N-A-A Chapter 16 Midfield Engine
Chapter 16 Midfield Engine
"CCTV, CCTV, welcome to the third round of Group C in the 2002 World Cup, a match between China and Turkey. The team wearing red jerseys is China..."
As Huang Jianxiang began his opening remarks, the referee on the field blew the opening whistle.
The highly anticipated war in Middle-earth has begun!
To describe this match as "the focus of everyone's attention" is actually too conservative.
According to estimates from professional statistical agencies, the number of fans watching the live broadcast of this match is likely to exceed 300 million!
This is of course because after the Chinese team drew with Brazil and kept their hopes of advancing alive, both Chinese fans and overseas Chinese have higher expectations for the Chinese team.
In addition, fans in Japan and South Korea, who are also in Asia, will start to pay attention to the Chinese team's matches, and even some fans in Europe and America are curious about this "mysterious team" that has caused an upset.
With all these factors combined, the number of spectators will definitely increase dramatically!
On the field at this moment.
After returning the ball to his own half, China's center forward Su Maozhen immediately darted into Turkey's territory.
After Li Tie received the ball, he passed it to the right wing, allowing Qu Bo to dribble forward.
As the ball moved forward, all three lines of the Chinese team pressed forward.
Even the two full-backs, Wu Chengying and Xu Yunlong, had already crossed the center line.
Besides goalkeeper Jiang Jin, only two center-backs, Li Weifeng and Du Wei, remained in China's own half.
"Ah, the Chinese team adopted a 4-3-3 formation today, and it seems they weren't just going through the motions. They seemed to launch an attack directly against Turkey from the very beginning! Coach Zhang, what do you think of this tactical choice?"
"Hehe, this is indeed a bit unexpected. The Chinese team's aggressive style seems to indicate they intend to seize the initiative from the start. We originally thought the Chinese team would mainly defend, at most playing counter-attacks, but we didn't expect..."
At this moment, the Chinese team completed their first attack after the start of the game.
Qu Bo received the ball on the wing, first made a sudden stop, then suddenly started, trying to forcefully break through Yunsar who was tracking back to defend.
However, Qu Bo's dribbling move was too direct. Yun Sar, from "Violent Ben", directly slid in and pushed Qu Bo out of bounds, and then knocked Qu Bo to the ground.
After Qu Bo got up, he quickly served the ball out of bounds to Xu Yunlong, who was coming along the sideline.
Seeing that the Turkish team's midfield defense was tight, Xu Yunlong launched a long ball directly to Su Maozhen in the penalty area—this was also what the coaching staff had requested before the match.
Su Maozhen managed a header shot under close marking from Aker, but the ball was easily caught by Rustu.
Zhang Lu: "Judging from this defense, Turkey's defense is still very tight. The five midfielders completely limited the Chinese team's breakthrough space, and the three center-backs are also strong in aerial defense. It feels like the Chinese team's attacking efforts were ineffective."
Huang Jianxiang: "I agree. The Chinese team has been training in a semi-closed environment for the past few days. We only managed to interview Yang Chen, but he didn't reveal anything. This lineup is completely different from the one used against Brazil. Do you think this is still Ye Xian's idea?"
Zhang Lu: "That's hard to say, hehe. But I guess those opening moves might really have been Ye Xian's suggestion. After all, if it were Milutinovic, he might have been more conservative..."
China's attack didn't have much effect, but the players were clearly very patient.
After a few passes in the backfield, they began to reorganize their attack.
This time, Yang Chen was brought to the left flank to dribble the ball to the side and prepare to cut inside and shoot.
However, the Turkish team maintained a solid defense. Ilhan came over to defend from the right midfield, Emre was focused on cutting off Yang Chen's passing lanes, and Özalan and Akhar were ready to cover from behind.
Yang Chen had no other options but to try to force a breakthrough.
But Ilhan positioned himself very well and intercepted the ball at the corner of the penalty area.
Ye Xian, standing on the sidelines, gently shook his head.
This is the limitation of individual ability.
Whether it's Yang Chen or Qu Bo, their dribbling skills rely mainly on speed; their actual technique is quite average.
This means that they can only play a restraining role on the wing, rather than cutting directly into the box and scoring like future true inside forwards such as Salah and Mbappe.
Okay, this is the Chinese team after all, not Liverpool or Real Madrid!
There's no other way but to rely on tactics and teamwork to compensate for the lack of individual ability.
There are so many examples of underdogs winning in football, which are basically the result of maximizing tactics and teamwork!
On the field.
After intercepting the ball, the Turkish team immediately launched a counterattack without hesitation.
This is something the Turkish team excels at.
Ilhan immediately passed the ball to their midfield engine, Bastürk.
Bastürk only observed for a moment before making a long pass to the Turkish striker.
Bastürk's long pass was accurate, and Hakan Suker also got to the first ball, but Li Weifeng of the Chinese team had already squeezed in from behind to interfere.
Hakan Sukur couldn't turn around in time, so he had to pass the ball back to Hassan Sas.
At this moment, Hassan Sas was about 35 meters away from the Chinese team's goal, but he chose to take a direct shot!
This Turkish striker is known for his explosive speed, sharp dribbling, balanced passing and shooting, and abundant stamina, earning him the nickname "Turkish Lightning".
He scored Turkey's only goal against Brazil.
However, he seemed a bit anxious this time, and his power point was not good under Du Wei's harassment.
The ball flew high off the field and landed in the back of the fans' area, eliciting gasps from the Turkish fans.
Günechet applauded loudly from the sidelines, encouraging his players.
Although the Chinese team's use of the 4-3-3 formation was completely unexpected for him, he now thinks it's not bad.
With China pressing forward, the gaps in their defense will definitely be larger, and Türkiye won't have to struggle against the defensive wall like Brazil did in the last match.
In other words, Türkiye has a better chance of breaking through China's defense!
This is especially good news for Türkiye, which desperately needs a victory, and a big one at that!
……
The game continues.
The ball was quickly regained control by the Turkish team.
After several passes, it reached Bastürk's feet again.
Later fans may not know much about this player, but in the recently concluded 2001-2002 season, he was truly the midfield core of Bayer Leverkusen.
He and Barack formed a dual-core structure for the pharmaceutical company, one in front and one behind, one meticulous and one hard.
Ballack is responsible for attacking and defending, and for making runs from deep to score; Bastürk is responsible for controlling the ball, linking up play, making through balls, and breaking through, and is responsible for organizing the midfield and sending the ball to the danger zone.
He was arguably one of the most technically gifted midfielders in the Bundesliga in the early 2000s.
Therefore, in the Turkish team, he is naturally Güneş's most relied-upon midfield playmaker.
However, he also suffers from the common problem of technically skilled players.
That is, he is not tall, not good at aerial duels, and lacks strength. When he receives the ball with his back to the goal, he is easily pushed away by strong defenders.
Moreover, his steals, interceptions, and positioning are not particularly strong, his defensive contributions are limited, and his stamina is not good either.
Therefore, Ye Xian had Li Tie, the fastest runner in the Chinese team, keep him tightly bound, preventing him from having any room to perform while also exhausting his stamina to the greatest extent possible.
This time, Yunsar passed the ball to Bastürk, but Li Tie was prepared and intercepted the ball before passing it to Shao Jiayi.
However, before Shao Jiayi could control the ball properly, Turkey's Emre poked it away.
Bastürk received the ball, dribbled a few steps, and was about to pass when Zhao Junzhe came up behind him and tackled him to the ground...
Time passed as both teams traded passes near the midline.
The game was intense and fast-paced, but after the first two shots on goal, neither side was able to create another threatening shot.
Güneš paced back and forth on the sidelines.
He did not expect that the Chinese team would neither set up a defensive wall nor launch a relentless attack.
They focused more of their energy on midfield battles.
Yang Chen and Qu Bo, the two wingers, often dropped back to join the three midfielders and the two full-backs who tucked in to fight against the Turkish team.
With a numerical advantage, the Chinese team can fight Türkiye to a 50/50 chance.
With both sides locked in such a stalemate, Turkey's desire to launch an attack on China's territory is unlikely to be realized.
Even Bastürk struggles to receive the ball and pass it, let alone other players with inferior skills!
However, Güneš was not particularly flustered.
Türkiye can't score, and neither can your Chinese team!
No matter how hard the Chinese team tried, it was difficult to break through Türkiye's solid defense in front of the penalty area.
The central formation with three center-backs created so much defensive space that the Chinese team could only attempt shots from the edge of the penalty area.
Such shots are completely ineffective against the experienced Rustu.
Güneš couldn't help but glance towards the Chinese team's coaching bench.
But all that could be seen was that the Chinese team's coaching staff, led by Milutinovic, sat upright in their seats, expressionless.
"They must be having a headache too," Güneš thought. "Otherwise, I might play along and launch a counter-attacking attack, which might give me a better chance to score."
He had previously used a 3-5-2 formation for counter-attacking.
The basic idea behind this tactic is to establish a defensive formation and then use the abilities of the forwards to launch counter-attacks from defense to offense.
After winning the ball, they found Bastürk through a series of quick one-touch passes and launched a counter-attack!
As long as Bastürk can find gaps in the Chinese team's defense and deliver accurate passes to the strikers, the Chinese team's goal will be wide open!
Having made up his mind, Güneš stood on the sidelines and began to convey the latest tactical instructions.
But he soon discovered a new situation.
It seems like the Chinese team is starting to... tighten their defense again?