Chapter 206: European Qualifiers with Championship Atmosphere, Part
On the third day after the Spanish King's Cup, the Spanish Royal Football Association announced some important awards for this season's King's Cup. There is no doubt that the champion is Sevilla, the runner-up is Getafe, and the top scorer is Saviola of Barcelona, who scored 7 goals. However, the second place in the scorer list is Ricardo Liqi, who scored 5 goals. Liqi also won the double best titles of the King's Cup final and the best player of the season again after the UEFA Cup...
Therefore, the broadcast camera today kept giving close-ups of Ricardo's handsome face in the stands, and the broadcast commentary kept expressing how bright Ricardo's future is as a rising Italian star. However, it was also a little regrettable that due to the Spanish competition system, Ricardo hurried back to the national team and was in poor physical condition, so he was unable to play for Italy in this game...
However, Ricardo, who was watching the game seriously, was basically photographed with a gloomy face. It was unclear whether he was pretending to be cool, or was dissatisfied with his inability to play, or was worried about Italy's situation in the European Championship qualifiers...
Although Italy had always taken the initiative on the field, its traditional nature kicked in after taking the lead. To put it nicely, it was steady and conservative, but to put it bluntly, it was unenterprising.
Facing the amateur players of the Faroe Islands, the world champion Italian team failed to show overwhelming strength, and even allowed the Faroe Islands, which had conceded 6 goals and scored only one goal in the previous six games, to score the second goal of this European Cup qualifier...
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After the start of the first half, Italy quickly took the initiative on the field and launched continuous attacks in the middle of the half while suppressing the Faroe Islands.
And in the 13th minute of the first half, Italy broke the deadlock.
After Pirlo intercepted the ball on the left side of the midfield, he quickly turned around and made a long diagonal pass to the Faroe Islands' penalty area; Inzaghi leaned against the opponent's central defender J. Jakobsen and barely unloaded the ball with his right foot; although the ball stopped a little far from his body, Fried Chicken used his body to separate the ball from the opponent's defender, and faced the direction of the goal!
Faroe Islands professional teacher goalkeeper Mikkelsen quickly rushed out and fell to the ground to save the ball, but Inzaghi, despite losing his balance, still managed to hook the ball into the lower right corner of the goal with his left foot from 6 yards in front of the goal.
Just like most of Inzaghi's goals, there is no screaming gorgeous action, no exciting shot, just getting one step ahead of the goalkeeper and using the most reasonable action - although it may be a bit ugly or embarrassing, it can just happen to bypass the defense or the goalkeeper's blockade and easily send the ball into the opponent's goal...
Watching the ball rolling into the goal from the goalkeeper's feet at a not very fast speed, Italy took the lead 1-0!
However, after the Azzurri quickly took the lead, the game became rather dull for both teams.
The Faroe Islands' level of strength is naturally limited, and they cannot pose much threat to Italy's defense at all.
However, the Italian team, which was leading by only one goal, actually slowed down the tempo on their own initiative. Although they were still threatening the home team's goal, judging from the tempo in the first half and the nervousness of the players, most of the Italian internationals who had just finished the Serie A season obviously did not give their best, and the game was like an exhibition match.
Piero cut in from the bottom line and his shot was saved by the goalkeeper. Rocky's follow-up shot was blocked by the defender and went out of bounds.
Oddo made a cross from the right, and Inzaghi made a beautiful diving header from 7 meters in front of the goal. The ball hit the defender and went wide of the near post.
Pirlo took a corner kick from the right, and Materazzi headed the ball from 9 yards in front of the goal, but unfortunately the ball went wide of the far post...
However, in the second half, Italy quickly expanded its lead, and it was Inzaghi who stood out.
Less than 3 minutes into the second half, Gattuso in the middle of Italy passed the ball to the wing, Pirlo made a straight pass from the right, Diana went down the flank and sent a curved cross, Inzaghi, who was lurking at the back post, headed the ball from 7 yards away from the goal, and the ball went in near the post.
Even faster than the first half, in the second half Italy took a lightning-fast 2-0 lead over their opponents!
Just when the fans thought that Italy would finally get serious in the second half and start scoring goals, Italy, which had just scored the second goal, retreated and played their football leisurely. Donadoni also began to constantly adjust his troops and replaced some of the main players.
For example, Inzaghi, who had already scored two goals and was in hot form, was replaced by Quagliarella in the 55th minute. Then ten minutes later, Maresca replaced Rocchi. This was the Sevilla star's first national team debut!
Although he had been selected for the national team training camp before, by chance, Maresca was officially selected as the first choice for the national team only today.
However, Maresca, who was obviously eager to perform, had his old problem again. Although they were still in a tense championship period and had more systematic and intensive training, and were obviously in better shape than other Italian teammates, he was still too selfish and greedy in handling the ball, so Donadoni on the sidelines frowned and could not hide his disappointment.
In the 68th minute, Maresca received a direct pass from Pirlo, but instead of passing the ball to Quagliarella who was in a better position, he chose to break through and force a long shot, but the ball was deflected.
Then in the 73rd minute, Diana sent another straight pass to the penalty area. Maresca stopped the ball and turned around in one go, successfully getting rid of the defender who was slipping under his feet. However, facing the attacking professional teacher, Maresca chose a small-angle volley but the ball went off and hit the side net...
However, just when Italy thought it was in control of the war and was squandering its advantages and opportunities, the goddess of fate decided to teach the Azzurri a lesson.
In the 77th minute of the game, the Faroe Islands had their third offensive opportunity of the entire match. Their first shot on target went through the goalkeeper Buffon's goal. Italy's defense made consecutive serious mistakes in the opponent's cross from the right.
Tonetto did not press hard, allowing the opponent's midfielder to calmly pass the ball from the wing, and Materazzi actually missed the ball in front of the goal. Cannavaro behind him also did not mark him closely, allowing amateur striker R. Jakobsen from the Faroe Islands to head the ball into the goal from 9 yards in front of the goal.
The ball was headed out and bounced, and the rebound just passed Buffon's arm, which was unable to reach it, and flew into the near corner of the goal, 2-1!
After conceding the goal, Buffon was very dissatisfied with the defense and loudly scolded the World Cup champion defense that was seriously distracted and left people behind...
This goal was also the second goal of the Faroe Islands in this qualifying match. The home team didn’t care about winning or losing the game at all. As long as they could score against the world champions, it was enough to brag about it for the rest of their lives! So the players and the home fans celebrated like they had won the game, no, it should be like they had won the World Cup…
Donadoni then immediately replaced Materazzi, who had headed the ball in the front post, with Barzagli, and asked the team to continue pressing forward and try to continue to expand the lead.
Italy, whose score was close, became a little nervous and seemed to start to take the game seriously; Maresca also restrained himself and stopped thinking about playing alone. However, the amateur players of the Faroe Islands, who had gained confidence and morale, showed extraordinary fighting power in the final moments and fought back and forth with Italy.
In the 88th minute, Pirlo and Maresca cooperated. The latter cut back and broke through to the edge of the small penalty area and sent an inverted triangle pass. Piero, who followed up, faced a huge empty goal near the penalty spot, but he missed the ball and shot it wide.
After that, the Faroe Islands almost equalized the score. Holst, who came on as a substitute, received the ball in front of the penalty area and shot directly. The ball went through Cannavaro's crotch and refracted in a different direction. However, Buffon still correctly predicted the direction of the ball's flight, flew to the left and stopped the ball on the goal line, preventing an upset.
In the injury time, Oddo made a cross from the right and Piero missed the ball again. This time he shot the ball into the small penalty area. The shot was close to the goal and went straight into the stands! This made Ricardo and the fans in the stands cover their eyes and couldn't bear to watch.
Moreover, in the final moments, Diana made a mistake in passing the ball back without any pressure, and almost gave the opponent a chance to counterattack. Fortunately, Cannavaro made a timely move and made a tackle to defuse the danger.
Maresca's performance in this debut can only be described as barely satisfactory, but Del Piero, who missed opportunities repeatedly, definitely performed unsatisfactorily, and as for those who scored lower, it must be Diarra and Materazzi who kept making mistakes.
In the end, Italy managed to beat the Faroe Islands, a team composed of amateur players, 2-1. Although the process was not satisfactory, the three points were not fake.
After this round, Italy surpassed Ukraine and Scotland with 6 points in 13 games, and rose to second place in the Group B standings, only 2 points behind group leader France, and finally took the initiative to qualify for the group.
In the post-match press conference, unlike the Faroe Islands coach who was completely satisfied with the result and process of the game, Donadoni was very angry and focused on criticizing the team's poor shooting level and the players being too relaxed in such an important event: "We all know that if we can't seize the scoring opportunities, the Faroe Islands will cause us trouble. The result proved my worries... In fact, we only need to seize a small part of so many opportunities, and we can easily win four goals, or even more."
"If you can't convert your advantage into more goals, you'll have problems. We had a good start in the first 20 minutes, then the tempo slowed down and maybe we felt the game was too easy...Without speed, you can't really break the opponent's defense...Although we won the game, we should have ended with a higher score."
意大利在非友谊赛中的客场，已经很久没有大胜过对手了；最近一次3球以上的客场大胜还要追溯到1972年4比0客场战胜卢森堡；如果是友谊赛，最近的客胜大比分则是在2004年欧洲杯前对垒突尼斯打出的4比0。
Italy's playing style and football habits often cause them to slow down their offensive tempo after taking the lead, prioritizing defense and control, which makes it difficult to score a big score.
However, in an interview with the media after the game, Buffon still implicitly criticized his teammates for never concentrating when playing against weak teams. This is not good and it is easy to fail.
Captain Cannavaro also complained in an interview: "We attack too much, invest too many troops, and often only have two people in the backcourt. This is not acceptable, even for a small team."
Therefore, the media also suspected that the old international players and Donadoni had major differences of opinion on tactical arrangements.
However, just four days later, Italy will continue its journey in the European Championship qualifiers, and will play two consecutive away games. This time it is Lithuania's turn to visit. This game will determine whether Italy can maintain its second place in the group.
The unsatisfactory performance of the main lineup against the Faroe Islands has led the media to repeatedly ask Donadoni whether he will consider changing tactics and adjusting the starting lineup: "That's for sure. We still have a lot of good guys on the bench, especially Li Qi who just returned from the La Liga King's Cup final... In the next few days, I will observe the players' condition in training and let those who are in better physical condition play."
Ricardo, who followed the team bus back to the hotel after the game, was still complaining in his heart: Facing the Faroe Islands, the weakest team in the group, and the opponents were all amateur players, and there was no way to score a goal difference. Isn't this similar to a certain ancient civilization in East Asia? If at the end of the group stage, I accidentally need to check the score and calculate the goal difference, I will cry without tears.
Immediately afterwards, Ricardo received a lot of text messages from his friends, especially from his latest hot topic, Emma Watson: "Wow! Ricardo, you are so handsome! The director gave you a lot of close-up shots today. Are you acting so cool on purpose... Will you play in the next game? We are all paying attention to you, haha, we have all changed from being England fans to Italy fans..."
"Ah? Huh? The director gave a close-up of me in the stands today?" Ricardo realized it belatedly and couldn't help but feel a little scared.
"Luckily, I didn't ask Eva and Sofia to come with me, nor did I ask any girlfriends to join me. After all, transportation in the Faroe Islands is not very convenient, and there is nothing fun to do... It was a close call, I almost got exposed... Well, it seems that being too outstanding and becoming famous is not good, it is always easy to attract media attention..." After returning to the hotel room, the scumbag Li replied to text messages and talked on the phone one by one, and decided to be more careful in future dates.
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On the second day after the match with the Faroe Islands, the Italian national team moved to Kaunas, the second largest city in Lithuania, to prepare for Wednesday night's match, the second European Cup qualifier of this stage.
Lithuania and Italy have played against each other five times before, and although they have never won, they have always made Italy uncomfortable at home. In 5, Sacchi's world runner-up only won 1995-1. In 0, Trapp fought hard for 2001 minutes in the World Cup qualifiers and the score was 90-0, and they could only qualify in the subsequent match against Hungary.
Moreover, in the first match of this European Cup qualifier, Lithuania tied Italy 1-1 away from home.
There are also many players in the Lithuanian team who are familiar with Italian football and have good strength. For example, right-back Stankovicius has played for Brescia for many years, and forward Danilevicius once played for Livorno and joined Bologna last season.
In addition, before Italy's match against Lithuania, another group match in Group B of the European Qualifiers ended early, with Scotland defeating the Faroe Islands 2-0 away and overtaking Italy by two points. Therefore, Italy must win this match to regain the second place in the group.
So when announcing the starting lineup, Donadoni made big changes to the starting lineup for this game.
Zambrotta returned from injury and replaced Tonetto as left back. In the midfield, Diana, Gattuso, Rocchi and Piero all lost their positions, and Quagliarella, who made a short substitute appearance last Saturday, and Li Qi, Di Natale, De Rossi and Perrotta got opportunities.
Among them, Quagliarella started for the national team for the first time.
Italy's starting lineup was 4-1-3-2:
The goalkeeper is the No. 1 goalkeeper Buffon.
The left and right backs of the back line are No. 22 Oddo and No. 19 Zambrotta, and the double central defenders are still No. 5 Cannavaro and No. 23 Materazzi;
The single defensive midfielder is No. 10 De Rossi, and the three central midfielders are No. 20 Perrotta, No. 11 Li Qi and No. 17 Di Natale, among which Perrotta and Di Natale are on the two wings;
The two strikers are No. 9 Inzaghi and No. 27 Quagliarella;
The stars on standby on the bench are led by Del Piero, as well as Gattuso, Pirlo, Maresca, Gamberini, Pasquale and Abbiati.
At 2007:6 on the evening of June 6, 20, the home team Lithuania in yellow shirts and green pants and the visiting team Italy in blue shirts and white pants, the two teams' 45 starting players have lined up on the green field. The battle of Group B of the 22 European Cup qualifiers is about to begin!
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