r18novel Chapter 19 Defeating Türkiye
Chapter 19 Defeating Türkiye
The second half begins.
The Chinese team quickly followed Ye Xian's instructions, proactively retreating into their formation and adopting a defensive counter-attacking posture.
Yang Chen and Qu Bo both dropped to the wing positions, and the Chinese team's formation changed to a 4-5-1.
When they gained possession, the Chinese team tended to launch long balls towards their center forward, Su Maozhen, rather than committing more players to the attacking third.
This is exactly the same strategy we used in the final stages of the match against Brazil!
Türkiye attacked for a long time, but to no avail.
In the 55th minute, Güneš made a tactical adjustment.
With Ilhan positioned further forward, he formed a three-man attack with Hakan Suker and Hassan Sas, and Türkiye switched to a 3-4-3 formation!
This was entirely within Ye Xian's expectations during halftime, so the Chinese team players were very confident in following the established plan.
In fact, because Turkey was missing a midfielder, the Chinese team found it easier to defend.
Putting aside other factors, the creativity of Turks is certainly not as good as that of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, or Rivaldo, right?
Even the Brazilians were constrained by the Chinese team's intricate defense, let alone the Turkish players.
Turkey is currently struggling to get the ball smoothly through the midfield and comfortably to the forwards, making it difficult to create threatening shots.
They played for another 20 minutes.
Güneš finally made a substitution.
Hassan Sassi, who had a poor performance today, was substituted off and replaced by Nihat.
Nihat plays for Real Sociedad in La Liga and is known for his agility, top-notch shooting skills, and versatile attacking link-up play.
In the following season, he scored 23 goals in La Liga, leading Real Sociedad to a runner-up finish and becoming a dark horse in the league.
It's fair to say he's currently in the prime of his career.
However, because the Chinese team kept a close watch on Turkey's central penetration, Nihat's main role after coming on was to cross from the byline to find captain Hakan Sukur in the middle.
But the Chinese team's defensive capabilities are still quite good.
Both Li Weifeng and Du Wei possess excellent defensive abilities.
In addition, when defending set pieces, center forward Su Maozhen will also drop back into his own penalty area to assist in the defense.
This resulted in Turkey's high crosses being headed away one after another, each attempt ending in failure.
A little while later, the Chinese team also prepared to make a substitution.
Yu Genwei and Li Xiaopeng stood beside Milu and Ye Xian, listening to their instructions.
Li Xiaopeng came on to replace Shao Jiayi in order to maintain the midfield's running ability.
Shao Jiayi had a heavy defensive task today, and was also mainly responsible for the passing of the ball when the Chinese team transitioned from defense to offense. He also took a lot of physical impact from the opponent, and his physical strength is being depleted very quickly.
Yu Genwei replaced Su Maozhen.
Ye Xian had already pulled Yu Genwei to his side and carefully instructed him:
"When you come on, you don't need to drop too deep. Instead, try to keep Akel and Özalan pinned down the two center-backs. Disrupt them, don't let them pass the ball comfortably, and make runs behind them whenever you have the chance."
Yu Genwei listened attentively, nodding repeatedly.
"Remember, scoring goals isn't the goal. You just need to disrupt their defense and prevent them from attacking us with full force."
Ye Xian gave this instruction for a simple reason: Brazil had scored again.
5: 0.
Costa Rica suddenly became vulnerable against a Brazilian team that was attacking with all its might.
Given how they've performed, it seems unlikely that Costa Rica will be able to rally in the final moments and score several goals against Brazil.
So what the Chinese team needs to do now is to stay calm, hold onto their one-goal lead, and secure the victory!
Having Yu Genwei harass the opponent would be the most appropriate thing to do.
He is a rare number 9 player in China, who can drop back into midfield to organize the attack and also lead the attack from the front.
He has a ghostly movement style and extremely high football intelligence. He doesn't blindly push forward, but instead focuses on exploiting gaps in the defense, and he always manages to appear in a deadly position.
During the final round of qualifying, it was his decisive strike that defeated Oman, allowing the Chinese team to advance to this World Cup.
Compared to Su Maozhen, who can only stand tall in the Turkish penalty area, Yu Genwei is clearly more capable of disrupting the Turkish defense!
Seeing that the Chinese team had made their move, Güneš could no longer sit still.
Time is running out for Turkey!
He made up his mind and replaced Bastürk.
The match had been going on for nearly 80 minutes, and Bastürk, who was closely marked throughout the game, not only lost possession frequently, but also began to make mistakes in his occasional attacking passes.
The immense physical exertion has rendered this midfield maestro unable to function properly.
Therefore, in order to prevent him from becoming a weakness for Turkey, the only option is to replace him.
The substitute was not the midfielder who was his counterpart.
Instead, it was Galatasaray striker Yumit Karan!
We have no choice but to risk our lives.
After Kalan came on, Turkey's formation became an aggressive and somewhat unbalanced 3-3-4, with four forwards attacking the Chinese goal relentlessly!
……
But clearly, all of this was under Ye Xian's control.
Turkey's midfield is now missing a player, and they no longer have a passing specialist like Bastürk. The four forwards now rely more on long passes from the backfield to get the ball.
However, after Yu Genwei came on, he, along with Yang Chen and Qu Bo on the left and right flanks, continuously pressed and harassed the Turkish defense, making it difficult for them to pass the ball easily.
As a result, the quality of Turkey's passing was predictably poor, and their forwards had even fewer opportunities to score.
On the contrary, the Chinese team, with its clear advantage in midfield, is even more aggressive in its counter-attacks than before!
In the 85th minute, Li Tie intercepted the ball from Yunsar near the center line and then passed it directly to Yu Genwei in front.
Yu Genwei dribbled past Özalan and, facing Aker who was already in position, had no choice but to shoot.
Unfortunately, the ball went slightly wide of the left post, but it still drew gasps from the Turkish fans.
Two minutes later, the Turkish team launched a long pass from the backfield, targeting Kalan, who had just come on as a substitute in the attacking third.
After Kalan chested the ball down, he was immediately sandwiched between Li Weifeng and Xu Yunlong. Xu Yunlong intercepted the ball first and passed it to Qu Bo in front.
Qu Bo passed the ball directly to the back of the Turkish team without stopping it, and Yu Genwei made a run and shot again from a tight angle!
However, the Turkish goalkeeper, Rustu, who was focused on the situation, made a diving save.
Although they failed to extend their lead, they had already put Türkiye's goal under considerable pressure.
In other words, if the Chinese team hadn't been a bit unlucky and hadn't been less able to capitalize on their opportunities, the 1-0 score gap might have widened much further!
But that's enough.
With the match on the other side of the field ending first, the final score of 5-0 gave the Chinese team's coaching staff a sense of reassurance.
With Ye Xian constantly waving and directing from the sidelines, the Chinese team began a time-wasting tactic.
Whenever the Chinese team gains possession, they take the ball to the corner flag in Türkiye's attacking third and start grinding it out...
Amidst this entanglement, the match time ticked away second by second.
at last.
Beep, beep, beep—
The referee blew the final whistle!
China defeated Türkiye 1-0!
Thus, the standings for Group C are now finalized.
Brazil is in first place with 7 points and a goal difference of 6.
China finished second with 4 points and a goal difference of -1.
Costa Rica finished third with 4 points and a goal difference of -3.
Turkey finished fourth with 1 point and a goal difference of -2.
Team China advanced to the Round of 16 in the 2002 World Cup as the second-place team in their group!