Unlike most cup competitions in the world, the FA Cup final turned out to be a two-legged contest between home and away.

In recent years, when it comes to the two-legged home and away games, the Taishan team has a bit of a headache. It's really because of the poor record in the two-legged match. Whether it was facing Evergrande in the knockout round of the AFC Champions League this year, or facing Guoan in the FA Cup final last year, they failed to get the desired results.

But the strange thing is that in the face of a more brutal single knockout match, the Taishan team can often overcome obstacles, this year's FA Cup has gone all the way, has eliminated Suning, SIPG, Guoan and other strong teams in a single game.

According to media analysis, this is a manifestation of the lack of kingly spirit of the Taishan team. Because in a single knockout game, you only need to fight against the water, and you don't need to suffer from gains and losses, so the team can burst out with the courage to break through the cauldron and defeat the opponent; And home and away games, because there are many factors involved, the team tends to look ahead and hesitate, and it is not surprising that they are eliminated.

In an interview with the media, Li Xiaopeng also vowed to say: "History is used to rewrite. After the ups and downs of this season, I believe that the team will mature and use the championship to thank our parents and fellow villagers for supporting us! ”

Through the draw, the Taishan team was the first away team and then the home, and the schedule was slightly unfavorable. But in the face of the gap in strength, this insignificant disadvantage was automatically ignored by everyone.

As the final battle of this season's domestic football and the head-to-head confrontation between two old Chinese Super League teams, this game has attracted strong attention from the domestic football circle, and more than 40 media have signed up for interviews. And the bigwigs of the Football Association also appeared on the rostrum. According to rumors, the purpose of their trip is not just to watch the game, but also to inspect Li Xiaopeng's coaching level on the spot and conduct the final assessment for the national team coach candidate.

Under the noses of all the bigwigs, Li Xiaopeng's arrangement is extremely cautious, and the starting lineup is mainly stable, and it can even be said to be a little conservative.

The formation is still 4-2-3-1. goalkeeper Wang Dalei, four central defenders Wang Tong, Zheng Zheng, Dai Lin, Zhang Chi; Hao Junmin and Fellaini partner in the back; Duan Liu Yu is in the middle of the dispatch, and the left and right avant-gardes Jin Jingdao and Wu Xinghan; Center forward Pelle.

Yes, the Tarzan team only had two foreign aids, and Moises had a stomach discomfort before the game and failed to make the squad. Guedes, on the other hand, was put on the bench for the sake of offensive and defensive balance. The reason why the teenager Duan Liu Yu was used is because the Football Association stipulates that there must be a young player below U23 on the field.

Compared with the strong strength of the Taishan team, the lineup of the Shenhua team is much inferior, and the domestic players are old and small, and there are several U23 players alone. It's just that their foreign aid is not bad. Captain Moreno is the longest-serving foreign player in the Chinese Super League, and Real Madrid's J Ronaldo has played him as a substitute in the Colombian national team; Kim Shin-wook is Choi Kang-hee's descendant and one of the best high school strikers in Asia; The remaining two strikers also have a lot of backgrounds: El Shaarawy, known as the "little pharaoh", is the golden boy of former AC Milan; Ighalo has already been eyed by Manchester United and will go to Old Trafford at the end of the season.

Gao Yuan was still a little unimpressed by Li Xiaopeng's arrangement. He felt that in the face of the gap in strength, Li Xiaopeng was still too cautious.

The coaching staff held a meeting before the game, and the tone set was to strive for more goals at home and try to kill the suspense of the championship at their home stadium. In the cheers of tens of thousands of Taishan fans, if you enter 3 or 4 opponents, then the opponent will have no intention of fighting when you get away.

But when it came to the end, Director Li's old mistake of being overly cautious was committed again, and several players with strong attacking power were useless, but put on a steady and steady posture.

However, Gao Yuan also understands Li Xiaopeng. After all, this is the key test for him to become the coach of the national team, and it is inevitable that he does not have the mentality of wanting to win and being afraid of losing. This kind of test, he just experienced it a few weeks ago, if it weren't for his own system, maybe he would also seek stability and put the five tiger youngsters on the bench.

In football, it is difficult to say which is right and which is wrong between conservative and aggressive, and the only criterion for judging is winning or losing. History only records the results, and forgets the process.

Just like the Greek team in the 2004 European Cup, it developed indecently all the way, knocking out the field 1-0, and was beaten by the Portuguese in the final with only the ability to parry and had no power to fight back, but it won the European Cup with a header. To this day, all that is remembered is the "Greek mythology" and the lonely back of Portugal's golden generation.

The game begins.

Sure enough, as predicted before the game, the Taishan team launched a tidal attack on the Shenhua team's defense line amid the shouts and cheers of 40,000 spectators at home.

In the 3rd minute, Wang Tong made a cross from the bottom, and Pelle's header went over the crossbar.

In the 5th minute, Wu Xinghan and Duan Liuyu collided with the wall, entered the penalty area, and shot wide.

In the 8th minute, Hao Junmin broke through continuously, was fouled at the front of the big penalty area, and made a free kick, Zheng Zheng's left-footed arc grazed the upright and missed.

In the 11th minute, a corner kick of the Taishan team, Fellaini hit the goal with a header, and was saved by the goalkeeper

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The Shenhua team, like the Greek team in 2004, defended with all their might, and only parried and had no power to fight back.

Moreover, South Korea's veteran Choi Kang-hee made a mistake in arranging the troops.

I don't know if he trusts his Korean fellow too much, or if he really thinks that he can play against the Taishan team away from home. In short, his striker chose high school striker Kim Shin Wook instead of black and hard Ighalo.

The Shenhua team's forward foreign aid combination is similar to that of the Taishan team. Kim Shin Wook is a high school striker, and the target is Pelle; Odion Ighalo is a one-man striker with speed and skill, playing the same role as Tarzan's Guedes. So, just like the difference between Pelle and Guedes, Kim Shin Wook and Odion Ighalo represent two completely different styles and styles of play, respectively.

It stands to reason that when fighting away from home, the strength is relatively weak, so you should play a defensive counterattack, put a striker with strong individual ability on the front line, and do it alone. However, Choi Kang-hee used Kim Shin-wook. Although Kim Shin Wook is one of the best high school strikers in Asia, and he does a good job of heading and protecting the ball, after all, he is 1.97 meters tall and not very dexterous under his feet, so he can't pose any substantial threat to the Taishan team's goal.

In the pre-match report, Gao Yuan gave different coping strategies for different candidates for the opponent's striker. Therefore, although Cui Kangxi's choice was somewhat unexpected, he was not able to catch the Taishan team by surprise.

According to Gao Yuan's suggestion, the Taishan team sent Dai Lin, who was 1.88 meters, to follow Jin Xinyu inch by inch. Although there is still a little difference in height between the two, playing football is not playing basketball, and the higher the better. And in defense, the Taishan team also adopted the defensive strategy of going around the front in the basketball defense to cut off the passing line between Kim Shin-wook and his teammates.

Under Dai Lin's close watch, the connection between Kim Shin-wook and his teammates was blocked, like a kite with a broken string, floating alone in front. You can't get dangerous passes from your teammates, or you can't act as a bridgehead and wait for your teammates to come back. It's a completely wasted move.

Cui Kangxi, who is anxious and doesn't smile on weekdays, looks a little "paralyzed", and is scolding and shouting on the sidelines.

Kim Shin-wook lost contact with the team, making the opponent like a tiger without fangs. The Taishan team inherited the glorious tradition of Lu Dong's predecessor Wu Erlang, and was more assured and bold to hammer this sick tiger.