Chapter 2 Italy and Chile
"Tang Zheng! Tang Zheng! Tang Zheng!!"
As the pre-World Cup warm-up match between China and Italy progressed to the 65th minute, Tang Zheng stood next to the fourth official holding an electronic substitution board, and deafening cheers suddenly sounded over the National Stadium.
Central 5 commentator He Wei's voice was obviously excited, and he shouted: "Tang Zheng is finally ready to make his debut under the endless calls of all 80,000 fans in the National Stadium! I think the countless fans sitting in front of the TV Is that the case? Look at Tang Zheng, the absolute superstar who performed most eye-catchingly in the 2014-2014 season in our hearts!"
Tang Zheng, who wears jersey No. 10, replaces Huang Bowen, who wears jersey No. 16.
It is worth mentioning that the reason why Tang Zheng was able to wear the No. 10 jersey was due to his respect for the old captain Zheng Zhi and his refusal to wear the captain's armband.
In order to thank Tang Zheng for allowing him to become the captain and lead the team to participate in the World Cup, Zheng Zhi chose to give up the No. 10 jersey, which symbolizes the absolute core, to Tang Zheng. He should wear No. 19.
A simple high-five was exchanged for appearance etiquette, and thunderous applause erupted from the stands, praising Huang Bowen for his outstanding performance and encouraging Tang Zheng at the same time.
In the first half of this year, the Chinese team had friendly matches on every international match day. However, head coach Lippi and the Football Association considered that Real Madrid’s second half schedule is intensive and there are many games. Tang Zheng’s participation in international friendly matches of little significance is likely to cause fatigue due to travel and travel. Due to injury, Tang Zheng was not called up for the international friendly match.
Commentator Xu Yang talked about the problems that may arise if Tang Zheng has not played with the national team for nearly half a year: "As we all know, Tang Zheng did not participate in the Chinese team's three warm-up matches in the first half of this year, and due to the Champions League finals, he returned to the team after the whole season. The newest player in the team, and Lippi has just taken office not long ago. Tang Zheng has not worked with Lippi yet, so I am very worried about the technical and tactical integration."
"I have thought about this aspect, but..." He Wei said this and changed his voice: "But Tang Zheng has a very strong adaptability. You can see some clues from the beginning of his career, and then to Dortmund and Real Madrid , I think head coach Lippi has also studied this, otherwise he would not have communicated with the Football Association and suggested not to recruit Tang Zheng for an insignificant warm-up match."
Before Tang Zheng came on as a substitute, the Chinese team had already made two substitutions, all of which were aimed at the offensive line.
Lu Liang replaced Sun Ke, and Gao Lin replaced Yang Xu.
Tang Zheng replaced Huang Bowen and did not appear in the attacking midfielder position as imagined by the media. Instead, he partnered with veteran Zheng Zhi as a defensive midfielder. This is equivalent to saying that this adjustment was a matchup substitution.
The formation is still in a 4231 position, with goalkeeper Yan Junling, four defenders Jiang Zhipeng, Ren Hang, Feng Xiaoting and **, double midfielders Tang Zheng and Zheng Zhi, and three forwards Lu Liang, Hao Junmin and Wu Sanshi at the front. The one is Gao Lin.
And this lineup is also the strongest lineup that the Chinese team can currently put forward.
Italy had the same chance as the Chinese team in the first half and did not send a large number of main players. It was not until the second half that they began to replace some famous and powerful main players. However, the formation did not change, and it was still 4,411.
Goalkeeper Buffon, Chiellini, Barzagli, Paletta and Damian, midfielders Candreva, De Rossi, Pirlo and Marchisio, Verratti two forwards, Balotelli Top at the front.
Tang Zheng, who jogged to his position, consciously ran towards Pirlo, his former teammate who once played for Dortmund. The two smiled and extended their right hands in greeting.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch"
The football soon reached Tang Zheng's feet. The fanatical atmosphere in the National Stadium was unprecedentedly warm, and the deafening shouts were louder and louder.
Although the Italian team cannot compare with Tang Zheng in terms of personal ability, football is a team sport. The head coach of the Italian team, Prandelli, has obviously done in-depth research on Tang Zheng, so Tang Zheng's room for movement on the field is greatly restricted. limit.
However, the Chinese team's offense has improved significantly, and the transition between offense and defense is smoother.
Tang Zheng's long passes are accurate and he can launch a quick counterattack as soon as he switches from defense to offense.
In this regard, the assault capabilities of Lu Liang and Wu Sanshi can be used to create threats.
It is a pity that neither Lu Liang nor Wu Sanshi were decisive enough in handling the ball during the rapid counterattack, and did not pose an absolute threat to Buffon's goal.
The Italian midfielder has a strong ability to control the midfield. The iron triangle of Marchisio, Pirlo and De Rossi has been partnering with the national team for a long time, and the cooperation is quite tacit.
Coupled with Verratti, who often retreats to the midfield line to participate in organizing attacks, the Italian offense is even more threatening.
At this time, Tang Zheng's strong sense of positioning was gradually amplified. He often appeared on the best pass route for Italy's offense and saved the day.
It is no exaggeration to describe Tang Zheng's role in the Chinese team as "one man can guard the barrier, but ten thousand men cannot open it"!
Despite this, Yan Junling's goal was broken by Balotelli in the 80th minute.
Balotelli first used his body to squeeze the position, and then used his body to remove Pirlo's imaginative long pass. He shot directly from the penalty spot without stopping the ball. The football hit the upper left corner of the goal, and Yan Junling was beyond his reach.
Immediately, Lippi changed his tactics, and Tang Zheng moved forward, taking into account the defensive responsibilities before participating in the team's offense.
Amid the cheers and cheers of the Chinese fans, the Chinese team's offense has improved significantly. Pirlo, De Rossi and Marchisio gradually felt the pressure. After all, Pirlo and De Rossi are older, and Marchisio Theo finds it hard to take on big responsibilities again.
The Chinese team's offense once threatened Buffon's goal, and the player who completed the shot was Tang Zheng, who performed extremely well in the past 2013-2014 season. His sudden shot at the front of the penalty area forced Buffon to contribute the first goal of the game. A crucial save.
Italian head coach Prandelli also made quick adjustments, replacing Verratti with Motta to strengthen the defensive toughness of the midfield while maintaining the organization ability of the midfield.
Due to the lack of overall ability, the Chinese team eventually lost to former world champion Italy 0:1 at the National Stadium.
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Although the Chinese team ultimately lost to the Italian team, the outside world is quite optimistic about the ability displayed by the Chinese team. After all, where the overall ability is, Italy is obviously superior.
However, the obvious difference in strength was before Tang Zheng came on as a substitute, and the situation improved significantly after Tang Zheng came on the bench.
The offense and defense are remarkable. In terms of offense, he can directly threaten Buffon to guard the goal.
Italian head coach Prandelli fully praised the Chinese team after the game. He said: "The overall strength of the Chinese team is beyond my imagination, especially the game situation after Tang came on. Fortunately, Marcelo only gave him 20 minutes to play. Time, if given ten more minutes, I believe the Chinese team is likely to win!"
This sounds very polite, but it is actually very convincing.
The Chinese team basically used domestic players in the first half of the game. It was not easy to maintain a 0:0 score until the halftime break.
From this, it is not difficult to see that Lippi's coaching ability is very good. Even if he loses to Italy in the end, Chinese fans are still full of confidence in the Chinese team's World Cup journey.
At the end of the game, Tang Zheng walked towards Pirlo again.
They were a super partnership in Dortmund in the past.
The competition was a rival, and now a friend. As the host, Tang Zheng naturally treated this super master from Italy well.
Of course, there’s never enough time for a treat.
The World Cup is imminent, and the Chinese team needs to choose a charter flight to fly to Santiago, the capital of Chile, while Italy flies to the United States to play the last warm-up match before the World Cup.
Tang Zheng and Pirlo's chat and photo after the game became the headline material for Chinese domestic media the next day, with the headline: "As we all know, Tang Zheng and Pirlo were teammates in Dortmund. The two worked very happily together, and their performance on the field was harmonious. Tang Zheng's role is more aggressive than Pirlo's. I think given time, Tang Zheng's achievements will definitely surpass that of the great master Pirlo..."
In fact, in addition to winning the World Cup, Tang Zheng's glory is already comparable to Pirlo.
The most important thing is that Tang Zheng only turned twenty-five this November. In the future... he still has a long period of peak career.
Worth the wait!
At the same time, the Chinese team took a charter flight to Santiago, the capital of Chile, at the Beijing International Airport that afternoon.
This also means that the Chinese team's World Cup journey has officially started.
Chile national team, many Chinese fans are not familiar with this national team.
Because except for Sanchez playing for Barcelona, Vidal and Isla playing for Juventus, the other players in the Chilean team are playing for second-tier teams and are not well-known, but this does not mean that the Chilean team is not strong.
On the contrary, it is super powerful.
Some media even said that Chile is likely to stand out in the death group.
Tang Zheng had just arrived at his hotel in downtown San Diego when his mobile phone's text message alert rang.
I took it out and saw that it was from my friend Sanchez.
The general idea is that I have been waiting for this international friendly match for a long time, and the winner will be the Chilean team in the end.
As a good friend, Tang Zheng would not let Sanchez go as he wished. He directly replied: Impossible!
After about five minutes, Sanchez replied: "Don't cry if you lose."
Tang Zheng grinned and sent a voice message: "Dear Alexis, have you even thought about how you feel after losing? That's great!"
"..."
Sanchez knew that he couldn't win against Tang Zheng in a war of words, so he simply replied with an ellipsis.
Tang Zheng, who still had to adjust to the time difference, did not send any more messages to Sanchez. Friendship between men is always like this. When you should complain, you should complain as much as you want, and when you shouldn't complain, just ignore it.
Friendship between men does not need to be cultivated too hard.
The venue for the international friendly match between the Chinese team and the Chilean team is the National Stadium of Chile, a comprehensive stadium that can accommodate 50,000 fans.
If it were in the past, Chilean fans would definitely not pay attention to the international friendly match between the national team and the Chinese team, but things are different now. With Tang Zheng, the world's top superstar, in charge of the Chinese team, the appeal is growing day by day.
Moreover, there are Chinese people almost everywhere in the world, so... there is never a shortage of Chinese fans coming to cheer for the Chinese team's games, especially when it is known before the game that Tang Zheng will start.
On the day of the game, the Chilean National Stadium, which can accommodate 50,000 fans, was packed.
Tang Zheng actually knows a lot about the Chilean national team. Needless to say Sanchez, Vidal once played for Bayer Leverkusen and had many battles with Tang Zheng when he played for Dorgmund.
Captain and goalkeeper Bravo is the goalkeeper of Real Sociedad. In the past 2013-2014 season, Bravo saved Tang Zheng's must-goals consecutively, which was very impressive.
Valencia forward Vargas is not particularly outstanding in ability, but his game attitude and ability to capture opportunities are quite outstanding.
Before the game, Chinese head coach Lippi told the defense that in addition to keeping an eye on Sanchez, the little-known Vargas also needs more attention.
as expected!
The Chilean national team's first shot that threatened the goal guarded by Yan Junling came from Vargas. He suddenly moved forward at the penalty spot and shot in front of Feng Xiaoting. Fortunately, Yan Junling had excellent goal-line skills and fell to the ground. The ball deflected off the right goal post.
Chile's offensive at home was wave after wave, so much so that Lippi, the head coach of the Chinese team, frequently appeared on the sidelines to direct the game.
However, Lippi was very pleased with Tang Zheng's performance. Tang Zheng's presence told the fans in front of the TV what world-class performance means.
Tang Zheng, who serves as a defensive midfielder, is very good at suppressing Chile's threatening attacks organized in the midfield. He can even deter Sanchez who is trying to break through in the supplementary defense stage, thus reducing the frontal defensive pressure of Jiang Zhipeng or Jiang Zhipeng.
The fanatical atmosphere at the Chilean National Stadium is the same as the general atmosphere at home stadiums in South America. It is unprecedentedly fanatical and the deafening cheers continue from the beginning of the game.
Sanchez has never defeated Tang Zheng's team at the club level, but he has always wanted to win back the favor at the national team level, so he works extra hard, but in many cases hard work may not lead to success, and may even have the effect of getting twice the result with half the effort.
Therefore, Chilean coach Sampaoli stood on the sidelines with a frown. Sanchez's role in his tactical system is very important.
Whether Chile can stand out in the group of death will depend more on Sanchez's performance.
And now the state Sanchez is showing is worrying.
Sanchez's condition declined seriously under Tang Zheng's defense, which greatly affected Chile's overall offense.
But this does not affect Chile's use of its home court advantage to suppress the Chinese team. The abilities of other Chilean players are obviously stronger than those of the Chinese players.
Tang Zheng was also concerned about one thing at the expense of the other because he was defending Sanchez. Vidal and Isla, the Chilean twins who play for Juventus, frequently used direct passes and long shots to threaten Yan Junling to guard the goal.
Immediately, Tang Zheng shifted his attention, no longer completely paying attention to Sanchez, but also focusing on controlling the activity area of Chilean midfielder Vidal.
Vidal was known for his excellent offensive ability during his time at Leverkusen and is now more mature.
Some media in Spain said that how far Chile can go does not depend on Sanchez, but on midfielder Vidal!
As Tang Zheng's attention shifted to Vidal, other players were also instructed by coach Lippi to strengthen regional defense. Chile's offense was effectively suppressed. Until the end of the first half, the 0:0 score did not change. .