Chapter 388: How Professor Lippi Teaches Middle School Students (Thanks ra)

Pinned post on Dongqiu Di: National Team vs. Brazil friendly in progress, current score 0:1, National Team trailing.

【Come on!】

【Wu Lei is capable; why wasn't he this fierce in the first two matches?】

【The National Team's attack is finding its rhythm, but Gao Lin and Yu Yu Hanchao are still far off.】

【Still have to rely on my Tang Tang Qiuwang; he's steady as a rock.】

A corner kick opportunity for the National Team, Zhang Zhang Xizhe runs with the ball toward the corner flag.

Smack!

The corner is delivered!

At the first point!

"I've got it!"

Tang Ye leaps up and immediately heads the ball!

But Alisson punches it away!

"Damn, haha!"

Landing back on the ground, Tang Ye shakes his hand: "What a pity, just missed by a hair."

The chance was quite good; it's just a pity he couldn't convert it.

The second corner is headed out by Miranda.

Play continues!

It is now the 34th minute of the first half; Brazil is slowly picking up the pace of the match.

The pressure on the Chinese team players right now is truly extraordinary!

Slap slap!

Neymar and Coutinho execute a one-two pass, ending with Neymar cutting inside while holding the ball.

Neymar's target is the arc outside the Chinese team's penalty area.

But Tang Ye will definitely not let him succeed.

Zheng Zhi blocks the first wave of attack, after which Tang Ye quickly tracks back.

Tang Ye often uses Neymar to dribble past opponents in FIFA, so he knows Neymar relatively well.

Seize the opportunity!

Tang Ye stretches out his foot attempting a tackle, but fails!

Neymar changes the rhythm!

Entering inside the penalty area!

With a light push shot, Neymar successfully scores.

2:0!

Brazil extends the lead!

"Neymar is still so agile. Let me see..."

"But keeping it at 0:2 at this stage, I feel the National Team has done quite well."

Wang Chao has a feeling.

That is, the National Team can breach Brazil's goal.

But this is merely a feeling; the actual situation depends on how the National Team's forwards perform.

"Come on!"

Neymar and Tang Ye high-five, then begin retreating.

Shaking his head, Tang Ye is pondering when captain Feng Feng Xiaoting approaches with Lippi's tactics.

"Let's play a bit faster; you choose whatever tactics you feel suit. It's fine if we concede a few more goals."

"Mm, okay."

Looking at the opposing players, Tang Ye's brain races with thoughts.

Yu Yu Hanchao always fails to get on the same wavelength as me; if that's the case, then we can only attack down the flank where Wu Lei is.

Manchester United only attacks down Rashford's flank.

The National Team only attacks down Wu Lei's flank.

Hiss...

Tang Ye always feels the National Team and Manchester United are slightly similar.

And both are red teams!

Too similar, damn it!

The 42nd minute of the first half!

A direct free-kick opportunity for the Chinese team, once again left to Tang Ye to take.

Hiss—

Whoosh...

Smack!

A direct shot!

But it flies wide!

"Haha."

Shaking his head, Tang Ye laughs at himself over this shot.

"Impressive."

Neymar gave Tang Ye a thumbs-up.

"Hey, it was just too slippery; I'll score on the next one!"

……

Check Dongqiu Di halftime report: In the friendly match, China temporarily trails Brazil 0:2.

"Phew..."

Following Wu Lei into the locker room, Tang Ye felt quite content.

"Although we haven't played together before, I feel we're performing much better than in the first two matches."

The friendly matches were proving effective.

Improving a little bit with every game, by the time the World Cup finals arrive, the national team will be able to rank among the strong teams!

"There's still a huge gap."

Madaloni signaled for everyone to sit down first; Lippi would return shortly.

"Do you know why our opponents have always held the advantage? Because whether attacking or defending, they always have more players than us; that is the benefit of a fast pace."

Lippi carefully moved the magnetic flags on his tactical board.

Tang Ye tilted his head.

Mr. Marcello spoke very slowly; sometimes Tang Ye truly worried that the fifteen-minute halftime wouldn't be enough for him.

"When we attack, that means attack; the fullbacks and center-backs both need to push forward, yes, both need to push forward."

"I think what suits us best right now is total football; our overall strength is weaker, which is exactly why we should play to create numerical advantages."

Lippi made hand gestures: "If we have one more player than our opponents during an attack, we have a greater chance of creating scoring opportunities."

Lippi's insight was indeed very thorough.

Regardless of the disparity in skill, as long as an objective numerical advantage exists, China can gain an edge when facing strong teams.

Gulp, gulp!

Tang Ye took a sip of water, committing this key point to memory.

Since there wasn't much to say, there were still a few minutes left after the tactical briefing concluded.

Lippi was quite laid-back; with the extra time, he simply let the players rest.

During this time, Madaloni pulled Lippi aside to whisper something to him.

"Mr., I think we should bring on Zhang; it would make creating numerical advantages easier, plus Zhang has decent heading ability; he specifically trained for this at Werder Bremen."

"..."

Lippi narrowed his eyes, indicating he would give it a try if the timing was right.

Madaloni knew Zhang Zhang Yuning could replace Gao Lin; as head coach, Lippi was naturally aware of this too.

But the issue was that, compared to the young Zhang Zhang Yuning, Lippi preferred to trust the experienced Gao Lin.

This held true even though Zhang Zhang Yuning was a backup striker for Werder Bremen in Fan Fan Dejia.

While Madaloni and Lippi were conversing, Tang Ye was also whispering with Wu Lei.

The second half kicked off very quickly!

Smack!

Tang Ye played a long pass directly to Wu Lei!

Control the ball!

This time, Wu Lei did not disappoint Tang Ye's expectations; he extended his foot and controlled the ball.

He dribbled forward himself.

He passed sideways to Zheng Zhi.

The instant Zheng Zhi received the ball, Tang Ye immediately called out to demand it back.

Then he passed to Zhang Zhang Xizhe.

After a quick series of passes and receptions through the center, Tang Ye pointed toward the left baseline.

Yu Yu Hanchao:?

Yu Yu Hanchao accelerated his forward run, while Tang Ye dribbled the ball toward the left flank.

He raised his foot!

Just as everyone thought Tang Ye was about to play a through ball to Yu Yu Hanchao, he suddenly cut the ball inward with his left foot, directly slipping it into the penalty area.

He was passing to Wu Lei, who was cutting into the box from the right!

"Damn, there's a chance!"

"Wu Lei!"

Smack!

A driven shot toward the near post; Wu Lei Cheng Gong opened the scoring against Brazil.

"Wu Lei! The score is now 1:2!"

"China has pulled one back!"

"That feels good, brothers!"

Fans' expectation for this match was simply that conceding fewer than five goals would count as success.

They never expected that not only would the national team avoid conceding five goals, but they would actually breach Brazil's defense!

"Brother Lei!"

Tang Ye raised both hands to high-five Wu Lei: "You've found your rhythm, haha!"

Indeed.

Tang Ye's judgment had been correct.

If they wanted to launch a deep attack, he had to rely on Wu Lei.

Although Wu Lei's shooting and ball control were somewhat lackluster, his ability to find space and create opportunities remained very reliable!

"Come on, come on!"

Lippi's voice rang out; at this moment, the Chinese team made their first substitution.

In the 52nd minute, Zhang Zhang Yuning replaced Gao Lin!

【Gao Lin is already coming off?】

【Gao Lin's performance in these three matches has been mediocre; Zhang Zhang Yuning played better as a substitute against Saudi Arabia.】

【But Zhang Zhang Yuning is only 20 years old...】

【Why don't you say Tang Ye is 19 then? Let Tang Ye come on as a substitute.】

【Uh, okay.】

"Tang Ye!"

Zhang Zhang Yuning ran onto the pitch, his face filled with excitement: "Remember to pass to me!"

"Haha, okay!"

Tang Ye raised his hand in acknowledgment.

At this moment, Brazil began making large-scale adjustments; Casemiro and Neymar were substituted off one after another.

Although they had brought on substitutes, the national team did not dare to relax their guard in the slightest.

Because Brazil's substitute midfielder and substitute forward were Fernandinho and Firmino respectively!

"Tom, aren't you coming off yet?"

Neymar raised an eyebrow at Tang Ye, then grabbed Tang Ye and directly ran toward the substitute bench.

"Haha, go away, go away!"

Tang Ye shook off Neymar's hand: "If you come off now, I'll immediately equalize the score later."

Neymar pointed at his own eyes: "I'll just watch from down there as you equalize the score."

"Haha."

He shook his head.

Of course, talking about equalizing the score was just blowing hot air.

However, Tang Ye would do his best to play out the remaining time; that part was true.

"Tom!"

"Viva Tom Tom!"

The roar of the fans rose from the stands as Tang Ye dribbled the ball forward through the center.

Wu Lei moved up to support!

"Okay, okay!"

Tang Ye and Wu Lei executed a one-two pass.

Receiving Wu Lei's return pass!

Smack!

He lofted the ball into the penalty area!

Zhang Zhang Yuning!

A header!

A header shot from the Chinese national team's striker.

His jump for the ball was quite good, but because he was disturbed by the opposing defender, Zhang Zhang Yuning's header lacked power and was easily caught by Alisson.

"Not bad, damn..."

Chewing the gum in his mouth, Tang Ye felt somewhat surprised by Zhang Zhang Yuning's performance.

Training in Fan Fan Dejia was indeed very useful; Zhang Zhang Yuning was far stronger than he had been last June.

In the 65th minute, Brazil scored another goal, bringing the score to 1:3.

Panting heavily, Tang Ye walked to the sideline to ask Lippi whether to make a substitution or continue playing.

Lippi hesitated for a moment, but ultimately substituted Tang Ye off.

"Sigh, brothers, they've made the change after all; Wei Wei Shihao is replacing Tang Ye."

"Lippi must be planning to let Wei Wei Shihao play as an attacking midfielder."

"It's a bit of a pity; I was actually hoping the Chinese national team would score another goal against Brazil."

Returning to sit on the substitute bench, Tang Ye leaned his head close to Madaloni.

"Fuck!"

Madaloni instinctively used his hand to guard his notebook, but upon realizing it was a teammate, he removed his covering hand.

"What's wrong, Tom?"

"Nothing, I was just taking a look; Mr., don't be nervous, I'm not a bad person."

Tang Ye offered reassurance, then turned his attention back to the pitch.

After bringing on Wei Wei Shihao, China did not switch to a defensive style; instead, under Lippi's instructions, they continued to attack.

Ever since arranging the friendly match with Brazil, Lippi had never intended to end this game with a favorable scoreline.

The attacking rhythm could not be broken.

Even if the opponent was Brazil!

Check Dongqiu Di Match Report: Friendly Match Brazil 4:1 China; Tang Ye cooperated with Wu Lei Cheng Gong to breach Brazil's goal, while substitutes Zhang Zhang Yuning and Wei Wei Shihao delivered impressive performances.

On-site reporter: After the match, Neymar wanted to exchange jerseys with Tang Ye, but Tang Ye's warm-up jersey had been left in Shanghai; in the end, Tang Ye unilaterally obtained Neymar's jersey.

Clutching Neymar's number 10 jersey in his hand, Tang Ye returned to the locker room.

"Wowhoo!"

"Wu Lei!"

The locker room was bustling with excitement.

A 1-4 scoreline wasn't great, but considering the opponent was the classic powerhouse Brazil, it was still acceptable.

Moreover, Wu Lei had scored a goal!

Feng Feng Xiaoting and Deng Deng Hanwen pushed Wu Lei, who plopped down onto a bench, followed immediately by a loud crack.

"What the hell?"

The locker room suddenly fell silent; Tang Ye gaped, "Brother Lei, did you... did you break your bones?"

"No, I'm fine."

Wu Lei quickly stood up, indicating he wasn't injured.

Tang Ye breathed a sigh of relief, then realized Wu Lei had just sat on the cabinet behind the bench, crushing its wooden board outright.

"Damn, my bad, my bad."

Wu Lei apologized somewhat, "Whose spot is this?"

"Uh..."

Feng Feng Xiaoting walked over, reached into the cabinet, and pulled out two pieces of chewing gum.

Then came a red Manchester United jersey.

Tang Ye

10

Clearly, it was Tang Ye's cabinet that had shattered.

"Hahaha!"

"Haha, Tang Ye, your cabinet is broken!"

"..."

"Damn, Brother Lei, how could you do this?"

Tang Ye helplessly spread his hands and picked up the shattered wooden boards from the bench.

He tried to fit them back together.

But failed.

Boo-hoo!

With no other choice, Tang Ye could only take his belongings out of his cabinet first, placing half in Rodri's cabinet and the other half in Rashford's.

"OK, sorted."

Clapping his hands, Tang Ye finished his task.

"Sorry about that, my fault."

Although it wasn't a major issue, Wu Lei felt an apology was still necessary.

"Haha, it's fine, it's fine; we'll just get someone to repair it."

Brother Lei was still being too polite.

Tom didn't want his friends to be so polite with him.

Douyin.

Due to the World Cup, it was now very easy to scroll across football-related short videos on Douyin.

Football bloggers wanted to leverage the extra hype surrounding the World Cup on Douyin to increase their follower counts, indirectly introducing many fans who had never watched football to the sport.

【World Cup Round of 32 Preview: The Teranga Lions of Senegal (Same Group as the National Team)】

Likes: 27k.

"African powerhouse Senegal, one of the favorites to advance from the knockout stage in this World Cup."

"Their starting defender is Koulibaly from Serie A's Napoli, valued at 60 million euros. Koulibaly was an absolute key contributor to Napoli finishing as Serie A runners-up and is also the highest-scoring defender in Serie A."

"..."

"In terms of forwards, Senegal's starting striker is the Diamond Warrior Mané from Premier League giants Liwupu, valued at 70 million euros, making him the team's biggest star."

"Senegal is an underestimated team; they actually possess quite high tactical discipline. Compared to other opponents in their group, Senegal's physical attributes are exceptionally outstanding."

"Furthermore, with Mané, Senegal carries all the factors necessary for an upset."

【Total value of 300 million euros? How the hell are we supposed to play against that?】

【That's just two Tang Yes, not too many, right?】

【The problem is the National Team only has one Tang Ye...】

【Infantino is truly fucking disgusting; one Germany, one Senegal—he just doesn't want the National Team to advance.】

【LOL, you're still thinking about advancing? If the National Team advances, I'll eat my own shit.】

【Are there still people watching football nowadays?】

The atmosphere on Douyin was indeed not very good; even after qualifying for the World Cup proper, the National Team was still heavily criticized.

The reason was simple.

One only needed to look at the other three teams in the group to know.

The probability of the Chinese team advancing to the knockout stage was infinitely close to zero!

The day after the National Team was defeated by Brazil with a score of 1-4, GG Tang Zhengxiong, the father of GG Bond, accepted an interview with a reporter from Titan Sports.

"This group draw is certainly not good, because Germany and Senegal are indeed top-tier powerhouses; back during the 2014 World Cup, my son and I even cheered for the German team."

"But a group draw is just a group draw; once the actual kicking starts, no one knows what will happen."

Tang Tang Zhengxiong spoke slowly to the reporter.

"Two days ago, a friend suggested I download Douyin, saying I could post videos related to Tang Ye and such, so I went ahead and downloaded it. As a result, I saw many idiots causing trouble in the comments section."

Speaking to this point, Tang Tang Zhengxiong suddenly asked the reporter, "Can this be broadcast?"

The reporter felt somewhat awkward: "This is a live broadcast..."

"In that case, fine, I'll continue speaking."

Realizing the mistake could no longer be remedied, Tang Tang Zhengxiong simply decided to compound the error.

"Damn it all, they haven't even kicked a match yet and they're already saying the national team will lose three straight and go home; hell, if you're so good at predicting scores, why don't you go buy lottery tickets and get rich instead of blindly wandering around the comments section?"

"The most ridiculously absurd thing is that some people are supporting the Japanese team, claiming Japan can easily beat the national team; can you all use your brains for once? Japan and the national team aren't even in the same group!"

"..."

The reporter's vision went black.

"Well then, Mr. Tang, having cultivated such an outstanding star player, you must understand football quite well. Hmm... in your opinion, what kind of result can the national team achieve in this World Cup group stage? Or rather, what kind of result would satisfy the fans?"

"Hiss..."

Tang Tang Zhengxiong stroked his chin: "A single draw should be satisfactory, but I have a feeling the national team ought to be able to win one match."

"Win one match? Which one?"

"Germany and Senegal are unlikely; Sweden, perhaps—I feel we should be able to beat Sweden."

Tang Tang Zhengxiong voiced his opinion.

"Then again, it's hard to say; in my eyes, the national team can beat any team; I'm just blindly cheering."

At the Carrington Base, the national team players were eating breakfast in the cafeteria.

"Tang Ye, do you have any yogurt here?"

"No, only pure milk; if you want to drink yogurt, you can ask the chef to go out and buy some, just give a small tip."

Taking a big gulp of juice, Tang Ye explained the specific procedure to Wu Lei.

"Hiss, the main issue is I don't have any British pounds; do they accept Renminbi?"

"It's fine, Brother Lei; go to the locker room and find my cabinet. Inside there's an Adidas backpack that contains money. You can give a tip of either 50 pounds or 100 pounds."

"OK, thanks!"

Wu Lei turned and headed toward the locker room, while Tang Ye resumed his unfinished conversation with Zhang Zhang Yuning.

"Haven't you planned to renovate? For a team like Manchester United, the gym should be a bit more advanced, right?"

"I don't know either."

Tang Ye shrugged: "Manchester United's gym isn't even as comfortable as Villarreal's, but the gym isn't really something I can manage anyway; I feel as long as it's usable, that's fine."

"That's true enough."

Zhang Zhang Yuning nodded.

The contrast Manchester United presented to him was still quite significant.

The players earn annual salaries easily reaching tens of millions of pounds, yet the stadium and the training base still have many areas aging and rusting.

Perhaps this is simply Manchester United's characteristic?

Morning training was about to begin; the national team players were warming up on the grass at Carrington, while Madaloni and Lippi were engaged in a heated discussion.

"Marcello, you've seen it too; Zhang's effectiveness is indeed better. If we are to build around Tom as the core, then the striker should also be selected according to Tom's characteristics. Regardless, Zhang plays in Fan Fan Dejia, so it's easier for him to develop chemistry with Tom, at least compared to Gao."

"..."

Lippi frowned, holding a portable tactical board in his hand, remaining silent for a long time.

"Moreover, I feel our tactics are a bit too complicated."

Madaloni continued: "We could play more directly, just like we did against Brazil yesterday; Tom's long passes are very accurate, and we should make good use of his strengths."

"Actually, for us, scoring goals doesn't necessarily require excessive possession play; if we try to play possession, we can't possibly outdo Germany, Sweden, and others."

What Madaloni said made perfect sense, and this was also something Lippi had been contemplating.

The head coach lifted his head, looking at the players warming up on the field: "The main issue is that I've already spoken with Tom, and he feels our current tactics are just right for him."

"But the problem..."

Madaloni also looked toward the training ground: "What level of player is Tom, and what level are the others? The gap between them is far too large. The reason we struggled against Saudi Arabia was that all this passing back and forth confused the players; throughout the entire midfield, only Tom's mind was clear, while everyone else seemed drunk."

Lippi's tactics were excellent; this had to be admitted.

But just because there is one college student in the class, you shouldn't teach advanced mathematics to the other twenty-two middle school students.

That is extremely unreasonable!

Lippi needs to set aside his identity as a university professor and seek out methods suitable for middle school students.

As for that one college student within the team, he is certainly very important.

But he should not be the class representative; rather, he should be Professor Lippi's teaching assistant.

(End of Chapter)