On June 5, after playing the last warm-up match before the World Cup against the Netherlands, the Italian team arrived in Russia.
In the game against the Netherlands, Pan Yi still practiced the offensive and defensive routines of different player combinations, allowing all players, including third goalkeeper Perrin, to come on the court to find their form.
The current Dutch team also has Pan Yi's new and old disciples such as Van Dijk, Ake, De Jong and De Ligt, as well as powerful players such as Wijnaldum and Blind. The strength of the backcourt can compete with any top European team;
However, there has been a lack of forward talent in recent years. Robben has aged. The frontline can only rely on players such as Babel, Depay and Dost who are not top stars to conquer the city, so the offense has always been constipated.
In the end, under the attack of the Italian team's offensive and defensive tactics, the Dutch team was defeated.
The Italian team relied on goals from Raspadori and Jorginho to defeat their opponents 2:0, successfully welcoming the upcoming World Cup group stage with a victory.
The Italian team's base camp in Russia is located at the Vatutinki Hotel southwest of Moscow.
It is only 35 kilometers away from Luzhkini Stadium in Moscow and can be reached in about 45 minutes by car.
The team bus can reach Moscow Vnukovo Airport in 30 minutes and CSKA Moscow's training ground in 5 minutes. It can be said that the transportation is quite convenient.
Don't underestimate this. If players have to take a two- to three-hour bus ride between training and games, not to mention wasting time, the player's condition will also be significantly affected.
Otherwise, why would everyone prefer to play home games instead of going to distant away games? The home and away winning percentage also proves this.
After arriving in Moscow, every move of the Italian national team has of course attracted the attention of the media and fans. After all, the combination of Pan Yi + Italy is still very dazzling!
Pan Yi uses a semi-public and semi-secret format to conduct training, which is to take into account the enthusiasm and competitiveness of the fans and media.
Of course, when in public, they are basically doing physical fitness and recovery training, while in closed training, they are more about tactical drills.
As for the main lineup, in fact, it has been slowly determined during the qualifiers and warm-up matches.
The goalkeeper is Donnarumma. On the back line, the left back needs DiMarco and Spinazzola to compete for the job. The right back is basically De Sciglio, while the center backs are Bonucci, Chiellini, Bastoni chooses two out of three, depending on the team's backcourt needs.
The main midfield combination is relatively stable, with Tonali, Varela and Verratti as the core framework, with Jorginho, Parolo and De Rossi as rotations.
On the front line, the two main wingers are basically Insigne and Chiesa, while the center will choose between Scamacca and Balotelli, mainly based on the opponent's situation.
Shalawi and Raspadori will appear more often as surprise players. After all, they can both play center or winger positions.
In training, Pan Yi will often let the main team and the substitute team compete against each other, and then intersperse the two lineups like in the warm-up match to cultivate tacit understanding between different combinations.
As for physical fitness, Pan Yi's old friend Pintus naturally had to come to Russia to work overtime.
With his old man hosting the job, Pan Yi certainly doesn't have to worry too much in this regard. The physical fitness of Italian players is definitely guaranteed!
After more than a week like this, on June 14th, the 2018 Russia World Cup officially opened!
In the opening match, the host Russia team played against Saudi Arabia, and Saudi Arabia, which had just been defeated by the Italian team, was massacred again.
In the 11th minute of the first half, Russian player Gasinski received a pass from his teammate and scored with a header.
In the 42nd minute, Russian player Cheryshev received a pass from Zobnin and scored.
In the 70th minute, Russian player Dzyuba, who had just come off the bench, scored.
In the 90th minute, Cheryshev scored twice.
In the 94th minute, Golovin took a free kick and scored.
In the end, Russia defeated Saudi Arabia 5:0 and got off to a good start.
Then, the World Cup group stage is in full swing!
The Italian team's first game in Group F is to face the previous champion Germany. This game will be held on June 17.
The games in the first two days were basically relatively clear-cut. The first climax of this World Cup began on the third day.
There is no doubt that the game between Germany and Italy is not only the first strong dialogue of this World Cup, but also enough to become the focus of everyone's attention.
In the German team, there are also old Pan Yi players like Rudiger and Goretzka, and German coach Loew is recognized as a Pan Yi fan.
In the last World Cup, the German team was able to win the championship. Loew even publicly said that it was because of Pan Yi's guidance.
What will be the outcome of such a battle between “idols” and “fans”?
Of course, for Pan Yi, it doesn't matter what the outside world thinks. He still attaches great importance to this battle in Germany.
In Pan Yi's eyes, Germany is Italy's biggest opponent in this group. If he can defeat Germany, he will be able to do more with ease in the remaining two games of the group.
Even from the best perspective, if qualifying can be determined in the first two games, then the main players can be rested in the last game against Dragon Kingdom, which will be more conducive to performance in the subsequent knockout rounds.
And this is also true from a tactical level. If the group fails to qualify in the first two rounds, then all the gadgets may have to be taken out in the last game, which is quite detrimental to Pan Yi's overall plan.
It is precisely because of these considerations that Pan Yi attaches so much importance to the first game.
Defeating Germany, in his opinion, is equivalent to qualifying from the group! He wouldn't say that about the players, but that's what he thinks.
This is not to underestimate the enemy, but to have absolute confidence.
However, Germany is definitely not an opponent that can be defeated easily.
They have countless outstanding players, have the foundation of a strong team, and are the last champions!
But Pan Yi can still find a breakthrough, and that is - Loew.
Although he got a lot of inspiration from Pan Yi, he had a fatal weakness, that is, he was too German-style rigid and dogmatic.
At that time, Pan Yi played very well in passing and controlling in Hamburg and Chelsea. After Loew imitated it, the effect was very good, so he has been obsessed with it.
This makes the current German team's tactics very easy to figure out, and it is easier to be manipulated by tactical masters like Pan Yi.
"Although they still have big centers like Mario Gomez in their team, Loew will still prefer to use Timo Werner at the center position."
At the coaching staff's tactical meeting before the game, Pan Yi was drawing pictures on the tactical board and talking at the same time.
"Loew has been working hard to transform the German team's tactics in the past few years, and the traditional center tactics are becoming less and less used. This time in the German national team's roster, only Mario Gomez is a true center. Others are similar to false nines or pressing forwards."
"Of course, one of the reasons for this is that in German football, apart from Gomez, he can't find a more suitable player to play center, so he simply switched to a position similar to Guardiola's in Barcelona. Playing without a front line."
"Although Werner's shooting accuracy is not outstanding, he is good at running aggressively, fast, aggressive in pressing, and has good breakthrough ability, so he has gained Loew's trust even more."
"On both sides of him, generally speaking, there are Draxler and Thomas Muller. These two forwards with different styles will help the German team's frontcourt to have different offensive routines. Like Muller, we are already very familiar with him. His running ability can be said to be the best in the world at present, so you must pay attention to his sudden insertion to grab points."
"In the midfield, Kroos will be the core of their midfield, and then he will be supplemented by Khedira and Goretzka. It is also possible to use Gundogan or Kimmich. But no matter which one Loew uses The midfield combination, their strategy of passing the ball through the midfield is not going to change.”
"But because they lack a big center, their offensive ability will be very poor. Remember how we led them in the first half when we played Argentina? Argentina also has a small forward combination. I think as long as we use the same The tactics are fine, and we have verified them in actual combat.”
Pan Yi's meaning is very clear, that is, since the German team likes to control the ball, let them control it.
Just like against Argentina, Italy only needs to defend the defense well and then use its fast forwards to tear open the opponent's defense.
"Is it risky to use defensive counterattack tactics against Germany?" Evani said, "Letting Germany attack may cause huge mistakes. I feel that their midfield ability is stronger than Argentina's."
Pan Yi laughed: "You have to know that Italy now is not the Italy of the past, and Germany now is not the Germany of the past."
"In Germany before, they may not have had so many shining stars, but their playing style was very capable and direct."
"From the midfield to the frontcourt, and even from the backcourt to the forwards, the passing speed is very fast and the threat is greater."
"But what now? Loew is a little too immersed in his own passing style of play, so much so that he has lost the traditional flavor of German football."
"In the last World Cup, he still had a traditional center like Klose, who could also combine wing and center and attack quickly, but that's not the case this time."
"Gomez is also very good, but Loew doesn't trust him very much. What's even more sad is that besides Gomez, Loew can't find a second center who is better than him... …”
"So Loew chose to use the false nine style of play and use passing and controlling the ball to attack and win. In this aspect, we have no advantage."
"Can our midfielder really overwhelm Kroos in passing and control? I have coached Goretzka before. He is a midfielder with excellent running ability and his defensive ability is also average. If he gradually advances to attack, We're going to be in a lot of trouble."
"What Germany is good at is offense, and Coach Loew is a somewhat paranoid person. He might just want to use offense to defeat me, and I just happened to take advantage of this."
"After comprehensive consideration, it is most appropriate for us to use counterattack against Germany."
Vialli was listening to Pan Yi's explanation, thinking about it, and then suddenly said: "Then should we mainly counterattack through the wing or the center?"
"This is a good question." Pan Yi nodded, "But I will not limit my players in this regard. Among our three midfielders, their defensive capabilities are good, but in fact, this I will give them more offensive responsibilities in each game, don’t forget, their passing is good.”
"With Scamacca as the beacon in the frontcourt, coupled with our long-passing ability in the backcourt, we are enough to launch a counterattack as soon as possible. As long as Scamacca can grab the first point, little Gueye will follow up in time. Sa and Insigne are enough for the German defenders..."
"Behind the two wingers, our full-backs will also look for opportunities to assist, and I will not limit their performance - of course, the premise is that they must first stand in a good position to prevent the German wing attack. "
Evani and Vialli looked at each other, and it was obvious that they fully understood the tactics Pan Yi had prepared.
They also understood that Pan Yi had absolute confidence in himself.
Although Pan Yi has not been in charge of the Italian team for a long time, and the players have not been training and playing together for a long time, this team does have Pan Yi's temperament and can play the football Pan Yi wants.
As assistant coaches, as long as they faithfully implement the tactics determined by Pan Yi on the training field and let the players understand the intentions of the coaching staff, half of the game can be said to have been won! ——
When Loew woke up from his sleep, his eyes were full of exhaustion.
For any team coach, it is always a headache to confront Pan Yi, and Loew is certainly no exception.
In other words, Loew is better than others.
After all, Loew was the one who visited Pan Yi seriously to learn his tactics.
Think about the European Cup two years ago. Pan Yi led the Swedish team, which was far inferior to Italy, to get through the German team and finally won the European Cup. This gave Loew even more headaches.
Pan Yi is taking Italy with him today, so how should he respond?
In the first game against Italy, Loew of course attaches equal importance to this game, and also believes that this game is very likely to become the most important game in this group stage.
Of course, Loew still has a little bit of confidence deep down in his heart.
This is mainly due to the state of Italy and Germany in the qualifying rounds.
Italy was suppressed by Spain in the qualifiers and was squeezed into second place in the group. It was considered a dead end in the play-offs.
Although they successfully came back to life under the leadership of Pan Yi, Italy is indeed worse than Germany in terms of overall strength.
During the qualifiers, the German team played in a group with good teams such as Northern Ireland, the Czech Republic, and Norway and won 10 games! Germany is also the only team that can maintain a complete victory.
Their number of goals has also reached a terrifying 43, averaging more than four per game. This is also the most goals among all teams participating in the European preliminaries.
As for the goals conceded, only 4 were conceded in total.
This kind of offensive and defensive efficiency can indeed satisfy Loew. At the same time, he is also very satisfied with the forward-less formation he has painstakingly built.
The only person that Loew is afraid of is Pan Yi.
After all, no coach dares to ignore the strong prestige Pan Yi has accumulated through his brilliant achievements over the years, let alone Loew, whose tactics are mainly based on Pan Yi's passing and controlling tactics.
But Loew still discovered the weakness of Pan Yi's Italy.
That is, Pan Yi likes to use a center with strong impact and excellent heading in this Italian team, but whether it is the young Scamacca or the current Balotelli, to be honest, they cannot be regarded as the top in the world. center.
In other words, as long as their center back Hummels or Boateng can keep an eye on Italy's center, most of Italy's offense may be misfired.
After discovering this, Loew conducted a lot of targeted training during this period.
After about ten days of training, Loew became more and more confident and confident in the first game.
For any coach who aspires to win a major championship, getting off to a good start is very important.
In the history of the World Cup, except for Spain in the 2010 World Cup, no team has been able to win the championship after losing the first game (well, Argentina in 2022 also lost the first game).
Thinking of this, Loew jumped up from the bed with excitement on his face:
"Okay, this time, I'm going to defeat Pan Yi and let them see what it means to be better than the old!"
——
"We have got Germany's starting lineup, and most of the positions are as we guessed."
On the match day of June 17, in the dressing room of the Italian team at the Luzhniki Stadium, Pan Yi was reading the starting list of the German team.
Like Italy, Germany is a 4-3-3.
The goalkeeper is of course Neuer, the defenders from left to right are Plattenhardt, Boateng Jr., Hummels, and Kimmich. The three midfielders are Kroos, Khedira, and Goretzka. The three forwards are Draxler, Werner and Muller.
"If I'm not wrong, Loew will send Boateng to mark you, because you are the only high point in our frontcourt." Pan Yi looked at Scamaca, "Although that guy is very strong, you can't You'd be afraid of any strong centre-back, wouldn't you?"
The lucky Scamaca, who defeated Balotelli at the last moment and became the starter, flexed his muscles and replied forcefully: "Of course, boss, that guy is no match for me!"
Not any forward would dare to say this in front of Boateng, who is 192cm tall and weighs 90kg, but Scamaca is one of them.
His height is even 3 centimeters taller than Boateng!
"That's right, don't be afraid to confront him. I hope to see you keep getting the first shot above his head. Your task today is simple, but very important. Fight, run, fight, and create opportunities for your teammates. , overwhelm their defense... Do you understand?"
Pan Yi warned, while Scamaka kept nodding.
This is the benefit of this kind of grassroots player. Not only will Fascamaca not be unhappy with this obvious "blue-collar" play, but he will think that Pan Yi really values his characteristics.
In fact, he is not actually a prolific shooter, but his fulcrum role in the frontcourt is indeed obvious.
This is why Pan Yi decided to start Scamaca today, because he is taller than Balotelli and more willing to do such dirty work.
Balotelli's physical fitness seems to be that of a powerful center, but in fact he doesn't like confrontation that much, and he doesn't like to fight for headers with others - he may prefer to pedal seven or eight bicycles in a row and then have a ball. Scissor kick sends the ball into the opponent's goal.
"Germany's offense is very good, or in other words, very good." Pan Yi pursed his lips and began to talk to all the players. "I emphasize this not to scare you, but to let you know that we are not afraid of any outstanding performance." Attack! Because we are Italy and we have the best defenders in the world. Using defensive tactics does not mean that we are afraid of them, but that we have to win more securely."
"You all know that the defense I'm talking about is definitely not the kind of hiding in the penalty area waiting for them to attack... We have to start blocking from the midfield to make it difficult for their offense to move forward! Interrupt their offensive rhythm and give them space. The offensive can’t achieve good enough results!”
"Then, when their team starts to get impatient, it's time for us to counterattack! Defense does not mean that we will score fewer goals than them, but we have to play more efficiently!"
"Germany's defense is far inferior to their offense, and in terms of offense, we are not worse than them. Defensive counterattack is the signature of Italian football. Let them know today that this signature will never go out of style! Italy used to How our team beat Germany, we can do the same today!"
"That's right! Boss!" The players responded with their fists waving.
Germany and Italy have a long history and are intertwined with grievances and grievances.
During the ancient Roman period, their ancestors attacked each other, and then the Frankish Kingdom was divided into three, forming the prototype of France, Germany, and Italy.
In modern times, German soldiers dominated the world, while the Italian army had always been weak and seriously hindered it in the two world wars.
But in the field of football, Italy lives up to its reputation as the iron-blooded blue team, and the Germans' vicious cycle of "unbeatable success" in competitions continues to this day.
This is not nonsense. According to statistics, in the main matches of the European Cup and World Cup, Germany has never defeated Italy head-on, with an embarrassing record of 4 draws and 4 losses.
So for the Germans, no matter what state they are in, whether they are the defending champion or not, the Italians are really not afraid of them!
Pan Yi, who had successfully managed the players' emotions, looked at his watch with satisfaction and found that there were still five minutes left until the time to play, so he stood up and said two more words: "Of course, we can't defend from the beginning. That would be too bad." It's so embarrassing... If we get the right to kick off, start an offense first, and do this specifically..."
In the next five minutes, Pan Yi explained in detail several sets of offensive tactics under various circumstances. He had already done enough specific tactical drills before, and it was enough for him to simply mention them now.
"I think the opening attack was enough to scare them. Loew will definitely think that we are going to use tenacious defense to wear down their energy first, and then wait for the opportunity to attack. I think all that guy can think about now is how to tear them apart. Our defense. But we just have to press them in the midfield from the very beginning and try to dispel their arrogance first!"
After saying this, Pan Yi realized that the time was almost up, so he waved his hands: "Guys, go out. Today, more than 10,000 of our fans came from China to watch this game. Don't let them disappointed."
The players nodded one after another, and then walked out of the locker room under the leadership of the assistant coaches. Pan Yi stayed in the locker room alone.
He didn't feel nervous, but took a moment to reflect on the tactics he had laid out to see if there was anything he had missed. Then he stood up and strode out of the locker room door.
After walking for a while, Pan Yi walked to a place close to the players' tunnel, where there was faint light coming through.
At the same time, there were shouts and cheers from countless fans outside.
Big scenes, every game in this kind of world competition is an absolute big scene, not to mention the collision between strong teams like Germany and Italy, who have both won four World Cup championships!
The substitute players have already taken their seats, while the starting players for this game are waiting in the tunnel to play.
Seeing Pan Yi approaching, many German players also smiled at him. After all, many players in the German national team have played against Pan Yi and are very familiar with him.
After saying hello to Neuer, the captain of the German national team, Pan Yi smiled and patted the old player Goretzka on the shoulder and started chatting with him.
Goretzka started today, but Rudiger did not.
"Hey, what tactics is your coach planning to use against me? Can you reveal it in advance?" Pan Yi said jokingly.
"Boss, you are kidding again." Goretzka smiled bitterly and looked at the reaction of his German teammates next to him.
What to do if you are really regarded as a mole...
"Haha." Pan Yi laughed, patted Goretzka on the shoulder again, and then walked out of the tunnel beside the four referees.
When he walked out of the tunnel, the sudden light in front of his eyes made him truly feel that the World Cup had really arrived.
He will also be participating in the World Cup for the first time!
The corners of Pan Yi's mouth trembled slightly, and he was speaking softly to himself:
"I'm here for the World Cup. You will be my next target and my biggest target to conquer!" (End of Chapter)
