Crashing in seconds, Croatia pays a heavy price for its rash advance! The Golden Generation will come to an end

Those things about Chinese football

2024-06-25 05:53Posted in Jiangsu Sports Creators

The players who are called the golden generation often say goodbye to the stage of history with a lost ending.

For example, Portugal in '02, the Czech Republic in '06, Belgium in '22, and now it's the turn of the Croatian generation of players.

As Zaccagni's shot into the far corner was celebrated by the Italians hugging and crying, the history of Croatia's golden generation was brought to an end.

Even if they still have a chance of finishing third in the group, that hope is only theoretical. Croatia, who have already finished third in three groups and have only two points on goal difference or -3, will have to meet the four conditions of England's big win over Slovenia, Denmark beating Serbia or Serbia beating Denmark, Turkey beating the Czech Republic and Portugal beating Georgia at the same time, and they can already pack their bags and go on holiday if they want to qualify.

Looking back at the first and second halves of this game, it can be said that it did not feel like a game at all. If you didn't watch the first half, then congratulations, you didn't waste 45 minutes. In the first half of the game, it can be summed up in one sentence - classic car derby, there must be a return pass within three feet.

It looked like Croatia had 60 per cent possession in the first half, but apart from Sučić's long-range shot in the opening period, Donnarumma didn't even get tested. Because for most of the first half, Croatia's passing was dominated by central and backfield transmission, and they struggled to play forward. Italy, on the other hand, did get a number of counter-attacking opportunities in the first half; But the current Italian offensive line is the standard Liao Hua as the vanguard; After Scamacca was taken out of the starting line-up, the Italians couldn't even find a player who had scored in double figures in a single season. It can be said that apart from Bastoni's header, Livakovic was also untested in the first half.

With a win and a draw for Italy securing second place in the group, both sides are grinding on the pitch, which is what the Italians want to see. This is doomed, and Croatia must change first in the second half.

But something that ordinary fans can figure out, Spalletti's presence has been noticeably slow. Italian football, known for its reinforced concrete defence, also told the world on this night that apart from Donnarumma, who is indeed world-class, their defensive line is also abstract.

Frattesi, who came on as a substitute in the second half, came up to give a point, and when Modric's penalty was saved by Donnarumma, the Italians' nerves had not yet tightened, and Italy's extremely abstract defense, when Donnarumma saved Boudimir's header, no one was marking Modric who made up the shot.

When Dalic envisioned a sudden force in the second half, it worked with the "cooperation" of the Italian players, and the Croatian classic car did not have the physical ability to suppress the opponent for a long time, and they chose to take the initiative to recover the ball after conceding it. The signal for this change is actually very clear – they do not believe that Italy have the ability to break through a dense defence, and they are keen to show the world that Leipzig is not the end of this generation.

And for most of the second half, Italy's attack did exactly as the Croatian had envisioned.

Italy, who were trying to strengthen their crosses, replaced Dimarco, who had the best crosses. So in the last half hour, the Italian team's offensive looked very strange, with a double center forward, and there was no shortage of outflanking points in the middle, but the quality of the crosses was not ideal.

If you want to penetrate the ground, you don't have the ability to do this with these few pieces of material in Italy.

Finally, Chiesa Jr. has a strong burst on the wing to create a threat, as long as someone outflanks him at the back point, it is an empty goal; But when it came time to fight for their lives, the Italian team did not have enough people in the opponent's penalty area.

This Italian team, which has no long-range shots, no high-quality crosses on the wings, and does not have the ability to penetrate into the penalty area, breaks the dense defense, and the trick that really works is that Bastoni goes up and smashes it in the set-piece attack. But Bastoni is a central defender, and when a team's most threatening weapon in attack is their central defender, you even have to wonder what the bald head is usually leading the team to practice!

However, eight minutes of stoppage time left enough suspense for the game; And in the last eight minutes, when the Italians pressed heavily and left a large space behind them, the Croatian also saw the suspense of completely killing the game. However, when the Croatians began to fantasize about 2-0 and the defence was not so tight, they paid a heavy price for their rashness.

When Zaccagni scored, the camera showed Spalletti celebrating wildly and Modric slumped on the bench; The Croats had to accept an extremely bitter ending.

Even if Modric has confirmed that he will not retire from the Croatian national team, he will still play in the 2026 World Cup. But when we see that Croatia has a group of players who run less than Modric and have a slower pace than Modric, this team that has reached the top three of the World Cup twice in the past 6 years must have a big change!

The glorious years of this generation of players have come to an end! It's just that for a small country with a population of only 4 million, it is not easy to produce a generation of players; How many years will they have to wait for the next golden generation?

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