Southgate wiped his sweat.
Italy's fierce and fast attack had already made him feel a little bad, but what next? Sure enough, with the help of a set-piece opportunity, Italy took the lead.
Since Pan Yi took office, scoring from set pieces has become an extremely effective means of scoring in Italy. The wide variety of free kick coordination makes every coach tensed up when he sees it. Just dealing with various possible free kick coordination will make the coach nervous. They find the exertion exhausting, and Southgate is no exception.
In fact, in the pre-match training, Southgate also did a lot of defensive drills in response to Italy's free kicks, but he was still scored.
It’s really hard to guard against! It’s impossible to guard against it!
So now that we are one goal behind, the next game may be a little difficult to play.
Launch a full-scale counterattack?
However, although Italy's lineup does not seem to have any forwards, Chiesa's speed in counterattacks cannot be underestimated. Look at how Maguire has been tortured...
Southgate was lost in thought.
It has to be said that Southgate has made a great contribution to the replacement of the England national team - at least he will copy his homework and get all the young English players that Pan Yi reused, and then put them in the main position. Just go on it!
But the problem is that he has big flaws in his on-the-spot tactical command - after all, he didn't have much experience in first-team coaching before becoming the head coach of the England national team!
Well, he only served as the head coach of Middlesbrough, and then led the team to be relegated from the Premier League, and then was sacked.
Since 2011, he has mainly held some jobs in the Football Association. In 2013, he served as the head coach of the England U21 youth team until 2016 when he officially became the head coach of the England national team.
It can be said that Southgate does not have much coaching experience, especially experience in participating in major competitions.
This made him a little overconfident before facing an "old coach" like Pan Yi; and when he really encountered difficulties, he seemed a little at a loss.
At this time on the field, Italy certainly would not give their opponents much breathing space, and they continued to launch a fierce attack.
The English players were still upset about losing the ball, and their head coach failed to respond in time. At this time, it was easier for cracks to appear in their defense.
So although England's midfielders were intercepting frantically, and although England's defenders were still defending desperately, their defense was still being torn apart by Italy.
At present, these three central defenders in England have obvious advantages and disadvantages, and now the shortcomings are constantly being magnified.
Walker originally played as a right back, but because of his strong body and super speed, he sometimes played as a central defender.
Under Southgate, because in the right wing-back position, he prefers to use Trippier, who has better skills and set-piece skills, so Walker appears more in the central defender position.
But the problem is that Walker is used to playing fullback after all. Sometimes he is aggressive and has a poor sense of position, so he is often thrown out of position by Italian players' interspersed runs.
As for Stones, there is no doubt about his footwork. For a long time, Stones has been famous in the British arena as a "ball-playing centre-back". His precise long passes from the backcourt are often the first to start Manchester City's attack. wave offensive.
However, Stones also has a fatal flaw, that is, he often hesitates and is not decisive when holding the ball, coupled with his poor psychological quality, which leads to his constant low-level mistakes on the court.
When the Italians were attacking, he had already made several mistakes and was intercepted at this point, causing a fire in front of England's goal.
Needless to say, the last central defender, Maguire, is very strong, very, very strong.
He is 1.94m tall and weighs 100KG. He is even the heaviest player in this World Cup - well, a little heavier than Lukaku.
On the court, Maguire's body is almost crushing. When he defends closely, the player being defended has basically lost the rhythm at his feet, and it is difficult to have the strength to hold the ball.
It can be said that Maguire's frontal defense, interception, and defense of high-altitude balls are top-notch, especially his ability to compete for the top can be said to be world-class.
In Southgate's corner kick tactics, Maguire can also be said to be his most important offensive firepower. In the qualifying matches and group matches, Maguire often used his big head to grab points and succeed in shots.
But as a traditional British tall central defender, Maguire's shortcomings are also obvious: slow turning and slow speed! An aircraft carrier turning around is no joke.
Therefore, he needs a strong central defender and midfield protection. For example, in the current England national team, Walker and Stones, including Rice, will make up for Maguire's shortcomings.
But the problem now is that Italy has the advantage on the court, and they do not play high-altitude balls, but use quick cooperation on the ground.
This prevents Maguire from taking advantage of the high-altitude ball. At the same time, he often faces the opponent's forward Chiesa Jr., and his shortcomings of slow turning are fully exposed.
It can be said that Maguire at this time is really a "bad Maguire".
Wouldn't such a back line appear to be full of flaws in the face of Italy's offense?
Fortunately, England's main goalkeeper Pickford is still in very good condition today.
He first gritted his teeth and saved Chiesa's powerful long-range shot from the front of the penalty area. Then he immediately stood up and grabbed the ball with one hand before Chiesa could grab the point. Then he pressed the ball tightly under him and passed. After a while, he raised his head and stood up slowly.
During this period, he made at least three wonderful saves. At the same time, the momentum of Italy's attack kept him fully focused at all times, which also made Pickford feel a bit difficult.
However, if it weren't for his consecutive saves, Italy might have already expanded its lead.
Pickford may be the most trustworthy player in England's defense now.
This season, he signed with Everton in the Premier League for a transfer fee of 25 million pounds. He was elected Everton's Player of the Season that year. In addition, he also won the player's vote for the best player and the best young player of the season. of awards.
His biggest characteristics are that he has balanced goalkeeping skills, strong overall ability, a good long pass, good psychological quality, and strong defensive command ability. He can often be seen shouting at his teammates. Come and set up defenses.
"Stick up, attack hard, and beat them back!" Pickford threw the ball and shouted.
His save indeed boosted the confidence of the English, and they launched a counterattack.
However, such counterattacks are often blocked by the Italians in the midfield stage.
The midfielder consists of six people, plus Chiesa, there are seven!
Rice has been relatively quiet during this period because Tonali and Barrera would cling to him every time England attacked, preventing him from displaying his own characteristics.
Especially Tonali, as a good teammate who often appeared in the defensive midfielder position when he was at York City, he was extremely familiar with Rice and used his body to wrap up the core midfielder of the England national team without any hesitation.
Even if Lingard and Loftus-Cheek continued to meet Rice, Tonali did not care about others and just stared at Rice, cutting off England's midfield hub from other people.
In Southgate's 3-5-2 system, the three midfielders are very similar to Pan Yi's configuration during Chelsea. Lingard and Loftus-Cheek are probably equivalent to Hazard and B seat, while Rice is Plays the role of Kanter.
It is conceivable that if Kante in Chelsea is inhibited from playing, then Chelsea's midfield and frontcourt operation will definitely have a lot of problems.
It was the same now, Rice was being stared at, which made him feel very helpless.
"Why are you always following me?" Rice couldn't help but said to Tonali beside him.
"You should know what the boss ordered." Tonali said with a straight face.
Although the two have a good personal relationship, Tonali obviously doesn't want to give Rice too much face at this time.
We are friends off the field, but enemies on the field!
Facing "enemy" Rice at this time, Tonali will certainly not be merciful when he takes action.
Although Rice doesn't seem to be in very good condition today, Tonali still won't relax.
His task in this game is not to score goals or assists, but to interfere with the opponent's defense when attacking and cut off the connection between Rice and others when defending - this is his biggest task.
Tonali doesn't have too many complaints about Pan Yi's decision to put the burden of scoring on Varela, Chiesa and others, and to let himself be more involved in defense.
In the group stage, he was the core of Italy's offense, and he has already passed his glory. Now he is willing to sacrifice for the victory of the overall team.
Of course, having said that, he just took advantage of a free kick and got an assist... Well, there's no way, with such a set-piece skill, it's great to get statistics!
At this time, Rice took a long step back and received a cross pass from Stones, but Tonali immediately pressed forward. He didn't play any nonsense with Rice and directly leaned his body over. , violently colliding the two strong bodies together.
Rice's physical confrontation ability is actually very strong, but Tonali is more energetic. Rice can't make any profit when the two collide. In desperation, Rice can only pass the ball crosswise to the man next to him. Loftus-Cheek then planned to make a move to get rid of Tonali's defense.
But Tonali still followed him closely. Seeing this scene, Chik rushed forward with the ball, and under the interference of Barrera who was returning to defend, he passed the ball to Sterling on the side.
This little guy rushed forward with the ball, and De Sciglio immediately followed him closely.
After being unable to get rid of De Sciglio for several times, Sterling chose to pass back, but Verratti stretched his foot and intercepted the ball midway.
Steal the ball in the midfield and counterattack directly!
Verratti didn't waste any time. After receiving the ball and turning around, he immediately sent a beautiful diagonal pass!
Now in the deep position, Verratti is playing more and more skillfully. In this position, he can fully utilize his advantages of accurate long passes and strong running ability, and use his slow speed and average personal breakthrough ability. The shortcomings are basically covered up.
If he was a little unhappy playing in a deep position at first, now Verratti has completely fallen in love with this position.
It's Chiesa who gets the ball again!
Maguire was taken aback and ran back desperately, but where could he catch up?
Rice, who was further back, also started to cover the position on the right, but after Chiesa caught up with the ball, he did not take the ball. Instead, he directly passed the ball across the middle and passed it to the center!
Barrera came in the middle and did not stop the ball. Instead, he sent it forward and played a one-two with Chiesa.
Chiesa ran past like the wind, passed Barrera's direct pass forward, and then quickly rushed towards the England penalty area!
Stones' risky steal was directly passed by Chiesa. Although Stones is the best among the new generation of English center backs, his shortcomings of not being stable enough and occasionally making mistakes have had bad consequences at this time!
His risky tackle failed to intercept the ball, but instead left a large gap behind him.
Although Maguire also completed the aircraft carrier's turn around at this time and filled in at that position, his speed disadvantage still prevented him from stopping Chiesa from facing Pickford directly.
Facing the attacking Pickford, Chiesa suddenly took off his feet while running and pushed a shot into the far corner!
But Pickford is Pickford. Even though he was so close, he still reacted subconsciously. He fell to the ground and stretched his legs to block the ball!
However, the ball rolled to Chiesa's side again. Chiesa, who did not stop running after shooting, moved the ball forward, dodged the angle, and then used his left foot to push the empty goal again!
The ball flew into the goal without any suspense!
Two to zero, Italy expanded the score!
A set kick after a fierce attack, and a quick counterattack after a midfield steal, Italy actually took a two-goal lead!
This is also Chiesa's fifth goal in this World Cup!
This also puts him in second place on the current scorer list behind England's opposite forward Harry Kane.
However, three of Harry Kane's six goals were penalty kicks, while all of Chiesa's goals were sports goals, which are more valuable than his opponents.
Besides, Italy is now two goals ahead. If England is successfully eliminated, Harry Kane will have no chance to increase his scoring data, and the Italian team will have at least two games left for Chiesa to score. ball……
In third place is also Pan Yi's favorite player, Belgium's Lukaku, who has scored four goals.
Considering that Belgium has defeated Brazil and reached the semi-finals, Lukaku's possibility of competing for the Golden Boot will be greater...
Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and Russia's Cheryshev also scored four goals, but they have all gone home.
Of course, the English players on the field now have no time to think about the Golden Boot.
Chiesa's goal occurred in the 40th minute of the first half. If they could not recover a goal in the remaining time, then during the halftime break, Pan Yi, who had two goals in hand, would be able to get even more Now you can plan your tactics with ease.
In fact, shortly after Chiesa scored, Pan Yi said calmly to Evani:
"Tell the players to retract the defense and save some energy...it's enough to survive these few minutes."
Evani nodded and immediately conveyed Pan Yi's intention.
There is still a lot of time, and Pan Yi is already thinking about how to play in the second half.
After the restart, Italy really started to defend.
England also launched several attacks in the remaining minutes, but their offense seemed a bit messy. Italy protected the front of the penalty area very well. Barrera also returned to defend the front of the penalty area, and Harry Kay in the penalty area Enze was pestered by Bastoni, and both headers were high due to interference.
When the referee blew the whistle at the end of the first half, Italy walked into the locker room with their heads held high with a two-goal lead.
"A perfect first half! Two clean goals! Dominated the game most of the time! Italy now is really many times stronger than Italy a year ago!"
The Italian commentator was shouting excitedly, while Lineker and Alan Shearer, sitting not far from him, smiled bitterly and shook their heads in silence.
Italy did play well in the first half. In addition to suppressing England for most of the time, Italy did not give England many chances defensively.
More importantly, they seized the opportunity and their two-goal lead was real!
Pan Yi's team entered the second half with a two-goal lead. One can imagine the pressure on England and Southgate.
Alan Shearer suddenly said: "In the first half, the Italian players ran very actively, especially the players in the frontcourt and the two full-backs. They ran quite a distance, so that they could suppress them in all directions." England..."
Lineker said thoughtfully: "What do you mean..."
Alan Shearer expressed his conclusion: "If Italy continues to play like this, it may not be able to sustain its physical fitness for too long in the second half and there will be problems. Maybe then, England will have a chance."
Lineker scratched his head: "Really? Unless Pan Yi can't see this... Well, I won't say any depressing words. I hope this is true. See you in the second half!"
(End of chapter)
