Chapter 843: China Has the Advantage in Possession? (Bonus Chapter for Monthly Tickets)

【Holy crap, they're playing this aggressively — I just tuned in, is this the pressure of the national team?】

【Hahahaha, Eskrim's tactics today really are a bit fierce, but if they play like this won't the second half be done for?】

【666666 go go go!】

【Play it steady, ggbond! Don't treat this like a club match! This is the national team!】

The match had barely begun and China were indeed playing a bit too aggressively, causing the fans to be under enormous psychological pressure.

The camera cuts to Eskrim.

Eskrim!

You're very capable, sure, but why are the tactics you've rolled out today so hard to read?

The opponents are Argentina — can you just behave yourself!

Hmm…

Many fans don't realize that Eskrim is actually innocent — the strong start doesn't represent the national team's tactics for the whole match.

China only wanted to use the kickoff to pressure Argentina; today's core plan is still defence.

The opponents are strengthening attack and weakening defence — relatively speaking, doesn't that just mean our own defence is strengthened?

"Now let us add some introductions for the away side, China's starting lineup — our Chinese men's football team!"

China (4-3-3)

Goalkeeper: Wang Wang Dalei

Defenders: Zhang Zhang Linpeng, Feng Feng Xiaoting, Jiang Guangtai, Wang Wang Shenchao

Midfielders: Wu Xi, Tang Ye (c), Zhang Zhang Xizhe

Forwards: Wu Lei, Zhang Zhang Yuning, Wei Wei Shihao

Head Coach: Eskrim

"Tang Ye!"

"Tang Ye!"

"Tang Ye!"

"Oh… the live crowd is chanting Tang Ye very loudly."

"Mm, we can see Tang Ye's current positioning is still relatively conservative — he hasn't made any particularly aggressive forward runs."

"Romero brings the ball forward!"

"Argentina are attacking — not at high speed, will Romero pass?"

Seeing Romero had no intention of passing, Tang Ye immediately signalled Wei Wei Shihao to press forward.

!

Romero was forced to pass to Paredes, and Paredes was met by Tang Ye's press at that moment.

"Oh!!"

The pressure was intense. Tang Ye's original plan was to force a mistake, but he didn't expect Argentina to complete the entire passing sequence without a single error — Paredes quickly laid the ball off to Messi ahead.

Messi received the ball with his back to play, turned, and immediately began his own drive forward.

Though he's already near retirement age, Messi's pace is no joke, and he quickly found a decent opening for Argentina.

Crack!

Back to De Paul!

"Watch this!"

Tang Ye called out, and Wang Wang Shenchao readied himself to intercept.

De Paul threaded a through ball out.

The one on the ball now is Lautaro!

Using the outside of his foot, he dribbled slowly toward the Chinese goal.

Lautaro didn't look threatening, but in reality he was waiting for his teammates to get into position.

Tagliafico pushed up the flank, and Lautaro played the pass.

Crack!

To the byline and a cross!

Di Maria brought the ball down and laid it off to Messi.

"Wow!!"

Bang!

Jiang Guangtai sat down on the spot as Messi's shot flew past him.

The Argentina captain's shot dodged Jiang Guangtai, but couldn't dodge Feng Feng Xiaoting.

"Beautiful!"

"Feng Feng Xiaoting! Clear it!"

The commentator couldn't help but call out, and Feng Feng Xiaoting didn't freeze — before his body was even fully set, he played the ball out wide.

The pass was way off, Wu Xi couldn't reach it at all.

Romero came up to collect the ball, and just as the Argentine player was about to win possession back, Tang Ye's recovery run arrived — his shoulder went straight into Romero.

Bang!

Tang Ye and Romero battled for the ball on the spot, both looking rather ragged, but in the end Tang Ye's eyes were sharp enough — he poked the ball straight through Romero's legs.

Jiang Guangtai, charging out of the box, collected the ball and drove forward in long strides.

"Don't rush, don't rush!"

Tang Ye called out to his teammates as he pushed forward.

【Protected Individual: Jiang Guangtai】

Ok, the boost is in place.

Jiang Guangtai pushes a through ball out, passing to Zhang Zhang Xizhe on Tang Ye's left.

"Hiss... It seems the Chinese team can't get the ball directly to Tang Ye."

"Yes, just as we analyzed before the match; we said it's unrealistic for the national team's defense to find Tang Ye when building play, because many Argentine players will be marking him. You can't expect Jiang Guangtai and Feng Feng Xiaoting to compete in reaction speed with De Paul and the others."

"Oh, of course, there's no intention to belittle the national team players; we're just saying that when facing strong opponents, we indeed need to be careful, and this caution applies to every aspect."

Zhang Zhang Xizhe carries the ball forward, then quickly passes it ahead to Wei Wei Shihao.

At the same time, Wu Lei accelerates down the right flank.

Slap!

Wei Wei Shihao decisively plays a long pass to find Wu Lei.

"Eh!"

The Chinese team's style of play is a bit rough!

Wu Lei controls the ball!

After securing possession, Wu Lei doesn't continue charging toward the byline; instead, he draws in the Argentine defenders.

Unless a defender runs straight at his face, Wu Lei simply won't pass.

Then, when the defenders actually close in, Wu Lei quickly passes back to Zhang Zhang Linpeng.

Zhang Zhang Linpeng and Wu Xi run in circles, executing a coordinated crossover run.

Unable to break through Argentina's dense encirclement, Tang Ye suddenly drops back to receive the ball.

Slap!

Wu Xi passes over; Tang Ye shields the ball with his back to Paredes.

A feint with a step, waiting for Paredes to commit.

Ok!

Seizing the opportunity, Tang Ye drags the ball and turns, showing off a move against Paredes in the center.

Paredes seems a bit anxious, reaching out to pull Tang Ye down.

Slap!

Before hitting the ground, the Chinese team captain flicks the ball out, transferring possession to Wei Wei Shihao and Wang Wang Shenchao.

"Tang Ye has gone down!"

"The referee signals it; advantage to the Chinese team's attack."

"Wei Wei Shihao, passes to Wang Wang Shenchao!"

"Driving inside himself!"

Wei Wei Shihao bypasses Molina, attempting to enter the Argentine penalty area directly.

Entering the penalty area isn't the problem, but entering it while holding onto the ball is impossible.

Just as Wang Wang Shenchao pushes the ball to Wei Wei Shihao, the latter immediately has it cleared away by Romero.

"Damn!!!"

Wei Wei Shihao lets out a furious roar, venting his dissatisfaction.

But this failure isn't his teammates' fault; rather, Argentina's defense performed too well.

On his way dropping back, Tang Ye observes the opponents on both sides.

According to his analysis, Argentina's form in this match shouldn't be great; at least several full-backs and midfielders aren't playing well enough.

But strength is often relative; regardless of the Argentine players' form, their raw ability must surpass that of the Chinese team players, which is a major reason why the national team currently cannot launch deep attacks.

The camera cuts to Escrivá standing on the sidelines; the Spaniard hasn't smiled once from the start of the match until now.

Things are unfolding much as he predicted, or even with Argentina performing slightly worse than he expected.

But this is no reason to be happy.

The Chinese team's biggest problem right now is their inability to execute both horizontal switches and vertical deep attacks simultaneously.

Tang Ye distributes from the center; he can act as a dispatcher, swinging the ball between the left and right flanks.

But the premise for swinging left and right is for the forwards to drop back and support; once Wei Wei Shihao and Wu Lei drop back to receive, only Zhang Zhang Yuning remains up front.

"Tang Ye's passing accuracy is indeed exaggerated, but the premise is that you must give him enough passing options. Tang Ye can create miracles with through balls, but the prerequisite is having enough teammates up front. With only Zhang Zhang Yuning, Argentina just needs to mark Zhang Zhang Yuning, and Tang Ye's offensive threat is greatly diminished."

"Hmm... I feel Escrivá must know this; perhaps the Chinese team's goal in this match is simply to waste time against Argentina."

That's why it takes CCTV's commentators to immediately highlight the key information.

The Chinese team never even considered prying open Argentina's goal!

They don't care about sacrificing Tang Ye's offensive attributes!

"..."

Di María comes up the flank, moving forward, then cutting diagonally toward the penalty area.

He runs toward the center himself, then taps the ball with his left foot to Messi near the byline.

With Messi in possession, Wang Wang Shenchao clasps his hands behind his back, adopting a standard one-on-one defensive stance.

"Messi! Messi!"

"Leo! Leo Messi!"

Messi approaches Wang Wang Shenchao.

The Chinese team players are very smart; they directly abandon any idea of tackling, simply retreating continuously to deny any opportunity.

However, Messi's football intelligence is truly high, offering a very seductive opening.