Qin Xiong's backheel pass to Vieira won applause from the Arsenal fans. They were proud because Arsenal played the most beautiful football in the Premier League.
Qin Xiong, who was appointed by Wenger as Bergkamp's successor, took over Bergkamp's mantle in terms of football style. Their characteristics were not exactly the same, but there were similarities in the display of small skills and the same delicate and dexterous shadows could be seen.
Qin Xiong's pass this time had Bergkamp's dexterity in it, and the running impact after the pass was completely his own personal style.
Vieira strode with the ball into the danger zone 40 yards in front of PSV Eindhoven's goal.
Vogel and Cocker were on standby. Qin Xiong ran to the right flank and brushed past Cocker. Vieira passed the ball to the outside of Qin Xiong's body so that Cocker could not form an interception.
Qin Xiong did not stop the ball. He used the instep of his foot to kick the ball. The rolling trajectory of the football changed and it rolled to the feet of Ljungberg, who was closer to the flank.
Then Qin Xiong changed his running route and rushed directly to the end line. The veteran Cocker was shaken off by Qin Xiong's change of direction and Ljungberg's straight pass came as expected.
Qin Xiong, who ran from the flank and cut straight into the penalty area, stepped easily into the penalty area.
Hiddink was watching from the sidelines!
Arsenal had been playing on the left flank previously, causing PSV Eindhoven's defensive force to habitually lean to the left. Although they instinctively adjusted after Arsenal suddenly played on the right flank this time, they were still too slow!
Logically speaking, Qin Xiong should not have been able to step into the penalty area so easily. Even if he was close to the inside of the penalty area, it was very dangerous to control the ball in the penalty area!
Li Rongyao was fully focused on keeping up with Qin Xiong's rhythm. He knew that there was a big gap between himself and the center back. On the one hand, he had to be wary of Arsenal. If a player ran behind him, would Qin Xiong send a wonderful pass?
On the other hand, it was already very difficult to suppress Qin Xiong in a one-on-one fight!
Last season in the Netherlands, Qin Xiong made him suffer, and he even made a fool of himself!
Qin Xiong slowed down his pace and pretended to break through in the direction of the end line. Li Rongbiao took a step diagonally to block, but he saw Qin Xiong suddenly stop the ball in place with his right foot. Li Rongbiao tried his best to restrain the impulse to grab and kick. He knew that if he went forward, he would definitely be bypassed by Qin Xiong.
But he did not expect that after Qin Xiong's rhythm of stopping the ball with his right foot, his left foot suddenly kicked the ball forward gently, and then started the explosive acceleration again.
Even though Li Rongbiao's mind was clear, his body could not keep up with the rhythm of his thoughts. The moment he paused, a gap was exposed between his legs, and Qin Xiong's left foot kicked the ball, which went right through his crotch!
It went right through his crotch!
By the time Li Rongbiao turned around to block Qin Xiong, it was already too late. Qin Xiong was almost parallel to him, and the moment their bodies touched, Li Rongbiao was shocked. This kid's physical resistance is even stronger than before!
Seeing that he was about to be bypassed by Qin Xiong, Li Rongbiao lost his cool. He intended to tackle the ball to destroy the slowly rolling football behind him.
But he forgot that Qin Xiong was in a physical confrontation with him. When his body's center of gravity changed to complete the tackle, Qin Xiong had the absolute upper hand in the confrontation.
Li Rongbiao originally thought that his foot could touch the ball, but after Qin Xiong took the initiative to squeeze him and overtake him one step ahead, his tackle action was completely ineffective. The tip of his foot could not reach the football, but could only hook Qin Xiong's calf!
Qin Xiong did not fall to the ground immediately. Instead, he staggered forward two steps before falling. The football was kicked away by Bao Ma. At this moment, the referee's whistle sounded!
The PSV Eindhoven players turned to look at the referee and suddenly felt as if they had been struck by lightning.
Because the cold-faced referee raised his hand and pointed to the penalty spot in PSV Eindhoven's penalty area!
"A penalty kick! Arsenal has been awarded a penalty kick! This is a penalty kick by Qin Xiong after he broke through Li Rongbiao in the penalty area and caused the opponent to tackle the ball for a foul! Let's look at the replay. Qin Xiong cleverly used the momentum of dribbling the ball to pass through the crotch and successfully broke through Li Rongbiao. Li Rongbiao turned to tackle the ball, but hooked Qin Xiong's leg. There is no doubt that this is a penalty kick. There is no problem with the referee's decision! "
While the Gunners fans in Highbury were cheering, Qin Xiong was pulled up by Henry. Van Bommel went to the referee to protest. Li Rongbiao himself did not have any complaints. He knew what he had just done. This penalty was not unjust at all!
Henry easily scored the penalty kick.
After the goal, the Arsenal players celebrated in a low-key manner.
Hiddink's face was as calm as water on the sidelines. He seemed helpless about the goal concede.
Wenger excitedly clenched his fists and waved them up and down in front of him.
They had won the first game at home!
The situation of the game would be more advantageous for Arsenal.
He did not know if it was because of the influence of the FIFA match day, coupled with the fact that they had just played an English Premier League game a few days ago, Qin Xiong felt that his teammates' condition had dropped. It was difficult to maintain a good condition for a long time.
After 35 minutes in the first half, Arsenal's players began to slow down their pace tacitly.
Qin Xiong could only slow down with his teammates. Everyone probably wanted to have a physical buffer to recover during the halftime break.
PSV Eindhoven was playing in an away game. They were not in a better condition than Arsenal. They were always led by the nose by Arsenal and were completely unable to take the initiative in the game.
PSV Eindhoven was at their wit's end under the premise of not taking the risk of fully pressing on.
The first half of the game ended with Arsenal leading 1: 0.
Back in the locker room, Wenger praised the team's performance in the first half.
He did not make more tactical fine-tuning. He was actually a bit similar to Comain. He would not make more changes to the team on the spot. He hoped that the team would carry out the core tactical concepts to create unpredictable creations.
Football was more difficult than other sports in that it was almost impossible to apply the fixed cooperation model of repetitive training in training to the game. Like basketball, where the head coach held the tactical board to tell the players who should pass the ball to whom, who should run, and what kind of tactical cooperation to play, football was impossible because there was more space, more players, and the feet were used instead of the hands which were more flexible, controlled, and accurate.
Most of the offensive creation on the football field came from improvisation, which was the most difficult!
In the second half, the two sides changed sides and fought again.
PSV Eindhoven strengthened the pressing in the middle and front field, but they still could not solve a problem: more people were defending and fewer people were attacking. Even if the defense was successful, how could they improve the efficiency of the offense?
Hesselink was alone in the front line. Even if PSV Eindhoven successfully defended in the middle and back field, it was difficult for the football to reach Hesselink's feet!
PSV Eindhoven's defense learned a lesson from the first half. The rear defensive line woke up and moved more frequently in the horizontal movement. They paid attention to the distance of the overall defense and tried to compress Arsenal to create space to tear the defensive line.
This greatly hindered Arsenal's offense.
It could be said that Arsenal's offense was affected by the space factor. For a striker like Henry, if he was not given space to rush, it would be difficult for him to play his power. Without a forward to drive the opponent to turn back to defend, the effect of the ground pass and cut would be greatly reduced.
Qin Xiong could ensure that Arsenal's offense was unimpeded in the midfield, but when they reached the front line of the offense, their players would be marked by the opponent! This curbed Arsenal's offense.
Park Ji-sung was severely criticized by Hiddink during the halftime interval!
It was not that his defense was not active or good enough. Judging from the first 45 minutes of the first half, his fighting spirit was commendable.
But Hiddink's words woke him up!
"Your task is not only to target and defend against that Chinese man! If you only need to defend on the field, then you won't appear in the starting lineup! "
Only then did Park Ji-sung come to a realization. He had overly focused his attention on Qin Xiong, even though he had successfully defended with his teammates.
But so what?
What did it mean?
Did he beat Qin Xiong?
Did he help the team to create an advantage?
No!
Qin Xiong was an offensive player. An offensive player could fail many times. As long as he succeeded once, he would be a hero!
Just like Qin Xiong was fouled by Li Rongpyo in the penalty area and won a penalty kick for Arsenal, his credit could completely offset all his mistakes!
And with Park Ji-sung's position and the role he played, PSV Eindhoven needed him to contribute more than just defense!
He needed to create better offensive opportunities for the team!
Qin Xiong was like an inner demon, making Park Ji-sung think he was doing the right thing, but in fact, he was clearly deviating from the right track.
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