Chapter 180 About Defense

Perhaps Cahill's words and arrogant attitude will make Chinese fans unhappy - everyone can hear the implication - but in fact Cahill is not wrong. The Chinese team is indeed not strong enough. What makes everyone most uncomfortable is knowing that the other person is humiliating you, but you still can't argue because everything he said is right...

This feeling is really unpleasant.

Harry Kewell opened the scoring for Australia five minutes into the semi-final.

Kewell is one year older than Australia's current star Cahill, but he became famous much earlier than Cahill. The Leeds youth team in white clothes set off a wave of young guards in English football and Europe. During the Army Storm, players such as Cahill, Viduka and Rio Ferdinand in the team were highly regarded, and Kewell also entered the field of vision of Chinese fans.

Later, when he was at Liverpool, he won the Champions League with the team. He was also the first Australian-born player to win this championship.

However, with the impact of injuries, his performance has started to go up and down, and he has now left the mainstream vision of European football. Today he plays for Turkish team Galatasaray, which is obviously not the center of European football.

Although Kewell has been plagued by injuries, his level is still there.

This can be seen from the goal he just scored.

A beautiful left-footed arc shot, the football broke through Yang Zhi's fingers and flew into the Chinese team's goal.

Falling behind by one goal only five minutes into the game was a huge blow to the Chinese team.

When many players scored in Australia, they put their heads in their hands and showed extremely disappointed expressions.

Zhou Yi, on the other hand, looked calm.

Their pain and disappointment was due to surprise, as they did not expect Australia to score so early.

But Zhou Yi has already simulated many situations in the virtual world, and he has also experienced situations like this.

Given Australia's strength, it's no surprise that it can do this.

Anyway, in those simulated games, the Chinese team lost more than they won against Australia.

Although Cahill's words were a bit off-putting, he did tell the truth.

The overall strength of the Chinese team is indeed not strong.

However, Zhou Yi believes that there is no absolutely direct relationship between strength and the outcome of the game.

The key is to look at the performance on the spot.

It's actually better to lose the ball early. At least the Chinese team will have a lot of time to equalize the score. If there are five minutes left, the game is over. Then you should cry.

The main thing now is not to let Australia score consecutive goals in a short period of time. That will be a devastating blow to the morale and confidence of the Chinese team.

Thinking of this, Zhou Yi raised his hands and slapped them hard. He kept slapping until more and more teammates looked up. Look at him.

"We still have eighty-five minutes to do something, so conceding the ball now is not a big deal. We need to be more vigilant next, they will definitely take advantage of the situation to attack. We must hold on when the time comes. Don't panic when handling the ball, just be decisive and simple. .If you don’t know where to pass the ball...just pass it to me!"

In a somewhat noisy environment, Zhou Yi's voice reached the ears of every Chinese team player.

Although Zhou Yi is the youngest in this national team, when he said this. But no one will question or oppose him, but will listen to him involuntarily. And feel reassured that he can speak out.

It was as if he suddenly knew what to do while being at a loss.

Because Zhou Yi didn't just say some nice words, he also gave a very practical solution in the end - if you don't know where to pass the ball, pass it to him!

Gao Hongbo, who was originally anxious after losing the ball, also planned to shout something to the players on the sidelines. But when he saw Zhou Yi speaking in the crowd, he gave up the idea.

Although he didn't hear what Zhou Yi said at all, he could see the performance of other players. They stared at Zhou Yi intently, forgetting their anxiety and nervousness after losing the ball.

In fact, what he said when he went to the sidelines was to make the players let go of their nervousness and not take the ball to heart.

Now that Zhou Yi has completed his work, what is he still wasting on?

So he turned around and sat back.

※※※

When the game restarted, as Zhou Yi said, Australia, which was leading by one goal, launched a fierce attack on the Chinese team's goal.

If the Chinese team is still immersed in the frustration and annoyance after conceding the goal, it is inevitable that they will lose concentration in the fierce competition.

It's easy to lose the ball at this time.

In football matches, situations like this are common.

Australia also intends to use this opportunity to expand its lead.

I just didn't expect that Zhou Yi's words would calm down the Chinese team members. Facing Australia's aggressive offensive, they were very decisive in handling the ball. If it didn't work, they would just kick it up front with a big foot net. As long as they didn't let the football Staying in the backfield too long.

And what should you do if you have the ball at your feet, but are faced with Australia's siege and feel a little overwhelmed?

They will think of Zhou Yi's words - "Pass the ball to me!"

So they passed the football to Zhou Yi.

And it is indeed amazing to say that no matter where the player gets the ball, he can find Zhou Yi without much effort, and there is a relatively easy passing route with him.

Zhou Yi seems to be everywhere on the court.

Those of them playing football on the pitch will be shocked, but probably not as much as those who are watching.

Whether it is the audience, coaches on the coaching bench, reporters in the media, commentators on the commentary bench, or viewers in front of the TV, they can all see that Zhou Yi is the most active member of the Chinese team during Australia's onslaught. A person, he keeps running, keeps running.

Sometimes he was sprinting, and most of the time he was jogging. Anyway, I never saw him stop and watch the show on the court with his hands on his hips.

It is his tireless and unstoppable running that allows him to always appear where he should appear in time, then catch the ball and move the football out of the dangerous area. If you can organize an attack, organize it. If you can't, organize it. Just a long pass to send the football directly in front. Harass Australia so they don't attack unscrupulously.

Needless to say, this approach still works.

Facing Australia's aggressive offensive, the Chinese team's passing and controlling style acted like a dense and resilient net. After Australia's fist was swung up, it was caught in the net. The soft net seems not as strong as the wall, but it can dissolve the power of the fist, making the person who punches feel as powerful as a stone in the ocean. Can't pronounce it at all.

As a midfielder, Zhou Yi is indeed not the kind who can intercept the opponent's ball in one-on-one situations. A defensive midfielder who can make beautiful and accurate tackles in defense.

Zhou Yi himself once thought that he couldn't defend because he never participated in defense when he played as a forward.

But after coming to Dortmund, especially after being promoted to the first team. Defense is also a very important part of training, and Klopp also attaches great importance to it. So he also began to learn defense. It's just that he always thinks that his defense is more of a show-off, just to show his correct and positive attitude towards the game in front of the head coach, and it cannot really play any defensive role.

But this season. Zhou Yi had a different view on this.

Especially after a few games where the team conceded goals after he came off the field.

If you can't defend well, come off the field and replace yourself with a defensive midfielder. Logically speaking, the team's defense should get better. Why did you concede the ball instead?

Zhou Yi began to re-understand the concept of "defense".

It is not like before, simply thinking that defense is what defenders and midfielders do, defense is tackles, steals, close combat and blocking.

In fact, defense does not specifically refer to certain technical actions, but a tactical concept.

In a one-on-one situation, directly grabbing the ball from the opponent's feet is considered defense. But also using the overall advantage to control the football on his own team's side and not giving the opponent more and better offensive opportunities, Zhou Yi believes that it is also a type of defense.

Contracting within one's own thirty-meter area is naturally considered defense, but extending the formation and passing the football around to prevent it from falling at the opponent's feet, isn't it considered defense?

Zhou Yi believes that it is also defense.

And compared with being compressed by the opponent in a thirty-meter area, this kind of defense is active defense. The initiative is in your own hands. When there is no chance, or when the opportunity is not good, it is defense. Once a good opportunity appears, it can be immediately transformed into a fatal attack, directly killing the opponent, and completely ending this defensive situation. .

However, the prerequisite for this is that the team must have one or several clear-headed core players, and the entire team must have good passing and receiving abilities. If the ball is stopped ten meters away as soon as it is stopped, then all tactics will be in vain.

Thanks to Gao Hongbo, the Chinese team is now barely able to meet such requirements.

Because Gao Hongbo's coaching philosophy is to focus on passing and controlling. Some people say that he is copying Barcelona, ​​but Barcelona is now the most successful club in the world. Spain uses Barcelona football as its team and has won the European Cup and World Cup, so there is no problem in copying Barcelona.

The key is that the head coach has a clear mind and knows what tactics to use, so when selecting players, he will naturally choose players who are capable in this area. The players in this national team are already among the best in the country in terms of passing and receiving skills.

Coupled with the various passing and receiving training that Gao Hongbo emphasized in training, you can often see Gao Jiajun of the Chinese team being able to make coherent and smooth passes in the midfield and various triangle passes.

With such a foundation of passing and receiving, coupled with Zhou Yi who has a ninety-nine vision... they can really pass the ball for thirty consecutive times without being interrupted.

In team training, "making monkeys" in the circle is actually a kind of training to pass the ball quickly in a pressing situation. Players from Barcelona and the Spanish national team love to conduct such an entertaining training. Gao Jiajun, who emphasizes passing, cutting and running as a coordination, naturally cannot not practice frequently.

With Zhou Yi's connection everywhere, the Chinese team's passing and control was very smooth, so Australia soon discovered that the situation was different from what they imagined.

As long as the possession of the ball falls to the Chinese team, it will be difficult to snatch it away unless a foul is committed, but the Chinese team still has room to counterattack.

Australia knew that if they continued playing like this, let alone scoring another goal, they might still be in danger of conceding a goal.

So they also adjusted their tactics, slowed down their pace, and no longer pursued consecutive goals in a short period of time.

The alert for the Chinese team has been temporarily lifted... (To be continued.) New website enabled