Midfielder Ruler

Chapter 3 2 consecutive losses in warm-up matches

The first half of the international friendly match between Chile and China at home ended with 0:0. This score was somewhat unexpected. After all, the overall strength of the Chilean team at home was superior, even if the Chinese team had world-class superstar Tang Zheng in charge.

The game of football is a team sport.

The game process was more in line with the overall strength of both sides. The Chilean team took the initiative and the Chinese team was passive on the defensive.

However, Tang Zheng is super capable and has outstanding midfield interception, replacement, link-up, organization, transition and long passing abilities. Therefore, the Chinese team can still pose a certain threat to Bravo's goal in the limited time of possession. .

The fifteen minutes of halftime passed by in a blink of an eye, and the fanatical atmosphere at the National Stadium of Chile was still there. Players from both sides returned to the stadium one after another to prepare for the second half of the game.

Tang Zheng and Sanchez, former River Plate teammates, were arm-in-arm, chatting and laughing.

But as the referee blew his whistle, the two men entered the game with real swords and guns. The frequent physical confrontations caused the fans at the scene to subconsciously burst into loud cheers.

The most common thing about football matches that resonates with fans is the fierce physical confrontation, apart from the speed.

Although Sanchez is not tall, he has stable strength in the lower body and is not inferior to Tang Zheng in the physical confrontation. Sometimes he can even gain a certain advantage with his dexterous body.

Of course, if Tang Zheng can grow into a world-class star, he must have his own defensive experience. Facing an offensive player with excellent speed, strength and skills like Sanchez, he knows how to defend in a targeted manner.

Moreover, Sanchez's technical characteristics have long been formed, and Tang Zheng knows the basics, so he can defend with twice the result with half the effort.

Therefore, Sanchez's performance did not improve significantly after the start of the second half, so that head coach Sampaoli stood in the home team's coaching area and frowned, and then turned his head from time to time to communicate with his assistants.

Five minutes before the start of the second half, although the Chinese team defended passively, Yan Junling's goalkeeping had not yet been tested.

As the game progressed, Sanchez gradually gave up on personal breakthroughs and instead chose to cooperate with his teammates.

Immediately, he found that the team's offense became more and more stable. In order to avoid mistakes in the core area, Tang Zheng chose to give up large-scale activities to ensure the safety in front of the central defender.

After all, Zheng Zhi is old and his running ability has greatly declined. The young Tang Zheng must shoulder greater defensive responsibilities.

Central 5 commentator He Wei watched the Chinese team continue to defend and said solemnly: "Being too defensive is not suitable for the current Chinese team. There must be offense. Lu Liang and Wu Sanshi are both good counterattack weapons. Hao Junmin also has He has a strong ability to organize counterattacks, so should Lippi move Tang Zheng to a position earlier?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhang Linpeng poked the ball passed by Vidal to Sanchez from the right side. The referee blew his whistle to request a substitution from the sidelines, and the broadcast screen instantly followed.

No. 3 Cai Huikang stood on the sidelines, and the number displayed in red was No. 19, which meant that the captain Zheng Zhi was substituted.

He Wei's voice changed: "Oh? Pure defensive midfielder Cai Huikang replaced captain Zheng Zhi? Did Lippi want to strengthen defense? In fact, it is completely understandable to replace veteran Zheng Zhi. The game has passed an hour, and now it is the first game of the Chinese team. There is still one week left for the first match of the Brazil World Cup group stage. Zheng Zhi, who is preparing for the World Cup after playing in the Chinese Super League, needs a good rest..."

In fact, Lippi's reason for removing Zheng Zhi, in addition to considering Zheng Zhi's physical condition, is that he hopes to continue to inspect players. The official 23-person squad has not yet been submitted to FIFA, and the 26 players brought must be Three people were eliminated.

Cai Huikang has good abilities, but his state has been unstable recently.

Lippi's tailor-made formation for the Chinese team is 4231. Tang Zheng and Zheng Zhi are the first choices for these two positions, and as substitutes there are Wu Xi and Zhao Xuri who are good at offense and defense.

If Cai Huikang is unstable, he will not win the 23-man roster.

It is worth mentioning that before Zheng Zhi came off the field, he handed the captain's armband on his left arm to Tang Zheng.

He serves as captain on the field.

However, this scene is the result of many fans' imagination. Now Tang Zheng is extremely famous around the world, and the relationship within the team is very harmonious, and everyone has great admiration for Tang Zheng.

※※※

Less than a minute after the substitution was completed, the Chinese team lost the ball.

Vidal stepped in to catch the ball and went forward to organize the attack. Tang Zheng made up for it. If Zheng Zhi was on the court, he would keep a safe distance from Tang Zheng to make up for the space behind Tang Zheng. However, Cai Huikang has just come off the bench and has not yet found the space. Game feeling, so not aware of it.

Vidal pushed the arch of his right foot, and the football went to the back of Tang Zheng, which was the vacuum zone between Tang Zheng and Cai Huikang.

Vargas retreated to respond. It was already too late for Cai Huikang to step forward to defend. Vargas kept passing the ball to Sanchez, and then quickly turned around.

Sanchez was facing the goal, but instead of taking the ball forward, he pushed the ball with the arch of his right foot into the path of Vargas turning forward.

"Ouch-ouch——"

Suddenly, huge cheers from Chilean fans rang out over the National Stadium.

Cai Huikang is not tall, but he is very heavy and his turning speed is slow. He did not even catch the fans behind Vargas.

Feng Xiaoting had to leave his defense zone and defend Vargas head-on.

At this moment, Valdez stopped the ball with his right foot, paused for a moment, and quickly passed the ball to Feng Xiaoting's original position with the outside instep.

Sanchez was very alert. He crossed into the penalty area from the right side of the attack, and then received a pass from Vargas with the outside of his right foot and entered the penalty area.

Even though Yan Junling gave up the goal immediately, he failed to save the team. Sanchez's low shot with his right foot penetrated the crotch and scored.

1:0

Lippi stood in front of the visiting team's coaching bench and shook his head. Cai Huikang was a first-class defensive midfielder in the Chinese Super League, but he was not good enough in the international arena.

The body is strong enough, but the football intelligence can't keep up, and I don't know what the true meaning of defensive midfielder is.

There are many things in football that cannot be taught and need to be understood by the players themselves.

This is also the fundamental difference between ordinary players and excellent players.

Obviously, Cai Huikang has been eliminated from the 23-man World Cup squad by Lippi.

Cai Huikang, who made a defensive error, realized something. He turned around and looked at coach Lippi, then shook his head and smiled bitterly.

As the captain on the field, Tang Zheng walked up to Cai Huikang, patted him on the shoulder, and consoled him: "You have just come on the field and have not yet found the rhythm of the game. I believe Lippi will not judge your performance so early. After all, you He is the top defensive midfielder in the domestic league. As long as the game is not over, you have a chance to win back, you know?"

Cai Huikang looked up at Tang Zheng, his sincere eyes conveying hope, so he nodded vigorously: "I understand."

Falling behind, the Chinese team continued to make personnel adjustments. Yang Xu and Yu Chao replaced Gao Lin and Lu Liang and continued to inspect the players.

In Lippi's mind, Gao Lin and Lu Liang no longer need to be inspected. They are both capable of appearing in the World Cup.

Although Lu Liang is still very young, he has considerable experience in Europe's top leagues. He even performed amazingly in peak matches such as the Champions League quarter-finals. His abilities are currently unmatched by domestic players.

Gao Lin has no experience in top European leagues, but his performance at the forward position is unmatched by other domestic players. In addition, Lippi once coached Guangzhou Evergrande and is very familiar with the abilities of Guangzhou Evergrande player Gao Lin.

Although other positions of the Chinese team are still being adjusted, Tang Zheng has always stayed on the court.

Because in Lippi's tactical system, Tang Zheng is irreplaceable.

Anyone can be replaced, but Tang Zheng cannot.

Lippi made adjustments to the offense obviously in order to cope with the situation if he fell behind Colombia in the second round of the World Cup group stage. However, the weak Chinese team was forced by defensive pressure and had no time to organize an effective attack.

However, as Cai Huikang entered the game state, his interception ability in the midfield gradually became apparent.

In many cases, Tang Zheng was able to complete the defense on his own when he had no time to defend, which surprised the head coach Lippi who was watching the game from the sidelines.

You must know that he has completely denied Cai Huikang when the team lost the ball, but if Cai Huikang's performance can be sustained and stable, he can definitely be brought along.

Compared with Wu Xi and Zhao Xuri, Cai Huikang's pure defensive ability is stronger, and he will not do things beyond his own abilities. This is the most important characteristic of a defensive midfielder.

In the 70th minute of the game, Chile made continuous substitution adjustments, and core players such as Vidal and Sanchez were substituted one after another.

For Chilean coach Sampaoli, the Chilean team also needs to examine other players.

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As Chile's main core players came off the field one after another, Cai Huikang's defensive ability was gradually revealed.

Defense and offense are closely related, and the defensive pressure gradually decreases. Tang Zheng can finally focus on the team's frontcourt offensive organization.

His work is no longer limited to transition and rhythm control, and he has begun to increase the amount of forward pressure.

It is true that the Chilean national team is stronger than the Chinese team, but this is based on the overall gap between the two teams' strongest lineups.

Now Chile's core players have been dismissed one after another, and the overall strength has dropped significantly. On the other hand, the changes in the Chinese team are not particularly big.

Compared with the strongest lineup, the current lineup is not much different in ability. After all, Tang Zheng is in the middle.

Tang Zheng, who is fully defensive, can become a world-class defensive player, but what really makes the world know him is his outstanding offensive ability.

The defense can go undefeated, but it can't win.

Cai Huikang can ensure the safety of the central defender in front of him, and Tang Zheng can safely support the frontcourt attack.

Yu Chao's offensive ability is not comparable to Lu Liang's, but he has rich experience in the game and his crosses are more accurate.

Yang Xu's comprehensive ability at the center position cannot shake Gao Lin's position in Lippi's heart, but he has a high-altitude advantage that Gao Lin does not have.

Although Yang Xu's body is not strong enough, he is good at using his body and can accurately judge the placement of the football. He can become the fulcrum of the frontcourt attack and make the Chinese team's offense more three-dimensional.

In the blink of an eye, the game reached the 80th minute. Thanks to Tang Zheng's active running, the Chinese team took control of the game and even suppressed the home team Chile for a time.

During this period of time, Tang Zheng got two long-range shot opportunities, and the quality was very high, forcing Bravo to make consecutive wonderful saves, causing the home fans to subconsciously create huge exclamations of "Oh, oh, oh...".

Central 5 commentator He Wei was obviously very happy. He said excitedly: "Under the organization of Tang Zheng, the Chinese team's offense slowly threatened Bravo's goal. I believe that the Chinese team can definitely equalize the score by continuing this attack!"

Unfortunately, Yu Chao made a breakthrough on the left and was intercepted. After that, the Chilean team launched a quick counterattack.

Since Tang Zheng was in an advanced position, it was obviously too late to catch up, and Cai Huikang was too slow. Orellana received Isla's precise pass and broke through Feng Xiaoting, and then scored with a low shot from about ten yards on the right side of the penalty area into the far corner.

2:0

He Wei, who still had hope for the Chinese team's offense, sighed: "The reason why strong teams are called strong teams is because they can seize limited offensive opportunities."

It is not difficult for the Chinese fans sitting in front of the TV to hear the depression in He Wei's words. After all, the Chinese team had the advantage during this period.

The most threatening shots of the Chinese team all come from Tang Zheng. That means that with core players such as Lu Liang and Hao Junmin off the field, only Tang Zheng can pose a threat for the Chinese team, while other players have limited abilities and cannot seize opportunities.

Because during this period, Tang Zheng passed good balls to Yang Xu and Yu Chao, but they both squandered the opportunity due to lack of ability when the opportunity arose.

Time passed by and the Chinese team trailed Chile by two goals. Therefore, even if the defense was at risk of losing the ball, head coach Lippi still signaled Tang Zheng to attack boldly. Cai Huikang was responsible for protecting the football and acting as Tang Zheng's temporary support point and bodyguard. .

The Chilean head coach looked at the passive game situation and did not make adjustments to the defense. Instead, he strengthened the offense, hoping to use offense to suppress the Chinese team.

Playing at home and having the upper hand, there is no reason for the Chinese team to show off its power here!

However, just as the Chilean team was making adjustments, there was a problem with the defense. Tang Zheng assumed a true pass thirty yards from the goal, and right back Zhang Linpeng came in at high speed. Medel, the center back who was trailing behind, did not realize that he thought Zhang Linpeng It was offside. He raised his right arm to remind the linesman Zhang Linpeng that he was offside, but the linesman did not raise the flag!

In other words...not offside!

After Zhang Linpeng's training in Porto in the past two seasons, his assist ability has been greatly enhanced, and his high-speed stoppage is just right, which also pave the way for his next high-quality crosses.

By the time the entire Chilean team's defense realized that Zhang Linpeng had successfully countered offside, it was too late, and Zhang Linpeng's cross from the bottom line and the right side of the penalty area was very crisp. He passed the football in an inverted triangle to the penalty spot.

Yang Xu overran at the front point, but he attracted two central defenders and attracted enough firepower for Wu Sanshi who stayed on the court.

In addition, in the past, Zhang Linpeng's crosses were always directed towards the center of the penalty area, resulting in Chile's defense being poorly prepared.

Wu Sanshi was known for his ghostly movement in Basel. He ran right into Zhang Linpeng's passing route and then completed a push without being marked.

Bravo reacted very quickly, but he was too close and his height and wingspan were limited, so he failed to touch the football.

The football hit the lower right corner of the goal, and the Chinese team pulled one back.

Then the game restarted, and the Chilean team gradually took control of the game with the adaption of the substitute players. However, Tang Zheng's defense was in place, and with Cai Huikang's excellent performance, the 2:1 score continued until the end of the game.

Although the Chinese team ultimately lost to Chile and suffered two consecutive defeats in the warm-up matches before the start of the World Cup, judging from the game process, Chinese football players and fans are full of confidence in the Chinese team's World Cup prospects.

A Tang Zheng in hot form can lead the Chinese team forward.

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