Ground football: Ronaldo thought I was going to assist him

The youth academy rivalry between Sporting Lisbon and Benfica has been making headlines.

However, both also have other problems.

Benfica's first team is under pressure to win the title.

They are holding Porto back tightly, but the initiative lies with Porto.

Sporting Lisbon U15 will face Torino U15 in their final group stage match of the UEFA Youth League.

Sporting Lisbon has six points and Torino has seven, with Torino again taking the initiative.

Torino was once the undisputed giant of Serie A.

However, he never recovered from the Superga air disaster and began a period of solitary decline.

Three years ago, Torino suffered relegation in the 95-96 season, falling into Serie B.

This year, they have a strong chance of advancing to the top tier.

With the rise of their youth teams, Torino is showing signs of a resurgence.

Previously, Sporting Lisbon had set a good example by lending their first team's stadium to their youth team. The youth team, playing with great enthusiasm, actually defeated Feyenoord, the strongest team in their group, and sold a lot of tickets, reaping both fame and fortune.

The Turin leadership also began to consider this idea.

Before the match, they applied to UEFA to change the stadium to their first team's home stadium, Munar Stadium, which has a capacity of nearly 30,000.

UEFA highly commends this extraordinary behavior.

This year's UEFA Youth League can be described as an unprecedented success, with the participating teams showing an unexpected level of support for the competition.

Although the group stage is not yet over, UEFA has already confirmed that the UEFA Youth League will continue.

Many top clubs have also approached UEFA to discuss obtaining qualification for the UEFA Youth League.

……

Munar Stadium.

The referee blew the whistle to end the first half.

Both sides performed only moderately well in the first half.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Quagliarella each had one or two good performances, but neither could change the score.

"If the match continues like this, then Sporting Lisbon will be out of the knockout stage!"

"In terms of raw strength, Sporting Lisbon is slightly weaker than Torino, but the gap is not significant."

"Both Chris and Quagliarella have the ability to decide the outcome of a match."

"However, besides them, there is one more person who can also win, which is why more people are optimistic about Sporting Lisbon in this match."

"It's not just because they're in such hot form lately, but also because of their midfield maestro, Deng Kai!"

"This player is known as the 'Football Kaiser' by Lisbon fans. He has put up an incredible record of three goals and two assists in two European matches."

"However, Deng Kai's performance in this match was quite poor. He was completely neutralized by Torino's midfield."

That's right.

Deng Kai has been frozen out.

The reason is... he is a typical right-footed player.

During the pre-match press conference, Torino's coach shared their analysis of Duncan: "We acknowledge that Duncan is an excellent midfielder. His passes are quick and aggressive, but highly effective, easily breaking down any defense."

"But we analyzed all of his threatening passes in league and European competitions. Over 94% of them were made with his right foot!"

"We will limit his right-footed passing, and that will be key to winning the game!"

As it turns out, the Torino coaching staff's analysis was correct.

Throughout the first half, Deng Kai only delivered one threatening pass, which was a through ball to right winger Marcelino on the same side.

Pass with the right foot.

However, his most proficient and threatening pass—a cross from the right wing that directly lofts the ball over the top to the center or even the left wing—has not occurred even once.

This is also why Ronaldo's performance in the first half was slightly inferior to Quagliarella's.

He could only receive the pass from the left-back Araujo behind him, and then dribble to challenge the Torino defenders.

However, they cannot fully utilize Deng Kai's passing to showcase his off-the-ball movement and speed.

Fifteen minutes later, the second half of the game resumed.

Deng Kai positioned himself closer to the middle lane.

But it's not very meaningful; Torino's main focus is on defending against Deng Kai's right-footed left-hand crosses.

As for Deng Kai's right-footed through ball down the right flank, Torino simply ignored it.

Because Marcelino on the right wing is far less threatening than Chris on the left wing for Sporting Lisbon.

He has a good ability to get to the byline, but his crossing ability is lacking.

Their ability to cut inside and shoot is even worse.

Even if he can cross the ball, Sporting Lisbon's Lorenzo in the middle is not a center forward, but a poacher who wins by speed and positioning.

Cristiano Ronaldo has proven in the last match that he is not necessarily better as a center forward than as a left winger, but he is definitely better than Lorenzo.

In the 68th minute, Deng Kai received the ball and lifted his right foot.

The defender positioned himself slightly to Deng Kai's left to prevent him from making long passes.

boom!

Deng Kai forcefully flicked the ball to the left.

Then he chased after the football.

Fake news!

"Oh! Deng Kai is dribbling laterally, heading towards the middle, which seems to give him more passing options."

"But if the pass to the left is blocked, moving like this actually reduces the coverage area of ​​your pass."

"Sure enough, Torino's defenders came over to cover, still guarding against Deng Kai's right-footed left-handed cross."

"Chris made a run, he was marked, and the passing lane between him and Duncan was cut off by Torino players."

"Hey, Marcelino's in great position! He's accelerating down the right flank, he's in a lot of open space. It would be perfect if Duncan could pass the ball to him right now."

"But it's difficult. From our vantage point, we can see Marcelino, but Duncan might not be able to see him. Even if he does, his current body position makes it impossible for him to pass the ball to the right. That's the limitation of right-footed players passing the ball, unless Duncan can pass with the outside of his foot."

"Like Sporting Lisbon U17 star player Quaresma, he can handle this situation with the outside of his foot."

boom!

Deng Kai chipped the ball with the outside of his foot, sending it around the defender and flying towards the right wing.

The commentator was dumbfounded.

This……

Deng Kai can play on the outside of his foot!

The Torino coach was also stunned.

This was not in the intelligence.

In all those past games, Deng Kai has never used the outside of his foot to deliver a key pass, or even the outside of his foot at all.

But this pass, in terms of power, speed, arc, and accuracy, is quite good.

"Marcellino cuts inside without the ball... one-on-one! This outside-of-the-foot pass created a one-on-one opportunity... shot... oh dear! Marcelino's shot was too straight, almost aimed at the goalkeeper's chest. Why would he choose that?"

"A simple low shot would have been better than this result."

"Marcellino's shots are always so thoughtless. He's actually had quite a few attacking opportunities this season, about half as many as Chris, thanks to Chris drawing defenders away from him. But in terms of goals, he doesn't even have a quarter of Chris's!"

"What a waste of Deng Kai's exquisite outside-of-the-foot pass!"