The voices at the St. Petersburg Stadium are boiling again.
Croatia ball possession.
Mandzukic kicked the ball back to Rakitic.
The formations of both sides quickly unfolded on the green field.
The center moves wide.
Perisic in the center.
Modric moves to the right half.
The ultimate form of right half?
Instead of looking for the Atletico Madrid full-back, Rakitic made a diagonal pass with his foot to the ground, penetrating the pressing net formed by Morata and David Silva.
"The Barcelona midfielder passed the ball to the Real Madrid midfielder."
"pretty."
"Stop the ball."
"Tick the outer instep!"
"Modric got rid of Iniesta who was on the ball."
"High-speed advance from the right!"
"As we all know, Modric has played in the left half at the club in the past two seasons... He has made self-sacrifice for the team as a whole."
"The right foot in the right half of the national team is his true ultimate form."
"Pay attention, Busquets seems to be hesitating to press or retreat..."
Croatia's midfielder runs on the pitch.
Blond hair flying.
The audience inadvertently discovered that this hexagonal midfielder, known as "Cruyff II", is so unique every time he touches the ball, steps, and posture while running.
...
Busquets didn't hesitate for long.
Even though he hasn't faced much against the "right half version" of Modric in La Liga, Barcelona's midfielder is still full of confidence.
Quickly adjust defensive positioning.
The brain is working rapidly.
'Modric will have many options for attacking in the right half. His dominant foot is his right foot, but his outside instep...'
'He can definitely pass the ball.'
'His habit is to pass the ball safely in battle situations.'
"The next step is to simplify the complex."
Accompanied by deafening cheers.
Spanish half.
Modric meets Busquets.
In a trance.
St. Petersburg seems to have turned into Camp Nou and Santiago Bernabeu.
...
The moment you get close.
Busquets found himself unable to press or tackle.
It couldn't even compress Modric's passing space.
Modric shook his blond hair.
The outside instep of the right foot pulls the ball away from the body's center of gravity.
It goes against common sense.
It goes against the rules of football.
In this historical period, he was the man who had the best grasp of close space.
"Slow down, move laterally, and immediately increase the distance."
"Master style."
"Why?"
"How did the ball get passed?"
Snapped!
The instep of the right foot in the right half is in the ultimate magic flute form.
Before Azpilicueta helps defend.
He sent an extremely exquisite inswinging long pass.
Misplaced bombing!
Highly concealed attack transfer!
Busquets wanted to put his head in his hands in frustration, but he guessed wrong.
The national team's version of Modric is a midfielder with completely different offensive styles from the club's.
...
The camera moves at high speed following the trajectory of the football.
Left!
Mandzukic suppressed Carvajal.
Carvajal is a rare talented fullback.
When he first started playing for Bayer Leverkusen, he was able to withstand the "Roberg" combination head-on, stunning Europe, beating Lahm and Alaba, and winning the title of the best full-back in the Bundesliga.
He is simply the full-back version of Li Kang.
Even Neymar, Hazard, who has the ultimate explosive fighting ability, will find it difficult to take advantage of him.
pity.
Mandzukic on the sidelines is Carvajal's natural enemy.
suppress.
Strong physical suppression.
Drop point.
Mandzukic leaned on Carvajal with his back.
Completely unreasonable hand-to-hand combat.
...
"pretty!"
"Mandzukic unloads the ball."
"Rakitic steps in."
"The attack chain of the Grid Army is simple and yet gorgeous."
"Misplaced bombing-ferry-forward insertion-hit the wall..."
Rakitic of the national team and Rakitic of Barcelona are also two people.
He is no longer in the form of a diligent engineer.
But Schalke 04, during the Sevilla period, that talented boy full of imagination!
You are obviously very talented, why do you have to dig out shit?
Qiqiqi connection.
Continuously hit the wall to cooperate.
Croatia shredded the Spanish defense.
Many years later, people's inherent impression of the immortal grid army of veterans may be: setting up a bus.
However, after the 2018 semi-finals, Croatia was synonymous with offense and magnificence.
No matter how strong the opponent is, they will still attack.
...
Sideline.
Mignano was stunned.
Bosque couldn't help but stand up.
Dalic's expression was calm, and his hands hidden in his trouser pockets were trembling.
...
"Perisic!"
"Hit the door!"
"What is he doing?"
"Oh, even Lukaku, Sterling, and Benteke can kick this ball in..."
The football did not fly toward the goal, but rolled limply to Ramos' feet.
The latter did not have a big foot to clear the ball.
Instead, he wanted to pass it to Li Kang, who was retreating to provide support.
very close.
Spain's shift from defense to offense begins at this moment.
After Pique turned his head to observe, he wildly poked his fingers and asked Ramos to pass to the side.
...
Modric is really everywhere.
He seemed to have guessed that Ramos would pass the ball to Li Kang.
No one knows how the Croatian midfielder got close to Li Kang in just a split second.
Step on the ground to change direction.
Trying to block Li Kang's receiving position.
Li Kang kicked hard on the turf, squeezed Modric away, raised his right foot high, and easily unloaded the ball.
There were no violent physical fouls.
The two of them seemed to 'bounce' each other in local space.
...
"Are you dancing?"
"Stop fighting!"
"Li Kang ran in a small arc, opened up the space, turned around, and passed with the outside of his right foot..."
"Blocked by Modric's thigh."
"This block is very critical, allowing your own backcourt to have enough time to complete the position!"
"Li Kang still controlled the ball. This is the advantage of controlling the radius!"
"V-shaped pull ball!"
"Turn around again and pass it to Busquets!"
“So elegant!”
"Hey, Brozovic succeeded in stealing it!"
Busquets was really distracted.
The pace of strangulation is too fast.
The last second was a pass with the outside instep looking for David Silva.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Will the V-shaped ball find you in the next second?
Short circuit, he didn't expect Li Kang to be able to find a reasonable route so calmly under Modric's personal interference.
So much so that the moment he caught the ball, he was hit hard by Brozovic.
Instinctively, he fell to the ground in "pain".
Unexpectedly, Clattenburg, the referee known as the "Four Blind Men of the Premier League", actually has a pair of sharp eyes on the World Cup stage and implements the concept of fair and just penalty execution!
...
"Brozovic did not commit a foul."
"Modric reacted quickly and distanced himself from Li Kang."
"Catch the ball."
"Pull the outside of your left foot again, turn around and dribble the ball forward!"
"Li Kang accurately blocked the position and made a head-on steal!"
"Modric stepped on it."
"Oops! The movement was too fast, I couldn't see clearly..."
"Neither had complete control of the football."
"Li Kang gained the advantage of this positive dialogue and passed it to Iniesta..."
"Wow! Rakitic stopped the ball before Iniesta."
"Another Croatian attack!"
Modric moved laterally to open up space and raised his hand to ask Rakitic for the ball.
A brutal local strangulation without any lull.
The forwards stretch the defense.
Midfielder plays midfielder.
...
The audience was stunned.
This kind of fierce and gentle confrontation in the World Cup... is too rare.
There are no game-ending fouls.
It is completely a game between technology and overall perspective.
Of course, all this is based on the premise that the physical fitness of both parties has not declined.
Everything happened too fast.
Bosque was so angry that his beard was shaking. Why did Busquets just get up now?
Rakitic's diagonal pass easily slipped past Barcelona's midfielder and reached Modric's feet.
"Modric dribbled the ball to the right diagonal of the Spanish penalty area!"
"Azpilicueta is very experienced and moved in early."
"Modric, raise your arms... spread your body, and you're going to hit the goal!"
"It's a fake move!"
"The Chelsea defender was deceived... unable to regain his focus in a blocking posture!"
"Modric!"
"Cross the middle!"
"Wow!"
"Li Kang's divine prediction! Successfully intercepted the ball!"
"Rakitic's counterattack!"
“I can’t grab it!”
"The signature ultra-long through ball, Spain's counterattack is coming!"
"..."
"Iniesta was successfully intercepted by Brozovic again..."
"It can be seen that he wants to make a break away action after catching the ball. After all, he is old and his pace of changing direction is slow, and he cannot bear this level of confrontation."
...
Studio.
Barrage flying.
-[Li Kang created several opportunities to switch offenses in a very difficult static environment, but his teammates who received the ball always had problems. 】
-[Brozovic and Rakitic are not rookies. There is absolutely no problem in using their bodies to suppress the "old" Iniesta! 】
-[The World Cup version of Modric is really awesome, in super form.]
-[Croatia will strangle like this a few more times, and Spain will peel off its skin. It was so chaotic just now, and almost the positions of the midfielders on both sides were rotated randomly.]
...
From all sides of the stands, the cheers gradually died down.
All spectators were satisfied.
Reminiscing about the fierce strangulation just now.
The Croatian backcourt slowed down the offensive pace.
Modric bent down, put his hands on his knees, and gasped for air.
He maintained this posture for only a few seconds before he started running on the green field again.
Li Kang adjusted his shin guards, and then he went from walking to running.
The spotlight in St. Petersburg seemed to only shine on two people.