Chapter 58: Chapter 58 The Final Battle of Turin
Lisbon Athletic and Benfica’s rivalry in youth academy development was causing a stir.
But both had other troubles as well.
For Benfica, it was the championship pressure on the first team.
They were biting at Porto’s heels, but Porto held the initiative.
Lisbon Athletic’s U15 faced the last match of the Youth Champions League group stage against Turin’s U15.
Lisbon Athletic with six points, and Turin with seven, meant that Turin held the upper hand.
The Turin team used to be the undisputed giant of Serie A.
But they never really recovered after the Superga air disaster, plunging into an era of solitary decline.
Three years ago, in the ’95-’96 season, Turin suffered relegation, sinking to Serie B.
This year, they showed great potential for promotion.
Combined with the rise of their youth team, signs of a resurgence for Turin were apparent.
Previously, Lisbon Athletic, with its prized assets leading the way, had lent its main team’s pitch to the youth squad for matches. Fueled by fervor, they even defeated the strongest team in the group, Feyenoord, and sold so many tickets, earning fame and profit.
The high ranks of Turin took note of this.
Before the match, they requested UEFA to switch the venue to their first team’s main stadium, the near 30,000-capacity Stadio Munnari.
UEFA greatly appreciated such an exceptional measure.
This year’s Youth Champions League was an unprecedented success, with participating teams showing overwhelming support for the competition.
Even though the group stage wasn’t finished yet, UEFA had already decided to continue the Youth Champions League.
Many elite clubs also began discussions with UEFA, hoping to secure entry into the Youth Champions League.
...
Stadio Munnari.
The referee blew the whistle to signal the end of the first half.
During the first half, both teams performed rather averagely.
Ronaldo and Quagliarella both had one or two decent moments, but neither managed to alter the scoreline.
"If the match ends in this state, Lisbon Athletic will have to say goodbye to the knockout stage!"
"From a standpoint of sheer strength, Lisbon Athletic is slightly weaker than Turin, but the gap isn’t wide."
"Chris and Quagliarella both have the ability to decide the outcome of the match."
"However, there’s another reason why more people favor Lisbon Athletic in this match."
"It’s not just because they’ve been in hot form lately, but also because of their midfield lynchpin, Deng Kai!"
"This player is hailed as ’Football Caesar’ by the fans of Lisbon, with his stunning record of three goals and two assists in European competitions."
"Yet, in this match, Deng Kai’s performance has been quite ordinary. He’s completely been neutralized by Turin’s midfield."
Exactly.
Deng Kai had been neutralized.
And the reason was... he is a typical right-footed player.
During the pre-match press conference, the coach from Turin openly shared their analysis of Deng Kai in front of the media, "We acknowledge that Deng Kai is an outstanding midfielder. His passing is quick and daring, yet very effective at easily tearing through any defense."
"But we’ve analyzed all his threatening passes in the league and European competition. Over ninety-four percent of them were made with his right foot!"
"We will restrict his right-footed passing, and this will be key to winning the match!"
The facts proved that the analysis by Turin’s coaching staff was correct.
Throughout the entire first half, Deng Kai delivered only one threatening pass, a through ball to Marcelino, the right winger on the same flank.
A right-footed push pass.
Yet his strongest and most threatening ability to launch direct overhead balls from the right wing to the center or even the left wing, which could send the football across the field, hadn’t manifested even once.
This was why Ronaldo’s performance in the first half was slightly inferior to Quagliarella’s.
He could only receive the ball from his left-back Araujo behind him and then take on the Torino defenders with dribbles.
But he wasn’t able to make the most out of Deng Kai’s passes to showcase his off-ball movement and off-ball speed.
Fifteen minutes later, the second half continued.
Deng Kai attempted to position himself closer to the center on the field.
But it wasn’t very effective, as Torino closely guarded against Deng Kai passing with his right foot to the left.
As for Deng Kai’s through balls to the right wing, Torino ignored them.
That’s because Marcelino on Sporting Lisbon’s right wing wasn’t as threatening as Chris on the left wing.
His ability to make runs down the line was decent, but his crossing was subpar.
His skills at cutting inside and shooting were even worse.
Even if he managed to cross, Lorenzo in Sporting Lisbon’s central lane wasn’t a tall center-forward but rather, a poacher who relied on speed and positioning.
Ronaldo had already proven in the previous match that even though he might not be stronger as a center-forward than as a left-winger, he was definitely stronger than Lorenzo.
In the 68th minute, Deng Kai received the ball and lifted his right foot.
The defender positioned himself slightly to Deng Kai’s left to prevent a long pass.
Bang!
Deng Kai fiercely knocked the football to the left.
Then he chased after the ball.
A feint pass followed by a real breakthrough!
"Oh! Deng Kai moves horizontally with the ball, heading towards the center, giving him seemingly more options for passing,"
"But by moving this way, especially with a left-sided pass being blocked, he’s actually reducing his coverage for potential passes."
"Indeed, with Torino’s defensive player coming over, they’re still guarding against Deng Kai’s right foot passing left."
"Chris is making a run, he is being followed, and the passing lane between him and Deng Kai is being cut off by the Torino player."
"Huh, good movement from Marcelino! He’s speeding up on the right flank, finding himself in a big open space. It would be perfect if Deng Kai could pass the ball over now."
"But that’s difficult. We have a bird’s-eye view and can see Marcelino, but Deng Kai might not be able to from his position. Even if he saw him, his current body posture isn’t conducive to getting the ball to the right side. This is the limitation of a right-footed player unless Deng Kai can pass with the outside of his foot."
"Just like Quaresma, the star player of Sporting Lisbon U17, his outside-of-the-foot pass could handle this situation."
Bang!
Deng Kai executed an outside-of-the-foot lob pass, and the football flew over the defender towards the right wing.
The commentator was stunned.
This...
Deng Kai can use the outside of his foot!
The Torino coach was also dumbfounded.
This wasn’t included in the scouting report.
During his many previous matches, Deng Kai had never delivered a key pass with the outside of his foot; he hadn’t even used the outside of his foot.
But this pass had good strength, speed, curvature, and precision.
"Marcelino makes a run without the ball... It’s a one-on-one! This outside-of-the-foot pass has directly created a one-on-one opportunity... The shot... Oh! Marcelino’s kick is too straightforward, almost right at the goalkeeper’s chest. Why would he choose to do that?"
"Any low shot would have been a better outcome than this."
"Marcelino’s shots are always so thoughtless. Despite Chris pulling defenders away, he has had nearly half as many offensive opportunities as Chris this season. But in terms of scoring goals, he doesn’t have even a quarter of Chris’s tally!"
"What a waste of Deng Kai’s exquisite outside-of-the-foot pass!"
