Chapter 1773 Strength Gap

The scene of Hu Lai and Qin Lin chatting and laughing in the player tunnel before the game may give many people a feeling that this is a very relaxed game, full of the kind of "old friends reunited" Relaxed and cheerful.

After all, there is a big gap between the strengths of the two teams. Even if the Madrid Pirates do not have the strongest lineup in this game, it is enough for them to beat the South China Tigers.

And the South China Tiger shouldn't have too many unrealistic ideas.

Being able to reach the semi-finals of the Club World Cup is their limit and their ultimate goal.

Now that the goal has been achieved, what is the need and motivation to fight against the Madrid Pirates?

This game is probably going through the motions of the "exhibition game."

There is no suspense in the final result of the game. The Madrid Pirates will eliminate the host South China Tigers and advance to the final. The South China Tigers have already tied the record for the best performance of a Chinese team in the Club World Cup created by themselves.

Of course, they can still surpass themselves and create better performance records. That is to defeat the AFC champion Al Aian in the three or four finals and win the third place in the Club World Cup. The latter was eliminated by South American Copa Libertadores champion Russell in yesterday's semi-final, and the latter is already waiting for the final opponent to be born in the Club World Cup final.

Therefore, there is absolutely no need for the South China Tigers to go all out in the semi-finals against the Pirates. Instead, they should stay in the third and fourth finals.

The way Hu Lai and Qin Lin hugged and chatted before the game didn't look like it was a "battle"?

After the game started, the South China Tigers, who got the kick-off opportunity, took the lead in attacking the goal of the Madrid Pirates.

But it didn't work out at all - the South China Tigers made a long pass from the backcourt to find the starting forward Tan Yunlong, but Antonio Betia took the lead and pushed the ball back in the air.

In this game, Parotti did not arrange all the main players to start, but let the main players and rotation players mix and match in almost all positions.

This not only ensures the lower limit of the team's basic combat effectiveness, but also gives the rotation players more playing time. On the one hand, it is naturally to appease them, and on the other hand, it is also to keep the players in the game state and let the main players get rest.

Bethia has always been the team's rotation central defender in the Madrid Pirates. He served as the main starter when the Madrid Pirates were eliminated in the Champions League semi-finals last season. Because the team's original main central defender Kepa Amantegui was injured at the time, only he could top it.

But his performance in that game was not very good, which eventually led to the Madrid Pirates being eliminated by the city rivals King Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals.

It was precisely because of the poor performance in key games that the coaching staff and the club spent huge sums of money to introduce the talented Dutch central defender Danny Drew that summer. Make up for the shortcomings in the defense line.

The effect of Drew's joining was also immediate. That season, the Madrid Pirates historicly won the first "Triple Crown" in Spanish football.

The combination of Drew and Moreno was very successful, and Bettia could only continue to be a substitute.

Fortunately, he is one of his own people trained by the pirate youth training system, and he can endure loneliness. Although he can only play as a substitute, he has no complaints and is willing to be a screw of the club.

As a reward for his loyalty, Parotti arranged for him to start alongside Riva Moreno in the first Club World Cup match of the Madrid Pirates.

Although it is very difficult to face the king's attacking lineup led by Meli and Serrados, Betia is still a high-level central defender in front of the Chinese team.

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"They didn't play all the main players, and they didn't play the best 433, but 442... They still look down on us." The assistant coach sighed.

"Isn't that good?" Qin Lin said. "If they go all out, we'll still be kidding...I even hope they look down on us a bit more, and it's best not to even go to Hu Lai."

※※※

The first attack in the opening game was blocked, which did not hit the morale of the South China Tigers players.

They are facing an extremely powerful enemy, which they have known for a long time.

So don't be easily intimidated.

Instead, they immediately organized a ferocious frontcourt press.

The football pushed back by Antonio Bettia fell to the feet of Joaquin Bella.

But before Bella could turn around, players from the South China Tigers posted up.

It is their Brazilian midfielder Felipe Elias, a player who has played in the Turkish League and also participated in the Europa League. Although he has never been selected for the national team, he is still a powerful player .

His movements are very quick and he is very aggressive.

Bella just stopped the ball slightly, and Elias suddenly accelerated from behind and poked it away with his foot.

Of course, the kicked football did not fall at the feet of the South China Tiger players, but fell between the Pirate players and the South China Tiger players.

Vukovic and Huang Yao rushed to the football at the same time.

In the end, Huang Yao forced Vukovic to hide with his desperate momentum and successfully grabbed the ball.

South China Tigers Attack!

However, their attack this time did not finally threaten the goal of the Madrid Pirates.

In this game, substitute goalkeeper Olmer Caballo, who started the game instead of Heywell, was not tested at all, and the attack of the South China Tigers was stopped.

The South China Tigers were not discouraged, and continued to press down on the Madrid Pirates' ball-handling players.

The Madrid Pirates are pass-and-control players. Most of the time, they still have to transition in the midfield. Unless the situation does not allow, they will directly pass from the backcourt to the frontcourt.

The South China Tigers made a high-position press on them in response to this point, hoping to rob the Madrid Pirates in a hurry after the opening.

But what team are the Madrid Pirates?

As a team that is good at passing and controlling, they will always face high pressure from their opponents, so this did not surprise them.

And they know what to do.

Using the South China Tigers players' high-position press, they mobilized the South China Tigers players through various fast passes and cross transfers.

Technically, the Madrid Pirates players are a level higher than the South China Tigers players—this may be a modest statement.

They are not in a hurry to attack.

Just pass it back and forth like this, leading the South China Tiger by the nose and running around.

After the opening six minutes, the South China Tigers did not get another chance to attack through high pressing, but were pushed back by the Madrid Pirates little by little.

Joaquin Bella took the ball in the center circle, facing the pressing of the two South China Tigers forwards Tan Yunlong and Martin Coetzee, he passed the ball forward from between the two to Luca Chee, who recovered to the ribs Lovech.

The players of the South China Tigers rushed up immediately when they saw this. Huang Yao and Elias approached Celovich from different directions.

The Croatian international didn't stop the ball, he turned around and sent the ball forward. Not only did it make the two South China Tigers players come to nothing, but it also attracted them out.

So Danielle Di Kunzo, who was behind them, received the ball easily.

Huang Yao and Elias could only turn around and rush back.

But Di Kunzo didn't stop the ball and pass it back again.

After passing the ball, Luka Celovic moved laterally and received the ball returned by Di Kunzo.

When he caught the ball, Hu Lai, who was at the front, started to move towards the line where the South China Tigers center back was.

The South China Tigers were very concerned about him. Seeing him advance, the two central defenders, Liu Yan and Yao Huasheng, immediately moved forward to make offside.

Celovic didn't really pass the ball either, as he wasn't very good at delivering precise overhead crosses with his right foot.

If he wants to ensure passing accuracy, he has to adjust the football to his left foot.

After adjusting like this, the players of the South China Tigers had already formed two complete lines of defense in front of him.

Unlike the high-post press in the frontcourt, once the Madrid Pirates pressed them to the 30-meter area, the South China Tigers immediately switched to positional warfare, set up a posture, and assumed a posture of strictly guarding against death. Instead, they were not in a hurry.

Seeing that the South China Tigers' defense line was well laid out and there were no major loopholes, Celovich did not force a cross at a forty-five-degree angle.

The South China Tigers midfielder Huang Yao, who had just been mobilized by him to make a back and forth run, approached him slowly, intending to interfere with his possession of the ball.

Seeing this, Celovic took a step laterally and passed the football to Vukovic in the middle.

The core of the Serbian midfielder saw the football rolling towards him, so he quickly looked back at the situation on the right side of the back.

There, Kamara was clinging to the sidelines.

And there is a lot of space.

After learning about this situation, Vukovic knew what he should do.

Along with football, there are also players from the South China Tigers.

Tan Yunlong saw that Wukovic was about to catch the ball, so he accelerated to chase from the front, preparing to stick to the opponent, interfere with him, and prevent him from easily organizing an attack.

But Vukovic's reaction was faster than his movement:

After catching the ball, he turned around, adjusted the football to his right foot, blocked Tan Yunlong with the left side of his body, and then swung his leg to pass the ball.

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Peng Weijun turned around with the football and ran to the side to defend.

When Kamara catches the ball in front of him, he puts his hands behind his back, lowers his center of gravity, and takes Kamara seriously.

He knows that Kamara is a player who is very good at breaking through.

But Kamara didn't make a breakthrough. Seeing that the South China Tigers' left back didn't come up to block him immediately, and there was a distance of about five or six meters in the middle, he simply kicked a pass!

"I come!"

Yao Huasheng yelled to remind Liu Yan in front of him that he was heading back to make a clearance, which was obviously not more convenient than rushing forward to make a header.

He stepped in from Liu Yan's side, and then headed Kamara's low-quality cross!

The South China Tigers fans in the stands cheered for the captain's header.

But their cheers did not last, because the ball pushed out by Yao Huasheng fell directly in front of Vukovic outside the penalty area.

Vukovic took a step forward, bent his knees slightly, and used his chest to unload the flying football. Then, without waiting for the South China Tigers' defensive players to pounce, he volleyed directly!

Although Yao Huasheng rushed to Vukovic immediately after completing the header clearance, he was still half a beat behind.

When he stretched out his legs to block, the football whizzed past him and rushed towards the goal behind him!

The main goalkeeper of the South China Tigers, Duke, reacted quickly enough, because when he saw the football flying towards the unmarked Vukovic, he realized that the opponent might shoot from a long distance and was already prepared.

When he saw the football flying over, he quickly fell to the ground and jumped sideways!

He successfully blocked the football!

Push the ball away from the goal with both palms!

But he just pushes ~lightnovelpub.net~ instead of hitting.

So football didn't fly far!

Even close at hand!

Fall to the middle!

over there…

"Hu Lai! Opportunity! Here it is!"

Accompanied by the passionate roar of the commentator He Feng, Hu Lai, who was standing outside the small penalty area, raised his foot and pushed the football pushed by the goalkeeper to the empty goal!

Duke struggled to get up off the ground and make a second save, but he was too late.

Liu Yan, who was originally following Hu Lai, tried to block it with his legs, but he was far behind!

Instead of simply pushing the shot, Hu Lai lifted the football slightly upwards.

More like "endfire".

The football just passed over Liu Yan's legs and Duke's arm, and finally flew into the goal!

Just seven minutes into the game, the Madrid Pirates took the lead!

Hou Lai scored his 99th goal of the year!

(end of this chapter)