On the evening of March 23, Longguo Changsha.
In the sixth round of Group A of the top 12 Asian qualifiers for the Russian World Cup, the Dragon Kingdom's home game against the South Korean team officially started!
In the stands, more than 40,000 Dragon Kingdom fans turned the entire stadium into a sea of red. With the fans shouting "We must win", the entire stands were also amazingly powerful!
It can be seen that the current Dragon Country fans have truly rekindled their hopes for this national football team!
In this crucial home game against South Korea, they are still the staunchest supporters of the national football team.
Although there is only a slim hope of qualifying, the ticket sales for this battle are as hot as ever, and they were sold out shortly after they went on sale on March 1.
In the hands of scalpers, a 180-yuan ticket has been sold to 1,280 yuan, multiple times higher. On the Internet, some sellers even increased the price by as much as 10 times!
In order to prepare for the competition, Changsha Helong Stadium also deliberately renovated the stadium conditions, replaced the entire turf, and updated the sand layer and drainage equipment under the turf. It is estimated that a total of about 70 million yuan was invested in the renovation of the entire stadium.
Five hours before the game started, a large number of fans gathered near the stadium.
Now that the game has begun, the fans entering the stadium have created a home atmosphere even more. There are shouts, cheers and songs one after another, and many people have held banners to cheer for the national football team.
However, Lippi and Pan Yi are also well aware of the gap in hard power between the two teams and cannot get carried away just because the fans are excited.
Therefore, although the starting lineup arranged today is almost the same as that in the last game against Qatar, the tactics are mainly defensive.
Why do you say "almost the same?"
This is because the main goalkeeper Zeng Cheng has returned from injury, and in such a defense-focused game, Zeng Cheng, who plays more stably, has more solid basic skills, and has better goal-line skills, is obviously a better choice than Wang Dalei.
Except for the change of the main goalkeeper, the other ten players have not changed. They are still in a 4-3-3 position, but Wu Xi and Huang Bowen in the midfield will be positioned further back, basically the same as captain Zheng Zhi. The above is a configuration of three midfielders.
On the two wings, Lin Liangming and Wu Lei are not as forward as they were when playing in Qatar, but closer to the midfield wing, so this formation is actually more inclined to a 4-5-1, with the top position at the front There is only one Zhang Yuning.
Dragon Country head coach Lippi and visiting team head coach Stillik were both standing in the coaching area from the first minute. Both of them observed the game solemnly, but their moods were completely different.
The strength gap between the national football team and South Korea needs no elaboration.
In the current FIFA national team rankings, the national football team ranks 86th in the world and 9th in Asia. The Korean team's world ranking is a full 46 places higher, ranking 40th in the world and 2nd in Asia.
In terms of value comparison, the national football team is only one-quarter of the Korean team.
It can be said that even if the Dragon Kingdom team cannot win against South Korea today, it is reasonable.
But Stillik is different. Now he is under a lot of pressure.
It's like two coaches, one leads a wealthy team and the other leads a relegation team. If the relegation team wins, the blame must be on the coach, because your players are better than the other team in terms of ability!
For Stillik, there is only one way to win this game. Even if it is a draw, he will not be able to explain it when he returns home!
Not to mention that if they fail to win, South Korea will even fall to third place in the group and lose the initiative to compete for the top two in the group!
Therefore, the tone of this game has been set from the beginning.
That is, the Dragon Country team wearing red jerseys focused on defense from the beginning of the game, while the South Korean team wearing white jerseys launched a fierce attack on the Dragon Country team's defense from the first minute.
Due to the importance of this game and some grievances in the history of football between the two countries, today was also a very intense game from the first minute.
When the game reached the 10th minute, the Long Guo team launched a quick counterattack. After Lin Liangming and Huang Bowen formed a cooperation on the right, Zhang Linpeng quickly came up from the wing. After receiving the ball, he went to the baseline and passed a quality kick. Very high cross.
In the middle of the penalty area, Zhang Yuning quickly grabbed the first spot and hit the ball, and a lion shook his head!
Unfortunately, the ball hit the post and bounced back into the penalty area, where it was cleared by South Korean defender Jang Hyun-soo.
After the clearance, the Korean team pressed hard again and quickly launched a counterattack.
Lippi shouted a few times on the sidelines, and suddenly realized that his players could not understand Italian, so he took a step back and turned his head to look.
Pan Yi stood up from the coaching bench with tacit understanding, walked quickly to the sidelines, and applauded vigorously.
This is to affirm the player's performance in the counterattack just now, and at the same time, it also signals to the player to stay calm and not to be anxious.
"Don't retreat too deep, keep your distance, try to push the defense out, and the midfielder must hold up."
"Zhang Yuning! And you, Wu Lei! Lin Liangming! Keep pressing in the frontcourt, don't let them get the ball too comfortably, and block their attacks from both sides and the wings!"
"You played well just now and kept the distance between the three lines very well! Keep playing like this, control the rhythm, don't mess up, and pay attention to assisting and protecting."
"Everyone, cheer up and run! Remember what we said before the game, space! Create space for yourself and let your opponents lack space!"
Modern football is essentially a game of competing for space. All coaches' tactics basically revolve around how to utilize every inch of turf space on the field.
Lippi has continued to instill this concept in the national football players after taking over the national football team, and Pan Yi explained the players in each position in detail, which gave them a clearer idea in their hearts. concept.
Now, with Pan Yi's shouts, the players on the field also received the instructions and began to implement such tactics more seriously.
When walking back, Pan Yi turned his head and glanced at Stillik. The German coach seemed a little out of sorts.
Especially seeing that the Dragon Kingdom team had made such a threatening counterattack just now. If it weren't for the help of the goalpost, they would have fallen behind long ago.
Similar to their coach, the mentality of the Korean players on the field seems to be undergoing subtle changes.
The main reason was that the ten-minute game seemed a little different from what they had imagined.
It turns out that the Dragon Kingdom team initiated more threatening attacks! But he didn't have any good opportunities. This made them start to get a little impatient.
"Their mentality is indeed not very good." Pan Yi walked to Lippi and said with a smile.
Regarding this situation, he and Lippi had already talked before the game.
In the first round match between the two sides, the Korean team fell behind by three goals in Seoul, but caught South Korea off guard at the last moment and chased two goals in a row. In the end, they only lost 2:3.
Although South Korea got three points in the end, the process made many Koreans unhappy.
Because what they have looked down upon the most for decades is Longguo football. If they cannot win easily, it is not a decent thing!
In the following games, they still failed to go smoothly. After a draw with Syria and a loss to Iran, domestic negative comments flooded into the national team, which also put a lot of pressure on head coach Stillik and the team's international players.
On the other hand, the Dragon Country team, although their results were worse than South Korea, showed obvious rebound momentum after Lippi and Pan Yi took over the team. The 3:0 victory over Qatar is the best proof.
Looking at South Korea, they only narrowly defeated Qatar 3:2 at home.
This comparison is even more unacceptable to South Korea.
Whether it is to prove that it is better than the Dragon Kingdom in football, to prove that it is the strongest team in Asia, or to qualify for the precarious top 12, South Korea must win the Dragon Kingdom, and win it happily!
Therefore, the Korean team was a little impatient from the beginning of this game and made a tactical decision to attack with all its strength!
Their formation is also 4-3-3, but more aggressive.
Kim Shin-woo, a nearly 2-meter high center forward, started the game, and the two wingers were Ji Dong-won from Augsburg and Hwang Hee-chan from Red Bull Salzburg.
Among the three midfielders, one is Gao Mingxi from the Qatar Rayan team, and the other two are long-established players. They are also Gu Zizhe from Augsburg, and the one who just played against York City in the FA Cup. Yes, Swansea's Ki Sung-yong.
These six people formed South Korea's attack group. They were very aggressive from the beginning and wanted to eat up the Dragon Kingdom in one bite.
However, precisely because of this impatient mentality, they did not play so smoothly and made more mistakes when cooperating in the frontcourt.
After all, in many cases, handling the player's mentality is more important than any technical and tactical issues.
On the other hand, the Dragon State team deliberately reduced pressure before the game. The players were relatively relaxed. They set up their formation from the opening stage and calmly faced the opponent's impact.
In the 8th minute, after giving Jin Xinyu a chance to header, Lippi made decisive adjustments, allowing the team's defense to start to press forward.
This has two advantages, one of which is to force Jin Xinyu as far away from the goal as possible.
It would be very dangerous for a tall and strong center like Jin Xinyu to stand in front of the goal and occupy a commanding height in the penalty area.
After pushing the formation forward, Jin Xinyu can only appear near the arc of the penalty area, and his power will be greatly reduced.
After all, his foot speed is slow, and the quality of his shots can only be said to be average. The farther away from the goal, the smaller the threat.
Another advantage is that after the defensive line presses forward, the three lines can be kept compact and put pressure on the Korean team in the midfield stage.
At the same time, after doing this, the defense will be more flexible. As long as the players maintain a good positioning rate, it will be difficult for South Korea to break the defense, and the Dragon Kingdom will also be more efficient in counterattacks.
It should be said that Lippi's adjustments are very targeted.
The South Korean team's subsequent attack seemed to be very powerful, but it was difficult to threaten. Instead, it made repeated mistakes. The more mistakes it made, the more impatient it became and the less calm it became.
Looking at the Dragon Country team again, as long as Pan Yi stands up and goes to the sidelines, he is telling his players to stay calm and not to be anxious.
Or just ask everyone to maintain a good formation and not get too excited about playing sometimes and get all involved.
Because he knows that the Korean team is eager to attack and score goals now, and the pressure is on the opponent's side, so we just concentrate on defense and wait for the opponent to reveal flaws.
——
"There were too many mistakes on our end."
In the visiting team's coaching booth, the assistant coach is also taking the initiative to report situation analysis and data on the court to Stillik. "If it weren't for the fact that the players from Dragon Country were not very capable of seizing opportunities..."
Without data, Stillik could certainly see the current situation on the field, and his face was already very ugly.
He is even secretly cursing his bad luck now, as Son Heung-min is suspended for this game.
In fact, he did not use Jin Xinyu often, and the Korean team has not been very accustomed to using such high center tactics in recent years.
Take the last lineup that faced the Dragon Kingdom as an example. The trident at that time was Koo Ja-cheol, Son Heung-min and Ji Dong-won. Later, Huang Hee-chan came on as Koo Ja-cheol's substitute.
Since Son Heung-min was unable to play today, Stillik thought about letting Koo Ja-cheol play in the midfield, and then let Kim Shin-woo play in the middle, smashing a hole in the Dragon National team's defense!
Moreover, this arrangement also maximizes the offensive firepower of the current Korean team to achieve the goal of taking all three points in the away game.
Judging from the scene at the beginning, it seemed that the problem was not big.
After all, Korean players do surpass the Dragons in terms of personal ability and overall strength, not to mention Son Heung-min who was unable to play. International players such as Ki Sung-yong, Koo Ja-cheol, and Hwang Hee-chan can all compete in Europe. A good foothold.
There is even Li Qinglong who plays for Crystal Palace in the Premier League on the bench. However, he failed to play the main role after transferring from Bolton to Crystal Palace, so his position in the national team was also affected.
In short, even if the lineup lacks Son Heung-min, it is definitely enough for the Dragon Kingdom team.
But this is not the case.
After three strikes in the opening game, as soon as the Long Guo team made adjustments, Jin Xinyu seemed to lose his role in the frontcourt immediately.
Not only that, the Korean team completely forgot how to attack.
This is not surprising, some players want to continue to play cross tactics, let Jin Xinyu fight for the top, and then others grab the second point.
However, some players feel that crosses are ineffective and want to pass and control from the center, allowing players such as Ki Sung-yong and Koo Zizhe who have technical advantages to organize the offense.
As a result, the players' thinking is not unified, their cooperation is not smooth, and mistakes naturally begin to increase.
At this time, Stillik, as the head coach, should have immediately reminded his players to unify a tactic, but now he feels a little unable to start.
What is the best tactic to use?
Give up the cross?
But with a tall guy like Jin Xinyu on the court, wouldn't it be a waste not to pass?
Ask him to retreat and play as a false nine. He is not that good!
Not to mention asking him to sprint and compete with the defenders of the Dragon Kingdom. After all, he is not really Lukaku, the kind of 200-pound man who can make soup!
But if the pass continues, Dragon Kingdom's tactics are now too targeted.
Not only has Jin Xinyu been controlled near the top of the penalty area, making it difficult to penetrate into the more threatening area of the small penalty area, on both sides of him, the two central defenders Feng Xiaoting and Mei Fang have also been clinging to him, making it impossible for him to Make a difference.
In fact, it also includes two wingers, the two full-backs Jiang Zhipeng and Zhang Linpeng, plus the defensive assistance of Wu Lei and Lin Liangming, making the Korean team's kick-off not so calm and the accuracy is worrying.
"Damn it!" Stillik suddenly yelled angrily.
In terms of historical record, he is certainly far behind Lippi, not to mention that there is Pan Yi opposite him.
In front of these two world-class coaches, Stillik felt like a kindergarten kid with no secrets and no idea how to deal with them.
At this time, he could only vent his anger by cursing helplessly.
"Their goalkeeper performed very well and has saved two of our shots." The assistant coach said on the sidelines.
Of course he was talking about Zeng Cheng.
After missing three games due to injury, Zeng Cheng returned to the starting lineup again and performed very steadily, even better than before the injury!
In fact, in addition to Zeng Cheng's professionalism that allowed him to actively treat and recover after the injury, he also felt the pressure of competition.
After Pan Yi entered the national team, he favored Wang Dalei, who had good ball-playing ability, and directly corrected him in the key battle with Qatar.
Wang Dalei's performance was also very good, not only completely outperforming Yan Junling, but also threatening Zeng Cheng's position.
Fortunately, both Lippi and Pan Yi gave more trust to Zeng Cheng, the old national goalkeeper, and allowed him to start in this important game against the South Korean team directly after recovering from injury.
The pressure of competition, coupled with his gratitude for the trust of the coaching staff, made Zeng Cheng burst out with more powerful energy today than before!
And with such a stable goalkeeper behind him, the Long Guo team's defense will naturally feel confident and play more steadily.
After more than 20 minutes, Longguo's defense has been very solid. Players are active in running and pressing, and they can quickly counterattack after stealing the ball. The offense and defense transition is very fast, forcing the South Korean team to quickly return to defense.
Although such counterattacks sometimes pose little threat, they make Koreans very irritated.
Because they wanted to kill the Dragon Kingdom, but they had been unable to break into the opponent's city. At the same time, they had to be counterattacked by their opponents from time to time, which naturally made them a little uncomfortable.
An attack in the 25th minute can prove the current mentality of the Koreans.
They played a threatening attack on the road. Huang Xican cut inside to the middle. After receiving the pass from his teammate, he volleyed directly from a long distance without any observation.
As a result, the shot went higher than the goal and became a goal kick for the Dragon Country team.
Stillik looked on the sidelines and patted his head.
He saw that Jin Xinyu in the penalty area had already moved into position. Huang Xican could pass it to him. If not, he could also take the ball and force the Dragon Country team's defense. Wait for his teammates to come up and then create opportunities. This is better than doing it alone. A hasty long shot is reliable, right?
Mentality! I still have a bad mentality. Too urgent!
Zeng Cheng's goal kick was quickly sent to the frontcourt.
After Zhang Yuning grabbed the first goal, the midfielder quickly planned an attack. After Wu Lei retreated to respond, he dribbled the ball quickly along the left rib. Wu Xi reached up and pulled away the defensive player.
At this time, Wu Lei suddenly went inside and passed a low pass into the penalty area with his right foot. Zhang Yuning grabbed the point from close range in the penalty area.
"Danger!" Stillik was startled and shouted.
At this time, more than 40,000 Dragon Kingdom fans in the audience also screamed, as if they saw the birth of the goal.
"The Dragon Country team has a chance! Zhang Yuning goes directly in front of the goal to grab the point... and shoots!"
"ah……"
"The South Korean team's goalkeeper Kwon Soon-tae made a flying save at the critical moment, pushing Zhang Yuning's shot into the far corner and blocking it."
"Zhang Yuning seems very depressed. He has had two consecutive scoring opportunities in this game, but unfortunately, one was blocked by the post, and the other was because the opponent's goalkeeper performed well. He also felt helpless about this."
"But we are also very happy to see that the Dragon Country team played very sharply in several counterattacks in the first half."
"The Korean team's current mentality is indeed a bit unstable. This should be a point that the Dragon Kingdom team can take advantage of next. After all, our pressure is not as great as South Korea, so we just need to play to our own level!"
"Many players came over and touched Zhang Yuning's head to express comfort to him. This shooter who performed well in the Eredivisie was a bit unlucky in this game. He was always just a little short of scoring. Just now Wu Lei's It was a very nice kick, but we still couldn’t score.”
"But it can be seen from this scene that the atmosphere of the Dragon Kingdom team is really good now. Everyone is not complaining or anything, but is encouraging each other!"
——
Pan Yi also applauded vigorously on the sidelines, cheering for the team's counterattack.
"Great game, keep it up!"
Wu Xi suddenly stepped in, which showed the wisdom of the midfielder.
Not only did he take away a defensive player for Wu Lei, but he also greatly enriched the Long Guo team's frontcourt offense.
In this way, Wu Lei has three choices when receiving the ball. He can pass to Wu Xi and pass from the bottom to the bottom. He can also go inside, cut in and hit the goal himself, or pass into the penalty area.
In the end, Wu Lei chose the last one, which was actually the most threatening one, and also formed a very threatening shot, but unfortunately he failed to score in the end.
The space that Pan Yi has always emphasized in the team is clearly reflected in the development of this ball.
If Wu Xi hadn't stepped in at that time, the Korean team's defense would not have been too simple, because when Wu Lei got the ball, the Korean team's defensive players were already in place, and there were even two.
But as soon as Wu Xi ran, the defensive players were pulled away, and more people's attention was distracted. At this time, space was created for Wu Lei to make the next move.
This is what must be done in the counterattack, otherwise it will be too difficult to rely on one or two people alone.
After all, there is no Ronaldo or Messi in the Dragon Country team!
The same is true when defending, but the concept of "space" becomes the space to squeeze the opponent.
The defensive formation is about interlocking. The front trident is the shield of the midfield, and the midfield is the barrier of the back line. As long as the front field withstands the pressure, the midfield will be relatively relaxed, and vice versa. , The midfielder is also a strong support for the frontcourt.
The three lines complement each other and are closely integrated to form a solid defensive formation.
The Dragon Kingdom team has been doing very well in the first half. This is the fundamental reason why the Korean team cannot find opportunities in the Dragon Kingdom's backcourt.
As time went by, half-time came unknowingly.
0:0, the two sides temporarily shook hands and made a peace, ending the first half.
But from the looks on the players' faces when they walked off the court, it was obvious that the two teams had completely different mentality.
Many Dragon Kingdom players walked off the field with smiles on their faces, and the players were talking and laughing among themselves.
However, the Korean players seemed more irritable and depressed. They all walked quickly into the tunnel with their heads down, paying no attention to anyone's intentions.
Son Heung-min, who was watching from the stands, also had a solemn look on his face.
Of course he can also see that the current situation is not good for him, and he understands even better that this is because the other party has Pan Yi!
As his mentor, Sun Xingmin understands Pan Yi's role in a team very well.
The Korean team is stumbling in all kinds of football now. Isn't it because they are completely restricted in tactics?
He felt this way whether he faced Chelsea or York City at Tottenham...
But, what can we do now?
He can only hope that Stillik can come up with a good way to solve the current predicament... (End of this chapter)
