"Chen Xingyi kicked the ball from the wing...Zhou Zijing!"

Under the shouts of the commentator He Feng, Zhou Zijing jumped high to compete for the top.

But he failed because Icelandic centre-back Bjarke Gudbergsson knocked the ball out before him.

With a height of 1.98 meters and a weight of 94 kilograms, Biaki Gudbergson is tall and powerful, and has excellent frontal air defense capabilities.

Even for Zhou Zijing, it is not easy to get a header from him.

Not to mention there are many "masters" like Gudbergsson in the Icelandic team.

These strong men were crowded into the penalty area, making the penalty area seem much smaller.

A football game is essentially a game of creating and utilizing space in a limited space area.

The offensive team must try every means to create space, while the defensive team must try their best not to be created by the opponent.

This is why shrinking defense, also known as "turtle tactics", is the ultimate defense strategy - pile everyone in the penalty area and create no space at all. How can the offense attack?

It's just that playing like this will be ugly on the scene, and it won't please public opinion. It's easy to be scolded as "negative game", "unenterprising" and "ugly"...

But in the World Cup, who cares about other people’s criticism?

Iceland is here to win games, to qualify for the group stage, not to please the majority of neutral fans.

Twenty-five minutes into the game, the scene is still lackluster and there is nothing exciting for everyone.

Whether it was Hu Lai, Zhou Zijing, Chen Xingyi, Luo Kai, Xia Xiaoyu... they all had little room to perform in front of the Icelandic team's intensive defense.

Especially Hu Lai, who was tightly defended by Iceland. So far, he only had two chances to shoot, one of which had not hit the goal frame.

Before this game, both Chinese fans and the media were generally optimistic.

As the host, first of all, this grouping is more advantageous. The situation of being assigned to the death group four years ago has not happened again.

Everyone thinks that if there are no surprises, the Chinese team and Portugal will qualify together in the end.

The only suspense may be who comes first in the group and who comes second.

So in fact, the group stage that deserves the most attention should be the final round, the direct dialogue between the Chinese team and Portugal.

Considering that the first place in Group B is likely to be the Netherlands, if the Chinese team wants to go further in this World Cup, it should try to get first place in the group and avoid the Netherlands. In the quarter-finals

Whether it's Poland or South Korea, it's better than the Netherlands.

If you want to win the first place in the group, you should first defeat Iceland.

And if possible, get a few more goal differentials.

Therefore, optimistic Chinese fans plan to watch a hearty victory in the opening game.

As a result, not to mention a huge victory, in the first 25 minutes of the game, there were very few decent and quality offenses.

The Chinese fans in the stands were obviously not as active as they were at the beginning, and the singing of the Icelandic fans could even be heard.

This group of Icelandic fans wore inflatable horn helmets and performed a uniform "Viking War Cry" in the stands to cheer for their team.

The game did not go as the Chinese fans hoped. The commentators He Feng and Yan Kang were afraid that the fans would be unhappy, so they said something to defend the national team:

"Everything is difficult at the beginning, and the opening game is indeed difficult. This is the World Cup! Even the fourth-tier team in the group is not weak. After all, it can break through the European qualifiers. It can be done if it is weak.

Less than…”

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"Did the Chinese team underestimate the enemy?"

Nestor Farias looked away from the screen and asked Mellie Banega next to him.

This opening match has attracted the attention of the whole world, and naturally it is impossible for other teams participating in the World Cup to turn a blind eye.

There are many teams watching the game.

The only difference is that some teams have organized viewings, while others watch spontaneously by the players.

Argentina falls into the latter category.

There was no team organization, so everyone gathered spontaneously in small groups and watched the live broadcast in several rooms at the same time.

Farias was in Melly and Ramon Cantero's room, watching the game with some other teammates.

They were watching the live broadcast of CCTV Sports Channel, and the commentators were none other than China's He Feng and Yan Kang.

They, the Argentinians, could not understand the specific content of the commentary, and could only vaguely understand the commentator calling the names of the Chinese players.

Melly heard Farias's question and shook his head: "It's probably not underestimating the enemy, it's just pure tactical restraint. It's difficult for any team to play such a dense defense."

Farias continued to ask: "Didn't the Chinese team prepare in advance for this situation?"

Melly smiled: "How many people can imagine that the Iceland team can shrink to this point when facing the Chinese team? Even if Iceland is the lowest ranked team in Europe, it is still in the top 40. Compared with

Saudi Arabia is ranked high in our group."

In fact, Iceland’s FIFA ranking of 39th is not too low. In addition to Saudi Arabia, there are three teams in this World Cup lower than Iceland, namely Canada, which is ranked 41st, and Canada, which is ranked 60th.

Burkina Faso ranks sixth and New Zealand ranks 77th.

And even if the Chinese team is the host, even if it has players such as Hu Lai who play the main role in strong European teams, its strength is higher than that of Iceland. Few people think that Iceland can retreat and defend. At most, they think that Iceland will adopt a more pragmatic approach to avoid falling into the trap.

In the "trap" against the Chinese team.

After all, many Icelandic players also play in the five major European leagues, and their overall level is not bad. They just lack top star players like Hu Lai.

"Hey, you guys said, the Chinese team won't lose to Iceland in the opening match, right?"

Everyone turned to look at the person who said this, Matias de la Vega, a defensive midfielder who plays for the Kings of Madrid.

"Look what I'm doing? Is it impossible?" de la Vega asked everyone.

Everyone showed thoughtful expressions.

Of course it is possible, anything on the football field and any result is possible. But there is always a question of probability.

Is it likely that the host country will lose to Iceland in the opening match?

Ramon Cantero shook his head: "The chance is too small, right? After all, they have Hu, and they have a strong ability to seize opportunities..."

De la Vega has his own judgment: "Even if Hu is powerful, he is only one person. Football games cannot be won by one person. This Chinese team seems to be in normal condition now. But if they can't do it for a long time,

Who knows if they will get impatient because of this? Once they get impatient and Iceland seizes the opportunity to counterattack and score a goal, then the home advantage will turn into home pressure!"

As a player of the Madrid Kings, de la Vega knows the "home pressure" all too well.

Kings fans are very demanding and will boo the home team players without hesitation from the stands if they do not perform well.

Playing in such an environment, players who do not have adequate mental endurance will not be able to last long.

De la Vega's words moved many people, and even Ramon Cantero no longer refuted, but fell into deep thought.

Many Argentinian players showed expressions of excitement and anticipation - because of the competitive relationship between Hu Lai and Melli, as well as the tricks of many Hu Lai fans, they were very happy to see the Chinese team lose and Hu Lai be unlucky.

It would be best if the Chinese team could be eliminated after completing the group stage, so that Hu Lai would not be qualified to compete with our Meili.

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Qin Lin had to admit that before the game, he did not expect that Iceland would huddle up and set up a bus during the game - this is really counter-intuitive.

So he didn't make targeted arrangements.

As a result, he now needs to make on-the-spot adjustments.

Of course, on-the-spot adjustments are a necessary quality for a head coach, and it’s not a big deal. It’s impossible for any head coach to predict all the situations that may arise in the game before the game starts, and then make targeted arrangements - there is no such thing

God man.

Many head coaches can only set a general direction and then make adjustments at any time based on specific game details.

The difference is that some head coaches are very good at on-the-spot command, while others are not so good at it.

Qin Lin first discussed with assistant coach Ding Gaoyi: "The players should be allowed to strengthen their pressing in the frontcourt."

Ding Gaoyi said: "Iceland just wants us to press forward and grab it. Then they can fight back against us."

"Yes, we press forward to grab them, and then they will attack and we will have a chance. Otherwise, they will be like a piece of compressed biscuit, how can we fight them?" Qin Lin said, pointing to the dense crowd in the thirty-meter area in Iceland.

"I know, but we will also bear risks, if we are penetrated by the opponent once..."

"You have to take risks." Qin Lin made up his mind. After saying this, he got up from the coaching bench and walked to the sidelines.

Then he whistled hard.

Fortunately, the atmosphere in the stadium at this time was not as hot as when it just started, so his whistle could still be noticed...

When everyone looked at them one after another, Qin Lin yelled and gestured: "Press up and grab! Press down and grab!"

On the Iceland coaching bench, the assistant coach looked away from the next door and said to the head coach Jon Hermansson: "The Chinese team really can't hold it back. You are right, Jon. Home court is huge for them.

It's an advantage, but it can also turn into a disadvantage. Now the Chinese fans are just silent. If they can't open up the situation, they might boo their players."

Facing the assistant coach's praise, Jon Hermansson's expression did not change at all, and he still had a solemn expression of frowning.

If he hadn't said "hmm", it might have been thought that he didn't agree with the assistant coach's statement...

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To be continued...