Chapter 113: First goal of the World Cup!

After Ukraine's several unsuccessful attacks, Li Qi and Gattuso cooperated in a counterattack on the left, but when Li Qi was about to dunk the ball inside, he was blocked by the Ukrainian defender and the ball went out of the baseline.

In the 59th minute of the game, Totti took a tactical corner kick from the left. Grosso received the ball and attracted the opponent's defense, then passed it to Totti who was almost at the corner of the penalty area... After the latter received the pass, he glanced in front of the goal and then made a cross with his right foot!

There were four Italian players in the penalty area, and Totti's arcing cross was extremely brilliant, just passing over the two Ukrainian defenders in front of him. The arc was low and the speed was fast, so the goalkeeper had no time to attack, and the ball landed near the middle of the small penalty area...

Camoranesi at the front point couldn't reach it, and Cannavaro behind him couldn't head it either, but instead attracted Vashuk's attention... Luca Toni at the back post relied on his 1-meter height and weight to completely support Hussin, who was only a little over 94 meters, and then headed into the lower left corner from 1 meters in front of the goal!

The goalkeeper had no way to deal with this almost face-to-face output! He could only watch the ball roll into the bottom corner of the opposite goal... Luca Toni finally scored the first goal of this World Cup, helping the Italian team expand their lead, leading Ukraine 2-0!

However, from the slow motion replay, Luca Toni seemed to be offside...but the referee's decision cannot be changed.

Ukraine, which was two goals behind, actually still had a chance. Not long after Italy scored the second goal, in the 62nd minute of the game, Shevchenko made a strong breakthrough on the right, causing Camoranesi to foul and winning a free kick in a good position.

Kalinichenko made a long diagonal pass from the right free kick. This set-piece was also extremely well-taken. Although the arc was slightly high, it curved at high speed through the front and middle of the small penalty area and fell rapidly at the far point...

Husin overpowered Grosso at the back post, jumped high, and successfully headed the ball into the goal from a small angle 5 meters in front of the goal!

The ball hit a reverse parabola and passed Buffon's defense. Li Qi, who ran to the front of the goal following Shevchenko, stretched his neck but couldn't reach the ball that was heading straight for the top corner... Fortunately, the ball hit the crossbar with a bang and was cleared by Zambrotta!

After that, Lippi began to adjust the formation and arranged for Li Qi to closely guard Shevchenko and prevent the Ukrainian nuclear warhead from easily receiving and taking the ball. Li Qi had wanted to do this a long time ago. In fact, the effect of double-teaming was not as good as that of single defense. However, due to the needs of the overall defense, Li Qi did not dare to leave the defense line to go around and closely guard. Now that the boss ordered, he naturally accepted the order happily...

So after Li Qi made several brilliant predictions and intercepted Shevchenko's direct and long passes in advance, Ukraine's attack suddenly fell silent.

In the 65th minute, Li Qi intercepted Tymoshuk's pass to Shevchenko and passed it directly to Camoranesi for a counterattack. The latter cut in from the left and did not pass the ball to Perrotta who was in a better position. As a result, he was tripped by Nesmashny, who received a yellow card.

In the 67th minute, Li Qi made an early prediction again and stopped Ukraine's long pass to Cannavaro before Shevchenko, but Milevsky received a yellow card for his dangerous action against Cannavaro when he counterattacked.

The Ukrainian team has received seven yellow cards, which means half of the players on the field have received yellow cards, especially the players in the central area. As a result, Ukraine's defensive strength has dropped and they no longer dare to make defensive moves at will. Now they have no way to stop Italy's counterattack...

So when the game came to the 68th minute, Lippi replaced two players at the same time. Pirlo and Camoranesi went off the court to rest so that they could save their strength for the semi-final, while Perrotta and Oddo came on.

At the same time, Italy changed its formation, with Oddo replacing Zambrotta as right back and Zambrotta playing as left midfielder. This change also helped the team secure victory.

In the 69th minute, Zambrotta, who had just switched to the left, threw the ball in from the sideline. Gattuso received it and passed it to Grosso. Grosso held off the opponent's player and chested it, then passed it behind the opponent's defender...

Zambrotta made a quick run, and with a flick of his left foot near the baseline, he used his speed to forcefully break through the double-team defense of two players, and when he entered the penalty area and faced the third player’s backup defense, he fell to the ground in advance and stabbed the ball with his left toe to the middle of the goal…

Luca Toni easily pushed the ball into the empty goal with his left foot from 5 meters in front of the goal, scoring his second goal and Italy secured the victory 3-0!

This is the tradition of Italian football. Although the situation seems passive, the opponent is still helpless and the game is won in the end... Well, Li Qi thought: Isn't this the legendary counterattack?

Soon after, Lippi replaced Gattuso with Zaccardo, letting the midfield butcher rest and letting Zaccardo play on the right side, leaving the middle to the combination of Li Qi and Perrotta. Li Qi needed to focus more on marking Shevchenko, but Shevchenko obviously couldn't run anymore, and his efficiency dropped significantly, which made Li Qi's task much easier...

But Ukraine did not give up and launched a final attack. It was fighting for honor and just wanted to get one in!

In the 80th minute, Shevchenko took a free kick 30 meters in front of the goal, but his powerful shot was blocked by Buffon with both fists.

In the 82nd minute, Gusev made a cross from the right, Belik headed the ball in the middle, but due to the interference of Barzagli, the ball was not strong enough and was confiscated by Buffon.

In the 86th minute, Shevchenko cleverly pulled the ball from the left and turned around to get rid of the double-team of Oddo and Li Qi. After a wall pass with Belik, he was tripped in the penalty area, but the referee De Blicker blew the whistle for a foul by pushing Li Qi down first.

However, seeing Shevchenko and other Ukrainian players still arguing with the referee, Li Qi got up and quickly took a set-piece from the backcourt...

Accompanied by Pimenta, Sarafina was in the stands with her long beautiful legs in black stockings lifted up, watching Li Qi's performance on the field with a relaxed look on her face.

Julian could only watch her beloved's game on TV in her rented apartment in London. Listening to the commentary on the TV, Julian felt that the game was already decided and got up to go to the kitchen to cut some fruit...

"Shevchenko got the ball and turned around... Li Qi! Nice positioning... Hey! Hey! Hey! Isn't this a foul?"

"Shevchenko entered the penalty area and fell down! Penalty?"

"Oh! Shevchenko was called for a foul first. He pushed Li Qi down from behind before entering the penalty area."

"Haha, the Ukrainian players seem very dissatisfied and are arguing with the referee, wanting a penalty kick to score..."

"Oh! Li Qi took advantage of the Ukrainian players not being able to react and quickly kicked a free kick from the backcourt!"

"So smart. One second he was lying on the grass pretending to be pitiful, and the next second he got up and drove away..."

"Perrotta...Totti...two passes and the ball has crossed half court!"

"Totti passes the ball over the top... Luca Toni, not offside, leans on Vashuk..."

"Beautiful, Luca Toni's great pass down the middle!"

"Oh! Unfortunately, Totti was unable to get the ball due to Timoshuk's close defense, and Totti was out of strength..."

"Oh! The ball is not out of bounds yet! Zambrotta hooks the ball back again..."

"The Ukrainian defenders haven't come back yet!"

"Zambrotta entered the penalty area, Hussin made up for it! The goalkeeper also attacked!"

"Inverted triangle! Middle of the penalty area! Li Qi!"

"Ditch oooooh! Ditch oooooh! Ditch!"

"Li Qi calmly pushed the ball into the far corner with his right foot! 4-0! This is the first goal of this World Cup for young midfielder Ricardo Li Qi! It is also his first World Cup goal!"

"To quote an ancient Chinese poem, there are bosom friends all over the world, 4-0!"

"The Italian players were celebrating like crazy. Li Qi made a gesture of listening to the cheers with both ears. The Ukrainian players were desperate! One careless move allowed the Italian team to counterattack successfully.

"The entire counterattack process, from Li Qi's quick start to his final move, took no more than 30 seconds and only involved five passes!"

"Let's watch this goal develop in slow motion..."

The slow-motion replay showed it very clearly. While the Ukrainian players were still arguing with the referee, Li Qi's quick kick had already reached Totti's feet near the center circle.

Then, when the Ukrainian defenders had no time to get into position, Totti sent a straight pass over the top to the bridgehead Luca Toni without hesitation.

After receiving the ball on the right, Luca Toni leaned against the defender and made a wonderful pass to the middle... However, Totti, who followed up in the middle, was disturbed by the defender and did not get the ball. The ball rolled to the left...

However, before the ball went out of bounds, Zambrotta followed up at high speed and grabbed the ball back.

At this time, the exhausted Ukrainian players had not yet crossed the half court.

Zambrotta then rushed into the penalty area with the ball at high speed, and then made a back pass from the small penalty area corner. Li Qi, who was covered by Luca Toni and Totti, rushed over and calmly pushed the ball into the lower right corner of the goal in the middle of the penalty area near the penalty area line!

After Li Qi scored, Italy's morale was higher, while Ukraine's morale hit rock bottom, so neither side attacked again in the final period of the game. At the same time, the referee was very considerate and blew the final whistle without giving any extra time.

In the end, Italy defeated Ukraine 1-4 in the quarter-finals of the World Cup, truly teaching the new World Cup team a lesson; however, Ukraine also achieved a good result of reaching the quarterfinals of the World Cup in its first participation in the World Cup finals, which is not a dream that any team can achieve!

Zambrotta, who scored the first goal and received two assists, was named the best player of the game. In addition, Toni, who had not scored in the previous four games, scored twice with his head and feet. Lippi's Italian team remained unbeaten for 4 consecutive games!

Italy will face host Germany in the semi-finals, but before that, unlike the German team, the entire Italian team was extremely excited and received overwhelming praises. After all, a score of 4-0 is a rare victory in the history of World Cup knockout matches.

At the press conference after the game, Lippi was happy that the Italian team successfully reached the semi-finals: "Now, we can say that we have entered the ranks of the top four teams in the world, which is satisfactory, but we can't take this as our ultimate goal."

"We have been waiting for Totti and Toni to explode, thank God they are back... However, the team's substitutes also performed extremely well, such as Li Qi and Barzagli, who not only filled the gaps left by the main players, but even exceeded my most optimistic expectations!"

"Yes, in the next games, I will give these excellent players the opportunity to play, as long as they stay in good shape and healthy, and have a positive attitude!"

The Associated Press even praised Italy as the favorite to win: "With perfect offense and defense, Italy advances to the semi-finals, back to 4!"

Italy was also plagued by a match-fixing scandal in 1982, but still won their third World Cup title.

La Repubblica said that Italy's defense was perfect and its offense was not bad either. Today's Italy is a beautiful team. Looking forward to the semi-finals, Italy has reason to be confident because the host Germany is more afraid. In the warm-up match on March 3, Germany lost to Italy 1-1.

Judging from a series of data, in the history of the World Cup, the Germans rarely got any advantage from the Italians. In the famous extra-time match of the 1970 World Cup, which ended in a 3-4 score, and in the final of the 1982 World Cup, the Germans lost to the Italians.

This time, the German team, which has the advantage of home court, is obviously ambitious. The smooth performance since the group stage has made the German team very motivated. They hope to reach the final and win the cup on home soil by taking advantage of the host country.

德国队的教练组和球员们都认为德国队能改写历史，而且意大利在过去两届世界杯中都输给了东道主被淘汰，1998年是1/4决赛输给法国，2002年是1/8决赛输给韩国……

Assistant coach Oliver Bierhoff believes: "The world will be shocked by the German national team again. We will bring a wonderful game to the whole world."

Germany midfielder Frings agrees with Bierhoff: "The loss to the Italians at the beginning of the year is still engraved in my mind. We performed so badly that day. But now we are ready. Italy, wait and see!"

However, the media is clearly more optimistic about Italy, believing that in the face of scandals and crises, Italy has demonstrated unprecedented unity and fighting spirit.

Moreover, Italy played true team football, with excellent offense and defense. In the past five games, the opponent has not broken through the gate. The only goal conceded was an own goal from Zaccardo. The current nine goals were scored by eight different players, with players from the front, middle and back three lines scoring goals. At the same time, except for the substitute goalkeeper, the team had 5 players on the field, with the best distribution of physical strength...

……

However, after the game, Ricardo, who played well, was in a good mood and received congratulatory messages from his parents, brother, Julian, Chiara, Raiola Pimenta and a group of friends. However, he only had time to briefly reply to Julian and Chiara, and Ricardo was busy...

At that time, he was not busy with media hype or preparing for verbal battles between the warring parties. At this moment, he was busy with verbal battles with Sarafina in the hotel room... How can verbal battles between men be as interesting as verbal battles with girls?

……