"We successfully entered the quarterfinals... I wonder who our next opponent will be?"
After a heavy rain during yesterday's game, the weather was extremely sunny this morning.
The sun shines on the still rainy streets, making the entire suburbs of Moscow crystal clear.
Such beautiful scenery also makes the coaches who get up on time feel relaxed and happy.
After yesterday's big victory, Pan Yi gave the players a half-day off, and then they will prepare for the quarter-finals.
This game will be held at the Samara Arena Stadium in Volga, so you need to travel to your destination in advance.
However, it is rare for the players to have a holiday. They had a lot of fun last night and went to bed relatively late. At this time, they were basically still asleep.
The coaches all got up early, so now after breakfast, they all gathered in Pan Yi's room to drink tea and chat.
Now hearing Pan Yi ask this, Evani said: "England, Colombia... between these two teams, there is a high probability that England will be the one."
This is indeed a relatively conventional estimate.
The main reason is that England's overall strength is indeed relatively strong now.
Not to mention anything else, Harry Kane, Loftus-Cheek, Lingard, Vardy, Gary Cahill, Rice and others brought out by Pan Yi are all better than the original world line.
According to Pan Yi's memory, England was able to reach the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup before, and now it is even more possible to enter the quarter-finals.
However, Vialli had a different opinion. He said: "Don't underestimate Colombia. They have several unique stars. Anything can happen if they play well. I think Colombia will win."
Although the current Colombian team is not as amazing as the one in 2014, it is indeed very good.
The goalkeeper is Ospina, the defenders are Zapata and Mina, the midfielders are Ronaldo and Cuadrado, and the forwards include Falcao, Muriel, Bacca and other famous players.
Although they lost to the Japanese team 1:2 in the group stage, their defender Carlos Sanchez received a red card in the first 3 minutes. This means that they played with 10 people most of the time. There is a certain amount of luck involved.
Even so, Colombia defeated Poland 3:0 and Senegal 1:0 in the next two games, and finally qualified as the first in the group.
As for why they met England, it was because England was in the same group as Belgium.
After both teams were guaranteed to qualify with two wins in the first two games, they both used rotating lineups in the final round. After an extremely boring game, Belgium won a small victory with a goal and took first place in the group.
"I support Evani, I think our opponent should be England." Pan Yi said with a smile.
This is based on a comprehensive analysis of past lives and current situations.
In the previous life, England and Colombia played 1:1 within 120 minutes, and finally won through a penalty shootout.
From this point of view, Vialli is right. It is possible for both sides to win.
But in this life, England has a large number of players who have improved under Pan Yi, so it should be more stable.
Besides, even if the game is played according to "history", wouldn't England advance in the end?
"England always fails at critical moments. I don't believe they can win." Looking at Pan Yi's confident look, Vialli couldn't help but say.
Pan Yi glanced at him and half-smiled: "Then let's make a bet. If our opponent is England, then you can treat us all to coffee tonight. If our opponent is Colombia, then it's my turn to treat you, okay. no?"
Vialli patted his bald head and agreed happily: "Okay, let's do it!"
…
Of course, no one should bet on the outcome of a football match with Pan Yi, he has never lost before!
In this game that afternoon, Harry Kane's goal in the 57th minute gave England a 1:0 lead, but Colombia tenaciously equalized the score near the end of the game with a header from centre-back Mina. Scored the goal and sent the game into overtime!
But when the overtime period entered the second half, Vardy, who came on as a substitute, shot through the heart and defeated Colombia!
This also allowed England to advance to the quarterfinals to face Italy.
"Well, it is indeed England..."
Seeing that he lost the bet, Vialli didn't look unhappy. After all, a few cups of coffee was nothing.
Maybe it was because he had worked in "technological poverty alleviation" in England for several years, but playing against England made him feel that it might be easier to deal with than Colombia.
South American teams are sometimes crazy and difficult to deal with when they play crazy, but European teams like England, especially under the leadership of Southgate, play much more disciplinedly.
As for Pan Yi, he was actually a little surprised by this result.
After all, it was different from the previous life. England defeated Colombia in overtime, but the game was still as difficult.
This shows that when it comes to the World Cup, sometimes it is indeed not possible to predict the results of both sides based on the team's paper strength.
Otherwise, with the ability and worth of the current England team, wouldn't Colombia be crushed?
Even compared with the Italian team, it is much higher...
Let’s just say that Harry Kane, the most valuable player in England now and the best player in the Premier League with seven championships, cannot be sold for 100 or 200 million?
Okay, maybe that's conservative. After all, in Pan Yi's previous life, the 30-year-old Kane sold more than 100 million euros...
There is no such popular fried chicken in the Italian team.
The performances of Tonali, Barrera and others are indeed eye-catching, but after all, they still played in the British Championship before. The platform is different, and the price will certainly not be ridiculously high.
So from this perspective, Italy's fight against England is also a kind of "weak versus strong", and it must be dealt with well.
——
Different from the top 16 knockout matches immediately after the group stage, when the top 16 is over, there will be a day off, and then the top eight knockout rounds will begin, which is the quarter-finals competition.
The match between Italy and England is still scheduled as the last one, so there is still three days of rest in between.
Therefore, after watching the game between Colombia and England, the Italian team also broke camp and headed to Volga to rest in a local hotel.
And soon, the exciting battle for the top eight began!
The first game will be played by two former World Cup champions, Uruguay against France.
The French team's overall strength and player reputation are greater, and the Uruguay team is also very strong in the front and backcourt. They have only conceded one goal in four games. At the same time, they also have powerful forwards like Suarez. It can be said that their strength is not inferior to that of the French team. .
But the problem is that Cavani was unable to start the game due to injury, which greatly affected Uruguay's frontcourt attack.
In the 38th minute, Bentancur received a yellow card after uprooting Tolisso, and the referee gave the French team a free kick in the frontcourt. Griezmann took the free kick, and central defender Varane scored with a header, giving the French team a 1:0 lead.
In the 61st minute, Griezmann took a long shot from outside the penalty area. Muslera threw the ball away and the ball went into his own door. France led Uruguay 2:0.
At the end of the game, the French team defeated Uruguay 2-0 to advance to the World Cup semi-finals.
The second showdown is even more heavyweight, with Brazil and Belgium, the two favorites to win the championship, meeting!
And Belgium stunned the Brazilians as soon as they came up.
In the 13th minute, Shazli's corner kick caused Fernandinho to score an own goal; in the 31st minute, Belgium launched a quick counterattack, Lukaku assisted De Bruyne to score, and Belgium led 2:0!
In the second half, the Brazilian team launched a wild attack. In the 76th minute, BJ Guoan's foreign aid Augusto, who came on as a substitute, used a header to tie the score to 1:2. This was also the first goal of a Chinese Super League foreign aid in the World Cup knockout rounds.
At the end of the game, Belgium defeated Brazil 2-1 and entered the World Cup semi-finals after 32 years. Their opponent in the semi-finals will be France.
Since Uruguay was eliminated by France before, all South American players were wiped out, and Europe dominated the top four.
The third quarter-final was between the host Russia and Croatia, and then...
Of course another penalty kick was taken.
How can we not take penalty kicks in a game with Croatia?
The two sides tied at 1:1 in 90 minutes, and then tied at 2:2 in 120 minutes!
Through a penalty shootout, Croatia once again passed the test and reached the semi-finals.
And this is their second time entering the semi-finals of the World Cup after the golden generation led by Davor Suker won the third place in the 1998 World Cup!
Their opponent in the semi-finals was the winner of Italy and England.
After watching this game, the Italian coaching staff was speechless.
Two consecutive knockout games were played for 120 minutes, both won through penalty kicks. They had to admit that the Croatian team was extremely tenacious in this World Cup...
"Whether it's Modric, Rakitic, Brozovic, Perisic or Mandzukic, all of them are fighters!" Vialli also lamented.
"Okay, let's discuss tomorrow's game against England... The Croatians are indeed very tenacious, but they have nothing to do with us yet. We have to get through England first!" Pan Yi said loudly with a smile on his face. say.
This is true, battles must be fought one by one, and there is no need to worry about future opponents now.
The coaches immediately gathered around Pan Yi and started discussing.
In the past few days, they have been watching the video of England's group matches, including the game against Colombia, and Pan Yi has also given a lot of instructions in training. The coaches are already very close in mind on how to play this game.
Recalling the scenes in training these days, the coaches were completely convinced by Pan Yi.
Despite the World Cup, Pan Yi was still able to find a new life!
To be honest, when Pan Yi said he wanted to change the formation, Vialli and Evani refused.
But after Pan Yi explained his tactics thoroughly, they slowly accepted it.
If you don’t get married, will you still be Pan Yi?
But the problem is that Pan Yi succeeds every time. Even famous coaches like Wenger and Guardiola often suffer from him, not to mention the rookie Southgate...
And this time Pan Yizheng's words are - no front formation!
This new set of tactical drills has been done intermittently before, but this time it is officially on the table.
This is actually mainly for England's style of play.
Southgate's England team is actually copied from Pan Yi's Chelsea in a sense.
The formation is an unshakable 3-5-2. The forward is usually Harry Kane paired with Sterling, and Vardy serves as a substitute. There are already two "Pan Yi" players here.
Among the five midfielders, Lingard, Rice and Loftus-Cheek are in the middle. Here are three Pan Yi lines! Then the wings are paired with Ashley Young and Trippier.
The three main central defenders are Walker, Stones and Maguire, but Gary Cahill also plays regularly, here is another one.
The goalkeeper is Pickford, which has nothing to do with Pan Yi, but in the main lineup, Southgate often uses 5-6 Pan Yi's old players. This cannot be said to be a coincidence, it can only be said to be a "reference". .
Their playing style is indeed very similar to Chelsea's, mainly using the numerical advantage in the midfield to advance layer by layer.
On the front line, neither Harry Kane nor Sterling is a pure center. They will often drop back to assist or help grab the ball, which leaves England with at least 6-7 people in the midfield.
Therefore, if they want to fight against it, if the Italian team still uses the original three midfielders, it will inevitably lose power in the midfield and eventually collapse.
Pan Yi's idea is to push Chiesa up the front, then Barrera and Tonali will cover at the back, while De Rossi and Verratti will form a double midfielder to focus on defense.
Chiesa Jr. used his speed to charge forward, Tonali to deliver the bombs, and Varela to perform the role he has often performed in this World Cup - to complete the final blow.
On the two wings of the midfield, DiMarco and De Sciglio serve as two wing-backs to enhance the midfield's confrontation ability.
The defense also uses three central defenders, with Bonucci, Chiellini and Bastoni starting together. The goalkeeper is of course Donnarumma.
In this way, the Italian team's formation will also become a 3-6-1, or more accurately, a 3-4-2-1.
This formation is somewhat similar to the 3-2-4-1 used by Pan Yi at Chelsea, but the defense is more solid, and due to the different personnel, some details will be different.
Tonali, Barrera, Verratti, and De Rossi formed a four-midfield to deal with the opponent's center. The wings were supplemented by DiMarco and De Sciglio to provide stronger support to the midfield.
In this formation, it can be said that Italy's frontcourt does not have a center in the true sense. However, except for De Rossi and Verratti, the other five people may complete the final blow - well, even if it is them , Pan Yi did not restrict them from moving forward to shoot.
The tactics Pan Yi has set for Italy now no longer have a rigid attack combination, but are flexible, similar to the "no striker" or "mid-forward" used by Benitez in Valencia or Spalletti in Rome. "Wolves in the field" tactic.
This tactic may not be stable when used in the league, but it is perfect for cup matches.
The head coach of the national team is like this. He doesn't have to worry too much about the players' daily life, daily training and growth, etc., but he has to consider how to recruit the right players, and then use the existing player combinations and strengths to form a diverse team. tactics.
In a sense, this tests a head coach's skills more than in a club.
And Pan Yi's skill obviously shocked Southgate.
——
The look on Southgate's face when he entered the England dressing room and was handed Italy's starting line-up for this game was truly remarkable.
Pan Yi only announced his starting lineup this time two hours before the game started, which was the deadline before the game deadline.
The response of the England national team was still very quick, but at that time the whole team was setting off in the car to the Volga-Samara Arena, so it was not until after entering the locker room that Southgate got the Italian starting list and immediately It was burnt on the outside and tender on the inside.
At this time, the players have already warmed up outside. When the warm-up is completed, there will not be many opportunities for him to adjust.
Pan Yi's hand was too cruel, basically depriving him of adjustment time, but fortunately, his current embarrassment was not seen by the players...
After the players finished warming up and returned to the locker room, Southgate had already adjusted his expression and told the players the Italian starting lineup.
The expressions of the English players were not much better. After all, the targeted training done by the team before was basically in vain!
"Holy shit, what about limiting the speed of their two wingers?"
"You ask me to keep an eye on Scamaca? Maybe Balotelli? But what about the two of them? They are not on the list at all!"
"Isn't it true that there are only three people in the Italian midfield? Why does it look like there are more people than us?"
"Damn, they've never used this formation before, right? They just used it in the quarterfinals?"
The England dressing room was very lively at the moment.
"Hey, your boss is too... unpredictable, right?" Walker couldn't help but say something to Rice. Rice shrugged and did not answer.
The other few who didn't react much were naturally Pan Yi's old generals.
For them, is it unusual for Pan Yi to suddenly change the formation before the game?
Sit down, sit down, just do it.
At this time, Southgate coughed and signaled everyone to quiet down.
He was really shocked, and he really didn't have time to adjust his tactics.
How could he have thought of that?
Since Pan Yi took office, in all his games, no matter how his tactics changed, he could not escape the standard 4-3-3. It was just that the positioning of the three midfielders would be a little different. Sometimes it was a triangle, sometimes it was a triangle. It is an inverted triangle, and it never changes from its origin.
However, this time, Pan Yi completely got rid of the 4-3-3 range. His starting lineup directly became three central defenders, and it was more like a forwardless formation!
Chiesa does appear more often as a winger, but he has more attributes of a winger, which means that his defensive attributes are very important.
Only sending him as a forward on the field is itself a "forwardless" behavior.
But Southgate knows better that there is no time for him to adjust his tactics at this time. He can only choose to focus on me. Temporary changes in tactics are indeed easy to cause unrest. In view of this, perhaps the best choice is to remain unchanged and adapt to changes. .
Moreover, before a war, stabilizing the morale of the military is the most important, so he must say something.
"His change of formation is actually a good thing for us." Southgate thought for a while and said.
"This will do nothing but surprise us!"
"Pan Yi has always used the 4-3-3 formation and its variants in Italy, but has never used a three-center-back formation, let alone a forward-less formation."
"Now he has made huge changes, but he has not gained experience in actual combat. Their changes themselves are quite detrimental to them!"
"So, we don't need to be confused about this at all. We will fight according to our accustomed tactics and kill them!"
Southgate's reaction was relatively quick, and he organized some good words in an instant.
Otherwise, how can we say that every head coach of a professional team is a master of public speaking?
Most of the players in England also agreed with this statement-except for those old Pan Yi players.
They always feel in their hearts...
Their leader must be planning something, and has been planning for a long time... (End of Chapter)
