Shenhua and Harbor Derby: Staggering Offense and Defense, Fate Fiddles with Fate
Although Shenhua did not have much possession throughout the game, their offense was extremely efficient with 17 shots on goal, far more than the Harbor team's seven. In terms of shots on goal percentage, Shenhua was also ahead by 6-2. The final score of 1-1 does not fully reflect the attacking strength of the two teams, which is exactly the charm of a soccer game.
Head coach Wu Jingui said after the game, "Our players were emotional in the locker room and felt very sorry for not being able to win the Shanghai Derby twice. I said to the players that getting four points in two derbies is already not easy, and thanked the players for their hard work and contributing to a great game."
The fateful element of the match was evident in the "almost goal" and "goal revoked" segments. In the second half, Shenhua created confusion through a pass from the right road, which led to an own goal by Harbor defender Li Shenyuan, and if the goal had been valid, the score would have been extended to 2-0. However, the video assistant referee intervened, and the slow-motion camera showed that Shenhua's right defender Wang Yi had received the ball from an offside position, so the referee decided to nullify the goal.
Photo Credit: Shenhua and Harbour had penalty kick chances, but one was missed and the other broke through.
In addition, Shenhua substitute striker Liu Ruofan's header hit the post and bounced out. Even, Shenhua was awarded a penalty kick, Zhu Chenjie's shot was parried and the substitute's supplementary shot was actually blocked by Yan Junling's face again.
Seaport head coach Leko admitted after the match, "Indeed, Shenhua had the chance to kill the game. We were more lucky today, but the side that occupies the destiny has to have the strength to deserve it, and the only way to have the destiny is to keep working hard."
The difference is as big as a mile. Because of fate, Shenhua missed three "must score" goals, and three times missed the chance to extend the score and confirm the victory. Sometimes the soccer field is so strange, when you continuously waste chances or can't break through the goal, the opponent will probably take advantage of an unexpected moment to finish the goal. Fate, too, is on the side of the harbor.
National goalkeeper Yan Junling shows heroic form
In 2021, the national football team for a long time closed training for the world preliminaries, the main goalkeeper of the national football team is always Chongming Genbao base training Yan Junling. Because the overall strength of the national football team is weak, the defense is not solid, the national football team has lost the city many times, has triggered some netizens a little question: this is really China's best goalkeeper?
Photo Credit: Yan Junling performs a penalty kick miracle double.
Photo: Yan Junling deflects a one-two before Seaport's first goal is conceded.
In the 2022 season, Yan Junling played heroically in this Shanghai derby, directly straightening the question mark. Attack picturesque, defense Yan Junling - even in the 2018 Chinese Super League championship season, the overall quality of the Harbour team's defense is not too high, mainly relying on the offensive suppression, but Yan Junling has always been the defensive end of the most assured fans of the "iron door". Whether it's a high catch or a single shot, Yan Junling can show the composure and calmness of the No. 1 goalkeeper of the national soccer team.
This Shanghai derby, Yan Junling from the first minute, directly into the open state. The first goal conceded by the harbor team, Shenhua striker Bassogo single knife into the push shot, hard by Yan Junling pounced out. However, because the harbor team defender Li Ang blocking is not timely enough, let Shenhua winger Zhu Jianrong aimed at the far corner of the shot, Yan Junling even flew to remedy can not prevent the ball against the side net goal.
In this competition, Yan Junling's excitement was activated early. The most classic defense remedy of the whole game is undoubtedly Yan Junling's two consecutive punches on penalty kicks. The Shenhua defender Zhu Chenjie, who took the penalty kick, had stable footwork and mental toughness, but Yan Junling captured the ball path and directly flew to block the shot. Subsequently, a Shenhua player quickly inserted, make-up shot quality is very high, but the ball was Yan Junling face to block out. With the help of both "fate" and "hard work", Yan Junling performed a very beautiful world-class two consecutive pounces.
Yan Junling after the game review: "Punt penalty then also did not think too much, because I and Zhu Chenjie is indeed too familiar, before the national team throughout the 40, 12 strong match each other are very well known, of course, penalty also has a destiny component, Zhu Chenjie in the mentality of the very mature, but pounced on the penalty is still a destiny component."
Lecco completes self-correction as Harbor rallies to equalize
In addition to relying on good luck and the heroic remedy of goalkeeper Yan Junling, the Harbour's ability to finally collect a penalty and equalize in the 87th minute stemmed from Lecco's self-correction. In the last ten minutes, the stubborn Croatian finally lowered his head and finally adjusted the 343 formation, which his players were basically not used to, to the relatively balanced but never-trained 442.
A player told reporters after the game that Leko had not trained the four-back formation at all in previous training, but it was this forced change of formation that helped the team equalize the score in the last minute, and even more so, it helped Leko to pull the poorly-performing Harbour back from the edge of the cliff.
The 343 formation, which Leko insisted on building after taking office, began to expose the shortcomings of local players not adapting, not matching and not being able to defend without the super reinforcement Oscar. 343 formation's strategic thinking is to attack instead of defend, which requires midfielders to have strong passing and cutting ability, which is able to break the opponent's high press, midfield stranglehold, and thus suppress the opponents. Last year, Lecco had two world-class midfielders under his command, Oscar and Muy, and the team was able to manage this aggressive formation, which is stronger in attack than defense, with relative ease.
In the 2022 season, Oscar has not yet returned to the team, Muy also because of the Australian team to play the World Cup basically no longer return, harbor team midfield work capacity is seriously lacking. Now, Leko did not "eat according to the existing characteristics of the players", but according to the original 343 formation for the players to "copy and paste". Especially when Xu Xin, the only player with the ability to link up, is unable to play due to injury, the Harbor team's 343 formation midfield work is only "elementary school" level.
After Wu Jingui fully penetrated the shortcomings of Lecco's 343 formation and adopted a grabbing fast front combined with staring tactics to completely suppress it, Lecco made a desperate last-minute move and switched to playing his never-trained four-guard formation. With substitute Li Shenglong on the stage, the Harbor team actually ended up playing a 442 formation, with Yu Hai at left back, Li Shenyuan at right back, and Li Ang and Zhang Linpeng as center backs.
Even though it was only 10 minutes, the new 442 formation made an immediate impact, as the Harbor team's outlets increased significantly, creating "instant mismatches" against Shenhua's otherwise precise defense, resulting in a wave of blitzkriegs. The equalizing goal came from right back Li Shenyuan's assisted pass as a right back, which resulted in a handball by a Shenhua defender in the penalty area.
Photo: Former international footballer Li Yi, who is a commentator at Tencent, commented, "In this Shanghai derby, Wu Jingui guided to a complete victory over Leko."
In the last ten minutes, the Harbour, who had unprecedentedly switched to a 442 formation, were relatively more balanced in attack and defense, spreading the passing points more evenly and creating the best substantial attacking chances of the match. In the first 80 minutes, Lecco's 343 formation operated like a tiger at one time, only to find out at the end that it was only twenty-five per hour. On the contrary, in the last ten minutes, Harbour switched to 442, and it was clear that the players were more adapted, more knowledgeable, more fluent, and more direct in creating the timing to equalize.
Leko is a relatively idealistic coach, even a bit paranoid and stubborn in character. However, Leko, who never changes, has corrected himself this time and snatched a point in the fierce dialog of the Shanghai derby. The forced change of formation may be a good warning to the "stubborn" Leko. (Shangguan News for Bing)
