Chapter 178 National Team Match Day, Part

Afterwards, Oddo's corner kick was headed out of the penalty area by Scottish defender Alexander. Scotland took the opportunity to launch a quick counterattack. Defender Naysmith rushed to the left side outside the Italian penalty area, received a long pass from Barry Ferguson, adjusted slightly, and then kicked the ball at a 45-degree angle. Brown, who had advanced to the center, did not have enough power in his header due to Cannavaro's interference. The ball was headed high and floated, and was easily caught by Buffon who jumped up.

In this way, Scotland quickly completed an offensive. I don’t know whether the Highland Corps handled the ball too quickly and carelessly, or whether the Scottish people played the essence of a quick counterattack. Anyway, a shot was made, but there was no threat...

Afterwards, it was back to Italy to organise the attack, but with Scotland pressing forward, Italy gained more room to manoeuvre in the midfield.

So around the 50th minute, Italy's midfield and backcourt, with the help of Li Qi's retreat, quickly snatched the ball from Scotland's siege and accurately delivered it to the feet of center forward Luca Toni.

After Luca Toni stopped the ball, he protected it with his back, then with his right foot, he made an accurate pass behind the Scottish defense line... Li Qi, who had connected the ball all the way from his own half, took a big step over the Scottish defense line and continued to move forward at high speed to catch up with the ball. This was an undisputed offside!

In Li Qi's home in Milan, Li Qi's family, who are die-hard football fans, gathered in front of the TV happily to watch Italy's European Cup qualifying journey. What was special today was that not only Li Qi's parents and brother, but even Uncle Charles brought his wife and children to visit and watch Li Qi's performance together.

Uncle Charles's son, who was still in elementary school, was the most excited. Seeing Li Qi rushing in, he excitedly jumped in front of the TV and cheered for Li Qi loudly with the commentator:

"Gattuso... Li Qi... Perrotta... Toni..."

"Tony is protecting the ball with his back to the goal, waiting for support from his teammates... Pass it straight!"

"There's a large open area behind Scotland's back line! Li Qi is cutting in at high speed!"

"Not offside! Absolutely not offside!"

"One-on-one! Facing the goalkeeper..."

"Oh! Beautiful! He dunked over Gordon who was attacking..."

"Ditch oooooh! Ditch oooooh! Ditch!"

"Li Qi received the pass from Tony and went to the match alone. He imitated Ronaldo's pendulum and dribbled past Gordon who was attacking at the edge of the penalty area. Then he calmly pushed the ball into the empty goal with his left foot at the corner of the small penalty area!"

"Scotland's formation was too high, giving Tony and Li Qi too much space..."

"But I have to say that Li Qi's series of performances, from the backcourt support, to the high-speed forward run to the frontcourt to beat the offside, and finally dribbling past the goalkeeper and shooting into the empty goal, were really wonderful! It even made people forget about Pirlo..."

"Li Qi's wonderful performance helped Italy lead 2-0 at home. The Scots should calm down and think about countermeasures. Simply defending or recklessly pressing forward will not solve the problem..."

Not to mention how happy the family members were when they saw Li Qi score the second goal of the game. Their celebration was much more fancy than Li Qi's celebration of covering his ears at the scene.

The Scottish team calmed down after being left with a two-goal deficit, regrouped, and even tried to slow down the tempo of the game by passing the ball back to the defense, looking for a way to reverse the passive situation. However, it was clear that Scotland's coach McLeish did not come up with any good ideas, and the game entered a dull tug-of-war for a while...

The head coaches of both teams made substitutions at the 60th minute of the game. For Italy, Donadoni replaced Perrotta with Di Natale, while Scotland replaced Till with Maloney.

Obviously, both Italy and Scotland wanted to maintain the intensity of running and attacking in the midfield, so the tactics and rhythm of both sides did not change much. Italy continued to defend and counterattack; while Scotland was afraid of Italy's counterattack and did not dare to press too hard, so they could only slow down the rhythm and send high balls from the backcourt, and attack Italy's steel defense through the back insertion of the midfield - but obviously the effect was minimal.

Li Qi was not in a hurry when he saw that Scotland did not attack. After all, they were leading by two goals and he had plenty of patience.

But just when Li Qi was about to continue to hide, he suddenly found an opportunity. As Scotland continued to attack from both wings, the Scottish midfielder's physical strength obviously declined, and the speed of their return trip could not keep up. The players who rushed forward to compete for the header would lose their position in a short time, and even Maloney, who had just come on as a substitute, could not make up for it.

So Li Qi quietly greeted Di Natale who had just come on as a substitute, and asked Di Natale to move to the middle to help him pass the ball. When Scotland made another long pass, Li Qi quickly retreated to participate in the competition for the second landing point.

Fortunately, when Materazzi overpowered Miller and headed the ball out of the penalty area, Li Qi triggered the explosive moment. He predicted the trajectory of the ball in advance, and the landing point would be in the direction of Gattuso and Barry Ferguson. It was expected that the two would definitely collide and fall in love with each other...

So, Li Qi was alert and ambushed in advance. As expected, Gattuso and Barry Ferguson both jumped up at the same time to compete for the second landing point of the rebound, but because they were too concerned about the struggle between each other, neither of them could control the ball...

Just as the two men fell to the ground in a panic and looked up to find the ball, a long leg stretched out in front of Gattuso, and under Barry Ferguson's surprised gaze, it easily hooked the ball away! The one who stole the peach, oh no, it was Li Qi who stole the ball.

As soon as Li Qi turned around after receiving the ball, he glanced at Maloney who was already coming to defend at high speed. After all, he had observed the positions of several Scottish defenders when the burst point was triggered before. He knew without thinking that this bad guy coming from the side was not holding back and must want to take both the player and the ball. If he really had no choice but to take both, he would definitely either keep the ball or the player...

So Li Qi didn't give Maloney any chance to get close to him. The moment he hooked the ball with his right foot and turned around, he pushed the ball with his left foot and sent it to Di Natale who was supporting in the attacking midfielder position. Then he took a step back to avoid Maloney's tackle.

Di Natale was also very clear when receiving the ball, and when the left back of Sugra stepped forward to cover the position of Maloney, he passed the ball directly behind him. Camoranesi made a high-speed run, intercepted the ball on the right side of the penalty area, observed and aimed slightly, and then sent a precise cross.

The ball just passed over the head of the Scottish center back and was intercepted by goalkeeper Gordon, and fell near the far end of the goal.

Luca Toni rushed over and headed the ball 4 meters away from the goal. It bounced and hit the near corner of the goal. In the 69th minute of the game, Toni scored twice and Italy won 3-0!

Not long after Toni scored the third goal of the game, Donadoni made another substitution, replacing Camoranesi with Pirlo, changing to a 4-3-2-1 Christmas tree formation with three defensive midfielders, trying the front and back dual-core tactics of Pirlo and Li Qi, but Italy's tactics thereafter focused more on controlling the rhythm and the ball.

On the Scottish side, McLeish also replaced McCulloch with Boyd. At the same time, Scotland's formation began to shrink. They should have given up the game and just wanted to avoid losing too badly. Miller was left in the frontcourt to see if he had a chance of luck.

However, Italy obviously did not give Scotland any chance. After Pirlo came on the field, Italy's midfielder's passing and controlling advantage became more obvious. Li Qi felt that the current Italian midfielder combination was not inferior to Barcelona's midfield combination in terms of passing and controlling ability. So Scotland obviously ran out of power and tactics, and even didn't touch the ball for a long time.

However, Italy did not continue to attack the visiting team aggressively, but rather controlled the ball near the midfield and passed it back. Of course, the threat of passing the ball back in this position was also very strong. Once Scotland pressed forward to steal the ball, or did not follow the dispatch, Li Qi or Pirlo would definitely make a decisive pass to help Luca Toni score a hat trick...

So the last 20 minutes of the game entered a calm garbage time. Most of the ball was at the feet of the Italian team. Scotland had few chances to get the ball and failed to create any scoring opportunities.

In the 84th minute of the game, both sides made their final substitutions. Beatie replaced Brown, and Sampdoria striker Quagliarella replaced Toni, making his first appearance for the national team. Li Qi's teammate Xiao Ma Ge's national team debut was destined to be delayed...

意大利将3比0的比分保持到了终场；成功获得三分的意大利与榜首的差距差距缩小到2分。但由于乌克兰主场击败立陶宛，意大利仍然排名小组第4；苏格兰、乌克兰以及轮空的法国均积12分。

However, after three consecutive victories, Italy, which has one game less, is only one win away from the top group. The away games against the Faroe Islands and Lithuania in June are the best opportunity for the Italians to overtake.

In this match, Italy defeated Scotland, the previous group leader, with 3 goals, showing some world champion qualities. It can also be regarded as the most exciting work of Donadoni in the 7 games since he took office. With this momentum, the competition in Group B of the European Cup qualifiers has just begun.

Italy's chances of qualifying are looking good again, and Donadoni finally smiled again at the press conference: "After a wonderful performance, we finally got the result we were looking for, and we couldn't ask for anything better than this."

However, Donadoni still regrets the first match of the group stage: "I now think back to the first round against Lithuania. If we had won in the end, and in fact we should have won, our current situation would be completely different. But in any case, let us celebrate this victory... We must all remember how well the players performed today, and the enthusiasm of the fans helped us..."

Scotland head coach McLeish said he accepted the defeat with all his heart: "I have no complaints today. We tried our best to attack and missed some opportunities. We did well in the first half, but we lacked a killer in front of the goal. After falling behind, the tempo and initiative of the game completely fell into the hands of the world champions..."

The best player of the game was Luca Toni who scored twice. After the game, Gazzetta dello Sport described him as Super Toni, pointing out that the 1-meter-tall center forward used two brilliant headers to not only help him increase the national team's total goals to 94, but also helped the Italian team successfully climb out of the quagmire.

However, more media focused on the tactical changes of the Italian team, especially the game in which Pirlo did not start, but they still won a resounding victory and the extremely convincing control process.

The most representative analysis was from the Corriere dello Sport, which Ricardo read repeatedly after the game:

“The home game against Scotland has become the new Italian coach’s style of play.

2005年3月26日，里皮上任的第8场比赛--世界杯外围赛的第5场，也是主场对阵苏格兰队的比赛，那场比赛正式确定了以皮尔洛和托蒂轴心的4-3-1-2打法。而此前的4场世界杯外围赛，意大利则是不断的围绕4-4-2阵型做文章，也正是对阵苏格兰的那场胜利才让里皮军团走上稳健出线的道路。

However, Totti was only halfway in the World Cup, so Lippi set up an Italy team with Pirlo as the core in the World Cup. Pirlo's dispatching and organization really revitalized the entire Azzurri. In the World Cup, Pirlo also contributed a goal and two key assists, and was one of the important contributors to the team's championship.

However, Donadoni's national team does not have Totti. In the life-and-death battle against Scotland, Donadoni encountered the same problem in the seventh game after taking office. In a nutshell, the national team in the Donadoni era must find its own tactical path.

Donadoni used three different formations in the first six games, and this game used the fourth one, which is the 6-4-2-3 formation that Roma has used in the past two seasons. The biggest highlight of this starting lineup is that Pirlo was abandoned and Li Qi replaced Totti, forming the Roma axis and Roma tactics.

From Lippi to Donadoni, also against Scotland, Italy lost two core players, Totti and Pirlo, but these two games still had the same five starters, Buffon, Cannavaro, Materazzi, Camoranesi and Gattuso. The player framework is actually similar, but they are different in their bones.

From this we can conclude that although this starting lineup for this game may not be the strongest Italy, it is definitely a reflection of the basic framework of the Italian national team in the Donadoni era.

The central midfield combination of this lineup is actually a trio of De Rossi, Gattuso and Li Qi. This trio was described by the Italian national television commentator as omnipresent and omnipotent.

Indeed, these three players are in excellent physical condition, with excellent stamina and running ability, as well as very strong confrontation. The presence of Li Qi makes up for the shortcomings of the trio's lack of technology and agility. They suppressed Scotland firmly throughout almost the entire game and did not give the opponent any chance.

This national team trio that imitated the Roma combination was definitely an enhanced version. Not only were their defense and confrontation abilities not inferior, but their running and organizational abilities were even better. All three goals in the game were scored by this trio...

So from the effect point of view, the earth is still turning without Pirlo, although it is hard to say whether it is running better, but at least it is not bad. The defense of this trio is tougher and their running ability is stronger. These three formed a tight protection in front of the Italian back line, and the Scottish team did not get any chances throughout the game.

而皮尔洛在第72分钟换下卡莫拉内西，意大利改阵型为圣诞树4-3-2-1，皮尔洛在加图索和德罗西中间打三后腰--这是里皮打世界杯的中场组合；李奇与迪纳塔莱则打双前腰，不过此时意大利已经3球领先了。

Pirlo came on the field to withdraw the center of gravity and further strengthen the midfield control. Of course, it was also to test the tactics of Pirlo and Li Qi as the double organizing core in front and behind.

Of course, Pirlo also performed well after coming on as a substitute, with a wonderful pass and a long shot. Of course, there was no pressure in the game at this time.

As for whether this match will change Pirlo's position in the national team? The so-called winning team does not change. But the European Cup is a bit special. After all, the competition cycle from the qualifiers spans three years, and there are several months between each national team match day.

Therefore, in addition to technical characteristics, it is more important for the head coach to examine the players' status in the league. If Pirlo wants to return to the starting lineup, he must play much better than he is now in the league. Otherwise, the core of Lippi's Italian team in the past may be marginalized in Donadoni's lineup..."

……