World Cup of Great Powers

Chapter 320 Training with a Ball in the Top Ten Competition

On the afternoon of August 25th, at the Manama Stadium in the capital of Bahrain.

When Zeng Zheng led the Chinese team members to appear in the stadium, there was thunderous applause in the corner of the left stand.

Looking up, thousands of fans who came to watch the game had already pulled up a huge banner.

It read: "Coach Zeng, we will always support you!"

Zeng Zheng was deeply moved by this simple and unadorned sentence.

He took off his sunglasses and waved in the direction of his fans.

Zeng Zheng came to the coaching bench together with the coaching staff.

Manama is nothing compared to Europe.

Those who can come here to watch the game are all die-hard fans.

The mentality of the players is very good.

This can be related to the motivation of the coaching staff before the game.

For the big pearl in Zeng Zheng's hands, many team members worked hard.

However, considering the physical condition and state of the players, as well as home and away tactics, rotation is imperative.

On the court, several young players are doing pre-match training.

Du Wei, Sun Xiang, Xu Liang, Qu Bo, and Zeng Zheng almost brought the central axis of the China Youth Team.

"Hey, what is this?"

In the stands, Rossi was bragging about X with others.

"Coach Zeng focuses on surprise!"

"Forgot the first 433 in Shenyang?"

"What's wrong with a young team member today!"

"Such a good training opportunity, of course Coach Zeng can't miss it!"

Rossi's speech was endorsed by many fans around.

These fans hold a corner of the "Believe in Zeng Zheng" banner in their hands, and of course they must do what they say!
Amid the cheers of the fans, the team ended training and returned to the locker room.

The outside world is guessing what kind of starting lineup Zeng Zheng will line up, but everyone in the team has already known it.

In Zeng Zheng's team, there are only the most suitable and best players, not the biggest and most powerful players.

So after Zeng Zheng returned to the locker room, the starting 11 players had consciously changed into their starting team uniforms, waiting for Zeng Zheng's lecture.

Looking at these young faces, Zeng Zheng said with a smile: "The year before last, some of you came to Manama."

"Revisiting the old place today, we don't need to do any new routines."

"Just use the previous flat push and you're done."

"There's an old saying: 'It's not about being new, it's about what works'!"

After finishing speaking, Zeng Zheng was the first to burst out laughing.

The head coach is so relaxed, and some young players also revealed a touch of firmness in their eyes.

Looking at the fiery eyes of the "predecessors" beside them, these young recruits of the Chinese youth team can't wait to go into battle immediately and kill the enemy.

"The overall strength of the Bahrain team is not outstanding. Like the Thailand team, it is a shit-stirring type."

"But the more this is the case, the less we can be careless."

"This is their home field again, be careful of capsizing in the gutter!"

"However, you don't need to be too nervous."

"It's fine to play according to the usual training."

Speaking of this, Zeng Zheng took a look at Zhang Xiaorui and Zhao Junzhe, who were the key to scoring in this game.

"The Bahrain team likes to play 541, which is a typical anti-reverse formation."

"So even in the away game, we have to take the initiative to attack and use the opening rush to create an advantage. At the same time, you two also have to control the rhythm of the game. Don't be greedy, understand?"

Zhao Junzhe and Zhang Xiaorui nodded at the same time.

"Because the Bahrain team has a single-arrow lineup, their offensive ability on the two sides is not very strong. However, this single striker named Sadie may choose to attack from the side."

"Although the full-backs can participate more actively in the frontcourt attack, they must be smart and optimistic about Sadie's position."

"In the end, there was nothing left to say."

"Although I would be satisfied with a 0-0 tie in this game, but for a team like Bahrain that likes to defend at home, it's a pity that we didn't score three points!"

"Don't forget, the Bahrain team is not like the Thailand team. It is a West Asian team, and it can become a support for the Iranian team."

"To deal with such an opponent, we must not take it lightly, understand?"

"Understood!" The players replied in unison.

"The game is about to start!"

"Welcome everyone to watch the No. 20 Seventh World Cup Asian Zone Top Ten Match Group A, China VS Bahrain."

"I'm the host Huang Jianxiang."

"I'm at the Manama Stadium in the capital of Bahrain right now."

"Currently, we have already got the starting list of the national team for this game."

"To be honest, after seeing this list, I was also very surprised, because coach Zeng not only rotated the lineup, but also still adopted the 433 formation."

"But I think since we were all surprised, the opponents were even more surprised."

"The starting goalkeeper is Ou Chuliang."

"The position of goalkeeper, even coach Zeng, will not easily rotate it."

"The guards are Sun Jihai, Xu Yunlong, Li Weifeng, Wu Chengying."

"The midfielders are Li Tie, Zhang Xiaorui, and Zhao Junzhe."

"The forwards are Qu Bo, Zhang Yuxie, and Shao Jiayi."

"Such a formation is really surprising."

"As a member of the China Youth Team, Qu Bo participated in the last Olympic Games, but he is not a main member."

"Today, coach Zeng used Qu Bo to play right winger. It seems that he liked his breakthrough ability."

"Don't be nervous, it's just the Bahrain team, it's not like we haven't played before."

Before kick-off, Zhang Yuxi patted Qu Bo's shoulder and gave this "junior" psychological counseling.

Qu Bo took a few deep breaths of the hot air, and stepped on the turf hard.

The Bahrain team deliberately picked such a hot time to kick off, and it was nothing more than trying to create a little trouble for the Chinese team by taking advantage of the home court.

"Don't worry, Brother Zhang, I'm fine, I'm also someone who has seen big scenes!" Qu Bo moved his arms, revealing his not-so-strong biceps.

Zhang Yuxie smiled slightly, "Okay, let's see how you performed in the competition!"

Soon, with the referee's whistle, the Bahrain team took the lead to kick off.

As Zeng Zheng guessed before the game, the Bahrain team did not want to compete with the Chinese team in the middle.

After throwing the ball back and forth a few times in the middle and backcourt, seeing that his own players had rushed to the front of the Chinese team's penalty area, he directly made a long pass to the Chinese team's penalty area.

Li Weifeng leaped high and cleared the ball to his teammates with his head.

In the first attack of the Bahrain team, the ball was handed over hastily.

Li Tie, a single midfielder, did not adjust too much after getting the ball.

Seeing a white figure rushing past from the corner of the corner of his eye, he directly kicked the ball forward with a long pass.

At the same time, Sun Jihai's right foot also just blocked the ball.

The ball arrives, the people arrive!
Seeing the timing of the opposing right back's attack, Sun Jihai directly poked the ball forward, and a man came to score the ball.

"Sun Jihai is having a great time!"

"The players in the middle are all very fast!"

"Have the opportunity"

But just when Sun Jihai thought of making a pass, the Bahrain team took the lead in blocking the passing route, relying on their large number of defenders.

The Bahrain defender who flew in front of him stretched out his foot to block and took a corner kick!

"Less than one minute into the game, the Chinese team won a corner kick."

"Let's see who takes the corner."

"Zhao Jun Zhe."

"Zhao Jun turned and ran to the corner."

There are many players in the team who can take corner kicks, and no one is surprised who is sent to take corner kicks.

Zhao Jun folded the ball in front of the corner stick, and took a few steps back slowly.

At this time, the high points of the Chinese team basically rushed into the opponent's penalty area.

Zhang Yuxie, Li Weifeng, Li Tie, and Sun Jihai are all the opponent's main targets.

Among them, Zhang Yuxi was standing in the middle, and was flanked by two opponents.

Zhao Junzhe took a deep breath, made a gesture, and rushed to the ball quickly.

"boom!"

The ball soared into the sky.

There was a riot in the restricted area.

As soon as Shao Jia grabbed the front point, Li Weifeng quickly rushed to the back point, blocking the Bahrain defender with his body.

Forcibly creating a space for Zhang Yuxie to jump in the middle.

At the same time, Zhang Yuxie also jumped high and headed towards the ball that Shao Jiayi ferried over.

This kind of corner-kick aerial coordination has been practiced countless times in the previous practice. Zhang Yu shook his head fiercely at the ball and smashed the ball into the opponent's net abruptly.

Swish!
After landing, Zhang Yuhan directly raised his arms and rushed to the sidelines.

"The ball has been scored!"

"The opening is less than 1 minute!"

"The Chinese team scored an away goal!"

"It's amazing!"

"Facing the Bahrain team's 5-back lineup, the Chinese team took advantage of a corner kick to score at the beginning."

"Coach Zeng's tactics really worked!"

"Settings have always been an important scoring method for the Chinese team."

"I didn't expect it to come in handy so soon today."

"Coach Zeng, we scored a goal, we scored a goal!"

Zeng Zheng managed to break free from Chi Shangbin's hug, and then said with a smile: "Coach Chi, why are you so excited?"

"Hey! Can you not be excited! This is an away goal!"

For a long time, the Chinese team's away games have been full of crises.

No matter how good the pre-match planning is, it is not as reassuring as a goal in the game.

The team members surrounded Zhang Yuchen and ran back to their own half happily.

Qu Bo followed beside him.

Looking at the tall, mighty and handsome Zhang Yuxie, let alone how envious he was.

The game restarts.

The Bahrain team conceded the ball at the beginning, which made their players a little bit at a loss.

The 541 formation already focuses on defense.

It's just too embarrassing for them to switch from defense to offense after just 1 minute of playing!
After leading by one goal, the Chinese team began to play more and more patiently.

In contrast to the Bahrain team, their personal ability has no advantage in front of the Chinese team, and it is difficult to play a decent attack with a single striker formation.

Even if Li Tie played as a single midfielder, under the control of Zhang Xiaorui and Zhao Junzhe, he didn't run too much in the midfield.

Zeng Zheng stood on the sidelines, occasionally pointing out the players.

"The offensive intention is too obvious!"

"Everyone has seen it in advance!"

"Stop talking nonsense, I still can't tell if there are too many people or predict in advance?"

"Just do what I say!"

Time passed little by little.

After the opening attack, the Chinese team became more and more calm.

Zhang Xiaorui has also gradually adapted to this three-forward formation, passing and penetrating in an orderly manner.

Compared with the double striker formation, Zhang Xiaorui can also choose to attack on his own when in possession of the ball;

But with three offensive players in front, Zhang Xiaorui's responsibility for passing the ball is far greater than that of a single-handedly.

This is also something Zeng Zhengzhi has learned and adapted to.

In Juventus, there are many players with scoring ability!
He has to learn how to pass the ball first.

In the 14th minute, after Qu Bo received the ball in the right front court, just as he was about to rely on his personal ability to get rid of it, the defender rushed over.

With a whistle, Qu Bo won a free kick in the front court for the team.

After getting up, Qu Bo quickly passed the ball and kicked it to Zhang Xiaorui who was in front of him.

Before the latter could catch the ball, he was double-teamed by two defenders.

Zhang Xiaorui stretched out his right foot and kicked the ball back to Qu Bo again.

After receiving the ball, Qu Bo took a step to the right, and directly shifted with a big foot, kicking the ball to the other side of the court.

At the same time, Shao Jiayi leaped high and stopped the ball with his chest.

Then he took a big step and began to rush towards the opponent's penalty area.

Before the defenders turned around and rushed over, Shao Jiayi pushed with his left foot and accelerated to get rid of the Bahrain defender's defense.

After he caught up with the ball again, he swiped hard with his left foot and sent a flat ball.

At the same time, Zhang Yuxi's tall figure happened to appear in the center of the restricted area.

Because he scored a goal before, everyone's attention was attracted to him.

Just when all the Bahraini players were rushing towards the tall Chinese striker, Zhang Yuzheng slipped his foot and the ball rolled between his legs.

boom! ! !
Qu Bo, following up on the right, volleyed. The ball stuck to the post and went straight into the net.

Swish! ! !
This time, it was Qu Bo who raised his arms high.

"Goal, I scored!!!"

The joy of scoring this goal is no less than the goal in the final of the World Youth Championship.

"Hey, the Chinese team is amazing!"

"I thought we could only score from set-pieces, but I didn't expect to score in normal play."

"I really admire Coach Zeng. The players he selected really did a great job today!"

After conceding two goals in the opening ten minutes, Wolfgang was so angry that he jumped on the sidelines.

Forget about the first corner kick, maybe it was blinded;

But the second goal was completely led by the nose by the Chinese team.

First, Qu Bo quickly sent a free kick, disrupting the Bahrain team's defensive order;

Afterwards, Qu Bo transferred the ball with his big feet, calmly distributing the ball to the other side;
Then Shao Jia made a light cross, and Zhang Yuzhen missed it cleverly.

Finally, with the help of Qu Bo who inserted at high speed to grab the back point, the ball was completed so simply.

The 5-back formation of the Bahrain team is useless in front of this wave of offense!

If things go on like this, the Chinese team can't beat Bahrain right? !

After leading by two goals, the Chinese team began to slow down their offensive.

This is still Zeng Zheng's request.

Two goals below zero in the away game are enough.

The most important thing is to preserve strength and reduce consumption.

The overall strength of the Bahrain team is indeed not as good as that of the Chinese team, and the personal abilities of the players are not strong.

After losing the ball, he played several consecutive offenses, all of which blindly passed the ball into the penalty area, and then were destroyed by defenders such as Li Weifeng.

This kind of blind high-altitude bombing, Zeng Zheng's request, is 100% air defense.

Under such "strict" requirements, no one dares to neglect easily.

The Bahrain team's attack was fruitless, and the Chinese team began to firmly lock the game situation.

Throughout the first half, the Chinese team's ball possession rate was as high as 60.00%, most of the time in the midfield.

With the three lines of the Bahrain team huddled within the 30-meter area of ​​their own side, it is definitely a huge test for Zhang Xiaorui's organization and conditioning.

The three forwards all have a strong ability to run positions, and the rest depends on how Zhang Xiaorui finds the space.

Fortunately, with a two-goal lead, Zeng Zheng was not in a hurry.

After Zhang Xiaorui organized several consecutive attacks, the Chinese team also scored several times.

Although they didn't make it, they all threatened the opponent's goalkeeper and made the opponent's defense frightened.

It is also true that the opponent's counterattack did not come out.

Zeng Zheng looked at it for a while, then returned to the bench.

"Boss Zeng, drink water."

Han Tao handed over the water in a timely manner.

Zeng Zheng took a sip, then patted Zheng Zhi's thigh beside him.

"Boss Zeng!"

Zheng Zhi quickly straightened his back, ready to be on call at any time.

"Are you interested in doing some organizational work?!"

Zheng Zhi: "???"

Entering the intermission with a two-goal lead, Zeng Zheng praised all the starting international players in the locker room.

Then the tactics for the second half were adjusted.

"Zhang Xiaorui, get off; Zheng Zhi, get up."

Everyone knows that Zheng Zhi is Zeng Zheng's favorite general, even the initials of their names are the same.

Zhang Xiaorui nodded.

It's a pity that he didn't get an assist in the first half.

These 45 minutes of offensive and defensive experience are enough for him to ponder.

In the second half, with Zheng Zhi playing, the formation of the Chinese team changed again.

Zheng Zhi fell behind and formed a double midfielder with Li Tie.

Although he is a defensive midfielder, he is responsible for the Chinese team's offensive play.

"The front midfielder plays the ball, this is a style of play that everyone knows and understands."

"Playing the ball from midfielders and central defenders is a major issue for the development of football in the future."

While Zeng Zheng explained, Han Tao wrote it down in his notebook.

Jin Zhiyang, Chi Shangbin, and Shen Xiangfu's brains were about to explode.

At this time, it is a little bit to be able to listen.

Just let Han Tao borrow the notes later.

"Playing the ball from the back midfielder can open the opponent's formation."

"Especially in a dense position like the Bahrain team."

"We always organize the attack from the front midfielder and press the opponent's formation too tightly."

"Especially after we scored the second goal, the Bahrain team's defensive position has obviously become much more reasonable."

"In this situation, if we don't want to rely on set-pieces to attack, we have to think of something new."

"Zheng Zhi is a bit reckless."

"But the work under your feet can still be cultivated."

Facts have proved that after Zeng Zheng's adjustment, the Chinese team's offense in the second half can open up the situation again.

Zheng Zhi took and dribbled the ball in the middle, and fully demonstrated his ability to push himself forward.

Especially at the beginning of the second half, when Zheng Zhi got rid of the two opponents in a row after getting the ball in the midfield, he suddenly kicked a long pass and sent the ball into the opponent's penalty area. After Zhang Yuzhen almost scored again with a header, everyone was surprised.

Wolfgang's eyeballs went straight.

As a German coach from Europe, he suddenly felt that his team was crushed in all directions.

Is this also the team brought out by Asian coaches?
Temeow, are you bluffing me?
In desperation, the Bahrain team had no choice but to strengthen Zheng Zhi's defense.

Specifically, the increase in small movements made Zheng Zhi extremely awkward from receiving the ball to passing the ball.

However, the tactics of playing the ball from the midfielder are still unfamiliar after all.

Taking advantage of the problems exposed by the new formation and new tactics, the Bahrain team finally launched a very threatening counterattack.

The opponent's wide player took advantage of the gap that Sun Jihai inserted, and rushed behind Sun Jihai at full speed.

When he brought the ball to the position parallel to the penalty area line of the Chinese team, he passed the ball directly to the top of the gourd.

Because the opponents were passing to the penalty area before, Li Weifeng and others all ran to the penalty spot.

It was too late when he realized that the last pass was a flat pass.

No. 2 Muhed volleyed vigorously with his left foot, and blasted a world wave about 27 meters away from the goal, and the shot passed the goal guarded by Ou Chuliang.

Ou Chuliang rolled around on the ground and then got up, seeing the ball behind him that got into the net, he couldn't help but beat the ground hard a few times.

The Bahrain fans in the stands are also crazy now.

They stood up and danced their own national dance to cheer for the team members.

Seeing the goal lost, Jin Chi and the two quickly ran to Zeng Zheng's side: "Xiao Zeng, don't play, there is a lot of time for training, let's not lose the three points we got!"

"Yeah, Xiao Zeng, if this continues, three points will become one point, which is not good!"

Zeng Zheng nodded, indicating that I listened to the persuasion this time.

With a wave of his hand, the formation changed again.

Shao Jiayi withdrew from the left winger position, and the formation once again became the familiar 442.

And Zhao Junzhe, Zheng Zhi, and Li Tie are all defensive midfielders, and the Chinese team, together with the rear, instantly became impenetrable.

After seeing that the Bahrain team's offense could not pass halftime, both Jin Chi and Jin Chi also breathed a sigh of relief.

Jin Zhiyang pointed at Zeng Zheng's nose and cursed with a smile: "Okay, you brat, so you already have a backhand!"

"It made us rush like this."

"You still have to come!"

"Take a ball for training, but I can't do it alone."

Chi Shangbin was also looking at the field, and murmured, "This is the top ten match, this is the top ten match!"

For the rest of the game, Zeng Zheng gave Xu Liang and Sun Xiang the two national youth players for two substitutions.

Whether it is the time or position of the substitution, Zeng Zheng's intention to win is already very obvious.

The Bahrain team launched a strong attack in the last 10 minutes, but the Chinese team did not even attack halftime.

Xu Liang even took this opportunity to mix up a well-positioned frontcourt set-kick, almost expanding the score again.

In the end, with Zhang Yuxi and Qu Bo's two goals in the opening stage, the Chinese team defeated the Bahrain team 2-1 in the away game and won the second game of the top ten match.

(End of this chapter)