At noon local time on April 25, the Chinese 2001 U22 National Olympic Team, which was training in Belgium, played a warm-up match with the B team of the league giants Anderlecht, and the result was a 2-5 defeat. The Olympic team once again exposed the gap between them and the high-level European teams in terms of game rhythm and passing frequency.
(1) The second-level team shows the standard
Back-to-back wins in Belgium's warm-up have given the Olympic team some confidence recently. The team recently trained at the base of the club Anderlecht and the players are also hoping to face the B-team of the league giants as soon as possible. The Anderlecht B squad is also made up of Under-23 players and currently plays in the Belgian Second Division (Second Division).
Anderlecht B finished sixth in the regular season with 22 wins, 9 wins, 7 draws and 6 defeats, thus reaching the promotion play-offs, but they finished bottom of the play-offs with 3 draws and 5 defeats in 8 rounds. The Lommer SK reserves, which the Olympic team had defeated in a warm-up game before, were only ranked 7th in the second team and could only enter the relegation group. It can be seen that the Anderlecht B team also has strong strength, even far surpassing the opponents in the first three warm-up games of the national Olympic team. For the Olympic team, missing the opportunity is a severe test.
After Anderlecht B played the eighth round of the play-offs on April 22, the next round will not be played until May 5. Therefore, in order to achieve the purpose of training, the head coach proposed that the warm-up game would be played in the form of three quarters, each 45 minutes, etc., and a 5-minute break could be taken between each quarter. In this way, the opponent can arrange for all players to play in turns, which is equivalent to a lot of training sessions. However, the Olympic team still had three games in three days at this stage, so from its own point of view, although they agreed to play in the form of three quarters, the two sides finally decided that each quarter would be 30 minutes long.
Because the opponent is stronger, the Olympic coaching staff of the National Olympic Games released a 532 formation in this game, and the position responsibilities and position requirements for the two fullbacks are completely different from the previous warm-ups. Due to Chen Yuhao's tight muscles, the coaching staff chose Xie Wenneng to play on the right wing. However, Xie Wen Neng used to be a fullback, winger or striker. Because of the need to take care of defense, Xie Wen was able to boldly step forward in the game, but defense itself was not what he was good at, so he played about 45 minutes and was substituted.
Many players of Anderlecht B team have been selected for the Belgian national youth team at all levels, and some players are players of the Belgian U19 national youth team, their personal skills and abilities are quite outstanding, and their tactical literacy is also obviously in the upper hand. After the start of the game, the opponent quickly mastered the initiative on the field, especially the frequency and speed of passing and receiving the ball was significantly faster. The Olympic team is still as it did in Belgium's first three warm-up matches, with high pressure and aggressive pressing in the opening game. But this tactic, which worked very well in the first three games, rarely saw results in this game, many times seeing that the national Olympic team was about to succeed in stealing, but the opponent had already passed the ball, and it seemed to be 0.5 seconds slower.
The first 30 minutes of the game were almost all under the control of the opponents, and the Olympic players were exhausted on the field, rarely able to threaten the opponent's goal in the sports battle, and the only few threats were from set-pieces. It wasn't until near the end of the first quarter that No. 7 Shervin was able to get a shot on the counter-attack, but failed to pose a substantial threat. The two sides were tied 0-0 in the first quarter.
(2) In the second quarter, three goals were conceded in a row to show the gap
There was another episode before the start of the second quarter of the game. It stands to reason that at the end of each quarter, the two sides should exchange venues, but the opposing player stands directly in the previous half after he appears, which seems to mean a warm-up game anyway. However, after the resumption of the game, the venue suddenly blew a strong wind, the National Olympic Team attacked against the wind, and the competition venue had a slope, and the National Olympic Team was still on the downhill side, so that the headwind and downhill, the National Olympic Team appeared more difficult and passive.
The opponent changed almost all the players on the court in the second quarter, while the Olympic team did not make any changes. The opening Olympic team took advantage of the first serve to organize the first attack, No. 11 Baihlamu inserted into the opponent's penalty area and stopped the chest of his teammate to pass the ball and turned to volley, but was magically saved by the opposing goalkeeper. However, just three minutes into the second quarter, the attacking midfielder knocked back a header in the box, and the player who inserted it followed up with a shot to break the deadlock first, 1-0.
From the situation on the field, the players of the National Olympic Team were obviously not very comfortable with the formation of 532, so after losing the ball, the coaching staff adjusted the formation and tactics, changing 532 to 442 (4411), Xie Wenneng's position premise became right midfielder, Zhu Yuela became right back, Bai Lamu changed from striker to left midfielder, Zhu Qiwen roamed behind Liu Junxian, and Zheng Xuejian and Liang Weipeng became two central midfielders. After changing the tactical play, the situation on the field is slightly better, after all, the players are relatively more familiar with the 442 style of play. Unfortunately, in the 12th minute, the opponent took advantage of a defensive error by the Olympic team and a long-range shot to change the score to 2-0. Less than a minute later, the opponent shot from distance again, and if it were not for the timely save by the goalkeeper, the Olympic team might have conceded two goals in two minutes.
In this case, the coaching staff made a substitution adjustment, and Duan Dezhi, Ma Fuyu and Cheng Jiacheng came off the bench. The situation has improved since the substitution, with the players playing in positions they are relatively familiar with and are more resolute in executing the overall tactics. But unfortunately, in the 24th minute, the opponent once again played a long-range shot, and the national Olympic goalkeeper caught the ball and was inserted into the player's hand to score, 0-3!
One minute later, the Olympic team created a very good scoring opportunity on the counter-attack, counterattacking after a successful tackle near the midfield area in the local half, substitute Ma Fuyu crossed from the left to the foot of Liang Weipeng on the right rib, who crossed diagonally, and inserted No. 18 Liu Junxian stopped the ball in the chest and shot on goal, but unfortunately the angle was too positive to be saved by the opposing goalkeeper. At the end of the second quarter, the Olympic team trailed 3-0.
During the 5-minute break, the coaching staff readjusted the personnel and tactics, replaced He Longhai, and the National Olympic Team also proposed to change venues with the other side, after all, it cannot be in the headwind and downhill all the time. Just one minute after the start of the game, the Olympic team won a free kick opportunity in front, No. 4 Liang Shaowen's main penalty hit the crossbar and No. 18 Liu Junxian's header was changed to 1-3.
Just when the morale of the Olympic team was boosted and the attack was further strengthened to try to recover the score, 2 minutes later, the opponent counterattacked and passed to the right, the defense of the Olympic team appeared gap, and the opponent tricked the defending Olympic central defender to shoot, and the score was changed to 4-1!
In the 8th minute, the Guoao backfield captain passed the ball to the feet of Liu Junxian, and his long-range shot from outside the box was saved by the opposing goalkeeper, and He Longhai, who followed him, scored to change the score to 2-4. After that, the two sides exchanged attacks and defenses, and in the 21st minute, Anderlecht B team counterattacked again to lock the score at 5-2.
(3) The team members lamented that the rhythm was "slow and half a beat"
After winning streak against lower-division teams, the Olympic team finally lost again by a big score, but such a game training value is obviously greater. Of course, the national Olympic team lost the game with targeted tactical problems, but the more important thing is probably the rhythm.
In Belgium's first three matches, the opponents were all third-division teams, so the Olympic team's opening pressure, front-court pressing and cooperation were effective, especially in tackles. However, against Anderlecht B, the speed and frequency of passing and receiving the ball is always half a beat faster than that of the Olympic team. The same is true in attack, where the Olympic team can also create chances, but are repeatedly destroyed by their opponents at the moment of shooting.
The players watching the game off the field are also very emotional about this, which is probably the core of the Olympic team's desire to improve. From this point of view, although the score is not very good, it is also the most single-game goal conceded by the Olympic team in this European training so far, but the problems reflected and shown in the actual battle have given the players a deeper understanding of themselves and the problems of the team. Although the opponents are also U23 players, and even many players born in 2005, the Olympic players clearly see that Belgium even the 05-year-old players handle the ball like this, so it is understandable why the Belgian national team can once rank first in the world. [Note: In addition to the first team, the current Andrecht club is set up according to the requirements of the Belgian Football Association, after the U18 team, it is directly the U23 team, and the two age groups of U19 and U21 are no longer established, so the 05 age players are also players in the U23 team. ] 】
From the perspective of the whole game, Anderlecht B team's playing style is more similar to that of its neighbor Japan, and the gap between the Olympic team and the opponent is equivalent to the gap between the Japanese Olympic team. If the Olympic team can play more against opponents like Anderlecht B, close the gap and fight hard to win, it may be able to compete with Japan in the future and strive to win.
According to the plan, the Olympic team will play Bierscheute B on the afternoon of the 26th local time, which is currently participating in the fourth division of Belgium and is slightly weaker. However, it should be noted that the head coach of the team also rushed to the scene to watch the national Olympic team against Anderlecht B team, allegedly to understand the situation. This detail can also show how much importance the opponent attaches to the warm-up game. Of course, the more important the opponent, the greater the value of training for the national Olympic team.
Attached: The National Olympic Team will play the lineup
No. 1 Wang Jinshuai (No. 35 Yu Jinyong, 61'); No. 2 Hu Hetao, No. 4 Liang Shaowen, No. 30 Jin Shunkai, No. 5 Zhu Yue (No. 16 Zheng Jiacheng, 47'), No. 7 Xie Wenneng (No. 21 Duan Dezhi, 47'); No. 15 Liang Shipeng, No. 25 Zheng Xuejian, No. 29 Zhu Qiwen (No. 23 He Longhai, 61'); No. 18 Liu Junxian, No. 11 Baihlamu (No. 26 Ma Fuyu, 47').