded a goal, equalised, saved a penalty and then came back to win against a strong opponent, the Croatian side who have taken off their dark horse coat will be hoping to go far in the top half of the field where there are not many strong teams.

Also after this game, Croatia's odds to win the championship have risen from 1:34 before the start of the European Championship to 1:8, ranking fourth, behind the favorites France, Germany, and Spain, ahead of England, whose odds fell after the injury.

Compared to Spain's death in the bottom half of the tournament, Croatia's prospects in the knockout stages may be bright. With their form, Portugal, who were lucky enough to qualify from the group, will find it difficult to stop them from moving forward.

If they can reach the quarterfinals, the opponents of the eight in four will be the winners of Switzerland and Poland, and Croatia, who have participated in the tournament many times and have rich experience and strength, will have little problem getting through.

The opponent after entering the semi-finals may be England or Belgium, if it is Belgium, Croatia is not afraid, but if it is England, Kacic will have to worry about whether the core of the Three Lions will be able to play at that time.

Thanks to Turkey, the Star and Moon Army defeated the Czech Republic by 2 goals in the last game and jumped to third place in the group, because Northern Ireland has 3 points with Albania and Turkey, according to UEFA rules, in the case of the same number of points, the goal difference of Northern Ireland will be compared first, as a result, Northern Ireland with a goal difference of 0 beat the goal difference of -2 Albania and Turkey successfully qualified.

Northern Ireland's qualification meant that all three members of the UK's football associations had reached the knockout rounds, making history at the European Championships. The only regret is Scotland, I don't know when the four football countries of the British Isles can enter the main tournament of international competitions at the same time?

With the final day of the group stage over and the round of 16 out of the tournament, Northern Ireland know who their knockout opponents will be.

It's actually England, the big brother of the British Isles!

Having played Wales in the group stage, England will face Northern Ireland in the knockout rounds, and the Three Lions will face a 'civil war' for the second consecutive stage, but the benefit is that at least one English team can reach the quarter-finals of the European Championship.

If Wales can beat Iceland in the bottom half, there are two English teams in the quarter-finals, and the picture is simply beautiful, and British fans dare to watch it!

Against knockout opponents, big brother England, Northern Ireland boss Michael O'Neill said there were some problems with England because we had to go back to Paris. England have an extra day to recover than we do, and those are all factors that can affect the game. Roy is a fantastic coach and his England team has been fantastic at the Euros. As strong as they are, we will not be afraid of them.

Dry? It's not polite to say that, but I still hope he's still in the hospital. Ha ha. (To be continued.) )