Chapter 97 and Champions League alignment granularity
When Vitini was besieged on the wing, in addition to Charlie Cohen going up to provide support, Wang Lie was also preparing to go over from the middle to provide support.

As a “center forward”, he did not stand in the front, but retreated to the midfield.

Now he is running from the middle to the side.

But before he could get there, Vitini broke out of the encirclement on his own.

So Wang Lie, who had just run to the flank, immediately turned around and ran forward when he saw this, playing the role of a center forward – suppressing the opponent’s defense line and creating space for his teammates behind him to get the ball.

While running forward, he was constantly observing the situation behind him, paying attention to Vitini’s movements.

When he found that Vitini did not dribble the ball along the side, but dribbled the ball diagonally towards the middle, he also reacted – he did not continue to stay in the middle and squeeze with Vitini, but instead moved diagonally to the left rib and filled the gap left by Vitini.

As a result, the central defender Xiusro, who had originally planned to defend Vitini, hesitated a little when he saw this – he was afraid that as soon as he went up, Vitini would pass the ball to Wang Lie.

The central defender did not move forward immediately, so the defensive pressure faced by Vitini was much less.

It was not until Vitini dribbled the ball through the midfield that center back Xiusro pounced on Vitini when he saw his right-back teammate, who had just been left behind by Vitini at the sideline, rushing back and more teammates returning to defense.

Then, when they met, Vitini used a bicycle to shake him off…

After shaking him off, Vitini used the outside of his left foot to kick the ball to Wang Lie who was already in the corner of the penalty area.

When right back Xiusiluo was returning to defense, he saw his teammate in the center back go up to intercept Vitini, so he accelerated and rushed directly towards Wang Lie in his own defense zone – he was afraid that Vitini would pass the ball to Wang Lie.

He guessed it right. After shaking off his teammate, Vitini passed the ball to him!

As he rushed back, he saw Wang Lie adjusting his pace, and it was obvious that he was going to shoot directly!
He immediately sped up and rushed towards Wang Lie, and when Wang Lie was ready to shoot, he made a flying tackle!
But he was still half a step too late. The football had already flown past before he could tackle it… and finally flew into the goal!
“Vitini passed the ball… Wang Lie! Wang Lie – beautiful! Beautiful! Direct shot without stopping the ball! Beautiful!! Wang Lie expanded the lead for Tyne!! This is a wonderful start!”

The commentator Luo Jin on TV was shouting excitedly.

Cai Bokang, who was watching TV, was drawing on paper a road map of Wang Lie’s movement during Tyne’s goal.

On the table in front of him, there was a cover of paper with road map-like drawings, which showed Wang Lie’s running routes in the game.

Not only this goal, but also the goal scored by Vitini before, and other attacks and even defenses that did not result in goals. As long as Wang Lie appeared in the live broadcast and played a corresponding role, Cai Bokang would quickly record it with a pen.

His drawings were very sloppy and simple, and it was even possible that someone else might not immediately understand the meaning of these scribbles.

However, Cai Bokang knew that these scribbled lines and incomprehensible arrows contained a lot of key information.

Even though it’s a mess now, after the game is over, he will use the video replay to re-sort out the current messy clues, and finally consolidate his understanding in his mind to form a complete set of tactical ideas.

※※※

After scoring the goal, Wang Lie ran towards the corner flag area, pointing at Vitini who assisted him, and motioned him to come up and celebrate with him.

Vitini shook his head, ran up laughing and hugged his idol.

The two hugged each other, and then were overwhelmed by more teammates.

The Tyne players celebrated in front of the home fans in Xiuslo.

And the fans of Xiusuo couldn’t even boo.

They either held their heads with their hands or crossed their arms across their chests, staring blankly at the scene.

They, like Tobiasson, the head coach of Xiuslo, couldn’t understand why they could easily lose two goals to their opponents in their home stadium…

※※※

After taking a two-goal lead, Tyne’s morale was high, and after the game resumed, they continued to attack the defense of Xiuslo.

This time, Xiusiluo did not try to control the situation on the field by pressing like he did after conceding the first goal.

They were suppressed in their own half and for about ten minutes, they couldn’t even get past the half.

The Xiusiluo fans in the stands didn’t even have time to cheer for their team. They were all frightened by Tyne’s offensive… and they were afraid that they would lose the third or fourth goal at any time.

“Wang is dribbling the ball down the wing… He crosses it… Fake move! Dribble and cut inside! Another cross! Ouch! Sonny Dean!”

Amid the gasps of the Shusilo fans in the stands, the football flew past Sonny Dean’s toes and quickly flew to the other side of the sideline.

Dean fell to the ground with his hands on his head.

He had just thrown himself out, but he was still a little short…

Just as he was feeling annoyed with his performance, he heard Wang Lie yelling at him, “Dean!”

He stood up with some fear and looked over, but instead of seeing Wang Lie spreading his hands to him, he saw a thumbs-up – the old rogue gave him a thumbs-up!
This praise made Dean blush a little. He lowered his head, turned and ran to the sideline to stick to the Xiusiluo player who was preparing to receive the out-of-bounds ball.

※※※

Xiusro tried to kick the ball across half court, but when they passed the ball forward to the center line, due to a pass error, it was intercepted by Tyne’s central defender Katic.

Then Katic passed the ball to right-back Barnabas who came in from the wing.

Dean was trying to receive the ball in front, but Barnabas didn’t pass it to him. Instead, he rushed forward with the ball.

Seeing this, Dean retreated to the middle and made room for the side corridor.

As Dean came to the middle, Wang Lie, who was originally in the middle, withdrew from the penalty area.

Barnabas finally brought the ball to the 30-meter line and directly passed it to the middle instead of choosing to pass it after going down the bottom line.

He sent a cross at a forty-five degree angle.

The person who seized this point in the middle was not Wang Lie, but the attacking midfielder Van Ginkel who came in from behind!

He took advantage of the space created by Wang Lie and suddenly made a forward run and headed the ball into the goal!
However, he headed the ball high and failed to threaten the goalkeeper of Xiusro…

“Oh, Van Ginkel’s shot! What a pity! What a pity! There was almost no one guarding him. Wang Lie helped him pull away all the defenders, but he ended up heading the ball into this…”

Listening to Luo Jin’s complaints about Van Ginkel, Cai Bokang lowered his head and drew on paper the offensive route that Tyne had taken that failed to score a goal.

And note the time of this attack, so that you can simply drag the progress bar to find it when reviewing the game after the game, without having to watch the entire game again.

※※※

It took the Xiusro players ten minutes to recover after losing the second goal.

During these ten minutes, Tyne’s attack was also very fierce.

It’s just that Tyne was unable to take advantage of the opponent’s confusion to score a goal – although they were very close to scoring… but in the end, due to various reasons, the football just couldn’t cross the narrow goal line.

Of course, it doesn’t mean that Xiu Si Luo, who has come to his senses, can quickly gain the upper hand and equalize the score…

They just looked less chaotic when defending, which made the fans feel better, but it didn’t mean that they could gain the advantage on the field.

Tyne attacked fiercely for ten minutes but failed to score any more goals. For physical reasons, he slowed down the pace and allowed… or rather, lured Xiusiluo to attack.

Xius Luo certainly didn’t rush out to attack, but controlled the ball and moved slowly. They were afraid that they would be counterattacked by Tyne after they attacked… With both sides slowing down, the first half of the game ended.

“The first half of the game is over! Tyne is temporarily leading Xiusiluo with a score of 2:0! And Tyne’s advantage is far more than just these two goals! In addition to those two goals, Tyne also created many scoring opportunities, but they just didn’t seize them. On the field, Tyne can be said to have completely suppressed the home team Xiusiluo. If someone turned on the TV in the middle of the game, they might mistakenly think that this was Tyne’s home game!”

Taking advantage of the half-time break, Cai Bokang sorted out his “game notes” from the first half, picked out the two offensive route maps that led to the goals and put them aside, and then sorted out the others.

Which ones eventually resulted in a shot and which ones failed halfway.

They are all sorted out one by one.

He already had an idea in his mind, and he needed this information to mature and perfect it, and to use it to convince the national team coach He Zhenyong.

※※※

“Guys, I should be praising you, just like I did before, praising your performance in the first half, after all, we were two goals ahead.”

After returning to the locker room and closing the door, head coach McNeil said this to his players.

“But I don’t want to do that.”

He shook his head.

“If our goal is to avoid relegation, I can think of a hundred ways to praise you. For example, you showed positivity after the start of the game; you stayed calm and composed on the road; facing their pressing, we resolved their pressing through passing the ball and our personal abilities… and so on. These are all things you did well. But…”

McNeill spread his hands: “But why did we create so many opportunities after we were two goals ahead, but we didn’t seize any of them?”

After he asked the question, he looked around and looked at each player.

After looking around, he said: “I’m not trying to blame you. In fact, as I said just now, your performance was very good. But this is very good, good for the goal of relegation. Now our goal is to compete for the Champions League qualification, so this performance can’t be considered good.

“Think about it, there are a total of 20 teams in the league, and only four teams can go to the Champions League in the end, which means we must be one of the four best teams in the league. Today, facing Xiu Si Luo, which is not very strong, we wasted so many opportunities after leading by two goals. What should we do next time when we meet a stronger opponent? When we waste opportunities wantonly, we are assisting our opponents! Every opportunity you miss will eventually turn into a goal into our goal!

“Why can’t we score a goal when we have all the advantages? Because you think that a two-goal lead is good, and you relax unconsciously. So your attitude will be directly reflected in the game… But don’t think that a two-goal lead is a safe score! Think about the Scouse people! How many minutes did they lead us by two goals? Was it about the same time as today? But what was the final result?

“Don’t say that it’s because we have Wang and our opponents don’t… This kind of thinking is very dangerous! Any opponent may score two goals against us in three minutes! Everything is possible in a football match! So as long as the opportunity arises, we must do everything we can to grab it and score that damn football! Don’t think about any ‘safe score’! As long as the referee doesn’t blow the final whistle, there is no ‘safe score’ in the game!
“If we really want to qualify for the Champions League, we must first score every goal we should score and win every game we should win… and this is just the basic requirement! Yes, winning the games we should win is just the basics. If we can’t even win the games we should win, then let alone the Champions League, we can’t even avoid relegation!

“Then on this basis, we have to work hard to win those difficult games. Only in this way can we really have a chance to go to the Champions League! Just like before, should we win the home games against Scouse and Hackney Knights? If we didn’t win, where would we be now? Anyway, we are definitely not on the road to qualifying for the Champions League.

“It’s certainly difficult to get into the Champions League… People outside have told us how difficult it is these days. But it’s also very simple to say it’s simple, that is to score all the goals that should be scored and win all the games that should be won!”

※※※

“I am very dissatisfied with your performance in the first half! No, I am not talking about the two goals conceded before the game. What I want to say is that after the goal, you actually let them bombard us for ten minutes without any hesitation! If it weren’t for your good luck, the score would have been 0:3 or 0:4 by now!”

In the home team’s locker room, Xiuslo head coach Sobochi Tobiasson was furious.

“You have to thank your opponent for their stupidity and clumsiness! They are a team that has not theoretically managed to avoid relegation, and they want to try to reach a bigger goal, so they are not very good at dealing with such a smooth game. If our opponent was an opponent like Clayton Athletic, we would have lost without a doubt in the ten minutes when you were panicking!

“No matter what happens in the second half, we must cheer up and stay focused! Then continue to press them like we did in the first half! They are already two goals ahead, it’s normal for them to be proud and underestimate the enemy. This is our chance! Seize it, use it, and then score a goal! As long as we can score a goal, it will make them lose their composure, and it will not be difficult for us to score the second goal… So it’s very simple, just score the first goal first!”

※※※

“The second half of the game has begun. After the halftime adjustment, the home team Xiusiluo continued to press Tyne like in the first half, trying to disrupt Tyne’s rhythm… Under Xiusiluo’s pressing, Tyne’s offensive advancement was indeed not smooth enough…”

Cai Bokang watched the TV broadcast and saw Wang Lie retreating to the midfield again to provide support.

Then Tyne passed the ball directly to him from the back line without even going through the midfield transition.

In this ball, Wang Lie actually became a midfielder.

Wang Lie, who retreated to support the defense, also faced the pressure from Xiusiluo.

So he didn’t stop where he was to catch the ball. Instead, he ran towards the football. While catching the ball, he suddenly knocked the football behind him with his heel and then turned around!

Because he was moving during the whole process, the action of knocking the ball and turning around was very natural and smooth, leaving no chance for the Xiusiluo players to disrupt it.

After turning around and dodging the Xiusiluo player who was pressing him, Wang Lie turned around and dribbled forward!

Cai Bokang had seen the same scene several times in this game.

When Wang Lie first arrived at Tyne, he would also drop back to support during the game, but at that time he basically passed the ball quickly when he dropped back to support.

After kicking the ball, he turned and ran forward, and did not play a big role in the team’s counterattack.

Now he can already rush forward with the ball, from a receiver in a counterattack to a leader in the counterattack…

This means that Wang Lie is in good physical condition and he has the confidence to do this.

If he had been in the first half of the season, he would have been chased by the opponent and lost the ball if he had dribbled the ball like this…

And now, after the Xiusiluo player approached, he even accelerated to get rid of the opponent!
Although he didn’t understand why, Wang Lie’s physical condition had indeed improved significantly.

It can support him to complete many tactical requirements that he had difficulty completing before…

Although Tyne’s counterattack did not result in a goal in the end, Cai Bokang’s inner idea became more and more firm.

He decided that after watching Chi Zhen’s game tomorrow, he would go talk to Lao He about this matter and convince him to adopt his opinion.

※※※

Cai Bokang didn’t wait too long in the end.

In the 53rd minute of the game, Wang Lie retreated to midfield again.

Then he very cleverly passed the ball to Sonny Dean behind him.

He turned and ran forward again.

While Dean received the ball, he was also facing the defense of Xiusiluo players, so he passed the ball back to Wang Lie who was making a forward run in the middle.

After receiving the ball, Wang Lie passed it to the left.

Vitini received the ball on the left rib and moved forward. Relying on his personal ability, he brought the ball to a place close to the baseline and then made a reverse triangle pass.

Unlike before when he withdrew from the penalty area to create opportunities for his teammates, this time Wang Lie rushed forward and pushed the two central defenders of Xiusu Luo into the small penalty area, creating a gap in the large penalty area behind him.

It was also in this space that Van Ginkel, who came from behind, shot the ball passed back by Vitini!
He didn’t waste the opportunity this time!

The football flew into Xiusiluo’s goal from the lower left corner!
“3:0!! Matthijs van Ginkel!! The second half just started and Tyne scored again! After wasting a lot of opportunities in the first half, they finally seized it this time! Although the second half has just started, this goal has almost secured the victory of the game!”

The stadium, which had become lively again in the second half due to the team’s improved performance, quickly cooled down because of this goal.

After scoring the goal, Van Ginkel pointed at Vitini who passed the ball to him and ran towards him.

The other Tyne players also ran towards them.

Hug and celebrate near the baseline.

(End of this chapter)