Chapter 112 The starting lineup for the finals!
During the past two days of training, Lippi also arranged Ricardo into the main lineup. After all, facing the relatively weak Ukraine in the quarter-finals, this is an opportunity for some over-tired main players to rest and better prepare for the semi-finals and finals.
So Lippi decided to use Ricardo as the starting defensive midfielder and let Perrotta, who had played the whole game since the start of the game, take a rest; if the game goes well, Perrotta will replace Pirlo in the second half to rest.
In addition, on the defensive line, since Nesta has not recovered from his injury and Materazzi is suspended due to a red card, the only options for central defenders are Cannavaro and Barzagli.
So Lippi also arranged for Ricardo to adapt to the position of central defender for a while. After all, Ricardo has played as a central defender in both the club and the national team, just in case...
Lippi was very glad that he had called up Ricardo, who has multiple positions, into the squad at the last minute. Moreover, Ricardo has been playing in Spain for the past two years and is not affected by the recent trial of the phone-gate incident. In addition, this young man can take the blame at a critical moment - it is all for the national team to reserve talents, and it is acceptable to make mistakes and fail at critical moments...
Anyway, if you win, it’s because you are wise and decisive in making decisions. If you lose, it’s just because your child is still young and you need to be patient and have a broad mind!
Ricardo had no idea of what Lippi was thinking, and he immediately told his parents, brother, girlfriend and his agent that he might start in the round of 1.
With Italy reaching the quarterfinals, Ricardo has another chance to start in the quarterfinals. Raiola is in a very good mood and tells Ricardo that everything is under control, whether it is the club or the endorsement contract. Ricardo just needs to play the next game well and strive to reach the semi-finals or even the final!
After hanging up the phone, Ricardo curled his lips and said, "Okay, never mind, I'll decide after the World Cup anyway..."
So time quickly came to Friday, June 6th. Ricardo had already set off with the team to the stadium in Hamburg to warm up, and could only ask Pimenta to help pick up Sarafina at the airport.
At 17:2006 in the afternoon, when Ricardo was warming up on the field, the first match of the 1 World Cup quarter-finals kicked off at the Berlin Olympic Stadium, with the host Germany team facing the South American powerhouse Argentina.
Ricardo's club teammate Messi did not play in this game. In the first half, both teams played very cautiously and conservatively and did not create much threat. Only Ballack's header was slightly threatening.
However, not long after the second half kicked off, Ayala headed in a corner kick from Riquelme, beating Klose to score the first goal! This goal also ended Germany's 336-minute record without conceding a goal.
However, in the 80th minute of the game, K God made up for his mistake and scored in front of the goal. He headed in his fifth goal of this World Cup and helped the German team equalize the score in the final moments.
The two teams then entered overtime with the game still tied, so they had to go into a brutal penalty shootout.
In the penalty shootout, Argentina's Ayala and Cambiasso missed their penalties, while Germany scored all four! So Germany eliminated Argentina in the penalty shootout and became the first team to enter the semi-finals.
The German team is indeed an expert in major tournaments. Including this World Cup, Germany has only been eliminated from the World Cup three times before the semi-finals, all of which were at the hands of Eastern European teams (3, 1962, 1994).
After the game, Ricardo sent a message to Messi to comfort him and wish him a safe journey home. Messi replied with two big middle fingers (＞皿＜)凸. Of course, this was just a joke between the two sides...
With the match between Germany and Argentina over, it was Italy's turn to enter the quarter-finals. Ricardo was so excited that he missed three of the five penalties he had practiced before the game.
Lippi couldn't help but cover his forehead (; ￣ー￣川: "If we have to take a penalty kick, we must replace him."
意乌两队在历史上总共只有3次相互交手的记录，其中2次出现在1996年欧洲杯的预选赛中。当时意大利队先是在客场以2比0取胜，回到主场之后又以3比1战胜对手。
Since the result that the two teams would meet in the knockout round was not expected before the game, the two teams also held a warm-up match before this tournament. The score of that match was 0-0, but Shevchenko did not participate due to injury.
In addition to considering resting over-tired players in this game, such as Perrotta and Gilardino who had started every game before; at the same time, Lippi decided to change the 4-3-1-2 formation to 4-3-2-1 in this game in response to the team's poor offense and weak attacking power in previous games, hoping to deliver ammunition to the front line through stronger midfield control.
Increasing the control of the midfield to solve the offensive problem is also a roundabout strategy. After all, judging from the previous few games, the state of several strikers was not good, especially the main center Luca Toni has not yet broken the fast.
Due to injuries, fatigue and suspension, the lineup for this game has changed significantly compared to the previous game:
The goalkeeper remains unchanged, still the number one goalkeeper Buffon;
The back line from left to right is No. 3 Grosso, No. 6 Barzagli, No. 5 Cannavaro and No. 19 Zambrotta;
The three defensive midfielders are young player No. 17 Li Qi and Milan duo Butcher No. 8 Gattuso and core No. 21 Pirlo;
The two attacking midfielders are the naturalized Argentine No. 16 Camoranesi and the Wolf King No. 10 Totti;
The single arrow is the heavy center forward No. 9 Luca Toni.
In this match, Italy wore blue shirts and white pants, while Ukraine wore yellow uniforms. In addition, Ukrainian President Yushchenko was present to watch the match. With the referee's whistle, the match officially started.
However, after the opening, the fierce defensive Gattuso and the flexible Ricardo swept the Ukrainian midfield into pieces. Coupled with the dribbling skills of Camoranesi, the long and short pass Pirlo and the balanced skills of Totti, the five-man midfield combination firmly suppressed the Ukrainian midfield of only four people in terms of numbers and skills.
So at the beginning of the game, Italy surrounded Ukraine. But Ukraine was not willing to show weakness at the beginning and chose to press the whole court...
In the 6th minute of the game, Cannavaro headed the ball that was kicked by the Ukrainian goalkeeper, then Li Qi retreated to receive the ball near the center circle and used his chest to take it off. Then he made a shoulder fake move to shake off Tymoshuk who was pressing him, and then made a fake eye contact to trick Shelayev into rushing straight to Pirlo...
But Li Qi sent a straight pass, penetrating the Ukrainian defense line to Zambrotta who was in position on the right... The latter easily stopped Li Qi's straight pass on the right side of the midfield and was now in a big gap!
Zambrotta cut inside at high speed, then played a wall pass with Totti, pulled out to the top of the gourd, and knocked the ball with his heel to shake Husin who was defending...
After receiving the ball, Zambrotta made a slight adjustment. Seeing that Ukraine's defense line was blocked in the penalty area by Luca Toni and could not get out, he took a powerful shot with his left foot from 22 meters in front of the goal with no one guarding him!
The ball flew straight into the dead corner of the goal like a sharp arrow. It first passed through the crotch of defender Rusol, then passed sideways between the diving goalkeeper Shovkovsky and went straight into the lower corner of the near post.
Zambrotta's decisive long-range shot after cutting inside helped Italy take the lead in the 6th minute. Italy got off to a golden start!
At this time, Ukraine has not yet formed any threatening offensive...
Italy then took advantage of their boosted morale and continued to threaten Ukraine's defensive third through consecutive passes from midfield.
In the 20th minute, after Totti's powerful right-foot free kick from 32 meters in front of the goal was confiscated by the goalkeeper, the Ukrainian head coach made a decisive substitution, replacing Sviderskiy with Vorobyi and Husin playing as a central defender to increase the mobility of the defense, otherwise they would have been broken by Italy's quick penetration.
Especially the combination of Li Qi, Zambrotta and Camoranesi on the right, with the passing of Pirlo and Totti, and the fulcrum of Luca Toni, played very well in the first 20 minutes. Although only one goal was scored, there were 7 shots, suppressing the left side of Ukraine so that they almost didn't touch the ball...
However, after the Ukrainian team made substitutions, Lippi waved his hand and ordered Italy to retract its formation. Now that they were leading, the Italian team had to do what they were best at, which was defensive counterattack.
It was not until the 33rd minute of the game that Ukraine finally had a shot. It was a powerful right-footed shot by Tymoshuk from 30 meters in front of the goal, but unfortunately the ball went wide of the left post.
At the end of the first half, Li Qi, who had switched to the left, triggered the burst point and made an accurate prediction. In a situation of one defending two, he decisively stole the ball from Gusev, who was a little hesitant to pass the ball...
Then Li Qi immediately made a wall-to-wall cooperation with Pirlo to avoid Gusev's close counter-attack; then, without stopping the ball, he made another triangle pass with Totti, and immediately took the ball out from near the heavily guarded midfield of Ukraine.
Li Qiyi was advancing rapidly near the middle of the field. He was thinking whether to cooperate with Camoranesi and shoot from a distance or to use Luca Toni's fulcrum near the penalty area. Suddenly, he had a premonition and quickly jumped to avoid the opponent...
At the moment when Li Qi dodged, Shelayev's flying tackle came from the side and behind. Fortunately, Li Qi protected himself, otherwise his ankle would definitely be injured.
The two men continued to move forward a short distance and directly knocked down Clan center back Russol who was coming to defend.
The referee decisively showed Shelayev a yellow card... Li Qi got up from the ground and spat out the grass in his mouth with a helpless look on his face: "Damn, referee brother, this is a red card move, I dodged it, but he still knocked me down and flew several meters forward!"
However, the referee did not hear Li Qi's mumbling, but quickly called the team doctor to enter the field. It turned out that Rusor's right foot was injured and he could not continue the game. Then Vashuk replaced him. Ukraine used up two substitutions in the first half.
However, the free kick 25 meters in front of the goal obtained by Russo's injury was kicked into the stands by Pirlo... "It seems that Pirlo's foot is not very good today!"
After Ukraine launched a strong attack in the second half of the first half, it was frequently counterattacked by Italy and could only stop it through fouls. At halftime, Ukraine's midfield and backcourt players had received 4 yellow gem cards and had nearly 20 fouls.
At the beginning of the second half, Ukraine obviously adjusted its offensive strategy. Shevchenko made a large-scale retreat and maneuvered as a free man to organize the attack. This made Italy's newly formed defensive combination a little overwhelmed. In the situation of focusing on one thing and neglecting another, Ukraine actually created continuous threats.
In the 49th minute, Shevchenko moved to the side to organize the attack, and then made a shingled combination with Kalinichenko. The latter made a cross from the left bottom, and Barzagli volleyed the ball in the front point and almost kicked it into his own goal, but fortunately the ball went wide of the far post.
Then, within a minute, Shevchenko moved to the right center to organize the attack, and then Timoschuk faked a gap and made a 1-degree diagonal pass on the right side...
The ball passed over Gattuso, Barzagli and Milevski in front, and then brushed the scalps of Cannavaro and Shelayev in the middle and slid past the goal...
Finally at the far end, Camoranesi had no time to make up for the defense, and Hussin headed the ball out from 6 meters away from the goal!
This time Buffon made a contribution! The goalkeeper fell to the ground and blocked the ball from the near corner. His forehead also hit the post. Then Camoranesi quickly cleared the ball out of the bottom line...
Ukraine continued to look for opportunities on the wing. In the 53rd minute, Voroby made a cross from the right, and Cannavaro made a brilliant retreat to clear the ball with a header before Shevchenko. Then he made another accurate prediction, blocking Shevchenko's position and cutting off Ukraine's second attack...
However, Ukraine continued to put pressure on Italy's defense. In the 57th minute, Shevchenko and Li Qi were one-on-one on the right again... Li Qi didn't dare to rush forward, because Shevchenko's change of direction and explosiveness were world-class.
However, just as Barzagli was assisting in defense and Camoranesi was retreating to help, Shevchenko, who had successfully attracted the Italian triple-team, made a slight lateral judgment and decisively passed the ball to the other side, and then went straight into the penalty area. At this time, Li Qi and Barzagli could only follow Shevchenko back to the penalty area...
Nesmashny on the right side of the perimeter received Shevchenko's pass and shot directly from 30 meters away. Unfortunately, the ball did not penetrate the defense line, but was intercepted by Milevsky with his back to the goal in the middle...
Milevskiy then made an assumed pass in the middle of the penalty area, attracted the double-team of Cannavaro and Barzagli, and calmly passed the ball to Gusev who was running in from the right.
Gusev took the ball and had a one-on-one chance! Li Qi had to abandon Shevchenko and fly to defend, but Gusev did not give Li Qi a chance to get close to him. In the small penalty area 12 meters in front of the goal, facing Buffon who was attacking, he shot a powerful right-footed shot in the face!
Fortunately, the ball was blocked by goalkeeper Buffon's powerful palms. Gusev's shot was too straight because of the power, and the angle was not very good...
However, Buffon blocked the ball to the other side of the small penalty area. Kalinichenko was in the right position and met the ball with his right foot 10 meters away from the goal on the far left side. The ball bounced and flew over Cannavaro who threw his body to block it...
Buffon was unable to turn around in time, but unfortunately the ball was blocked on the goal line by Li Qi who had returned to defense and triggered the outbreak point, calmly predicted and intercepted the ball!
Now even the most professional football commentators couldn't help but sigh that although the World Cup newcomer Ukraine launched a dazzling attack wave, Italy's defense was as tenacious as reinforced concrete.
Ukraine created a series of threatening shots within just 15 minutes of the second half, but also missed many chances to score; however, in a football match, missed opportunities will be punished!
Soon, it was Italy's turn to fight back.
……
