Luzhniki Stadium, located in downtown Moscow, Russia, is the largest stadium in Russia, with a total of 84,745 seats.
The stadium has hosted many important events, including various matches at the 1980 Summer Olympics, as well as important football matches.
The Luzhniki Stadium hosted the 2008 European Champions League final, and it was also the first Eastern European venue to host the Champions League final.
In the final, two Premier League teams, Manchester United and Chelsea, met on a narrow road. In the end, Manchester United defeated Chelsea 7-6 in a penalty shootout to win the championship.
Today, the two world champions from Germany and Italy are also facing off here, or this will become another classic confrontation.
When Pan Yi walked out of the tunnel, more than 10,000 Italian fans gave a huge cheer.
Although he actually only led the team in three official games and three friendly matches before, in the minds of Italian fans, Pan Yi's status has already been at its peak.
This, in a sense, is also thanks to the fact that the situation of Ventura's Italian national team had already become corrupted before Pan Yi took office.
It is troublesome to clean up a mess, but as long as you can turn things around, there is nothing easier than accumulating prestige and reputation.
Pan Yi raised his hand to greet the fans in the stands, and then slowly walked back to his seat.
In fact, although there are more than 10,000 fans from Italy in the stands today, there are more than this number of people supporting Pan Yi.
People from England, Sweden, Canada, Dragon Kingdom, the entire East Asia...
It can even be said that, except for German fans, almost all fans who were supposed to be neutral in today's game leaned towards Pan Yi's side.
There is no way, the popularity he has accumulated in the past few years is really too strong!
Pan Yi first said hello to the players on the bench and the assistant coach, then sat down and waited for the players to appear.
Just as the cheers from the Italian fans for Pan Yi calmed down for a while, even bigger cheers sounded in the stands.
Players from both sides lined up and walked out, and the first focus battle of this World Cup officially kicked off.
The playing of the national anthems of both sides, the opening ceremony, and the picking of sides were all carried out in an orderly manner.
As the player with the most appearances for the Italian national team among the current starting players, Bonucci also serves as the team captain to guess sides with his opponents.
Neuer, the captain of the German national team, and Bonucci are also old acquaintances. The two have played against each other many times in the club's European competitions and at the national team level.
In the pick-up after the handshake, Bonucci lost to his opponent. Neuer chose the direction of attack in the first half, but this meant that the Italian national team got the right to kick off.
This also means that the opening offensive tactics developed by Pan Yi in the locker room can be implemented smoothly.
"Guys, remember what the boss just said." After gathering with his teammates, Bonucci's firm voice rang out: "The right to kick-off is ours, just follow the boss's instructions and give them a good look. !”
"Okay!" The players roared in unison, then high-fived and dispersed to their positions.
Although the players in the national team come from various club teams, at this moment, there are no AC Milan, Inter Milan, or Juventus anymore, there are only soldiers in blue wearing the national team jersey!
Even if there are any conflicts in the club, everyone will let go of any knots at this time and move forward unitedly for the honor of the country!
At this point, the Italians have always done quite well, at least much better than France, Belgium and other countries with complicated locker room forces.
Now, Chiesa Jr. and Scamacca stood in the center circle waiting for the kick-off, while Pan Yi watched calmly off the court, but his heart was far less peaceful than it seemed on the surface.
If the raid after the opening is successful, the initiative will be firmly in your hands. If not, it may become more difficult next time.
Today, Pan Yi wanted to focus on defense, so he used the combination of Juventus' second veteran Bonucci + Chiellini.
This has also led to the fact that the members of the Italian defense line can be said to be the most famous in the world for this national team, and their tacit understanding in defense is not to mention.
But after all, they are older, and it is still difficult to say whether they can stabilize their position under the impact of the relatively young strikers of the German team.
Defensive counterattacks and fighting for the midfield can only reduce the possibility of the opponent scoring. Pan Yi does not expect to rely on the existing defense to completely shut down the opponent.
In the final analysis, if you want to win this game, you can only rely on offense.
Defensive counterattack, defensive counterattack, the focus is still on counterattack. Whether the opponent is lagging behind or not, the offensive mentality is definitely different, and whether it is forced or not is definitely different.
Often when some strong teams or giants are upset by their opponents, it is not because of problems with their strength, but because of problems with their mentality.
Therefore, the opening moment is still very important, as it determines whether you can gain a psychological advantage from the beginning!
Pan Yi was thinking about it when the referee looked at his watch and blew the whistle hard.
Game start!
Scamacca kicked the ball to Chiesa Jr., and then ran forward. Chiesa Jr. stopped the ball at his feet, then passed the ball back immediately, and then also ran forward.
Spinazzola and De Sciglio on both wings had already rushed through the half-court, while midfielders Verratti and Tonali stayed a little behind and did not rush directly.
This is what Pan Yi arranged, letting the midfielder control the ball from behind to organize the attack, and then wait for opportunities to intervene.
Verratti stopped the ball at his feet, and then immediately passed the ball across to Tonali, who was a little bit on the right. Tonali received the ball, looked up, and saw that Werner, who was the most forward of the German team, had already rushed to his goal. before.
At this time, Timo Werner was not the "golden scout" at Chelsea. He was a real forward who could score 20+ goals in a season at Red Bull Leipzig!
And he has always been very active in pressing in the frontcourt. He can be said to be a representative figure of pressing forwards in this period.
But Tonali, who has been tempered by York City and the national team for a season, has now matured a lot. Facing Werner, he was calm, shook his foot, and sent a beautiful ground ball forward.
What he is good at is not just long passes, but also very good passes close to the ground.
This pass demonstrated his skills in passing skills. The ball flew past the three German players Werner, Drachsler and Muller. The nearest Muller was only one step away from the ball. The distance is less than 1 meter, but still unable to reach out to intercept the ball!
"Great pass!" The Italian bench immediately burst into cheers.
The more prosaic the technical movements are, the more it proves how solid a player's basic skills are. Tonali's pass is just like this, returning to his original nature and perfecting his skills.
The ball accurately flew to a place one meter in front of De Sciglio before it started to slow down. He accelerated and stopped the ball at his feet.
Germany planned to press in the frontcourt from the beginning, so there were not too many defensive players in the backcourt. Now De Sciglio actually had to deal with Plattenhardt alone.
This is actually the direction Pan Yi decided to attack in the opening, which is to hit Plattenhardt!
The 26-year-old left back from Hertha Berlin was called up to the national team for the first time by Loew last year and is considered a newcomer to the national team.
Although his level is quite good, he has excellent footwork and is good at direct free kicks, he should be regarded as the least famous one in the German national team.
Loew started with him today because he wanted to use his excellent passing skills to attack Italy's wings, but his defensive ability is actually not outstanding.
So Pan Yi wanted his disciples to beat Plattenhardt hard in the opening attack stage to create a threat!
De Sciglio is now breaking through Plattenhardt.
He was faster than Plattenhardt, so he just blasted away and then chased the ball.
Plattenhardt tried hard to get up, but was still thrown away by De Sciglio's forced acceleration.
After seeing that the opponent could not stop his cross even if he stretched out his feet, De Sciglio raised his head to observe the situation in the penalty area, and then raised his feet to make a pass!
Plattenhardt tried his best to intercept the opponent's cross with a flying tackle, but De Sciglio's realistic action only tempted him to fall for the trick.
De Sciglio, who made an emergency stop and dunked the ball back, did not continue to move forward. Instead, he raised his foot and passed the ball back before Muller returned to defend and blocked it!
Tonali was unguarded when he inserted him. He didn't even need to stop the ball at a 45-degree angle. He raised his foot and passed the ball while looking up to observe the situation in the penalty area!
The ball flew into the penalty area with strong spin.
From the moment the ball kicked off, Scamacca was moving into the opponent's penalty area. No matter how slow he was, he still got there.
After looking up and observing the arc of the cross, he immediately leaned his body against Boateng behind him, and then planned to take off to grab the first landing spot.
Feeling the strength of a strong man behind him, Scamacca had no fluctuations in his heart just as he promised Pan Yi in the locker room.
With excellent physical fitness, he has never been afraid of physical confrontation with the opponent. Even among the strong central defenders in the English Championship and Premier League, not many people can get the upper hand in a fight with him.
Seeing that the ball started to fall, Scamaca immediately took a step back, pushed Boateng back and staggered back, and then immediately jumped high to meet the falling ball!
Now he has completely occupied the first landing point, and he has secured this point!
Because his physical fitness is indeed excellent, Scamaca also stayed in the air for a long time after jumping. When he took off, he knew that he might not be able to header the ball from this distance. The interference and distance behind the opponent were not enough to allow his head to hit the goal. The ball poses too much of a threat.
But it doesn’t matter. Coach Pan Yi has long said that his task in the penalty area is not necessarily to score goals...
He spent 0.1 seconds observing the situation in the penalty area.
Chiesa Jr. responded at the forward point, but Hummels and Goretzka, who was returning to defense, were guarding Chiesa Jr., and it was difficult for him to grab his own ferry.
However, now that Goretzka has returned to the penalty area, the area at the top of the penalty area...
Scamacca was not able to observe the situation at the top of the penalty area, mainly because the time was too short.
He is still in the air, and it is quite difficult to observe this before heading the ball!
However, Pan Yi has practiced offensive routines like this many times in daily tactical drills.
If nothing else, when the current situation arises, Barrera should also be there...
As a result, Scamacca no longer hesitated. He pushed the ball hard in the air and toward the top of the arc in the penalty area!
At the moment when he shook his head, he saw a blue figure rushing towards the place where his header was ferrying!
"Okay!" Pan Yi roared in a low voice and stood up uncontrollably.
In the German team's three midfielders, Kroos is usually responsible for the offense, while Goretzka and Khedira are more responsible for the defense. They will also be more wary of this area at the front of the penalty area.
Because of this, although this kind of routine of passing the ball from the wing and then heading the ball out of the penalty area for the midfielder to shoot immediately, Pan Yi did not put much hope in it.
After all, the opponent's two midfielders have very strong running and defensive abilities. Even if one of them is attracted away, the other one will stay there.
But now, Khedira had just gone to the wing to cover for Platenhardt, and Goretzka returned to the penalty area to cover the defense. The top of the penalty area was blank!
The most important thing is that Scamacca fought for this point and ferry the ball down, and Barrera also appeared in that place!
On the other side, Loew stood up in shock.
The opponent launched a fierce attack from the beginning and immediately created a scoring opportunity... Did the opponent really want to defend and counterattack?
He ignored one thing, defensive counterattack does not mean that he will not press the offense!
Obviously, Loew's "neglect" was fatal.
At this time, Barrera on the field had blocked Cross, who was desperately trying to defend.
Although Cross is worse than Barrera in terms of height and weight, he is not as good as Barrera who runs like a wild wolf in terms of fighting and confrontation.
Then, facing the falling ball, Barrera raised his right foot, and then hit the ball hard!
The success rate of this kind of non-stop volley is not very high, after all, it is easy to miss.
However, as long as the shot is within the goal frame, due to the suddenness, the drop of the ball and the power of the shot, no matter how good the goalkeeper is, he will not be able to react!
And Barrera, known as "Grard of Sardinia", really has such a powerful long-range shot!
Neuer, who is getting more and more sophisticated as he gets older, is undoubtedly an excellent goalkeeper. In addition to his excellent footwork and being able to act as a "keeper", Neuer also reacts extremely quickly on the goal line.
Especially in recent years, his performance at Bayern has been regarded as one of the top goalkeepers in the world. He helped the German team win the last World Cup and was also among the top three candidates for the Ballon d'Or.
But today, he was unlucky enough to encounter a world wave...
The ball changed direction under the force and turned into an angry dragon in the air, roaring towards the upper right corner of the goal.
When Neuer reacted, the ball had already flown in from the upper right corner of the goal, and then made the net tremble violently!
"Boom!" The Italian fans roared loudly in the stands!
They were excited, happy, and a little bit disbelieving.
Their Italy actually scored a goal so quickly! ! !
Pan Yi, who was on the sidelines, jumped up, waved his fist vigorously, and then shouted: "Well done!"
Beautiful indeed.
After all, Pan Yi himself didn't have much hope for the opening attack, but his disciples executed his tactics perfectly and caught the Germans off guard!
The players on the bench also jumped out one after another, shouting randomly: "Beautiful goal! Nicolo! The awesome Nicolo Barrera!"
On the German bench, both the coach and the players looked dumbfounded, seemingly completely unprepared for the conceded goal.
Lineker, who also took the initiative to provide commentary today, also shouted loudly:
"What a show of force! In just one minute of the game, Italy gave Germany a head-on blow, which made the German national team look like stars!"
"Italy scored the first goal in less than a minute, and it was also the fastest goal in this World Cup!"
"In addition, this is also the fastest goal record for the Italian national team in the history of the World Cup! Pan Yi is indeed an expert in setting records. He has broken countless records before, and now he has one more!"
"Of course, the fastest goal record in World Cup history is still difficult to break. It was in the third and fourth place finals of the 2002 World Cup. Turkey's Hakan Suker scored the goal of the South Korean team in just 11 seconds. .”
"Germany's defense obviously has a problem. Italy's offensive tactics have not been used before, especially Pan Yi, whether he is in the national team or the club, likes to attack at the beginning, ignoring Pan Yi's This tactic is tantamount to seeking death!"
"The opening...well, the exact time came out, it was fifty-six seconds. During the fifty-six seconds of the goal, I noticed that not even a German player could touch the ball. Uh...this makes I remembered something."
Lineker even said with a bit of schadenfreude: "I don't know how many goals were scored without the opponent touching the ball, but the goal that impressed me most occurred in 1974. In the World Cup final that year, the Dutch national team also scored after the German national team started without touching the ball..."
As an Englishman, Lineker is also a fan of Pan Yi. Of course, he is not shy about mocking his old rival, the Germans, in his commentary.
After all, compared with the entanglement between Britain and Italy, the contradiction between Britain and Germany is much greater, whether it is national history or football history.
During World War II, from September 7, 1940 to May 10, 1941, Germany bombed the United Kingdom covering all major cities and industrial centers in the United Kingdom. As a result, London became the three most heavily bombed cities during World War II. One of the cities (the other two are Berlin and Chongqing).
In football, the feud between England and Germany has lasted for nearly a century.
Since records began in 1930, the two sides have played against each other with 13 wins, 6 draws and 13 losses. However, in the past 20 years, England has never defeated the German team in a major competition (qualifiers are not counted)...
Of course, the Italian fans in the stadium would not directly think of the 1974 final. They were just cheering for this goal.
But some German fans thought about it. After all, the scene of Cruyff breaking through and being tripped after the Dutch team started a series of cooperation can be said to have left a deep imprint on the hearts of the older generation of German fans.
However, although the Dutch team scored quickly, the final winner was the Germans.
With the goals of Breitner and Gerd Muller, they overtook the Netherlands and defeated the Netherlands 2:1 in a thrilling comeback to win the World Cup for the second time.
Therefore, these old German fans can comfort themselves that although Italy scored, it may not be a good sign for them.
The tenacious Germanic tanks will surely fight back!
And Pan Yi obviously was not dazzled by such a quick goal.
After the celebration, Pan Yi was the first to calm down and then waved the players back to their positions on the sidelines.
Scoring first is definitely a good thing, but it can also be a double-edged sword.
If you relax your mentality because of this, or even have the idea of underestimating the enemy that "the Germans are nothing more than that", it will be very dangerous.
Therefore, Pan Yi immediately began to emphasize preparing for defense, concentrating, and executing the tactics formulated before the game. He must not get carried away and destroy the overall tactics carefully laid out before the game.
On the other side, Loew was already yelling for the German national team to attack.
Italy's blow to the head at the beginning really hit the German national team hard. However, it was precisely because of this blow to the head that it immediately brought out the anger of the German national team.
They are a strong team, most of them come from big clubs, and the reputation of their players is generally greater than that of Italy. They cannot tolerate the other party scoring against them like this!
Fortunately, after Pan Yi's early reminder, the players of the Italian national team had also calmed down and immediately started blocking in the midfield.
Tonali, Barrera, and Verratti are all versatile midfielders, and they are all strong players who can run and fight when defending.
Including the previous ones, even Chiesa and Scamacca's defensive abilities are not bad.
Chiesa can run, grab and collide, and Scamacca is also a standard forward who can do hard work in the frontcourt. If we really want to defend, it can be said that none of the eleven people in Italy can defend. Poor ability.
With sufficient defensive strength and high fighting spirit, Italy's defense in the midfield is enough to make it difficult for the team with the best offensive ability to move forward.
Therefore, in the opening "blitzkrieg", after Germany was "blitzed" and then "backstabbed" by Italy, the two sides fell into an extremely difficult positional battle where you attacked and we defended.
At the Luzhniki Stadium, another "Moscow Defense Battle" begins!
