Xinhua News Agency, Sharjah, UAE, October 6th. Preview of the top 12 matches: Under heavy pressure, the national football team strives for the first victory
Xinhua News Agency reporters Xiao Shiyao and Su Xiaopo
UAE local time on the evening of the 7th, the Chinese men’s football team will face the Vietnam team in Sharjah, and strive to win the first victory of the top 12 World Cup qualifiers.
It may be too early to define the third round of a top 12 contest as a “life-and-death battle”, but for the Chinese team that has suffered two consecutive losses, if you want to maintain the hope of hitting the World Cup in Qatar, this game is not to be missed.
Judging from various data, the national football team should win: the Chinese team ranks 75th in the world, higher than the 95th place of the Vietnam team; in the group, the Chinese team is in the fourth gear and the Vietnam team is in the sixth gear; opening the historical confrontation between the two teams For the record, the Chinese team is not defeated; the Chinese team, which has been training in Sharjah for nearly a month, has adapted to the weather and the stadium much better than its opponents…
Winning is the only choice before Li Tie, the head coach of the Chinese team. In the pre-match interview, Wu Lei also said: “The goal of all of us is to win, and everyone is very confident to win this game.”
But the Vietnam team is far from Wu Xia Amon. From winning the runner-up in the U23 Asian Cup in 2018 to entering the quarter-finals in the Asian Cup in 2019, Vietnamese football is rapidly rising, with its “small and quick” style of play. In the first two games of the top 12 games, although the Vietnam team lost the same two games, it relied on a resolute defensive counterattack to show a better game content than the Chinese team. Li Tie’s team was not sure of winning.
It is foreseeable that the Chinese team, which is striving for victory, will adopt a proactive offensive strategy. The biggest weakness of the Vietnamese team with a shorter average height is air defense. In the first two top 12 matches, they were headerd by their opponents. The injury of the main goalkeeper Deng Wenlin further reduced the Vietnamese team’s ability to handle high-altitude shots. Making good use of the side pass and the opportunity of positioning the ball is the key to the victory of the Chinese team. Under this guiding ideology, Zhang Yuning and Alan are likely to get the first opportunity to partner with Wu Lei and Exxon. Li Tie also specially arranged for Guo Tianyu to be interviewed before training on the 5th. The 1.92-meter young center is also expected to complete the first appearance of the adult national team in this game.
The Vietnam team, which is accustomed to adopting the “three-center” tactic, tends to leave gaps in the ribs when two wing guards assist. In the match between the Vietnam team and the Saudi team, the Saudi team repeatedly used the center to withdraw to receive the ball, and the ribs inserted the tactics to penetrate the Vietnamese team’s defense line. Wu Lei and Exxon are both masters who hit the gap between the ribs, and the Chinese team should also be prepared.
Due to the injuries of Zhu Chenjie, Li Lei and other players, there will not be too many choices for Li Tie in the defense. Zhang Linpeng, who recovered from injury in time, will most likely partner with Jiang Guangtai as the central defender, while Wang Shenchao and Wang Gang will sit on the left and right sides. On the defensive end, the Chinese team needs to focus on the Vietnamese team’s “Nguyen Thi San Jie”: the offensive core Nguyen Guanghai has a strong breakthrough ability and a certain long-range shooting ability. Center Nguyen Jinling has good physical fitness and impact. “Vietnam’s first person in Europe” Nguyen Gongfeng is a little skilled. Ruan Jinling, who was inserted after Ruan Guanghai’s long pass, was an important offensive method for the Vietnamese team in the counterattack, which required Yan Junling to expand the defensive range in time. Nguyen Gongfeng is the main starting point for the Vietnamese team’s midfield cooperation. His confrontation ability is poor, and the Chinese team needs to focus on oppression.
In addition to the technical and tactical level, the top 12 competition is a psychological contest. With the goal of victory for the Chinese team, tremendous pressure also followed. The Vietnamese team also knows this well. Ruan Jinling put pressure on the Chinese team in the interview: “The Chinese team is under pressure to win and keep the chance to qualify. Their pressure is greater than ours.”
Players have unbalanced mentality and deformed actions under heavy pressure, and have repeatedly become the nightmare of the national football team. Once the game started unsuccessfully, how to help the players decompress to play a normal level is the biggest test Li Tie faces.
Anything further is possible, taking a step back like an abyss. The current situation of the Chinese team is very similar to that before the top 40 match against the Philippines in June this year. The 2-0 defeat of the Philippine team made the Chinese men’s football team’s top 40 match suddenly open up. For Li Tie, who is now controversial, a much-needed victory is the best way to solve the problem.
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