Conte's adjustments quickly had an effect.
When the game reached the 25th minute, the Swedish team, which had been unable to attack for a long time, made a passing and receiving error in the frontcourt.
The ball passed by Weinblum to Ibrahimovic was successfully intercepted by Chiellini in advance. As soon as the latter got the ball, he passed it directly to the left, allowing Candreva to drive the ball forward.
At this time, after the Swedish team attacked many times, the defense began to gradually press forward, causing even the two central defenders to have entered the Italian half, with nothing behind them, and they were completely exposed to Italian artillery fire.
After Candreva took the ball, he took a few steps and made a direct pass forward.
Pellet, who had not shown any performance today, made a diagonal run and sprinted forward from the left.
At this time, in front of him, the only player left in the Swedish team was goalkeeper Isaacson!
Behind Pellet, Lindelof began to catch up.
Before the game, Pan Yi warned the Swedish players that Pellet is Italy's main scorer, so he should not be given a good chance to shoot!
For the defenders, it is their duty to keep an eye on Pellet.
Therefore, even though Pellet was already speeding up and running, Lindelof was still chasing after him with no intention of giving up.
Fortunately, Candreva's direct pass was played between the right back Johansson and center back Granqvist in order to avoid the Swedish team's defensive players, so the path of the ball was a bit biased to the left. boundary line.
So when Pellet chased after him, in order to catch the ball, he chased forward along the left sideline.
In addition, speed itself is not Pellet's strong point, so it took a little longer to catch the ball.
Although Lindelof started slower, the straight-line distance was shorter, so he caught up.
As a result, the two players formed a confrontation on the left side of the Swedish team's penalty area.
Pelle stopped the ball, and Lindelof blocked his path to the penalty area. The two formed a one-on-one contest.
Almost as soon as he took up his position, Lindelof recalled in his mind the tactical preparation draft that Pan Yi handed over to each of their players through the coaching staff before the game.
This reflects Pan Yi's meticulousness in preparing for the game!
In his tactical preparations, there are precautions to be taken when defending against Pellet.
It is mentioned in it that Pellet's finishing ability, heading ability, key passing ability and through ball ability are all very strong, but his weakness is to control the ball.
And Pellet also likes to play two against one in the game.
Therefore, when defensive players face Pellet alone, the focus is to prevent his passes and cooperate with teammates.
And if Pellet wants to force a pass, he won't use any fancy moves. Basically, he will just feint and then go straight.
Then the defensive players need to lower their center of gravity, not make moves easily, and after looking at Pellet's actual movement direction, look for the opportunity to steal the ball.
Sure enough, after seeing that his nearby teammates had not come up yet, Pellet could only choose to make a personal breakthrough.
The Italian made a fake move to go down, but what frustrated him was that Lindelof just moved his body and stood still, but did not follow his rules.
Lindelof's one-on-one defense is still very good!
It may be a bit difficult to deal with agile forwards like Messi and Hazard, but a pivot center like Pellet can still handle it.
After Pellet swayed, he couldn't do anything. The main reason is that he is really not particularly good at one-on-one dribbling. He knows this better than anyone else.
What he is best at is running without the ball and shooting directly from behind. Of course, his most impressive thing is his ability to compete for high-altitude balls.
As soon as he saw that Lindelof was not giving up, Pellet had no choice but to make a one-and-done deal, hard!
Otherwise, this "quasi-solo" opportunity will be lost.
But as soon as Pellet started, Lindelof had already predicted the direction of his ball.
I saw Lindelof leaning over, getting between Pellet and the ball, and then stretched his legs to block the ball, intercepting the ball easily.
Then, he made another forward pass and handed the ball to Forsberg, which also allowed the Swedish team to launch a counterattack.
Seeing that the attack failed, Pellet sighed and looked at Lindelof in front of him. He felt that this kid seemed to have a premeditated plan and should have known where he was going.
Lindelof, on the other hand, secretly marveled at his coach's meticulous guidance. He truly deserves to be a world-famous coach! Every move of his opponent is under his control, so how could he not be able to guard against it?
He couldn't help but glance sideways at the coaching bench and saw Pan Yi looking at him with a smile on his face, obviously very satisfied with his defense this time.
How to put it this way, although Lindelof cannot be called the world's top central defender, he is very calm and confident on the defensive end. In the Benfica team, his teammates call him "Ice Man".
This nickname means that no matter what happens on the court, Lindelof always looks calm and cool.
Playing as a central defender requires such characteristics, to be calm during big events, otherwise, he would not have been picked up by Manchester United and stayed there for many years.
"You won't be so lucky next time!" Pellet yelled at Lindelof bitterly.
He knew that this time it was his weakness that was completely grasped by the other party.
Then next time, he will use his own advantages to overwhelm his opponent!
Soon, the next time Italy launched a counterattack, Pellet ran from the left to the center and signaled his teammates to hit him on the head.
Florenzi's pass came to Pellet's head almost as soon as he arrived at the penalty spot in the penalty area.
Pellet jumped up high and was about to swing his head to attack the goal!
But at this moment, Lindelof and Granqvist were like two mountains, blocking his left and right sides, forming a male-left formation. Pellet was suddenly covered in burly bodies, and his head-shaking movements were also affected. .
Granqvist, who was behind Pellet, took the opportunity to jump higher and head the ball out first, destroying the attack.
This was also what Pan Yi ordered before the game, a double-team mode for Pellet when he was fighting for the top.
One of Italy's regular offensive methods is to drop the ball into the penalty area and let Pellet grab the first point.
If Pellet can hit the goal, he hits the goal. If he can't, he hits the goal, and then Edel grabs the second point.
The focus at this time is to defend Pellet first, so he does not hesitate to use two central defenders to attack him together.
Of course, Edel was not left alone at this time.
The fullback close to Edel, maybe Olsson or Johansson, will then get close to Edel, pay attention to the second position, and then defend.
But obviously, the two-point protection is no longer needed this time, because the first double-team tactic has been successful!
This also left Pellet helpless.
It doesn't work on the ground or in the air, so what should he do?
——
Italy's counterattack has been unable to open up the situation, but Sweden's side is clearing the clouds and seeing the moon.
Their attack finally paid off!
In this 4-3-3 system, captain Ibrahimovic is undoubtedly the most powerful offensive weapon in the Swedish team.
In order to protect this weapon from being frozen by Italy's reinforced concrete, Pan Yi asked Ixa and Guidetti to pull for him on the wing.
Either making a pass from the bottom, or cutting inside to attract defensive pressure. These are all hoping to fully bring out Ibrahimovic's strength and give him more shining moments!
And these cannonballs that were continuously sent to him finally brought down the Italian city wall with one shot!
In the 40th minute, it was originally a counterattack by Italy. After Pellet's side failed, Italy wanted to go to Eder's side this time.
But Olsson and Lindelof successfully intercepted the ball together. Olsson dribbled the ball along the left side, passed it to Isaac, and launched a quick counterattack.
In this counterattack, Ibrahimovic got ample running space in the middle.
He first deliberately ran to the left, as if he was going to pick up Isak, which immediately caused Chiellini and De Rossi, who were chasing back, to focus on the left side.
However, Isaac chose to pass the ball to Forsberg, who pulled out Italy's central defender Bonucci when dribbling the ball in the middle.
I saw Ibrahimovic suddenly change his line from the left to the right. Because Chiellini and De Rossi's attention was on the left just now, they suddenly changed their line. Both of them were caught off guard. First Time caught up, but Forsberg had already preceded Bonucci and passed the ball to the far post.
It's just that Forsberg's pass was a little bit more time-consuming and he used a little more force. The ball passed a little faster and it went over Ibrahimovic's head and was about to go out of the baseline.
But at this moment, Ibrahimovic soared into the air with his whole body stretched, and he hooked the ball with the heel of his right foot, and directly made a shot!
This is a scorpion tail swing, which is Ibrahimovic's iconic but unconventional shooting action!
Even the experienced Buffon was unable to predict such an action.
When Buffon reacted, the ball had almost rubbed the right upright and entered the net!
"The ball goes in!!!!!!!!! Beautiful goal!!!!"
The on-site commentator almost wanted to tear out his own throat and shouted loudly!
"Sweden finally scored a goal!!! Sweden leads Italy 1:0!!!"
Following his shout, all the Swedish fans in the audience immediately stood up from their seats and shouted loudly.
"In the 40th minute, the Swedish team finally broke through the Italian team's goal!"
"This is a goal that Sweden deserved. They put great pressure on Italy throughout the first half and launched a wave of attacks, but they could never score."
"Now, Ibrahimovic finally opened the scoring for the Swedish team with a wonderful goal, and also scored his third goal in this European Cup!"
"It's a beautiful scorpion tail! Very few players can do this when shooting, but it is not uncommon for Ibrahimovic."
"In fact, as early as the 2004 European Cup, he had performed such a trick. The opponent was also the Italian team, and the Italian goalkeeper was also Buffon!"
"It's so wonderful, a very wonderful goal. Forgive me for repeating this, but it's the truth!"
When the camera focused on Ibrahimovic again, the Swedish super forward was already standing on the sidelines, raising his arms high and assuming a posture and expression unique to Ibrahimovic.
He used this domineering attitude to accept the cheers and applause from the Swedish fans in the stands, as well as their praise and worship!
"Zlatan Ibrahimovic's goal was brilliant and his coordination leading up to it was also commendable."
"Isak's push from the left, Ibrahimovic's feint and penetration in the middle, Forsberg's last pass, and of course Ibrahimovic's shot... all seemed to come together naturally and in one go!"
"Although they all rely on Ibrahimovic to score goals, Pan Yi's Swedish team is obviously different from his predecessor Hamren who only sent forward mindlessly to find Ibrahimovic."
"The three arrows of this Swedish team are even more difficult to defend! Under such an offensive system, if the Italians only defend Ibrahimovic, they will also suffer, because Isak also has a strong ability to cut inside and shoot."
"What is a world-famous coach?" The on-site commentator was obviously very excited after Ibrahimovic scored. I don't know if he is Pan Yi or a fan of the Swedish team. "This is a world-famous coach!"
Pan Yi, who was praised by the commentator, was of course very excited at this time.
Because he knows very well that now that he has scored a goal, the Swedish team has taken the lead in the game, and he will be more confident in the game.
In this crucial group match, one goal can completely change the situation of the entire game, so Ibrahimovic's goal can be said to be crucial.
In this game, the performance of the Swedish central axis that Pan Yi relied on did not disappoint him.
Lindelof withstood the impact of Italian artillery and successfully froze the opponent's top scorer;
Forsberg runs nimbly, and his final pass in the frontcourt can often tear apart the opponent's defense;
Ibrahimovic can seize the opportunity and use the most unexpected way to give the Italians the most fatal blow!
This goal made the Swedish team's qualifying situation very clear, and it can also be said that the Swedish team saw hope of qualifying early! ——
It can be said that since the group of players who won the World Cup in Italy in 2006 have gradually aged, Italy has at least stopped producing stars.
Del Piero, Pirlo, Cannavaro, Nesta, Gattuso, Zambrotta, Totti...
Which of these former stars is not ranked among the best in world football?
But now, the main players in the Italian team are Parolo, Giaccherini, Florenzi, Eder...
Even Pellet is obviously not the world's top star, nor does he have the ability to hold up the banner of Italy's forward line.
This also makes people miss the Italian team that once had talented forwards such as Baggio, Vieri, Inzaghi, Totti, and Del Piero.
You can even miss Balotelli from the last European Cup!
The lack of outstanding forwards has also prevented Italy from building a complete offensive system for a long time.
Without the forward, without the sharp knife at the front, the system would be impossible to talk about!
There is also the decline in the team's overall strength, because it is not just the forwards who are out of gear.
Even in the last European Cup, Italy still had Gattuso, Pirlo and other famous players guarding it, but now Italy has a midfield composed of Parolo, De Rossi, and Giaccherini. Let’s not talk about strength, but reputation. You can see what the combat capabilities of these players are from the above.
So in this game, the Swedish team's tactics are really very simple. After pinching the Italian midfielder and completely suppressing your midfielder, how do you advance the ball?
They can only rely on long passes from wing backs or central defenders to plan the attack and avoid the midfield as much as possible.
This style of play really doesn't have much effect on a team like Sweden, which has excellent frontal defense capabilities, especially once it is contained on the scene, it immediately appears to be very passive.
Conte was not unaware of the situation in the first half.
However, the connection between Italy's backcourt and frontcourt was cut off by the Swedes again and again, and Italy's entire tactical layout was cut into several pieces. Pellet could only fight alone in the front.
One moment he wants to be an organizer, and the next moment he wants to rush to the front as a finisher. How is this possible?
Let alone Pellet, even if Ibrahimovic is brought over, it will be difficult to cover everything.
What's more, Pan Yi on the opposite side really understood the characteristics of the Italian players very clearly, and his defense against Pellet was also very effective, which made Italy's striker completely misfired.
So during the halftime break, Conte decided to make some adjustments.
He asked the left wing back Candreva and midfielder Parolo to move closer to Pellet, allowing them to move forward more actively to help Pellet.
In this way, small-scale cooperation can be used to circumvent Pellet's shortcomings in individual combat capabilities, and it can also allow Pellet to launch attacks from the front with more confidence.
As for Pellet personally, Conte's requirement for him is to "shoot when you have the opportunity" and not to fall into the Swedish team's defensive trap again and lose the hard-won offensive opportunities in vain.
Therefore, at the beginning of the second half, Italy, which was at a disadvantage, immediately launched a round of attacks.
This time, Pellet, who was a powerful offensive point, got a chance to get the ball in the 46th minute. When he faced Lindelof again one-on-one in the middle, he didn't give his opponent time to think, and just swung a ball. Foot, shoot!
But Pellet gave Lindelof less time and less time for himself.
As a result, the shot failed to hit the target with force. The angle was correct, but it only allowed Isaacson to stretch his hand and gain one more successful save.
"Now Italy's offensive and morale are getting better, we must suppress him!"
Pan Yi on the sidelines also realized the problem.
If Italy is allowed to continue attacking like this, the rhythm and situation of the game will gradually be dragged away by them, which will be very detrimental to the Swedish team, so the best way is to nip this threat in the bud.
"Press the midfielder a little tighter and let Italy play more on Giaccherini's side!" Pan Yi immediately made adjustments.
Giaccherini's career is very inspiring. In just three years, this grassroots player achieved a magical triple jump, from Serie B to Serie A, and then from underdog Cesena to join the local giant Juventus.
Although he is not the absolute main force, this short-footed tiger still relies on his diligent running and all-round frontcourt characteristics to become an indispensable rotation player for the Bianconeri.
The man who coached Juventus at the time was Conte, the current head coach of the Italian national team.
Conte once said to Giaccherini, "As long as I coach at Juventus, you will not leave." This shows his trust in Giaccherini.
It is precisely because of this that this not-so-well-known player who is currently playing for Bologna has become the main force in this Italian team.
However, Giaccherini, who is only 167 cm tall and weighs only 67 kg, is still at a disadvantage compared with these strong men in Sweden.
Moreover, his technical level has not reached the level of Pirlo before, or he has the superb dribbling skills like Messi, who is about the same size as him.
Therefore, Pan Yi decided to lure Italy's ball rights to Giaccherini, and then focus on grabbing him.
How to seduce? This is the method of blocking one side that Pan Yi often used when he was in the club.
For example, when De Rossi gets the ball, the Swedish players will focus on cutting off the connection between him and Parolo on the other side, forcing De Rossi to pass to Giaccherini and then surround him.
Pan Yi's adjustments quickly bore fruit.
The Swedish team quickly suppressed Italy again, especially in the midfield, completely suppressing the momentum of Italy's three midfielders, making Italy's striker once again become isolated in the front.
In the 70th minute, Ekdal successfully intercepted the ball at Giaccherini's feet and then passed it to Forsberg, starting Italy's quick counterattack.
After Forsberg quickly advanced with the ball, this time it was distributed to the right side and handed to Guidetti.
At this time, Florenzi had not returned from assisting forward, and Chiellini had no choice but to make up for it, but Guidetti dribbled the ball to the center and then passed the ball to the high point of the penalty area with his right foot.
Ibrahimovic and Bonucci seized the position, and when the shooting space was blocked by the opponent, they chose to header the ball to the back point.
Isaac inserted into the penalty area from the left, and with no one to defend him, Ibrahimovic's ferry was firmly shot, and the ball was once again sent into the goal guarded by Buffon, 2:0!
After scoring the goal, the Swedish teenager turned around excitedly and rushed out of the penalty area. He rushed to the sidelines and jumped high, waving his hands in fists.
This is his first goal in this European Cup, and it is also his first official goal on behalf of the Swedish national team! And this is only his second official international match on behalf of the Swedish team.
And Isaac's goal can almost be said to have set the situation in advance.
After this goal, the Swedish team took the lead in making adjustments.
The goal heroes Ibrahimovic and Isaac, including Forsberg, were all replaced, and Marcus Berry, Kulusevski, and Kjellström were replaced.
This is another message from Pan Yi: The victory has been decided, and I have stopped!
In line with the principle that useful players should risk their lives, it was almost time to go down and rest.
After the substitutions, Sweden's formation was also changed to 4-5-1. Marcus Berry was left alone to counterattack, while the others slowed down the pace and focused on defense.
This is exactly the same as the final stage of playing Ireland!
And Conte was helpless against such a Swedish team. In the last 20 minutes, he failed to create any decent opportunities at all.
When the referee blew the whistle to end the game, Pan Yi raised his clenched fists high, as if he was facing the whole world, declaring his return as the king!
The Swedish team qualified from the group of death one round ahead of schedule!
(End of chapter)
