In Beijing in August, the day was bright and sunny, cloudless, and the sky was as quiet as picturesque, but the sky seemed extremely dry and the heat was unstoppable.
Juventus head coach Conte is arranging tonight's game tactics on the training ground, aiming to win Naples.
In this year's Italian Cup final, Juventus lost to Naples 0-2, and Conte did not want the team to lose the Italian Super Cup again.
Naples is very strong now. At the beginning of the year, they almost dethroned the new European champion Chelsea. The team has two very strong players, Cavani, who has become the number one center in Serie A, and Argentine winger Lavezzi. The last final was A superb performance from these two that beat Juventus. Of course, Pandev, Hamsik and others cannot be ignored.
Juventus must not repeat the same mistakes this time. Even if Juventus agrees, the fans will not agree. Conte's tactics are still based on possession of the ball. Juventus has almost the entire Italian team's defense, Chiellini, Barzagli, Bonucci and Buffon, Italy's midfield engine Pirlo, and the flexible midfielder Marl Chisio and deep-lying forward Giovinco. Marginal international player Matri, as well as many other international players, are extremely strong. In addition, the newly transferred killer Higuain is their biggest trump card!
Chen Long entered the substitute lineup and played with the team as he wished. There is no doubt that Conte will never waste the card in his hand. His abnormal free kick may be able to change the outcome of the game.
In Conte's tactics, the tactics of the last five minutes are particularly important. This can be seen from the fact that in order to maximize Chenlong's five minutes, he actually held a diving training class.
7:30 pm, Bird's Nest Stadium. The stadium was brightly lit, packed with people, and the seats were packed. The stadium, which can accommodate 91,000 people, actually had 10,000 extra temporary seats, which meant that 100,000 people gathered here to watch this event. The whole stadium was almost filled with the black and white Juventus team colors. You can imagine how many Juventus fans in China. Of course, there are also many Naples fans. This is all thanks to the Naples team led by Maradona in the 1980s. Many old fans born in the 1960s and 1970s are Naples fans.
The game officially started at eight o'clock, with Juventus taking the lead.
Juventus pays attention to stable ball control, while Naples is more aggressive. Relatively speaking, Juventus should have the upper hand, because the solid midfield and backfield ensure the ball possession rate. Even if the ball reaches the forward's feet and cannot be shot, it will not pose a threat to the defense. However, Napoli's playing style is very simple. Effectively, the ball can always be passed to the feet of Lavezzi or Pandev. The extremely fast two will either quickly dribble the ball inside or immediately cross to find Cavani. Juventus is always under pressure in the midfield and backcourt. If it weren't for Juventus' top backcourt defense, Juventus would probably have conceded the goal first.
To make matters worse, Juventus's forwards continued their poor performance from last season. Matri, who started the game, hit four goals in the first half and none of them hit the main goal frame. The hard-working and creative midfielder All the passes were wasted at his feet. Fortunately, Juventus now had Higuain on his side, and it was with a flash of inspiration that he scored an unexpected poke towards the end of the first half.
In the end, the first half ended with 1-0. At the beginning of the second half, Conte immediately replaced Matri and replaced him with the agile Vucinic, trying to disrupt Naples' defense with a flexible striker. The opponent Naples has not made any moves for the time being, but the tactics are more obvious, which is to try to prevent the ball from passing through the midfield, but to directly hit the opponent behind to pose a threat.
Juventus played steadily and still controlled the ball in the midfield. Pirlo took care of the midfield and backcourt calmly and carefully, organizing the offense. Marchisio in the center diligently ran back and forth in the front and backcourt, and Atomic Ant and Clara on the wing. Xic often retreats to get the ball, trying to tear apart the opponent's defense through effective cooperation. But Naples' equally diligent running made up for its lack of ball control, and its defense was flawless.
A dull game, this is what all the spectators thought. Is this usually the case with old ladies’ games? But Juventus didn't play conservatively at all last season. The reason why they are like this today may be because they are too afraid of losing the championship.
In the 70th minute, Conte replaced Higuain with Elia to strengthen control and defense.
Higuain has done well enough, but when he first joined the team, he still lacked coordination. After all, Serie A is not La Liga, and there is very little space left for him. Moreover, as a famous star, Naples players are not interested in him. No less care. Being able to score a goal was already considered a great debut, so the audience stood up and applauded him when he came off the field.
If the score of 1 to 0 continues like this, Juventus will win the championship, but God's will is often not what people want. Juventus has started the problem of last season again, taking the lead and allowing the opponent to score. Not long after Higuain came off the field, Lavezzi broke through and then made a cross that accurately found Cavani. Cavani headed the ball over the top and equalized the score.
Buffon had a dark face and helplessly picked the ball out of the goal, looking extremely annoyed.
Barzagli and Chiellini did not dare to look at Buffon, shaking their heads in frustration and annoyance. This was obviously the result of their lax marking.
Naples, who had equalized the score, were no longer eager to attack and put defense first.
Conte was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot off the court and shouted to the players on the court many times, but to no avail. Time kept running out, and in a blink of an eye, it was eighty minutes into the second half, and the score on the field was still one to one.
At this time, Conte turned his head and looked at the bench. He did not immediately call out the names of the players on the field. He did hesitate.
Dragging the tie into overtime? Or resolve the battle within ninety minutes? Conte had some ups and downs in his heart.
His eyes scanned the bench again and again, still not making up his mind on who to play.
Replace me? Put on me! What are you still hesitating about at this time! Only my five minutes are the best! Put on me! Chen Long has been looking forward to it, calling his name hungrily in his heart to pop out of Conti's mouth!
Conte struggled for half a minute and finally made a decision.
attack! attack! attack! Solve the battle within ninety minutes, mlgbd, you have been preparing for this kid for so long, is it just for today? !
"Chen Long, come on! Now!" He waved his hand at Chen Long, signaling him to come on.
Chenlong's heart beat violently, "Well, you really called me?!" Although he was full of expectations, he still pointed at himself in disbelief and confirmed again.
Are you about to play? Chenlong asked himself excitedly. He was so surprised that he couldn't help but feel dazed for a moment!
Vidal gave him a gentle push on the back, causing Chenlong to subconsciously stand forward!
"Well! It's time to play!" Chen Long took off his jacket neatly, revealing his Juventus uniform. He was as eager as a hungry wolf pouncing on its prey and quickly walked towards the substitution area.
"Quick!" Conte shouted at him.
Chenlong didn't need to warm up. Warming up would be a waste of his energy.
So when the display card showed No. 16 Giovinco came off and No. 10 Chen Long came up, Chen Long was already standing in the substitution area wearing the No. 10 jersey! At this time, the court time is 85 minutes.
The whole audience burst into cheers! No reason, just because this new No. 10 of Juventus is half Chinese!
"Coming to Italy... No. 10... Chinese Dragon..." The voice of the elder in the live broadcast room was loud.