The consequences of the strong competition were quickly reflected in the league three days later.
In the 23rd round of the game, Longteng, Guangzhou Evergrande and Shanghai SIPG coincidentally all traveled away from home, and the results of the game were also different.
Shanghai SIPG, which suffered injuries to two generals Akhmedov and Shi Ke due to the FA Cup, was defeated 2:1 by Guizhou Hengfeng Zhicheng in Guizhou, thousands of miles away.
Guangzhou Evergrande, which rotated some players, challenged Shanghai Greenland Shenhua away from home. After Gao Lin was sent off for a flagrant foul, they relied on Diego Costa's brace and defeated their opponent 3:2 with ten men.
The Longteng team, which easily defeated their opponents at home in midweek, had the easiest time. Although they flew to the far northeast to challenge Liaoning Shenyang Hongyun, the score was a 5:1 victory. Nie Jiang once again completed a hat trick, and Chavez also scored twice. , another heavy blow to the home team struggling in the relegation zone.
After this round of games, the situation of the Chinese Super League championship gradually became clear.
The Longteng team ranked first in the league with 18 wins, 4 draws and 1 loss and 58 points. Guangzhou Evergrande ranked second with 16 wins, 4 draws and 3 losses and 52 points. Shanghai SIPG is slowly falling behind because the head coach has been suspended for a long time. In the competition, they now have 13 wins, 7 draws and 3 losses, with 46 points, already 12 points behind the first place Longteng team.
According to the news revealed by the media, Shanghai SIPG has given up the competition for the league championship and begun to invest all its resources in the Football Association Cup and the AFC Champions League. In the upcoming AFC Champions League quarter-finals, Guangzhou Evergrande will face Shanghai SIPG. The game becomes more confusing.
Of course, Zhang Sheng will not pay too much attention to these two opponents now, because his real opponent has appeared. Three days later, the Dragons will meet the challenge of the AFC Champions League Urawa Ruby at their home court.
Urawa Red Reds are the opponents of the Dragons for the second consecutive year. This is an absolutely wealthy team in the J-League. It is the favorite to win the championship every year, but it falls short every year.
Urawa fought until the end in most of the four-line battles last year. Except for being eliminated by the Dragons in the AFC Champions League, they narrowly defeated Osaka in the League Cup PK match, lost to Kawasaki in the Emperor's Cup PK match, and finally lost to Kashima in the league. It is a real pity. , that is, they were reversed by Kashima Antlers at home, and the result was that Kashima shined in the Club World Cup.
The team coach, Master Petrovich, repeated over and over again like Mrs. Xianglin: "The competition system is unreasonable, we should be the champions."
However, despite many years of failure, everyone is still optimistic about this team. They have great ambition, a super strong team, and a reasonable competitive age. It seems that there is no reason why they are not the favorite to win the championship from any angle.
In the new season, the personnel adjusted Ueura and cleaned up two veterans in the defense, loaned out Yu Tamura, who was in his prime, recalled many young players in the midfield, and introduced Daisuke Kikuchi on the wing to deal with the problems caused by the seriously injured Tsukasa Umezaki and the aging Hirakawa. Problem, the striker let go of the under-performing Naoki Ishihara, introduced Japanese Olympic players Onai Takeado (mixed Nigerian and Japanese) and Silva (later Wuhan Zall's foreign aid), and the goalkeeper added Yokohama veteran Enomoto to the lineup. Expanded again.
Last season Urawa's lineup was already strong enough. This time the cleanup was not satisfactory and the introduction of new players can be said to be a proper strategy. It depends on whether the new players can quickly integrate into the system.
If trained properly, like Muto Yuki and Takagi Toshiyuki, Urawa will succeed on both sides. If he is unlucky and spends a lot of money to buy Sekiguchi training, famous players like Ishihara Naoki may not be able to show their strength.
Perhaps due to God's will, Toshiyuki Takagi was injured and bid farewell to the first three months of the game, indicating that the team's new season will not go so smoothly. After all, whether it is Onevuadou or Silva, it is very difficult for new players to integrate into Urawa's system.
Disaster.
At the beginning of the season, Urawa Ruby relied on the first set of starters. Starting from the 4-goal massacre in the away game against Western Sydney Wanderers, Urawa showed a terrifying competitive state. Urawa had 13 games in two lines, 10 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses, and half of the AFC Champions League.
They beat Seoul with 5 goals, defeated Western Sydney with 6 goals, and gave Sendai 7 goals in the league. At that time, Urawa was determined to achieve breakthroughs in the league championship and the AFC Champions League.
However, in the next 15 games, there were 4 wins, 2 draws and 9 losses. The contrast was too obvious. The league basically dropped out of the championship competition. The AFC Champions League barely reversed Jeju United in overtime.
Petrovic, who has coached the team for many years, finally disappointed the team's top management. On July 30, after another defeat, Urawa Ruby announced that the coach was dismissed and the team's assistant coach Hori Takashi was replaced.
Coincidentally, this meritorious employee of Urawa Ruby - after retiring in 2001, he returned to the club and began to serve as the team manager in 2005 - he also temporarily served as the team coach for two months in 2011.
, the head coach who replaced him was also named Petrovic, but that one was called Jericho Petrovic, and the current one is called Hajlo Petrovic.
As Hajlo Petrovic's assistant for many years, Hori Takashi's takeover was widely criticized. After all, he repeatedly mentioned that Urawa Ruby must insist on possession of the ball and adhere to the three-back system, which is incompatible with Petrovic's tactics.
The thoughts are exactly the same.
Fans who have long been criticized for Petrovic's unchanging routine have been extremely unhappy, and the club has adopted a wait-and-see attitude - only signing with him for one year.
After he took over, although he had 2 wins and 1 draw in three games, which stabilized the morale of the army and gave him the capital to continue coaching to the extreme, he emphasized defensive formations and rarely tried gambling while the formation remained unchanged.
The sharp attack in the past disappeared due to the aggressive attack. Both games were small wins with one goal, and the humiliating goal conceded in the draw reappeared.
The 3-6-1 tactic used by Urawa Ruby for many years is well-known to the world. Including the goalkeeper, the selection of all positions of the team prioritizes technology. Coupled with years of cooperation, the degree of tacit understanding is extremely high, the passing and control are very gorgeous, and a large number of players
The ball is thrown with your feet, leaving your opponents overwhelmed.
In last year's AFC Champions League group stage, the Longteng team saw their highly entertaining performance.
The problem is, their downturn this season is also related to their 3-6-1 formation.
The main goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa's state has declined significantly, and he has changed from the previous goalkeeper to a "shot on target". The three central defenders are also in very unstable state as Pei Shuai becomes more and more obsessed with his cronies and refuses to rotate. In addition, the team
Yuki Abe, the spiritual leader of the team, is getting older and his defensive contributions are getting less and less, but the game is still being played - Japan's unique workplace rules, seniors do not give up easily.
So many problems have led to the team ranking seventh in the league after 26 rounds of J-League, conceding 43 goals. It is the third-worst defensive team in the entire league, even worse than several relegation teams.
Of course, to be able to reach the quarter-finals of the AFC Champions League, they still have something to rely on, and that is the team's offense.
Urawa Ruby scored a total of 18 goals in 6 games in the group stage, and scored 3 more goals in the 2 rounds of the round of 16 (including 1 goal in overtime). They now have 21 goals to temporarily become the current AFC Champions League. The team that scored the most goals scored 1 more goal than the Longteng team, and their offensive power was very strong.
At the same time, their elimination from the domestic league and cup competitions also made them stop thinking about fighting on multiple fronts. They completely gave up on the league and focused on the AFC Champions League, which became the only fig leaf for Urawa Ruby this season.
Before the game, the Longteng coaching staff's scouting team, tactical analysis team, and video analysis team had a very detailed understanding of the above situations.
Through their relationships in Japan, the team has a better understanding of Urawa Ruby's recent employment and injury situation: main defender Ryota Moriwaki is injured and unable to play, while defender Dairyo Nasu and winger Yuya Uga are long-term injuries on the team.
Takashi Hori also appropriately promoted his cronies. Last season, Mauricio, the core of Maritimo's defense, was transferred in the middle of the season as a new aid, replacing Hang Endo as the team's main central defender. This season, Shonan Marine transferred Daisuke Kikuchi came and replaced Yuya Uga as the team's main left winger. Another reason why he was able to take over was because the stronger Takahiro Sekine went to Germany to study abroad.
In terms of rotation, in order to ensure the stability of the coaching position, in the last round of the J-League, Urawa Ruby's main players basically played the entire game. This time flying to China to compete, physical fitness is a big issue.
Taking into account the attributes of Urawa Ruby's away games - in the five away games of the AFC Champions League, except for the very poor Western Sydney Wanderers, they lost the other games and conceded more than 2 goals per game. It can be said that the Longteng team has a great chance of winning. .
When Hori Takashi was interviewed by reporters at the pre-match press conference and asked about the goal of this game, he also seemed very low-key: "This time we came to Jiangcheng to play the first round against the Dragons, and there were a large number of Japanese fans accompanying us. Come on, there are many fans in Japan watching our game on TV. We will try our best to play tomorrow's game and strive for a good result to return home and play the second round."
When reporters asked: "A good result is to strive for a draw?", Hori Takashi's answer was very vague: "I hope it will be at least better than last season."
In last year's AFC Champions League, the two teams met in the group stage. The Longteng team defeated their opponents twice. In the second round, they won the game even though they were short of major generals and only had two foreign players. Hori Takashi The so-called better than last season probably means keeping a tie in the away game.
Sure enough, Urawa Ruby's caution can be seen from the starting lineup.
"It's just as we expected." After receiving the information about the starting lineup for the first time, Zhang Sheng shook the piece of paper in his hand, "It's still three central defenders, and the foreign aid forward Silva is not on the list. If he is, he will be more active in running. , Li Zhongcheng, who has a better awareness of returning to defense. One thing is different from our expectations. Yosuke Kashiwagi was not included in the squad. It seems that the rumors that he was injured in training before the game are true. However, Shinya Yajima is such a defensive back. Waist, I’m really prepared to defend my waist to the end.”
"Maybe it's because our Longteng team's home court makes them wary." Zhang Sheng's good friend and assistant coach Jiang Peng said with a smile, "Then we have to pay attention to their defensive counterattacks during the offense, especially their two players. A side road."
"Let's follow our previous tactics." Zhang Sheng waved his hand nonchalantly, "In our home court, we can fight however we want."
In this game, the Longteng team deployed a false three central defenders. Lu Yangyang became the deep-lying central defender, ready to chase back at any time. Lu Zhihui and Liming stood in front of him to intercept the high-altitude ball. The two wingers were two foreign aid Germans.
Paul and Fernando are on the left and right sides of the game, midfielders Qu Wenming, Qi Ming and Tao Wentao are lined up, and forwards Chavez and Nie Jiang are positioned one after another.
The tactical tone arranged by the coaching staff for the team is: high-position press and lateral involvement.
The reason for this choice is that we look down on Urawa Ruby's defense.
Their Brazilian foreign aid Mauricio, who came in the middle of the league, is indeed very good personally. He is the absolute core of the defense of Maritimo, a mid-table team in the Portuguese Super League.
In his J-League debut against Tokyo FC, he stood in the middle of the three central defenders. This is the foundation of the team's defense. It should be said that his performance was qualified. He handled the ball calmly and was very trustworthy. He was better than before.
Endohang is much more reliable in this position.
It seems that one of the most unstable loopholes in Urawa Ruby's defense has been solved in one fell swoop.
However, a team's defense cannot be completely changed by the temporary addition of a central defender. A certain period of running-in is essential. Their head coach Hori Takashi does not have Zhang Sheng like the Longteng team.
Therefore, what this kind of temporary defense is most afraid of is the opponent's pressure. Once the opponent can do a good job of pressing at a high level, mistakes are inevitable.
The so-called strongest central defender Mauricio is likely to become the most unstable factor in the defense.
After the game started, Urawa Ruby played extremely awkwardly.
Under the strong high-position pressure of the Dragons, Urawa Ruby found it difficult to pass the ball out of the backcourt.
As a team with a 3-4-2-1 formation, when defending, Urawa once had a spectacular scene of 7 people returning to defense against Tokyo FC in the J-League. This was a very rare situation during Master Pei's coaching period.
, this can also be regarded as the essential difference in the tactical thinking of Hori Takashi and Master Pei.
When a team defends up to 7 people in the backcourt, you still expect him to be able to counterattack quickly and sharply, unless he has Bale or Cristiano Ronaldo in the frontcourt who can crush the opponent's players with speed and skills.
In the fourth minute of the first half, Urawa Ruby finally used its superb passing skills to destroy the Dragon Team's high-position pressure. As a result, Tomoaki Makino, nicknamed "Retarded Brother", had excellent passing skills and himself
The players in the frontcourt didn't even get past halftime.
Tomoaki Makino discovered that Li Zhongcheng, who the head coach had told him before the game to actively participate in defense, had not passed the middle circle. The only one who was a bit threatening was Shinzo Kougai. The former passed the ball to the latter with a big kick, but Liming easily scored behind him.
He took off and tipped the ball to Lu Yangyang next to him.
It is simply a joke to expect a 31-year-old veteran who is 1.75 meters tall and a 19-year-old central defender with abnormal physical fitness to back up and grab the header.
He Wei, who was responsible for commentating the game on CCTV, shook his head and was very unhappy with Urawa Ruby's performance: "In the first few minutes of the game, Urawa played too conservatively. At the home court of the Dragons, once the team loses its defensive flexibility,
, conceding the ball is a sure thing.”
"After Takashi Hori took over, there were many fans who complained about Petrovic." His partner Xu Yang also said, "Many people said that if Mauricio joined the team as soon as possible, Master Pei might not have to leave get out of class. Because to be fair, Takashi Hori has not brought revolutionary improvements to the team."
The prelude to this game went straight into the Dragon Team's orbit.
