Qatar can be said to be the old rival of the Dragons.

The initial relationship between Dragon Football and Qatar began in the 70s of the last century, and because of the friendly relationship, the cooperation between the two sides became more and more frequent.

After entering the 80s, the Dragon Country men's football team has been at the top level in Asia, and the Qatar Football Association is willing to have long-term game exchanges with the Dragon Country team in order to improve its own level.

It's a pity that in 1987, because of an unwise decision of the Dragon Football Association, the relationship between the two teams was bad, and every time they met with the national football team every time they met since then, Qatar did not need to mobilize to play the national football team.

The reason is that after Nian Weisi took over the Dragon Country men's football team, he needed to find a warm-up opponent for the Asian Games, and Qatar reached out to help when the Dragon Football Association did not arrange the work, and took the initiative to provide accommodation for the national football team to go to Doha for a warm-up match.

As a result, in the second year, according to the agreement, the Qatar team should return to the Dragon Kingdom for exchanges and exchanges.

Because the main focus was on preparing for the 88 Olympic Games, the Dragon Football Association arranged for the Guangdong Foshan team, which was still in the second division, to play against the Qatar national team, which was an insult in the eyes of the opponent.

After returning to China, the Qatari media rushed to report on it, which also made the Qatari football scene resentful of Dragon Country football and eager to complete revenge with victory.

Then, there was the famous "Black Three Minutes", and at that time, perhaps no one would have imagined that Qatar's revenge would come so quickly.

On October 28, 1989, in the Asian finals of the 14th World Cup preliminaries, the opponent of the Dragon Country men's football team coached by Gao Fengwen in the last game was Qatar.

At that time, they were already out, and they should have had no desires. In contrast, the Dragons men's football team only needs to win their opponents to achieve their dream of the World Cup for the first time in history.

The result was precisely the shame of the second team that year, which made the Qataris who were always thinking about revenge soar.

The Longguo men's football team finally took a 1-0 lead in the 76th minute of the game through Wu Qunli's goal, but suffered three black minutes in the 86th and 89th minutes, and was scored by Qatar with two goals in a row to complete a shocking reversal.

Italy's dream of the World Cup in the summer was shattered, and the Dragon Football Association regretted not doing it at the beginning.

Eight years later, in 1997, the Longguo men's football team led by Qi Wusheng once again launched an attack on the World Cup.

At that time, the Dragons men's football team had the initiative to advance after consecutive victories against Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and after returning to the Golden State home stadium to face Qatar, the Dragons men's football team could win the World Cup ticket in one go.

You must know that the national football team, which has many famous players such as Fan Zhiyi, Sun Jihai, Li Tie, Li Ming, Ma Mingyu and Gao Feng, is obviously better in strength.

As a result, Fan Zhiyi, who made a contribution, failed to block 2 mistakes in his own backfield, allowing the Qatar team to counterattack 2 times in a row within 5 minutes of the second half, allowing the Longguo men's football team to suffer a reversal.

At that time, the fans of the Dragon Kingdom shouted "Change Li Tie", which can be regarded as leaving a famous scene in the football world of the Dragon Kingdom.

Losing this game, after the end of the top 10 matches, was also unanimously regarded by the outside world as the fatal wound of the Dragon Country men's football team losing the right to qualify.

Then there is the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup, the two teams were in the same group in the last stage (top 40), the Dragon team lost 0-1 away first, and returned to the home field under the leadership of firefighting coach Gao Hongbo, the Dragon team defeated the opponent 2-0 and was lucky to catch the last train of the top 12.

And that game was also the only win of the Dragon Country team in the last 5 meetings with their opponents!

It can be seen that although Qatar cannot be regarded as a first-class team in Asia in terms of absolute strength, it has always been the bitter master of the Dragon Team.

Therefore, the national football coaching team led by Lippi did not dare to be careless about this opponent at all, and made sufficient preparations for the game.

And Pan Yi is also offering advice.

The points he suggested were mainly in the starting line-up and the main tactical play.

"When we play Qatar, we have to get off to a good start."

At the pre-game meeting of coaches organized by Lippi, Pan Yi came up and said so.

'Qatar aren't a particularly strong team, but if we can't play in the opening stages, they're probably going to be able to hold their ground and fight us for the initiative.

Of course, the purpose of the rush is to score goals, but even if you can't score, you can disrupt the opponent's rhythm.

But for the strength of the national football team, Pan Yi knows it well.

The international players have not yet been able to familiarize themselves with his tactics, mainly because the time is too short, even if Pan Yi has cut down his tactical ideas a lot, become more direct and more acceptable, they still need some time to integrate.

For example, the most advanced pressing tactics in world football right now, as well as the most basic frontcourt interspersed with movement and coordination.

But there is no way back for the national football team in this game, and only by winning can there be a glimmer of life.

I believe that Qatar is definitely aware of this and will use this to make a fuss.

Therefore, the start is very important for both sides, and the national football team must also play this start well.

'The key to our success is on the wings.

Pan Yi played out Qatar's formation and tactics on the projection screen, and he guessed that the opponent should still use the 4-5-1 defensive counterattack tactics used in the previous group games.

'We started the game high and the two full-backs had to be bold and we needed to be more dangerous on the flanks, draw the opposition defence past and create chances from the other side or from the middle.

With Pan Yi's presentation on PPT, all coaches clearly saw Pan Yi's arrangement.

The fullbacks inserted into the attack, which is also the focus of Pan Yi's training exercises in the past period.

And he has always emphasized the offensive concept of the real is the virtual, and the virtual is the real, that is, to storm a certain point, attract the defensive force, and then suddenly move to another point to create a threat.

This is also a routine that Pan Yi often used when he was in the Swedish team, in fact, including the current York City.

However, unlike Sweden and York City's "left-leaning" style of play, the Dragon Country team is stronger than Jiang Zhipeng on the left side in the position of right-back Zhang Linpeng.

In the 4-3-3 formation designed by Pan Yi for the national football team, right winger Wu Lei will also be the most important point of attack, after all, he can now be said to be the number one star of the Dragon team playing for Hamburg!

Therefore, this national team will focus on the right side.

Of course, Lin Liangming and Wu Lei will also be transposed, and they will be flexibly matched when the time comes.

Once the side is blocked, Pan Yi also hopes to switch to the middle to attack.

In the current Dragon Country team, in fact, the midfielder's ability can be said to be very good in Asia, and the captain Zheng Zhi, as well as Huang Bowen and Wu Xi can be said to be good at attacking and defending.

Zhang Yuning, who is currently playing for Vitesse in the Eredivisie, is currently the strongest center forward in China, his advantage is that he can hold the ball, can also pass the ball, and also has an advantage in high balls, which should be said to be very in line with Pan Yi's tactical requirements for the center.

With Zhang Yuning in the center, Wu Lei and Lin Liangming's two-wing crosses or inward cuts, plus the midfielder's back insertion, the offensive ability of the national football team will definitely be released.

The reason why Gao Lin is not used is because Pan Yi doesn't trust the "Gao Plane" a little bit, and at the critical moment when he needs to score points, he can only let him stand by on the bench first.

On the back line, in addition to the two fullbacks Zhang Linpeng and Jiang Zhipeng, Pan Yi also followed the central defender combination of Feng Xiaoting and Mei Fang, and this defense can basically be said to be the defense line of Changzhou Hengtai.

And Pan Yi's biggest change to the original main lineup is to dominate Wang Dalei's starting goalkeeper position!

At present, Yan Junling, the starting goalkeeper of the national football team, gives fans the impression that he is stable, and Yan Junling's mistakes in the game will be relatively less than Wang Dalei, just because he is more stable and will choose a relatively safe way to deal with it.

But the problem is that such stability has also made him a veritable "squatting type" goalkeeper, eager to not get out of the small penalty area for the whole game, let alone the big penalty area.

This is actually very inconsistent with Pan Yi's requirements for modern goalkeepers.

On the other hand, Wang Dalei, first of all, he is a domineering side leakage goalkeeper, once his teammates make mistakes or lack of concentration, he can always stand up and remind his teammates.

This is something that Yan Junling does not have, Yan Junling's goalkeeping style is calm and lacking in passion. Even if a teammate makes a mistake and has a lack of concentration, he will not be the first to stand up and warn.

Secondly, in addition to Wang Dalei's impressive penalty kicks, his accurate long passes also frequently help the team create threats.

He threw the ball directly across the half court to find his counter-attacking player in Shandong Luneng, and he once sent assists for his own striker many times, and Wang Dalei was also nicknamed the "assist-type goalkeeper".

Yan Junling's technique of opening his big feet is slightly rougher, not only can he not find his own home forward, but he is also easy to be broken by the opponent and fight back on the spot.

If you compare this style with two world-class goalkeepers, it may be that Yan Junling is De Gea, and Wang Dalei is Neuer.

They are all world-class, but if Pan Yi is to choose, he must choose Neuer.

Finally, in terms of saves, although Yan Junling is more stable, Wang Dalei's "nerve knife" attribute allows him to often make some incredible saves.

It can be said that Wang Dalei's lower limit is not as good as Yan Junling, but the upper limit is higher than Yan Junling.

Based on the above comparison, it is not difficult to understand why Pan Yi prefers Wang Dalei.

As for Pan Yi's suggestion, Lippi basically adopted it all.

On the one hand, he believes in Pan Yi's judgment, and on the other hand, in fact, Pan Yi's starting lineup is not much different from the best eleven in Lippi's mind.

He himself is the former head coach of Changzhou Hengtai, and he trusts the players from Hengtai more.

And in this lineup, the midfielders and backfields are basically Hengtai!

That is, in the forward position, Pan Yi used three players in Europe, instead of Gao Lin, a Hengtai striker, but this is not a big problem.

As for the goalkeeper, Zeng Cheng, whom Lippi preferred, was injured while playing in Iran, so he didn't have a choice.

And there is one point that Lippi and Pan Yi's opinions are highly consistent, that is, this game is to attack fiercely at the beginning, strive to score as soon as possible, and not let Qatar have a chance to breathe! ——

After the coaching meeting, Pan Yi immediately came to the players' dormitory and knocked on Wu Lei's door.

"Boss?" It was Wu Lei's roommate Lin Liangming who opened the door.

This is actually Pan Yi's arrangement, so that these two main wingers can be in the same room and can communicate more.

Because in the match against Qatar, the play of these two wingers can be said to be the most important.

"Boss, are you looking for me?" Wu Lei in the room jumped out of bed.

"Let's talk to you." Pan Yi walked in as he spoke, and closed the door with his hand.

Pan Yi came this time mainly to find Wu Lei.

After all, since he left Hamburg, he has not had much positive communication with Wu Lei, mainly through Nagelsmann to learn a little about his recent situation.

At present, his performance in Hamburg is not bad, with a steady score of about ten goals every season, although it is not as good as when Pan Yi was there, but it is already quite a good result for a team that can only be in the middle of the table at the moment.

However, Wu Lei's performance in the national team has been unstable.

Sometimes the performance is okay, but more often than not, you get lost on the pitch and even miss some must-score goals.

"What do you think is the problem?" After Pan Yi explained his intentions straight to the point, he threw the question to Wu Lei.

Wu Lei thought for a while and said, "It may have something to do with the formation play." In the national team, I basically play in a 4-4-2 formation, so I can cooperate with Gao Lin in the forward line. At the club, I tend to play as a winger in a three-striker system and don't have to tangle with the opposition up front......"

Pan Yi nodded.

This is the confusion caused by the difference in positioning on both sides.

Wu Lei's speed is very fast, his running position is very flexible, his sense of smell in front of goal is very sensitive, and his ability to break through with the ball has been greatly strengthened after several years of his career in Europe, but he is not a pure center after all.

Let him be at the front to entangle with the opponent's tall and strong defenders, which is undoubtedly to avoid his strengths.

This is also a manifestation of the fact that domestic coaches are sometimes too rigid, or simply not enough.

For example, he will only play a 4-4-2, or he will only use a two-striker formation.

At this time, there is a striker like Wu Lei in the team who can gain a foothold in the top five European leagues, I must use it, but how to use it?

It can only be placed directly on the front line and become one of the two strikers.

As for whether to change to a formation like 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 to play Wu Lei's characteristics, it is still needless to say.

Because you don't need any other formations!

In fact, it is better to pull Wu Lei back a little bit and kick a shadow forward, which is better than playing the center, and it can become 4-4-1-1, but people don't.

This led to Wu Lei's performance in the national team and the club team being completely different.

This is normal, after all, not everyone can play well in any position, and even if Mbappe is asked to play as a central striker, his level of performance is certainly not as good as when he played as a winger.

"Boss, how are you going to let me play?" Wu Lei asked with concern.

At this time, he really hoped to get Pan Yi's guidance.

Pan Yi was prepared, and said with a smile: "Of course I will let you play as a winger comfortably." However, it is still the same as in Hamburg, it can be a left winger or a right winger. ”

Then Pan Yi looked at Lin Liangming again: "You are the same." ”

Wu Lei is right-footed, and Lin Liangming is left-footed.

When there is a tall center in the middle, they all kick on their own side, and the main function is to cross from the bottom to the wings, which is not a big problem.

Especially Lin Liangming, due to the presence of Baker in the York City team, he is also basically active on the left side of the team.

However, sometimes when it is necessary to strengthen the ability to shoot on both sides, Scaloni will also let Lin Liangming play on the right side and let him cut inside to shoot.

The same is true for Wu Lei.

Now that we are about to play against Qatar, the first goal of the national football team is to score goals, so it is necessary to give full play to the attacking power of the wings, and not stick to letting the two go down to crosses.

Therefore, Pan Yi just wants Wu Lei to appear more on the left side, starting to insert diagonally into the penalty area from the side, or inserting behind the defender, and giving full play to his speed advantage.

And as long as he gets the ball, there will be a lot of options, and that's the benefit of the backfoot inward cut.

In this way, he and Lin Liangming have become two inside forwards, plus Zhang Yuning, the center forward in the middle, which is a real three arrows at the same time, attacking Qatar's defense line together.

"When you're on the pitch, you have to be careful to switch positions at any time, so it's not easy for the opponent to figure out the routine, and it will make your style of play more difficult to guard against. When running, pay attention to the position of the midfielder and then run out of the open ......"

In the current midfield position of the Dragon Nation team, the reserve can be said to be the best of the three lines.

In addition to Zheng Zhi, Wu Xi, and Huang Bowen, like Hao Junmin, Cai Huikang, Cao Yunding, and Sun Ke, all have the power to fight.

Captain Zheng Zhi even has a precise footwork that pushes forward with one hand - you know, when he was in Charlton, he often appeared in the position of the main front midfield!

So as long as the front line can run enough space, it can be believed that the midfield can make a lethal pass.

"Also, you have to watch out for the opposing full-backs......"

Under Pan Yi's simple explanation, Wu Lei and Lin Liangming, the two wingers of the national football team, nodded frequently.

As their understanding of Pan Yi's national football tactics becomes deeper and deeper, they are becoming more and more confident in the upcoming games!

——

The next morning, when the bus full of national team players slowly drove into the outside of Kunming Tuodong Stadium, the fans who had been waiting here for a long time rushed up and shouted at the team's bus.

The entire stadium was surrounded by people, and at least two or three thousand fans came to the scene.

This scene made the international players sitting in the bus feel refreshed.

This treatment has never been experienced by the national team that has been defeated many times recently.

They all know very well why the fans' attitudes towards them have changed so quickly.

It's because Lippi is here, it's because Pan Yi is here, they see hope!

As for today's adaptive training, Pan Yi also proposed to be open-ended, allowing all fans and media reporters who came to the scene to enter the infield to watch the team's training.

This is also a common trick used by Pan Yi when he coaches at the club, which is to let the media and fans watch the game to stimulate the players and let them perform better in training.

As for tactical secrecy...... The morning training is all about recovery and there is no tactical aspect at all.

Before the start of training, the national football team also allowed the media to conduct a brief interview with the international players.

"Everyone knows that we have been cornered, and only by doing our best to win can there be a glimmer of hope."

Captain Zheng Zhi was of course the first interviewee.

He faced the camera and the microphone and spoke very sincerely.

"I'm 36 years old and this is probably my last chance to fight for the World Cup, so I'm going to do my best!"

"Because Qatar is a very strong team and it has not been easy to play against them, so we have to play at our best to have any hope of winning."

"But I'm also confident. As long as we can put our best foot forward, we have nothing to fear against any opponent. ”

And for the new coaching team, Zheng Zhi is also full of praise.

"Mr. Lippi worked with me when I was at the club and their Italian coaches were very professional and worked very well with the players, which helped us a lot."

"Of course, I would like to highlight our technical advisor, Pan Yi. Everyone knows that he is the best football coach in the world, but it is really remarkable that he is willing to be a consultant here for the sake of the national football team. ”

"What's even more remarkable is that he really gave everything for this team. And his ideas and ideas are very advanced, and there are many things about him that we haven't been able to fully grasp so far, but after this period of training, all of us admire him so much. ”

"With the help of such a world-class coach and coaching staff, we are really confident that we will win today's game!"

And after the interview, the international players started to prepare for the training session.

The fans and media reporters at the scene were immediately captivated.

A 90-minute training session, although it is mainly restorative training, is still very tightly arranged.

What's more, in just one week, the mental outlook of the international players has changed a lot.

The most obvious thing is that the original tense mood is now obviously much more relaxed, which is extremely rare in the past national team.

Especially in a series of game competitions such as monkey walking, with Pan Yi's ridicule on the side, bursts of cheerful laughter broke out in the field from time to time.

There is no shortage of old reporters in the media, and they praise while watching:

"Sure enough, when Pan Yi arrives at the national football team, it will bring a new atmosphere to the team."

"If I'm not mistaken, the last time I was so happy when I saw the national football team training was in 2001."

"At that time, it was the time when the then head coach Milutinovic was promoting happy football in the national football team......"

(End of chapter)