Chapter 73 Bottleneck

Although Chinese reporters are very satisfied with Gao Hongbo's starting arrangement and praise it, and are full of confidence in the national team.

But the situation after the game started did not develop in the direction that Chinese reporters expected.

The Chinese team, playing away from home, did try to confront the Japanese team. Under Zhou Yi's instigation, the Chinese team launched several attacks into the Japanese team's penalty area, but they did not really threaten the Japanese team's goalkeeper Kawashima Eiji. goal.

However, the Japanese team's offense was more threatening than the Chinese team's, allowing the Chinese team's goalkeeper Zeng Cheng to make two saves, causing the Chinese fans in the stands to scream in surprise.

Then the initiative of the game fell into the hands of the Japanese team.

The Chinese team could only defend more often, while the Japanese team stepped up its offensive. For a while, the Chinese team was in danger in front of the goal.

Even the commentator Liu Hong said: "The Chinese team is very nervous in front of the goal during this period! The Japanese team's offensive is very fast! Shinji Kagawa shoots...be careful!"

Fortunately, the shot missed the goal in the end.

But we can also see the situation of the Chinese team from this ball.

This scene made many Chinese fans confused - the same team, which lacked the core Zhou Yi in the Asian Cup finals, played very tenaciously against Japan. Why is the Chinese team now playing against Japan? So embarrassed?

The TV broadcast gave a close-up shot of Gao Hongbo, the head coach of the Chinese team on the sidelines. He was sitting on the coach's chair, silent and with a serious expression. Faced with the current situation where the Chinese team was being beaten, he did not stand up in a hurry and direct the game from the sidelines.

In fact, many people are curious about one thing.

It stands to reason that the Chinese team won the runner-up in the Asian Cup, and their performance was very good, which was beyond everyone's expectations. After all, they only went to "train" before the game. Subsequently, they also achieved two consecutive victories in the top ten games. This is a very good performance for the national football team. After the experience of the Asian Cup, this national team should be almost in tune and it needs to produce results. Why did Gao Hongbo suddenly recruit five players who had never been selected for the national team at this time?

You must know that this is a top ten game against the Japanese team, not a friendly match, which allows him to inspect new players. No coach would ever recruit or activate a large number of new players before such a game.

This is why the Chinese media thinks there is something wrong with Gao Hongbo's actions and does not understand why Gao Hongbo did what he did.

But in fact, Gao Hongbo was seriously considering the replacement of players after the Chinese team's home game against Oman. So he flew to London specifically to watch the Chinese Olympic team and watched all six games.

His views are different from those of the media and fans.

He does not think that the lineup of the national team that won the Asian Cup runner-up has been stable. He does not think that there is anything that cannot be adjusted. The World Cup qualifiers are a long process, starting from June 2012 to June 2013. month, a whole year. If we want to play in the Asian play-offs, there will be two games next September.

During this process, it is normal for someone to be taken out of the national team lineup if his condition is not good.

As for why five players who have never been selected for the national team were recruited in one go, it is also very simple. In the game against Oman, Gao Hongbo discovered that the national team's "Zhou Yi dependence" was getting more serious.

It's not that it's not good to rely on Zhou Yi. Zhou Yi is the core of the team and should bear more responsibilities. But football is a team sport after all, and one person cannot go far alone. And no matter how good Zhou Yi is, he is still a midfield organizer. He needs someone to complete the offense he organizes, and someone to protect him. If his teammates don't perform well enough, he can only play hard and win thrillingly, even if he tries his best, he still can't win.

The game against Oman is proof that it is so difficult to win against the weakest team in the group at home, but what about Japan and Australia? In order to qualify for the 2014 Brazil World Cup, the Chinese team must finish in the top two in the group. If it finishes third, it will have to play in the play-offs. After completing the Asian play-offs, it will have to play South America. This is not a good thing for the Chinese team.

Why was the game against Oman so simple? After the game, Gao Hongbo and the coaching staff conducted a review and analysis, and everyone came to a consensus that this team relied too much on Zhou Yi, and its football was becoming less and less cerebral and less hardworking. They believe that the Yi will solve any problems anyway, so they cannot show the spirit of bayonet fighting at the critical moment. Once the tone is vented, it will be difficult to bring it up again.

Some national team players have relaxed their requirements after the Asian Cup, their training attitude is not serious enough, and they think that their position in the national team is stable. There are also some national team players who are gradually unable to play in games due to matters in their clubs. Their playing status is worrying and their physical condition is not as good as during the Asian Cup. In addition, some people are unable to cope with higher requirements due to their own strength...

No matter how he trains, it will be difficult for the team to improve its strength to meet the requirements for him. This may be the so-called "bottleneck".

These are all incentives that make Gao Hongbo plan to make a change to the national team.

In the end, what made Gao Hongbo make such a decisive decision was the outstanding performance of the Olympic team in London. He saw a team full of vigor in London, and there were many outstanding players in the team.

If Sun Pan hadn't been injured, there would actually have been as many as six newcomers recruited into the national team this time.

Zhou Yi's personal ability is very outstanding, but as the core of the organization, no matter how outstanding he is, he still needs equally outstanding teammates to cooperate with him. Otherwise, his passing intention will not be understood and his wonderful passes will be wasted... That's not the case. Can not be done.

In Gao Hongbo's view, some people in the national team can no longer keep up with Zhou Yi's rhythm and cannot meet their own requirements. Although they may be veteran national players, it is right for them to continue to stay in the national team. The team is irresponsible. So blood transfusion is necessary.

This may be a bit cruel, but if they lose the Cup qualifiers and the players can continue to return to the club to enjoy their careers, the head coach Gao Hongbo will take the blame and resign, be reviled by thousands of people, and bear the main responsibility for being eliminated. If he doesn't, he's being cruel to himself.

So although he may offend a group of people by doing this, it is understandable for the benefit of more people.

Of course, his experience in the Changchun team also taught him some lessons, that is, blood exchange should not be done too suddenly, and everyone must be given a time and opportunity to accept it, and they must be able to take advantage of the situation. This is a must-have for those who do great things.

He knows that there will definitely be people within the national team who are confused and dissatisfied with him recruiting so many players from the Olympic team. It doesn't matter. He doesn't intend to explain this matter, because football itself will teach them to recognize themselves. Whether a certain person is good or not, if no one believes what he says, then let football tell everyone. In this way, no matter what movement he makes, there won't be so much resistance.

※※※

Zhou Yi concentrates on the game on the court. He does not have as many thoughts as head coach Gao Hongbo. No matter who his teammates are around him, he insists on playing his own football. The goal is to help the team win, regardless of the strength of the opponent. how.

However, he can indeed feel the pressure brought by the Japanese team to the Chinese team.

It stands to reason that the strength of the national team should be higher than that of the Olympic team, but after playing in one Olympic Games, Zhou Yi had a different feeling. He feels that playing in the Olympic team is more comfortable than playing in the national team now. He speculated that this may have something to do with the fact that he has more familiar teammates in the Olympic team. After all, Sun Pan, He Ying, Guo Nu and Yang Muge are teammates who have played together for a long time.

During this period, the Chinese team was trapped in its own half, and Zhou Yi did not have much room to play. In the offense, he could only use long passes to create some opportunities for He Ying in front.

But it is not easy for He Ying to face the Japanese team's defense alone. Moreover, He Ying's own condition is not good. His rhythm and feeling after getting the ball are not as good as when he was on the Olympic team.

Even the commentator Liu Hong could see this. Zhou Yi passed three long passes to He Ying. He Ying failed to stop at the first time twice. The redundant adjustments caused him to waste more time. It also gave the Japanese team's defenders time to surround them.

Why is this happening?

Liu Hong believed that fatigue and the nervousness of debuting in the national team for the first time caused He Ying's performance to be unsatisfactory.

But this is not very convincing. At least the first reason does not make sense. I thought the team was assembled ten days ago. How could I still be tired after ten days of traveling?

In fact, there is a reason that I don’t know if it was ignored intentionally. That is, He Ying has not played a single game in Barcelona this season. He has not even been included in the squad for three consecutive rounds. Due to the lack of games, he cannot maintain his form and it is difficult to find the feeling of the game for a while. You must know that this national team game is He Ying's first official game after the Olympics. It is strange that his condition is good.

We just want to blame He Ying's poor condition on his staying in Barcelona. Everyone is really unwilling to admit it. They still hope to see He Ying survive to his early days in Barcelona.

Every Chinese fan dreams of a wealthy club and hopes that our Chinese players will have a place in the starting lineup of a truly European giant. (To be continued.)