After York City narrowly passed the test and reached the semi-finals of this season's FA Cup, the other three top four teams were also successfully announced.
They are Manchester City, Manchester United, and Chelsea respectively!
Yes, the strongest teams have passed.
Manchester City defeated Middlesbrough 2:0 away from home, Chelsea slaughtered Fulham 6:0, and Manchester United also defeated Bournemouth 3:0.
When the FA Cup is played to this extent, there is basically no question of trade-offs. The championship is right in front of us, and all teams must strive to win!
And this result also means that no matter who York City draws, it will definitely be a hard battle, and you will never face an opponent like Wrexham or Swansea again!
On March 14, the Football Association held a draw ceremony for the semi-finals at Stamford Bridge.
The final result was Chelsea vs. Manchester City, while York City faced Manchester United!
Well, relatively speaking, it is a good signing. After all, compared to Chelsea or Manchester City, Manchester United will still be easier to deal with...
The two semi-finals will be held on April 22 and 23, UK time respectively, at Wembley Stadium.
After the draw, York City will usher in the League One match against Walsall and Northampton, but at this time Pan Yi has already left the UK and flew to Dragon Country.
Because on March 23, the sixth round of the 2018 Russian World Cup Asian Top 12 Qualifiers will begin, and the Dragon State men's football team will face the visiting "Tai Chi Tigers" South Korean men's football team at Changsha Helong Stadium!
Although the Dragon Country team defeated Qatar in the last round of competition, the current standings situation is still not optimistic.
In the first 5 rounds of games, the national football team has 1 win, 1 draw, 3 losses and 4 points. It is still 5 points behind the Uzbekistan team, which is third in the group with 9 points. The qualifying situation is precarious.
The opponent South Korea currently ranks second in the group with 10 points. At the halfway point of the group schedule, the national football team is already very passive. If they cannot defeat South Korea at home, their chances of qualifying will be even slimmer.
Although the Chinese and Korean teams have experienced 31 international A-level matches, the national football team is at an absolute disadvantage against the Korean team with 1 win, 12 draws and 18 losses. This time, the Dragon Kingdom is not so pessimistic about this game.
First of all, in the first game of the group stage on September 1 last year, under the leadership of Gao Hongbo, the national football team scored two goals in a row and lost to South Korea after falling behind 0:3. The performance of the national football team in that game was eye-catching. .
In the first game after Lippi and Pan Yi took charge of the national football team, the national football team defeated Qatar with a score of 3:0, which also made the national media and fans praise the performance of this "Lijiajun".
Because of this, the performance of the national football team when facing the Taichi Tigers again in this game is even more exciting!
And there is good news for the national football team, that is, the opponent's top star Son Heung-min will miss this game due to a yellow card suspension.
At present, it seems that Huang Xican, who plays for Red Bull Salzburg, may take over Sun Ge's position, but his threat is obviously not as great as the current number one star in Asia.
In addition, this is a home game, and it is in the "blessed land" Changsha, so everyone believes that it is promising to truly break the "Korean phobia" this time!
But for the coaching staff headed by Lippi, of course they cannot be carried away by such optimism.
This time, after the break of national leagues, including the Chinese Super League, the Dragon Country national team has a very short time for training, so the team must be gathered as soon as possible for rest and tactical training.
So Pan Yi quickly rushed back to Longguo to meet with the coaching staff first.
There are a total of 25 players in the national team training this time, which is basically the same as the list of the last time they played in Qatar. Only some substitute players have been changed according to their status, and the core players have still been retained.
However, when the players arrived at the training base, the coaching staff found that there were still many difficulties.
For example, captain Zheng Zhi has been troubled by a cold. Huang Bowen, Yu Hai and Wu Lei also have minor injuries and have been unable to participate in the previous training sessions.
In order to allow the players to recover as much as possible, Lippi also gave the players enough rest and adjustment time.
Fortunately, young players like Zhang Yuning and Lin Liangming are in good physical condition and in good competitive shape.
Not to mention Lin Liangming, he just scored the winning goal in the FA Cup match against Swansea and his morale is high;
Zhang Yuning's performance in the Eredivisie is also quite good, scoring frequently in the league, and also helping the team reach the final of the Dutch Cup.
With his outstanding performance in the club and national team, Zhang Yuning has also attracted the attention of many teams in the five major leagues. It is said that the Premier League's West Bromwich Albion team is ready to take action in the summer window.
The coaching staff headed by Lippi has always maintained close contact with the Vitesse Club and is always paying attention to Zhang Yuning's situation. Pan Yi also maintains contact and communication with the players and often provides Zhang Yuning with guidance.
Pan Yi always pays more attention to young players, especially those who play overseas.
They are relatively unaffected by some incorrect training and competition methods in China, so it is easier to correct and understand the advanced tactics taught to them by Lippi and Pan Yi.
Moreover, after Zhang Yuning performed well in the Netherlands and performed well in the national team, he will also receive more care when facing his next opponents, and their opponents will become more and more targeted in their research and defense. This is also a problem that Zhang Yuning must overcome.
Anyone who has played football knows that whether there is someone on the field to defend you or not, it is simply not the same level of difficulty.
As a center, how to make uncompromising technical moves with a person hanging on his body is obviously a difficulty that Zhang Yuning must overcome on the road to advancement.
Therefore, the topic that Pan Yi often communicates with is how to perform at his best under such circumstances.
A good example is Lukaku, who is now at Chelsea. He was a bit averse to confrontation at first, but after Pan Yi's training, he gradually became a world-class center.
As for Gao Lin, another center who can be a fulcrum in the national team, one is that he is 31 years old this year, lacks plasticity, and his body is not as strong as Zhang Yuning;
Another thing is that his performance is indeed okay when he is in the club, but he is often average when he is in the national team.
This may be because he is more suitable as a wingman and a support. When he is surrounded by powerful foreign players like Exon, Muric, Alan, or Goulart, he can cooperate with them in output;
But if you let him be at the front to resist damage, it won't work.
Another point is that Gao Lin always seems to be unable to devote himself wholeheartedly to the national team, and his professionalism is questionable, or he lacks a fighting spirit and ambition.
Perhaps these combined factors have led to the fact that his offensive efficiency in the national team is indeed not high. Since his first appearance for the national team in 2005, he has played nearly a hundred games, but only scored a dozen goals.
He often doesn't handle things properly at the last moment, which is also the origin of his nickname "Gao Jiji".
For this reason, Pan Yi also specifically asked Lippi to recruit Yu Dabao, a player from Guoan.
Pan Yi hopes that this all-rounder and "lucky general" who can play center and central defender can bring more backup players to the national team.
——
"The Korean media still seems to think they can take advantage of us."
After the morning training session, the players returned to the locker room one after another, but Pan Yi and the coaching staff remained at the training ground to prepare for the afternoon training program.
These training programs have been set and can be implemented by the assistant coaches, so Pan Yi and Lippi chatted there for a while, and Lippi mentioned the recent trends in the Korean media.
"What's a safe way to eat?" Pan Yi asked with a smile.
He usually doesn't care much about what the media is saying, let alone the Korean media.
If there is any media in the world that is less reliable than The Sun, it may be the Korean media.
"Many media have threatened to win at least three goals in this game and return home." Lippi also smiled, "Winning one less does not count as a win."
"Win three goals? Koreans are always so confident." Pan Yi said with a smile, "Our last round was away and we only lost one goal. This time we are at home and they are missing Son Heung-min..."
"Who says it's not the case?" Lippi said suddenly and bitterly, "They are actually in normal condition right now. We just want to take advantage of his illness and kill him, leaving them completely speechless!"
Lippi suddenly became ruthless, and of course there was a reason.
Because he is an Italian!
In the 2002 World Cup, when the Italian team played against the South Korean team, I believe anyone who has watched that game will know what happened to the Italians.
It is precisely because the Korean team fully utilized its "host advantage" that the Italian team, which was known as the most luxurious lineup in history, could only end up in the top 16.
Who was in Italy at that time?
Buffon, Nesta, Cannavaro, Maldini, Zambrotta, Gattuso, Totti, Vieri, Del Piero, Inzaghi...
It's really an all-star lineup, and... they're all handsome guys. They're a real Italian male model team!
Four years later, it was Lippi who led the Italian team composed of this lineup to win the World Cup.
But even so, the loss to South Korea in 2002 still echoes in the hearts of many Italians, and Lippi is certainly no exception.
And this time he has the opportunity to personally lead the team to defeat the South Korean team, of course the old man will be a little excited.
Speaking of the Korean team, although they are still ranked second in the group and are still within the range of directly qualifying, they are actually not safe.
After defeating the Dragon Kingdom 3:2, South Korea was tied 0:0 by Syria in the away game, and then lost 0:1 to its most direct competitor Iran.
In the last round, after they defeated Uzbekistan 2:1 at home, they barely squeezed out their opponents and were able to rank second in the group behind Iran.
But Uzbekistan still ranks third with 9 points, only 1 point less than South Korea.
In other words, if South Korea is not careful, it may lose its second position at any time.
And if it fails to break through the qualifiers, it will be unacceptable to the South Korean team, which claims to be the strongest in Asia.
"Isn't their head coach having a hard time now?" Pan Yi asked casually.
The current head coach of the South Korean team is the German Stielike. He has been at the forefront of public opinion after the team was defeated by Iran. Many people believe that Stielike brought the strongest South Korean team in Asia to where it is today. Leake should take full responsibility.
"That's for sure. Aren't all professional coaches like this?" Lippi said with a smile, "What's more, in South Korea where everyone can jump out and roar. However, if we can really beat them, Stillik will be very happy." He may take the blame and resign.”
Pan Yi nodded, this is entirely possible.
Korean football has a natural psychological advantage over Dragon Kingdom football, and Dragon Kingdom's Koreanphobia has always been the pride of Koreans.
In history, the Dragon Kingdom team has only defeated the Korean team once in the A-level competition.
At that time, Gao Hongbo was still leading the team. In the second round of the East Asian Cup in Tokyo, Japan in 2010, the Dragons defeated South Korea 3:0, ending a 32-year record of not defeating South Korea in international A-level matches.
In this game, Deng Zhuoxiang also performed a good show of beating three people and scoring successfully. It can almost be said to be one of the best goals in the history of the national football team.
However, although the East Asian Cup is considered an official competition, it is not the most important competition such as the World Cup and the Asian Cup after all. The Korean and Japanese national teams often do not send their strongest lineups to participate, so the Koreans are still bitter about this defeat. , but it can be considered as comforting to yourself, if you lose, you lose.
In the first round of the World Cup qualifying group stage, when the Dragon Kingdom lost 2:3 at home to South Korea, Stillik had already received a lot of criticism for being unable to defeat his opponent easily.
If he loses this game again, there is really no way for Stillik to stay in South Korea.
"With Son Heung-min absent, how do you think the Korean team's forwards will be arranged?" Pan Yi talked about the opponent's situation again.
Lippi said: "I feel that Stillik will trust overseas players more, such as Ji Dongyuan from Augsburg and Huang Xican of Red Bull Salzburg. They may all start in this game."
Pan Yi nodded: "You are right, but I think we need to pay attention to one more person, and that is their high center Jin Xinyu."
"Jin Xinyu?" Lippi frowned and read the name again.
As the head coach of the national team, of course he will do detailed research on his opponents.
However, for players like Kim Shin-woo who play in the Korean domestic league, Lippi naturally does not know as well as Ji Dong-won and Hwang Hee-chan who play in Europe, including midfielders Ki Sung-yong, Koo Ja-cheol and others.
"Ji Dongyuan and Huang Heecan are better at playing on the wing, and the main fulcrum of the Korean team is either Lee Jung-hyup or Kim Shin-wook." Pan Yi said, "My analysis is that Stillik is more likely to play Kim Shin-wook because he The impact is stronger.”
Kim Shin-wook is 28 years old this year and plays for Jeonbuk Hyundai. He is 198cm tall and weighs 93 kg!
With such a physical condition, he is almost like a Lukaku Oppa, so he has to be treated with caution.
He was originally a defender, but was later transformed into a forward. His scoring ability is indeed average, but his impact and aerial dominance are still very strong.
It can be said that this high center forward will definitely pose a big test to the Dragon Kingdom's defense, and whether or not he can be guarded will be the key to victory against South Korea.
"Well, we need to practice more on their various forward combinations." Lippi touched his chin and said, "The key point is the defensive formation. South Korea is not better than Qatar. Their strength is much stronger. We are big on the court. The probability is that we will be at a disadvantage.”
"Yes, according to my estimation, it is very difficult for us to find any good opportunities in positional battles." Pan Yi said, "If we want to break the Korean team's door, I think we should focus more on set-piece tactics. superior."
"I have already arranged this." Lippi smiled, "You have reminded me a long time ago."
Pan Yi nodded, with a confident smile on his lips.
——
Even though the physical exertion was high and the overall condition was not the best, both the Longguo Football Association and the Changsha local government provided the greatest degree of logistical support to the national football team.
The hotel responsible for hosting the Dragon National team's accommodation prepared rich meals for the team.
A team member said, "What the players want to eat can basically be eaten. All logistical support specifications for the top 12 games have been consistent, and everything imaginable has been thought out for the team."
In order to avoid illegal drugs, the national football team’s meals during preparations for the war in Changsha were all arranged in the hotel, and the meat was mainly beef, chicken, and fish. A restaurant in the hotel is also closed to the public and is exclusively used by the national football team.
In addition, in the wet and cold weather in Changsha, the national football team's logistics team also specially prepared ginger soup and various cold prevention measures to ensure the physical condition of the national football players to the greatest extent possible.
And this is all to ensure that the training before the game can be carried out in the best condition.
If the national team's training is not the kind of long-term gathering before the World Cup or European Cup, it will generally not be too high-intensity training.
Because the national team's games are interspersed in the leagues of various countries, the national players fly here to gather just after playing in the league, and their bodies are even very tired. If we continue to train intensively at this time, there will definitely be problems.
Therefore, in most cases, the national team focuses on tactical training, hoping to bring these players from different clubs together to cultivate more cooperation and understanding.
And this is to improve tactical proficiency as much as possible, which is definitely incomparable with the club.
Anyone who has played FM games knows that the club's tactics can reach a high level of proficiency after a period of practice and competition, while the national team basically goes into battle half-baked.
So in a sense, being in the national team actually tests a coach's ability to familiarize players with tactics in a short period of time.
Coincidentally, both Pan Yi and Lippi have the experience of leading teams to win the world's top championships, and they also know how to bring such a "rabble" together.
In addition to tactical training, what is more important is psychology!
The national team's locker room must be harmonious and happy so that the players can display their best abilities.
Wasn't it Milu's happy football that allowed the Dragon Country team to enter the World Cup for the first time?
This concept will never become outdated at any time.
And for a team like Belgium that is prone to internal strife, how can they be happy and contribute all their strength to the team on the court?
Therefore, during the training camp in Changsha, Lippi and Pan Yi often asked their players to relax.
The training intensity is not high, and many game-like training programs are arranged during the training process, including many relaxing entertainment programs after training - of course, there are no such intensive programs, which are more harmful to the body.
These means are to relax the tight strings of the international players as much as possible.
South Korea wants to win, but there is no need to worry about it day and night, otherwise it will not win!
In the past decade or so, the more important the national team is, the easier it is for them to miss out. The more expectations the fans have, the easier it is for the national team to make mistakes.
This really cannot be explained by the gap in skills and tactics. It can only be said that there is something wrong with the players' mental state.
A very simple example. When we were in the club, the same Dragon Country players faced Japanese and Korean players. Why didn't the gap seem to be that big, but it didn't work once they got to the national team?
The answer is simple, stress.
The pressure in the club is far less than that of the national team.
When you are a club player, you only need to be responsible to the fans and owners of this club, and to the wages and bonuses you receive;
But when you put on the jersey of the national team, watch the flag rise on the field, and sing the national anthem, it is an honor and a huge pressure at the same time.
This is not just a player of the Dragon National Team. Even Messi has a different mentality when playing for the club and the national team - not to mention the more typical Welsh star Bale, who always puts the national team first. The first one.
This can also explain from another perspective why Gao Lin's performance in the national team is far worse than that of the club. It may be because he thinks more about the national team.
Therefore, the current Longguo coaching staff, especially Pan Yi, pays special attention to the psychological guidance of the international players.
Obviously, the effect of this is still very obvious. The national team's station is always filled with smiling faces and all kinds of laughter from morning to night.
Captain Zheng Zhi felt this most deeply.
He has stayed with this team the longest and has experienced the darkest moments of the previous two seasons when they failed to even qualify for the first stage of the group stage.
What impressed him most at that time was the terrifying pressure inside and outside the national team.
At that time, the pressure from the outside world was very high, but the pressure within the national team was far greater than the outside world.
That was pressure created by the outside world, the Football Association, the coaching staff and the players themselves. The pressure was so great that it made the internal atmosphere very tense, making the atmosphere of the entire team somewhat distorted and overly depressing.
Everyone knows that the more important it is before a major competition, the easier it is to go into battle. But everyone knows the truth, but how many can do it?
So when the national football players played a game, their heads were foggy, so how could they still play? My level is not particularly high to begin with. If I don’t perform well, wouldn’t I just keep losing...
But it seems different now.
From the first day Pan Yi came to the national team, Zheng Zhi witnessed with his own eyes Pan Yi's dramatic improvement in the technical and tactical level of the national team, especially for several young players.
But the most critical thing is the psychological change.
The atmosphere in the locker room of this current team can be said to be the best since Zheng Zhi joined the national team.
Moreover, the players are all very confident!
Especially players in Europe like Zhang Yuning, Lin Liangming, and Wu Lei. After seeing the highest-level teams and players in Europe, they will not be afraid of players from Japan and South Korea from the bottom of their hearts.
No matter how strong you are, you can't be better than players from teams like Ajax, Arsenal, and Bayern, right?
After defeating Qatar, Pan Yi also helped the international players rebuild their confidence and know how to face difficulties and overcome all difficulties to win.
It can be said that as a consultant to the national team, Pan Yi has improved the overall temperament of the national team by more than one level!
The most obvious manifestation is that on the training ground, despite facing a powerful enemy, they still play freely. They can walk monkeys on the training ground and sing loudly in the entertainment room.
One thing that impressed Zheng Zhi very much was that he once chatted with Lin Liangming and talked about playing the Korean team.
Lin Liangming said: "Our boss Pan Yi said that the pressure of this game is all on the Korean team. If we lose, no one will blame us, but if the Koreans lose, I'm afraid they will be thrown rotten eggs at the airport! Haha! "
In the past, it would have been hard for Zheng Zhi to imagine that this would come from a national player.
Even if someone with ulterior motives hears it, they might accuse the national football team of having "no belief in winning" or something like that.
But now Zheng Zhi understands that such relaxed words mean that the international players now have no pressure and no psychological burden, and can truly go on the court lightly.
On the other hand, the Korean team was under too much pressure in this game.
It's an away game, it's a qualifying situation, and it's fear that the Korean syndrome will be broken. They have too many things on their shoulders.
Therefore, Zheng Zhi now has great confidence in this national team.
Perhaps, the appearance of Pan Yi will not only help Long Guo break its embarrassing Korean phobia in the official competition;
It may even turn around and bring nightmares to the Korean team!
(End of chapter)
