Chapter 162 I will really resist! [Third update with vomiting blood, begging for monthly ticket subscription!]
Visiting the Dragon Stadium, Sporting Lisbon has made full preparations for defensive counterattacks.
In this game, Bologna once again deployed a three-defensive midfielder formation, leaving only the trident led by Su Dong in the frontcourt to prepare for counterattacks. The midfield, led by captain Barbosa and Albertini, focused on stable defense.
Mourinho's use of troops in this game was different from his previous cautious approach and instead seemed a bit radical.
The 4-3-3 formation had basically no changes to the defense line, except that Costinha was removed from the midfield and Maniche was replaced as a holding midfielder, with Deco and Alenichev in the frontcourt. Both players had very good offensive power, and the frontcourt was a trident consisting of Dellei, Postiga and Capucho.
It is obvious that Porto aims to take the initiative.
At the beginning of the game, the home team, as everyone expected, kept probing Sporting Lisbon and organized one attack after another.
Sporting Lisbon is playing it safe and waiting for the opportunity.
The situation seemed a bit stalemate, and neither team was willing to make mistakes easily.
The pace of the game was not slow and it went on smoothly without too many fouls interrupting the game.
Both teams have free kick experts, which makes both teams unwilling to commit fouls easily in the hinterland. In addition, due to their cautious strategy, once the ball is lost, they immediately and quickly retreat to defend. The two sides do not entangle too much in the midfield, so there are fewer fouls.
But everyone can see that this stalemate and deadlock are only temporary.
As long as either side makes a mistake, the opponent may score a goal at any time.
For example, in the 36th minute of the first half, Sporting Lisbon made a serious mistake.
The midfielder made a mistake in passing the ball and it was intercepted. Deco dribbled the ball forward quickly and quickly passed it to the left. Dellei dribbled the ball away from Queiroga's defense and sent the ball to Postiga's feet in the penalty area.
Postiga stopped the ball and shot directly! At the critical moment, Pepe made a precise sliding tackle and tripped Postiga with the ball in the penalty area.
The referee indicated that Pepe's defense was effective and he touched the ball first, so it was not a foul.
This made the Porto players very dissatisfied, and there was loud booing at the scene. Obviously, they all thought it should be a penalty.
Afterwards, the game continued to be stalemate.
At halftime, Mourinho made a substitution.
Midfielder Thiago replaced Alenichev.
The Russian midfielder performed poorly in the first half and was not excited enough. Mourinho was not satisfied with his performance and made a decisive substitution.
Porto made substitutions while Sporting Lisbon continued to defend.
It’s not that Boloni is unwilling to make substitutions, but the eleven players currently on the field are already the strongest lineup he can arrange, and he really can’t make any more substitutions.
…
Su Dong has been patiently waiting and looking for opportunities.
Especially in the second half.
After the UEFA Cup semi-final, Porto began to change its strategy, abandoning the targeted defensive strategy previously deployed against Su Dong, and instead adopted a strategy of suppressing the midfield and reducing the number of passes from the midfield.
Therefore, in the midfield, the lagging Maniche was more focused on clearing the ball, while the other two midfielders were more focused on suppressing.
This is also the reason why Mourinho replaced Alenichev with Thiago. The Russian did not do a good job in suppressing defense. On the contrary, Deco was very comprehensive. He performed very well in both offense and defense.
Since the midfield cannot pass the ball, Su Dong’s role in the frontcourt will naturally be greatly reduced and his threat will be less.
But there is no perfect defense in this world.
Su Dong knew very well that Porto's style of play would certainly suppress Sporting Lisbon, but as the midfield pressed forward and the back line moved forward, as physical energy consumption increased or players made mistakes, gaps would inevitably appear behind them.
This was his chance.
So he kept pulling and kept running.
Until...
…
"The ball is still in Porto's court."
"Deco continued to organise and plan the team's attacks."
"Give it to Thiago, pass it forward."
"Derlei got the ball on the left, faced Queiroga and tried to pass it into the box."
"Postiga didn't get the ball, and Andre Cruz got there first and stole it."
"Sporting Lisbon defended well."
"Kroos passed the ball to Albertini and quickly launched a counterattack."
"Albertini stopped the ball and made a long pass."
"It went straight to the left side of the front court."
"Su Dong ran to the left to receive the ball..."
…
The moment Su Dong saw Albertini's pass, he quickly ran to the left and went straight behind Ferreira.
At this time, the Portuguese right-back also realized the danger and turned around to chase back immediately.
But Su Dong still took the lead, occupied the most advantageous position, and tried to stop the ball.
Ferreira also reacted very quickly. Seeing that he could no longer catch up with the ball, he simply gave up competing with Su Dong for the first chance and instead blocked Su Dong's inside. Especially when he saw Su Dong trying to stop the ball, he slid and tackled without hesitation.
I have to say that Ferreira's tackle was very quick and urgent. As soon as Su Dong stopped the ball, his sliding tackle came.
Fortunately, Su Dong's reaction was not slow, and his left foot was very flexible. After stopping the ball, he kicked it back immediately, thus barely avoiding Ferreira's sliding tackle, but his momentum of rushing forward was also stopped abruptly.
By the time Su Dong stopped and turned around, regaining control of the ball, Ferreira had already gotten up from the ground and stared at Su Dong as if he was facing a formidable enemy. His eyes seemed to say: Don't come over again, I will really resist! Su Dong faced Ferreira and glanced at the penalty area. Ronnie and Quaresma had already reached the middle and right, ready to respond at any time, but Jorge Costa, Carvalho and Maniche also returned in time.
Without any hesitation, he dribbled the ball skillfully with his feet and pressed Ferreira step by step.
The Portuguese right-back lowered his center of gravity, bent his waist, and was ready to take action at any time.
In this position, he didn't mind using any means to entangle Su Dong.
Su Dong also knew what he was thinking, and as he approached, he kept changing his feints.
Just as the ball was about to reach Ferreira's reach, Su Dong suddenly lowered his left shoulder, and it looked like he was going to dribble the ball to the bottom line and make a cross.
Ferreira also changed his position immediately, following the baseline and blocking Su Dong's inside.
But as soon as he moved, Su Dong suddenly pulled the ball back with his left foot, and then gently moved the ball sideways with the outside of his right foot, directly turning it inside from the original bottom. At the same time, he sprinted horizontally to the right along the front of the penalty area at the fastest speed.
This sudden change startled Ferreira. He wanted to catch up, but he was a step too slow.
Maniche ran over to assist in defense as soon as possible, but before Porto's midfielder could rush over, Su Dong took two consecutive steps and rushed in front of the ball. After standing still with his left foot, he quickly fired a powerful shot with his right foot, which was earth-shattering.
"Bati GOL!!!!"
"Su Dong cuts inside and shoots!!"
“The ball goes in!!!!”
"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!"
"In the 61st minute, Su Dong scored again against Porto."
"Poor Ferreira, he has been fooled by Su Dong several times in a row!"
"This time, he was easily dribbled past by Su Dong's change of direction and cut inside."
"Of course, no one can blame Ferreira because he has tried his best. All we can say is that Su Dong is too fast, especially his explosive power. He can easily shake off the defenders and get into space."
"He cut in from the left and volleyed the ball with his right foot. It was a beautiful shot and goalkeeper Baia was helpless."
…
The moment Su Dong kicked the ball, the entire Fire Dragon Stadium fell into deathly silence.
The moment the ball entered the net, cheers broke out from the stands.
The two thousand fans from Sporting Lisbon gave a deafening cheer in unison, and many of them shouted Su Dong and the Little God of War in unison.
Sitting in the crowd, Su Wenjie and his wife were also inexplicably excited. They even felt their blood pressure soared and their hearts couldn't bear it. The mother, who had high blood pressure, could only take deep breaths continuously.
Ma Dawei next to him, like other Sporting Lisbon fans, rushed out of his seats frantically and shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Great! So beautiful!"
"Uncle, aunt, did you see that? This goal is so beautiful!"
"This is a long shot from the left side, at least 20 meters away. The power of this shot is really surprising!"
Being able to kick such a groundbreaking shot at the age of eighteen, not only with great power but also at such a fast speed, is definitely unusual and can only be achieved through long-term strength training.
Su Wenjie and his wife didn't understand any of this. They just kept nodding their heads, their hearts filled with excitement.
…
Mourinho frowned, shook his head and sighed.
"This kid is really troublesome. He has such leg strength at the age of 18." Boas was full of admiration.
"I heard from people at the University of Lisbon that he has hired a personal trainer for a year and a half and has been doing strength training. His personal trainer is now a lecturer at the University of Lisbon's School of Human Kinetics and is very good at training players."
“But isn’t this progress too fast?”
Between last season and this season, Su Dong's performance has made a leap forward, both in terms of data and performance.
It can be said that he completed the transformation of his career this year.
At least in the Portuguese Super League, he can be considered a first-line player.
"We are lacking such a player in the frontcourt now. If he were there, Sporting Lisbon's goal would have been broken countless times. Why would we have to wait until now?" Mourinho said unconvinced.
His team had an absolute advantage on the field, but they were unable to score a goal. A key reason for this was the lack of a strong fulcrum in the middle of the frontcourt.
Postiga still doesn't work.
Although this Porto youth training talent has made obvious progress this season compared to before, his progress is far behind that of Sudon, Quaresma and Ronaldo.
If this continues, can this genius still meet the expectations of the outside world?
Mourinho was very skeptical about this, but as the head coach, he couldn't let the whole team stop and wait for Postiga.
That's why he wanted to bring in Su Dong.
As long as Su Dong comes, his entire tactical map for Porto will be complete.
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(End of this chapter)
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