Chapter 53 Su, can you?
Jorge Jesus has always felt that he would become an excellent professional head coach.
Although his coaching record over the past decade or so can be described as mediocre.
Without an outstanding professional career, Jorge Jesus made up his mind early on to become a head coach and worked hard towards this goal, and then got the opportunity to coach in Felgueiras in the Porto district.
In the following years, he moved to several teams in Portugal's lower leagues, including coaching Madeira United.
It was during his six months of coaching at Madeira Union that he got the opportunity to coach Portuguese Super League team Amadora.
He was ambitious to establish merit in the Portuguese Super League. In his three seasons at Amadora, his coaching results were always ranked in the middle of the league, which was quite stable, which made people recognize Jorge Jesus' coaching ability.
The Amadora team he coached uses a 4-4-2 formation as its basic formation and adopts high-pressure pressing tactics, which makes them very consistent with the current mainstream trend in European football and has become an emerging force in the Portuguese Super League that cannot be underestimated.
After his success at Amadora, Jorge Jesus was eager to take his coaching resume one step further, so he left the financially limited Amadora and joined the ambitious Setubal, leading the team to successfully be promoted from the Portuguese First Division to the Portuguese Super League. However, Setubal's performance in the first half of this season's Portuguese Super League was not ideal.
Jorge Jesus ultimately failed to survive the cold winter break and was sacked along with Porto coach Machado, becoming fellow sufferers in the Portuguese Super League. But unlike Machado, Jorge Jesus was immediately invited back by his former club Amadora as soon as he was sacked.
At this time, after sending away Jorge Jesus, Amadora fell from a mid-table team to the bottom of the points list in just one season. Not only was it relegated, but it also did not perform well in the first half of the Portuguese League. Its league ranking was even worse than Campo Maior and Aves, two teams that were also relegated.
The return of former heroes has greatly boosted the team's morale.
After the winter break, Jorge Jesus led Amadora to a strong rebound and return to the Portuguese Super League.
This time, he vowed to bring Amadora back to the Portuguese Super League and prove his coaching ability in the Portuguese Super League again.
After the winter break, Amadora looked unstoppable.
Sporting Lisbon B unfortunately stood in the way of this team aiming for promotion to the Super League.
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Amadora is just about ten kilometers north of Lisbon and the two teams are very familiar with each other.
Sporting Lisbon still has the trident combination of Marcelino, Sudon and Ronaldo, but the situation is completely different from before.
Amadora under the coaching of Jorge Jesus is very different from the Portuguese First Division teams they have encountered before.
They adopted high-pressure pressing and even pressed across half the court.
As they are weaker than their opponents, Sporting Lisbon II does not have any effective solution.
In addition to high-pressure defense, Jesus adopted quick attacks, mainly on the flanks. During the winter break, he spent a large sum of money to bring in the Argentine center forward Campos, who was unable to play, from the Portuguese Super League Arvika to improve the team's offensive power.
At the beginning of the game, Amadora launched a fierce attack on Sporting Lisbon II.
Under the repeated attacks of the offensive lineup headed by center forward Campos, Jose Fonte's defense was finally broken in the 33rd minute. What was even more unacceptable was that Sporting Lisbon II could not organize an effective attack throughout the first half.
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The locker room was silent.
Including Su Dong, disappointment was written on everyone's face.
This is an asymmetrical match, all around.
After the change of coach, Jorge Jesus carried out a comprehensive reorganization of Amadora, showing strong execution and control. He made Amadora regain vitality and fighting spirit.
This is a team aiming for promotion.
What about Sporting Lisbon B?
Restricted by the existence of the first team, it is impossible for Sporting Lisbon's second team to advance to the Portuguese Super League, so the team's top priority in the Portuguese First Division is to avoid relegation. As long as they can avoid relegation, they will have basically completed their mission.
From the current perspective, the pressure to avoid relegation is not great.
Different mental outlooks showed different fighting wills, and coupled with the different coaching styles of the head coach, Amadora showed an aggressive momentum from the very beginning.
Sporting Lisbon's B team is relatively more conservative and even weak.
"We must be able to hold the ball on the front line. This is our only way to solve the passive situation throughout the game. Only by launching threatening attacks in front can we prevent the opponent from pressing too hard."
Head coach Jean Jamès said with some distress.
His eyes first fell on Ronnie.
The second team's top star is indeed very good at holding the ball and dribbling, and his speed is also very fast, but he is a little too sticky to the ball, and it is easy for him to get stuck and fight hard on the wing and be trapped by the opponent.
Marcelino is slightly better, but he also has the same problem.
The overall strength of Sporting Lisbon II is far inferior to that of its opponents. After finally snatching the ball, if they cannot pose an effective direct threat, it will only make their opponents more unscrupulous.
But it was obvious that Ronnie was a pretty good sniper and winger, but he couldn't break the deadlock with the ball.
The same is true for Marcelino.
Jean James's eyes swept from Ronnie and Marcelino to Su Dong.
"Su, can you?"
Following Yames' question, everyone in the locker room turned their attention to Su Dong.
For a moment, Su Dong seemed to feel tremendous pressure, like a mountain pressing heavily on his shoulders.
Can I?
This was the first time head coach James asked him this.
Su Dong looked at Ronnie and found that the latter had encouragement in his eyes and nodded at him, as if to say: You can do it, brother, I will definitely help you.
"Paulo Fonseca and Raul Oliveira are both tall and strong. Especially Paulo Fonseca, he is very smart and is the core of the team's defense. I need to expand my running range to avoid their defense."
When saying this, Su Dong felt a little excited.
This is equivalent to asking for the power to be the core of the frontcourt offense.
"Okay." Jean Jamès nodded in agreement. "Edgar and Ronnie, as well as Ugo and Miguel, you must pay close attention to Su's running route and coordinate with his running position."
"Try to pass the ball to me on the ground and use your body. I have no advantage." Su Dong reminded his teammates.
Everyone around nodded.
After all, Su Dong is only seventeen years old, while Paulo Fonseca and Oliveira are both twenty-eight years old, at the prime of their lives. One is from Porto, and the other transferred from the French League to Bradford in the Championship. After returning to Portugal, they have been playing for Amadora.
It is normal that Su Dong has no physical advantage when facing such experienced players.
After head coach James finished explaining the tasks, everyone began to prepare.
Su Dong walked over, high-fived Ronnie, and bumped shoulders with him.
"Brother, pay attention to my gestures and rush when you get the chance."
Ronnie nodded and patted Su Dong on the shoulder again.
Before he knew it, Su Dong had become a teammate who could fight alongside him, help him, and sometimes even perform better than him.
In the current Su Dong, Ronnie can no longer see any trace of the person who couldn't play in the amateur league half a year ago.
He was very happy for Su Dong's progress, but at the same time he was also encouraging and motivating himself to become stronger.
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After the second half, Amadora still relied on the overall strength advantage to suppress Sporting Lisbon II.
The team was even forced to retreat to a 30-meter defense area from the beginning.
In such a passive situation, it was difficult for Sporting Lisbon II to create opportunities.
The scene was almost one-sided.
Su Dong kept running, front, back, left and right, and he would run to any open area.
He was waiting patiently for his teammate to pass the ball out of the penalty area.
This wait lasted for nearly twenty minutes.
Jose Fonte made a beautiful positioning in the penalty area, blocking the opponent's center forward Campos with his body. After intercepting the ball, he looked up and ahead and quickly made a long pass.
The ball flew across the densely populated penalty area and landed at the front of the 30-meter area.
Su Dong had been judging where the ball would land, and he had already taken position ahead of Paulo Fonseca.
Paulo Fonseca was a step slower and bumped into Su Dong's back, trying to push Su Dong away.
After more than a month of physical training, Su Dong's physical condition has also improved greatly. When he was hit by Paulo Fonseca, he was almost knocked out of position, but he reacted quickly, leaned back and leaned on Fonseca with his body.
When the ball arrived, Su Dong swung his right foot and lightly touched the ball in mid-air, slowing it down and dropping it.
When the ball fell, it was just on Su Dong's right side, and he turned around, bumped Fonseca with his shoulder, and stretched out his hand to block him.
This is one of the little moves Cruz taught him that is very effective in harassing the opposing defensive players.
Paulo Fonseca was delayed by Sudon's series of moves, allowing Sudon to successfully turn around.
Once you turn around, things will be easy.
Su Dong pushed his legs hard and pushed the ball forward with his right foot. He moved like a rabbit and quickly passed by Fonseca.
Ronnie on the right has a very good understanding with Su Dong. As soon as he sees Su Dong getting the ball with his back, he presses forward.
The moment Su Dong shook off Fonseca, Ronnie also started.
"Nice turn and get away!" Jean James shouted excitedly on the sidelines.
The two fast players quickly counterattacked in the front court, creating a two-on-one situation.
After Su Dong shook off Fonseca, he felt a little regretful that he had not trained his left foot well. Otherwise, a direct cross with his left foot would have been the most threatening.
But now, he could only dribble the ball closer to Oliveira, forcing the opponent to retreat continuously.
Outside the opponent's penalty area, Su Dong realized that the opponent was unwilling to retreat any further, so he immediately passed the ball with his right foot to Ronnie who was following behind.
But what was unexpected was that Ronnie rushed too fast and his first kick was too far.
Su Dong was a little stunned.
Brother, it’s okay for you to act recklessly at ordinary times, but don’t act recklessly at critical moments!
