Hierro and Spain's coaching staff had guessed that Donn would use a rude foul against a technically fluid team like Spain, but neither of them expected them to be in front of such a completely unfamiliar England team...... Not to mention them, even England fans and commentators have to rub their eyes, and they can't confirm that the eleven players in front of them wearing white jerseys and dark blue shorts represent England.

As Spain prepared to kick off, England's players stood in their own half of the pitch and the formation was clearly 352. This came as a surprise to many who are familiar with England, as England in memory rarely uses their traditional 442 formation. If they have seen enough and have a good memory, they will remember that Venables made a similar change at the European Championship on English soil 20 years ago, when England scored the classic goal against Scotland.

But other than that, I can't think of any other examples.

This change of formation did not surprise the Spaniards at all - who has nothing to study the example of the war twenty years ago...... Their pre-match preparations were all aimed at 442 England, which had four defenders, and there was a big difference between a back four and a back three. And that England team definitely doesn't have a "forward midfield" setting...... Now, Steven Gerrard is in the midfield position.

The Spanish players on the field were surprised, and they were a little overwhelmed by the change in Ingla...... If they continue to follow the pre-match plan, they will leave England with a lot of space. But if it is going to change, how?

What to do?

The Spanish players looked at each other and found the same question in each other's eyes.

Hierro knew that now was not the time to hesitate, though it wasn't clear to Tony. What is Tang En's intention to change the formation like this, but the prevention work must be done first. He walked to the sidelines and shouted to his men, "Watch out for their Gerald!" Gerrard! ”

Hierro's idea is simple: since Gerrard is in the midfield position, then England's attack must be in charge of organising. He has done similar work at Liverpool, which is nothing new to Steven Gerrard.

Since the manager asked to keep an eye on Gerrard, Ignacio, the only defensive midfielder in the team. Camacho (ignacio_camacho), naturally, has an unshirkable responsibility.

Donn saw the change in Spain off the pitch and he laughed.

That's exactly what he wants to see.

Gerrard did try to play-on a couple of occasions afterwards, but there were no dangerous passes under Camacho's tight guard. This convinced both Camacho and Hierro that Steven Gerrard was the playmaker of the England team.

In the first fifteen minutes of the game, George . Wood was fully focused on defending, leading his team-mates to stop Spain's attack, and he was mainly targeting Cesc Fabregas. In the opening fifteen minutes, he had already been whistled for two fouls, but fortunately he had not yet received a yellow card. In fact, Donn didn't want him to foul so often, because George. Wood has a yellow card and if he gets another yellow card in this game, Wood will miss the final, even if England can knock out Spain. This is definitely something that Donn doesn't want to see, he wants his team to make it to the final, and he also wants George. Wood don't be absent.

In this game, Spain fielded a single striker lineup, with Bojan at the front, while Torres was injured, and in order to ensure that he could play in the final, the Spanish coaching staff decided to put him on the bench. Behind Bojan is Andres Iniesta, behind is Cesc Fabregas and Camacho, and on the two wings is Lago on the left and David on the right. Silva. The left-back is Arbeloa and the right-back is Sergio. Ramos, the two centre-backs are Piquee and Raul. Albiol. The goalkeeper is Asenjo.

With the exception of one Torres who is injured and cannot play, this is already the strongest squad in Spain at the moment.

Hierro worked Spain's dual-core tactics and finally paid off in this tournament. Cesc Fabregas and Andres Iniesta can both organise attacks, but there are differences between the two. Andres Iniesta dribbles well, his short passes and crosses are sharp, and the closer he gets to the box, the more dangerous he becomes. Cesc Fabregas, on the other hand, is a good passer, is good at controlling the tempo, and is responsible for the overall arrangement from the back.

In this way, even if one of them is frozen by the opponent's marking, Spain's attack will not be affected too much.

As the situation was, after Cesc Fabregas was frozen by Wood's close defence, the banner of organising the attack was immediately handed over to Iniesta.

In this game, Donn did not stick to the "zone defense" tactic he had used before, but switched to "man-to-man". Wood keeps an eye on Cesc Fabregas, while Michael. Johnson's target is Andres Iniesta. This distribution was also made after fully considering the characteristics of the players on both sides. Fabregas and George. Wood has been a long-time Premier League opponent and knows each other very well, and there is no one better suited to defend the Gunners captain than him. And Iniesta is a little older, his physical fitness is not good, and he is prone to injury, so it is more appropriate for Johnson, who is younger and has good stamina, to entangle each other.

As for the two wings...... Since the start of the game, Wayne Rooney and Agon Lajo have been more like two full-backs than wing-forwards. At the same time, three strong central defenders were hoarded in the penalty area, making it difficult for Spain to penetrate with short passes.

After withstanding Spain's first fifteen minutes of attack, England began to prepare for a counter-attack.

Michael. Johnson and John. After Terry teamed up to cut off Iniesta's pass, Terry did not hand over the football to the retreating "forward" Gerrard, but to the "back" George, who had already rushed forward. Wood.

Gerrard and Wood's "double virtue" is so misaligned, the football has not changed hands, and it is still at Wood's feet. Gerrard saw Wood receive the ball and turned and ran forward. At the same time, Rooney and Abonlaho have both transformed from "full-backs" to "wingers" who are rushing forward!

Camacho was hesitating whether to go to get the ball. Wood was still his original target, Gerrard, and he quickly made the choice to let go of the man with the ball first.

But when he pounced on Wood, Wood, who was on the move, passed the football to Gerrard, who was on the same page as him. Wood, who completed the pass, slowed down and Gerrard got past and passed the ball to Wayne Rooney, who cut inside from the wing.

Spain's defenders were keeping an eye on the suddenly active Mitchel and Vaughan, so much so that Wayne Rooney and Abonlaho had plenty of free space in front of them.

Rooney cut inside after receiving the football, did not hesitate, and shot directly from outside the penalty area! Let him play on the left wing, who is good at right foot, and that's what Donn means - cut inside and shoot!

Wayne Rooney's powerful long-range shot was eventually saved by Asenjo and England were awarded a corner.

England's corner kick was not taken straight out, but played a tactic. Gerrard passed the football to Johnson, who came up to pick him up, and Johnson passed it to George, who was waiting in the middle. Wood, after receiving the ball, adjusted and fired a long-range shot from about 30 yards from goal, this time the ball went straight over the crossbar and flew into the stands at the back of the goal.

"England have no way to get deep into our box and can only rely on long-range shots to threaten the goal of Asenjo! It's a pity that the accuracy is almost there! The Spanish commentator was optimistic that they were at the back.

Many Spanish fans also hold this view, and from the perspective of the field, it is clear that Spain has the advantage, far ahead of England in possession, and plays better than England.

They believe that if they continue to play like this, it will be a matter of time before they score goals and victory will not be a problem at all.

Some England fans, who don't know the truth, are worried. The England team in front of them is too unfamiliar, of course they know that this is a strategy that Donn came up with in order to deal with Spain, but this England team has never played 352, and the temporary change of formation is only afraid that it will not surprise the opponent, but let themselves be at a loss first...... Could this be the case?

※※※ Spain made a comeback and attacked again, this time it was still Iniesta who took the ball. It was clear that his Spanish team-mates had passed the ball to him.

Michael. Johnson won the "true pass" of those old fritters when defending Iniesta...... Instead of stepping on the foot first, he grabbed Iniesta's shoulder, and then stepped forward, pushing his body against the other party, so that Iniesta would not turn around easily. Then he kept kicking forward with his foot in the back, kicking the ball successfully when he hit the football, and kicking the ankle made Iniesta suffer a little, knowing that he knew the strength of the Englishman, so that his ankle would ache faintly when he received the ball next time.

However, this time Johnson miscalculated, he stretched out his foot to break the ball, but he was taken advantage of by Iniesta, turned and dodged the ball. When Iniesta, who quickly dodged Johnson in a small area, was about to loosen the ball into the penalty area, England's backline suddenly became a whole and there was no one to command, but they obviously had a good idea, and the three central defenders took a neat step forward, and it was this step that allowed Bojan, who was at the front, to be offside.

Andres Iniesta passed the ball and the whistle sounded.

The people in the England dugout below wiped their sweat - it was too dangerous. It wasn't something they had arranged in advance, it was entirely a matter of the three defenders' own judgment at that moment. Fortunately, at this moment, their thoughts are highly unified, otherwise if there is a person who is a little slower, he will be single-handedly stabbed by Bo Yang and directly face the goalkeeper Joe. Hart.

Although he escaped, Terry criticized Johnson, telling him not to pounce too the first shot of the defense and to leave some room for his follow-up moves.

Johnson nodded and humbly accepted the experience of the old-timers.

John Terry sees the immaturity in Johnson's defence, but Wood sees something else – Spain will see Johnson's weakness in the back two from this attack, and they will certainly use that to focus on Andres Iniesta. The best solution is definitely not to shrink in the backfield and wait for the opponent to attack, but to ...... Attack, look for opportunities to score!

It's time to rip off the disguise.

England's free-kick at the back didn't go straight to the front, but was passed to Wood, who dropped back to pick it up.

As Wood is a midfielder, there is no one to mark him on the Spanish side. Even Fabregas can only pay a little attention and can't really run up, who makes Fabregas also a midfielder? The two people are more than ten meters apart, and what should I do if I run up to the empty space behind them?

In fact, Donn's change was precisely because it was difficult for Spain to defend against Wood immediately. Otherwise, why didn't he let Wood's position be a little more premised? Isn't it closer to the Spanish penalty area and more threatening to go from a midfielder to a central midfielder?

Letting Wood play as a central midfielder is to consider that he has a good sense of the big picture and vision, as well as an excellent long pass, and is not noticeable and undisturbed, which is suitable for playmaking.

Seeing that no one came up to grab his ball, Wood calmly passed the ball to Abanglaho on the wing, and then he stepped forward to pick it up. Abonlaho struggled to break through and he quickly passed the ball to Wood, who came up to pick him up. At this time, Fabregas had the opportunity to come up and one-on-one with Wood, but unfortunately Fabregas was not good at defending, Wood leaned on his body to squeeze him behind, and then ran on the left wing, but suddenly made a diagonal pass in the run. This time it was Rooney who received the ball again.

Just like last time, the Spanish defenders were pressed into the box and did not dare to act rashly due to Mitchel and Vaughn's intention to receive the pass. Wayne Rooney was unmarked for the time being.

In this game, Donne's task for Rooney was to shoot and score, and put the pass assist in second place. Now that there is no one to mark, Rooney, as a striker, naturally chose to come by himself...... A false shot deceived the rushing full-back Sergio. Ramos, then Wayne Rooney pulled the ball and raced past Ramos into the box...... Rooney, who burst into the penalty area, did not hesitate to shoot with his right foot.

The ball flew straight into the far corner of the goal, and Asenjo reacted quickly, fell to his right, and stretched out his long hand to flick the ball out!

"Beautiful save!!" The Spanish commentator shouted. Such a save made the Spaniard's blood boil. "It's comparable to Banks' saves!"

The Spanish fans were just about to start cheering when someone came to stir up their show...... "Aaron. Mitchel! "John. Mortenson shouted.

Pique's stubborn pull on the tall Nottingham Forest centre-forward, who was a little slower to start and can now only use his body to hold down his opponents. Mitchel is bound to win this ball, how can Piquee hold it down? Mitchel lost his balance and swept the ball with his foot, and this time it seemed like he was going to score!

But!

With a "bang", the ball hit the post and bounced back...... The hearts of the Spaniards almost stopped beating at this moment, and just when they thought they had escaped the catastrophe again and were about to breathe a sigh of relief, their hearts were lifted again.

Misses, who was overlooked in a series of offensive shots just now. Vaughn appeared just before the ball landed, and he picked up his foot and prepared to volley straight away!

Albiol flew in and tried to block the opponent's shot with his body.

The ball fell, and Vaughn slammed his legs...... The soccer ball flew between Albiol's legs!

Asenjo had already gotten up from the ground, and his reaction was quick, but Vaughn shot in the exact opposite direction to where he got up...... This time he could only watch as the ball clung to the turf, through Albiol's legs, and into the net...... "The ball is in!" The ball is in! Three shots in a row and the ball finally went in! ”

England fans leapt from their seats with their hands raised in the air, and their team took the lead in the opening 27 minutes!

Donn's change paid off, and Spain was uncomfortable with such an England side. Their gates were exposed to the heavy artillery of England, and in the continuous bombardment, they finally fell out.

At this moment, some pessimistic Spaniards seem to see that scene five hundred years ago slowly unfolding. The Spanish Armada was crumbling under the shelling of the British Royal Navy.

(To be continued)