Midfielder Ruler

Costa Rica was able to stand out from the group of death and qualified first in the group. It only conceded one goal in the three group matches, becoming one of the teams with the fewest goals conceded in the group stages of this World Cup along with Mexico and Belgium. The defense must be outstanding.

as expected!

In the fourth 1/8 finals at the Pernambuco Arena, the Chinese team's offense encountered stubborn resistance from Costa Rica. At one point, Costa Rica used its familiar fast counterattack rhythm to concede a goal first.

Fortunately, Tang Zheng and Yan Junling played well and kept the goal safe.

Especially Tang Zheng, his physical running made up for the huge gaps caused by the lack of movement of his own defensive players.

"The Chinese team's offense must be more patient, otherwise once bigger problems are exposed, no matter how outstanding Tang's ability is, there will be nothing he can do."

British Sky commentator Andy Gray frowned and said solemnly.

"Indeed." Commentator Martin Taylor nodded lightly: "Don's ability to read the game is super strong, but what he is recognized by the world for is offense. Should Marcelo Lippi take a risk and move Don's position to A little prerequisite? Give him more offensive opportunities."

Andy Gray turned to look at Martin Taylor and said meaningfully: "My old man, the Chinese team is still tied with Costa Rica 0:0. Marcelo Lippi's football philosophy is to solidify the defense first and then wait for opportunities. Look for opportunities to counterattack, and if the counterattack fails, then use the control of the midfield to find defensive gaps in the two ribs of Costa Rica's defensive end, but... judging from the effect of the game, it did not work."

"That's natural, but without Tang organizing the offense in the frontcourt, the Chinese team's offense lacks creativity. Hao played more as a right midfielder in Schalke 04. The attacking midfielder is not suitable for him. Gao's ability to control the front line It's too bad. There is no way to form a long-distance connection with Tang. I think if the Chinese team had a strong center, the score would have changed now..."

The father-in-law is right, and the mother-in-law is right. Andy Gray did not dwell on this issue with his old partner Martin Taylor, but changed the subject.

Meanwhile, the frenetic atmosphere at the Pernambuco Arena became increasingly frenetic as the game progressed.

Costa Rica, which has a strong defensive ability, not only performed well on the defensive end, but also showed its absolute strength in the offensive end. The cooperation of captain No. 10 Ruiz and Joel Campbell frequently threatened the Chinese team's goal.

However, as the game went by, the defensive players led by Tang Zheng gradually adapted to Costa Rica's offensive and counterattack routines, and gradually became more comfortable defending, no longer as panicked as at the beginning of the game.

The defensive pressure became lighter and Tang Zheng could choose to press forward when the Chinese team attacked.

Of course, Tang Zheng's forward pressure was limited.

Costa Rica captain Ruiz has rich experience in the game, and Campbell is fast. The two work together well. Once the pressure is on, the frontcourt teammates make mistakes in cooperation, and the defensive problems will be exposed.

It's true that Tang Zheng has a strong ability to read the game, but it takes time for him to catch up.

If the forward pressure is limited, even if his teammates in the frontcourt make a mistake in passing the ball, he can make up for it in time.

This is also the fundamental reason why Tang Zheng only entered Costa Rica's 30-meter offensive zone in the first 20 minutes except for corner kick attacks and set-piece opportunities.

Despite this, Tang Zheng also got two opportunities to take long-range shots.

The first long-range shot caused the Costa Rican fans in the stands to burst into loud exclamations. If it weren't for goalkeeper Navas' quick reaction, Tang Zheng's super long-range shot about 35 meters away from the goal would have probably resulted in a goal.

The second long-range shot slightly missed the goal post, but it also shocked the Costa Rican fans in the stands and broke into a cold sweat.

Therefore, Costa Rica head coach Pinto took advantage of a dead ball opportunity to tell the two central midfielders Borges and Bolachino not to close in. They must have a deep defensive space to prevent Tang Zheng from getting another long-range shot opportunity.

The parallel position of Costa Rica's two central midfielders turned into a deep position, even though it restricted Tang Zheng's long-range shooting space.

But Tang Zheng likes to use his brain when playing football. He realized that Borges and Bolaquino had a deep position and decisively chose to pass the ball.

Hao Junmin does not perform well in the attacking midfielder position, but it does not mean that he is not capable.

The reason why Lippi puts Hao Junmin in the front midfielder position is not because he needs to pass many penetrating through balls. Lippi only needs to use Hao Junmin to make use of his good running position and wide vision. Distribute the ball to the wing.

Both Lu Liang on the left and Wu Sanshi on the right are very fast, especially Lu Liang on the left. His combination of speed and technology is quite perfect, and the finishing kick can be done by forward Gao Lin and Wu Sanshi on the right. Comparable.

In the 23rd minute, Hao Junmin received a pass from Tang Zheng with his back to the goal and directly passed it to Lu Liang on the left to open up space for a breakthrough.

Suddenly, two defensive players Diaz and Tejeda appeared in front of Lu Liang.

Everyone thought that Lu Liang would use his outstanding foot skills to choose a breakthrough, so Diaz guarded Lu Liang's breakthrough route to the bottom line, and Tejeda stood on the route where Lu Liang might cut inside.

At this moment, Lu Liang's right foot, which frequently touched the ball, suddenly bounced the ball back with the instep of his outer instep. The football rolled toward his own attacking left rib, about thirty meters from the baseline.

The on-site director immediately gave another long shot, and a Chinese player wearing a red No. 10 jersey appeared in the lower right corner of the broadcast screen.

"Tang Zheng——"

Central 5 commentator He Wei subconsciously shouted.

Borges followed Tang Zheng and moved over, but taking into account the key instructions from head coach Pinto before the game, full-back Tejeda, who was responsible for assisting Lu Liang in defending, focused on Tang Zheng.

Tang Zheng originally wanted to pretend to take the ball forward and let the ball go to his right foot, and then transfer the long pass to the right wing.

But he had a wide field of vision and noticed from the corner of his eye that Lu Liang cleverly ran diagonally into the space exposed between Diaz and Tejeda, while Duat, one of the three central defenders, was still some distance away from Lu Liang.

This... is a good passing opportunity!

Halfway through Tang Zheng's move to let the ball pass, Tejeda and Borges subconsciously moved inside to block Tang Zheng's pass angle to the dangerous area at the top of the penalty area.

Tejeda and Borges actually did a very good job in defending the right rib. If the Chinese team's previous offensive rhythm was followed, Tang Zheng would really pass the ball and transfer. However, Tang Zheng noticed Lu Liang's movement and chose to take action. Change.

I saw Tang Zheng's right foot pulling the ball to the left, and then quickly retracting his right foot. His calf swing was very small, and the movement was quite subtle. He lifted the ball up with the toes of his right foot, and the football passed from Tejeda and Borges. I saw it flying towards the left corner of the penalty area.

"Ouch-ouch——"

The Chinese fans at the Pernambuco Arena subconsciously turned up the volume, like turning up the sound effects to the maximum, and erupted into a deafening roar.

Lu Liang also had a wide field of vision. While running, he noticed that forward Gao Lin came to the top of the penalty area and was ready to catch the ball. So he did not take the ball forward, but bounced the falling football with the outside instep of his right foot. To Gao Lin.

Maybe Gao Lin's shooting skills in front of the goal are not superb enough, but his ball-making ability is outstanding even if you look at the whole of Asia.

He used his body and open right arm to lean on the central defender Gonzalez who was trying to defend forward, and then used the arch of his left foot to pad the ball to the right rear, which is the rib between Gonzalez and Duarte. The whole department is empty.

Lu Liang, who passed the ball to Gao Lin, ran in that exact direction!

Duate had his back to the goal, and Lu Liang was facing the goal and facing the football. So Duate knew that he could not let Lu Liang pass, so he pulled Lu Liang down on the line of the penalty area, and Lu Liang fell into the penalty area due to inertia. The football It bounced in the penalty area and then went out of the baseline.

It’s just that no one pays attention to football anymore, but Swedish referee Jonas Eriksson!

Gao Lin and Hao Junmin, who were close to the referee, immediately ran excitedly, including captain Zheng Zhi, to put pressure on the referee, hoping that the referee would award a penalty kick.

Costa Rican players saw the Chinese players actively complaining and were worried that the referee would be under too much pressure and award a penalty kick to the Chinese team, so they gathered around.

The referee on duty, Jonas Eriksson, smiled and rejected the Chinese player's penalty appeal. He bypassed the players on both sides and ran to the left penalty area line of Costa Rica. He bent down and sprayed the foam spray in his hand on the penalty area line to signal. Duarte's foul was outside the penalty area.

Free kick.

Immediately, he took out another yellow card from his pocket and gave it to Costa Rica player Duarte.

Because once Lu Liang enters the penalty area and receives a pass from Gao Lin, it will be a 100% goal, and a yellow card is the most basic penalty.

※※※

The on-site director gave a slow-motion replay. It has to be said that Duarte's foul was very timely. If he had taken another step back to pull down Lu Liang, it would have been a 100% penalty!

Central 5 commentator He Wei said with regret: "It would be great if Costa Rica central defender Duarte could take one more step back!"

Guest commentator Gong Lei said with a smile: "It is good that the referee can give us a penalty kick, but our offense in sports games is also good. I believe that the Chinese team can organize an attack to penetrate Costa Rica's defense line, and the same will happen in the rest of the game." Can!"

"That's right!" Taking advantage of the time when Tang Zheng was placing the football, He Wei continued: "From the moment Tang Zheng passed it to Lu Liang, to Lu Liang passing it to Gao Lin, and then Gao Lin passing it to Lu Liang, it was all passed with one kick. The speed was so fast that As for the Costa Rican defensive players, it was too late to choose their positions, which means that we can focus on passing the ball in the core offensive area in the next game time!"

At the same time, after placing the football, Tang Zheng looked at the six-man wall of Costa Rican players, and then looked at goalkeeper Navas through the human ball, frowning.

Thirty or thirty meters away from the goal is conducive to a set-piece master like Tang Zheng, but it is too close for him to make a move.

Choosing the drop-leaf kicking method is very demanding on foot control, because there is not enough distance left for the football to fall after it jumps over the wall.

You can also use the inside of the instep to make an arc, but Navas's goal-line skills are very good. Unless he has both strength and angle, it will be difficult to score.

After much deliberation, Tang Zheng finally chose a coincidence...

"Beep~"

The whistle came from the referee's mouth, Tang Zheng took a two-step approach, raised his right foot, his body's center of gravity naturally turned to the left, raised his left arm, maintaining body balance, and kicked the right foot towards the middle of the football with the instep.

Tang Zheng is betting that the human wall in Costa Rica will leap high!

In fact, most of the Costa Rican players jumped up, except Campbell, the second wall on the left, did not take off.

In fact, Campbell was preparing to take off, but captain Ruiz's right elbow hit Campbell's left rib when he took off, causing Campbell's movement to lag.

No one expected that Campbell, who did not take off, would become the savior of Costa Rica's goal.

Campbell looked at the ball and subconsciously changed the shape of his right foot. He used the arch of his foot to sweep the football towards the near corner of the goal from Tang Zheng and kicked it out to the right sideline.

After completing the clearance, Campbell reached out and touched his forehead with lingering fear. Fortunately, captain Ruiz was not careful when he took off, otherwise...

Captain Ruiz didn't know that his right elbow hit Campbell. When he saw the football coming out of the sideline, he turned around excitedly and hugged Campbell, shouting: "Joel, that's great! You saved the team!"

Tang Zheng's powerful shot was close to the turf and rolled towards the near goal, while goalkeeper Navas was standing near the far corner, which meant that goalkeeper Navas was likely to be caught off guard.

Naturally, Campbell would not tell the captain something stupid like, "Actually, it was your elbow that hit my left rib." He said without blushing, "Actually, I guessed that too."

The goalkeeper Navas was not forced to make a wonderful save, so there were not too many commentators focusing on Tang Zheng's third shot in the game so far, including the central 5 commentator He Wei.

However, British Sky commentator Martin Taylor said regretfully: "Don's choice is very smart. If Joel Campbell can jump with the other five teammates at the same time, I think it will be difficult for Keylor Navas, who performed amazingly in this World Cup, to save him." This free kick from Tang’s foot touched the ground.”

The football did not pass under the wall, and it was difficult for the idea to become a reality. Andy Gray also had no time to think about the follow-up possibilities. He changed his voice: "Maybe... the Chinese team's luck in scoring has not come yet."

Since the Chinese team almost broke Costa Rica's solid defense line by attacking the left rib, Costa Rica's defensive focus has gradually been placed on the right.

Lippi, the head coach of the Chinese team, frowned. Costa Rica's ability to enter the top 16 was not due to luck, but to their own strength.

The ability to make up for defensive holes is too strong!

But Costa Rica has their own plan, and Lippi also has his ladder!

Taking advantage of a dead ball opportunity, Lippi made a gesture towards Lu Liang.

Then when the Chinese team switched from defense to offense again, the fans in front of the TV discovered that Lu Liang and Wu Sanshi had exchanged positions.

Central 5 commentator He Wei is full of expectations for this change of position: "Lü Liang's impact ability goes without saying. He has proven himself in the Bundesliga and the Champions League! Coupled with Zhang Linpeng's assist ability, I believe that the next threatening attack of the Chinese team will be in Start from the right!"

As Zhang Linpeng and Lu Liang cooperated in crosses from the right, Costa Rica head coach Pinto felt relieved again.

If it weren't for Gao Lin's poor grasp and Navas' incredible save, the Chinese team would have led by at least one goal!