Source: The Paper
The Paper's reporter Song Chengliang
"If you go on, you have to lose Vietnam, and after the Thai team loses Vietnam, you lose to Myanmar, and then no one loses." Chinese football star Fan Zhiyi's angry words in 2013, fortunately, did not materialize.
In the early morning of the 8th, the national football team led Vietnam 2-0 in the World Preliminary Round of 12 in the Asian Zone, and was chased by the opponent for two goals after 80 minutes... But Wu Lei's 95-minute kill in injury time saved the Chinese team 3-2! The national football team also won the first victory of this year's round of 12!
Fortunately, we have Wu Lei, who has a second degree, and Chinese football has not lost the final bottom line...
In the 95th minute, Wu Lei completed the kill!
"The hope of the whole village" brings hope
In the first two games of the round of 12, the national football team was the only team in this group that had not yet scored a goal, but the national football team did not even shoot on target in the first 180 minutes of the game... To win over Vietnam, the team has to perform better on the offensive end.
Head coach Li Tie also obviously adopted a fighting tactic, the starting lineup put Zhang Yuning and Axon's double center, Wu Lei and Liu Binbin, two players with strong surprise ability, were separated by two wings, you can understand that this is a four-forward formation.
The entire first half of the national football attack only thundered, it did not rain, still failed to shoot right, but the team's first shot in the entire round of 12 produced a goal - Zhang Linpeng long pass, Zhang Yuning's header was quickly inserted after the ferry, Wu Lei's shot after the surprise with the ball was blocked by the opposing goalkeeper, and Zhang Yuning's supplementary shot broke the deadlock.
In the 75th minute, Wu Lei's header broke the goal.
In the 75th minute of the game, Wu Lei, who scored the first goal, completed a very beautiful anti-offside with his best running position, and he pushed Wang Shenchao's cross into the Vietnamese goal.
When Vietnam equalised in the 89th minute of the match, Wu Lei and Wang Shenchao almost copied the second goal - Wu Lei stepped forward to cross Wang Shenchao and scored into the goal, and the national football team won the final moment.
"I shouldn't have touched it." Wu Lei was very honest in an interview after the game to review this goal, but the game supervisor still counted the goal under Wu Lei's account, so that Wu Lei's national team goal rose to 25 goals.
Wu Lei and Wang Shenchao's "Chongming Connection" helped the national football team to kill.
As the only Chinese player to stay in the mainstream European league, Wu Lei is regarded as the "hope of the whole village", after all 8 games of the previous 40 round stage, except for the 0-0 draw with the Philippines, Wu Lei scored in all 7 other games.
In this game to defeat Vietnam, Wu Lei is the biggest contributor to the victory of the national football team. Fans also said that Wu Lei and Wang Shenchao's "Chongming Connection" is even more telling chinese football - the importance of Xu Genbao and adhering to youth training.
Wu Lei also sighed, "It is not easy, the result of the game is also very good, we have assembled since August, the whole team is not easy." In a closed environment, the mental pressure of the team is very large. ”
The national football team finally crossed the Vietnamese team.
Victory boosts confidence tremendously
In the first two games against Australia and Japan, the summary of the first defeat of the national football team was to underestimate the opponent too much and adopt a relatively aggressive tactic; in the second game, from the choice of changing the team 5-3-2, the national football team tactics were conservative.
In this game against Vietnam, the coaching staff focused on attacking in order to win, and the national football team finally got the desired result. Judging from the course of the game, although the national football team and Vietnam are at a slight disadvantage in the main offensive data (49% to 51% possession, 12 to 13 shots, effective shots 4-5), but with offensive efficiency, the national football team still wins 3-2.
Wu Lei believes that the team has played a certain level on the offensive end, "I think it is very difficult, we faced the Vietnamese team today, the formation and personnel have made some adjustments, Zhang Yuning has played a very good role in the position of the forward arrow. ”
Zhang Yuning, who opened the record, believes that the team played something arranged by the coach, "on the field has also maintained the initiative, creating a lot of pressure on the other side, and finally may have conceded two goals in a row for various reasons, but fortunately finally scored another goal to win the game." ”
"It was a very important victory that inspired us to reap the rewards of a long period of closure and was a booster for us."
Li Tie also believed at the post-match press conference, "The first 80 minutes proved that we can play football well, and after 2-2 everyone did not give up, which is worth affirming." In the dressing room we also praised the efforts of the players. ”
"After this month's training, the players are slowly recovering from the fatigue period, and the specific data will not be obtained until later, but I should feel that it should be much better than playing Japan and Australia."
Naturalized striker Axon and coach Li Tie.
Maintain the advantage against Southeast Asian teams
For the game, Li Tie believed after the game, "As I said before the game, no game in the round of 12 is easy. This game for us, if handled better, may be able to win 2-0. But luck is also on our side. Thanks to the players, don't give up. ”
The 1-5 tragedy against Thailand on June 15, 2013, made the advantage of Chinese football against Southeast Asian teams at the national team level seem crumbling, and the downward trend of Chinese football over the years also made the Vietnamese media begin to expect that their national team could break the embarrassing history of total defeat against Chinese teams.
Fortunately, in recent years, in the World Cup qualifiers and the Asian Cup, the national football team has still maintained its advantage against Southeast Asian teams.
In the quarter-finals of the 2019 Asian Cup, the national football team, which fell behind 0-1 in the half, completed the flip in the second half and eliminated Thailand 2-1 to advance to the top eight. The most critical match in the second stage of this year's Round of 40, the national football team defeated the Philippines 2-0 to lock in the second place of the group; this game against the strongest Southeast Asian team Vietnam, the national football team also won 3-2.
Can't play the few regulars who participate in the World Cup in Asia, but at least they are at the bottom of the second-rate team, which may be the positioning of the national football strength that we can draw from the first three games of the round of 12.
So, there are two West Asian teams in this group, Saudi Arabia and Oman, what kind of answer can the national football team deliver?
Wu Lei believes, "We still play one game at a time, our gear is not high in the group, but we also have the same chance." In November, I hope we can return to the real home stadium, have the fans cheer us up, inspire us, and create a very good home environment for us. ”