Chapter 518 Football is a game of fighting for space
Chapter 518 Football is a game of fighting for space
Author: Ant who loves watching football
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 stand was also astonishingly 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 strongest 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, tickets priced at 180 yuan have been sold to 1,280 yuan, many 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 entire stadium renovation.
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. They are shouting, cheering and singing one after another, and many people have held up 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, tactically it adopts a defensive-oriented strategy.
"But it can be seen from this scene that the atmosphere of the Dragon Country team is really good now. Everyone is not complaining or anything, but is encouraging each other!"
——
Pan Yi also applauded vigorously on the sidelines, applauding the team's counterattack.
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.
"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 it still failed to score.”
At this time, the more than 40,000 Dragon Country fans in the audience also screamed in surprise, as if they saw the birth of the goal.
Now, as Pan Yi shouted, the players on the field also received the instructions and began to implement this tactical play more seriously.
After all, in many cases, handling the player's mentality is more important than any technical and tactical aspects.
Of course he was talking about Zeng Cheng.
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 biased towards one, with only Zhang Yuning at the front.
Stillik looked on the sidelines and patted his head.
This has two advantages, one of which is to force Jin Xinyu as far away from the goal as possible.
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.
Take the lineup that faced the Dragon Kingdom last time 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.
Moreover, this arrangement also maximizes the offensive firepower of the current Korean team to achieve the goal of scoring all three points in the away game.
In the first round of the 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.
In terms of historical record, he is certainly far behind Lippi, not to mention that there is Pan Yi opposite him.
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.
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.
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 it towards the Long Guo 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. I’m too impatient!
On the other hand, although the Dragon Country team has worse results than South Korea, they have shown obvious rebound momentum after Lippi and Pan Yi took over the team. Their 3:0 victory over Qatar is the best proof.
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 squeezing the opponent's space.
"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."
As a result, the shot went higher than the goal and became a goal kick for the Dragon State team.
"Don't retreat too deep, keep your distance, try to push the defense out, and the midfielder must hold up."
Son Heung-min, who was watching from the stands, also had a solemn look on his face.
Because he knows that the Korean team is eager to attack and score goals now, and the pressure is also on the opponent's side, so we just concentrate on defense and wait for the opponent to reveal flaws.
——
"We made too many mistakes here."
But Stillik is different. Now he is under great pressure.
0:0, the two sides temporarily shook hands and ended the first half.
Looking at South Korea, when they played against Qatar, they only narrowly defeated 3:2 at home.
Lippi shouted a few times from the sidelines and suddenly realized that his players could not understand Italian, so he took a step back and turned his head to look.
Give up the cross?
But with a tall guy like Jin Xinyu on the court, wouldn't it be a waste not to pass?
If you ask him to retreat and play as a false nine, he is not that good!
But this is not the case.
The space that Pan Yi has always emphasized in the team is clearly reflected in the development process of this ball.
He is even secretly cursing his bad luck now, as Son Heung-min is suspended for this game.
After Zhang Yuning grabbed the first goal, the midfielder quickly planned an attack. After Wu Lei retreated to receive the ball, he dribbled the ball quickly along the left rib. Wu Xi reached up and pulled away the defensive player.
In the visiting team's coaching booth, the assistant coach is also taking the initiative to report the situation analysis and data on the court to Stillik. "If it weren't for the fact that the players of Dragon Country are not strong in seizing opportunities..."
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.
As time went by, half-time came unknowingly.
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!
Although South Korea got three points in the end, the process made many Koreans unhappy.
Not only did he take away a defensive player for Wu Lei, but he also greatly enriched the Long Guo team's frontcourt offense.
"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's, so we just need to play to our own level!"
It turned out that the Dragon State team launched more threatening attacks! But they didn't have any good opportunities. This made them start to become a little impatient.
In the following games, they still failed to go smoothly. After a draw with Syria and a loss to Iran, domestic bad reviews flooded into the national team, which also put a lot of pressure on head coach Stillik and the team's international players.
Pan Yi stood up from the coaching bench with tacit understanding, walked quickly to the sidelines, and applauded vigorously.
Wu Xi suddenly stepped in just now, which showed the wisdom of this midfielder.
When walking back, Pan Yi turned his head and glanced at Stillik. The German coach seemed a little out of sorts.
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.
"Great game, keep it up!"
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.
Among the three midfielders, one is Gao Mingxi from the Qatar Raiya 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.
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 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 he continues to pass, Dragon Kingdom's tactics are too targeted now.
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.
Zeng Cheng's goal kick was quickly sent to the frontcourt.
In the 8th minute, after giving Jin Xinyu a chance to score a header, Lippi made decisive adjustments, allowing the team's defense to start to press forward.
The defensive formation is about interlocking. The front trident is the shield of the midfielder, and the midfielder is the barrier of the back line. As long as the frontcourt can withstand the pressure, the midfielder will be relatively relaxed, and vice versa.
, the midfielder is also a strong support for the frontcourt.
Why do you say "almost the same?"
Their formation is the same, but more aggressive.
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 the opponent from time to time, which was naturally a bit uncomfortable.
"But we are also very happy to see that the Dragon Country team played very sharply in several counterattacks in the first half."
Similar to their coach, the mentality of the Korean players on the field seems to be undergoing subtle changes.
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 Korean team to quickly return to defense.
Not only that, the Korean team completely forgot how to attack.
After the clearance, the Korean team pressed hard again and quickly launched a counterattack.
Or just ask everyone to maintain a good formation and not get too excited about playing sometimes and get all the pressure on them.
"Their goalkeeper performed very well and has saved two of our shots." The assistant coach said from the side.
Fortunately, both Lippi and Pan Yi gave more trust to Zeng Cheng, an old national goalkeeper, and allowed him to start in this important game against South Korea directly after recovering from injury.
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.
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, but on both sides of him, the two central defenders Feng Xiaoting and Mei Fang have also been sticking to him, making it impossible for him to
Make a difference.
After pushing the formation forward, Jin Xinyu can only appear near the arc of the penalty area, and his power will be greatly reduced.
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.
The strength gap between the national football team and South Korea needs no elaboration.
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.
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.
The Korean players, on the other hand, seemed more irritable and depressed. Each one of them walked quickly into the tunnel with their heads down, not paying attention to anyone's intentions at all.
At this time, Wu Lei suddenly went inside and passed low into the penalty area with his right foot. Zhang Yuning grabbed the point from close range in the penalty area.
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.
Especially seeing that the Dragon Kingdom team had made such a threatening counterattack just now. If it hadn't been for the help of the goalpost, they would have fallen behind long ago.
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.
In this way, Wu Lei has three choices when he gets the ball. He can pass to Wu Xi and pass down the line, or he can go inside, cut in and hit the goal himself, or pass into the penalty area.
The main reason was that the ten-minute game seemed a little different from what they had imagined.
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!
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.
The pressure of competition, coupled with the 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.
"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."
Due to the importance of this game and some grievances in the history of football between the two countries, the game was very intense from the first minute today.
The subsequent attack of the South Korean team seemed to be very powerful, but it was difficult to threaten. Instead, they made repeated mistakes. The more they made, the more impatient and uncomfortable they became.
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.
Wang Dalei's performance was also very good, not only completely outperforming Yan Junling, but also threatening Zeng Cheng's position.
Such a comparison is even more unacceptable to South Korea.
At this time, he could only vent his anger by swearing a few words angrily.
"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!"
In short, even if the lineup lacks Son Heung-min, it is definitely enough for the Dragons.
In fact, he did not use Kim Shin-woo often, and the Korean team has not been very accustomed to using such high center tactics in recent years.
Whether it is to prove that it is better than the Dragon Kingdom, 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!
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 Korean team defender Jang Hyun-soo.
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.
"The South Korean team's goalkeeper Kwon Soon-tae made a save at the critical moment, pushing Zhang Yuning's shot into the far corner and blocking it."
Although such counterattacks sometimes pose little threat, they make Koreans very irritated.
"Danger!" Stillik was startled and shouted.
On the other hand, the Long Guo team deliberately reduced pressure before the game, and the players were relatively relaxed. They set up their formation from the opening stage and calmly faced the opponent's impact.
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.
Since Son Heung-min couldn't 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!
"Everyone, cheer me up and run! Remember what we said before the game, space! Create space for yourself and let your opponents lack space!"
Except for the change of the main goalkeeper, the other ten players have not changed. They are still in the same position, except that Wu Xi and Huang Bowen in the midfield will be positioned further back, basically forming a three-way formation with captain Zheng Zhi.
The configuration of the lower back.
In terms of value comparison, the national football team is only one-quarter of the Korean team.
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.
However, precisely because of this impatient mentality, they did not play so smoothly and made more mistakes when cooperating in the frontcourt.
"ah……"
It can be said that even if the Dragon Country team cannot defeat South Korea today, it is reasonable.
After all, Korean players are indeed better than 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 hand to keep his footing.
Judging from the scene at the beginning, it seemed that the problem was not big.
An attack in the 25th minute can prove the current mentality of the Koreans.
Without data, Stillik could of course see the current situation on the field, and his face was already very ugly.
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.
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.
"The Dragon Country team has a chance! Zhang Yuning goes directly in front of the goal to grab the point... and shoots!"
The three lines complement each other and are closely integrated to form a solid defensive posture.
Lippi has continued to instill this concept in the national football players after taking charge of 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.
This is because the main goalkeeper Zeng Cheng has returned from injury, and in such a game that focuses on defense, 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.
"Damn it!" Stillik suddenly yelled angrily.
"Their mentality is indeed not very good." Pan Yi walked to Lippi and said with a smile.
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.
It's not surprising that some players want to continue to play cross tactics, allowing Jin Xinyu to fight for the top, and then others to fight for the second point.
As a result, the players' thinking is not unified, their cooperation is not smooth, and mistakes naturally begin to increase.
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.
Modern football is essentially a game of fighting for space. All coaches' tactics basically revolve around how to utilize every inch of space on the field.
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.
What is the best tactic to use?
This is what must be done in the counterattack, otherwise it will be too difficult to rely on one or two people alone.
It should be said that Lippi's adjustments are very targeted.
Regarding this situation, he and Lippi had already discussed it before the game.
Many Dragon Kingdom players walked off the field with smiles on their faces, and the players were talking and laughing among themselves.
However, some players feel that crosses are ineffective and want to pass and control from the center, allowing Ki Sung-yong, Koo Zizhe and others who have technical advantages to organize the offense.
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, Son Heung-min 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)