"Got to the quarterfinals...... I wonder who our next opponent is? ”

After a heavy rain in yesterday's game, the morning was incredibly clear.

The sun shone on the raindrops on the streets, dressing up the entire Moscow outskirts in a crystal clear.

Such a beautiful scenery also makes the coaches who get up on time feel refreshed.

After yesterday's big win, Pan Yi gave the players a half-day off, and then they had to prepare for the quarterfinals.

The match will be held at the Samara Arena Stadium in Volga, so you need to get to your destination in advance.

However, the players rarely have a holiday, they had a lot of fun last night, and they went to bed late, so they are basically still asleep at this time.

The coaches all got up quite early, so now after breakfast, they all gather in Pan Yi's room to drink tea and chat together.

Now hearing Pan Yi ask, Evani said: "England, Colombia...... If these two teams are concerned, it is likely to be England. ”

This is indeed a relatively conventional estimate.

The main reason is that the overall strength of England is indeed relatively strong.

Not to mention anything else, just Harry Kane, Loftus-Cheek, Lingard, Vardy, Gary Cahill, Rice and others brought out by Pan Yi are all stronger than the original world line.

According to Pan Yi's memory, England was able to reach the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup before, and now it is even more so.

However, Vialli has a different opinion, saying: "Don't underestimate Colombia, they have several stars with characteristics, and anything can happen if they play well. I think Colombia will win. ”

The current Colombian team, although not as impressive as in 2014, is indeed a good team.

The goalkeeper is Ospina, the defenders are Zapata and Mina, the midfielders are J Ronaldo and Cuadrado, and the forwards are also Falcao, Muriel, Baca and other famous players.

Although they lost 1-2 to Japan in the group stage, their defender Carlos Sanchez ate a red card in the opening three minutes, which means that most of the time it was 10 men, and there was still a certain element of luck.

Even so, Colombia defeated Poland 3-0 and Senegal 1-0 in the next two games, and finally qualified as the top of the group.

As for why they met England, it was because England were in a group with Belgium.

After both teams won the first two games, they were sent to rotate the lineup in the final round, and after a dull game, Belgium won by one goal and took the top spot in the group.

'I'm rooting for Evani and I think our opponent should be England.' Pan Yi said with a smile.

Again, this is based on a comprehensive analysis of the past life and the present situation.

In the previous life, England played Colombia 1-1 in 120 minutes, and finally won through a penalty shootout.

From this point of view, Vialli is right, it is indeed possible for either side to win.

But in this life, England has a large number of players who have risen under Pan Yi, so it should be more stable.

Besides, even if the game is played according to "history", won't England qualify in the end?

"England, they always drop the chain at critical moments, I don't believe they can win." Looking at Pan Yi's confident appearance, Vialli couldn't help but say.

Pan Yi glanced at him and seemed to smile: "Then let's make a bet, if our opponent is England, then you invite us all to have coffee at night." If the opponent is Colombia, then it's my turn to invite, okay? ”

Vialli patted his bald head and happily agreed: "Okay, just do it!" ”

……

Of course, no one should bet on the outcome of the ball game with Pan Yi, he has never lost on this!

In the afternoon's game, Harry Kane's 57th-minute goal gave England a 1-0 lead, but Colombia stubbornly equalised near the end of the game, when centre-back Mina headed home to send the game to extra-time!

But when the second half of extra time came, substitute Jamie Vardy shot through the heart and killed Colombia!

It also allowed England to reach the quarter-finals against Italy.

"Well, it's England ...... sure enough"

Seeing that he lost the bet, Vialli didn't have an unhappy expression, after all, a few cups of coffee is trivial.

It may be that he used to have a relationship with England for a few years of "technical poverty alleviation", but against England he felt that it might be easier to deal with than Colombia.

South American teams are sometimes nerve knives and it's really hard to play crazy, but European teams like England, especially under Gareth Southgate, play much more well.

For Pan Yi, he was actually slightly surprised by this result.

After all, it's not the same as in the previous game, England defeated Colombia in extra time, but it was still the same difficult game.

This shows that when it comes to the World Cup, it is true that sometimes it is not possible to predict the results of the two sides according to the strength of the team on paper.

Otherwise, with the ability and value of the current England team, wouldn't Colombia be crushed?

Even compared to the Italian team, it is much higher......

Just say that Harry Kane, the best player in the Premier League who is the most valuable in England now, has the blessing of the seven-time champion, this person must not be sold for one or two hundred million?

Well, it may be conservative, after all, in Pan Yi's previous life, the 30-year-old Kane sold more than 100 million euros......

And there is no such popular fried chicken in the Italian team.

The performances of Tonali, Barella and others are indeed eye-catching, but after all, they still played in the Championship before, and the platform is different, and the price will certainly not be ridiculously high.

So from this point of view, Italy's fight against England is also a kind of "weak against strong", which must also be dealt with well.

——

Unlike the round of 16, which is immediately after the group stage, when the round of 16 is over, there is a day off and then the quarter-finals, which are the quarter-finals.

Italy's match against England is still scheduled for the last game, so there is still a three-day break in between.

Therefore, after watching the match between Colombia and England, the Italian team also went to Volga with the whole team and went to the local hotel to rest.

And soon, the exciting quarterfinals will begin!

The first match will be played by two former World Cup winners, with Uruguay taking on France.

The overall strength and reputation of the French team are greater, while the Uruguayan team is also strong in the front and back, conceding only one goal in four games, and they also have a strong striker like Suarez, which can be said to be not inferior to the French team.

But the problem is that Edinson Cavani missed the start of the game due to injury, which greatly affected Uruguay's attacking prowess.

In the 38th minute, Bentancur received a yellow card after tackling Tolisso, and the referee gave France a free kick in front. Antoine Griezmann took the free-kick and centre-back Raphael Varane headed home to give France a 1-0 lead.

In the 61st minute, Griezmann shot from the edge of the penalty area, Muslera pounced on the ball and got rid of it, and the ball went into his own goal, and the French team led the Uruguayan team 2:0.

In the end, the match was over, and France finally defeated Uruguay 2-0 to advance to the last four of the World Cup.

The second matchup was even more heavyweight, with two favourites Brazil and Belgium meeting each other!

And Belgium stunned the Brazilians as soon as they came up.

In the 13th minute, Shazli's corner kick caused Fernandinho to set up an own goal; In the 31st minute, Belgium played a quick counterattack, Lukaku assisted De Bruyne to score, and Belgium led 2:0!

In the second half, the Brazilian team launched a furious attack, and in the 76th minute, substitute BJ Guoan foreign aid Augusto used a header to make the score 1:2, which was also the first goal of the Chinese Super League foreign aid in the World Cup knockout round.

At full-time, Belgium defeated Brazil 2-1 to reach the last four of the World Cup after 32 years, and the semi-final opponent will be France.

Due to the elimination of Uruguay by France, all South American players were wiped out, and Europe won the top 4.

The third quarter-final match was played by the host Russia against Croatia, and then ......

Of course, it's a penalty kick again.

With Croatia in the game, how can you not take a penalty?

The two sides played to a 1:1 draw in 90 minutes, and then a 2:2 draw in 120 minutes!

Through the penalty shootout, Croatia once again passed the test and reached the last four.

And this is also their second World Cup semi-final after the golden generation led by Davao Suker won the third place in the World Cup in the 1998 World Cup!

Their opponents in the semi-finals were the winners of Italy and England.

By the time they watched the game, the Italian coaching staff was speechless.

Having played 120 minutes in two knockout games in a row, both on penalties, they have to admit that Croatia have been extremely tenacious in this World Cup......

"Whether it's Modric, Rakitic, Brozovic, Perisic, Mandzukic, all of them are fighters!" Vialli also sighed.

"Alright, let's talk about tomorrow's game against England...... The Croatians are really tenacious, but it doesn't matter to us for the time being, we have to get past England first! Pan Yi said loudly with a smile on his face.

That's right, the battle must be fought one by one, and there is no need to care about the future opponent now.

And the coaches immediately gathered around Pan Yi and began to discuss.

In the past few days, they have been watching the video of England's games in the group stage, including against Colombia, and Pan Yi has also given a lot of instructions in training.

Recalling the scenes in the past few days of training, the coaches were completely convinced of Pan Yi.

The World Cup has been kicked to this point, and Pan Yi can actually make a new job!

To be honest, when Pan Yi said that he wanted to change the formation, Vialli and Evani refused.

But when Pan Yi explained his tactics thoroughly, they slowly accepted it.

Is it still Pan Yi if you don't live?

But the problem is that Pan Yi can succeed every time he works, and even famous coaches like Wenger and Pep Guardiola often suffer from him, let alone rookie Southgate......

And this time, Pan Yi's words are - no front formation!

This new set of tactical drills has been done intermittently before, and this time it is officially going to be put on the table.

This is actually mainly aimed at England's style of play.

Southgate's England team is actually copied from Pan Yi's Chelsea in a sense.

The formation was a thunderous 3-5-2, with Harry Kane in front of Raheem Sterling and Jamie Vardy as the substitute. There are already two "Pan Yi" players here.

There are five midfield generals, Lingard, Rice and Loftus-Cheek in the middle, here are three Pan Yi series! Then the wings are complemented by Ashley Young and Trippier.

The three main centre-backs are Walker, John Stones and Harry Maguire, but Gary Cahill is also a regular and here is another.

The goalkeeper is Pickford, but it has nothing to do with Pan Yi, but in the main lineup, Southgate often uses 5-6 Pan Yi veterans, which cannot be said to be a coincidence, it can only be said to be "borrowed".

Their style of play is indeed very similar to that of Chelsea, mainly through the numerical advantage in midfield.

And neither Harry Kane nor Raheem Sterling are pure centre-forwards in the front line, and they will often drop back to receive or help grab the ball, so that England's midfield has at least 6-7 players.

Therefore, if it is to fight against it, if the Italian team still uses the original three midfielders, it is bound to lose ground in the midfield and finally collapse.

Pan Yi's idea is to push Chiesa Jr. up front, then Barella and Tonali cover at the back, and De Rossi and Verratti form a double midfielder to focus on defense.

Chiesa Jr. used his pace to charge, Tonali to deliver the cannonballs, and Barella to play his usual role at this World Cup – delivering the final blow.

On the flanks of midfield, Di Marco and Desiglio played the role of two wing-backs to enhance the midfield's confrontation ability.

The back line also used three central defenders, with Bonucci, Chiellini and Bastoni starting together, and the goalkeeper was of course Donnarumma.

This would also change the Italian formation to a 3-6-1, or more precisely, 3-4-2-1.

This formation is somewhat similar to the 3-2-4-1 used at Chelsea, but the defence is more solid, and due to the difference in personnel, there will be some details of the adjustment.

Tonali, Barella and Verratti and De Rossi formed a midfield four to deal with the opposition's central midfield, supplemented by Di Marco and Desiglio on the flanks to provide stronger support in the midfield.

In this formation, Italy's frontline can be said to have no real center forward, but except for De Rossi and Verratti, the other five are likely to complete the final blow - well, even for them, Pan Yi did not limit them from stepping forward to shoot.

Now Pan Yi's tactics for Italy are no longer rigid attacking combinations, but flexible, similar to the "no striker" or "wolf pack in midfield" tactics adopted by Rafacio Benitez in Valencia or Spalletti in Roma.

This tactic may not be stable in the league, but it is perfect for cup matches.

The head coach of the national team is like this, he doesn't have to worry too much about the daily life of the players, the daily training and growth, etc., but he just has to think about how to call the right players, and then use the existing players to combine the strength at hand to form a variety of tactics.

In a sense, it's a test of a manager's skills more than at the club.

And Pan Yi's skill obviously shocked Southgate.

——

When Southgate came into the England dressing room and then picked up Italy's starting line-up for the game, the look on his face was truly spectacular.

Pan Yi announced his starting lineup only two hours before the start of the game, which was the deadline before the deadline for the game.

The England national team reacted quickly, but at that time the whole team was on the bus to the Volga Samara Arena stadium, so it was not until after entering the dressing room that Southgate was given the starting line-up for Italy, and he was immediately scorched.

At this time, the players have already warmed up outside, and when the warm-up is over, there are not many opportunities for him to adjust.

Pan Yi's hand is too ruthless, basically depriving him of time to adjust, but fortunately, his current embarrassment has not been seen by the players......

By the time the players had returned to the dressing room after warming up, Southgate had adjusted his expression and told the players the starting line-up for Italy.

The expressions of the English players are not much better, after all, the targeted training done by the team before is basically completely lost!

"I'm going to limit the speed of their two wingers?"

"Let me keep an eye on Scamacca? Said it was also possible to stalk Balotelli? But what about the two of them? It's not on the list at all! ”

"Didn't you say that there are only three people in the Italian midfield, how do they look like there are more than us?"

"Rub, they've never used this formation before, right?"

The England dressing room was bustling with activity.

"Hey, you boss is too ...... Unpredictable, right? Walker couldn't help but say something to Rice, who shrugged his shoulders and didn't answer.

And the other few who didn't have much reaction were naturally Pan Yi's old generals.

For them, what is it unusual for Pan Yi to suddenly change the formation before the game?

Sit down, sit down, just.

At this point, Southgate coughed and motioned for everyone to be quiet.

He was really shocked, and he really didn't have time to adjust his tactics anymore.

How could he have thought of it?

Since Pan Yi took office, in all his games, no matter how his tactics change, he can't escape the standard 4-3-3, which is nothing more than that the positions of the three midfield generals will be a little different, sometimes it is a positive triangle, sometimes it is an inverted triangle, and everything is the same.

However, this time, Pan Yi is equivalent to completely getting rid of the range of 4-3-3, and his starting lineup has directly become three central defenders, and it is more like a strikerless formation!

Chiesa Jr. does appear more often as a winger, but he has more of a wing-back attribute, which means that the defensive attributes are heavy.

Sending him only one striker on the field is in itself a kind of "no striker" behavior.

But Southgate knows that there is no time for him to adjust his tactics at this time, and he can only choose to focus on me, and temporary changes in tactics are indeed easy to cause turmoil.

Moreover, before the big war, stabilizing the morale of the army was the most important thing, so he had to say something.

"His change of formation is actually a good thing for us." Southgate thought for a moment and said.

"It doesn't do much except surprise us!"

"Pan Yi has always used a 4-3-3 formation and its variants in Italy, and has never used a three-centre-back formation, let alone a striker-free formation."

"Now he has made a huge change, but he has not gained experience in actual combat, and their change is itself quite unfavorable to them!"

"So, we don't need to mess around about it at all, just fight according to the tactics we are used to, and kill them!"

Southgate's reaction was relatively fast, and he organized good language in an instant.

Otherwise, how can it be said that the head coach of every professional team is a master of oratory?

Most of England's players also agreed with this statement – except for a few Pan Yi veterans.

They always feel ...... in their hearts

Their leader must be planning something, and has been planning for a long time...... (End of chapter)