After being beaten by the Spanish team in the opening game, the Croatian side became a little restrained.

They had already expected before the game that this game would be a situation where the enemy was strong and I was weak, and the enemy attacked and defended.

But I didn't expect Spain's attack to be so strong, and in the first minute of the opening game, when most of the players on the Croatian side were not in the game yet, they almost scored.

The opponent's attack power seems to be not only stronger, but simply outrageously strong.

But Croatia's tactics today were very targeted, including striker Mandzukic, and the six players in the midfield were all offensive and defensive.

They were very aggressive in intercepting and scrambling in their own half, limiting their opponents' passing tactics with aggressive running and intense physical confrontations.

"Why does this trick sound familiar?"

But if you don't score in the first half, it's hard to predict the outcome.

When Mandzukic moved, several of his teammates behind him were also moving.

"I think they know that they have a lot of veteran players on their side, and they don't dare to delay, and the resilience of the Croatian team is obvious to all, plus the last penalty shootout with Denmark is too outrageous, I'm afraid no team wants to play a penalty shootout with them."

With only 20 minutes into the first half, there was plenty of time left for Spain.

And this role is assumed by Modric in the Croatian team, and in Barcelona, it is Iniesta and Messi.

Bosque has also been to watch a lot of Atletico Madrid games, and he is still very familiar with Simeone's set of tactics.

According to the coach's pre-game arrangement, the teammates must have set up a posture in the rear at this time.

Especially in the midfield, Modric is like a fire captain, where there is danger to go to reinforcements.

And when he was successful at Atletico, more and more people studied him from the outside world.

They had been pressed too hard by Spain's attack, and they needed to push it out a bit to restore the distance and resilience between them.

Before, his teammates had worked hard in their own half for so long and had not succeeded a few times, and now he alone could not snatch the ball away from the opponent's feet.

Pep Guardiola has seen a World Cup statistic that Modric has averaged more than 11 kilometres per game in this World Cup.

Their up-and-coming is not aggressive, and they are very careful to protect their backs, and they will definitely not leave a gap easily.

De Gea, Nacho and others are also players born in 1990 and are 28 years old this year.

"Who said that the Spanish team's game was hypnotic and drowsy, it's nonsense!"

Even if you don't have a striker like you, it won't have much impact on the defense.

By actively running and grabbing, the physical confrontation is emphasized, so that the opponent cannot comfortably take the ball and pass, and increase the opponent's forced mistakes.

The tactics of the Croats gave them a sense of déjà vu.

"Yes, coupled with the delicate technique unique to Spain, to be honest, just looking at the first 20 minutes, I feel that the peak bullfighting team is completely back!"

But just as Mandzukic rushed behind him and reached for the ball, Busquets passed the ball out.

……

They can even launch a counterattack once in a while, proving that they still have the ability to fight back, and they are not purely passively beaten.

As for the offense, that is, there are dates or no dates to play three poles, it doesn't matter if you don't score, at least it can deter the opponent and slightly relieve the pressure on your own defense.

Compared with the star-studded Barcelona and Real Madrid, the squad is far less thick than the opponent's Atletico Madrid, and the power of their tactics can be seen to achieve such excellent results in the league.

Taking advantage of the slowdown in the pace of the game, fans started a frenzied discussion online.

"It's a bit like a combination of Germany and Brazil, aggressive but disciplined."

The opponent has his back to him, and if he follows and grabs the ball at the opponent's feet while he is unprepared, then he is likely to win a shot on goal.

Rakitic is a piece of the puzzle but can't play as the heart of the midfield, he's better suited as a wingman and would be a good choice if there are top midfield maestro in the team.

This is a very exaggerated statistic, you know, Modric is 33 years old this year, which belongs to the 'old' veteran.

"It's still a little different, Atletico are pressing high and Croatia are not very aggressive to push out the formation, you see, even their strikers are only moving around the center circle, and they are definitely not alone."

Mandzukic was not an indecisive person, and after just a moment of hesitation, he made a decision: follow!

The Spanish team's attack is not the kind of thunder and rain, and their cooperation in the front court is very sharp, especially Lin Quan's cross-cutting cooperation with Iniesta, Isco and David Silva and others in a small area, which is even more unguardable.

Compared to him, Iniesta, who is a year older than him, has far inferior running statistics in this World Cup, and even many times, Bosque has to put Iniesta on the bench because his form no longer supports him to play continuously.

So after watching the first 20 minutes of the game, the new fans were still chanting about the Spanish awesomeness, which is the strength of the defending champions and the like.

"Yes, it feels like they're in a hurry to attack."

Old fans know what it's like to play in Spain, but new fans don't understand this, and many people just follow the trend.

Seeing this action of the other party, Mandzukic hesitated a little.

Although the score is still 0:0, the first 20 minutes of the game are definitely exciting and not boring at all.

So when Lin Quan received the ball near the center circle again, Mandzukic rushed towards him menacingly.

I also want to praise Busquets's ball quotient here, although Lin Quan did not discuss it with him, he seemed to understand Lin Quan's intentions, so when he received Lin Quan's pass, his position moved a few steps to his own half.

"Isn't that how Atletico Madrid are dealing with Barcelona in the league?"

Seeing that the opponent had suspended the attack, the Croatian side also breathed a sigh of relief.

Although they defended it, the stormy attack just now really overwhelmed them.

Meaning, give the opponent a little pressure, let them pass back or knock horizontally, don't let them organize calmly, just pass a good ball forward.

Pep Guardiola in the stands has a different opinion, he has also watched Atletico Madrid's games, and even led the team to play against Atletico Madrid.

But they're all conservative and haven't moved forward much.

"So the suspense of the outcome of this game should not last long, either Spain will not be able to attack for a long time, and the opponent will sneak up on the opponent or drag it into extra time and lose.

Nine times out of ten, the goals on the pitch come when the opponent makes mistakes, and the more mistakes the opponent makes, the more scoring opportunities Atletico Madrid's side will naturally have.

Lin Quan took a look at the game time while controlling the ball.

Simeone's tactics at Atletico are still defensive counter-attacks, but his defense is a pressing defence.

Bosque has watched many Atletico Madrid games, and Simeone has been thriving throughout Europe in recent years with his coaching experience at Atletico Madrid.

If the standards had been tightened, Modric would have been the only one left.

They do have a lot of attacking tasks to do, but as long as they can score in the first half, then everything will not be a problem.

"That's it, I'm so nervous that I'm about to suffocate when I watch this game, and I don't feel sleepy at all!"

Thinking of this, Mandzukic in the trotting suddenly accelerated, like a cheetah staring at its prey, and quickly pounced on Busquets.

The Croatian players felt the same way, as well as the more than 80,000 spectators at the scene.

If it weren't for the goalkeeper's strength, coupled with the whole team gritting their teeth and persevering, relying on tenacious willpower to survive, they would definitely be behind by now.

But if he does break the ball, the reward is too great.

Therefore, the Spanish team must end the game as soon as possible and must not drag the game into extra time or even a penalty shootout.

And the opponent passed back and forth in front of them like this, so naturally he couldn't ignore it.

Simeone's set of tactics can be described as invincible in La Liga, not to mention ordinary teams, even Barcelona and Real Madrid are very uncomfortable when facing them.

Seeing that the opponent was not attacking, the Croatian team naturally began to push the defense line outward.

Assistant coach Tony blurted out, and everyone suddenly realized.

No wonder it looks so familiar, it turned out to be a tactic to steal Atletico?

It's just that in the World Cup, it's the first time I've seen someone use this trick.

Either Croatia can't withstand the onslaught of the opponent and concedes too many goals and is eliminated, nothing more than these two results. ”

What's more, Atletico Madrid's defense is a lot of high pressing, the position is already very forward, once the ball is obtained, there is no need to make a lot of effort to pass from the back to the front, often relying on the cooperation between several offensive players in the front court, you can complete the shot in the first time.

In this way, the speed and quality of Atletico's counterattack have been greatly improved, which greatly increases the difficulty of the opponent's defense and further improves the scoring efficiency of their own side.

The main reason why Spain attacked so fiercely was that they didn't want to let the suspense of the game drag on forever.

Because of this, there is now a trend of high pressing in the whole European football world, and many teams in the middle and lower reaches have begun to learn from Atletico Madrid's style of play.

The Spanish fans in the stands widened their eyes when they saw the opponent's striker suddenly attack, and some opened their mouths to shout to warn Busquets.

Why has Spain's dominance in football declined in recent years?

The aging lineup is so stakes, if it doesn't decline, there will be ghosts.

So he didn't continue to attack after winning the ball, but began to control the tempo.

Relying on tenacious fighting spirit, the Croats held off Spain's attacks again and again.

If they are really dragged into overtime, this group of old arms and legs of the Spanish team can't run, so what can they do to fight with their opponents?

After 20 minutes of ineffective attack, Lin Quan realized that it would be very bad for them to continue to play at this pace.

"Such a fierce attack on the opponent at any cost, a posture of not breaking the goal and not stopping, probably don't want to drag the game down, right?"

For the veterans, fitness is their biggest bottleneck.

And the older you get, the harder it is to concentrate, and the longer the time drags on, the more obvious it becomes.

Busquets turned his back to his opponent and seemed to have no idea that danger was coming.

Lin Quan saw all this, and then when Mandzukic was about to rush to him, he unhurriedly distributed the ball to Busquets next to him.

"Today's Spain is not playing Spain!"

"Even a veteran like Xiaobai has 7 passing attempts in the first 20 minutes, which is really abnormal."

"The Spanish team played very abnormally today!"

Among the 11 players who started, except for Lin Quan, De Gea, Isco and Nacho, the rest are all veterans over 30 years old.

The tactical execution ability is strong, the players' fighting spirit is high, the defensive enthusiasm is very good, and the tacit understanding is good.

But if he were to be the brains of the team, his organisational skills and command skills would not be up to the task.

He just stepped forward casually to deal with errands, and he didn't want to waste his energy on Busquets at all.

If he doesn't, Busquets will be able to pass the ball freely without interference when he distances himself.

One thing to say, Croatia's style of play is really not Atletico Madrid's style of play.

And the old fans frowned and began to analyze it seriously:

But if they are lucky, they will make a lot of money, and they can keep it with more peace of mind.

One side is wonderful to attack, and one side is good to defend.

At its most dangerous, Croatia was in front of goal, as if they could be scored at any moment.

The opposition was clearly aware of this, so Croatia's focus in the first half was all on defence.

Being able to watch such a wonderful game live is completely worth the ticket price.

On the sidelines, the Spanish coaching staff widened their eyes one by one when they discovered the opponent's tactics.

The shortcomings are also obvious, this team has relatively few top players, only a few such as Modric and Rakitic.

The players are not marking defensively, they are more like controlling the area.

The most discussed thing is the abnormal performance of the Spanish team.

I don't know if I want to continue with it.

The Croatian players on the pitch were not suspicious, and Mandzukic trotted away from Lin Quan and pressed towards Busquets.

In addition, the onslaught has been on for so long, and the players' physical fitness is a little unbearable, so they need to slow down the rhythm a little to let everyone take a breath.

A few steps, not noticeable on the pitch, and it looked like Lin Quan's pass was too powerful, and Busquets had to drop back to receive the ball.

If Lin Quan hadn't drastically lowered the average age of the Spanish team, their average age would have exceeded 31 years old.

But that didn't change the passive situation on the pitch in the slightest, and Spain's attack was very ferocious during this time.

Busquets saw Mandzukic coming and took the initiative to retreat towards his own backfield.

It's not just the position, it's the way you play.

Originally, La Liga was a situation of double domination, but in recent years, it has been transformed into a three-legged pattern by Simeone.

While the average age of the opposing squad is not low, the average age in Spain is even older.

So after watching it for more than ten minutes, Guardiola summed up the characteristics of this Croatian team:

Mandzukic didn't really want to snatch the ball away from his opponent's feet, as evidenced by the way he ran.

Pique, a team-mate for the national team and club, received a pass from Sergio Busquets, and as soon as Pique received the ball, Mandzukic immediately abandoned Busquets and rushed over.

But Pique was facing him and had already noticed his up-and-coming movements, so he took the initiative to retreat when he received the ball, opening up a safe distance.

At this point, Pique ignored Mandzukic, looked up at his teammate's position, and then passed the ball to the teammate on the pitch wearing the number 10 red jersey! (End of chapter)