Chapter 327: Warming up
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The new season would start soon, but before it did, there were some warm-up matches for the Dingtian football team. The first opponent of the Dingtian football team would be the Copenhagen team, a veteran of Denmark.
Although the Danish football league is not very famous in Europe, and is not as good as the five major European leagues, it is a European team, and so would be a great challenge for Dingtian. Of course, in terms of the ability of the domestic football league, only Dingtian could complete with the Copenhagen football team, because they have Coach Harman, the tactical master.
However, the tactical master cannot deal with every single problem. When the two teams are at the same level, tactics can be turned into victories. However, if the opposing team is slightly stronger, the tactics can narrow the gap between the two teams. But when there is a clear gap between the two teams, even delicate tactics cannot bring victory for the weak.
Harman stood there, with a serious expression on his face. He knew there was a gap between the two teams, but he still wanted his team to win the match, even if it was just a warm-up match.
The warm-up match had been going on for a long time. Although Dingtian was still behind Copenhagen by a score of 1-2, Harman was very satisfied with the players' performances.
However, Harman also knew that physical stamina remains a great challenge for most players, especially as the match enters into the last thirty minutes. The physical stamina of a player involves more than just his physical strength.
For instance, running the full 90 minutes on the court does not mean that you necessarily have good physical strength. Physical stamina is a comprehensive indicator, which means it contains endurance, speed, flexibility, agility, balance and so on. Given all these components, European players are indeed better in comparison to Asian Players.
For Harman, this was not just a matter of physical talent, but of training. The poor abilities of Asian coaches contributes to the poor physical staminas of Asian players. However, as many Asian players grew up in Europe or North America, they received the physical training of Europe and America at an early age. So, in terms of physical stamina, although they are inferior to the blacks, when compared with native Asian players, they are certainly better.
This is the function of training. When an Asian coach meets Asian players, it is just like playing cards. Harman is a top player, so even if he was unlucky enough to catch bad cards, he would still be able to have a better end result and outcome than most.
Also, while in the match, physical consumption has much to do with the intensity of the match. For example, if a football player played in the Chinese Super League, 90 minutes was enough for him to deplete all of his physical stamina. But when he played in the Asian Champion League, he was likely to use 70 minutes to execute tactical stamina, but it would be less efficient in the next 20 minutes. When he played in the UEFA Champion League, his stamina could only get him through until halftime.
The strength of the Copenhagen football team is less strong in the UEFA Champion League, and they are likely to lose in matches. But no matter how bad it is, it still adapts to the intensity of the UEFA Champion League. However, for the players of Dingtian, competing with the Copenhagen team requires more physical consumption than that of the Chinese Super League.
Harman had a deep understanding of the strength of his players, how they would fall behind and face the challenge of physical exhaustion. He also knew that they had poor abilities to execute their tactics, so it was almost impossible for them to equalize the playing field.
Harman knew that, by this time, the result had already been determined. However, at this point, there was a sudden change on the court. With several players passing the ball in succession, the play came down to Neol, who had abruptly passed through the defense of Copenhagen.
"Goal! We equalized the score!" cheers burst out immediately from the team of Dingtian.
This goal was the evidence of Neol's ability. The Brazilian football player had no experience in the European League, but in terms of ability, he had shown today that he was indeed the world's top player. Brazilians are different from Europeans in football. They may not be as good as Europeans in some ways, but they are definitely better than Europeans in singles.
Apart from Neol's ability, Hartman also found something special in Neol. The players were still executing their tactics, which they executed effectively. As the head coach of the team, Hartman could easily discover whether they were executing the tactics or not.
Football is a team sport, yet the players in every position still have their own individual role and value. Each movement of the players is aimed at the changes on the court, and as such, the players should have a clear understanding of where they are, and what direction they are heading in. All of these components are the reflections of tactics. For example, if you run blindly, you will not only waste energy, but also cause loopholes in the team's tactics.
"Their physical stamina was much better than I had expected, as by now, this late in the game, they were still efficient in executing the tactics." Harman nodded silently, very satisfied with the result.
When the match went on into the midfield, the two teams played to a 2-2 draw. But in the last 10 minutes, the players in Dingtian did have a problem in their physical stamina. However, the Copenhagen team didn't try their best to take this advantage and score. After all, it was only a warm-up match, so the result was not the most important, and the Copenhagen team was also willing to show the Danish this friendly gesture of restraint.
"The stamina of the players has improved greatly, and I can be completely reassured heading into the new season." Harman breathed freely and continued to say to Cloud, "You have told me that you wanted Dai Li to take over the periodic training of the main players. To be honest, I was a little worried, but now, it seems that the young coach didn't disappoint you."
Cloud smiled awkwardly and, of course, he could sense that the players' stamina was much better than it had been a few days earlier. At this point, Cloud couldn't help but think of the explanation of Dai Li.
At that time, Cloud had assumed that Li's explanation was merely an excuse for his stubbornness, and Cloud didn't think that Li's warm-up-oriented training would be effective. He was ready to take the video of the game to Li, then tell him what mistakes Li had made, thus playing the role of "life mentor", and then talk about such things as ideals, with an aim to influence him and help the lost young guy find the right way to go.
But what was beyond Cloud's expectation, was that the stamina of these players had remarkably improved, which meant that Li's training was effective.
"How did this happen? These players spent more time warming up than they did in training, but their progress was so obvious, so what training method did he use?!" Cloud suddenly felt that it was not Dai Li who was lost, but himself!