Chapter 75: The gong begins
The starting lineup of the Dragon team against the Qatar team, the smallest change, is the guard line, Ren Hang was originally the main defender, the last game was absent due to injury, this game is back from injury, back to the start, it is a matter of course.
Li Xuepeng, Zhang Linpeng and Feng Xiaoting, who all played well in the last game, were important contributors to the Dragons team's clean sheet against the Uzbekistan team, and it is reasonable that they will continue to be entrusted with important tasks in this game.
The midfield changes are not too big, and the core of the old and young generations, Zheng Zhi and Zhang Xizhe, still appear in the starting list.
The veteran captain Zheng Zhi played well in the last game, and his score after the game was second only to Shen Feng, who was the only three yuan, and he really played the role of Dinghai Shenzhen.
In the last game against Uzbekistan, although Zhang Xizhe missed a chance to score a single goal, his overall performance was also satisfactory, and his tandem effect in the midfield was obvious.
Yu Hanchao partnered with Shen Feng in the last game, served as the forward trident, and successfully completed his task, and played an obvious role in the midfield, helping Shen Feng share a lot of pressure.
Zhao Xuri did not start in the last game, but only came off the bench and did not have many opportunities to perform. He is about to turn 32 years old, he has maintained his competitive form quite well, has a lot of experience in major competitions, and he has the trust of Lippi in this game, and it is the result of his own efforts to start.
The change in the front line is the biggest.
In the last game against Uzbekistan, Shen Feng, who scored three yuan alone and helped the Dragon Country team to win early, is still the first choice for the Dragon Country team to attack the city in this game.
Due to the different opponents, the coaching staff led by Lippi, after careful consideration, finally chose Xiao Zhi to partner with Shen Feng in this game as a double striker.
Xiao Zhi, who was born in 85, is now over thirty-two years old, is a veteran of the battlefield, he is one of the few late bloomers in the lineup of the Dragon Country, this game is the third game he played on behalf of the Dragon Team, and the first two games, one is a warm-up game, and one is a substitute.
This game is the real start of his official game for the Dragon Country.
The first leg of the World Cup qualifiers in the Asian round of 12 between the two teams, the Dragon team sat at home and drew 0:0 with the Qatar team.
But now, just ten months later, the situation of the two teams is completely different.
During this period, the Dragon team defeated the South Korean team, the Syrian team and the Uzbekistan team one after another, and the points were only 2 points from the first five rounds, and they chased all the way to the current 11 points, regaining the hope of promotion.
However, the Qatar team lost to Iran, Uzbekistan and Syria in succession, although in the eighth round, the home team defeated the South Korean team 3:2, but it has been useless, and has now been excluded from the list of qualifying competitors in advance.
Judging from the performance of the past ten months, the overall strength of the Dragon Country team is indeed higher than that of the Qatar team.
Especially in the last round, the Dragon team defeated the Uzbekistan team by 4 goals at home, while the Qatar team lost to the Syrian team 1:3, and the gap was even more obvious.
This game is the home of the Qatar team, although they have lost the qualification for the competition and even the play-offs, but just to save the last face, this game, they will not let the Dragon team pass too easily.
According to the speculation of the coaching staff of the Dragon Nation, in the opening stage of the game, the Qatar team will even try to take the initiative to attack, and then immediately shrink the defense regardless of the effect.
If the offensive attempts in front can be successful, then the dead defense in the back will have a foundation, and it may even be possible to use the bus formation to hold a victory; Even if the attack in front is fruitless, the dead defense in the back must try to ensure that the goal is not lost.
The score of the first leg of the two teams was 0:0, and this game will keep a score of 0:0, which the Qatar team can accept.
If things really develop as speculated by the coaching staff of the Dragon Team, then the biggest problem facing the Dragon Team in this game is how to break through the dense defensive bus formation of the Qatar team!
In the end, the solution was to send two high-level strikers and use high-altitude bombing!
The two starting strikers of the Dragon Country team in this game, Shen Feng and Xiao Zhi, are both big men with a height of 187 cm, with outstanding sense of grabbing points and good header ability.
Lippi asked the two of them to play together in this game, with a very clear purpose, that is, to let the two of them serve as batteries in the Qatar team's penalty area, and their teammates in the midfield and backfield deliver cannonballs, so that the two of them can take turns bombarding the Qatar team's goal with the advantage of high-altitude balls.
In addition, the coaching staff of the Dragons also asked the starters of the Dragons to try to shoot from a distance as much as possible.
The starting lineup of the Dragons has a number of heavy gunners, and whether the Dragons can score as early and as many goals as possible in this game also depends on their performance.
On September 5, 2017, at 6 p.m. local time in Doha and 11 p.m. Beijing time, the three matches of Group A of the World Cup Qualifiers Asian Round of 12 were played by Qatar vs. Dragons, Iran vs. Syria, and Uzbekistan vs. South Korea.
Since the two matches between Iran and Syria, Uzbekistan and South Korea are also closely related to the future of the Dragon Team, the fans of the Dragon Country are also paying attention to the progress of those two games while watching the games of the Dragon Team.
The National Television Sports Channel also broadcast the match between the Dragons and the Qatar team live, and the commentary partners sent to the Harifa International Stadium in Doha are still old acquaintances of the fans, He Wei and Xu Yang.
While the two of them were commenting on the game, they also interjected the score changes of the other two games from time to time.
However, it was the result of this game that decided the fate of the Dragon Country team.
After the referee blew the whistle for the start of the battle, the players on the field of the Dragon Country team forgot everything else and concentrated on the game in front of them!
The Dragons wore yellow away kits in this game and attacked from right to left in the first half of the game.
The open-air air-conditioning system of the Khalifa International Stadium is in full swing today, causing a temperature difference of up to 20 degrees inside and outside the stadium, and the high temperature outside the stadium is 40 degrees, but the temperature inside the stadium is only more than 20 degrees, which is very suitable for the players to play.