Chapter 145: Chapter 144: From Drowsy to Boiling with Enthusiasm
"Hello to all our radio listeners, I’m Huang Jianxiang. You’re currently watching the U16 European Championship final, held this year in the Czech Republic."
"The contenders are Spain U16 and Portugal U16."
"Spain has lined up a 4-3-3 formation."
"The forwards are Jorge Perona from Barcelona, Ernesto Gomez from Real Madrid, and Torres from Atletico Madrid. Among them, Torres is the most notable rising star on the forward line."
"This year, he led the Atletico Madrid U15 team to the final of the inaugural Youth Champions League and secured the bronze boot award in the tournament."
"Of course, the ones who defeated Torres were Deng Kai and Ronaldo leading Lisbon Athletic U15, the same team they’re facing today!"
"Spain’s midfield is quite distinctive, perhaps even the strongest midfielder combination of this year’s tournament, all hailing from Barcelona’s youth academy."
"Led by Barcelona’s once-in-twenty-years midfield talent Iniesta, with the little Barcelona midfield artist Arteta as his partner."
"Since both players are attacking midfielders, Spain has paired them with Gabi from Atletico Madrid as the defensive midfielder. Gabi’s defensive ability is outstanding, and his playing style is comparatively tough, which compensates for some of Spain’s slight deficiencies."
"Spain’s defenders are Colares from Real Madrid, Nam from Barcelona, Ruben Gonzalez from Real Madrid, and Diego Alegre from Valencia."
"The goalkeeper is Pepe Reina, a talented product of Barcelona’s youth academy, with the substitute goalkeeper being Victor Valdes, also from Barcelona, who is said to be Reina’s equal in talent. Both of these goalkeepers are extremely gifted and are not overshadowed by the Czech goalkeeper sensation Cech, who has performed brilliantly in this tournament!"
Huang Jianxiang did his utmost to familiarize the domestic audience with the lineups of this match.
Because there’s very little knowledge about foreign youth players in China.
Because to put it bluntly, except for a very few of smaller stature, the rest of these players would have the credentials to play in the top leagues if they were in China.
If Torres and Ronaldo came here, wouldn’t they run wild?
"There’s also good news for Portugal, as their starting center forward Postiga has returned from injury. This brings Portugal’s lineup back to its original form."
"But their formation today appears more like a 4-2-1-3, with Meireles falling back and clearly taking on some defensive responsibilities."
"Deng Kai is playing as the lone attacking midfielder, which seems to show that Deng Kai’s performance in the last match has earned everyone’s trust, and he is well-suited to this position."
In the first five minutes of the match, aside from Portugal’s early possession of the ball,
the football has been constantly at the feet of the Spanish players since Arteta tackled and intercepted Deng Kai.
Their ground-based short passing game is very patient.
Portugal, following the tactics provided by Trigella, started with high pressure in the opening minutes to intimidate Spain.
However, Spain’s ball control was far beyond anyone’s expectations.
Not only did Portugal fail to win back the ball, but Iniesta also seized an opportunity to exploit a weakness.
Iniesta faked a pass and burst forward, progressing with the ball and creating a threat.
He then passed the ball to Torres.
Torres, holding the ball in the penalty area, made a touch to find his striker teammate Ernesto Gomez.
This pass nearly split the entire Portuguese defense open.
But fortunately for Portugal, Gomez stumbled slightly, allowing Feng Te to stab the ball away in time.
Vale promptly collected the ball.
Fans from both sides were thrilled by this exchange of play.
But neither set of fans could have anticipated that this would be the most heart-stopping moment of the first half.
For the next thirty-odd minutes, Spain was content with passing the ball around in their own half.
They wanted to draw Portugal out.
But, scared into a cold sweat, Portugal wasn’t budging.
No way.
When Spain advanced the ball into the opponent’s half, the Portuguese players, who had previously allowed them some freedom, suddenly began aggressive pressing.
Postiga, Ronaldo, Deng Kai, and even Quaresma all brought down Spanish players during defense.
Luckily, the main referee’s decisions today were fairly lenient.
Under this defensive pressure, the Spanish team players could only pass the ball back.
For a full thirty minutes, not a single threatening attack occurred.
This kind of game would put anyone to sleep.
In the fortieth minute.
The Spanish team once again passed the football into the Portuguese half.
Ronaldo immediately initiated a pressing defense.
Deng Kai coordinated with Ronaldo to intercept Arteta successfully.
However, Deng Kai could not send the football out in time before Gabi, who followed up, robbed the ball from Deng Kai’s feet. Gabi passed back to Arteta, and Arteta suddenly made a through pass to the retreating Torres.
After Torres received the ball, he passed it with his heel to Iniesta, while he himself turned and darted forward.
Iniesta didn’t stop the ball and tapped it directly, bringing the football smoothly to Torres’s feet.
The Spanish team’s short passes pierced through the Portuguese defense.
One-on-one!
Faced with the oncoming Vale, Torres, with great skill and courage, flicked and dodged the goalkeeper, then followed up with a shot that broke into the net.
One to zero!
The Matadors used their best method to crush the Portuguese.
Huang Jianxiang kept shaking his head, "No way, the Portuguese team has done their best. But the passing of the Spanish team is truly irresistible; the cooperation and football philosophy among these players are highly sophisticated."
"Of course, I hope domestic football doesn’t blindly imitate this, as the prerequisite for such tactical demands is that the players have strong individual skills."
"Any player in this team has good passing ability. That includes the seemingly rugged worker Gabi; he was the absolute core of Atletico Madrid’s U15—a man capable of intricate play!"
"Now it’s trouble for Portugal, as it will be hard for them to get the ball from the Spanish players’ feet."
"They can only be drawn out by the Spanish team, which will gain more opportunities."
"Unless there’s a superstar on the Portuguese side who can step up, otherwise, the game is essentially over from now on."
As if to prove Huang Jianxiang’s point.
In the following minutes, the Spaniards controlled the ball throughout, and the Portuguese charged out.
In the forty-fifth minute.
Postiga, Ronaldo, and Deng Kai triple-teamed Iniesta.
Iniesta chipped a pass toward Arteta, the future manager of Arsenal made a mistake in controlling the ball, causing it to bounce a bit too far.
Deng Kai turned and slid in with a tackle.
Arteta had the chance to clear the ball first and then possibly get hit by Deng Kai’s tackle.
But he chose to evade instead.
As the leading team, there was no need to engage in a bayonet fight with those who were behind.
Even if Deng Kai got control of the ball once, what could he do?
Bang!
The football was cleared away by Deng Kai’s tackle.
Postiga, who had joined in the pressing, received the ball and made a clean long pass to the right flank.
With the ball on the right flank, Quaresma tricked his opponent with fancy footwork, initiating his cutting-inside mode.
