Chapter 290

The Chinese team's locker room was full of laughter, while the Italian team's locker room seemed a bit dull.

In fact, the score was 1-1, and the two sides were at the same starting line, so they should have the same mood.

But the time of the goal was different, which led to different mentalities of the players on both sides.

The Chinese team went from falling behind to equalizing the score, and they were naturally ecstatic and very happy.

Italy went from leading to being equalized, and it was the last moment of the first half. They didn't even have time to lead again, and they ended the first half of the game in a frustrated manner, which naturally seemed extremely disappointed and unwilling.

There was nothing that could be done about it.

More importantly, according to the comparison of the strength of the two teams, Italy was obviously stronger than the Chinese team.

It was a bit unreasonable that Italy was only one goal ahead of the Chinese team after the half, not to mention that it was equalized.

Therefore, the Italian players seemed to lack confidence.

The head coach was also very troubled.

He could see that the strength of the Chinese team's players was indeed not strong, and was indeed at the Asian level, but the overall state of the Chinese team was too good.

If one or two players were in good condition, it would be fine, but the entire Chinese team was in good condition, which was too *.

When the entire team was in full condition on the spot, everyone could achieve the best results in both individual performance and collective cooperation.

This made it difficult to enter the Chinese team's penalty area even with Italy's offensive level.

There was some luck in getting a goal in the first half.

After thinking for a while, the head coach began to arrange the tactics for the second half, asking the players to move the formation back in the second half and stabilize the defense first.

They also played defensive counterattacks.

This is Italy's traditional style and advantage.

Facing an Asian team, the head coach simply didn't care about the face of the World Cup champion and only cared about the result.

If the 1-1 draw could be dragged to a penalty shootout, then Italy would undoubtedly win.

Except for Jiang Xiaolin who can score a penalty, Italy has an overall advantage in other players, whether goalkeepers or penalty shooters.

From the results, the coach's tactical choice is undoubtedly very appropriate.

But these words made the Italian players feel very surprised and difficult to accept, and they immediately expressed their opinions.

"Why? With our strength, we actually have to take the initiative to retreat and play defensive counterattacks?"

"Do we need to be afraid of the Chinese team and Jiang Xiaolin?"

"The Chinese team is not as strong as the Korean team. We beat South Korea 3-0. Are we still afraid of the Chinese team?"

"It's just a tie, not a loss. How can we play defensive counterattacks? Do you still have face?"

Especially some of the players with racist tendencies, who have always believed that football is a sport for white people and Asian yellow people are the weakest.

Now they are asked to take the initiative to retreat, avoid the Chinese team, play defensive counterattacks, and even prepare to drag it to a penalty shootout, and then use a wretched penalty shootout to win and advance. This is absolutely unacceptable for them.

However, the head coach was not here to discuss with them, but to convey the tactics.

The players' murmurs and complaints could not change the head coach's decision.

The head coach finally said: "I hope everyone can recognize the reality. The Chinese team in front of you is not a weak team. They can beat New Zealand, which is at the same level, 10-0, and beat Belgium 4-1. This is not something that every team can do."

"If you play against Belgium, can you guarantee to win by more than 3 goals?"

The players were silent.

Even if everyone is confident that they are stronger than Belgium, no one dares to say that Italy can win Belgium by more than 3 goals.

The head coach continued: "It seems that everyone can realize that it is not easy to beat Belgium 4-1."

"Although the Chinese team lost 1-3 to Brazil in the last round of the group stage, that was not a game in which all their main players played, and the Chinese team had already qualified in advance. The last game was simply perfunctory, not playing with their heart, and the state was not good."

"In today's game, I believe that after 45 minutes of personal contact in the first half, everyone can see that the overall on-the-spot state of the Chinese team is very good, much better than ours."

"Although our players are stronger individually, their state is not as good as the opponent, and it is really impossible to say that they will definitely perform better than the opponent."

"Think about the goal of the Chinese team. If Jiang Xiaolin's ability to break through Criscito and pass a long pass is a reflection of his personal strength, then the opponent's front midfielder Wang Yongbai's running position and diving header are obviously the peak of his state."

"And such a state of state is the case for the Chinese team.It is common that all the players are in very good condition. "

"I hope you will pay attention to such a team from the bottom of your heart and stop considering it as a weak team."

"Just from the current score, we are not qualified to consider it as a weak team."

"Besides, the opponent is the host and has the added combat power of the home court."

"You must respect the opponent and not despise them in the slightest. In the second half of the game, we will play according to my tactics and play our best defensive counterattack. If we can score a goal, it's fine. If we can't score a goal, we will try to drag it to the penalty shootout. "

"If we enter the penalty shootout, we will win. ”

The head coach gave a long speech, and finally made most of the players sober up. They had to admit that they had underestimated the enemy before.

They also had to put the Chinese team on an equal footing.

After changing their mental state, and then working backwards from the results, everyone knew that the head coach's tactics were the most suitable for the current situation.

What's the use of face?

If you lose to the Chinese team as a World Cup champion, it would be really shameful.

As for winning the Chinese team by defensive counterattacks, or even dragging it to a penalty shootout, what does it matter?

As long as you can win, it's a victory.

If you can finally reach the finals and win the gold medal, it will be a wise and heroic decision, so how can you lose face?

In this way, after the head coach's preaching and tactical adjustments, the Italian players' mental state was finally adjusted, and they began to face the Chinese team and prepared to play defensive counterattacks in the second half according to the head coach's tactics.

15 minutes of midfield The break passed quickly, and soon, the players of both sides came out again, changed sides and prepared for the second half of the game.

When the second half of the game officially started, the Chinese team, the fans in the stands, reporters, commentators, and countless viewers watching the live broadcast in front of TV sets around the world were shocked to find that the Italian team, as the world champion, was not stimulated by the goal of the Chinese team in the last minute of the first half to attack, but instead shrank back and played a wretched defensive counterattack.

Of course, in fact, this is Italy's traditional advantage, which is the foundation for their foothold in the world football, and it is really not wretched in other games.

However, in this game, facing the Chinese team, which is obviously weaker than itself, Italy still chose such a defensive counterattack tactic, which undoubtedly made people feel very surprised and despised.

Many fans were stunned and talked about it:

"Damn, Italy did not retaliate or score, but shrank back and played a defensive counterattack?"

"Are you kidding me? Italy actually took the initiative to retreat and played a defensive counterattack against the Chinese team? Are they afraid of the Chinese team? "

"I was blinded. The Chinese team actually pushed Italy back to the backcourt and launched a defensive counterattack. When did the Chinese team have such ability? "

Of course, many Chinese fans were very excited and proud while they were confused.

After all, they forced the world champion team back to their own half and took the initiative to play a defensive counterattack.

This means that the strength of the Chinese team scared the opponent, and they dared not press forward and attack, fearing that the Chinese team would counterattack and score!

When was it possible for the Chinese team to play against the world champion team like this?

Although this opponent is only the world champion U23 Olympic team, not the real 2006 World Cup champion Italian adult national team, but the opponent's strength is not fake.

The Italian Olympic team was able to beat South Korea 3-0 in the group stage. The strength of the team is undoubtedly at the same level as Brazil, Argentina, the Netherlands and other teams in the quarterfinals, and is among the favorites to win the championship.

As a result, such a favorite to win the championship was forced by the Chinese team to not dare to take the initiative to attack, but to take the initiative to retreat and play its traditional defensive counterattack. Offensive tactics.

This made Chinese fans feel excited and proud, and they felt proud.

Fans only saw the surface, so they were naturally happy, and felt proud and proud.

But the Chinese Olympic team, including players and coaches, who were playing, frowned.

Italy's tactics in the second half were beyond everyone's expectations, and also put the Chinese team in an awkward dilemma.

Italy retreated, what should the Chinese team do?

This is a problem that the Chinese team has to face.

In the round of attack, the Chinese team is definitely not comparable to Italy, even if there is Jiang Xiaolin.

Jiang Xiaolin is only one person after all.

When Italy changed to defensive counterattacks and established a numerical advantage in the backcourt, relying on Italy's excellent chain defense.

Let alone Jiang Xiaolin alone, even if the entire Chinese team attacked, it would be unlikely to break through Italy..

With the tactics of defensive counterattack and the blessing of full state, the Chinese team's defense can compete with Italy's non-advantage offense.

But the Chinese team's offense cannot be compared with Italy's defense.

This is not at the same level.

If they don't attack, they can only stare at Italy across the center line, and neither side can do anything to the other!

But the result of dragging it on is undoubtedly disadvantageous to the Chinese team.

Italy can see that they will win if it drags to the penalty shootout, and the Chinese team's players and coaches can naturally see that the Chinese team will lose if it drags to the penalty shootout.

For a while, the Chinese team seemed to be in a dilemma.

There was nothing to defend, and Italy didn't attack.

They didn't dare to attack, for fear of being counterattacked by Italy.

In terms of defensive counterattacks, Italy is definitely sharper than the Chinese team at full state.

If you don't pay attention, you will be tricked by the Italians.

Therefore, the Chinese team could only use Jiang Xiaolin, Wang Yongbai, Cui Peng, Hao Junmin and other frontcourt players to attack with limited dribbling to test Italy.

Moreover, once the ball was lost, Wang Yongbai, Cui Peng and Hao Junmin had to retreat immediately.

However, with only four people participating in the attack, the Chinese team could not pose any threat to Italy, which retreated and switched to defensive counterattacks.

Of course, the same was true for the Italians.

The Chinese team only had four people attacking in the frontcourt, and the back midfielder and the back line still maintained a complete defensive formation. Moreover, the three central midfielders immediately retreated as soon as they saw the situation was not right. It was difficult for Italy to counterattack the Chinese team.

But the Italians were not in a hurry.

After the head coach's reprimand and tactical arrangements during the halftime break, the players had fully understood the way to play this game.

In the case of a 1-1 draw, they could sit back and wait for the Chinese team to attack, and then counterattack the opponent.

If the Chinese team did not attack, then the offensive force would naturally not be able to break through the Italian defense line. At best, everyone would drag the time to overtime and penalty shootout.

In the penalty shootout, Italy would almost certainly win.

Therefore, the Italians were not in a hurry.

But the Chinese team did not dare to attack rashly, for they were indeed afraid that the professional Italians would counterattack them.

Therefore, the game presented to the fans and TV viewers in the second half became a game in which the midfielders and backcourt players of both sides firmly defended the defense line, and only a few players in the frontcourt fought near the midfield.

Once the ball was lost, they immediately returned to defense, not giving the opponent a chance to counterattack.

The result of both sides playing defensive counterattacks was that the game became quite boring. Not to mention the rare time when the ball entered the penalty area, even the attack rarely advanced to within 30 meters of the goal.

Most of the time, the ball was spinning back and forth in the midfield.

After 20 minutes in the second half, neither team had a shot within the goal frame.

Such a match made many neutral fans boo.

You know, Italy has countless fans all over the world.

This match took place at the Workers' Stadium in Beijing. Many neutral fans who were not Chinese fans or Italians bought tickets to watch a wonderful match.

Unexpectedly, the first half was fine, but the second half turned out like this.

The two sides seemed to be playing a match-fixing game to delay time. They passed the ball slowly in the midfield. The occasional fight was not fierce at all. There was no intense look at all like an Olympic quarter-final.

For a while, there were boos in the stands. At least several thousand neutral fans were booing the two teams.

Of course, in addition to neutral fans, many Chinese fans also saw that something was wrong with the situation.

If the game dragged on like this and entered a penalty shootout, Italy, which had rich experience in penalty shootouts, had a psychological advantage, and the average ability of its players was much stronger than that of the Chinese team, would obviously have a much greater chance of winning.

So, more and more Chinese fans followed the neutral fans and booed.

However, they booed when Italy had the ball. When the Chinese team had the ball, although everyone frowned, they still remembered their identities and did not boo their own team.

This is also the respect that the Chinese team won in the group stage and the first half of the game.

Otherwise, even at home, there would be no shortage of Chinese fans booing their national team.

It has happened before.