Chapter 125 Kanter’s Hurdles

Players from both sides stood in their respective positions, waiting for the kick-off. The always noisy Rome Olympic Stadium also fell silent at this moment, and everyone was waiting for the opening whistle to sound.

The referee on duty, Daniele Osato, looked at the players on both sides, then at the time, then at the fourth official on the sidelines, and then he blew the crisp whistle hard.

Naples kicked off first.

After Higuain passed the ball to Hamsik, he ran forward. At the same time, Di Natale, who was waiting in the center circle, pressed directly towards Hamsik who had the ball.

Hamsik did not give Di Natale a chance to steal the ball. He passed the football to Inle behind him and passed by Di Natale.

Di Natale passed Hamsik directly and continued to pounce on Inler.

Inle passed the ball to Jorginho.

At this moment, on the left side of Naples, Insigne was driving forward at high speed. Jorginho pulled the ball laterally, dodged Bruno who was rushing towards him, and then passed the ball directly with his big foot.

The football passed over the crowd and flew straight to the left wing. Insigne stopped the ball beautifully, and then he was about to accelerate with the ball, but was knocked to the ground by Alan who rushed to defend.

beep!

Referee Daniele Osato's whistle sounded, signaling a foul on Alan, and Napoli won a free kick on the left.

Udinese's first foul of the game occurred less than 1 minute into the game.

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Napoli's free kick, Hamsik stood at the penalty spot, preparing to take the free kick.

Except for Di Natale, the entire Udinese team stayed in the frontcourt and almost all retreated to defend the free kick.

Kanter was marking Callejon, but his mind was thinking about the conversation the coach had with him before the game.

"You have a heavy task in today's game. I hope you can show your best performance and fighting spirit. The team needs your wonderful performance!"

Kanter first glanced at Callejon, the man he was trying to defend, and then looked across the center circle towards the Naples goal.

Naples also pressed hard on this free kick opportunity, with only two defenders in the backcourt.

In addition, their goalkeeper Reina also seemed a little relaxed, a little far away from the goal, and stood near the penalty area line.

At this moment, in the coaching bench on the sidelines, Udinese head coach Guidolin also had a serious expression.

The biggest pressure on the team in this game is the defense in the midfield, or to put it more bluntly, Kanter has a heavy defensive task today, so he specially found Kanter before the game to cheer up this beloved general. It works well.

Young players like Kanter just need more encouragement.

………………

Hamsik's free kick flew into the penalty area. Brazilian center back Danilo jumped up and pushed the football out before Higuain.

Subsequently, Domic made a clearance again, but the football was not kicked far. Callejon ran over to get the ball. He attracted Kanter's attention and tried to get down, but he passed the football to Hamsi who came to meet him. gram.

Kanter immediately pounced on Hamsik. At the same time, another Udinese midfielder, Alan, took up his position to mark Callejon.

Kanter put some pressure on Hamsik from the side. His movements were very fast. Hamsik, who had just received the football, did not expect that the Udinese midfielder was so fast on the ball. He staggered. , the ball was lost!

The stands erupted with cheers and applause dedicated to the Udinese fans.

Udinese fans like Kante very much. This player is very simple, his attitude towards the game is nothing to say, and he is very hard-working.

This young player, who spent 500,000 euros on the team from Ligue 2 last summer, has made great progress this season. He was originally a player with average talent and wasted his time in Ligue 3. But look at it now. Kante is the main defensive midfielder of Serie A powerhouse Udinese!

How can fans not like such an inspirational player who has risen from the grassroots?

After Kanter stole the ball, he looked ahead and toward Naples' goal. He had the urge to hit the goal.

"N'Golo, here!" Alan shouted.

Kanter, who was ready to move just now, did not hesitate at all and immediately passed the football. He knew what his most important job was.

………………

Alan caught the ball and knocked the football forward, and Yin Le came over to intercept it.

At this moment, Alan passed the ball, and the overhead ball flew directly to Pingqi, and Yinle pounced on Pingqi again.

Pingqi stretched out his foot and knocked the football in the air to Alan who came over to help him. Yinle pounced on Alan again.

Alan passed the football diagonally, Mahrez took the ball, and Inle pounced on Mahrez again.

This defensive midfielder who has played for Udinese for many years is now very popular. He feels like a monkey being played by the players of his old club.

What pissed him off the most was that none of his teammates came over to help press, they were all pushing forward, as if they were waiting for him to steal the ball and launch a second attack?

Inle, who was so annoyed, didn't run away anymore, so let's do it!

Mahrez dribbled the ball forward, and finally another Napoli player came to intercept it. It was Mahrez's compatriot Faouzi Ghoulam.

The two are teammates on the Algerian national team, but now they happen to be facing each other on the court.

Mahrez knocked the football to Bruno, and Callejon came up to defend. With his back to the goal, Bruno passed the football from between Callejon's legs to Pingqi, who was approaching the center.

Jorginho finally stopped watching and rushed forward to defend level.

Ping Qi knocked the football to Alan again.

Yinle took a breath, finally regained his composure, and pounced on Alan again.

With a light tip of his toe, Alan passed the football to Bruno who was retreating to receive the ball.

………………

After a series of passes, Udinese has advanced to an area about thirty meters away from Naples' goal.

During this period, Udinese players continued to pass the ball outside the Naples penalty area, but the Naples players could not even touch the ball. This was a great shame for Naples.

Napoli fans in the stands booed loudly.

The Udinese fans are extremely excited. The entire Udinese team is in excellent condition today, and what makes them feel most strongly is that the players are very confident.

However, it's normal to think about it, they double defeated Napoli in the league.

Naples goalkeeper Reina watched the Udinese people's kicks back and forth outside the penalty area. He was very nervous and kept staring with his eyes wide open. He just watched the football pass from here to there, and he I felt a little dizzy.

Reina shouted to his teammates in front of him: "Press out! Advance the defense and press out! Don't let them take it too easy! Steal the ball!"

The goalkeeper's intuition tells him that it is really dangerous to let the opponent keep dropping the ball like this, because you can't predict when the opponent will suddenly launch an offensive, or in what way he will start to attack.

Is it a pass, a through ball? Diagonally stuffing the ball? Or suddenly speeding up to pass someone? Or a sudden long shot?

This puts a lot of psychological pressure on the goalkeeper.

"Who the hell can steal the ball and then kick it to clear the damn football out of the dangerous area." Reina thought angrily.

………………

Kante is dragged behind Udinese's attacking group, and he is responsible for the most important line of defense before the team's back line.

Looking at the smooth passing of his teammates, Kanter felt itchy in his heart and wanted to participate.

However, he knows that his skills, passing creativity and vision are incomparable to Bruno and Mahrez, and even his partner Alan in the midfielder position. He has a clear understanding of himself. Know.

Kanter has always been vigilant, because once Udinese makes a pass error or the ball is intercepted, Naples will launch a counterattack, and what Kanter has to do is to organize the defense line as soon as possible to provide a defensive barrier for the back line.

What makes Kanter feel itchy is that he feels the same as Naples goalkeeper Reina, who is dizzy. The slightly different thing is that all he thinks about at this time is that he goes up and kicks, then scores, and everything is quiet. Yes, perfect.

Of course, he was just imagining it, just as he was eager to kick the ultra-long-distance hanging door just now, he was just thinking about it.

Having played in Udinese for almost a season, he has never scored a goal and even shot very few times.

Kanter knows very well that his shooting is really bad, and if he shoots, he is wasting the team's opportunity.

At this time, Kanter felt ashamed of his lack of ability. He knew that the coach and Bruno both expected a lot from him and expected him to become a player with both offense and defense.

It's just that he's pretty good defensively, but he's really not good at the offensive end.

Regarding his offensive ability, Kanter always has trouble getting over the hurdle in his heart.

………………

At this moment, Cancelo stepped forward with an assist. Mahrez tried to pass the ball to Cancelo, but he suddenly passed the football into the penalty area.

Di Natale held up Naples center back Albiol, faced the falling football, and completed a difficult half-turn volley.

Reina, who had been alert for a long time, knelt on his knees and hit the football with a movement similar to playing volleyball.

Bruno beat Jorginho and tipped the football to Mahrez, who knocked the football to Alan.

"N'Golo!"

Alan passed the football to Kanter behind him. He ran forward and called Kanter's name at the same time. This meant that he planned to hit the wall with Kanter.

Then, the Brazilian midfielder, who had just started to take off, saw the football fly over his head.

"Is this a big pass?" Alan thought with some surprise. He knew that not only was Kanter's shooting ability poor, but his passing ability was also very average.

But the next moment he knew that his feeling was wrong, because Kanter's kick was very fast, and an arc flew directly towards the goal.

Alan was stunned. Is this a shot?