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Chapter 259 Meeting England Again

Ding Yu smiled on the TV screen, picked up a remote control with one hand, and turned off the TV with a "snap".

The owner of this hand has a resolute face, at this moment he muttered: "Sly fellow."

The person who muttered was Stuart Pierce, the head coach of the England youth team, a former England international, and a man with a "heart of an oak tree".Although he is not German, it is the Germans that he hates the most in his professional career-in the 96 European Championship, his England team fought against the German team for 120 minutes, and finally lost on penalties.

After retiring from the professional field, Pierce quickly entered the role of coach. He once represented the head coach of the Manchester City club. During that time, he won the Premier League Coach of the Month in April 05-this made him the first in the history of Manchester City.

Pierce is no stranger to the Chinese youth team. In the World Junior Championships in South Korea two years ago, the Chinese youth team and the England youth team met in the quarter-finals. Although England won the final victory, the Chinese youth team fought until the last moment. England only relied on the cooperation of Walcott and Wilshere before the end to defeat their opponents, which directly led to their loss to the old enemy German youth team in the quarter-finals. Pierce has always been worried about the game two years ago.

England's match ended one day earlier than the Chinese youth team's match. They beat the Czech youth team, also a European team, by two goals in another round of [-]. According to the rules of the draw, the England youth team's opponent would be the winner between China and the United States. Pierce naturally paid close attention to this match.

He saw all the performance of the Chinese youth team, and Ding Yu’s words at the press conference made him snort. Pierce clearly remembered that in the World Junior Championships two years ago, the Chinese youth team basically played four-five-one in the group stage. Leeds United, where Long Bisheng belongs to a low-level league team, happens to have Delphine, who he often pays attention to, so he is not unfamiliar with Long Bisheng at all.

From his eyesight, it can be seen that Long Bisheng is at least one grade higher than another center Dong Fanghong in terms of personal ability and overall strength. However, Ding Yu used Dong Fanghong instead of Long Bisheng in the first two games.Sure enough, in the quarter-finals, Long Bisheng gave the US team a heavy blow!
With one assist and two goals, Long Bisheng's overall performance on the court is not too eye-catching, but the statistics he obtained are real, just like when he was in Leeds United last season, he just contributed silently on the court at the beginning. Although he is tall, not many fans noticed how important he played on the court. By the time the fans realized the value of his existence, he was already taller than everyone else.

It is precisely because Pierce already has a certain understanding of Long Bisheng, so he has already noticed Ding Yu's pretentiousness at the press conference.

"If the China Youth Team met other teams instead of us in the quarter-finals, maybe they would really ignore Long Bisheng, but it's a pity that Long Bisheng is playing in the British Championship! Your smoke bombs will have no effect!" Pierce thought confidently.

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"It's against England and I think our luck has run out."

After returning to the hotel where the China Youth Team stayed, Ding Yu said with a wry smile to the three assistant coaches.

Among the three assistant coaches, one is Coach Zhao, Ding Yu's old partner when he coached the Yunjiatianyu youth team. He is a stable person. Although he has nothing unique in tactics, he is more careful. Many chores in the team are well-organized. With him, Ding Yu can concentrate on his results. Such an assistant coach may be inconspicuous, but he is indispensable.

The other two assistant coaches are well-known in China—the two most famous coaches in the early A-A era, and they were also the ones Ding Yu wanted to catch up with and learn from—the absolute protagonists of the Shanghai Lianhe hegemony, Chi Shangbing and Xu Genbao!

Although these two have faded out of the first-tier football for a long time, they probably will not be concentrated as assistant coaches for a middle-aged and youth team. They used to be assistant coaches for a national team at the same time. That was when the Chinese team entered the World Cup in 97. Marshal Qi was in charge. After taking office, this most luxurious coaching staff in the history of Chinese football will come to an end without a problem, because Benitez does not need other people to dictate.

This time, Chi Shangbing and Xu Genbao were able to put aside their suspicions and come to the China Youth Team to serve as Ding Yu's assistant coaches. It was not because of Ding Yu's face, but because of their enthusiasm for youth training, they also had many disciples playing for the China Youth Team. In order to see with their own eyes that their hard work was not in vain, these two current Chinese football leaders agreed to Ding Yu's invitation.

"England is very strong, but we don't seem to have any reason to back down." Xu Genbao still wore his pair of brown sunglasses, and said in a cold tone: "When you meet on a narrow road, the brave wins, that's all."

Chi Shangbing rubbed his head: "We lost to them two years ago, but that time we spent too much energy in the group stage. England only won us in the final stage. This time we have no physical problems. I think at least at the starting line, we will not lose to them."

Looking at these two old seniors who are getting older, their anger has not weakened in the slightest but has a tendency to increase. Ding Yu laughed: "Yes, after entering the quarterfinals, no matter how lucky we are, we will still meet strong teams... Unless we have the good luck like the 02 World Cup... There is at least one advantage of meeting England, that is, we have played against them and are more familiar. Of course, there is also a disadvantage, that is, Pierce will definitely know how much Long Bisheng can play in my tactical system."

"Let's not talk about offense, we must first consider defense..." Chi Shangbing always considered defense first when he was the coach of the Dalian team. The Dalian Dongfang he led in the first few years of professional league dominance relied on their defense: "Walcott, Wilshere, and Sturridge of West Ham United... England's offense is very strong."

"Walcott is world-class. Although he is a forward, he is used to moving on the right. Huang Zhenghong's defense is good, but he is a bit behind the opponent in terms of speed. The surroundings can't help him in defense. It seems that he still has to use double midfielders. Jiang Qi continues to fill in on both sides. His ability to fill in is good." The three sat down in the coffee shop of the hotel. Xu Genbao said to Ding Yu and the others while pulling a chair to sit down.

During this kind of tactical discussion, Lao Zhao couldn't get in the way. He called the waiter directly and ordered four cups of coffee.

Ding Yu rubbed his temples: "It's not just this... Sturridge is also 1.8 meters tall. Li Jie can probably defend him, and his experience will not be too bad... But if Jiang Qi is in charge, then Wilshere's organization can only rely on Hu Gan to deal with it alone. Their midfielder also has Delphine. In the England youth team, he is more of a left midfielder. Although Gao Zhifa's performance in the first few games is not bad, but against this kind of player..."

"If we even have trouble with England's defense, let alone other teams." Xu Genbao said sharply: "Brazil has Pato, and Italy has Balotelli. The performances of these two in Serie A in the past two seasons are world-class. Germany also has monsters like Toni Kroos and Marin, not to mention Spain, Bojan, Aquino, Merida... The world's best players at the age of 89 are like a blowout. It is also a huge test, don't forget that in the Olympic Games three years later, these players will appear in London."

The World Junior Championships, the World Youth Championships, and the Olympics, every four years, there will always be some talented people in a team of a level. As players in the Olympic age group, Long Bisheng and the others should have this awareness.

"Their defense is also very strong. Martin Kelly, David Levine, Joe Mattock, and Gavin Hoyt are all young defenders who have become the main players in the Premier League and the Championship. Maybe their goalkeeper is a flaw. Tottenham's David Bhutto doesn't have much professional game experience, and England's goalkeeper has always had a big problem." Chi Shangbing thought for a while and said: "After Seaman retired, their national team has not been able to find a reliable goalkeeper, let alone youth teams of all levels. In last year's European Youth Championship, if Bhutto hadn't shot twice, England would not have won a penalty shootout against Sweden."

"Old Chi is right." Ding Yu nodded. "To face England, defense alone is not enough. We are strong in the midfield, and England is also strong in the midfield. Only offense can give us a chance to win... Of course, we must also pay attention to defense. When there is a chance to score goals, whoever can guarantee fewer goals will be able to add a lot of weight to the final victory!"

(End of this chapter)