Chapter 109 The three lions make their debut! [Four thousand words chapter]
Compared with the packed house in the FA Cup final, the number of spectators in the Three Lions warm-up match was less than half.
Even so, the cheers of tens of thousands of England fans still made the Lions on the field full of energy.
The Peruvian national team, ranked 64th in the world, cannot be called a strong team.
However, there are also stars in the small teams.
For example, Bundesliga Bayern Munich center Claudio Pizarro, Hamburg forward Jose Paul Guerrero, Schalke 04 wing Jefferson Farfan, and Serie A Genoa's Juan Barga Sri Lanka.
These four players are called the "Fantastic Four" of Peru
Even though they have not produced many famous stars.
But in the 1970s, Peru was the strongest football country in South America after Brazil and Argentina.
Unfortunately, Peru has never entered the World Cup since 1982.
In this World Cup in Brazil, Peru is 10 points away from entering the World Cup.
The national team is also very particular when choosing its opponents for warm-up matches.
Too strong, and if you can't beat them, you will lose face and destroy the players' confidence;
Too weak, it will be completely one-sided, and there is no training value at all.
Therefore, a mid-range team that is neither strong nor weak can maximize the benefits of the warm-up match.
And this South American team, which specializes in defensive counterattacks, is not a pushover.
If the Three Lions don't take it seriously, the boat will capsize in the gutter...
So, Hodgson directly put forward the strongest lineup in his mind:
Joe ·Hart guards the goal, and the four defenders from left to right are Baynes, Jagielka, Cahill, and Glen Johnson.
The two central midfielders are the Liverpool combination of Gerrard and Henderson, and the attacking midfielder is Rooney.
On the left and right are Welbeck and Sterling.
The one at the front is Sturridge, the Premier League silver boot.
It is worth mentioning that all five Liverpool players selected for the national team started!
Judging from this starting lineup, it can be seen that Hodgson wants to extend Liverpool's excellent performance in the Premier League this season to the national team as much as possible.
However, this has nothing to do with Ling Feng sitting on the bench.
He just chewed gum and carefully watched the situation on the court.
Although there is no starter. However, he still has to observe the running habits of his teammates on the bench.
Only in this way can he strengthen his tacit understanding with his teammates as soon as possible and pass comfortable passes to his teammates after coming off the bench.
Moreover, he will meet most of the Premier League stars on the field in the Premier League next season.
So, this is also a good opportunity to observe and understand your opponent up close
Amid the cheers of tens of thousands of home fans at Wembley Stadium, the Three Lions took the initiative on the field from the start.
Peru also gave up the ball directly, put on a 451 defensive posture, and waited for England to attack.
However, in a dense defensive formation, the difficulty of passing and receiving coordination will also increase exponentially.
England is not Arsenal. Most of the frontcourt players' foot skills are very rough and they are unable to coordinate smoothly on the ground.
You can only distribute the ball to the wings, let the two wingers break through and then pass down the bottom, or fire from a long distance from the outside.
Whenever England attacked with the ball in the midfield or on the wing, Ling Feng noticed that Rooney in the midfield position would not come out to meet his teammates, but would directly dive into the penalty area to form a double forward with Sturridge.
I don’t know if it was Hodgson’s tactical arrangement or his own habits as a forward.
Therefore, Rooney is not so much an attacking midfielder as he is a shadow forward.
He is responsible for lurking behind Sturridge to connect in the frontcourt and take the second shot.
Gerrard, who is in the midfield, presses into the attacking midfielder position to dispatch and shoot from long range.
In other words, only Henderson is left in the huge midfield.
Facing an opponent who is weak and unable to organize an effective counterattack, it is normal to press and fight like this.
However, the opponents are not European fish bellies like Luxembourg and Moldova!
Once England loses the ball in the frontcourt, Peru only needs a quick counterattack to quickly pass through the midfield and directly face the back line!
Just when Ling Feng was thinking this, the situation on the court suddenly changed:
Left winger Welbeck failed to break through on the left wing. After being double-teamed and intercepted, the ball was quickly transferred.
The Peruvian midfielder made a direct pass to Farfan on the right.
As the fastest player in the Peruvian team, Farfan is the only breaking point for the Peruvian team in the frontcourt.
At this time, Henderson, who was left in midfield, was still three meters away from Farfan!
Looking at the midfield as wide as the sea, Farfan made a soup, left Henderson behind who came to help defend, and then pushed forward from the center.
At the same time, Peru's left winger and midfielder were also keeping up at high speed!
Coupled with center Pizarro next to the central defender, Peru actually formed a four-on-four situation during the transition between offense and defense!
This scene attracted bursts of cheers from the few Peruvian fans present.
Bringing it all the way from the center circle to the outside of the penalty area, Farfan passed the ball to center Pizarro.
The 36-year-old Bayern center leaned against center back Cahill, held the ball firmly, and then knocked the ball back to his midfielder teammate on the left who was following at high speed.
The latter directly met the ball and fired furiously, with a "boom" sound and a slash to the ground.
The ball shot out and flew towards the near corner of the goal!
Fortunately, Joe Hart was focused and went straight down to hold the ball firmly under his arm, defusing this threatening attack.
Although such scenes are rare.
But it is a microcosm of the entire first half.
England pinned Peru in the half and bombarded them wildly, but they were not as threatening as Peru's sporadic quick counterattacks.
Perhaps seeing this problem, during the halftime break, Hodgson specifically pointed out Rooney's problem in the locker room and asked him to retreat more to the outside of the penalty area to receive the ball.
Until this moment, Ling Feng understood that entering the penalty area was not Hodgson's tactical arrangement, but Rooney's forward instinct!
This is normal.
Although in Manchester United's tactics, Rooney also moved back and became a shadow striker.
But in the Three Lions, he has always been the first choice up front.
It was only because of Sturridge's explosive form and the number of midfielders that Hodgson asked Rooney to retreat a little.
However, the habit of forward penetration cannot be changed in a short time.
Of course, after the coach's reminder, Rooney nodded to express his understanding.
Subsequently, the coach did not forget to ask Gerrard to reduce the frequency of long-range shots, and arrange organization on the outside to prevent opponents from counterattacking.
There is no strictly defensive midfielder in this England team.
Gerrard, Milner, Lampard, and Henderson are all so-called all-around midfielders. They can go forward and shoot long shots, and they can intercept and defend.
Ling Feng, Lallana, and Wilshere are midfielders who are more inclined to organize offense.
Among the seven midfielders, perhaps Henderson has the best defensive ability.
So, Hodgson planned to push Gerrard up from the beginning, and then let Henderson stay in the midfield alone.
However, after the tactical experiment in the first half, he found that Henderson's midfield defense alone was too weak!
But it is impossible for him to leave Gerrard in the midfield to defend and do the dirty work of stealing and intercepting.
This would be a waste of his offensive talents, and Gerrard himself would be uncomfortable playing.
As for the option of not letting Gerrard start at all and replacing him with a young man with better physical fitness to ensure the defensive coverage of the midfield.
This is even more impossible!
As the captain of England, Gerrard is the soul and core of this Three Lions team. As long as he doesn't take the initiative to say he is tired or give up his position, Hodgson will definitely let him start.
It is also for this reason that Rooney cannot not start.
It is impossible for Hodgson to take down these two men.
Once he does this, let alone the FA, the media will write a lot of news the next day to blast him to death!
Therefore, he can only make some subtle adjustments according to the two people's playing styles as much as possible, so as to make the team's offense and defense more balanced.
The fifteen-minute intermission was fleeting.
The two sides did not make any substitution adjustments and went directly to the second half of the game.
In the final analysis, there is still a certain gap between the two sides in terms of strength.
After adjusting the details of the tactics, England played more freely and methodically on the court.
Gerrard does not step in so frequently, but only distributes the ball from the outside so that the space in the middle is not so empty.
And Rooney's retreat to catch the ball also gave an additional connection point for crosses from the two wings.
The offense has improved, and the midfield defense has become more solid.
The Peruvian team’s counterattack basically did not pose much of a threat.
Under pressure, in the 53rd minute of the second half, "Happy Boy" successfully broke through the full-back through the right wing and passed an inverted triangle low ball.
Rooney, who responded in the middle, hit the ball with a low shot into the lower right corner of the goal, taking the lead to break the deadlock!
As Rooney came to the corner flag with his signature "boxer" celebration, Wembley Stadium erupted in enthusiastic cheers.
As a genius who became famous at a young age and the current number one star of the Three Lions, Rooney's popularity in England is considered to be the highest in the team.
“Wayne scored the goal.”
With the DJ’s drawn-out tone, tens of thousands of England fans in the stadium shouted in unison:
"Rooney!!!"
After taking the lead, the Three Lions became more relaxed.
In the 63rd minute of the game, seeing that the situation was looking good, Hodgson turned around and glanced at the bench, and then whispered a few words to the assistant coach.
The latter immediately came to the bench and called the names of five people in one breath:
"Ling! Jamie! Luke! Jack (Wilshere)! Chris ( Smolin)!”
"Go and warm up!"
Hearing this, Ling Feng and others immediately put on their substitute vests and came to the sidelines to warm up.
Seeing Ling Feng and others coming to the sidelines to warm up, the fans couldn't help but cheer in the nearby stands.
Especially when Ling Feng’s handsome face appeared on the big screen in the stadium, the female fans in the stadium cheered even louder.
No way, he is handsome, just like fireflies in the dark night, so bright and outstanding.
During the warm-up, Vardy suddenly approached Ling Feng and asked in a low voice:
"Ling, do you think I will score a goal later and what celebration action will be more handsome?"
"Are you so confident that you can score a goal later?"
"If you pass the ball to me, can I not score a goal?"
Hearing this, Ling Feng suddenly felt very good.
My second brother's words are right. He and I have been teammates for half a season, and our emotional intelligence has become higher.
"That's true. However, depending on the coach's arrangements, we may not be able to appear on the field at the same time."
"What about you, if you score a goal, what are you going to do to celebrate?"< br>
Faced with this problem, Ling Feng couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
To be honest, he really didn't think about what he would do to celebrate if he scored a goal in his first appearance with the national team.
Because the Three Lions are different from Leicester City.
In Leicester City, he is the core of the midfield and the initiator of the offense, with unlimited firing rights.
But in the Three Lions, he is just a little Karami.
There are many big players in the team, and as his position moves back, he will only be further away from the goal.
There will definitely not be many shooting opportunities in each game, and it will not be his turn.
He actually thought that he might be able to provide an assist on his first appearance with the national team.
After thinking for a while, Ling Feng suppressed an answer:
"If I score a goal, I will wave to my parents in the stands."
Because he is very It is possible to make his national team debut today.
So, he had already asked his parents to come to the stadium through the staff to witness this moment with him.
When the game time came to the 68th minute, Gerrard suddenly shot a cold arrow from outside the penalty area and penetrated the Peru goal with a powerful and heavy long-range shot.
The score came to two to zero.
At this time, Ling Feng and Vardy, who had finished warming up, took off their vests and came to the sidelines, preparing to come on as substitutes.
"Ling, when you come on the field later, don't push forward, use the pass to hit the rib space between the center back and full back"
"Jamie."
After the tactical coach quickly explained the tactics to the three of them, the fourth official on the sidelines held up the substitution card to signal the substitution.
England used up three substitutions in one breath!
Replace Gerrard with Ling Feng, replace Baines with Luke Shaw, and replace Welbeck with Vardy.
It’s basically all about substitutions.
Looking at Ling Feng, who was wearing a 15 pure white jersey and standing on the sidelines, the on-site director very wisely targeted the young player who was about to make his debut for the national team.
There was a burst of warm applause in the stadium.
Fans are delighted with the new energy injected into the Three Lions.
At the same time, Ling Feng’s parents, who were sitting in the VIP viewing stands, were waving their Three Lions scarves and flags to cheer for their son!
“Come on, Xiaofeng!”
“Come on!”
The commentator on the scene used a passionate voice to introduce this handsome black-haired young man to the audience:
“Ling Feng, a young midfielder from Leicester City, a newly promoted Premier League team, is eighteen years old. At the age of 357 days, he became the eighth youngest player to make his debut for the England national team.”
“This young man who is not yet 19 years old has made great achievements in England in the past season. He played a decisive role in the Champions League and FA Cup, helping the team win two championships, and personally won the best award in the British Championship."
"His teammates also made their national team debut together. , Jamie Vardy, who broke the Championship scoring record with the Golden Boot."
While high-fiving and hugging Gerrard, Gerrard did not forget to send his congratulations to Ling Feng:
"Do it well!"
"I will!"
The scene of the two hugging was captured by the on-site photographer astutely, and this photo will be very valuable in the future. Memorial photos.
At this moment, no one would have thought that this would be the handover between the old era and the new era of the Three Lions
(End of this chapter)