Scaloni is right.

After a three-goal win away at Nottingham Forest, York's Young Guards were on full fire.

On August 9, York City beat Stevenage 2-0 in the first round of the Carabao Cup to reach the second round.

On August 12, in the second round of the Championship, York City defeated fellow promoted Bolton Wanderers 3-1 at home, who entered the Championship this season through the promotion play-offs.

On August 16, in the third round of the Championship, York City continued to sit at home, beating Ipswich 3-0 again.

On August 19, in the fourth round of the Championship, York City challenged Bristol City away and won 1:0.

A four-game winning streak in the Championship allowed York City to quickly occupy the "high ground" and rank at the top of the Championship standings.

Subsequently, York City continued to blossom on two fronts.

First, they played 1-1 with Reading in the second round of the Carabao Cup, and finally defeated their opponents through penalty shootouts to enter the third round.

Then came the 4-0 win over Norwich City in the fifth round of the Championship to win five consecutive league games!

At this time, in the standings, although Cardiff City also has 15 points from five wins, followed by Ipswich Town with 12 points, Leeds United with 11 points, Wolves with 10 points and other strong teams, many experts still believe that the trend of this season's Championship is likely to be dominated by York City, a promoted team.

Of course, this judgment is not only due to their winning record, but also because the performance of their young players gives a sense of the intensity of a Premier League team.

Now in York City's backline, whether it is a formation of several defenders, the young defenders led by Westerman are very stable, and it is difficult for the opponent to find gaps;

In seven of the five Championship games plus two League Cup games, they have conceded just two goals in total, which is a good indication of how well the backline has gotten better.

Onana also conceded a conceded goal, and from the third round onwards, he often stood in front of York City and frequently used his accurate long balls to find team-mates in front of him.

Against Norwich, it was his long, half-time ball that sent Scamacca to head the ball before Rafael Leao grabbed the second and fired it right.

In attack, the fullbacks represented by Alphonso Davies also have a lot of contributions.

Nowadays, York City's left side is a powerful attacking weapon, because when Leao or Kvaratskhelia comes to play as a left winger, they often use in-cut tactics, using their speed and skill to tear apart the opposition defence, while giving up the entire left side behind them to Alphonso Davies in the back row to show his attacking talent.

Alphonso Davies' substitute Di Marco was equally impressive, and although he was not as fast and penetrating as the Canadian wing, he had his own unique skills, namely passing and set-pieces.

In addition to defending, DiMarco also uses his precise passing to provide shells for his teammates up front.

In the midfield, De Jong, Barella, Tonali, Rice and others played brilliantly, and sometimes Scaloni had a happy trouble, not knowing who to start.

As a result, captain Karlström was often on the bench and was happy to help his younger team-mates at the end of his career.

Up front, Baker has been consistent, while Scamacca, who was his main substitute, has also improved significantly, although only two goals are not much, but he has used his fulcrum role to provide four assists for the team.

In addition to Leao and Kvaratskhelia, the likes of Lin Liangming, Armand and Kulusevski all have the power to fight, and the busy schedule at the beginning also gave Huang Zichang the opportunity to play, including starting in the League Cup.

In short, York City have two or three players in each position who can compete for the start, which also allows Scaloni to run the formation he wants to use as he pleases, and there will be no significant fluctuations in performance;

This is a completely different experience from the more obvious difference in strength between the main lineup and the substitute lineup last season.

Pan Yi's summer window operation has also been unanimously recognized, because there is really no one who is useless, and his performance in the transfer market is as stable as ever!

Therefore, the media also exclaimed, it seems that York City is really going to soar into the sky and rush directly to the Premier League!

Of course, there are those who are cautiously optimistic.

After five rounds in the Championship, we head into an international break, followed by an even busier September.

In addition to the Championship and League Cup, the Europa League group stage will also kick off, and York City will officially face the test of third-tier battles.

And with the excellent performance of the young players of York City, more and more players have been selected for the national team, such as Alphonso Davies, Tomiyasu Kenhiro, Armand, etc., including "old internationals" Lin Liangming and Kulusevski.

Even Huang Zichang and Pan Yi are ready to take him to the national team to experience it.

For these players, they are under pressure to play on four fronts.

Luckily, unlike in League Two and League One, the Championship will go into an off-season during the international break, just like the Premier League – after all, there are a lot of internationals in the Championship, and many clubs will quit if they don't.

As a result, York City will at least not be missing key players in some key games because of the international break.

At the same time, York City boss Pan Yi will of course once again become the technical adviser of the Dragon team during the international break, heading to Guangzhou Tianhe Stadium to participate in the crucial home game against Uzbekistan!

——

The top 12 of the Asian qualifiers have entered the final two rounds, and the teams have also reached the final sprint stage.

The picture of Group B is relatively clear, with Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia holding the top three spots, and the final two matches will be nothing more than a decision on which two teams will qualify directly and which will fall into the brutal play-offs.

Group A is much more complicated.

Even fifth-placed Syria still have hopes of qualifying, while top-ranked Iran failed to secure a place in the World Cup.

And in this round, which is the penultimate round, there will be a two-on-two showdown between the top four.

In addition to Syria's match against Qatar, Iran, who are in first place with 17 points, will take on South Korea, who are third in 13 points, while Longguo, who are also second in 13 points, will face Uzbekistan, who are fourth in 12 points.

Obviously, the outcome of these two games will directly change the final outcome of the group.

If Iran can get at least one point against South Korea, then the Persian Iron Riders will qualify for the World Cup one round ahead of schedule and participate in the main tournament of the World Cup again;

But if they lose, they will keep the suspense until the final round, and South Korea will continue to keep the pressure on the top two.

For the Dragons, the first thing is to make sure they don't beat Uzbekistan and not let their opponents overtake them, and then go all out in the final round to try to beat Qatar again.

In general, the initiative to qualify is still in the hands of the Dragon Country team, but there can be no mistakes in the next two games!

It is precisely because of the importance of this round of matches that the AFC has also arranged for these three matches to be played at the same time, that is, at 20:00 on the evening of August 31, BJ.

And by this point in time, Guangzhou Tianhe Stadium was already red.

This factory state Hengtai is the home of the Chinese Super League, and it is cheering for the entire national team at the moment!

And the former head coach of Changzhou Hengtai, Lippi, also released a starting lineup dominated by Hengtai players in this game.

The formation is still 4-3-3, the goalkeeper is Zeng Cheng, the back line is Jiang Zhipeng, Feng Xiaoting, Deng Hanwen and Zhang Linpeng, the midfield is Zheng Zhi behind, Hao Junmin and Zhang Xizhe are forward, and the front trident is Wu Lei, Zhang Yuning and Lin Liangming.

The youngsters Deng Hanwen and Zhang Xizhe, who performed well in the last game, continued to start, while captain Zheng Zhi also returned from injury.

Such an arrangement also shows the determination of the national team, that is, to take advantage of the home field to win Uzbekistan in one fell swoop!

You must not leave your fate to the Iranians or the Koreans at a critical moment!

After the opening, the Dragon Country team also immediately took the lead in launching a rush attack, led by Jiang Zhipeng, Hao Junmin and Wu Lei on the left side, and constantly attacked the Uzbek position again and again.

Only two minutes into the opening game, Hao Junmin turned his back to the goal on the left rib, and after receiving Zheng Zhi's ball, he took a step back under the opponent's marking, and suddenly turned around and passed the ball straight to Wu Lei when the opponent's midfield was not closely marked.

Wu Lei pulled to the periphery of the big penalty area, did not stop the ball at his feet, pushed with his right foot, sent it to the left side, and gave it to Jiang Zhipeng, who was inserted in the back row.

Jiang Zhipeng received the ball and walked to the vicinity of the bottom line, and then gently picked the ball behind the opponent's right back, while Hao Junmin quickly inserted the penalty area diagonally from the left rib, and after receiving the ball, he reversed the triangle and passed back to the penalty spot.

It's a pity that such a wonderful goal cooperation, because Wu Lei was closely marked by the opponent, Zhang Xizhe did not react immediately, which directly led to the ball being obtained by the opposing player and failed to create a threat.

But this time the attack boosted the morale of the Dragon Nation team.

At least this kind of attack shows that the attacking midfield combination that was lined up today is working!

Three minutes later, the Dragons made a comeback.

Jiang Zhipeng, who was still on the left side, after receiving the ball from his teammates, he went all the way to the bottom line cross, Zhang Yuning blocked the defender with his body, and then headed the ball to Wu Lei, who pushed the ball directly with his right foot without thinking.

Only a thud was heard, and the ball hit the right post and bounced out.

Wu Lei missed an excellent opportunity to score, and the whole person fell to the ground with his head in remorse.

But such a shot still caused cheers from all the Dragon Country fans in Tianhe Stadium.

They supported their team with wave after wave of applause and shouts.

And the Dragon Country team is also becoming more and more courageous with such encouragement.

In the eighth minute, it was the continuous cooperation of the left side of the Dragon Country team, Wu Lei won a corner kick opportunity for the Dragon Country team, and Hao Junmin's penalty made a gust of wind in the opponent's penalty area.

In the end, it was Uzbek goalkeeper Nesterov who made a decisive attack and knocked the ball out with both fists, followed by Zheng Zhi's long-range shot from the edge of the box, but it turned into an anti-aircraft gun.

In the twelfth minute, it was Jiang Zhipeng who dribbled the ball from the left side to the front of the penalty area, and suddenly hit a heavy cannon with his feet, but the ball hit the defenders in the penalty area, popped up the bottom line, and won a corner kick opportunity for the Dragon Country team again.

Hao Junmin's corner cross found Zhang Yuning pinpointly, but the latter's header flicked just over the crossbar.

Although there is no goal yet, the Dragons played such a ferocious offensive after the opening game, which also made the Uzbekistan coach Samville Babayan in the visiting team's coaching box full of worries.

In fact, for him, he came here today to get three points.

If they can beat the Dragons, Uzbekistan will have 15 points and surpass the Dragons.

And if Iran also beats South Korea in the other field, then Uzbekistan can jump to second place in an instant, and suddenly have the initiative to qualify!

Therefore, Babayan's overall strategy in this game is also based on offense, and he has planned to suppress the Dragon Country team at the beginning.

I would have thought that his players were shocked by the offensive momentum of the Dragon Country team as soon as they came up, and they had no chance of backhand at all.

Is this still the same dragon team that they easily beat 2-0 in the last leg?

The personnel don't seem to have changed much, but the overall mental outlook and technical and tactical level feel like a big step, and it doesn't look like the same team at all.

In the first ten minutes of attack in front of them, just a left-sided rush has evolved into a complex and changeable routine, and it is not difficult to imagine that the overall strength of this team has indeed improved a lot under the coaching of Lippi and Pan Yi.

No wonder they won all the way and then went straight from bottom of the group to second place!

"In this way, this game is much more difficult than I imagined." Babayan thought bitterly.

——

"It's been almost twenty minutes."

In the home team's coach's box, Pan Yi reminded Lippi softly.

After attacking for so long after the opening, Pan Yi was telling Lippi that it was time to close it a little, otherwise the players would have been maintaining such a high-intensity siege, and it would be difficult to maintain their physical fitness.

Lippi immediately glanced up at the scoreboard, it had been more than eighteen minutes, which made him shake his head a little helplessly.

He was really unwilling to fail to score, but he was helpless.

Uzbekistan's right side is a soft underbelly, so Lippi and Pan Yi formulated an opening attack strategy, hoping to take the lead at home and strive for the first city.

Therefore, after the opening, the Dragon Country team directly pressed up, and the team did suppress Uzbekistan on the field.

Unexpectedly, Uzbekistan's defense was also tenacious, and under the strong attack of the Dragon Country team, although it was a little chaotic at the beginning, it also held the goal and did not give the Dragon Country team too many good opportunities to shoot.

In addition, today's luck was a little worse, for example, Wu Lei's shot just now hit the post, which is really a pity.

If the internationals had a better chance to score, or a little luckier, and scored two or three goals in the opening game, they might have sent Uzbekistan home right now.

But there is no way to do it now, so I can only slow down first, and then plan again!

Looking at the figure of Pan Yi standing in front of him and starting to command, Lippi still nodded lightly.

In fact, it is actually a bit risky to adopt the opening attack strategy, after all, the overall strength of Uzbekistan is still very strong, and it can be guessed that the opponent who also wants to score three points will also adopt an offensive style of play.

That is to say, if the opening attack cannot seize the advantage, the void in the defense will be relatively large, and there may be loopholes under the opponent's attack.

However, at Pan Yi's insistence, the team finally formulated a rush strategy, but after the opening, the opponent was caught off guard, and the Uzbek attack was wiped out.

It should be said that although there is no goal yet, this kind of start has boosted the morale of the Dragon team and made everyone more and more confident in playing.

On the other hand, Uzbekistan's game plan was disrupted, and then they will definitely have to adjust for a while, and it may even be difficult to form a suppression of the Dragon Country team throughout the first half, which also buys enough time and space for the Dragon Country team.

Therefore, even if the Dragons slow down the tempo a little, it will be difficult for Uzbekistan to jump out of the stunned state of being beaten at the beginning of the game.

On the field, at this time, Uzbekistan launched a counterattack and quickly sent the ball to the penalty area of the Dragon team, but Feng Xiaoting pressed the opponent's center Sergeyev to clear the header, but under the interference of the opponent, the ball did not fall far.

However, just when Uzbekistan's midfielder, Akhmedov, who plays for Shanghai SIPG, was about to step in and hit the goal directly, captain Zheng Zhi quickly controlled the second landing point.

He was at the top of the penalty area, and after picking the ball past the opponent's midfielder, he quickly chased it up, and the header went to the right side and handed it to Zhang Linpeng.

Zheng Zhi's outstanding performance made Pan Yi and Lippi on the sidelines can't help but applaud him.

Having such a veteran in charge is definitely a blessing for the national team.

"Great job! Tell them to slow down the offensive, stabilize the defense, and allocate their energy wisely! Pan Yi shouted at Zheng Zhi.

Zheng Zhi gave a thumbs up to the sidelines to indicate that he understood, and then slowly conveyed the latest instructions from the coaching staff to the field.

As an experienced veteran, of course, he also understands that he also needs to adjust the rhythm of the game now, and he can't eat a fat man in one bite! ——

After the Dragons slowed down their attack, the game quickly became much more balanced.

Although the Uzbek players have recovered and their performances have improved considerably, their attacks have also been repeatedly hindered and they have not been able to pose a threat to the Dragons' goal.

On the contrary, it was the Dragon Country team, after retreating, they began to instigate counterattacks, and the veteran Zheng Zhi not only played a significant role on the defensive end, but also repeatedly planned threatening offensives on the offensive end.

In the 39th minute, Zheng Zhi split the side after breaking the ball in the front court, Zhang Linpeng crossed on the right side, Zhang Yuning and Wu Lei got the opportunity to break the goal in front of the goal, but unfortunately, the opponent's defense was extremely tight and never broke the goal.

Three minutes later, the Dragons had their best scoring chance of the entire first half.

Jiang Zhipeng passed diagonally to Hao Junmin from the left, and the latter sent the ball to the feet of center forward Zhang Yuning, making the latter form a one-handed momentum.

It's a pity that under the interference of the opponent's central defender Ismailov, Zhang Yuning's subsequent kick shot failed to play the level, and directly hit the opponent's goalkeeper, missing the best scoring opportunity of the game.

This mistake made the Longguo coaching staff and substitute players on the sidelines all hug their heads in the same style, but at the same time they were helpless.

The shot just now was also a bit too hasty, if you adjust it and play it after observation, it is estimated that it will be there.

However, after all, Zhang Yuning is only a 20-year-old player now, and the requirements for him cannot be too high.

If it's really so awesome, then he is not Zhang Yuning, but Harry Kane!

It's just that when the referee blew the whistle at the end of the first half, Zhang Yuning walked off the field with his head down.

After all, he missed a great chance to score in the first half, and for himself, he still blames himself.

What a pity!

As a striker for the national team, he knows better than anyone that there may not be a second chance to score like this in this game.

And if that goal goes in, the whole game will be completely reversed and rewritten, and he will once again become the national team's goal hero.

But where in this world is the regret medicine that can be taken?

Scoring goals or not scoring goals is the result of a striker's decision within 0.1 seconds, and it is these 0.1 seconds that are often the difference between the average striker and the top striker.

"Don't take it personally."

Suddenly, Pan Yi's voice sounded in Zhang Yuning's ears, and then a warm arm also rested on his shoulder.

"Everyone will have luck to carry it, you have to pay attention to adjust yourself, don't mess up your mentality." Pan Yi continued, "And if you score goals in a row before, the opponent will definitely pay more attention to and study you than before, and it will definitely be more difficult to score goals again at this time." ”

Zhang Yuning nodded.

He does feel that the opposing defenders are taking care of him more and more tightly, and he is no longer given space easily, as was the case last time against Syria, and this one is still the same.

So what should he do?

Perhaps seeing the change in Zhang Yuning's expression, Pan Yi smiled and patted him on the shoulder: "Don't worry, didn't I tell you?" If you can't score a goal, then run more and play the ball to your teammates, mess up the opponent's defense, and sometimes the opportunity to score suddenly appears like this. ”

Zhang Yuning looked at Pan Yi gratefully and nodded heavily.

With a famous handsome and famous teacher like Pan Yi by his side, he really doesn't have to be afraid of anything!

"However, I still hope that you can calm down a little bit more when you get the chance to shoot, that kick just now really stinks!" As he spoke, Pan Yi burst out laughing.

Zhang Yuning understood that Pan Yi was joking with himself, and touched his head embarrassedly: "I'll pay attention!" ”

Pan Yi's laughter attracted the attention of nearby players, and captain Zheng Zhi also ran over to Zhang Yuning and said: "The most important thing now is to travel lightly, there will definitely be a chance in the second half!" ”

And other strikers like Wu Lei, Gao Lin and other strikers laughed and said: "At least you haven't been scolded like us for shooting like a jerking!" ”

Zhang Yuning nodded gratefully to his teammates.

Now, the pressure caused by missing a single ball has been reduced a lot.

And this is also what the unity of this dragon team brings.

Anyone can make mistakes on the football pitch, and as a team, the most important thing is to be inclusive, not complain.

This is also the mentality that Pan Yi has always instilled in his players on weekdays.

As long as there is unity and harmony in the dressing room, such a team is a real whole, and only then can we overcome difficulties and win game after victory!