It was a big win, but it was not without its hidden dangers for Spain.

The recurrence of Diego Costa's old injury has left Spain not as well up front as they used to be.

Without the presence of Diego Costa, Spain lacks a strong center forward and scoring point in the front line, and the pressure on other positions in the frontcourt, especially Lin Quan, will be greater.

After the game, Bosque immediately sent someone to the hospital to understand Costa's injury and confirmed that he had a recurrence of an old injury in his right thigh.

Based on the results of the examination, the national team doctor judged that Costa would have to be out for at least two weeks before he had a chance to continue playing.

Two weeks meant he couldn't make it to the two remaining games of the group stage, but he couldn't even make it to the quarter-finals.

But after hearing the news, Bosque breathed a sigh of relief.

In his opinion, Spain will have no problem qualifying from the group.

After winning the group, the opponents in the first knockout game will not be very strong, and it will not be difficult for them to break into the quarterfinals.

The quarter-finals will be held on July 5 and 6, more than 20 days away, almost three weeks.

This should be enough time for Diego Costa to recover and for him to get fit with the team.

However, to be on the safe side, Bosque decided to decide whether to let him play in the quarter-finals based on his recovery.

If it really doesn't work, just delay it for a few more days, and when he's recovered well enough, let him go to the semi-finals and finals.

Of course, the premise is that Spain can make it to the last four.

On June 18, the match between Brazil and Mexico was the first to start.

Compared to Croatia, the opponent in the first game, Mexico is much stronger.

So, this game is a real test for Brazil.

There was a lot of attention on this match because it was a crucial match to determine the quality of the Brazilian team.

Judging from the performance of the teams in the first round of the group stage, there are four favorites to win this World Cup, followed by Spain, Brazil, Germany and Argentina.

If it weren't for the terrifying dominance shown by Spain, Brazil, as the hosts, would likely be the favourites to win the title.

Even if they weren't the biggest favourites, Brazil's game still attracted a huge crowd.

At the start of the game, more than 60,000 fans came to the stadium.

Countless Samba fans who support Brazil have come from all over the country to cheer on 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 sidelines, showing the unprecedented unity of the whole country.

Brazil's number one star Neymar was even moved to tears when the national anthem was played.

World number one defender Thiago Silva sings with his eyes closed, feeling every drop of blood boiling in his veins.

He can't wait to slaughter the Mexicans!

However, after 90 minutes, Thiago Silva's heart was cold, and Neymar, who had been in tears before the game, wept again.

On the big screen of the stadium, a number that is unacceptable to all Brazilian players and all Brazilian fans is displayed - 0:0

At the end of 90 minutes, Brazil, the second favorite to win the championship, was forced to draw by Mexico.

It's okay if it's a draw, the point is that they are still kept a clean sheet.

Brazil, who have always been known for their attacking firepower, had a very poor performance in this game, and their powerful forward line was all dumb.

With the full-time dominant, Brazil's goalscorers squandered numerous chances and were eventually punished.

After losing this victory, they are level on points with Mexico, and both teams have a chance to win the group.

Brazil will need to win the final round of the group and get as many clean sheets as possible if they don't want to face the top teams in the knockout stages, otherwise they will most likely fall to second place.

According to the rules of the World Cup, the first place in Group A plays the second place in Group B, and the second place in Group A plays the first place in Group B.

The current top spot in Group B is Spain, and if Brazil fail to qualify first in the group, they will meet Spain in the round of 16 in advance!

With the current state of the two teams, the Brazilian team wants to beat Spain, and the winning rate is probably less than 30%!

Therefore, the score of the Brazilian team not only hurt themselves, but also affected Spain next door.

Originally, I only had to play a second-rate team like Mexico in the quarterfinals, but now the result is good, because of the upset of the Brazilian team, the first seed and the second seed who won the championship have to meet in advance.

This intensity is directly full!

For Mexico, they were more than capable of accepting the scoreline.

After all, the score is now more favourable to them in their quest for top of the group than a defeat.

If they are to reach the quarter-finals, they must not meet Spain.

Therefore, in the next game, they will beat Croatia to the death, try to bloodied Croatia, and get enough goal difference.

The best player of the match was awarded to Mexico's goalkeeper Ochoa.

In this game, he made a total of 6 good saves.

In the 26th minute of the game, Neymar's header aimed at the corner was miraculously saved by Ochoa.

Later, it was shown in slow motion that he fished the ball out of the bottom line almost the moment it crossed the goal line!

And that's not even the most amazing thing, as in the closing stages of the game, Ochoa used a knee-jerk reaction on the goalline to keep out Thiago Silva's close-range header from the six-yard box with his right hand.

The save left the Brazilians desperate and their commentator exclaimed: Mexico is not a man on the goal line today, but a god!

The draw between Brazil and Mexico is definitely good news for Croatia and Cameroon.

As long as both teams can beat each other, they can keep their hopes of qualification alive until the final round, and as long as they beat their opponents in the last round, they will be able to qualify.

As a result, both teams played very unrestrained in this game, and in the end, Croatia, which was more powerful, had the last laugh.

In the game, Modric and Mandzukic combined to contribute three goals to help the team sweep Cameroon 4-0.

After winning this game, Croatia can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

A win over Mexico in the final round would make it out of the group, and if Brazil lose, they could even top the group.

Cameroon, which won both games, was eliminated one round ahead of schedule and became the first team to be eliminated in this World Cup.

The incident in Group A alarmed Bosque: "Damn the Brazilians, why did they overturn?" ”

Brazil does not want to meet Spain too soon, and Spain does not want to meet them early.

Diego Costa has yet to return from injury, and it will be even more difficult for Spain to win against Brazil in the first round of the knockout round.

So, he planned to make some preparations in advance.

"Go all out in this game, after winning Chile, send substitutes to play in the last round, let the main players rest for as much time as possible, and after recuperating, they can better deal with the opponents in the knockout stage!"

The knockout rounds of the World Cup are all decided by a winner, regardless of home and away, so the margin for error is very low.

Even a strong team can easily overturn.

What's more, if you face an opponent with the same strength, it will be easier to overturn.

For the Chilean team, being placed in Group B, a group that brought together the champions and runners-up of the last World Cup, is definitely the biggest misfortune.

However, as a South American powerhouse, they will not give up easily.

At present, the Dutch team is not in good form, the first game was slaughtered by Spain 5:1, and the second round just ended only won a difficult 3:2 victory over the weakest Australia.

This gave the Chilean hope of qualifying!

On paper, Chile is certainly inferior to Spain and the Netherlands.

But football is round, and anything can happen on the field.

In the event of an upset win over a strong Spain, they will be very optimistic about qualifying!

Of course, even if you lose, it's not the end of the world.

Chile currently have a goal difference of 4 again, while the Netherlands have a goal difference of -3.

This means that they will face the Netherlands in the final round and will qualify if they win or draw against each other.

The premise is that this one is too bad!

So, the Chilean team set up the bus as a matter of course in this game.

Less loss is better if you can draw the other party!

Even if they lose, they have to concede no more than two goals, in which case they still have more goal difference than the Dutch.

Seeing the iron bucket formation of the opponent, the corners of Bosque's mouth twitched slightly.

Sure enough, it was an iron bucket array, and he really guessed correctly.

Breaking down dense defence is a problem for all teams around the world, and Spain is no exception.

In this game, the opponent's defensive contraction was even more exaggerated than the previous game of the Dutch team, and the Spanish side had to use the ball to press and try to find opportunities around the opponent's goal.

The first 30 minutes of the game were uneventful, Spain had an astonishingly high possession rate and a very high pass success rate among their players, but they just couldn't find the back of the net.

Their attacks were blocked again and again, and even if they couldn't be stopped occasionally, the opponents would use decisive fouls to sabotage Spain's attack.

In 30 minutes, the Chilean team has already carried three yellow cards.

It can be seen from the number of cards they eat that they still feel the huge pressure brought to them by the Spanish team.

In this match, the goalkeeper of the Chilean team, Bravo, performed very well.

In the 15th minute of the opening game, he saved a single knife from Torres, and in the 27th minute, he saved a long-range shot from Lin Quan.

Both shots were dangerous and Spain would have taken the lead if it hadn't been for Bravo's bravery.

On the World Cup stage, in addition to fans who are keen to watch football, there are also scouts from major clubs.

With its outstanding performance, Bravo has won praise from many scouts, including some of the giants, such as Barcelona!

Faced with an iron-clad defence, Spain began to try to make a fuss with set-pieces and long-range shots.

In the 35th minute, Lin Quan shook off the space at the front of the penalty area and suddenly fired a cold arrow and hit a long-range shot of extremely high quality.

It was Bravo again, who lifted the ball over the crossbar with one hand and defused the team's crisis once again.

Seeing the other party's save, Lin Quan crossed his hands on his hips, a little helpless.

How does this man feel fiercer than Buffon and Neuer?

Every time I go to the World Cup, there are always a lot of goalkeepers who show bravery.

Xavi took a corner kick and chaos erupted in the box, with Ramos and opposing defender Wenna both falling to the ground in a scramble, and the referee did not say anything.

Pique grabbed the spot, but his header didn't hit the back of the net and the ball was easily confiscated by Bravo.

The latter was bold and careful, seeing that most of the Spanish players were in his own half, so he rushed straight out of front of goal and threw the ball to winger Alexis Sanchez with a hand.

Alexis Sanchez drove the ball along the flanks like a sports car, and quickly drove towards the Spanish half.

Chile did get on the bus today, but that doesn't mean they have given up on attacking.

With an ace like Sanchez, how could they possibly give up their advantage?

Spain's defense is weak, and the two central defenders are grabbing points in the opponent's penalty area!

At the crucial moment, Sergio Busquets stepped up and brought down his club team-mate with a tactical foul.

Although Busquets admitted his mistake very well, the referee still gave him a top penalty - a red card!

Seeing the decision, Busquets was stunned.

He was fouled on the wing, and he was quite far from the goal, and Sanchez hasn't formed a single knife yet, so 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.

However, the referee insisted that it was a red card and did not accept Busquets' protests.

His judgment was simple, Sanchez was already past half time and was about to cut inside with the ball, and Busquets was the last defender, and his foul ruined Chile's one-on-one chance, so it was a red card!

Seeing this penalty, Bosque on the sidelines was also a little excited.

He ran to the fourth official to protest loudly, but to no avail, and it was clearly impossible for the fourth official to stop or change the referee's decision.

In this way, before the first half was over, Spain had one less player.

In desperation, Bosque could only make a passive substitution.

He replaced Torres and brought on Xavi Alonso.

Torres was lost again by the opposition's dense defence, and he was very poor in this game, almost invisible up front.

Replacing him has the least impact on Spain's squad, and the key position of the back is absolutely indispensable.

The substituted Torres looked a little sullen, and he also felt that he was struggling to play.

He doesn't have Lin Quan's excellent dribbling and passing ability, and in a dense defensive situation, it is difficult for him to get the ball and run out of space.

So he has no complaints about Bosque's decision to replace him, and he can only blame himself for his lack of strength.

It's just that Torres is obviously very unwilling in his heart.

The team has one less, and the opponent has set up a bucket formation.

The situation of the match became very unfavorable for Spain, which made the fans who came to the Maracanã Stadium worried:

Could it be that Spain will also follow in the footsteps of Brazil and be forced to draw by Chile?

However, at this moment, someone stepped forward.

In the 43rd minute, Lin Quan and his teammates played a wonderful cooperation in the front, entered the penalty area and received a pass from Iniesta.

In the face of Bravo, who had resolved his own shots countless times before, Lin Quan did not shoot directly, but continued to bring it inside!

He's going to get past the goalkeeper!

(End of chapter)