Chapter 108: Confusion and Clarity (3)
After the two matches in Group D, except for Australia, which was basically eliminated, the remaining three teams still have hopes of qualifying, and the form has become more confusing, while the situation in Group E is relatively much clearer.
The first game, the Netherlands finally defeated Japan 1:0, won both games in advance, when the Netherlands vs. Japan game ended, there is a selection do not have to wait to see the final result, guess can guess, the official website of FIFA must have given Sneijder the best on the spot, the goal is the most important factor, secondly, Sneijder in the game, the organization and attack on the left side has always been high, which is also an important reason for FIFA recognition.
In the game, although the Japanese team did not look very aggressive, the players were closely connected with each other and moved quickly, and many of the Dutch team's attacks were quickly defused by the Japanese players in the shortest time, which forced the Dutch players to handle the ball only with the fastest movements.
Before Sneijder scored the only goal of the game, when Van Persie gave the ball, the Japanese players were already about to form a siege of Sneijder, but Sneijder didn't want to, in fact, he didn't give him a chance to think, he pumped without any adjustment, and often played without knowing what to do, but the speed and angle of the ball were very good, and he poked the Japanese team's goal.
Japanese goalkeeper Kawashima Eiji reacted in a timely manner, the problem is that he flew too fast to save, and he couldn't take care of the hand mastery, here it is undeniable that he wanted to deliberately show how fast he reacted, but the ball was saved by him, as if he was holding it in by his hands in reverse, and the Dutch team relied on this Japanese defense no matter how meticulous the attack was, which determined the final direction of the game.
When Sneijder finally broke the goal, some of the Japanese players who had been patiently insisting on the game had already knelt on the ground, and Sneijder's heavy kick disrupted the valuable synergy in the Japanese team's mental quality.
Give Sneijder a chance to barely count the chances, and he will be able to finish the game, just like Archimedes' wild saying "give me a lever and I can pry up the whole world" on the football field.
For Sneijder, the most impressive thing about his first World Cup play four years ago was just a bad luck in the "Nuremberg War" with Portugal, and four years later, he has made a calm appearance as he has aged, and after two games, he is already a standard world-class attacking midfielder.
Sneijder played at a world-class level, but after two games, the Dutch strikers were a bit disappointing, and Van Persie, who had high hopes from Van Marwijk, looked to start his World Cup journey relatively flat.
The Dutch team has always been known for their flashy attacks and scoring more goals against weak teams, and the center forward is often the last link to turn a flashy attack into a wonderful goal.
But in this World Cup, in the face of two teams that are not strong, the three goals are a little difficult, and Van Persie, who is a single center forward, has no achievements in two games, and the real center forward Huntelaar, who can turn the river and the sea in the penalty area, has only played such a short time in the second game against Japan today, is this considered a tyrannical thing?
It can't be said that Van Persie's level is not good, as a center forward, although he has height, his characteristics are mainly to swim on the periphery, and have the opportunity to suddenly enter the penalty area, and to the Dutch team, although Van Marwijk wants to transform him, but it seems that the things in his bones are difficult to change, and he has to move outward, and now what is frustrating is that the effect of moving out is not good, the opponent's defense is not afraid of Van Persie's impact at all, and the effect after he plays is far from the majesty of the 2008 European Championship.
With the abandonment of Ruud van Nistelrooy, the disappearance of a high school striker was replaced by an atypical, atypical center forward with particularly strong free movement ability, and the ability to attack the Dutch team's penalty area was greatly weakened, which made the Dutch team maintain a signature style of play for 22 years, and in this World Cup, it is gone.
It seems that it was changed by Van Marwijk overnight, and let a Van Persie support this change, and the Arsenal striker doesn't know if he has the ability?
Judging from the first two games, Van Persie did not meet this requirement, so why not consider the significance of Huntelaar's existence?
Huntelaar was the absolute main force in the World Cup qualifiers, and with Huntelaar's characteristics, it is entirely possible to consider letting him play in the middle, Van Persie on the left, Kuyt on the right, or simply let Huntelaar go forward, rotate between Snyder, Van Persie and Van der Vaart in the middle and left, and rotate Kuyt and Afelai on the right, which may also have an unexpected effect.
Huntelaar could only be his replacement when Ruud van Nistelrooy was in charge, but now that Ruud van Nistelrooy is out and the 26-year-old still has a lot of room to develop, if Van Marwijk wants to make his team play harder, focusing on Huntelaar is a change that deserves to be taken seriously.
You must know that Dutch fans have two biggest expectations, one is to hope that Vanney will return to the national team and play as a substitute, and the other is to hope that Huntelaar and Van Persie will form a double-striker partnership, and then use this as the axis to start practicing various changes in the frontcourt.
But now it seems that Van Marwijk obviously has no intention of changing, which also makes the Dutch team's game, although it won, but it always feels awkward to win, because the once gorgeous Dutch team is gone.
The Netherlands' first game against Denmark, known as Ag is the first hero of the Netherlands' victory, if there is no surprise goal in his own goal, the Dutch team itself does not know when to break the Danish defensive formation, the problem of the Netherlands at that time is how to convert the advantage of possession and shooting into goals, and this game, the fans who are worried about the Netherlands have found a new trouble, and the ball control completely suppresses Japan, but in terms of offensive strength, it seems that Japan is by no means inferior to the Netherlands, and the Japanese team finally sent a double striker, if the two have a strong ability to grasp the opportunity, A draw felt more normal, with the Dutch's calm and mechanical mainstream tactics being used in the World Cup without reproach, but disappointing fans who were expecting to see them devastated.
The Dutch team's most eye-catching side attack, these two games did not play to the fullest, the first game was only after Elia, and the second game, probably only when the Japanese team was on the whole line, the opportunity to attack on the wing, which is completely different from the traditional understanding of the Netherlands.
In this game, it can be seen that the Dutch team is grinding with the Japanese team very patiently, Van Marwijk does not want to torture the opponent with a changeable position at all, so as not to be self-defeating, this kind of mechanical patience is a mature performance, but it can also be interpreted as not finding too many penetration opportunities, the side players have limited ability to break through, and the middle lane against the Netherlands meets Japan, and there is no helplessness to talk about many advantages.
Van Marwijk's only trick is to keep calm, since Japan is waiting for the Netherlands to make a mistake, the Netherlands can also wait for Japan to make a mistake, and finally look back, or the Dutch team waited and grasped it, and the Japanese team, in fact, also waited, but couldn't grasp it, which formed a qualitative gap between the two teams.
But fans are looking forward to seeing a Dutch team that waits for others to make mistakes?
The limited use of Elia and Afelai is a sign of the Van Marwijk coach's mentality, the two youngsters are hugely lethal, but they are only used to attack in the last ten minutes of the second half, because here the coach probably emphasizes an overall stable Dutch team, rather than an old Dutch team that would rather be gorgeous and only think about attacking and finally finishing, which is right or wrong, it is not good to evaluate, but it will definitely make many Dutch supporters turn away.
Of course, the reason why the Netherlands couldn't break the deadlock in these two games is one person, that is, Robben, such an efficient one-on-one breakthrough winner, the lethal mid-distance shooter, can not play, so that the Dutch team has too many flexible means to break the deadlock, he belongs to the nuclear warhead type of character, without him, the Dutch team can only use conventional weapons to fight against the opponent, can only emphasize the premise of not conceding the ball first, and strive to break the opponent's door.
Such an emotionally stable Dutch team with a relatively mechanical formation has no problems in the group stage, and is it feasible to operate like this in the knockout round?
Everything is in doubt!
The sudden conservatism towards Russia at Euro 2008 allowed the opponent to create a super good game, but it cannot be said for sure that the Netherlands will suffer after emphasizing the balance of attack and defense, and everything can only be seen after playing, but if Robben is not available in the knockout stage, the Dutch team will obviously have a much more difficult way forward.
The other match in the second round of Group E was between Cameroon and Denmark, and in the end, the Danes had the final laugh to make the African cheetah bow down and exit early.
The Danes were lucky, while Cameroon was a sigh of relief, recalling Cameroon's performance in the Italian summer, which is still exciting.
No one was optimistic about them before the game, but in the first game of the opening ceremony, Cameroon let Argentina, the defending champion, bow down, and in the second game, Uncle Mira's brace made Cameroon enter the round of 16 after two games, and Uncle Mira's butt dance has since become a classic move. Against Colombia, Uncle Mira did not abate, Ikita made another low-level mistake, and Cameroon defeated Colombia, which is expected to become another dark horse, to enter the last 8. The classic battle against England has been remembered by fans, Lineker's two controversial penalties allowed Cameroon, who was only seven minutes away from entering the semi-finals, to die under the help of a three-man referee composed of Mexico and the United States.
The glory of the past is long gone, and now Cameroon, who can still see the majesty of the past?
In addition to the surprisingly high value and world ranking, in other places, there is nothing to want, their performance, in fact, is also a reminder to the seemingly powerful African football, don't lick your face, what to worry about increasing the World Cup ticket, when competing with the Asian team they despise the most, in fact, Africans have never taken any advantage.
What is the problem in Cameroon compared to 90 years?
First of all, there is no good coach, Nepo put himself in the position of a weak team, but the style of play is quite rigorous, it is a magical team that combines both individuals and the whole with a particularly good combination.
And what about Legon?
completely detached from the train of thought of a normal coach, underestimated the Japanese team in the first game, and sent some players who came out of nowhere to play the main team, and put the main force of a Premier League giant like Song on the bench, which gave him a dull stick.
The World Cup is not a league, and you lose a game that you think is the best, and the mentality of the players in the second game is messed up.
And the team built by Leguin, can you see any strong overall tactics?
If you want to talk about the whole, I'm afraid even New Zealand is inferior, of course, the mental temperament is a lot worse than New Zealand, this game against Denmark, the Cameroonians seem to be imposing, but the Danish defenders choked the African cheetah shooting the coolest line, leaving them with the smallest gap to play, without the overall cooperation, completely relying on the strength of the individual to do it there, Cameroon can not beat anyone is normal, who bears the greatest responsibility?
Leguin, of course.
The second is that there are no players who can play at critical moments, which has nothing to do with their value, the Cameroonian players in the 90s, the players who played in the lower leagues in France were only 10 people, plus a La Liga old returnee Nkono, and the others were all domestic players, and the brilliant Uncle Mira was 38 years old at the time.
Today's Cameroon, there are many players from the five major leagues, none of whom are from the domestic league, and the age structure is reasonable, but what is the effect?
Samuel Eto'o was completely distracted in the first game, scoring in the second game, but at the same time missing too many chances to score, and the rest of the attacking team was far inferior to him, compared to the 42-year-old Mila, who was unable to be the decider, they really deserved to face their predecessors.
Defender Héctor has a strong hair, he has always been a hairstyle maker, but he is the main culprit of this defeat, the current left-back of the Premier League Champions League team, encountered a winger Romedahl who was abandoned by the Premier League, and he didn't even have the slightest power to fight back.
In the game against Denmark, Cameroon's defensive line was loose, and Denmark got a lot of chances today, in fact, it can't prove how strong Denmark is, it can only prove that the Cameroon defense played ridiculously, allowing the Danes to seize the opportunity and not attack for nothing.
It's hard to say when Cameroon will be able to replicate the myth of the 90s, but there is one point, in front of the colorful stage of world football, it is beneficial to lower your own shelf, and building a strong team with a sense of integrity requires considerable effort from the coach, relying on a group of talented players alone, in fact, no one has reached this miracle state.
At the end of the second round of Group E, the ugly Dutchman qualified early, Cameroon went home, fortunately their home is not far from South Africa, and Denmark and Japan, in the final round, will face each other, whoever can win will qualify from the group.