Jagged Wings

Chapter 114 The King of the Qualifiers
Reyes, who won the championship, did not have time to relax and rest. After participating in the team's grand parade for winning the championship, he and Xiaofa rushed to Las Rozas football city in the suburbs of Madrid, Spain without stopping.

The other members of the Spanish national team have already gathered here for two weeks of training, and they are waiting for their teammates who participated in the Champions League to return to the team.Spain's 23-man roster for the World Cup has long been determined. In addition to Fafa and Reyes, Barcelona's Xavi, Iniesta and Puyol were successfully selected.

After they returned to the team, head coach Aragones could finally settle down and arrange the team's tactics.

This time Spain's roster is also very characteristic: the midfielder is too strong and the forwards are too few.

In the midfield, Vicente, who was constantly injured, was finally replaced by Joaquin, and Harvey returned to the team in time; forward Aragones only chose three forwards, Torres, Raul and Villa, Liverpool Morientes really disappointed Aragones.

The small number of forwards also shows Spain's plight from the side. The Spanish national team's road to the World Cup in Germany is not smooth, and the chronic illness of poor offensive power has always plagued this team known for its offense.They only won the second place in the group in the qualifiers, and only got the tickets to enter Germany through the play-offs.

Among the forwards, Raul is obviously the most famous, but Raul only scored 5 goals throughout the season, ranking fifth in the Real Madrid team, basically in a semi-desolate state.If it weren't for his banner role, Real Madrid might not even be able to play in the star-studded striker.

Besides Torres, although he has been famous for a long time, the "golden boy" Torres who played for Atletico Madrid in La Liga has never proved himself in international competitions. He failed to shine in the European Championship in 04, coupled with the limited level of his club, he didn't even have a chance to play in the UEFA Cup.Without the baptism of the competition, his skills can never go further, and he lacks enough persuasiveness to attract giants to spend a lot of money on him.

Of course, according to gossip, Arsenal have already targeted Torres. As long as Torres performs in the World Cup, Wenger will definitely take him to the new stadium.

在分组方面，西班牙同乌克兰、突尼斯以及沙特被分在了H组。按计划，西班牙将分别在5月27日、6月3日和6月7日与俄罗斯在阿尔巴塞特、同埃及在埃尔切、同克罗地亚在日内瓦进行三场热身赛。

And this is also the time to test Aragones' tactics. During the training, in addition to physical recovery, Aragones focused on tactical drills, changing from the original 4-4-2 to 4-3-3. The changes are mainly aimed at Captain Raul.

Although there are only three strikers, Aragones is not conservative.Because of Barcelona's success, he transplanted Barcelona's tactics and created a 4-3-3 attacking formation for Spain.Torres and Villa were strike partners, Iniesta, Reyes and Luis Garcia competed for a position on the left winger, and Raúl was placed in midfield.According to the characteristics of the Spanish players, the Spanish team is accustomed to adopting winger tactics. Joaquin, Reyes, Iniesta and others are all good players on the wing.

Because Raul is too old and speed is not his strong point, in Aragones' view, Raul's position in Real Madrid seems to be good, so he "transplanted" to the national team and asked Raul to take more balls and pass the ball in the midfield. Create opportunities for teammates and wait for the opportunity to plug in the goal.

In this case, Raul will compete with Harvey for a chance to play.

But the effect of the change was not good. In the first warm-up match, Spain, which sent three forwards, drew 0:0 with Russia. Russia came as Spain's imaginary enemy against Ukraine.

Reyes didn't play in this game, and Luis Garcia appeared on the left winger position, and his performance was average.Reyes got a chance to play in the second half and performed well.

On June 6, Spain defeated Egypt 3-2. This time Raul appeared on the left winger position. Reyes played in the second half and contributed a goal. Xiaofa served as the starting midfielder for two consecutive games.And Raul also broke his 0-day scoring drought, and it seems that his state has improved.

In the second half of the game, coach Aragones decisively switched to 3-5-2, replacing two attacking players, Reyes and Joaquin.

After two games, the Spanish media, who were still doubtful, temporarily agreed to Aragones' 4-3-3, and Spain's main lineup was basically determined.

From left to right on the back line are Peña, Pablo, Puyol, Ramos, the midfielders are Senna, Xavi, and Alonso, and the three forwards are Villa, Torres and Reyes.

Although he performed well, Reyes expressed his concerns about the team's formation to Aragones. He believed that the 433 tactics narrowed his range of activities and put him in the frontcourt.

In the last warm-up match, Aragones sent a lot of substitutes, so that these questions did not make sense.In the last game, Spain returned to their 4-4-2, with Reyes and Joaquin as the two wingers, Harvey and Alonso as the midfielder, and Villa and Raul as the forwards.

Such a lineup has increased the offensive strength, but weakened the defense instead. Spain finally relied on Torres who came off the bench to score a lore.

With a record of three wins, two wins and one tie, the Spanish team embarked on a flight to Leipzig, Germany, where they will challenge Ukraine, their first opponent in the group stage, on June 6.

The other three teams in this group are underdogs, and public opinion generally believes that Spain's promotion to the knockout round is not a problem.The most important thing for Spain to do is to surpass itself.

Spain has a nickname that they don't want others to mention: "King of the Qualifiers"!
Every World Cup, Spain is basically the favorite to win the championship. They have the most creative and talented players who can play gorgeous football.In each session of the World Cup qualifiers, Spain's performance is very dazzling.The last time the Matador Corps tasted failure in the world preliminaries dates back to March 1993, 3, when they lost 31:1 to Denmark in an away game. It's been 0 consecutive years without a defeat in a World Cup qualifier.

But once it came to the knockout round, Spain's performance was a mess. So far, their best result still dates back to the semi-finals in 1950!

What a shame!

You must know that Bangzi entered the semi-finals for the sixth time in the World Cup!

Therefore, Aragon Bes and the Spanish Football Association paid a lot of money. First of all, they hired the famous Dr. Zaikowski and Dr. Anselmo from the University of Massachusetts to serve as the team's team counselors; secondly, they adjusted A bonus program for the team.They will not get any bonuses in the group stage. The Spanish national team can only get bonuses after reaching the quarter-finals. The total amount is 1 million euros; the total bonus for entering the semifinals is 4 million euros; the total bonus for entering the final is 245 million euros; and the prize money for winning the championship is 324 million euros.

Aragones is extremely sensitive to details. Once captain Raul wore a yellow T-shirt to training, Aragones scolded him.Aragones hates yellow very much. He thinks yellow is the color of bad luck and will bring bad luck to the team.

Even when facing the media, Aragones vowed: "The king of the qualifiers? That's just the past! Now Spain is definitely more willful than the Germans! If the opponent is a wolf, then we are lions! Do you know the lions? Bite! What's the goal? Champion! Except for the champion, everything else is shit! It's shit!!"

Aragon Bess is extremely arrogant and authentic.

This point is what he made after listening to the team's psychological counselor Zajkowski.Zaykowski believes that the Spanish team is a flock of sheep, and they need a wolf to lead them, and this wolf is Aragones.Only when Aragones becomes tough will he give the players confidence and make them no longer timid.

This team is a very young team, Reyes is 21 years old, Torres is 22 years old, Villa is 25 years old, Fafa is 18 years old, Iniesta is 21 years old...

The average age of the Spanish team is less than 25 years old...

Such a young team should have a lot of passion for young people, right?

Sure enough, the "very passionate" Spain defeated Ukraine, which entered the World Cup for the first time, 4:0 in the first game.Despite the efforts of the nuclear warheads, Ukraine is still not enough for the young Spain.

In this game, Spain's formation was fixed at 4-3-3, Villa scored twice, Torres scored a goal, and Alonso also scored a goal.

Reyes also started the game, but he was a bit at a loss when he was placed on the forward line. His position was too high so that he faced his opponent with his back almost every time, and his speed advantage could not be fully utilized.

He knows that this is Spain's style of play to Barcelona's short pass and possession of the ball, but he always likes to retreat to get the ball, so that Villa and Torres have no targets to cooperate with and change positions in the frontcourt.

He performed poorly and was replaced by Luis Garcia in the second half.Luis Garcia, who has been under Benitez for two seasons, is obviously better than Reyes in tactical execution, and he is from Barcelona, ​​so he knows this tactic very well.

With him on the field, Spain's left attack has been revitalized, and his skills and running positions have also been fully integrated into this system.

After the game, the media suggested that Reyes be sidelined and replaced by Garcia.

And Reyes is not a person who likes to wait and be arranged. After the first game, he approached Aragones.

"Boss, I think there is something wrong with your tactics!"

"Oh?" Aragon Bess, who won the game, was in a good mood, so he gave Reyes a reason for the statement.

In fact, Aragones' personality is quite capricious. Sometimes he will make some harmless jokes with the players, and sometimes he will have a very tense relationship with the players.

But Reyes is not afraid of anything, and he feels that he should speak out when he has dissatisfaction.

"I think my position is too high, so it's hard to show my speed!"

"But if that's the case, won't this 4-3-3 formation cease to exist?" Aragones said patiently: "Once you retreat, there are two Villa and Reyes left on the front line." Si, we have less pressure in the frontcourt and leave a certain amount of space for the opponent's backcourt. This will allow the opponent to organize the attack calmly, and what we have to do is to kill the offense in its infancy!"

"The opponent's offense is better. If the opponent attacks aggressively, we can hit their back. Isn't it easier to get opportunities like that?"

Reyes is still trying to reason. He knows that Aragones is deliberately imitating Barcelona, ​​but the current Barcelona is not Guardiola's cosmos team, and Spain does not have Ronaldinho and Eto'o's powerful strikers. If you imitate it, you will draw a tiger instead of an anti-dog.

Without a strong attacker, such a "transplant" may show great power against weak teams, but it will be vulnerable against strong teams.

Having traveled through time, he knew that Spain, which had changed to 4-3-3, also repeated the tragedy of the "King of Qualifiers" in this cup. They were blocked from the semi-finals by France.

"Okay, I'll think about it!" Aragones pushed the glasses on the bridge of his nose: "Go back and rest, Antonio!"

(End of this chapter)