Chapter 1 The World Cup Final

"Ladies and gentlemen! Ladies and gentlemen! With the referee Merk's whistle, the World Cup final has officially begun! The two sides are the Brazil team and the China team, both of whom we are very familiar with!" Wang Jianxiang shouted excitedly. "For us, this is unlike any final we have seen before, a very big difference! Because for the first time, we Chinese are not here as spectators, but as participants on this stage!"

In between his commentary, he thought of the video he sent out this afternoon. Originally, after the final black screen, the subtitles added by the editors were only one sentence: July 15, 2010, let us witness...

When he saw the sample, he thought about the ending for a long time, feeling that something was missing.

This video lets us witness, witness what? The final has only two outcomes, victory or defeat, the winner is king, the loser is an outcast. Did they want us to witness the Chinese team's failure? How could that be?

Wang Jianxiang shook his head at the time, and then, on his own initiative, added another sentence after that: We are the champions.

Although those guys all scolded him for gilding the lily, Wang Jianxiang believed that it was the finishing touch.

Yes, we are not here to visit and travel, learn and communicate, and summarize experience. We are here for the championship, for the glittering trophy on the sidelines! If we didn't come for the championship, what is the point of us being here?

We are the champions!

Wang Jianxiang looked forward to it, looking forward to being able to shout it out so proudly after the game, so that the whole world could hear, we are the champions...

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After the Chinese team kicked off, they performed very maturely, without the nervousness and bewilderment that some people expected. They firmly controlled the ball at their feet, not letting the Brazilian team steal it. Then they patiently organized their attack.

Dunga guessed correctly, Qiu Suhui did not make any adjustments to the lineup. Facing Brazil, the team with the best attack in the world, the Chinese team still raised the banner of offensive football. The three-defender formation seemed a bit too confident, but the five midfielders not only had an advantage in numbers, but more importantly, their strength was not inferior to that of the Brazilian team.

After Zhang Jun passed the ball to Wu Shangshan, he ran straight forward. After Wu Shangshan passed the ball to Li Yongle behind him, he followed Zhang Jun and ran forward.

When Li Yongle received the ball, Zhang Jun, Wu Shangshan, Yang Pan, Cruyff, and Zhao Pengyu had already entered the Brazilian team's territory. From this kickoff, it can be seen what Qiu Suhui's idea was for this game—attack! The Chinese team's greatest strength is offense, and the Brazilian team's greatest weakness is defense, so naturally they should use their strengths to overcome their weaknesses. Similarly, the Brazilian team's greatest strength is offense, and the Chinese team's greatest weakness is defense. Anyone could imagine what the Brazilian team's tactics would be.

Therefore, this final will definitely be a brilliant head-to-head battle!

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The Brazilian team played their usual and favorite 442 formation. Because they have two world-class attacking midfielders, Ronaldinho and Kaka, the Brazilian team does not have wing midfielders in this World Cup. The midfield is an inverted trapezoid formation, with two defensive midfielders shrinking towards the center and two attacking midfielders leaning slightly towards the two wings, which can support the center, temporarily serve as wing midfielders, and allow the players behind to insert from the back and create space.

The Brazilian goalkeeper is no longer the main goalkeeper Dida from the previous World Cup, but Julio Cesar, the current main goalkeeper of Inter Milan. At the age of thirty-one, he is at the golden age of a goalkeeper, and his performance in this World Cup has also proved this point. A team that can enter the final cannot rely on offense alone.

The retirement of Carlos and Cafu has indeed had a considerable impact on the Brazilian national team. For example, from now on, fans will rarely see the "Dual C" flying together on both wings. Cafu's replacement may be easier to find. Cicinho, who plays for Real Madrid, Mancini, who plays for AC Milan, and Alves, who plays for Barcelona, are all good players on the right.

But Carlos's replacement is far less easy to find. Many people say that Kaka is a genius that only appears once every thirty years in Brazilian football, which is used to describe his talent. But Carlos is actually a monster that is rare in a hundred years in the history of Brazilian football. He has the delicate footwork of Brazilians, the speed and endurance of track and field athletes, and the discipline and will of Europeans. Carlos is indeed a freak in Brazilian football. It is really difficult to find another such person in Brazil.

When he first retired, people were keen to find his successor, but later people had to accept the reality—Carlos is unique, and there is simply no one in Brazil who can be called "Carlos II". There are many "Cafu IIs", but not a single "Carlos II". After Dunga took over the national team, he directly declared that the idea of ​​looking for Carlos's successor was stupid. Where are you going to find a second full-back who is only one meter sixty-eight tall, but has a hundred-meter speed of eleven seconds, tireless stamina, a body as strong as a bull, excellent free kick skills, fierce defensive skills, and outstanding back-insertion assists? Therefore, the left back of this Brazilian national team is a very conventional person, Nene from the Brazilian Sao Paulo club (not the former Nene). Dunga's requirements for Nene are also very simple, defense. Offense is not his business. In previous games, Nene has completed it quite well.

Their right back is Cicinho, the Real Madrid right back who performed well and was in good condition last season. If there is still a tradition of full-back assists in this Brazilian team, it refers to him. In Real Madrid and in the Brazilian national team, Cicinho is known for his super assist ability.

In the center back position, one is Lucio, whose main position is immovable as long as he is not injured, and his partner is Luisao. The age structure of this defense line is very reasonable, with old and young, experienced and not lacking in momentum. Dunga's transformation of the Brazilian team's defense line is evident.

In midfield, the two defensive midfielders are Renato from Valencia, a strong team in La Liga. This person can be regarded as being in the same national youth team as Kaka. At that time, he was considered to be able to reach the same height as Kaka. However, his path to stardom has not been as smooth as Kaka's. First he played in Brazil, and then in medium-sized European clubs. It was not until the last two years that he was discovered and joined a big club like Valencia, where he could participate in the Champions League and show the world his talent. In the national team, due to Emerson's excellent performance, he could only be a marginal figure in the national team for a long time. After Dunga took office, he cut a lot of old guys and promoted many mid-generation players. Renato is a representative figure among them.

The other defensive midfielder who partners with him is Baptista, who has been famous for a long time, but has never been able to win a place for himself in the national team. He is also a mid-generation player promoted by Dunga.

The two attacking midfielders are naturally Ronaldinho and Kaka. Among them, Ronaldinho is the captain.

The forwards are Adriano, the "King" of Inter Milan, and Robinho, the "Pele II" of Real Madrid.

What a luxurious lineup…

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Li Yongle is now in control of the ball. He is not in a hurry to pass the ball to the front. It is not uncommon for the Chinese team to launch a blitz immediately after the kickoff, but when facing such a strong opponent, he has to consider more. What if he loses the ball with an easy long pass? Playing against Brazil is about control and efficiency. Does it sound a bit contradictory? No, no.

Being able to control the ball at your feet as much as possible can reduce the probability of your goal being threatened by the opponent's attack, because having the ball at your feet instead of the opponent's will always make people feel at ease. At the same time, the Chinese team has no power and no qualifications to waste opportunities when attacking, so they must pay attention to efficiency, offensive efficiency. They must be able to score in limited opportunities and bring huge pressure to the Brazilian team. A team that is good at controlling the ball and is also very efficient is very scary.

Thinking of this, Li Yongle did not pass the ball vertically, but made a big horizontal transfer, passing the ball to the left side, where Xiang Tao, who was originally a center back, was inserting forward.

Xiang Tao beautifully unloaded the aerial ball with his chest.

"God! The game has just started! Is one of the Chinese team's center backs going to assist?" the English commentator exclaimed.

"Haha! He is worthy of being our Fiorentina's most powerful defender! Xiang Tao is going to assist at the beginning of the final. You must know that at this moment, he is not a left back for the Chinese team, but a center back! He is stealing the show!" The Italian commentator cheered excitedly for Xiang Tao.

As people thought, Xiang Tao did not intend to pass the ball immediately. After getting the ball, he bravely broke through with the ball and inserted forward very decisively!

Opposite him was Kaka on the right. Kaka didn't seem to expect that the bold Xiang Tao would dare to play like this in the World Cup final, coming up with the ball as a center back. Unprepared, he was easily shaken by Xiang Tao, which caused the first explosion from the Chinese fans in the stands.

"Stop him!" Kaka shouted back, while turning around to chase back. He often plays against Fiorentina in Serie A, so he of course knows how capable Xiang Tao is. As long as he wants, he can keep carrying the ball like this!

The strong and sturdy Baptista heard Kaka's shout, and he quickly approached Xiang Tao. Xiang Tao of course knew that this person was not easy to mess with, and that strong body did not look like a Brazilian at all! He didn't dare to play too much in the final. Since the purpose of attracting the opponent's defensive attention had been achieved, he stopped when he saw the opportunity. Before Baptista could get close, he passed the ball to Cruyff, who was in front of him to respond.

The ball in Cruyff's feet means that there will be thousands of possibilities next. Foreign media commented on the Chinese team, believing that the only person who can be compared with the Brazilians in terms of dribbling skills, and even make many Brazilians willingly admit defeat, is this Cruyff Li.

After Cruyff got the ball, the Brazilians naturally became nervous. Renato stared closely at the ball under his feet, unwilling to take the first step.

Cruyff's upper body suddenly swayed, and Renato thought he was going to break through, so he quickly leaned his body back, preparing to intercept. Unexpectedly, Cruyff was just a feint. After a false shot, he passed the ball to Yang Pan, who was on the side, with a sneer.

Renato, who was tricked, didn't even have time to complain, turned around and ran into the penalty area. Yang Pan crossed from the wing, and Zhang Jun抢点 in the middle has almost become a fixed routine for the Chinese team's right-wing attack. After studying countless Chinese game videos, coach Dunga analyzed many of the Chinese team's habits very thoroughly, and then told the players about them. Let them know how to deal with the Chinese team when they are on the field.

Now Renato wants to rush back to the goal to help defend.

Zhang Jun saw that Yang Pan had successfully received the ball, and he began to sprint towards the goal. Lucio's attention was always on Zhang Jun. Seeing him running towards the goal, he remembered the coach's words: "If Yang Pan has a chance to cross, there is a high probability that he will pass it to Zhang Jun. Because their cooperation is more tacit, this is a habit, and the power of habit is very terrible. You must remember..."

Now, the coach is indeed as expected! He followed Zhang Jun and ran over. If Yang Pan crosses, he will stand in front of Zhang Jun and head the ball out, and he will guarantee that he will not even give the Chinese team a corner kick!

Nene is a full-back with excellent defensive abilities... Yang Pan murmured in his heart.

Don't think that only the Brazilian team understands the Chinese team. Can't the Chinese team understand the Brazilian team? Yang Pan clearly knew that Nene was outstanding in defense, and was good at positioning and prediction, but there was one thing—as a full-back, his speed was too slow. Yang Pan seized on this point, and suddenly accelerated the ball when he was fifteen meters away from the baseline, and forcefully tore a gap from Nene's side with his speed. Then he crossed directly without stopping the ball!

This breakthrough once again won the cheers of the Chinese team in the stands.

Cross!

After Yang Pan crossed, Lucio looked back to find Zhang Jun, but after quickly scanning the crowd, he did not find Zhang Jun's踪影! This discovery surprised him.

"Zhang Jun!" Wang Jianxiang shouted excitedly.

Zhang Jun of course knew that Lucio would be the defender specially responsible for marking him, so while Lucio was watching Yang Pan's movements, he suddenly stopped and turned around!

Yang Pan's ball did not pass to the front, but drew an arc, slightly to the outside. This kick deceived the impulsive Brazilian defenders. His target was indeed Zhang Jun, but even if the Brazilians knew he would do this, they might not be able to stop him. Yang Pan clearly knew how Zhang Jun would get rid of the defense, so after considering this factor, he passed a through ball. The two have had 20 years of tacit understanding, how can you thoroughly study them with a few game videos?

Zhang Jun turned around suddenly and saw Yang Pan's ball flying towards him. At this time, it was definitely too late to run over and then return to head the ball. Zhang Jun simply jumped up on the spot and then did a backflip kick!

Amidst everyone's exclamations, the ball flew out of the baseline, brushing the crossbar!

"Wonderful! This opening!" Wang Jianxiang was a little incoherent, "The Chinese team took the lead and gave the Brazilian team a warning. The game is so intense that I didn't have time to broadcast the starting lineup of both sides to the audience. Let us take the time to read it to you..."

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July 15, 2010, let us witness...