In the past few days, I have re-watched oman's two victories against Japan and Vietnam, which are still relatively young, averaging around 26 years old. The impression of Oman is still stuck in the warm-up match in 2015, when the national football team defeated the opponent 4-1, and the goals of Arthur Junmin and Wu Lei are still in the team. Therefore, it has given the majority of fans a general impression: Oman is not strong or even weaker than Vietnam. However, after beating the Japanese team in the cold, not only China but also the whole of Asia did not dare to despise this opponent. This Omani team has a trait, that is, stability, how to be stable? The team members continued the big list of the top 40, the lineup was two sets from the beginning to the end, and the strong team swung 4312 to play a defensive counterattack. When the strength is relatively weak, use 442, and balance attack and defense.
Some people say that although the team has a high degree of running-in and the players are more familiar, the disadvantage is obvious that it is easy to be studied by the opponent. But after 4 games, in addition to the European style of play of Australia, the other 3 opponents have suffered a lot, and they may not have eaten much of oman.
Why is it so elusive? The Oman coach will make appropriate personnel adjustments for each opponent and give the players clear instructions, which is vividly reflected in the match against Japan, which is fully reflected in the right side of the Japanese team's veteran cadre Nagatomo Yudo, making him exhausted, and eventually leading to the loss of the ball. So, who is the manager who has brought so much change to Oman? His name is Ivankovic, former champion coach of Shandong Luneng, mentor of "Magic Flute" Modric, and a pragmatic football coach. In fact, this Omani team has always had the shadow of the Shandong team 11 years ago: the same push and innovation, the same bold use of new talents, the same reversal of the control of the reversal.
We set the time back to 2019, when the Chinese team lost 1:2 to Syria in the round of 40, and Lippi was disembarked. Equally sad with the Chinese team is Oman, who did not perform well in the Asian Cup, leading to the dismissal of Dutch coach Welbeck. After a brief search for a coach, on January 20, 2020, the veteran coach Ivankovic took office, and the transformation of oman began at this moment. As aside, 18 days before he took office, Li Tie officially took over as the coach of the Chinese team. Due to the epidemic, Oman, which has not had an international match for a whole year, also gave Ivan time to settle down, and he began to carefully observe the players. After a series of selections, Ivan almost overturned his predecessor's national team roster, leaving only 4 players on 3 lines, including Yahya, the core of the No. 20 midfield, The No. 23 back veteran Assadi, the No. 17 left-back veteran Busseydi, and the No. 7 forward Hayry. A large number of newcomers from the current year were added to the national team, and the age of oman was compressed to less than 26.1 years old in this year, and Ivan used his limited time to build this team into a very effective force. More importantly, in addition to the selection of players, the use of tactics is also very appropriate. Ivan's positioning of the team is quite in place, oman's players are not strong in individual ability, so playing the overall defense pressure and rapid counterattack is a very correct tactical arrangement. He retained two soul figures on the central axis: Yahya and Assadi, two of whom were oman's most important guarantors for the transition from defense to attack. Therefore, how the Chinese team curbed the ghostly counterattack speed of the Oman team and restricted these two people became the key to the game. In addition, trick-changing is also the unique skill of this experienced veteran coach. In this World Preliminary Round, when playing Against Australia, Ivankovic made very detailed adjustments to the starting lineup, the left centre-back changed from No. 5 to No. 3 Mohamed Musarami, the right-back changed from No. 14 to No. 21 Abdelaziz Galani, although it was 1-3 loss; when playing against Vietnam, the starting 4 defender became No. 17 + No. 5 + No. 6 + No. 14, the forward No. 19 Alavi became No. 2 Isam Subshi, the forward No. 12, No. 8 became No. 10 Muhsin Haldi and No. 15 Jamil Yahmadi, a match in which Oman defeated Vietnam 3-1. It can be seen that the old coach has a deep understanding of the strength of the 5 opponents, and the Oman team will most likely sacrifice the 442 formation in the match against the Chinese team. Here, we will not analyze which players and formations the Chinese team will use, and the tactics of the Chinese team have always been a mystery. In addition to the above-mentioned combination of midfield souls, Oman's frontcourt is also a personal skill: striker Mandal Allawi is very skilled, very flexible in the small penalty area, can quickly adjust the shooting posture, and he can still score goals in the middle of 4 Australian defenders. In addition, Essam Subshi, the hero who beat Japan, is also a very flexible striker with a strong sense of smell on goal. The bench also sits No. 9 Mukbarri with a long-range shot and No. 11 Ghazani, who is full of mobility. The two flanks have once beaten the Japanese team, and left forward Abdullah has a strong offensive attribute, making 6 appearances and starting 5 games in recent matches, averaging only 61 minutes per game, but has already scored 2 goals. He was quite flexible, with a rather skilful combination with the veteran Busseidi at the back, with one in front of the line wandering away the defence and the other in charge of the delivery of the ball. I don't think this slow turn of the Chinese team's back line can effectively contain the guerrilla Omani team in China!
Ivan's transformation of oman is immediate, while the Chinese team, which changed coaches at the same time, also in the case of the epidemic, Li Tie did not precipitate the observation of players and establish clear tactical changes. Throughout the qualifiers, China switched from 4-4-2, 5-3-2, 4-2-3-1 and 5-4-1, and each defensive combination was constantly changing: Wang Shenchao + Jiang Guangtai + Yu Dabao + Zhang Linpeng in the first half of the Battle of China and Australia, Wang Shenchao + Jiang Guangtai + Zhang Linqian in the second half; the Battle of China and Japan put forward 3 center-back combinations wang Shenchao + Li Ang + Jiang Guangtai + Zhang Linpeng + Wang Gang in the first half, and the three central defenders became Li Ang + Jiang Guangtai + Zhu Chenjie in the second half, and then changed to play 4 defenders in the second half. Wang Shenchao + Jiang Guangtai + Zhu Chenjie + Wang Gang. The 4 defenders in the Battle of Zhongyue were Wang Shenchao + Jiang Guangtai + Zhang Linpeng + Wang Gang, in the 60th minute of the second half Zhang Linpeng changed to play at right-back, the double center-back combination yu Dabao + Jiang Guangtai; the starting 5 defenders of the Battle of Zhongsha were Wang Shenchao + Li Ang + Jiang Guangtai + Zhu Chenjie + Zhang Linpeng combination, in the second half changed to play 4 defenders, central defender Li Ang came off, Zhang Linpeng was replaced by Gao Zhunyi in the 80th minute. Among them, Zhang Linpeng is the most miserable, constantly changing between the center-back and the full-back, and there is a reason why the full-back who was once "Asian Ramos" fell. Here we can also find another player who is extremely unsuitable, that is, Wang Shenchao, who has been stable on the left side, and this player who has been playing on the right side of SIPG is really a bit difficult to understand in this position. In the use of players, most of them still use the old faces familiar to fans, and the use of new people is still too conservative. Some players who have performed well in the league still do not enter everyone's sight, such as the younger generation of wingers Tong Lei and the older and more demon Cao Yunding.
Finally, the argument that Ivankovic's tactical approach did not conform to the world's most advanced level is ridiculous, and perhaps we were wrong in the first place.