The Godfather of Greenery

Chapter 345 Fighting for Dignity
May 2005, 5, at 25:20 p.m., Istanbul, Turkey, Ataturk Stadium.

Unlike the Stamford Bridge Stadium and the Dragon Stadium, the Ataturk Stadium is not a pure football stadium, but a comprehensive stadium, so it has an oval runway and some other track and field competition areas. It is avoided that even if the Ataturk Stadium has more than 7 seats, the distance between the stands and the stadium is still very far.

In the words of Alan Hansen, host of today's match on BBC TV, even if Ye Qiu passed the note again this time, it would be difficult to pass it to the coaching staff. This was not only because the whole world was staring at him, But also because the distance is too far.

The game has not yet started, but the stands of the Ataturk Stadium are already full of people. The blue and red are very dazzling. This represents the two camps of this game, representing the blue Chelsea. , and the red Liverpool, they clearly divided the stands into two major areas.

It is difficult for anyone to find red in blue, and it is also difficult to find blue in red. They seem to be two incompatible forces, but what is amazing is that the unique crazy passion of England fans Meet at Ataturk Stadium.

Even though the game has not yet started, the two groups of fans are already cheering and cheering in the stands almost crazily, singing the team song. They are not willing to admit defeat.

According to the rules of UEFA and the latest interpretation of the rules, the head coach will not be allowed to sit on the coach's bench to direct the game after the suspension of the game. He can only sit in the stands, but he must not have any form of contact with the team. Severe penalties, and halftime breaks are not allowed to enter the locker room, only 15 minutes after the game, can enter the locker room.

Therefore, for Ye Qiu, the only thing he can command the game is before the game.

But in this game, the locker room of the home team before the game was deadly silent. No one spoke, no one panted, and even breathing very lightly. There will be no anger.

Goalkeeper Cudicini, defensive line Heinze, Gallas, Cannavaro and Sun Jihai, midfielders Davis, Deco and Parker, frontcourt Ribery, Gudjohnsen and Rooney form a trident, This is Ye Qiu's starting lineup for this match.

There are no big-name Ronaldinho, Lampard and Terry, nor Drogba, Van der Sar, Maicon and Makelele, and they will not even have their own head coach in the game, no doubt This is the biggest challenge facing Chelsea in this game.

Many people in this team are appearing on this stage for the first time and playing as the main force for the first time. It is inevitable that they will feel nervous and feel pressure, because they will inevitably be used to follow The absent main players are compared.

In Ye Qiu's view, Chelsea's lineup is purely in terms of strength, and it is not completely incapable of going up against Liverpool. The most important thing is that he will be absent, which makes him unable to make adjustments, and UEFA The man is at the door, and he will be on the rostrum later to watch the game with the UEFA president and special guests.

In other words, UEFA didn't even give him a chance this time.

Thinking of this, he was full of apprehension and uneasiness about this game. This was the most unsure game he had ever coached, because it was completely out of his control, and the opponent was Bennett, who was strong and excellent in tactics. Smith and Liverpool.

He hasn't felt this kind of hesitation for a long, long time, especially after coming to Chelsea, everything is going smoothly, and everything can't escape his control, which makes him inevitably breed A kind of arrogance.

Reflecting on himself, in the past year or so, he has not made any progress at the tactical level.

In fact, it is not surprising that Chelsea is too strong. When a team is too strong, the role of tactics will be relatively weak. There are many choices for the head coach, so there is no need to coach Ajax. As before, I tried my best to improve my tactical knowledge and accomplishment, so it's not surprising that I didn't make any progress.

It was only when he met Benitez that Ye Qiu felt the pressure.

"Are you scared?"

Ye Qiu slowly walked among the players. He tried his best to show himself a relaxed smile. He needed the players to have fighting spirit.

The players sat on their seats, raised their heads, and looked at their head coach. Ye Qiu also turned around so that the players could see his face, especially feel his ease.

"In fact, you may think that I always look very confident, but in fact, every time I walk out of this door..." Ye Qiu pointed to the door of the dressing room behind him, and laughed, "My heart is full of confidence." It's all full of apprehension."

"I'm always thinking, what kind of tactics my opponents will use to deal with me? Have my opponents found my weaknesses and shortcomings? Will they use any methods to restrain me? I can never think What my opponent will do next, so I'm always full of anxiety."

Ye Qiu spoke very slowly, but did not have the heavy tone that these words should have. Instead, he said them in a relatively relaxed tone, which would give people a very different feeling, stressful, but not suffocating .

"But it's weird, you know? When I walk out of this gate, on the way to the pitch, I'm worried, I'm very disturbed, but the moment I walk out of the tunnel, my whole being changes, especially But when I hear the shouts of support and encouragement from the fans in the stands, I ask myself in my heart, what are you afraid of?"

When he said this, Ye Qiu deliberately paused, so that this question also appeared in the hearts of the players.

What are you afraid of?
Different people have different reasons for being afraid.

"I always think, since we have stepped out of this gate and stepped onto this green field, why should we be afraid? We can wear this jersey, which proves that we have such strength, Our ability to enter this stadium means that we have the qualifications to compete here, so what are we afraid of?"

Everyone in the locker room was quiet except for Ye Qiu's voice.

"My first year in charge, I was with the second team of Ajax, I was playing for the youth team, but we were able to play in the Holland Cup, but no one thought about us, but it was strange, we were totally at the time. There is no burden, one game counts, and in the end we won the championship, and there are powerful teams like PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord falling at our feet."

"Then I thought, what did we rely on in the first place? Were we also afraid in the first place?"

"I got the answer, that is, we are also afraid, but we have more important things than being afraid, and that is to go all out!"

"You know, my wife told me that the reason she loves me is because she thinks that I am the most handsome when I go all out."

Ye Qiu's words made everyone in the locker room burst into laughter, because they rarely heard Ye Qiu make fun of his own affairs, but it was very true, didn't someone say it?Concentration is the greatest charm of a man!

"I learned one thing later, a very, very important thing, that is, when you walk on this green field, when you are in front of tens of thousands of fans, in front of live game cameras all over the world, fear is useless Nothing, on the contrary, fear will make you lose, lose everything, as long as you are afraid, you will lose as long as you are afraid of, and you will lose for the rest of your life!"

"The reality is very cruel. You don't have to play football games because you are afraid, your opponents will not show mercy to you because you are afraid, and the fans will not forgive you for losing the game because you are afraid. After being afraid, we still have to bear all the consequences, bear all the responsibilities and accusations, since this is the case, why should we be afraid?"

The players understood that they were stimulated by Ye Qiu's words, and many of them nodded.

"Later, I learned one thing more, that is, don't be afraid, and there is no need to be afraid, because everyone has his limit in everything he does. Man is not God, and he is not omnipotent. We have our strengths. We can’t do everything that’s out of our reach, and we can’t win every game by the same token.”

"But the point is, my players, we have to go all out, we have to do everything we can on the court, we have to do everything we can to beat our opponents, because only in this way can we be worthy of the jersey we wear. Only then can we be worthy of the fans behind us, and only then can we be worthy of ourselves!"

"If you ask me, what is the most important thing for a professional footballer?"

"I will tell you without hesitation, dignity!"

"Dignity, for a professional player, is more important than their life, we can lose all the games, we can lose all the championships, even we can lose our football life on the pitch, but Guys, my players, we can't lose our dignity!"

"Only by going all out can we defend our dignity, ensure that we win, win the praise of our opponents, win the respect of everyone when we lose, and leave a memorable experience in our lives!"

More and more players couldn't stop nodding after hearing Ye Qiu's words. Even the experienced veteran Cannavaro and others agreed with Ye Qiu's words because they chose to leave Inter Milan at the beginning. , Leaving Juventus and coming to Chelsea, the purpose is not to win the championship here. This is something that no one can guarantee. They have only one purpose in coming to Chelsea, and that is to regain their dignity!

"This is not a game for the so-called championship! This is not a game for a huge bonus! This is not a game for others, for the team, or for the fans!"

"This is a fight for our own dignity, for your own dignity!"

"Don't let your fear occupy your thoughts, hold your fists tightly, soldiers, we have to walk out of this door, we have to walk onto that green field, we have to fight for dignity!"

"Okay!!!!" The players responded in unison.

"Audience friends, welcome to the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey!"

"What is being broadcast live for you now is the final of the 04/05 UEFA Champions League, the final match between two teams from the Premier League, Chelsea and Liverpool."

"We saw that under the leadership of the Spanish referee Mehuto Gonzalez, the referee team and the players of the two teams entered the stadium one after another. The atmosphere on the scene was very warm, because 7 people gathered here More than [-] avid Premier League fans."

"Wearing the blue jersey is Chelsea. This team was the champion of the Champions League last season. This season they aim to defend the title, but it is very difficult, because they have a total of 7 main players absent for this game. Among them is Including superstars Ronaldinho, Lampard and Terry, the other four players are the main midfielder Makelele, the main goalkeeper Van der Sar, the main right back Maicon, and the main center Drogba. "

"Chelsea's starting lineup for this game, the goalkeeper is Cudicini, the defense is Heinze, Gallas, Cannavaro and Sun Jihai, the midfield is Davis, Deco and Parker, the frontcourt The trident is Ribery, Gudjohnsen and Rooney."

"Compared to Chelsea's lack of major generals, Liverpool seems to be strong and strong, but Benitez obviously does not dare to push himself too high, because in the past few Premier League and cup contests, Liverpool has been pinched by Chelsea. , and was defeated, Benitez adopted a more secure tactic in the starting lineup in this game."

"The goalkeeper is Dudek, the defense is Traore, Hyypia, Carragher and Finnan, the midfielder adopts a three-back tactic, Harman, Harvey Alonso and Gerrard, the frontcourt The trident is Riise, Baros and Luis Garcia."

"Judging from the starting lineups of the two teams, whether it is Chelsea or Liverpool, they are obviously more cautious, especially Liverpool. Even if Chelsea has seven main players absent in this game, Benitez is obviously still concerned about Chelsea's strength. However, there is another factor that is very beneficial to Liverpool is that Chelsea's head coach, Ye Qiu from China, was suspended by UEFA and sent to the stands!"

Following the words of the on-site commentator, the live broadcast camera of the game shifted to the rostrum, and Ye Qiu appeared on the rostrum accompanied by three bodyguards, surrounded by well-known bigwigs in European football , Naturally, it also includes the management of both Chelsea and Liverpool.

Ye Qiu's position is in the core area, which not only shows UEFA's respect for him, but also does not rule out the idea of ​​monitoring Ye Qiu. After all, no matter where he is arranged, it is difficult to make people feel at ease. Will the guy who knows this trick frequently come up with something else?

Players from both sides lined up in front of the player tunnel, because the team's captain and vice-captain were both absent with yellow cards. Cannavaro wore the captain's armband in this game and became the team's field captain. Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard played a coin toss and Chelsea won the kick-off.

The two sides returned to their own half and lined up. The atmosphere in the Ataturk Stadium suddenly became tense, especially when the referee Mehuto stood in the middle circle and was ready to blow the game whistle at any time. , the atmosphere became even more tense.

Finally, with a clear whistle, the game finally kicked off.

"Okay, this much-anticipated focus match has finally kicked off. We saw Chelsea, who kicked off first, launched an attack on Liverpool. We all know that Chelsea is best at attacking. I don't know Ye Qiu. Will we continue to adopt aggressive tactics this time?"

But before Chelsea's first wave of attack entered Liverpool's 30-meter zone, Gerrard had a direct collision with Davis, broke the ball at the feet of the Dutchman, and then quickly passed it to Harvey Aaron Suo, the Spaniard adjusted and passed the ball to the left with a big kick.

Riise quickly advanced along the left, but Chelsea's defense on the right also returned quickly. Sun Jihai blocked Riise on the right, and Chelsea's defense also organized an effective defensive position in the first place, destroying the Liverpool's first wave of offense, but the Red Army obviously did not intend to stop there. They still adopted a high defense, pressed collectively, and launched a round of attack on Chelsea.

"It's Harvey Alonso's through ball again. It's dangerous. Barosz got the ball in the penalty area and he's about to kick it!"

"Cannavaro, beautiful interception, Cannavaro broke the ball at the foot of Baros, and resolved an attack by Liverpool!"

"But the ball still fell at Liverpool's feet. After the opening, Liverpool fought fiercely. This is also the prediction of many professionals about Liverpool's tactics before the game. That is, we should give full play to Ye Qiu's weakness of not being able to directly direct the game. After the opening, directly Disrupt Chelsea's rhythm, and Benitez's attack is undoubtedly to achieve this purpose."

With Liverpool's attack, Chelsea had to adopt a retraction tactic, and the three lines were kept very tight. Gudjohnsen was not so much a center forward as a midfielder, because he retreated very high, but inside Bailey and Rooney pressed hard.

This is also the tactic that Ye Qiu can adopt. If there are conditions to attack after the opening, Chelsea will still have to tear through Liverpool's defense from the two ribs, but Benitez has adopted a more secure three-back strategy in this game. The purpose of the waist tactics is to block his own ribs and defuse Chelsea's offense.

Moreover, Benitez is obviously more tactically adventurous than Mourinho. The Portuguese did not dare to attack after the opening, but Benitez was very resolute in adopting offensive tactics, not worried about being counterattacked by Chelsea.

Because for Benitez, disrupting Chelsea's tactics and rhythm after the opening game is undoubtedly more important than anything else.

Ye Qiu also watched from the stands with his heart beating faster and his brows furrowed. He noticed that Ten Cate kept appealing to the players on the sidelines, and Cannavaro was also playing the role of team captain, constantly calling on his teammates to be steady. Stay, keep defensive order.

For Chelsea, without a head coach, the safest and most effective way is to defend and counterattack.

Even Ye Qiu was fully prepared. If the game could be dragged into a penalty shootout, Chelsea's chances of winning would be greater than in a 120-minute game.

But the premise is that Chelsea must be able to guarantee not to concede a goal within 120 minutes!

(End of this chapter)