Chapter 67: Iran's True Strength

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  Iran's strategy yielded significant results, with the Chinese team's midfield core Shao Jiayi being tightly sealed by their double-team defense. Yu Hai, who had performed well in many previous matches, was completely suppressed by Ivanovic's special arrangement to return to the right-back position of super-Asian player Madavikia, who excelled at both ends of the attack and defense. As for Hou Jiamin on the right flank, due to his lack of speed, Iran only needed to assign one person to stick with him, which was enough to block China's counterattack from this direction. With Iran's super-fast defensive recovery speed, as long as they dragged it out for ten or even just a few seconds, China would completely miss the opportunity to counterattack. Once the game turned into an attacking battle, Hou Jiamin's ability to break through with the ball would be difficult to play out against Iran's muscular forest and the home referee's lenient judgment on physical confrontations.

  Ivanovic saw clearly that the Chinese team had only three players who could frequently send cannonballs to Gao Lin, and as long as they were blocked, China's offense would not be a problem. And from this game, it was indeed the case. After the three passing points in the front court were all defended by the Iranians, the Chinese team could only have central defender Zheng Zhi or defensive midfielder Zhao Junzhe directly pass to find the top center Li Yi. However, although Li Yi's ability to hold and protect the ball was strong, it was not easy to hold the ball steadily under the defense of physically strong Iranian players. Moreover, even if he got the ball, with Li Yi's habit of rushing forward recklessly and his rough passing technique, it was almost impossible for him to send the ball to Gao Lin's feet, which posed a greater threat.

  And if directly passing to Gao Lin, due to the ball being high and floating, it's difficult for him to exert his advantage in predicting the trajectory. With his height of only around 1.7 meters and not too strong physique, Iran can easily send a defender over to intercept the ball and destroy the attack. In this situation, China's quick counterattack cannot be launched at all, which is not surprising.

  Counter-attacks are hard to launch, and it's even more difficult to break through the defense. Iranian players generally have a height advantage, so once they retreat to their defensive position, China's ground passes are likely to be intercepted. As for high balls, even in the past when China was known as the "header team", they had no aerial advantage against Iran, let alone now that they've lost their dominance in the air?

  In addition, another point that cannot be ignored is that the average physical quality of Iranian players far surpasses that of Chinese footballers. Today's referee also judged the physical collisions very leniently, which undoubtedly gave Iranian players an advantage, making the existing gap in strength between the two teams (considering the factors of playing style) even wider...

  Although the strong offensive that basically suppressed the Chinese team in their own half of the field greatly reduced Iran's chances of quick counterattacks, Iran's first-class long-range shooting ability and aerial advantage made them not worry about not being able to score at all. Especially now on China's backline, only Li Dawei has the ability to contend with the Iranians in terms of heading, while another central defender, Zheng Zhi, although having a good jump, is only 1.81 meters tall, which is a big shortcoming. When facing other Asian teams, it was still acceptable, but when encountering the still sharp Ali Daei, Asia's number one center forward, and the strong Iranian frontcourt attacking group behind him, he was still struggling to cope.

  What's more serious is that the Chinese team's goalkeeper Liu Yunfei is not tall, although his excellent jumping ability can make up for this deficiency to a large extent. However, his physical condition was not good in this game, so much so that Alihan even wanted to send substitute goalkeeper Li Jian to replace him before the match, but decided to continue sending Liu Yunfei on the field because Li Jian is shorter and has less tacit understanding with the defenders.

  In the 18th minute, Iran's right-back Madavikia made a positive assist, relying on his top-notch personal ability in Asia to shake off China's Yu Hai and Sun Xiang's double-team defense. He sent out a high-quality inside spin ball from near the baseline. Iran's "Evergreen Tree" Ali Daei jumped high outside the penalty area, heading the ball with great force, pressing down on Zheng Zhi, who was 11 centimeters shorter than him. The ball flew over Liu Yunfei's fingertips and into the net, as Iran easily broke the deadlock!

  For this goal, CCTV-5 studio commentator Huang Jianxiang also felt helpless and said, "We used to think that Yu Hai's defense was very good, but that was only relative to the left-back. Madavikia has absolute advantages in terms of strength, technique, experience, and spiritual power. It is impossible for Yu Hai alone to defend against this 'Asia's No. 1 fullback' (whether as a right-back or left-back, Madavikia is currently Asia's No. 1). And the left-back Sun Xiang is strong in attack but weak in defense (note 1), his defensive ability is not even as good as Yu Hai's, it's no wonder that neither of them can defend against Madavi..."

  While guest Tao Wei comforted himself, "Ma Da is very fierce, but our Ji Hai is also Asia's top wing-back. Look at Ali Han, he changed his formation! Sending Xu Yunlong on to replace Sun Xiang and letting the balanced attacker and defender Sun Jie play left-back to restrict Ma Da's performance, this should be a good move."

  Gao Jun on the scene also secretly praised, "This adjustment is not bad, compared to the Asian Cup period, Alihan has indeed made great progress. The Football Association's invitation to him at the beginning was a mistake, but now it seems that this mistake has begun to self-correct..."

  Sun Jihai, with strong defensive capabilities, came to the left road and joined hands with Yu Hai to barely seal off Madavikia's offense, making it only possible for him to make some simple passes. His more threatening mid-range and long shots were also difficult to play out, but due to putting too much energy into defense, these two people could hardly put in much strength into the offense.

  Madavikia, even now basically restricted, was able to completely neutralize China's strongest left flank with just one person, which explains his terrifying strength. No wonder some people think that if it weren't for the importance of position, Madavikia at his peak would have been qualified to be mentioned alongside Hidetoshi Nakata, currently recognized as Asia's top soccer star...

  Note 1: Although Sun Xiang is now unable to attack and relies on defense at Evergrande, he was originally a renowned attacking full-back when he first started his career. However, after suffering serious injuries and aging, his physical condition has greatly deteriorated, and his attacking ability has been largely lost. On the other hand, his defensive skills have improved with experience, which is why Sun Xiang has become a defense-oriented player who excels in guarding but struggles with attacking.