Chapter 757: Divide the Forces and Attack

While the Champions League draw ceremony was going on, Manchester United had already split into two teams. One team, led by assistant coach Faria, took the team's special plane to Qatar in the Middle East to participate in the 2019 Club World Cup. The other team, led by another assistant coach of the team, Carrick, stayed in the UK to play in the fifth round of the League Cup.

On September 6 of this year, FIFA decided that Qatar, the host of the 2022 World Cup, would be awarded the right to host the 2019 and 2020 Club World Cups as a test match before the 2022 World Cup.

In addition, FIFA is also planning a new Club World Cup, which will expand the number of participating teams to 24, and plans to implement a new Club World Cup system in 2021, but this year and next year will still implement the existing system, that is, 6 continental champions + host league champions.

Manchester United made this decision because they could not stagger the schedule of the League Cup and the Club World Cup, and could only make such a choice helplessly.

However, Manchester United has a good bench, and the first team has no injuries at present. In addition, some players are transferred from the youth team, so two teams with good strength can be formed.

The main lineup will naturally go to Qatar to participate in the Club World Cup. Most of the first-team players, including Bruno, are in this team, and there are also three youth team players in this team.

In other words, the Manchester United team going to Qatar has only 15 first-team players.

The team that stayed in the UK to play the League Cup is composed of the remaining 12 players in the first team, plus six youth team players.

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On the evening of December 18, 2019, local time in Qatar, a semi-final of the 2019 Club World Cup kicked off at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, with the Champions League champion Manchester United facing the 2019 CONCACAF Champions League champion Monterrey.

Since Manchester United's owner is Qatari Prince Jassim, this also makes Manchester United receive host treatment in Qatar. On the day of the match, the Khalifa International Stadium, which can accommodate more than 45,000 fans, was completely full, almost all of them were local Qatari fans wearing Manchester United home jerseys, and only more than 1,000 Monterrey fans came to the stadium to watch the game.

Amid the cheers of more than 40,000 Qatari fans, Manchester United firmly controlled the game from the beginning.

In the 15th minute of the first half, Bruno passed the ball to the right, and Cancelo, who came in from the right, made a cross. Monterrey defender Montes made a header, and Harry Kane in the penalty area stopped the ball with his chest, dodged two Monterrey defenders, turned around and shot low. Monterrey goalkeeper Barlovelo made a save but still failed to stop the ball from entering the net.

1:0, Manchester United took the lead in breaking the deadlock on the field.

In the subsequent games, Manchester United's offensive gradually increased. In the 35th minute of the game, Kante saw through Papon's pass. Manchester United launched a direct attack after Monterrey's half-court interception. After Mbappe's shot after cutting in from the left was saved by Barlovelo, Manchester United launched a second attack, and finally Bruno scored with a low shot in front of the penalty area, 2:0.

Before the end of the first half, Bruno pulled the ball horizontally on the left side outside the penalty area and scored with a left-foot arc ball to change the score to 3:0.

The score of the first half was 3:0, and Manchester United temporarily led Monterrey by three goals.

However, the game process was far more dominant than the 3:0 score showed. Manchester United's possession rate in the first half was as high as 77%, while Monterrey's possession rate was only 23%. The European champions shot as many as 11 times, and Monterrey only had one shot, which was a long shot outside the penalty area.

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After the halftime break, Mourinho made a substitution adjustment, Bellingham, a young player from the youth team, replaced Kante. The 16-year-old and 172-day-old player made his debut for Manchester United's first team, and he also broke the record of the youngest player to appear in Manchester United's first team.

A few minutes after the start of the second half, Manchester United's fourth goal came. The substitute Bellingham rushed to the front of the goal after passing many people, and Mbappe easily flashed out from the defender and pushed the ball into the goal, 4:0.

Then, Mourinho continued to deploy troops. Harry Kane was replaced and McTominay came on as a substitute.

Even the team captain Bruno was replaced, and another young player Chong Tasi, who was selected from the youth team, came on as a substitute.

Everyone understood that Manchester United was giving face to Monterrey and called off the game early.

Even so, Manchester United still scored another goal afterwards. This was Bellingham's long shot, which was saved by Barlove and hit the raised arm of the Monterrey defender. Manchester United got a penalty kick.

Mbappe scored the penalty kick and locked the score of this Club World Cup semi-final at 5:0.

Their opponent was the Brazilian giant Flamengo, which won another semi-final a day ago.

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After the Club World Cup semi-final, Manchester United quickly returned to the hotel where they stayed. Everyone sat in front of the TV and watched the League Cup quarter-final between Manchester United II and Colchester United at home.

Carrick arranged a 433 formation at home, with goalkeeper Romero, four defenders Dalot, Lindelof, Tuanzebe, Brandon Williams, three midfielders Mata, Fred and Ashley Young, and the front trident Lingard, Greenwood and Rashford.

Manchester United's young team played very actively at home.

In the 3rd minute, Rashford's direct free kick from the left flew out of the bottom line.

In the 7th minute, Rashford once again hit the goal with a free kick, causing the opponent's goalkeeper to save the ball. Unfortunately, Lingard, who was outflanked by Manchester United, followed up slightly slowly and failed to form a supplementary shot.

In the 13th minute, Rashford's powerful volley from outside the penalty area was slightly higher than the crossbar.

In the 31st minute, Rashford made a forward attack and missed the left post.

Two minutes later, Rashford volleyed from the left side of the ribs.

Neither side scored a goal in the first half, and the two sides entered the halftime break with a score of 0:0.

In the 51st minute, Romero launched an attack by throwing the ball. Fred sent a direct pass. Rashford dribbled the ball from the left into the penalty area and shot a blast. The ball flew into the upper right corner of the goal. Manchester United led 1:0. Colchester United.

After wasting almost a dozen chances, Rashford finally scored.

In the fifth goal, Lingard made a forward pass from the right, and Greenwood outflanked the goal in the penalty area. Manchester United expanded its lead 2:0.

In the 61st minute, Mata sent a wonderful pass from the top of the arc. Rashford calmly hit the left wing of the penalty area. Greenwood fell to the ground in the small penalty area and hit the upper right corner. He scored twice and helped Manchester United change the score to 3:0.

This was also the final score of the game. Manchester United defeated their opponents and advanced to the semi-finals of the League Cup.

They divided their forces and fought on two fronts, and achieved great victories on both fronts. This Manchester United is simply powerful in all aspects!

In the other three previous matches, Liverpool, which strategically gave up the League Cup and also sent its youth team to challenge, was slaughtered 5-0 by Manchester United. This was in sharp contrast to Manchester United.

This is also the reason why although Liverpool has performed very well this season, they are still not optimistic about it. Their bench is too thin!

Manchester City defeated Oxford United 3:1 away from home. Everton and Leicester City battled 2:2 in 90 minutes. Leicester City won the penalty shootout and were eliminated with a total score of 4:2. Everton.

In the subsequent semi-final draw, Manchester United once again drew Manchester City. This was the second time the two teams met in the League Cup semi-finals after two years.

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Three days later, on the evening of December 21, the third-place match of the Club World Cup started at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha. Monterrey and the AFC Champions League Riyadh Crescent tied 2:2 in 90 minutes. In the subsequent penalty shootout, Monterrey Won 4:3.

About an hour after the third or fourth place finals ended, the Club World Cup final continued at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, with the defending champion Manchester United facing the Brazilian giant Flamengo.

At the beginning of the game, Flamengo put on a defensive counterattack posture. Their formation retracted. When they got the ball, if it was a positional battle, they did not put many troops into the attack, which seemed quite cautious.

"We saw that Flamengo seemed to be planning to hand over possession of the ball in order to fight Manchester United's counterattack." Lineker said.

"This is a wiser choice. Although Flamengo eliminated Riyadh Crescent with a big score of 3:1 in the semi-finals, their strength is indeed much worse than Manchester United. Their head coach Jorge Gerard Seuss didn't let the win go to his head . Jorge Jesus has been coaching in the Portuguese Super League for a long time and only returned to Brazil this summer to become the head coach of Flamengo. He naturally knows how strong this team is in Europe. " Said Rio Ferdinand, the commentator for this game.

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The game lasted for about ten minutes, and Flamengo was completely suppressed in their own half. They couldn't even get past the half. In these ten minutes, Manchester United had already completed three shots. If it hadn't been for Flamengo's Goalkeeper Diego Alves performed well, and with the help of the post, Flamengo has conceded at least one goal.

"We played a little too conservatively, Jorge was too conservative. Ballard, a local commentator in Rio de Janeiro, criticized, "Now that Manchester United is pushing the hammer in the penalty area, it is only a matter of time that Flamengo loses the ball. , the team should be braver and push the formation forward. "

"It's not that Jorge is conservative, it's that the difference in strength between the two teams is too obvious." Ballard's commentary partner said something fair for Jorge Jesus.

Mourinho glanced towards Flamengo's coaching bench. Since his opponent was so polite, he was not polite anymore.

Of course, Mourinho is also very familiar with Flamengo's head coach Jorge Jesus. When he was the head coach of Porto, Jorge Jesus was another team in the Portuguese Super League. The head coach of the Guimarães team, the two sides have been dealing with each other since that time.

Jorge Jesus adopted defensive counterattack tactics in this final. Mourinho was not surprised. He was mentally prepared for this.