In the 9th round of the round of 12, the national football team sat at the Sharjah Stadium against Saudi Arabia, and the first leg of the two sides, Saudi Arabia won 3-2 at home. Saudi Arabia's promotion situation is at the end of Group B, and before this game, Japan made 2 away goals to pick out Australia, and Asia's 6th Saudi Arabia qualified early, which also directly reduced the difficulty of this game. On the one hand, it has been eliminated, the other side has been promoted, and the outside world has also speculated that the relaxed environment is conducive to the play of the national football team, and there may be unexpected results.
In the starting lineup of the national football team, Yan Junling continued to serve as a goalkeeper, and the back line adopted a three-center-back tactic, Zheng Zheng, Zhang Linpeng, Zhu Chenjie, Gao Zhunyi and Liu Yang as two wing-backs, Xu Xin and Liao Lisheng resisted the back, Liu Binbin and Arthur Junmin were left and right forwards, and Zhang Yuning was at the forefront.
Although the national football team discharged the 541 formation, but the playing style is not conservative, the front court adopts the tactic of high-level pressing, while using the loopholes left by the opponent's attack to fight back, Liu Binbin on the left side of the role is prominent, many times relying on speed directly behind the opponent, creating some trouble for the Saudi backline, but the quality of the cross is average, resulting in the national football team in the penalty area has few opportunities.
In the 45th minute, Saudi Arabia won a corner kick, the main penalty front point, SheikhRi head after the rubbing, the ball flew straight to the back point, Yan Junling basically did not react, can only look at the ball and sigh, Saudi Arabia completed the first half of the kill, 1-0 lead to end the half. Whether it is a coach or a player, the face is full of regret, because the team's original plan is also to hope that the opponent will keep a clean sheet in the first half, and the second half is expected to adopt Plan B to impact the victory.
In the second half, Li Xiaopeng first replaced Arthur Junmin and Liu Binbin with Dai Weijun and Gao Tianyi, for Gao Tianyi, this is the first time for Gao Tianyi to represent the national football team, creating a personal milestone, and then Yu Dabao and Jin Jingdao also appeared one after another, continuous adjustments brought improvement to the national football team, in the 80th minute, Jin Jingdao's header was rubbed, the ball hit the opponent's hand, Zhu Chenjie took the penalty, and the national football team leveled the score. In the end, the battle between the two sides became 1-1, with the national football team scoring 1 point and the points rising to 6 points, while Saudi Arabia was 20 points, 1 point behind Japan, ranking second in the group.
From the lineup point of view, Li Xiaopeng with 5 defenders or hope to base on defense, but due to the limited threat to the opponent at the offensive end, the full 1 shot possession rate is only 26%, the scene is completely unobtrusive, the strength gap between the two sides is obvious, in contrast to Saudi Arabia, the tension in the game is relaxed, especially the attack and defense conversion speed is very fast, resulting in the national football team is not adaptable. In any case, Li Xiaopeng ushered in the first point of coaching, which is a good result.