World's No.1 Football Manager

Chapter 214
Unlike most cups in the world, the final of the FA Cup turned out to be a two-round home and away contest.

In recent years, when it comes to the home and away rounds, the Taishan team has some headaches.It was really because of the poor record in the two rounds.Whether facing Evergrande in this year's AFC knockout round or facing Guoan in the FA Cup final last year, they failed to achieve ideal results.

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

According to media analysis, this is a manifestation of the Taishan team's lack of kingly spirit.Because in a single knockout game, you only need to fight to the death, and you don’t need to worry about gains and losses, so the team can burst out the courage to break the boat and defeat the opponent; and in the home and away games, because there are many factors involved, the team tends to look forward and backward, hesitate, and it is not surprising to be eliminated.

In an interview with the media, Li Xiaopeng also vowed: "History is used to rewrite. After experiencing the ups and downs of this season, I believe that the team will mature and use the championship to thank our parents and folks who supported us!"

Through the lottery, the Taishan team went away first and then played host, 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 domestic football this season, it is another head-to-head confrontation between two old Chinese Super League teams. This game has aroused strong attention from the domestic football circle, and more than 40 media signed up for interviews.And the bigwigs from 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 candidates.

Under the watchful eye of all the bosses, Li Xiaopeng's formation was extremely cautious, and the starting lineup was mainly stable, and it could even be said to be a bit conservative.

The formation is still 4-2-3-1.Goalkeeper Wang Dalei, four central defenders Wang Tong, Zheng Zheng, Dai Lin, and Zhang Chi; Hao Junmin and Fellaini partnered in the midfielder; Duan Liuyu was in the center, left and right midfielders Jin Jingdao, Wu Xinghan; center Pellet.

Yes, the Taishan team only got double foreign aid. Moises had a stomachache before the game and failed to make the squad.Gerdes, on the other hand, was placed on the bench for the sake of offensive and defensive balance.The reason why the young player Duan Liuyu was used was because the Football Association stipulated that there must be a young player below U23 on the field.

Compared with the strong strength of the Taishan team, the Shenhua team's lineup is much inferior. The domestic players are old and young, and there are only a few U23 teenagers.It's just that their foreign aid is not bad.Captain Moreno is the longest-serving foreign aid in the Chinese Super League. Ronaldo of Real Madrid has played him as a substitute in the Colombian national team; Jin Xinyu is a direct descendant of Cui Kangxi and one of the best high center forwards in Asia;

Gao Yuan was still somewhat disapproving of Li Xiaopeng's formation.He felt that Li Xiaopeng was still too cautious in the face of the gap in strength.

The coaching staff held a meeting before the game, and the tone set was to strive for more goals at home, and strive to kill the suspense of the championship at home.Amidst the cheers of tens of thousands of fans of the Taishan team, if the opponent scored 3 or 4 goals, then the opponent would have no intention of fighting in the away game.

But when things came to an end, Director Li committed the old habit of being overly cautious again. Several players with strong offensive power were useless, but they assumed a steady and steady posture.

However, Gao Yuan also understood Li Xiaopeng very well.After all, this is the key test for him to lead to the coaching position of the national team, and it is inevitable that he does not have the mentality of thinking about gains and losses because he wants to win and is afraid of losing.He had just experienced this kind of test a few weeks ago. If he hadn't had a system, maybe he would have sought stability and put the Five Tigers on the bench.

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

Just like the Greek team in the European Cup in 2004, they developed all the way and were knocked out 1-0. In the final, the Portuguese only had the power to parry and had no power to fight back, but they won the European Cup with a header.So far people remember only "Greek mythology" and the desolate back of Portugal's golden generation.

Game start.

Sure enough, as predicted before the game, the Taishan team launched a tidal attack on Shenhua's defense line amidst the cheers and cheers of 4 spectators at home.

In the 3rd minute, Wang Tong made a pass from the bottom and Pellet headed the ball over the crossbar.

In the 5th minute, Wu Xinghan and Duan Liuyu slammed into the wall, entered the penalty area and missed the goal.

In the 8th minute, Hao Junmin broke through consecutively, was fouled at the front of the penalty area, and made a free kick. Zheng Zheng's left foot arced against the post and went wide.

In the 11th minute, the Taishan team took a corner kick, and Fellaini headed the goal, but was saved by the goalkeeper.
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Like the Greek team in 2004, the Shenhua team defended with all their strength, only parrying and having no power to fight back.

Moreover, Korean coach Cui Kangxi made a mistake in the formation of troops.

I don't know if he trusts his fellow Koreans too much, or if he really thinks he can play against the Taishan team in the away game.In short, his striker foreign aid chose high center forward Jin Xinyu instead of black and hard Ighalo.

The Shenhua team's striker foreign aid combination is similar to that of the Taishan team.Jin Xinyu is a high center forward, and the target is Pellet; Ighalo is a speedy and skilled solo shooter, who has the same role as Taishan's Guedes.Therefore, just like the difference between Pellet and Gerdes, Jin Xinyu and Ighalo also represent two completely different styles and styles of play.

It stands to reason that in an away game, the strength is relatively weak, so they should play a defensive counterattack, put a striker with strong individual ability on the front line, and do it alone.However, Cui Kangxi used Jin Xinyu instead.Although Jin Xinyu is one of the best high center forwards in Asia, and he did a good job in heading the ball and protecting the ball, but after all, he is 1 meters tall and his feet are not very flexible, so he cannot 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, it did not catch the Taishan team by surprise.

According to Gao Yuan's suggestion, the Taishan team sent Dai Lin, who is 1 meters tall, to follow Jin Xinyu every step of the way.Although there is still some difference in height between the two, playing football is not like playing basketball, and the taller does not have an advantage.And in the defense, the Taishan team also adopted the defensive strategy of going around the front in basketball defense to cut off the passing line between Jin Xinyu and his teammates.

Under Dai Lin's strict surveillance, the connection between Jin Xinyu and his teammates was cut off, like a kite with a broken string, floating alone in front.You can neither receive threatening passes from your teammates, nor can you turn into a bridgehead and wait for your teammates to plug in.It has become a completely useless move.

Cui Kangxi, who was so serious and looked a little "facially paralyzed" on weekdays, was cursing and yelling on the sidelines.

Jin Xinyu lost contact with the team, making the opponent look like a tiger without fangs.The Taishan team inherited the glorious tradition of Wu Erlang, Lu Dong's predecessor, and they were more confident and bold in punching this sick tiger.

(End of this chapter)