Chapter 30: Against the Matador (3)

Rui Costa stood in front of the football, watching the position of his team-mates in the penalty area, waiting for the referee's whistle. In the penalty area, Hierro watched Lao Lei. staring at him very hard, Lao Lei didn't find a good opportunity to get rid of it, Hierro's defense against him was at the level of body hair, and he didn't let Lao Lei leave his defensive range at all. I don't know if it was because he scored a golden goal with a header when he played Italy, but today Spain is obviously much tighter than the previous games in terms of this kind of free kick against Lao Lei. For this situation, Lao Lei has only one way to run, to take you around, you can't put me in one place.

By this time, Lao Lei had completely stopped thinking about where this free kick would go, and drilled into a crowded place. Anyway, if he stands firm, in a defense like Hierro, Lao Lei feels that he can't please him. Hierro's defense is very old-fashioned and makes you uncomfortable, but the referee won't blow it in the penalty area, and if you fall, you will be given a yellow card.

Lao Lei thought to himself that this crowd always follows football anyway, and if he can't follow them, he can fish in troubled waters, and no matter how bad it is, he can mess up Spain's defensive formation and increase the chances of scoring goals for his teammates. The old thunder was all in the crowd, drilling like a fish. Suddenly, there was a whistle from the referee in his ears, and the crowd suddenly moved, and Lao Lei moved with them, and then looked up to see where the air football was.

Behind him, Hierro was blocked by the suddenly moving players and did not keep up with Old Ray. However, Lao Lei did not find a chance, after all, he did it one step too late, and the position of this free kick was too close. One step later is too slow. Lao Lei looked at the battle for the free kick, and his teammates couldn't fight for the first landing point. Because of this fighter. In the air in front of Lao Lei, there is Spain's No. 5 named Puyol. A puffy head. Lao Lei suddenly had a bad idea in his mind at this time, he felt that he should be surrounded by people at this time, and the referee and linesman should not be able to see it.

Old Ray stretched out his right hand and gently nudged Puyol's waist. At this time, Puyol was soaring in the air, about to push the football out of the bottom line to clear, and suddenly he felt that his center of gravity was a little unstable, and he could no longer control his body. By this time, the soccer ball had smashed into his forehead very accurately, and because of the flick just now, the direction in which the soccer ball flew after hitting his forehead was not the direction Puyol had predicted.

The ball suddenly flew into the top right corner of the goal. It's about to go into the goal. Fortunately, this moment did not allow Puyol to top the force, and the speed of the football was not fast. At this time, the young goalkeeper Casillas, who surprised against Ireland, showed the characteristics of a good goalkeeper and reacted quickly. He jumped up almost instinctively, and put his hands up. The ball was dragged off the crossbar and landed on the net.

This shocked the Spanish fans at Gwangju Stadium and Camacho on the sidelines in a cold sweat. And Puyol, who was almost overshadowed, was the one who broke out in the most cold sweats. At this time, he looked back and saw that Lao Lei was helping him behind him, if it weren't for Lao Lei's help, Pujol might have fallen. Puyol looked at Lao Lei and wondered if he was yin, but before he could speak, Lao Lei smiled first. In English, ask, "Areyouok?" As for what to use in English, Lao Lei said that he didn't know Spanish, so he could only use English.

Looking at the very kind old Lei, Puyol was also stunned. I thought it wasn't him, it was someone else, and I could only reply at this time: "I'mok. Thankyou.“ Then Old Ray turned around. I don't care who is still thinking about who is behind him. After turning around, Lao Lei felt a pity in his heart. Almost, really just a little. As for what Lao Lei wants to do for him, he has to go to Fu Pujol. He thought so, if Puyol fell, the referee might blow himself for a foul when he saw it, and even if the ball went in, it would be useless.

As for that sentence in English, Lao Lei's idea is that it is better not to let others know about this kind of yin thing, especially the person concerned, to prevent others from coming to yin you. Although it didn't work, Lao Lei regretted it in his heart, it passed quickly, this matter was originally a small probability, there was no need to keep thinking about it.

Next is Portugal's corner kick, this time Lao Lei still wants to repeat his old tricks, but this time Hierro followed very firmly and did not give Lao Lei a chance to get rid of him. The corner kick was finally pushed to the first point by Pauletta, but he pushed it directly out of the bottom line, ending the Portuguese attack.

At this time, Oliveira on the sidelines was a pity that Puyol's "own goal" did not score, but he didn't care too much, and he was getting more and more sure of the game at this stage. He turned his head to look at Camacho in a suit next to him, and seemed satisfied with the situation on the field. Oliveira thought to himself that it seemed that he had not yet noticed Spain's fatal weakness, physicality. In Oliveira's view, Spain's current defensive strategy on the pitch is good, but it is extremely draining, because you can't control the football after pressing high. The result of this situation is that your players' physical consumption increases.

And physical fitness is precisely the biggest insoluble weakness of this Spanish team, Oliveira after watching the Spanish game, he feels that this Spanish team's physical reserves are not good. In the final stages of the game, there is often a phenomenon of not being able to run, especially in the 1/8 final with Ireland, and Spain was embarrassed in the face of Ireland's crazy rushing style of play in the latter stages of the game.

And that's why Oliveira didn't make a change, even if Portugal struggled in attack and couldn't play as well as they should. He hopes that the situation can continue like this, and by the 60 or 70 minutes of the second half, his Portugal will be able to win the quarter-finals without bloodshed, and advance to the last four against Germany.

And the rest of the first half was indeed as Oliveira expected, although the two teams on the field played well on the wings, but when the defensive formation was well maintained, neither of them took the lead to break the deadlock. In the dressing room, the Portuguese players were a little sullen. They felt they didn't play as well as they should have in the first half. Seeing that his disciples were like this, Oliveira smiled slightly. Speak your mind and arrangement.

It was only at this time that the Portuguese players suddenly realized that their own head coach had played this idea. Oliveira, on the other hand, had only one flip-flop for the second half. With his physical superiority, he dragged Spain down alive. Taking advantage of his spare time, Lao Lei came to the toilet and entered the system, wanting to exchange something so that he could go to his colleague Nadal in the second half. Thinking about Nadal's style of play, Lao Lei suddenly saw a good thing "fake fall master experience card". 20 soul points, Lao Lei said that he exchanged them without blinking. At this time, Lao Lei's soul point accumulation has reached 150 points, and he can still afford to use 20 points of consumption.

The 15 minutes of the break passed quickly, and Old Ray looked at Nadal opposite. I said you can't be replaced or take the initiative to apply for a red card, I have something good for you. After the start of the game, the Portuguese players continued to play a war of attrition with Spain in strict accordance with Oliveira's arrangement, patiently waiting for the moment when Spain would collapse.

However, in the 57th minute of the second half, a wave of Spanish attacks almost allowed Portugal to steal chickens and rice. Belleron, who was carefully taken care of by Lao Lei for most of the game, finally showed a trace of his "Spanish Zidane" style at this time. When receiving a long pass from the back, Belleron had his back to the Portuguese goal, and Lao Lei behind him began to press again. After his chest stopped. Stretching out his foot directly to his right back, Baraha on the side was sprinting with all his might.

Barahada won the ball and went down quickly before crossing the middle. Morientes hit the crossbar with a soaring header under the watchful eye of Costa. Morientes missed out on a game that could have changed the game. A match that changed the fate of the Spanish team. His header almost suffocated Oliveira from the sidelines. If this goal is scored, all of Oliveira's tactical and strategic intentions will be lost. Instead of working, Portugal is being cocooned.

Oliveira excitedly rushed to the sidelines. Shout out at his disciples and express his dissatisfaction. Lao Lei was also shocked at this time. Looking at Belleron in front of him, he regained his attention of 120,000 points, and said in his heart that he would never give you any chance again.

The game ended with a score of 0:0 and came to the 67th minute of the second half. By this time, Spain's fitness problems were finally exposed. The intensity of pressing in the midfield is plummeting. The midfield slowly fell into Portugal's control, and although Camacho made timely substitutions, bringing on Mendieta, Romero and the other three, there was no obstacle to the normal direction of the game.

Spain was forced to retreat to fend off Portugal's increasingly aggressive offensive. At this time, the Spanish fans at the Gwangju Stadium were also anxiously watching the situation on the field change. The Portuguese fans are cheering on their team with their songs, hoping that they can win this game with a strong attack.

Spain's decline began to manifest itself in the back line, with Nadal and Hierro receiving yellow cards for Figo and Conceição in the space of seven minutes. This proves that Portugal's offensive has begun to increase the pressure on the Spanish backline, and the Spanish defenders have begun to have to use fouls to block Portugal's attack.

Lao Lei had already pressed to the front court at this time to help the team's offense. By the 78th minute, the deadlock on the pitch had finally been broken. The combination of Lao Ray and Rui Costa in a series of small areas up front created a good opportunity for Rui Costa to shoot from distance.

From 24 yards out of goal, Rui Costa used his long-range prowess as the ball flew against the turf into the bottom left corner of the goal. Although Casillas was brave enough to save the shot, he was no longer able to parry Pauletta's follow-up shot.

“GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL!!! 1:0, Pauletta, appeared where he should have been! Killer Nature!! “

With the noisy cheers of Portuguese fans at Gwangju Stadium, Lao Lei looked at the exhausted Spanish players and said in his heart: "This is just the beginning of the run!" (To be continued......)