Lazy Genius Striker [EN]: Chapter 186

[Real Madrid CF]

Formation: 4-3-3

GK Luca Caceres

DF Antonio De la Rosa

DF Juan Gonzalez (C)

DF Jesus Aspas

DF Renato Mingues

MF Diego Casas

MF Thomas Stein

MF Fernando Viega

FW Fabricio Jr

FW Kylian Mbappe

FW Alvaro Llorente

───────Llorente───────

Mbappe─────────Fabricio

─────────────────

───────Viega───────

────Stein───Casas────

De la Rosa──────────Mingues

───Gonzalez───Aspas───

─────────────────

───────Caceres──────

[West Ham United FC]

Formation: 4-4-2

GK Jeff Hurrichel

DF Shay Bellamy

DF Danny Guimarães

DF Martin Petrovic

DF Michael Jenkinson

MF Tim Gordon (C)

MF Jonathan Naison

MF Jacob Buckley

MF Daniele Capello

FW Joshua Bailey

FW Johan Van

──────────Johan─────

────Bailey──────────

Naison───────────Buckley

──────────Capello────

──────Gordon─────────

Petrovic─────────Jenkinson

────Bellamy──Guimarães───

─────────────────

───────Hurrichel───────

The match started with Johan’s kick-off.

Real is in a 4-3-3 formation, and West Ham is in a 4-4-2 formation.

Both teams are playing with their best lineups.

There are no surprising player selections or unconventional formation changes.

Both teams have fielded their best eleven, as expected.

In other words,

both teams think the same thing:

‘Our team is stronger.’

‘If we can play our football to 100 percent, we won’t lose.’

As the commentator said, both teams are aware that the beginning is important.

West Ham wants to get through the early stages relatively quietly, and Real wants to cause an upset early on.

That’s evident in the early stages.

West Ham wants to stabilize their rhythm by slowly passing the ball, while Real Madrid starts with strong front pressing, not letting them do so.

Paang-

Paang-!

The left and right fullbacks spread wide to the sides, passing the ball and forming a triangular shape with the goalkeeper and center backs as vertices.

Real’s three forwards are all players with excellent speed.

Regardless of their actual defensive abilities, their speed alone makes them a threat to the defenders.

The same is true when defending, but it’s also the same when they have to break through the press like now.

Because if they start pressing with all their might, as if threatening, you can’t help but feel very pressured.

“Here!”

Perhaps sensing the pressure, Capello came down deep and called for the ball.

Paang-!

Hurrichel passes the ball to Capello.

The press is tightening right away.

‘Don’t mess with me.’

Tatatat-!

Capello turns fluently.

With one turn, Capello releases the pressure from the opposing forwards and starts to advance.

“Wowww-!”

The West Ham fans cheered at Capello’s excellent escape from pressure.

In fact, the Hammers are also in a state of extreme tension, as much as the players.

Because it’s their first time supporting at such a high-stakes stage.

Therefore, even situations that would normally be overlooked elicit great cheers.

And,

that gave Capello great confidence.

“Hey-!”

Ppeoooeeoeong-!

Capello boldly attempts a forward pass.

It’s a pass to Johan.

But,

Chwaaaaaaa-

As if he had read the play in advance, Diego Casas cut off the pass with a sliding tackle.

Paang-

Casas, who won the ball, immediately passed to Viega.

Ppeoooeeoeong-!

Viega connected a long switching pass to the right side.

Paang-!

The ball accurately connects to Real’s right winger, Fabricio Junior.

A 1-on-1 situation is naturally formed between Fabricio and Petrovic.

Fabricio confidently starts to dribble past.

Brazil’s rising star, Fabricio, is hailed as Brazil’s best talent and best dribbler of the next generation.

Petrovic was outmaneuvered by his flexible and aggressive movements.

The right side is breached in an instant.

Fabricio, who reached the right side of the box, boldly took a shot.

Ppeoooeeoeoeoeong-!

Chwaaaaaaaa-

A low shot towards the far post.

Fortunately,

Paaaaaaang-!

Hurrichel, who came out narrowing the angle, deflected the ball with his outstretched foot.

Shuuuuuung-

The deflected ball floated high and went over the crossbar.

West Ham fans breathed a sigh of relief, and Real fans applauded with regret.

“Sorry, sorry.”

“It’s okay. Let’s focus!”

Petrovic raised his hand, his face full of sweat.

His mistake almost caused the game to explode from the start.

‘Damn it.’

‘It’s not easy after all.’

Petrovic had been training intensively with Jenkinson while preparing for today’s game.

Real’s wingers were players who could dismantle the defense with their individual abilities alone.

Mbappe and Fabricio, these two are attackers that even world-class fullbacks struggle to contain.

If he doesn’t stay focused, he might ruin this game.

Petrovic slapped his cheeks and focused his mind.

Real’s corner kick continues.

Ppeoooeeoeong-!

Viega’s corner kick, after signaling with his hand, heads sharply towards the goal.

Shuuuuuung-

Paang-!

Fortunately, Hurrichel caught the ball.

“Go up!”

Hurrichel immediately threw the ball forward.

However, Capello loses the physical battle to Casas and fails to control the ball.

The possession of the ball returns to Real.

“Hmm…”

Manager Schmidt, who was watching the game, stroked his chin.

*

“Hurry! Hurry! Damn it, Jenkinson! Pass it to the side! Slow it down!”

Coach Jamie’s voice was already hoarse.

Originally, it’s not easy to fully convey your voice to the players from the bench.

The field is wide, and the stadium is noisy.

It was even more so today.

The louder the cheering from both teams, the more Coach Jamie’s voice was drowned out, and Coach Jamie had to shout even louder.

“We shouldn’t get excited.”

“Umm.”

Coach Jamie shook his head and slumped down on the bench.

Everyone seems to be highly excited.

It’s only natural.

The atmosphere of the final that they’re experiencing for the first time, and the opponent rushing them from the start.

You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t feel adrenaline pumping.

The mistakes made by Capello and Hurrichel stemmed from that.

Earlier, when Capello broke through the press with a good turn, he should have slowed down a bit and controlled the tempo.

But Capello only looked forward and passed, and of course, it was easily read and the pass was cut off.

Thanks to that, they gave the opponent a counterattack, and a dangerous situation was exposed.

Hurrichel is the same.

After catching the opponent’s corner kick, he had to buy time until his teammates returned to their positions.

But,

he was caught up in the thought that he had to go up quickly and hurriedly released the ball, and of course, he gave up possession again.

All of this is evidence that the players are much more excited than usual.

Still, they have to calm down.

The problem is that Real’s tempo is getting faster.

If you match that tempo, you won’t be able to slow down even if you want to.

Real was still making full use of attacks on both flanks.

First, they send the ball to the side and have the wingers actively engage in 1-on-1s with the fullbacks.

Of course, as expected, they set up countermeasures by having Naison and Buckley drop back and provide supporting defense [double-teaming].

In these positional attack situations, they are still prepared.

However,

the problem is that it’s not just the flanks that need to be defended.

As Mbappe on the left draws Buckley’s attention, Viega in the center freely dribbles the ball forward.

The withdrawn striker, Joshua Bailey, was dropping back to supplement the central personnel, but it’s difficult to expect solid defense from Bailey or Capello.

Even Viega is a player who can easily advance even against defensive-minded midfielders.

On the flanks, players are positioned who can break through and even score at any time unless two or more people mark them.

There is also an ace midfielder in the center who is capable of advancing and making killer passes [a pass that leads directly to a goal-scoring opportunity].

No matter how wide Naison and Buckley’s activity is, they need to cover two players each.

‘That’s why…’

Manager Schmidt bit his molars.

That’s why there was talk of a slightly unconventional starting lineup.

Instead of a two-striker formation [투 톱] of Johan and Bailey, taking Bailey out and using defender Lucas Simone as a midfielder to reinforce the midfield’s defense.

But it wasn’t an easy choice.

They had never tried a tactic that made such a change during the season.

Trying something they haven’t done, not in another game, but in the final, is not an easy thing.

Anyway, it’s unsettling, but it seems okay if they don’t concede a goal.

No, to be precise, it seems possible only if they don’t concede a goal.

They definitely gave the momentum [분위기] to the opponent in the early stages, but if they can’t score in this flow [흐름], the opponent will have to take a hit.

We have to hold on…!

Cheolseok-!

…Shibal [a Korean swear word, similar to “damn”], we’re screwed.

*

“Wowwwww-!”

Mbappe scored the first goal, and Manager Schmidt rubbed his forehead.

He was thinking it would be nice if they didn’t concede an early goal, but he conceded a goal as soon as he thought about it.

Fabricio and Viega broke down the flank by exchanging one-two passes [원 투 passes], and the cross was so fast that it couldn’t be stopped in front of the goal.

Mbappe, who was running from the opposite side, finished it neatly even though it was not an easy situation.

It was a goal that the opponent executed well.

Therefore,

“Wake up! Let’s focus a little more! Open your ears! Listen to each other! Talk a lot!”

Coach Jamie is shouting at the top of his lungs [고래 고래] in the technical area, but in fact, it can’t be seen as a defensive blunder [실책].

Even a team with a good defense would have had a hard time in the situation just now.

However, the problem is that the timing is the worst.

“Hala Madrid!” [A chant of support for Real Madrid]

The voices of Real fans are getting louder.

The momentum seems to pierce the sky.

If this happens, the future will be even more problematic.

They haven’t even fully adapted to the atmosphere of the final yet, but they’ve completely surrendered the momentum [넘어가] to the opponent.

Okay, up to one goal, it can be like that.

If the difference widens to two goals here, this game may become unstoppable.

“Fall back.”

“Yes?”

“Go in and wait.”

“Ah, yes.”

Eventually, Manager Schmidt, who had been standing [일어나] on the bench, came directly to the technical area.

Manager Schmidt, pushing aside [물러] Coach Jamie, shouted loudly.

“Johan-!”

When Johan looked this way at the sound of him calling,

“Put it in-! As fast as 1 second!”

Manager Schmidt conveyed [전달] his trump card tactic.

‘Johan, please do it.’

‘Please.’

In fact, Manager Schmidt was also in a tense [긴장] state.

He’s so flustered [정신] that it’s regrettable [안타까울] that this is the only thing he can say right now.

He thought he wouldn’t regret it if he played their style of football whether he lost or won, but now it seems that’s not the case.

If they lose this, they’ll definitely have regrets left.

So, please do it.

“…”

Fortunately, Johan was nodding as if he understood.