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Chapter 132
On August [-]th, Cai Sheng led Qingdao Haifeng to Shanghai. Tomorrow they will face the home team Shanghai Qunli at Shanghai Jiangwan Stadium.

Shanghai Qunli's performance this season has been consistent, and it is now ranked eighth in the standings. There is no danger of relegation for the time being. Qingdao Haifeng is already at a very dangerous time, and it is six points away from the relegation zone. This is an away game.

In the game that day, Cai Sheng still used the previous main lineup, the goalkeeper Han Feng, the defenders were captain Liu Ziyan, Lu Dashan, Wu Jize and Xie Hui, the midfielder Li Erlong and Liu Jian, the two wings were Qi Zhi and Liu Bin, and the forwards were partnered by Lu Baozi and another forward.

Both Long Bisheng and Huang Zhenghong were sitting on the bench. Cai Sheng told them before the game that they would never play in this game. What they need to do is to observe the performance of their teammates, try to remember the habits and characteristics of their teammates running on the court, and get familiar with the atmosphere of the professional league as soon as possible—the time they play will be the next game or even the next game.

Huang Zhenghong is okay. Although he didn’t get the opportunity to start the game after being transferred to the first team this year, he did have a few opportunities to come off the bench. Although he basically played in garbage time, he at least had experience with the stadium atmosphere of the professional league. A Chinese team, so the home atmosphere of Shanghai Qunli is not particularly strong.

But for Long Bisheng, it was enough—although he played in the UK for a year, it was only for the youth team. There were no people watching the football. Although he also watched a few games at St. James’ Park and felt the atmosphere, watching football in the stands is completely different from playing football on the court!
Among other things, when he sat down on the bench, he felt that the shouts from the stands around him seemed to be directed at him. The roars and shouts seemed to explode in his ears. Under such circumstances, can he not be distracted?
Every time there was a huge shout from the stands, Long Bisheng could not help shrinking his neck, and then turned around to look back. Huang Zhenghong noticed his uneasy behavior, nudged him with his elbow, and then said in a low voice: "Concentrate... let them shout, it's not you, what do you always see them doing?"

Long Bisheng smiled awkwardly: "I...I'm not used to it...there weren't so many people around the court before."

"What did we play before? Football Association invitational games, there are only a few hundred college students on the sidelines...the professional leagues have tens of thousands of fans at every turn, sometimes tens of thousands...you have to get used to it, and besides, you have to concentrate on watching the game. Young players like us are learning from the sidelines. Don't waste this opportunity." Maybe it's the reason why they came to the team with Long Bisheng. The youth team is the main force and is the captain candidate.

Hearing Huang Zhenghong's words, Long Bisheng woke up. Yes, although he didn't have a game, the coach must have a purpose for letting him watch the details of the game-I can't slack off. This contract is not easy to come by. If he can't perform well in China, let alone play in Europe!
Thinking of this, Long Bisheng immediately began to concentrate on watching the game. He himself is a relatively simple-minded person. Such a person does not have too many distracting thoughts. The reason why he was easily distracted just now is because he has never experienced such a situation. Once he started to concentrate on watching the game, he began to gradually ignore the shouts in the stands.

Looking at it, Long Bisheng saw some tricks.

The players of Qingdao Haifeng fought fiercely on the field. Perhaps because they were deep in the relegation zone, the players all inspired a strong fighting spirit and ran on the field without hesitating their physical fitness. However, Shanghai Qunli used skills that surpassed the Qingdao players to deal with opponents, and constantly threatened Qingdao Haifeng's goal through fast passing and skilled footwork.

Qingdao Haifeng's defense is really good. The central defender Lu Dashan has plenty of physical energy, runs actively, defends fiercely, and handles the ball very well in the air. The other central defender Wu Jize is also over 1.8 meters tall, and his turning speed is not slow. The two of them just complement each other. This is especially true.

However, compared with their defense, Qingdao Haifeng’s offense is a little lackluster. The left midfielder Liu Bin seems to be a midfielder who is stronger in defense than offense. He can often be seen returning to the front of the penalty area to help defend and run actively, but it does not help the offense. The offensive organization in the frontcourt is basically done by forward Lu Baozi. Brother Baozi's dribbling ability is quite good, but he is a bit lacking in finishing, and the other foreign forward can't see any characteristics. So far in the game, he can only be seen running around in the frontcourt.

After the end of the first half, Qingdao Haifeng withstood the opponent's attack, and he also made a lot of attacks, but the score was zero to zero.

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"Liu Ziyan, you need to get in more in the second half! Give full play to your excellent offensive ability. Don't just pass from the wing. If you have a chance to boldly insert into the penalty area, Liu Bin will help you fill in. Qi Zhi, your pass should be more threatening. Pass a direct pass and let Lu Baozi break through more. Even if you can't break into the penalty area and score goals, you must create some free kicks. We have a lot of good free kick players in our team. We have to let them have a chance to play...We should also pay attention to defense when attacking, that is our foothold... Got it?"

Cai Sheng has drawn countless lanes on the tactical board, and he is helpless when the offense is not fruitful, but he has no choice. If there is a striker with a strong scoring ability, he will rely on Qingdao Haifeng's strength in the backcourt and solid defense.In the [-] rounds of the league, Qingdao Haifeng only lost eight games. If it weren’t for the plague-like six-game losing streak some time ago, Qingdao Haifeng’s number of losses would not even be more than that of the top teams such as Xiamen, Changchun, and Guangzhou.

After the start of the second half, Qingdao Haifeng's offense improved. Liu Ziyan and Lu Baozi and other players with strong breakthrough ability began to break through frequently in the frontcourt, creating free kicks even if they didn't create opportunities.
Lu Baozi, who broke the five-round scoring drought, was very excited. Others also congratulated him one after another. Brother Baozi has a cheerful personality, likes to joke, and has a good popularity in the team, but a striker can gain a foothold in the team, not by popularity, but by scoring goals!

However, after this goal, Shanghai Qunli immediately adjusted its tactics and strengthened its offense while paying attention to the foul in the backcourt. After blocking several threatening shots from the opponent, goalkeeper Han Feng finally failed to block the opponent's shots again. All he could do was helplessly pick up the ball from the goal and drive it far away.

Cai Sheng sighed helplessly on the sidelines. This has been the case in the last few games. Sometimes he can take the lead, but he is quickly taken away by the opponent in the midfield, and then he bombards around Qingdao Haifeng's gate. If the two problems are not resolved, it will be difficult to win!

On the field, Li Erlong stomped the opponent's offensive player. While resolving a threatening attack by the opponent, he also got himself the ninth yellow card of the season. According to the rules, he will be suspended for the next match.

But Cai Sheng can't take care of this now, if he can't keep it, maybe he won't get a point, then it's called losing his wife and losing his army!
Fortunately, Qingdao Haifeng's defense line is quite competitive, and finally kept the score to the midfield. Qingdao Haifeng ushered in eight rounds without victory while being tied for two years.

(End of this chapter)