The Young Lion

The first half of the 1/8 final between England and Senegal came to an end. Senegal did not make waves in the final stage, and the England team did not get a better chance to attack.

Mechu and his disciples walked into the player tunnel frowning at the same time, while the England team looked very calm.

Aldridge emphasized tactical discipline in the locker room during the intermission. Senegal should not be underestimated. As a coach, he has an unshakable and firm stance on his own tactical arrangements. On this point, any player who violates him is like Break the rules of heaven.

In the second half, the two sides changed sides and fought again. Senegal tried to launch a fast break as soon as it came up, but the England team was faster than them!

On the schedule, none of the two teams has a clear advantage. However, the England players have about 10 days of rest, while the Senegalese players only have about 5 days. Judging from the performance at the beginning of the second half, England's physical fitness The advantages began to emerge. Under the mental pressure of falling behind, Senegal not only failed to reverse the situation on the field, but their disadvantages became more and more obvious. Their fast break always gave people the feeling that the whole team was not in a unified rhythm. There will be obvious mistakes in the connection between the front and back courts, and the rate of passing and receiving errors will start to increase.”

This is also related to England's formation. England has a tight defense in the midfield. To deal with England's defense, the offensive side must be more patient, and the success rate of passing and receiving the ball must be guaranteed. Then, the offensive players run without the ball. Coordinating forward advances requires a great physical price. The former is the requirement of the team's technical and tactical ability, and the latter is the requirement of the players' physical fitness. They want to level the gap with England on these two points. Senegal seems powerless.

Mechu also saw it. Senegal is trying to burst out the passion of the reversal. However, the England team is like a towering mountain that cannot be shaken, and the Telanga lion is more like a cub waiting to be slaughtered in front of the European lions.

Senegal's players' defensive actions inevitably increased, because they were more involved in the offense than in the first half, but when they were out of touch and were counterattacked by England, the midfielders became passive when they returned to defense and could only increase their actions.

Lampard, who was about to catch the ball, was blatantly pulled from behind by b-Diop and fell to the ground. The referee shows b-Diop a yellow card and England gets a direct free kick.

Four minutes later, Beckham was still tripped by Faye after taking the ball, and the second yellow card appeared again.

Mechu looked dignified and his heart was bleeding. Not far from Aldrich next door, England was created like a cold god. Senegal was forced to use unconventional means to contain the opponent, in exchange for fouls again and again. Opponents get consecutive set-piece opportunities.

Direct free kick in the frontcourt. Beckham took three consecutive free throws, all of which chose to attack the goal directly. Some missed the target, and some hit the goal range.

Never broke through.

In the 66th minute, when McManaman cut from the left to the center and was brought down by Siyaf in front of the penalty area, the referee showed a third yellow card, and all three Senegal midfielders were yellowed.

Mei Chu knew that playing like this would not work, so he planned to make a substitution, otherwise, some players might be sent off within 10 minutes.

England got their fourth direct free-kick of the second half, well placed, wide left in front of the box.

Defenders Ferdinand and Ashley Cole rushed up and occupied the penalty area with Owen, McManaman and Lampard.

Beckham stands in front of the ball, and behind him, the England team has three defensive players, Phil Neville, Butt, Southgate, plus Beckham after the kick-off, and Scott, who is almost parallel to Beckham's position. Ernes, even if the England team is counterattacked, there are enough defenders in the midfield. This is a habit they have developed in set-piece training.

From the outside world, Beckham looked serious. People were looking forward to the beautiful arc drawn by the round moon scimitar, but Beckham hesitated.

His free kick ability has long been unrivaled in the world, and the scoring probability is about 20%. That is to say, if he is given 5 chances, he can basically score a goal, but it does not mean that he will definitely score 5 free kicks. Goals, probability is a statistic, not a law.

He turned his head and gestured towards Scholes, Scholes nodded upon seeing this, and walked forward silently.

After Scholes took a few steps forward, Beckham made a run-up, and then swung his legs to make a shooting posture.

The Senegalese players believed that Beckham would attack the goal directly, because the England team did not have an absolute header advantage in the penalty area. In other words, the possibility of Beckham passing the ball into the penalty area to serve his teammates is not high, especially the position of the free kick Obviously going straight to the goal is better.

So the wall jumps to increase the height of the defense in the air, while other marking players focus on the development of the ball trajectory.

Unexpectedly, Beckham did not directly hit the goal, but passed the ball to Scholes!

Scholes' position is further to the left, facing the goal obliquely. Although the angle is not good, there is no barrier between him and the goal!

The Senegalese players were shocked when they saw this, and subconsciously swarmed towards Scholes, and the others also followed closely the target.

However, they missed one person!

who?

Xiaobei!

After passing the ball to Scholes, Beckham ran obliquely from the front left of the penalty area and rushed to the right side of the penalty area, the back point of the goal. It happened that the Senegalese player was heading towards Scholes. During the movement, during this thrust, Beckham's space became bigger and bigger in the process of running, and no one was marking him!

Senegal tried to block Scholes' shooting angle and short pass line, but missed the character who was basically impossible to appear in the running position: David Beckham!

Scholes crossed at a 45-degree angle, the ball flew from his feet, spun around the Senegalese player's head, and fell to the open area on the right side of the penalty area.

The entire Senegalese team looked back, terrified.

Beckham was unmarked and easily stopped the ball. When the goalkeeper Selva abandoned the goal, he calmly pushed the ball from Selva's feet into the goal!

The crowd cheered at the Oita Stadium, and Beckham frantically swung his arms and flew...

David Beckham! 2:0! 2:0! Beckham and Scholes teamed up to complete a classic set-piece cooperation. This set-piece tactic is perfect. One foot of the England team stepped in Quarterfinals!

It was an exquisite free-kick. It must have been rehearsed in training. David's movement. And Paul's passing line, obviously it didn't happen by accident. England's preparation work seems to be very good. Instead of pursuing flashy techniques and tactics, we have used some basic things that we can do to the extreme!

Mei Chu's face was expressionless, and there was a trace of unwillingness in his eyes, but he had to admit it. England are too strong.

This kind of strength is not reflected in whether their players can rewrite the game by themselves, but that they use their strength in the most appropriate place.

This is a seemingly unpretentious England team, with simple connotations, but not rough, because they deduce the most basic things into qualitative changes.

Methodical passing, accurate and almost error-free pass success rate of more than 80%, clean and tidy group cooperation, yes, they did not have too many individual performances. It just happens that some football coaches train players to emphasize the most basic things to the extreme, which is better than any team. Use this simple skill to shape the game.

An England team with no personal touch, even changing the jersey numbers of some players and erasing the names, you will not feel that they are very different, they are one piece, and there is quite an epee, no front, no skill, no work Natural feeling.

Of course, their watchability is not particularly high, but Aldridge didn't build the England team to please the fans, to please the audience, he did it for the honor.

Teams like Brazil and Spain can be classified as delicate, while the England team is clumsy. When it goes to the limit, it is also capable. , Supplemented by the personal performance of Owen and others.

Whether the England team is the strongest, I don't know, and one or two games are not convincing, but in Aldrich's eyes, the current England team is the most in line with England's style and the ultimate height they can pursue.

Aldrich clenched his fists and waved them up and down, showing a smile.

2:0.

Then he looked at Beckham from a distance to accept the cheers of the fans, and the England players gathered around the corner flag and set off a crowd.

This set-piece tactic is naturally a key drill for the England team, and there is a lot to be done.

Because Beckham is too dazzling, the subjective judgment brought about by his direct bombing is too strong, which is one of the sources of change.

The free kick routine is actually not complicated.

In positional warfare, the vertical forward attack, the triangle attack pass line, the player's back-up to cooperate with the pass, and the counter-cut line are the most lethal, that is, the defensive player actively defends in the opposite direction, so that the defensive player needs the most rhythm. Change, emergency stop, turn around, this kind of penetrating offensive is the easiest to see in the Millwall positional battle. Nedved is a classic figure in this running position to meet his teammates through the counter-cutting route and then enter the penalty area to score.

Aldrich just transplanted this idea to the set-piece design. The set-piece match just now, as long as the court is turned 90 degrees, viewed from the side, it is actually a pass-run match with a reverse cut line. The Senegalese player goes to Scholes' side. Run, and because Beckham is the most easily overlooked threat point, after all, everyone thinks that Beckham will take the free kick. And because of flocking to Scholes, Beckham ran the opposite route, Senegal reacted and then stopped suddenly, turned around, the distance was far, and the speed was increased again to catch up.

Mechu replaced three people in one breath, and also changed Senegal's formation, changing from 5 backs to 4 backs, adding a midfielder, and the overall formation became 442.

Senegal still wanted to exert force, but the England team withdrew. Aldridge replaced McManaman and let Alan Smith play. Give full play to the characteristics of his desperate Saburo and disrupt the Senegalese midfield organization!

After this substitution was completed, apart from Owen and the goalkeeper, the other nine players in the England team played a great role in defense regardless of their position or ability.

Seeing the changes in the England team, Mei Chu looked up to the sky and sighed: It's over!

Now, Senegal is going to break the dense defense!

The England team is not hiding in the penalty area. The whole defensive system has a clear sense of hierarchy. It can be seen from the position, 4321.

Although there is a little space for Senegal on the wing, they don't have a tall center at all. Senegal is obviously not ready enough to defeat the originator of this tactic with punching and hanging.

If you invest less in offense and play more with less, the offense will not advance.

With a lot of offensive investment, big soldiers pressing down on the situation, Beckham, Lampard, Scholes, any long pass over the top, Owen's speed advantage will be reflected.

The time left for Senegal is getting less and less, and they don't talk about breaking the goal, even the offensive advancement seems very weak.

In the 80th minute of the game, Aldridge used up the second substitution spot, and Joe Cole came on to replace Owen, who scored the goal.

Aldridge also gave Joe Cole some serious blows.

After Joe Cole came on the field, his role was to control the ball in the frontcourt. Like McManaman before, pure control, no forward attack, he ran to a safe area, received the pass from his teammates, and then Control the ball and observe the situation. If the Senegalese defense loses their minds and swarms him, then he can play the ball for his teammates and create better offensive opportunities.

In the 86th minute, such an opportunity really appeared! (To be continued..)