Chapter 199: Chapter 198: Ronaldo, You Have Surpassed Yin Zhaji by Far
Lewandowski was notorious for his underperformance in big matches, which always led to skepticism.
However, this could be seen as a classic case of the flaws inherent in star-focused football.
The center-forward is the most typical position within this star-centered approach.
As a center-forward, once targeted, it’s easy to be isolated and not get the ball.
A goal-scoring machine without the ball obviously can’t perform at all.
With the national team’s overall weakness and lack of tactical prowess, they couldn’t create the attacking environment for Lewandowski like at Dortmund and Bayern. Without other stars to take advantage of the focus on Lewandowski, he would never have his day.
Looking at Ronaldo after he left Real Madrid with this line of thought, one realizes it makes sense why Lewandowski isn’t recognized.
Because Lewandowski is pretty much a watered-down version of Ronaldo during that period.
And that period of Ronaldo was already a decline from his peak.
Back to the pitch.
Morelense firmly implemented the strategy of "cutting off all passing routes to the opposing center-forward."
By the seventh minute, Macedo had successfully intercepted.
By the eleventh minute, Macedo intercepted another pass aimed at the number nine center-forward.
By the thirteenth minute, Deng Kai made an interception and launched a long pass to Ronaldo, but Ronaldo, in his acceleration, was pushed out of bounds and fell due to a physical challenge from his opponent.
After more than ten minutes of mutual probing, both sides figured out each other’s arrangements.
Augustus saw Morelense’s tight marking on his team’s number nine.
Trigella also noted that Gandoma was physically bullying Ronaldo more comprehensively that day.
Intense physical confrontation, no direct fouls, no outright tackles, mainly to disrupt Ronaldo’s dribbling and control of the ball through this method.
It seemed a bit gentler, but in reality, it made Ronaldo uncomfortable.
If you commit a direct foul, Ronaldo can still draw a foul.
This kind of non-fouling intensity, continuously pestering Ronaldo, made him extremely uncomfortable.
One could tell that these were issues that Augustus had identified while coaching Quaresma.
Augustus wasn’t ignorant; his tactical philosophy was simply outdated, fundamentally different from Maxa’s.
Gandoma faced the same problem but had no solution for the moment.
Their players were still stubbornly passing to the number nine center-forward.
The number nine center-forward also made an effort by dropping back and moving wide.
But he didn’t understand that it had nothing to do with what he did; no matter what he did or where he was on the field, he would always be targeted by multiple Morelense players.
Unless their other players could use his drawing power to create threats elsewhere on the pitch.
But if Gandoma had such star players, would Augustus still be targeting the number nine center-forward?
A weaker Lewandowski fared better in the center-forward position than a stronger Ronaldo at Manchester United, largely because United had no other strengths in attack.
Perhaps there were, but due to Ronaldo’s great influence (positive), these players naturally wanted to look for him in attack, thereby losing their own threat.
Or, under the pressure of Ronaldo’s great influence (negative), they couldn’t play entirely as they wished, ending up playing awkwardly and not even knowing when to do their own thing or look for Ronaldo.
Even if you do as you want, after the match, you can’t avoid worrying whether your relationship with Ronaldo will be affected because of it.
Sometimes these off-the-pitch concerns have a deeper impact than what happens on the field.
So, when you don’t understand a player’s performance on the pitch, off-the-pitch factors might be key.
Similar issues were almost always happening inside the Argentina team as well.
But unlike Gandoma.
Morelense had a player who could practically eliminate the interference of top-tier stars within the team, and not worry about impacting their off-field relationship—Deng Kai!
There will always be discontent in a team; the key is who can resolve this discontent.
The nineteenth minute.
Kilop made a key interception in the backfield, again cutting off the opposition’s number nine center-forward, then passed the ball to the retreating Deng Kai.
Deng Kai feinted with a big kick, sending Ronaldo on the left wing directly into flight, as the defender also anticipated Deng Kai’s pass.
As a result, Deng Kai reversed course with a flick and headed straight to the right wing.
On the right, Deng Kai and Alex exchanged a series of short passes, and after getting through the midfield, Deng Kai repeated his trick, looking towards the penalty area but delivering a through ball forward instead.
Alex successfully reached the end line and swung his foot for the cross.
Bang!
Anderson, who had been waiting in the penalty area for a long time, executed a Lion’s Header, crashing the ball into Gandoma’s net.
Morlence took the lead with a score of one to zero!
And from the moment of the interception, Ronaldo had ran back and forth on the left wing at least three times, calling for the ball five times.
Deng Kai looked over twice, and with a glance noticed Ronaldo four times, but not once did he pass the ball to Ronaldo.
Did Ronaldo have emotions?
Of course, he did.
When Anderson leaped for the header, Ronaldo had already spread his arms in complaint.
Because Alex’s pass was not for him at the far post, but for the much-contested central point.
But when the ball went in, Ronaldo had no choice but to awkwardly raise his hands, turning complaints into celebration.
In the midst of celebrating, Ronaldo, back to his senses, knew that it wasn’t easy for Alex to spot the far post—he probably didn’t have the ability to notice, did he?
Alex: Ginseng rooster????
But Deng Kai did.
Seeing but not passing is the mark of a true villain.
So Ronaldo, seemingly nonchalantly, approached Deng Kai amidst the celebration.
Little did Ronaldo know, before he could confront, Deng Kai came over with a "honeyed flattery": "Your pulling runs are fantastic! You’re getting a bit of an Inzaghi flavor... but he’s not nearly as fast as you!"
Ronaldo forcefully maintained a smile, calmly saying, "Don’t say that, his shots are not bad either."
Deng Kai: "That’s true, but your shots are even stronger!"
Ronaldo shook his head, turned, and walked away, then his smile burst forth, happier than if he had scored a goal himself.
After turning around, Deng Kai also shrugged lightly. Honestly, Ronaldo is just that easy to please.
If only those guys at Juventus, Manchester United, Portugal—especially the coach and the strong-wingers—knew how to cajole a child, their damn performance stats would soar in minutes.
Bruno Fernandes was quite the blockhead, taking a whole season under Ronaldo’s aura to slowly come around.
Unfortunately, it was too late, as Manchester United had already completely enraged Ronaldo through Rangnick and Ten Hag.
This three-year-old kid might be easy to fool, but you’ve still got to do the fooling.
If you don’t even act like it and just resort to dirty tricks, could Ronaldo tolerate that? Then what was the point of leaving Real Madrid?
In the 26th minute.
Gandoma’s No. 9 striker displayed his skills, receiving the ball, fending off a defender, and bypassing another player all in one breath, overpowering Kilop.
But unfortunately, Feng Te was already lying in wait behind, and with a light stretch of his leg, he completed the interception.
Feng Te passed the ball to Deng Kai.
Deng Kai sent a long ball from the back field directly to Anderson.
Ronaldo was beside him calling for the ball, but Anderson didn’t have the technique, so he could only pass it back to Emerson.
Seeing the situation, Ronaldo immediately started to make a forward run.
As expected, Emerson delivered a through ball straight to Ronaldo’s path.
After receiving the ball, Ronaldo gained a favorable position, but was soon entangled by the opposing center-back.
The opponent didn’t go for a vigorous tackle, but just jostled him.
This made it much more difficult for Ronaldo to deal with than a direct confrontation.
