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Chapter 268 Defense First
Ding Yu spoke very confidently and boosted the morale of the players, but in fact, even he was not sure how powerful the combination of Italy's defensive counterattack and England's long pass and lob would be. Just as the commander who likes to rob people's food and road will protect his own food and road very strictly, the originator of defensive counterattack will also have his own unique experience in dealing with defensive counterattack.

But there is nothing he can do about it. This Italian youth team does not have a high center forward in the true sense. Although Balotelli is close to 1.9 meters tall, he is a second striker who is used to cruising around the penalty area. To deal with this kind of striker, we must not leave him too much room for movement in the frontcourt, compress his movement space, and reduce the number of times he takes the ball.

If you want a striker with a wide range of activities to reduce his space for movement, there is only one way to shrink the defense to minimize the space for no one near his penalty area. Since he chooses to do this, it is logical to choose defensive counterattack.

In Ding Yu’s view, Balotelli’s threat is greater than Walcott’s – after all, Walcott is a player who is used to playing on the wing, and most of the threats to the goal are not direct, but indirect. Balotelli, a weird-tempered boy, can not only create opportunities for his teammates, but also directly score goals. In Serie A, he once scored a goal similar to Zidane’s flying fairy in the 02 Champions League final.

There is another reason why Ding Yu is forced to use defensive counterattacks—although the players are not too tired, there is no doubt that Italy, which has had an extra day of rest, has an advantage in physical fitness. Using defensive counterattacks will consume much less physical energy of the players.

Judging from the first half of the game, Ding Yu’s tactics were still successful. The dense defense of the Chinese youth team in the backcourt caused headaches for the talented Italian attackers. As Ding Yu expected, Casiraghi’s striker combination was still Balotelli and Parowski. The striker combination is quite good, but in fact there is a big problem-Paroski is less than 1.8 meters, and his confrontation ability is not good. He is just a player looking for opportunities in the penalty area, while Balotelli is most threatening.

There is no center forward with excellent impact ability in the penalty area, and there will be no way to score against the iron barrel. No matter how good Balotelli's skills are, he can't lead from outside the penalty area to the goal.

Bonaventura is good at passing through balls, but the distance between the China Youth team's defense and the goalkeeper is quite short. No matter how the ball can be passed behind, there must be room for the receiver to sprint...

On the contrary, the offensive tactics of the China Youth Team are very simple. After stealing the ball from the backcourt, Long Bisheng will pass directly to Long Bisheng in the frontcourt. Although Long Bisheng cannot win every header in front of the opponent's defense line with an average height of more than 1.8 meters [-] - because the long pass from the backcourt cannot fly accurately into his control range every time - but as long as he can win the header, he will definitely create a threat.

In the 7th minute, Hu Gandang made a long pass in the backcourt. Long Bisheng completely gained the upper hand in the confrontation with the equally strong Brusco.

The young teenager Thornton who squeezed Maxwell to the bench last season is not an ordinary character...

No. 18 minutes, Jiang Qi intercepted Bonaventura's pass in the middle, and the ball rolled to Dai Guangming's feet. Dai Guangming gave the ball to Long Bisheng immediately under the attack of the opponent's two midfielders. live.

This was also the best opportunity for the China Youth Team in the first half. It was not a direct counterattack with a long pass, but a quick advance in the midfield. Unfortunately, under the pressure of the Italian three midfielders, most of the time they could only choose long passes to find Long Bisheng's head.

No. In the 307th minute, Long Bisheng also created a good opportunity for his teammates. This time it was Dai Guangming who wasted the opportunity.

In the first half of the game, the Italian youth team had the upper hand. Their ball possession reached 60.00%. Dare to deal with him. After entering the penalty area, Li Jie is constantly harassing him. On the two wings, he will run into the two full backs of the China Youth Team...

At the same time, these guys have a lot of small moves, but Balotelli is a player who doesn't like to fall when touched. The opponent uses small moves to deal with him, and also uses small moves to counterattack, but the opponent takes turns to harass him, and he is relatively big. The movements of big people are often more obvious, and the referee will find it easier...

After the first half of the game, Balotelli stared at Hu Gandang who was entangled with him just now, and then walked off the court resentfully.

All this scene fell into Ding Yu's eyes. Perhaps Balotelli's background determined his irritable personality. Although it is a bit inhumane, it seems to be a point that can be used...

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"We did a good job in the first half!"

Ding Yu praised his players. Although his players wasted two excellent chances to score goals in the first half, being able to not concede a goal in front of players like Bonaventura, Balotelli, and Parowski is a pretty good achievement in itself.

You must know that the defense of the Chinese youth team is actually not as good as their current number of goals conceded...

If the Chinese youth team chooses to press forward to attack, it will look good, but the Italian defense line inherits the "reinforced concrete" style of their national team. The two central defenders are tall and powerful, and the two full-backs are even better.

What's more, if he presses out to attack, Balotelli will definitely get more opportunities to get the ball in the backcourt. In the first half, he relied on his own skills and awareness to create the biggest trouble for the defense of the Chinese youth team, let alone when there is room for sprinting.

"We will continue to play like this in the second half, but we need to be more thorough in our counterattacks and better able to grasp opportunities. Dai Guangming, your one-handed handling of the ball in the first half seemed a little procrastinated, and you should be more firm in the second half." Ding Yu said to Dai Guangming that he did not say that the dragon must win, because the header dragon must win was the best. Firiolo's save can only be said that he was possessed by the souls of Zoff, Zenga, Pagliuca, and Buffon at that moment...

Dai Guangming nodded. He performed well in La Liga, but La Liga's defensive style also slowed down his pace a bit. He never expected Thornton to be so resolute in his return to defense that single-handedly.

"Okay, boys, there are still 45 minutes before the end of the game. Let's not worry. The Italians will definitely be more anxious than us because they are afraid of penalties... Even if they won the fourth World Cup by relying on penalties in the 06 World Cup final." Ding Yu said to all the players that there is no overtime in the World Youth Championship: "In yesterday's training, we specially practiced penalty kicks, and we have an advantage in this aspect..."

The players stared blankly at Ding Yu. They didn't expect that the game was only the end of the first half, and Ding Yu was already thinking about the penalty shootout.

Seeing that he has become the focus in the locker room, Ding Yu grinned: "Why, didn't you think of it? Against Italy, counterattacking against them is just one of them, and if the Italian team has a high center forward like Long Bisheng, I will not do it... As a coach, I have to consider any situation. Okay, in the second half of the game, continue to defend and counterattack resolutely. Maybe Casiraghi will find a way to increase the impact in the penalty area, but he does not have such a center forward, Roma's Oka Although Ka has such abilities, this black kid has no brains and is very rigid on the court. Even if he is replaced, the threat will not be too great. Li Jie, if Italy really replaces Okaka, then you go deal with him."

The players had no objection to this. Li Jie had a way of dealing with centers with excellent impact, because he had been practicing against Long Bisheng since a long time ago.

"In the second half, defense comes first!" Ding Yu finally put a full stop on his words.

(End of this chapter)