Chinese champion

Chapter 282 The Road to Glory
One day before the start of the match between the Chinese team and the Italian team, the head coaches of the two sides announced the list of starting players in advance at the same time. This decision obviously surprised everyone. , There are not many coaches who can do this, but from another perspective, this is also the performance of both Menotti and Lippi who are full of confidence.

Compared with the surprises brought by this news, the starting rosters of the two sides are not surprising. The lineup of the Chinese team is similar to that of the previous games. The player with the most stable performance, the only one who has changed is the striker, who has been replaced by Dong Yuzhuo and Zhanfeng. This is also expected. In the last game, Dong Yuzhuo scored twice. The strongest, it is normal for him to occupy a starting spot, and Zhanfeng's playing is more due to Menotti's header advantage. Italy's captain central defender Cannavaro is only 1.7 meters three, After losing Nesta and Materac, the remaining two central defenders, Zacardo and Barzagli, are both about 1.8 meters 1.9 in height. Such a height is obviously not enough to fight against the [-] meters [-] Zhanfeng.

In Italy, the goalkeeper is still Buffon. There is no doubt about it. It is Barzagli who replaced Materazzi, not only because he is two centimeters taller than Zacardo, but also because Zacardo was in the previous position. There was an own goal in the game, whether it was superstition or something, this reason alone was enough for Lippi to completely abandon Zakardo.

In the midfield, AC Milan double stars Pirlo and Gattuso are still the main players. For the same reason as above, De Rossi also lost his chance to play after receiving a stupid red card in the game against the US team. The first is Perrotta, and the other forward is Camoranesi, probably because he just recovered from his injury and was not in a good state in the last game. Totti is sitting on the bench, and the forward is still Tony. And Gilardino, this is also Italy's striker partner who started in the first few games.

"Nothing new!" This is what most people think after knowing the lineups of both sides.

But this is also a very normal thing. In such an important knockout match, the coaches could not be more correct to use the lineup they have always had.

However, a small number of people have seen the tricks in it. You must know that the list of players will be officially reported to the World Cup Organizing Committee two hours before the start of the game. No one can tell what changes will happen at that time... …

Only the two parties knew the real situation. They both released a smoke. This smoke confused almost everyone, but they couldn't confuse the opponent they most wanted to confuse.

Menotti knows that Lippi is an old fox. Although he is not as old as him and has not been in the rivers and lakes for as long as he is, he is still flourishing after so many years in the muddy waters of Serie A. The nickname "Silver Fox" is just right. Is the best evaluation of him.

He has been famous for his solid defense and fast counterattack since he led Juventus. Although he lacks spectatorship, he is very difficult to beat. This is the same with the Italian national team this time. Most of the scenes are dull. But it is absolutely safe, especially in the last game of the group stage against the Czech Republic. The Czech team led by Pavel Nedved had the vast majority of the advantage on the scene, but they had nothing to do with Italy's defense. In the end, Italy relied on a Two goals from set-pieces and a quick counter-attack knocked the Czech Republic out.

Just like a swordsman, it is easy to not use the knife, but once the knife is used, the knife is fatal.

Playing against this kind of team is the most troublesome, because they basically don't make mistakes, but quietly wait for you to make mistakes, and this is also the biggest flaw of the Chinese team. The players are still very young and have psychological fluctuations Relatively large, the possibility of making mistakes... Of course it is also relatively large.

Lippi did not mean to underestimate the Chinese team at all. You must know that this Chinese team is already perfect in terms of player composition, especially their midfielders, Pei Wei and Hu Yong, two players who played in Serie A. One after the other supports the backbone of the Chinese team. The existence of Hu Yong is a nightmare for the Chinese team's opponents when they attack, and Pei Wei is the initiator of the Chinese team's offense. Although the Chinese team's offense is known for multi-point blooming Yes, but the initiator of the offense is Pei Wei. It is his organization and passing that allow the Chinese team's offensive power to be brought into full play. In terms of danger, the two of them are still inferior to Pei Wei and Hu Yong.

To defeat the Chinese team, two things must be done.

First, see Pei Wei dead, and second, beat Hu Yong.If you can't defeat these two first, then it will be even more difficult to defeat the Chinese team.

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"Remember, Zhanfeng, you have to seize every opportunity. Your height and header advantage will make the Italian team very afraid. Nesta and Materazci will not be able to play. I think their central defender combination will still be. Barzagli and Cannavaro, although Barzagli is a rising star in the Italian defense line, his defensive ability is not as terrible as Nesta and the others. Cannavaro is only 1.7 meters three, I think he is two feet taller than him You shouldn’t be afraid to compete with him for headers at ten centimeters. Although Zambrotta can be said to be the best full-back in the world, he is not good at headers. Although Grosso is 1.9 meters tall, he His specialty lies in assists and wing defense, and his header is not very good, so you will be the main force of our attack, and we can't waste any more opportunities."

On the training ground, Menotti said to Zhanfeng.If there is any defect in the current Italian team's defense, it is probably height. Naturally, Menotti will not give up this opportunity. Zhanfeng's header ability has naturally become his most powerful weapon.Just like in the European Championship in 2004, although Stam of the Netherlands insisted that he was not afraid of Koller of the Czech Republic at all, but in fact, no defender of any team could underestimate such an air bully.Although Zhanfeng is not yet at the level of a world-class "air fighter", his excellent header skills and strong body still cause headaches for many teams. After all, there is a big man with a height of 1.9 meters poking you You really can't ignore him in the penalty area.

"Zhu Jun, Zhang Qi, the tasks of the two of you are also very important. Whether Zhan Feng's header advantage can be brought into play depends on how many threatening crosses you can provide. You must know that you are facing the world Best full-back ever!"

"Pei Wei, in addition to finding a way to get rid of Gattuso in the game, how much you can restrain Pirlo's assists is the key to this game. You must know that now he is the core of Italy's offensive organization. If you Hu Yong will help you defend Pirlo if Titti is not on the field, but if Totti is on the field...then it can only depend on you."

"Defensively, we play man-to-man. If Totti plays, Italy will definitely be a single striker. No matter who it is, Li Min will mark it, and Du Wei will be behind. If it is still a double striker, then you two will mark one. Wu Qi, The task of commanding and coordinating the defense line is left to you."

Menotti took the trouble to explain all possible situations one by one. There is still one day before the start of the game. How to familiarize yourself with the tactical drill depends on Menotti's ability.

But Menotti is confident that the players will be familiar with this style of play, because these players have very high tactical literacy, and their rich experience in European professional leagues also allows them to accept new tactics very quickly.

On June 6th, the day before the match between the Chinese team and the Italian team, the first quarter-final match was played at the Olympiastadion in Berlin. The host German team met the South American powerhouse Argentina. We met again on the field.

Menotti said in an interview: "I am looking forward to meeting Argentina in the semi-finals." This sentence clearly shows his position: he hopes that the Argentine team can eliminate the host, while the Chinese team can eliminate Italy .

Ayala's header at the beginning of the second half gave Argentina hope of victory, but the tenacious spirit of the German team allowed them to equalize the score in the No. 80 minute. Ballack broke through and passed the ball. In the penalty area, Borowski headed the ball and Klose blocked Sorin and scored his fifth goal in this World Cup. This figure also made him far ahead in the World Cup scorer list.

After 30 minutes of extra time, the game went to a suffocating penalty shoot-out, the two teams that have gone to three penalty shoot-outs in World Cup history and won both must have a record of being terminated , In the end, the German team extended its record of winning penalty shootouts to four games, with a total score of 5:3, and the German team broke into the semi-finals in a thrilling manner.

All members of the Chinese team failed to see this thrilling match, because two hours after the end of the match, the match between the Chinese team and Italy was about to start at the AOL Arena in Hamburg. The team has already boarded the bus to the stadium, and they have to arrive at the stadium three hours in advance to get used to the venue.

In fact, the AOL Arena in Hamburg is not unfamiliar to the players of the Chinese team. The group match against Ukraine was held on this venue, but Menotti still asked the players to arrive at the venue in advance. A little familiarity with the venue never hurts.

The Chinese team really came very early. When they arrived at the venue, there were only a few thousand fans sitting in the stands, and there was no sign of the Italian team, so the Chinese team was comfortably heated up for half an hour. Only then did he return to the locker room in the eyes of more and more fans.

"The Italian team is here." Not long after entering the locker room, He Jin walked in from the outside and reported the news.

"How long is it before the start of the game?" Menotti turned to ask Feng Yu. Feng Yu looked at his watch and replied, "Two hours are ten minutes away."

"Very good, report our corrected appearance list! Haha!" Menotti laughed heartily.

Lippi, this is a surprise for you!
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"Friends of the audience, good evening everyone! It is 4 o'clock in the morning in BJ time. In one hour, the World Cup quarter-finals between the Chinese team and the Italian team will start in the AOL Arena in Hamburg where I am! Now we have won When it comes to the rosters of the two sides, it is different from the rosters announced two days ago. Both teams have made changes in their members! The Chinese team has a 1-4-1-1860 formation, goalkeeper Wu Qi, four The defenders are Sun Chenghai, Du Wei, Li Min and Wang Xiaomin, the midfielder Hu Yong, the left and right midfielders are Zhu Jun and Zhang Qi, and the two midfielders, please note, are the two midfielders, Pei Wei and Shaoyi who plays for Munich 4! The only striker is Zhan Feng. Dong Yuzhuo and Zhong Yan, who scored double goals in the previous game, are both sitting on the bench! The Italian team’s lineup is 4-1-1-[-], goalkeeper Buffon, and the four defenders are Zambrotta, Cannavaro, Nesta and Grosso! Before the game, Nesta, who everyone thought could not play, appeared on the field. Is his injury healed? Double midfielder Gattuso And Pirlo, left midfielder Perotta, right midfielder Camoranesi, midfielder Totti, single forward Toni! Obviously, both coaches let out smoke before the game, fighting wits, from three days ago It's about to start!" Wang Jianxiang said excitedly, as a senior commentator, he certainly could see the intention of Menotti and Lippi's pretentiousness, it seems that this game not only has good-looking inside the play, but also outside the play The story is not bad either!Now that the Chinese team has reached the quarter-finals, as a fan, he has no regrets. The only thing he hopes now is that the Chinese team can have a wonderful contest with Italy in this game. Not so important anymore.

But the two parties were not in such a good mood.

"This white orangutan under the Alps! Cunning guy, he actually covered up Nesta's injury to this extent! The formation has also changed, becoming a single striker! What the hell is he bringing six strikers to Germany? Damn of!"

Menotti cursed desperately. Totti's appearance and the formation of a single striker had long been expected by him, but he was really surprised by Nesta's appearance on the field. In fact, not only him, but everyone I was tricked by Lippi.

"Oops... It seems that the plan to use Zhanfeng's header to deal with Italy has failed..." Menotti thought, although Nesta was only one centimeter taller than Barzagli, but he was stuck in the position and judged. He is much better than Barzagli in terms of golf and physical confrontation. Although Zhanfeng is still six centimeters taller than Nesta, such advantages are really not worth mentioning in the face of the huge gap in experience and strength between the two.

But now that the match list has been submitted, it cannot be changed. Menotti can only hope that Zhanfeng can entangle Nesta so that he has no extra energy to defend other offensive players. To achieve this, it cannot be said that Menotti's arrangement for Zhanfeng to play was a failure.

And Totti's playing is also the most troublesome thing for him. Now Hu Yong's defensive energy will be completely attracted by Totti, and Pirlo's back row is an important offensive method for Italy. Pei Wei can really put Are these two world-class midfielders from AC Milan suppressed?

Like Menotti, Lippi's head is also hurting. Almost all the members of the Italian national team are well-known to the coaches of other teams. No matter how he changes, it is estimated that Menotti will consider it. Notti completely miscalculated, but Menotti's temporary substitution also made Lippi a headache.

The players of the Chinese team are still very unfamiliar with Lippi. What Lippi has studied is only their eleven main players. At most, Zhong Yan and Yao Le are two players who play in Serie A. It's just a name, and it's true when you think about it, a group of substitutes who can't play the main force in Europe and play in China is certainly not worth studying, and the Chinese team has always been dominated by these dozen people. The Shaoyi sent in this game is a completely unfamiliar player to Lippi. In the four games that the Chinese team has ended, Shaoyi only played as a substitute for less than half an hour. The only thing Lippi knew The information about Shaoyi is that this player plays for the Munich 1860 team of the Bundesliga. In the season that has ended, he has been a substitute at the beginning of the league. A main position, although the performance is not bad, but why did Menotti send a second-tier player in such an important game?

Could this Shaoyi be the secret weapon of the Chinese team?Lippi suddenly had such an idea in his mind, but he quickly vetoed it. If Shaoyi is really good, how could he be reduced to the point where he can't play the main force in the Bundesliga second team?
It is enough to let Pirlo pay attention to him a little bit, maybe this guy is a bluff.Lippi thought so.

Time was slowly passing by, and Menotti and Lippi seized the last time to explain to their players some issues that should be paid attention to in tactics. Appropriate tactics.

In the confusing battle before the game, Lippi and Menotti were considered to be tied. As for the result of the game, it depends on the performance of the players on both sides.

Under the intrigue of the coaches of both sides, the second quarter-final of the 2006 World Cup, the match between the Chinese team and the Italian team will begin soon.

PS: Painful memory of the iconic figure of Inter Milan, Facchetti, the greatest left-back in Italian history, all the way, I believe you will not be lonely in heaven, because there is at least one Presco there.

(End of this chapter)