Chapter 297 Defense, Defense, Defense!

Time flies, three days have passed in a blink of an eye.

The opening ceremony of the 2007 Asian Cup was held in Bangkok, Thailand. It is very embarrassing that the heavy rain on this day destroyed the festive atmosphere. First, the heavy rain affected the attendance rate. Only less than 20,000 fans entered the stadium that could accommodate 65,000 spectators; Secondly, due to the sudden heavy rain, the opening ceremony was postponed by 20 minutes and shortened by 30 minutes. As a result, the opening ceremony originally scheduled for 70 minutes was shortened to 40 minutes.

At the opening ceremony, the only highlight was the wonderful performance of Thai diva Tata-Yang. Her passionate Asian Cup theme song "I Believe" conquered the audience.

After the opening ceremony, is the opening battle,

Thailand's home game against Iraq has become the focus of all media attention.

In just 6 minutes of the opening, the Thai team got a good chance to take a penalty kick, and Susongkit took the penalty easily. The backward Iraqi team made a massive counter-attack, and the Thai team's goalkeeper Kosin performed well and defused the opponent's attack many times.

Until 33 minutes, the Iraqi captain passed to the penalty area, Younis jumped high and rubbed the header to equalize the score.

In the second half, the Thai team gradually gained the upper hand, but in the face of strong opponents, they failed to rewrite the score in the end, and the score of 1:1 remained until the end.

The first opening game of Group A ended, Thailand drew with Iraq.

This result is very beneficial to the other two teams, Australia and Hong Kong. Whoever can score three points in the match between the two teams will be able to occupy a favorable position.

The match against Australia is also in the same stadium, but Hong Kong is not favored, they are regarded as 'definite losers' from the beginning, because they are the bottom team in Asia, and Australia is the top team, the gap between the two teams is difficult Calculate, just look at the lineup to know. In Australia's 23-man squad, a total of 19 are from overseas leagues, and 7 of them are from the Premier League, enough to form most of the main lineup.

Among the seven Premier League players, Viduka, Keville, Cahill and goalkeeper Schwarzer are the absolute main force of the Australian team. in a certain sense. The current Australian team is an "England Second Team" composed of Premier League players.

And what about the Hong Kong team?

Except for the well-known head coach Wan Sheng, almost all the players are unknown.

The gap...too big!

————

In the media coverage of the first day of the event, the second day also came quickly, and Wan Sheng attended the press conference before the games in Australia and Hong Kong.

At the press conference, reporters gathered.

This is due to the identity of Wansheng. The top manager of a European club. Wansheng has a lot of appeal to the media, and he is stronger than Australian coach Arnold in this regard.

However, Arnold is more confident, because he is the coach of Australia, Australia has many outstanding stars, and their strength is not much stronger than the Hong Kong team, so even if the opponent is Wansheng, he does not pay attention to the game at all inside.

"Our goal is the championship!" Arnold has always said, "We take this Asian Cup very seriously. We have done a lot of preparations and preparations, and now this team is the strongest in Australia. We will insist on winning the championship. Very close all the way!"

Arnold has been emphasizing the championship as if they had reached the final.

Wan Sheng sneered at this, when did he suffer from this kind of anger at the press conference?

Seeing that Australia and Hong Kong are about to compete, the Australian head coach has been talking about the championship, not talking about the group stage or the game.

Wan Sheng held back his anger and said directly to the media, "If I were to say that Australia, let alone the champion, it would be very difficult to qualify for the group stage!"

"I have seen a lot of media reports about the situation in Group A. Those are completely different from my views. I think the Hong Kong team has the best chance of qualifying for Group A, followed by Iraq and then Australia. This ranking Should be rearranged as I said!"

"So let's not say they are champions, let's think about how the group will appear first!"

Hearing these words, the media reporters immediately wanted to refute. They only now know why the European media used words such as 'arrogant' and 'arrogant' to evaluate this Chinese. It turned out to be the case, the Hong Kong team What's the big deal? An Asian last! How dare you say that you have the best hope of qualifying in Group A? Don't be afraid to flash your tongue!

But Wansheng didn't give them a chance to refute at all, "I know what you are going to say, but I will use the game to prove everything!"

He said confidently, and left the venue after speaking, leaving behind a group of media who looked at each other in disbelief.

————

Wan Sheng is not just talking, he is very confident.

The strength of the Hong Kong team is indeed very poor, and the ability of each player is not very good, but after half a month of training, the players in the team have improved a little, plus the attribute bonus of the football training master system, the current When it comes to the individual abilities of the players, the Hong Kong team cannot be said to be the first-class in Asia, but it is still second-class. If they are on the field, with the addition of a bunch of coaching skills, they can definitely compete with the first-class teams in Asia.

In addition, the improvement of the team is not only the individual ability of the players, but the improvement in the application of tactics has given Wansheng enough confidence.

It is not easy to beat Australia in this game, but it is also difficult for Australia to win!

Before the game, Wan Sheng was in the locker room and gave the players the final encouragement, "We insisted on training for half a month. You can all know the hard work! But, you persevered!"

"You've been outstanding until now! Some of you asked me before, why didn't I arrange a warm-up match, and I didn't answer, but now I tell you, it's not necessary, we don't need to use warm-ups to prove anything, Without a warm-up, no team understands us, so we are mysterious, and now, the other party doesn't understand us at all, and we have a better chance!"

"This game is the first 'warm-up game' for us!"

"The other side looks down on us and thinks we are the last in Asia! But I think we are one of the best teams in Asia! We are the most promising team in Group A. That's what I told the media. I don't want to be caught after the game. Think arrogance. Do you understand?"

"When it comes to the game, don't think that the opponent is a star, don't think that the opponent is Australia, a strong team, how much better than us. It doesn't make sense. Play the level of training. I believe we will be the final winner!"

————

"Before the game, Hong Kong coach Wan Sheng ranted. He said that the Hong Kong team in Group A had the best chance of qualifying, while the Australian team had to worry about qualifying from the group. This is the biggest joke of this year's Asian Cup!"

Japan's NTV TV commentator Onodera Gono said in a very disdainful tone, "Australia is the strongest team in this Asian Cup, and their lineup is even more gorgeous than the Japanese football team. Big stars such as Cahill and Viduka. The Australian team supported by them. They are a strong European team. They are the strongest contenders for the Asian Cup. But Wansheng thinks that Hong Kong has the best chance, which is really funny, even if he is a world famous coach, so confident It's insane."

At the same time as the commentary, a close-up shot of Wan Sheng appeared on the TV screen. Wan Sheng in the shot was standing on the sidelines watching the game seriously.

Gono Onodera knew Wan Sheng very well. He knew that Wan Sheng was very successful in coaching English football. But he has some ideas of the Great Japanese Empire in his heart, and he is very jealous of such a successful Chinese. He thinks that the success in football should be the Japanese, and now he seizes the opportunity to say, "If he is just so arrogant, it is very likely that his success is due to luck, otherwise it is difficult to explain how he can be so ignorant!"

This is tantamount to publicly expressing disdain for Wansheng.

The game also seems to be going according to his ideas. From the beginning to now, Australia has been suppressing the attack of the Hong Kong team. The Hong Kong team was a little out of breath, and they have been defending and defending. The power of resistance.

However, what he didn't realize was that the Australian players were playing very suffocated.

————

In this game, Australia sent a 352 formation, with veterans Viduka and Strijowski at the top, and the five midfielders were Emerton, Bresciano, Kewell, Wilkshire and Guerrera, defender Neil, Kisnobo, Qiu Linna, goalkeeper Schwarzer.

With the exception of Cahill on the bench, this is almost the strongest lineup Australia can make.

Australia takes the game very seriously.

This is the first time Australia has participated in the Asian Cup. After they were placed in the Asian region, they hoped to win the Asian Cup to establish Australia's status in the Asian team and make their 'Asia No. 1' worthy of the name. The team's head coach Arnold, including all the players, also attached great importance to the first game.

There is a saying in China, "A good start is half the battle", with the first victory, the team can take the first step to success, and their goal is to beat the Hong Kong team to announce the arrival of Australia .

As a representative player of Australia, Weimark Viduka attaches great importance to this Asian Cup.

Viduka was born in Melbourne in 1975 to a family of Croatian descent. He entered the prestigious Australian Sports Academy as a teenager and showed extraordinary talent, especially his strong body and amazing explosiveness and strength. At that time, his classmate at the Sports Academy and later tennis star "Australian Cannon" Philipcis, believing himself to be of Greek descent, took the initiative to challenge Viduka to a penalty kick. Philipcis saved the penalty, but broke his arm because of the force of the shot.

From the age of 17, Viduka began to play for the Melbourne Cavaliers with a strong Croatian background, helping the team win two National Football League (NSL) championships, and he has also been crowned the top scorer many times.

However, the Australian league organization at that time was very unsound, and it was difficult for Viduka to improve his level here.

In 1995, Franjo Tudjman, the first president of Croatia since the independence of the former Yugoslavia, visited Australia. He appreciated Viduka's football talents and invited him to join the Croatian team Zagreb (now Dinamo Zagreb). In the next three years, he scored more than 50 goals in the league, helped Dinamo Zagreb win the domestic league title and cup championship three times, and also performed well in European competitions. However, since the introduction of Viduka was Tudjman's personal idea, he did not consult the head coach. When Viduka is in bad shape, fans will tug on the pigtails of his relationship, and sometimes he has even become the target of political fights. And living in Croatia, which had not yet fully emerged from the shadow of the war at that time, also made Viduka often apprehensive. The attack and psychological pressure of the fans made it difficult for Viduka to go out to eat for a while. Even after he moved to the Celtics in 1998, he was plagued by psychological problems. He ran away from the club without a game being played.

But once the psychological issues were resolved, Viduka showed his true goals-machine instincts.

Shortly after the start of the 99-00 season, the Celtics' top scorer and Swedish star Henrik Larsson suffered a severe injury and a broken leg, and Viduka took on the burden of scoring goals for the team.

This season, Viduka has shown his all-round qualities. With a height of 1.88 meters, he can not only use his body and height to score points. Also has a strong air superiority. More valuable is. His foot skills are not bad, and he has a strong ability to protect the ball and create opportunities for his companions. This season, he scored 27 league goals and was crowned the top scorer in the Soviet Super League.

In the summer of 2000, Viduka moved to Leeds United for £6 million.

Under O'Leary's account, Viduka and compatriots Kewell and Bridges, Alan Smith, Robbie Keane and other players formed a daunting attacking line of the Youth Guards, for this season's white shirts Breaking into the Champions League semi-finals made a great contribution.

In the 00-01 season, Viduka scored 22 goals in all competitions, including a four-point goal against Liverpool. For the next few years, Viduka was able to guarantee double-digit league goalscoring efficiency every season. But the club's financial situation and record have gone from bad to worse.

Leeds United were relegated in the 03-04 season. Viduka moved to Middlesbrough in the summer of 2004 as the last star to be sold.

Viduka's first season at the Riverside was plagued by injuries. After all, a player like him who relies on his body for food and often gets the ball at his feet is inevitably blackfooted by defenders.

However, since 2005, he has returned to a stable goal rate and once helped Middlesbrough reach the UEFA Cup final in 2006.

In the same year, Viduka participated in the World Cup with the Australian national team for the first time. As the captain, he played all four games, but unfortunately did not score.

"Yes, we are the favourites to win this Asian Cup. But being favourites doesn't mean we can let our guard down."

Despite scoring twice in the warm-up match against Singapore on June 30, helping the Australian team to a 3-0 victory. But for Viduka, Australia's first Asian Cup trip can only be considered a success if it lifts the trophy.

Captain of the Australian team at last year's World Cup in Germany, Viduka, now 32, is no doubt still an icon of Australian football. However, just before the start of the Asian Cup, coach Arnold almost lost the powerful striker from the Premier League Newcastle team.

In the early morning of June 15, Viduka issued a statement saying that he would withdraw from the national team and concentrate on playing at the club. However, it was also on June 15 that, after persuasion from various parties including Arnold, Viduka withdrew his national team retirement statement, indicating that he was willing to represent the national team in this Asian Cup.

Coach Arnold is undoubtedly the happiest one for Viduka's "returning his word", because in his tactical system, Viduka, who has physical and experience advantages, is a well-deserved core player in the Australian team's frontcourt." Duka first decided to retire, but after some deliberation, he has decided to put on the national team shirt again. I didn't show him any attitude, it was completely his personal decision, of course I am very happy about it, welcome him back The national team is coming."

According to Arnold, the reason why Viduka had the idea of ​​retiring is not unrelated to his just joining the Newcastle team. "Joining Newcastle has made Viduka face a series of problems, which is what he has always been worried about. But for the country The team, Viduka has always been loyal and he chose to stay with us when he knew that the Australian team needed him to do well in this year's Asian Cup."

Viduka continued to stay in the Australian team, undoubtedly for the championship. On the contrary, Viduka did not pay much attention to the first group match, like his Australian teammates.

In Viduka's view, the only thing the Hong Kong team should pay attention to is their head coach Wan Sheng. He has been playing in England and is no stranger to Wan Sheng. He knows very well how strong Wan Sheng's coaching ability is.

despite this. Viduka also does not think that Wansheng coaching Hong Kong for half a month will bring any surprising changes to the Hong Kong team. Even if the strength of the Hong Kong team has improved in this half month, it means...promoting it to the second-class in Asia?

This is already appalling!

But the second-tier teams in Asia are still unable to threaten the Australian team. They are an international team. It is not comparable to the average Asian team.

That's Viduka's idea, and it's the idea of ​​all Australian players. However, 30 minutes into the game, Viduka felt different.

He played very depressed.

From the beginning of the game to the present, Viduka has been closely guarded, and every time he gets the ball in the frontcourt, he always faces a double-team of at least two players. Even if the players of the Hong Kong team are weak. But it is still difficult to get rid of the two players, but so far he has not found a good opportunity in front of the goal.

The other Australian teammates weren't much better.

Just like Gao Jixian, the online live broadcast commentator of Super Sports S channel, said, "In the opening 30 minutes, Australia has gained an overall advantage. They have great advantages in terms of ball control, passing and receiving, but so far they have No goals, five shots on goal. Only one on target."

"The Hong Kong team put a lot of effort into their defense, and their efforts made it difficult for Australia to find good opportunities up front. Viduka was very well defended, the Australian star was in a bit of trouble, and it was difficult for him to escape this kind of attack. Sexual defense."

While the commentator commented on the game, Australian coach Arnold was also surprised by the situation of the game.

30 minutes without a goal, in fact, it doesn't matter.

There are 90 minutes in a football match, and often in a game, a goal is likely to decide the outcome. Although Australia has not scored, the situation has always been under control. Football has always been at the feet of Australia, but the problem is that Australia has not been able to. How many good opportunities to find in the frontcourt.

What Arnold noticed was that the Hong Kong team showed a top-notch defensively.

If it was just an ordinary Asian team, every player worked hard to play the game, worked hard on defense, and tried hard not to let Australia score a goal, which is actually nothing, but the Hong Kong team has also made it difficult for Australia to find opportunities in the frontcourt. This is completely different, they have not only played hard, they have also done quite well in terms of defensive tactics and performance.

If you only look at this defensive team on the field, no one would think that they are only the last in Asia.

Arnold couldn't help but look at the young Chinese on one side. It is absolutely incredible to be able to bring an Asian team to this level in half a month.

Quite professional defense, even if the Hong Kong team has a big gap with the Australian team, it still brings a lot of resistance to Australia's offense. Players run very frequently, and each player on the court has a clear division of labor. In addition, most of their energy is devoted to defense. It is very difficult for any team to break through this orderly and intensive defense.

What to do now?

Arnold already frowned.

————

On the other hand, Wansheng is quite satisfied with the current situation.

Although the Hong Kong team didn't have any counterattacks, and the attack was a bit chaotic, it was quite good to be able to do this after only half a month of training. After all, Hong Kong is only one of the last players in Asia, and the players are generally underpowered, which is incomparable to Australia.

He hopes that the team can continue to persevere. As long as the training results are exerted, he believes that this game will still have a fight.

At the same time, the media who were dissatisfied with Wansheng or the game also began to evaluate the game. Their dissatisfaction was the passive defense of the Hong Kong team.

If it's just passive defense, it's actually nothing. No one would think that the Hong Kong team can launch a massive offensive around the Australian half, but the key point is that the Hong Kong team's defense hindered Australia's offense, which seriously affected the 'viewability' of the game.

"Before the game, Wan Sheng said that the Hong Kong team was the most promising team in Group A, and he seemed very confident, but we didn't see what he said in the game, we only saw the Hong Kong team's constant defense, Defend!"

"Are they trying to win on defense?"

"Many European media commented on Wan Sheng, saying that he is a very utilitarian head coach, but because he plays offensive football, he cannot stand out, but now we see this in the Hong Kong team."

"But he is obviously too arrogant to think that the Hong Kong team has a chance to qualify for the group. This is completely whimsical!"

"In this game, Australia is using constant offensives to tell him: That's just wishful thinking!"

"The result of the game is already doomed, Australia will definitely win, they are only one goal away..."

"There is no hope for the Hong Kong team in such a passive game." (To be continued ~^~)