Unlike the women's national football team, which has to warm up with the Tenglong U15 who are younger than them, the average age of the U22 training team's warm-up opponents, the Tenglong reserve team, is older than them.
And this is also the opponent specially chosen by U22 head coach Shi Wuyin.
We chose Tenglong because we all train together. Tenglong Club’s training base and the national team’s training base are right next to each other. After all, the national team’s training base was originally part of Tenglong’s training base and was later taken over by the owner of Tenglong Club.
Two hundred acres of the land he originally bought were set aside to build a training base for the national team.
Strictly speaking, before the Football Association renovated this training base three years ago, the training base of the Tenglong Club next door was better than the Football Association's national training base in terms of both hardware and software facilities.
When the national team was training, Tenglong's reserve team and each echelon were also training in a training base across the road.
Only then did the two national teams become warm-up opponents.
Shi Wuyin did not choose the younger Tenglong U19, but chose the reserve team. Of course, this is because the reserve team is stronger than the U19, and such warm-up match opponents are more valuable to warm up.
This is also the strongest warm-up opponent he can find.
If you switch to the Tamron first team, they won't want to waste their precious pre-season preparation time to play with your U22 national team.
This match, like the women's football match, was a warm-up match behind closed doors, not open to the public, with no media or spectators.
It should be said that the result of this game is not important, what is important is the process.
Everyone knows that this game will be an inspection by the head coach for the next East Asian Cup - to see who has enough strength to stay in this team and participate in the East Asian Cup that opens on March 11th.
cup.
In this game, Shi Wuyin tried two sets of tactics.
The first set is naturally the 433 that is most commonly used by U22, but the middle one among the three forwards is not at the front, but pulls back, more like a false nine, rather than an attacking forward.
His main task is to help the team link up the midfield and frontcourt attacks, set the ball up for his teammates, attract the opponent's defenders to come out, create space, and create offensive opportunities for his teammates.
When U22 played this formation and tactics, Hu Lai sat on the bench and did not play.
His characteristics are not suitable for this tactic.
Shi Wuyin knew this very well through this period of training and his previous observations of Hu Lai.
Hulay is an arrow figure. His only role on the court is to score goals, and he can only score goals.
You want him to cooperate with the team to draw wide, drop back to support and then organize the attack, pass the football to a higher forward position, a better teammate, etc... That is simply impossible.
So there is no place for Hu Lai in this tactic.
It turns out that Guan Xinyan, the main shooter of the Olympic team, plays the right wing position in this tactic, because the team wants to make use of his scoring and assault abilities, and it is impossible for him to play center.
Partnering with Guan Xinyan and responsible for retracement passing is center Tan Yunlong, who is on the court.
Guan Xinyan was replaced by Wang Zijian, the first veteran player Hu Lai met after coming here.
He is also a winger who can play left or right. He is not tall and has average foot skills, but his speed is very good, which is his biggest trump card.
This set of tactics and formations are most familiar to U22 players, so they are naturally comfortable to play.
But now when the U22 faces the Tenglong reserve team, this tactic they are most familiar with is not going well.
The reason is naturally because after Guan Xinyan was gone, Wang Zijian, who replaced him, had different characteristics and abilities from Guan Xinyan.
It turns out that the tactics were tailor-made for Guan Xinyan's characteristics.
He has good assault ability and a certain scoring ability, so put him on the wing instead of in the middle so that he can have space to display his breakthrough ability.
Then put a center in the middle to attract the opponent's defense, and at the same time retreat to open up the defense for him before playing the ball.
In this way, Guan Xinyan can come in behind and drive straight into the penalty area to score a goal.
In fact, Guan Xinyan played as a left winger when he first debuted. He was a left-footed general and his performance at the time was mediocre.
Later, he switched to playing on the right side, taking advantage of the outstanding characteristics of his left foot and focusing on cutting in and shooting.
His six goals in Shanhailanyue last season were basically scored this way.
The same is true for the Olympic team.
In order to match Guan Xinyan's characteristics, Shi Wuyin assigned Tan Yunlong as a center who is better at passing than shooting, has a strong body, can protect the football, and can play the ball, rather than a scoring center.
The task of scoring was handed over from the center to the two wingers, of course, mainly Guan Xinyan.
The Olympic team has always played like this, and everyone is familiar with it. But Shi Wuyin felt that he could not always put his treasure on Guan Xinyan.
Especially during the U23 Asian Cup, what should I do if Guan Xinyan is targeted? What if Guan Xinyan is not in good condition? What should I do if Guan Xinyan is injured?
It is precisely based on such concerns that Shi Wuyin began to conduct a nationwide survey of alternatives, or alternative plans, last year.
Until he discovered Hu Lai.
A striker who is completely different from Guan Xinyan, but can also score goals.
Shi Wuyin felt that he had found an alternative.
In fact, during this period of training, the team is basically training alternatives.
The same is 433, but the position of the center has changed. He no longer retreats to respond, but moves forward and becomes an arrow figure.
The requirement for the center is not to run out of space to pass the ball to his teammates, but to score goals.
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In the first half, U22 played their familiar tactics, but the team's offense was not running smoothly. The defense was seized by the Tenglong reserve team and scored a goal, falling behind.
During the halftime break, Shi Wuyin made tactical adjustments, and Hu Lai was finally able to take the field.
Wang Guangwei was also substituted on the field at this time.
He is also a player that Shi Wuyin wants to inspect.
Guo Junfu, who started the first half, was replaced and sat on the sidelines, turning his attention to Hu Lai.
Just in time, he can take a good look at Hu Lai's performance in the game off the court.
Although there were group competitions in previous trainings, such competitions were still for the purpose of training and teaching and were not very practical.
Unlike this game, except for the substitution rules, everything else is exactly the same as the official game.
Guo Junfu felt that his observation of Hu Lai had reference value only in this situation.
As an offensive organizer on the court, he is always constantly observing, observing the movements of his teammates, observing the opponent's position, and observing the situation on the field. This has become his habit, even in his daily life off the field.
, and he is always used to observing others.
The person who replaced Guo Junfu on the court and was responsible for organizing the offense was Li Chengwu from the Chinese League One team Heihe Polaris. He and Hu Lai were once opponents in the Chinese League One, but now they have become teammates.
The tall Li Chengwu has always played as a center since he started his football career. However, after playing for a few years, the team coach at the time thought that he had good foot skills and a strong body. He could drop back to play in the midfield and give full play to his talents.
Good vision, strong body and ability to protect the ball.
In this way, he was transformed into a midfielder at the age of fifteen.
The coach's vision was correct. Li Chengwu was indeed more suitable as a midfielder. After switching to the midfielder, he immediately stood out from his peers, promoted all the way, and finally became a first-team player for the Chinese League One team Heihe Polar Stars.
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Now he has been selected for the U22 training team and has the opportunity to represent China in the U23 Asian Cup to be held in China next year.
However, after this period of training, in Guo Junfu's view, Li Chengwu is still a little behind being a qualified organizer.
He mainly relies on his strong body, which can better protect the football in the midfield. Getting the ball is the first requirement of a midfield organizer. If he can't get the ball, he will lose the ball when the opponent grabs it.
Can't be an organizer.
Li Chengwu has a strong body. Even when faced with multiple defenders, he can still use his strong body to withstand his opponents and buy time for his teammates who are running away.
At the same time, he can also use his skills with his feet to get rid of opponents in the midfield and push the team's offense forward.
Finally, because I have played as a striker, I can shoot well. If necessary, I can get into the penalty area and serve as a center, and I have the ability to score with one kick.
But when it comes to the ability to organize offense... Guo Junfu does not look down on his teammates, but he really has his own pride and confidence in what he is best at.
The offensive organizer of the Olympic team, whether it is this East Asian Cup or the U23 Asian Cup a year later, can only be Guo Junfu.
Whether it is his ability to understand the game, his control of the situation on the field, or his ecstatic through ball, he is better than Li Chengwu. Director Shi definitely has no reason to choose Li Chengwu instead of himself.
Recruiting Li Chengwu into the team should obviously be the same as recruiting Hu Lai, just to prepare for one more possibility. After all, Li Chengwu has characteristics that he does not possess.
But soon, Guo Junfu on the bench became a little unable to sit still.
Because this Li Chengwu has already sent an assist, helping the U22 training team equalize the score!
