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Chapter 66 A Trip to Asia ([-])

On June 6, the warm-up match between Borussia Mönchengladbach and the Chinese Olympic team still attracted more than 10 spectators. Chinese fans have high hopes for this Olympic team.

Since it is now the preparation period for national leagues, the Chinese Olympic team has recalled several players who played in European leagues. The team is dominated by Jianlibao players, supplemented by a group of overseas players Sun Hai, Shao Yi, Shang Yi, Li Yi, Tao Wei, Wei Feng, Zhao Junzhe, etc. This Olympic team is called by the Chinese media the strongest Olympic team in history.

However, since Borussia Mönchengladbach defeated the Kyoto team 4-0 in the first warm-up match, the British coach of the Olympic team, Lao Huo, did not dare to be careless. In front of the defense line of the four defenders, Li Gang and Zhao Junzhe's double midfielder combination was arranged.

"Dear viewers, we are now live broadcasting the warm-up match between the Chinese Olympic team and Borussia Mönchengladbach. The Chinese team has formed a strange lineup, which seems to be a 4-2-3-1 formation. It seems that Huo is going to seek stability, but is it necessary to do this in such a warm-up match?" Huang Jianyi raised his own question at the beginning.

Hai Guang was also puzzled: "This Olympic team is characterized by excellent offense. They should have used the opportunity of the warm-up match to practice their offensive routines. Do the British really want to use defensive counterattacks to qualify for the Sydney Olympic football match?"

Nick is obviously also a little confused by the Olympic team's defensive and counterattack style. Is this British coach so unconfident?You must know that these young players are still very imaginative, but they dare not invest in offensive forces. Is such a warm-up match meaningful to the Olympic team?
Borussia Mönchengladbach's starting lineup has not changed. Goalkeeper Enke, four defenders Metzelder, Friedrich, Madavikia and Li Yihuan, Libero Nick, two wingers Dex and Everton, midfielder Deisler, two forwards Eto'o and Voronin, still a 4-1-3-2 formation.

So as soon as the game started, it entered the rhythm of Borussia Mönchengladbach's offense and the national Olympic defense.Although the National Olympics hoarded many defensive players in the backcourt, they were still unable to contain Borussia Mönchengladbach's offense.

Nick and Deisler took turns to organize the offense, and the assists from the two wings were also very frequent, while the personal abilities of Eto'o and Deisler were more vividly reflected.With more offensive points, the defense line of the Chinese Olympic team does not know who to defend.

In the 18th minute, Nick made a long pass from the backcourt and successfully found Madavikia on the right. Madavikia passed Tao Wei and entered the penalty area with a fake move. With a fake shot, Deisler got a kick at the top of the penalty area. Deisler made a strong shot.

After conceding the goal, the Olympic team members began to have some emotional changes.

Sun Hai began to put in assists continuously. The football sense of this League One player can be called the leader of this Olympic team. Even if Li Yihuan and Everton teamed up, he could still pass the ball with excellent placement.

In the 23rd minute, Zhang Ning blocked Sun Hai's long pass with his head, but the double-teaming by Metzelder and Friedrich left Zhang Ning with no chance to turn around, and the Olympic team had a single striker tactic, so Zhang Ning could only choose to pass back.

Although Zhang Xiaorui got the ball, Nick stepped forward and poked it, completely destroying the attack.

Then Shao Yi's cross from the left was hit by Zhang Ning again, and the ball was slightly higher than the crossbar.

The Olympic team played offensively for a period of time, but due to a single striker and few offensive methods, they failed to score.

Borussia Mönchengladbach still adopts a fast and oppressive style of play. The Olympic team can't hold the ball at all in the frontcourt. Although Zhang Xiaorui has good ball control ability, but he has to compete with Nick one-on-one.

Obviously, the Olympic team has fallen into a situation of weak offense and tight defense. Facing a team that pursues pragmatism like Borussia Mönchengladbach, the Olympic team is completely passive.

In the 29th minute, Nick took the ball and sprinted directly to the opponent's half. Faced with Li Gang and Zhao Junzhe's double press, he knocked the ball to Deisler and ran forward. Deisler didn't stop the ball and passed the ball to Nick directly, squeezing Li Gang. After Nick got the ball, he had many options.

In the end, Nick passed the ball to Eto'o who advanced forward, and the African cheetah broke through the Olympic team's goal from a small angle.

This is the gap in direct physical confrontation. Nick completely squeezed Li Gang and Zhao Junzhe behind him, and passed the ball very easily. However, the double midfielder tactics of the Olympic team did not play its due role.

After falling behind by 2 goals, Lao Huo finally came to his senses. He immediately replaced Zhao Junzhe with Li Jinyu. The National Olympic team changed to 4-1-3-2 and began to add a forward in the frontcourt.

Nick knows that the two forwards of the Olympic team are players who need others to pass the ball to play, so as long as they kill a few passing points, they can basically win the game.

Borussia Mönchengladbach's highly targeted defense kept the initiative of the game in their own hands. Although the Olympic players began to control the ball more, they couldn't find a way to break Borussia Mönchengladbach's defense.

The Chinese fans in the stands can only be anxious. Unexpectedly, the most boasted domestic team in history is still difficult to achieve in front of a European mid-level team. Whether it is partial confrontation or overall comparison, the National Olympic team is at a disadvantage. Even in terms of age, Borussia Mönchengladbach is younger than the average age of the National Olympic team, so the National Olympic team has no excuses to defend.

Huang Jian's helpless commentary made the fans feel aggrieved: "More than half an hour after the game, the Olympic team still didn't get a chance to hit the goal. The players seem to have worked hard. Is the difference in strength between the two sides so big?"

In the 35th minute, after Sun Hai forcibly broke through Everton's defense, he took a long shot from 29 meters away from the goal. Enke was obviously careless.This is also the only shot of the Olympic team in the first half.

Borussia Mönchengladbach did not expand the score, and the cooperation between the players was far from a tacit understanding. Eto'o was very fast, but the timing of passing and running was not exactly on par with his teammates. Borussia Mönchengladbach wasted a lot of opportunities.

Then Borussia Mönchengladbach replaced Voronin with Peterson, and began to use long passes to practice another set of striker tactics for the team.

In the second half, the revolving-door substitutions of the two sides made the confrontation between the two sides lively, and Nick also had a rest.

And Borussia Mönchengladbach obviously saved face for the home team, and it is estimated that they also got the information disclosed by the sponsors, so that Borussia Mönchengladbach played leisurely.

So the second half of the game was a confrontation, and the Olympic team finally had a few decent shots, especially in the 55th minute, when Sun Hai made a cross, Zhang Ning headed the ball, Li Jinyu volleyed and hit the post of Borussia Mönchengladbach.

In the 62nd minute, Li Gang put in an assist and sent a long-range shot 25 meters away from the goal and flew out against the crossbar. This future Everton player always creates such scenes.

On the other hand, Borussia Mönchengladbach rely more on long passes to attack, and the combination of one high and one fast on the front line can still create good opportunities to score goals.

In the 68th minute, goalkeeper Enke's long pass directly found Petersen's head. The Danish center headed the ball. Eto'o immediately passed Shu Chang's side at lightning speed.

But the referee did not award a penalty kick. Obviously, the Chinese referee also hoped that the Olympic Games would not lose too badly. If another penalty kick was awarded and the team fell behind 0:3, it would be completely useless.

Seeing this situation, Karl immediately replaced Eto'o with Nossa, and the striker became a double-center tactic.Deisler was also replaced by Hausweiler, and the team basically played with all substitutes.

After pulling back, Borussia Mönchengladbach's offense slowed down, and the Olympic team began to aggressively attack on the scene.

But Borussia Mönchengladbach's substitutes are not vegetarian, and the defense is still very strong, which makes it very easy for the main players such as Nick sitting on the sidelines.

"Haha, the No. 10 striker of the Chinese team is not bad. He has good physical fitness and good awareness."

"Wow, the No. 15 player of the Chinese team has a very good ability to grab points."

"Hey, this No. 6 hit the plane again, but he seems to like long shots."

The final score was 2:0, and Borussia Mönchengladbach won two consecutive warm-up matches in China.

After the game, Nick was blocked by CCTV reporter Wang Kai. This guy was very unwilling to interview Nick in the last game, so he made preparations in advance today.

"Hi Nick, what's your opinion on this game? What's the strength of the Chinese Olympic team?"

Nick affirmed the strength of the Olympic team, but also put forward some opinions on the team's style of play.

"The Chinese Olympic team has a group of excellent players with good abilities. Several German players feel that their strength has improved the fastest. However, the team's tactical level is slightly low. It may not be reflected in the face of a team whose strength is not as good as theirs. But if it is faced with a team that is stronger than them, it will be easily exposed. You know that we have not done our best in this kind of warm-up match. I believe you can also see this."

"So, what do you think about whether this Olympic team can make it to the 2000 Sydney Olympics?"

"If you play according to the state of this game, it will be difficult. The team needs to develop higher-level tactics. In Asia, the strength of the Chinese team cannot be further improved. I wish you good luck."

"Okay, thanks Nick."

On the second day, the Chinese media was amazed.

"It's hard to score a goal with all the main players. The gap between Chinese football and European football is obvious." - "Sports Weekly"

"Conservative tactics, Lao Huo should pay for the team's loss." - "Kyoto Sports Daily"

"The warm-up match exposed problems, and it is not too late to remedy the situation." - "XX Sports"

"Borussia Mönchengladbach easily won two consecutive victories, took away 200 million euros, and left reflections on Chinese football." - "Football"

It is true that Borussia Mönchengladbach's trip to China not only received 200 million euros in appearance fees, but also reminded Chinese football that how to learn from the advanced European football style of play and pay for it. If you can't learn something, you can only lament your mediocrity.

Fortunately, after this game, some European scouts who watched the game on the spot became interested in many players of the Chinese Olympic team. After the Four Young Masters of Kyoto, Hao Dong, Wei Jun and others landed in German football, the reputation of Chinese players has been improved to a certain extent.

On July 7, the Borussia Mönchengladbach team left Kyoto and flew to Tokyo to start the second leg of this trip to Asia.

(End of this chapter)