The referee blew his whistle.

The match officially began.

The cheers in Saint Petersburg Stadium erupted once more.

Croatia had possession.

Mandžukić passed the ball back to Rakitić from the kickoff.

Both teams quickly spread out across the field.

The center forward moved to the wing.

Perišić stayed in the center.

Modrić drifted to the right half of the field.

The ultimate form of the right half?

Rakitić didn't attempt a long pass to find the overlapping Atlético Madrid full-back, but instead, a ground pass sliced through the pressing net formed by Morata and David Silva.

"The Barcelona midfielder passed the ball to the Real Madrid midfielder."

"Beautiful."

"Stop the ball."

"A flick with the outside of his foot!"

"Modrić gets away from the pressing Iniesta."

"High-speed advance on the right!"

"As everyone knows, Modrić has been playing on the left side of the field for the past two seasons at the club, sacrificing himself for the overall team."

"The right half and his right foot in the national team are his true, ultimate form."

"Watch closely, Busquets seems to be hesitating whether to pressure or retreat..."

The Croatian midfield commander sprinted across the field.

His blond hair fluttered.

The spectators inadvertently noticed: this hexagonal midfielder, known as "Cruyff II," had such unique touches, steps, and postures in every touch of the ball while running.

Busquets didn't hesitate for too long.

Even though he hadn't faced Modrić's "right-half version" much in La Liga, the Barcelona defensive midfielder was still full of confidence.

Quickly adjusting his defensive positioning.

His brain worked at high speed.

'Modrić has many, many offensive direction choices on the right half, his dominant foot is his right, but his outside of the foot...'

'He will definitely pass the ball.'

'His habit, in local battles, is to definitely pass a safe ball.'

"Next, simplify the complex."

Accompanied by deafening cheers.

In Spain's half.

Modrić and Busquets met.

In a trance.

Saint Petersburg seemed to transform into Camp Nou, the Bernabéu.

In the instant of closing in.

Busquets realized he couldn't pressure or steal the ball.

He couldn't even compress Modrić's passing space.

Modrić flicked his blond hair.

His right foot used the outside of the foot to pull the ball away from his center of gravity.

Defying common sense.

Defying the laws of football.

The man with the best command of close-quarters space in this historical period.

"Slowing down, shifting sideways, instantly creating distance."

"Masterful style."

"Huh?"

"How did this ball get passed out?"

Snap!

The ultimate Modrić form with his right foot on the right half.

Before Azpilicueta could provide cover.

He sent a wonderfully precise inswinging long pass.

Mismatched bombing!

A highly concealed offensive transfer!

Busquets wanted to hold his head in frustration, he was wrong, he guessed wrong.

The national team version of Modrić is simply a completely different offensive midfielder compared to the club version.

The camera moved quickly, following the trajectory of the ball.

Left side!

Mandžukić firmly suppressed Carvajal.

Carvajal is a very rare, talented full-back.

When he first emerged, playing for Leverkusen, he could face the "Robbery" combination head-on, stunning Europe, surpassing Lahm and Alaba to win the Bundesliga's best full-back award.

He's practically the full-back version of Li Kang.

Even Neymar and Hazard, the ultimate explosive points of combat power, found it difficult to gain an advantage over him.

Unfortunately.

Mandžukić, who moved to the wing, was Carvajal's natural enemy.

Suppression.

Strong physical suppression.

At the landing point.

Mandžukić leaned against Carvajal with his back.

Completely unreasonable close-quarters combat.

"Beautiful!"

"Mandžukić unloads the ball."

"Rakitić moves up."

"The Croatian attack chain is simple yet elegant."

"Mismatch bombing - ferry - forward insertion - wall pass"

The national team's Rakitić and Barcelona's Rakitić are also two different people.

No longer the diligent, hardworking form.

But the imaginative, talented youth from Schalke 04 and Sevilla!

Clearly talented, why go and do the dirty work?

The Chichi-Chichi connection.

Continuous wall-pass cooperation.

Croatia tore apart Spain's defense.

Many years later, people's inherent impression of the Croatian team of undying veterans might be: parking the bus.

However, Croatia after the 2018 semi-final was synonymous with attack and elegance.

Even if the opponent is strong, they will attack.

On the sidelines.

Mijatović was stunned.

Del Bosque couldn't help but stand up.

Dalić's expression was calm, but his hands, hidden in his pockets, trembled non-stop.

"Perišić!"

"Shoot!"

"What is he doing?"

"Oh dear, even Lukaku, Sterling, and Benteke could have scored that..."

The ball didn't fly towards the goal, but rolled weakly to Ramos's feet.

The latter didn't clear the ball with a long kick.

Instead, he wanted to pass to Li Kang, who was retreating to support.

Very close distance.

Spain's transition from defense to attack began at this moment.

Piqué turned to observe and frantically poked his fingers, telling Ramos to pass to the wing.

Modrić was truly omnipresent.

He seemed to have guessed that Ramos would pass the ball to Li Kang.

No one knew how the Croatian midfielder got close to Li Kang in such a short moment.

Changing direction by stepping on the ground.

Attempting to block Li Kang's receiving position.

Li Kang stomped on the grass, squeezed away Modrić, raised his right foot high, and easily unloaded the ball.

No violent physical foul.

The two seemed to be 'bouncing' off each other in a local space.

"Are you dancing?"

"Please stop fighting!"

"Li Kang runs a small arc, opens up space, turns around, and flicks a pass with the outside of his right foot..."

"Blocked by Modrić's thigh."

"This block is crucial, giving his own backcourt enough time to complete their positioning!"

"Li Kang still controls the ball, that's the advantage of the control radius!"

"V-shaped ball pull!"

"Then turns around and passes to Busquets!"

"Too elegant!"

"Oh, Brozović, who came up to the top, successfully steals the ball!"

Busquets was really a bit distracted.

The rhythm of the strangulation was too fast.

One second it was an outside-of-the-foot pass to find David Silva.

The next second a V-shaped ball pull to find himself?

Short circuit, he didn't expect Li Kang to still be able to find a reasonable line so calmly under Modrić's close interference.

So that the moment he received the ball, he was heavily bumped by Brozović.

Instinctively falling to the ground "in pain."

Unexpectedly, the referee known as "the four blind men of the Premier League" - Clattenburg, actually had a pair of discerning eyes on the World Cup stage, implementing the concept of fair and impartial enforcement!

"Brozović didn't foul."

"Modrić reacted quickly, distancing himself from Li Kang."

"Receiving the ball."

"Another flick with the outside of his left foot, turns around and dribbles forward!"

"Li Kang accurately blocks the position, a head-on steal!"

"Modrić takes a step."

"Oh! The action is too fast, can't see clearly..."

"Neither of them was able to completely control the ball."

"Li Kang gained the advantage in this head-on confrontation and passed to Iniesta..."

"Wow! Rakitić stopped the ball before Iniesta."

"Another Croatian attack!"

Modrić moved laterally, opened up space, and raised his hand to ask Rakitić for the ball.

The fierce local strangulation didn't stop.

The forward line pulls the defense line.

Midfield fights midfield.

The audience was dumbfounded.

This kind of intense and gentle confrontation in the World Cup...is too rare.

There are no fouls that interrupt the game.

It's entirely a game of skill and overall awareness.

Of course, all of this is based on the premise that both sides' physical fitness has not declined.

Everything happened too fast.

Del Bosque was so angry that his beard trembled, why did that Busquets guy only get up now.

Rakitić's diagonal pass easily slipped past the side of the Barcelona defensive midfielder and passed to Modrić's feet.

"Modrić dribbles to the right diagonal of Spain's penalty area!"

"Azpilicueta is very experienced, retracting in advance."

"Modrić, raising his arm to open his body, is going to shoot!"

"It's a feint!"

"The Chelsea defender was tricked... can't take back his center of gravity under the blocking posture!"

"Modrić!"

"Crosses to the center!"

"Wow!"

"Li Kang's divine prediction! Successfully intercepted the ball!"

"Rakitić's counter-steal!"

"Can't steal it!"

"Signature ultra-long through pass, Spain's counterattack is coming!"

"..."

"Iniesta was successfully stolen again by Brozović, who came up to the top..."

"It can be seen that he wanted to make a breakaway move after receiving the ball, but he is old after all, the step frequency of changing direction is slow, and he can't handle this level of confrontation."

Livestream.

The screen was full of comments.

-

[Li Kang created several opportunities for transition offense in a very difficult static environment, but the teammates receiving the ball always have problems.]

-

[Brozović and Rakitić are not rookies, it is absolutely no problem to suppress the "old" Iniesta with their bodies!]

-

[The World Cup version of Modrić is really awesome, super form.]

-

[If Croatia continues to strangle like this a few more times, Spain will lose a layer of skin, it was too chaotic just now, almost all the midfielders on both sides were randomly rotating positions.]

The cheers from the four stands gradually subsided.

All the spectators were satisfied.

Relishing the fierce strangulation just now.

Croatia's backcourt slowed down the pace of the attack.

Modrić bent down, supported his knees with his hands, and gasped for breath.

This posture only lasted for a few seconds, and he started sprinting on the field again.

Li Kang adjusted his shin guards, and then, he entered a frantic running state from a walking state.

The spotlights in Saint Petersburg seemed to only shine on two people.

(End of this chapter)