Chapter 111: Confusion and Clarity (6)
The last group, Group H, was unexpectedly lost by Spain in the first round, making the qualification situation of this group uncertain before the start of the second round.
After the victory over Spain, the Swiss team was full of morale, facing Chile in the second round of the group stage, and before the game even started, Heathfield was already shouting that the two wins would advance to qualify.
The development of the game seems to be moving towards Heathfield's efforts, Switzerland and Chile played to the 66th minute, the Swiss audience suddenly burst into jubilation, the team has surpassed Italy's World Cup set by 550 minutes without conceding a goal, which means that the Swiss goalkeeper Benaglio's door is setting a new record as long as it is not lost.
But soon, the Chilean sealed the glory of the Swiss, with the Chilean team's three substitutes, Valvidia, Paredes and Marc. Gonzalez combined to score a goal to make the new record only 9 minutes ahead of the original one, and the real hero who directed this scene was the "madman" Bielsa in the dugout.
The battle between Chile and Switzerland is a game with a very obvious tone, the Chilean team led by the madman Bielsa is the main attack, and the Swiss team led by Heathfield has a solid defense and waits for the opportunity to counterattack, so throughout the first half of the game, football is around the half of the Swiss team, but due to the dense defense of the Swiss team, the Chileans cannot really threaten the Swiss team's city.
Bielsa saw the problem and in the second half he waved the flag with Valdivia and Marc. Gonzalez came on at the same time, and in the 65th minute, he sent another attacker, Paredes, on the pitch, and with 25 minutes remaining, the frenzied Bielsa had already played all three cards.
The madman's move was immediate, and the trio immediately created a goal by interspersing runs, when Valdivia's midfielder sent a low ball straight through, Paredes was offside, diagonally from the left side of the penalty area to the right, and immediately disrupted the order of the entire Swiss defence. Gonzalez slotted in with a header.
After the game, the Chilean media highly praised Bielsa's three substitutions: "The magical manager showed his magical side again, Bielsa's substitutions were crazy and bold. ”
At the moment, Bielsa is extremely popular in Chile, as early as the last round of the match against Honduras, Chilean fans in the stands played the slogan "Thank you, Bielsa", and in that game, Chile also won against Honduras.
Bielsa had earlier said that he liked the nickname "Crazy", and the reason why the outside world called him that way was not only because of Bielsa's passionate coaching style, but also because of his attacking tactical play.
Bielsa loves to use the 3313 formation, and the tactical discipline is strict, the selection of players has a unique vision, after coaching the Chilean team, Bielsa has selected a group of players with full physical fitness and unique characteristics, most of them play in the second-rate league in Europe, but Bielsa's tuning is very successful, the current team not only has a clear style of play, the attack is pleasing to the eye, and the goal efficiency is quite high, in this World Cup South American qualifiers, the Chilean team qualified with the second place, and the number of goals is only one less than the Brazilian team.
In his early years in charge of the Argentine national team, Bielsa often played pleasing attacks and progressed to the 2002 World Cup.
However, at the World Cup in South Korea and Japan, Bielsa's team returned home after the group stage of Waterloo, and although he later led Argentina to the Athens Olympic title, there has been a lot of controversy about him.
Argentine public opinion generally believes that Bielsa's attacking style is a double-edged sword, too aggressive, and when Argentina fights against a strong team with high technical and tactical literacy, it is easy for the opponent to seize the defects after the attack to counterattack.
After handing over the Argentine national team, Bielsa quickly proved his coaching ability in Chile, which is also one of the most distinctive and characteristic teams in this World Cup.
Although the controversy about Bielsa has continued, one thing is certain, an attacking maniac coach like Bielsa may not be able to become the top coach, but his personality and style of play have always been a very attractive part of all schools of world football.
In the next game, Spain, who lost unexpectedly in the first round of the group, played an excellent game, completely overpowering Honduras and could have slaughtered their opponents if they had the opportunity right.
On the basis of possession and passing, the Spanish team added the two elements of depth and decisiveness, and the combination was very positive and attractive.
Bosque lined up a 433 formation, Fiorentina was the main midfielder, Xavi and Alonso were in the front, Navas appeared on the right wing, Villa played on the left wing, Torres played as a central striker, and for the Honduran players, the pitch was a little wider, and Villa also formed breakthroughs on the left side again and again.
What's more, the brains of the national team play a role, and in every area of the pitch, every minute of the game, the Spanish team has the intelligence to read the game.
Under the protection of Marchena, Xavi and Alonso can calmly allocate space and functions, complete control of the game in all aspects, they do not become an obstacle to the rhythm, on the contrary, they can always touch the ball very cleanly and quickly, often with a pass, the wisdom of the two midfield giants, Xavi and Alonso, so that the Hondurans can only run with the ball, and they are not at all scratching their heads.
Dominated by midfield, Spain played decisively and created plenty of chances in the first half, but Torres' lack of accuracy prevented Spain from extending their lead before going into the dressing room for rest.
In the second half, Villa's goal came from Xavi's counter-attack after Marchena's break, and the Spanish midfielder played an important role in the victory.
In terms of individual performances, it took some time for Alonso to adapt to the game, after all, he felt a little strange when he moved forward, he was not very used to playing in such a small space, but he ate the opposition midfield with Marchena and Xavi, especially the long ball was also of a good standard.
Alonso made good use of the two flanks, he was very active up front, moving the ball forward, his precise passing gave the team good options, and the Honduran defenders were often caught off guard, and his tackles in midfield were crucial for Spain.
Marchena's performance was even more eye-catching, although he was more of a centre-back in Spain, but at Fiorentina he was a midfield interceptor, in this game, Marchena did a good job of protecting the backline, stifling the opposition's few counter-attacking opportunities, and he even assisted forward, and his two breakaways won him the cheers of the fans in the stands.
After the first game, Busquets suffered criticism from the media, in this game, Bosque decisively took out the Buying Emperor, sent Fiorentina tough guy Marchena, after Marchena came on the field, although the autumn wind is not as beautiful as Busquets, but he has always contributed silently, as the team's single back, his memory keeps the team balanced, in the case of two fullbacks continue to assist, his complement is very crucial.
As for Xavi, Spain is in dire need of a player like him, who has always been the brains of the team, providing passing and vision to help the team control the wide pitch. He controls the game with his core style. As the commander-in-chief of Spain, Xavi reached the highest level in this game, and he is the chief engineer of the Spanish team's attack, and his role is very obvious.
Against Switzerland, Spain's biggest criticism was the midfield, but against Honduras, the addition of Marchena as a midfielder to the team has significantly improved the performance of the Spanish midfield.
Spain beat Honduras to get back on track, and the situation of qualifying for Group H is already clear, and in the final round, as long as Spain beats Chile, they will definitely qualify.
Among the four teams in Group H, Chile has six points from two wins, Spain has three points from one win and one loss, Switzerland has one win and one loss, and Honduras has zero points from both losses.
According to FIFA rules, in the case of the same score, the goal difference of each team is compared, so in the final round, there may be a situation where Chile, Switzerland, and Spain have six points at the same time, in this case, the goal difference of the three teams will be compared, and the two teams with the most goal difference will qualify, and in the last round, Chile will play Spain, and Switzerland will play Honduras.
Therefore, if Spain wants to qualify, there are three scenarios: win and qualify; Draw, while Switzerland are winless and Spain qualify; Spain lost, Switzerland lost, and the goal difference surpassed Switzerland to qualify.
If Spain beat Chile, the goal difference will definitely surpass Chile and secure a place in the group, at which point Chile and Switzerland will compare the goal difference and decide to qualify.
Meanwhile, Switzerland will compare goal difference with Spain to decide the top spot in the group, with Spain now having one more goal difference than Switzerland and locking up the top spot in the final round as long as they don't win one less than Switzerland.
For now, Spain should not be a problem to emerge as they start on the right track, but they need to beware of the madness of the Chileans, as it seems reasonable for a team led by a madman to do anything.
Switzerland, who won the first round and set a new record for Gianluigi Buffon's clean sheets, want to appear in the group, and in addition to beating Honduras, they will have to see the results of the match between the Spaniards and the Chileans to be finalized. But Honduras, which has been out of the game early, does not seem to be without power.