With all the quarter-finals over, the semi-finals of this World Cup have come out.
The first final will be played on the evening of July 10, between France and Belgium, and one day later on July 11, there will be the second semi-final, between Italy and Croatia.
Italian fans are very optimistic about this strong Eastern European team that cannot be considered a traditional strong team in the world. In their opinion, Croatia is easier to deal with than strong teams like Germany and England, right?
Although Croatia's performance so far in this World Cup has been excellent, fans always have a deep-rooted impression of a team, and they think simpler.
Fortunately, Pan Yi doesn't think so simply.
After accumulating another wave of "golden generation", Croatia also made a sudden appearance in this year's World Cup.
In the group stage, Croatia shocked the world with a 3-0 victory over the previous runner-up Argentina, and then qualified first in the group with a record of winning three games.
And next is the moment to show the tenacious fighting power and willpower of this team.
In the two games of the round of 16 and quarter-finals, Croatia fought its opponents for 120 minutes, and then defeated Denmark and Russia in penalty shootouts respectively, reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup for the second time in history.
Does Pan Yi dare to look down on such a team?
And if you analyze the lineup, this Croatian team is also full of stars, especially in the midfield and frontcourt, which is not worse than Germany or England.
Croatia now basically likes to adopt a 4-1-4-1 formation. The single defensive midfielder is Brozovic, and the four players in front of him are Rebic, Modric, Rakitic, and Perisi. Odd, the one at the front is the warrior Mandzukic.
As for this midfielder and frontcourt, they are basically from European giants such as Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Juventus.
That is to say, the star flavor of the defense is a bit weak, but Fossalico from Atletico Madrid, Lovren from Liverpool, and the goalkeeper Subasic from Monaco are also very strong.
In terms of player composition, the Croatian national team's midfield and frontcourt can be said to be impeccable.
They have a midfield master like Modric, who is assisted by an excellent all-around midfielder like Rakitic. They also have the breakthroughs of Rebic and Perisic on the wings, plus the forward mandzukic. When it comes to siege cities and territories, can you, Germany or England, compare with you?
There is even Kovacic on the bench who has played in Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Chelsea, and Manchester City...
Although there are no superstars on the back line, the defense line composed of Lovren, Vida and others is also quite practical. The running of midfielder Brozovic has made Croatia's waist stronger, and it has also improved the skills of the frontcourt. Players have nothing to worry about.
It can even be said that the overall strength of this Croatian team is stronger than their predecessors, the last "golden generation" who won third place in the 1998 World Cup.
The main stars of the original Croatian team were Davor Suker who played for Real Madrid, Boban of AC Milan, and Prosineski who played for Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Among other well-known players, there are "rock coach" Bilic who later served as the head coach of the Croatian national team, current Shandong Luneng assistant coach Sordo, Real Madrid defender Giarni, Milan defender Simic and others.
But if you want to count more, it is more difficult, because most of the other players play in the Croatian domestic league and are not very famous.
In fact, the same is true in terms of performance comparison.
In Pan Yi's previous life, the current Croatian golden generation reached the semi-finals in two consecutive World Cups. Except for this one and in 2022, the final results were one runner-up and one third.
This result has far exceeded the one led by Davor Suker. It can also be said that this group of Croatian players formed the team with the best record in Croatian history.
They can do all this, in addition to the outstanding strength of the players, the efforts of the head coach Dalic are of course also inseparable.
Dalic, who sits on the coaching bench, is always strict and unsmiling, and seems difficult to get close to, but this expressionless seriousness is actually the password for Dalic's success.
He is a coach with a weak background. No one had even heard of him before he was appointed to take over the national team in 2018, this year.
After all, since embarking on the professional path, Dalic has been involved in the lower-tier Eastern European leagues for many years. In the first five years of coaching the national team, he even coached in the Middle East.
When Croatia performed poorly in the 2018 World Cup preliminaries and former head coach Cacic was forced to dismiss get out of class, Dalic took over as coach.
No one thinks highly of Dalic.
After all, in the past few years, many famous coaches such as Bilic, Kovac, and Cacic have failed to lead Croatia to achieve good results. The unknown Dalic who temporarily led the team on the verge of being eliminated from the world preliminaries is even less likely to get enough expect.
However, Dalic issued a military order: "If I can't enter the World Cup, I will be dismissed."
Then, he performed a miracle.
Dalic, who was appointed at the last minute, had just three days in office when he ushered in an away game against Ukraine. This was a life-and-death battle for Croatia. However, Dalic proved with facts: He only needed three days to reverse the team's downturn. state.
In this life-and-death battle, Croatia, which had only defeated Kosovo in the entire second round, miraculously defeated Ukraine and qualified for the play-offs. It also defeated Greece in two rounds in the play-offs and won the right to participate in the World Cup.
There are many big names in the Croatian team, but Dalic is actually the least qualified in the team.
We often know that it is difficult for a coach without a top record to gain a foothold in a team full of high-level athletes because he is not enough to convince the players of him.
But Dalic is an exception. As a coach with little qualifications, he makes the players on the team, big and small, full of respect for him. He has established a strong personal authority, even at all costs to maintain this authority.
Dalic's responsibility, confidence, decisiveness and determination have won the trust and support of all Croatian players. As a coach who has never coached a top team or coached a top player, he can successfully control the Croatian locker room. This in itself reflects Dalic's high degree of intelligence.
In fact, similar to Belgium's locker room, which is often divided due to language barriers, there are also some ethnic conflicts within the Croatian team due to the historical legacy of Yugoslavia.
But during Dalic's coaching, the entire team exuded an atmosphere of unity and progress. Even if sometimes there were some disturbances caused by player problems, the team could still tighten like a rope.
I have to say that this is where Dalic excels.
Of course, for a team to achieve good results, it's not enough to just rely on charisma. You have to show something real on the field.
The tactics of this Croatian team are good at first glance, which can be seen from the first game against Argentina.
Everyone around the world knows Argentina's style of play, which is to play around Messi.
Even if the tactics are adjusted to the wing, Argentina is still a team waiting for Messi to start everything.
Therefore, the tactics Dalic used were sophisticated enough. He allowed the Grid Army to use partial double-teaming and early cutting of passing routes to quickly disintegrate Argentina's tactics.
Moreover, under normal circumstances, Croatia always maintains a constant pace, and the intensity of the frontcourt press is always maintained. It does not reach the point of crazy grabbing, but it just does not allow the Argentine to play the ball comfortably.
However, once Croatia gets a whiff of an opportunity, it really is an instant pursuit.
Modric is the key to speeding up. During the "grinding" stage, he is not showy or revealing, and occasionally makes a "Hey, why didn't I think of it" pass, and that's it.
But when the opponent's formation becomes more and more loose and the top defense becomes weaker and weaker, Modric will never be soft when it comes to his move.
Then, as Modric scored a stunning long-range shot, Argentina's collapse began.
So, how to deal with such a team with superstars and good tactical literacy?
If you look at it with simple thinking, defensive counterattack may be the best way to deal with this Croatian team, but Pan Yi doesn't see it that way.
Croatia's ability to penetrate the opponent's defense with short passes in the frontcourt is quite good, especially their center Mandzukic. This is a fighter who will run all over the field to score goals. No matter how good the defense is, there is no guarantee that he will be defeated. Couldn't get a single chance in the entire game.
Even if they counterattack quickly, Croatia's backcourt is not slow in returning to defense, they are tall, and there is Brozovic in front to help sweep away.
Against this kind of team, it is absolutely impossible to defend. Their skills, short passing coordination and ball control abilities are all superior to Italy's.
Going all out to attack doesn't work either. Rebic and Perisic on the wing are both skilled and flexible forwards. They leave enough gaps in the backcourt for the opponent to sprint back and forth. They can only seek death. .
In Pan Yi's view, to deal with this kind of team, one must start pressing from the midfield to disrupt the opponent's offensive rhythm, not leaving too much space and gaps for the opponent in the backcourt, and use overall defense to deal with them. attack.
At the same time, several people use small-scale coordinated counterattacks to deal with them, constantly accumulating advantages, and finally killing them with one blow.
Of course, any tactic that is good in theory will definitely be different in actual execution. After all, the player's execution ability, previous tactical drills, and unexpected time on the court may break the deployment.
However, the mad dog-style pressing attack in the frontcourt that Pan Yi has used since the last game is equally suitable against Croatia in this game.
In order to save some energy in the last game, Italy adopted the tactic of recycling defense and quickly counterattacking in the second half. In this game, it was time to go all out.
This is now Italy's biggest advantage.
In the two knockout rounds, Italy defeated its opponents easily, while Croatia played the full 120 minutes in both games. The physical advantages and disadvantages are clearly evident.
If the Italian team advances at full speed during the game, then Croatia will have to use full gears to keep up.
Both sides were fully fueled at the beginning, but the Italian team's fuel tank capacity was obviously larger and would last longer.
As long as Croatia's fuel tank bottoms out, Italy's opportunity will come.
If you win, you’ll advance to the finals!
Moreover, there is good news for Italy, that is, in the last game, the opponent's top forward Mandzukic was replaced due to injury. It is still unclear whether he can appear in the semi-finals.
However, Dalic was really smart about his injury and did not let out any news. This could actually act as a smoke bomb, and it also made Pan Yi not completely sure of his formation style for the time being.
After all, Mandzukic can play, and Mandzukic can't. Croatia's tactics have changed too much...
If Mandzukic can play, there's nothing to say. I guess Croatia's tactics are still the same.
But if he cannot play, whether it is using Kramaric to replace him as the center, or pulling up Rebic or Perisic to play as a double forward, the tactics will be different.
Just looking at the way Dalic avoided talking about Mandzukic's injury during interviews in the past two days, it seems that this Croatian meritorious coach intends to leave the suspense until the end...
"Regardless of whether Mandzukic can play in the semi-finals, we will treat him as if he can play." Pan Yi said to the coaches: "Croatia's tactics are very beautiful and practical, and Modric's ability to pass the ball in the midfield is also very good. , as long as there is space in the backcourt, they can create a lot of opportunities for the forwards. Mandzukic's ability to seize opportunities in this cup is also quite good, and he has scored three goals now, so we must pay attention."
The coaches looked at each other and nodded.
Modric is now at his peak. The midfield combination he leads is organized, breakthrough-minded, and cooperative. Brozovic is back and forth to fill in, and there is no lack of hardness.
With their support, even if Mandzukic is unable to play due to injury and Kramaric or other forwards are used, Croatia's offensive threat will not be reduced much.
This is also a very certain answer for Pan Yi, because by 2022, this Croatian team will not have Mandzukic, but they have indeed reached the semi-finals!
"We will encounter some trouble defensively, but we don't need to be too afraid. This game will not be decided by one goal. We must have confidence in our offense and use goals to eliminate Croatia, we can definitely do this."
Pan Yi continued to gesture on the tactical board: "Lovren was very brave when he was young, but now his turning speed is average. Vida may be more troublesome in the central defender position. He has speed and his height is not bad. At the same time, This guy is very brave..."
"However, he is not without shortcomings. He likes to defend forward. This approach is sometimes very effective, but once it fails, it is a disaster. Lovren, who is filling in, is average in speed, and he is better at frontal confrontation. We are in the game You can also make more use of this to hit them from behind..."
"As for the two wings, Strinic prefers confrontation. I feel that it is more difficult to break through on that side. Let's just focus on defense on that side and focus the offense on Fusaliko's side..."
"York City happened to play against Atletico Madrid in the Europa League final this season. I feel that his speed and explosive power are average, and he is better at attacking, so I used Spinazzola to suppress him. This kind of full-back is afraid of Spinazzola. A faster player like Pinazzola."
The coaches nodded and agreed with his statement.
Fossaljko's characteristic is that he likes to cross and shoot from long range. Generally speaking, he is more offensive, but his defense is not particularly good.
Sometimes he needs a defensive midfielder to help fill the position on this side, but in the Croatian national team, Brozovic has many places to fill, so he can mostly rely on himself.
Therefore, using Spinazzola against him is a solid idea.
"As for the offensive tactics in the frontcourt...the tactics used in the first half against England couldn't be more appropriate." Pan Yi laughed, "Although the main offensive and defensive core of the Croatian national team are from Barcelona and Real Madrid, it is difficult to deal with this The two teams are perfect for pressing in the midfield, running in a wide area and disrupting the rhythm of the attack...I have a lot of experience in dealing with them.”
The coaches laughed. The biggest asset Pan Yi brought to the Italian national team was actually nothing else, but his rich experience against European giants.
Whether it is Atletico Madrid or Real Madrid and Barcelona players, Pan Yi is very familiar with them, so he can better prescribe the right medicine and give his own plan.
"What if Mandzukic can't play?" Evani asked a question.
"If Mandzukic can't play, then Dalic will have only two options." Pan Yi said what he had just thought, and then directly gave a response plan.
"If Kramaric replaces him at center, then our basic tactics will remain the same, and we may be more relaxed. After all, his impact is weaker than Mandzukic."
Kramaric is only 177cm tall and weighs only 73kg. It can be said that he does not belong to the type of powerful center at all.
In the last game against England, even a striker of Harry Kane's caliber did not have any advantage in the confrontation with the Italian central defender, let alone the smaller Kramaric.
Even if he is more flexible than Mandzukic, neither Bastoni nor Bonucci are the kind of central defenders who are like wooden stakes - such as Maguire?
Moreover, Sterling, who is more flexible on England's front line, was also guarded, wasn't he? So Pan Yi is still very confident in his defense.
"Dalic's other option is to let Rebic and Perisic play as forwards, but in this case, their ability to control and attack in the midfield will be reduced, and the pressure on our defense will be weakened. .”
"But no matter how they change, they can't do without this category. So our tactics don't need to change. Strengthen the running of the midfield, don't leave too many gaps in the backcourt, and start counterattacks on the spot after stealing the ball. Use the coordination between the frontcourt players to get opportunities..."
"This is our tactic for this game, and it is also the tactic we are better at. This time, we will stick to my main tactic, no matter what they do!"
This is what Pan Yi said and what he did.
Unlike the starting lineup that was only announced two hours before the game against England, Italy announced its lineup the day before the game.
Goalkeeper Donnarumma, defenders Spinazzola, Bonucci, Bastoni, De Sciglio, midfielders Tonali, Verratti, Barrera, forwards Chiesa Jr., Balotelli, Insigne.
It is very different from the starting lineup against England, but it has become Pan Yi's most commonly used 4-3-3, and there are not many surprises in terms of personnel.
"Why do you have to do it when you hit me???" Southgate, who was already watching TV at home in the UK, was so angry that he put the rice in his hand on the table.
Not long after, Dalic also announced Croatia's starting lineup.
Goalkeeper Subasic, defenders Vrsaljko, Vida, Lovren, Strinic, midfielder Brozovic, Modric, Rebic, Rakitic, Perisic, forward Man Dzukic.
The same main lineup in the quarter-finals, no one has changed.
This makes many people think that there is another smoke bomb, both coaches are doing it!
How is it possible? They are all regular lineups?
But for Pan Yi, first of all, he is preparing to use the regular 4-3-3 to attack Croatia this time. Secondly, he also feels that Dalic should have this lineup.
After all, this Croatian generation is indeed a golden generation, but it is not so golden that even the substitute lineup is super strong.
Except for Kovacic, the other players are indeed far behind the main players. How could Dalic take risks to create smoke bombs and send any surprise troops at the last moment?
The only variable is Mandzukic's injury, but now it seems that it shouldn't be a big problem.
Of course, even if Mandzukic is slightly injured, based on Pan Yi's understanding of him, such a warrior-type player cannot get out of the firing line with a minor injury, so it is normal to start.
As a result, Pan Yi immediately began to discuss the arrangement of some specific tactical details with the coaches.
Although it has been discussed before, the preparation before the game must of course be as specific as possible.
It’s all about getting to the World Cup finals!
