Chapter 20 Asian Cup

Real Madrid won the 2014 Club World Cup by defeating South American Copa Libertadores champion San Lorenzo 2-0 at the Marrakesh Stadium with goals from their two leading stars, Tang Zheng and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The next day, at 1 p.m. local time in Italy, the official website of Turin Sport announced the winner of the 2014 European Golden Boy Award. Chinese player Lu Liang, who plays for Dortmund, won the honor.

In fact, the results were basically settled when this year's candidate list came out. Lu Liang's performance in the past 2013-2014 season was quite eye-catching. His wonderful goals and sharp passing were impressive. This summer's World Cup in Brazil also followed. With the Chinese team entering the quarterfinals, his contribution to the Chinese team's offensive end is obvious to all.

In an interview with Tuttosport editor-in-chief DePaola, Lu Liang’s answer was surprising. The first thing he was grateful for was not the training from Dortmund, nor the silent support from his parents, but his gratitude to Tang Zheng for his knowledge and guidance. kindness.

In this regard, domestic and foreign media have given mixed reviews to Lu Liang, but at least it shows that Lu Liang knows who brought him to where he is today.

A thousand-mile horse often exists, but a bole does not always exist.

Without Tang Zheng's recommendation, today's Lu Liang would not be able to win the second Chinese player to win this honor after Tang Zheng, and he is likely to become one of the tens of millions of domestic college students living their lives on campus. Studying day after day, and then working a job that leaves early and returns late...

After playing in the Club World Cup, the Real Madrid players entered the winter break early and disbanded on the spot. Tang Zheng took an international flight to Shanghai, then transferred to Guangzhou, met with the national team, and then prepared for the Asian Games to be held in Australia next month. cup.

The 2014 Chinese Super League ended as early as November, so the Chinese Super League players trained in Guangzhou after half a month's rest to prepare for the Asian Cup.

Tang Zheng is the earliest player to return among European players. When he showed up at Guangzhou Baiyun New Baiyun Airport, he was greeted by thousands of fans at the airport as usual, and this was still under the control of the relevant departments, otherwise The airport in this cosmopolitan city is likely to be overcrowded.

Tang Zheng kept a low profile every time he returned to China, but as an international star, no matter where he went, there would always be news leaked, so it was no exception that a large number of fans greeted him at the New Baiyun Airport. He smiled as usual and greeted him enthusiastically. Fans waved and then signed autographs and took photos as circumstances permitted.

As Tang Zheng trained with the national team in Guangzhou, other European players returned to China one after another. **, Wu Sanshi, Lu Liang, Sun Jingbo, Hao Junmin, Yan Junling, Shi Ke, and Zhang Xizhe arrived in Guangzhou on Christmas Eve to join the national team Meeting and preparing for the Asian Cup in Australia.

The Chinese team was drawn into Group B in the Asian Cup in Australia.

The other three group stage opponents are Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia and Balesta.

According to the group appearance rules of the Asian Cup, the top two teams in the group advance to the quarter-finals, and the qualifying teams from two adjacent groups cross over to compete in the quarter-finals, that is, a1 and b2, b1 and a2, c and d, and a and a. bThe two groups are the same.

Before the start of the Asian Cup in Australia, the Chinese team had two warm-up matches. First, they played a warm-up match with the Thai team at the Tianhe Sports Center in Guangzhou, and then flew to Melbourne, Australia to play the last warm-up match before the Asian Cup with New Zealand.

The Thai team is the representative team with the fastest progress in Southeast Asian football. They are not tall and they pursue technical improvements. Therefore, the Chinese team suffered a lot in the warm-up match held at Guangzhou Tianhe Sports Center.

Many international players feel that the current Thai team is basically two teams from the previous Thai team. They pursue ground attack more and do a very good job in defensive aggressiveness.

However, after all, the Chinese team has an absolute technical advantage and it is a home game. In the 20th minute, under the cheers and cheers of the "Dragon Team Fan Club" at the Tianhe Sports Center, Tang Zheng contributed a kick that shocked everyone in the world. Wave.

He suddenly swung his right foot 35 meters away from the goal. The Thai player who was defending him did not react at all. The football he shot was like a cannonball. The Thai goalkeeper Hateratanku, who was born under height, did not react. He failed to touch the football and it hit the upper right corner of the goal.

The Chinese team, which was the first to break the deadlock, seemed to find its sense of scoring goals in the subsequent games. Lu Liang and Wu Sanshi scored before the end of the first half, helping the Chinese team lead the Thai team 3:0.

At the beginning of the second half, the head coach conducted a wide range of rotations for the team, giving those Chinese Super League players more opportunities to find their match status.

In Lippi's view, if the Chinese team wants to compete for the Asian Cup championship, it must rely on the performance of players in Europe, but domestic players cannot be ignored. Football is a whole and all players must be knitted into a whole.

Being able to enter the quarterfinals of the World Cup in Brazil this summer does not mean that the overall strength of the Chinese team has reached the quarterfinals of the World Cup. It can only be said that the Chinese team has good luck. The group draw and the opponents in the 1/8 finals are good, otherwise the group will qualify. It will all seem very difficult.

However, there is a clear difference in strength between domestic players and players in Europe. The offensive players in the second half were basically domestic players and were not decisive enough in passing and receiving. Even a world-class star like Tang Zheng who organized the offense failed to break through the Thai team's goal again. The score of 3:0 lasted until the end of the game.

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Since the start of the Asian Cup in Australia is imminent, the Chinese team does not have a traditional New Year's Day holiday. They must prepare intensively for the Asian Cup. At the same time, in order to adapt to Australia's different climate environment, they will fly to Melbourne after playing the warm-up match with the Thai team.

The warm-up match between the Chinese team and New Zealand was on New Year's Day. New Zealand's overall strength is not particularly strong, but its body is very strong. Except for Tang Zheng and ** who can maintain control of the football under the collision of New Zealand players, other players will always There is a staggering situation.

Facing such an opponent who is physically strong but has little technical content, Tang Zheng increased his running range. His teammates also knew Tang Zheng's intentions, so they accelerated the speed of passing the football at his feet and reduced the time of holding the ball at his feet.

Slowly, the New Zealand players found that their pressure was in vain, and the football was often passed to the feet of another Chinese player before he could reach the Chinese player holding the ball.

Many people say that power football controls technical football, but this is not the case. As long as technical football reaches a certain level, it can crush power football.

Of course, this statement only applies to the battle for football in the midfield.

Once the Chinese team's offense enters the 30-meter area of ​​New Zealand's defense, it exposes the problem of not being strong enough. However, the Chinese team's play style with Tang Zheng as the core is very methodical. When it encounters trouble in penetrating in the middle, it will use the two wings. The speed advantage creates offensive space.

The attack line formed by ** and Wu Sanshi on the right is full of speed and impact. The attack on the left may not be as impactful as the right, but the new European Golden Boy Award winner Lu Liang can take the ball on the left and cut inside, and then pass it to his teammates in the center. Create opportunities with teammates on the right.

However, it must be said that New Zealand's discipline was extremely high and they did not mess up their position amid continued passive defense. The first half of the game ended in a draw.

In the second half, the team changed sides and fought again. Sun Jingbo came on as a substitute for Wu Sanshi to strengthen the side breakthrough.

With Sun Jingbo coming on as a substitute, the Chinese team's offense on both sides was booming, with a wave of attacks.

Tang Zheng showed the value of a superstar in the 60th minute of the game. He received a wonderful pass from Sun Jingbo from the right and headed the ball into the goal guarded by New Zealand goalkeeper Stephen Marinovich.

And this goal was also the only goal in the game.

Although the Chinese team has many offensive methods, there are not many players that they can really rely on.

Gao Lin plays very hard and likes to help his teammates with the ball, but his real position is as a forward and he is used to score goals.

Lu Liang and Sun Jingbo have outstanding abilities, but unfortunately their physical fitness needs to be improved. Once they encounter a difficult opponent, they will easily disappear.

Fortunately, except for Saudi Arabia, whose opponents in the Asian Cup group stage are relatively strong, Uzbekistan and Palestine are not very strong and can win the game through strong technical ability.

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After the Chinese team played a warm-up match with New Zealand, they flew to Brisbane to prepare for their first group match against Saudi Arabia.

Before the start of the Asian Cup in Australia, Tang Zheng was paying attention to Real Madrid's first La Liga game after the short winter break, visiting Mestalla to challenge Valencia.

Valencia's strength has declined significantly in recent seasons, but it can often burst out with great energy in strong dialogues.

This campaign took place at the Mestalla Stadium at home and performed well as always.

Real Madrid, who lacked Tang Zheng, did not know how to organize an offense under the pressure of Valencia players. Cristiano Ronaldo and James Rodriguez were all fighting on their own, and Benzema was even more isolated and helpless.

If not for vice-captain Ramos' goal from a controversial corner kick in the second half, Real Madrid might have suffered their first defeat of the season at Mestalla.

Although Real Madrid did not lose at the Mestalla Stadium, they still missed the opportunity to share the world record of 24 consecutive wins in all competitions with the master team Coritiba.

Tang Zheng, who watched the entire game live, shook his head and sighed. He had thought that there would be problems if the team lost his own game, but he did not expect that the problems would be infinitely amplified by the opponent.

Fortunately, there are no strong teams in the next month's schedule, otherwise the points loss will happen again.

In the blink of an eye, the opening match of the 16th AFC Football Championship in 2015 kicked off at the Rectangular Stadium in Melbourne, Australia. The two sides were the host Australia and Kuwait.

With an absolute advantage in strength, Australia defeated Kuwait 4:1.

The Chinese team's first Asian Cup match started one day later in Brisbane. At 8pm local time on January 10, Australia, the first round of the Asian Cup Group B match between the Chinese team and Saudi Arabia kicked off at the Brisbane Stadium. .

The Brisbane Stadium, which can accommodate 52,500 fans, was basically full. Except for the thousands of Saudi Arabian fans who came to watch the game, the entire stadium was almost occupied by the Chinese Dragons fan club wearing red jerseys.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch"

From the first second of the game, the Dragons fans made a huge roar, deafening, one wave after another.

The Chinese team made a splash in last year's World Cup in Brazil, reaching the quarterfinals. In the end, they lost to the Netherlands on penalty kicks and missed the semifinals of the World Cup. Therefore, both Chinese citizens and ethnic Chinese feel great pride.

Before the start of the Asian Cup in Australia, the Chinese team and the host Australia, South Korea and Japan were listed as one of the four teams most likely to win the Asian Cup. However, many European media believe that the Chinese team is the one with absolute strength to compete for the championship. team.

South Korea, Japan and Australia won because of their average overall strength, but in addition to their overall strength, the Chinese team also had superstar Tang Zheng.

Coupled with the assistance of powerful players such as Lu Liang, Sun Jingbo, Hao Junmin, **, and Yan Junling, and with world-class head coach Lippi at the helm, as long as he does not commit suicide, there is basically no suspense about the championship.

Saudi Arabia's offline decline in the past few years has been very obvious. In addition to having a certain physical advantage, its technical ability was completely crushed by the Chinese team.

Of course, this crushing refers to the midfield and frontcourt, because the ball control ability of the Chinese team's midfield and backcourt needs to be strengthened.

In the Chinese team's first Asian Cup group match, Lippi did not underestimate his opponent because of Saudi Arabia's declining strength. With rich coaching experience, he knew that a lion can beat a rabbit with all its strength. Tang Zheng did not serve as an offensive midfielder. He and veteran Zheng My best partner is a double midfielder.

Speaking of which, I have to mention captain Zheng Zhi. According to his career plan, he will retire from the national team after fulfilling his World Cup dream and concentrate on playing for the club. However, head coach Lippi has an overview of the entire Chinese Super League and the defensive midfielder There are only a handful of players capable of partnering with Tang Zheng, and only Zheng Zhi is qualified. Therefore, after trying various combinations, he personally persuaded Zheng Zhi to return to the national team and partner with Tang Zheng to participate in the Asian Cup.

Zheng Zhi once played in the 2004 Asian Cup in China, but he was playing as a central defender and could not show his best level. Then he witnessed the Japanese team's God's hand snatching the Asian Cup championship at home, and he felt very helpless. .

Now there is another opportunity to win the Asian Cup again, and Zheng Zhi doesn't want to miss it. He is almost 35 years old and has no time to wait for the next Asian Cup, so he returns to the national team naturally.

The Chinese team's tactics under Lippi's coaching are very trendy. They started high pressure from the beginning of the game, forcing the Saudi Arabian defenders who were not particularly good at foot skills to choose to blindly move forward.

If you are lucky, you can give it to Hazaz who is at the front. If you are not lucky, you will give up control of the football to the Chinese team.

Under the continuous pressure from the Chinese frontcourt players, Saudi Arabia finally exposed its problem in the 23rd minute of the game. Tang Zheng prejudged the ball passed by Khalili to Abed, and then sent a kick on the spot. A penetrating through ball.

Lu Liang on the left appeared in Tang Zheng's passing route tacitly. Facing the frontal defense of central defender Shahrani, he moved the ball to the right, swung the angle, and shot a cold arrow directly to the left side of the penalty area.

The football rolled against the turf towards the far corner of the goal. Goalkeeper Walid Abdullah reacted but did not touch the football...