Super Marshal

Dinamo Zagreb is the top team in the Croatian League. It has completed seven consecutive championships in the past seven seasons. It is comparable to Lyon in Ligue 1 at the beginning of the century. However, Croatia is not as good as France. There are only 12 teams in total. The Croatian Serie A is no better than Ligue 1.

As a giant team in Croatia, Dinamo Zagreb has its own way of survival, which is to basically follow Lyon's approach at its peak, dominate the domestic league, focus on attacking the Champions League, and rely on a more powerful team than its competitors. Financial resources, poaching teams from the same country, and then selling outstanding players to other European leagues at high prices to make profits.

It is normal to adopt this business model, and it is also very common in European football. However, what is more controversial about Dinamo Zagreb is that the club presidents, the Mamic brothers, also run the largest agent in Croatia. The company, almost most of the players who came out of Croatia, came from their operations.

This is somewhat similar to Juventus and Moggi in Serie A before the Calciopoli incident.

Therefore, Dinamo Zagreb and the Mamic brothers do not have a good impression among Croatian domestic fans.

In the Champions League group stage last season, Dinamo Zagreb was in the same group as Lyon. As a result, in the last round of the group stage, Dinamo Zagreb lost 7-1 to Lyon at home, boosting France's success. The top team qualified from the group in second place with a goal difference, which caused huge controversy in European football and Croatia.

Everyone felt that this was a match-fixing, and their dissatisfaction with the Mamic brothers was completely vented. No one paid attention to the clarifications from Lyon and Dinamo Zagreb. In the end, UEFA was even forced to take a stand. , things gradually calmed down.

Gao Han also watched that game specially. Dinamo Zagreb itself was not as good as Lyon. They were at the bottom of the group and were eliminated early. They were uncompetitive. Even if it was a home game, they could barely sustain themselves in the first thirty minutes, but Player Leko was sent off for two consecutive yellow cards in the 11th and 28th minutes respectively. This completely became the last straw for Dinamo Zagreb.

In fact, after the red card, Dinamo Zagreb still had the power to resist. It scored the first goal in the 40th minute and took the lead. It was also that goal that made Gao Han remember a name, Matt O. Kovacic.

But then Dinamo Zagreb suffered a devastating defeat. On the one hand, they had one less player than their opponents, and on the other hand, they were not as strong as their opponents. In the end, they ended up with a disastrous 1-7 defeat. After the game, the head coach You Ercic took the blame and resigned, and current head coach Ante Kasich took over.

But Kasich’s coaching results were not much better than Jurcic’s. In the previous rounds of qualifiers against Bulgaria and Slovenia, they were able to advance smoothly, but in the Champions League group stage, they encountered Porto and Dina Kiev. Mo, they lost two games in a row at the beginning, both games were 0-2, and it was true that their skills were inferior to others.

In this home game against Paris Saint-Germain, they also fell behind 0-2 in the first half.

But in the second half, Ante Kasich tried to counterattack. First, he made a direct substitution in the midfield. He took a defender from the 54 formation and replaced it with a midfielder, and then in the seventh Ten minutes later, a young player Halilovich was replaced.

After two substitutions, Dinamo Zagreb's midfield attack has improved a lot.

Kovacic, Halilovic and Brozovic seemed to be stimulated to sparks.

During a defense at the front of the penalty area, the central defender cleared the ball and kicked it to the front of the penalty area. Kovacic, wearing the No. 8 jersey, rushed out of the penalty area and caught up with the ball in front of the top of the arc.

But as soon as he stopped, Paris Saint-Germain's Di Maria stepped forward to press. Unexpectedly, Kovacic made a fake move, knocked his heel, turned around flexibly and dunked the ball past Di Maria, and then suddenly accelerated. He used his speed to get past Yaya Toure, who was returning to defense, and went straight for the goal.

Rabiot, who came on as a substitute, quickly returned to defense, and Paris Saint-Germain's defense also continued to retreat.

After crossing the center line, Rabiot began to try to force Kovacic to the wing. Unexpectedly, Kovacic made a fake move and deceived Rabiot, and then suddenly made another dunk. Directly change direction and return to the middle.

Seeing that Rabiot was about to be thrown away by Kovacic, Yaya Toure finally returned to defend and blocked Kovacic, but the Croatian did not drop the ball at his feet. Another one He changed direction and overcame Yaya Toure's tackle, but the Ivorian knocked him down with a kick and gave Dinamo Zagreb a free kick.

The whole process happened in a very short period of time. The ball seemed to be stuck to Kovacic's feet. Through skillful dribbling and constant changes in speed and direction, Kovacic single-handedly hit the goal. Paris Saint-Germain midfielder.

This made Gao Han and Zidane on the sidelines both surprised and amazed.

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"If I remember correctly, this kid is only eighteen years old, right?" Gao Han laughed.

He had noticed Kovacic for a long time. He scored a goal in the game against Lyon last year. He was only seventeen years old at the time, but his performance was eye-catching.

In the first half of the game, he was very sluggish, just like his team. But in the second half, as the team adjusted their playing style, the situation gradually turned around. He began to perform well. That time he dribbled the ball just now. It's eye-catching.

"Take a good look at him." Gao Han patted Zidane on the shoulder and smiled.

Soon, Dinamo Zagreb was once again forced to the front of the penalty area, but this time it was Kovacic who retreated to defend. In front of the penalty area, he cooperated with his teammates to attack and intercepted Di Maria's ball. After that, he dribbled the ball forward, and along the way he continuously used changes of speed and direction to pass the Paris Saint-Germain players.

But this time, Paris Saint-Germain reacted faster. Before it passed the center line, Di Maria chased back and joined forces with Yaya Toure and Rabiot to intercept the ball at his feet.

However, Dinamo Zagreb immediately got another chance for a throw-in. Kovacic was very active. After running over and raising his hand to ask for the ball, he turned around and got rid of Dimari who was guarding him. Ya, then he dribbled the ball through the center line alone again, but this time he learned well. Before Yaya Toure and Rabiot double-teamed him, he wanted to distribute the ball to the wing, but the result was directly The pass was passed to the Paris Saint-Germain player, who was so angry that he quickly chased after him.

This made Gao Han and Zidane laugh from the sidelines.

"This guy is pretty good." Gao Han said with a smile.

Zidane nodded, "This continuous change of speed and direction not only requires the player's speed, but also the control and adjustment of the center of gravity. You can see from his dribbling that he has solid foot skills and excellent dribbling ability. "Especially in the middle of midfield, it's very rare and it suits your taste."

Gao Han smiled, but did not express his position directly.

He really appreciates this type of player, especially one who can perform so well in the middle of the midfield.

At first, he admired Kaka because of his ability to advance in the middle. Now he uses Di Maria to play in the middle because of this. But Kovacic is different from these two players. His ball control and dribbling abilities are even better, and his continuous changes in speed and direction within a small range are impressive.

He really has an appetite for Gao Han, because Gao Han has always believed that improving the efficiency of offensive and defensive transitions will become more and more important, and how to complete the team's offensive and defensive transitions in the shortest time with the smallest investment has become This is what he has been working towards.

Kovacic is the kind of midfielder who can complete the transition between offense and defense by himself. He has different characteristics from Modric, but has many similar tactical values.

"Look again, Halilovic on the wing, the one who comes on as a substitute, is younger and has good footwork."

Following Zidane's gesture, Gao Han also noticed this young Croatian player with a hairstyle similar to Modric's. After observing it for a while, he realized that although he was not as eye-catching as Kovacic, he was still pretty good.

Gao Han's sharp eyes swept away, and he had a clear view of the situation of the two players Kovacic and Halilovic. He even knew the situation of the entire Dinamo Zagreb team, including the Bu Rozovich.

"In recent years, Croatia has really produced a lot of talents." Gao Han praised with a smile.

Zidane nodded, "When this group of players grows up, Croatia will be a force that cannot be underestimated in European football."

After a pause, Zidane looked at Gao Han curiously and asked, "How are these two?"

Gao Han smiled, "As I told you before, the growth of young talented players is amazing. Some players can be predicted, just like Neymar and Hazard. Their growth trajectories are very predictable. They are born with outstanding talents. He is the core of a wealthy team, and Lucas Moura is a little bit worse, but if he is cultivated properly, he will definitely be the main player of a wealthy team. "

"But there is another type that is difficult to predict, such as Isco and Pogba. They all have very unique abilities and are definitely among the ranks of geniuses, but it is difficult to set a specific development direction for them, so It’s hard to judge what the long-term future will be for them.”

Zidane agreed, "Yaya Toure also belongs to the latter category, but fortunately he met you."

When Gao Han was coaching Inter Milan, he created a path for Yaya Toure that was very suitable for his development. Only then did the Ivorian grow up, and now he has become the midfielder of Paris Saint-Germain, capable of both offense and defense.

"Kovacic also belongs to this category. It is not easy to grow up, but once he succeeds, he will become a superstar player. Halilovic is the one who is easier to plan, but I guess he will not be able to do it at most. It can only reach the level of the main force of a wealthy family.”

Having said that, it is quite rare to have two such players in one team at the same time.

It would be nice to have Brozovich, but he doesn't belong to the type that Gao Han appreciates, so I won't talk about it.

Zidane lived in Madrid for a while this summer and had some contact with Chinatown, especially players such as Hazard, Pogba, and Isco. He is very familiar with them and feels that Gao Han's vision is indeed extremely sharp. We have found such a group of outstanding talents for Chinatown.

But the trouble that comes with it is also obvious. How to cultivate this group of geniuses?

"It's a pity that Paris Saint-Germain's positioning is obviously not good for youth training, especially for youth training players like Kovacic. Otherwise, buying him and training him carefully will prevent him from being used by other inferior coaches in the future. It's ruined," Zidane sighed.

There are few cases where a talented player was destroyed and ended up hurting Zhongyong.

Any head coach can't help but feel itchy when seeing a talented rookie, and Gao Han is no exception.

Kovacic is a treasure, and Gao Han really doesn't feel comfortable handing it over to anyone else.

When Zidane said this, he was really tempted.