Chapter 14: Final Round of Group Stage

On Saturday, June 2005, 6, the Italian U18 team finished their breakfast early and set off for the competition venue to prepare for the game.

Because the last round of all group matches will be played at the same time, there will be conflicts in venue and time, and Group E's match is scheduled at 1:30 in the afternoon... (Li Qi complained in his heart: What a pitfall schedule...)

The Group E matches were originally scheduled to be held at Tilburg's Willem II Stadium, where Colombia will face Syria, so the Italian team will move to Kerkrade, the southernmost railway hub in the Netherlands; fortunately, it is not too far from Tilburg and can be reached in less than an hour by rail.

The stadium in Kerkrade is called Limburg Park Stadium. It is a new stadium that was completed and opened in 2000. It can accommodate people and is much more novel and grand than the William II Stadium in Tilburg.

However, because the game started early and the venue was changed, Li Qi did not have the time to meet the friends and relatives who came to cheer him on.

I heard that Princess Sarafina and many of her classmates and friends flew to Aachen, Germany the night before to play and wait, and then set out from Aachen to watch the game today...

It only takes 1 hour and 30 minutes to fly from Milan, Italy to Aachen, Germany, but there are fewer flights; and it only takes 30 minutes to drive from Aachen, Germany to Kerkrade, the Netherlands, but it still takes some time to go through border customs, which is much closer than flying to Amsterdam.

Ricardo walked into the stadium and breathed a sigh of relief: Okay, never mind, the most important thing is to perform well!

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Italy wore their traditional blue jerseys in this game, while Canada wore white jerseys.

Both teams were very open in this game: Italy had already qualified, was stronger and was striving to be first in the group; while the situation for Canada was simple, as they would be eliminated if they didn’t win, so they had to attack!

There were not many fans at the game, only about 2000 fans. So before the game started, Li Qi easily found Sarafina in the audience...

Today Sarafina wore an Italian blue jersey on her upper body and tight jeans on her lower body. She had Italian flag makeup on her face and a neat single ponytail. She waved a small Italian flag to cheer for Li Qi, and, well, to cheer for the Italian team.

Li Qi was very happy. It made the atmosphere different when a beautiful woman came to cheer him up. What’s more, she was white, rich and beautiful!

"Do you big pigs have it?" Ricardo also looked down on his teammates who looked a little vulgar when looking at beautiful women...

The game started. This time, Li Qi wanted to win the coin toss and then attack, but he didn't expect that the winner was the side toss...

But as the game started, I don’t know if it was because the little princess came to the scene to cheer that made Li Qi in great shape, or because Canada exposed more defensive problems after pressing forward to attack... Li Qi clocked out with 2 goals and 1 assist in the first half!

First, in the 4th minute of the game, Canada fouled Rossi who was dribbling through the field, and Italy won a set piece in the golden position in the middle of the field, about 25 meters away from the goal...

Originally, Li Qi was thinking of passing the ball over the top to Koda for the header, but when the penalty kick started, he had a premonition that the "explosion point moment" was coming... Sure enough, he decisively changed the pass to a shot; Li Qi's arcing free kick with the inside of his right foot bypassed the wall of people and accurately hit the bottom edge of the upper left crossbar of the goal and bounced into the net, a world-class goal!

Then in the 22nd minute of the first half, Li Qi and Montolivo crossed in the counterattack, passed the ball to the sides, and received Cigarini's inverted triangle pass at the top of the penalty area... The "explosion point moment" came again! Then Li Qi calmly passed the ball diagonally to the corner of the small penalty area at the far end of the goal. The ball slipped past the feet of three Canadian defenders. In front of the horrified Canadian goalkeeper, Bocchetti rushed over and knocked the ball into the goal...

At the last moment of the first half, it was Li Qi who, in the melee in the penalty area, found the ball's landing point first thanks to the "explosion point moment" and flicked it into the far corner...

The ball cleverly passed over the head of the Canadian defender and the goalkeeper's waving fingertips and fell lightly into the net... 3-0, and we clocked out at halftime!

At halftime, Casiraghi fulfilled his promise and replaced Li Qi with Bentivoglio; he also replaced Montolivo with Nocerino. In the other match, Colombia was still 0-0 at halftime; the probability of winning the group was stable.

In the 49th minute of the second half, Canada relied on a quick attack and De Jong scored a goal.

But in the 68th minute, Pelle, who came on as a substitute for Rossi, headed in a cross from Sigiardini in the middle of the penalty area to seal the victory 4-1.

Canada, which lost this game, only scored 1 point, ranked last in the group and was eliminated.

Italy had as many as 33 shooting opportunities throughout the game, including 19 in the first half, while Canada had 13.

Li Qi, who played only half the game, won the best player award for the third time in a row with his efficient performance of 2 goals and 1 assist...

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After the game, there was no exchange of words with Sarafina. After taking a shower, the team hurried back to their base in Tilburg.

Sarafina will also return to Aachen tomorrow to Milan to attend the etiquette class on Sunday evening. I had no choice but to ask Sarafina to meet again when she returns to Italy...

Li Qi bought the game ball and gave it to Sarafina as a gift for watching the game.

But Sarafina seemed to have passed it on to another little friend as a birthday present. The little girl jumped for joy and exclaimed repeatedly: "Oh My God, Oh My God..."

……

In another match, Colombia beat Syria 2-0 again; Colombia also had as many as 30 shots in the whole game, while Syria only had 1.

Although Syria from Asia performed well in the first half of the game, Colombia at least did not get many good opportunities.

However, in the second half, Colombia took the lead with its strong strength. In the 62nd minute, Rodalega finally showed his star quality and scored the first goal. Before the end of the game, Garcia received a cross and scored to seal the victory.

Syria has only 1 point in games and is eliminated. The ranking of Group E is also settled:

1. Italy, 2 wins, 1 draw, 0 losses, 10 goals scored, 5 goals conceded, goal difference of 5, points of 7; advanced!

2. Colombia, 2 wins, 1 draw, 0 losses, 6 goals scored, 2 goals conceded, goal difference of 4, points of 7; advanced!

3. Syria, 0 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses, 3 goals scored, 7 goals conceded, goal difference -4, points 1; eliminated...

4. Canada, 0 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses, 2 goals scored, 7 goals conceded, goal difference -5, points 1; eliminated...

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Let's look at the last round of matches in other groups; first, let's pay attention to Group D, which is the group that the coaching staff is most concerned about, because Italy, the first in Group E, will face the second in Group D in Tilburg in the first round of the knockout stage.

First, Argentina beat Germany 1-0.

Germany only needed a draw to qualify for the group, so they played very steadily in this match, which meant they were not aggressive enough. On the contrary, Argentina had to fight hard to win in order to qualify.

After the start of the first half, Argentina took the initiative on the field with its skillful techniques. Germany's players are tall, but they lack coordination in the frontcourt, so it is difficult to organize threatening shots.

In the 25th minute, Argentina attacked quickly in the frontcourt. Zabaleta knocked the ball back from the bottom right of the penalty area. Messi shot with his right foot from the edge of the small penalty area. German goalkeeper Adler incredibly blocked the ball with his face...

Adler's nose was bleeding, and he had to go to the sidelines for treatment, and the game was interrupted for a while...

After the game resumed, Argentina continued to control the initiative of the game. Messi was very active on the field. In the 34th minute, Messi knocked back in the penalty area, and Cardoso volleyed with his left foot at the front of the penalty area. Adler blocked the ball with both fists and hit the crossbar...

In the 43rd minute of the game, Argentina finally took the lead. Messi dribbled into the right side of the penalty area and then passed the ball with his left foot. Obermann deliberately missed the ball in the middle, and Cardoso shot with his right foot from 11 meters in front of the goal...

Before the end of the first half, Germany's free kick in the frontcourt threatened the Argentine goal but was caught directly by the goalkeeper.

At the end of the first half, Argentina was leading Germany by one goal.

In the 48th minute of the second half, Obermann passed the ball in the penalty area, and Cardoso's low right-foot shot from 14 meters in front of the goal was slightly off the left post.

Germany intensified its fight in the second half, but Argentina still took the initiative on the field.

In the 58th minute, Messi made a left-foot lob shot from 15 meters inside the penalty area, but the ball went slightly over the crossbar. Three minutes later, Messi intercepted the ball in the frontcourt and made a low left-foot shot at the edge of the penalty area, but Adler saved it and it went out of bounds...

The two teams made personnel adjustments one after another. Germany seemed to lack confidence in winning the game... It seemed that they had calculated something and wanted to get third place in the group with 4 points. It seemed to be a good opportunity...

In the 75th minute, Cardoso volleyed with his right foot from 23 meters outside the penalty area, but the ball went wide of the right post.

In the 80th minute, Torres of Argentina committed a handball foul while falling to the ground in the front court, and as a result, he received his second yellow card and was sent off with a red card...

But in the final moments of the game, Germany, with one more player, had no intention of attacking and the game became garbage time.

In the end, Argentina beat Germany 1-0 to finish second in Group D; in the knockout round, they will go to Tilburg to challenge Italy...

In another match in Group D, the United States defeated Egypt 1-0 and advanced to the next round as the group leader with 7 points.

In the game, the United States completely took the initiative on the field, but Egypt's defense was quite good in the first half, and the United States also wasted a lot of good scoring opportunities.

But the turning point of the game came in the 35th minute of the first half, when Egypt's Gamil was sent off with a direct red card for a serious foul.

In the 56th minute of the second half, the United States' Peterson scored the only goal of the game.

Throughout the game, the United States had 56% of the ball possession time and 17 shooting opportunities, while Egypt only had 4. Thus, Egypt lost all three group games and ranked last in the group.

……

The ranking of Group D has also been finalized:

1. United States, 2 wins, 1 draw, 0 losses, 2 goals scored, 0 goals conceded, goal difference 2, points 7; advanced!

2. Argentina, 2 wins, 0 draws, 1 loss, 3 goals scored, 1 goal conceded, goal difference 2, points 6; advanced!

3. Germany, 1 win, 1 draw, 1 loss, 2 goals scored, 1 goal conceded, goal difference 1, points 4; the third place in the group with the best results advanced!

4. Egypt, 0 wins, 0 draws, 3 losses, 0 goals scored, 5 goals conceded, goal difference -5, points 0; eliminated...

Germany qualified for the knockout round with a better performance as the third in the group and will challenge the first in Group B, China. (Sodexo! That's it!)

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After qualifying from the group, Li Qi returned to the hotel in the evening and received many congratulatory messages from people, including his father, mother, brother, Sarafina, Julian, and a bunch of friends...

They all congratulated him for continuing to win the battles and being invincible and unstoppable. They added unnecessary details and were too clever for their own good. They got caught in a trap and reaped the fruits of their own labor...

Li Qi didn't care about these little things. The only thing he cared about was that the congratulatory text message he received from Chiara was a color message: it was a picture of Chiara's bikini beach photo with a caption...

Li Qi forgot the caption, but he remembered that the bikini was purple, with a layer of white gauze transparent small shoulder dress, a big straw yellow sun hat and a pair of big Prada sunglasses...

Li Qi swallowed his saliva... and continued to bury his head in typing code. It turns out that beauty is the strongest stimulant for men!

……