There is no clear time line between the end of the World Cup group stage and the beginning of the knockout rounds.
In fact, they are completely connected. The day after the last round of group matches, the first knockout round of the top 16 began.
This is of course because the top 32 teams in the World Cup are divided into eight groups. From the earliest group to the last group, there is no way they can have three or four days of rest.
At the beginning of the knockout rounds of the top 16, a world-class showdown took place: France vs. Argentina!
This is mainly because Argentina performed poorly in the group stage. After losing to Croatia 0:3, they lost the first place in the group and could only put themselves in front of the French team.
Although the 30-year-old Di Maria used his world wave to add a bit of suspense to the game, the Argentine's failure seemed to be doomed from the beginning of the game.
When the 19-year-old Mbappe opened his long legs, the 34-year-old Mascherano, once the best defender in the world, became so slow.
Although the 31-year-old Messi contributed two assists, his exhausted shot after breaking into the penalty area at the last moment of the game was the most realistic portrayal of him tonight.
Yes, this is a battle between two eras.
Argentina, with an average age of nearly 30 years old, is the fourth oldest team in this World Cup.
In 2018, Argentina's main lineup is still struggling to rely on the golden generation of 2005.
To be honest, even a time traveler like Pan Yi, watching this game now, still feels that at least at the time, Argentina's future was not visible.
Although Messi said during the group stage that he would never retire before winning the World Cup, looking at these young people in Argentina and then looking at the young people in France, there is really a feeling that the gap is getting wider and wider.
Looking at their difficult path to promotion in this World Cup preliminaries, many people may think that after 4 years, as a fan, they will be satisfied as long as they can see the 35-year-old Messi appear in the World Cup again. Absolutely not To hope for a World Cup championship...
On the other hand, France has the second-youngest lineup in the top 32, but they are already regarded as the favorites to win the championship.
Mbappe is the leader of this youth army. After scoring twice in this game, the 19-year-old and 6-month-old Mbappe became the first 20-year-old since Pele to score two goals in a single game at the World Cup. The following players.
Seeing him galloping around in the Pampas grassland, many people felt that they had seen a new generation of aliens, and they also felt that he would definitely become the king-level star after Melo...
But the football world is so unpredictable.
Who would have thought that four years later in Argentina, they would have Enzo, McAleese, and Alvarez, while veterans Di Maria and Messi were still as strong as ever. !
They got their revenge by defeating France in the final, giving Messi the one heavyweight trophy he wanted most and was the only one missing.
And what about Mbappe?
Although he is still one of the most eye-catching stars in world football, he has always maintained a distant distance from the Ballon d'Or.
He became famous in the World Cup at the age of 19, and by the age of 23, 24, 25... the time left for him seemed to be gradually decreasing.
Of course, this is just Pan Yi's emotion as a time traveler.
Back to this game, the leader today is Mbappe!
In the 11th minute, Mbappe got a dream start for France. His wonderful personal breakthrough won a penalty kick, and Griezmann made the penalty kick!
For most of the first half, Argentina had the advantage in possession but was unable to create a real threat. The slow defense was frequently attacked by France, making the situation precarious.
However, at the 41st minute, the situation on the court suddenly changed! There was a huge vacuum in France's defense in the middle. Di Maria's wonderful long-range shot equalized the score for Argentina and forced a lifeline!
In the 48th minute, Argentina took a free kick. Messi received the ball from behind and shot. The ball hit Mercado and bounced into the goal! Argentina leads 2-1!
In the 57th minute, Pavard made a volley and scored! Peach Blossom Shadow falls to Fei Shenjian, France 2-2 Argentina!
In addition to Ronaldo's "Wandering Dragon Position", this game also gave birth to another famous scene, the "Peach Blossom Position"!
In the 62nd minute, Mbappe broke free from a blitz in the penalty area and scored! France leads Argentina 3-2.
In the 67th minute, the French team passed the ball with four feet from the backcourt to the frontcourt. Mbappe received an assist from Giroud and scored in one fell swoop. France No. 10 scored two dollars! France leads Argentina 4-2!
In the 93rd minute, Messi passed the ball into the penalty area, Aguero scored with a header, and Argentina fell behind 3-4! But time is running out at this point.
Finally, the referee from Iran blew the whistle to end the game.
Objectively speaking, this game was very exciting, and the goal was also very beautiful, but after the game I could only sing "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" again...
What was quite dramatic was that in the next game against Ronaldo, another superstar, Portugal was also defeated by Uruguay 2:1, and both Melo went home.
Other successive knockout rounds of the top 16 also resulted in upsets. The host Russia and Spain tied with 1:1, and finally won through a penalty shootout and entered the quarterfinals.
Croatia also played a 120-minute match against Denmark, and Croatia also won on penalties.
Then there were two relatively clear-cut games. Brazil, the favorite to win, defeated Mexico 2:0, while Belgium defeated Japan 3:2.
Of course, the Japanese team still scared the star-studded Belgian team into a cold sweat in this game.
After the opening, the Japanese team came up with a 2:0 lead. It was not until the second half that the Belgians finally resorted to the high-flying tactic, allowing a "high forward" like Fellaini to go up and form a high-altitude suppression, and finally scored three goals in a row to turn the defeat into victory. .
Although the Japanese team once again stopped in the top 16 of the World Cup, their progress is really eye-catching.
Of course, as Pan Yi, who has seen them defeat Germany and Spain in the 2022 World Cup, he did not feel particularly surprised by this game...
Next, it’s time for the Italian team to appear!
On July 3, Italy played against Switzerland in the seventh match of the 2018 World Cup round of 16 knockout rounds! ——
For a long time, the characteristic of Swiss football has been that it has no characteristics.
The main reason is that they do not have more heritage than teams like Brazil, Argentina, and European teams such as Germany and Italy.
There are many "foreigners" among the players of the Swiss national team, and among them, the majority are from the Balkans.
For example, Behrami (Albanian), Xhaka (Albanian), Shaqiri (Albanian) and Seferovic (Bosnian), etc., are the same.
As for little black guys like Akanji and Embolo, you can tell at a glance that they are not pure-bred Swiss.
There are also some like R. Rodriguez and Fernandez. As soon as you hear the name, you can tell that they have South American or Iberian Peninsula origins.
It is precisely because of their composition, which is somewhat similar to club members, that the Swiss team has become an "immigration army", which also means that they do not have the so-called "traditional football".
But it is precisely this kind of team that no traditional strong team can look down upon.
They once made Spain, Argentina, France, Brazil, Portugal and other European giants suffer a lot, and they did not rely on their bodies or skills to do this, but the overall team skills and collaborative combat capabilities.
Of course, the reason why Switzerland can beat strong teams but cannot be called a first-class strong team is because they have repeatedly dismounted strong teams and can also lose points to non-strong teams.
In 2010, they defeated Spain in the group stage, but lost points to Honduras and Chile, which directly caused them to miss the group stage.
In the 2016 European Cup, they were eliminated by Poland on penalties.
Just in this year's 2018 World Cup, they were able to draw with Brazil, but were drawn by Costa Rica, who was very average this year. In the end, they could only qualify second in the group and met Italy.
The attributes of the nerve knife in competitions make Switzerland always far behind the strong teams, but it also makes all strong teams vigilant.
When the Italian team held a team meeting, Pan Yi mentioned this characteristic of the opponent and reminded the players not to take it lightly.
The current Swiss team actually has a fairly complete lineup.
The goalkeeper is Sommer, the defenders are Lichtsteiner, Akanji, and R. Rodriguez, the midfielders are Djemayli, Xhaka, and Behrami, and the forwards also have famous players like Shaqiri.
But their shortcoming is also obvious, that is, their offensive point is very single.
Due to the presence of two full-backs, Ronaldo and Lichtsteiner, including Shaqiri, Switzerland's offense focuses on breakthroughs and advancements from the wing, but there is no high-level center to control the penalty area.
Switzerland's current main center is Seferovic from Galatasaray. He is 186cm tall and weighs 85kg, which can be considered a bit of an impact.
But to be honest, he plays in the Turkish League and cannot be considered a top star, and his role as a containment on the court is limited.
This has also become a major shortcoming at the Swiss tactical level, making it difficult for their offense to create an effective threat.
Switzerland's advantage mainly lies in defense. The defense line is relatively complete. Xhaka in the midfield is also a strong defensive player, and goalkeeper Sommer often makes outstanding saves.
However, the Italian team under Pan Yi is not very afraid of dealing with such a team.
No matter in terms of overall, technical, or strength confrontation, Italy is not inferior to the Swiss team, and it can even be said that it has covered them in all aspects.
Pan Yi has always been very particular about knowing himself and his enemy. He has studied the Swiss team very deeply and has a very thorough understanding of his own strengths.
So in this game, he decided to take advantage of his team's advantages from the beginning and defeat his opponent in one fell swoop! ——
The head coach of the Swiss national team, Vladimir Petkovic, does not have as brilliant a resume as Pan Yi. He only became known in a small area after he started coaching the Swiss national team in 2014.
But Petkovic knew exactly what he was going to face.
Because the person standing opposite him in this game was none other than Pan Yi, the number one coach in the world.
Any head coach will feel a pressure when facing Pan Yi. This pressure did not feel so great even when Petkovic met the Brazilian team in the first game of the group.
Very simply, Petkovic seemed to have a feeling that he could not have any cover or secret in front of Pan Yi.
In other words, any coach who has played against Pan Yi will feel this way?
In order to prepare for this game, Petkovic has been working almost all night in the past few days, studying the Italian team's tactics, thinking about how to restrain the Italian team's overall and technical advantages, and then Drag the game into the situation that is most powerful for you.
"We have to be careful at the beginning. The Italian team has the advantage. We have to stabilize the situation first!"
At the beginning of the game, Petkovic gestured toward captain Lichtsteiner, asking the veteran to help his team stabilize its morale.
The latter gave him a reassuring sign. After all, when he was at Juventus, he often competed with Pan Yi's team.
At the end of this season, he also moved to Arsenal and played alongside national team teammate Xhaka - the latter may have suffered more from Pan Yi!
But correspondingly, they also have more experience facing Pan Yi's team, and they know that it is crucial to withstand their opening three attacks.
However, whether it was Petkovic, Lichtsteiner, or Xhaka, they did not expect that from the beginning of the game, the Italian team played an unimaginable momentum.
If in the past, the Italian team gave people the impression that it first tried to stabilize its defense, then in this game, the Italian team actively pressed forward and actively took offense from the beginning!
They were taking advantage of their technical and overall advantages to press the Swiss team's defensive formation without any scruples from the beginning.
When the game just started, the Italian team launched its first attack. After Chiesa received a direct pass from Spinazzola on the left, he took the ball and shook off the defender and then cut inside. Tonali ran towards him. He went to the position where he should be to respond, allowing Chiesa to cross the ball to the center before the opponent's double-team was formed.
At the moment when the ball was stopped at Tonali's feet, the game had just started for less than 20 seconds.
Everyone in the Swiss team has not even done the preparations, and even their defense has not been organized yet. Lichtsteiner has not been able to convey the coach's intentions to his teammates, and the Italian team's offense has failed. It has arrived at their doorstep.
Quick, this is everyone's first impression of the Italian team; accurate, this is the second impression of the Italian team's offense that surprised the Swiss!
Because as soon as Lichtsteiner realized that he could not let Tonali take the ball in front of the penalty area and face the goal, he resolutely chose to save it and asked his teammates to keep an eye on Chiesa and Scamacca. , he saw Barrera.
At this moment, Lichtsteiner's third impression of the Italian team's attack after the start came to mind: ruthless!
It's so cruel, so cruel that it's surprising, it's so cruel that it catches people off guard!
Barrera almost gave up on his midfield duties and rushed forward quickly, as if he was not worried that the ball would be intercepted by the Swiss team and then be counterattacked, but directly pushed forward.
Tonali's position with the ball was very clever, right between the opponent's defense and midfield, so Lichtsteiner and his teammates organized a double-team circle of three people.
What he didn't expect was that Tonali first turned around and used his back to block Lichtsteiner who was rushing forward. After protecting the ball, he flicked the ball horizontally just before the opponent completed the double-team.
The kick was very light and slow, but it was very ready to appear at the point where Barrera would rush forward.
I saw that Barrera came up from behind without any hesitation. He used his inertia to rush forward, supported his body with his left foot, raised his right foot, and faced the ball with a fierce kick. smoke!
A bang was heard, and the nearly 70,000 fans in the stands of the entire St. Petersburg Stadium heard it clearly.
Although they were not on the court, they seemed to be able to feel the intensity of the volley from the loud noise.
A thunderous shot came from Varela's feet. Like a bolt of lightning, the ball found a gap in the Swiss penalty area and went straight into the bottom corner of the goal. 1:0!
No matter how fast Sommer reacts, he can't stop a shot with this power!
After the ball went into the goal, Barrera turned around excitedly and rushed out of the stadium, then wildly stretched out his arms to greet the cheers and applause from the fans in the stands.
This goal not only shocked the fans in the stands, but even the head coach of the Swiss team, Petkovic.
Because he did not expect that the Italian team would start so fast and hard, almost not giving the Swiss team any chance to breathe, and directly bring the game into a fast-paced contest.
The goal was conceded less than 1 minute into the game, which also made Petkovic panic.
At least he knew from the beginning that conceding the ball first against the Italian team would be fatal, because if the Swiss team wanted to reverse the situation from the Italian team, it would have to press out and play. But what is the Italian team best at?
defense. Fight back. This is the answer that even pseudo-fans around the world who have not watched a few games can give.
Pan Yi himself said that what he likes most about his Italian team is defensive counterattacks!
And this goal also completely destroyed Petkovic's pre-match tactics of preventing opposition and counter-attacking, at least they fell behind!
"What should I do?" the assistant coach came over anxiously and asked.
Petkovic frowned, walked to the sidelines, and waved towards Lichtsteiner, "We have to stabilize the situation first, don't mess up!"
Lichtsteiner is also very experienced, and he also knows very well that when encountering such a wake-up call at the beginning, the first thing the team must do is to stabilize the situation. They must not mess up, because if you mess up, the Italian team will The opportunity has come.
Sure enough, less than 3 minutes had passed since the first goal - in fact, excluding the celebration time of the Italian players, it might have been only one minute - the Italian team's second attack came again.
This was a time when the Swiss ball was intercepted after being passed into the Italian team's penalty area, and the Italian team counterattacked.
Tonali moved a long diagonal pass to the right side of the Swiss penalty area. Shaaraoui, who replaced Insigne in this game, stopped the ball firmly on this side and quickly passed the ball diagonally at a 45-degree angle. The ball cuts into the penalty area.
Shaarawi's dribbling action attracted the Swiss team's defense, because they all knew that this kind of dribbling from the ribs into the penalty area at 45 degrees, once it is not blocked, can directly kick after entering the penalty area, posing a threat .
But just after the Swiss team's defensive attention was pulled away by Shalawila, Shalawei knocked back when he entered the penalty area, and the ball was given to the feet of Tonali who was pulled to the right side.
The versatile midfielder once again moved into the space created by Shalawi, received the ball steadily, and passed it laterally.
Switzerland's defense has seriously missed people. Scamacca, Shaarawy and Tonali are all on this side. Chiesa is lagging behind on the left side. The area to the left of the center has become a vacuum, and there is no such thing here. Is this where Barrera scored just now?
"Danger!!!" Lichtsteiner was the first to react.
This time he was staring at Barrera, so he didn't give him a chance to kick.
But the problem is, this time it's another little man rushing up from behind - Verratti!
In almost the same place, in almost the same position, and in almost the same way, Verratti once again took out a powerful volley that was almost exactly the same as Barrera's just now, and the ball went in almost exactly the same way. He hit the far corner of the goal and scored again!
Verratti, who was excited and excited, rushed to the sidelines to celebrate, and then hugged his teammates tightly.
2:0!
Just 3 minutes after the opening, the Italian team led the Swiss team by 2 goals!
"Oh my god, is the Italian team crazy in this game?" Lineker, who was commentating on the spot as usual, opened his mouth in surprise after Barella and Verratti each scored a goal, "Or... , Switzerland has been collectively possessed by this game?"
Although most of the public opinion before the game was optimistic that the Italian team could win, everyone also had a consensus that the Swiss defense was also very difficult to deal with.
But I never expected that the Italian team would tear through the Swiss team's defense so quickly, and there would be two holes in it!
"Within 3 minutes, two shots, two hits, and they all appeared in the same place, in the same way! Except they are not the same person... We simply have no words to describe these two goals, but they are indeed It really happened, the Italian team hit 2 of their first 2 shots, showing a super high shooting rate!"
The live TV camera replayed the entire process of the two goals scored by the Italian team in slow motion repeatedly, and Lineker also watched very carefully and came to his own conclusion.
"Obviously, this is a routine that Italy has practiced before the game. This is the offensive line that Pan Yi has long envisioned!"
"We can find that the Italian team took advantage of the Swiss team's unsteady foothold at the beginning and launched a very decisive and fast attack. However, the Italian team's attack seemed to be heading towards the goal, but in fact their real purpose was Provides an unmarked area for the midfielder who moves in deep.”
"We can see from the slow motion that the two kicks, whether it was Barrera or Verratti, were on the left side of the arc in the penalty area, and they exerted sufficient force. And Tonali gave The pass is also very comfortable, they hardly need to adjust when they come up, they just kick up and hit hard!"
When talking about this, Lineker also praised greatly: "These three midfielders are very versatile, Tonali passed the ball very accurately twice in a row, and Verratti and Barrera also have good feet and heads." Very tough! It can be seen that Pan Yi took a fancy to their excellent coordination and passing and shooting skills, so they completed this offensive tactic!"
Before the game, the official website of the Italian Football Association published a training report on interacting with fans, which mentioned that Pan Yi specially conducted a shooting competition.
The distance at that time was probably this far, and the three players Barrera, Verratti and Tonali were also ranked relatively high in the game.
Of course, in the eyes of many people, this is just a routine training in Italy and will not be taken seriously. The Swiss, as their opponent, even ignored this.
But now looking at it with hindsight, the reason why Pan Yi arranged the shooting competition was to see the players' shooting sense and condition!
Maybe if Bastoni or Bonucci scores high, Pan Yi will arrange a central defender to take the shot...
Now, Verratti and Barrera have obviously become the main scorers in Pan Yi's opening attack tactics, and they have lived up to expectations.
Two kicks and two hits, the two small midfielders gave the Italian team a 2:0 lead in the 3rd minute!
(End of chapter)
