1206 Steady Improvement

The Croatia VS China friendly match held in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, has attracted national attention before the match. Over the years, China has strengthened its cooperative relationship with Croatia in the implementation of the “Belt and Road Initiative”, and Croatia has not been rejected by mainstream European powers. Ideological influence, in many local media polls, China is considered a reliable and trustworthy partner.

This allowed the Chinese team to play a friendly match in Croatia and also strengthened the relationship between the two countries to a certain extent.

Before the game, Situ Yunbing had a long talk with Croatia’s main midfielder Rakitic in the player channel. The two masters and apprentices have not cooperated for seven years since Hamburg, but because Rakitic played for Barcelona after that, So when Situ Yunbing was coaching Liverpool, they had a lot of opportunities to meet.

When Rakitic also became a veteran, Situ Yunbing had nothing to teach him. At least these years, Rakitic lived more or less in Xavi, Iniesta and the others in Barcelona. Under the shadows, his peak has stayed in Hamburg, unlike De Bruyne, who was frustrated after leaving Hamburg but reborn as Europe's number one offensive midfielder!

Rakitic’s respect for Situ Yunbing is from the bottom of his heart. The peak of his career was still in Hamburg. Although they only worked together for a short one and a half years at that time, what they experienced together was unforgettable for each other. Passionate years.

This friendly match did not see Modric, he was not called up due to injury.

Situ Yunbing shook hands with Croatia coach Dalic friendly on the sidelines.

The World Cup runner-up coach can be regarded as a big name in the competition.

The starting lineup of the Chinese team today is no different from that of the French team a month ago, while Croatia has a 433 formation.

Goalkeeper: Subasic.

Defenders: Vsaliko, Vida, Lovren, Jedvaj.

Midfield: Kovacic, Rakitic, Brozovic.

Forwards: Rebic, Mandzukic, Perisic.

Croatia's lineup is actually not necessarily strong. It only depends on their performance in the World Cup. In fact, it is not very stable.

If you look back at the 2018 World Cup, there will actually be a phenomenon that the collective strength of the top teams will decline.

No team can be as strong as Brazil in 2002, as stable as Italy in 2006, as incomprehensible as Spain in 2010,

Germany in 2014 was so solid.

Croatia had a strong three-game winning streak in the group stage, and it was a roller coaster in the knockout stage. They played an ups and downs 4:3 against Denmark, eliminated the host Russia through a penalty shootout, and reversed England in overtime. The final was completely defeated. to France.

It can only be said that 2018 happens to be the end of an era and the transitional period of the beginning of a new era, resulting in the strong not being strong and the weak not being weak, and the distance between the ceiling and the floor has been shortened.

Maybe there will be a stronger new king in the next World Cup.

Croatia is also facing a new generation. As Modric ages, it may be difficult to see him in the next World Cup. Rakitic is also nearly 35 years old, and I am afraid he can only play the role of firefighting.

Croatia's good runner-up results in the 2018 World Cup are absolutely inseparable from the credit of these two midfielders in controlling the overall situation. Therefore, if these two are missing in the next World Cup, Croatia's strength will be greatly reduced.

At the beginning of the friendly match, with the sound of cheers on the scene, Croatia restrainedly launched an attack on the Chinese team's defense.

The Chinese team played defensively and counterattacked patiently. Croatia's offensive was not aggressive. The threat that Perisic and Rebic could create on the wing was very limited compared to the two wingers of the French team, Dembele and Mbappe.

This kept Abdulhamiti and Li Lei from panicking on the court.

Without Modric, Croatia is creative in the frontcourt, and its ability to deliver threatening balls has also plummeted. Rakitic is more responsible for smoothing the transition between offense and defense.

Croatia's possession rate is high, but it does not create an effective threat.

And their restraint also made the counterattack of the Chinese team fail to pose much threat, and their performance on the defensive end was very tough.

The game was relatively flat, and this might be the friendly match that Situ Yunbing wanted to see.

Although it is lively and exciting like playing against France, the overall efficiency of honing the Chinese team's defensive counterattack tactics is relatively low.

Today's friendly match can really hone the Chinese team's defensive counterattack tactics.

In the 32nd minute of the game, Perisic crossed the middle of the penalty area and looked for an opportunity to shoot. This long-range shot was full of threats. The football flew straight to the dead corner of the goal. Shen Jingjie, who was fully concentrated, made a world-class save. Tuo raised above the crossbar and won rounds of applause.

Seeing that the situation could not be opened for a long time, Croatia began to deliberately strengthen the offensive.

The counterattack threat of the Chinese team is also gradually strengthening.

In the 38th minute of the game, when Zhang Zhibang assisted Perisic in defending the wing and forced Perisic to speed up and break through, Abdulhemiti immediately went up to form a zone defense and succeeded in stealing.

The Chinese team launched a quick counterattack from the backcourt. Zhao Fenghua took the ball to the side and advanced forward. When the Croatian midfielders all moved towards his side to form a siege, Zhao Fenghua picked the ball to the middle.

Huang Bozhou followed up and passed the ball straight ahead.

Wu Lei knocked the ball across the front of the penalty area and sent it to the side area. Luo Xin quickly cut in and got rid of the defense. He crossed and shot the line, but Luo Xin knocked the ball back to the triangle position.

On the other side, Luo Cheng, who followed up with an inward cut, stopped the ball and adjusted, and then decisively kicked the goal!

The football goes straight to the upper right corner of the goal!

Goalkeeper Subasic flies to save but misses the ball!

The Chinese team leads 1:0 away!

Daliqi looked dignified. He didn't know anything about the Chinese team, and he didn't study the opponent before a friendly match.

Croatia was just fighting at its own pace, but he didn't expect the Chinese team to be more mature and tough than he imagined!

After all, it is the team trained by Situ Yunbing, so it should not be underestimated!

Situ Yunbing is very satisfied with the lead of the Chinese team. The main reason is that the team's overall defense has become self-contained, and the mentality has also improved to a certain extent.

Croatia stepped up their offense after conceding the ball, but they were also more aggressive in counter-tackling.

Before the end of the first half, Mandzukic responded to Rakitic's through ball in the penalty area and turned around and volleyed. Fortunately, Cheng Renjun blocked the ball from the bottom line with a shovel in time.

After the first half of the game, Situ Yunbing gave a lecture during the intermission and asked the team to further strengthen their defense in the second half.

He expects the team to make Croatia feel desperate through a tight defense, and then get more chances to counterattack.

In the second half, the two sides changed sides and fought again. Croatia obviously also made adjustments during the intermission. They changed their tactics and played relatively simple and rough.

A threat to get the most out of Mandzukic.

Situ Yunbing realized the crisis on the sidelines. In fact, the Chinese team's defensive tactics of compressing the defensive space are specifically aimed at the more popular European style of passing, cutting and infiltrating. It's a bit uncomfortable, because as long as the opponent's high center forward can take advantage of the confrontation, the Chinese team's zone defense control will not make much sense.

Therefore, there is basically no tactical relationship between who is more advanced and who is behind, and there is more mutual restraint between them.

In the 58th minute of the game, after Perisic sent a precise cross from the side, Mandzukic beat Bai Yuanfan in front of the goal and scored with a header!

Shen Jingjie couldn't recover from this ball!

Although Bai Yuanfan and Cheng Renjun made several successful clearances in the second half, they couldn't withstand the repeated attacks of their opponents.

The lead of the Chinese team was wiped out!

Situ Yunbing showed some helplessness on his face, but he accepted it calmly.

This is the situation of weak football countries, it is difficult to do everything!

The idea of ​​the Chinese team has been shattered. Situ Yunbing has no idea of ​​struggling, and directly makes substitutions, replacing many main players in the team, and letting the substitute players go up to feel the atmosphere of the game.

In the last 90 minutes against the French team, there were no substitutions for the substitute players. If the substitute players are not allowed to play against Croatia today, I am afraid that Situ Yunbing will also doubt whether the recruitment of substitute players is just a sham.

Moreover, the European League is coming to an end, and the main players of some clubs in the team really cannot be overly consumed on FIFA match days, because they must play a full 90 minutes as long as they return to the club as long as they are not injured.

After the substitution of the Chinese team, Dalic also chose to make substitutions. Croatia also needs to take care of the emotions of the players, and at the same time avoid excessive consumption of players. Compared with the players of the Chinese team who play for European clubs, the stars of the Croatian team are different. At least they play for European giants!

After both teams changed players, the quality of the game began to decline, and the dangers in front of the goal of the two sides increased a lot. As a result, the dangers were resolved again and again in the performances of Subasic and Shen Jingjie.

Kovacic had an excellent opportunity in the penalty area to fly out of the box, Zhang Yuning outflanked the kick in front of the goal, Situ Yunbing and Dalic smiled bitterly on the sidelines, and the two accidentally made eye contact, and there was a sense of sympathy and helplessness.

When the referee blew his whistle and blew the whistle for the end of the game, the fans at the scene still greeted the players of the two teams with applause.

Chinese fans must feel that the team's performance is not bad.

Lost to France 4:6 last month, and tied with Croatia 1:1 this month.

The Chinese team is still in a trend of improvement.

Situ Yunbing and Dalich shook hands after the game, and then the two had a pleasant conversation.

The players of the two teams also exchanged jerseys friendly after the game.

The players of the Chinese team felt sorry for not being able to win the game, but they didn't realize it themselves, they have gradually adapted to this kind of game!

This is a very good phenomenon.