blogombal Chapter 27 Asia England
Chapter 27 Asia England
Yang Chen's goal sent all Chinese players and fans into a frenzy of joy.
This is a match that I could hardly have imagined!
How could they lead 2-0 in the first half when the Japanese team was playing on their home turf?
The Chinese fans in the stands celebrated wildly, and the battle anthem played:
"The broadswords swung down on the heads of the Japanese devils..."
Meanwhile, the Chinese players on the field excitedly stacked themselves into a human pyramid.
In the midst of this celebration, Collina blew the halftime whistle.
It's almost time!
The joy of scoring continued from the field to the players' tunnel, and then to the locker room.
However, Ye Xian still tried his best to keep a calm mind.
As he walked, he discussed tactics for the second half with Milutinovic: "Let's substitute Yang Chen directly and put Su Maozhen in."
This time, it was Milutinovic who was taken aback: "Why? Yang Chen is scoring so well right now, why are you substituting him off so early?"
Ye Xian smiled and said, "The Japanese team was very enthusiastic just now, attacking relentlessly, which is why Yang Chen had such a good opportunity. After halftime, they will calm down and find a way to deal with Yang Chen."
Yang Chen is the kind of player whose strengths and weaknesses are both very prominent.
High speed, good off-the-ball movement, and decisive shooting.
In his first season in the Bundesliga, he used these characteristics to become Eintracht Frankfurt's attacking spearhead, scoring 8 goals.
However, his shortcomings are also obvious.
His dribbling and ball control are average, his finesse is not refined enough, his rhythm is not varied enough, and his shooting methods are also very limited.
This also makes him an easy target for defensive strategies.
Starting from his second season, Bundesliga opponents began marking him closely, cutting off his sprint route by reducing the space behind him, thus limiting the speed of the "Chinese Rocket".
As a result, Yang Chen's goals began to decrease, and even his playing time was reduced.
Now that Yang Chen has scored two goals, it's impossible for Troussier not to limit him.
So Ye Xian thought of changing his tactics to make it impossible for Troussier to defend against!
"Then why not replace Qu Bo? He and Yang Chen are similar types of players." Milutinovic understood Ye Xian's meaning, but still had questions.
Ye Xian patiently replied, "Qu Bo is younger, faster, and has better stamina, and he contributes more defensively. Yang Chen's stamina usually drops significantly after 70 minutes, so it's better to substitute him earlier to rest and prepare for the next game!"
Milu burst into laughter.
As expected of Ye Xian, he's already thinking about the quarterfinals!
Okay, I'll do it your way!
……
15 minute later.
When the players from both sides reappeared on the field, a somewhat unexpected scene unfolded.
The fourth official on the sidelines raised the substitution board.
China has made a substitution!
Yang Chen (No. 20) will be replaced, and Su Maozhen (No. 12) will be replaced.
During halftime, Ye Xian had already explained the main tactics for the second half to everyone. Yang Chen has always trusted Ye Xian and has always put the team's interests first, so he didn't have any conflicting feelings.
But for Chinese fans and media, this is somewhat strange.
Shouldn't a substitution at halftime be something the trailing Japanese team should have done?
The Chinese team actually made a substitution, and they even substituted the player who scored twice!
Huang Jianxiang also raised the question: "Yang Chen was actually replaced."
"If the Chinese team can win today, then Yang Chen will be the biggest contributor. He used his lightning speed to break through the Japanese defense twice and score two goals."
"Coach Zhang, do you think our coaches had any special intention in substituting Yang Chen at halftime?"
Zhang Lu chimed in, "Uh, actually I was quite surprised too, because we didn't see any signs of injury on Yang Chen, and his physical condition should be alright."
"Su Maozhen's presence will certainly increase China's advantage in aerial balls and enhance the role of the central pivot, but the speed of counter-attacks will inevitably decrease."
"Isn't the Chinese team prepared to capitalize on Japan's desire to equalize and launch a counter-attack?"
"I don't quite understand, but I still choose to believe in Milutinovic and Ye Xian."
"After all, they've given us so many surprises in this World Cup, haven't they? Hehe..."
While one side was puzzled, Troussier on the other side had no way to express his grievances.
During halftime, he spent most of his time setting up the defense, instructing his players on how to tightly mark Yang Chen and prevent him from having any more space to break through.
Then, at the start of the second half, you tell me you just substituted Yang Chen out?
Is this something a human would do?
Wasn't all the work he did in the first half wasted?
This will inevitably confuse the Japanese players, especially the defenders.
How should we defend in the second half?
After thinking about it, all he could do was call his captain over and give him a few words of advice.
The content is actually very simple: he needs to organize the defense well, especially to keep an eye on Su Maozhen, who is tall, and not let this tall Shandong guy easily head the ball!
……
Collina blew his whistle, and the second half of the match officially began!
After Su Maozhen was substituted in, the Chinese team's attack was indeed switched to the "Asian England" mode.
Qu Bo remained on the right wing, while Yu Genwei, who was equally adept with both feet, ran more on the left wing.
At this point, the Chinese team's formation was more like a 4-3-3.
They've also started frequently crossing from the byline!
China's two full-backs, Wu Chengying and Xu Yunlong, played more conservatively, often crossing the ball at a 45-degree angle after crossing the halfway line.
Whether they are wingers or full-backs, their target for passing the ball is, of course, the tall striker Su Maozhen!
This will naturally make things difficult for the Japanese team.
Japan's captain, Koichi Miyamoto, is only 176cm tall.
The other two center-backs, Naoki Matsuda and Koji Nakata, are a bit taller, but only around 180cm.
More importantly, they all weigh only around 75kg.
Standing at 186cm tall and weighing 80kg, Su Maozhen is practically a behemoth in their presence!
So after the Chinese team adopted this simple and direct style of play, the three center-backs of the Japanese team suddenly became very busy.
This has put the entire Japanese team in a very difficult position.
Let's defend. We're down by two goals now; if we don't attack, we'll be eliminated.
Let's attack! The pressure on the defense is also quite high. If we concede another goal, we're really doomed!
The worst thing for a team is a lack of unity of thought.
Some players wanted to attack, while others wanted to defend, and the game became chaotic.
Japan's attack in the 60th minute exposed this problem.
Hidetoshi Nakata received the ball in midfield. After once again dribbling past Li Tie's defense, he waved to signal his teammates on the wings to push forward.
But Naoki Matsuda and Koji Nakata were focused on Su Maozhen at the moment, so they had no interest in climbing up.
Left with no other option, Hidetoshi Nakata had to make a through pass to striker Atsushi Yanagisawa.
However, this attack was too obvious, and Du Wei made a tackle, thus ending the offensive.
And so began China's counterattack!
Zhao Junzhe got to the ball before Ono Shinji could reach it, and then made a long pass to the left without hesitation.
It was given to Yu Genwei!
Yu Genwei made a forward run at top speed and continued to dribble forward, advancing along the left flank.
At the same time, Su Maozhen and Qu Bo, on the Chinese team's central and right flanks respectively, charged towards the Japanese team's goal like two sharp knives.
Miyamoto Tsuneyasu tried to pull and tug, but he couldn't stop Su Maozhen from moving forward and was squeezed behind him.
At this moment, Yu Genwei had already broken through Matsuda Naoki's defense and was dribbling the ball close to the baseline.
The defensive midfielder Ming Shenzhi quickly came over to cover.
Instead of rushing in to intercept, he held his position, preventing Yu Genwei from dribbling the ball any further into the penalty area.
But Yu Genwei clearly wasn't prepared to do that.
He glanced up at the penalty area, then raised his leg and crossed the ball directly with his left foot!
Seeing that his teammate Koji Nakata had also positioned himself to defend Qu Bo at the far post, Miyamoto Kosei felt relieved and focused on defending Su Maozhen in front of him.
He is not as tall as Su Maozhen, but if he positions himself well, he can get to the ball before his opponent.
At that moment, Su Maozhen stepped back, as if he were also going to run to the far post to receive Yu Genwei's pass.
Miyamoto Tsuneyasu was startled and quickly followed.
But Su Maozhen was just feinting; instead, he took several big strides forward and reached the front goalpost!
Almost simultaneously, Yu Genwei also passed the ball out.
It was very fast and involved violent spinning.
And the ball was passed to the near post!
This passing and running combination looks like it was practiced!
At this point, Miyamoto Tsuneyasu was no longer able to help.
Japanese goalkeeper Seigo Narasaki had no choice but to rush out and try to intercept the ball before Su Maozhen could get his hands on it.
But Su Maozhen had already gotten to the ball first.
He headed the ball powerfully into the Japanese goal before Narasaki Seigo could come out!
Half a second later, the referee Collina blew his whistle to signal that the goal was valid!
3: 0!
In the 60th minute of the match, the Chinese team scored again!