Chapter 111: Arrived as scheduled
"You know, of course, the club doesn't want you to be involved in this scandal!"
As the current president of Boca, Pompiro's words undoubtedly represent the unanimous attitude of the three giants within the Boca club at this moment, and it is undoubtedly the best outcome that Santhiago has nothing to do with this matter. After promising to hold a press conference to help him clarify the matter, Santi left the chairman's office with relief, but at the end of the hallway, he was stopped by someone behind him.
When Santi turned his head in confusion, he realized that it was not the guessed head coach Ischea, but the team's respected manager, Mr. Bianchi.
I saw that the weather-beaten old man looked at Stanti for a moment before he said in a tone of seven points of calm and three points of warning: "St. Tiago, in fact, I am not interested in what you and Gaitan talked about last night, but I must remind you that recognizing your own situation and constantly helping the team achieve results is the most important thing for you now!" As for the rest, the club and the agent can handle it. ”
After saying that, Bianchi patted Saint-Tiago on the shoulder, turned and walked towards the other end, and the press officer, who had been waiting not far away, immediately followed.
Seeing the back of Mr. Bianchi gradually turning away, Santhiago stood still for a few minutes before coming to his senses, and after savoring his words, Santy couldn't help but smile wryly, and there was a feeling of sweat. He understood, at least Mr. Bianchi already knew what he and the others had discussed last night. Although it is not known whether the chairman Pompiro and the manager Ischea are already aware of this matter, it is certain that Mr. Bianchi, who has always been in his favor, is undoubtedly quite unhappy, as can be seen from this warning.
Having said that, his words are indeed inappropriate, especially when Boca is very good to himself, thinking of this, Santhiago also quickly walked towards the training ground after some reflection, Mr. Bianchi is right, the only thing he has to do now is to help the team continue to win one championship after another, as for the rest, he should not interfere in any case.
This time it almost came out of my mouth!
When Santhiago returned to the training ground, the head coach Ischea had already gathered the first-team players and informed them of the whole story, and many players breathed a sigh of relief after learning that Santhiago had nothing to do with the matter. Today's Santi is very important, even indispensable, for Boca, and it is precisely because of his presence that this Boca Juniors team skillfully blends the different technical and tactical styles of Europe and South America, and reproduces the fast attack style that Boca is proud of.
Therefore, before the battle against San Lorenzo, Santi was not involved, and the players were relieved, and the scandal in front of them was all caused by the stunned youth of the youth team, and under the supervision of head coach Ischea, the players were again engaged in intense preparations.
At the same time, Boca soon held his second press conference, after informing many media of the incident and showing the relevant proof of Santiago's alibi, Bianchi said that Benavides was involved in the incident, and that Gaitan and the others would be suspended from all training, ladder matches, and the amount of the fine would be determined after the Argentine Football Federation made the punishment.
This decision was unanimously approved by the fans immediately after the news was announced, although there were still many people who were skeptical about whether Santhiago was involved, but many Boca fans chose to re-believe Santi after the club came forward to clarify, which made Santi's situation under public opinion a lot better for a while.
However, Benavides is miserable, while being investigated by the police, the Argentine Football Association and Boca, they have been punished one after another, and their future is in a dark, let alone landing in Europe, even within the Boca club youth team, their status is not guaranteed! Fortunately, Gaitan, who has always been kind to Santiago, was later proven not to be involved in the overnight scandal, for a very ironic reason, because he was drunk that night and fell unconscious directly in the bar.
In this way, Gaitan can be regarded as a fluke.
However, Rao's reputation has plummeted, and even the landing on European clubs has been temporarily put on hold. And just as this sex scandal is still fermenting, in the thirteenth round of the Ajia League, Boca Juniors sat at home to face San Lorenzo in the battle of Tianwang Mountain, which also came as scheduled in the eyes of the public.
"The players on both sides have entered the stadium under the leadership of the referee team, and the candy box stadium is full of people at the moment, and most of Argentina are paying attention to this battle between the first and second place in the A.B. With only six rounds left in the league, the final result of this match can almost be decisive in the final championship! ”
"In the starting line-up of both sides, Boca still uses Riquelme and Santhiago in midfield, and the combination of the two has already proven their toughness in previous games! This is definitely very bad for San Lorenzo! It's no secret that San Lorenzo have always been known for their fierce style of play, and the colour of their jerseys seems to validate the classic South American adage, but will they continue their ferocious technical and tactical system against Boca, who have strong control in midfield? ”
"From the fierce offensive of the Boca team after the opening of the game, we can see that although many Boca Juniors players have been involved in sex scandals in recent days, this incident has not had any impact on the morale of the main players in the first line! At the Candy Box Stadium, they are still the dreaded Boca Juniors! ”
"Judging from the relationship between the two sides in recent years, there seems to be no absolute winner with a record of 5 wins, 1 draw and 5 losses in 11 games, but before the game, public opinion is unanimously optimistic about Boca Juniors, because Boca is the strongest team in South America with its home stadium!"
Boca Juniors are definitely at the top of the South American football pyramid at the Candy Box Stadium, but they will not underestimate San Lorenzo, an opponent who is almost equal to them in terms of hard power. In response to San Lorenzo's fierce tactical style, coach Ischea made decisive changes to the line-up in this game, and a rare three-centre-back system was born.
In fact, the commentators on the major TV stations did not have any objections to the lineup of the midfield, but they were shocked when they saw that the back line was a three-center-back system.
Boca Juniors, three central defenders? What an international joke!
Unlike a defensive-minded back four or a very attacking back five, the three-centre-back system with four midfielders is very demanding on these seven players.
First of all, as the goalkeeper before the last barrier of the three central defenders, without the wings of the guard in the face of the wide second half of the field they can only take on such a responsibility, with diligent running and a keen sense of smell will be such a vast territory in their hands, they must not only have extraordinary physical fitness and not weak confrontation ability, but also have a strong sense of defense and defensive prediction ability, only in this way can they do in danger of gathering like a fist to intercept the opponent, scattered like a net to protect the penalty area unharmed.
As the midfielders in front of them, Riquelme and Santhiago have to cooperate with the forward line to attack on one side, and must also cooperate with the two backs to defend in time, which is not an easy task! Especially for Riquelme, who rarely defends!
However, once the team is in harmony as a whole, the advantage of perfectly combining is obvious, starting with the possibility of converting the current 3-4-1-2 formation into a 3-2-2-3 or 3-4-3 formation depending on the attack and defense of the situation.
According to the research and observation of many games in Ischea, the tacit understanding of the current Boca players has been fully able to adapt to such a change of formation without leaking obvious points and holes.
In this case, Ischea's three-center-back system is composed of Paletta, Morel and Ibarra, objectively speaking, except for the vice-captain Ibarra, the ability of the other two to deal with Ischea's platoon is still insufficient, and they rarely assume the role of the three-center-back system, which is relatively rusty. But helplessly, Ischea can only send such a combination. Although Boca Juniors' delivery and team coordination are very good now, it is much worse than the team's San Lorenzo, so Ischea thought twice and decided to use such a tactic as a high-speed counterattack by three central defenders to find opportunities.
After all, the purpose of establishing a defense with three central defenders is to release the two wings, so that they can insert into the opponent's wings and ribs more quickly and carry out the fastest attacking strike. And this kind of offensive strike, the pursuit of speed and precision in the counterattack. This style of play is to restrain the tactics that San Lorenzo and the current La Liga teams prefer against Boca, implementing a brutal strangulation policy in the midfield, and using constant fouls to block Riquelme and San Thiago's progress.
You must know that the consistent style of the Liga team is to face difficulties, so for Boca, they must come up with a way to solve this problem as soon as possible, even if the two of Santo Tiago can solve it many times.
Sure enough, after the opening, San Lorenzo was not at all frightened in the face of Boca's big attack, they used sharp grabs and strong team cooperation to defend, obviously ready for everything, and for a time they blocked Boca's ferocious attack.
Although the two teams are old enemies and know each other, this season because of Boca's own personnel changes and the tactical changes brought about by the return of Santo Tiago, Boca's style of play has changed most of the appearance, which also made the San Lorenzo coach study how to suppress Riquelme San Tiago's midfield configuration a long time ago.
As one of the candidates for the previous Argentine national team coach, San Lorenzo coach Mikel Russo is not a general, his unique and sharp vision and the change of the formation with divine help have always been the talk of the town, this time in this battle against Boca, Russo after a long period of research, before the game quickly established the team's style of play, that is, to surround Riquelme and isolate Santo Tiago.
Since you Boca is attacking with Riquelme as the core and Santhiago as the speed-upper, then do whatever it takes to make Santiago unable to touch the ball and at the same time contain Riquelme! In this case, Russo wanted to see what Boca could do!
It has to be said that although Russo's move sounds very simple, even child's play, it is in the style of San Lorenzo, and only they can try to do it. They have always been close to the Western style of play, and they are completely able to beat the leaders of the Argentine League in terms of teamwork, and from this point of view alone, Boca and River Plate can only be in the dust. At this moment, Russo wants to maximize the characteristics of San Lorenzo.
Three central defenders?
Looking at Boca's three-centre-back system on the pitch, Russo sneered meaningfully, and he was very eager to know what kind of state the three-centre-back system that relied on Santhiago and Riquelme would be after losing them.
"Bang!"
After a hard-nosed physical contact, Santhiago fell to the side at the same time as his rival, but Santi's physical condition was clearly superior, and he stabilized his body more quickly, then picked himself up and chased the ball. Looking at the gaps that lay ahead, Santi knew it was the perfect opportunity to launch a quick attack!
But what he didn't expect was that another San Lorenzo player appeared in front of him in time and grabbed the ball first, making all his next plans go to naught.
"So fast?"
Seeing this, Saint's pupils shrank, and he didn't have time to think about it immediately, but where could the San Lorenzo player give him another chance, and passed the ball out of the danger range in two clicks.
Pausing to catch his breath, Santilago marveled at the team's chemistry and ability to switch between offense and defense, which was completely impossible for other teams, but now it was actually in front of their own eyes. On the other side, Riquelme was also surrounded by various blocks when he got the ball, and could only linger in the half, and Santhiago gradually frowned, and a very bad feeling came to his heart.
In the face of players whose level is only one line behind their own personal strength, it is difficult for him and Riquelme to do the same as before, with one against two, or even three with a gorgeous pass, and can only look for opportunities as much as possible while ensuring that the ball is not lost, which makes Santi feel very aggrieved and jealous, and there is definitely a following!