Grass roots glory

Chapter 360 Park Ji-sung's Advice
"Although the strength of the Chinese team has improved by leaps and bounds after adding a few young players in Europe, Zhou Tiancheng, the leader of Schalke 04, has not encountered too many challenges, but such good luck, after meeting the Korean team It should be over from this moment. We have a team in Europe that is stronger than them. This Chinese team is powerful in attack, but it is only driven by Zhou Tiancheng. No matter how strong he is, he cannot match a team. All the South Korean team has to do is to make enough arrangements in the midfield. As long as they can block Zhou Tiancheng, the Chinese team is still as fearless as before. Their defense does not seem to be as unsolvable as the offensive end."

This is the coping strategy given by South Korea's SBS TV station after the semi-final match was released.It can be seen that they are still confident.In the past 30 years, they have never lost to the Chinese team in official competitions.The East Asian Cup at the beginning of last year was not an A-level event registered by FIFA, so strictly speaking, their historical record with the Chinese team still maintains zero losses and has not been (****).They feel that they have a lot of experience in dealing with the Chinese team. They only need to use their physical advantage of running to death, even if they are delayed, they can drag the Chinese team to death.The physical fitness of the Chinese team can usually only last seven to 10 minutes of high intensity. This is no secret at all.

They know that Zhou Tiancheng is physically fit.But not everyone is like him.Physical fitness cannot be driven by others at all. The South Korean reporters are confident that as long as they maintain a high enough intensity, it will not be a big problem to drag the Chinese team down in the final stage of the game.

But South Korean team coach Zhao Guanglai didn't dare to think so. He naturally trusted his players, but his confidence in the game had to be established on the premise of having enough confidence.

Is he sure of the game?

To be honest, not quite.

Of course, he is more aware of his team's advantages than the media, but what he is worried about is whether the team can survive to the decisive stage in the last 10 minutes of the game.

He is more worried about this after watching the overall performance of the Chinese team in the Asian Cup. So far, the Chinese team has scored six goals in the first half and four goals in the first 15 minutes of the second half. And only nine goals were scored in total.More than half of the South Korean team's goals came from the last 10 minutes.

This is a team that is very good at grabbing the start!
Judging from the high-frequency time period distribution of the two teams' goals, it is obvious that the Chinese team has the advantage.

Zhao Guanglai frowned. It seemed that he could not be misled by the media. Against such a Chinese team, it would be more pragmatic to put down his posture and strengthen the defense first.

He stared at the regular formation map of the Chinese team in front of him, circled several strokes in front of Zhou Tiancheng's name, and then picked up the team's 23-man roster, scanning back and forth, looking at the names one by one.

……

Before facing the Chinese team, the attitude of the South Korean team suddenly became a lot lower-key.Captain Park Ji-sung lowered his stance in an interview before the game: "There is no weak team that can enter the semi-finals of the Asian Cup, even China... The historical record can only represent the past. Now they have players like Zhou Tiancheng, He's a dangerous man and we have to be careful."

These words disappointed the South Korean reporters who came here with full expectations. With the strength of the South Korean team, facing the Chinese team, they should have heard the declaration of victory!
They didn't expect that the three-time World Cup meritorious player standing in front of him, the banner figure of Korean football, would be so "unconfident", so they couldn't help answering: "But no matter how good he is, he is just one person after all. Is the team out? What's the problem?"

Park Ji-sung immediately denied: "No, the team is in good condition. Each of us has the confidence to win to the end, but paying attention to the opponent is our basic attitude in preparing for the game. Is there anything wrong?"

The South Korean reporters were at a loss for words. Of course they would not respond to Park Ji-sung's rhetorical question, but they felt in their hearts that this was too wrong!

Where is the confidence of the South Korean team? Has it been nothing for the past 30 years?Such a brilliant historical record, can't establish the absolute confidence of this team?
But that's the way it is, and the South Korean team was very cautious before the game.

Korean team coach Cho Gwang-rae fully absorbed Park Ji-sung's suggestion.Park Ji-sung and Zhou Tiancheng have played against each other in the club.

Even in the South Korean team, Park Ji-sung is the player with the best physical fitness.But he is more accustomed to the position of winger.Therefore, Zhao Guanglai has his own considerations about who to use against Zhou Tiancheng. The 22-year-old young midfielder Ki Sung-yong with strong physical fitness is the best No. 1 choice.Two years ago, he switched to the Celtic club of the Soviet Super League and is regarded as the soul of the future midfielder of the South Korean team together with Gu Zizhe, another young midfielder in this South Korean team.

In the past few days of training, Ji Chengyong has only one task: practice interception and steals.

He received a lot of attention from the head coach, who was required to interrupt the possession of the ball as soon as an offensive player had the ball.

Ji Chengyong thought that he was a teammate in training, so his kicks were not strong enough, and he was directly passed by offensive players several times. Zhao Guanglai directly interrupted the training, and asked Ji Chengyong with a calm face: "Are you okay? Training you Are you going to make the whole team pay for your stupid mistakes?"

Ji Chengyong immediately became more active and followed the defender in front of him, but he only gave physical confrontation, and failed to grab the ball right away, which caused the head coach to be dissatisfied: "This kind of intensity, when it comes to It’s not enough to pose a threat to your opponent on the court! You can tackle the ball, don’t you understand?”

Ji Chengyong was a little discouraged. At this moment, Park Ji-sung stretched out his hand to help him up from the ground. Seeing that his face was not very good-looking, he patted him on the shoulder and comforted him: "The head coach is right. Any opponent you have ever played against Zhou Tiancheng It’s not the same, when you actually fight against him, you will find that the intensity of confrontation you think is appropriate can’t actually stop him.”

Hearing that Park Ji-sung said the same thing, Ji Chengyong showed two points of doubt, and humbly asked for advice: "Senior Park, is he really so strong? Then what should I do?"

Park Ji-sung replied: "According to the head coach's instructions, he should be his shadow on the field and be watched at all times. In addition, when he gets the ball, he directly shovels with the ball."

"Really... is this necessary?"

Ji Chengyong's eyelids twitched, he had a premonition that if he played like this, he would be the worst.

"In my experience, it's the safest way to go. If you don't want to be humiliated, do it."

Pu Zhixing thought for a while and answered him like this.

He understood Ji Chengyong's thoughts.Before dealing with Zhou Tian, ​​he was the same, more or less relying on the traditional impression of Chinese players to judge Zhou Tiancheng.

But since the match that season, he saw that the two trusted teammates of the club, Fletcher and Carrick, did not take advantage of the slightest advantage, so he gave the head coach such an unavoidable solution at the moment.

Although youngsters should be encouraged, who is the better midfielder, Ki Sung-yong or Manchester United?
Pu Zhixing asked himself, and it was easy to get the answer, so he had to make such a bad move.

Whether it is effective or not, you will only know when you are on the field.

After all, it has been a whole season since the last match, Zhou Tiancheng may have become stronger.

(End of this chapter)