In fact, in addition to Postecoglou, domestic journalists who came to Australia to cover the Asian Cup were also quite surprised by Lippi's starting lineup.

Lippi not only sent Wang Dalei, who only got a chance to play when qualifying from the group was a foregone conclusion, but also sent Li Xueming and Xu Xin, who also only started against North Korea, in the full-back position. In addition, in the position of defensive midfielder, Zhao Xu, who has played less than half of the time in this cup, was sent.

If the Chinese team's performance in the group stage is not satisfactory and barely wins the right to qualify from the group, a large rotation of the starting lineup may make it more acceptable to everyone, but the performance of the Chinese team in the first two rounds of the group stage not only surprised domestic fans, but even the AFC executives, who have never been very happy to see the Chinese team, are full of praise.

Could it be that Lippi wanted to win by surprise? After all, when the overall strength is at a disadvantage, increasing the variables in the game can also increase the hope of winning.

However, Xu Xin and Zhao Xu are both players who rely more on their bodies, and if they are against players in Southeast Asia who are relatively weak in physical fitness and do not have much advantage in foot skills, their advantages may be vividly displayed. But in front of the Australians, who are more physical, I am afraid that the advantage of the two of them is almost a disadvantage.

And the most shocking thing for domestic reporters is to send Feng Quan to appear.

As early as after the match with Saudi Arabia, the national team released news that it will take at least about two weeks to resume training, and it will take at least about 20 days to return to the field.

However, less than two weeks after Feng Quan left the field injured in the first leg of the game, he was placed in the starting line-up by Lippi. Even if today's Fengquan already has super strength comparable to Messi and Ronaldo, the two football gods, how much strength can he exert when the injury has not healed?

Even if Feng Quan's appearance is only for the purpose of deterring the opponent, the deterrent effect that a Feng Quan who is not in the best state can play is very limited. What's more, if he rushes to fight before his injury has healed, it may even aggravate his injury. If this is the case, Lippi's approach will be somewhat more than worth the cost.

Could it be that the old Lippi is already "old and confused"? Otherwise, people really can't understand the choice he made.

In fact, the reason why Lippi discharged such a starting lineup, in addition to the meaning of surprising victory, the main factor was Fengquan's "early" comeback.

In Lippi's view, although Feng Quan's appearance can force the Australian team to increase the strength of the defense, but the deterrence of Feng Quan alone cannot completely suppress the opponent's offensive, after all, the main offensive method of the Australian team is to rely on its strong physical fitness that is the best in Asian football, and continue to impact the opponent's defense line through a relatively simple rushing and hanging play.

As a result, Australia, who are known for their strong impact, don't need to be fluid and delicate to threaten the opposition's defence with a simple punch.

Therefore, whether the defenders can resist the "high-altitude bombardment" of the Australians is the key to cracking the opponent's attack. Because of this, Lippi pulled Zhang Linpeng, who has a European physique, back to the middle, and put Li Xueming and Xu Xin, who have relatively good physical fitness, on the two wings.

…………

Seeing Feng Quan appear in the starting list made Postecoglou faintly worried, but after thinking for a moment, his heart relaxed.

It stands to reason that Feng Quan's injury will take two weeks to recover from his ideal condition, and now it has only been 12 days since he was injured, so in Postecoglou's view, Feng Quan's battle is likely to be injured, and his strength will inevitably not be fully delivered.

Therefore, as long as their team does not make mistakes on their own initiative, the final victory will inevitably belong to Australia, which is better overall.

As a result, Postecoglou only asked the defenders not to press the assist too much, so that the Chinese team could use the speed advantage to launch a quick counterattack, but did not arrange for the players to mark the wind full-time.

…………

With the referee's whistle, Australia, who had been awarded the kick-off, moved the ball to the right side of the pitch after a few simple passes in midfield. At the same time, players such as Tim Cahill and James Troisi, who are good at headers, also hit the Chinese team's penalty area at the first time.

After seeing that Cahill and others were ready to grab points, Bresciano, who took the ball on the right side, immediately sent a 45-degree diagonal pass towards the Chinese team's penalty area.

Although Cahill and Troisi are both around 1.80 meters tall, they are not "high school strikers" in the traditional sense, but in the past encounters with the Chinese team, even Zhang Linpeng, who is known as the "Chinese Ramos", is difficult to take advantage of when competing for the top.

But this time, just when Troisi, who was closer to the landing point, was about to jump up and ferry the ball to Cahill with a larger shooting angle before the defender, he was surprised to see that Feng Xiaoting, who is not known for his physical strength, first forced himself out of the advantageous position, and then calmly pushed the ball to his teammate on the right side.

"What's going on? Even the stronger Zhang (Lin Peng) will have a hard time taking advantage of me in previous matches. But today, even this not strong guy can squeeze me out of place. Could it be that this guy has carried out some kind of secret special training, and in a short period of time, his physical strength has skyrocketed? Encountering Feng Xiaoting's "strength crushing" made Troissy's heart suddenly ripple.

In fact, even Feng Xiaoting, who had just won the championship, was quite shocked.

Originally, Feng Xiaoting didn't expect to be able to squeeze out Troissy, after all, it was still difficult for him to take advantage of his strength in the previous confrontation between the two sides. Therefore, his idea is just to squeeze his opponent with all his strength and not let the opponent get a chance to jump calmly.

But I never thought that my own squeeze would directly cause Troisi to lose the best starting position, and then easily won the battle.

Although Feng Xiaoting's physical confrontation ability has improved due to the deliberate strengthening of strength training in recent months, the reason why he was able to easily "win" in the battle with Troisy was mainly due to the "strength increase" of Feng Quan's [Great God's Light].

However, winning this battle still strengthened Feng Xiaoting's determination to strengthen his strength training.

Of course, Feng Xiaoting is not the only one who has gained the increase in "power", and so is Zhang Linpeng, who has partnered with him in the central defender. Therefore, no matter who is on the Australian team, as long as they meet Feng Xiaoting and Zhang Linpeng, it will be difficult to take advantage of the physical confrontation.

As a result, it will be difficult for the Australian team to form an effective threat to the Chinese team.