On the front line, the naturalized Fernando and 03 star Baiheramu are playing side by side, and both are in excellent condition. While top scorer Wu Lei is out due to injury, local center forward Zhang Yuning and former Chinese Super League Golden Boot Eckerson, as well as Wei Shihao, Xie Pengfei and a host of other attackers, are all on the sidelines. In the midfield, Wang Shangyuan partnered with former center back Jiang Shenglong to form a double back lineup. It is clear that the national team's strategy is to play defense first, if not to start an attacking battle with their opponents and secure a goal to ensure their advancement.
Through this starting lineup, it's easy to see that since Coach Ivan took charge of the national team, there's been a major shift in staffing, that is, from the "Harbor Gang" to the "Shenhua Gang," a magnificent turnaround. Former harbor players such as Zhang Leming, Yan Junling and Wu Lei, has no starting, and even away from the national team. Only Jiang Guangtai started as a harbor player, while Zhu Chenjie, Xu Haoyang, Jiang Shenglong and Yang Zexiang are all from Shenhua. Goalkeeper Wang Dalei also in Shanghai Shenhua emerging, and then transferred to Shandong Taishan. According to statistics, "Shenhua gang" starting players accounted for half of the total.
At the beginning of the game, the national football team will be the cornerstone of defense, facing the powerful South Korea, the opponents, although fierce offense, but also difficult to break the game, the two sides fell into a 0:0 stalemate. South Korea scored six shots in the half, three of which were quite threatening, although the national football team also had two shots on goal, but the effect is very small. Toward halftime, the national football team two excellent scoring opportunities to South Korea's heart. South Korea's ball control rate was 68%, while the national soccer team had only 32%.
At least from the first half, the starting lineup and tactical setup of the national football team was proper.
However, the second half of the national football defense line emergency. In the 60th minute, the South Korean player Sun Xingmiao left precise pass, the national football defense actually no one touched the ball, the back of the Li Gangren easily broke the goal.
Does the national football team need to strengthen its offense? In the 68th minute, Wu Lei and Zhang Yuning came on as substitutes for Fernando and Xie Wenneng. However, the two strikers had few chances to touch the ball after they came on the field. The national football team continued to play passive defense and attacked to no avail. Wei Shihao and Xie Pengfei should have been on the pitch, but with five substitutions exhausted, they remained on the sidelines. Coach Ivan seems to have no intention of tying the game, but at least the defense is not conceding any more goals.
With a 0:1 loss, the only thing the national soccer team can hope for is that the Singaporean team will not net a loss of three goals in the match against Thailand.
