Ground football: Ronaldo thought I was going to assist him

Amsterdam Arena.

In the 16th minute, Sporting Lisbon striker Lorenzo dropped back to receive the ball and created an opportunity.

Cristiano Ronaldo made a forward run, received the ball, and surged into the edge of the penalty area, where a long-range shot nearly found the back of the net.

This kick directly demonstrated the powerful offensive capability of the "three center forwards" tactic.

Sneijder immediately switched from midfield to defensive midfield, returning to participate in the defense against the three center forwards.

In the 19th minute, Sneijder balanced defense and offense, launching a long pass from the backfield in an attempt to link up with Van der Vaart.

Veloso, who was marking Van der Vaart, directly blocked Van der Vaart and headed the ball to his teammate.

Don't forget, Veloso played as a center-back in the first half of this season!

Defense, physical confrontation, and positioning are all areas where he excels.

But his speed is also quite fast.

Van der Vaart is good at everything, except that he's not fast enough.

Get it on!

Run him over!

In the 24th minute, an Ajax player played a through ball to Van der Vaart.

Veloso made direct physical contact, and Van der Vaart fell to the ground and lost possession of the ball during the challenge, but the referee considered it a normal confrontation and did not blow the whistle.

In the 30th minute, Deng Kai made a flying tackle in midfield to intercept a long through ball from Sneijder in the backfield.

Sneijder's long passes were truly amazing.

But to think that a through ball from the backfield can penetrate Sporting Lisbon is to be treating Deng Kai like an idiot.

In the 33rd minute, Van der Vaart was marked by Veloso and had very little space to receive the ball. Even when he did receive the ball, he would only make a quick pass and then play it out with one touch.

To avoid Veloso, he deliberately retreated to provide support.

However, this time, after finally receiving the ball, he was tackled by Deng Kai who had caught up with him before he could even turn around.

It is very important for the defending player to foul the player who is receiving the ball with their back to the goal, preventing the opponent from turning around.

Because once the opponent turns around, the difficulty of defense increases many times over.

Whether it was Manchester City or Liverpool later on, all strong teams had one thing in common: they would not easily give the opponent a chance to turn and receive the ball face-up.

The referee blew his whistle and came over to warn Deng Kai.

He believes that Sporting Lisbon players have fouled Van der Vaart too many times to prevent him from turning, and he would consider issuing a yellow card if it happens again.

Deng Kai said he understood, but the look in his eyes when he turned to look at Van der Vaart clearly said: Next time you receive the ball, I'll do the same thing again!

Hey, I'm not changing it! I'm just playing around!

Seeing this, Scholes, far away at Manchester United, couldn't help but sigh.

"What's wrong, Paul? Are you tired?" Ferguson misunderstood Scholes's condition.

The latter shook his head and said, "I just didn't expect to see such a do-or-die spirit in a fourteen-year-old."

Ferguson frowned, clearly not understanding what he was talking about.

Scholes explained, "Van der Vaart's performance was significantly limited during this period. Veloso's close marking made it very difficult for him."

Ferguson said, "But Van der Vaart is constantly adapting. Veloso's defense against him isn't as successful as it was at the beginning, and Duncan needs to help out."

Honestly, I've been using Yeguo Reading to read and follow my favorite books lately. It has easy source switching, multiple reading voice options, and is compatible with both Android and Apple devices. (yeguoyuedu)

"If this continues, once Van der Vaart is fully adapted in the second half, he'll be able to threaten Sporting Lisbon's goal again. At that point, Sporting Lisbon will be completely crushed!"

Scholes smiled. "Van der Vaart thinks so too, but what if Veloso's goal was never to limit Van der Vaart?"

Everyone at Manchester United was stunned.

Isn't this a restriction on Van der Vaart?

What is that for?

"I knew it! Why was this guy making so many sneaky moves?" The Black Wind Duo reacted almost simultaneously.

As forwards, they also make these kinds of subtle moves.

When you have the ball, take the opportunity to elbow someone a few times.

When you're not in the ball, bump into other people more often.

Many center-backs do the same thing.

The goal is the same: to exhaust the opponent's physical strength and break their mentality.

Achieving any one of their objectives would help them defeat their opponents.

"Veloso's main goal is to wear down Van der Vaart's stamina," Scholes said. "He makes a lot of pointless moves, all aimed at exhausting Van der Vaart."

"Although Van der Vaart may not be running as much as he used to, the quality is completely different. Look, Veloso is actively seeking contact again. When Van der Vaart pushed him, the veins in his neck were bulging, which shows he was putting a lot of effort into it."

"Even in order to get rid of Veloso, Van der Vaart was running more. And there were a lot of sudden stops and changes of direction, which was also very physically demanding."

Manchester United center-back Jaap Stam frowned and said, "But what good will it do to exhaust Van der Vaart's energy? They're already 2-0 down. If they finish the game at this score, Sporting Lisbon will still lose."

"They can't possibly wait until Van der Vaart is completely out of commission before launching a counterattack, can they?"

"That's unrealistic; that would be at least seventy minutes from now."

"No team that is down 0-2 dares to wait until after the 70th minute to start their attack."

"Every goal on the field is hard-won. Many times, you might not score a single goal in ninety minutes."

Scholes nodded: "Yes, that's why I couldn't believe it before."

"What a confident player must be, what a player who trusts their own striker so much, to dare to do that!"

"If he fails, his actions will be seen by others as giving up the fight prematurely, and he will become the biggest culprit in the loss."

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!

"Furthermore... during the time we were wearing down Van der Vaart, we gave the opponent access to both flanks, and given Sneijder's still unstoppable passing ability, it was possible that we would concede another goal."

"What will they do then?"

"Do they dare to continue? This kind of attrition tactic, once implemented, is meaningless unless you persevere to the very end. And even if you do persevere, it may not be worthwhile..."

……

Scholes's prediction came true very quickly.

Ajax's midfield playmaker Sneijder was pushed back into the backfield and could only connect with attacking midfielder Van der Vaart through long passes.

However, ground passes are easily intercepted by Deng Kai.

The pass in the air will be intercepted by Veloso.

Van der Vaart is unlikely to be able to help the team in the short term.

In this situation, Sneijder began to guide the team to launch attacks from the flanks, making good use of the flank corridors.

Thirty-fourth minute.

Ajax easily made a run down the wing and delivered a cross that nearly created a threat.

In the 36th minute, Ajax crossed the ball again, this time creating a corner kick.

And in the ensuing corner kick, they hit the post and almost changed the score.

In the 41st minute, Ronaldo, one of the three strikers, dropped back to receive the ball and created an opportunity through his individual ability, passing the ball to Marcelino.

Marcelino receives the ball and immediately challenges the Ajax center-back; if successful, he will have a shooting opportunity.

This was Sporting Lisbon's best attacking opportunity in recent times.

Unfortunately, Marcelino wasn't strong enough and failed to challenge the center-back, allowing the opponent to take possession of the ball.

In the 43rd minute, Ronaldo dropped back again to receive the pass and combined with Lorenzo in a series of one-two passes, maximizing his not-so-strong passing ability.

Cristiano Ronaldo has indeed delivered a performance at a genius level.

Even if he wasn't as dazzling as Van der Vaart, he still clearly surpassed the average player.

However, when ordinary player Marcelino got another chance, his long-range shot was saved by the goalkeeper.

Marcelino clutched his head in disbelief.

The entire Sporting Lisbon stadium was like a trapped beast.

They already had few attacking opportunities, and when they finally had a chance to shoot, the three center forwards were constantly dropping back and sprinting, resulting in a lack of stamina and touch, so their shots either went wide or were weak and ineffective.

In the 44th minute, the worst-case scenario Scholes had anticipated occurred.

Sporting Lisbon's corner kick was saved by Ajax.

After receiving the ball, Sneijder immediately launched a long pass, accurately finding Van der Vaart.

Veloso temporarily abandoned his attempt to contain Van der Vaart in order to participate in a corner kick attack.

Even when facing two defenders after receiving the ball, Van der Vaart still managed to dribble past them one after another with his powerful dribbling skills, and then face the goalkeeper directly.

Pilar strikes.

Facing the menacing Pilar, Van der Vaart easily chipped the ball into the net with a stroke of genius, completing his brace.

The master... cannot be stopped!

I like playing football on the ground: Ronaldo thought I was going to assist him.