Full-level pass, please call me the speaker of the Three Lions

Chapter 109 The three lions make their debut! [A four thousand word chapter]

Compared with the packed house in the FA Cup final, the number of spectators in the Three Lions warm-up match was less than half.

Even so, the cheers of tens of thousands of England fans still made the Lions on the field full of energy.

The Peruvian national team, ranked No. 60 and fourth in the world, cannot be called a strong team.

However, small teams also have stars in their ranks.

For example, Bundesliga Bayern Munich center Claudio Pizarro, Hamburg forward Jose Paul Guerrero, Schalke 04 wing Jefferson Farfan, and Serie A Genoa's Juan Barga Sri Lanka.

These four players are called Peru’s “Fantastic Four”

Even if it hasn’t produced many famous stars.

But in the 70s, Peru was the strongest football country in South America after Brazil and Argentina.

It's a pity that Peru has never entered the World Cup since 1982.

In this World Cup in Brazil, Peru is [-] points away from entering the World Cup.

The national team is also very particular when choosing its opponents for warm-up matches.

If it is too strong, if you cannot beat it, you will lose face and destroy the players' confidence;
Too weak, completely one-sided, and of no training value at all.

Therefore, a mid-range team that is neither strong nor weak can maximize the benefits of the warm-up match.

And this South American team, which specializes in defensive counterattacks, is not a pushover.

If the Three Lions don't take it seriously, it will capsize in the gutter...

Ever since, Hodgson directly put forward the strongest lineup in his mind:
Joe Hart guards the goal, and the four defenders from left to right are Baynes, Jagielka, Cahill, and Glen Johnson.

The two central midfielders are the Liverpool combination of Gerrard and Henderson, and the attacking midfielder is Rooney.

On the left and right are Welbeck and Sterling.

At the front is Sturridge, the Premier League silver boot.

It is worth mentioning that all five Liverpool players selected for the national team started!
Judging from this starting lineup, it can be seen that Hodgson wants to extend Liverpool's excellent performance in the Premier League this season to the national team.

However, this has nothing to do with Ling Feng sitting on the bench.

He just chewed gum and carefully watched the situation on the field.

Although there is no starter.However, he still has to observe the running habits of his teammates on the bench.

Only in this way can he strengthen his tacit understanding with his teammates as soon as possible and pass comfortable passes to his teammates after coming off the bench.

Moreover, he will meet most of the Premier League stars on the field in the Premier League next season.

Therefore, this is also a good opportunity to observe and understand the opponent up close.
In the cheers of tens of thousands of home fans at Wembley Stadium, the Three Lions took the initiative on the field from the very beginning.

Peru also gave up the ball directly and put on a 451 defensive posture, waiting for England to attack.

However, in a dense defensive formation, the difficulty of passing and receiving coordination will also increase exponentially.

And England is not Arsenal. Most of the frontcourt players' foot skills are very rough, and they can't play smooth ground passing and cutting coordination at all.

You can only distribute the ball to the wing, let the two wingers break through and then pass down the bottom, or shoot from a long distance from the outside.

Whenever England attacked with the ball in the midfield or on the wing, Ling Feng noticed that Rooney in the midfield position would not come out to meet his teammates, but would directly dive into the penalty area to form a double forward with Sturridge.

I don’t know if it’s Hodgson’s tactical arrangement or his own habits as a forward.

Therefore, Rooney is not so much an attacking midfielder as he is a shadow forward.

He is responsible for ambushing behind Sturridge, conducting frontcourt series and shooting at the second point.

Gerrard, who is in the midfield, presses into the attacking midfielder position to dispatch and long-range shots.

In other words, only Henderson is left in the huge midfield.

Facing an opponent who is weak and unable to organize an effective counterattack, it is normal to press and fight like this.

However, the opponents are not European fish bellies like Luxembourg and Moldova!

Once England loses the ball in the frontcourt, Peru only needs a quick counterattack to quickly pass through the midfield and directly face the back line!

Just as Ling Feng was thinking this, the situation on the court suddenly changed:
Left winger Welbeck failed to break through on the left wing. After being double-teamed and intercepted, the ball was quickly transferred.

The Peruvian midfielder made a direct pass to Farfan on the right.

As the fastest player in the Peruvian team, Farfan is the only breakthrough point for the Peruvian team in the frontcourt.

At this time, Henderson, who stayed in the midfield, was still three meters away from Farfan!
Seeing that the midfield was as wide as the sea, Farfan made a soup, left Henderson behind who came to help defend, and then pushed forward from the center.

At the same time, Peru's left winger and midfielder were also keeping up at high speed!
Coupled with center Pizarro next to the central defender, Peru actually formed a four-on-four situation during the transition between offense and defense!
This scene caused bursts of cheers from the few Peruvian fans present.

From the center circle to the outside of the penalty area, Farfan passed the ball to center Pizarro.

The 36-year-old Bayern center leaned against center back Cahill, held the ball firmly, and then knocked the ball back to his midfielder teammate on the left who was following at high speed.

The latter directly met the ball and fired furiously, with a "boom" sound and a slash to the ground.

The ball shot out and flew towards the near corner of the goal!
Fortunately, Joe Hart was focused and went straight down to hold the ball firmly under his arm, defusing this threatening attack.

And such scenes, although rare.

But it was a microcosm of the entire first half.

England pinned Peru in the half and bombarded them wildly, but they were not as threatening as Peru's sporadic quick counterattacks.

Perhaps seeing this problem, during the halftime break, Hodgson specifically pointed out Rooney's problem in the locker room and asked him to retreat more to the outside of the penalty area to receive the ball.

Only then did Ling Feng understand that entering the penalty area was not Hodgson's tactical arrangement, but Rooney's forward instinct!
This is also normal.

Although in Manchester United's tactics, Rooney also moved back and became a shadow forward.

But in the Three Lions, he has always been the first choice up front.

It was only because of Sturridge's explosive form and the consideration of the number of midfielders that Hodgson asked Rooney to retreat a little.

However, the habit of pushing forward cannot be changed in a short while.

Of course, after the coach's reminder, Rooney nodded to express his understanding.

Subsequently, the coach did not forget to ask Gerrard to reduce the frequency of long-range shots and arrange organization on the periphery to prevent opponents from counterattacking.

There is no strictly defensive midfielder in this England team.

Gerrard, Milner, Lampard, and Henderson are all so-called all-around midfielders. They can go forward and shoot long shots, and they can intercept and defend.

Ling Feng, Lallana, and Wilshere are midfielders who are more inclined to organize offense.

Among the seven midfielders, perhaps Henderson has the best defensive ability.

Therefore, Hodgson planned to push Gerrard up from the beginning, and then let Henderson stay alone in the midfield.

However, after the tactical experiment in the first half, he found that Henderson's midfield defense alone was too weak!
But it was impossible for him to leave Gerrard in the midfield to defend and do the dirty work of stealing and intercepting.

This would be a waste of his offensive talents, and Gerrard himself would be uncomfortable playing.

As for the option of not letting Gerrard start at all and replacing him with a young man with better physical fitness to ensure the defensive coverage of the midfield.

This is even more impossible!

As the captain of England, Gerrard is the soul and core of this Three Lions team.As long as he doesn't take the initiative to say he is tired or give up his position, Hodgson will definitely let him start.

It is also for this reason that Rooney cannot not start.

There was no way Hodgson could take those two down.

Once he does this, let alone the FA, the media will write a lot of news the next day to blast him to death!

Therefore, he can only make some subtle adjustments according to the two people's playing styles as much as possible, so as to make the team's offense and defense more balanced.

The 15-minute intermission was fleeting.

The two sides did not make any substitution adjustments and went directly to the second half of the game.

After all, there is still a certain gap between the two sides in terms of strength.

After adjusting the details of their tactics, England played more freely and methodically on the court.

Gerrard does not intervene so frequently, but only distributes the ball from the outside so that the space in the middle is not so empty.

Rooney's retreat to catch the ball also gave the two wingers an additional receiving point for crosses.

The offense has improved and the defense in the midfield is a little more solid.

The Peruvian team's counterattack basically did not pose much of a threat.

Under pressure, 3 minutes into the second half, "Happy Boy" successfully broke through the full-back on the right wing and passed an inverted triangle low ball.

Rooney, who responded in the middle, hit the ball with a low shot into the lower right corner of the goal, taking the lead to break the deadlock!

Wembley Stadium erupted in enthusiastic cheers as Rooney reached the corner flag with his trademark "boxer's" celebration.

As a young and famous genius and the current number one star of the Three Lions, Rooney's popularity in England is considered to be the highest in the team.

"Wayne scored the goal."

Along with the DJ’s drawn-out tone, tens of thousands of England fans in the stadium shouted in unison:

"Rooney!!!"

After taking the lead, the Three Lions became more relaxed.

At the 603rd minute of the game, seeing that the situation was looking good, Hodgson turned around and glanced at the bench, and then whispered a few words to the assistant coach.

The latter immediately came to the bench and called the names of five people in one breath:

"Ling! Jamie! Luke! Jack (Wilshere)! Chris (Smolin)!"

"Go warm up!"

Hearing this, Ling Feng and others immediately put on their substitute vests and came to the sidelines to warm up.

Seeing Ling Feng and others coming to the sidelines to warm up, fans cheered in the nearby stands.

Especially when Ling Feng's handsome face appeared on the big screen in the stadium, the female fans in the stadium cheered even louder.

There is no way, he is handsome, just like a firefly in the dark night, so bright and outstanding.

During the warm-up, Vardy suddenly approached Ling Feng and asked in a low voice:
"Ling, tell me how I will score a goal later, and what celebration action will be more handsome?"

"Are you so confident that you can score a goal later?"

"If you pass the ball to me, can I not score?"

Hearing this, Ling Feng suddenly felt in a good mood.

My second brother's words are right. He and I have been teammates for half a season, and our emotional intelligence has become higher.

"That's true. However, depending on the coach's arrangements, we may not be able to appear at the same time."

"What about you, if you score a goal, what are you going to do to celebrate?"

Faced with this problem, Ling Feng couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

To be honest, he really didn't think about what he would do to celebrate if he scored in his first game with the national team.

Because the Three Lions are different from Leicester City.

In Leicester City, he is the core of the midfield and the initiator of the attack, with unlimited firing rights.

But in the Three Lions, he is just a little Karami.

There are many big players in the team, and if his position moves back, he will only be further away from the goal.

There won't be many shooting opportunities in every game, and it won't be his turn.

He actually thought that he might be able to provide an assist on his first appearance with the national team.

After thinking for a while, Ling Feng suppressed an answer:
"If I score, I will wave to my parents in the stands."

Because he is likely to make his national team debut today.

Therefore, he had already asked his parents to come to the stadium through the staff to witness this moment with him.
When the game time came to the 608th minute, Gerrard suddenly shot a cold arrow from outside the penalty area and penetrated the Peru goal with a powerful and heavy long-range shot.

The score came to two to zero.

At this time, Ling Feng and Vardy, who had finished warming up, took off their vests and came to the sidelines, preparing to come on as substitutes.

"Ling, when you come on the field later, don't push forward, use the pass to hit the rib space between the center back and full back."

"Jamie."

After the tactical coach quickly explained the tactics to the three of them, the fourth official on the sidelines held up the substitution card to signal the substitution.

England used up three substitutions in one breath!
Replace Gerrard with Ling Feng, replace Baines with Luke Shaw, and Welbeck with Vardy.

It's basically all about position substitutions.

Looking at Ling Feng, who was wearing a 15 pure white jersey and standing on the sidelines, the on-site director very wisely targeted the young player who was about to make his debut for the national team.

There was a burst of warm applause in the stadium.

Fans are delighted with the new energy injected into the Three Lions.

At the same time, Ling Feng’s parents, who were sitting in the VIP viewing stands, also waved their Three Lions scarves and flags to cheer for their son!
"Come on, Xiaofeng!"

"Rush me!"

The commentator on the scene used a passionate voice to introduce this handsome black-haired young man to the audience:

"Ling Feng, a young midfielder from newly promoted Premier League team Leicester City, became the eighth youngest player to make his debut for the England national team at the age of 350 and seven days."

"This young man who is under 19 years old has dominated the English Championship and FA Cup in the past season, helping the team win two championships, and personally won the best award in the English Championship."

"Also making his debut for the national team was his teammate Jamie Vardy, who broke the Championship scoring record with the Golden Boot."

While high-fiving and hugging Gerrard, Gerrard did not forget to send his congratulations to Ling Feng:

"Good job!"

"I will!"

The scene of the two embracing was cleverly captured by the photographer on site, who took this photo that will be very memorable in the future.

At this moment, no one would have thought that this would be the handover between the old era and the new era for the Three Lions.
(End of this chapter)