Luo, you are too tired. You should take a break to share dry goods

Ronaldo has scored goals in five consecutive World Cups, but they were all scored in the group stage. He is more eager to score another goal than anyone else. At the same time, he has played for Portugal in 31 consecutive matches as a starter.

Before the game, almost all the fans believed that after the match between Portugal and Switzerland, this number would become “32 games”.

The other 16 to 8 match was against Spain and Morocco. Morocco could be said to have been “carefully selected” by Spain for itself. Judging from its book strength, Morocco was undoubtedly one of the weakest teams in the top 16. Choosing Morocco could avoid Brazil, and Spain’s small calculation was ringing.

Before the game, almost all the fans believed that the Spanish team would take the victory without bloodshed and advance to the last eight.

But after two games, the fans were confused. The script was different from what they thought.

Spain’s exit is not a “surprise”

According to the analysis of many people in the football industry, most of the “unexpected” matches of the World Cup took place in the group stage. Due to the lack of understanding of the opposing parties or insufficient preparation, strong teams often overturn in the group stage.

When it comes to the knockout stage, a match will be decided, and the strong teams will be more calm, rational and serious about each game, so “unexpected” situations rarely occur.

The current Qatar World Cup is not short of “cold”. Saudi Arabia wins Argentina, Japan wins Germany, Tunisia wins France, Japan wins Spain, and South Korea wins Portugal, which are regarded as “cold” by ordinary fans.

Morocco celebrated its victory after the match. Figure/Visual China

The cold side of fans’ cognition often contains a lot of luck.

Therefore, when the Moroccan team took Spain away in the knockout match, the fans habitually believed that this was also an “unexpected” goal. It was “bad luck” for the Spanish team to be eliminated. Is that the case?

Judging from the match between Morocco and Spain, Morocco’s pre match tactics against Spain were well prepared and clearly implemented.

Firmly defend, constantly distribute the ball to both sides of the court, and use the width of the court and the players’ personal abilities to find space through unremitting running and combatting the Spanish midfielders.

In this World Cup, the policy of “five person replacement” has become a booster for weaker teams to fight against stronger teams.

For a team that is on the defensive most of the time, the players who are good at running and fighting can run as hard as they can. When the players’ physical strength drops, they can put more aggressive fresh troops into the team and continue to create high-intensity competition conditions.

This method has been properly used in the tactics of the Japanese team led by Mori Baoyi, and Japan has also benefited from this and achieved good results in the first round of the group.

Spain, the rival team of Japan in the group match, cannot say that they do not understand, do not say clearly, let alone lack of preparation.

From the perspective of the Moroccan team, their players’ foot techniques are more delicate and faster than those of the Japanese team, but on the whole, they adopt a tactical layout similar to that of the Japanese team.

In the first half, Morocco’s ball control rate was only 31%, while Spain entered its own “comfort zone” among 69%.

However, in fact, this was just a good case for Morocco. In the end, the Spanish team passed limply, and a large number of cut pass routes fell into an endless one-to-one situation on the side and were exploded.

Although the final penalty shoot out was still lucky, the Spanish team was not wrongly defeated. The Moroccan team clearly studied the new rules and policies and the future development direction of world football.

After losing to Japan in the group game, many media asked Spain whether it deliberately avoided Brazil by losing, but the Spanish generals denied this.

Now they can declare that we will definitely not meet Brazil.

Ronaldo substitute, Portugal wins

In the other game, the Portuguese team was actively seeking change.

They put captain Cristiano Ronaldo, who has played in 31 competitions in a row, on the bench, and Gonzalo Ramos, who is 16 years younger than him, started to replace him.

Gonzalo Ramos. Figure/Visual China

The 21 year old young man, who played for Benfica, a Portuguese national team, completed the first hat trick of the World Cup. He scored six goals and five straight shots, scored three goals and had one assist.

When Gonzalo Ramos scored one goal after another, the camera on the sideline aimed at Ronaldo more than once, with obvious intention:

“Do you feel old? Do you feel the pressure from young people?”

The adjustment made Portugal lose the suspense of the match early. The Portuguese team played the fastest front court rhythm in this World Cup. Bruno Fernandez, Bernard Silva and Joo Felix made excellent front court cooperation, which reflected their strong personal ability.

The head coach of Portugal Sanchez clearly saw the change of style and the emergence of trend in this World Cup, and the simple, efficient and strong fast play method made the Portuguese team taste the sweetness.

Before the match, the Portuguese media carried out an investigation in their country: “Whether Ronaldo should be the first player in the World Cup knockout against Switzerland”. Surprisingly, 70% of Portuguese fans asked Ronaldo to play as a substitute in this vote. They think Ronaldo is playing a negative role in the starting lineup.

Sanchez did “conform to the public opinion” and put Ronaldo on the bench.

Although many fans of Ronaldo roast on social media that he didn’t respect Ronaldo when he chose to substitute Ronaldo in the knockout phase, from the perspective of the game results, it was precisely because of this adjustment that Portugal could smoothly enter the next round.

From the performance of the Swiss team in this World Cup, it is not a fish bellied team. The Swiss players led by Zaca have a very tenacious style. If the two sides fall into a tangle like Morocco and Spain, the final match is likely to be an accident. Therefore, as the coach of the national team, Sanchez does not care what the fans of Ronaldo think, he only cares that his country can continue to move forward.

Zhan Jun, the football commentator, said after the game, “Ronaldo is still the spiritual leader of the Portuguese team, but I’m afraid the main position will give way to Gonzalo Ramos, the brilliant new center.”

In fact, only when the team goes further can Ronaldo be more likely to touch the World Cup that he wants, while Portugal has proved its strength to fans all over the world.

“We have not only Ronaldo, but also outstanding young people.”

An era has passed

In the eyes of fans, the era of football is inseparable from the players.

First came the era of Pele, then the era of Maradona and Beckenbauer, then the era of Zidane and Ronaldo. The previous 20 years were the era of Ronaldo and Messi.

But in fact, the real football era is closely bound and presented by the players, the environment and the new football development mode.

In this World Cup, a new football development model has emerged quietly. The confrontation is more intense, the speed is faster, the width of the court is used more, the definition of the full back is more vague than before, and the role of the center as the fulcrum is stronger

And the foundation of supporting such a new way of playing is the need for a younger body, a stronger, more agile and more comprehensive “monster”.

The old generation of fans are fond of talking about the classical predecessor, the midfield master, who will continue to evolve in the next 5-10 years. The Belgian team’s midfield core, Debrouane, has completed the evolution at Manchester City Club in the English Premier League, making him more distinct from his predecessors, Harvey, Riquelme and Pirlo.

However, on the World Cup, Debroune was surrounded by Azar, who had been injured for several years, the elderly Wetsel and the spokesman of Happy Football Lukaku. Obviously, they were no longer suitable for the development model of football in the future. Debroune also saw through the mystery early and gave up his efforts to lead Belgium to achieve good results.

Japan, Ghana and Morocco are three typical teams striving for the future. They have adopted more advanced, more radical and more extreme tactics. They have no football history as long as that of the European powers, so they chose to “lead the way”.

However, traditional football powers such as the Netherlands and Portugal have also seen the development and changes of football in the future. The former has given up the “all attack and all defense” and “beautiful football” that has been shouted for decades, and has evolved into a new strategy of three central defenders with two wings. The latter has put the old captain Ronaldo on the bench in the knockout stage to gain flexibility in tactics and lineup, and finally won the victory.

Ronaldo came off the bench and failed to score. Figure/Visual China

For Cristiano Ronaldo, it is a pity that he cannot score in the knockout match and become the person who holds the game. But it is a must for a player of his level and identity to experience and face the changes of an era.

At Manchester United he was unwilling to accept, but at the national team he had to accept.

As the back of an era, Ronaldo has brought Portugal and Portuguese football enough memories. In the long run in the future, perhaps he will bid farewell to the game, but his spirit and efforts will still inspire generations of Portuguese athletes.

Portugal without Cristiano Ronaldo will be faster, more determined and more energetic. This is the future of Portugal. For the football world, fans will not forget Cristiano Ronaldo’s contribution to national and world football in the previous five World Cups because of Gonzalo Ramos’s three goals.

Players are not machines. Their bodies will eventually age. Younger players will always emerge and welcome their honor in a new era.

This is the necessity of sports. Just like Portuguese celebrities Figo and Rui Costa handed the baton to Ronaldo, it is time to hand it over.

Author: Hu Kefei