Godfather of national football

Chapter 351 Confrontation with real swords and guns

When Chen Gelin scored the second goal in the second half, Wan Qiaopu on the sidelines stared blankly at Sun Jihai beside him.

"Your team has taken medicine, how could such a big change happen overnight," Wanchope felt that this was impossible and unscientific.

Ji Hai smiled slightly, and whispered a few words in Wan Qiaopu's ear, and the latter immediately understood that he had been scolded.

But after thinking about it, I felt terrible. The current strength of the Chinese team is like this. After yesterday's game, Costa Rica underestimated the Chinese team. Wanchope also felt that the Chinese team had not made any progress in the past 12 years, but today he knew he was wrong.

"Pride is the devil," Wanchope said to himself.

Costa Rica defeated the proud Chinese team yesterday, and today the Chinese team defeated the proud Costa Rica.

At the end of the game, the old coach Pinto kicked away the bottle on the side of the court. He didn't have the patience of Li Guo, so he got mad on the spot and started cursing on the sidelines. The Chinese players couldn't understand Spanish, but seeing the grandchildren of the Costa Rican players, he knew how hard Pinto scolded.

*****
Tomorrow is the third warm-up match between China and Costa Rica. Because the two sides agreed that there is no limit to the number of substitutions in a game, and the players who are replaced can also be replaced again, so the two teams will play for three consecutive days.

At 8 o'clock in the evening, Pinto came to visit Li Guo, and the two met on the rooftop of the hotel. The breeze was blowing, and it was the most comfortable time of the day in Valparaíso.

"I've heard that Chile's winters are cold, but it doesn't look like it," Pinto mused him.

Li Guo smiled, "We are not British, so we don't need to talk about the weather, let's get straight to the point."

Pinto also smiled, crossed his hands, and put on a comfortable posture, "Li Guo, how did you bring an ordinary team to this level?"

"Just like you."

"Same as me?" Pinto asked incomprehensibly.

"Yes, I saw you scolding your players on the sidelines today, proving that you absolutely control this team, otherwise it wouldn't be like this."

Pinto lowered his head and smiled, "Yes, only with absolute control can the tactics be absolutely executed, every movement can be in place, and finally the effect I want can be achieved."

Li Guo recalled an article he read in his previous life, analyzing Costa Rica's success in Brazil, in which he mentioned that the team's ability to execute tactics was astonishing.

"After I went back, Paul (Wanchope) told me a little story about your story in the restaurant last night, and I have to say, you are better at moving the team than I am."

Li Guo thought to himself, this old guy is really a thief, there is something in his words, Pinto and Li Guo haven't chatted for a long time, they both admire each other, both teams are civilian teams.

Finally, before leaving, Pinto left a sentence, "Since we have known each other, let's play a serious game tomorrow, just like an official game."

Li Guo agreed, and it seemed that Pinto wanted to find out the real strength of the Chinese team.

*****
In the previous life, Costa Rica used a purely defensive formation of 541 in the World Cup in Brazil, but today in the match against China, Pinto used a 442 formation, with No. 10 Ruiz and No. 9 Campbell serving as double arrows.

It is also worth mentioning that their goalkeeper is Keylor Navas, who became famous in the first World War. Now the Chinese players don't know him very well.

After the opening, the Chinese team was the main attacker, and Costa Rica was the main defender. Because they were divided into the death group, Costa Rica focused on defense.

So soon, their formation became 451, with No. 10 retreating slightly to form a shadow forward.

Costa Rica's strategy is to defend and counterattack, and later they did the same in the World Cup.

Of course the Chinese team knew it, so they fought back on the spot in the frontcourt to prevent Costa Rica from counterattacking.

But the opponent's defensive counterattack tactics are already perfect. After several passes, the ball still reaches Campbell's feet. Campbell swept the ball like a black whirlwind. This is Costa Rica's nirvana.

Trotting all the way, Campbell entered the penalty area of ​​the Chinese team. Facing Zhou Dun, Campbell dialed the ball with his instep and continued to accelerate after avoiding the angle. On the first day of the game, he easily passed Zhou Dun in this way.

But today when he did the same thing, Zhou Dun made a block between Campbell and the football, and Campbell pushed behind him, which was naturally a foul.

"Precise positioning," Pinto thought, daring such a positioning in the penalty area requires not only skill, but also courage.

Costa Rica's offense revolves around Campbell. When Campbell is restricted, Costa Rica's offensive threat is not great.

Today's starting striker for the Chinese team, Li Guo chose Ji Ke, and the Chinese players passed the ball directly to Ji Ke when they couldn't get in, and used the high point to smash.

In the 36th minute of the first half, Ji Ke scored a header from close range in front of the goal, and the ball was saved from the baseline by Navas, who reacted quickly.

In the second half, Costa Rica changed a striker, while Li Guo of the Chinese team did not change. In the end, after an offensive and defensive battle, neither side scored a goal. The Chinese team drew 0-0 with Costa Rica.

After the game, the head coaches of both sides were basically satisfied with the result, because although there was no goal in the game, the tactical drill was in place, which is far more important than scoring.

The so-called layman watches the excitement, and the insider watches the doorway, which is the truth.

This is the last day for Costa Rica in Chile. Tomorrow they will leave for Brazil, and the Chinese team still has two warm-up matches in Chile, one is against Santiago Rangers and the other is against Albania. After that, the Chinese team will also fly to Brazil.

Li Guo suggested that he treat the guests, and the players of the two teams will have a big meal tonight, and the Costa Rican players readily agreed.

To put it bluntly, the two teams are really destined. The Chinese team met Costa Rica in the first game of the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup. The two teams used to have the same head coach, so the meal was very happy. The Costa Ricans are cheerful and talkative, and their English is also good.

When he got drunk, Wanchope stood up and wanted to do a dance for everyone. Of course everyone was happy and clapped their hands for encouragement.

Wan Qiaopu danced crookedly, which should be a kind of dance in the Caribbean region. Wan Qiaopu wanted to pull Sun Jihai to dance with him.

The players on both sides were very restrained and did not drink too much alcohol. After the meal, Costa Rica left Valparaiso and rushed to Santiago overnight.

(End of this chapter)