Green Field Eunuch

Chapter 636 The Finally Arrived Yellow Card

Colombia's defense has indeed performed quite well in the past period. The midfield and forward line are another aspect, but Guarín and the two center-backs have worked together to frequently and successfully defend against Shan Yongzhuo, ensuring the stability of Colombia's backline.

He Wei also spoke about Guarin: "Guarin's defense is excellent. We can see that Shan Yongzhuo is having a hard time; he's been somewhat contained..."

Guarin is a midfielder for Inter Milan. Although he has a hard time securing a starting position at Inter Milan, this does not mean that he lacks ability.

In fact, Guarín is an attacking midfielder who is a versatile player in the frontcourt, capable of playing in the left, center, and right positions in the midfield and forward areas.

However, Guarín also has a low football IQ and is the kind of person who doesn't think things through.

You could even say he's a weaker version of Balotelli.

Therefore, his presence on the offensive end can easily lead to impulsive emotions, resulting in him relying on emotional dribbling and wasteful shots, which can negatively impact the team's attack.

This is the main reason why he plays in the defensive midfield position.

Colombian coach, Argentine Pekerman, placed Guarín in the defensive midfield position because he valued Guarín's straightforward style and strong physique.

In Pekerman's view, the best strategy to defend against Shan Yongzhuo is to use a player who relies on physical attributes for a simple and mindless defense.

In other words, it's about using the simplest, most advanced SB (Stone King) strategy to defend against Shan Yongzhuo.

At least for now, it seems to have had an effect.

Guarin's repeated use of physical confrontation to defend against Shan Yongzhuo did indeed cause considerable trouble for Shan Yongzhuo and the Chinese team's attack.

of course.

This defensive method has been used before, but its effectiveness has not been great.

Unlike club matches, the fundamental reason is that the Chinese team simply doesn't put enough energy into attacking.

Whether at Manchester City or Granada, Shan Yongzhuo always received strong support from his teammates in attack, so even when faced with rough defense, he was always able to find opportunities.

However, the Chinese team is currently putting too little effort into attacking and is not receiving enough support, so they can only repeatedly get bogged down in the opponent's rough defense.

However, the Chinese team cannot really launch such a large-scale attack to support Shan Yongzhuo.

Once the Chinese team launches a full-scale attack, that's exactly what Colombia wants to see.

Therefore, for the Chinese team, it was essentially a stalemate.

The only good news is that they've been lucky; they're currently in the lead.

"Shan Yongzhuo has fallen down countless times. His main disadvantage in the contest with Guarin is the ferocity of the physical contact, which is also a weakness of the Chinese team as a whole."

"Shan Yongzhuo is a player who doesn't like physical contact and even has the reputation of being an elegant gentleman on the field. It's understandable that he was at a disadvantage in the confrontation with Guarin."

"However, many of Guarin's defensive actions were indeed excessive, and the referee should perhaps pay more attention to the degree of fouling..."

He Wei said with a hint of helplessness.

This is also a key issue.

Dan Yongzhuo was heavily guarded and fell to the ground several times, but Guarin only received two warnings.

Although it's almost certain that Guarin will get a yellow card if the game continues like this, the timing of that yellow card is also very important. If he can go the whole first half without getting a card, he can maintain that level of defense in the second half, making it much harder for Shan Yongzhuo to make a mark.

Shan Yongzhuo, however, was not in a hurry.

He's encountered this situation before, and all he needs to do now is be patient, patient, and patient again. Once he gets the chance to use his skills, scoring a goal won't be so difficult.

Colombia's coach stood on the sidelines, looking towards Shan Yongzhuo and Guarin, and couldn't help but smile. "Guarin has actually played such a big role in defense..." Pekerman couldn't help but feel more confident.

However, he was not in a hurry for this match at all, and did not even really want to defeat the Chinese team.

Despite Colombia's overall superior strength, they actually rested several key players in this match, especially their midfield maestro Rodriguez, who did not play.

Colombia's plan is simple: finishing second in the group would be good, or perhaps even a better option.

The situation in Group D is already quite clear.

Costa Rica miraculously took first place in the group, while Italy and Uruguay battled for second place.

Therefore, the winner of Group C will face the winner between Italy and Uruguay, while the runner-up will face Costa Rica.

From any perspective, facing Costa Rica is a better choice.

Of course, Pekerman wouldn't make his intentions too obvious and wouldn't deliberately throw the game against the Chinese team.

Therefore, this is the situation on the field that Pekerman would prefer to see.

Colombia struggled to score, but they were successful in defending against Shan Yongzhuo.

In the end, they unfortunately lost the game because of one or two goals from Shan Yongzhuo.

It wasn't that Colombia was weak, but rather that Shan Yongzhuo was too good, and the team was also unlucky in this match, failing to score.

This way, we can secure second place in the group with a lot of face and go on to face Costa Rica.

The first half of the game did indeed proceed as Pekerman had predicted, and the two teams remained locked in a stalemate for the remainder of the match.

Colombia's attack was dominating the Chinese team, but scoring wasn't easy, and the team struggled to find the net, remaining down 0-1.

China's counter-attacks also struggled to be effective.

Shan Yongzhuo remains mired in the opponent's muscular defense, and the opportunities he can get are very limited.

The counter-attacks relying solely on Hao Junmin, Yu Hai, and Gao Lin pushing forward were hardly a threat to the goal, let alone a chance to score.

This continued until the 40th minute of the match.

The scoreboard still showed 1-0.

However, in the 41st minute, the situation on the field changed.

This time, Shan Yongzhuo finally received the ball 30 meters from the goal in front of the penalty area.

Facing the double-team defense of Guarin and Balanta rushing up, Shan Yongzhuo used the Ghost Shadow Grappling Hand to try to get out of position.

He successfully broke free from the two men's encirclement, but he was too happy too soon and was tripped from behind by Guarin's outstretched foot.

This time, the referee finally blew his whistle and gave Guarín a yellow card.

"foul!"

He Wei happily remarked, "Guarin has finally paid the price for his reckless and rough defending, receiving his first yellow card of the match, which is also Colombia's second yellow card and the third yellow card of the game..."

"China won a free kick in a rather awkward position..."

(End of this chapter)