Chapter 16: Italy vs Argentina, Pre-match

2005年6月19日的中午时分，阿根廷U20代表队和意大利U20代表队前后脚抵达埃门。

Media from all over the world who were paying attention to the World Youth Championship also flocked to the game, because the match between Italy U20 and Argentina U20 was the focus of the round of 16 of the World Youth Championship...

There are even some media outlets that are optimistic and say that this round of 16 elimination match is an early final...

(Perhaps only Li Qi knows through the memory of the future old Li Qi that the original champion of this World Youth Championship was the Argentina U20 team led by Messi. So Li Qi partially agrees with the idea of ​​an early final. If you win, you will deal with the biggest competitor. If you lose, you can go home early, oh no, go back to school to attend classes and do homework...)

The main reason is that the adult teams of both teams are well-known strong teams in the world. The two teams have played against each other 5 times in the history of the World Cup, with Italy having the advantage with 2 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss. However, in the most recent World Cup semi-final held in Italy in 1990, Argentina was the one who won the final through a penalty shootout...

For this reason, Casiraghi also practiced penalty kicks in the afternoon recovery training session... Li Qi scored all the goals during the practice, but secretly asked Casiraghi to give the penalty kick opportunities to Montolivo and Pellet and other good brothers...

In addition, both Italy and Argentina performed well in the group stage of this cup, especially the absolute core players of their respective teams came from La Liga Barcelona.

Therefore, some media outlets that are interested in gossip have given this Italy-Argentina match the nickname of the Barcelona Twins' Battle, and have made various comparisons, such as the number of goals and assists that Li Qi likes, and the number of dribbles and shots that Li Qi doesn't like...

Li Qi scored 3 goals and 4 assists in 4 group matches, while Messi scored 2 goals and 0 assists, but Messi was far ahead in dribbling, shooting and touches... Humph, I am still far ahead in steals! Li Qi couldn't help but complain when he saw the comments while surfing the Internet...

Also because the media compared Li Qi and Messi side by side, the head coaches of both teams also paid attention to this pair of club teammates and asked Li Qi and Messi about each other's situation respectively.

Facing Ferraro's question, Messi lowered his head and thought for a while before answering seriously: "Ricardo Liqi, well, he plays as a midfielder in the club, but he has also played as a substitute as a left back and right winger..."

Ferraro: "Well, it seems that Li Qi is a jack of all trades on the wing?"

Messi shook his head: "Not really, he didn't have many opportunities to play last season; when he came to La Masia, I happened to promote him to the first team; later he was promoted to the first team, but we mainly played in the team's training matches, and his position is more flexible..."

Ferraro: "What are Li Qi's technical characteristics?"

Messi thought about it carefully: "Hmm... I feel that he has good skills, he holds the ball very steadily, passes the ball accurately, runs actively, and defends very well. He steals a lot..."

Ferraro: "Well, these are the technical characteristics of an excellent defensive midfielder... But, what's the matter with Li Qi's 3 goals and 4 assists in these 4 games?"

Messi was also a little confused: "Ricardo is indeed not good at scoring goals in the club, but his passing is very unique and he handles the ball very calmly"

Ferraro: "Does he have any weaknesses or things we need to target defensively?"

Messi scratched his head awkwardly: "Weakness... He doesn't seem to be very good at heading the ball, and he is more afraid of physical confrontation... Be careful of his speed, he sprints very fast."

Ferraro looked at the photos and data provided by the coaching staff... 183cm tall, and the sharp muscle lines can be felt through the jersey. The explosive power is visible to the naked eye...

Then I looked at Messi, who was probably less than 1 meters tall and had a baby face... His poor heading skills and fear of physical confrontation depended on who he was compared with...

Ferraro: "…Is it because of inaccurate judgment and potential injuries?"

Messi shook his head again: "Ricardo is good at judging penalties and is very stable in stopping high balls. Injury? I haven't heard of that..."

Ferraro thought that it seemed that the only reason was that Messi and Li Qi were not familiar with each other. After all, they had only been teammates for half a season, and Messi was still a little shy... Finally, he asked: "Is there anything else you want to add?"

Messi quickly added: "Well... Ricardo has a good personality and I have a good relationship with him..."

Ferraro: ... (Is this a slap in the face so fast? I should watch some group stage match videos carefully.)

……

In contrast, the head coach of the Argentina U20 team only found out yesterday that their opponent in the knockout round was Italy, and only started studying Italy's videos today; on the other hand, the head coach of the Italian U20 team, Casiraghi, was too well prepared. Before the group stage even started, Li Qi hinted that the Argentina U20 team would be the main competitor, and he watched every game since the first round of the group stage...

The changes, progress and growth of Argentina in these games have been seen by the Italian U20 coaching staff, and naturally their shortcomings, weaknesses and problems have also been exposed to them...

In particular, the Argentine main players, who felt the lack of rotation, were not as active in running in the third group match as in the first; in contrast, the main players of the Italian U20 team had a physical advantage of at least one game due to rotation (except Li Qi...), and this factor may be the deciding factor in the next game.

It was Casiraghi's turn to ask Li Qi about Messi...

Is this a big deal? Thanks to Messi's amazing performance in the future, all of Messi's information has been dug up and studied thoroughly, including several other players in the Argentina U20 team and several key teammates of Messi in the future; Li Qi briefly recalled the memories from the future that he had sorted out before and began to tell the story:

"Lionel Messi (LionelMessi), nicknamed Leo, was born on June 1987, 6 in Rosario, Santa Fe Province, Argentina. He is a forward on the field, but he often retreats to the midfield to take the ball or organize an attack."

"Height 170cm, actual data should be slightly shorter than this; weight should be around 65kg, left foot is dominant; last season I started to practice my right foot..."

"But as far as I know, his right foot is not accurate enough. It can only be used to assist in dribbling or shooting. The accuracy of passing or dribbling is poor."

"Last season, he made nine appearances for Barcelona's first team and scored one goal, breaking the club's record for the youngest goalscorer at the age of 9 years, 1 months and seven days."

"The overall style is solid basic skills, delicate footwork, first-class dribbling skills, practical dribbling moves, superb scoring ability, and better offense than defense."

"His technical characteristics are quick start and dribbling is his most powerful technique. Through small steps and high-frequency ball control, as well as precise touch adjustment, flexible movements, and extremely high body coordination and balance, he can often perform a good show of passing several people in a row - this must be focused on defense."

"In addition, Messi has a good sense of the ball, first-class control of the ball, and excellent short-distance explosiveness - but absolute speed is not his strong point."

"When defending Messi, you have to pay special attention to his ability to dribble past opponents with his feet, his ability to change direction against all odds, and his pace and frequency of touching the ball, which are world-class."

(Leach also emphasized: "This is really world-class." Casiraghi: "So amazing? Okay...")

"So it's difficult to prevent him from dribbling past the defense, but it's something we have to limit him."

"Messi also has weaknesses. He is relatively weak physically. You need to be physical to defend him, and his physical fitness is also a shortcoming. You can consume him through fighting and fouling, and rarely participate in returning to defense to cut off the passing route to him. His passing technique is not very good at the moment, but you have to be careful of his long-range shots. His power is not excellent but he is quite accurate, so you can let him pass and use his right foot to defend against his long-range shots, dribbling and left foot..."

"In addition, I also have some information to share about the defensive midfielder Biglia of the Argentina U20 national team."

"Lucas Biglia was born on January 1986, 1. He is 30 meters tall and weighs about 1.78 kilograms. He is a defensive midfielder. His dominant foot is right and his inverse foot accuracy is also poor."

"Biglia's technical characteristics are accurate passing and fierce defense; but he likes to make tackles when defending, which makes him prone to getting cards. This is something we can take advantage of."

"In addition, Biglia's physical fitness is not outstanding among defensive midfielders; and Biglia likes to make long passes because he is confident in his long pass accuracy - so we should consider forcing him to make more long passes."

"So for Biglia, we should let him dribble; defend his right foot and long shots, put pressure on him, let him make more long passes to organize the attack; this way we may be able to win the ball back more easily."

“Also, be careful to defend Biglia’s long shots and short- and medium-range set pieces.”

"After talking about Biglia, there is also the situation of the captain of the Argentina U20 team, Zabaleta. I wonder if I should talk about it or not?"

(Casillagi: "Well... OK... I've got it all written down in my little notebook... but you can tell me anyway...")

"Pablo Zabaleta was born on January 1985, 1 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He plays as a right back, but in this tournament he mainly plays as a right midfielder. He is 16cm tall and weighs about 176kg."

"…The main problem is that the offense is strong but the defense is weak…" (several hundred words omitted)

"And Gabriel Paletta..."

"And Fernando Ruben Gago and others..." (Omitted thousands of words again...)

"Although this Argentine team is skilled in footwork and aggressive in tackling, its shortcomings are also obvious. It has not yet formed a good chemistry, and it often works alone. It is strong in offense but weak in defense and is prone to losing position. Physical fitness is not their strong point either..."

"…So my personal suggestion is that the team should consider high-pressure pressing or positional attack, compressing the space in the middle, blocking the pass to Messi, and if they want to commit a foul, try to do it in advance away from the penalty area, forcing Argentina to play long passes or cross from the wing…"

"We can consider threatening Argentina's goal more through set pieces, but we can use the first and second highest points as a cover and make full use of the height difference between the third and fourth highest points..."

"We should consider using up more of their opponent's energy in the first half, and then bring in new players to speed up and overwhelm them in the second half..."

"In addition, for this game, I strongly recommend..."

Casiraghi couldn't help but worry after hearing such a detailed and abnormal analysis: "... Li Qi, did you steal the coaching and scout reports from Barcelona?"

Li Qi would definitely not admit it: "Of course not! Don't worry, I'm not a criminal; I'm just a fan of Argentina, I like them, so I studied it seriously..."

Casiraghi thought: Yes, criminals are not as perverted as you... You call this research? I know them better than their mothers. But he said: "Okay, your analysis will be very helpful for our coaching staff to plan the tactics for the next game. Thank you!"

Li Qi originally planned to write a detailed report about the Argentine U20 team and submit it to the coaching staff, but then he thought, no, he can't leave such perverted evidence. What if someone digs it out and studies it later?

It's too dangerous. Let's just tell him orally. Casiraghi can only understand as much as he can. Anyway, if he is asked later, he will say he can't remember clearly. It was the head coach who had foresight, foresight, foresight and foresight, who planned and won the game from afar...

Comparing the two sides, Casiraghi was so lucky that he could almost finalize the starting lineup immediately. The only thing to consider was the arrangement that Li Qi strongly suggested at the end...

Casiraghi is also a little worried: Is it a bit risky? Let's discuss it with the coaching team tomorrow...

Argentina's head coach Ferraro is still struggling to find videos... He will have to work overtime tonight and tomorrow to watch videos... Fortunately, there are still three and a half days to prepare...

……

Li Qi also complained: "I am also miserable! I still have to do homework and write code! Please give me more support!"

……