After defeating Leeds United, York City's morale is getting stronger and stronger.
In the next few rounds of the league, although De Ligt is suspended and cannot play, there are still many good central defenders in the team such as Westerman, Tomori, Saliba, not to mention the likes of Militao. , Fuyasu Jianyang can also play as a central defender, so there is no panic at all.
Therefore, York City's combat effectiveness basically did not drop. They first won Preston 2:0 away from home, and then returned to home to beat Reading 3:1.
After defeating Apollon Limassol 3-0 in the second round of the Europa League group stage, they defeated Barnsley 2-0 in the 11th round of the English Championship.
In 11 rounds, York City achieved an excellent record of 10 wins and 1 loss. With 30 points, their top position has become very stable.
Cardiff City, currently ranked second, has 7 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss with only 24 points, which is already 6 points behind York City.
Then there are third-placed Wolves with 23 points, and fourth- and fifth-placed Ipswich and Sheffield United both with 21 points.
Leeds United were suspended for several players after losing to York City, which greatly damaged their vitality.
In recent rounds, they have lost 0:3 to Sheffield Wednesday, 1:3 to Cardiff City, and 0:1 to Millwall. They only have 20 points and are ranked outside the sixth or seventh place. .
This kind of performance comparison has made York City Club more popular than Leeds United in the entire Yorkshire!
He thrived both on and off the court, which allowed Pan Yi to relax and deal with other things.
This "other matter", of course, refers to the national team.
Now that the Dragon Country national team has successfully qualified and is determined to participate in the 2018 World Cup, Pan Yi certainly does not intend to follow as a consultant.
He wants to lead a team by himself to win the World Cup!
After playing 11 rounds in the British Championship, it entered the international match day, and the Italian team had the last two group matches to play this week, so Pan Yi took a trip to Italy.
In addition to watching the football, I also have formal discussions with the Italian Football Association about joining the national team!
Regarding Pan Yi's visit, Italian Football Federation President Tavecchio was certainly overjoyed.
You know, in the last 2014 World Cup, the Italian team was eliminated in the group stage of the World Cup. The then Football Association Chairman Abate resigned, which shows that Italian football has very high requirements for its own performance.
Now, the Italian team is about to be pushed into the play-offs. If it cannot appear in next year's World Cup, it will be a disaster!
As the current chairman of the Football Association, it may be difficult for him to be alone.
Therefore, Pan Yi is his last life-saving straw!
So when Pan Yi proposed to take over the Italian team before the play-offs started, Tavecchio immediately agreed!
Then comes the initialing of the agreement.
It's similar to the previous one with the Swedish national team, first a short-term contract.
After all, if the Italian team is really eliminated in the qualifying stage, there is no need to stay any longer.
And if you qualify, you will coach until the end of the World Cup and then discuss it again.
Of course, such an agreement remains confidential for the time being. After all, Ventuto is still leading the national team now, and there are still two games to play.
Although these two games are actually of little importance, for the sake of the national team's military morale, it is better not to disclose them to the outside world yet.
However, the plan does not change as time goes by.
In Italy's match against Liechtenstein, which Pan Yi watched live, Italy's performance was once again unsatisfactory.
Facing this recognized European team, which suffered a 0:8 defeat to Spain, the Italian team played a bit uncomfortable. It was not until the end of the first half that Belotti scored a header. Get ahead.
In the second half, Italy's performance still did not improve, and Ventura did not make any substitutions or make any tactical adjustments. In the end, it relied on Spinazzola's personal breakthrough to score, allowing Italy to score 2: 0 to win.
The ball was won, but the content of the game was too ugly!
And only won two goals.
You know, Liechtenstein has always maintained a record of complete defeat in the group. It has only scored 1 goal and conceded 36 goals so far!
On average, more than 4 goals are conceded per game...
Not to mention that Spain was able to sweep its opponents with 8 goals in both rounds. Even a weak team like North Macedonia was able to defeat Liechtenstein 4:0.
The players' performance was poor, and head coach Ventura had no sense of presence. He sat motionless on the coaching bench for the entire game, and did not even make any move that could change the situation on the court.
"If we don't replace him, it will be too late!"
"With Ventura here, we don't see any hope!"
"Italy is in danger!"
Under such a frenzy of public opinion, Italian Football Federation President Tavecchio couldn't stand it.
Because some people have begun to doubt whether the chairman of the Football Association has some py deal with Ventura, and they are still trying to protect him!
So the media and fans are also asking Tavecchio to be fired!
Tavecchio had no choice but to find Pan Yi quickly, hoping that he could take over the Italian national team in advance so that everyone could get through this difficulty safely.
After Pan Yi thought for a while, he agreed to the request.
It's time to show some real skills!
——
The coaching change process is also relatively low-key.
Ventura received a call from Tavecchio the day after the game and calmly accepted his dismissal.
To be honest, this period of time was also a torment for him. The media and fans criticized him so hard that his hair became bald!
He had also expected that he would have to leave get out of class sooner or later, he just didn't know when it would be.
Now, I heard that Pan Yi, the number one coach in the world, has taken over. This round of losses is not a loss!
Then Pan Yi started working quickly.
Since he had been paying attention to the Italian national team and had made a lot of advance preparations for this, although he was ordered at the last moment, everything went in an orderly manner.
First is the coaching staff.
While keeping the general framework unchanged, Pan Yi invited Milan star Evani to serve as assistant coach.
Evani is a player produced by Milan's youth training. He has played for AC Milan for many years, played 296 games on behalf of the club, and helped the team win 3 Serie A championships and 2 Champions League championships.
In addition, Evani also represented the Italian national team in 15 games, the most famous of which was the 1994 World Cup.
Facing Brazil in the final, Evani, who came on as a substitute, hit the penalty kick steadily. Unfortunately, teammate Baggio missed the penalty kick, and Italy regretted losing the championship.
After retiring, Evani returned to coach the Milan youth team and became the head coach of Italy U18 in 2010.
Pan Yi likes him mainly because of his Milan origin and his rich experience in dealing with young people.
In fact, in Pan Yi's previous life, when Mancini joined the Italian national team, he also hired Evani as an assistant coach, and together they won the 2020 European Cup.
The other assistant coach is Chelsea star Vialli.
Vialli played with the Italian national team in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, the 1988 European Cup in West Germany, and the 1990 World Cup in Italy. He also played for well-known clubs such as Sampdoria, Juventus, and Chelsea, and achieved success at every stage. success.
After retiring, Vialli coached Chelsea for more than two years and also has good professional football coaching experience.
In his previous life, he also won the 2020 European Cup with the Italian national team as an assistant coach.
The main role of these two Italian assistant coaches is to help Pan Yi stabilize the locker room, so that Pan Yi can concentrate on improving the technical and tactical level of the Italian national team.
After taking care of these two celebrities, Pan Yi also immediately asked the Italian Football Association to announce a list of the national team drawn up by him for the final match of the World Cup qualifying group stage with Albarnia on October 10.
The most eye-catching ones on this list are of course the young players in York City.
Scamacca, Tonali, Barrera, Bastoni, DiMarco...all selected!
In addition, there are also some young players in other teams.
For example, the goalkeeper who currently plays for Fiorentina, whose father is the Italian international Chiesa!
Locatelli, who came from Milan's youth training and is currently not playing much football in Milan;
And the teenager Raspadori, who plays for Sassuolo and was born in 2000, etc.
From this list, everyone can see that Pan Yi wants to further examine the players and prepare for the upcoming and more important World Cup qualifying play-offs.
For Pan Yi, he thought further.
Now the Italian team is seriously aging and lacks energy when playing football, so it must inject fresh blood.
Not just for the play-offs, but actually playing in the World Cup will also depend on the performance of young people.
Apart from anything else, in Pan Yi's previous life, the Italian team led by Mancini was able to win the 2020 European Cup because of a large-scale blood exchange.
At that time, Chiesa Jr., Varela, Donnarumma and others all became the backbone of the team. In addition, Jorginho, Verratti, Spinazzola and other Mesozoic players were all the main players of the team. Let Italy play to the level it deserves.
As for the 2022 qualifiers…
All I can say is that it’s fate.
Chiesa Jr. and Spinazzola were both seriously injured and unable to return to the team for a long time. In addition, Jorginho missed consecutive penalty kicks in the game against Switzerland, which caused the Italian team to slide into the abyss step by step...
But this is all a story for later. Now Pan Yi wants to make Italy, a traditional strong team, regain their style!
Of course, as an Italian media, there are still some doubts about Pan Yi's national team roster this time.
This is mainly because of these young players from York City.
The Italian team, as a traditional strong team in the world, has never had so many players from the second-tier European leagues?
Although the current Italian players are not as star-studded as in the past, almost every player comes from a major team;
But even now, at least they are all players from the five major leagues. The sudden arrival of so many players from the English Championship does make the Italian media, who think highly of themselves, a little uncomfortable.
However, their diaphragm should belong to diaphragm, but it is hard to say anything.
After all, Pan Yi was the one they had hoped for finally, so they couldn't just blow him away again, right?
Besides, although these five young players are from the English Championship, the name of this English Championship team is York City, and it is Pan Yi's team!
This means that Pan Yi is very familiar with them and can integrate into the team as quickly as possible.
Not to mention that York City's performance this season has been very stable, looking like a quasi-Premier League team.
Wolves are only ranked third in the English Championship, don't they also have several Portuguese internationals?
Let’s take a look at Pan Yi’s performance in Italy’s first game!
Therefore, under such entanglement, the Italian media ushered in the final battle between Italy and Albania.
——
In Group G, apart from Spain and Italy, the strongest team is Albania.
Although they don't have any stars in the team, they are still a team that participated in the last European Cup. Overall, they are still better than teams like North Macedonia and Liechtenstein.
In fact, so far in the game, they are still ranked third in the group, but they just have no way to pose a threat to the top two.
Therefore, Pan Yi also decided to use this game to examine these young players.
Pan Yi knew how to play the game. He quickly worked out a detailed team plan and progress with Evani, Vialli and others. He would transform the Italian team according to his own ideas. .
After meeting with the team, he immediately took the time to talk to several rookies who had just been selected for the national team.
Many of these people have been called up to the national team for the first time and have no experience playing in the national adult team. Pan Yi also relieves them of pressure.
He told them that although this was an official World Cup qualifying match, it actually had nothing to do with the overall situation. There was no need to be too nervous and they could relax and perform.
When it came to the game, Pan Yi was as expected, using a lineup composed almost entirely of young people.
The formation is 4-3-3, the goalkeeper is Donnarumma, the defense is Spinazzola, Bonucci, Bastoni, and De Sciglio, and the midfield three are Tonali, Varela, Verratti, the three forwards are Chiesa, Scamacca and Raspadori.
In this starting lineup, the oldest player is the 30-year-old captain Bonucci. The other players are all in their twenties, and there are even some 17 or 18 years old. They are full of energy.
In addition, the 24-year-old right back De Sciglio also started under Pan Yi again after many years!
As for the goalkeeper position, the 39-year-old "junior" Buffon actually maintains a high level and is qualified for the main position.
But Pan Yi still prepared for the future and let the 18-year-old "veteran" Donnarumma start.
He is called a "veteran" because despite his young age, he has represented AC Milan in Serie A as early as 2015 and became the youngest starting goalkeeper in Serie A in 73 years.
Soon thereafter, he locked in his absolute main goalkeeper position in AC Milan, and also came on as a substitute for Buffon last year, completing his debut in the national team.
It can be said that he is the representative figure of youth and maturity.
Although when he moved to Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer in the future, Milan fans scolded him as "too rich", but this does not prevent him from being a world-class goalkeeper at a technical level.
——
After the game started, this young Italian team entered the state slowly.
In the 15th minute, Albanian midfielder Bashia used a long shot from 30 meters away to penetrate the goal guarded by Donnarumma and open the scoring for Albania.
After seeing Basiya's goal, Pan Yi couldn't help but shake his head, "Our midfield and frontcourt didn't press the opponent enough, it was very bad!"
Evani also nodded: "The skills of these young people are good, but without pressure, they cannot form effective combat effectiveness."
Pan Yi immediately walked to the sidelines and once again emphasized his pre-match arrangements. He shouted to remind this group of Italian players who wanted to use their skills to trick their opponents that they had better calm down and implement their tactics properly.
After the oppressive tactics improved to a certain extent, the Italian team's technical advantages were immediately reflected.
In the 30th minute, Chiesa took the ball from the left and cut inside and passed an exquisite through ball. Scamacca succeeded in countering the offside, and faced the opponent's goalkeeper Belisha in one fell swoop, equalizing the score for the Italian team.
In the second half, the two sides changed sides and fought again, and Pan Yi also made a direct substitution, allowing DiMarco to replace Spinazzola.
This also allows DiMarco, who has no national team appearance record, to adapt to the national team games and prepare for the future.
The second half also went relatively flat, but DiMarco still showed his characteristic of accurate passing.
In the 78th minute, it was DiMarco's diagonal pass that found Skamarca in the middle. After the latter's head came down, Varela fired a powerful shot, piercing the door of Albania again.
In the end, this score remained until the end of the game, and neither side could score any more goals.
The Italian team finally defeated Albania 2:1 and completed the group stage journey.
As a result, the Group G match has also been settled.
Spain won the first place in the group with an unbeaten record of 9 wins, 1 draw and 28 points, and also received a direct ticket to the 2018 World Cup.
Italy's results were 7 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss, with 23 points, ranking second, and had to prepare to participate in the second stage of the play-offs.
Soon, the competitions of other groups also ended.
The first place in Group A is France and the second place is Sweden. Sweden also secured a play-off spot!
Although the Dutch team defeated Sweden in the final round and tied with Sweden in points, the goal difference was too great and they ended up ranking third in the group and were eliminated.
The first place in Group B is Portugal, who also directly enter the World Cup, while the second place Switzerland will have to participate in the play-offs.
The first place in Group C is Germany and the second place is Northern Ireland.
Both the Czech Republic and Norway in this group failed to qualify, but considering that Northern Ireland has been in really good form recently, this ranking is not particularly surprising.
The first place in Group D is Serbia and the second place is Ireland.
What is a bit regrettable in this group is Wales led by Great Saint Bale. After their excellent performance in the last European Cup, they lost in the World Cup qualifiers and missed the first World Cup in the team's history. trip.
The first place in Group E is Poland, and the second place is Denmark. Poland, led by Lewandowski, has always been very stable in the qualifiers and can always reach the competition.
The first place in Group F is England, and the second place is Slovakia. Scotland in the same group also had the same points as Slovakia, but also ranked third due to insufficient goal difference.
However, Slovakia is not happy either, because according to the rules, the nine first-placed teams in the group can advance to the finals, while the eight best-performing second-placed teams will participate in the play-offs.
Then among the nine groups, Slovakia only accumulated 18 points, which was the second worst among all groups, so they were also eliminated.
Of course, in Group G, Spain is first and Italy is second.
The first place in Group H is Belgium, and the second place is Greece.
The first place in Group I is Iceland and the second place is Croatia.
The average strength of this group is actually the strongest. In addition to these two teams, there are also Ukraine, Turkey, Finland, and Kosovo.
However, "Viking War Cry" still defeated many strong teams and won the first place in the group.
They will also appear on the World Cup stage for the first time in history!
In this way, the eight teams participating in the European qualifying play-offs for this World Cup have been determined.
That’s the second place among the other eight groups except Slovakia!
A week later, on October 17, the draw ceremony for the playoffs was also held at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.
According to the latest FIFA world rankings, these 8 teams are divided into seeded and unseeded teams for drawing.
They will fight each other to determine the last four World Cup seats in the European region. The first round of the play-offs will be held from November 9th to 11th, and the second round will be held from November 12th to 14th.
The final result is:
Northern Ireland vs Switzerland;
Croatia vs Greece;
Denmark vs Ireland;
Italy VS Sweden! ! !
In other words, Pan Yi will lead Italy to face the old master! (End of chapter)
