This is a typical "United States tactic."
Isn’t it true that the United States always fights wars abroad? This way, their homeland remains unaffected regardless of the outcome.
This is why Maniero brought on Lu Yang as an attacking midfielder despite the team seemingly having defensive issues.
Only the chemistry between Lu Yang and Morici, along with Lu Yang’s vision and movement, can help Morici achieve front-field high-pressure ball control tactics.
Beep!
The whistle blows, and the match kicks off.
Right from the start, the Italy Team makes their intentions clear, revealing their strategy.
Through Lu Yang’s connection, the ball quickly reaches the Poland Team’s half.
At this point, the Italy Team’s defensive line is already near the midfield line.
Even the Italy Team’s right-back, Canyes, is lingering around the attacking third’s junction, looking ready to surge forward at any moment.
By now, aside from the Italy Team’s deep-lying center-back and goalkeeper, all Italian players are in the Poland Team’s half.
"Wow! We see the Italy Team’s performance is completely different from the last match. They’ve pushed up collectively and started circulating the ball in the Poland Team’s half."
"The match has just begun, and Poland Team’s players are full of energy. They’re quite dissatisfied with Italy Team’s pressure and are quickly pressing up!"
"Morici is surrounded, dangerous... Oh, Morici executes a lob pass, sending the ball out. His vision is impressive!"
"Lu Yang is ready to receive the ball, but there are two Polish players charging towards him. If he mishandles the ball, the Poland Team will have a great counterattack opportunity... Lu Yang stops the ball perfectly!"
The commentator’s words are abruptly interrupted by Lu Yang’s technical prowess.
Lu Yang traps the ball with the instep, softly flicking it through the legs of the player pressing him.
Lu Yang then chases after the ball.
In the run, Lu Yang shakes off the opponent’s hand gripping his jersey.
With most players concentrated in this half, the player density is high. After shrugging off two players, Lu Yang still faces defensive players ahead, lacking the space and conditions for a long shot.
Bang!
Lu Yang dishes the ball out with the outer part of his right foot while running.
Italy’s right winger Pompey takes possession, with only one Polish left-back beside him.
Bang!
Pompey carries the ball two steps, feints to cut inside, then performs a cycling move, flicking the ball towards the vicinity of the baseline with his right foot.
Swoosh!
Canyes, like a whirlwind, rushes past Pompey, completing the overlap down the line.
Bang!
Canyes delivers a high-quality cross.
Sogel successfully contests for the header, aiming for the goal.
But the Polish goalkeeper is quite capable, managing to save this header.
Sogel’s header was too direct, an issue he’s always had.
He is too straightforward and cautious, which is related to his style as a central forward pivot.
If he were an opportunist or a winger who likes challenging shots, his header style would similarly aim for tight angles.
You know, hitting the corners is excellent when successful, as the save difficulty is extremely high.
But the probability of failure is often higher, typically missing the goal or grazing past the goal frame.
Different forwards have different characteristics, and so do players of varying personalities.
One can see that Sogel doesn’t possess much ball control; otherwise, he wouldn’t break a finishing chance into several attempts, ensuring each shot is within the goal frame.
If he played in leagues with weaker defensive competition, Sogel might see a scoring explosion.
But in high-level leagues, it’s difficult for Sogel’s scoring stats to rise.
He’s not a golden boot-type central forward.
Of course, Sogel didn’t explode his stats in the Italian Third Division because there’s a player with unrestricted firing rights on the team, squeezing Sogel’s statistical performance space.
Otherwise, scoring twenty-five goals last season wouldn’t be a problem for Sogel.
Not considering match outcomes, even thirty goals were possible.
Bang!
Just as Sogel finishes a beautiful attempt, the Polish center-back immediately controls the ball instead of passing to the midfield, opting for a direct long pass to the left side, which is San Remo’s right flank.
There, due to Canyes’s forward run, a large gap is exposed.
This pass can only be called a pass but lacks precision.
Hence, the Polish left winger spends quite some effort stopping the ball, which delays him by about a second and a half.
If Morici made the pass, the ball’s airborne speed would be faster, but post-landing would favor better control, saving approximately two seconds of time.
This is the difference between a good pass and an ordinary pass; it’s a subtlety that players deeply feel but is hard to detect by the naked eye.
Polish central forward Pavovsky is already sprinting crazily in the center.
He’s not a speed-type player but an all-around forward.
However, when sprinting fully, he can overpower the Italian defensive line.
At least, Italy’s right center-back Pirola has already been left behind by Pavovsky, with only another speed-type center-back, Lam, engaging in physical confrontation with him.
Pavovsky seems to have a similar build to Lam, but his confrontational ability is equally strong, carrying Lam forward with tremendous force!
At this moment, if the Polish left winger delivers a cross, Pavovsky has a seventy percent chance of controlling the ball before Lam.
And once he gains possession, Lam will be put in a very passive position.