A starting lineup that looked balanced on offense and defense was unable to attack or defend, conceding 7 goals. There is no reason to say that the defense has a bright spot. Of the two defensive backs, Wang Shangyuan was kept on the bench for nearly 80 minutes and Huang Zhengyu was kept right out of the starting lineup, which is a marvelous thing in itself, let alone against Japan.
Two goals down in the first half, 442 adjusted to 532 in the second half. so far I don't understand Ivankovic's intentions. Is it to strengthen the defense? However, three attacking players, Allan, Fernando and Byeloram, were replaced. Is it to strengthen the offense? But the number of center backs was increased to three and the number of defenders to five. That means the barrier in front of the box is actually reduced from 4 to 2. Conceding 5 goals in one go is nothing to sneeze at.
The agonizing game is over, everyone is back home and everything is flipped. The next most important thing is to prepare for the match against Saudi Arabia. However, the lessons of the first game cannot be turned over. It is known that it is unlikely to score against Saudi Arabia, but the attitude of the underdog is certain. I hope that Mr. Ivankovic will see the "cards in his hand" clearly and "live" carefully against others. We really don't have the strength.
