The cold winter still cannot stop fans' enthusiasm for football.
The second half of Serie A will start on January 16, but before that, the Italian Cup competition is also in full swing.
The Coppa Italia began in 1922 and is now almost a century old.
Initially, 20 teams from Serie A and 22 teams from Serie B participated in the Coppa Italia, and the finals adopted a two-leg home and away system.
However, at the beginning of the 2009 season, the Coppa Italia underwent extensive reforms, and the number of participating teams was increased to 78 teams. Teams with better results in Serie C and Serie D can also participate. This is a competition model modeled on the English FA Cup. And except for the semi-finals, which are home and away, the rest of the games are all single-elimination games, and the final venue is also set at the Olimpia Stadium in Rome.
The winner of the Italian Cup each year can have the championship logo embroidered on the jersey of the following year - a target-shaped pattern composed of red, white and green, with a red bullseye, followed by white and green rings outwards.
According to the principle of seeding teams, the first few rounds are all low-level league teams playing against each other, and it is not until the fifth round that the highlight is.
In the Coppa Italia quarter-finals, the eight teams that won in the fourth round faced off against the top eight teams in Serie A last season.
Juventus' Coppa Italia journey also begins in the quarter-finals.
In the quarter-finals, their opponent was Serie A team Catania.
Last season Catania ranked fourteenth in the league and barely avoided relegation. This season they are still in the same position and have no worries about relegation for the time being.
For this kind of team, their desire for the cup is even greater than that of the top teams.
Because they have no desire for the league and can only hope to create miracles in the cup.
In the seventh round of Serie A this season, Juventus defeated Catania 3-0 at home. They won the game easily and also replaced many main players due to national team competitions. It can be said that Juventus' substitute lineup can beat Catania.
This game was played on January 13th at Juventus’ home court.
About a week in advance, the players had returned to the team early and prepared for the game early.
But because the winter break has just passed, the players' condition has obviously gone up and down.
And after the game on the 13th, Serie A started again on the 16th, so this game is not just a cup match, it is also an important game for Yunsheng to adjust the team and observe the players.
After all, in the history of football, there are many teams that performed extremely well in the first half of the season, but after the winter break, they were in no shape at all, and were even directly kicked out of the European competition by their competitors.
Yunsheng did not send all the main players in this game, and there were some players who were obviously in poor condition. He did not even let these people appear in the game roster.
For example, Diego, Sissoko and several other players.
I don’t know if it’s because it’s so nice to go home for vacation, but these young people recover very slowly.
Yun Sheng asked Pepe to take Diego's place in today's game, and Yu Dabao, who was in good shape during training, once again sat on the bench.
Ever since he beat Inter Milan in the last game, Yun Sheng has been superstitious about bringing Yu Dabao with him.
Similar to Yunsheng's situation, many head coaches will exist.
For example, Torres of the Spanish team is always very lucky to score important goals, so even if he cannot play in the game, the Spanish team always has his place.
Now Yu Dabao is very important in Yun Sheng's heart, acting as a lucky charm.
At the beginning of this game, Juventus encountered some troubles.
In the 3rd minute of the game, Catania succeeded in a sneak attack.
This time it was their Japanese star Takayuki Morimoto. During a through ball in the midfield, Takayuki Morimoto suddenly moved forward and suddenly cut into the penalty area from the gap between Barzagli and Motta. Before the two people quickly attacked, He decisively volleyed into the far corner and the ball hit the net.
1 to 0! Juventus was hit hard at the beginning and was in big trouble!
In the live broadcast room, Vieri applauded repeatedly and praised Morimoto Takayuki's shot: "Japanese player Morimoto Takayuki, who is just 22 years old this year, is one of the representatives of Japan studying abroad. He joined Catani in 2006 In the Asian youth team, after being promoted to the first team, he has participated in 60 games on behalf of the team and scored 11 goals, with good results."
"Just after he received the ball, he suddenly accelerated into the penalty area, and then quickly volleyed into the far corner. This shooting method reminded us of Ronaldo's usual shooting method! The Japanese forward was in very good shape in this game. It seems that Juventus may lose today. .”
Vieri's words did come true, because after Takayuki Morimoto scored, Catania retreated across the board and did not have any chance with Juventus. They imitated Mourinho and began to set up buses in front of the goal.
For the entire 45 minutes, Juventus surrounded their opponents and bombarded them, but nothing gained.
It wasn't until the second minute of stoppage time in the first half that Juventus equalized the score.
This time it was the wonderful performance of center Trezeguet. He jumped high in the middle of the penalty area and headed Del Piero's pass into the far corner of the goal, helping the team equalize the score.
1 to 1! The two teams finally returned to the same starting line.
However, because of this header, Trezeguet was pushed by his opponent when he landed and his ankle was slightly sprained. Although it was not serious, it was very painful.
At halftime, Yunsheng replaced him and asked Iaquinta to come on as a substitute.
After the start of the second half, Catania still defended tightly, and Juventus could not find a chance to score.
Iaquinta, who came off the bench, has been surrounded by the opponent and it is difficult to perform.
Del Piero and Raul used their personal skills to frequently threaten the goal; Ballack and Guti also repeatedly made wonderful passes and occasionally shot long shots from outside the penalty area, hoping to break the deadlock.
But they were unable to score another goal.
Juventus' crazy attack had no effect, and when the game entered the 70th minute, Yunsheng made another substitution adjustment. He replaced Pepe and Del Piero, and replaced them with Zheng Zhi and Yu Dabao, allowing the two to continue to strengthen their offense. .
The hard work paid off, and in the 82nd minute of the game, Juventus finally scored again.
This time, Zheng Zhi forcefully knocked away the opponent's midfielder and handed the ball to Raul on the right side of the penalty area. Raul suddenly made a short pass and Yu Dabao quickly intervened in the penalty area and hit the ball behind the left side of the goal. The shovel shot into the net helped the team take the lead!
2 to 1! Juventus finally takes the lead! It’s really not easy!
Yu Dabao was very excited after scoring the goal!
He got up from the ground, rushed to Raul who was not far away, and hugged the Lord of the Rings tightly!
The passing and running cooperation just now was what Raul taught Yu Dabao on the training ground. Now the two of them cooperated tacitly and completed the goal!
