Born to be a coach [soccer]

Chapter 244

In the quarter-finals of this round of the Europa League, eight teams fought two by two, and there were three huge scores.

The most eye-catching one is Porto. The Portuguese team Porto led by young coach Villas-Boas played against Sparta Moscow. They scored 5 goals in both home and away rounds, and successfully advanced to the semi-finals with a total score of 10 to 3.

In contrast, Sunderland's 8-1 in the first two rounds is slightly inferior to Villarreal's 8-2. After all, Porto scored in double figures.

The only team that failed to advance by a big score was the Portuguese team Braga.Braga and Dynamo Kyiv scored 1-1 in two rounds. In the end, Braga also advanced on the principle of "away goals first".

The situation in the semi-finals is: Porto Villarreal; Sunderland vs. Braga.

Porto coach Villas-Boas posted on social media early on: "Anton, I'm waiting for you in Dublin!"

In the 2010-11 season, the Europa League final will be held at the Dublin Stadium.

These words seem to be affectionate, but Boas is actually reminding Anton: Don't lose the chain!

Villarreal is not in the eyes of Boas at all. Boas believes that in the Europa League, the only one who is qualified to be his opponent is Anton.

Anton replied: "The road has to be taken step by step, give me some time to study Braga carefully!"

The Portuguese team Braga is a "dark horse" in this year's Europa League. No one expected Braga to reach the semi-finals before, but now Portugal has two seats in the semi-finals of the Europa League.

Villarreal is Portugal's local coach and knows Braga well, but Anton has never played in this team. If you don't beat Braga, you don't have to think about Porto or Villarreal. .

At this moment, Anton just put Boas' "attentiveness" behind him and concentrated on preparing for the game: he is not only the Europa League, he also has the league.Compared with the Portuguese Super League, the Premier League is much more intense, and the gold content is much higher.

After completing the quarter-final against Eindhoven on April 4, Sunderland's next opponent is the Premier League relegation team Birmingham City.

Before this game, Birmingham City ranked 15th, three places higher than the relegation zone.However, the points of the teams near the relegation zone are very tight, and Birmingham City has not been able to "go ashore" so far, and it is very hanging.

But Birmingham City is the freshly-learned League Cup champion this season-it was the League Cup where Anton and his team lost to West Ham United early on, but Birmingham City went all the way to the final and defeated Arsenal in the final Na, won the championship.

Football is like this, it is a competitive game full of uncertainties.This uncertainty is particularly evident in cup competitions, where weak teams can comeback and win the championship unexpectedly.

But for a league consisting of dozens of home and away games after several months, the result is still a direct reflection of the strength of the team. To strive for the top in the league requires hard work day after day and absolute determination at any moment. Concentration that does not relax.

Facing the top team in this game, Birmingham City knows that they are invincible, but they still have to try hard. Even if they can't beat their opponents, they still have to strive for a draw and get back 1 point, so that they can be a little safer in the relegation battle. a little.

While Birmingham City was thinking about how to "pull their teeth out of the cat's mouth" and grab a point from Sunderland, Anton and his team were thinking about how to win the game "without bloodshed".

Compared with Sunderland, Birmingham City is characterized by the majority of local players, most of the players are from England and Scotland, and there are relatively few foreign players.Local players generally have a tenacious style, fight fiercely, and are not afraid of fouls, but the skills at their feet are a little rough and cannot be considered too particular.Birmingham City has a very distinctive style among the Premier League teams.

As in the past, Anton's team may be determined to attack, score more goals, score goals quickly, and kill the game as early as possible.But this time, Anton threw out another idea: "What if the opponent expects that we will adopt a high-pressure style of play and blindly defend from the beginning?"

Russell: "No way, this is their home stadium!"

In Russell's opinion, it is the most humiliating and cowardly behavior to place a bus in front of his own fans at the beginning of the game.

Anton threw out the data in a timely manner: "This is the heat map of Birmingham City's last five home games. You see, because of the severe relegation situation, Birmingham City will focus on defending in their own half even if they are at home. ...that was especially evident in the first half."

If the visiting team attacks oppressively, then Birmingham City will stick together and think of a way in the second half-this is Birmingham's dominant tactical thinking.

But if it has to be delayed until the second half, or even stoppage time to decide the winner, Sunderland is not happy to see it.

So Anton asked Russell: "What do you think is the most common method we use to break the dense defense?"

Russell didn't even need to think about it, and immediately answered: "Setting the ball!" He was so impressed by this, he reached out to put Colbeck, Crouch and others on the tactical board.

Anton hurriedly stopped him: "Don't just think about throwing a throw-in..."

Sunderland's hand-throwing throw-in is a stunt to break the dense defense. There have been rumors that an opponent's goalkeeper was scared to cry by a throw-in that was not a corner kick but was better than a corner kick. ①

"Then what else?" Russell asked anxiously.

Anton thought for a while and said: "I'm just thinking, many of our players have developed new skills in the recent period, let's just try to see if everyone's set-piece skills have improved! The hand-throwing tactic is now It is becoming more and more familiar, and I believe the other party will be prepared. As for that, we might as well try other things first, and if it doesn’t work, it’s not too late to go to Colbeck.”

The red-haired teenager Kaulbeck in the whole team practiced this ultra-long hand-throwing set-piece tactic the best, and the ball was thrown the farthest and the most floating.

Now that many players have developed the 2.0 version, are they also considering to continue to improve the team's overall set-piece offensive level and take it to a higher level?

Russell thought for a while, and had no objection.In the past, he thought that Anton was "the ignorant and fearless". Later, after the team's performance improved, he thought that Anton was a young man who "forged ahead and dared to try". Bold".

In the game against Birmingham City, as expected by the coaching staff of Sunderland, the players of Birmingham City are generally tough. When defending the Sunderland players, it is inevitable that some movements are too small. The referee turned a blind eye to them. One eye is fine, but Sunderland players fell near the Birmingham City penalty area again and again, and the referee was indifferent, which is really unreasonable.

The few 2000 Sunderland fans at the scene clamored loudly.Anton, on the other hand, went to the fourth official to discuss it honestly.

Soon, the referee on duty probably heard the feedback from the fourth official through the headset, and he did not make any response at the time. Three minutes later, Sunderland suffered another foul in the frontcourt, so they finally got their first A direct free kick.

Birmingham City quickly set up a human wall, but unexpectedly, two Sunderland players, Godin and Hummels, ran directly into the Birmingham City players and stood in the human wall .

The players of Birmingham City were stunned for a while: What's the situation, the opponent helped him defend?

This idea flashed by, and the goalkeeper of Birmingham City had already yelled: Godin and Hummels blocked his sight.

It turns out that Sunderland's use of the offensive wall is to block the opponent's goalkeeper's sight.Both Godin and Hummels are tall, and they punched into the wall. The Birmingham City goalkeeper may not even be able to see who is taking the free throw.

The Birmingham City players immediately protested to the referee.Godin and Hummels had a good attitude. The referee asked them to move a little away to reveal a gap so that the goalkeeper could directly see the penalty spot, and they obediently moved away.

Thus, such a "both offensive and defensive" human wall blocked the gate of Birmingham City.

There were also three people standing in front of the penalty spot: Royce, Eriksson and Shaqiri.None of these three are fuel-efficient lamps.Royce once played an extremely beautiful "banana ball". Eriksson and Shaqiri's long-range shots and free kicks are both very good.

All three stood with their feet apart, crossed their hips, and stood in front of the penalty spot, like three "compasses".The Birmingham City players didn't even know who would take the penalty.

Immediately afterwards, Eriksson started a run-up, but it was a false run, and he jumped directly from the penalty spot, followed by Shaqiri who followed suit.The two ran like butterflies wearing flowers, but they were all fake. Royce who stayed at the end was the one who really took the free kick.

When Reus touched the ball, Godin and Hummels quickly "closed", the distance between the two quickly narrowed, and the vision of the Birmingham goalkeeper behind them was immediately blocked.The goalkeeper was forced to stand up straight at this time, his posture was no longer suitable for fighting.

At this time Royce kicked an extremely beautiful arc, the ball began to fall over the wall and went straight to the goal.The angle of this ball is not tricky, half height, it is actually very suitable for the goalkeeper to save.

But when the goalkeeper of Birmingham City reacted, the ball had passed him and flew into the goal.Sunderland's "attacking the wall" tactic successfully blocked the opponent's goalkeeper's sight, affected the goalkeeper's reaction time, and thus increased the probability of his own players scoring goals.

Just when Birmingham City was still at a loss and didn't know why the goal was scored, Royce ran to Godin and Hummels, stretched out his thumbs, and praised the two teammates.

Sunderland players are usually whimsical in training, and the various fancy free kicks they developed have finally made great achievements on the field.

Anton was standing on the sidelines at this moment, the corners of his mouth raised, he should be in a good mood.

Others think that the head coach is in a good mood because he scored a goal, but it is not the case.The "compass foot" that his three disciples posed in front of the penalty spot just now really reminded him of a friend—in other words, the "challenge" with this friend is almost coming to an end.

The author has something to say: ① This is true, but the goalkeeper was mainly scared to cry by "Gao Guy" Crouch.The main reason is that the goalkeeper cannot directly throw the goalkeeper with his hands (otherwise it is a violation), so it must rely on the cooperation of the team's overall defense, only the goalkeeper is useless.Really scary when you think about it.

Regarding the "attacking the human wall", it is actually a new tactic developed by the industry in recent years. The main purpose is to interfere with the goalkeeper's sight to the greatest extent.You may have seen this season that the offensive team can add a human wall in front of the defensive team's human wall during the game. The "advancing with the times" of the game rules makes football more and more attractive.