Hierro and the Spanish coaching staff had guessed that Twain would use rude fouls to deal with a technical team like Spain, but they did not expect to see such a completely unfamiliar England team in front of them …
Not to mention them, even the England fans and commentators had to rub their eyes. They could not confirm that the eleven players in front of them in white jerseys and dark blue shorts represented England.
When the Spanish team was ready to kick off, the England players stood in their half of the field. The formation was clearly 352. This surprised many people who were familiar with England, because in their memory, England rarely used their traditional 4-4-2 formation. If they were knowledgeable and had a good memory, they would remember that Venables had made a similar adjustment in the European Championship in England 20 years ago. England versus Scotland, and Gascoigne scored that classic goal.
But other than that, they could not think of any other examples.
This change of formation was completely unexpected to the Spanish people — who would have the time to study the example of the game 20 years ago … Their pre-game preparations were all aimed at England's 4-4-2 formation. That England team had four defenders, and there was a big difference between four defenders and three defenders. And that England team definitely did not have a "attacking midfielder" … Now, Gerrard was standing in the position of the attacking midfielder.
The Spanish players on the field were surprised. Ingra's change made them a little overwhelmed … If they continued to follow the pre-game deployment, they would leave a lot of gaps for England. But if they wanted to change, how would they change?
What should they do?
The Spanish players looked at each other and found the same question in each other's eyes.
Hierro knew that it was not the time to hesitate. Although he was not clear what Tony Twain's intention was to change the formation, he had to take precautions first. He walked to the sidelines and shouted to his men, "Be careful of their Gerrard! Gerrard! "
Hierro's idea was simple. Since Gerrard appeared in the position of the attacking midfielder, then England's offense must be organized by him. He had done a similar job at Liverpool, which was not unfamiliar to Gerrard.
Since the manager asked him to keep an eye on Gerrard, Ignacio Camacho, the only defensive midfielder in the team, was naturally duty-bound to keep an eye on him.
Twain saw the change in the Spanish team off the field and he laughed.
This was exactly what he wanted to see.
Gerrard then tried to organize the attack several times, but under Camacho's tight marking, he did not pass any threatening passes. This convinced Camacho and Hierro that Gerrard was the playmaker of the England team.
In the first 15 minutes of the game, George Wood focused on defense and led his teammates to block Spain's attacks. He mainly targeted Fàbregas. Fifteen minutes into the match, he had already been whistled for two fouls. Fortunately, he had not received a yellow card yet. In fact, Tang En did not want him to foul so frequently, because George Wood had a yellow card on him. If he were to get a yellow card again in this game, even if England could eliminate Spain, Wood would be absent from the finals. This was definitely something that Twain did not want to see. He hoped that his team would be able to break into the finals, and he also hoped that George Wood would not be absent.
For this game, Spain arranged for a single striker. Bojan was at the front, while Torres was injured. In order to ensure that he could play in the final, the Spanish coaching staff decided to let him sit on the bench. The man behind Bojan was Iniesta, and further back were Fàbregas and Camacho. The two flanks were Largo on the left and David Silva on the right. The left back was Arbeloa, the right back was Sergio Ramos, and the two center backs were Piqué and Raúl Albiol. The goalkeeper was Asenjo.
Except for Torres, who was injured and could not play, this was Spain's strongest lineup at the moment.
Hierro's hard work in Spain's dual-core tactics finally paid off in this competition. Both Fàbregas and Iniesta could organize the attack, but the two players were different. Iniesta dribbled well, and his short passes and crosses were sharp. The closer he got to the penalty area, the greater the threat he posed. Fàbregas, on the other hand, was good at controlling the pace and was responsible for the overall deployment from the back.
In this way, even if one of them was frozen by the opponent's man marking, Spain's attack would not be too affected.
This was the current situation. After Fàbregas was frozen by Wood's close defense, the flag of organizing the attack was immediately handed over to Iniesta.
In this game, Twain did not stick to the "zone defense" tactics he had used before, but switched to "man marking." Wood stared at Fàbregas, while Michael Johnson's target was Iniesta. This distribution was also made after fully considering the characteristics of the players on both sides. Fàbregas and George Wood had been opponents in the Premier League for a long time and were very familiar with each other. No one was more suitable than him to defend against the Gunners captain. Iniesta was a little older, physically weak and prone to injury. It was more suitable to let the younger and more durable Johnson to entangle the opponent.
As for the two flanks … From the start of the game until now, Rooney and Agbonlahor were more like two full backs than side midfielders. At the same time, there were three strong center backs in the penalty area, making it difficult for Spain to penetrate the short passes that they were good at.
After withstanding the Spanish team's offensive for the first fifteen minutes, England began to brew a counterattack.
After Michael Johnson and John Terry teamed up to intercept Iniesta's pass, Terry did not give the football to the "attacking midfielder" Gerrard, who had retreated to receive, but to the "defensive midfielder" George Wood, who had already rushed forward.
With such a mismatch between Gerrard and Wood, the football did not change hands and was still at Wood's feet. Gerrard saw that after Wood received the ball, he also turned and ran forward. At the same time, Rooney and Agbonlahor both changed from "full backs" to "wingers" who rushed forward!
Camacho was hesitating whether to pounce on George Wood, who had the ball, or his original target, Gerrard. He quickly made a choice — to release the player with the ball first.
But when he pounced on Wood, the running Wood passed the football to Gerrard, who was running side by side with him. Wood, who had completed the passing task, slowed down. Gerrard overtook and passed the football to Rooney, who cut inside from the flank.
The Spanish defenders were marking the suddenly active Mitchell and Vaughan, so that Rooney and Agbonlahor, who plugged in from the back, had a large amount of free space in front of them.
After Rooney received the football, he cut inside and did not hesitate. He directly raised his leg to shoot from outside the penalty area! Twain's intention was to let him, who was good with his right foot, play on the left flank — cut inside and shoot!
Rooney's powerful long shot was eventually pounced on by Asenjo, and England got a corner kick.
England's corner kick was not directly sent out, but used a tactic. Gerrard passed the football to Johnson, who came up to receive him, and Johnson passed it to George Wood, who was waiting in the middle. After receiving the ball, Wood adjusted and raised his leg to shoot from about thirty meters away from the goal. This time the ball went straight over the crossbar and flew into the stands behind the goal.
"England has no way to penetrate deep into our penalty area and can only rely on long shots to threaten the goal guarded by Asenjo! Unfortunately, the aim is not good! "The Spanish commentator optimistically said that their defense was not worrisome.
Many Spanish fans also held this view. From the looks of the situation, it was clear that Spain had the advantage. Their ball possession rate was far ahead of England, and they played better than England.
They believed that if they continued to play like this, it was only a matter of time before the Spanish team scored. Victory was not a problem at all.
Some of the England fans who did not know the truth were worried. The England team in front of them was too unfamiliar. Of course, they knew that this was the strategy that Twain came up with to deal with Spain, but this England team had never played 352 before. The last-minute change of formation did not surprise the opponent, but left their own people at a loss first …
Would this happen?
※ ※ ※
Spain made a comeback and launched another attack. This time it was still Iniesta who took the ball and organized. It was clear that the Spanish teammates had passed the ball to him.
Michael Johnson's defense against Iniesta was deeply imparted by those old foxes … not with his feet first, but with his hands first. He grabbed Iniesta's shoulder, then stepped up and leaned on him, using his body to press against the other side so that Iniesta could not easily turn around. Then he kept kicking forward with his feet from behind. If he kicked the football, he would intercept the ball successfully. If he kicked the ankle, he would make Iniesta suffer a little. Knowing that he knew the English's strength, he would make his ankle ache the next time he received the ball.
But this time Johnson miscalculated. He stretched out his foot to intercept the ball, but it was taken advantage of by Iniesta, who turned around and poked the ball away. When Iniesta, who quickly dodged Johnson in a small area, was about to release the ball into the penalty area, England's rear defensive line suddenly as a whole. There was no one to command, but they clearly had a tacit understanding. The three center backs took a step forward neatly. It was this step that made Bojan, who was at the front, offside.
Iniesta passed the ball over and the whistle sounded.
The people in the England technical area below wiped their sweat — it was too dangerous. This was not arranged in advance. It was entirely the judgment of the three defenders at that moment. Fortunately, their thoughts were highly unified at this moment. Otherwise, if one of them had been a step slower, Bojan would have attacked them alone and they would have faced the goalkeeper, Joe Hart.
Although he escaped, Terry still criticized Johnson and told him not to pounce too hard in the first defensive move and to leave some leeway for his follow-up actions.
Johnson nodded and humbly accepted the words of his senior's experience.
Terry saw the immaturity in Johnson's defense, but Wood saw something else — Spain would see that Johnson was the weakness of the two defensive midfielders from this attack, and they would definitely take advantage of this with Iniesta as the main attack direction. The best solution was definitely not to shrink in the backfield and lay out a heavy force to wait for the opponent to attack, but to attack and look for a chance to score!
It was time to tear off the disguise.
The England team's backfield free kick was not directly taken to the front field, but passed to Wood, who retreated to receive.
As Wood was a defensive midfielder, there was no one to mark him on the Spanish side. Even Fàbregas could only pay a little attention and could not really run up. Fàbregas was also a defensive midfielder. There was a distance of more than ten meters between the two men. What about the gap behind him if he ran up?
In fact, Twain's change was precisely because he considered that it would be difficult for Spain to immediately defend against Wood. Otherwise, why did he not let Wood's position be more advanced? From a defensive midfielder to a central midfielder, wouldn't he be closer to the Spanish penalty area and more threatening?
Letting Wood play as a defensive midfielder responsible for organizing the attack was taking into account that he had a good view of the overall situation and vision, as well as an excellent long pass. Moreover, he would not attract attention and no one would interfere, making him suitable to be an organizer.
Seeing that no one came up to grab his ball, Wood calmly passed the football to Agbonlahor on the sidelines, and then he himself plugged forward, ready to receive. Agbonlahor's breakthrough encountered difficulties, and he quickly passed the football to Wood, who came up to receive him. At this time, Fàbregas had a chance to come up and play one-on-one with Wood. Unfortunately, Fàbregas was not good at defense. Wood squeezed him behind with his body and then ran on the left side. As he ran, he suddenly passed a diagonal straight pass. This time, it was Rooney who received the ball again.
Exactly like the last time, because Mitchell and Vaughan showed the intention to receive the pass, the Spanish defenders were pressed in the penalty area and did not dare to act rashly. Rooney was temporarily unmarked.
Twain's task for Rooney in this game was to shoot and score. Passing assists were put in second place. Since there was no one to mark him now, Rooney, as the striker, naturally chose to come by himself.
With a feint, he deceived the full-back, Sergio Ramos, who rushed up. Then, Rooney pulled the football and rushed past Ramos into the penalty area.
Rushing into the penalty area, Rooney no longer hesitated. He swung his right leg and shot.
The football flew straight to the far corner of the goal. Asenjo reacted quickly. He fell to the ground and pounced to his right. With a stretch of his long hand, he poked the football out.
"A beautiful save!!" The Spanish commentator shouted. Such a save made the Spaniards' blood boil. "It's practically comparable to Banksy's save!"
The Spanish fans were just about to start cheering when someone came to disrupt their good show.
"Aaron Mitchell!" John Mortensen shouted.
Piqué held on tightly to the tall Nottingham Forest center forward. He was a step slower in his start and could only use his body to press down on his opponent. Mitchell was determined to get the ball. How could Piqué be able to press him down? While Mitchell lost his balance, he swung his leg and swept the football. This time, it seemed like it would definitely go in!
But!
With a "clang", the football hit the goalpost and bounced back.
The hearts of the Spaniards almost stopped beating at this moment. Just when they thought they had escaped the disaster again and were ready to breathe a sigh of relief, their hearts were raised again.
James Vaughan, who had been ignored in the series of offensive shots just now, appeared in front of the ball's landing point. He swung his leg and was ready to volley directly!
Albiol flew over, intending to use his body to block the opponent's shot.
The football fell, and Vaughan swung his leg.
The football shot between Albiol's legs!
Asenjo had already gotten up from the ground. His reaction was considered fast, but the direction Vaughan shot was completely opposite to the direction he got up.
This time, he could only watch the football stick to the turf, pass through Albiol's legs, and then drill into the net.
"The ball's in! The ball's in! Three consecutive shots, and the ball's finally in! "
The England fans jumped up from their seats with their hands raised. Their team was in the lead in the 27th minute of the game!
Twain's change was effective. Spain was uncomfortable with such an England team. Their city gate was exposed to England's heavy artillery and finally fell under the continuous bombardment.
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