Matchday #8 preview - Northern Ireland vs. China
Northern Ireland
Hyper-defensive and straightforward: Northern Ireland's 5-4-1 formation leaves no doubt about the team's priority, which is to stay solid at the back. That shouldn't be the hard part; now creating attacking chances should be the main issue - for that, they'll rely on their midfield engine comprised by two never-yielding CMFs and on God's good grace, because that's more realistic than relying on their offensive talent.
It is tough to predict who shall be Northern Ireland's keeper, because neither of them look particularly solid. Perhaps sixteen-year-old L. Hughes, the most balanced of them, will end up getting picked by manager David McCrosoft.
Now, one of N. Ireland's strengths is their centreback duo, Black and Finlayson - particularly the latter, who we'll discuss further on, stands out from the pack. Since McCrosoft typically uses a five-men back line, the question now is who shall be the third centreback - A. Nelson or A. Kelly. Kelly's faster - but that's really his only acceptable skill - and Nelson, despite being clearly a weaker individual than the other two starting-11 centrebacks, should play alongside them anyway.
It'd be a huge surprise if O'Kane and Maxwell weren't the chosen sidebacks. O'Kane is pretty much a winger as he can't defend, while Maxwell is much more stable on that regard - yet he still goes forward a lot.
Palmer and Galbraith should play as the CMF duo - and watch out for this one. They're a couple of box-to-box midfielders who should definitely control the midfield in this match with the dynamic they always show down the middle. Galbraith, particularly, should stand out as Northern Ireland's main creative force with his ability to effortlessly and accurately take over the team's play and lead the offense.
Out wide shall start Haughey. The left sidemidfielder is not at all talented in any area of the game - besides taking free kicks - but he's a man of character, alright. Our bet is on sideback O'Kane's twin brother, J. O'Kane to start as the other side's SMF. You might have the unique footballing opportunity to watch twin brothers playing for the same team...on the same side of the pitch! Jay is a bit faster than his brother, and nothing else really stands out in his skill set.
When you're playing a 5-4-1 formation like the one adopted by N. Ireland, perhaps it's not that wise to start a 168cm individual up front. I mean, you'll likely be pumping balls left and right during the whole match - such is to be expected when you're absolutely all alone up front - and you need to be able to use your aerial ability to fight for the ball up in the air with the opponent's centrebacks. So, I wouldn't be surprised if 185cm McKee started. He's definitely a decent striker; the thing is, football for him is a mere pastime. I'm not at all troubled by that,
given McKees are known for to enjoy other more artistic ventures, and this particular McKee doesn't have either the energy or the mentality to play professional football. McKees, stick to playing the guitar, please.
Still, I'd very much rather watch the 168cm striker I had began to describe.
His name sounds like that of a co-star Hollywood actor in one of John Wayne's movies. Part-time cowboy, part-time one-liner heart-breaker, full-time striker: his name is Johnny Mullen.
He's not as lethal as the "Duke" but you bet his shooting is not that bad either, pilgrim! Mullen's more talented as a striker than McKee, though his lack of stature might be a problem.
Key Player: Finalyson. Look at this man.
Look him in the eyes. Do you feel fear yet? You should. "Fin" in Spanish means "end". "Layson" means "of your career". Ah, I'm joking about the latter one. Still, he'll put a "fin" to your career if you're not careful. Finlayson is a brute of a centreback, yet he's one of the most talented when it comes to actually defending and not just breaking the opponent's legs. He combines that superb defensive ability with the mindset of an experienced and brave warrior; Finlayson is the pillar of this Northern Ireland squad and I wouldn't be surprised if you heard this name many more times in the future of this competition.
China
The ultimate underdogs of this tournament, the worst team of them all, some say. China uses a 4-2-2-2 formation with two wingers disguised as AMFs and a tendency to try and remain solid at the back, get the ball back and try to build up with few to no risk of losing the ball. One man shall lead the show and the rest will watch hopelessly, leaving us the spectators wishing they'd have chosen any another profession - fortunately, they have a lot of time to come to that conclusion on their own.
Manager Hao Haidong has a tough one on his hands: will he play Ma Kunyue as China's keeper, or will he instead choose...Ma Kunyue? Well, one thing's for sure, both are much better than Ma Kunyue, who shouldn't be let anywhere near a goal. You see, the Chinese are so confident for this WYC2019 that they only bothered to take one goalkeeper to this tournament. Why? Well, if Kunyue is the best youngster keeper in China, it's probably for the best that they won't show us the 2nd or 3rd best...
But wait, there's more. China only brought two defenders! One of them is Li Jingrun, who's honestly one of the worst centrebacks I've had the privilege to watch. Kid, this is not personal, but this football thing is not for you. You're not that slow, so you might be able to make it in the 100-metre dash. Run, Jingrun, Run! Alongside him shall play Cheng Jinhao, originally a DMF who could fool you for a few minutes and make you believe he's a competent defender - even if he's still noticeably better than Jingrun (then again, who isn't?).
Choi Seung-In and Chen Shengnan should be the sideback duo. Neither are that good. The former won't surely ever be recognized for his footballing talent - because he has none -, rather he'll definitely be remembered forever as probably the first-ever Chinese man wearing dreadlocks on a football pitch.
High as a kite on photoshoot day, way to go Choi!
Shao Tianfa has to be one of the centre-midfielders - more on him later. As a complement to Tianfa's offensive-minded tendencies, and even at the cost of taking the place of much more talented individuals, either Jia Zhonglin or Jiang Wenhao will play: they're a couple of traditional defensive midfielders who exist solely for the purpose of defending - or at least they try to, often in vain.
It's not as if China has a glaring lack of options for its midfield, as manager Haidong brought 12 midfielders (!) with him. As such, the AMF role is up for grabs. Originally a winger, we predict Wang will insert himself in this already large bucket of alternatives as he's a fast, tricky and aggressive footballer; perhaps one of the few Chinese who could call himself that. The other AMF shall be 163cm tall Junwei, who makes up for his shortness with an admittedly impressive skillset - when compared to the vast majority of his teammates - I'm looking at you Jingrun. He's yet another winger who shall appear disguised as an AMF, but in the end be anything but that.
Up front, things don't look so good. Guo Hao will be one of the strikers as he's admittedly a decent finisher - even if he's tremendously unreliable. On a good day, and if his left eyebrow doesn't hurt, or if he can forget about the tensions in the Middle East for an hour and a half, or if he ignores the fact that someone, somewhere is hurting right now, the Chinese might have their main offensive threat in him.
Who shall team-up with Guo Hao? Good question. Here's to hoping one of the youngest players of the tournament is the chosen one: Liang Shaowen, a fifteen-year-old (!) who's showing enough potential to land him that ambitioned role. I'll go out on a limb and say it: in a couple of years, he'll be by far the best Chinese young striker. Ah, scrap that: in a couple of months.
Key Player: Shao Tianfa. Move over, lesser teammates, Tianfa is your daddy. He's the undisputed leader of this Chinese side because he relies on the fact that Shao actually has some footballing talent, unlike the others. His dribbling and particularly his passing would make you believe he'd actually be good enough to play for a top-tier youth side, however, that's pretty much what he has going for him. Still, the fate of this Chinese youth team will be defined by how well Tianfa is able to hide his flaws and just let him work his magic out there.
They sound like the sort of people we have now who get offended on other people's behalf. The sort that will say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas in case they offend another religion (who actually aren't in the least bit bothered about it!). Or the one's who go on twitter to complain in absolute outrage that a shop doesn't have a blue sweater for their little girl. So go shop somewhere else then.
(Well sort of but this question stems from a discussion we had here about the causes of the death of grand and epic video games in the mid-2000s and not just PES, but RTS and strategy games too. Was it just the new online intensive console generation of the Xbox One and PlayStation 3 or did the arrival of the IPhone in 2007 deliver the fatal blow to our gaming world).
I was swearing and insulting my players while watching loooool, especially whenever there's an opportunity to pass the ball to a free teammate and that pass would make a clear chance but the sucker keeps trying to dribble.
and the second decent purchase i have spent ZERO money to anything. I only regret for a turn-based RPG i have on my smartphone Android, Summoner WAR-SKy Arena, cause i play it since 2014 and it is decent RPG and has cery good support, although the last 2 years i can't play it due to lack of time and it needs daily attestation. If i continued to play daily, i would give them maybe 5 or 7 euros, not for the loot-boxes, but to support their good job as a developer company. Their name is Come2us.
