Chapter 555 McLaren's Tactical Mistake

"The ball goes in! goooooooooooooooooooooooal!" The commentator went crazy for a moment - "Just five minutes into the game, Alan Wang scored the first goal for the team with a precise long-range shot! Beautiful! Wonderful! This is Alan's sixth goal in this World Cup, and his goal number is far higher than Owen's three."

"From here we can see how outstanding Alan is. In the first five minutes, Owen had two very good shooting opportunities, but he failed to score. Alan broke through Ecuador's goal with just one shot. This is the strength of the world's top shooter!"

"Efficiency, his efficiency is too high! As a forward, Irving, who seems to be extremely outstanding, is completely uncompetitive in front of Allen."

The commentator on the scene was not an England fan. In fact, he was a German. He was Stuttgart's official commentator and his views might represent the views of the general public.

Wang Li’s shooting efficiency is really high!

All the fans in the stadium became excited in an instant after watching the opening goal, and the original worries of the fans supporting England also disappeared without a trace. From this goal, it can be seen that at least the black-haired boy on the field is in good condition, and they don’t have to worry about any problems in today’s game.

Taking the lead after just five minutes, could there be a better start?

Next, England fans are looking forward to the game even more. They like to see a resounding victory the most. Perhaps such a game is boring for neutral fans, but as supporters of England, the easier the team wins, the stronger the team is, which will make fans feel a sincere pride from the bottom of their hearts.

McLaren was also smiling. He felt that there was no suspense in this game. Since England had scored the first goal, how easy would it be for Ecuador to equalize the score?

Because England will definitely score more goals than their opponents.

This has always been McLaren's team building purpose, and it is also Wang Li's purpose in the game: no matter how many goals the opponent scores, as long as we score more than them, we will win.

Obviously, this view is not what Thomas wants to see because he is England's goalkeeper.

As a goalkeeper, if the team's game strategy is like this, then the goal he is guarding will definitely encounter crises again and again, which is definitely not what Thomas wants to see.

The World Cup is indeed a platform to showcase oneself, but even the strongest goalkeeper would like to be relaxed on the field, because FIFA prefers to use the number of goals conceded as a criterion when judging the best goalkeeper.

A goalkeeper who concedes 10 goals is obviously not competitive at all compared to a goalkeeper who concedes 1 goal, because no one will care about the playing style and tactics of each team.

Of course, this has nothing to do with Wang Li. He is now very excited about scoring a goal on the court.

"Haha, congratulations, Allen!" Harrison also shouted from the bench.

At this time, after scoring the goal, Wang Li ran directly past the team's bench and ran towards the direction of the English fans. After reaching the east stand, he waved to the fans, releasing the excitement in his heart.

This was his first goal in a World Cup knockout match, and it was definitely worth celebrating.

However, the game still had to go on. Two minutes later, the referee urged the English players to take their positions, and then the game started again.

Wang Li’s goal just now had some impact on the mentality of the Ecuadorian players.

Before the game, every Ecuadorian player was instilled with the idea that 'the opponent's No. 21 black-haired boy is very strong', but they never thought he would be so strong.

A cold shot from outside the penalty area, from such a long distance and so sudden, yet still so powerful, this level of shooting is a shock to every Ecuadorian player.

Therefore, each of them was a little confused!

If this black-haired kid can always maintain this kind of game state, no matter how they perform, the team's goals will not be able to catch up with him alone. The team's main striker Delgado is the pillar of Ecuador, but after seeing Wang Li's performance, they feel that compared with Wang Li, Delgado is almost worthless.

How can this allow them to focus on playing the game?

They had to devote some of their attention to marking Wang Li to prevent him from continuing to perform like this. If England scored another goal, today's game would really become a tragedy for Ecuador.

Although Delgado is already 32 years old, the veteran still looks very strong. He just saw the whole process of the goal. At least he knows in his heart that it is impossible for him to score that kind of goal.

But this does not affect Delgado's mentality.

Delgado has been in the professional league for 15 years and has seen too many scenes. His rich experience has made his mentality as firm as iron. He knows that only by keeping a calm mind can he find opportunities to score goals and have hope of winning the game.

Although he was somewhat skeptical about Wang Li's strength, Delgado was a forward and the spearhead of Ecuador.

In the game, he did not have any defensive tasks. As a veteran with declining physical fitness, his task, like Wang Li, was to score goals. Only goals could increase the team's hope of victory and his teammates' confidence in the game.

After the game resumed, Delgado stood at the front of the formation, ready to receive the pass and launch a counterattack at any time.

Yes, fight back.

England's attack continued, and it was impossible for Ecuador to launch a fierce attack because they had to pay attention to defense at all times. Their tactics could only be defensive counterattack.

After Wang Li scored, England's attack looked more fierce and the cooperation between the players was smoother.

However, after Ecuador adapted to England's attack, their defense became better and better!

Seeing this scene, McLaren in the coaching booth looked helpless.

The England team's football level has always been among the best in the world, but compared with teams like Spain, Brazil and Argentina, they are much worse. England rarely wins against such teams.

Why is this? Is it because the level of English players is not good enough?

Of course not!

The level of England's players is by no means bad. Most of the players in the team are from the Premier League and European top clubs. The Premier League has now surpassed Serie A and La Liga to become the world's number one competition. As main players of Premier League top clubs, their level cannot be bad.

However, these teams composed of main players from European giants have performed terribly in international competitions.

The root cause lies in England's offensive style.

Most of the players trained by grassroots clubs in England focus on physical fitness rather than technology, which makes these players always have outstanding physical confrontation ability after they become successful.

This type of player is very popular in other leagues.

However, when so many superstars who focus on physical fitness gather in one team, the team will have some problems. It is difficult to implement complex tactics, so McLaren's tactical style follows the traditional English style of simple offense.

It's not that he doesn't want the England team to play a beautiful Spanish-style attack, but it is simply impossible for the England team to play this kind of attack, and there will be many problems in the cooperation of the players.

And now, this England team is fighting against Ecuador from South America. After more than ten minutes of the game, Ecuador has completely seen through England's simple offensive method, and their defense has become more and more solid.

Because they knew which direction England would attack from, their defense only had to be targeted.

Perhaps there is also a variable in the England team, and that is Wang Li.

There is no doubt about Wang Li's skills. Perhaps he is the only player in the England team who pays attention to technology. Under his dribbling, most of the Ecuadorian players become puppet-like characters.

However, with this slight change, it was not easy for the England team to break through Ecuador's goal again. At least within 20 minutes after Wang Li scored the goal, the England team did not get any good chances.

So, next is Ecuador's counterattack.

The delay in scoring made the England players anxious, so Ecuador found an opportunity and launched a fierce attack when the goalkeeper held the ball with both hands.

This time the attack was initiated by defender Ambrosi, a player who plays in the Argentine league and is the pillar star of Ecuador's backcourt. Although he is only a defender, Ambrosi has a very good sense of the overall situation. After seeing goalkeeper Belaforte holding the ball, he directly shouted for the ball, and then kicked the ball accurately to Mendes on the left.

Mendes is 26 years old and plays for the Quito University Sports Union. He is a very famous player in South American football, mainly because of his outstanding footwork and superb free kick skills.

In the 2005 Copa Libertadores, in the match against Bolivia's Bolivar, he kicked a beautiful arc from 37 meters away, with a strong rotation and fall, directly hitting the upper left corner of the goal. Later, he scored a powerful outside-foot arc from almost the same position in another game. In the match against Argentina, he directly kicked a powerful bottom shot before the center circle, hitting the goal post of the Argentine team, and goalkeeper Abbondancheri was shocked and sweating.

Such long-range shooting and free kick abilities made Mendes very successful in South American football. Before the World Cup, it was rumored that Eredivisie side PSV Eindhoven wanted to sign Mendes for a transfer fee of more than 6 million pounds.

Such a player would certainly be the core figure of Ecuador's midfield, and this time, Mendes showed this ability again. After receiving the pass from Ambrosi, he and Ayovi made a two-pass cooperation, and after quickly lying forward twice, he completed a long-range powerful shot directly from the right side of the penalty area.

Unfortunately, the football hit the post and went out of the bottom line.

Even so, this shot still made Thomas, who fell to the ground, break out in a cold sweat. It was really too dangerous!

Mendes' shot seemed to start Ecuador's counterattack frenzy. Perhaps the Ecuadorian players found that scoring a goal was not very difficult, so their counterattacks became better and better. After England's attack was weak again, Ecuador finally got a good opportunity.

This time it was Tenorio on the wing, a player who is truly unknown. He plays for a newly promoted team in the Ecuadorian league, but this time he became the main contributor to the team's offense.

After receiving the pass from his teammate on the midline, Tenorio made a long pass, allowing striker Delgado to successfully make an offside. The latter faced goalkeeper Thomas directly and had a one-on-one chance, and then equalized the score for the team with a powerful shot to the left.

In the 36th minute of the first half, Ecuador equalized the score with a solo shot from Delgado.

This situation made England's supporters a little worried, not entirely because of Ecuador's goal, but because the team's offense was really weak.

England's offense seems very strong recently, but it is difficult to find opportunities to penetrate into the Ecuadorian penalty area. Michael Owen has been wandering around in the penalty area for a long time, and Wang Li on the right has not got the ball for a long time.

This was largely because England's attacks in the middle were frequently blocked.

In this game, Wang Li was arranged in the forward line, and the two players in the middle were Gerrard and Hargreaves. The strength of these two players is certain, but they are not good at dribbling.

Ecuador's defense in the middle is mainly based on zone blocking, which makes it difficult for England to simply cooperate to penetrate the Ecuadorian penalty area. The England team's midfielders, except for Joe Cole on the left, have almost no players who are good at dribbling or have fast speed.

This is why England's attack was hindered.

In Eriksson's era, there has always been this problem with the double D combination in the middle of England. Gerrard and Lampard have similar styles. They are not good at dribbling, and both are strong midfielders trained by English clubs. This makes it impossible to fully play the advantages of the double D in the middle. The two of them can only use long shots to threaten the opponent's goal.

In terms of dribbling and technique, Hargreaves is better than Gerrard, but there are problems with the cooperation between Hargreaves and his teammates. He was born in Bayern Munich and has never been in the Premier League. Bayern's style of play is completely different from that of the England team.

This makes it difficult for Hargreaves to display his strength.

This situation is really worrying. Wang Li did not see this problem. His tactical level can only reach the level of ordinary players, but McLaren understands it very clearly.

After realizing the problem, he wanted to move Wang Li to the middle and let Gerrard play as a striker, so that England's attack would definitely be more threatening.

But after looking at the time, it was already about 40 minutes, so McLaren shook his head and gave up the idea.

"Let's arrange the tactics after the half-time break," McLaren thought.

Then, three minutes later he regretted it because Ecuador scored again, this time it was Cavides who scored.

Kavides is currently 28 years old. He plays for the Argentine Youth Team and is the main striker of the Ecuadorian team with relatively comprehensive skills. His awareness of scoring in front of the goal is very outstanding. As a South American player, his footwork is very delicate and his skills are also excellent. In the World Cup qualifiers, he repeatedly created good scoring opportunities for his teammates on the forward line.

In the Ecuadorian team, he is not as famous as Aguinaga and not as popular as Delgado, but he has repeatedly scored key goals for the team.

So before the game, the media called him and Delgado the 'Gemini'.

This time, Cavides showed his superior awareness. After Delgado's header was punched out by Thomas, Cavides ran to the left corner of the small penalty area and easily completed the shot, scoring another goal for Ecuador.

1:2.

At the end of the first half, England fell behind!

No one had expected this result before the game. Even the English players and many Ecuadorian players thought that England would win easily. However, after halftime, England was one goal behind. Such a result was really surprising.

All the England supporters in the stadium were also staring at the game in amazement. They couldn't believe it.

"England is behind! Just now, Cavides scored another goal for Ecuador. It was a follow-up shot, very beautiful."

When Cavides scored, all the Ecuadorian players cheered. Facing the leading result, they seemed to have seen the moment when the team entered the quarterfinals. Before the game, they dared not even imagine such a situation.

In fact, the gap between Ecuador and England is too big. This is only the second time they have entered the World Cup since 2002, and they have reached the round of 16 in the second World Cup. This result is enough for Ecuadorian players to return to the country and receive the Prime Minister's "Hero Medal".

Yes, Ecuadorian fans are already satisfied with the result.

But what if we go a step further?

No one thought about this problem, but after seeing the team leading by one goal at halftime, many Ecuadorian fans began to expect the team to reach the quarterfinals, which they felt was a historic moment.

Unpopular!

Will this game be an upset?

No one can tell for sure, but English fans are still very confident. When they see a slight smile on the black-haired boy's face, their confidence becomes even stronger.

Since that black-haired boy doesn't care at all, why don't they have confidence in the England team?

In this unfavorable situation for England, after another attack failed, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half.

The England players returned to the locker room with lost looks on their faces. This was the first time in a World Cup match that they went from hope to loss, especially when Wang Li was on the field.

It’s not that they don’t have confidence in the game, but they are disappointed with the current score. They all feel that they did not perform well and did not show their strength, and that everything is their fault.

When everyone thought this way, an atmosphere of loss spread throughout the team.

However, when they entered the locker room, head coach McClaren did not criticize any of the players, but directly admitted: "This is my tactical mistake!"

(To be continued)