Reborn Liverpool

Chapter 340 semi-final opponent Belgium (thanks to jasontsui80 for the bi-monthly ticket)

When Huazu made it out of Asia last year, many people went to parade in the streets to celebrate. Chang'an Avenue was full of vehicles waving the five-star red flag.

Countless people walked from Fuxingmen to Jianguomen. People greeted each other and sang the national anthem non-stop. The whole country was full of joy.

When everyone longs for a result, and when it really comes, it is really exciting and unstoppable, what can we say?

Chinese football has entered the World Cup again after 16 years. Everyone is celebrating, shouting, raising their arms and shouting. The whole street is boiling. It even feels that the whole country of China is immersed in cheers at that moment!
At that time, the whole country was boiling and everyone hugged and cried together, turned on the TV, opened the newspaper, and walking on the street was full of news about the national football team. In the next month or two, all the people in Huaguo seemed to have become fans of the national team.

However, after the Huaguo team came to Russia, even the Huaguo media, which like to sensationalize the most, took a cautious attitude towards reporting any news about the Huaguo team during the World Cup in Russia. The performance of the national team was frightening.

After qualifying in the group, eliminating Argentina and advancing to the top 8, until today's victory over Uruguay to advance to the semi-finals, the Hua Guo team has created the best results of an Asian team in the World Cup, and it is worthy of the Asian Tianba.

As a result, the enthusiasm of the Huaguo media began to burn, and the hundreds of millions of fans in Huaguo also boiled up. The final four against Uruguay, the number of domestic viewers exceeded 2 million.

When the game is over and the Huaguo team has successfully entered the semi-finals, the land of 960 million square kilometers in Huaguo has become a sea of ​​joy.

In 2016, Lippi was appointed to become the head coach of the national football team when he was in danger. Zhang Mai finally became the core of the Xinhua football team. The situation of the Huaguo team in the Asian World Cup immediately improved.

Lippi went through several changes after taking office, and finally explored the most suitable lineup and combat method for the national football team. The Huaguo team showed great power and defeated Uzbekistan, Qatar, South Korea, Iran, etc. in succession. Dominate Asia.

In this way, the national football team qualified 3 rounds ahead of schedule. After coming to Russia, it was not like the national football team that we had placed too many high hopes in the past.

The first game against France was 1-1, the second game was a 3-1 victory over Denmark, and the third game was a 3-2 victory over Peru. Hua Guo won three games, two wins and one draw with 7 points to qualify as the top of Group C, giving Hua Guo A huge surprise for fans.

In the 1/8 final match against Argentina led by Messi, the Huaguo team was not favored by everyone. However, Zhang Mai's hat-trick helped the Huaguo team defeat Argentina 4-3, which gave Huaguo fans a huge shock.

Now they have defeated the old South American powerhouse Uruguay, the Hua Guo team has become the semi-finals of the World Cup in Russia, and the Hua Guo fans are already going crazy with happiness!

So there is no sleep tonight, the street firecrackers all over the country went off all night, people walked on the street hugging each other and crying, the food stalls that night were full of people who didn't know each other toasting each other, everyone cheered and jumped to celebrate the qualification of the national football team, some guests shouted , Tonight I am treating guests, some bosses yelled that it will be half off tonight.

In another 5 days, the Hua Guo team will have the next knockout round, which is also the semi-final of this World Cup. The opponent is the winner between Belgium and Brazil who will fight hard later.

4个小时后，时间已经来到了7日的凌晨4点，比利时和巴西的1∕4决赛结束，比利时2-1淘汰了内马尔率领的巴西。

When the news came, the Huaguo team cheered. Everyone thought it was a good thing that the stronger Brazil was eliminated, but Zhang Mai didn't think so.

As the first European team to break into the World Cup in Russia, Zhang Mai is not too familiar with Belgium.

Belgium's performance in recent years has been in stark contrast to its neighbors the Netherlands, who have performed very strongly both in the qualifiers and in the finals.

Belgium is a young and likely to win the championship, this is the conclusion that can be drawn after analyzing its lineup:

First of all, in terms of goalkeepers, coach Martinez has sweet troubles. Belgium has 2 world-class goalkeepers, Mignolet and Courtois.

In the defensive position, coach Martinez is more inclined to use Vertonghen + Seaman + Alderweireld's three-centre combination, but Kompany's recovery and Vermaelen's recovery have also brought Belgium Here comes insurance.

In terms of midfield, the two wide midfielders are undoubtedly a world-class combination. Looking at the world, the combination of Hazard and De Bruyne is something that any team is afraid of. The center is slightly inferior, but there are also Fellaini and Dembey. Lai sits in formation.

The forward line has Lukaku from Manchester United, with speed, strength and technology.

The above Belgian players are all friends or opponents of Zhang Mai in the Premier League. Zhang Mai understands the horror of these people combined better than domestic players.

This Belgian team also has a coach that Zhang Mai admires, Martinez. This coach's style of play is still very pleasing to the eye, and his tactics are relatively compact.

One of the biggest characteristics of Martinez is to create miracles, leading Wigan Athletic to win the FA Cup, leading the Toffees to refresh the best results in history and so on.

Therefore, this Belgian team still has a high upper limit in terms of lineup, style of play and coach, and the record along the way is even more waterless.

As for Brazil, which has just been eliminated by Belgium, in Zhang Mai's eyes, it is a magic troupe led by a magic king, which is the same as Paris in Ligue [-].

在7日2时喀山展开较量中，巴西1比2被比利时淘汰，在内马尔出场的10场世界杯赛中首度告负，比利时继1986年之后第2次打进世界杯4强。

In the first half, Thiago Silva made the center post, Fernandinho scored an own goal, and De Bruyne shot from a long distance to expand the score.In the second half, Coutinho assisted the Chinese Super League foreign aid Augusto who came off the bench to get back a point. [
Brazil is the favorite to win the championship every time. Although it has reached the quarter-finals in seven consecutive World Cups, the journey of this World Cup has since come to an end.

The Selecao have lost nearly six World Cup defeats at the feet of European teams. The last time they defeated a European team in a World Cup knockout match dates back to the 6 final victory over Germany.

Brazil's lineup for this game has not changed much. Coach Tite replaced 2 starters, Marcelo returned from injury to replace Felipe; Fernandinho replaced the suspended Casemiro.

Belgium has been eliminated by South American teams in the last two World Cups (Brazil in 2; Argentina in 2002), but the team won five consecutive World Cups for the first time after defeating Brazil.Like Brazil, Belgium made only minor adjustments in this game. Fellaini and Shazli entered the starting lineup, replacing Carrasco and Mertens.

Throughout the game, the Belgian team was better than the Brazilian team in terms of pre-match deployment and on-the-spot adjustments. Martinez's baton was obviously better than Tite's.

Brazil almost equalized the score when the offense accelerated in the second half, but was eliminated in the end. This was not only due to coach Tite, but also a reflection of the strength of the team.

Neymar is clearly not at his best, especially when compared to Hazard.

In the group stage, the different circumstances of the two teams also had a great impact on their subsequent knockout matches.

Although the Brazilian team qualified as the first in the group, these three games were very difficult, resulting in a huge consumption of the team:
For example, in the game against the Mexican team, Marcelo was absent due to injury. In this game against the Belgian team, Casemiro was suspended for accumulative yellow cards.

Due to various reasons, the main lineup has not been able to make up, which is caused by too much investment in offense and defense in previous games.

Although the Belgian team also qualified as the first in the group, they were obviously more relaxed in the process.

The group matches against Tunisia and Panama were quickly won. In the third game against England, coach Martinez directly rotated to further test the state of the substitute players.

Martinez saw the value of Fellaini in this game, which gave Belgium the possibility of more variety in the knockout rounds.

此役，巴西队与比利时队都使用了常规的阵型，前者在4-3-3/4-4-2之前切换，而后者则在3-4-3/5-3-2之间切换。

It seems that both teams have chosen "constant", but only Martinez is the real "constant response to all changes". The biggest highlight of the Belgian team's start is Fellaini's appearance.

Fellaini freed De Bruyne and Martinez gave Belgium the initiative with just one move.

Different from the front midfielder position in the group match against England, Fellaini and Witsel formed a double midfielder in this campaign, which is obviously a best-of-both-worlds arrangement.

First of all, Fellaini starts. He can further follow up with Neymar and restrict the opponent's core players. Secondly, he also liberates De Bruyne's offensive freedom. The two wings of the team (Lukaku, Hazard) can really connect to form a joint force to hit the Brazilian team's goal.

It is not accidental that the Belgian team can beat the Brazilian team in this campaign. Martinez's tactical thinking of "focusing on offense in the first half and focusing on defense in the second half" is very thorough.

In the first half, the Belgian team relied on offense to suppress their opponents, and they were able to create local advantages; The ability to attack and defend is more balanced.

The Belgian team's offensive thinking in this campaign is very clear, with a clear division of labor and a good sense of hierarchy.Among them, the four-man attacking frontcourt is basically Hazard, De Bruyne, Lukaku and Fellaini.

De Bruyne undoubtedly plays the role of organizing and sorting out the offense of the Belgian team, and is the "brain" of the frontcourt.

Lukaku and Hazard responded on both sides, with Lukaku on the left and Hazard on the right.

When Lukaku retreated to respond, it attracted 2-3 players from the Brazilian team to defend, and Hazard was marked by Miranda, so Fellaini stepped in to meet De Bruyne on the weak side. , Brazil's defense can be said to be "full of loopholes."

Lukaku in this campaign is not like the past one in the middle or in the penalty area as a simple fulcrum to contain the defense. He has repeatedly assumed the heavy responsibility of offensive confrontation in the offensive position, and his possession of the ball has greatly eased the Belgian team. Under pressure, De Bruyne's long-range shot to expand the score came from Lukaku's precise goal after dribbling the ball in the middle.

The Belgian team also intentionally bypassed the Brazilian midfielder when they counterattacked. Lukaku responded more directly from the wing to launch an attack, intending to reduce midfield fighting and speed up counterattack efficiency.

In addition to De Bruyne, Hazard is undoubtedly the Key Player of the Belgian team. Hazard is also better than Neymar and in better condition.

Hazard's performance in this field, just a series of numbers is quite convincing:

100% dribbles (10), 100% overhead (4), 63 touches, 7 fouls, 2 shots.

Hazard's 10 dribbles in a single game is the highest number of dribbles in a single game since the introduction of statistics in the 1966 World Cup.This is a data that many extraordinary masters in history have not achieved.

Belgium, leading 2-0, lowered their stance more in the second half and devoted themselves to defense. The Brazilian team, whose offense accelerated significantly, did not get too many threatening opportunities on this basis, which is enough to show that the Belgian team's defense did Also very good.

On the contrary, the Brazilian team's on-the-spot performance can only be described as "weak pressing + sluggish positional warfare, Neymar is not in the state".

The Brazilian team's offense basically revolves around the left, with Neymar as the core of the ball, combined with Marcelo's off-the-ball cover and Coutinho's support outside the penalty area to form a strong side attack, while Paulinho is in the middle. Also actively plug in to support Jesus to grab points together.

However, the Brazilian team's pressing did not have a substantial effect. In fact, the real problem behind it was caused by the stubborn disease of the Brazilian team's positional warfare.

Brazil's three midfielders, Fernandinho-Coutinho and Paulinho, among the three, only Coutinho has a certain ability to organize and attack.

Fernandinho needs to protect the backcourt defense and use his sweeping ability to fill the wing at any time.And Paulinho has to assist Fernandinho, but also actively shoots from behind.

Therefore, Coutinho has basically become the main goal of the Brazilian team. Under the strict defense of Belgium, his lack of ability to get rid of was exposed.

Secondly, once Neymar was closely marked by the opponent, Coutinho could only choose to "do it alone". The Brazilian team exhausted all their tricks at the last moment and still had no chance to win the overtime game.

Neymar is obviously not in his best form, and Fernandinho obviously doesn't have the ability to start under the strong dialogue.

The Belgian team defeated a strong opponent and gained confidence as a whole. Their ultimate goal is obviously the Hercules Cup, which is obviously a more difficult opponent than Brazil.

(End of this chapter)