After seeing the goal, the head coach Enrique on the sidelines waved his arms excitedly, with a look of surprise on his face.
Because when he faced Greece National Team, when arranging corner kick tactics, he always asked for a tactical corner kick. Unexpectedly, Pedri took the corner kick directly. Just when he was a little unhappy, he discovered that the ball had gone in.
You never know which one will come first, a goal or an accident.
This wonderful goal by Li Mingyu completely broke the deadlock on the field.
Greece National Team can no longer shrink its defense now. The constant probing attacks will also give Spain National Team more space to attack.
In the 35th minute, Greece National Team was successfully intercepted by Ramos in the frontcourt. Ramos passed the ball directly to Busquets. Busquets turned around, avoided the opponent's pressing player, fell to the ground and swept the pass, passing the ball to the feet of Li Mingyu.
Spain National Team's quick counterattack.
Greece National Team's players started to chase back crazily.
Li Mingyu was on the left, turned on his speed button, and ran all the way.
The opponent's defenders were thrown away one after another. Facing Li Mingyu who was running at full speed, they had no good solution. They could only watch as Li Mingyu rushed towards their penalty area with the ball.
Morata and Ferran Torres have already outflanked the center and right wing. Greece National Team is already facing a 3-on-3 situation in his own half.
Morata accelerated and rushed out from the defender, but Li Mingyu did not choose to pass the ball, but continued to take a step inside.
However, Morata's sudden intervention caused some confusion among the opponent's defenders. Seeing that Li Mingyu had already prepared to shoot, the two defenders rushed towards Li Mingyu at the same time, trying to block his shooting angle.
However, Li Mingyu's foot fell quickly, and it turned out that the shooting action just now was just a feint.
Li Mingyu pushed gently with the arch of his right foot, and the football was pushed out from the gap between the two defenders.
Offside?
Greece National Team's defenders raised their hands in the air.
Indeed, Morata is in an offside position.
However, Li Mingyu's pass was not meant for him.
Ferran Torres appeared on the other side of the opponent's penalty area like a ghost.
That's right, Li Mingyu's pass was passed to him.
The three Greece defenders and the goalkeeper raised their hands at the same time, indicating that Ferran Torres was offside.
But the flag in the linesman's hand was pressed tightly against his thigh and he had no intention of raising it.
Of course, the referee will not give any indication.
The next thing was simple. Ferran Torres singled out the goalkeeper. Facing the attacking goalkeeper, Ferran Torres shot low. Vlachodimos had no choice but to watch the football roll from his side into the goal.
This goal made the Greece National Team players very dissatisfied. They rushed to the referee and linesman, hoping that the referee could give a reasonable explanation. This must be an offside kick!
The referee did not dare to make a judgment easily.
After the goal was scored, the referee did not make a gesture to indicate that the goal was scored, but kept communicating with the linesman and video assistant referee using a headset.
Seeing the Greece National Team players becoming more and more dissatisfied, the referee had no choice but to make a gesture and ask to see the video replay.
After Ferran Torres scored, he was about to celebrate passionately, but who knew that the referee did not give a valid sign that the goal was scored, which made him very uneasy.
Li Mingyu walked to his side and said comfortingly, "Don't worry, you were definitely not offside when I passed the ball!"
After hearing Li Mingyu's words, Ferran Torres's heart calmed down a little.
Morata came over and said with some dissatisfaction, "Li, I was in a better position for the ball just now. Why didn't you pass the ball?"
Li Mingyu is a little stunned. What I said is that if you are in a good position, I have to pass the ball to you. Who are you? Do you think you are Cristiano Ronaldo!
However, Li Mingyu still smiled and said, "Okay, I will pass the ball to you next time!"
Morata is considered an old man in Spain National Team, and Li Mingyu doesn't want to offend him.
Morata shook his hand with some displeasure on his face and looked back at the referee.
Although he was very unhappy that Li Mingyu didn't pass the ball just now, he still attached great importance to this goal. After all, this goal is still very crucial. In football matches, 1:0 and 2:0, these are two states.
The referee came to the sidelines and used video playback to observe the moment when Li Mingyu passed the ball just now from various angles.
No matter from which angle you look at it, at the moment when Li Mingyu passed the ball, the defensive player on the far end was lagging behind, resulting in the three defenders not being able to press on at the same time.
At that moment, Ferran Torres was half a body behind the last defensive player, which can be clearly seen from the video replay.
After two replays, the referee put down his headset and, with everyone's attention, made a gesture validating the goal.
Ferran Torres also hugged Li Mingyu excitedly. Although the verdict came a bit late, Ferran Torres was still very excited.
Enrique on the sidelines also let out a sigh of relief. This goal was so crucial. It not only put further psychological pressure on Greece National Team, but also made his formation more comfortable.
Anastasiadis, the head coach of Greece National Team on the other side, frowned. The Spain National Team in front of him was completely different from the Spain National Team that was tied with him half a year ago.
His eyes fell on the young man surrounded in the middle.
No. 24, Li Mingyu.
In the just goal, Li Mingyu first connected with two people on the wing, then cut inside and made a fake shot, making Greece National Team's defense all focus on him. Then he made a hidden through ball to help Ferran Torres go to the meeting alone and complete the goal.
From running at high speed, to shaking in front of the penalty area, to passing the ball, this kind of calm judgment is not like a young man who has just turned 19, but like an old player who has been in the football world for many years.
After the kick-off, Greece National Team's attack became more fierce, but Spain National Team did not retreat across the board, but started a fierce fight near the midfield.
The players of Greece National Team continued to use their physical advantages to engage in close combat with Spain National Team in the midfield.
Time ran out quickly, and neither side made any achievements in the first half of the game.
With the referee's whistle, the first half of the game ended.
In Greece National Team's home court Karaiskakis Stadium, Spain National Team temporarily leads Greece National Team by two goals.
During the halftime break, head coach Enrique emphatically praised Li Mingyu's performance in the first half.
Today's Li Mingyu is no longer as shy as when he first debuted.
Since we already had a two-goal lead in the first half, Enrique made some slight adjustments to the team's tactics in the second half.
"Li, you return to the attacking midfielder position. I'll leave the organization of the offense in the second half to you. Don't let Greece National Team get a chance in the midfield!"
Enrique warned.
Li Mingyu nodded and said, "Don't worry, sir, leave it to me!"
The fifteen-minute break passed in an instant, and the players from both sides returned to the court again.
Greece National Team fans also continued to make noise after taking a break.
Unlike the Spain players who looked so relaxed, the Greece National Team players all looked solemn. The importance of this game is self-evident.
If Spain National Team is allowed to take away three points at his home court, it will basically be difficult for Greece National Team to qualify in this group, and even the chance to qualify for the knockout round in second place may not be available.
Therefore, at the beginning of the second half, Greece National Team's players launched a crazy attack on Spain's half.
However, Spain's midfield thickness is not so easy to break through.
When defending, the speed of Li Mingyu is also very oppressive to Greece National Team. It often requires the opponent's players to quickly kick the ball, which increases the difficulty and accuracy of their shots.
Sure enough, during a high-speed back-and-forth press between two Greece National Team players by Li Mingyu, one of the Greece National Team players faced Li Mingyu's high-speed defense. The passing ball route deviated from its proper trajectory and was directly intercepted by Busquets.
Seeing this scene, Li Mingyu immediately started running and beckoned for the ball.
Busquets and Li Mingyu have been working together for half a year, and their trust in Li Mingyu is already very high.
As soon as Li Mingyu asked for the ball, Busquets immediately used the arch of his foot to push the ball to Li Mingyu's feet.
After Li Mingyu caught the ball, he quickly turned around and found that Morata had already started to speed in the frontcourt and started running towards the opponent's penalty area.
The position where Li Mingyu caught the ball was in his own half, not yet in the center circle, and about forty or fifty meters away from Morata.
Pedri on the other side is ready to come over to meet Li Mingyu.
But Li Mingyu found that Morata was in a very good position, and the opponent's defender did not make any defensive moves against him.
So, Li Mingyu flicked the ball with his right foot, and then kicked it on the right side of the football.
I saw the football flying in the direction of Morata at high speed with a strong arc.
With this ball, even Morata never expected that Li Mingyu would make such a wonderful pass from that position.
"Xabi Alonso's precise long pass is well deserved."
This is the ability that Li Mingyu gained when visiting Real Sociedad's home court Anoeta Stadium last season.
The ball passed over the opponent's central defender's head like a precise guide, and fell down as Morata rushed into the penalty area.
Morata used his chest to lightly pad the ball and removed the football very comfortably. He couldn't help feeling refreshed. Such a pass was so comfortable.
As the main center forward of Juventus, when faced with such a one-on-one ball, he was very calm and volleyed directly through the opponent's goal.
0:3, Spain National Team, who is the guest of Karaiskakis Stadium, is already three goals ahead of Greece National Team.
Morata was very excited after scoring the goal. He rushed to the stands and started celebrating crazily.
But what made him a little embarrassed was that no teammates celebrated with him.
The first is because he ran too fast. There were no Spain players in the frontcourt. There was only one Ferran Torres not far from him. But after seeing the goal, Ferran Torres turned around and ran back to the center circle.
Secondly, all Spain players gathered around the midfield and hugged Li Mingyu with his hands raised high.
After all, anyone with a discerning eye can see that Li Mingyu owes most of the credit for this ball.
Morata also ran back a little embarrassed, high-fived Li Mingyu, and said, "Li, this ball was passed beautifully!"
Although Morata is quite arrogant, he also knows very well how high the quality of Li Mingyu's passing is.
Any forward player dreams of working with such a passer.
Who doesn't like eating cakes?
As soon as the second half started, in less than five minutes, Greece National Team suffered another heavy blow.
This goal was a fatal blow to Greece National Team.
A somewhat impatient Greece National Team started to play long passes again.
However, after Enrique scored this goal, he quickly adjusted his tactics and put Morata alone in the frontcourt, while everyone else returned to their own half to participate in defense.
Spain National Team was already good at defending, but after increasing the thickness of its defense, Greece National Team's aerial attack was basically ineffective.
What's more, Greece National Team saw Li Mingyu's fatal long pass just now, which also had a psychological shadow on him. There were two defensive players standing not far from Morata, fearing that the opponent would counterattack again.
At the 70th minute, the coaches of both sides began to mobilize their troops.
Greece National Team replaced a defender and replaced him with high center Mitroglou, ready to fight to the death.
Enrique replaced Ferran Torres and replaced Manchester City's midfielder Rodrygo, partnering with Busquets as a double midfielder, making Spain's defense even more airtight.
Morata, who had scored one goal, was also put on the bench by Enrique, and was replaced by young player Brian Hill from Sevilla. We hope to use this young player's impact to continue to suppress Greece National Team's defense.
However, it is obvious that Greece National Team didn't know whether he underestimated Brian Hill or whether he needed to press forward aggressively. After Brian Hill came on the court, the opponent only had one defensive player left.
Greece National Team basically pressed forward, leaving only center back Papadopoulos beside Brian Hill.
Greece National Team's crazy attack really put Spain National Team in a lot of trouble. Although Spain National Team has the numerical advantage in the penalty area, defending high-altitude balls has never been Spain National Team's advantage.
In the 75th minute, Greece National Team won the fifth corner kick of the second half.