Midfielder Ruler

Ten minutes passed in the second round of Group C between the Chinese team and the Greek team. Surprisingly, the Chinese team still had the advantage, while the Greek team retreated for half of the game.

In addition, what stands out on the offensive end of the Chinese team is not Hao Junmin, nor Wu Sanshi, nor Tang Zheng, who occasionally goes forward to directly organize the offense. Instead, it is Sun Jingbo, who started the first game on behalf of the national team.

Both of his shots were extremely threatening and almost broke through the goal guarded by Kanezis.

Of course, Tang Zheng's role on the offensive end is also quite obvious. His arrangement and offensive organization in the midfield make the Chinese team's midfield and frontcourt offense simpler and more three-dimensional.

And Tang Zheng can often be seen on the defensive end. His defensive accuracy from the beginning of the game to now ranks first in the game.

Tang Zheng shoveled the ball from Samaras's feet out of the sideline. Jiang Zhipeng, who had previously made a mistake in catching the ball and missed the single-handed ball, returned to defend. Before returning to his position, he patted Tang Zheng's right shoulder to express his gratitude.

Central 5 commentator He Wei changed his voice: "It's a pity that Jiang Zhipeng made a mistake after getting a single shot, but he should remember his responsibilities more. As a defender, he should pay more attention to defense. After the mistake, The instinctive reaction was not to retreat immediately but to regret, which is very inappropriate. Fortunately, Tang Zheng has a good ability to read the game and had a prediction in advance."

"Indeed." Commentator Gong Lei nodded and said: "Jiang Zhipeng's main job is defense, followed by offense. And instead of wasting time regretting after making a mistake, it is better to actively return to defense and make up for the huge gap left by his forward thrust. Tang Zheng and Zheng Zhi both have a strong sense of defense, but that doesn’t mean they will arrive in time every time..."※※※

Fifteen minutes later, the Greek team's offense still showed no improvement and could only continue to defend passively.

Greek National Sports TV commentator Frizas Yekas couldn't bear to see the national team passively defending: "Fernando Santos should instill more offensive intentions into the team. The Chinese team's offense is not as simple as imagined. , the loss in the first round has taught us that passive defense is impossible to win the game."

In fact, it is not that the Greek coach Santos is unwilling to let the players step up their offense, but that as the game progresses the players feel more and more pressure and have no time to be distracted from the offense.

Before the game, they thought that the Chinese team would have a sharp attack, but they did not expect it to be so sharp. The quick counterattacks that the two wingers are good at have not been successful so far, and they were strangled in the cradle early.

The central midfielder combination of Tang Zheng and Zheng Zhi plays a huge role in both offense and defense.

The other two full-backs had great assists, and with Sun Jingbo's running movements in the frontcourt, the Greek team's defensive players could only focus on defense.

In the blink of an eye, another five minutes of the game passed. The performance at the Dune Stadium that attracted the most attention was undoubtedly Sun Jingbo, who played for the national team for the first time.

Before the game, Greek coach Santos' resume of Sun Jingbo was limited to playing for Barcelona B team, number of goals, number of assists, number of starts, number of substitutes, and technical characteristics.

But the technical characteristics of the players are nothing more than a few points, such as fast speed, ghostly movement, superb shooting skills, etc.

But Santos' coaching team knows nothing about the specific characteristics.

Before the game, many football commentators and so-called transfers believed that Sun Jingbo, who had just turned 18, would not be able to represent the Chinese team on the World Cup stage. His inclusion in the squad was more to feel the atmosphere of the World Cup. The World Cup in Russia four years later This is his stage...

The Greek head coach Santos and his coaching team, who got the Chinese team's starting list an hour before the start of the game, did not have extra time to study Sun Jingbo's characteristics. After all, superstar Tang Zheng has too much aura and should not be underestimated.

In this way, the Greek team, which knew nothing about Sun Jingbo, had to defend very hard.

As for Sun Jingbo, he was naturally at home and became the target of praise from the commentator in the on-site commentary box.

With no other choice, the Greek team coach Santos could only ask the players to fully retreat.

Compress the Chinese team's offensive space.

Breaking through dense defense has always been a world-class problem, not to mention the Chinese team, which is not particularly strong in offensive capabilities.

The on-site director gave a close-up shot of Lippi, the head coach of the Chinese team. From the broadcast, it was clear that Lippi was staring at the game intently, and from time to time he frowned and turned around to have brief exchanges with his assistant Madaloni.

It was obvious that he was worried.

The current situation is indeed beneficial to the Chinese team, but from a long-term perspective, it does more harm than good.

A long period without scoring will give players a psychological implication that it is difficult to score, and they are likely to become more and more impatient as time goes by.

As the fulcrum of the striker, Gao Lin has a strong ability to execute tactics and always follows the tactics arranged by head coach Lippi before the game. However, Sun Jingbo, Wu Sanshi and Hao Junmin, who have relatively strong personal abilities, started to play after the 25th minute of the game. Be eager to try the long shot.

The initial attempt did not attract the attention of the Greek team's defensive players. As Sun Jingbo and Hao Junmin made continuous long-range shots within 30 meters of the offensive third zone, the Greek team's defensive players realized something and they no longer gave the Chinese team too much attention. Good long shot chance.

Since there are no good opportunities for long-range shots, the only way to break the dense defense is to rely on set kicks. However, the Greek national team players are tall and powerful. Except for Tang Zheng, who has an absolute advantage in height, few other players can take advantage.

Therefore, the Greek team's defense seems to be in danger, but in fact it means that it is as stable as a rock.

Greek head coach Santos is very confident in the team's defense. The first thing he has reformed since taking over the team in 2010 is the defense. He believes that as long as the defense is good, counterattacks will come naturally.

It's just that the central midfielder duo of Tang Zheng and Zheng Zhi have a strong sense of defense and danger, and they seem to be able to predict the situation in advance.

In fact, Santos also knows the reason for this. The team's offensive routine for quick counterattack is very simple. Lippi, who watched the game live in the last round, must have already planned it.

Although the team must win and get three points in this round, scoring a goal to end the game in a draw is also three points!

With such a cost-effective match, why not?

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Lippi is a world-class coach, well-known around the world, and has a ruthless vision. How can we not see that the Chinese players on the field are becoming more and more impatient?

So he immediately stood on the edge of the command area and pressed down on the players with both hands, signaling the players to calm down.

At the same time, after passing the ball, Tang Zheng either pressed down with his palms or signaled the receiver to pass the ball back. Moreover, Tang Zheng also had the consciousness to further slow down the offensive rhythm and passed the ball back to signal his teammates. The formation moves back a little.

The previous offensive rhythm led by Sun Jingbo is no longer suitable for the current game situation, because the Greek team's defensive players are accustomed to the Chinese team's offensive method and can defend with twice the result with half the effort.

Tang Zheng has quite a lot of game experience, especially playing on defensive teams, and he has quite a lot of experience.

Joining Real Madrid last summer, apart from Barcelona, ​​Valencia and Athletic Bilbao, the teams that he faced in La Liga that advocated offense, all other teams faced Real Madrid.

This was especially true in the past 2013-2014 Champions League season. Many players chose to retreat and defend in order to ensure the lower limit of performance.

Tang Zheng, who is the core of Real Madrid's offense, has great experience in this aspect, so he once again signaled his teammates to pull back, forcing the Greek team's defense to move forward.

Forced by the contraction of the Chinese team's formation, the Greek team's defense had to move forward a few meters in order to maintain a distance from the midfield line.

Suddenly, the Greek team coach Santos became a little nervous.

He remembered that the Chinese team's closest attack came from the recycle formation, leaving an offensive space behind the defense for Chinese players to sprint.

However, at this moment, Kachulanis cooperated with Torosidis to intercept the ball from Wu Sanshi, and launched a quick counterattack. Captain Zheng Zhi decisively chose to foul when Tang Zheng failed to defend in place, and he therefore Received the first yellow card of the Chinese team in this game.

Seeing this, Santos's eyes lit up.

He realized that it was possible for the team to score before the scheduled time and win the game!

The Chinese team's formation recycle will inevitably increase the use of the two wings while gaining offensive space. Jiang Zhipeng and Zhang Linpeng are the kind of full-backs who like to assist. If the defense in the middle can get another chance to counterattack, it will definitely find more opportunities. What a good opportunity to counterattack.

Of course, Santos did not impulsively ask the players to implement it immediately. Instead, he consulted with his assistants for a long time before making the decision.

Lippi, the head coach of the Chinese team not far away, noticed the changes in Santos, but he didn't know how. The answer could only be revealed slowly through the game.

Thirty minutes into the game, as the Chinese team's formation retreated a few meters, the competition between the two sides took place more in the midfield.

In the words of British Sky TV commentator Andy Gray, it’s ‘chaos’!

Most of the players from both sides are gathered in the midfield, which means that a large number of players are concentrated in the small area of ​​​​the midfield.

The space is so big, there are so many people, and control of football changes very quickly.

Samaras stretched his long right foot in the center circle and changed the passing route of Zheng Zhi's direct pass to Sun Jingbo. Kachulanis and Wu Sanshi, who was actively defending, ran over at the same time.

Although Wu Sanshi has a speed advantage, Katchulanis is stronger. He made physical contact with Wu Sanshi in advance, then put a tackle while running, and handed the ball to Cone who was running forward.

If Cone can get the football, our side will definitely get a great opportunity to attack!

The football indeed rolled towards Cone against the turf, but Cone did not turn around to catch the ball, but waited in place.

Just like this, Tang Zheng, who has a strong sense of defense, came around from behind to steal the ball away, and then counterattacked on the spot.

You must know that the easiest way to lose the ball in a football match is not to counterattack, but to be intercepted by the opponent during the counterattack and hit by your own counterattack...

This is fatal!

Because the direction from defense to offense is forward, it is absolutely fatal for the opponent to steal the ball and counterattack at this time!

Kachulanis, who had just finished stealing the ball, had to choose to kick Tang Zheng down. Seeing that the football was not within the control of the Chinese players, the referee on duty decisively blew his whistle and gave Kachulanis a yellow card.

The on-site director gave a close-up shot of the Greek coach Santos, who exhaled a long breath.

Fortunately, Kachulanis fouled decisively. If Tang Zheng were to pass the ball, the consequences would be disastrous!

But the follow-up problems have become relatively serious. Kachulanis plays a very important role in Santos' tactical system. He received a yellow card before the first half was over. The next game will be very difficult for him.

But then again, there is no problem with Kachulanis's tactical foul. He made a sacrifice for the team as a whole and deserves praise.

The game continued. Feng Xiaoting took a free kick from the right backcourt of the center circle. Gao Lin failed to compete with Papastathopoulos for position, but the ball pushed out by Papastathopoulos was snatched by Sun Jingbo. , he gave the ball to Hao Junmin on the right.

The football soon came to Tang Zheng's feet. With his strong ability to read the game, he did not rush to pass the ball forward. Instead, he made reasonable use of the width of the court to involve the Greek team's defensive strength.

Head coach Lippi, who was standing on the sidelines, was worried that there would be problems when the Chinese team switched from offense to defense, but he was very confident in Tang Zheng and Zheng Zhi's position selection and did not interfere with Tang Zheng's offensive organization.

The Greek coach Santos is a little unsure now. He doesn't know whether he should defend with all his strength. After all, there are less than ten minutes left in the first half.

But in his mind, there was another voice,

As the game time decreases, the Chinese team's concentration is likely to decline.

With a little bit of use, it is very possible to score a decisive goal before the end of the first half.

Because... he believes in the team's tenacious fighting spirit. As long as he scores a goal, he will definitely be able to hold on until the end of the game!

The game progressed the same as the previous few minutes. The competition gathered near the midfield. As a superstar, Tang Zheng had to do the dirty work and make up for the team's offensive and defensive holes through running without hesitation.

He Wei, the commentator of CC5, praised without hesitation: "Tang Zheng's professionalism is really hard to understand. As the most creative midfielder on the offensive end in world football, he should have paid more attention to it. Focus on offense, but with a strong sense of responsibility, he often cares more about defense..."

During the conversation, the Greek team switched from defense to offense. The Chinese team, which was rare, did not press high and retreated to half court.

Cone was a little confused when he got the ball, but he didn't care. He took the ball forward to organize the attack.

Cone, who had a wide vision, took the ball forward and saw Samaras diagonally cutting into the space. He passed the ball without hesitation.

However, as soon as the pass was completed, he regretted it. Central defender Feng Xiaoting suddenly stepped forward and appeared in the path of the football.

Feng Xiaoting handed the ball to Tang Zheng as soon as he intercepted the ball. With his back to the Greek goal, Tang Zheng handed it directly to Wu Sanshi on the left. Kachulanis, who ran to the general, had no choice but to kick Wu Sanshi down. Three stones...

The referee on duty ran towards Kachulanis with a serious expression, and the Greek coach Santos standing on the sidelines realized that the situation was not good.

Katchulanis has a yellow card on his back!

as expected!

The referee ran to Kachulanis, first took out a yellow card, and then took out a red card from his trouser pocket!

Two yellows turn one red!

At the 39th minute of the game, a major turning point occurred!