Chapter 130 Is there really no chance?
Forward: Average, but expected.
Midfield: Good, but not great.
Defense: Perfect, best performance so far, zero mistakes.
Goalkeeper: Perfect, and zero mistakes.
Mourinho sat in the visiting team's coaching booth, watching the game on the field and evaluating the players' performance in his mind.
The team basically played the things he emphasized in his pre-match preparations, such as restricting Su Dong and suppressing Sporting Lisbon's midfield, which were done very well.
Offense is a long-standing problem. After selling McCarthy, Mourinho has been unable to find a good center forward.
"Cappuccio has not been active enough in the past five minutes and seems to have consumed a lot of energy." Faria came over and reminded.
In the coaching team, Faria is responsible for studying opponents and analyzing game data. He will keep an eye on the players' dynamics on the court at all times, and after analyzing the results, he will provide them to the head coach for reference.
Mourinho was not surprised by Capuccio's performance and he was prepared.
"Let Clayton go up there and let Delray go more to the middle."
After hearing this, Faria nodded, immediately stood up and turned to the bench.
Soon, Brazilian winger Clayton went out to warm up.
Clayton is left-footed and plays as a right winger, which is Mourinho's attempt at him.
The effect produced by the inverted winger is completely different from that of the traditional winger.
For example, Ronaldo of Sporting Lisbon can play with both feet and can play on both sides, which is very troublesome.
If this kid wasn't so sticky to the ball and so obsessed with fancy moves, he would be more threatening on the court.
Seeing Ronaldo, Mourinho naturally turned his attention to Su Dong.
"How is Jorge Costa doing in the past ten minutes? Can he handle it?" Mourinho asked with concern.
When the game enters a stalemate, players on both sides compete for consumption.
Consume each other's physical strength, energy, and everything that can be consumed, thereby causing the other side to make mistakes.
Putting aside all the tactical characteristics of the player Su Dong, he has one very obvious advantage, which is his commitment to the game.
He was running almost the entire game, had plenty of energy, and was very committed to the game. In addition, he had a large range of activities and was excellent at running without the ball, which made it very painful for all defenders defending him.
To put it simply, even if Su Dong doesn't score a goal, he is a nightmare for defenders.
Jorge Costa is a 31-year-old veteran who has participated in many games this season. Mourinho is more worried about his consumption.
"Judging from the performance in the last ten minutes and the last five minutes, it's still under control," Faria replied.
Mourinho nodded.
As long as veteran Jorge Costa can control this position, there won't be any major problems with the defense.
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"Javier, what do you think?"
In the stands, Spanish scout Garcia smiled and asked Spanish star Subiraz who was sitting next to him.
On the other side, Su Dong and Ronnie's agent Mendes also pricked up his ears and listened attentively.
"It's really good. Among his peers, he is quite good both without the ball and with the ball." Subirat did not hide his admiration at all.
"However, I'm afraid Sporting Lisbon is in big trouble in this game."
"Oh? How come?" Garcia asked with interest.
Subiraz pointed to the bottom of the stands, in front of the visiting team's coaching booth, where Porto were preparing to make substitutions.
"Mourinho has obviously seen the opponent's problem, and he is going to make a substitution first. In the past 60 minutes, Porto has been gaining the upper hand step by step. Now the balance is gradually tilting towards Porto. Mourinho's substitution at this time is obviously a killer move, but Sporting Lisbon does not seem to have a good response."
Indeed, in terms of lineup depth, Sporting Lisbon is not as good as Porto.
Especially when players like Niculai, Sa Pinto and Joao Pinto have not performed well.
"Mourinho is really capable. His style of play is very advanced, and his training philosophy is also very advanced, especially the cycle theory he established. This has enabled Porto's players to maintain a very good state this season, and they are highly regarded in the professional circle."
The 39-year-old Mourinho can be called a young coach, but he is a rising star in the coaching circle of European football.
Although he is not well-known now, it is only a matter of time.
Looking at Boloni, the gap is too obvious.
"Is there really no chance at all?" Garcia was a little unconvinced.
Subiraz heard Garcia's tone and knew that his old friend preferred Sporting Lisbon. He smiled and said, "At this time, we can only hope... on the core players."
Core star!
At the critical moment, there is a star player who can stand up and lead the team out of trouble!
Does Sporting Lisbon have one?
People once thought it was Jardel, but it turned out that Jardel was not.
The Brazilian center forward can score goals, but he can't turn the tide at critical moments.
Some people thought it was Quaresma, but in the past two seasons, Quaresma has proved that he can add icing on the cake, but he cannot provide timely help, and he is not the core star of the team.
Su Dong and Ronnie are too young to be included in the list.
Albertini, Barbosa?
No, they are all old.
"Sporting Lisbon has been selling players over the years, constantly selling their star players, so much so that at this critical moment, they can't find anyone who can stand up."
Subirat's words hit the nail on the head, but they are also the tragedy of a team like Sporting Lisbon.
Because they have no money, they can only keep selling their star players.
"No, Javier, I think there is someone who can do it." Mendes, who had been silent all this time, suddenly smiled confidently.
Subiraz looked past Garcia and fell on Mendes, feeling very surprised, "Who are you talking about?"
"Su Dong!"
Subirat's first reaction was that this cunning agent was deliberately praising his players in front of him.
"He's only eighteen, Jorge," Subiratz reminded.
Mendes still maintained his confident smile, "That's because you still know him, Javier."
"Really?" Subirats didn't believe it.
But at this moment, a cry of surprise suddenly broke out in the stadium.
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Su Dong retreated again to get the ball.
This time he directly withdrew from the thirty-meter area.
Ronnie was suppressed by Ferreira and was unable to dribble the ball forward. After seeing Su Dong pull out to receive the ball, he immediately passed it.
Su Dong received the ball with his back, and Costinha was behind him.
Porto's midfielder tried his best to harass Su Dong, constantly probing and kicking, making a lot of small movements with his hands, and kept secretly pulling at Su Dong's jersey, but Su Dong leaned against him with his body, stopped the ball, and successfully turned around with his physical advantage.
As soon as he turned around, Jorge Costa pounced on him.
Porto's central defender filled the position quickly, but Su Dong reacted even faster.
He just started to accelerate and kicked the ball to the right with his left foot, allowing the ball to avoid Jorge Costa's defensive range.
The Porto midfielder tried to fall to the ground to tackle, but Su Dong took the lead and poked the ball forward, avoiding the tackle.
From receiving the ball to turning around, and then dribbling to avoid Jorge Costa's diving tackle, the whole process happened in an instant. Even many fans couldn't see clearly how Su Dong avoided the front and back attacks of two Porto players.
By the time they reacted, they saw Su Dong had reached the front of the penalty area.
Carvalho stood in front of him, bent slightly, and stared at Su Dong as if he was facing a formidable enemy.
Su Dong sped up and in the blink of an eye he was in front of Carvalho. After attracting the attention of Porto's central defender, he suddenly made a diagonal pass and sent the ball to the side and rear of the defense line.
Quaresma shook off Valente, quickly cut into the penalty area from the right rib, and shot directly towards Su Dong's pass.
Porto goalkeeper Baia reacted quickly and made a side dive to block Quaresma's shot out of the goal and out of the bottom line.
"call!"
Throughout the Alvalade Stadium, tens of thousands of fans sighed in disappointment at the same time.
What a great opportunity!
It could even be said that this was Sporting Lisbon's best chance in the game, but Quaresma's one-on-one shot didn't go in!
Goalkeeper Baia played a role at the crucial moment.
…
"How was that?" Mendes asked Subiraz with a smile, a hint of teasing in his eyes.
Su Dong still worked very hard. It was not easy for him to perform like this even after more than 70 minutes.
Subiraz simply ignored Mendes's teasing and was more surprised.
To be honest, he didn't see clearly how Su Dong broke through the two defensive players, but he saw clearly that Su Dong got through and passed the ball to the best position on the right.
If this ball went in, most of the credit would go to Su Dong. If it didn't go in, Su Dong still performed well.
"Interesting!" Subiraz had to change his opinion of Su Dong.
…
On the field, Albertini took a corner kick.
But unfortunately, goalkeeper Baia left the goal and took the ball directly from the air.
Everyone was retreating, only Su Dong was still at the front of the defense line.
When Baiya turned to the left, Sudong ran to the left. When Baiya turned to the right, Sudong ran to the right.
He didn't run very fast, but just cruised around the two central defenders. Coupled with the tacit cooperation between Ronaldo and Quaresma, Baia was not sure about passing the ball.
When Baia was about to kick the ball directly, the referee Baptista blew the whistle for a foul.
"Baptista believed that the goalkeeper was intentionally delaying the game and gave Baia a yellow card."
"As a result, Porto's central defender Jorge Costa and goalkeeper Baia both received yellow cards."
"4-2, Sporting Lisbon got twice as many yellow cards as Porto, but the two players who got cards for Porto were in key positions and both were direct threats from Su Dong."
…
Baia finally kicked the ball out with a big foot.
Pepe got the ball, but Porto still deployed heavy troops in the midfield and kept pressing.
The two sides were entangled in a tight fight near the center line, fighting back and forth.
Su Dong was cruising in front, waiting for an opportunity, and also taking the opportunity to exchange glances with Ronaldo and Quaresma.
Both Sporting Lisbon wingers noticed Su Dong's gesture and pointed their index fingers upwards.
This means to hit a high ball.
In recent times, Su Dong has been practicing high ball headers.
(End of this chapter)
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