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One hour before kickoff, the lineups for both teams were announced.
As expected, the Czech Republic placed Tomáš Rosický at attacking midfielder, making their intention clear that they wanted to control the match through playmaking in advanced areas.
The formation was 4-2-3-1.
The players to watch were Tomáš Rosický and Petr Čech in goal.
Other than that, there was not really much else that needed special attention.
Spain, by contrast, were stacked with quality in every position.
[Spain line up in a 4-3-3. Iker Casillas starts in goal, with Jordi Alba, Ramos, Piqué, and Arbeloa in defense. They have gone with their strongest possible side.]
[The idea is probably to secure one win in the first match, then approach the remaining two with a bit more comfort. And the midfield is no joke either.]
Spain's midfield trio was Xabi Alonso, Busquets, and Xavi.
[It looks like they intend to play a passing game.]
[Exactly. They have brought together two masters of passing.]
Soon, the match began.
The Czech Republic had the kickoff and moved the ball wide, stretching their shape.
Rosický, the Czech captain and the heart of the side, gave instructions to his teammates.
"We have to target the middle. Move them first from side to side!"
"Right, we need to separate Xabi Alonso and Xavi. Then we go after Busquets!"
Those were the instructions of Czech manager Cesare Prandelli.
The idea was that Xabi Alonso was weak under pressure, and Xavi was now a veteran, so Spain's midfield defending might be vulnerable.
It was something many experts had already worried about before kickoff.
If the Czech Republic spread the pitch wide and then had Rosický attack through the center, there were doubts over whether Busquets alone could cover that much space.
But Spain had no problems at all.
[Ball recovery! Gerard Piqué cuts out Rosický's forward pass!]
Whenever Busquets looked overloaded on his own, Gerard Piqué quickly stepped into the third line and produced aggressive defensive interventions.
That gave Busquets breathing room, and he kept taking up good positions behind him, shutting down Rosický's playmaking.
[It feels like watching a single organism. The players' movement is flowing together like water.]
[Exactly. Their organization is on a completely different level from what they showed in the last international break.]
Spain's players moved freely while still never allowing gaps to open up.
And just like that, Spain took control of midfield again.
Xabi Alonso and Xavi exchanged passes from deep and built from the back at speed.
That was more than enough to throw the Czech double pivot into confusion.
Then Spain's front three really began to move.
[Andrés Iniesta, starting on the left wing, cuts in from wide!]
[Xavi Hernández's pass goes that way!]
Thwack!
Just as expected.
Even though they now played for different clubs, Iniesta and Xavi Hernández still showed perfect chemistry and combined with seamless link-up play.
And the combination did not stop there.
After the Barcelona line, now came the Manchester City line.
Having received Xavi's pass, Iniesta laid it short into Ho-young, the central striker, and made a run into the box.
[Iniesta looks for the one-two!]
Tap.
Near the penalty area.
To anyone watching, it looked like a simple one-two to break the line.
But Ho-young did not return the pass to Iniesta.
Instead, he slipped it deep toward David Silva, who had been waiting on the right touchline, suddenly opening an unexpected route of attack.
And who were Ho-young and Silva, if not two players who could read each other's intentions just by looking into each other's eyes?
The return pass came immediately.
Thwaaack!
[David Silva's low cross, straight toward Ho-young!]
A sharp low ball delivered right to Ho-young's feet.
The moment it arrived, the Czech defense swarmed toward him like a hive of bees.
Then it happened.
Tap!
The instant Ho-young received it, he flicked the ball slightly upward.
Exactly six centimeters.
The ball rose six centimeters off the tip of his boot and caused defender Tomáš Sivok to swipe at thin air.
Ho-young set himself to shoot.
He leaned his body sideways and completed his preparation to strike the ball in the air.
But the opposition were no pushovers either.
Centre-back Roman Hubník instantly lifted his leg and blocked the shooting angle.
That alone should have been enough to stop the shot.
The variable, however, was Ho-young's absurd physical ability.
Whiik!
"...!!"
Ho-young twisted half a turn in midair with such force it felt as if every organ inside his body might be torn out of place.
L-grade physical talents he had coveted from George Weah and Ruud Gullit.
And a move made possible by [Transcendent Physicality (TS+2)], the talent that had integrated them.
The unbelievable play did not stop there.
Tap, tooook!
Turning in the air, Ho-young also spun the ball to the left at the same time.
It was a dazzling piece of play born from [Textbook Ball Trapping (L)], a talent he had coveted from Marco van Basten, the very model of the striker and master of first touch.
And also from [Transcendent Ball Sense (TS+3)], which had integrated the talents of other legendary players as well.
Because of that, the ball disappeared from Roman Hubník's line of sight, and a perfect shooting chance opened up.
And the finish was perfect.
Boom!
[Transcendent Shooting (TS+3)], a talent integrated with Gerd Müller's [Lightning Shot (L)].
Ho-young shook the net with a sensational overhead kick.
Rustle!
[Goooooooal!]
[Ho-young buries it! What a sensational finish!!]
"Hoo!"
Ho-young ran to the corner and celebrated.
Doing it in a Spain national team shirt felt different again.
Iniesta and David Silva soon came over to celebrate the goal with him.
[The link-up play from the Barcelona line into the Manchester City line was extremely impressive.]
[That was one thing, but there was also an incredibly delicate touch in the shooting sequence. Let's look at it again.]
As the slow-motion replay appeared on the giant screen, cheers erupted all over the stadium.
The play had happened so fast the first time that no one had properly seen it, but now that everyone could study Ho-young's movement in detail, the reaction was inevitable.
"What the hell was that?"
"That is possible in the air?"
Everyone had the same reaction to something that had taken only a few seconds.
[Now we understand why Sivok and Hubník looked like training cones and could do nothing. In reality, Ho-young made it happen in that tiny moment.]
Ho-young's relentless play continued.
Around the 20th minute of the first half.
Once the goal had opened up the game, the Manchester City line exploded into life and gave Ho-young wings.
He combined brilliantly with Iniesta and David Silva, then soon struck again.
Rustle!
[Goooooooal! Ho-young scores his second!]
"Hoo!"
No matter how desperately the Czech Republic tried to stop them, it meant nothing.
Once Spain had decided they were going to score, that was the end of it.
Del Bosque's Spain showed organization and completeness on a level comparable to Manchester City and tore the Czech Republic apart before half-time.
Only near the end of the first half did the Czech Republic finally survive by setting two deep defensive lines and somehow blocking further damage.
2-0.
Spain ended the first half in good spirits, and they carried that mood straight into the dressing room.
"Hahaha. They are nothing special!"
"Feels like we could score two more. They have already lost their will."
It was a party atmosphere.
And it was not just limited to this match.
Through this game, they had gained confidence in how far they could go in this tournament.
Then Del Bosque entered the dressing room and said briefly,
"Well done. Keep doing well."
That was all he had to say.
They had done more than enough so far, and he had no doubt they would continue to do so.
Ho-young's crazed brilliance continued in the second half.
Reading the buildup from deep and the playmaking on the flanks in advanced areas without missing a thing, he kept creating perfect chances one after another.
He was getting full value out of [Precise Build-Up Reading (L)], the talent he had coveted from Matthäus.
[Ho-young does not seem to get tired. He keeps turning Spain's attacking situations all over the pitch into clear chances.]
[And to be fair, Spain's overall work rate has not actually been that high. They are creating a good flow while using only the minimum necessary energy.]
Once the Czech Republic increased the number of defenders and completely locked down the goal, Spain did not play into their hands and fully cut out any chance of a counterattack.
For a side that needed to conserve energy to win the tournament, victory mattered more than chasing extra goals.
Then, around the 80th minute, the Czechs finally began to creep forward, unable to resist any longer.
[Busquets with the tackle! Ramos takes it safely!]
[The pass goes straight to Fàbregas!]
At that moment, Fàbregas' eyes sharpened.
His forward pass flew toward Ho-young immediately after.
Thwaaack!
[A killer pass into the space behind! Ho-young is away! A debut hat-trick is right in front of him!]
The Czech defenders started running first, but Ho-young was the one who got to the ball.
The shot came instantly, right there and then.
Boom!
A thunderous strike.
It bent like a drawn bow, beat Čech's palm, and was sucked into the goal.
It was a hat-trick.
[Goooooooal! A hat-trick on his international tournament debut! As always, he delivers again today!]
3-0.
The match ended there.
For Spain, who had completely dominated the game, it was an excellent start, especially since they had not had to expend that much energy.
Immediately afterward, interview requests flooded in for Ho-young, who had been named Man of the Match.
"Your play seems to have improved even more compared to the end of last season. What do you think?"
"I agree. It is thanks to experiencing many things on this world tour and learning the know-how of various legends."
Most of the questions centered on the match, but one female reporter had her mind on something else.
"A lot of female fans are very interested in your face, Ho-young. Some even say it seems to shine through the sweat. Of course, I agree. Ahem..."
The female reporter's eyes sparkled.
That was understandable, because after coveting Beckham's [Artistic Sculpted Looks (SS-)], Ho-young's serious and sharp image had become even more pronounced.
He was turning from a boy into a man.
At that, Ho-young spoke with a faint smile at the corner of his lips.
"I still have a long way to go."
Spain's run showed no sign of slowing after that.
They beat Portugal and Italy in succession to make it three wins from three.
As a result, they finished first in Group C, the so-called group of death, and advanced to the quarter-finals.
Their quarter-final opponent was Ukraine, who had come through after beating France in Group D.
Having conserved plenty of energy in the group stage, Spain once again took an easy win and moved on to the semi-finals.
[Spain, four straight wins with unstoppable momentum, Ho-young scores 6 goals in 3 matches... huge interest now turns to whether he can break Michel Platini's 9-goal mark from 28 years ago]
Their semi-final opponent was Italy, a team with deep ties to Ho-young.
The Euro title was now right in front of them.
(To be continued.)