Chapter 845: The Tragedy of Maicon

When Su Dong saw Maicon again, the Brazilian right-back had lost his former high spirits and was replaced by a heavy mood. It was obvious that he was hit hard by Gareth Bale.

In fact, in terms of age, Maicon is less than 30 years old and should have been in his prime. Unfortunately, he met the incredible Gareth Bale, who is not only young but also incredibly fast.

Sometimes, fans see a crushing defeat or a poor performance by a certain player, but many things behind it are often not determined by the players, or in other words, the players' performance is not the decisive factor.

It's like Maicon was beaten by Gareth Bale, but behind it was actually the entire Inter Milan, from the management to the coaching staff to the players. If anyone is to be blamed, Maicon may not necessarily bear the primary responsibility.

Why do I say that? First of all, Inter Milan fell rapidly after a peak season. Not only Maicon, but also Sneijder, Diego Milito and Eto'o were like this, and the team was full of veterans in their thirties.

Anyone who knows a little about football knows that the most reasonable configuration for a team is a combination of old, middle-aged and young players. Too many veterans will be a huge problem.

Since Moratti renewed the contracts of Sneijder and others on a large scale, Inter Milan has basically established a lineup with veterans as the core. The feelings have been taken into consideration, but the team's competitiveness has been lost. No one can prevent the decline of the veterans after their peak.

There is also a tactical level.

Mancini used to adopt a defensive tactic, which was not a problem for a team with too many veterans.

I will lie in wait, organize the defense, let you attack, and then I will counterattack you. Inter Milan achieved good results last season with this style of play, but now the head coach has changed from Mancini to Benítez, and the problem has changed.

From Valencia to Liverpool to Inter Milan, Benítez's tactics are basically the same, that is, 4-2-3-1 high-pressure pressing. This set of tactics helped him achieve success and is also the reason why Inter Milan chose him.

Why? Because Inter Milan is too old. If they continue to defend, they can no longer defend. But if they attack, they advance too slowly and cannot open up the situation. If they continue to adopt Mancini's squatting tactics, the defense may be better, but if the offense cannot open up, the veterans will not be able to bear it, and it is only a matter of time before they concede a goal.

AC Milan, the city's arch-rival, encountered the same problem back then. Ancelotti adopted two tactics, one was Pirlo's passing, and the other was Kaka, so Kaka was so important to AC Milan back then.

But Inter Milan has no Pirlo, no Kaka, only Sneijder.

So, Benítez came to Inter Milan with his high-pressure pressing.

The idea is also very wise. Since I can't squat and can't advance the offense, then I will just push the defense line out, shorten the advancement distance when switching from defense to offense, and play the role of Sneijder. Is this okay? Is this method useful?

It is actually really useful.

Needless to say, in the Serie A league, Benítez's performance in the early days of his coaching was still good. Although there were fewer goals, there were also records like the 4-0 victory over Bari, and the performance was relatively stable.

In the Champions League group stage, the first leg was a 2-2 draw with Twente of the Netherlands away, which was not unacceptable, but the second leg was a 4-0 home win over Werder Bremen, which was a great success.

Even in the first game against Tottenham Hotspur, Inter Milan led 4-0 in the first half.

In other words, as of the end of the first half of the third round of the Champions League group stage at home against Tottenham Hotspur, Benítez's tactics were a huge success. It cannot be said to be invincible or undefeated, but at least it allowed Inter Milan to show good competitiveness and gave the veterans a new life.

But the problem is that unlucky Benítez and unlucky Inter Milan had just started to improve when they had the misfortune to run into Redknapp and his Tottenham Hotspur.

Redknapp is a cunning old fox, and even in the Premier League, many people compare him to Ferguson.

Tottenham Hotspur has good defense and two sharp knives in counterattack, Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon.

One thing these two players have in common is their incredible speed, especially Gareth Bale.

After the 4-0 defeat in the first half, Redknapp had no choice but to lose. At the same time, he also saw through Benítez's tactical weakness, which is that when your lineup is old and the overall formation is pressed forward, once the midfield and frontcourt are unable to exert enough pressure on the opponent and are directly hit from behind by the opponent, sharp knives like Gareth Barry and Aaron Lennon will become very deadly.

Therefore, in the second half, Tottenham Hotspur decisively changed their tactics and scored three goals in a row.

In the second round, Tottenham Hotspur continued to adopt this style of play, and Inter Milan suffered a crushing defeat away from home.

At this point, everyone knows Inter Milan’s Achilles’ heel.

Benítez's tactical style of play was completely seen through, and Maicon was completely defeated in the match against Gareth Bale, losing his confidence and reputation.

And if we look at it from beginning to end, is this really just the players' fault? In professional football, being bad is the original sin, and you have to admit it if you lose.

But from a neutral and objective point of view, if it was not Maicon standing on the right side of Inter Milan at that time, any other right side back in the world would probably have been blown up by Gareth Bale, or even worse.

Sometimes fate is like this, and Maicon became such a tragic character.

…

After receiving the Team of the Year award, there was an important moment at the scene, that is, the eleven players stood in two rows and let the media reporters on the scene take pictures.

Su Dong was the tallest and stood on the far left of the back row. This was his usual habit; he didn't like standing in the C position.

Next to him was Maicon.

The Brazilian right back stood between Sudong and Lucio, wearing a neat suit, but looking lonely and depressed.

Messi, Ronaldo and others in the front row squatted down. Su Dong leaned towards Maicon, holding the trophy in one hand and putting his arm around Maicon's shoulder with the other, and smiled towards the camera in front of him.

Maicon was very surprised and looked at Su Dong in disbelief.

Once upon a time, he was the strongest right back in the world, especially after the World Cup in South Africa, his popularity was unmatched.

At that time, he had many, many friends and many confidants, but as he was exposed by Gareth Bale, as his reputation plummeted, as his position as the world's number one right-back was no longer secure, and rumors emerged that he had fallen from the peak, these people gradually distanced themselves from him.

Even many of his former teammates in the national team and club began to ignore him.

At this time, Su Dong took the initiative to hold his hand, which made him feel warm.

"Thank you." Maicon said softly in a voice that only Su Dong could hear clearly.

Su Dong turned his head and grinned at him.

"Don't give up! As long as you don't give up, it will never be able to defeat you!"

Maicon's eyes were slightly red, he nodded and looked forward.

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After the annual best team was awarded, the Fair Play Award was presented to the Haitian U17 women's football team.

Their head coach died in the earthquake, but these girls still participated in the World Youth Championship.

The best women's football coach was given to Nader, and the best men's football coach was given to Bayern's Heynckes.

This is actually still somewhat controversial, but the World Cup champion is won every four years, and the legend of successfully defending the treble like Bayern did last season is unique in football history.

Heynckes deserves this honor.

It is worth mentioning that in his acceptance speech, Heynckes also mentioned Su Dong.

The FIFA President's Award was presented to Nobel Peace Prize winner and former South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu for his active support for the South Africa World Cup and his commitment to promoting football.

The Puskas Award, also known as the best goal of the year, was still awarded to Su Dong.

Since the award was founded in 2009, Su Dong has won the Puskas Prize for two consecutive years.

He contributes a number of wonderful goals to world football every year. Some people even say that every goal scored by Su Dong is a classic and very exciting. If it were other players, they would be included in the collection of the top ten goals in their careers. The media and fans have seen so much that they have become numb, because goals should be like this.

However, because of this, the media and fans are more demanding of Su Dong.

Then the World Footballer of the Year award was presented, and the winner was Marta from Brazil.

This is the fifth time that a Brazilian female football star has been elected World Footballer of the Year, making her a legendary star in the women's football world.

When it comes to the finale award, the FIFA Ballon d'Or, the lineup of presenters is also the most impressive.

Not only was FIFA President Blatter present, but also French Football Magazine CEO Molinier, Heynckes who had just won the Best Men's Football Coach of the Year, and UEFA President Platini, all four of them appeared on the podium at the same time.

Such weight is undoubtedly unprecedented, and it also shows how much importance FIFA attaches to the first FIFA Ballon d'Or.

When everyone saw Heynckes as one of the award presenters, they already knew the answer and immediately started applauding. The entire Zurich Opera House was filled with deafening applause.

Heynckes held the trophy of the first FIFA Ballon d'Or, while Molinier opened the envelope containing the name of the winner and finally took out a golden paper card with the name of the winner of the first FIFA Ballon d'Or on it.

“Su Dong!!!!”

When Molinier shouted out the name loudly, the venue burst into thunderous applause again.

Su Dong stood up from his seat, turned around and hugged his friends around him.

Ronaldo, Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and others also sent their congratulations.

Long before this moment, everyone had guessed that Su Dong was the number one favorite. Whether in Bayern or Manchester City, his performance was impeccable.

Both Xavi and Iniesta deserve a Golden Ball, but unfortunately, their competitors are Su Dong!

(End of this chapter)