Soon, with the referee's whistle, this game involving the fate of the two teams began.
The Dragon State team won the right to kick off first.
Zhang Yuning quickly kicked the ball to Wu Lei, who quickly passed it back.
Due to the absence of Zheng Zhi, the Long Guo team's three midfield positions in this game were different from before. Hao Junmin stepped forward, and Zhang Xizhe and Huang Bowen partnered as a double midfielder.
Therefore, when the ball passed through Huang Bowen and then to Zhang Xizhe, the front trident was already approaching the Syrian defense line.
As soon as Zhang Xizhe stopped the ball, he saw Wu Lei rushing diagonally towards the gap between the opponent's right back and right center back from the center circle, and immediately passed the ball to the frontcourt with one foot on the ground.
Although Zhang Xizhe was called a "sales midfielder" when he went to Wolfsburg, in fact, he has a place in domestic football because of his uniqueness.
First of all, he has delicate feet and handles the ball reasonably. He can be said to be one of the most skilled midfielders in the country in recent years;
Secondly, Zhang Xizhe has a wide range of activities in the midfield. He can not only play as a wide midfielder, but also in the middle, which also gives him a certain coverage ability;
In addition, although his absolute speed is average, Zhang Xizhe's acceleration when starting and changing direction is still outstanding. With the ball in hand, he can also take the ball forward and finally give a fatal pass.
These characteristics of Zhang Xizhe were a bit under-appreciated in the Wolfsburg team at that time (or in the previous life) - after all, the competitors at that time were De Bruyne, Perisic and so on - But within Asia, it is still somewhat useful.
This is what Pan Yi likes about Zhang Xizhe. Today he is going to use his skills to drive the Long Guo team’s frontcourt offensive firepower and strive to break through Syria’s goal as soon as possible!
Now Zhang Xizhe's pass reflects his characteristics.
When the ball arrives, the people arrive!
Then everyone saw that Wu Lei on the wing immediately picked up the speed and caught up with the ball in the middle in front of the two defensive players. He spotted the opportunity for the opponent's right back to grab the ball and directly poked the ball forward. He bypassed the Syrian right back and quickly chased the ball.
"A beautiful pass!!!"
"Wu Lei is very fast, and Zhang Yuning quickly intervenes in the middle..."
"The Dragon Kingdom team has a chance!"
But just when Wu Lei caught up with the ball again and adjusted to pass the ball, the opponent's right center back Jayne Nite was also very fast in returning to defense. He directly used his body to block it, and Wu Lei's left-footed cross hit the right spot. It hit the opponent, and the bottom line popped up, a corner kick!
Today, Syria deployed a traditional 4-4-2 parallel midfield formation. It was clear that they would use defensive counterattacks to win this game.
Their two central defenders were also prepared to guard against the Long Guo team's frontcourt attackers, so as soon as Wu Lei started, Jayne Nite followed up and destroyed the attack.
"Only ten seconds into the game, the Dragon Country team won a corner kick on the left in the frontcourt."
"This is a pass from Zhang Xizhe and a surprise attack from Wu Lei."
"Wu Lei's running position has always been very good, and his sprinting speed is very fast, but what is even more surprising is that his pass was very exciting, without any physical contact with the opponent's defensive player, and he directly Just let him go."
"It's a pity that Syria's central defender Jayne Nite was also very quick to catch up and blocked Wu Lei's pass in time."
"We got a corner kick opportunity just ten seconds into the game, let's see if we have a chance this time."
"Zhang Xizhe will take the corner kick. In this Dragon Country team, Zhang Xizhe's footwork is relatively outstanding, so there should be no problem."
"Now several defenders, including Feng Xiaoting and Deng Hanwen, have rushed to Syria's penalty area. They want to compete for this high point."
"Deng Hanwen is a central defender from BJ Renhe. He is only 22 years old this year. It should be the most surprising that he got the chance to start today. After all, he has not played a few official games on behalf of the national team before. He even He’s just a player from China League One!”
"After all, on the bench, there are still players like Ren Hang and Micro Motion who look more suitable to play... Okay, now let's see if he can perform well!"
Zhang Xizhe walked to the left corner without hesitation, gently placed the ball at the corner cue, and then slowly backed away.
At this time, the Long Guo team's high points basically rushed into Syria's penalty area. Zhang Yuning, Feng Xiaoting and Deng Hanwen were all the targets of the opponent's focus, with Zhang Yuning at the front and Feng Xiaoting and Deng Hanwen in the middle.
All I saw was Zhang Xizhe took a deep breath, made a gesture, and quickly rushed towards the ball.
A muffled bang was heard at the scene and the ball was quickly thrown out.
There was a commotion in the penalty area. Zhang Yuning rushed to the front point, while Feng Xiaoting quickly rushed to the back point.
After they blocked the Syrian defender with their bodies, they created a gap in the middle for Deng Hanwen, and the latter rushed to the small penalty area as quickly as possible and jumped high.
Zhang Xizhe's free throw landed accurately on top of his head!
Obviously, this is cooperation that has been honed countless times in training, and a skilled tacit understanding has been established among several players!
After the ball flew over, Deng Hanwen shook his head like a lion in front of the ball and smashed the ball into the Syrian goal! ! !
“The ball went in!!!!”
"Oh my god, less than a minute into the game, the Dragons scored the first goal against Syria!"
"It's just unbelievable."
"In just one minute, we scored the first goal in the away game, 1-0!"
"With the combination of set pieces from Zhang Xizhe and Deng Hanwen, these two national team players who are rarely allowed to start the game really performed well!"
"We can see that Deng Hanwen, who scored the goal, quickly rushed to the sidelines and hugged head coach Lippi tightly. Well, he also hugged Pan Yi, who was also on the sidelines... He should be using this way to express his gratitude. The coaching staff has faith in him!”
"Indeed, even we had some doubts about his starting appearance, after all, he was too inexperienced. But it only took him less than a minute to shatter this doubt!"
"Sure enough, Lippi was right before the game. No matter which national team player he is, as long as he is called up to the team, it means that he is ready for the game!"
"Facts have also proven that even if half of the main players are replaced, the current national team can still maintain a strong offensive power!"
On the court, after Pan Yi finally broke away from the hugs of Zhang Xizhe, Deng Hanwen and others, he began to shout vigorously at the carnival players, forcing them to calm down and look at him.
"Hurry back to the game, hurry up, strike while the iron is hot, we must strive to win in one fell swoop!"
"Quick, quick! Don't let them wake up!"
"Take advantage of his illness to kill him!"
Following Pan Yi's shout, the players quickly returned to the court.
The pre-match strategy formulated by Lippi and Pan Yi was to launch an opening attack and allow Syria to make a sneak attack before Syria could organize its defensive formation.
Facts have proved that the effect is very obvious, and Syria was caught off guard immediately after the opening.
Especially Deng Hanwen, because he had never played in a previous national team game, it was even more unfamiliar to the Syrian coaches and players, let alone any targeted defense.
Players such as Wu Lei, Zhang Yuning, and Lin Liangming, who did not play today, are all well-known, but Deng Hanwen?
Who is this? I do not know!
Pan Yi chose Deng Hanwen, on the one hand because he is young and has room for growth, and on the other hand, of course because of his solid defense and strong assist ability. In addition to central defender, he can also play left back and right back. He has strong plasticity and is a rare player. Versatile defender.
Although his height is not outstanding, Deng Hanwen has excellent jumping ability and the ability to predict the landing point. When the opponent launches an attack with a long pass from the backcourt, he has the ability to fight for the first landing point and fight in the air.
When he is playing as a full-back, the most important way on the offensive end is to use his awareness of running without the ball to receive passes from teammates and then complete the cross.
In fact, the quality of his passing can only be regarded as average, so Pan Yi also asked him to use his strengths and avoid his weaknesses. Today he played as a central defender and showed his ability to compete for the first place, and it worked!
Such a goal not only gave a good start to today's game and filled Longguo with fighting spirit, but also boosted Deng Hanwen's own confidence.
Isn’t it just an Asian game? He can handle it!
——
The game starts again.
Syria conceded the goal in just one minute of play, leaving them somewhat at a loss.
Should we counterattack or continue to defend?
But soon, they discovered that this did not seem to be a multiple-choice question.
Because the Dragon Kingdom team's successive offensives forced them to retreat to their own half. Where did the "counterattack" come from?
The three midfielders composed of Hao Junmin, Zhang Xizhe and Huang Bowen can control the ball. They can also organize and control the rhythm of the game, which quickly helped the Long Guo team firmly lock the ball.
Under their delivery of artillery shells, whether it is the speed of Wu Lei and Yu Hanchao on both sides, or the height of center Zhang Yuning, they can cause substantial danger to Syria's defense.
This also made Syria dare not press too much, but instead stayed firmly in its own half and used a rigorous and meticulous defensive position to deal with the passing and controlling style of the Dragon Country team.
Time passed bit by bit.
After playing for more than ten minutes, the Long Guo team also began to actively slow down its offensive.
This is actually what Lippi and Pan Yi requested before the game.
As long as there is a goal lead at the beginning, whether it is one goal or two goals, the game will be stopped after ten minutes. The advantage of this is to reduce the consumption of players and avoid being unable to keep up when Syria counterattacks.
At this time, Syria finally got rid of the chaos at the beginning and began to be free to fight some counterattacks while defending.
However, the new defense line of Dragon Kingdom today seems to have been working together for a long time. It has a tacit understanding and has made the opponent's attacks invisible again and again.
This resulted in the Dragon Kingdom team firmly locking the game situation throughout the first half.
The Long Guo team played more actively on the two wings. The left wing composed of Wang Shenchao and Wu Lei, and the right wing composed of Zhang Linpeng and Yu Hanchao all showed their due threats.
Of course, the reason why the attack in the middle is blocked is more because Syria often hides all three lines within its own 30-meter area when defending. This makes it difficult for Long Guo to form a middle through passing, cutting, and running without the ball. breakthrough.
But it's not a big problem now.
After all, with the ball in hand, the Dragon Country team is not in a hurry.
What makes Pan Yi even more gratified is that when the team presses forward as a whole and the ball control area advances to the front of the opponent's thirty-meter area, the success rate of passing and receiving in the frontcourt is even higher than before.
On the one hand, this is because three technical midfielders are used today, so the accuracy of passing will naturally be higher;
On the other hand, it is because in today's defense, especially at the central defender position, both Deng Hanwen and Feng Xiaoting have taken on the role of ball release points.
The central defender playing the ball can be said to be the mainstream trend in world football in recent years, and it is also an ability that a team that focuses on passing and controlling must possess.
Feng Xiaoting's own ability to play the ball is very good, while Deng Hanwen plays more as a fullback in the league, and is even known as the "Dragon Kingdom Ram", so he still has some footwork.
When these two are paired together, there is no need to deliberately hand the ball to Feng Xiaoting when playing in the backcourt. Instead, both of them can deal cards forward at the right time, thus becoming more flexible.
"Syria's defense is very unique. If we hadn't caught them off guard with our opening attack, we probably wouldn't have won this game so easily."
Lippi suddenly said to Pan Yi.
Pan Yi also nodded slightly.
Judging from the performance of the entire first half, Syria's strength is indeed not weak.
Although their players are far less famous than those of Iran and South Korea, and there are not even players like Wu Lei who play in the five major leagues, they all have a sense of teamwork and good tactical execution.
Having said that, they drew with South Korea and Iran in the first round of competition, and also defeated the Dragon Kingdom. If they don't have some strength, they can't just rely on luck, right?
"The main thing is the defensive positioning and the linkage between the players. They are very well done."
Pan Yi pointed to the court where a Syrian defensive player was guarding Zhang Yuning. The latter pulled to the left this time to catch the ball and go one-on-one with the opponent.
"Their defensive distance was maintained very well, and they did not give Zhang Yuning a chance to get away easily. This is certainly the result of targeted tactics, but the usual training also plays an important role."
In defense, it is very important to maintain a suitable distance. If it is too close, it will be easy to get rid of. If it is too far, it will give the opponent space and time to handle the ball. Therefore, according to the characteristics of different players, maintain the most appropriate defensive distance. This is a lesson.
Even to a certain extent, this is worth learning and learning from the national football players.
"Yes." Lippi nodded appreciatively, then patted Pan Yi on the shoulder, "Thankfully you strongly recommended Deng Hanwen to me as the starter, and it really worked as a surprise, haha! Otherwise, the two sides would be in a stalemate now. The state is a bit disadvantageous for us..."
——
Entering the halftime break with a one-goal lead, Lippi and Pan Yi praised the international players in the locker room, encouraged them to keep up their efforts, and immediately made adjustments to their tactics in the second half.
This time, Zhang Yuning was replaced directly with Gao Lin!
Everyone knows that Zhang Yuning can be said to be Pan Yi's favorite general, but he still changed it.
This is because under the current situation on the court, Zhang Yuning rarely gets the ball directly from the top, but often has to get the ball in the middle or on the wing to fight one-on-one with the opponent's defender. This is not his strength.
And among the current players in the Long Guo team who can play center, who is the best at this?
Of course it's Gao Lin.
The tall Gao Lin is good at his footwork. His ball control and breakthrough are very threatening. At the same time, his passing awareness is also quite good, and he often assists his teammates in the frontcourt.
Why do Longguo fans call him "Sao Gao"?
That is to say, he is still very imaginative on the forward line, especially in some situations where he is controlling the ball and passing the ball.
Facts have proved that this substitution was correct.
After the start of the second half, the Long Guo team opened up the situation in the middle.
Gao Lin's ability to pick up and dribble the ball in the middle, especially his ability to move forward, was still demonstrated.
At the beginning of the second half, Gao Lin got rid of the ball in midfield and passed two people, sending the ball into the penalty area. Yu Hanchao almost scored.
This attack also shocked Syria into a cold sweat. After that, it strengthened its strict defense against Gao Lin and Yu Hanchao. It even added a lot of small moves in the defense and was awarded several fouls.
Although these fouls generally occurred far away from the goal, the Dragons still got a lot of free kick opportunities in the frontcourt, causing a lot of trouble for Syria's defense.
When the game time jumped to 60 minutes, after Wu Lei got the ball on the left side of the frontcourt, he wanted to rely on his personal ability to get rid of it but couldn't. After being fouled by the opponent, he got a free kick opportunity in the frontcourt.
Wu Lei quickly passed the ball and kicked it to Hao Junmin. The latter was also closely guarded and passed it back to Zhang Xizhe who was trailing behind. After receiving the ball, Zhang Xizhe took a step to the right. A direct big-foot transfer moved the ball from the left to the right.
At this time, Zhang Linpeng was close to the right sideline. After stopping the ball with his chest, he dribbled the ball forward along the right sideline. Before the opponent's defensive player could step forward, Zhang Linpeng passed the ball forward with a big kick.
The ball moved forward along the right sideline and fell to the right side. Gao Lin, who was supposed to be standing in the middle, unexpectedly ran to the right sideline.
This is where his running position is better than Zhang Yuning's!
After Gao Lin blocked an opponent's central defender with his body, he faced the ball that bounced off the ground. He gently released his right foot and stopped the ball toward the baseline, then turned around and chased after it.
At this moment, Gao Lin easily got rid of the Syrian central defender's defense. After catching up with the ball, he made a low pass with his right foot and passed the ball into the penalty area.
Yu Hanchao, who was originally supposed to be the right winger, appeared in the penalty area like a ghost. Behind the left back of Syria's defense, he caught Gao Lin's pass and pulled it to the center. Rub your feet lightly against the ball.
Syria's goalkeeper Emma was standing tightly on the right side of the post, but Yu Hanchao's rub shot caused the ball to go through a beautiful arc and accurately fall to the left side of the goal.
The moment the ball hit the goal, the whole stadium burst into excitement.
Everyone jumped up and celebrated the goal!
"The ball goes in again!"
"Gao Lin, who came on as a substitute, performed very well. He assisted Yu Hanchao to score Dragon Kingdom's second goal of the game!"
"It's so beautiful! This goal, whether it's coordination with the ball or running without the ball, is really smart. Such coordination is really rare in the previous national team's offensive line."
"We have to sigh and admire the transformation of the national team players by the national football coaching staff represented by Lippi and Pan Yi."
"Whether they are the main players or the substitute players who don't play often, they all seem to have been improved!"
"We have absolutely reason to believe that if we continue to play like this, the Dragon Country team will really become a truly strong Asian team!"
Shortly after the goal, Lippi also made substitutions.
He replaced Zhang Xizhe with Ren Hang. The purpose of this substitution was obvious, which was to strengthen the defense of the midfield.
At the same time, the team also began to retreat, focusing on stability. After all, the game was at this point, and a two-goal lead or even a one-goal lead was enough.
When the game reached the 80th minute, Lippi made the last substitution of the game, replacing Wang Shenchao with Zhao Mingjian.
This is also about strengthening the defense with a player with better physical fitness.
After this substitution, the Dragon Country team's intention to maintain the victory has become very clear.
Syria launched a strong attack in the last ten minutes, while the Dragon Country team turned to a defensive counterattack. As a result, Syria failed to take advantage. On the contrary, the Dragon Country team got several good counterattacks, but unfortunately they were unable to catch them.
In the end, with two goals from Deng Hanwen and Yu Hanchao, the Long Guo team defeated Syria 2-0 "away" and won this crucial victory!
