Chapter 68: Black Whistle?
After the goal, the Castilla players rushed to the visiting bench to clap their hands in celebration, while the 5,000 fans across the Stadium Gal erupted in deafening boos and shouts.
With an equaliser early in the second half and a valuable away goal from their opponents, things were a little rough for Real United. Head coach Zulaika couldn't sit still at this time, and like Li Mudi, he came to the sidelines and shouted loudly at the players, asking them to cheer up and regain control of the situation.
After kick-off, the home team launched another tidal wave of attacks with the cheers of the crowd, but it was a pity that Castilla was also at the peak of their momentum after the goal, and they were not afraid of the fierce confrontation of their opponents. And their top scorer Garland was entangled by the visiting team's youngster Manu to receive the ball in a comfortable situation, which greatly reduced the team's ability to score goals, although he suppressed the opponent on the field for a while, but did not really threaten the away team's goal.
Seeing that his own attack could barely pass into the opponent's penalty area, Zuleka called in the assistant coach to signal him to recall the substitute striker Mgaka, who was warming up not far away, ready to play at any time, and then turned back and waved to the players who stayed in the center and back on the field, asking them to find an opportunity to press forward.
Seeing this scene, Solari, who had been keeping an eye on the other party's movements, hurriedly ran to Li Mudi's side and informed the boss of the movements of the Royal Alliance. Li Mudi thought for a moment and asked, "If it were you, who would you replace with Mgapa?" ”
Solari's coaching level is also of a certain level, and without thinking: "It should be a midfielder, they can't accept this draw, otherwise they will have to wait for death to go to Madrid." If you want to score, you have to solve the problem of the last goal, and with Garland on the field, adding a striker can solve the man-marking tactics that we set up in midfield. As for the lack of a midfielder who would cause problems defensively, they don't care so much anymore and scoring goals is the most important thing. After speaking, seeing that Li Mudi kept his eyes on the field and did not react to his analysis, he would ask: "If it were you, how would you make adjustments?" ”
The Castilla boss still didn't turn his head around, keeping his eyes on the home team's attack, and waited a moment before replying: "I will replace the two full-backs with a striker and a centre-back, switch to a back three, and defend in the box." ”
Then he seemed to see the puzzled look on the face of the assistant next to him, and further explained: "Lin Liangming still failed to complete the task I gave him before, and the threat to the opponent on the side was not enough, and the main offensive means of Alvaro on the right side were crosses and grabbing points in front of the goal, and the midfielder's long-range shooting ability was not guaranteed." So at the end of the day, our attacking approach to danger ends up in the box. In this case, the centre-backs, who are more likely to switch between attack and defence, are better suited to defending our attacking tactics than full-backs, which will ensure that the threat of our long-range shots is reduced and a large numerical advantage can be created in the middle, making crosses ineffective. On the offensive end, there are multiple points of possession to facilitate the overall operation of the team. ”
After carefully weighing the pros and cons of the two substitutions in his mind, Solari asked again: "But without the support of the two fullbacks, their wing tactics can't be played, wouldn't that be a waste of Garland's super ability to grab points?" ”
"yes, that's why the old fox is hesitant, he's still thinking about who to replace." As he spoke, Li Mudi moved his gaze to Zulaika, who was also standing on the sidelines directing the players' runs.
The Real United head coach was clearly unhappy with the situation on the pitch, with the home side having dominated the majority of possession for the last four or five minutes, but were unable to generate a single shot on goal, with Castilla using their stubborn willpower to fend off their attack. If this continues, it may not take a few minutes for the players to run out of stamina and it will be even more difficult to create any dangerous attacking opportunities.
Just when Zulaika was about to make up her mind, the situation on the field changed dramatically. Toro poked the ball out of the midfield circle that had retreated so deep to Garland's feet in order to escape Manu's marking, and then quickly distributed the ball to the right, where Alvaro took a big step past the up-and-coming midfielder Rodra and then cut inside to the box.
Left-back Mosilo, who had previously lost the ball after being broken by the opponent, did not dare to kick out at will, so he had to watch the situation while retreating, and put Alvaro 15 meters in front of the penalty area. After several of his teammates in the midfield rushed back to make up for the defence, Mosilo finally decided to step forward to block his opponent and drive him out of the danger zone. The right winger of Castilla did not choose to continue to work alone, but pushed the ball into the gap on the right side and accelerated into the penalty area to grab the point.
Right-back Linhardt, who had the assist for the visitors, received the ball without a single defender within 10 metres of him, so he calmly adjusted and slotted the ball towards the opposition goal with his right foot. At this time, there were three Castile players in front of the goal of Real United in place, namely Alvaro at the front point, Rivero in the middle and Lin Liangming at the back point.
When it was too late, the ball slid quickly from this side to the far end, and several players from both sides in the middle failed to touch it, until the back point of the Celestial Boy's outstretched toe knocked it into the goal, and Castilla overtook it!
Just when the visiting team was celebrating wildly and the fans were booing for a long time, the referee made a gesture that the goal was invalid, and he signaled that in the rush just now, Rivero had a foul action of pushing people behind him. The decision completely angered the entire Castilla team, and the players in the stadium gathered directly in front of him, protesting the foul that had just been made out of nothing. The members of the coaching staff off the field also ran to the fourth official to complain, thinking that the team had been hacked, and the offensive coach Pozo even brought out expletives in his words.
Amid the barrage of boos, the referee quickly resolved the problem in his own way: Alvaro and Rivero, who were the most protesting, received yellow cards respectively, while Pozzo, who had spoken out of the way to the fourth official, was ejected from the pitch and the visitors suffered heavy losses.
Before the game resumed, Zuleka finally completed the substitution, replacing central midfielder Martinez with striker Mgaka, and the formation changed to 4-2-2-2, with two forwards and two strikers. It was the away team's breakthrough on the wing just now that made him make up his mind, thinking that the position of the three central defenders would expose the two wide gaps directly in front of the opponent, so that Castilla could get more opportunities to attack on the wing, or keep the full-back formation more solid.
While the visitors were still basking in the fury of having their goal blown away two minutes earlier, Royal United launched an almost identical attacking tactic after whipping in a free-kick in front of goal. Mike Alonso broke through Muñoz in the middle and split the ball to the left wing, left-back Mosilo crossed diagonally to the line of the penalty area at 45°, and Mgaka, who retreated to receive the ball, attracted the attention of Linhardt and passed the ball to the space behind the latter. Ozkoidi followed up in time, and after Linhardt turned around and desperately chased the next small pull ball past the opponent, he immediately took two steps in the direction of the penalty area and directly crossed the ball with a low low ball.
Five or six players gathered in the penalty area and scrambled at the same time, and finally Leon cleared it with a kick first. But just as the players outside were about to control the second drop point, the whistle blew again, and the referee on duty, Istúriz Latorre, awarded a penalty for a foul on Manu in the penalty area for a push on Garland!
Now the whole Castile staff is gone, you have to play us! The previous goal blew an offensive foul, and this time it blew a defensive foul, is this going to award the victory directly to Real United? The players once again surrounded the referee, and some even made some physical contact with him very uncalmly.
Seeing this scene, Li Mudi, who was still venting his dissatisfaction with the fourth official just now, was scared into a cold sweat at that time, if Latore was ruthless, he would not be sent off a few players! Hurriedly ran along the sideline in the direction of his goal, while shouting with all his strength: "Hurry up and disperse, you bastards!" Quick, little forest, go and pull them away. I'm XXXX! In a hurry, he also burst into foul language.
Aside from the coach who is anxious outside the field, the away team players in the stadium are basically all in a state of semi-madness, at this time, whoever dares to come forward to provoke, it is estimated that they will dare to fight directly, then the whole team will fall into hell in an instant, and the fate of many people will be completely changed.
Luckily, there's also a level-headed guy inside – captain Alex Febas, a midfielder who has just turned 20.
When Li Mudi first took over the team, Fabas was not outstanding in the team, and his ability and potential were not outstanding. Excluding Medland and Borja, who are on loan, Odegaard and Toro are the "three choices" of the team's main team, and the rookie coach positions him as an iron-clad substitute. But as time progressed, Fabas's meticulous attitude and strong willpower in training made Li Mudi gradually impressed with him. The stat value has skyrocketed from 105 points in July last year to 115 points now, and the potential value has changed from 136 to 145, becoming the player with the most increase in the team. And it was precisely because he had grown so quickly that Lee Moody dared to send away the Norwegian talent before the winter transfer window closed.
The coach of the team has a lot of trust in him, and after the adjustment of the team's lineup, he even transferred the position of vice-captain from Muñoz to Febas, and the former became the third captain. In the process of the team quickly running in the formation and re-demonstrating its superior strength, Fabas also gave full play to its leading role and repaid Li Mudi for his cultivation and reuse with outstanding performance.
At the urgent moment when Castile was facing such a crisis, it was again a young man with the style of a general who stepped forward. He first used violent tugging to drive away the players who were besieging the referee, and then discussed the controversy and scale of the two decisions with LaTorre as the captain of the field. Although in the end, Abad, Manu, Muñoz and himself could not escape the fate of yellow cards, but at least the team did not reduce the number of players, and by putting pressure on the referee, he was able to more or less affect his scale in the following games, which was a perfect way for the team to survive this huge crisis. In this regard, the head coach on the sidelines applauded him without hesitation, and at the same time, the resentment and panic in his heart before were also alleviated a lot.
Just after the conflict was temporarily resolved, referee Isturiz Latore sent Solari out of the field at the behest of the fourth official, because in the protest just now, the assistant coach of the visiting team made some money with his hand or called rubbing money, implying that the referee took black money, which naturally will not be forgiven.
The players on the pitch are not doing well, but two of the coaching staff have been sent off, which is also a novelty.
After the game returned to normal, Garland easily deceived Abad and easily sent the penalty into the bottom corner of the net to make it 2-1, and to the cheers of the fans in the stadium, the home side of Real United once again exceeded the score.