Chapter 195: Chapter 194 Coach Kai and Special Renowned Manager
"Despite being behind, they steadfastly believed they could walk away with a victory from Luz Stadium."
"Oh! Deng Kai signaled to his teammates not to celebrate with him; he sat on the ground, needing a moment to recover."
"That collision just now was not light, especially considering how fast Deng Kai was moving."
"That shot was indeed perfect, full of power."
"It’s just that the previous ’electric unicycle’ move wasn’t very effective. If it had been a pure unicycle move, Deng Kai might have been able to shake off the defender directly."
Deng Kai did not accept this analysis from the commentator.
Without the ’electric unicycle’, not to mention catching up with the football, scoring would have been impossible.
The difficulty of that goal just now was very high.
After that, neither side made any progress, and the game entered halftime.
Trigella made adjustments right at that time.
He substituted the proper left-back Serafim for today’s hero Altino.
With the opposition missing a right winger, at the very least, Moreirense’s left flank’s attacking power significantly decreased; bringing on Serafim was to enhance Moreirense’s offense on that side and provide Ronaldo with more support.
After the second half started, Serafim was relatively active, frequently pushing forward.
In the 54th minute, Serafim and Ronaldo cooperated continuously and finished a cross from the bottom.
The opposition’s tall players headed the football away.
Emerson took a volley from mid-air, gifting the fans in the stands a big surprise.
In the 62nd minute.
Moreirense hammered Benfica; Deng Kai followed his old routine and sent the ball to the back post to Alex on the right, and Alex crossed the ball once again.
Unfortunately, Anderson was pushed by an opponent, failed to apply power, and nearly twisted his ankle upon landing.
The team doctor went onto the field to check on his condition.
During this time, Trigella had his players warm up, but he noticed the team didn’t have a big center forward who could replace Anderson.
After Maniche exited the field, Moreirense took the initiative. Under Deng Kai’s distribution, the team’s wings were both active, with left and right backs frequently crossing.
If the team lacked a big center forward, it would be challenging to convert this on-pitch advantage into goals.
Benfica’s ground defense was very strong; unless Deng Kai exploded again, the team would have difficulty organizing attacks from the center.
Just then Deng Kai came over: "Sub out Flavio; bring on a central defender."
The assistant coach thought he had heard wrong: "We’re still one goal behind, not ahead. Why bring on five defenders so early?"
But Trigella quickly caught on: "You mean, move our tall players into the opponent’s penalty area?"
Deng Kai nodded: "Yes, Feng Te’s headballs are quite good, and he’s the tallest player on the team."
The assistant coach thought this was outrageous.
Feng Te was a central defender.
But Trigella made the decision on the spot, played the substitution card, and had Orlando relay the message to Feng Te.
The biggest difference between Trigella and Maxa was that Maxa only knew to do as Coach Kai instructed, while Trigella could enrich and complete the tactics based on Coach Kai’s suggestions; this is true managerial skill.
Moreirense substituted central defender Orlando for right winger Flavio.
After an examination, Anderson was confirmed to be okay and continued to play.
Moreirense’s central defender Feng Te moved to Flavio’s position, no, even further inside the big penalty area, essentially pairing up with Anderson as dual strikers.
Moreirense’s intentions were clear to all.
Crosses, headballs, hammer it in!
In the 68th minute, Deng Kai moved down the right flank under Alex’s cover and completed a cross.
Feng Te’s header hit the crossbar, leaving the Benfica goalkeeper in a cold sweat.
Hoeness was not a coach with a strong personal style, he valued execution and tactical discipline in his team more.
And today, the team had executed all of that very well.
When he asked them to contract, they contracted.
When he instructed them to contest and defend well within the penalty area and not give Deng Kai any more opportunities to attack the middle, they crowded seriously within the penalty area.
76th minute.
Serafim’s whimsical pass to the near post resulted in a football interception that directly led to a counterattack.
The veteran Pinto, with a shot feint, shook Orlando off but his subsequent shot was cleared by Kilop.
If Pinto had been five years younger, it might not have come down to Kilop’s intervention, but he was indeed slower than before.
79th minute.
Deng Kai carried the ball to the right, passing back and forth with Alex before chipping the football down the line.
Alex sprinted full force and caught up with the ball, delivering a cross.
But the football was blocked by the following defender, sending it flying toward Deng Kai.
Deng Kai met the airborne ball and instantly completed a quick cross.
No one in the penalty area was ready.
Anderson hadn’t gotten into position, but seeing that the ball’s arc was low, he attempted a near-post header, outmuscling the defender behind him.
Yet the football flew over his head.
But without his feint, the ball would have been cleared by the defender behind him.
Bang!
Feng Te also jumped, about three meters behind Anderson.
Anderson had also obscured his view.
But as a skilled header, there is an important little trick: don’t wait until you see the football coming to jump.
Instead, jump when you feel like the football will come your way.
The difference lies in the fact that if someone is blocking your view, waiting until you see the football will often be too late.
If you ignore the person in front who might touch the football and jump single-mindedly, even if you can’t see the ball and the person in front misses it, you can still connect with it.
This technique is often used when more than one player could touch the ball during a pass.
And Deng Kai, he really favored this multipoint threatening style of passing.
This also led Trigella to insist that all of Moreirense’s forwards in Deng Kai’s passing route should react to shoot the instant the football flies in, not thinking, "He should be able to touch it, so I won’t move."
Swoosh!
Feng Te’s header was powerful and steady; since he had already positioned himself well, he didn’t even need to flick his head for the ball to smash precisely within the goal’s bounds.
"Another goal! Moreirense has leveled the score!"
"And it’s the center-back playing at the striker position, Feng Te, who has helped them equalize!"
"This is a textbook example of a substitution adjustment."
"Playing with fewer men, Moreirense seized their wing-crossing advantage and heavily relied on aerial balls."
"Despite Benfica’s backline also having good height, they couldn’t withstand the bombardment from the opposing duo of about one-ninety in height!"
"Feng Te! Feng Te! Feng Te!"
At that moment, the more than twenty thousand Sporting Lisbon fans finally remembered that this was also their boy on loan, and they began cheering for Feng Te.
Feng Te’s twisted mentality for the entire game finally eased.
Turns out he wasn’t completely socially anxious; when more people called out his name, he actually felt great, not embarrassed at all.
