Chapter 294: Cisse, an old friend of Chinese football!
In this match, the National Olympic Team was not as strong as the opponent and it was difficult for them to hold the ball in the midfield. Therefore, when Krauchen formulated the offensive tactics before the game, he emphasized the need to take advantage of set-piece opportunities.
So even though the foul happened far away from the goal, the National Olympic Team still didn't intend to let it go.
Except for a few defenders, almost all other players ran to the opponent's penalty area, ready to compete for the header.
Lin Feng took a few steps back, took a look at the human wall formed by Marseille, and made a tactical gesture.
The teammates understood what he meant, and when Lin Feng took the free throw, they all rushed back and took the Marseille players away with them.
Just when everyone was rushing back, Dong Fangzhuo, who had the best heading skills in the Olympic team, did the opposite. He pretended to retreat, but when the ball was about to fly over the penalty area, he suddenly moved forward, jumped high, and touched the ball in the air with his head, changing the flight trajectory of the ball and making it fly towards the goal.
The quality of the header was very high, but unfortunately the distance was a little far, giving the opponent's goalkeeper time to react.
Marseille goalkeeper Cazorla, who was standing on the goal line, reacted quickly and used a weird backward posture to lift the ball over the crossbar.
There was a cry of surprise from the stands, and the Marseille fans who came to watch the game broke out in cold sweats after Dong Fangzhuo's header.
Especially those fans sitting in the stands behind their own goal, when they saw the ball flying towards the goal, they really felt that they were doomed.
"The Olympic team's shot, oh, what a pity!"
“Dong Fangzhuo handled the situation very well, but the opponent’s goalkeeper was in very good condition and saved the ball very dangerously!”
"Yes, if the ball had been headed a little closer to the goal or had been a little faster, the opponent's goalkeeper might not have been able to react!"
"That's right. If there is another opportunity like this in the future, the National Olympic Team should still try boldly. Besides, Dong Fangzhuo looks very good today. As long as the opportunity is good, he may be able to score a goal!"
The game continued, the National Olympic Team took a corner kick, and Lin Feng came to the corner area to prepare for the kick-off.
In the penalty area, players from both sides were pulling each other.
The Marseille players tried to keep an eye on several taller players of the Olympic Team who might be able to compete for the landing spot.
Gao Lin, Dong Fangzhuo and others were pulling desperately, trying to get rid of the opponent and gain a more advantageous position.
As for the Marseille goalkeeper, he looked as if he was facing a formidable enemy, his eyes fixed on the small penalty area, ready to take the initiative at any time.
For goalkeepers, headers are a more difficult shot to save.
This is because the trajectory of a header is difficult to predict, unlike shooting with the foot. An experienced goalkeeper can easily predict the flight path of the football based on the opponent's shooting action, and then complete an aerial interception.
Just now, the opponent almost scored with a header on the penalty area line. If the opponent succeeds in the header in the small penalty area at this time and the shot is on target, the consequences will be disastrous. He doesn't think that the goddess of luck will always be on his side.
But fortunately, this time his teammates were more powerful, they grabbed the first point and cleared the ball.
After defending against the Olympic Team's offensive, the situation returned to Marseille's rhythm.
But this time, if Marseille wants to play comfortably according to the previous offensive tactics, it would be too much.
Although the opponent is much stronger than the National Olympic Team, Krauchen still did not give up the tactical concept he insisted on.
Under his request, the National Olympic Team paid great attention to integrity and speed when attacking and defending.
He requires the players on the field to actively press, disrupt the opponent's offense through active pressing, increase the opponent's forced errors, and then seize the opponent's errors to counterattack.
This tactic has achieved good results in the previous two games, but Marseille is stronger than the previous two opponents. In addition, they have very rich experience in league and European competitions and have already seen various opponents on the court.
What Krauchen emphasized is not new in European football, especially some German teams, which often use this tactic.
Facing the Olympic Team's pressing, Marseille played very patiently and was not in a hurry to attack. Instead, they used quick transfers, constant pulling and testing of the Olympic Team's defensive weaknesses.
This National Olympic Team may have some good players in certain positions, but it is impossible for every position to be so strong. Among the 11 players on the field, there must be someone with shortcomings.
For Marseille, they just need to find the opponent's weakness, and then seize this weakness to deliver a fatal blow!
Marseille's response strategy was definitely not wrong, but the Olympic team did a very good job of coordination and protection in defense today.
Whenever a player goes up to press, his teammates beside and behind him will immediately fill in for him, not giving the opponent a chance to attack from behind.
As for the two flanks of Marseille, Ribery was restricted by Cui Peng. Although it was difficult for Cui Peng to defend him one-on-one, with the cooperation of his teammates such as the full-backs and even the central defenders, it was not so easy for Ribery to break through the multi-layer interception of the Olympic Team on his own.
As for the other side, Nasri's dribbling ability is weaker than Ribery's. In addition, Lin Feng's activities on this side put him under great defensive pressure. In addition, Zhao Xuri, another midfielder of the Olympic team, ran and intercepted at all costs, and even committed fouls, which made Nasri a little speechless.
After twenty minutes of play, the score was still 0:0.
Under the united defense of the National Olympic Team, Marseille's multiple attempts to attack ended in failure.
Although Marseille had the advantage on the field, they just couldn't score.
During this period, the National Olympic Team's ball possession rate was pitifully low, only about 25%, but everyone can see that the National Olympic Team does not play a style that pursues ball possession.
The National Olympic Team concentrated most of its players in the backcourt, while strengthening its defense so that the penalty area was filled with defensive players, limiting the opponent's offensive space.
While secretly accumulating strength, he consumed the opponent's physical strength and patience, waiting for the opponent to make a mistake. Once the opponent made a mistake, he used Lin Feng's speed and Gao Lin's cooperation in the frontcourt to complete a quick counterattack.
Although the National Olympic Team has not had a very good chance from the beginning to now, as time goes by, the physical fitness and concentration of the players on the field will gradually decline, and the National Olympic Team's counterattack opportunities will appear sooner or later.
But before the National Olympic Team could get a chance, the opponent had already taken the initiative to change tactics!
Seeing that the situation on the wing could not be opened up, coach Eamon immediately stopped the previous tactics. While strengthening the attack from the middle, he tried to pull out the formation of the Olympic Team and then use the speed of striker Cisse to attack the opponent from behind.
The most talked-about thing about Cisse is his speed. He runs like a flash of lightning, black lightning, so many fans call him the Black Tornado.
But compared to Cisse's performance on the court, for the vast majority of Chinese fans, the reason why they are so impressed by this name is because of a friendly match last year.
In the warm-up match between the Chinese national football team and the French team on the eve of last year's World Cup, the captain of the Chinese national football team, Zheng Zhi, accidentally broke Cisse's right leg, causing Cisse to miss the opportunity to participate in the World Cup in Germany. Later, the French team lost in the World Cup final, and many fans joked that it was not only Zidane's shocking collision that defeated the French team, but also Zheng Zhi's leg-breaking kick!
Of course, this is just a joke among fans and should not be taken seriously.
However, Zheng Zhi's kick killed the opponent's main striker, which will definitely have an impact on the French team.
After all, in the French national team at that time, Cisse was the starter and Trezeguet was just a substitute.
But for Cisse, the impact of a broken leg goes beyond that.
After he broke his leg, Liverpool chose to loan him back to Ligue 1 while he was recovering, which was tantamount to giving up on him.
After joining Marseille, he had to wait until the end of the first half of the game because of his slow recovery from injury before he finally put on the Marseille jersey and played for Marseille.
At this time, half a year has passed since Cisse was injured!
At this time, Cisse was only 25 years old, still very young.
But an accidental injury caused such a drastic change in his fate, which is really sad.
This is absolutely a nightmare for the parties involved.
So when he learned that the opponent in this friendly match was the Chinese team again, Cisse felt scared instinctively.
He didn't want to go through the torture of a broken leg again. The last time he broke his leg, his football career suffered a severe blow and he almost couldn't recover.
If he got injured again this time, he felt that his career might be over.
In the first 20 minutes of the first half, Cisse made almost no sound on the field, and he was almost invisible in the TV broadcast.
The reason for this phenomenon is, on the one hand, related to the team's main attack on the wing, and on the other hand, it is also closely related to his own passive avoidance of battle.
But now the head coach called him to play, and he couldn't pretend to be dead anymore!
In the 27th minute of the first half, Oruma made a straight pass in the middle. Cisse could have accelerated to get the ball, but after seeing Feng Xiaoting's tackle, he felt guilty and chose to protect himself instead of grabbing the ball.
This made the Marseille coach on the sidelines frown!
You can actually fight for the ball. If you are fast enough, you have a chance to take the ball away before the opponent tackles you. Even if you fail to take the ball away and are tackled, you can still get a free kick in a good position for the team.
But Cisse chose to play it safe, which cannot be said to be wrong. After all, this was just a friendly match and there was no need to risk getting injured by taking this kick.
But soon, he realized something was wrong.
In the 32nd minute, Cisse received the ball in an open space. With his speed, he only needed to take a few steps forward to shoot.
But I don't know what this guy is looking ahead and behind for. While running forward with the ball, he looked back to check behind him, as if he was afraid of the opponent's pursuers.
With Cisse's speed, if he stretched out his long legs and ran as fast as he could, the defenders of the National Olympic Team would not be able to catch up with him at all.
Neither Feng Xiaoting nor Yuan Weiwei are the type of defenders who can chase fast players, and the full-backs are also quite far away from him. The only one who could threaten him is the National Olympic Team's midfielder Zhao Xuri.
But Zhao Xuri was at least three or four meters away from him and could not catch up with him in a short time. If Cisse himself did not look ahead and behind, Marseille's attack would be very threatening!
However, it seemed that because he was scared by Zheng Zhi's foul from behind last time, Cisse was suspicious, fearing that another Chinese player would hit him from behind.
As a result, he wasted this opportunity. When he ran to the penalty area, Feng Xiaoting and Yuan Weiwei were already in position and worked together to resolve Marseille's attack.
If Cisse's performance just now only made Coach Eamon frown, then Cisse's performance this time has made him a little angry!
But considering that the other party has just recovered from a serious injury, he may be affected by the self-protection mentality after the injury, so this kind of stress reaction occurs. Maybe he will be normal after a while?
After all, it’s too early to make substitutions now, the first half hasn’t even finished yet!
He didn't want to let the outside world know in this way that he was dissatisfied with a certain player. After all, Cisse was a French international, so he had to consider the other party's face to some extent.
Coach Eamon chose to tolerate it, but Cisse on the field seemed to be getting worse.
This guy Cisse not only avoids people, he even avoids the ball.
In the 38th minute of the first half, his teammate in the middle passed the ball to him.
As a result, Cisse did not choose to attack with the ball himself. Instead, he passed the ball quickly as if he was handling a hot potato. The key was that his pass was not good. As soon as his teammates received the ball, they were pressed by several National Olympic Team players. In the end, the ball was intercepted and the National Olympic Team launched a counterattack.
As a result, Cisse not only wasted an offensive opportunity created by his teammates, but also forced the entire team to run back and forth, making everyone exhausted.
This made Eamon almost faint from anger while watching on the sidelines!
Change people, must change people!
This guy really can't stand it anymore. If he watches for another second, he will explode!
So in the 41st minute of the first half, Marseille made the first substitution.
Cisse, who performed poorly on the field, was replaced by substitute striker Molida.
Seeing Cisse being substituted, fans of both teams reacted differently.
Chinese fans felt a little sad when they saw such an "old friend" being replaced.
"Cisse was playing well, why did you replace him? Ridiculous JPG!"
"Haha, wasn't Cisse's performance in the first half pure undercover? To be honest, I'm a little surprised that the opponent's coach could wait until now to make a substitution!"
"Indeed, from Marseille's perspective, Cisse should have been replaced long ago. If he had been a human being, Marseille would have scored at least one goal by now!"
"From this perspective, Cisse is truly an old friend of Chinese football!"
"What a pity that this old friend was exposed!"
Although Molida is a newcomer, he was extremely active after coming on the court. In the 44th minute, he almost scored a goal after receiving a through pass from Nasri on the wing.
But unfortunately, there was not much time left in the first half. After Marseille completed this attack, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half.
The outcome of this game will have to wait until the second half to be decided.
(End of this chapter)
