Chapter 15: Ways to Limit Messi The opportunity that Lin Feng was waiting for had not yet appeared, but on the Argentine side, Messi's personal performance began first. In the 7th minute, Argentina launched a quick attack after intercepting the ball in the middle. Messi was like a loach, dodging and moving around in the double-team of four Chinese national youth team players. He first avoided Zhou Haibin's attempt to steal the ball with a simple spike, and then accelerated to avoid Chen Tao who was trying to foul him from the side. When facing Zhao Xuri, Messi still did not use any fancy moves. Just a simple flick and dunk, Zhao Xuri was tricked into giving up his body center of gravity. Seeing that several teammates had been passed, Cui Peng became a little anxious. He didn't dare to let Messi carry the ball anymore, and risking getting a card, he tackled Messi directly while he was dribbling the ball. However, Messi seemed to have anticipated it. The moment Cui Peng fell to the ground and made a tackle, he gently pushed the ball to the left and jumped slightly on the spot. This jump not only perfectly avoided Cui Peng's tackle, but also reduced his air time. When he landed, the football was still within his control, and even his speed did not decrease much.
Messi, who almost dribbled past the entire midfield of the national youth team by himself, did not continue to rush into the penalty area. He looked up to observe the goalkeeper's position, dribbled the ball sideways in front of the penalty area to avoid Feng Xiaoting's interception, and suddenly shot. The quality of the shot was extremely high and the ball went straight into the upper left corner of the goal. Yang Cheng jumped up and tried to save the ball immediately. But Messi's shooting angle is too tricky! With a swish, the ball went into the net before he could reach it. The score became 0:1! Argentina scored the first goal! This is Messi's fourth goal in this World Youth Championship. In the stands, the fans were in an uproar. Everyone was stunned by Messi's amazing performance! From the time Messi started dribbling the ball near the midfield to the time he dribbled past Feng Xiaoting and scored with a long shot, Messi dribbled past a total of five national youth team players. Is this something a human can do? This is simply a monster! The players of the National Youth Team looked at Messi with fear in their eyes. They knew this guy was powerful, but they didn't expect him to be so powerful. Zhao Xuri and others felt that they could not see the opponent's movements clearly at all, and were passed by in a daze. Cui Peng was even more frustrated. He even tried to commit fouls, but he didn't even touch the opponent's leg hair. I can't help but ask myself: How can there be such a scary guy in this world? After scoring the goal, Messi seemed very calm and did not celebrate wildly, as if such a goal was not worth celebrating. But the Argentine players didn't think so. They rushed up and hugged Messi, extremely excited. Having such a strong supporter in the team makes victory extremely easy. Who wouldn’t love it? "Messi is so strong!"
"The ball just now made the kids dumbfounded!" "No wonder Barcelona treats him like a treasure, it's really abnormal!" "With such a monster on the other side, this game is going to go a long way!" "Alas, it seems that the Chinese national youth team cannot get past Argentina!" "I think that reaching the semi-finals is already a history, so why would we need a bicycle?" "Indeed, even if we lost, this national youth team is worthy of pride. We should adjust our mentality and maybe we can win the third place." After seeing this goal conceded, the morale and confidence of domestic fans suffered a huge blow. At this point, almost no one was optimistic that the Chinese national youth team could win. How can we win when the opponent is so strong? Lin Feng put his hands on his hips, frowned and stared at Messi's back, lost in thought. Although in the eyes of others, Messi's gorgeous performance of dribbling past five players and scoring a goal was very amazing. But in Lin Feng's opinion, this is just Messi's basic operation. In his later career, similar performances appeared one after another. Didn't Messi also fool the defense of a top team like Real Madrid, and create such a famous scene as the goal of the century? It is normal not to be able to defend him, but it is abnormal if you can. But Messi is not invincible, he is also a human being, and everyone has weaknesses. Messi's recognized weakness is his physical fitness. When he was at Barcelona, in order to reduce Messi's physical energy consumption, he often did not return to defense and did not take on any defensive tasks. Of course, this does not mean that Messi's physical fitness is poor. But his dribbling rhythm consumes a lot of physical energy, so he can't last long. If they could find a way to increase his physical energy consumption, then Messi would naturally have less energy to break through and dribble past opponents. In addition to his well-known weakness in physical fitness, the 18-year-old Messi was obviously much thinner physically than he was later. If the height remains unchanged, the lighter the weight, the weaker the body's ability to fight will naturally be. Thinking of this, Lin Feng came up with a solution that seemed feasible. He found several midfield teammates and whispered something to them. Everyone nodded, and their eyes turned fierce when they looked at Messi. "Leo, those people are looking at you with malicious intent, be careful they may foul you." Messi's teammates noticed the little tricks of the National Youth Team and reminded them with some concern. Messi took one look and frowned slightly. His career has just begun and there is a bright future waiting for him. He doesn't want to get injured here, as that would cast a shadow on his future career.
So, after the restart, Messi restrained himself a lot and did not perform his previous impressive performance. But even so, the National Youth Team did not let him go. No matter where he goes, there will always be someone from the National Youth Team following him closely. And it's not just about marking him. Whenever there's a chance, the person marking him will physically confront him, even if he doesn't have the ball at his feet. The purpose of doing this is to slowly consume his physical energy without committing fouls. Messi was clearly at a disadvantage in the physical confrontation, especially in the confrontation with the opponent's No. 7. He was almost squeezed and unable to stand. The opponent's small movements made him feel extremely annoyed, and he had to jog, trying to get rid of the opponent's entanglement by constantly moving. However, this trick was completely useless. Wherever he went, he would receive "warm care" from the national youth players, and the sticky candy stuck to him could not be shaken off. This is not the most annoying thing. The most annoying thing is that when his teammates pass the ball to him, those who have been staring at him will immediately rush up from all directions to double-team him. Moreover, the opponent had learned his lesson and did not wait until he gained speed before taking up position to defend as he did before. They double-teamed Messi the moment he was about to receive the ball. The players of the National Youth Team were in a panic and it was useless no matter how superb Messi's footwork was. So, the ball at Messi's feet was lost! As soon as Messi lost the ball, it was the turn of the Chinese national youth team to launch a counterattack. The national youth team, which had just completed the siege, quickly deployed its formation. Lin Feng, Zhu Ting and Zhou Haibin formed a fan-shaped formation, like a sharp trident, and stabbed fiercely towards Argentina's half. The Chinese national youth team's counterattack came too suddenly and the Argentine team was caught off guard. Facing the national youth team's counterattack on all fronts, the two central defenders left behind had to make a choice. One of the two men pounced on Zhu Ting, and the other pounced on Lin Feng. These two people posed the greatest threat and were closest to the goal. As for Zhou Haibin behind him, they really couldn't take care of him. And it was this decision that brought them disastrous consequences. Chen Tao did not pass the ball directly to Lin Feng, but passed it directly to Zhou Haibin. After receiving the ball, Zhou Haibin continued to pass it straight through the gap between Lin Feng and Zhu Ting and passed the ball in front of the two. Seeing the rolling trajectory of the football, Zhu Ting, Lin Feng and the two defenders of the Argentine team all accelerated desperately! It's time to compete in speed! (End of this chapter)