Chapter 69: Labor Pains

In this national team match week, one of the two warm-up matches contacted by the Belgian Football Federation is Cameroon, an African giant, and the other is South Korea, a team from Asia, both of which can be called giants in their respective continents.

The first opponent is Cameroon, and although it lacks a big name like Samuel Eto'o, Cameroon is still a force to be reckoned with.

Just like Jihua, Antienes completely fielded a young player-dominated starting lineup in this game, goalkeeper Antienes is very optimistic about Haode Bailly, the back line from left to right is Lombartz, Vertonghen, Vermaelen and captain Van Bitten, the midfield is Fellaini at the center back, the two wings are Martens and Witsek, the forward is Dembele, and the two forwards are De Cuhler and De Ride.

With the exception of Van Bitten, the other starters were all making their first appearance for the Belgian national team and were infinitely close to zero in terms of experience.

Although Degan did not make the squad, he still sat on the sidelines with Antienes, and now this Belgian national team is concocted by the two of them, and if something goes wrong, a big thunderbolt will fall on the heads of both of them at the same time.

The stands are also full of Belgian fans, who also want to see how this new national team will perform, play well, of course they will not be stingy with applause, but if the grass is chicken, then what awaits the Belgian national team is scolding.

As soon as the game began, the problem arose, Cameroon deserved to be a shijie-level powerhouse, although it lacked the star Eto'o, but their small and fast tactical style still made the Belgian youth team scramble, and the problem at the back was not big, after all, Van Bitten was experienced, Vermaelen and Vertonghen were partners in Ajax, and they could cope with the Cameroon team's midfield raid.

But the midfield has been completely subverted, in the past, the Belgian team's midfield was characterized by toughness, against Cameroon's average physical team, it can be called hand-to-hand, but today the Belgian team's midfield has undergone a big change, the main players of the national team have sat on the bench, and these young people on the field are at a loss in the face of Cameroon's rapid passing and receiving cooperation.

In particular, Fellaini, a midfielder who has high hopes for Degan and Antienes, is characterized by his wide range of runs and ferocious tackles under the influence of Degan.

Antienes sent him as the main player in this game, hoping that his ability to intercept a wide range in the midfield can block the Cameroon team's penetration in the middle.

In the previous training, Fellaini showed such ability that Antienes even planned to make him the successor of Gul, but now, with the game going on for almost ten minutes, Fellaini's role is completely invisible.

Marouane Fellaini was as clumsy as a stake on the pitch, and the Cameroonian players could easily get past him and run straight into the Belgian backline.

There are also two wings, Martens and Witsek are like flies without a head, and after receiving the ball, they are running wildly, and the connection with their teammates is equal to zero.

Dembele did well and had a couple of good dribbles, and in the ninth minute of the game, he also fired a long-range shot from outside the Cameroon penalty area, which almost caused Cameroon goalkeeper Kameni to escape.

But Dembele has the biggest problem, Antienes gave him the task of connecting the team's midfielders and organizing the attack, but Dembele, who played for the national team for the first time, obviously forgot all about his task, probably too eager to add glory to his first national team game with a goal, often rushing, squeezing the forwards to the side, and the connection between the midfield and the midfield is completely gone, so he can only rely on the two wings and the back field to play behind the opponent with a long pass.

Although the defenders of the Cameroon team are generally not tall, they are very unique in their efforts to defend around the front and get stuck in positions, and the Belgian team's attack is also in a predicament for a while.

The pressure on the backline was understandable when the midfield couldn't open up, and in just a few minutes, the Ajax centre-backs of Vermaelen and Vertonghen were the busiest on the pitch, constantly tackling and constantly guarding against Cameroon to play the ball to the wings.

The Belgian fans in the stands were already booing intermittently, and Antienes, who was next to Degan, was gradually frowning, which was clearly not the kind of situation he would have.

Before the game, Antienes' Jihua was to use the combination of wings and centres to pull Cameroon's backline, and the two forwards served as fulcrums to impact the front defense of the Cameroon team and create opportunities for Dembele.

Now, except for Fellaini, the Belgian team is actually playing well in other areas on the field, but the problem is that these areas cannot be linked, and the local battlefield has advantages, but the overall situation has fallen into passivity.

Antienes had never encountered such a strange scene, and at this time he could only meditate and ponder how to break this situation.

The game on the field continues, Cameroon's players have found the problem of the Belgian team, before the start of this game, their coach is still telling them to slow down the pace of attack after the opening, after all, the Belgian team is the runner-up of the Shijie Cup, and the strength is still very strong.

But now that they look at the new Belgian national team, the Cameroonian players find that their opponents today are a bunch of broilers, which are not worth treating so carefully.

Although it was only a friendly match, no one wanted to lose, especially a lesson to the runner-up team of the Shijie Cup, which was also a big temptation for Cameroon's players.

Soon, the Cameroonian players began to increase the tempo of the attack, and the passing and receiving of the ball became faster and faster, making the Belgian team even more scrambling.

Marouane Fellaini has become the most tormented man on the pitch, he is the team's first line of defense, but now it is true that his first line of defense has completely become an ornament, and the Cameroonian players do not confront him head-on at all, and only need one pass to easily bypass his defense and play him behind.

Marouane Fellaini is starting to get impatient, he knows that this position is not easy to come by, and as a young man he is more eager to represent Belgium in a major tournament like the European Championship, but with the current performance, no matter how much Antienes values him, it is impossible to take him to the European Championship.

When the game reached the twentieth minute, the Cameroon team cut off Fellaini's pass directly in the midfield, and it was still a small range of passes.

The Cameroonian player who cut off Fellaini's pass was probably playing too high, and actually rushed directly towards Fellaini with the ball, two consecutive bicycles, just at the moment when Fellaini was about to break the ball, the Cameroonian player's foot arched and passed the ball to his teammates next to him, and then took advantage of Fellaini's stunned kung fu to rush past him, and received the return pass to the Belgian team's penalty area.

In embarrassment, Fellaini didn't care so much, and turned around directly, a flying shovel.

Beep~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The referee's whistle blew as soon as the referee's whistle sounded, and Fellaini, who was surrounded by angry Camerooni players, pulled out, and then went straight to a red card.

In an instant, Fellaini woke up and knew that he had done a big stupid thing, but there was no way to change things, and he was sent off for a malicious foul after only 20 minutes of play.

The young Fellaini had no idea that his first time for the national team would be like this, which was completely different from what he had envisioned, and before the game began, he was still fantasizing that he would become a floodgate for the Belgian national team on the pitch and a hero of Belgian football, just as his idol Degan had done and is doing.

But now everything has been ruined by his stupidity.

At the end of the pitch, the stands were filled with curses, and as Belgian football re-emerged and the results got better and better, the appetite of the Belgian fans grew stronger, and they couldn't stand it, and Fellaini's clumsy performance.

Fellaini kept his head down, and if there was a crack in the ground at this time, he would definitely plunge his head into it and never come out again for the rest of his life.

Although Antienes was also angry at Fellaini's foul, he was his disciple after all, and he was about to step forward to comfort him for a few words, but was stopped by Degan.

"Coach! At this time, no one can help him, if he can't stand up again, it can only prove that I am blind and actually take a fancy to a soft egg! ”

Antienes hesitated, but accepted Degan's suggestion, Degan was right, he couldn't protect Fellaini like a nanny, sometimes people need to stand up on their own.

As the game continued, Fellaini's foul gave the Cameroonians a free-kick and it was with this opportunity that they scored their first goal of the game.

The Belgian fans in the stands cursed another one more time this time, the young goalkeeper Eric Bailly, and it was because of his mispositioning that the Cameroonian scored easily.

The young and handsome Bailly also looked a little dazed, he knew very well that he had to pay a lot of responsibility for the goal he had just conceded, and the scolding of the fans made his heart feel like a big stone.

As a result, before the end of the first half, Belgium conceded another goal, Cameroon team's long-range shot from outside the box with little threat, causing Bailly to save the ball, and the Cameroonian striker, who had been ambushing in front of the goal, seized the opportunity to score again.