Spain after Lamar’s dream goal against France in the final

The pulse of the crowd rises. In this stadium, it rarely rises as quickly as in the seventh minute of a match. It was the first match of the European Championship semi-final on Tuesday evening at the Munich Football Stadium, between France and Spain. On one side, the team in white jerseys is the team that has conceded the fewest goals (1). On the other side, in red jerseys, it is the team that has scored the most goals (10).

This duel is not only about the right to play in the final, but also about the question of what is the dominant style of play in European football: the French’s athletic, energetic game or the Spanish’s passing and positional game. It is almost a philosophical question of football: what is the meaning of the game? For the French and their coach, Didier Deschamps What matters is that they win. For the Spaniards and their coach, Luis de la Fuente, it also depends on how they win.

In the seventh minute, the hearts of the crowd raced as the player in the white jersey suddenly burst into the Spaniard’s half, the most magical player in the sport. You could feel the effect it had on people as soon as they said “Ah!” and “Oh!”, even though it was clear at that moment that even he, the super sprinter, would never catch the ball. That was it. Kylian MbappePossibly the most visible player in the world, tonight he was not wearing a mask for the first time since breaking his nose. Now is the end of evolution.

In the seventh minute he no longer received the ball, but in the ninth minute he received the ball. He rushed into the penalty area and crossed the penalty area accurately into the six-yard box, and his teammate Randall Chloë Muani All you have to do is push him towards the goal with your head. 2018 World Champions France 1-0, 2022 World Cup Runners-up France 1-0.

But tonight, the Espanyol team that dominated the competition between 2008 and 2012, becoming European champions and world champions and European champions again, quickly fought back. They proved that they had added a new element to their passing and positioning game. They won 2:1. They showed what they had already shown in their victory against Germany: they are state-of-the-art. “One step away. It’s incredible. We deserved to be in the final,” Dani Olmo said afterwards.

You can see in the stadium in Munich that the Spanish are already close to the French in style. They now have offensive players who can dominate not only with their minds, but also with their bodies. For example, wingers Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal, who are 21 and 16 years old respectively. In the 21st minute, Yamal did something that the Spanish don’t often do: shoot from more than 20 meters away. Inside the post, the goal. This made Yamal the youngest goal scorer in the history of the European Cup.

Then, in the 25th minute, his teammates added the next goal – this time they passed the ball in a more Spanish way until full-back Jesus Navas passed it through the middle. elm Here it comes. The midfielder’s pass was so clever that even Real Madrid’s specialist Aurélien Tchouaméni could beat it. Olmo’s shot followed so fierce that even the striding defender Jules Kounde couldn’t stop it.

In this match, Deschamps initially relied on his most athletic team, of which he was the playmaker. Antoine GriezmannIts most Spanish player was replaced by the fast Ousmane Dembélé. But he could not unsettle the Spaniards because they had a player who dictated the tempo of the game: Manchester City midfielder Rodri, recognizable by the way his shirt was tucked into his pants. He was the pacesetter of their game. You could also see in him the evolution of the Spaniards: he knew how to use his body, dribbling but also against the ball, while Rodri brought control. After the 9th minute, the Spaniards controlled the game.

The first few minutes of the second half were marked by no changes. Then Deschamps made his first attempt at resuscitation. He took over from Griezmann. Just like against Germany, the Spaniard retreated but did not collapse. The audience’s pulse was now in the calm zone (also because there were many German fans there, who became famous by booing the handball of Spanish left-back Marc Cucurella in the quarter-final). In the 79th minute, Deschamps made the last attempt at resuscitation: he sent forward Olivier Giroud in the penalty area.

But this wasn’t a Jiyuan moment, it was a Rodri moment. In the 81st minute, the Spaniards launched a counterattack. On the right, Williams ran alone. Although Rodri definitely should have seen him at that moment (and if we saw him, Rodri would have seen him), he decided to play the ball on the left. Williams was irritated on the right, but on the left, the Spaniards managed to keep the ball for nearly a minute. That’s game control.

It will only lose again. In the 86th minute, Mbappe showed that he could not be controlled. He rushed into the Spanish penalty area, broke through the last defender, and shot high over the goal. Then the pulse returned to the Spanish level.