Chapter 73: Advance to the finals
Off the field, the head coach of the South Korean team was still very satisfied with the performance of his two central defenders in the unified action to make Cheng Hai offside, and applauded the two defenders with a smile on his face.
As Cheng Hai guessed, in the eyes of South Koreans, Cheng Hai's speed is at the world record level, not to mention Asian players when counterattacking, African, European and American players are just as difficult to come, and they can't catch up with Cheng Hai.
Therefore, the South Korean team has practiced Cheng Hai's offside position in the past few days before the game, anyway, the Huaguo team only has Cheng Hai as a striker, and the goal is relatively simple, as long as you keep an eye on Cheng Hai's position and the opponent's action of preparing to pass, and leave Cheng Hai behind the defense line before the opponent passes, you can put Cheng Hai in an offside position.
The performance just now was quite good, and the four or two thousand pounds resolved Cheng Hai's counterattack single goal, and also strengthened the confidence and idea of the South Korean team's backline to continue to create Cheng Hai's offside.
However, they only knew that Cheng Hai's no-ball running position was good, but they didn't know that Cheng Hai's off-ball running position had reached the level of perfection of 20 full value.
Now that he knows the tactics of the South Koreans deliberately creating him offside, and he is psychologically guarded, it is not difficult for Cheng Hai to successfully form a single knife against offside again.
Of course, it won't be easy to get a second good counter-attack.
On the one hand, it is because the overall strength of the South Korean team is stronger than that of the Chinese team, and it has been pressing the Chinese team to play.
On the other hand, even if the players of the Huaguo team occasionally get the ball and want to counterattack, because the timing of the pass is not right, or there is a problem with the passing technique, and the cooperation with Cheng Hai is not in place, and the counterattack cannot be formed.
This can't be accurate at once, even if midfield passing masters such as Xavi and Iniesta come to pass the ball to Cheng Hai, they can't pass the ball in place every counterattack.
For example, in the 15th minute, Cheng Hai succeeded in countering offside, and the two defenders of the South Korean team failed to make him offside.
However, Zhao Xuri's big-footed pass was too powerful, and it went directly over Cheng Hai's head and fell into the South Korean team's penalty area, which was directly confiscated by the attacking goalkeeper Zheng Chenglong.
In the 22nd minute, Cheng Hai successfully countered offside again, but Zheng Zhi's passing route was slightly correct, did not avoid the opponent's defender, and was intercepted halfway by Huang Zaiyuan, who fell behind Cheng Hai, and did not pass to Cheng Hai's feet at all.
This made Cheng Hai a little helpless.
These two chances for Cheng Hai to succeed in the anti-offside position, if the club's Shahin or Shinji Kagawa came to pass, it should be successful once.
But these teammates of the Huaguo team have no choice but to do so with this strength.
In addition, the pressure on everyone from the Korean team is too great, even if they get the ball, they are relatively hasty when they get the ball, and there is no way to pass it badly.
You must know that Cheng Hai's side has not yet made a counterattack, and he has not even shot a single shot, and the South Korean team has already hit the goal three times in the first 20 minutes.
It's just that the shooting skills of the players of the South Korean team are far from being comparable to Cheng Hai, and only one of the three shots hit the goal frame in the goal frame, and the angle is not awkward, and it was saved by goalkeeper Yang Zhi.
If Cheng Hailai shoots, these three chances can score at least one goal.
This is the helplessness of both sides.
The overall strength of the South Korean team crushed the Hua Guo team, creating many more shooting opportunities than the Hua Guo team, but there was no top striker like Cheng Hai on the last shot, resulting in repeated missed opportunities.
The Huaguo team has Cheng Hai, a top striker with superb shooting skills, but he is limited by the passing and cutting strength of his teammates, so he can't create too many opportunities for Cheng Hai.
This allowed the two sides to reach a superficial equilibrium in the first 30 minutes, and the strength of the South Korean team made the Chinese team feel completely different from Jordan, Kuwait, Uzbekistan and other countries in front.
However, although the strength of the South Korean team is stronger than that of the Chinese national team, it has always been at the Asian level.
Cheng Hai's strength is world-class.
In the 32nd minute, South Korean striker Ji Dongwon's shot was blocked by central defender Zhao Pengfei, and the ball fell at the feet of Zhao Xuri.
Zhao Xuri didn't wait for the opponent's player to grab, so he quickly passed the ball to Deng Zhuoxiang, the forward who returned to the defense.
Deng Zhuoxiang, who was on the side of the backfield, stopped the buckle and dodged the South Korean midfielder Gu Zizhe, and then, after taking a look at the front court, he made a long pass to the ground and stuffed the ball straight into the front court of the South Korean team.
In the opening 30 minutes, after several straight stoppers that were not in place, Deng Zhuoxiang's pass finally matched Cheng Hai's running position and speed.
When Cheng Hai passed the ball to Deng Zhuoxiang by Zhao Xuri, he made a move to sprint to the South Korean team's penalty area and wanted to be offside.
The South Koreans still firmly continued to create offside, and at the moment when Cheng Hai made an anti-offside move, the two central defenders stepped forward together, wanting to keep Cheng Hai behind the defensive line, so that Cheng Hai was in an offside state at the moment of Deng Zhuoxiang's pass, thwarting the counterattack of the Chinese team.
Unexpectedly, Cheng Hai's forward insertion this time was just a feint, and he did not rush out after taking a step, but paused.
Cheng Hai's pause allowed him not to be offside at the moment of Deng Zhuoxiang's pass.
Then, after Deng Zhuoxiang's ball came out, Cheng Hai rushed out instantly with his full-value "acceleration".
The two South Korean central defenders both raised their hands to signal to the referee that Cheng Hai was offside, but neither the referee nor the linesman said anything, but followed Cheng Hai to the front.
Obviously, in the eyes of the two referees, Cheng Hai was not offside in this attack.
The faces of the two defenders changed drastically, and when they tried to turn around and chase back, it was too late.
Originally, Cheng Hai was in a state of forward insertion, coupled with his advantage in speed, he left behind the two central defenders who still needed a turning process almost instantly.
The two could only watch in despair as Cheng Hai rushed to the front court, and received Deng Zhuoxiang's long pass to the ground to form a single ball.
The Huaguo team finally played a successful counterattack, allowing Cheng Hai to receive the ball and form a single knife.
The more than 20,000 Chinese fans in the stands suddenly stood up excitedly, their eyes widened, and they looked at the field expectantly, hoping that Cheng Hai's single ball would not make a mistake.
More than 10,000 South Korean fans booed in horror, hoping to interfere with Cheng Hai's solo and shot.
But how could Cheng Hai be disturbed?
With the system plug-in, no one in the world has Cheng Hai's confidence in himself.
Therefore, Cheng Hai did not pay attention to the boos in the stands at all, but used his full-value dribbling skills to rush forward with the ball.
He also believes that no one in the South Korean defenders behind him can catch up with him, and he only needs to beat goalkeeper Jung Sung-ryong.
Zheng Chenglong knew that Cheng Hai liked to shoot when he played a single knife, so he didn't shoot very far, just a little outside the line of the small penalty area.
At this distance, if Cheng Hai shoots a hanging shot, it is easy to fly off the crossbar or be caught by him.
At the same time, he is not too close to the goal line, and he also has a certain defensive ability against Cheng Hai's single low shot.
However, this kind of response can only be against strikers with average shooting skills, and in the face of Cheng Hai, who is the top striker in Europe, Zheng Chenglong's response is doomed to failure.
Shooting is indeed a little riskier, because Cheng Hai has not yet opened the shooting skill, and the shooting is not as accurate as the ground volley.
But hitting the ground volley, such a big goal, even if Zheng Chenglong is not on the goal line, it can't be compared with kicking a penalty, he can't save it.
Sure enough, Cheng Hai rushed into the penalty area with the ball, and when the two were only about three or four meters apart, Cheng Hai volleyed into the far corner according to Zheng Chenglong's selection.
Because the distance is too close, it is impossible to wait for Cheng Hai to finish the shot and then save according to the ball.
Therefore, Zheng Chenglong instinctively pounced on the near corner the moment Cheng Hai shot the goal.
It all went in the opposite direction, and the ball flew behind him and into the far post in his desperate gaze.
In the 32nd minute of the first half, the Huaguo team finally broke through the goal of the South Korean team, and it was Cheng Hai, who everyone had high hopes for, who scored.
When the ball flew into the far goalpost, the CCTV-5 commentator in the commentary seat suddenly roared loudly with excitement:
"The ball is in!"
"We've finally scored!"
"It was Cheng Hai who scored the goal!"
"Cheng Hai received Deng Zhuoxiang's backcourt pass to form a single goal, and the Huaguo team led 1-0!"
"We had the advantage in the scoreline!"
……
The game was harder than the previous games played by the Chinese team, and Cheng Haidu did not get this chance to shoot back until the 32nd minute.
Fortunately, Cheng Hai's shooting skills did not disappoint, although it was Cheng Hai's first shot of the game, but it hit it and kicked the ball into the goal of the South Korean team.
Therefore, not only Cheng Hai, who scored the goal, was running and celebrating excitedly, but the Chinese fans at the scene and in front of the TV were also clapping and cheering wildly, celebrating Cheng Hai's goal and celebrating the Chinese team's one-goal lead over South Korea.
As for the Koreans, whether it is the coaches, the players, or the fans, they all seem very depressed and depressed.
You must know that from the perspective of the situation, they have an absolute advantage, and they have always pressed the Huaguo team to attack.
Whether it was the number of shots on goal or the number of shots on target, as well as the possession, they led by a wide margin across the board.
As a result, the first goal was scored by the Huaguo team, who completed the first shot on goal. Cheng Hai's archery skills really make people feel desperate.
For the two central defenders, Cho Yong-hyung and Hwang Jae-won, the conceded goal was like a bolt from the blue, giving them a heavy blow.
Although Cheng Hai has also been successful in anti-offside before, after all, he did not receive a pass from his teammates to form a single knife, and they can still deceive themselves and feel that their offside tactics are successful.
But this time, Cheng Hai's running position was obviously aimed at their offside tactics, and their offside tactics fell short through the rhythm change of rushing forward and stopping urgently, and then successfully received a pass from a teammate to form a single goal.
If they hadn't consciously created an offside position, but had stepped back early to form a defensive line the moment they conceded the ball up front, the Chinese team's counterattack might not have been successful, and it was entirely possible for them to destroy the ball before entering the penalty area, even if it was a tactical foul.
After all, this counterattack, from Zhao Pengfei blocking the ball with the gun's eye, the ball falling to Zhao Xuri's feet, Zhao Xuri passing to Deng Zhuoxiang, and Deng Zhuoxiang then passing to Cheng Hai, there is a long time process.
If they retreat in time and decisively, it is possible to prevent Cheng Hai's single attack this time.
Cheng Hai's successful anti-offside goal this time made the two central defenders doubt the tactics of creating offside.
Although they had a few days of training before the game to create offsides, it seems that the effect is not good, and Cheng Hai's offside running is much better than their offside position.
What's more, even if they have a high success rate in creating offsides, they are defenders, and Cheng Hai is an attacker.
They should have succeeded 5 times, and once they made a mistake, they were successfully countered offside by Cheng Hai, and they received the ball to form a single knife, which was a huge injury, just like losing the ball this time.
As a result, both centre-backs looked to the manager on the sidelines for his idea.
The head coach of the South Korean team also knew that his offside tactics were difficult to deliver, but at this time he could not let the back line drop back to concentrate on defence.
Because by this time they are already lagging behind.
It was a winner-take-off tournament and they would have to be eliminated as long as the score was down until the end.
Therefore, they had to attack.
And if you want to attack, you can't get too far away from the front and back. In addition, the practice in the past few days is all offside tactics, if you don't use it, wouldn't it prove that you have done useless work in the past few days?
The helpless head coach could only let the players continue to attack, and the back line continued to use offside tactics to prevent Cheng Hai's counterattack.
This is a helpless choice when the score is behind, knowing that there are tigers in the mountains and biasing towards the tigers.
Fortunately, after a few days of specially trained offside tactics, the tacit understanding was still very strong, and in the following time, they destroyed several counterattacks of the Huaguo team, causing Cheng Hai's offside.
Although Cheng Hai also ran out of a successful anti-offside position once, this time his teammate's pass did not fit with him, and finally the ball was kicked away by goalkeeper Zheng Chenglong who went out of the penalty area.
In the rest of the first half, the Chinese team did not score.
But on the other hand, South Korea did not score a single goal themselves.
After 45 minutes of bombardment around the Chinese team's penalty area, the South Korean team did not even score a goal, which was beyond the expectations of the South Koreans.
When will the Chinese team's defense be able to withstand South Korea's attack?
This made them a little incredulous and a little depressed.
In fact, the South Koreans just don't want to admit that they are weak in attack.
In this Asian Cup, the South Korean team scored not many goals in the group stage 2-1 and 1-1 in the group stage. There was only one group game against India, which ended in a 4-1 run and four goals were scored.
But what team is India? Score 4 goals in India, and the Chinese team can also do it.
In addition, in the quarterfinals, the South Korean team faced Iran, and it was a 0-0 draw in 90 minutes, and they couldn't even score a goal, and it wasn't until the 105th minute of extra time that they scored a goal to eliminate Iran.
Therefore, the Koreans thought that their advantage over the Chinese team was just an illusion, but in reality they did not perform well in this Asian Cup.
On the side of the Huaguo team, under the leadership of Cheng Hai, the players are becoming more and more confident, and their desire for the championship is getting stronger and stronger.
This is the more united side of the players' mentality.
In addition, in terms of real defensive cooperation, after several games of actual combat exercises, everyone's cooperation is now more tacit.
In addition, Cheng Hai has Cheng Hai to do the work for the offense, and everyone else can concentrate on defense, and there is a numerical advantage, which can be called a bus defense.
South Korea is not a world giant like Brazil, Spain, and Germany, so the dense defense of the Chinese national team naturally seems to have little solution, and the seemingly dominant attack failed to convert into goals until the end of the first half.
After the referee blew the final whistle of the first half, the two sides entered the halftime break with a score of 1-0, and the Huaguo team temporarily led by one goal.
After a 15-minute break, the two sides changed sides and fought again, and the South Korean team, which was behind the score, had no choice but to continue to press the attack and try to break through the goal of the Chinese team.
However, their forwards have been lackluster at this World Cup, failing to find the ball in the back of the net even when they have the occasional chance to shoot.
On the contrary, it is the Chinese team, because of the presence of Cheng Hai, every counterattack can make the players and fans of the South Korean team frightened.
After several failed counterattacks, finally, in the 56th minute, the Huaguo team played another counterattack.
However, this time, because his teammate's big-footed long pass did not match Cheng Hai's speed and running position, Cheng Hai had to stop and wait for the ball, and then he was caught up by the opposing defender and blocked the way.
Although Cheng Hai used his full-value dribbling to rush left and right after unloading the ball, and repeatedly smashed the ball to get a shot outside the big penalty area, he still failed to play a good angle under the interference of Huang Zaiyuan, and the angle was slightly correct, and was saved by goalkeeper Zheng Chenglong from the bottom line.
The South Korean players and fans finally breathed a sigh of relief, and some of the players who ran back also patted Hwang Jae-won on the shoulder to thank him for this defense.
And Jung Sung-ryong, who saved the ball from the bottom line, also received applause and encouragement from the Korean fans in the stands.
However, what they didn't expect was that they didn't be happy for a minute, and the Hwakook team grabbed the first point in the next corner kick attack and headed the ball into the South Korean team's goal.
It was Cheng Hai who scored the goal that made them tremble.
Cheng Hai's bounce and header are all added to the full value of 20, plus the same full value of running without the ball, grabbing points, physique, balance, etc., Cheng Hai's ability to compete for the head in the penalty area is no longer inferior to any 190-tall central defender.
So, after his teammates passed the ball out and the landing point was near Cheng Hai, Cheng Hai naturally carried the crowd of two defenders, jumped high on the line of the small penalty area, grabbed the first point and shook his head to attack the goal.
The full-value header technique made Cheng Hai push out a tricky angle. When the header was so close, Zheng Chenglong didn't even react to the save, and watched the ball fly into the net.
In the 57th minute, Cheng Hai scored another goal to complete the brace and expand the score to 2-0.
In the fierce celebration of Cheng Hai and his teammates, the Chinese fans at the scene and in front of the TV set gave more enthusiastic applause and cheers.
In the next game, the South Korean team launched a more fierce attack.
However, it is true that today's goal luck was not on the side of the South Korean team.
In the 72nd minute, after Cheng Hai was replaced, the intensive defense of the Huaguo team was more thorough, and the South Korean team had no choice.
It wasn't until the 87th minute that South Korea won a penalty through a break in the box by Park Ji-sung that caused a foul by the Hwa Kuok defender and made the score 1-2, only one goal behind.
However, there was not much time left in the game, and although the South Korean team pressed all the way in the final stage, they still failed to break through the goal of the Chinese team.
After three minutes of stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle for the end of the game, and the Chinese team defeated South Korea 2-1 in the semi-finals of the 2011 Asian Cup in Qatar and advanced to the final of this Asian Cup.