Life or death

Now Spain, after winning two consecutive European Cups in 2008 and 2012, has passed their peak stage as the main players in the team have grown older.

Especially on the forward line, due to the fading of strike killers such as Torres and Villa, Spain now even shows signs of weakness in the forward line.

Chen Ran is no stranger to Spain.

During the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Chen Ran led Portugal to defeat Spain in the final and snatched the championship trophy from the opponent's hands.

Since Chen then went back and forth to coach the Brazilian team, under the leadership of coach Del Bosque, Spain finally won the 2012 European Cup in Poland and Ukraine.

However, due to Spain's poor performance in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and being eliminated in the group stage, they missed the opportunity to take revenge on Chen Ran.

Now, after finally encountering the team coached by Chen Ran again, the whole Spanish team is working hard to avenge being robbed of the World Cup championship.

For this reason, Bosque sent all the main players he could play and prepared to send Belgium home.

Left winger Nolito, center forward Morata, right winger David Silva

Central midfielder Iniesta, central midfielder Busquets, central midfielder Cesc Fabregas

Left back Alba, center back Ramos, center back Pique, right back Juanfran

De Gea

On the Belgian side, after the rotation against Sweden in the last game of the group stage, most of the main players got a full rest, and Chen Ran confidently arranged his high-altitude bombing lineup.

Center Lukaku

Left midfielder Hazard, central midfielder Witsel, central midfielder Fellaini, central midfielder Dembele, right midfielder De Bruyne

Left back Vertonghen, center back Kompany, center back Alderweireld, right back Carrasco

Courtois

Since the match between Belgium and Spain was the only strong match in the quarter-finals, it also attracted great attention from the outside world.

"Belgium will not have a good time this time. Spain is the defending champion, and Chen Ran snatched the World Cup championship from Spain. They must be working hard to take revenge on Chen Ran."

"Haha, although Spain is strong, Belgium is not a soft persimmon. And after Chen Ran's transformation, the current Belgian top team is not a vegetarian."

"Yes, Spain today is not the Spain it was four years ago. Without Torres and Villa, Morata alone cannot support Spain's forward line."

"That's not necessarily true. Although Spain's forward strength has been weakened, the midfield and backfield are still top-notch. Belgium relied on high-altitude bombing to defeat the defense line composed of Ramos, Pique and Busquets. It's a bit whimsical.

Already."

"The same defense line was used. Two years ago, in the World Cup in Brazil, Spain failed to even qualify from the group stage. What else is there to brag about?"

"Ahem, the ones upstairs are hitting people without slapping them in the face, and exposing people without exposing their shortcomings."

As a representative of pass-and-control football, Spain tried to take the initiative on the field through pass-and-cut coordination from the first minute of the game.

However, due to the 451 formation arranged by Chen Ran for Belgium, the three defensive midfielders Fellaini, Witsel and Dembélé were concentrated in the midfield, forming a thick barrier in front of the defense.

This makes it difficult for Spain's offense to penetrate further after entering Belgium's half, let alone threaten Belgium's goal.

But on the Belgian side, after the fence was firmly established, they were able to counterattack like a duck in water.

Especially Hazard and De Bruyne on the two wings, like two sharp knives, constantly taking turns stabbing into the heart of Spain. Coupled with Lukaku in the center who was responsible for grabbing points and outflanking, the Belgian team almost won the match just now.

Breaking through the goal guarded by De Gea at the beginning.

Seeing this situation, Bosque had to quickly order his two full-backs, Alba and Juanfran, not to easily get involved in the attack, but to stay in the backcourt and be responsible for marking Hazard and De Bruyne.

Only then did the situation stabilize.

But in this way, Spain's offensive in the frontcourt will inevitably be affected.

Morata, who is the fulcrum of Spain's offense, is a very controversial player.

He has talent and good abilities, but his biggest problem is his inconsistent performance.

Although there are bright moments, he often falls behind when the team needs him.

This is also the key reason why Morata has never been able to become a top striker despite playing for some wealthy clubs.

Today, Morata, who is 189cm tall, was surrounded by tall Belgian defensive players such as Kompany and Alderweireld.

Iniesta and Fabregas finally sent passes into the Belgian penalty area, but he didn't grab any of them.

Spain's passing control could not enter Belgium's penalty area, and Spain was also prepared for Belgium's counterattack. The entire game suddenly entered a stalemate stage.

On the sidelines, Chen Ran, who saw this situation, was not anxious at all and sat steadily on the bench to watch the game.

Anyway, he has the trump card of high-altitude bombing. Even if he can't score in sports games, he still has corner kicks and free kicks.

When the game progressed to the 37th minute, De Bruyne broke through from the right and wanted to pass down the bottom line. As a result, the ball was blocked by a flying tackle from Spanish left back Alba and the Belgian team got a right-hand pass.

Corner kick opportunity.

At this time, I saw a group of big guys running up from the Belgian midfield and backcourt.

Fellaini, Kompany, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Witsel and Dembele, plus Lukaku who was in front, the Spanish penalty area was immediately crowded with giants.

Big man.

Spain, which had long been prepared for the current tactics of the Belgian top team, suddenly felt like it was facing a formidable enemy.

Del Bosque on the sidelines kept urging striker Morata to return to his own penalty area to help mark the tall guys in Belgium.

However, even so, Spain could not gather enough tall players to deal with Belgium's army of tall men.

Except for Pique, who is 192cm tall, and Busquets and Morata, who are 189cm tall. Not counting goalkeeper De Gea, the tallest player in Spain is Ramos, who is 184cm tall. The others are all small men less than 1.8 meters tall.

.

In addition to arranging Pique, Busquets and Morata to mark the tallest Belgian players such as Lukaku, Kompany and Fellaini.

In desperation, Bosque could only arrange some Spanish players with obvious height differences to mark other Belgian big men.

At the corner flag, De Bruyne personally took the corner kick.

He first looked up at the position of his teammates in the penalty area, then raised his hands in the air to make a signal.

"boom!"

The ball drew a high arc and flew towards the Spanish penalty area.

Ever since Chen Ran tailored a set of high-altitude bombing tactics for the Belgian team, he has asked De Bruyne and Hazard, who are responsible for taking set kicks, not to kick flat fast balls when passing the ball.

The arc of the ball must be high enough to take full advantage of the height advantage of the Belgian players.

This time, De Bruyne's corner kick also followed this principle.

When the ball flew into the Spanish penalty area, there was chaos inside.

Especially those Spanish players who were not tall enough, they used their hands and feet to try their best to prevent the Belgian players from jumping for the top.

There were already a lot of people in the penalty area, and with various small moves, several players from both sides fell down at once.

"beep!"

The referee Kralovic immediately blew the whistle and then quickly ran into the penalty area to signal that Belgium's Alderweireld had committed a foul.

At this moment, the Belgian players immediately went into a frenzy.

Good guy, the Spanish players were pulling and tugging one by one, making small moves constantly. The referee didn't call a penalty kick, so it was fine, but he actually awarded himself a foul?

The Belgian players immediately surrounded the referee Kralovic emotionally and asked for an explanation.

On the sidelines, seeing this situation, Chen Ran quickly opened the system and used an "Eagle Eye Guardian Card".

Due to the distance, Chen Ran didn't know exactly what happened in the penalty area just now. However, seeing his players being so excited, he took action immediately.

Although UEFA has launched the Hawk-Eye system in this European Cup, the Hawk-Eye system at this time is actually only a goal-line system. It is limited to judging whether the ball has crossed the goal line and does not have the ability to correct the referee's mistakes or omissions.

Function.

Soon, Chen Ran saw the effect of the "Eagle Eye Guardian Card".

The referee Kralovic "knows his mistakes and can correct them" and changed the decision to give Belgium a penalty kick.

This time, it was the Spanish players' turn to quit.

When the Belgian players just dispersed to celebrate the penalty kick, the Spanish players, led by Ramos, surrounded Kralovic again.

Seeing that the situation was getting out of control, two assistant referees quickly ran over from the sidelines to help Kralovic maintain order.

"Judging from the slow-motion replays from multiple angles, it was Spain's Juanfran who tripped Belgium's Alderweireld. The referee Kralovic changed the decision to a penalty kick, which was absolutely correct."

Just when the game was interrupted due to this penalty, the major broadcast TV stations were constantly replaying what just happened in the Spanish penalty area.

"Then why did Klarovic give Alderweireld a foul in the first place?"

"Perhaps Kralovic got the wrong person?"

"No way? Even the jerseys are different. How can we identify the wrong person?"

"Did Kralovic discover that there was something wrong with his penalty after being reminded by the Belgian players?"

"Well, I'm afraid only Mr. Kralovic himself can answer this question."

The game was finally resumed after being interrupted for nearly ten minutes.
To be continued...