Legendary Godfather

December 27, 2012, Cardiff City Stadium, Wales.

What is going on here today is the highlight of the 24th round of the 2012-2013 English Championship. The two sides are Cardiff City, ranked second in the league, and Crystal Palace, ranked first in the league.

This is the battle of Tianwangshan in this season’s British Championship.

There were a lot of Cardiff City fans here today. ??

However, the entire home ground does not look like Cardiff City's home ground.

Because the jerseys worn by the fans in the stands were very messy, you couldn't feel the atmosphere of the Devils' home court at all.

There were some fans in the stands wearing red home jerseys and becoming part of the Red Dragons, cheering for their team. But more and more people are wearing the former blue jerseys, claiming that they are still die-hard fans of the Blue Jays, and they have also pulled out countless banners to accuse the team's owner. Xi Zeng Changyi asked Zeng Changyi to get out.

They also shouted in unison, "Please respect the club's history, let the red dragon go, and welcome back the blue bird!"

Of course, there are some Cardiff City fans who are wavering in neutrality, wearing white jerseys, not joining these two groups, and seem a bit silent.

There were even some who weren’t wearing team jerseys.

It looks a little confusing.

Did you see that even though Cardiff City's results this season are so good, Cardiff City fans still find it difficult to accept it. Almost every home match day has become a battle day for the traditionalists to attack Zeng Changyi. They are at this home court. Fight to the end with Zeng Changyi.

Seeing this situation, Tong Yi raised his eyebrows slightly. He did not expect that the Cardiff City people could achieve such good results, which was amazing.

Tong Yi looked at Cardiff City's head coach McKay.

McKay is still very young. Wearing a white shirt and a black suit, he really doesn't look like a 40-year-old man. Although the hair on his forehead is a little sparse, he still looks very energetic.

This guy still has some abilities.

Last season he led Cardiff City to sixth place in the league and participated in the play-offs to upgrade to the Premier League. Unfortunately, they lost to third-ranked West Ham United in the first round. This season, he has led the team to better results and is now ranked second in the league. It is really possible that he can directly lead the team to promote to the Premier League.

Now Cardiff City's senior management and fans are full of expectations for him.

At this time, McKay looked high-spirited and confident.

He came to Tong Yi's side, stretched out his right hand towards Tong Yi, and said, "David, I'm sorry, we Cardiff City are determined to win this game!"

Tong Yi was stunned. This guy McKay is a bit unique and different.

Of course, Tong Yi saw the confidence in McKay's eyes.

Tong Yi nodded slightly and said, "Really?"

McKay raised the corners of his mouth slightly and said, "Of course!"

Tong Yi also smiled and said, "Then let's... we'll see!"

McKay said "We'll see!"

Then, this guy McKay turned around and walked towards his coaching bench. When he just turned around, he muttered, "Damn, you are so young!"

Tong Yi was stunned for a moment. He vaguely heard something, but didn't hear it clearly.

He ignored it, turned around, walked back to his coaching bench, and sat down.

This game is naturally very important for Crystal Palace, and Tong Yi's goal is naturally to win. With this victory, the gap between Crystal Palace and Cardiff City will be reduced by 14 points. In that case, they will be much easier in the second half of the season.

During the halftime break, Tong Yi emphasized many times that Cardiff City is very strong and must be careful, especially the two central defenders on the defense line, and pay attention to the opponent's two forwards. Because these two forwards are both short, agile and fast horses.

Therefore, these two are really very lethal among the tall central defenders in the English Championship.

Be sure to keep an eye on these two forwards.

The Crystal Palace players nodded and said they understood.

Tong Yi also believes in his players and should be able to win this game.

"Hello, viewers and fans! I'm Mortensen, and I'm here again!" BBC Sports naturally broadcast this game live. After all, this is the Battle of Tianwangshan in the British Championship. Maybe both teams can appear on the Premier League stage next season.

"Hello everyone, I'm Shearer! Today it's me and Mortensen who are still partnering together!" Shearer said.

"What we bring to you today is a focus match in the 24th round of the 2012-2013 English Championship. The two sides are Crystal Palace, who are at the top of the league, and Cardiff City, who are second in the league. This will be like a battle between Mars and Earth. I believe the excitement of this game will not let us down," Mortensen said.

"That's true. Both teams have very good offensive power and are very sharp. Moreover, these two teams are currently the two teams with the highest wins in the English Championship. If these two teams collide, I believe It will be very exciting!" Shearer said.

The game is about to start, and the players from both sides enter the court.

Today’s starting lineups for both sides are as follows:

Home team Cardiff City, head coach McKay, formation 442

Goalkeeper David Marshall

Back four from left to right Andrew

Taylor, Ben Turner, Mark Hudson and Kevin McNaughton

Midfield four from left to right Craig Noone, Peter Whittingham, Jordan Mutch and Craig Conway

Forwards Heidar Helgusen and Craig Bellamy

Visiting team Crystal Palace, head coach Tong Yi, formation 4213

edouard

The back four from left to right Robertson, Delaney, Van Dijk and Ward

Double defensive midfielder Dickagakoi and Kante

Single attacking midfielder Pogba

The front three from left to right Zaha, Murray and Mane

This is the starting lineup of both sides today. Crystal Palace midfielder Jedinak has accumulated yellow cards and is suspended. Today's starter is Dick Gakoy. .??.??

Dickagakoy is also very good, and his defense should be even stronger when paired with Kanter. But it is a little weaker in terms of offense. Dickagakoy is somewhat inferior to Jedinak in terms of offense, at least in Tong Yi's Crystal Palace team.

Seeing a lineup like Crystal Palace, Cardiff City assistant coach David Coleslake said to McKay, "We have a good chance in today's game. Bellamy and Haidar have a chance!"

After hearing this, McKay looked at Delaney and Van Dijk on the Crystal Palace defense. He also nodded slightly and said, "The chance is great!"

The two central defenders of Crystal Palace are tall central defenders who are very good at frontal interception defense and high-altitude ball defense. But they have big problems turning around and catching up, at least against Bellamy and Helgussen.

In this game, Cardiff City has a great chance.

Of course Tong Yi also saw the two forwards of Cardiff City, and he naturally knew that these two people should be a great threat to Van Dijk and Delaney. However, Tong Yi is not worried. Because his team and Crystal Palace were so confident in their high-position pressing, it was almost difficult for the Cardiff City players to pass the ball comfortably to the feet of these two forwards. How could these two men threaten Van Dijk and the others?

Therefore, Tong Yi is still very confident in this game.

Sure enough, the process after the start of the game was as Tong Yi expected. It was difficult for the Cardiff City players to comfortably pass the football to Bellamy's feet. Even in the midfield and backfield, it is difficult for them to pass the ball forward comfortably.

Under the crazy high pressure of the Crystal Palace players, the Cardiff City players could only keep passing the ball back, and then directly opened their feet to find the striker in front of them under the fierce pressure.

However, Cardiff City's two starting forwards in today's game are not very tall, and neither has an advantage in high-altitude balls.

Bellamy is 175cm tall and Helgussen is 178cm tall. How could these two compete for the high-altitude ball over Van Dijk and Van Dijk, who are 193cm tall?

Delaney at 190 was completely crushed. In front of these two tall central defenders, Bellamy was like a doormat, unable to get the ball at all.

Even Bellamy and the others couldn't compete with Dick Gakoi.

Therefore, Cardiff City's long passes almost never reached the forward's feet and were directly controlled by Crystal Palace. Then the Crystal Palace people immediately launched a ferocious attack and besieged Cardiff City. Cardiff City's goal was really in turmoil.

The Cardiff City fans at home looked very ugly when they saw this scene.

Speaking of which, in the previous games, they had never seen Cardiff City so embarrassed.

Is Crystal Palace really that strong?

Is the strength of Crystal Palace really higher than the level of the English Championship?

At this time, after the Crystal Palace team played a very exquisite pass-and-cut cooperation in a small area on the wing, Robertson on the wing went directly to the edge and received Pogba's diagonal ball. Robertson didn't wait for the opponent's full-back to pounce and passed directly.

The football drew a wonderful arc in the air, quickly bypassed the two Cardiff City center backs in the penalty area, and flew directly to the back of the penalty area.

Cardiff City fans were very dissatisfied and their faces were ashen.

The two central defenders in the penalty area obviously had a chance to make a clearance when they encountered the football, but the movements of these two damn guys were very funny. One raised his leg to intercept as if in slow motion, and the other even had no legs at all and wanted to sideways. He straightened his body and used his chest to block the football from the baseline, but he obviously misjudged the landing point of the football, which looked very funny.

Cardiff City fans can’t stand it anymore!

What are you doing?

Those fans who opposed Zeng Changyi immediately roared crazily and cursed Zeng Changyi. This made Zeng Changyi, who was sitting in the box, look very ugly. What does it have to do with me? It's not my fault that the players played poorly?

Just after the football slipped past the Cardiff City defender, a yellow-blue figure in the penalty area instantly flashed into the ribs of the penalty area, met the ball and quickly sideways and swept the ball. With a bang, the football quickly flew towards The lower right corner of the goal.

In front of the goal, Marshall reacted very quickly. He quickly moved from the center to the back point to save the ball, but it was too late. The football quickly got into the Cardiff City goal.

One to zero!

Under a continuous wave of attacks, Crystal Palace finally broke through the Cardiff City goal in the 17th minute of the first half, and Mane scored the goal. Mane once again proved Tong Yi's amazing vision with goals. Mane is worthy of the special genius clause.

McKay on the sidelines was so angry that he stood up and punched the windshield on the coaching bench.