Chapter 304: A Little Shock for Soccer Fans Around the World from Lin Huang!
After two dangerous attacks, the players from Costa Rica sensed danger. They pulled their defense back, aiming not to make spectacular plays but to avoid mistakes. A draw against Spain that led to a penalty shootout might offer them a slim chance of survival. However, continuing at this pace, they were likely to be completely outplayed by Spain.
As Costa Rica tightened their defense, the challenge for Spain's offense increased significantly. Lin Quan tried several times to break through using his personal skills, but the opponent's defense was tight and gave him little opportunity. Moving too deep made it easy to get surrounded and cut off the passing routes to his teammates, making it difficult to advance the ball.
Faced with such packed defense, Spain started to try long shots from outside the penalty area to see if they could get lucky. However, Navas was in exceptional form, making long shots nearly impossible to get past him.
In the 37th minute, Lin Quan received a pass from a teammate, feigned speeding up to break through, drew the defenders, and then passed the ball back to the center. Iniesta followed up with a powerful long shot from the top of the penalty arc! At the moment of the shot, Lin Quan had just moved away from the front, clearing a path for the shot. The defender following Lin was in the process of moving, accidentally blocking Navas's view of Iniesta, who is shorter. Nevertheless, Navas, with his superhuman reaction speed, made an almost impossible save, batting the football out of the air with a single hand.
Iniesta, seeing his shot saved again, held his head in disbelief, clutching the little hair he had left. He couldn't understand how the opponent made such a miraculous save without having seen the shot coming.
Lin Quan looked at Iniesta with some concern, not so much about his mindset but more about his receding hairline! During their early years at La Masia, Lin often saw Iniesta, whose hairline wasn't so high back then. Over the years, it had receded bit by bit. In a few years, he might become bald like Guardiola.
"Lin, you take the next shot!" Iniesta's confidence was affected, not just him, even forwards dedicated to scoring would begin to doubt their life choices after several missed shots. "Okay!" Lin Quan readily agreed.
Before, when Pellegrini told him Manchester City was interested in and planning to sign Navas, he didn't feel anything special. Although he had heard of Navas's reputation—after all, he took Casillas's starting spot at Real Madrid—a person capable of displacing Casillas couldn't be mediocre. But he had only heard of Navas's name; since they had never directly competed, Lin had no firsthand experience of how formidable Navas was. This match was a good opportunity to really test each other's skills.
As the first half was drawing to a close, the Costa Rican players united more fiercely, desperate to maintain a 0:0 score. However, after they chose to hunker down in defense, the Spanish players pushed over the midfield line and began playing a passing game in the opponent's half. With many players involved in the attack, Spain's passing tactics remained effective even against close defense. Although the Costa Rican players were individually strong, it would be difficult for Spain to break through if they were a team from one of the top five leagues. But for Costa Rica, it was a challenging task.
The only variable was the goalkeeper. Navas's strength was well known, and as Spain increased their shots on goal, he gradually became harder to deal with. In the 42nd minute, Spain executed a brilliant combination play near the penalty area. Despite dense defense, they managed to tear open a gap in Costa Rica's defensive line through an incredibly quick pass.
Lin Quan carried the ball into the penalty area, passed it to Torres in a tight space, who, despite being harassed by a defender, adjusted and passed it back to Lin Quan. This pass showcased Torres's tactical value. Unlike Villa, a pure scorer, Torres, as a traditional center-forward, could act as a pivot within the opponent's penalty area, setting up plays for teammates. He didn't pass the ball directly to Lin Quan's feet but gave it a bit ahead, allowing Lin to accelerate without slowing down.
"Good pass, Torres!" Lin praised internally. He sprinted, took the ball before the defenders could interfere, and then dribbled right, bypassing the last defender to face a one-on-one with Navas. Navas charged out! If it had been another player, like Torres, perhaps he wouldn't have charged. But the Costa Rican coach had made Navas watch five hours of Lin Quan's shooting highlights, from his debut matches at Werder Bremen to the latest World Cup group and knockout stages.
Having watched these tapes, Navas was very wary of Lin's abilities. Lin's shooting skills were varied, mastering all techniques except for heading. Especially his one-on-one success rate, which was incredibly high. Though charging out made it easy for him to be dribbled past, if he stayed in goal, blocking Lin's shots would be nearly impossible. Weighing the lesser of two evils, charging out gave him a higher success rate and more control.
Seeing Navas move, Lin wasn't surprised. A good goalkeeper usually prefers to take control, not passively follow the opponent's pace. Coincidentally, Lin also liked to control the game! He shifted the ball sideways, trying to use his speed advantage to create distance and go around Navas for an open goal opportunity. Of course, Navas wouldn't give him that chance; he lunged like a hungry tiger at Lin's feet, forcing Lin to shoot immediately or have the ball taken away. Even if Navas didn't successfully steal the ball from Lin's feet, just forcing Lin to make a major adjustment would give defenders time to complete the defense.
Goalkeepers are never alone in their struggle; they fight alongside many teammates. Seeing Navas's choice, Lin's expression became serious. The opponent's intentions were clear, but knowing them, he had no other choice but to follow the script Navas set. This guy, it seems, not only has strong skills but also a strong mindset. This gamble-like save, if successful, would bring glory; if failed, it would make him the scapegoat for the team's loss. And yet, Navas did it without hesitation! Lin could only silently praise him, "Good courage!" He wasn't indecisive either; he immediately aimed for the upper left corner of the goal and shot. Navas immediately swung his right arm, trying to intercept Lin's shot in mid-air.
Navas and Lin Quan were very close, Navas had space to block, but his reaction time was very short. Whether his save would touch the ball was entirely up to luck. The fans from both sides, seeing Lin Quan and Navas fight so closely, stopped breathing and stared without blinking at the goal. Could the ball go in?
Navas was lucky; as he swung his arm, he felt his forearm touch the ball. The direction of the football changed, flying up towards the sky instead of straight into the goal. After feeling the touch on his arm and making the save, Navas, who lost his balance, couldn't help but smile. It seemed he had the last laugh in this duel with Lin Quan. However, he celebrated too soon. The ball, though slightly blocked by his forearm, did not completely go out of play. Because his arm had taken some of the ball's force, and Lin Quan hadn't shot with much power, the ball didn't fly very high and began to fall quickly.
As the ball dropped from the air, Navas felt a shadow over him. Fallen to the ground, he instinctively looked up and saw Spain's number 30 leap high with a very standard motion and head the ball into the goal. Boom! Nuevo Estadio Aguas, silent for a moment, erupted like a volcano, blasting out deafening cheers. The Spanish fans were thrilled! They were not only happy about Lin Quan's goal, which broke the deadlock, but they were also surprised and excited to see him head the ball into the goal for the first time.
"Did I see that right? Did Lin Quan just head the ball into the goal?" "Wow, Emperor Lin can head the ball!?" "Messi can score with headers, and Lin Huang is taller than Messi by 3 centimeters; it makes no sense he can't!" "But I've never seen him score with a header before; it's really rare!" "I think he had a few header goals in the Bundesliga, but very few indeed." "Definitely rare. I've seen so many of his games, and I've really never seen him score a header, today was a real eye-opener!" "Haha, from Lin Huang's movement, he must have secretly practiced. That lion-shake head move looked quite professional!" "If Lin Huang was ten centimeters taller, he might be another formidable header player!" "Haha, are you talking about Ramos?" "Steamed bun, are you serious? Ramos is the second top scorer in the Spanish team, his heading skills are spectacular!"
Ramos isn't very tall, only 184 cm, but his heading ability is strong, certainly better than the 194 cm tall Pique. Because Lin Quan's header goal was so rare, the Spanish players couldn't help but ask him when they ran over to celebrate with him: "Lin, when did you secretly practice headers? You scored a header quietly on the World Cup stage, impressive!" "Just practiced in my spare time, it was just in case, didn't expect it to actually come in handy!" "Practiced in your spare time? That standard motion doesn't look like it was casually practiced, did you secretly learn from a header expert?"
Before Lin Quan could answer, Ramos proudly puffed out his chest. Of course, he learned from me! "My heading level, being the best in the Spanish team, no one disputes that, right?" On the sidelines, Coach Bosque excitedly embraced Coach Tony. Caught up in the excitement, he couldn't help but wonder: "When did this kid practice headers?" Coach Tony was also puzzled: "I don't know, given his height, it's very hard for him to win aerial duels in the penalty area, so training headers would basically be a waste of time; that's why we didn't arrange for him to practice this!"
"Could it be that he developed this skill at Manchester City?" Bosque murmured, curious. The game was important as both Navas and Lin Quan were playing, so Pellegrini arrived at the stadium early. Seeing Lin Quan score a header, he wondered just like Bosque: "With Lin's height, the Spanish team still trained him in headers, I don't get it, what is Bosque thinking?" He also thought that Lin Quan practicing headers was a waste of time because it was not practical. Instead of wasting time on headers, it would be better to enhance other weaknesses to improve his overall skills.
Navas, staring at the football in the goal frame, was a bit dazed. He had guessed the beginning but not the end. Who knew Lin Quan still had this trick, using a header he had never seen before in the tapes to breach his guarded goal. It was really a bit of bad luck because Lin Quan rarely used headers to attack; the header he scored in the Bundesliga looked like a fluke, very unstandardized, not showing any signs of heading ability.
So the Costa Rican coach, while organizing the video tapes, actively ignored Lin Quan's headers. This caused Navas to be unaware of Lin Quan's capability, a significant oversight in intelligence. Navas quickly adjusted his mindset! It's just one goal behind, not the end of the world. Trusting his teammates and coach, they could still turn the score around in the second half. As long as he continued to guard the goal and prevent the opponents from extending their lead, they still had a chance to win the game!
Costa Rica had already made history by reaching the quarterfinals, so why not dream a little of the semifinals? With little time left in the first half, after Spain finished celebrating and the ball was kicked off again, the main referee soon blew the whistle for the end of the half. Taking the lead before the break was a great result for Spain. With this goal, the second half's tactics of the opponents were easier to predict, and they now had the initiative, allowing them to take countermeasures against Costa Rica's tactics.