Surprise? Luis Enrique, who was wayward on the call-up list, led the team to defeat the New European champions Italy to avenge the semi-final three months ago. Was it the sudden metamorphosis in Spain, the self-denial of Italy, or the black hand of the Russian referee on duty? In short, such a victory brings not only joy, but also a hint of doubt. In any case, Enrique once again responded to the doubters with the result of the match. The next test is not only the UEFA Nations League final, although this event is linked to the World Cup quota, but the essence is a collection of friendly matches. For Spain, it is more important to train a team with a good playing style in the World Preliminary Round.
The call-up of Barca teenager Garvey to the national team was no less controversial than Munir's selection that year. However, Enrique not only did it, but also had to withstand the pressure of public opinion to the end: he made Garvey make his debut in such a high-profile hot game. It's hard to say how well Garvey did in this game, he touched the ball few times compared to his teammates and handled several scoring or assist opportunities poorly. But Garvey, who is nearly 17 years old and wears the number 9 shirt, provides the team with valuable running and defense. His midfield partners are Busquets and Cork, whose coverage is theoretically not enough to withstand Italy's fast attacks, but with Garvey in place, verratti's possession and ball delivery have improved a lot.
In the first 30 minutes of the San Siro, Spain and Italy seemed to be in a soul-to-soul exchange, and the two sides in the Semi-Final of the European Championship played in complete opposite ways. Spain forged forward, trying to play quickly and concisely, not minding the exchange of balls, but stuck in positions to prevent Italy from launching a counter-attack that went hand in hand. The most eye-catching discovery of this game is not Ferran Torres, but Marcos Alonso. His extremely clever ball-handling and precise crosses on the left allowed the team to find the key to opening the opponent's defence. Alonso's presence has undoubtedly made it more difficult to determine the already competitive left-back candidate, after all, Alva and Gaya would be the first choice for this position if there is no injury.
Another "slot point" in this training list is that there is no forward selection. Both Morata and Moreno were sidelined with injuries, and Instead of summoning Espanyol center De Thomas or Betis's Iglesias, who had been in good form lately, Enrique insisted on bringing only Oyasaval and Ferran Torres with him. Oyasaval has previously left a failed post in the centre position at both the European Championship and the Olympic Games, so the selection is obviously not convincing. However, Enrique seems to have found the instructions for this "awkward" front, no longer allowing the two to stand in place with Saravia, but to move around flexibly. Spain's two goals were all done by Oyasaval pulling to the left, giving up the back post and passing the ball to Ferran, who plugged in the point. Flexible positioning is exactly the style that this team that focuses on youth should pursue.
Substitutes Brian Hill and Jeremy Pino also had good performances. Hill was selected for the national team before the European Cup. In the summer, he left Spain for the Premier League, and did not have many opportunities to play, but he has made as much progress as Ferran, no longer obsessed with dribbling, and the choice of passing and passing timing is more reasonable. Also on his debut, Jerremi played more eye-catching than Garvey, and he played the characteristics of Villarreal: boldness and breakthrough. He obviously needs to put more effort into passing and shooting, but It is clear that Enrique values not the overall quality of this group of young players, but the contribution he can make under certain conditions.
The Spanish media began looking for exaggerated headlines for the victory, but the course and result of the game were not as good as they were. Even though Italy did not play well, it also had two shots on goal, wasted a few excellent scoring opportunities, took 10,000 steps back, and also seized on the Spanish defensive line mistake to score a goal. That was a turnaround in a 10-11 situation at halftime. Paul Torres' low-level mistakes were as shocking as Ferran Torres' goal. Spain's defensive line, in the absence of a midfield barrier and frequent insertion of full-backs on one side, can only be expected to be more efficient than the opponent. For Spain, where the entire European Championship is relying on boring ball control to avoid shortcomings, this set of playing methods is worth trying, but not necessarily every game is so lucky, the opponent does not enter the empty goal and someone eats a red card.
Luis Enrique felt as confident as ever, and he praised Garvey's performance: "As I saw in the youth team matches, I know exactly what he can bring to the team. He was brave, had a personality, and was physically strong. He keeps an eye on his idol, Verratti, and does a beautiful job. We should see him as the present of the national team, not the future. ”
Italy exposes its true level, and it is good to unload the burden of undefeated
This is a sure outcome, and it is rare that such a match would be so rich in elements that it would obscure The Italian defeat itself.
Italy should lose, not only because Spain's performance is indeed above Italy, but more importantly, Italy's European Cup and winning streak records have long exceeded the upper limit of this team's strength level, and unloading the unbeaten burden (37 games) early and reducing the pressure for their own side is something that any old bird would like to do. The only test is to lose this burden in what situation and on what occasion, after all, some occasions will be more embarrassing to throw it out, but as long as you don't mind losing face, it is better to lose it early than to lose it on more important occasions.
Enrique's predecessor, Bosque, is too old and treacherous in this regard. In the 2009 Confederations Cup, Spain brushed 35 unbeaten games, and one more game surpassed Brazil to break the record, and the result was precisely the semi-finals of the unsightly United States, which accidentally hung up and saved enough character for the next World Cup. In 2010, just after coming down from the World Cup podium, Spain lost two consecutive defeats, 1-4 Argentina, 0-4 Portugal, the new World Cup champion seemed to be "embarrassing and fiasco", but in fact, it cooled down for itself and began a new round of grinding claws for the laurels of the big tournament.
Letting Spain, which is "eager for revenge", win a UEFA Nations League semi-final will not hinder Mancini, and as for his pre-match rhetoric that "it is best to win the European Cup and the European Nations League together", it is really just lip service.
Of course, the price is to lose in San Siro, after all, at home in Italy, but compared to qualifying for the World Cup, this face is almost negligible.
However, this game still verifies the true family foundation of Italy and Spain, as the author said in the European Championship, since playing the 2006 golden generation, the European Youth Championship Italy has been worse than the other side every time, superimposed, how can the overall strength surpass each other?
Of all the opponents, Spain is the most suitable test of Mancini's tactical revolutionary ideas, Italy has a certain amount of footwork, but it is certainly dwarfed by Spain, how to fight with opponents who are far better than their own, this is the cocoon of any coach.
In fact, Mancini did not solve this problem, the European Cup against Spain, is the most inferior of all the game scenes in Italy, the reason is very simple, you try to fight with the opponent to control the pass, but you can't even touch the ball, how to control the pass?
With the exception of Chiellini and Bonucci (and perhaps the goalkeeper), Italy are weaker than their opponents in every position. In the end, Italy had to sacrifice the most helpless way, shrinking and holding on to penalties, relying on Donnarumma's superhuman ability to save points (to hide his equally weak shooting ability as the opponent) to win.
At the beginning of this game, Italy still looked like it, and Chiesa was still very active, until Bastoni's jaw-dropping leak, Italy was momentarily out of shape.
Mancini obviously hopes to "lead the new with the old" and accelerate the cultivation of Bastoni, hoping that he will take over as soon as possible, after all, Chiellini's retirement is imminent, but it turns out that the level of the next generation of Successors in Italy is low, and the untrustworthiness of the scene is outrageous.
When Donnarumma and Bonucci both stopped, no one would have thought that Bastoni, who was already stuck in front of the opposing striker, would even have such a pressureless, confrontational interception cross, which was already another embarrassing mistake following last season's Italian Cup semi-finals, who was sent by C Ronaldo behind the ball.
Bastoni is 22 years old and can no longer continue to be a "rookie", Italy is very harsh on young centre-backs, when Criscito was only because of being skewed by Totti, he bid farewell to the center-back in his career, and instead of him playing center-back, it was Chiellini, who was still playing left-back. Over the years, Chiellini has not been perfect, and he has "slipped" several times in the Champions League for no reason, so that he has won the nickname of "Yahweh's Slip", but looking at Italy and even europe as a whole, the courage of the aura, leadership, decisions on key parts, and the timing of the shovel is still unparalleled. Even if Bastoni had to rely on the natural succession of the second old retirement, he still had to pay a huge tuition fee.
After losing the ball, the Italian team immediately shook like a ship hit by a huge wave. The Donnarumma butter almost immediately delivered the second goal, apparently despite repeated calls before the game not to boo Donnarumma, but the whole San Siro ignored it, the last time a player touched the ball immediately sharp birdsong all over the field, or the 1998 World Cup Billic earned Blank out of the game. Boos, coupled with the paris sitting bench, Donnarumma is in a very unfamiliar state, but compared to other teammates, his subsequent saves can already be made.
After that, because of Signie's single knife big empty goal, Bonucci rashly two yellows off, at this moment there are 3 minutes left from the first half, Mancini out of luck, did not immediately change people, thinking that only 3 minutes how to consume, the problem is that the center back is only Bastoni alone, with his leadership, single defense ability, how to get on the table? As a result, the chaotic Italy immediately and easily delivered the second goal, completely cutting off any thoughts.
Mancini knew he couldn't come back, and judging by his large number of substitutions in the second half, he basically gave a few newcomers the opportunity to practice under the premise of trying not to be embarrassed. Two goals ahead, the other side is one less person, and has no intention of fighting, and their own strength is superior, such a situation, a little fierce will go straight to 4-0, a little benevolent, just use the foot control pass, the time is finished, take it smoothly, and also save some face for the other party.
It is a pity that Enrique, such a situation, actually made Italy angry, and even in the last 5 minutes, it was actually pulled, and it was forced to make "suspense"! Chiesa is perhaps the most selfless striker in Italian history, and any Italian, such a single knife has no team mentality - anyway, even if this goal is scored, the game is probably not returned, not to mention that this ball is completely snatched by me personally, I play it myself, no one will have anything to say.
But this is Chiesa, in this situation still the team first, thinking about scoring goals, thinking of peers playing empty goals more, rather than adding another one himself, selflessly distributing the ball to Pellegrini.
There are very few Such Italians. In the 2006 World Cup to play the Czech Republic, Inzaghi and Barone are also such a "double knife", in fact, Barone's role is very embarrassing, he knows that with the first selfish personality of inzaghi's forward (Inzaghi broke down in the relationship between Juve and Piero, it is because he still plays at a small angle under the 3-0 lead, adding one for himself, not crossing the empty goal of Piero in the middle, because his hat is more important, although Piero was being tortured by the ball at the time), it is impossible to pass him to the empty goal, but out of a player's sense of responsibility, At this time, he always had to go up, preferring to accompany Inzaghi for 50 meters, knowing that he would never pass and would fight himself.
It was Enrique who, who was supposed to win a big game, at least easily and steadily, was born with suspense in the last few minutes, which was not something to boast about. But his team still celebrates like they won the European Championship semi-finals, do you really value the UEFA Nations League so much?
If you lose the Champions League semi-final and come back to the same opponent, the Coppa Italia semi-final "revenge", are you really so happy?
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