Chapter 616: Twists and Turns
After Wu Lei broke the deadlock, the fighting spirit of the national football players became more vigorous, and the offensive became more violent, and for a while, there was a danger in front of the Haitian team.
In fact, in the case of Feng Quanwei returning to China to compete, the Haitian team, which is the main force, is still slightly higher than the national football team in terms of overall strength.
However, because the Haitian team "overestimated" its own strength, it was thought that it could easily win even if it didn't exert its all, but it was not surprising that the national football team would treat such a friendly match so hard, and naturally fell behind in the game.
This is like the ancient cold weapon warfare, the weaker side and the three armies charged bravely; The superior side is contemptuous of its opponent, believing that it will win easily, and when the war really begins, it is shocked by the opponent's bravery and can only swallow the bitter fruit of defeat.
Less than 10 minutes after Wu Lei scored his first goal, Zhang Linpeng, who had an assist, helped high school striker Yang Xu to rewrite the score to 2-0 with a low cross from the right wing.
In reality, the goal was not a very good chance. The Haitian central defender was already stuck in Zhang Linpeng's passing line, but he committed the taboo of watching the ball and not looking at people, and Yang Xu, who was ambushed behind him, went around from the right rear to the front of him, and penetrated the Haitian team's goal again with a volley.
Immediately, the stands of Changsha Helong Stadium were suddenly boiling, and the fans either cheered unpassionately, or waved their flags and shouted, or hugged their relatives and friends, in order to vent their irrepressible joy.
Although the performance of the national football team in the warm-up match has not been bad, and even staged a draw with Brazil and a narrow victory over France by one goal, it is rare to see a time when you are full of confidence and fighting spirit like today.
Many fans believe that as long as the national football team can continue to maintain this state, there is still great hope for the return of Feng Quan to break into the World Cup finals again after 2002.
However, just when many fans were already looking forward to the World Cup qualifiers that would start in June, the situation on the pitch changed dramatically.
The Haitian team, which was two goals behind, immediately strengthened its attack, and the pressing in the front court was also significantly improved to a notch, and at the same time, although their movements seemed to be a little rough, their scrambling actions did not exceed the scope allowed by the rules.
For a time, the Haitian team's active and ferocious pressing in the midfield forced the Chinese team to be difficult to organize an effective attack for a long time, and could only be tired of dealing with the opponent's fierce attack.
Not only that, Yang Xu, who helped the Chinese team score the second goal, sprained his ankle when he fought with the opponent's defender for a header in the 27th minute.
Although Yang Xu's injury was just an accident, other international players showed timidity in the subsequent games, for fear that they would follow in Yang Xu's footsteps.
Originally, it was difficult for the national football team to organize a threatening offensive under the fierce pressure of the Haitian team, so it was completely suppressed by the opponent in the constant "friction" in their own half.
If it weren't for the many rescues of Wang Dalei, who was in great shape in the Asian Cup, I am afraid that the score on the field would have become a draw long ago.
However, just when domestic fans thought that the Chinese team would enter the second half with a two-goal lead, Jeff Luiz, who plays for the Belgian Standard Sliege team, broke the door of the Chinese team with a long-range shot about 25 meters from the goal when the game was about to enter injury time.
In fact, although Jeff Luiz's shot was very powerful, the angle was somewhat positive, and Wang Dalei, who was second only to Wu Lei in the previous game, also made an accurate judgment and stood in the right position early.
However, just when everyone thought that Wang Dalei would easily confiscate the ball, the goalkeeper, who has been in very good form recently, appeared in a bizarre situation of "butter hand" and "leaked" the balloon into the door behind him.
Although Yang Xu's injury delayed a lot of time, because the game was only a friendly match, the referee blew the whistle at the end of the first half after the game restarted with only one minute of injury time.
After returning to the locker room, Lippi first affirmed the performance of the national football team in the first 20 minutes, but was very dissatisfied with the performance in the second 25 minutes.
"The defensive action after the opponent conceded two goals was indeed a bit big, but their action was also within the scope of the rules."
After a pause, Lippi looked at Zheng Zhi and said, "Zheng, you used to play in the Premier League, where the defensive moves are far more fierce than the Haitians, am I right?" ”
Hearing this, Zheng Zhi immediately nodded.
"Therefore, the ferocity of the Haitians is not a reason for you to be afraid. I know that you are worried that if you get injured in this game, it will affect the rest of the Chinese Super League, which will cause you a lot of financial losses. ”
"If any of you continue to play timidly in the second half, then I can tell you responsibly that this man will not be in the World Cup qualifiers that will start in June."
After handing the players "carrots and sticks" one after another, Lippi began to set up and adjust for the second half of the game.
Lippi first replaced Zheng Cheng, his favorite general when he coached the Heng team, Wang Dalei who appeared with butter hands, and then replaced Zheng Xiaolong, who was not in good shape, with Yu Hanchao.
After the personnel adjustments, Lippi asked the midfielders to speed up the ball in the second half of the game, increase the intensity of interspersed movements, and try to avoid direct physical contact with opponents in attack.
At the same time, taking advantage of the speed of Yu Hanchao and Wu Lei, he played more of the gap left by the opponent's two fullbacks after pressing the assist.
In the second half of the game, after Lippi's readjustment, although the Chinese team did not occupy an obvious initiative as in the first half of the first half, it still had a slight upper hand in the data of threatening the attack, and in the 19th minute of the second half, Yu Hanchao used an opportunity to switch from defense to attack to assist Gao Lin to extend the lead to two goals again.
In the remainder of the game, the Haitian team, who were not willing to lose, changed to a more attacking 4-3-3 formation with two strikers in a row, but struggled to create a threatening attack against the united Chinese defence.
On the contrary, if it weren't for Haitian goalkeeper John Plasid's multiple saves in the closing stages of the game, the national football team could have even continued to extend its lead with targeted attacks on the opponent's ribs.
Although it has experienced some twists and turns, the national football team, which has been effectively adjusted by Lippi at halftime, has a thrilling victory over the visiting Haitian team.
Four days later, the Chinese team defeated the Tunisian team with half of the main players in Nanjing with two goals from Wu Lei and Yu Dabao, drawing a successful end to the last warm-up before the World Cup Asian qualifiers.