Maria, Angela, Ryu Ha-neul
Barcelona defeated Real Madrid 5:2 in the Copa del Rey, claiming the trophy in a somewhat anticlimactic El Clasico. Marisol scored two goals for Real Madrid, but...
Real Madrid won 1:0!
Meanwhile, Real Madrid advanced to the semifinals thanks to Marisol's 11th Champions League goal...
Barcelona defeated Deportivo 4:1!
Thanks to Arnal's winning goal, Barcelona won...
Real Madrid defeated Leganes 2:1!
Real Madrid used candidate players to defeat Leganes 2:1...
Champions League: Real Madrid 1:1 draw with Munich, advancing to the final!
In the 88th minute, Real Madrid came back from a 1:0 deficit with Francesca's equalizer, securing the ticket to the final...
La Liga! Which team will claim the championship?
Currently leading La Liga with 90 points and no losses is Barcelona, two points ahead of second-placed Real Madrid... Meanwhile, Barcelona is 28 wins 6 draws with no losses, while Real Madrid is 28 wins 4 draws 2 losses...
Meanwhile, Barcelona played Villarreal, and Real Madrid played Girona, then Barcelona and Real Madrid...
Which team will win the La Liga championship this season? Football fans are all abuzz...
At Camp Nou, Barcelona's La Liga round 35 match against Villarreal. Barcelona, the league leaders, versus Villarreal, in 6th place. Barcelona aiming for the league title, Villarreal for Champions League qualification. The highly anticipated clash. First, let's look at Barcelona's lineup. ... Centerbacks: Valentina and Tiana... Midfield: Defensive midfielder Hamara, right central midfielder Camila, left midfielder Yelena... ... Striker: Arnal.
Looking at Barcelona's lineup, it seems they are using many candidate players because the El Clasico against Real Madrid is scheduled in three days, right?
Yes. In particular, they used Valentina as a centerback.
Actually, Valentina played as a midfielder in the youth World Cup, and at 189cm tall, she has potential as a centerback. But there are doubts about her defensive ability, so they used Hamara as a defensive midfielder to bolster the defense.
Valentina is also famous for being close to Ryu Ha-neul, the pride of South Korea, right?
Yes. They have been together since the Pre-Benjamin days. Among the players in the midfield today, Camila, and Ryu Ha-neul waiting on the bench and Bruna who was loaned to B team, these five are the most promising players expected from Barcelona. In the Barcelona club, they call them the 'golden generation.'
Of these, two players started today and showed good form. We hope the young players grow so that the football world gets some vitality.
Yes.
65th minute of the second half! Villarreal scores first! Score 1:0! ......Ah, Ryu Ha-neul is warming up on the bench.
Substitution for Arnal, the striker? From Barcelona's perspective, they want to give Ryu Ha-neul as much rest as possible before the El Clasico against Real Madrid, so it would be a bit unfortunate.
......Oh, substitution for Yelena?
Then it looks like they'll use 4-4-2 formation?
Ryu Ha-neul enters the pitch with the ball, and the game starts with Barcelona's kick-off.
......Hmm, Barcelona's formation is unusual right now. Tiana is at the back, and above her, Valentina and Hamara are positioned. Is it a new three-back? Anyway, it's a very attacking formation.
“Haneul-ah, like in training, you need to be the link between the midfield and the attacking line. Can you do it?”
“...Yes.”
“I believe in you, Haneul-ah.”
“...Just wait a little.”
Ryu Ha-neul answered in his usual quiet tone, but Angela's eyes, looking at such Ryu Ha-neul, were filled with trust. The belief that the player she had always thought of as her son would implement the tactics she had only imagined.
After Ryu Ha-neul was substituted for Yelena, the players scattered as they had practiced.
Arnal forming the first line.
Alvaria and Antonia in the 1.5 line.
And Ryu Ha-neul supporting from the second line.
So the four players formed a diamond shape, opening pass spaces for each other,
And below them, wing-backs Enri and Anila had come up to the midfield, and in the center, Camila was positioned, so Ryu Ha-neul, the wing-backs, and Camila formed another diamond.
And below them, Hamara and Valentina were slightly spread out, and including Tiana a bit below, a new diamond was formed with Camila at the apex.
So Barcelona's players were positioned in a tightly overlapping three diamonds, occupying the ground most effectively and creating at least four pass routes per player.
If it was usual Barcelona, they would have used a half-back form playing the defensive midfielder between the centerbacks to create a 3-4-3 formation, but Angela's Barcelona now seemed to have completely broken away from such formal formations.
And, the Barcelona players, efficiently occupying space, always progressed the pass with one to two more players than the opposing team.
'Maria, are you watching this?'
If Maria, who taught him football, sees this scene, how happy she would be? Today she didn't come to watch the match, so she was probably watching on TV at home.
Angela looked at the players' positions and fell into nostalgia for the past. In that memory, there was a scene of herself, who had just debuted two years ago, and Maria, who had just taken over as Barcelona coach, talking excitedly about her football philosophy.
“Angela, what do you think is necessary to win in a match?”
“What? ...Um, better players?”
“Dumbass. If that's the case, why is there a coach? Think about it. What do you need to do to win?”
“You have to score goals.”
“Yes, to score goals?”
“You have to shoot.”
“To shoot?”
“You have to get the ball.”
“Exactly. Only the team that has the ball can shoot, and only the team that shoots can score goals. In other words, the most important thing is to have the ball.”
“...What obvious words are you saying, Coach.”
“What if a team possesses the ball 100% throughout the match?”
“...They would win the match?”
“Yes, I will create such a team, Angela.”
“Will that be possible?”
“Huhu, it won't be impossible. But if we possess 70-80%, we can win 7-8 out of 10 matches.”
“...But isn't that too difficult?”
“So, aren't we doing pass training? The person who controls the ball is just slower than a runner, and a runner can't be faster than the ball no matter how fast.”
“...That's true.”
“Angela, think about it. Eleven players passing like one body, fooling the opponent. Whether running fast or slow, we are always faster than the opponent, and always one more player than the opponent.”
At that time, Maria had a happy child-like expression as if she had received a toy on Christmas.
After that, Angela had been with Maria, winning the league 4 times, Champions League, etc., the glorious era called Dream Team 1.
But, when Angela thought coldly, the Dream Team 1 was a failure.
At that time, it was an era where passes were less important than individual skills of star players, so players who could always pass were precious, and those players were mostly stars. And Maria recruited many star players to implement her imagination on the ground.
But compared to those signings, the result of one Champions League win was a slightly disappointing performance, and Maria's coaching style, which required only passes while killing individuality of star players, would inevitably clash with the players at that time.
No matter how great Maria was as a player.
In the end, Maria had to leave the team as if she was chased out.
But Maria's will was not broken there. Because the seeds Maria sowed remained in La Masia.
Many seeds were sown in the farm Maria built, and Angela, who had learned from Maria since her rookie days and shared the same football philosophy, managed the farm for several years and selected the players.
And now, eight La Masia graduates were playing on the ground.
Maximilena the goalkeeper and Tiana the defender, except Hamara, all players were La Masia graduates.
It has been three weeks since she took over as first team coach.
Three weeks is an insufficient time to melt tactics, but for the players who have shared the same philosophy since childhood and have matched for at least 5 to 10 years, three weeks is not such a short time.
Moreover, since the Barcelona coaches so far have at least implemented some of Maria's tactical philosophy even superficially, Angela could easily implant the tactical content she inherited from Maria to the players.
Whistle blows, and the game starts with Barcelona's kick-off.
Maximilena the goalkeeper started the pass, to Tiana, Tiana lightly bypassed the pressure and passed to Valentina. Then the pass began with Valentina, left fullback Enri, and central Camila connected in a triangle.
How many passes had gone back and forth? The triangle formed by Valentina, Enri, and Camila had now changed to Enri, Camila, and Alvaria, and the players forming the triangle had now changed to Camila, Alvaria, and Ryu Ha-neul.
'Haneul-ah...'
And Angela's gaze fixed on Ryu Ha-neul. To the football genius whose talent had been sparkling since they met.
Actually, the important positions in this tactic were the central backbone connecting Arnal, Ryu Ha-neul, Camila, and Tiana.
And among them, the most important position was the attacking midfielder position that Maria had played in her player days, which Maria had told Angela to take, and which Ryu Ha-neul was now taking under Angela.
The attacking midfielder position was the place where the opponent's pressure was the most intense.
Even Maria, who didn't believe in individual player abilities and said anyone could be used as long as they could pass according to her tactic, said the best player in the team had to take that position.
Actually, until she met Ryu Ha-neul, Angela had thought Maria's tactic was just a fantasy. Because the position she had seen with her own eyes should not allow even a single mistake.
If she made a mistake, this tactic leaving only one in the back would be easily dismantled by a counterattack, and Angela had watched her own mistake allow the team to concede a counterattack and lose several times.
But now, Ryu Ha-neul, who was playing in that position instead of her, was supplying passes to teammates without allowing even a single mistake.
Above: Arnal, Alvaria, Antonia. Below: Camila, Enri, Anila. The six players surrounding Ryu Ha-neul in a hexagon received Ryu Ha-neul's passes, pulled teammates to create space, and sent passes back to Ryu Ha-neul, and as those passes repeated several times, even Villarreal, which was evaluated as a strong team in La Liga, would have no choice but to have their defense collapse.
And, between the collapsed defense, Ryu Ha-neul's pass again split the ground.
The direction Ryu Ha-neul's pass was aimed at was where Antonia, who came out instead of main player Eloya, was. Antonia lightly returned the pass, and Ryu Ha-neul's shot receiving the ball in a no-mark chance accurately hit the corner of the goalpost and shook the net.
-Waaaaaaaah!!!!
'Maria...'
If she had led the team without a single mistake like Haneul now, and won several more Champions Leagues... could Maria have not left the team?
Now it was a meaningless worry since too much time had passed.
'...I won't leave Barcelona because of Haneul.'
But one thing was certain: unlike the coach who was chased out due to the player's poor skills, nothing like that would happen to her.
“Coach!”
Haneul, who scored the goal, ran over to her and hugged her.
“I told you to wait just a little, right?”
Angela stroked the head of Haneul in her arms and opened her mouth.
“You still know there's one more goal left, don't you?”
“...Just wait a little more.”
Angela chuckled at Haneul's slightly pouty answer.