Football: start copying peak Messi attributes

Chapter 539 Semi-final opponent - France!

The German team was eliminated, which is good news for the host France team.

At least they have one less competitor to win the championship, and judging from the performance of the Spanish team in this game, it doesn't seem to be that powerful.

This gave the French confidence that they really had a chance to win the cup at home.

In the subsequent quarter-finals, the French team also successfully played its own style and level.

Facing the biggest dark horse team of this European Cup, Iceland, the French showed no mercy at all.

Four goals were scored in the first half, with Giroud, Pogba, Griezmann and Payet all scoring.

Every French fan in the stands of the Stade de France was extremely excited. This is how they think the French team should perform!

The Icelandic team was a bit stunned, conceding four goals in the first half. The opponent's offensive power was beyond their imagination.

The huge disadvantage caused the game to enter garbage time early before the second half started.

In fact, not only the Icelanders were shocked, fans from other countries who watched the first half of the game were also shocked by the French's terrifying offensive ability.

Although the Iceland team is a dark horse, they have drawn with Portugal and defeated England, so their own strength is not weak.

But they seemed to be unable to fight back in front of the French team. The two sides did not look like teams of the same level at all.

The scene in the first half was so bloody that some neutral fans couldn't bear it.

"It's too cruel, the French team was too harsh!"

"At this rate of goals, the French team in this game may not break the European Cup score record!"

"The possibility is very high. The number of goals scored in this game is already the most in this European Cup!"

Maybe they were a little complacent after taking a big lead, or maybe they were planning to save their strength for the next more critical game.

After the start of the second half, the French team's performance was somewhat slack.

The Icelandic team on the opposite side did not give up their attack after knowing that they had no hope of advancing.

They are still trying hard to score, trying to score a face-saving goal.

They did not wait long for such an opportunity. In the 55th minute of the second half, after unremitting efforts, the Iceland team finally scored a goal, rewriting the score to 4:1.

After the French team lost the ball, they took it seriously for a while. Only a few minutes later, Giroud scored twice, widening the point difference to 4 points.

After that, French coach Deschamps began to make large-scale substitutions. Giroud, who scored two goals, was replaced early in the 60th minute and accepted the applause of the audience alone.

Subsequently, Payet, Griezmann and others were also replaced one after another.

The French team's next opponent is the defending champion Spain. Considering that the Spanish team's game ended the day before, they can have one more day of rest before the start of the semi-finals.

This is somewhat disadvantageous for the French team, so Deschamps replaced these main players early to reduce their physical consumption and give them more time to rest.

After the French team replaced a large number of their main players, Iceland scored another goal in the 84th minute of the second half, setting the score at 5:2.

After this game, the semi-finals of this European Cup were also announced.

The four teams that reached the semi-finals are Portugal, Wales, Spain and the host France.

Since the two teams in the top half were not strong, the audience focused on the semi-finals in the bottom half.

Everyone agrees that the winner between the French team and the Spanish team is likely to be the champion of this European Cup.

As for who is more optimistic between the Spanish and French teams, fans are also very divided.

Some fans who support Spain believe that Spain has just defeated the powerful German team and proved its strength in a head-to-head contest.

Although the French team also advanced to the semi-finals, their opponents were not strong, which put the French team's strength into question.

They have not experienced the test of a truly powerful enemy, and their combat effectiveness is not that convincing.

Fans who support the French team are dismissive of this. It is not that the French team has not fought tough battles in the past few years.

Teams such as the British team, the Dutch team, the Italian team, the German team, and the Brazilian team have all lost to the French team in the past two years. The French team has achieved 10 consecutive victories in various competitions.

Therefore, there is no need to question the strength of this French team. They definitely have the strength to defeat strong enemies.

"Haha, do the results in the warm-up match count?"

A Spanish fan retorted unceremoniously:

"In the past two years, Spain has lost many games in warm-up matches. Even teams like Chile and Georgia have defeated Spain in warm-up matches. Does this prove that the Spanish team is not as good as these teams?"

"The warm-up match is just a testing ground for each team to test the team's tactics, player status, and lineup matching. The results of the warm-up match have no reference value!"

"The test of a strong team is always its performance in major competitions, and the French team's performance in the past few major competitions is really unflattering!"

The Spanish fans' counterattack was very sharp. They took advantage of the French team's poor performance in international competitions in recent years and made the French unable to hold their head high.

The French team is a traditional strong team, and its foundation is even deeper than Spain.

But since the 2006 World Cup, they have fallen into a trough and failed to come out of two World Cups and two European Cups.

It was not until a few years ago, after Deschamps took over the French team and vigorously promoted a group of young players, that the French team's performance improved.

At this time, the French team's performance was obviously better than during the previous trough period, but before entering the test of the competition and getting enough results, the outside world always had doubts about their strength.

……

After learning that the opponent was the French team, Spanish coach Del Bosque was inevitably a little worried.

Although the French team does not have much honor, Del Bosque does not dare to underestimate his opponents.

This French team is definitely a strong team and is no easier to deal with than the German team.

Although their game ended one day earlier than the French team, they had an extra day of rest.

But they have encountered strong enemies along the way, such as Italy and Germany, which are the favorites to win this European Cup.

The opponents of the French team are second- and third-rate teams such as Ireland and Iceland.

Compared with the Spanish team, the French team won more easily and their own consumption was relatively small. Their players did not even receive many yellow cards.

More importantly, the average age of this French team is very young and it is a very young team.

Several of their core players, such as Pogba, Kanter, Griezmann and others, are all under 25 years old, and they are all players with sufficient physical fitness and a wide range of activities on the court. Facing such young and impactful opponents, it is difficult for Spain's senior lineup to take advantage.

For this reason, Bosque must adjust the team's tactics in a targeted manner to avoid being dragged down by the younger French team.

……

Del Bosque is having a headache on how to deal with the French team, and the French team's coach Deschamps is also worried about how to restrict the Spanish team's Lin Quan.

In the past few games, the French team has developed from the wing.

But when it comes to the strength of the wing attack, the Spanish team is better because they have a presence that is difficult for the French team to defend.

How to limit Lin Quan's performance is the key to whether the French team can win the game.

If they can successfully freeze Lin Quan and prevent him from fully exerting his strength, it will not be difficult to win the game with the strength of the French team's lineup.

And there is another advantage for the French team, that is, their lineup is relatively neat, while the Spanish team's lineup is not neat.

"Have you found out about Iniesta's injury?"

After Xavi retired, Xiaobai became the most indispensable member of the Spanish midfield.

And this general was injured in the last game against Germany.

It has only been two or three days since the last game. If Iniesta's injury is a little more serious, he will definitely not be able to make it to this game.

Once Spain's midfielder loses Iniesta, their offensive threat will be greatly reduced, and the French team can confidently and boldly invest more troops to restrict Lin Quan.

"The Spanish team has blocked the news. It is not yet clear how serious Iniesta's injury is, but I think there is a high probability that he will not be able to play!"

In response to Iniesta's injury, the Spanish team was very cautious and did not release any news. Obviously they did not want their opponents to know the news in advance.

"Spain's midfield is not as luxurious as it used to be. If Iniesta is really unable to play, we have to be careful of Del Bosque withdrawing Lin Quan's position and letting him be the midfield commander."

Deschamps has focused on studying Lin Quan, and also inquired about Lin Quan from Lin Quan's club teammate Kante, knowing that he often retreated to the center in Manchester City.

If Spain really does this, although the offensive power of the front line will be weakened, the strength of the midfield will obviously be greatly enhanced.

The 20-year-old Lin Quan is obviously much better than the 32-year-old Iniesta.

After some research, Deschamps made a decision:

"Let Kanter mark him, and let Griezmann assist Kanter. Once the ball is intercepted successfully, Griezmann's ability can immediately form a counterattack and threaten the opponent's goal!"

……

The departures of Xavi and Alonso and the absence of Cazorla have made the Spanish midfield configuration much dimmer than before, not as luxurious as it was a few years ago.

Among the new generation of midfielders, there is absolutely no one who can reach the level of Habaib.

This resulted in Spain not having many options, and Del Bosque did not choose to call Diego Costa into the team, which reduced the strength of Spain's forward line.

Morata's performance improved, but it wasn't enough.

He alone cannot support Spain's offensive mission.

Before the game, the betting company opened the odds for this game.

Although there are many voices from the outside world that are not optimistic about the French team, the betting company obviously does not think so.

Defending champion Spain's odds are not much higher than those of the French team. The bookmaker's odds are that the visiting team will give up half a ball or not give up the ball.

Compared with the handicap between France and Spain, the handicap between Portugal and Wales on the other side is relatively clear.

Although Portugal's path to promotion in the group stage was very bumpy, they almost relied on their goal difference to get the last promotion spot.

But their performance in the knockout rounds was indeed good. They defeated Croatia first and then Poland. These two games changed the outside world's impression of them. Although not many people are optimistic about them winning the championship, there are still people who think they will defeat Wales. A lot of.

Before the game, the betting company offered a handicap of 1 goal for the home team, and almost all expected Portugal to win.

It’s quite interesting to say that all the people Cristiano Ronaldo met along the way were teammates from his own club.

They met Croatia led by Modric in the quarter-finals and Wales led by Bale in the semi-finals.

If we could really win Wales, we would have stepped on the corpses of our teammates along the way.

This can't help but remind people of Rooney's red card in Portugal's match against England when Ronaldo and Rooney were teammates.

Ronaldo is professional when it comes to cutting teammates with his hands.

On July 7, the match between Portugal and Wales started first.

Cristiano Ronaldo did not live up to the expectations of the outside world. In the game against Wales, he stepped forward and scored the first goal to help Portugal determine its lead.

After falling behind, Wales was in disarray. The players were anxious to counterattack, but unexpectedly they exposed their own vulnerabilities and were fatally counterattacked by the opponent.

Only 3 minutes later, Portugal scored another victory thanks to Nani's goal, rewriting the score to 2:0.

In just 3 minutes, the opponent scored two goals in a row. Wales was in chaos and the morale of the players was depleted.

Although they launched a fierce counterattack after falling behind, Bell even received a yellow card for being anxious to counterattack.

But in front of the sophisticated Portuguese team, their efforts received no reward.

At the end of the game, the score was fixed at 2:0.

Portugal takes the lead in reaching the final!

Despite their poor performance in the group stage, they actually made it all the way to the finals.

This is really incredible!

However, even if it reaches the final, the outside world is not optimistic about Portugal. After all, Portugal's strength cannot even rank among the top four in this European Cup.

Belgium, Italy, Germany, France, Spain, which of these four teams is not better than them?

"Haha, I just got lucky. The opponents I met along the way were all weaklings, so I advanced to the finals. What's so happy about it!"

Because Ronaldo is the absolute core of this Portuguese team, a large number of Ronaldo's fans are ridiculing him online.

Of course, there are many Messi fans who have been fighting with Romi for many years.

(End of this chapter)