The domestic media are still hyping up the game against South Korea. The coaches and players who are really in charge, and the very few people like Zhang Sheng who have kept a clear head, are already worried about the game against Iran.
"How is your physical condition?" After receiving Nie Jiang's call to him, Zhang Sheng's first concern was his health.
"I feel a little unmotivated." Nie Jiang answered honestly.
"It's okay. There is always a recovery period after a big game." Zhang Sheng, who has thoroughly studied the last game between China and South Korea, knows the intensity of the game. The last game was the distance Nie Jiang ran since his debut, high-intensity distance running, and sprint running.
The game with the longest distance is also the game with the highest three statistics mentioned above for the Chinese team in the past ten years. "Pato mentioned you to me yesterday."
"Oh? He went back to China?" Nie Jiang was obviously attracted by this topic.
In fact, this was a topic that Zhang Sheng specifically wanted to talk about to get Nie Jiang out of his tired state: "He actually watched your last game. He went to the scene."
"The two sisters are also here?" When Pato was still on the team, he was very good to Nie Jiang and always treated him as a little brother. Pato's Chinese wife Lu Shuang, as Nie Jiang's former Spanish teacher,
She also loves this child who has been dependent on his mother since childhood, and takes care of him in daily life. Nie Jiang also asked her about it immediately.
"Yes. They came back to organize a birthday party for their children." Zhang Sheng deliberately teased Nie Jiang about the quarrel between these parents, "It's the first time Pato saw us arresting Zhou Zhou. I don't know how surprised he was. Do you know? More
The strange thing is that the first thing their son caught was a football, and we all said he had a successor."
"Haha! You can have this." Nie Jiang looked very happy, "Maybe he will be the best player in the future."
"Pato and your sisters asked me to bring you a message." Zhang Sheng finally brought the topic back, "They told you not to be too anxious. Watch funny movies and take some time to sleep.
It's much better to keep your nerves tight. Especially Pato. He said that he often learns new things that have nothing to do with football and distributes scarves on the Internet as a post-match pastime to distract himself.
Focus, which actually helps with recovery.”
"I know." Nie Jiang could really feel Zhang Sheng's intention to punch him, "I will adjust my condition in time."
"Everything is about your health." Zhang Sheng finally warned, "I have to say something that I shouldn't say. If you feel uncomfortable, it is better to be ready to take a rest at any time than to be injured. 10
The semifinals is a long-term process, and the days ahead are still long.”
"Yes." Nie Jiang held the phone and nodded heavily, as if Zhang Sheng was standing in front of him.
It wasn’t just Nie Jiang who contacted Zhang Sheng. Qin Minghao, who was injured during training, also called Zhang Sheng in great depression. The sprain this time was quite serious. The national team’s doctor believed that he would need at least two to three weeks.
to fully recover.
This is very bad news for Qin Minghao, who has to fight hard to get a position in the Leipzig Red Bull team.
"I've been feeling a bit unlucky lately." Qin Minghao's voice on the phone was muffled, complaining about his injuries.
Apart from comforting him, Zhang Sheng didn't know how to persuade him: "Players always have peak and low periods. When they are in good condition, it will naturally be smooth sailing, and they are in a happy mood. But when they are in average condition, they have to get through life. No.
?At this time, how to deal with it with a calm mind is also the most challenging thing. Just treat this as a test. I believe that for the players from our Longteng team, these things are nothing."
"Yeah." Although Zhang Sheng only provided basic comfort, his mentor's persuasion still gave Qin Minghao great strength.
As an "outsider", Zhang Sheng is trying to reduce pressure on the players. Lippi, as an insider, understands this better.
"I know that the outside world has high expectations for everyone now." At the pre-match meeting, Lippi expressed his views on the game very relaxedly, "But that is just the outside world's opinion. The Iranian team is not easy to play.
, this is a team that would rather rely on defense to score a point than risk taking three points. If we always think about how many goals we want to score and how beautifully we want to win, then we are likely to win in defeat.
Give up your illusions and take it step by step. I would rather defend first and then think about winning."
"So according to the tactics we have been training for this period of time." Lippi ordered word by word, "We will defend first in the first half, and then we will find ways to attack in the second half. I believe that in Asia, as long as we defend each other, we will definitely win."
If we can defend it, as long as we want to attack, we will always find a way to attack."
It can be said that Lippi set the tone of this game with his flexible defensive counterattack.
After the official game started, the players of the Chinese team somewhat understood why Asadi Stadium was called the devil's home stadium.
This plateau stadium with an altitude of 1,100 meters makes the teams here very uncomfortable. The Iranians, who have always used national team games as an outlet, are also very wild in the stands. The stadium that can accommodate 100,000 spectators once
There were over 120,000 people packed in. Although this game did not reach this number, it was still packed.
In the history of previous confrontations, the national football team has 5 wins, 7 draws and 11 losses, scoring 20 goals and conceding 39 goals in 23 matches. In the world preliminaries, Iran can be said to be the "sufferer" of the national football team. The two teams met a total of 5 times in the world preliminaries.
, the national football team has 1 win, 1 draw and 3 losses. The last time the national football team defeated the Iranian team in the world preliminaries dates back to 1989.
As for the Asadi Stadium, the Chinese team was completely defeated.
So far in the top 12, Iran has only scored five goals, which is less than China and South Korea, but it is terrible that they have not conceded a single goal in five games. This is the final stage of the World Cup preliminaries, and Iran is facing
What are the strongest teams in Asia?
From the first few minutes of the game, the Iranian team played something completely different at home and away from home.
The same goes for defense. The Iranian team's defense starts from the frontcourt. This is what everyone often calls high pressure.
In the 4th minute of the first half, Taremi's pressing caused Feng Xiaoting to hastily play the ball and lose the ball to the Iranian team. Then he received the ball from his teammate and pushed the ball towards the Chinese team.
Fortunately, Li Yun made up the ball in time and used his legs to block the football from the bottom line.
Next, the Iranian team formed another attack in the corner kick, and Guchinejad's header went slightly wide of the goal.
"It's a bit passive." Although He Wei, who was in charge of the commentary, said it lightly, he was actually very worried about the Chinese team in his heart. "Iran's high-position pressing is very powerful."
"After all, this is their home court." Old partner Xu Yang also stared at the court nervously.
In fact, a large part of the reason for the current poor performance of the Chinese team is that the frontcourt offense is a bit ineffective and cannot provide enough threats to the Iranian team's defense.
Qin Minghao and Zheng Zhi were injured, and the other suffered from muscle fatigue. Their positions were replaced by Lin Feng and Qi Ming respectively. At the same time, in order to defend the first half, Gao Lin and Zhang Yuning, who were more physically capable, Ding Huaiyi and Nie were on the front line.
Jiang Du sat on the bench, obviously preparing for the second half.
With such a major change in the frontcourt, the Chinese team's offensive fluency is completely different from the previous game.
Fortunately, the current Chinese team is not bad either. After Guqiannejad once again completed a threatening shot from outside the penalty area in the eighth minute, Lippi's roar on the sidelines made the Chinese team players...
Get normal.
At the 12th minute of the first half, the Iranian team wanted to repeat the same trick. The four players in the frontcourt and the two players in the midfield suddenly used the collective premise to press the Chinese team holding the ball. As a result, Li Yun and Feng Xiaoting
, Qi Ming and Lin Feng, who retreated, made several quick ball transfers in succession, and picked the ball out of the defensive net set up by the Iranian team.
This time, the Iranian team's backcourt and frontcourt were obviously a little out of touch because there were too many people in the frontcourt to press. When Lin Feng passed the ball to Zhang Yuning, there was no one guarding him within five meters of the latter.
The Iranian team's defensive midfielder Ezzatolahi had to use a foul to bring Zhang Yuning down, which also led to him receiving the first yellow card of the game.
"Zhang Yuning is still slow. He shouldn't have taken this extra step. If he passes the ball out, the threat will be even greater." He Wei said regretfully, "Gao Lin is already asking for the ball on the left."
"Although this goal is a bit of a pity, our tactical thinking is clear." Xu Yang took over, "Don't panic when facing high pressure, hold the ball firmly, and let several players with good foot skills in the midfield come to respond.
Once they can pass the ball out, Iran's high press will become a hidden danger for them."
"Indeed. Now their defensive midfielder has received a yellow card. The game has only been played for a while, and he will have a hard time playing later." The Chinese team stabilized their position on the field, and He Wei was relieved a lot.
Sure enough, the Iranian team no longer dared to use too many players in the frontcourt to press as before, and the Chinese team finally had the opportunity to slowly push the ball forward from the backcourt to engage in positional warfare.
After the Iranian team shifted its tactical focus to the midfielder further back, another advantage came out, which was the advantage in physical confrontation.
Without Qin Minghao and Zheng Zhi, the Chinese team not only loses its proficiency and accuracy in ball control and organization, but also in terms of confrontation, Lin Feng and Qi Ming are obviously still a little immature.
In the 21st minute of the first half, Xu Mingyu received a pass from Qi Ming. He obviously suffered a loss in the confrontation with Taremi, who was 1.87 meters tall. The latter squeezed behind his body and made Xu Mingyu stagger.
He staggered and lost the ball. Jahanbakhsh, who was not far from Xu Mingyu, took the opportunity and took the ball away from Xu Mingyu.
Fortunately, Qi Ming was very alert. As soon as Jahanbakhsh got the ball, his tackle arrived, and the latter was knocked down by Qi Ming with the ball and the man.
Because it was a relatively head-on tackle, the referee only warned Qi Ming and asked him to make smaller movements without showing any cards. This was considered a one-time and very cost-effective foul.
In the next game, the Iranian team's midfielder's pressing and offensive-defensive transition speed were obviously higher than that of the Chinese team. The home advantage allowed them to dare to make moves. The three midfielders of the Chinese team's 433 could not withstand it, and two
Gao Lin and Wu Lei on the wing had to withdraw to help the team defend.
Gradually, the Iranian team pushed back the Chinese team's overall formation.
The Iranian team, which gained an advantage in the midfield, launched a rare positional attack.
Fans who are familiar with the style of the Iranian team know that this team has the best body and strength in Asia. Individual players have very good foot skills. The speed and individual breakthrough ability of the wing players are also very strong. Even their
The goalkeepers are all well-known, but they have never had a good midfield organizer.
In other words, the style of the Iranian team's players is suitable for counter-attacking, but not suitable for passing and controlling.
For example, they now have a midfield advantage. Several players in the midfield are holding the ball and constantly passing the ball horizontally or diagonally. In front of the Chinese team, which has a stable defensive formation, it is actually not a big threat.
Before the game, Lippi boasted to his players, "As long as you want to defend, you can definitely defend." This is not an empty statement.
As the first half time passed by, Iran, which had the advantage in the midfield, had no chance of scoring, and they began to play more simply.
Several players in the Iranian midfield and backcourt began to pass a large number of balls behind the Chinese team. By using the physical confrontation advantage of the forward players to compete for one-point kicks, they created panic in the Chinese team's penalty area or a vacuum in the defense, and then inserted from the back row.
The central midfielder continued to expand his offensive threat during the second penalty kick and looked for a good opportunity to dunk.
However, Lippi's nickname of "Silver Fox" did not come for nothing. After Iran's Taremi and even full-back Mohammadi took two very threatening long-range shots from outside the penalty area, he directed the team
Ming stepped up his sweep at the top of the front arc of the penalty area, and at the same time asked Feng Xiaoting to adjust his position so as not to give the Iranian team an opportunity to easily get the ball and kick off the second penalty kick.
In the 41st minute of the first half, Ibrahimi's anti-aircraft kick clearly revealed the Iranian team's anxious mentality.
"Coach Lippi obviously wants to hold on to the first half first. And this strategic task has been completed very well." He Wei, who had seen through Lippi's tactical arrangements early on, has completely different mentality now and at the beginning, "The Iranian team has
The body has speed. We will restrict your body and your speed to prevent you from rushing or becoming reckless. We have done a good job of being targeted."
"The absence of Zheng Zhi and Qin Minghao has a great impact on us, but the two substitute players still performed very dazzlingly." Xu Yang also seemed very relaxed when he saw the Iranian team was a little helpless on the court, "Especially Qi Ming
, he is very experienced in grasping the rhythm. When the opponent's midfield was exerting force, his several tackles and fouls were very timely."
"Indeed, several of his key interceptions interrupted the opponent's offensive acceleration, and he also knew the degree of fouls well. This player who is highly valued by coach Zhang Sheng does have his outstanding qualities.
Place." When the referee blew the whistle to end the first half, He Wei was still praising Qi Ming vigorously.
The Chinese team players who came off the court also looked relaxed and were talking and laughing.
Obviously, both the commentators and the players, everyone was very satisfied with the score of 00 in the first half.
