Chapter 386: Using the Friendly Match to Find the Suitable Game Rhythm

KFC China: Tang Ye invites you to enjoy a Spicy Chicken Burger together; KFC supports the Chinese national team's World Cup journey.

【Brothers, I guessed right; it's definitely either KFC or McDonald's, if not Burger King.】

【Damn, endorsing KFC? Aren't they afraid of public opinion?】

【Try badmouthing Tang Ye, you bastard!】

【Any brothers with connections who want to watch the match against Saudi Arabia?】

【What's there to see in Saudi Arabia? We'll win easily anyway, but if you find a broadcast channel, remember to DM me.】

Time quickly arrived at the day of the match between the Chinese national team and Saudi Arabia.

The weather today was exaggeratedly hot, but fortunately, the stadium had air conditioning, so it wasn't too unbearable.

"Pay attention; this match is primarily for practice, so don't worry too much about the score."

"Be decisive when playing out from the back; don't hesitate."

After Lippi made his final emphasis, the players slowly stood up.

"Let's go!"

"Go, Brother Lei!"

The match began, and Wang Chao's Happy Bean livestream room was ready.

"Saudi Arabia is definitely not as fierce as Shanghai SIPG; I guess the Chinese national team will most likely win this match."

"Score recommendation... For a friendly match, I still advise everyone not to bet; there are too many uncertainties. Today, we should mainly observe the Chinese national team's form to prepare for the World Cup."

Analyzing the form in friendly matches allows one to know how to operate when the World Cup proper begins.

One can only say that Wang Chao is too professional!

"Brothers who haven't entered the livestream, hurry up; Tang Ye is in the starting lineup for this match!"

The football atmosphere in Saudi Arabia seemed poor; there were hardly any people at the friendly match venue.

But it didn't matter; Tang Ye focused his attention on the match.

Lippi demanded that the Chinese national team pick up the pace right from the start of this match, so Tang Ye needed to get into shape quickly.

And according to Tang Ye's experience, the best way to accelerate the tempo was to increase the passing frequency.

"Look at me, look at me, check me out!"

Zhang Zhang Xizhe passed the ball over!

Bang!

With his back to the defender, Tang Ye used his heel to knock the ball directly to Wu Lei, who was supporting from behind.

Wu Lei dribbled forward himself first!

Then passed to Gao Lin ahead!

A grounded long pass was played out, and Gao Lin gained possession.

But Gao Lin soon faced pressing from the Saudi defenders.

He couldn't turn and shoot!

Tang Ye pointed at Yu Yu Hanchao, and Gao Lin passed the ball quickly.

Yu Yu Hanchao then passed to Zhang Zhang Linpeng!

Slap!

A 45-degree cross was delivered.

However, Zhang Zhang Linpeng didn't target Gao Lin in the box, but rather Tang Ye behind the arc!

Chest control!

Just as the ball was about to hit the ground, Tang Ye lifted his foot and struck it downward.

The ball smashed near Gao Lin, bounced up, and landed perfectly in front of Wu Lei.

Wu Lei shot!

Goal!

1:0!

Only 12 minutes into the match, the Chinese national team had already breached Saudi Arabia's goal!

The players high-fived each other in celebration, while Lippi nodded continuously on the sidelines.

Indeed, the key lies in the tempo.

The biggest difference between China and other traditional powerhouses lies in the tempo.

To compete against teams participating in the World Cup, the Chinese national team must increase their passing frequency!

"A bit faster, a bit faster!"

Lippi asked Wen Wen Qianshi to shout it for him.

"It's okay if you make a mistake, it's okay if you make a mistake; Tang Ye, a bit faster!"

Tang Ye, walking toward his own half, turned his head to look at Lippi and spread his hands: "A bit faster, are you sure?"

This tempo wasn't even the fastest for Tang Ye, but he could feel that Zheng Zhi and Zhang Zhang Xizhe were already struggling a bit.

"It's fine; if we make a mistake, we make a mistake; let's see what the fastest tempo looks like!"

Having received confirmation, Tang Ye gave a thumbs-up to the bench.

Placing a new piece of chewing gum in his mouth, Tang Ye got ready.

【You have purchased Vardy's Red Bull +7】

Looking around at his teammates, Tang Ye now resembled a parent worried about their child.

Come on!

"..."

"Tang Ye has the ball. Hiss... Why do I feel Tang Ye's speed suddenly increased?"

"Uh, it seems the others are running too slowly; let's take a look, let's take a look..."

"Continuous passing combinations."

"But the ball is out of bounds!"

"Zhang Zhang Linpeng didn't react in time!"

He hadn't expected Tang Ye to pass the ball back to him so quickly; Zhang Zhang Linpeng didn't have time to stretch out his foot to stop it.

"It's fine, it's fine, Brother Peng."

Tang Ye raised his hand to signal: "Take it slow, take it slow."

The match continued; after accelerating the pace, the Chinese national team played fiercely, but the number of mistakes gradually increased.

This led to a problem: although they were playing exhaustingly, their possession rate had not risen at all.

A very serious problem...

Lippi and Madaloni both frowned tightly.

Every friendly match exposes new problems for the team, which is a huge test for the coaching staff.

The 21st minute of the match!

Bang!

A long-range shot from the Saudi midfielder.

The score was equalized!

"Damn..."

Shaking his head, Tang Ye felt somewhat uncomfortable.

Logically speaking, this kind of attack shouldn't have been threatening.

But it didn't matter.

According to the coach, the score of this match wasn't too important; finding the rhythm was what mattered most.

Check Dongqiu Di live match report: Tang Ye's long pass assisted Gao Lin to score, but the goal was disallowed for offside; the score remains 1:1.

【Playing okay at least, better than the Shanghai SIPG match.】

【Wait, where are you all watching the match from? Isn't there no broadcasting rights?】

【We still need to give Tang Ye more possession.】

【It's mainly about the coordination in the midfield and front field; if such fast passing could be executed without mistakes, the Chinese national team would be very strong.】

Arriving at the 37th minute of the first half!

Right wing, bottom line!

Feinting a cross but actually dribbling past, a Cruyff turn directly shook off the Saudi full-back!

Slap!

A horizontal pass found Gao Lin making a run into the penalty area.

Gao Lin stopped the ball!

Shot!

"Goal!"

"2:1!!!"

"Awesome, damn it!"

On the pitch, Tang Ye raised both arms high.

Facts proved Lippi was indeed correct.

Faster pace meant more mistakes.

But as teammates grew accustomed to this rhythm, the number of mistakes would decrease.

And if they could reduce mistakes, Tang Ye's attacking rhythm would exert immense pressure on the Saudi players.

Soon, the final moments of the first half arrived.

The Chinese national team earned a penalty; Tang Ye stepped up and easily scored.

The score expanded to 3:1!

This was the final score of the first half!

"Huff..."

Hands propped on his knees, Tang Ye panted rapidly, making the fans watching the live stream feel quite heartbroken.

"Damn, damn."

"Huff huff."

Wu Lei walked over and placed his hand on Tang Ye's back; the latter quickly stood up.

Shake the head!

The rhythm was slower than when playing for Manchester United, yet the physical exertion was much greater!

At halftime, Lippi stated he would begin making large-scale substitutions between the 65th and 70th minutes.

Then came tactical issues.

Based on the performance in the first half, the team needed to make an adjustment in the second half.

"You must try to pass the ball to Tom as much as possible; this is our key."

After Lippi finished speaking, the players in the locker room unanimously looked at Tang Ye.

Tang Ye was speechless.

GGBond felt bitter in his heart, but GGBond said nothing.

"Uh... Mr. Marcello, I support your tactics, but I have to say, if we keep playing like this, I won't be able to last 90 minutes."

To be on the safe side, Tang Ye still voiced the problem.

Playing like the first half for 45 minutes was fine.

But in a 90-minute World Cup proper match, even if Tang Ye drained the 【Vardy Red Bull】 to +10, he still wouldn't be able to last the full game.

"I know, I know, we're just looking for the right way to play the match. You don't need to keep playing like this in the official game."

Madaloni answered Tang Ye's question, and the latter nodded lightly.

Lippi and Madaloni seemed to have a preliminary tactical arrangement; since that was the case, there was no need to worry.

The second half was about to begin; Tang Ye fished a piece of gum out of his pocket and handed it to Wu Lei: "Brother Lei, here you go, no need to thank me."

Tang Ye could see that Wu Lei was capable of keeping up with his rhythm.

Therefore, the key to the match was to coordinate more with Wu Lei.

"Saudi Arabia has made a substitution, changing a forward..."

"Brothers, I have a feeling Saudi Arabia wants to launch a counterattack to equalize the score, but let's not panic yet; let's see how the national team prepares to respond."

"The strongest man, Tang Tang Qiuwang! He seems a bit tired, but it's fine; even a tired Tang Tang Qiuwang is incomparable to little Saudi Arabia."

The second half maintained the same rhythm as the first.

The national team players' adaptability was quite strong; Zhang Zhang Xizhe slowly found the feeling of coordinating with Tang Ye.

Pass it over!

Run forward!

Hold onto the ball!

This was a decent opportunity; Zhang Zhang Xizhe played a through ball to find Wu Lei up front.

Tang Ye ran past Zhang Zhang Xizhe, moving directly behind Wu Lei.

Zhang Zhang Xizhe naturally understood Tang Ye's intention and quickly moved to cover the central position.

Wu Lei and Tang Ye advanced down the flank together!

Wu Lei used the outside of his foot to dribble, attempting to compress the defensive line!

"To me, to me!"

Tang Ye's voice came from behind; Wu Lei decisively stepped on the ball and pulled it back.

Pa!

【De Bruyne Flank Cross Lv4: Realistic】

Proficiency: 803/800

【De Bruyne Flank Cross Lv4: Realistic → Lv5: Replication】

Crossing directly without controlling the ball first, he hadn't expected the flank cross skill to level up immediately.

Let's see the quality of this cross...

At the far post!

Yu Yu Hanchao!

He headed it into the penalty area.

Gao Lin tried to rush in for a shot but failed to reach it.

Just as the spectators thought the ball must go out of bounds, Wu Lei appeared from who-knows-where and scored with a successful push shot to open the goal.

4:1!

"Woww!!!"

"China! China!"

Today, roughly 300 to 400 Chinese fans were present, 90% of whom were international students currently in Saudi Arabia.

The number wasn't large, but the momentum was strong.

Maintaining this rhythm, Saudi Arabia scored two consecutive goals in the following five minutes, directly driving the score to 4:3.

Crowds gathered in front of both teams' substitute benches; unsurprisingly, large-scale substitutions were imminent!

Seize the final opportunity!

Corner kick!

Rush for the point!

Pa!

Extending his right foot, Tang Ye rushed in and completed the goal with a shot.

"5:3!"

"Tang Tang Qiuwang, awesome, Tang Tang Qiuwang!"

If the national team played the previous match as if they didn't know each other, this match could be said to have developed some chemistry.

Tang Ye and Wu Lei's multiple successful connections in the second half left a deep impression on the players!

"Come on!"

"Come on, come on!"

After high-fiving Zhang Zhang Yuning and Wei Wei Shihao respectively, Tang Ye walked off the field.

"Jersey!"

"Tang Ye! The jersey!"

The fans in the stands were extremely enthusiastic; Tang Ye took off his shirt and actively walked over.

But just as Tang Ye was about to toss the jersey to the fans, he suddenly stopped the motion of his hands.

"Wait, wait, let me count..."

Quickly recalling in his mind, he figured he should still have one, two, three jerseys left.

"Damn, brother, I can't give you this shirt."

With some apology, Tang Ye pulled his hand back.

"If I give it to you, I might not have any clothes to change into later."

Tang Ye put the shirt back on.

The fans in the stands looked dejected, making Tang Ye feel awkward.

What to do, what to do...

Eh, got it!

His mind turning quickly, Tang Ye undid his belt and directly took off his shorts: "Come on, brother, here you go, here you go."

The stadium temperature was around 25 degrees Celsius; at this temperature, wearing shorts or not didn't really matter.

Check Dongqiu Di live match report: In the 72nd minute of the match, after being substituted off, Tang Ye gifted his shorts to the away fans in the stands.

【Frontline report: Tang Ye's underwear is Adidas.】

【OK, going to get the same model right now.】

【Giving away pants instead of shirts; indeed, the GOAT is different.】

The full match ended; the final score of this warm-up match was fixed at 4:5, with the Chinese national team securing victory by a one-goal margin.

Judging from the actual situation of the match, if both sides had played the full duration with their main lineups, the Chinese national team would likely still have been the side with the advantage.

The only question is, with such a fast organizational speed, can Tang Ye persist in playing for the full 90 minutes?

Gulp gulp.

Pfft!

After a simple rinse of his mouth, Tang Ye returned to the player tunnel together with the players who had just come off the field.

Lippi was chatting with Wu Lei; upon seeing Tang Ye, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"What's wrong, Mr. Marcello?"

"Where are your pants?"

"Oh, I gave them away."

Tang Ye pointed his thumb outward.

He had always been extremely generous since childhood; it was just a pair of pants, and he had extras anyway, so giving them away was no big deal!

Lippi reached out to hold his forehead, momentarily at a loss for words.

"Uh... I still suggest you hurry back to the locker room to put some pants on."

"OK OK, I'm going now."

Click click!

After the match ended, Lippi accepted an interview with Chinese journalists.

"Uh, we encountered some problems when scheduling training matches, but the issues have now been resolved; through Tom, we have contacted some European and American teams, and in June we should have two to three warm-up matches, though the opponents are not yet fully confirmed."

Speaking of which, Lippi was getting old and his thinking was not as agile.

There was a well-connected figure within the Chinese national team football circle, yet he didn't know to utilize him.

Tom could have his friends bring their national team teammates to play warm-up matches against the Chinese national team!

What is a warm-up match?

A warm-up match is a friendly match.

As the name suggests, a friendly match means playing with friends; otherwise, it wouldn't be a friendly match, but rather...

A match against strangers!

Matches against strangers are meaningless.

Friendly matches are different; Tang Ye can engage in high-level competition with his good friends.

Facing the reporters, Lippi briefly outlined the team's upcoming arrangements.

Then there was Tang Ye's side; this was Tang Ye's first interview with reporters since returning to China.

Since the counterpart was a Chinese journalist, Tang Ye directly switched to the Chinese language he was most proficient in.

"As the best organizer of the 2017-18 Premier League season, does returning to the national team to serve as an organizer make you feel unaccustomed?"

"It's alright; I feel we are slowly gelling, but there is still some gap compared to strong teams. After the match tempo speeds up, we must reduce mistakes."

"If mistakes decrease, our overall strength will obviously improve significantly."

Tang Ye expressed Ji De Xiang Fa.

The team was slowly improving; as an organizing player, he could feel this point very clearly.

"In the first official match of the group stage, you will face the number one seed, Germany; will this bring pressure to your warm-up matches?"

"Hiss... huh..."

Biting his lower lip, Tang Ye's expression looked somewhat uncomfortable.

Germany is strong, very, very strong; this is something everyone knows clearly.

"We'll do our best; I've only played a few matches against some players from the German team; they are indeed very formidable; if you force me to say, I can only say we'll do our best."

France.

"China's overall strength is too poor; we won't gain much benefit from a warm-up match against them; it's better to play against Italy; I think it should be this way."

Regarding the upcoming warm-up match arrangements, a dispute arose within the French coaching staff.

After hearing what the assistant coach said, head coach Deschamps spoke up: "We will definitely play against Italy, but after playing Italy, we will have eight free days. There should be a match within those eight days. China is willing to come over, which is good news for us."

"I know China's overall strength is weak, but as you also know, this is the best opportunity to directly study the world's number one midfielder."

Deschamps spread his hands: "We must learn how to face a top-tier attacking midfielder; this will be helpful for our knockout stage matches."

"..."

After Deschamps spoke, the other several coaches in the office fell silent.

The Chinese team is indeed not strong, but anyway, they are a team qualified for the World Cup.

Moreover, Deschamps is right; being able to play a direct match against Tang Ye to feel the intensity and study methods of defending against penetrating attacks is quite important for the French team.

"Play against France? Us?"

In the hotel conference room, Zhang Zhang Yuning pointed at his own nose, his expression somewhat surprised: "Isn't this a bit too exaggerated?"

"Uh... I don't know either; you guys asked me to arrange it..."

Tang Ye felt a bit aggrieved.

It was like a day student bringing breakfast to a boarding student, but because he brought the wrong thing, he still got criticized by the boarding student classmate.

Tang Ye now had bitterness he could not speak out!

"Actually, it doesn't matter; France won't play too seriously in a warm-up match, three clear goals at most."

Feng Feng Xiaoting was still relatively calm.

Lippi was also thinking at this moment.

Playing a warm-up match against France would still be very helpful for the national football team.

But he was also afraid that France's intensity would crush the confidence of the national team players.

"Then Tang Ye, can you still contact other national teams? There should still be a few national teams whose warm-up match schedules are not fully booked."

Hearing Zhang Zhang Yuning's question, Tang Ye narrowed his eyes, his brain starting to operate rapidly.

"Hmm..."

"England is fine, Spain is also fine, I can also arrange Brazil; to be honest, Brazil quite wants to play against us, and since they are going to Europe, we are also preparing to go to Europe."

"Should we switch? If we want to switch, we'd better do it quickly; they can wait for us at most one more day."

"..."

Zhang Zhang Yuning and Feng Feng Xiaoting exchanged a glance.

You switched, but the intensity hasn't decreased at all...

"Then let's not switch; just go to Europe, just go to Europe..."

"Don't be afraid anymore."

Madeloni walked over: "You are all about to participate in the World Cup; what use is there in always being afraid of European teams? It's something you will have to face sooner or later."

"That's true."

Tang Ye nodded quickly: "When we play against France later, you can see a number 11 on the opposite side named O... Dembélé; he is my friend and very easy to talk to. Kante and Mbappe are too."

L'Équipe — France's opponent for the second warm-up match in June is confirmed to be the Chinese National Team; the match time is June 6, and the venue is Old Trafford. Mancheng and Manchester United clubs will provide training grounds for the French team and the Chinese team respectively.

The Athletic — There is a "gentleman's agreement" between France and China: unless an unexpected situation occurs, Tom's playing time must not be less than 60 minutes.

(End of Chapter)