Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

Samuel's defense is very solid, so he is affectionately called "The Rock" by his teammates.

With his assistance, Zanetti's success rate in defending Lin Feng increased a lot, but even if the two of them joined forces, they could not stop every breakthrough of Lin Feng 100%.

Moreover, as the number of matches increased, the two players on the field, as well as the teammates and coaching staff watching the game, were surprised to find that Lin Feng's dribbling and passing were very similar to Barcelona's star player Ronaldinho.

Especially his dribbling pass, which is exactly the same as Ronaldinho's.

This made Mancini very happy.

Although Lin Feng occasionally makes extraordinary attempts in daily games, he still relies more on passing and running to participate in the offense, and the number of personal breakthroughs is not that many.

This kept the outside world and even Mancini in the dark, thinking that Lin Feng's dribbling ability was not strong.

But through this internal team confrontation, Mancini realized how wrong he was.

This guy, obviously he has such extraordinary abilities, but he is too low-key and has deceived everyone!
After watching the confrontation between the two players, the assistant coach could not help but sigh:
"No wonder top clubs like to hoard stars. Sometimes when a team can't get going, relying on the individual strength of a superstar may be able to solve the problem!"

To defend against Lin Feng, Inter Milan needs to send out two players. If there is another player of Lin Feng's level on the field, can Inter Milan's defense line still hold up?
the answer is negative!

This is why in the MSN era, Barcelona fans joked that they could win even if they had a dog tied to the coaching bench. It was really because the combination of Messi, Neymar and Suarez in the frontcourt was too strong.

Of course, the actual situation is not the case. Enrique's coaching is still very good.

Mancini was very curious, why Lin Feng had such strong dribbling ability but rarely used it in the game?
"Because there is no need for that. If you can win by playing as a team, why do you have to insist on individual performances?"

Lin Feng’s answer made so much sense that Mancini was speechless for a moment.

In fact, the reason why Lin Feng doesn’t like to play like this is that it is very tiring. Frequent acceleration, changes of direction, spiking and other actions put a heavy burden on the knees.

Moreover, dribbling past an opponent is too conspicuous and can easily lead to resentment and retaliatory fouls from defensive players.

No matter what the cause of the injury was, it was not worth it in his opinion.

Mancini was convinced by Lin Feng, so he did not force him to change his playing style.

After all, as the core organization of Inter Milan, if Lin Feng suddenly turns from the team's brain into a dribbling machine, other players would probably find it difficult to adapt.

But after seeing Lin Feng's outstanding dribbling skills, Mancini decided to give him greater tactical freedom and unlimited firing rights.

Superstars must have tactics that suit them and cannot be managed like ordinary players.

Torres was very envious of this.

But he also knew that there was a big gap between his strength and Lin Feng's, and for the time being he could not meet the requirements for the coach to tailor tactics for him.

So Torres turned his grief and anger into strength, worked harder in training, and vowed to improve his strength so that he could catch up with Lin Feng as soon as possible.

……

In three days, Benister collected almost no valuable information from Inter Milan.

Since Inter Milan did not arrange any internal team matches, he couldn't even be sure of the opponent's next starting lineup.

Compared with Liverpool, which has a thin lineup, Inter Milan's bench depth is obviously much higher.

Inter Milan has sufficient backup options in the three lines of attack, midfield and defense.

Without knowing the opponent's starting lineup, it is difficult for him to make targeted deployments.

In the end, Benítez didn't care about how Inter Milan arranged their starting lineup. Liverpool focused on themselves and was ready to play offensive football at home.

But what surprised the outside world was that Xabi Alonso's name was not on the starting list arranged by Benítez.

In fact, after the last defeat at Meazza, some British tabloids reported the conflict between Benítez and Xabi Alonso.

However, the British media has poor ethics, especially some tabloids that will do anything to increase sales, and their credibility is even more worrying.

Therefore, these reports did not attract much attention from the public, and many people even scoffed at such groundless reports.

In their view, Xabi Alonso is the foreign player that Benítez personally brought in from the La Liga after he took over Anfield. He is also his fellow villager and can be regarded as his trusted and beloved player.

How could a conflict arise between these two people?

Besides, Xabi Alonso is extremely important to Liverpool. The head coach is too busy coaxing such a player, so how could he offend him on his own initiative?
However, the reality slapped them in the face. Alonso was placed on the bench by Benítez even though he was in good health and in good condition.

He was replaced in the starting lineup by Pennant.

This adjustment made many people confused and even Liverpool fans were bewildered as to what their head coach wanted to do.

Mancini saw something: "Want to bypass the middle and continue to strengthen the attack on the wing?"

This is a solution, but if they want to achieve the effect that Benítez expects, they must increase the pace of attack very quickly.

If we can seize the opportunity during a fast break when Inter Milan's defense line does not have time to get into position to defend, and quickly get the ball into Inter Milan's penalty area, it might actually work.

But the game can't be faster just because you want it to be faster. It also depends on whether the other team gives you opportunities.

Inter Milan's starting lineup today was different from the previous game, with some adjustments made in some local areas.

Veteran Figo did not play and was replaced by Stankovic. On the front line, Crespo replaced Cruz. As for other positions, there were basically no changes.

After the opening, Liverpool unsurprisingly launched a fierce attack on Inter Milan, seemingly wanting to make up for the disadvantage in the shortest time possible.

In the 6th minute, Liverpool wanted to make a long pass behind them, but their pass was cleared by Vieira's header.

The ball fell to Gerrard's feet, and the Liverpool captain took the ball and shot directly.

This was a long shot more than 35 meters away from the goal. If it had gone in, it would definitely have become a classic goal in the history of the Champions League semi-finals.

But unfortunately, Gerrard's aim was off target and the ball went wide.

In the 7th minute, Maicon fouled Pennant while defending, Gerrard took a free kick from the right into the penalty area, and Crouch's shot from 6 yards in front of the goal missed.

This shot made Inter Milan players break out in cold sweats and made countless Liverpool fans in the stands sigh and hold their heads.

It was so close, it was really just a little bit and Liverpool would have scored.

Mancini on the sidelines couldn't stand it anymore, so he stood up and shouted to the players on the field, asking them to control the tempo and not be dragged into a chaotic battle by the opponent.

Inter Milan's lineup is more solid than Liverpool's. As long as they can control the tempo of the game and turn the game into a positional battle, Inter Milan will have a great advantage.

But once they are dragged into a chaotic fight by the opponent, Liverpool can easily threaten Inter Milan's goal by relying on their advantage on the flanks.

Inter Milan's defensive players will only continue to consume their physical energy while running back and forth, and finally the defense line will collapse.

Mancini's reminder was very timely. Inter Milan, which was a little panicked by Liverpool's quick attack, quickly stabilized its position by intensifying its fighting and midfield control.

In the 10th minute, Pennant lost the ball in the backcourt under the pressure of Lin Feng and Stankovic. Lin Feng received the ball and made a straight pass. Torres received the ball, stopped the ball, shot and scored in the penalty area in one go.

But the linesman's whistle sounded at an inopportune time, Torres was judged to be offside and the goal was invalid.

Torres felt very depressed. If the ball had not been blown off, he would have set a record of scoring in four consecutive Champions League games.

Inter Milan's attack also made Liverpool fans sweat. When they saw that their team had the advantage in the first ten minutes and was even close to scoring, they had great hope in their hearts and felt that a comeback at home was not a dream.

But after seeing Inter Milan's quick, accurate and ruthless counterattack, Liverpool fans frowned and realized that things were not simple.

However, what shocked them even more was yet to come!
After withstanding Liverpool's attack, Inter Milan began to take the initiative.

They did not choose a conservative tactic away from home, but instead prepared to attack Liverpool.

This time, not to mention Liverpool fans, even the head coach Benítez was so shocked that he couldn't sit still.

He looked at Mancini with some doubt, not knowing what the other party wanted to do.

This is Anfield. If the other side dares to fight against Liverpool in this stadium, don’t they know how to write the word death?

But battle reports may lie, but battle lines cannot.

After Inter Milan took the initiative to launch an attack, Liverpool gradually fell into a passive position.

Although Figo's absence has reduced Inter Milan's threat on the right.

But the appearance of Stankovic allowed Inter Milan to move its overall defense forward a lot.

He and Lin Feng began to press frantically in the opponent's backcourt. Pennant was unable to hold the ball at all. The ball passed to him by his teammates kept changing hands and became an opportunity for Inter Milan to counterattack on the spot.

Losing the ball in the backcourt is very demoralizing, not to mention that the opponent's counterattack after a successful steal is so deadly.

After a while, the other Liverpool players were unwilling to pass the ball to this guy.

"Haha, Benítez has shot himself in the foot. Pennant's performance is even worse than Alonso in the last game!"

Seeing Pennant's performance, Inter fans laughed heartily.

I thought Liverpool had sent out some powerful players, but this is the result?

"Although Brother Long was targeted badly, he was at least able to hold the ball, and occasionally he could take advantage of Lin Feng's absence to make a precision long pass.

But what does this guy Pennant have? He can't hold the ball, pass the ball, and can't even do his job of defense! "

Not to mention the Inter Milan fans who laughed at him, even Liverpool's own fans couldn't stand it anymore.

This activation on the court is simply doing more harm than good!

Coincidentally, the director just turned the camera to Liverpool's bench at this time.

Xabi Alonso, sitting on the bench, had a calm expression. He did not feel complacent because of his teammates' poor performance. Instead, he looked very solemn.

He could clearly feel that Pennant was being targeted even worse than he was in the previous game.

So even if he were to come on, I'm afraid the situation wouldn't be much better.

Inter Milan's tactical intention is very clear, which is to prevent Liverpool from passing the ball from the backcourt, delay or even disrupt Liverpool's attack.

Benítez also noticed this, but he had no good way to solve the problem and could only stand by and worry.

As a last resort, Liverpool could only strengthen their defense and try hard to reduce Inter Milan's offensive space.

They were clearly playing at their home ground, and they had made great statements before the game, but on the field they played so uncomfortably, to the point where even Gerrard had to retreat to participate in the defense, and even resorted to fouls to stop the opponent's attack.

In the 19th minute, Gerrard tackled Lin Feng from behind while he was dribbling the ball while returning to defense.

Gerrard's foul was very serious and of a rather bad nature.

Logically speaking, this should have been an indisputable yellow card, but for some reason the referee did not give him a card and just gave him a verbal warning.

This level of penalty immediately caused dissatisfaction and protests from Inter Milan players. Mancini even jumped up on the sidelines and protested loudly to the fourth official.

It would have been fine if he had just tackled other players, but he actually dared to tackle Lin Feng and even wanted to escape punishment.

If Liverpool really succeeds, won't other teams follow suit?
Although it may be difficult to get the referee to change his decision, it is necessary to put psychological pressure on the opponent so that he will not dare to continue to favor Liverpool.

After all, this is the semi-final of the Champions League, and there are tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of fans around the world watching the live broadcast!
If the referee blows the whistle too far, it will affect UEFA's credibility.

Lin Feng has never been the kind of person who would not fight back after being beaten. Seeing that the referee did not give Gerrard the punishment he deserved, a few minutes later, when Gerrard was attacking with the ball, Lin Feng rushed up and kicked him hard, taking revenge himself.

The double-standard referee knew he had to give a card this time, so he took out the yellow sapphire card and warned Lin Feng who had committed the foul.

Faced with the yellow card from the referee, Lin Feng was too lazy to make any defense. He just glanced down at Gerrard lying on the ground and turned back to his seat.

It is normal to commit fouls on the court. If the referee does not deliberately favor one side, Lin Feng will not deliberately retaliate.

But he has to do this when the referee is deliberately biased, otherwise Liverpool is likely to become even more aggressive.

Gerrard limped to his feet. Lin Feng's revenge was somewhat unexpected to him, but in the Premier League, he had long been accustomed to this kind of thing.

Speaking of which, the other party's style of doing things is a bit similar to those of Manchester United.

After a pause, Gerrard took the free kick himself.

He didn't have the ability to shoot directly, so he chose to pass the ball to the penalty area to find Crouch at a high point.

But Inter goalkeeper Cesar was prepared. He rushed out and punched the ball out before Crouch could receive the ball.

Then Pennant's follow-up shot outside the penalty area was blocked. Gerrard also wanted to make a follow-up shot, but was knocked down by Cambiasso who rushed out.

There was an uproar in the stands, with Liverpool fans cursing at Inter Milan players for playing roughly.

In just two minutes, the team captain was knocked down twice in a row.

Is the other party here to play football or to kick people?
Gerrard once again got up from the ground with a grin on his face, rubbed his calves, took a deep breath, and then took another free kick.

This time, Gerrard did not choose to lift the free kick directly into the penalty area, but passed it horizontally to the front of the penalty area line.

Mascherano received the ball on the penalty area line and attempted a pass with his heel.

Fortunately, his heel pass was not blocked by the defender, but was passed to his teammate Agger's feet.

Agger received the ball in the middle of the penalty area and shot with his left foot before the defender could get to him, hitting the bottom left corner of the goal.

The score became 1:0, the total score became 1:3, Liverpool pulled one back. (End of this chapter)