On April 8, 2023, the newly renamed Henan Football Club ushered in its first warm-up match of the 2023 season against Qingdao Hainiu, a Chinese Super League promotion horse. After attending the farewell ceremony for Henan's famous "veteran fan" Han Guangan at the Zhengzhou Funeral Hall in the morning, Caiwei had the honor of watching the game at the Navigation Stadium with more than 1,000 Henan fans. Caiwei recorded the game as she watched it. This article will reproduce the situation of the game in the form of a battle report to the fans who care about Henan soccer, to help you "get a glimpse of the whole picture".
First, the situation on the ground
With a temperature of 20 degrees, a light breeze, lush green turf, and home fans filling the C-1 stands, conditions for today's game at the Zhengzhou Air Sports Complex were perfect!
The weather is great.
The turf is great.
The turf is great.
II. Premiere
Henan starting formation 4141, starting goalkeeper No. 19 Wang Guoming, backline from left to right is No. 11 Ke Zhao, No. 3 Yang Shuai, No. 23 Shunyiqi, Li Songyi (training uniform, jersey without number), Pina, Pina...
III. Status of the war
PART1: Attacking and defending each other, slightly dragged out
Nine minutes, Qingdao broke into the box from the right and fell down, the referee ignored the highlights. Henan counterattacked, offside.
On 12 minutes, Pina made a mistake at center back and the opposing wide man cut inside and fired a flighted shot.
Jong Yi-ho got a shot off the right post in the 16th minute while leaning on the defense in the box!
Adrian sent a rib in the middle of the field in the 18th minute, Huang Zichang went forward and the opposing goalkeeper came out to destroy it!
In the 19th minute, the first corner kick of the match for both sides was sent out from the opponent's right corner flag and was headed out by Yang!
In the twenty-first minute, Jianye's center was directly penetrated by Qingdao, and the opponent's foreigner shot high from the penalty area!
Qingdao's free kick in front of the field in the 24th minute, the foreigner direct shot missed.
In the 28th minute, Henan right front free kick, Adrian penalty, the opponent clearance into the right corner. Adrian and Huang Zichang played a corner kick tactics, Huang Zichang turned and hung the door cup, the opponent goalkeeper took out, very wonderful!
Thirty minutes, Huang Zichang right pass, Zhong Yihao first made the second point Kovic, Kovic big area in the air shot off the mark.
In the 36th minute, after a series of one-touch passes through the middle of Henan, Adrian sent the opposing defense behind and Kovic offside.
Thirty-nine minutes, Yang Shuai was fouled by the opponent's big foreigner in the midfield confrontation, Yang Shuai got up to express his dissatisfaction, and the opponent's big foreigner was yellow carded.
Forty-two minutes, Henan captain Wang Shangyuan direct, Huang Zichang fell to the ground in the penalty area, reasonable collision referee ignored.
After half-time, Henan and Qingdao Hainiu were tied at 0-0. Throughout the first half, there was a slight delay in the pace of the game, with Henan focusing on positional attacks and Qingdao Hainiu on defensive counter-attacks. The front of Henan's penalty area was broken many times in the defense, and the head coach needs to build it carefully.
PART2: Fantastic goal line save by Sunic! Yellow card for Adrian! Henan killed by Qingdao's goal
At the start of the second half, Henan switched to right back Luo Xin and newcomer Li Songyi came off the bench.
Jong Yi-Ho sent a straight shot from the left front in the 51st minute and Kovic was offside.
Qingdao counterattacked on 53 minutes, Henan's defense was extremely compressed into the box, and the opponent's shot hit a defender and bounced off the line.
In the 57th minute, Qingdao Hainiu counterattacked and Yang Shuai failed to shovel the ball on the ground. After the opposing foreigner formed a one-two, Henan keeper Wang Guoming went over for an open goal chance! But Shuniqi defended at high speed and the goal line miraculously blocked the ball! The miraculous save won a big applause from the Henan fans!
Then the head coach replaced mediocre foreign striker Kovic with Henan native Han Dong.
Qingdao bench kept complaining to the referee in the 61st minute and the referee stopped the game temporarily.
In the 66th minute, the little yellow man Huang Zichang 1vs2 won a free kick in front for Henan, but the free kick issued by his teammates was confiscated by the opposing goalkeeper. Qingdao quickly counterattacked on the spot, the other side of the small foreigner left high-speed burst into a few single knife, Shunyiqi and Adrian back to chase, Adrian down in front of the penalty area shoveling foul, yellow card warning! This yellow card is a last resort and worth it.
Adrian and Ko were replaced in the 77th minute.
In the 80th minute, Jianye right newcomer small yellow shoes (suspected Gao Tianyi, no number in the training uniform) with the ball high-speed breakthrough in the penalty area, the other side in the penalty area outside the line of fouls, free kick in front of the field. But captain Wang Shangyuan punished the free kick are no one.
In the 85th minute, Qingdao Hainiu counterattacked on the left side of the road. The striker brushed past the defenders and formed a half one-two, breaking through the penalty area to shoot and break the deadlock! 0-1, Henan was down by a goal!
After falling behind, Henan replaced wings Zhong Yihao and Huang Zichang.
In the ninetieth minute, amidst the chaos, Wang Shangyuan took a shot from the front of the penalty area that went high, and then the referee blew the whistle for the match.
Finally, Henan lost 0-1 to the midfield promotion horse Qingdao Hainiu in the Chinese Super League warm-up match.
IV. Summary
Henan's starting formation 4141 is not a new coach's invention, and Javier used it last season. In the advantageous offense of the 4141 formation, the two front guards Zhong Yihao and Huang Zichang can form a trident with the outside forwards. Due to the large cross section, it is also easy to intercept in defense. But the biggest drawback of the 4141 formation is that there is too much space on the left and right sides of the midfield free man (single back) Pina, which is easily exploited by the opponent. In this game, the front of Henan's penalty area was even directly penetrated and penetrated many times, taking advantage of the gaps on Pina's side and behind. These gaps especially occurred after Pina had risen slightly in position and the space behind and behind him was completely leaked.
In this game, Henan started former Kunshan striker Kovic, but Kovic, an unimpressive center forward with little height, had almost nothing to do in the attack. He couldn't see his header or his ability to play soccer like Dorado. Kovic desperately needs to be integrated into the team quickly. With no powerful striker, Henan's positional offense seemed to be stuck in a quagmire. The head coach remembered that Han Dong wanted to accelerate, but Han Dong fell into silence after several sudden failures. The new coach seems unable to solve the problem by a single height (and it's not high) or quickness.
The problem of being counterattacked by the opponents should cause Henan to pay great attention. In this game, a speedy little foreigner of Qingdao Hainiu stirred up Henan's defense. Although it was not this small foreign aid who scored the final goal, it was also the counterattacking way of eating the defenders alive. Once the center back is out of position, the other team almost always has a chance to score, and the other team has at least two must score.
