Chapter 294: Three Wins in a Row, Top of the Group!
On June 24th, the final round of the group stage commenced.
The Brazilian team withstood the pressure and achieved a 4-1 victory over Cameroon in the last round, successfully advancing to the knockout stage as the top team in their group.
Although Mexico also defeated Croatia, their goal difference was two less than Brazil's, so they had to advance as the second team in the group.
As for Croatia, where Modric plays, they unfortunately exited the tournament after one win and two losses, finishing third in the group.
Cameroon from Africa suffered three consecutive losses, scoring 1 goal and conceding 9, and was disgracefully eliminated.
After confirming the teams advancing from Group A, both qualified teams were especially attentive to the final results of Group B.
Since Spain had already advanced, for the last match, Del Bosque arranged for many substitutes to play.
De Gea, Koke, Martinez, Juanfran, Villa, Mata, Fabregas, Pedro, and others started for the first time.
However, to ensure a stable victory in this match, Del Bosque still left some main players on the field, with Iniesta, Lin Quan, and Alonso continuing to play.
The team's main central defender Ramos accumulated two yellow cards and was suspended, while players like Xavi and David Silva watched from the bench.
The mood of Spain's soldiers in this match was relatively relaxed, with basically no pressure.
However, they still aimed to win this match!
Although Spain had already advanced, they had not completely secured the top spot in the group.
If they were to lose heavily to Australia in the last round, theoretically, they could lose the top spot in the group.
But this possibility was quite small because Spain currently had a goal difference of 8, leading the Netherlands by 11 goals and Chile by 10.
With such a large gap, unless they could achieve a big victory, it would require Spain to suffer a disastrous defeat against Australia.
The former was somewhat possible, but the latter was almost impossible.
Australia lost both matches, their strength ranked bottom in the group, relying on them to create a disaster against Spain was like hoping to win the lottery!
The match progressed as expected.
Facing the weak Australian team, although Spain mostly fielded substitutes, their substitute lineup was still much stronger than Australia's lineup.
In the 16th minute of the first half, Villa scored a goal, helping the team take a 1-0 lead against the opponent.
The Australian players fought stubbornly; having been eliminated in advance, this match was entirely about playing for honor.
In this situation, they did not just stay back in their own half and defend; instead, they bravely played offensively against Spain.
For Australia, winning was impossible, but if they could score a few goals against Spain, it would be worth it. When Spain won the World Cup later, they could also boast back home: we broke through the goal of the world champion Spain!
However, Australia's choice left them a bit unable to cope with Spain's fierce attacks.
In the 36th minute of the first half, Spain scored again.
After several consecutive passes from Lin Quan, Mata, Iniesta, and Fabregas, the football was almost passed into Australia's goal by Lin Quan's passing.
At this moment, Australian players felt the suffocation and powerlessness against the world's strongest team; at first, they could keep up with their opponents.
Later, after Spain made several consecutive passes, they felt dizzy, and almost all of their players instinctively followed the ball, leaving a huge gap in the defense line that allowed Spanish players to shuttle at will and shoot at will.
In this case, conceding a goal was not surprising at all; not conceding a goal would be a miracle!
After leading by two goals, Australia was finally awakened.
They dared not attack again and began to retract their defensive line, adopting a defensive posture.
The huge gap in strength between the two teams made them realize the reality: wanting to score against Spain was truly as difficult as ascending to heaven.
Even the powerful Netherlands team only scored one goal, and the Chilean team did not score a goal at all, even when Spain was down to ten men!
In fact, parking the bus does work.
The score of 2-0 was maintained until halftime.
In the second half, Spain made personnel adjustments.
Iniesta was substituted off for Torres, and Spain adopted a two-forward tactic.
However, the two-forward tactic seemed ineffective against the opponent's dense defense; Villa and Torres couldn't find good opportunities to score.
Del Bosque continued to make personnel adjustments. In the 65th minute, he substituted Alonso for Xavi.
This substitution quickly paid off. In the 69th minute, Xavi initiated an attack in midfield. After several passes involving Lin Quan, the ball reached Torres.
Torres used his strong physical fitness to break through the opponent's defense, suddenly shot after entering the penalty area, and scored a goal!
This was Torres's second goal in this World Cup, both assisted by Lin Quan!
After scoring, Torres was very excited and ran to the sidelines to elegantly kneel and celebrate.
Playing football with these teammates from the national team was simply too damn enjoyable; here, there was always a group of selfless and talented teammates keen on passing him the ball. As long as he created an opportunity, the ball would definitely reach his feet, and all he had to do was put the ball into the goal!
He scored 2 goals in 3 matches, and they were both on the stage of the World Cup, which made him feel like he was back at the peak!
Torres's best performance in the World Cup was in the 2006 Germany World Cup, where he scored 3 goals in 4 matches, including one instance of scoring twice.
Unfortunately, Spain encountered the powerful French team in the round of 16, ending their World Cup journey early. Otherwise, with Torres's hot form at the time, he would surely have scored more goals.
Eight years had passed in the blink of an eye, and Torres was already 30 years old. After experiencing the decline of both club and national team, he thought it would be difficult for him to make a mark on such an international stage again.
But unexpectedly, thanks to Lin Quan's emergence, he experienced a second spring!
Lin Quan could have taken those shots himself that he passed to Torres, but he still unselfishly passed them out!
Such a good teammate, if he could bring him to the club, how great would that be!
But it's a pity he can't take him away, and Manchester City won't sell him either!
Moreover, Torres couldn't ask Lin Quan to always be a supporting role; that was not something Torres could say!
After Torres scored, Del Bosque continued to make substitutions.
He brought on David Silva for Lin Quan.
Although Lin Quan scored only one goal in this match, his role on the field was obvious to the fans.
Therefore, when Lin Quan was substituted, the fans at the scene stood up and applauded him.
Lin Quan also applauded in response to the applause from all sides of the stadium, thanking the fans for their support.
Seeing this scene, Del Bosque showed a satisfied smile.
He intentionally left the last substitution spot for Lin Quan, aiming to make up for the regret of not allowing Lin Quan to enjoy the applause and cheers from the fans in the last match.
"Great job!"
When Lin Quan reached the sidelines and high-fived with David Silva, Vicente del Bosque opened his arms and warmly embraced him.
"Lin, you must be thirsty. Here, have some water to replenish your energy!"
Lin Quan had just sat down on the bench, and immediately, Coach Tony handed him a bottle of energy drink to hydrate.
"Thank you," Lin Quan politely responded, taking big gulps.
He was indeed thirsty, and the ice-cold drink felt refreshing under the scorching sun.
Watching Lin Quan, the other players looked on with envy. It seemed both coaches favored him.
"Coach Tony, I'm a bit thirsty too. Could I get a drink?" Pique reached out for a drink, but didn't receive the warm response he expected from Coach Tony.
"Aren't your legs working? It's over there, help yourself!" Tony replied bluntly.
His attitude seemed to say: You're just a substitute, haven't played a minute, haven't even broken a sweat—do you deserve it?
Even main players like Pique were rebuffed, and the eager substitutes soon abandoned their thoughts.
Club status meant nothing on the national team; showing off wouldn't work here.
If they left a bad impression on the coaching staff, their names might not make the next squad!
After Lin Quan came off, Spain's attack seemed to revert to its old problem.
The team had plenty of forwards like Pedro, Mata, Fabregas, David Silva, Villa, and Torres—all strong players.
Yet they struggled to score. Spain's dominance in possession and continuous attacking waves didn't translate into goals, frustrating Vicente del Bosque.
This team on the field felt both familiar and unfamiliar. Unfamiliar, because it had been a long time since Del Bosque had seen Spain like this before Lin Quan joined.
Back then, they even struggled against unimpressive teams like Georgia and almost drew against the national team.
Thinking about this, Del Bosque sighed.
What if Lin Quan got injured or suspended one day? What then?
However, it wasn't all bad news. The good news was that so far, Lin Quan hadn't suffered any major injuries, and his physical condition remained excellent. He also hadn't accumulated any yellow cards, so for now, these issues weren't a concern.
To address Spain's scoring issues, Del Bosque had recruited Diego Costa to the team.
Although the lad was currently injured and unable to play for the team.
But once he returned from injury, perhaps Spain could try playing without Lin Quan and see if Diego Costa could replace him!
As Del Bosque pondered these issues, Spain scored again.
In the 88th minute, Mata scored directly from a free kick, bringing Spain's lead to 4-0.
Australia couldn't mount a comeback. In the last match of the World Cup, they failed to secure a victory and were instead slaughtered by a large margin.
However, they didn't seem disheartened. After the match, Australian players ran up to exchange jerseys with the Spanish players.
Some even ran to the sidelines with pen, paper, and cameras they had prepared in advance, requesting autographs and photos with their favorite players.
Watching the Australian players on the field chasing after Spanish players for photos, the fans had a strange feeling:
These people seemed more like star-chasers than football players!
Nevertheless, the fans couldn't criticize the Australian players.
"That's normal, right? From the moment the draw ceremony ended, the Australians probably lost hope. After all, being in a group with the reigning World Cup champions and runners-up, plus a strong South American team like Chile, is tough!"
"Yeah, besides the last World Cup's champions and runners-up, there's also a strong team like Chile in their group. None of these three teams are ones Australia can handle. Their participation in this World Cup is truly fighting for honor."
Australia belongs to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), widely acknowledged as the weakest major confederation.
In this World Cup, several Asian teams performed terribly in the group stage. They not only showed no hope of advancing to the knockout rounds but also failed to secure even one victory, nearly setting the worst record for Asian teams in World Cup history!
This has brought back proposals on the internet to reduce the number of World Cup slots allocated to the AFC.
Many European fans argue that rather than allotting World Cup slots to regions like Asia and Africa, which have comparatively weaker football standards, more slots should be given to Europe.
Europe has many strong teams that miss out on the World Cup due to limited slots.
Of course, such proposals are unlikely to be accepted.
To encourage the development of football in regions with comparatively weaker standards, FIFA not only refrains from reducing the AFC's World Cup slots but also considers giving them more slots.
After all, the World Cup is a stage where all countries worldwide are encouraged to participate.
Even if not every country can send a team to compete, efforts should be made to maintain balance and benefit all regions of the five continents.
Otherwise, it could easily turn the World Cup from a global football festival into a regional carnival.
This is completely contrary to their initial intentions!
Therefore, FIFA is currently discussing expanding the World Cup, aiming to increase the current 32 participating teams to 48.
In this case, male football teams that have been absent from the World Cup consecutively due to performance and slots might have the opportunity to play in the World Cup again!
FIFA is very envious of the huge market of 1.4 billion people in this country. After all, even if their national team fails to qualify for the World Cup, they can still generate substantial sponsorship fees for their national football association.
If their national team manages to qualify for the World Cup finals, the commercial revenue brought in is unimaginable!
Of course, given the current decline of the national football team in this country, it seems that even if the World Cup expands, it might not change much.
After all, losing 1-5 to Thailand, and potentially losing to Vietnam and Myanmar next, doesn't seem impossible, right? (End of this chapter)
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