Balotelli's shot did not go in. The Italian side felt regretful, but the Dragon Country side certainly felt a little frightened.
After all, if such an opportunity is given to the other party again, I probably won't be so lucky.
Head coach Lippi also stood on the line in the command area and kept shouting to the players on the field, asking them to cheer up and concentrate!
The Dragon Kingdom players also ran hard.
Of course they don't want to have any regrets in the World Cup, especially since this game is likely to be their last game in this cup...
In the 10th minute, Wu Lei wanted to pass a diagonal pass to Lin Liangming on the wing, but Barrera intercepted it midway. Barrera then passed the ball to Candreva, who immediately dribbled the ball forward and broke through.
Wu Lei quickly defended and tried to entangle him, but when he was about to approach Candreva, his foot suddenly slipped and he fell heavily to the ground.
Candreva, who was dribbling the ball forward, suddenly felt that the opponent chasing behind him was silent. He subconsciously glanced back and saw Wu Lei lying on the ground holding his calf. After a moment of stunnedness, Candreva kicked the ball out of the sideline.
As a professional player, Candreva certainly knows that if his opponent falls to the ground without confrontation, he must be injured.
In addition, this game itself is a relatively harmonious game, so Candreva naturally cannot continue to attack without sportsmanship.
The referee also quickly ran over, asked about Wu Lei's situation, and then made a gesture of carrying a stretcher towards the sidelines.
Wu Lei felt that he was extremely unlucky.
Candreva tripped Wu Lei just now when he was stealing. This kind of injury would actually heal in a while, but Wu Lei ran back desperately because he was not convinced, which made the injury worse. In addition, the fall just now made Wu Lei aggravated. …
Wu Lei knows his body well. He can feel that his left ankle is at least slightly sprained. Even if there is no problem, he may not be able to continue playing in this game.
Wu Lei was carried off the field on a stretcher. Lippi ran over to take a look with a depressed look on his face. After hearing what the team doctor said about the examination, he shook his head helplessly, then turned around and asked Huang Zichang on the bench to warm up.
In the first 10 minutes of the game, Long Guo lost one of its generals, or its number one star. It must be said that this was a very unlucky sign.
Lippi also knows that Wu Lei's injury is related to the fact that he has started and played the entire game in the past few games. The load on his body is still too heavy.
But there is nothing that can be done about it.
This is the case for a small football country. It basically depends on the stars in the team to play. Even if you know that playing hard is not good for the players' health, you still have to hold on.
Besides, for a weak team like Long Guo, every game in the group stage can be said to be a final for them. They have to fight hard in every game, so there is no possibility of retaining any strength.
How is it like the Italian team opposite?
Pan Yi began to rotate players from the second game to allow tired players to rest as much as possible. The ones who can keep playing are often the young ones who can't run to death.
What he does is to better adjust the players' physical fitness and condition by evenly dividing playing time when the club's schedule is intensive.
The current personnel reserves of the Italian national team also allow them to maintain a high competitive level while rotating.
Obviously, the effect of doing this is very good so far. Although they were tied by Mexico in the second round, it did not greatly affect Italy's qualifying situation.
But the Dragon Kingdom team...
Now that the biggest explosive point in the frontcourt is gone, how should we play next?
When Wu Lei left the field, Pan Yi also went up to show his concern and condolences. After all, no one wanted to encounter this kind of thing.
However, objectively speaking, after Wu Lei came off the field, Italy's fear of the Dragon Kingdom's counterattack has been reduced a lot.
After all, compared with Wu Lei, Huang Zichang is slightly inferior in terms of experience, confrontation ability and speed.
Wu Lei was an important player in winning the Triple Crown in Hamburg, while Huang Zichang was just a rotation player in York City. This alone is a big gap between the two.
It's just that with the Dragon Kingdom's forward reserves, in addition to the three carriages of Zhang Yuning, Wu Lei, and Lin Liangming, Huang Zichang has already done well in foreign leagues, so Lippi trusts him relatively more.
But under such circumstances, Candreva began to participate more in the offense, and began to really use it as a winger half the time.
After all, he was originally responsible for guarding Wu Lei, but now that the opponent is out of the game, he has nothing to worry about.
Italy's attacks also began to become more and more fierce.
They constantly broke through from both wings to suppress the assists of the opponent's two full-backs, and then continued to play high balls for teammates in the center to respond.
Balotelli, who missed an excellent goal scoring opportunity, ran rampant in the penalty area of Longguo. Fortunately, Feng Xiaoting and Mei Fang were pulling and pulling in the penalty area. The referee was also relatively lenient in the penalty today, so Balotelli did not let it go. God got a good shooting opportunity in the middle.
On the wing, Zhang Linpeng and Jiang Zhipeng were repeatedly defeated by the impact of Chiesa Jr. and Insigne.
On several occasions, Insigne dribbled the ball straight into the penalty area. If Zheng Zhi had not made up for it in time, Insigne might have completed many threatening shots and even scored.
Among the Dragon Kingdom players currently on the field, apart from the three forwards, the one who really has experience at the five major league levels is the captain Zheng Zhi.
He also relied on his rich experience to help Long Guo stabilize its defense line to the greatest extent.
But the problem is that even he has a gap with Italian players in terms of comprehensive ability. In many cases, he cannot make up for the shortcomings of his teammates.
The game reached the twenty-fifth minute.
Tonali sent a beautiful long pass near the center circle. Feng Xiaoting made a mistake again. Insigne unloaded the ball with his toes and then went straight into the penalty area.
Feng Xiaoting, who had been stunned by Insigne's sudden attack, tackled from behind in desperation. Insigne fell in the penalty area and the referee's whistle sounded - penalty kick!
The Italian fans gave a huge cheer, but what made them happy was yet to come.
After pointing to the penalty spot, the referee walked up to Feng Xiaoting with a straight face, then took it out of his breast pocket and showed a card - it was red, a red card!
"I'll go, Dragon Country's luck is too bad." Even Pan Yi couldn't help but say this on the Italian coaching bench.
"We had bad luck in the last round, and it's our turn to have good luck this round." Vialli, sitting next to Pan Yi, smiled and touched his bald head, "This is called the law of conservation of luck."
"Perhaps they have exhausted all their luck by entering the World Cup." Evani also smiled, "As for us, our luck has been slowly increasing since the end of the qualifying group stage."
Pan Yi glared: "Isn't it because I'm here?"
The two assistant coaches laughed.
Although the Italian team has not yet scored a goal, Wu Lei on the Long Country side has left the field, Feng Xiaoting has received another red card, and there is also a penalty kick. The situation cannot be better for Italy, and of course they are in a very good mood.
It's just that Pan Yi Weiwei feels a bit "win without force".
After all, Long Guo has been led by himself, and today he is going to have a good battle with real swords and guns.
But what can be done?
That's the way football is, unexpected things can happen in every game.
Having said that, Feng Xiaoting has indeed become more and more unstable as he gets older, and makes more and more low-level mistakes.
If it were in a previous life, Feng Xiaoting would have almost quit the national team at this point in time...
Therefore, today's two mistakes can be said to be bad luck for Dragon Kingdom, or it can be said to be due to strength.
At this time, Feng Xiaoting had already left the field dejectedly, and then walked to the locker room.
A minute later, Huang Zichang also left the field dejectedly.
This is because after Feng Xiaoting left the field, only one central defender was left in the Long Guo team, Mei Fang. Of course, Lippi had to make personnel adjustments, replacing a forward with a central defender.
Lippi's decision was to replace Deng Hanwen as the right back, and then move the physically strong Zhang Linpeng to the center back position to continue the fight against Balotelli, but he could only replace Huang Zichang on the striker.
Although it was a tactical substitution and had nothing to do with his own performance, Huang Zichang's opportunity to play in the World Cup, which he had finally waited for, only lasted for more than ten minutes. Even though he had a good temper, he was still very unhappy inside.
But he also understood that Lippi had no choice but to make this substitution.
Without one defender, it is impossible for him to leave the defense of the center of the penalty area to Mei Fang alone. The full-backs on both wings are not that strong in defensive ability. If there is one less defender, it is equivalent to leaving the goal undefended. In front of Italy's attacking line, they are at their mercy.
The midfielder cannot move, the defender cannot move, and naturally the only ones who can move are the attackers in the frontcourt.
Among the three forwards, Lin Liangming, as the frontcourt attacker, cannot be replaced, and Zhang Yuning, as the center forward, has a very important tactical position, so naturally it is impossible to be replaced.
Then the only one who will be replaced is poor Huang Zichang...
While Long Guo was making substitutions, Italy began to prepare to take penalty kicks.
In the current Italian team, as long as Balotelli is on the court, he is the first penalty taker!
Taking the ball from the referee, Balotelli placed the ball on the penalty spot, then straightened up and glanced at Long Guo goalkeeper Zeng Cheng.
Then the whistle blew, and Balotelli started, ran, and shot without hesitation.
Zeng Cheng completely misjudged the direction and the ball flew directly into the center of the goal, but he pounced to the left...
In terms of penalty kick saving, Wang Dalei should be the only one in the Dragon Kingdom. Zeng Cheng is relatively stable, but his penalty kick saving is average.
As the goal was scored, the Italian fans cheered and filled the entire stadium.
Now they are one goal ahead and have one more player on the field. For Italy, which only needs a draw to qualify, they have begun to take an absolute advantage.
"Continue to attack, don't give them a chance to breathe!" Pan Yi clapped his hands and shouted to the players on the field.
Although Pan Yi even sympathizes with the Dragon Country team in his heart, as the head coach of the Italian team, he must seize the opportunity to pursue the victory.
His primary goal is to ensure that he wins this game and then advances to the knockout rounds as the first in the group!
Therefore, we cannot give Long Guo any chance to make a comeback - although such a chance currently seems slim.
Italy, with high morale, launched a tidal wave of attacks. The two wingers began to form frequent breakthroughs, and Balotelli in the center constantly provided the ball to the players in the backcourt.
In the 30th minute, Balotelli took the ball with his back in the penalty area and passed it back. Tonali shot the ball over the crossbar.
A minute later, Chiesa broke through Zhang Linpeng's defense on the left and passed in. Insigne made an acrobatic heel shot in the penalty area, but Zeng Cheng struggled to save the ball.
Next, Balotelli got two consecutive shooting opportunities. First, after receiving the overhead ball from Parolo, he directly volleyed the ball high. Then Dimarco broke through the wing and sent the ground ball. After Balotelli received the ball Forced to turn and shoot, the ball missed the post.
"This guy, he still didn't bring his shooting boots today." Pan Yi couldn't help but shook his head and sighed.
Although Balotelli scored a penalty, if his shooting aim could be more accurate today, he might have scored a hat trick.
We can only hope that he will adjust slowly later. Otherwise, if he encounters a stronger opponent in the knockout round, how could he have so many opportunities to squander?
After continuously missing opportunities, Italy's offensive slowly stopped, and Long Guo took the opportunity to launch some counterattacks.
However, due to insufficient offensive manpower, they failed to create too many opportunities.
After all, with one person missing, the Dragon Kingdom backcourt players did not dare to press too far forward. Lin Liangming and others were constantly trapped in the siege of Italian defenders and lacked the ability to attack.
Before the end of the first half, Italy once again missed a good opportunity to score. Chiesa was tripped by Deng Hanwen after a cross-cut. Tonali's free kick went over the wall and Zeng Cheng's hand, but it was hit. The bottom line popped up at the bottom of the post.
"It's a pity that we couldn't expand our advantage."
When the referee blew the whistle at the end of the first half, Pan Yi stood up and said something regretful.
However, there was not much disappointment on his face. Lippi could not make too targeted tactical adjustments in the short period of time during the halftime break. After all, he had already wasted two goals due to injury and then a red card. The quota has been changed.
In addition, the Italian team is now leading by one goal and has one more player. Pan Yi is already sure of winning this game.
Because of this, Pan Yi did not make too many adjustments to his tactics in the locker room at halftime.
He just emphasized and asked his players to continue to seize the loopholes between Long Guo's two full-backs and center backs, continue to attack, and strive to expand the score as soon as possible and seal the victory!
After the restart of the second half, Lippi unexpectedly allowed the Dragon Country team to launch a fierce attack!
Although one person is missing, whether it is Zhang Yuning or Lin Liangming, they are both players with excellent technical speed and impact. Coupled with the assists from the two full-backs, Long Guo's offense suddenly became vigorous. It even suppressed Italy's attack for a time.
"As expected of Lippi the Silver Fox." Pan Yi couldn't help but praise.
He understood that the old man Lippi had a character that refused to admit defeat.
This is different from many Chinese coaches. Often when this happens, many people will feel that they are so unlucky today. It is not shameful to lose against a strong team like Italy. They should try their best to defend and lose less when they win. That’s it.
But Lippi doesn't want to. He still wants to win and qualify!
However, Pan Yi also understood that the Dragon Kingdom had a slight upper hand at this time, which was entirely based on the massive consumption of physical energy.
Now there is one less member of the Dragon Kingdom, and the captain Zheng Zhi, who has been running up and down the midfielder position, is almost 38 years old...
Now Zheng Zhi, if he has a defensive midfielder with strong running ability next to him, and he is only responsible for checking for leaks and filling in gaps, then there may not be too much of a problem playing the entire game.
But Wu Xi, who was paired with him as a double midfielder today, obviously cannot reach the level of a world-class "beast waist". And according to Zheng Zhi's current running trend, his physical fitness will drop to the edge of danger in the sixth minute at most. .
In today's game, Long Guo has only conceded one goal with such a messy and flawless back line. In addition to the Italian offensive line wasting many opportunities, Zheng Zhi's firefighting is also a Important factor.
His running always interferes with the Italian players' final shots, which also affects the quality of their shots. If Zheng Zhi can't run anymore, Long Guo's defense will never attack Italy again. Cause too much hindrance.
But now, the Dragon State's desperate attack still caused some trouble for Italy's defense.
Both Zhang Yuning and Lin Liangming had shooting opportunities, but they were eliminated one by one by the experienced defense of the Italian defenders.
The newly replaced full-back Deng Hanwen performed very actively during this period and continued to advance forward to participate in the attack.
Several of his breakthroughs and passes also posed threats, which also made him rush forward more and more frequently, and his forward thrusts became larger and larger...
When Deng Hanwen dribbled the ball forward again, Barrera and Tonali formed a double-team on him at the same time.
"Grab him!" Pan Yi roared from below. He saw the space left behind by Deng Hanwen's advance.
So, Barrera first staggered the opponent with a fierce collision, and then Tonali stretched out his foot to hook the ball away from Deng Hanwen's feet, and then made a through ball.
Balotelli near the center circle received the ball in the opponent's half with his back to the opponent. Insigne and Chiesa on both wings had already inserted at high speed at the same time...
Balotelli passed the ball to Insigne, who made a beautiful diagonal pass while receiving the ball. He accurately passed the ball to the left and inserted it at the feet of DiMarco!
DiMarco caught the ball while running, and then immediately kicked forward again!
These few moves left and right made Long Guo's defense completely confused. After receiving Di Marco's pass, Chiesa immediately used his sprint to get rid of Zhang Linpeng's defense, and took advantage of the situation to dump the ball beautifully in the air. Come down, and then rush into the penalty area of the Dragon Kingdom national team like the wind!
From the time Barrera and Tonali teamed up to grab the ball to Chiesa going to the meeting alone, it took less than ten seconds in total!
Chiesa was constantly adjusting his pace while running. Facing Zeng Cheng who was attacking, Chiesa suddenly took a shot while running!
The action of this shot is not standardized, but it is precisely because of this that the shot seems so sudden!
The ball rolled rapidly on the lawn, and the water splashed to both sides. However, it did not slow down the speed of the ball, but made the ball roll faster.
Zeng Cheng fell down to save the ball, but the gap between him and the world-class goalkeeper was clearly revealed at this time. He got off the ground too slowly!
The ball rolled under his arm and then flew diagonally into the far corner of the goal!
"Two to zero! Beautiful counterattack! Chiesa! This is his third goal in this World Cup!"
Amid Lineker's passionate shouts, Chiesa did not stop running after finishing the shot.
He rushed into the goal, fished the ball out, and then kicked it into the air. Then he excitedly rushed to the sidelines and cheered loudly in the stands occupied by Italian fans.
On the coaching bench, Pan Yi clapped his hands to celebrate the goal while thinking deeply.
This guy Chiesa is really one of the few bright spots in an era when Italy's stars are dim.
He is very comprehensive on the front line, very explosive on the wing, and has good shooting skills. Not only can he score goals himself, but he can also create opportunities for his teammates.
It can be said that in Pan Yi's previous life, Italy's ability to win the 2020 European Cup was inseparable from Chiesa's outstanding performance.
But Chiesa has one of his biggest shortcomings, which is that his body is too brittle and easily injured.
It was precisely because he suffered a serious injury in the league at the beginning of 2022 - a cruciate ligament injury in his left knee, which caused the season to be reimbursed, and then he missed the Italian team's World Cup preliminaries. It can be said that it directly caused the Italian team to miss the 2022 World Cup...
This is not an afterthought. After Chiesa's absence, Italy's constipation in attack is really outrageous.
Not to mention anything else, I just played in the play-offs against North Macedonia. I didn’t know how many goals were scored, but I just couldn’t get in! Of those red beibei, green beibei, and purple beibei, none of them are reliable.
Therefore, Pan Yi must also pay attention to the use of Chiesa in the next games and not "repeat the same mistakes" again.
But at least in today's game, Chiesa is still very healthy and performs well!
If the Dragon Kingdom still had the courage and hope to fight before, then after Chiesa scored the second goal, they basically lost their fighting spirit.
Two goals behind and one less person on the field. A draw is not enough for them to qualify. Unless a miracle happens...
On another venue, Germany actually trailed Mexico 0:1!
If this score remains until the end, Mexico can score 5 points to ensure qualifying from the group, while Germany will be eliminated with 3 points.
For the Dragon Country team to qualify, they need to beat Italy, then share four points with their opponents, and then look at the goal difference.
But now, Dragon Country's goal difference is -5, while Italy's is +5...
Although every time Long Guo scores a goal, the difference in goal difference will be reduced by two, but the gap is now ten!
In other words, Dragon Country must score at least five more goals against Italy to have a chance to qualify...
is it possible?
Not to mention the gap in strength between Long Guo and Italy, Pan Yi has never scored so many goals in a single game in his career.
so what……
In the end, Lippi still used the last substitution, but even at this time he did not want to replace the defender. Instead, he replaced the mediocre Wu Xi with Gao Lin, and then the three forwards charged in front.
Naturally, this style of play will not have much effect. The disjointed offense can only make Italy's defense more comfortable. At the same time, their offense is also unfolding in waves.
In order to save money, Pan Yi also replaced the starting Chiesa and Balotelli with Shalawi and Scamacca, and then replaced Tonali with De Rossi.
The veteran De Rossi seemed to have good luck after coming on, and he scored a few minutes later!
Shalawi was tripped by Jiang Zhipeng during the counterattack, and Italy received a direct free kick 25 meters from the goal.
Candreva pushed, Shaarawi stepped on it, and De Rossi followed up with a kick. The ball hit the wall, but it bounced into the goal!
In the end, Italy defeated Dragon Country 3:0 and secured the top spot in this group.
When the whistle sounded at the end of the game, the cheers of the Italian fans were mixed with the sighs of the Dragon Country fans.
But the frustration of the Dragon Country fans did not last long, and they soon became happy together with the Italians.
Although they only had one draw and two losses and were eliminated at the bottom of the group, look at the German team that was eliminated with them...
In another game, Mexico maintained a one-goal lead until the end, finishing second in the group with one win and two draws, while Germany was eliminated with one win and two losses.
As a rookie in the World Cup, Long Guo goes home with the defending champion. What else is there to feel uncomfortable about?
(End of chapter)
