Chapter 43: Ankle terminator
In the 11th round of the Belgian Pro League, Genk hosted Muskelon at home, and the home team fielded their full lineup, aiming for a victory.
Before the match, in the visiting team's locker room, the Muskelon players, who had just returned from the pre-match training on the field, were sitting upright in front of their lockers, looking up at the gray-haired head coach in front of them.
Ward Oll smiled at them and said, "Guys, don't be so nervous, relax a bit." The relaxed demeanor of the head coach quickly infected the Muskelon players, and many of them no longer furrowed their brows.
Since the start of the season, Muskelon's performance has been impressive. Currently ranked sixth in the league, they have a chance to compete for a Europa League spot. They are a young team, and their aggression on the field is very strong.
In the past ten rounds of matches, they have won six of them, relying on the fighting spirit of their young players and their desire for victory.
"Genk is indeed very strong, but we still have a chance." Oll said.
Many players nodded in agreement. Genk struggled last season, and many key players left the team this season. Although they have borrowed many promising players from various leagues, adaptation is still an issue.
"The depth of Genk's lineup is seriously lacking, and there is simply no way to support dual-line operations. That's why they rotated in the last round and suffered a crushing defeat to Standard Liege. Although the main players are back this round, their form is still hard to guarantee." Ward Oll said encouragingly, carefully prepared words.
Ward Oll is an old coach in the Belgian Pro League. His playing career was mediocre, and he quickly retired and began his coaching career as an assistant coach. He has worked for teams such as Beerschot and Charleroi, but has never achieved any notable results.
Last season, Muskelon narrowly avoided relegation, and the former coach was dismissed. Ward Oll took over the coaching reins in a crisis and was valued by the club's management for his extensive coaching experience and ability to guide players out of the shadow of the previous season's failure.
"Genk's biggest weapon is their striker, Wang Feng. We've already faced him last season, and I've watched his recent game footage. It seems like his skills have improved again. We need to be more cautious." Oll said.
Here, Oll looked at Muskelon defender Kiel Dolty. "I need you to closely mark Wang Feng, don't let him use his speed and breakthrough advantage. That's your only task."
"Anyway, Wang Feng is a seventeen-year-old Asian. Give him some physical confrontation, make full use of your physical advantage."
Kiel Dolty nodded solemnly, "Don't worry, I'll make him suffer."
"The midfielders and central defenders need to cooperate with Dolty's left-wing defense, and decisively double-team when necessary. Anyway, in this match, we must freeze Wang Feng tightly, and not give him the slightest chance on the left wing."
"Believe me, as long as Wang Feng is frozen, Genk is a paper tiger, and we will definitely take all three points."
At the beginning of the match, Genk, as usual, relied on Wang Feng to organize the attack in the frontcourt. In this match, head coach Aimee Antonis still deployed a 4-4-2 formation.
Last season, Genk mainly used a 4-3-3 formation, with Wang Feng playing more as a winger. However, this season, due to insufficient personnel in the frontline, they switched to a 4-4-2 formation, and Wang Feng's position in the frontcourt was not fixed. However, as he was a right-footed player, he mainly operated on the right side.
Dolty had been closely marking Wang Feng, trying to suppress him with his physical attributes, regardless of whether the ball was in his possession or not.
But things didn't seem as simple as he had imagined. In the 4th minute, after Bess passed the ball to Wang Feng on the right, Dolty squeezed up, with some small movements on his hands, trying to force Wang Feng to lose balance and lose the ball.
But Wang Feng's lower body was very stable, and his body didn't move at all, firmly protecting the ball, and then he pushed the ball back with his left foot, leaning against Dolty and turning around quickly when he turned towards the goal, accelerating suddenly, he quickly got rid of the defense.
Then Wang Feng dribbled the ball down the right flank, and Dolty could only chase from behind, but the gap in speed made them farther and farther apart, and soon they reached a body position.
Therefore, Wang Feng was able to easily cross, but unfortunately, Barry following up in the penalty area did not hit the target, and the ball slightly missed the post.
Dolty panted as he watched Wang Feng, his eyes full of incredulous expression. This kid looked very thin and weak, how could his physical confrontation be so strong?
What he did not know was that due to Wang Feng's perseverance in training, his physical fitness and stamina had greatly improved. He also had a very keen sense, knowing which part of his body to use force with to give himself an advantage in physical confrontation.
Dolty gritted his teeth, even so, he didn't believe he couldn't handle a little kid.
Another attack by Genk, Wang Feng retreated to the midfield to get the ball, dribbling the ball forward. Dolty observed the positions of other defensive players on his team, which were reasonable, so he made a gesture for a double-team and stepped forward to press Wang Feng.
He thought Wang Feng would slow down a bit, but he didn't expect him to come straight towards him. With a slight move of his left foot, Wang Feng pushed the ball slightly to the left, intending to cut inside, and Dolty hurriedly moved to block to the right.
But after Wang Feng's left foot circled the ball, he flicked it to his right foot, then pushed with his right foot, breaking through the defense from the wing. This was a feint technique.
Dolty was greatly surprised, trying to twist his body to make up for his mistake, but unexpectedly stumbled with his left foot, losing his balance and falling to the ground.
"We see this time, Wang Feng faced the defense with the ball, so fast, he shook off the opponent in an instant, the defending player fell for a feint, lost his balance, and reached the edge of the penalty area, shot!"
"Goooooooooooooooal, the ball's in! In just the 11th minute of the match, Genk has opened the opponent's goal."
"Wang Feng suddenly shot near the edge of the penalty area, this shot has a lot of power, with a downward trend in the air, the goalkeeper couldn't react."
"Let's take a look at the replay. Wang Feng's dribble was very beautiful, a standard feint, easily getting past the defense, before other defenders could block, he decisively launched a world-class shot."
Kiel Dolty sat on the ground, looking helplessly at Wang Feng celebrating on the sidelines. His physical fitness was so good, his technical skills were good, it was like he was cheating. He got up by supporting himself on the ground, but suddenly felt a sharp pain in his left ankle.
After trying to take a few steps, he found himself injured and had to signal for a substitution on the sidelines.
"We can see that the opposing left-back, No. 12, Kiel Dolty, seems to be injured and is requesting a substitution. Did he twist his ankle when Wang Feng shook him off just now?"
"We know there's a term 'ankle breaker' in basketball, can Wang Feng also be called the 'ankle breaker' on the football field?"
Just a while into the game, Muskelon had to use their first substitution, replacing Dolty. Their head coach Oll scratched his pale hair in distress. Who else could possibly contain Wang Feng?
In the end, he replaced Dolty with a substitute full-back and instructed him to engage in physical confrontation with Wang Feng as much as possible to exhaust his stamina.
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