Football: A late bloomer, starting with Leicester City

Chapter 144 The tree in Mr. Wilmots’ heart, against Algeria (please vote for me)

"hello."

De Bruyne and Hazard walked up first, greeted Chen Yufeng and stretched out their right hands.

Chen Yufeng nodded and shook hands with them.

Then came Lukaku, Fellaini and others. Chen Yufeng also saw a figure among them, Mignolet.

Yes, Mignolet, the Liverpool goalkeeper who just lost to them in the League Cup, is also a member of the Belgian national team.

However, for some countries in Europe, players do not have strong national feelings towards football, and they do not talk about their nationality when playing football.

For example, the Dutch team and the Belgian team must be such teams.

This is also one of the important reasons why they are prone to internal strife in the national team. The leading stars from various clubs only regard this place as a big family fighting for honor.

At this time, if they feel that this team cannot bring them anything, they will easily turn their anger on other players and the head coach.

Of course there are other reasons due to language and region, but they are definitely not the most important ones.

If there are really deep conflicts between different language regions in Belgium, which can directly affect the country's football team, then why can't we see strong separatist sentiments in the French-speaking region from them?

Wake up, they are definitely no match for Catalonia and Scotland on this issue.

If Belgium performs very well in the European Cup and World Cup, holds on to honors and keeps winning, their chances of internal strife will be much smaller.

In a sense, this is also a team more suitable for Chen Yufeng.

Everyone treats this place as a football team and charges for the honor in the football world, not only for the team but also for themselves.

This offset a lot of his worries and discomfort.

"A great season, what are your plans for next season?"

De Bruyne came to Chen Yufeng's side and patted Chen Yufeng on the shoulder, with some admiration in his expression.

As players who both play in the Premier League, it is normal for them to be in the same camp in the Belgian team.

"Not sure yet." Chen Yufeng did not reply to this question in detail, but just excused it.

"It looks like we are going to have another strong boost on the right side."

The happy boy Lukaku laughed loudly and said loudly on purpose: "Come on, let's achieve good results in the European Cup together."

On the one hand, he and Chen Yufeng played in the Premier League and played against each other. He knew how dazzling Chen Yufeng's 17 goals and 12 assists were.

On the other hand, I wanted to tell Mertens, who was not far behind me, to let him know that he should no longer be complacent day by day. The biggest competitor was here.

"work together."

Chen Yufeng simply replied, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Mertens walking straight into the room in the distance.

Obviously, the latter did not want to come up and say hello to him.

During this period, the peak of Mertens' career has not yet arrived, and there is a big gap between the club's various statistics and the current Chen Yufeng.

He must know that after Chen Yufeng's arrival, his main position will become unstable.

Without staying here longer, Chen Yufeng put down his luggage and then teamed up with De Bruyne and others to eat in the cafeteria.

After a brief rest, they began to prepare for afternoon training.

…………

In the afternoon, Chen Yufeng, who started training with the team, met Wilmots for the first time.

For the football coaching industry, Wilmots' name is not particularly loud, not even as good as Ranieri, who has the title of tinker.

But for the Belgian national team, this is their former spiritual leader and the top scorer in their team history.

"Will you be tired from the journey? I see that Leicester City's schedule has been very tight recently."

After Wilmots came up, he smiled kindly at Chen Yufeng and said, "I hope you have a happy time here."

"I also hope that I can do something so that we can win championships and honors together."

Chen Yufeng also smiled and shook hands with Wilmots.

The conversation between the two was just such a simple sentence, and then Wilmots went to communicate with other team members.

National team games are different from club games. There is very little training time, and it takes a long time for everyone to be apart.

After a brief greeting, they started their first training session.

The training sessions are not complicated. Most of the things you practice are practiced in clubs. The main thing is to maintain your condition and adapt to some basic technical and tactical play.

Chen Yufeng has integrated well, although he is not among the players who perform well in daily training.

Mertens also often made sounds similar to sneers at this time, as if he wanted to prove something.

Including Wilmots, when observing from the sidelines, he actually didn't find any bright spots and advantages of Chen Yufeng.

His confrontation is not strong, his short passing is only passable, his shooting in basic situations is average, and his turnover rate is relatively high.

Only when making crosses from the wing and volleying, will he appear stronger.

This actually doesn't mean much. During non-confrontation training, most players can complete these two technical movements well.

The gap can only be revealed in fast-paced and strong confrontational games.

But one thing was that Chen Yufeng's fancy moves and his inverted footwork, which were basically indistinguishable, shocked Wilmots a lot.

He suddenly felt that Chen Yufeng was even stranger.

It was as if he had walked into a dreamy forest, surrounded by towering trees.

Here, perhaps every tree is different, but their foundations are solid and their branches and trunks are very coordinated.

But at this time, he suddenly saw a tree in the woods.

This tree grows very tall, taller than other trees, but it seems to have no foundation, just hanging in the sky.The branches and trunks are also long and short, as if they grow wildly at will.

"Wonderful boy..."

Wilmots murmured in his mouth, and then said: "Then let's go to the competition field and try it."

This training did not last long. For fear of affecting the players' game state, Wilmots quickly stopped the training and let the players go back to rest.

The next morning, it was still recovery training, not too high intensity.

After the training, Wilmots called the players to the hotel conference room and began to make arrangements for the warm-up match against Algeria the next day.

"Algeria is not a weak team. Everyone must know this. Most of their players play in the five major leagues or other leagues in Europe and America."

Wilmots called up Algeria's squad and circled Mahrez in it, saying: "This Leicester City star is definitely their star player and the one we will focus on tomorrow. .”

"You all know what miracles he has done at Leicester City this year."

When he said this, many people at the scene cast their eyes on Chen Yufeng in the back row and smiled slightly.

Head coach Wilmots also cast his gaze over, showing a raised eyebrow and a helpless expression.

That's how it is in national team games, it's easy to run into club teammates on the opposite side.

"Our formation is closer to a two-three-two-three, but please note that the two-and-three players on the sidelines have more important defensive tasks."

Then, Wilmots began to arrange the formation and tomorrow's starting lineup.

This is a head coach with a strong offensive football style, and he often likes to do some tricks in the game.

For example, this [-] formation, according to common sense, is closer to [-] when it comes to the competition field.

However, due to Wilmots' desire to control the central area and his desire for a strong attack, this less common formation was arranged.

Chen Yufeng did not enter the starting lineup, which was part of his psychological preparation.

He also knew that there was no way Wilmots would not let him play.

As long as he has the opportunity to show himself, he has the confidence to do everything well.

Next, Wilmots finally talked about some detailed tactical arrangements and ended the meeting.

Everyone returned to the hotel to rest and wait for tomorrow's warm-up match with Algeria.

…………

At four o'clock in the afternoon the next day, the warm-up match between Belgium and Algeria officially started at the King Baudouin Stadium.

The game was not played in public, and there were no fans flocking here, just players and coaching staff from both sides.

Therefore, every player's shouts on the court can be heard very clearly.

"Pass the ball! Pass the ball!"

"Watch your back! It's coming!"

"Stay!! Here!! Move!"

There were constant shouts and the warm-up match started in full swing.

Chen Yufeng sat on the bench and kept looking at the field, feeling the playing methods and habits of his teammates.

He hopes to have good synergy with these guys once he gets on the court.

I have to say that this Belgium team is still very strong, with world-class talented players in every position.

At the defender position, Alderweireld, who is in his prime, has a very solid pairing with Vertonghen.

The two full-backs, Vermaelen and Lombards, are also strong players in their prime.

The more important thing is the midfielder.

Midfielder Nainggolan, midfielder Witsel paired with De Bruyne, and Fellaini on the bench, this is a top-notch configuration no matter how you look at it.

At the forward position, left winger Hazard, center Lukaku, and right winger Mertens.

This is also an amazing lineup, not to mention Carrasco, Shazley and others sitting on the bench.

There is almost no doubt that this powerful lineup suppressed Algeria from the beginning, making them gradually out of breath in the backcourt.

Mahrez, who usually has fewer defensive tasks in Leicester City, had to retreat to the midfield to help defend.

"Oh!"

In the 11th minute of the game, De Bruyne's long shot successfully penetrated the hands of the Algerian goalkeeper and successfully scored.

Nainggolan, who provided him with an assist, ran over, smiled, high-fived and hugged him, looking relaxed.

Not long after, Hazard scored another goal through a corner kick, extending the score to [-]-[-].

Seeing that there was no suspense in the game, Wilmots informed Chen Yufeng during the halftime break that he would get a half-time.

45 minutes.

This is an opportunity for Wilmots to give Chen Yufeng a chance to show himself.

Whether they can win the European Cup depends mainly on these 45 minutes.

Chen Yufeng nodded slightly, then started to warm up, and stood on the court before the buzzer sounded in the second half.

Mertens seemed very dissatisfied with this move and walked straight off the field with his head lowered. He did not say any words, and did not even high-five Chen Yufeng and Wilmots.

It can be expected that his paranoid possessiveness will definitely make Wilmots a little uncomfortable at this time.

If Chen Yufeng performs well, he will lose this position.

(End of this chapter)