World Cup of Great Powers

“There are no wingers in Italy?”

Both Li Huajun and Han Tao were so surprised that they couldn't open their mouths from ear to ear after hearing Zeng Zheng's remarks.

"Yes, Italy has no wingers."

"Zeng...Boss Zeng, those people on that field are..."

Seeing Han Tao pointing at Gianluca Zambrotta who was facing off against Sun Jihai on the left, Zeng Zheng laughed and said, "That's just a midfielder who was pushed to the wing."

Seeing that everyone was still confused, Zeng Zheng slowly explained:

"This starts with Italy's defensive system."

"Chain defense, have you heard of this term?"

The three of them nodded. They had heard of Italy's famous chain defense.

"Then do you know what chain defense is?" Zeng Zheng asked another more in-depth question.

The three of them looked at each other, and Han Tao, the youngest, answered cautiously:

"Boss Zeng, isn't the formation you set up today a chain defense?"

"Yes, the formation I came up with today is the ancient Italian chain defense, but I already said this before the game. What I want to ask now is, why can I call this formation a chain defense?"

"Ah this???"

Seeing that the two seniors still turned their heads, Han Tao was so aggrieved that he almost cried.

He always felt that Zeng Zheng was digging a hole for him.

But as the youngest and lowest-ranking member of the group, he had to bite the bullet and answer:

"Chain defense means players form a chain when defending."

"It's like we have four defenders and four midfielders."

"They have always maintained a straight line when defending. These are two chains."

After saying that, Han Tao stood aside and looked at Zeng Zheng humbly, hoping to get his appreciation.

"Snapped!"

Zeng Zheng snapped his fingers, "Brother Li, you think so too, right?"

Li Hui and Li Huajun looked at each other awkwardly, then nodded.

This is the most straightforward understanding in China.

"Isn't it?" Li Huajun asked.

Zeng Zheng smiled and shook his head, "If we talk about 'chain defense', it's understandable that we understand it that way."

"But in fact, we were all misled by the translation."

"catinaccio!" Zeng Zheng muttered a foreign word.

"The word means door-bolt in Italian, which literally translates to door latch."

"As a result, when translated into China, it naturally means 'chain, chain' and other meanings."

"The Italian Catenaccio tactical system has naturally been translated into chain defense."

"Actually, the essence of chain defense is not who forms a chain-like defensive structure, but whether there is a latch behind our defense line!"

"Door bolt???" This was the first time the three of them heard this word.

"That's right." Zeng Zheng pointed to General Fan who was lagging behind on the court. "He is the latch on the court! He is also the sweeper."

As soon as the word "scavenger" came out, everyone suddenly understood.

Who doesn’t know that Italian scavengers were famous around the 1990s?

Hearing this, Li Hui couldn't help but ask: "Coach Zeng, wasn't this sweeper eliminated?"

"That's right." Zeng Zheng did not deny it. "Italy almost eliminated the position of sweeper as early as five or six years ago, but that does not mean that there are no jobs for sweepers on the football field now."

"Any formation has the significance of the times. Although the sweeper has gradually been eliminated, it has not completely withdrawn from the stage of history."

"Let's just talk about this one."

"Look, if I move out this Italian 'chain defense' formation, will the opponent be numb now?"

"They probably gave up on the first half a long time ago and are just waiting to figure out how to break the game during the halftime break."

Han Tao nodded sharply after hearing this, "This is what Boss Zeng often said: there are no perfect tactics, only suitable tactics, right?"

"That's right!"

"Then...then why does Italy have no wingers?" Han Tao asked the question again.

Seeing that there was still some time left in the first half, Zeng Zheng continued to explain:

"After the Maracana tragedy in the 1950s World Cup, Switzerland's ancient goal formation became popular."

"At that time, when all the teams were studying how to break through on the offensive end, the Italians were always studying how to defend."

"Under this tactical system, the position called right returner was first born."

"That is, the right offensive midfielder retreats significantly and becomes the right backfield of the defensive section."

"Then why is there no left returner?" Han Tao reasoned.

"I'm going to give you some trivia here." Zeng Zheng smiled slightly, "That's because Italy only has great left backs, but no great right backs!"

"At that time, the youth training system was not perfect enough."

"Since there aren't that many left-footed players, right-footed players are all on the left."

"This resulted in Italy's left wing almost never making crosses with the left foot. They all used their right foot to reach the position and then cut in the middle."

"This method of giving up the left baseline cross and adopting the left-side cut into the center became the most common offensive method in Italy in that era."

"Although it is a single and rigid thing, there is nothing we can do about it."

"Since the left cut in during the counterattack greatly increased the lethality of the center in the counterattack, after continuous evolution, it became the current midfielder."

"Lapan's latch tactic is the theoretical basis of the chain defense; the sweeper drags back and the right attacker retreats, which is the prototype of the chain defense."

"Inter Milan's Argentinian coach Herrera is the sublimator of this formation. And he also named this tactical system catinaccio."

"Our formation today is an improvement on this basis."

As he spoke, Zeng Zheng pointed at General Fan who was lagging behind.

"Brother Fan's position today is as a deep-lying central defender, also known as the 'door latch'."

"Correspondingly, that boy Li Datou is attacking the central defender."

Speaking of this, Zeng Zheng burst into laughter.

"However, because we don't have a player on the left who can cut inside."

"So I changed it a little bit here."

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "I changed the right returner to the left, which means that at the critical moment, Shao Jiayi will run back to participate in defense."

"Correspondingly, our Sun Jihai will look for opportunities to cut inside."

"Well, it's like this now."

Following Zeng Zheng's fingers, everyone saw Sun Jihai making a fake move as he crossed the line on the right.

After deceiving the opponent's full-back, he swayed his body, moved his right foot inward, and cut inside.

The sudden horizontal dribbling caused chaos in the Italian defense.

Fortunately, the Italians were experienced in defense and reacted after Sun Jihai took two horizontal steps.

Gattuso, who was chasing back in place, immediately chose a foul and knocked Sun Jihai away.

Being hit by Gattuso, Sun Jihai staggered but did not fall to the ground.

But this time, he lost control of the ball.

At this moment, the referee's whistle sounded.

Gattuso fouled, and the National Olympics got a good set-piece in the frontcourt.

"SUCA!" Sun Jihai, who lost the ball, turned around and spoke in foreign language.

Watt???

Gattuso thought he was hearing hallucinations.

When he turned to look at Sun Jihai, he saw that he and several Olympic players were already preparing to take the penalty kick.

"Did I hear wrongly? Chinese players are so unfriendly?" Gianluca Zambrotta came over and muttered.

"Who knows." Gattuso shrugged, "I heard that Chinese people are very polite, so I must have heard wrongly."

Gianluca Zambrotta also nodded, "Yes, I heard that the Chinese have a colloquial word for 'that'! Just like Nico, it has caused a lot of jokes in North America."

Gattuso: "This may be the case this time too!"

"This is really a beautiful Italian defense." Huang Jianxiang praised Gattuso's return on the microphone.

"It neither hurt anyone nor received a card. More importantly, it blocked the National Olympics' counterattack."

"He is indeed a talented player from AC Milan!"

In front of the TV, the fans' minds were filled with questions.

What's going on with this host today?

Don't want to do it anymore?

Or buy a black ball?

Why keep praising foreigners?

On the edge of the court, Zeng Zheng looked at the time.

The added time has reached 47 minutes.

This means that this is the last offensive opportunity in the first half.

After the free throw, whether it is scored or not, the first half is over.

This is an excellent opportunity for the National Olympics.

Including General Fan and Li Datou, two central defenders with outstanding header abilities ran into the Italian penalty area to participate in the attack.

You know, in the entire first half including this time, the National Olympics had a total of three attacks.

The players who have been defending have long been frustrated!

"Beep!"

Following the referee's whistle, Shao Jiayi with his left foot made an inswing on the right and passed the ball to the center of the penalty area.

Abbiati, who is 1.91 meters tall, wants to attack.

But looking at the crowd of players in front of him, he finally backed down and stayed firmly on the goal line.

In the melee, General Fan used his age and experience advantages to squeeze away his opponent, leap high into the air, and hit the ball with his head.

As General Fan flicked the header, the ball changed direction with a bang and flew towards the Italian goal.

At this moment, the hearts of all Italian fans were in their throats.

Even Huang Jianxiang picked up the microphone and stared intently at the Italian restricted area.

Half a second later.

As Abbiati made a backward kick, the ball hit the crossbar with a clang.

"General Fan's header..."

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!"

"It's actually a beam!"

"still have a chance."

Li Yi, Li Jinyu, Zhang Ran and Li Weifeng all rushed to the goal, trying to get the ball to the second place.

However, the goal was blocked by three Italian defenders.

Ferrari headed the ball out of the sideline of the penalty area.

Seeing that there were no players from both sides here, before the ball went out of bounds, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half.

In the stands, fans who were still not satisfied were talking a lot.

"Ah, ah, ah, it's a pity, it's a pity! If General Fan had hit the bottom a little more, would the goal have been scored?"

"Not necessarily. The Italian goalkeeper is so tall, he might be touched."

"It's okay to touch it. Whether it's a follow-up shot or a corner kick, it will be beneficial to us. And touching it does not mean making a save. What if it is not blocked and goes in? Are we in the lead now?"

"Alas! Such a good opportunity was wasted like this. The same is true for the National Olympics. After playing 45 minutes, I kicked such a good opportunity and still haven't grasped it. If you ask me, Coach Zeng must strengthen in the second half.

Attacked!"

"At first glance, you are blind about the ball, aren't you? Coach Zeng did this on purpose!"

"On purpose? What on purpose?"

"We deliberately played a defensive formation! What kind of team is Italy? They are a world-class defensive team. If we play an offensive formation, it is just what they want! It is because Coach Zeng plays such a defensive formation that we can create so many times

Chance."

"You mean, if we play in an offensive formation, we won't even be able to execute the two or three attacks in the first half?"

"That's not the case! What I mean is that if we play in an attacking formation, Italy will definitely score a goal at this moment. It doesn't matter how many goals Italy scores. What matters is, do you think we can score a goal?"

"Uh, well..." Thinking of the irritating Italian defense, the fan who advocated attack became silent.

...

After hearing the referee's whistle, Zeng Zheng secretly clenched his fists on the sidelines.

The score is 0 to 0, the number of attacks is 3 to 6, the number of shots is 1 to 4, and the number of shots within the goal frame is 1 to 2.

Judging from these offensive data, the National Olympic Games are already very close to their opponents on defense.

In terms of red and yellow cards, both sides received a yellow card each.

In other words, neither side's defense is too strong.

Not only that, the physical fitness of the team members is also more than half.

And we have truly achieved the goal of running more if we are in good physical condition, and running less if we are in poor physical condition.

All the statistics and player performance in the first half were within the scope of Zeng Zheng's plan.

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! In other words, even though the score is 0-0, the National Olympics has already achieved the perfect result that Zeng Zheng expected.

Zeng Zheng stood on the side of the court, smiling and high-fiving everyone who came off the field, and then ordered Ladd to bring the substitutes to the court to warm up. Han Tao and other staff members quickly returned to the locker room to rest.

Looking at Zeng Zheng's smile, Li Huajun couldn't help but stepped forward and asked: "Coach Zeng, are you sure you want to take a penalty kick with Italy?"

"Why not?" Zeng Zheng grinned, "Our penalty kicks the past few days were in vain? Don't forget, there are two goalkeepers in our team who are good at taking penalty kicks!"

Li Huajun suddenly realized.

It turned out that Zeng Zheng had already planned it.

As for the scene, Zeng Zheng doesn’t care about that!

During the game, he heard fans shouting "Forward, forward!" more than once.

It feels like opening your mouth in a later game.

But Zeng Zheng turned a deaf ear to this.

Why can Italy be defensive and 1-0, but our Chinese team can't?

And are you Olympic fans crazy?

The opponent is Italy!

There are so many turtle shells that strong European and American teams cannot knock off. Do you think we, the second-rate Asians, can knock them away with our strength?

When Zeng Zheng followed the team towards the tunnel, the fans who had been prepared above the tunnel took the opportunity to shout.

"Coach Zeng, Coach Zeng!"

"Can we attack in the second half?"

"Can we score one or two goals in the second half?"

Facing such enthusiastic fans, Zeng Zheng smiled slightly.

"Okay, you want to see the goal, right?"

"Yes Yes Yes!"

"Then let's score one and let Italy score two. What do you think?"

"Ah this..." The fans clucked twice, and then said: "Can we get one, and Italy can't get one?!"

Hearing such a wish, Zeng Zheng couldn't help but hum.

"You can turn Li Yi into Henry, and I can do it!"