Chapter 107 Germany's World Cup debut

Ricardo got Sarafina a VIP ticket with the best seat through Pimenta. The little princess, wearing a blue sports jacket, Italy's home blue short-sleeved jersey and jeans, was having a great time watching the game. Although Ricardo had not yet appeared on the field, Italy played extremely well in this match with proper tactical arrangements.

In addition, the dark blue uniforms worn by Italy in this game are also very eye-catching.

Italian football players have always attracted countless envious eyes with their sculpted faces and bodies, as well as the cultural temperament from the design capital. And this World Cup, the Italian team brought their secret weapon - sexy tight jerseys.

As early as during the 2000 European Championships, the Italian team's tight jerseys had set off a sexy storm in the football world.

For this World Cup, Puma is responsible for issuing a brand new tight design: the new jersey is all blue, with dark blue parts added on both sides of the jersey, and the other white away jersey also has this dark blue pattern.

The close-fitting design of the Italian team uniforms perfectly showed their broad shoulders and strong chest muscles, which attracted countless female fans to scream and exclaim.

In the 33rd minute, Pirlo took the free kick and Totti shot with his right foot from 35 meters in front of the goal with great force, but the ball was shot too straight and was tipped over the crossbar by goalkeeper Kingston.

Then Pirlo took a corner kick from the right side, and goalkeeper Kingston made another mistake in his attack. The ball went around Kingston and landed at the back post... Cannavaro grabbed the ball at the far end and headed the ball slightly over the crossbar and landed above the net.

In the 39th minute, Ghana finally got its first shot on target in the game. Appiara made a cross from the right, and Essien leaned on Nesta to head the ball near the penalty spot. Unfortunately, he was disturbed, the ball had no power and the angle was too straight, so Buffon, who was concentrating, easily got the ball.

And just after Ghana's shot on target, Italy finally broke the deadlock.

In the 40th minute, the tall Tony moved to the left and showed off his footwork. He even tried to force a dribble breakthrough with his physical fitness, but defender Mensa tackled the ball and it went out of the baseline.

Afterwards, Totti took the corner kick from the left side and unexpectedly kicked it to the outside. Pirlo stopped the ball and shot with his right foot 20 meters away from the goal on the left side. The ball passed through the crowd in the penalty area and went straight into the far corner like a frightened little rabbit!

Italy leads 1-0!

Then Italy had another chance before half-time.

In the 45th minute, Gilardino made a clever pass from the left rib, and Grosso successfully made an offside in the penalty area, but he did not pass the ball to Toni who was waiting in the middle, but his own shot from a small angle was blocked by Kingston and went out of the baseline - this was a bit too greedy.

In the second half, Italy played more easily after taking the lead. They began to regroup, control the tempo and launch a counterattack.

In the 50th minute, Italy had a great chance to expand their lead! Pirlo easily got rid of Essien in the midfield and sent a long pass... Totti at the front of the penalty area received the ball and then made a diagonal pass to the right side. Gilardino, who was lurking on the right side of the penalty area, shot with his right foot from 14 meters in front of the goal, but unfortunately the ball was blocked by Kingston who fell to the ground bravely!

But then in the 55th minute, the Italian team, which had been going smoothly since the kick-off, finally had bad news.

Totti was stepped on by Pantsil in his left calf when he was tackling. He rolled over in pain, and the team doctor found that he had sprained his ankle and could not continue the game. Therefore, Lippi had to replace Totti with Camoranesi and changed the formation to 4-4-2.

However, the 4-4-2 formation with parallel positions in the middle does not seem to be suitable for Pirlo. The Italian No. 21, who lacked protection in front of him, was hit hard by Ghana's black and hard attack. In addition, Perrotta is not suitable for left midfielder.

So Lippi slightly adjusted the formation, letting Pirlo play as the left winger and Perrotta return to the center. However, with this adjustment, Italy's central pass was a bit unsmooth; and Pirlo could only make long passes in the left winger position, after all, he was not good at side attacking methods such as escaping and speed.

So in the next ten minutes, while Italy was still adapting to the change of formation and was unstable, Ghana regained some offensive and threats.

However, Ghana chose to take too many long shots, which allowed Buffon to show off his goal-line skills, but did not create too many substantial scoring opportunities, because Buffon almost confiscated all the long shots, and very few of them were hit or blocked, not to mention that they slipped out of his hands. It was as if Buffon's gloves were black holes with their own attraction.

However, after studying the situation for a while, Lippi decided that he could not let such an awkward situation continue.

However, in the 67th minute, Italy created another good chance to score. De Rossi successfully intercepted the ball in the midfield and passed it to the left rib. Club teammate Perrotta broke into the left side of the penalty area and volleyed with his right foot from 10 meters in front of the goal, but Kingston saved the ball because the angle was too straight.

So before the corner kick was taken, Lippi made two personnel adjustments. No. 17 Li Qi came on to replace Pirlo, who had already received a yellow card, and played as a left winger; in addition, No. 15 Iaquinta came on to replace No. 11 Gilardino, who was relatively quiet in this game.

Seeing the substitution sign on the sidelines, No. 17 was going to play. Not only was Sarafina a little excited and surprised, the commentary on the TV broadcast was also excited: "Oh oh oh! The youngest talented player in the Italian team, Ricardo Liqi, the midfielder who plays for Barcelona, ​​is going to come on as a substitute!" Even No. 17 himself was a little surprised...

Ricardo had just been called back from the warm-up area. While fastening his tight jersey, he was still listening to the assistant coach on the sidelines assigning him tasks, such as organizing the midfield on the left side, just like he did in the World Youth Championship in the Netherlands. Then he stuffed his shin guards into his socks: "Damn, these shin guards are so big and ugly, not sexy at all...", and walked to the sidelines to prepare to go on stage with Brother Acuna!

The Ghana team next door was not to be outdone and took the opportunity to adjust their lineup, especially the forward line, hoping to give it a go in the remaining time to tie or even surpass the score!

After Li Qi came on the field, he stood at the left midfielder position; Li Qi was very familiar with this position at the World Youth Championship in the Netherlands a year ago.

Although Li Qi's long passes were not as accurate as Pirlo's, his mobility and defensive abilities were indeed more advantageous, making him more suitable for activities on the wing; as a result, Ghana's wing attack fell into a swamp and began to stagnate.

As time went by, the Ghanaian team became more and more impatient, and began to commit frequent fouls. The formation became more and more chaotic. The formation was obviously leaning to the right to rob Li Qi who was scurrying around like a rabbit to organize the attack. This was a bit like focusing on the head but not the butt...

In the 82nd minute of the game, Li Qi intercepted the ball from Pimbon, who came on as a substitute in the second half, and then faced the counterattack of the Ghanaian team. He played a wall pass with De Rossi, jumped high to avoid Montari's waist tackle, and then quickly cut inside with a twist of his waist...

Seeing the wide open space in the middle for Li Qi to run freely, Essien could only rush back to defense, intending to join forces with central defender Kuffour to block the high-speed Li Qi...

Seeing Li Qi's wonderful interception of the ball and his dribbling past the opponent, Sarafina jumped up in excitement. There was nothing she could do because the spectators around her also stood up. Because the attack developed very quickly and was very exciting, there was a great chance to create a shot and even a goal!

Dad Albert, who was unable to attend the game, was clenching his fists, staring at the TV broadcast, muttering to himself, "Fuck him!", while listening to the passionate roar of the TV commentator!

"Pimbang retreats to the side to support, he wants to start a breakthrough..."

"Beautiful! Li Qi's wonderful steal, very clean, Pimbang's intention was too obvious!"

"Li Qi... De Rossi, 2-1 pass through the wall... beautiful!"

"Li Qi jumped high and avoided Montari's tackle!"

"This is a foul by Muntari! His foot is almost raised to his chest! This deserves at least a yellow card!"

"The middle is too empty, Li Qi is advancing at high speed, and the forwards are pulling away..."

"Essien is coming up... and so is Kuffour!"

"Li Qi is going to change direction... Great! A fake move and a ball through the crotch!"

"Iaquinta made a diagonal run at the front of the penalty area! The linesman didn't raise the flag!"

"The goalkeeper attacked... made a tackle... Iaquinta touched the ball first and dribbled past the goalkeeper!"

"Kingston has no chance! He can't stop Iaquinta! It's an empty goal!"

"Ditch oooooh! Ditch oooooh! Ditch!"

"Iaquinta dribbled past Kingston with his right foot and pushed the ball into the empty goal with his left foot on the edge of the penalty area!"

"Li Qi, who came on as a substitute, gave a wonderful assist in his World Cup debut!"

"Through slow-motion replay, Li Qi first stole the ball from Pimbang, then cooperated with De Rossi to quickly get rid of Pimbang's close counter-attack, then jumped to avoid Montari's violent flying tackle, then strode forward in the middle, attracted Ghana's double-team, first made a fake move to the left, and then sent a straight pass through the crotch with the outside of his right foot! Kuffour was completely fooled!"

"Iaquinta successfully made an offside move and made a diagonal run that was not offside. Facing the goalkeeper who was coming out, he easily dodged Kingston's tackle with a horizontal pass and then easily pushed the ball into the empty goal!"

"This was a collaboration between two substitute players. Li Qi's through ball was just the right amount. Kingston couldn't reach it, and Iaquinta only needed one touch to get past the goalkeeper..."

In the final stage of the game, the Italian team extended their lead and led Ghana 2-0!

After Li Qi and Iaquinta finished their celebration with their arms around each other, they began to retreat and deploy defense. They made a counterattack with a touch of the ball to prevent these black and tough guys from committing fouls and causing damage: "Just now, that idiot Montari almost kicked me in the waist. Fortunately, I triggered the breaking point and jumped early..."

With Essien's long shot missing in the last minute of stoppage time, Italy finally defeated Ghana 2-0! With a good start in the World Cup, Lippi's Italian team's unbeaten streak increased to 19 games!

After the game, the Italian coach was very satisfied with the team's performance: "We were very focused, created many opportunities, were very united on the field, had a strong enterprising spirit, and showed outstanding ability to overcome crises on the field... The players on the bench were quite outstanding, especially Li Qi and Iaquinta..."

Reporters paid attention to Totti who was injured on the field. After the game, he was found to be fine and it would basically not affect the next game against the US team. By then, Gattuso and Zambrotta will be able to recover from their injuries and return to the field.

Lippi was in a very good mood and answered the questions from the reporters present with a smile: "When did I start thinking about the American team? To be honest, I have already started thinking about it now, but you'd better let me celebrate the victory now."

Sarafina was naturally very happy as she watched a wonderful game and her man Ricardo also had an excellent performance in his debut.

So when they got back to the hotel, the little princess hung on Ricardo and insisted on staying for two more days...

After the game, Reuters commented: In this match, the Italian team played with the right tactics, all three players fought hard, the whole team was closely united, the game was extremely exciting, morale was greatly boosted, and the shadow of the Calciopoli scandal was swept away!

After this game, the Italian team got 4 days of rest, and the World Cup schedule continued, with the teams that have not yet appeared taking the stage one by one.

On the fifth match day, the first teams to appear were South Korea and Togo in Group G. South Korea defeated Togo, a team of ten men, 2-1, and won the first victory of an Asian team in this World Cup (except Australia, which had just joined the AFC).

Then France drew 0-0 with Switzerland, and Brazil in Group F beat Croatia 1-0 thanks to Kaka's goal.

On the sixth match day, the four teams in Group H were the last teams to appear, ending the first round of the group stage of this World Cup.

Among them, Spain defeated ten-man Ukraine 4-0, creating the biggest score difference in this World Cup so far.

The last match of the first round of the group stage was full of drama. Saudi Arabia scored two goals in a row to reverse Tunisia after conceding the first goal, but was equalized by Tunisia in the stoppage time!

However, the second round of the group stage followed.

It was Germany again that went first, but this time they had a tough battle. Facing Poland, which had one player sent off in the second half, Germany didn't score the only winning goal of the game until injury time when super substitute Iver received an assist from Odenker.

So Germany, which won two consecutive games, has basically secured its place in the knockout rounds, while Poland, which lost two games in a row, is in a bleak situation and will basically have to book a flight home.

However, Sarafina finally booked a flight back home the next day under Ricardo's persuasion. The little princess's vacation is finally coming to an end, and she still has to go back to prepare for the exam; more importantly, the scumbag has also been squeezed dry, and he shouted last night that there is no more money... But the most important thing is that Chiara will come to visit again on the weekend after her period!

Before boarding the plane, Sarafina deliberately told Ricardo to make it to the finals, or at least the quarter-finals, and to come back to watch the game after her graduation ceremony, so she could give Ricardo a big reward then...

Although this matter was not something that Ricardo could decide, he still readily and naturally agreed: "Okay! No problem, leave it to me!"

After seeing off Sarafina, it was the 7th match day of this World Cup. First, Ecuador in Group A defeated Costa Rica with a score of 3-0. In this way, Ecuador will qualify together with the German team, while Costa Rica and Poland became the first group of teams to be eliminated.

Then England also defeated Trinidad and Tobago 2-0 in the second round to secure a place in the knockout round.

Then Sweden defeated Sweden 1-0.

Ricardo, who had a rare night off, took the opportunity to recuperate and recover his energy to welcome Chiara's arrival. Oh, it should be the eighth match day and the last training session before Italy's second round of group matches...

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