Chapter 369: The Spanish team trying to change the offensive tactics
With the reconciliation between the Barcelona gang and the Real Madrid gang, the atmosphere in the Spanish team slowly changed, and the players began to joke with each other.
Li Chuanqi discovered that the Barcelona gang is actually very easy to get along with. Pique, who likes to be in the limelight the most, is actually a very simple person. He just says what he thinks and doesn't have any big bad intentions.
As for the situation when the two embraced for the first time, according to Pique himself, it was influenced by the Catalan media.
Four days after the match against Belarus, the Spanish team faced its last opponent in the qualifiers—Georgia.
In the first round, Spain defeated the opponent 1-0 away from home.
The score does not fully reflect the course of the game. In that game, Spain completely took the initiative and Georgia had no chance at all.
In this battle, almost all media believed that Spain could easily win.
The media in Madrid are not focused on whether Spain can win, they are focused on the topic initiated by Mundo Deportivo - quick counterattack.
Aspen believes that when Spain counterattacks, it must speed up, launch high-quality rapid counterattacks, and enrich Spain's offensive methods.
World Sports News believes that they want to integrate Real Madrid's tactics into the Spanish tactical system, because the only tactic Real Madrid can use is quick counterattack.
The media on both sides started a war of words again.
Bosque also had several in-depth discussions with his assistants and team core on this matter. Of course, the Real Madrid players supported a quick counterattack, while the Barcelona team was skeptical.
I don’t know what Bosque did, but in the end the Barcelona gang compromised and agreed to appropriately increase the speed of the counterattack during the counterattack.
Are passing football and quick counterattacks natural enemies?
From the perspective of passing and controlling football, it is indeed a natural enemy.
The concept of passing and controlling football is to firmly control the football at your feet. Under this concept, the only requirement for moving the ball is safety, so there are many back passes and cross passes.
Quick counterattack emphasizes the speed and direction of the pass and tries to move the ball forward.
This is a natural contradiction with "security".
How Spain can perfectly combine the two is a big project that requires continuous practice and running-in.
Bosque began this great project.
At the beginning, Barcelona players had a lot of discomfort, which was completely inconsistent with the philosophy they had received since childhood, and it was very difficult to reverse it.
Li Chuanqi came up with his own solution - pass the football to me!
Damn...
The Barcelona gang's eyes almost fell to the ground.
“You can give it a try!”
Iniesta made the final decision.
So during a quick counterattack, a scene like this appeared - Li Chuanqi dribbled the ball straight in, and a player on each side quickly moved forward and responded.
This is Li Chuanqi's favorite tactical routine.
He devoted himself to it with great enthusiasm, brought his breakthrough skills with the ball to the extreme, and timely transferred the football to the feet of his teammates on both sides to follow up and respond.
With this idea in mind, the Spanish team's quick counterattack was impressive and made Del Bosque's eyes shine.
Damn, Li is a player born for quick counterattack tactics!
Super fast speed, coupled with extremely strong breakthrough.
Such players are naturally good at quick counterattacks!
Del Bosque is preparing to try to pass the football and counterattack quickly in the game against Georgia.
At nine o'clock in the evening on October 16th, the Calderon Stadium was packed with people!
The match between Spain and Georgia started on time, and Del Bosque adjusted the Spanish team's formation to the most popular 4-2-3 formation in today's football.
Li Chuanqi got the chance to start and appeared at the right wing position.
At the beginning of the game, Georgia launched an attack on Spain.
Just twenty-four seconds into the game, the Spanish team completed a steal in the hinterland of their own half.
What surprised the fans and reporters was that Spain did not promote pass-and-control football as in the past, but directly transferred the football to Li Chuanqi on the right.
Li Chuanqi relied on his super speed to forcefully overtake on the wing and tear open the opponent's defense.
Like lightning, Li Chuanqi forced a breakthrough from the side to the center, Pedri followed up from the right, and Silva followed up from the left!
When reaching the opponent's hinterland, Li Chuanqi made a diagonal pass and the football flew in front of Silva!
After Silva followed up, he directly passed the ball across the middle!
The football flies towards the back point!
Pedri followed up with a push from behind!
The football hits the net!
The ball went in!
The Georgia coach looked at the stadium in stunned silence. Is this the Spanish team?
Catalonia media’s attitude changed dramatically, the Spanish team changed their playing style?!
Damn it, they have been "battle" with the Madrid regional media these days, believing that quick counterattack tactics are not suitable for the Spanish team at all.
As a result, the Spanish team was right in front of them right after the game started, showing a sharp and quick counterattack, and even scored a goal!
Media reporters in the Madrid area were very excited. They felt that this was their victory!
From counterattacking with the ball to scoring a goal, it only took the Spanish team ten seconds!
This is almost impossible to see in Spain's previous games. This is a subversive thing.
The game restarted, and everyone finally understood that the Spanish team was undergoing a great innovation.
Once there is an opportunity for a quick counterattack, they move the football firmly and quickly into the frontcourt. Once there is no chance, they advance layer by layer.
The Spanish team completely regarded this game as an opportunity for experimentation and constantly changed their offensive methods, making Georgia completely uncomfortable.
At the end of the first half, the Spanish team had already secured the victory, leading 3-0.
Li Chuanqi scored in the 25th minute of the first half, and Iniesta scored ten minutes later.
Li Chuanqi's goal came from a quick counterattack, and Iniesta's goal came from a positional attack!
Three goals, two from quick counterattacks.
During the halftime break, there was a lively discussion in the Spanish team's locker room.
What they don't know is that the media outside are discussing it even more heatedly.
The media in Catalonia firmly held a negative opinion: The Spanish team is not a Premier League team. This style of play has caused Spain to lose its own characteristics and its own football philosophy!
The Madrid region, as the representative, firmly supports this style of play: Modern football is all about speed, and Spanish football should keep up with the times, otherwise it will be eliminated by the times sooner or later!
Both sides were so angry that they almost got into a fight.
The Spanish team had no idea what was going on outside, and the focus of their discussion in the locker room was how to make quick counterattack passes more successful.
The result of their discussion was that they could not pass the ball to Li Chuanqi on a fixed basis. Whoever was in a better position should pass the ball to him, so that the success rate of the pass would be high.
The second half came as expected.
The game still developed into a one-sided situation.
Georgia only lasted fifteen minutes and the goal was broken again.
Spain's goal was still achieved through a quick counterattack. After Pedri received Xavi's 30-meter direct pass, he quickly transferred the football to the feet of Li Chuanqi who was following up from the wing.
Li Chuanqi used his speed to get rid of the Georgia full-back and forced his way towards the center.
Pedri quickly moved to the wing, and Li Chuanqi transferred the football to his feet in time.
Pedri shot directly from the right side of the penalty area and the football flew into the goal!