On the home page of the news, the news that Dingtian Club advanced to the AFC Champions League finals was displayed in a very conspicuous position.
Luo Fen stared at the webpage, frowning.
"Why is there no movement from Chairman Xiao's side?" Luo Fen murmured to himself.
A few days ago, Luo Fen spread the news that Xiao Yunan had a boyfriend, hoping to spread the news to Xiao Dingtian's ears. Luo Fen had already concluded in his heart that Xiao Dingtian would definitely beat the couple in the future. Many young and promising second-generation rich people find it difficult to get Xiao Dingtian's attention, not to mention that Li Dai is just an ordinary coach.
However, a few days passed, but Xiao Dingtian didn't move at all. Everything seemed to be peaceful, which surprised Luo Fen.
At this moment, Luo Fen's phone vibrated, and a WeChat voice message came.
"It's Gu Lefeng. Isn't this kid in Singapore recently? Why are you thinking of contacting me?" Luo Fen hesitated for a moment, then clicked on the voice message.
"I heard that Xiao Yunan found a boyfriend. Is this news true?"
Luo Fen picked up the phone and sent back a voice message: "It's true. Why, are you still obsessed with Xiao Yunan? She clearly rejected you last time, and her father doesn't have a good impression of you either."
"Don't talk about that. Is this news accurate? Could it be someone else's rumor." WeChat voice reply.
"The news is very reliable, and I saw it with my own eyes. The boy worked out with Xiao Yunan, and then sent her home. Xiao Yunan also admitted personally that he was her boyfriend." Luo Fen's words were slightly frustrated.
"I understand. I will return to China in two days, and I will find you then." The other person's voice replied.
"I said Gu Lefeng, please don't mess around." Luo Fen said immediately.
"I know it well." Gu Lefeng replied.
Luo Fen put down his phone, his expression seemed a little unnatural.
"Gu Lefeng, the second generation ancestor, is famous for his ability. Moreover, his family also owns shares in the Dingtian Club. It seems that this guy is going to cause trouble again when he comes back this time. Thinking about it this way, I really sympathize with that coach. …”
…
The AFC Champions League final will be held in November, with two games in mid-term and late-term respectively. In order not to affect Dingtian's preparations for the AFC Champions League final, the Football Association deliberately postponed the FA Cup final to December.
Prior to this, there had been conflicts between the FA Cup matches and the AFC Champions League matches. At that time, the Football Association did not consider that domestic clubs had the strength to enter the quarter-finals or semi-finals of the AFC Champions League, so when formulating the FA Cup match schedule I'm also less distracted when I'm doing it. The result was naturally criticized by the majority of fans, and the Football Association was even blamed for the domestic club's inability to go further.
Nowadays, the strength of domestic clubs has improved to a certain extent, especially the emergence of Dingtian Football Club, a team that can compete for the AFC Champions League. Whether it is the pressure of public opinion or the actual situation, it forces the Football Association to be more meticulous in its work. change. It has become normal for the Football Association Cup to make way for the AFC Champions League.
In fact, domestic competitions can only be regarded as appetizers for the current Dingtian Club. This season, Dingtian is indeed in an invincible state in the country. Dingtian spent a lot of money to hire the Harman team, and also bought world-class players like Naor and Martintes. These hundreds of millions were spent. The value is also fully reflected at this time.
When Dingtian spent money to buy stars and hire Harman's team, I don't know how many people laughed at Dingtian because he was stupid and had too much money. But now, several of the richer teams in the Chinese Super League are planning to follow Dingtian's example. , start the money-splitting mode. Some teams have even begun negotiations in this area, hoping to introduce big-name stars and well-known coaches to improve the team's strength.
It's just that these are things that can only be completed next season. In this season, Dingtian is still unbeatable by other teams.
The opponent that Dingtian will face in the AFC Champions League final is Al Ain Football Club, a powerful team in the United Arab Emirates. Al Ain is a giant in UAE football, and can even be said to be a giant in West Asian football. The team has a history of nearly fifty years. Although it is not comparable to those century-old teams in Europe, it can be regarded as a team with a long history in Asia.
Al Ain has won the AFC Champions League, the Emirates League championship more than a dozen times, and the Emirates Cup several times. In terms of staffing, Al Ain and Ye Dingtian have many similarities. There are many "national" players in the team, and the key positions of the midfielder and frontcourt are also Brazilian players who have been introduced at a large price.
In fact, when it comes to the AFC Champions League finals, there is no very obvious strength gap between the teams. Everyone's level is about the same. Sometimes a little bit of luck may be the key to victory.
Dingtian's schedule is still first guest before home. Since the league has won the championship ahead of schedule, Dingtian has more than 20 days of preparation time before the first game.
…
During the tactical discussion, Dai Li sat in the corner without saying a word, looking like a completely marginalized person. In fact, Dai Li really couldn't get in the middle of the discussion about tactics. Everyone on the Harman team, even team doctor Maraloni, has a better understanding of football tactics than Li Dai.
After all, Hamann is the world's top football coach and has coached Europe's top wealthy clubs, so the tactical quality of the entire team is not picky.
After the discussion, everyone filed out of the conference room, but Claude stopped Dai Li.
"How about it? Do you understand the tactics I just talked about?" Claude asked.
"To be honest, I don't really understand it, especially the tactical arrangements on the left." Li Dai said.
Claude took out the tactical board and lightly drew on it with a pen: "Actually, this tactic is not complicated. Look here, when attacking, the left back presses forward, and at the same time, the two central defenders retreat. After that, the other person moves to the left. In this system, the left back will assume the position of full midfielder when attacking, and the player in the midfielder position will also move forward. We will put Martintes in the midfielder position. When he When the position moves forward, opponents will be afraid of his offensive ability. Once the opponent moves the defense line in this direction, we can take the opportunity to liberate an offensive player in the frontcourt, thus creating scoring opportunities."
"There are two key points in this tactic. The first is the left back. He needs to constantly move forward and backward, switching his position, so that he can hold back the opponent's defensive players. The center back who moves to the left needs to You must have certain organizational skills, be motivated enough, and play the ball quickly and accurately to create opportunities for your teammates.”
Dai Li nodded, indicating that he understood, and Claude continued to explain: "In fact, with the current strength of our players, we are still unable to fully meet Coach Haman's requirements, so we are constantly trying to change We have also tried 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 4-3-2-1, and even 3-5-2 formations. And in one game, we also tried using two formations. , or three different sets of tactics. Many times, we want to have some more complex tactical coordination, but the personal abilities of the players make it impossible to execute our tactics."
…
In the next ten days, Claude would regularly explain Harman's tactical system to Dai Li.
Although Claude is a physical fitness coach, he has been following Haman for ten years. He naturally knows Haman's tactical system well. It is said that a great teacher makes a good disciple. In terms of tactical theory, Claude is definitely comparable to those small balls in Europe. The team's head coach is naturally several levels higher than domestic coaches. Of course, in terms of on-the-spot command and other aspects, Claude is not as good as a professional football coach. After all, he is just a physical coach.
Dai Li is also frantically absorbing new knowledge. As his theoretical knowledge of football increases, he becomes more and more comfortable in football physical training.
In mid-November, the first game of the AFC Champions League final was held at the Khalifa International Stadium in the United Arab Emirates, which is the home stadium of Al Ain.
Winter has arrived in the United Arab Emirates in November. It has a tropical desert climate, so in winter, the temperature tends to remain between 10 and 20 degrees Celsius. Moreover, the climate here is relatively cool, and sandstorms occasionally occur in winter.
Therefore, it is not difficult for Dingtian players to adapt to the climate here, and this dry weather sometimes makes it easier for players to perform better. If it were summer, the high temperature of more than 40 degrees in the UAE would probably be too much for many players.
After several weeks of preparation, both sides came well prepared, and there were several exciting scenes at the beginning of the game.
Al Ain, who played at home, naturally wanted to score as early as possible, so the offensive was very fierce. However, Dingtian did not stabilize the shot as usual, and then waited for an opportunity to quickly defend and counterattack. They chose to fight with Al Ain. Fight against each other.
The two sides went back and forth, switching possessions. After a few rounds, everyone understood Dingtian's tactical intentions.
Dingtian intends to score as many away goals as possible.
Previous games between clubs are different from games between countries, such as the World Cup final, which is a decisive game. If the game is tied at 90 minutes, overtime will be played. If the game is also tied in overtime, penalty kicks will be taken. The AFC Champions League finals will be played twice. After the home and away games, the total points will be calculated to determine the winner.
If both sides have the same score, the side with more away goals will win the final. In fact, when it comes to the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League, the gap in strength between the teams is not that big. The gap in strength between the two teams entering the finals is even smaller. No one can guarantee that they can win the other. What's more, it's two games at home and away.
It is not surprising that the two teams in the AFC Champions League finals ended up with the same total points. Many people even think that this is a relatively normal phenomenon. And once the total points are really tied, away goals become the key to victory.
For example, in this game, if Dingtian lost to Al Ain 2-3 in the away game, and then defeated Al Ain 2-1 at home, the total score of the two sides would be a 4-4 tie, but due to Dingtian’s away game There are 2 goals, and Al Ain only has 1 away goal, so Dingtian will win with one more away goal.
Under this competition system, whichever team concedes more goals at home will be more passive.
…
The players are fighting hard on the field, and the coaches on both sides are also fighting for their wits.
In the 21st minute, Dingtian took the lead to break the deadlock. Foreign aid Neor seized the gap in the opponent's defense and made a sudden cut into the penalty area. This is a serious mistake for Al Ain's defense.
In order to make up for this mistake, Al Ain's central defender directly brought Naor to the ground, and Naor won a penalty kick for Dingtian. Then he lived up to expectations and scored a penalty kick. Dingtian took a 1-0 lead in the away game.
After losing the ball, Al Ain started a crazy counterattack mode. At the 44th minute of the first half, they took advantage of a free kick to score Dingtian's goal.
The score in the first half was fixed at 1-1. In the second half, both sides made tactical adjustments.
Haman is a world-class tactician. He once changed his formation three times in a game and also used three different sets of tactics. Therefore, Dingtian was very thorough in terms of formation changes and tactical changes. This sudden change made Al Ain very uncomfortable.
Suddenly, Al Ain's defense became chaotic, and players also had overlapping movements or missing players. Dingtian decisively seized this opportunity and took advantage of the loopholes in the opponent's defense once. Passed through Al Ain's goal and took a 2-1 lead.
Al Ain, who was lagging behind, chose to make a substitution, but the substitution did not have an immediate effect. The game continued until the 75th minute, and Al Ain still failed to equalize the score.
By this time, Dingtian players began to have physical problems.
The intensity of the AFC Champions League final was much higher than that of the league, and Dingtian chose an offensive tactic in the first half, which also caused Dingtian players to consume a lot of energy.
The newly replaced players of Al Ain took advantage of their abundant physical strength and seized the opportunity when Dingtian was unable to run out of physical fitness. They attacked like crazy and indiscriminately, and finally scored and evened the score.
However, Al Ain hopes to get a victory at home. They cannot accept the result of a draw, not to mention that they also conceded two goals at home.
Hamann was quite satisfied with the score. He put on a defensive player and tried his best to defend the last 15 minutes.
The referee took great care of Al Ain at home. After the 90 minutes ended, they gave them another 5 minutes of injury time. However, Al Ain was still unable to break through Dingtian's defense. In the end, the two sides ended with a score of 2 to 2. With a score of 2, we shook hands and made a draw.
Dingtian returned to its home court with two away goals.