Six Hundred and Forty-Seven, Another Step Up

July 16th, 9:30 in the morning, Valdebebas.

The sun above the head was already showing off its heat, but the sweating players still stood around Yang Cheng on the first team training ground, accepting the coach's instructions.

This season, Real Madrid left Salgado and Raul = Bravo, but Yang Cheng did not sign any full-backs. Although Maicon was booked, this player performed well in the America's Cup and his worth doubled. The Brazilian defender, who has been hailed by the outside world as another example of Yang Cheng's dazzling eye, will continue to play for Monaco this season.

At present, Real Madrid has initially determined that after the time is up, Thiago Silva and Marcelo will apply for Spanish citizenship, freeing up two foreign aid quotas for Real Madrid, and Maicon will occupy one of them.

Although they did not introduce full-backs, Real Madrid introduced Pepe from Porto for 10,000 euros, which strengthened the team's defense strength. In addition, they transferred youngster Miguel Torres from Castilla to the first team. The team's defense has not dropped much. After all, Torres has played many times last season and has received mixed reviews, but Yang Cheng is very optimistic about him.

In the midfield, all the players from last season have stayed with the team. Yang Cheng also introduced the young Ozil from the Bundesliga. This young player with delicate skills and full of creativity can also play in the central midfielder and on the left and right wings. position is regarded as a signing that will help Real Madrid compete in the midfield and frontcourt.

By the way, many people regard 19-year-old Ozil as the first batch of youth training products under Yang Cheng's youth training system to promote German football reform. It is not difficult to see from this group of players that The characteristics of Yang Cheng's youth training are also the reasons why Ozil switched to Real Madrid. After all, he is more in line with Yang Cheng's football taste.

During Mascherano's vacation, Yang Cheng plans to try the combination of De La Red and Xavi = Alonso, but he does not rule out Xavi = Garcia. This young player is tall and has excellent headers. Excellent skills and good passing ability, coupled with his strong sense of teamwork, he is an outstanding player.

In addition, Granero is also a very good midfielder. In addition, Guti Real Madrid's midfielder does not seem to have many stars, but in fact it is thick enough. After all, Real Madrid does not want to play Chelsea's bullish midfield style. football.

On the front line, Raul is getting older, Villa, Aguero and Negredo will gradually take on more important responsibilities. Yang Cheng plays 4231, Villa is currently the one who does his job. 1. Kaká is the former Midfielder, Raul and Aguero can both play between the forward and attacking midfielder, so the offensive strength is sufficient.

In Yang Cheng's mind, the main lineup is still Casillas as the goalkeeper, Marcelo/Arbeloa as the defense, Cannavaro, Pepe and Ramos as the backline, and Xavi = Arbeloa as the double midfielder. Ronso and Mascherano, David Silva/Mata Kaka still play as the midfielder on the left, Beckham plays on the right, and Villa serves as the lone forward.

Overall, this set of tactics has not changed much from last season. The addition of Kaka will make the team's offense more threatening, but in the early stage, the Brazilian superstar will definitely not be able to play in every game. Er and Aguero can form a suitable rotation, and Ozil can also play as an attacking midfielder.

In the training camp at the beginning of the season, Yang Cheng arranged several primary tasks for himself.

Putting aside all the team's regular training tasks, what Yang Cheng needs to do now is to help Pepe and other newly joined players integrate into the team, understand the team's tactical adjustments when Pepe plays central defender, and provide Marcelo with Play left wing guard to develop an offensive routine.

There has always been a tradition for full-backs to participate in offense. From the 424 tactics of Brazil in the 1950s, offensive full-backs began to appear. In the 1990s, with the emergence of outstanding full-backs such as Cafu and Carlos, Thuram and Lizarazu, The team has won the championship, and assisting full-backs have become increasingly popular.

With the advent of modern football, tactics are becoming more and more rigorous. More and more attention will be paid to the space restrictions on the court, especially the space restrictions in one's own half. Whether facing Manchester United who are good at running, or facing those who are good at defending. Chelsea, or Barcelona, ​​which is known to play artistic football, have very high control of space in local areas.

The way to achieve control is to have dense personnel, especially in the middle!

There is no doubt that the wing will be the source of all offenses. This is already a recognized fact!

In other words, future attacks will be more initiated from the side and connected in the middle. Since the midfield and frontcourt will be under pressure from the opponent's defensive formation, the space is very small, so the offensive insertion will have a decisive impact. effect.

The opponent is ready, and the midfielders and frontcourt players interfere and disturb the opponent's defense. The full-backs seize the opportunity to advance forward, breaking the situation and posing a threat. It is very difficult to defend against this kind of attack. This is why all the ball Teams are paying more and more attention to the reasons why full-backs participate in the attack.

Even for a bullish team like Chelsea, Ashley Cole, Bosingwa, etc. are all offensive full-backs. Mourinho's ideas are exactly the same as Yang Cheng's. The difference is that Yang Cheng found the right player. people, and the Portuguese Madman does not.

For this reason, Mourinho personally called Yang Cheng after the America's Cup, complaining that he was too shameless to attack Maicon in advance. Obviously he also admired Maicon's outstanding performance in the America's Cup.

But full-back offense, especially left-wing defenders like Marcelo, is often a hidden danger in the team's defense.

Yang Cheng must find a way in the warm-up match to take advantage of Marcelo's offensive advantage on the left, fill up the hidden dangers in defense, ensure the team's defensive stability to the maximum extent, and unleash the power of Marcelo's forward attack.

This is indeed a big test for him, but once it succeeds, Real Madrid's offense will reach a higher level with the addition of Kaka and great power!

Coming to Ildenin for the second time, Yang Cheng is already familiar with everything here. Real Madrid has also been training here frequently for many years, so he is familiar with everything here.

Although the residents here are used to hearing about the arrival of Real Madrid every year, when Real Madrid arrives, they still rush to watch Real Madrid's training. After all, Real Madrid's lineup changes every season, especially this season. Real Madrid has several more players, including top stars like Kaká.

But in this small town, Real Madrid can avoid external disturbances to the greatest extent and devote themselves wholeheartedly to training and preparations. The whole team will undergo devilish training three times a day, although Kaká does not need to follow the team. Instead of practicing, he conducts rehabilitation training by himself, but he still has to coordinate his schedule with the team.

During this period of training, Yang Cheng methodically instilled his further tactical ideas into the players, especially for Marcelo, when to push forward, when to retreat, how to cooperate after pushing forward, and who to cooperate with. , how do his teammates cooperate with him and how to fill in for him after he penetrates forward? These are all problems.

Therefore, on the training ground, Yang Cheng can often be heard yelling at Marcelo, just to beat the Brazilian kid.

After a week of preparation, the team welcomed the British Championship team Stoke City a week after arriving in Austria.

For this game, Yang Cheng arranged Casillas, Marcelo, Cannavaro, Pepe, Ramos, Xavi = Alonso, Xavi = Garcia David = Silva, Law Paul, Beckham and Villa.

The team has created opportunities one after another from the beginning. After all, the overall framework has not changed much from last season. The biggest difference is that after a week of high-intensity training, the players are in the adjustment period physically and their bodies cannot keep up with their brains. , there were many mistakes, but the overall strength advantage allowed Real Madrid to smoothly take advantage of the situation.

In the 18th minute, Silva got rid of the ball and passed it through. Raul then inserted a low shot to open the scoring for Real Madrid.

After that, Real Madrid took advantage but failed to score.

In the second half, Yang Cheng put on another lineup. The goalkeeper was Diego Lopez, and the defense was Arbeloa, Thiago Silva, Helguera and Miguel Torres. The three midfielders played at the back. The midfielders are De La Red and Granero, Guti comes forward, and the front three forwards are Mata, Negredo and Aguero.

Finally, in the 78th minute, Negredo received a pass from Arbeloa in the penalty area and headed the ball back outside the penalty area. Guti made a precise through ball and Aguero made it in the penalty area in one fell swoop, setting up another goal for Real Madrid. city.

20 Real Madrid won their first victory in the warm-up match.

After the first warm-up match, Real Madrid continued their devilish training camp in Austria. Yang Cheng also made improvements to the problems exposed in the first warm-up match, especially in the first half, although they had the advantage, they could not score. The problem, in the final analysis, is still a problem in offensive advancement.

After continuing to train in Ildening for a few days, Real Madrid packed up and left Austria, took a plane to Germany, and played a warm-up match with Hannover 96. In the end, with the goals of Villa, Beckham and Aguero , defeated Hannover 96 3:0 in an away game and won two consecutive warm-up matches.

Real Madrid then went to Moscow to participate in the Railway Cup.

The reason why Real Madrid participated in this event was not only because it was a commercial game with generous appearance fees, but Yang Cheng paid more attention to the quality of the warm-up match, because the other three teams participating in this event were the hosts. Lokomotiv Moscow, Serie A giant Milan and Dutch giant PSV are all strong teams.

Yang Cheng likes to encounter strong opponents in warm-up matches because he firmly believes that the stronger the opponent, the more problems he will expose. If all the problems can be improved in the warm-up match, then Real Madrid will undoubtedly be full of combat effectiveness.

Real Madrid's opponent in the semi-finals was PSV. This team played defensive counterattack tactics, which put a lot of pressure on Real Madrid's offense. In addition, Real Madrid had just gone through pre-match training, and their physical condition and condition They are still very unsatisfactory. Although Yang Cheng sent his main force to play, he was still unable to open up the situation offensively.

But in the second half, after Yang Cheng made several substitutions, as the opponent's physical energy was also consumed, Guti played a role. His pass in the 79th minute helped Negredo score. In the end, Real Madrid defeated PSV Eindhoven 1:0 and entered the final.

In addition to exposing Real Madrid's poor condition, this game also allowed Yang Cheng to see the hidden dangers in the team's left defense after Marcelo came on, especially in the absence of Mascherano. Real Madrid's double midfielders did not put enough pressure on the opponent's midfielder, causing the opponent to be very threatening on several counterattacks.

Of course, this also has a lot to do with the warm-up match, where neither side paid enough attention to the game. For example, in this game, Yang Cheng made 9 substitutions in one breath, except for Casillas and Cannavaro. , all the other players have been replaced. After all, it is a warm-up match. Results are not important. Adjusting the player's condition is the key.

This situation has not changed much even in the finals.

The situation that everyone expected Kaká to face his old club Milan did not appear. What puzzled many outsiders was that Yang Cheng did not use Kaká in these warm-up matches. The Brazilian superstar did not even have one minute of playing time. ·In response to the doubts from the outside world, Yang Cheng's answer is that Kaka is undergoing rehabilitation training and is temporarily unable to meet the requirements of the game. As for Kaka's Real Madrid debut, Yang Cheng initially gave the time to be in Hong Kong.

"I think with his current progress, he should be able to play against Hong Kong United!"

Kaka himself also expressed a strong desire to participate in the game as soon as possible, but he also said that he would fully obey the head coach's arrangements, "I feel that my physical condition is getting better and better, and I feel that I can play at any time, but I will unconditionally obey the head coach’s arrangements because I know that the decisions he makes are all for my better performance.”

Although Kaka did not get a chance to play in the game against Milan, Real Madrid played very tenaciously in this game. After falling behind twice, they tenaciously equalized the score twice, but in the end they lost in the penalty shootout. , Real Madrid still lost to Milan by 34, and finally only won the runner-up of the Railway Cup.

It was just a warm-up cup match with little influence. Yang Cheng didn't value it at all. What he really valued was the problems exposed by Real Madrid in the game. The partnership between Pepe and Cannavaro was not stable enough, especially Pepe. , the first goal conceded was his mistake.

Throughout the warm-up match, Pepe's performance can be said to have both highlights and mistakes. His body and strength are worthy of recognition, but in cooperation with Cannavaro, especially under Milan's offensive pressure, there were no mistakes. Few, but several key rescues and resolutions were praised by people.

After all, you have just joined a new team. Although you performed well in training, training and games are different, and it is better to expose problems in warm-up matches than to make mistakes in official games.

Yang Cheng asked the technical team to collect all the mistakes made by each player during the game and prepare to keep it after returning to Valdebebas to make a video and distribute it to each player to watch for themselves. .

After several warm-up games, the Real Madrid players have obviously adjusted. Although the team has repeatedly encountered many problems, the results of the pre-season training are increasingly evident. This is evident when the team arrived in Yokohama, Japan, and here with Japan This was shown in this warm-up match for Yokohama Marinos, a famous team in the J-League.

In this game, Yang Cheng continued to use Casillas as the starting goalkeeper. The defense was Marcelo, Helguera, Pepe and Ramos. The double midfielder was Granero and Mascherano on the left. It's David Silva, Aguero plays as an attacking midfielder, Beckham plays on the right, and Villa plays in the middle.

At the beginning of the game, Real Madrid played very proactively. First, in the 9th minute, Granero and David Silva had a beautiful interplay. Granero passed the ball diagonally to the left side of the penalty area. Marcelo After plugging in at high speed, he sent the ball to the front of the penalty area before the defensive player. Villa stepped in to grab the point and penetrated the Yokohama Mariners goal, 1:0!

After scoring the first goal, Real Madrid continued to maintain the pressure in the midfield and the defense was very high. The two full-backs Marcelo and Ramos frequently stepped in to participate in assists. David = Silva and Beckham Mudu actively cut inside to create space for them to insert, and Real Madrid played very actively on the wing.

In the 21st minute, Ramos stepped in and hit the front of the penalty area. Beckham got the ball and pushed it forward. After Aguero got the ball in the penalty area and got rid of the defender, he shot low and scored again, 20!

Real Madrid began to play with great momentum, and the Japanese fans in the stands were excited to watch.

For Japanese fans, they bought high ticket prices to watch this game here just to see Yang Cheng and his Real Madrid. Therefore, the better Real Madrid performs, the more excited and excited they become.

The unlucky Yokohama Mariners were almost helpless in front of the giant Real Madrid.

Mascherano's appearance allowed Real Madrid's defensive back to straighten up again and press the Yokohama Marinos. This allowed Real Madrid's defense to press forward with confidence, making it easier for Real Madrid's offense to enter the Yokohama Marinos' half.

In just the first half, Real Madrid once again relied on goals from Beckham and Aguero to lead Yokohama Marinos 4:1.

After that, Real Madrid made 6 substitutions in one breath, but the goals of Raul and Negredo locked the score at 60 for Real Madrid. In the second half, Beckham came on as a substitute. Ozil, who played on the right, performed very well, but Because he is left-footed, he has never played on the right before, so he seemed a little unaccustomed to it in the game, but his several passes and dribblings were very skillful, showing rare delicacy.

60 victory over Yokohama Marinos. Real Madrid achieved its biggest victory since the warm-up match. It was highly praised by the Japanese media and fans. They believed that Real Madrid, which went all out, was more sincere than Barcelona, ​​which visited Asia with a substitute lineup. Moreover, Real Madrid's game was also Fight with all your strength.

Yang Cheng didn't comment on this at all. He didn't want to start a fight before the league. Besides, if he didn't play at full strength in the warm-up match, how could he find out the team's problems?

Riding on the momentum of their 60-game victory over Yokohama F. Marinos, Real Madrid visited Beijing and defeated the Beijing team 30-times, winning their second victory of the Asian tour.

After playing against the Beijing team, Yang Cheng took the opportunity to participate in a fundraising event held by the Caesar Charitable Foundation in Beijing. Florentino, who was in Beijing, also came up and down with Real Madrid to support him. This time Caesar The charity foundation will use all donations for the earthquake prevention work and hope education projects previously developed by Yang Cheng.

After finishing all these things, Real Madrid went to Hong Kong and ushered in the last warm-up match of the Asian tour, which was what Yang Cheng said before, Kaka's debut in Real Madrid! 1. ..