Chapter 36 Stronger Physical Advantage
Although Elgort was joking with a relaxed tone, Zhou Tiancheng clearly heard the coach's expectations for him.
Even if, as the coach said, he is fortunate enough to be selected by the first team next season, that will be a matter of the future. Right now, all his thoughts are on helping Schalke U19 win the youth league championship.
The last round of the league in the three regions is uniformly arranged by the German Football Association to end on one day, which means that the national semi-finals of the German U19 Youth League this season will be released at the same time.
The teams that finally advanced to the semi-finals this season are the western duo Schalke U19 and Borussia Dortmund U19, the northern youth training powerhouse Wolfsburg U19, and the dominant player in the southern region Bayern Munich U19.
Although Schalke's U19s are the best in the West, there are still many obstacles in front of them if they want to win the championship.
Schalke U19s are all staring at the ensuing draw. No need to think about it, everyone is naturally more willing to touch Wolfsburg. Bayern has a greater advantage in the Southern League this season than Schalke has in the West. In the long-term transcendent dominance of German football, even Zhou Tiancheng, who seems to be normal to everyone on the surface, has a bias in his heart.
Perhaps it was Schalke's collective wish, the final result of the draw showed that Schalke had good luck in the lottery, successfully avoiding the mighty Bayern and winning Wolfsburg.
Conversely, Schalke's mortal enemy Dortmund may not be favored by good luck, and encounters Bayern in advance, which is more or less auspicious.
Such a situation is naturally what Schalke likes to see, no matter how much the other side wins or loses, there is something worthy of their joy.
However, as the head coach, Elgort still hopes that Dortmund can be upset, after all, he has studied this mortal enemy more thoroughly.
In terms of possibility, there is still such a probability, and the biggest reason is the competition system factor. The semi-finals and finals are a game to determine the outcome. Usually, this single-game format is a breeding ground for unpopularity. The German Football Association formulates rules in this way to stimulate all clubs to vigorously build youth training echelons in pursuit of upsets.
Of course, Elgort puts more energy into the formation with Wolfsburg U19. If he loses the semi-finals first, what is the point of expecting the winner on the other side?
The whole team was full of enthusiasm, and Elgort used last season's semi-final defeat to inspire everyone's fighting spirit: Only by going further, and even the final championship, can it be worthy of the strong performance of the previous half year.
Before the game, Zhou Tiancheng deliberately checked the opponent's situation in the system. To his surprise, the system did not specifically mark any star players worthy of attention in the Wolfsburg U19 team.
Zhou Tiancheng found it unbelievable that Wolfsburg's youth training has a long-standing reputation. He had heard of the club's youth training when he was still in China. How can it behave like a grassroots civilian team?
The system confirmed again that it was also accurate. At the same time, Zidan Harvey explained Zhou Tiancheng's doubts: "As the host saw, this 89-year-old Wolfsburg youth team did not have famous stars. The last youth training star Hong Te is currently playing for the first team. However, this team relies on the overall offense and defense to get to this point. The host can check the running data curve of this team, and it is not difficult to see that this team relies on active running This is also a way for the strong youth training team to highlight their background, not only depends on the production of stars, but also shows the strength of a civilian team running to a high level. The host must not be paralyzed."
Well, it still looks like a tough nut to crack. Zhou Tiancheng is not surprised by this at all. After more than half of the season of Schalke U19 training, he already has the mentality of a professional player. Regardless of the strength of the opponent, he will always try his best to meet the game in the best condition.
...
On the day of the game, when he stood on the field and faced the Wolfsburg U19 team, Zhou Tiancheng realized that the system's reminder was not exaggerated at all.
Although the opponent has no star players on the offensive end, that is to say, there is no obvious focus, but it is precisely because of this that they devote more energy to constantly interspersed with Schalke's defense. However, this kind of penetration is limited to the opponent's forward line and striker line. The positions of the double defensive midfielders are fixed in the arc of the middle circle. Their tasks are also very clear. As long as others have the intention of passing the ball to Zhou Tiancheng, the two will have a clear division of labor. One of them, a small, fast-moving midfielder, is responsible for blocking the passing line, while his partner is mainly responsible for pressing Zhou Tiancheng to catch the ball, just in case.
Wolfsburg has obviously studied Schalke in depth, and it has to be said that the tactics they have chosen are already relatively effective, focusing on taking care of Zhou Tiancheng's tactics.
However, Zhou Tiancheng's contingency is also top-notch. Since the opponent focuses on "taking care" of himself, Zhou Tiancheng decisively chooses to increase his running, and keeps actively moving to the side holding the ball to participate in the offense. Fully mobilize the opponent's double midfielder.
The double defensive midfielders of Wolfsburg U19 didn't even realize that Zhou Tiancheng was using their strengths to crush them. Zhou Tiancheng's current physical fitness score is 79, which is a level that can be established in the first team. Facing the intensity of the youth team's competition, let alone a confrontation, even if he played two consecutive games with this intensity, Zhou Tian CD could barely survive.
However, the opponent was completely caught in the rhythm of Zhou Tiancheng, and the presentation of the game scene was somewhat unbelievable. It was not just the problem of Schalke almost pressing down, but also the injury time of the first half. The head coach of U19 found that the double midfielder with the best physical fitness actually had cramps!
What makes Wolfsburg even more unacceptable is that Zhou Tiancheng's physical consumption does not seem to be large.
The face of Wolfsburg U19 head coach immediately darkened, and he realized that he had made a fatal mistake. To put it bluntly, it was a mistake in tactical choice, but Zhou Tiancheng directly crushed him with stronger physical strength!
This is like two sprinters with unequal strength in a 100-meter PK. The one with superior strength is confident that the opponent will let the opponent 30 meters, and the other is secretly happy that he has taken advantage of it. Only after a comparison did he find out that even so, he lost 50 meters in the end rice!
Opponents feel this way now.
Although Schalke U19's foot style was not good in the first half and they did not gain an advantage in the score, it cannot be said that there was no result. Zhou Tiancheng had already shaken the opponent's greatest confidence through half the game. The whistle at the end of the game was obviously relieved, and the eyes looking at Zhou Tiancheng were already full of fear.
It is only a matter of time before an opponent whose self-confidence is shaken will expose his own loopholes. Therefore, in the locker room at halftime, Elgort said to everyone very easily: "Come on, guys! Use a goal to officially launch the final sprint for the championship!"
On the other hand, the Wolfsburg U19 head coach can only stimulate the players to restore their fighting spirit as much as possible while re-strengthening the defense in the midfield.
The opponents are now actively showing weakness. All they are doing now is just hoping to drag the game into overtime or even a penalty shootout for a chance of victory.
Just, is it possible?