Midfielder Ruler

"Ouch, ouch, ouch"

The sky above Newcastle Stadium was filled with a fanatical atmosphere for the game. Fans from both sides and Chinese fans made huge roars like mountains and tsunamis.

In this fanatical atmosphere, players on both sides of the game were extremely dedicated and high-spirited, fighting for every ball.

Since both sides of the game emphasize the control of the football by the midfielder, when the other side attacks, the other side will always have targeted defensive arrangements, thus affecting the opponent's forward progress.

The Chinese team's double midfielder combination is Tang Zheng and rising star Li Kui. When the Japanese team's head coach Aguirre got the Chinese team's starting lineup before the game, he thought that the 19-year-old Li Kui would be their breakthrough point. In fact, this is not the case. He is so young. The young Li Kui was not timid at all in a top competition like the Asian Cup semi-finals. Instead, he performed very well. With the help of Tang Zheng, he completed the defensive tasks assigned by head coach Lippi before the game.

Coupled with the two ribs Lu Liang and Takesanshi assisting in defense, the Japanese team's advancement in the midfield was not smooth.

However, the Chinese team's offense also encountered this situation. Because Tang Zheng was too far back, he could only play a transition and transfer role when the team attacked.

It's not that he can't take the ball forward and directly participate in the frontcourt offensive organization, but he is worried that the young Li Kui will have problems in this kind of game.

Although his performance at the beginning of the game was remarkable, who can guarantee that the young man will not be complacent?

Even if you don't get complacent, you may lose focus at some point in the game.

Tang Zheng also had a time when he was young and knew that young players would have to pay tuition fees.

But paying tuition depends on the nature of the competition. The Asian Cup has reached the semi-finals, and no one can afford to lose!

In Tang Zheng's heart, he doesn't want to miss any glory. He is already twenty-six this year. If he misses this Asian Cup, it will be four years later. He will be thirty years old by then. His career should be almost on the decline, so the last one will advance. Tickets for the Asian Cup final are a must.

Several players of the Japanese team have played against Tang Zheng, and they have basically won the game. However, the Japanese team as a whole is difficult to deal with. There are strong Brazilian elements in running, passing and cutting, and the Japanese players are very skilled with their feet. It's hard to cut the football from under their feet.

In order to avoid problems in the back line during the press, Lippi's defensive task before the game was to focus on regional defense.

The main reason is that the Japanese team lacks wide attackers. They rely more on the overall forward push, and then use tacit passing, cutting and running to tear apart the opponent's defense.

Once the opponent sets up an iron barrel formation, it will be difficult to break the deadlock. This is why the Japanese team entered overtime and a penalty shootout with the United Arab Emirates.

As the team with the most goals in this Asian Cup, the Chinese team also has excellent defensive capabilities. It has not conceded a goal from the first round of the group stage against Saudi Arabia to the semi-finals. It is the best defensive team in this Asian Cup.

Attack wins fans and defense wins championships. This is one of the reasons why many foreign media are optimistic about the Chinese team winning the championship.

Defense will not win the game, but when the Chinese team completes the defensive work, Tang Zheng leads the county to attack forward and then score.

It is precisely because of this possibility that Japanese head coach Aguirre did not arrange detailed offensive tasks before the game, but more about the defensive level.

This Chinese team is no longer the mobile cash machine of the Japanese team, but a ‘Big Mac’ with both defense and defense!

※※※

Tang Zheng, who wears the captain's armband in this game, runs very actively and works hard on the defensive end. His shadow can often be seen on the offensive end.

Although he has not yet entered the core area of ​​the offense, his vision and passing can often send the football to the most threatening place.

Lu Liang was in very good condition. His breakthrough with the ball on the left side of the attack almost paralyzed the Japanese team's right defense.

Wu Sanshi seemed a bit quiet on the right, and ** who was good at assists was not able to participate in the offense to a large extent.

Of course, this is directly related to the rigorous tactics Lippi arranged before the game.

In other words, in the first ten minutes of the game, both sides were conducting tentative attacks, paving the way for the acceleration of the next game.

The game lasted until the 20th minute before both sides contributed their first shot that hit the goal range.

Tang Zheng made continuous passes to Hao Junmin in the 40-meter offensive area, and then suddenly kicked the ball to the right side of his attack with the outside instep of his right foot. He jumped in at high speed and completed the pass directly when faced with the right pass. Direct pass, the football unexpectedly rolled against the turf towards the top of the penalty area.

Lu Liang, who appears in the passing lane, does not need to make any adjustments. All he has to do is complete a shot.

The shot was of very high quality, flying towards the upper right corner of the goal with a whistling sound.

Japanese team goalkeeper Kawashima Eiji was very focused. He flew sideways and dragged the ball over the crossbar with one palm.

"Oh oh oh"

At the same time, a burst of exclamations subconsciously produced by Japanese fans rang out over the Newcastle Stadium.

If it weren't for goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima's concentration, the national team goal they supported would probably have been scored by Lu Liang.

Immediately, Japan head coach Aguirre suddenly stood up from the coaching bench, walked excitedly to the sideline, pointed his hands at his temples towards the sideline, and then said loudly: "Focus on the game, focus on the game! Don't Give your opponents any chance to shoot!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he looked at captain Makoto Hasebe, pointed at Tang Zheng who was running towards the penalty area and shouted loudly: "The corner kick defense must keep an eye on Tang and don't give him any chance to fight for the header!"

Not far away, Chinese head coach Lippi stood in the visiting team's coaching area with his hands raised above his head, encouraging the team to keep up the good work by clapping his hands.

Lu Liang, who did not score a goal, first pulled his hair, then turned to face the opponent and gave a thumbs up with his right hand, indicating that the pass was beautiful.

Hao Junmin took a corner kick on the right side of the attack, and the football flew toward the penalty spot with an obvious inner arc.

There, there were Tang Zheng, Feng Xiaoting, Maya Yoshida, Makoto Hasebe and Shinji Okazaki, but none of them were as tall as Tang Zheng, and Tang Zheng had an absolute advantage in judging where the football would land.

Therefore, in corner kick defense, the Japanese team had nearly three defensive players placed here by Tang Zheng. Despite this, Tang Zheng still managed to grab the ball from the triple team of Yoshida Maya, Hasebe Makoto and Okazaki Shinji.

However, their efforts paid off. Tang Zheng failed to adjust his aim correctly when the Japanese players triple-teamed him, and the ball missed the goal post.

Seeing the football miss the goal post, Yoshida Maya, Hasebe Makoto and Okazaki Shinji let out a sigh of relief, and then looked at Tang Zheng in tacit understanding.

They thought Tang Zheng would feel sorry, but in the end, Tang Zheng jogged towards his own half without looking back, seemingly not caring about the confrontation.

Suddenly, a sense of frustration arose in the three of them.

I thought that Tang Zheng would feel the pressure in his defense and let off some steam, but Tang Zheng didn't. It looked more like an unworthy confrontation.

In fact, this was indeed the case in Tang Zheng's mind.

Japanese players are not strong individually, but are strong as a whole. Tang Zheng also has his own sense of superiority, especially in this kind of competition that emphasizes physical confrontation. He has to maintain a superior image for Japanese players to look up to.

Want to reach the finals?

nonexistent!

As the Chinese team got two shooting opportunities, the Japanese team also tried to make the offense more direct.

However, forward Shinji Okazaki seemed to have a bad feeling in front of the goal. Under the interference of Feng Xiaoting, he missed the ball and did not even get a corner kick.

Two minutes later, Shinji Okazaki once again got a chance to shoot in the penalty area. Maya Yoshida directly made a long pass from the backcourt to find Shinji Okazaki. The latter very cleverly used his chest to move the ball to the right rib of the penalty area, and then caught up with Feng Xiaoting before he could Completed a volley before he had time to block it.

The Japanese fans in the stands subconsciously raised their arms and opened their mouths, preparing to make a deafening roar.

Half a second later, the passionate and indignant Japanese fans seemed to be choked by someone, unable to make any sound.

Because...the football flew directly to the second-floor stands.

The Chinese fans who were nervous before let out a huge burst of laughter and laughed at Shinji Okazaki's shot.

Despite this, Lippi, the head coach of the Chinese team, still said loudly to Tang Zheng who was looking at the coaching bench: "Hey Tang, position a little further back to protect the central defender."

In the following game, Tang Zheng consciously positioned himself further back, very close to the two central defenders, thus intercepting the Japanese team's direct attack from the air.

The j-sports-1 commentator did not understand the Japanese team's offense. He frowned and said: "We should not choose the direct long pass and lob tactics when we encounter trouble in the middle attack, because that is not the offensive routine we are familiar with. Unless there is a special tacit understanding of passing and receiving, it will be difficult to achieve results, so sticking to our usual tactical thinking is the closest way to scoring goals..."

※※※

In the blink of an eye, the game came to thirty minutes, and the score displayed on the scoreboard had not changed, it was still 0:0.

Red is like fire and blue is like water. The Chinese team and the Japanese team on the field are fighting hard for the Asian Cup final. The shouts from the red fan area and the blue fan area in the stands are also continuous, making this Sino-Japanese war more exciting. The atmosphere of the competition was particularly fanatical.

Against this background, players on both sides of the game were also extremely dedicated.

However, the score did not change. As time passed slowly, the impatience of the players gradually emerged, especially the Japanese players who had not performed well offensively. Shinji Kagawa and Keisuke Honda, who had been basically invisible until the beginning of the game, performed particularly well. obvious.

Shinji Kagawa seemed very impatient after the ball was intercepted. He did not stop his feet when counterattacking, and directly kicked Wu Sanshi from behind. This immediately aroused strong dissatisfaction from the young and energetic Li Kui. He was too tall and powerful because He was so excited that he sprayed saliva all over Shinji Kagawa's face.

Shinji Kagawa, who committed the foul, immediately raised his arms to express his intention. When Li Kui questioned him, he was stunned.

Keisuke Honda and Yasuhito Endo, who were right next to him, reacted quickly and surrounded Li Kui, asking for an explanation.

The experienced captain Makoto Hasebe and the honest player Shinji Okazaki looked at the referee Hassan on duty and said that Li Kui's behavior was against the spirit of sportsmanship.

Naturally, Chinese players cannot tolerate their little brother Li Kui being 'bullied' by Japanese players. Even though Li Kui's reaction was too violent, and captain Tang Zheng bore the brunt, his defense was well-founded. He first pushed Li Kui away consciously, and then used both hands to He lost from behind and used his well-developed chest muscles to push away Honda Keisuke and Endo Yasuhito.

"Beep~~"

At this time, the whistle of the UAE referee Hassan came belatedly.

Tang Zheng was 1.94 meters tall and weighed 83 kilograms. He looked down at Endo Yasuhito and Honda Keisuke from a high position, so that the two of them were much weaker in terms of momentum.

By the time they reacted, the referee Hassan's whistle also sounded, and it was already too late to think about the attack, which was equivalent to a frustrating loss.

Hassan, who came to the scene of the incident, first separated the players from both sides, and then settled the score later.

Shinji Kagawa, who made an excessive counterattack, was first shown a yellow card by Hassan, and Li Kui, who almost caused a conflict between the two sides, also received a yellow card.

Tang Zheng, Makoto Hasebe and Keisuke Honda did not receive yellow cards. The referee Hassan only gave a verbal warning.

Among these two yellow cards, it is obviously the Chinese team that suffers more, because Li Kui is a defensive midfielder and Shinji Kagawa is an offensive midfielder.

In terms of card rate, defensive midfielders obviously have a higher rate.

In this regard, CC5 commentator He Wei said: "Based on this detail, it is not difficult to see that Li Kui is still too young and very impulsive. Tang Zheng, who is the captain of the Chinese team in this game, is very smart. While he defends Li Kui, he has an obvious The action of putting his hands behind his back suppressed the arrogance of the Japanese players but also failed to meet the standard of receiving a card. It can be said that Yasuhito Endo and Keisuke Honda suffered a heavy loss in this 'confrontation'."

Commentator Xu Yang then added: "However, Li Kui, who received a yellow card, should be more careful in the next game. Captain Tang Zheng should pay more attention to the defensive pressure on Li Kui's side. Once Li Kui's defensive actions are too large, it will be very difficult." It may cause him to receive his second yellow card in this game. The UAE referee Hassan was extremely strict with our players in the AFC Champions League..."

The Chinese fans sitting in front of the TV suddenly remembered that in the past few AFC Champions League games, the UAE referee did not give a red card to a Chinese player...

Current Porto players ** and Gao Lin, who once represented Guangzhou Evergrande in the AFC Champions League, both suffered losses from Hassan and were sent off respectively. ,

Of course, the fans' worries are only temporary, because their focus has returned to the Sino-Japanese war that is related to the places in the Asian Cup finals.

The game had a minor conflict just now, and the atmosphere of tension showed signs of escalation. The Japanese players consciously targeted the young and energetic Li Kui.

As the captain, Tang Zheng was very worried that Li Kui would not be able to control his emotions and was ready to remind him, but Li Kui's calmness was unexpected. He was deliberately violated by Japanese players during the passing process and remained indifferent, just like a very honest man. elementary school student, extremely well-behaved.

On the contrary, Endo Yasuhito received a yellow card for a big-movement foul, which made CC5 commentator He Wei look at Li Kui with admiration: "I really can't believe that the young Li Kui has such forbearance. As time goes by, It will definitely grow into a moving Great Wall for the Chinese team’s midfield defense.”

Indeed, Li Kui has a solid defensive foundation and can often strike back with his quick reactions. Moreover, his running coverage ability is so strong that he can be called the Moving Great Wall.