In the second half of 2015, Ishii took over as head coach, bringing with him intense training, strict management and conditioning-based pressing tactics that were the same changes that Zhang Sheng made in the second half of the 2015 season.

After the Club World Cup received praise from the outside world, the internal contradictions were never mentioned as if they had never appeared, but all this was only overshadowed by the results.

Because Kashima fought on the fourth front in 2016, his pre-season rest and training time combined was less than 50 days, and then he had to start a new year's journey, which was especially bad for Kashima Antlers, who placed a strong emphasis on physical fitness in terms of tactics.

The team's decline can be seen in the first round of the league with a home loss to the weak team Hiroshima and the second round with a difficult 1-0 away win over the relegation team.

In addition, compared with the Longteng team, Kashima youngsters and foreign players who have never played in the AFC Champions League, Ishii Masadada, who has contacted the AFC Champions League for the first time, the entire team is extremely lacking in experience in the AFC Champions League.

Before the game, Ishii Masadada was very low-key: "The Longteng team is the top team in Asia, they have rich experience in the AFC Champions League, compared to two years stronger, I think they are more powerful, and the attack and defense are very orderly." But despite this, we will still give it our all. ”

In his own home turf, to say such a thing, Kashima Antlers' posture is really low.

Zhang Sheng listened to Ishii's words, because judging from the historical record alone, Kashima Antlers are not only undefeated in their home stadium against Chinese Super League teams, they have won all seven games.

Of course, these competitions are relatively old and not very representative.

The home team was polite, and Zhang Sheng's mouth was very modest: "Kashima Antlers have proved their quality in the Club World Cup, and the away game has always been difficult to play, we will be very cautious about this game." ”

After the game officially started, Zhang Sheng really felt that Kashima Antlers was different from several J-League teams in recent years.

In the past, the J-League opponents of the Longteng team had good skills at their feet, smart running without the ball, and first-class passing and receiving skills, but the pace of the game was relatively slow, and the football advanced step by step from the back to the midfield, and then went backwards and backwards around the left and right sides of the opponent's penalty area, seeking goals by pulling out gaps or sudden rhythm changes of offensive players with the ball.

However, the rhythm of Kashima's antlers is very fast.

For the two wingbacks of the Longteng team like to press forward, they specifically play behind the two wings of the Longteng team, the two fullbacks and fullbacks take turns to intersperse and assist to the front, only three minutes into the opening game, they have scored twice in a row to the half of the Longteng team.

Investing a lot in attack, Kashima Antlers' defense is also very active, the two fullbacks keep chasing back and defending, and after losing the ball, they go up to the body to fight as soon as possible, and sometimes even the two forwards are back to the area of 30 meters in their own half.

The tactics that Ishii Masata instilled in Kashima Antlers are also the direction that Japanese football has slowly changed in the past two years.

The inherent impression of Japanese football is that the rhythm is slow, and it pays attention to ball control, horizontal passing, and small-area coordination, and the confrontation is not strong, and the technique is good. Most of the club details are different, but they are largely the same.

Also at the national team level, after Zaccheroni's departure, the two coaches Aguirre and Halilhodzic went against the so-called tradition, and the defeat in the 2014 World Cup at least made the Japanese Football Association realize the importance of confrontation.

First there was Nagoya during the Stojkovic period, then Tosu during the Yoon Jinghuan period, and now Kashima Antlers under Ishii Masadada, and the teams that can play well against each other in the J-League have all been successful in recent years.

Now, like the Yokohama Mariners who took over from Montbaltz, abandoned the ball control style led by Shunsuke Nakamura, and Yin Jinghuan of the "Second Palace" took over the promotion of Osaka Sakura, he practiced three times a day, practiced physical fitness at 5 o'clock in the morning, and practiced hard for more than a month.

However, all this improvement is based on the fact that the players have good skills at their feet.

Zhang Sheng's plan for the Longteng team is actually this road, in the early team, such as Gao Jun, Liu Xing and others are all in their early seventies with a height of one meter and average confrontation ability, but the skills at their feet are extremely good compared to domestic players.

The Longteng team began to play the same passing and control tactics of the J League team in the past, but with the help of the system, after the team established a style and atmosphere with technology as the core, Zhang Sheng decisively strengthened the confrontation and pressure.

"Higher, Faster, Stronger" built on good technique – higher paced play, faster transitions, stronger physical confrontations – is exactly what football is trending right now.

Kashima Antlers kicked passionately on the court, and former Japanese commentator Toshishi Tsunami and sports commentator Kengo Nakano of NTV (Nippon TV) who were in charge of the commentary also had a consistent Japanese commentary style.

"Kashima's football is the best in our J-League, and as a team with a famous background, they have shown their strength in the AFC Champions League, even if they are opposite the Longteng team, which is known as the Chinese Dragon, we still have the advantage in our home stadium. "Kengo Nakano is very happy.

As a commentator who has repeatedly faced the Japanese team in the AFC Champions League, the previous Longteng team relied on a faster pace, stronger pressing, and sharper individual breakthroughs to achieve many victories, and this time Kashima Antlers can rely on running and confrontation to equal the Dragon Teng team, and he is still very happy.

'Now we have to score as soon as possible. "As a player, Du and Minshi can better understand the details of tactics," the rhythm of the Longteng team is very good. It was difficult for us to get into their 30-metre zone, especially as their backs were timely and the pace of the attack had to be quickened. ”

Toshishi did say all the worries of Ishii Masatada, the team's overall physical condition was not good, and the first half was able to maintain the smooth execution of the tactics, and in the second half it was often weak, so scoring early was the key to winning this game.

The opposite head coach Zhang Sheng obviously has a study of Kashima Antlers, in the past, the team did not care about 3721, anyway, the all-round frontcourt pressure did not appear, for Silva, the midfielder who is mainly responsible for steals, the Longteng team does not pay much attention, and the left is responsible for the midfield of the ball Ogasawara Mitsuo, the forward Nie Jiang and the midfielder Tao Wentao keep interfering with him.

Even if Mitsuo Ogasawara played very awkwardly and switched positions with Silva, Chavez and De Paul's back-and-forth strikes did not allow him to easily hold the ball.

Therefore, Kashima Antlers' offense still relies more on the side of the side attack, 4-4-2 formation once the midfield can not give too much support to the side, then the team's offensive sense of hierarchy will be very poor, and this is the reason why Toshi said before that he could not smoothly attack the 30-meter defensive area of the Dragon Teng team.

In the last ten minutes of the first half, the anxious Kashima Antlers even sent two central defenders, Masako Gen and Ueda Naoto, to head the ball in the attack of set-pieces.

On the side of the Longteng team, Lu Zhihui and Liming are stronger than these two Japanese players in terms of height, strength, and heading ability, and it is rare to force the Japanese team to come up and play highball.

In the 39th minute of the first half, because Ueda went straight up to participate in the corner kick attack, but did not have time to come back to defend, Ogasawara Mitsuo had to use a tactical foul to get a yellow card to stop the counterattack of the Dragons Fernando.

"It's just a cheetah. Dong Lu, who was in charge of the commentary, marveled at Fernando's speed, "It's too fast, in just 0.51 seconds, he got rid of the defense on the side of Kashima's antlers." ”

Dong Lu, who has always liked to amuse with some messy numbers, has a lot of confidence in the Longteng team: "Now the Longteng team is playing smarter, Kashima Antlers' offense is thunder and rain, and the two wings are clinging to it, and the Longteng team is obviously playing with ease." ”

"This season, the strength of the Midfield and Backfield of the Longteng team has declined. After Roque Gill and Du Zhenyu left, their middle lane was not as large as last season's, so the team played more steadily than before, which should have been specially arranged by Coach Zhang Sheng. Li Xin expressed his opinion.

Li Xin's words are not bad. Qi Ming's potential value is higher than that of Roque Gil, but he has not fully realized it now, and his actual ability is inferior, while Lu Zhihui's age, body, and ability value are not as good as Du Zhenyu, and the reduction of the defensive area is certain.

In Kashima Antlers, the "devil" away from home of the Chinese Super League team, it is appropriate to adopt a certain strategy.

Fernando's counterattack was not only a good sight to watch from China's commentary, but also a few Japanese commentators.

"Fernando from Brazil, a foreign player bought by the Dragons two years ago, has been on loan outside, and only got it back this season. At that time, the Dragons team had top foreign players such as Pato and Ben Alfa, and he had no place for the time being, and now it was finally his turn to take over the vacancy after the departure of these top foreign players. Toshishi looked at the information provided by Kengo Nakano and introduced Fernando, "I think everyone has seen his characteristics, fast speed, flexible turning, and good ball feeling, which reminds me of Guangzhou Evergrande's former top foreign aid - Muric." ”

"We really can't treat him as an ordinary foreign aid. Kengo Nakano nodded in agreement, "His ability is not inferior to those top foreign players." ”

In the analysis of the commentary on both sides, the steady rotation of the Longteng team kept the score at 0:0 until the end of the first half, and Zhang Sheng was very satisfied with this result.

At halftime, Masadashi Ishii made the first substitution aimed at the fully restricted veteran Mitsuo Ogasawara, and his successor, Ryota Nagaki, was pushed onto the court.

Against Yumeo Kanesaki up front, Ishii did not save any face: "We need a stronger impact in the center of the position, but as a boxer in the box, your performance is not up to the mark, we need to score in the second half, the sooner the better." ”

As soon as the second-half broadcast camera returned to the game, the commentators on both sides noticed the replacement of Kashima's antlers.

"As a veteran, Ogasa did his best in a game like this, but Kashima needed a stronger, more physical midfielder. Du and Minshi flipped through the information in his hand, "In last year's AFC Champions League, the Longteng team showed its ability to block veterans in the game with South Korea's Jeonbuk Hyundai. Their players are generally strong, and when it comes to confrontation, the veterans are really at a loss. ”

"I hope that Nagaki-kun can take on the ball function in the midfield. Kengo Nakano almost uttered the words "please".

However, Ryota Nagaki was still very restricted after he came on the court, and the Dragon Teng team was still very confident in the opponent's single-core play, and the broadcast camera was also frequently aimed at Ishii Masada on the sidelines, his black face was shaved, and he frowned, and the whole person seemed to be fished out of bitter water.

Compared with Ogasawara Mitsuo, Ryota Nagaki has an advantage, that is, his long-range shooting ability is good.

In the second half, the team could not rely on positional battles to get a chance to score, and Ryota Nagaki's two high-quality heavy guns in the 52nd and 57th minutes surprised the Kashima Antlers players who had been singing and dancing in the stands twice.

In particular, the Ultras fans in Kashima South Stand, as a die-hard group of the team, although they are constantly singing and cheering for the team, they prefer that the team can score a goal to win, and Ryota Nagaki ignites their hopes.

Just when the fans were hoping to score the next shot, the Dragons fought back, and Qi Ming passed the ball to Fernando.

After Fernando got the ball, his acceleration made Silva, who is also a fellow Brazilian, sigh that all he could do was run behind Fernando's ass like a bodyguard.

"It's another Muric. "He has commented on the AFC Champions League many times, and Min Shi fell into the fear of being dominated by Ji Ye on the field, "He broke into the penalty area, and he is going to be single-handed! Pass, the middle is Nie Jiang, the talented player of the Chinese national team, shooooooot!

"Ahh Fernando and Nie Jiang seized the opportunity to counterattack, which is the terrifying side of Asia's top teams, the terrifying side of Brazil's top foreign players, and the terrifying side of Coach Zhang Sheng's face against J-League teams. Ah, the game is a bit hard. Kengo Nakano blew the dragon team again.

Fernando was more excited than Nie Jiang who scored the goal at this time, and he happily grabbed Nie Jiang and hugged Nie Jiang's shoulder: "Good job." ”

Zhang Sheng is also very pleased, Fernando's assist can be seen that he is a player who can play together, the previous two league games, including the time before this game, when there were many opportunities to counterattack, Fernando subconsciously held the ball for a long time and wasted a few opportunities.

This time, he finally restrained the idea of going it alone, and decisively passed the ball to a better teammate when he was off goal.

In Zhang Sheng's eyes, this is a kind of progress.