Chapter 21 Preparing for the 18 finals, Western Duck

Shortly after Italy took the lead again, when the game reached the 70th minute, Casiraghi replaced Nocerino, who had performed very well in this game, with Lazzari.

After all, Nocerino, who was possessed by Gattuso, had a yellow card and retired successfully. He had covered a large area and had run more than 70 meters in just 8000 minutes. He was almost out of breath...

Substitute Lazari, a new player, to maintain the running intensity, and replace Li Qi to defend Messi. There is still room for yellow cards to foul at critical moments. Let Li Qi return to the middle to organize the team, which makes people feel more at ease...

The Argentine team also made substitutions at the same time, replacing two players at once.

No. 9 Vitti and No. 11 Armenteros came on to replace No. 20 Oberman and No. 15 Alchubi, who were both unable to run and did not perform much in this game. Both were positional substitutions.

Ferraro also hopes to bring in new players to increase the intensity of running and pressing...

But almost all of Argentina's team couldn't run anymore. If there were not enough substitutions, Ferraro might have needed to replace a whole team at once...

Except Messi, we dare not and cannot replace Messi. It depends on whether he can have another flash of inspiration and score another goal to catch up!

But Argentina's performance has not improved at all. This is a problem of the team's speed dropping sharply, and it cannot be solved by changing one or two points...

Unless, the replacement is two Messis...

Otherwise it would be difficult, and Italy played very steadily and continued to suppress Argentina in the half.

Argentina occasionally made long passes from the backcourt or goal kicks to the frontcourt, but all of them were intercepted by the two aerial masters of the back line, Koda and Canini, and passed to Li Qi in front of the back line...

This Li Qi is really an experienced football player. He didn't make any mistakes in handling the ball throughout the game. He was very steady in holding the ball, and passed the ball very accurately. He was always able to distribute the ball to the empty space in time...

Ferraro sighed, knowing that the situation was hopeless, but he still had to do his best and leave the rest to fate.

In the 77th minute, the last substitution was used, and No. 17 Gago replaced Cardoso, who was already unable to run and had a yellow card...

After Gago came on, he joined forces with Vitti and Armenteros, who had just come on, to put pressure on the Italian team. Although the other Argentine players' physical strength was quickly running out, they could only muster their remaining courage to support them, hoping to equalize the score as soon as possible.

But as soon as Argentina pressed forward, Italy immediately took advantage of Argentina's reduced running ability in the midfield and backcourt, and almost seized the opportunity to score another goal and completely kill the game...

After Koda received the pass from the goalkeeper, he passed the ball forward before Vitti got close to him. Li Qi received the ball in front of the central defender and turned around. He simply used a fried meatball technique he learned from Xiaobai to avoid Gago who was too aggressive in stealing the ball.

After Li Qi dribbled two steps, he saw Gago and the substitutes No. 9 and No. 11 were about to surround him, so he passed the ball forward steadily to Montolivo.

After receiving the ball, Montolivo passed it to Lazari on his side, leaving Biglia empty-handed.

Lazari calmly handled the ball, passing it diagonally to Rossi who switched to the left and cut in from the wing...

Rossi knocked the ball to Pelle in the middle without stopping the ball. The latter understood and knocked the ball without stopping...

The commentators on the TV broadcast began to make their startled comments again:

"What a great shot! A classic wall-to-wall pass that broke through Argentina's defense!"

"Rossi has a one-on-one chance!"

"Ah... Cabral keeps pulling at Rossi's clothes and won't let go."

"This is a tactical foul that deserves a red card. This is Argentina's last defender..."

"The referee only showed a yellow card, which was too light. The ball was a one-on-one opportunity..."

The commentator on the TV broadcast was also very neutral and objective in defending the ball. Rossi and Pelle's simple collision cooperation broke through the right defense of Barroso and Cabral. Barroso already had a yellow card and dared not kick, so Cabral could only be blamed for the foul...

This free kick, about 35 meters away from the goal, was handled by Li Qi, who kicked it towards the back of the goal again...

This time it was the turn of Lazari who had just come on as a substitute. Lazari, who was lurking at the back post, had already positioned himself and was about to jump up and head the ball...

This time Ustari learned from experience and knew that he couldn't wait for Italy to successfully pass the ball with a header, so he attacked directly!

He risked a single punch in front of Lazari's face, and with a Lushan Shenglongba, he almost knocked the ball out of the sideline...

Fortunately, Italy's two consecutive attacks made Argentina's defense break into a cold sweat again.

So Argentina retreated again, adopting a more stable mode of wing advancement and half-court defense... and then the initiative of the game was handed back to the Italian team.

In the 85th minute, Casiraghi used up his last substitution, replacing Pelle, who had been fighting with the Argentine central defender throughout the game and whose physical strength had obviously declined, with Cigarini. He changed the formation to 4-4-2, leaving Rossi and Cozzolino in the frontcourt to counterattack...

The Italian midfield, led by Li Qi, Lazari and Montolivo, firmly controlled the ball.

At the last moment, Messi secretly accumulated strength and wanted to burst out and sneak attack, but Messi, lacking the cover of his teammates, was forced to take a long shot with his left foot 30 meters away from the goal under the double defense of Li Qi and Lazari...

To be honest, the speed of this long shot was pretty good, and the angle was also okay. It also hit Koda's foot and refracted, but it was still too far away. The ball changed direction and bounced high, and was easily caught by Viviano in the middle...

This was also the end of Argentina's last offensive. After that, with less than 5 minutes including the extra time, the ball was firmly under the control of the Italian team.

It was the Italian football philosophy that they would rather arrange a good defense than take risks. Otherwise, Li Qi felt that there was still a chance to score another goal...

"Beep!" With a long whistle from the referee, the Italian team defeated Argentina 2-1 and advanced to the top 8 of this World Youth Championship!

Li Qi looked at Messi with a melancholy expression, and quickly walked over to exchange jerseys with him!

Hey, this jersey will be worth a fortune in the future! Take it home, wash it and frame it...

Li Qi patted Messi on the shoulder in a friendly manner and said, "Leo, it seems that we are luckier."

Messi also couldn't hide his disappointment: "Ricardo... congratulations to you, you are very strong, I hope you can win the championship..."

Li Qi, who took Messi's jersey, said: "Thank you, Leo, you have to work hard too, see you at the club."

Messi also imitated Li Qi and put the exchanged jersey on his shoulders: "Well, see you at the club..."

……

At the press conference after the game, the head coach of Argentina U20 team, Ferraro, said with some regret: "This was a wonderful game, which can be said to be a final played in advance. Both sides performed well in offense and defense... Italy had better luck... Of course, our players worked hard throughout the game. If we had better luck, then perhaps we would have entered the quarterfinals... I wish Italy good luck..."

Italy U20 national team coach Casiraghi was a little excited: "Yes, this game is definitely the pinnacle of this tournament... We successfully restricted Argentina's attack... If we had better luck, there might be a lot of goals... Well, we gained confidence to advance... I also wish Argentina good luck."

Rossi, who scored the goal that broke the deadlock in this game, won the best player of the game with his active performance throughout the game, and finally broke Li Qi's monopoly on the best player!

……

In the knockout match that started at the same time in the Dottihem zone, Nigeria defeated Ukraine with a score of 1-0.

There will be two evening matches later, which are the last two matches of the round of 16 knockouts, with the Netherlands facing Chile and Spain facing Türkiye.

The host of this World Youth Championship, the Netherlands U20 team, advanced to the knockout stage as the top of Group A with three wins in the group stage, while the Chilean U20 team ranked third in Group C with one win and two losses in the group stage, and won a place in the top 16 as the third in the group with four best results.

Just three minutes into the game, Ryan Babel, who has joined the Dutch national team, broke the deadlock. The striker, who plays for Ajax, received a quick free kick from defender Tiendalli, broke into the penalty area and shot into the top corner with his right foot to score the first goal, giving the game a dream start.

At the end of the first half, the Netherlands led Chile 1-0 and went into halftime.

The pace of the game was a bit slow in the second half. In the initial stage, the Chilean team launched a certain degree of counterattack. Among them, Yara's free kick from 20 meters away was quite threatening, but the ball was finally blocked by goalkeeper Vermier.

After Chile's counterattack failed, the tempo and situation of the game were gradually controlled by the Netherlands team, which had greater technical and physical advantages.

In the 64th minute, Dutch striker Abeye shot from the edge of the penalty area, but the ball was blocked by Chilean goalkeeper Espinosa with his chest.

But in the 72nd minute, Abeye got another chance and finally seized it. He received Babel's pass, cut inside and shot low into the far corner to help the team extend its lead to two goals.

In the 80th minute, Collins-John, who came on as a substitute for Abeye for three minutes, received a pass from Wicken and shot into the goal to lock the score at 3-0.

The Netherlands finally eliminated Chile with a score of 3-0 and entered the top 8 of this World Youth Championship.

At the press conference after the game, Chile coach Surantay seemed quite generous about the loss: "I am proud of my boys. They played at their best level. We fought hard with the opponent on the field until the opponent scored the second goal..."

It is unclear whether the Dutch coach De Haan was showing off or being more demanding: "... We were a little nervous at the beginning, and things got worse after the goal, but as the game progressed we stabilized, gradually took control of the situation, and played the game our way..."

The other match is between Spain, which won all three games in the group stage and advanced as the top of Group C, and Turkey, which was in the same group as China in the group stage.

Turkey finished third in Group B due to its lower goal difference than Ukraine, but still qualified as the third-best team in the four groups.

Throughout the game, Türkiye was firmly led by Spain and did not get many opportunities.

On the contrary, Spain took the lead in the 28th minute. Juanfran, the star player of the Spanish U20 team, received Llorente's header and headed the ball into the goal, scoring the first goal.

In the subsequent game, Llorente and Juanfran teamed up to cause a lot of trouble to the Turkish team's defense.

In the 36th minute, the Turkish defense made a mistake and Juanfran shot into the empty goal before the Turkish goalkeeper Ozcan, scoring his second goal.

In the first half of the game, Spain led Türkiye 2-0 into the halftime break.

In the second half, the Spanish team still controlled the pace of the game.

In the 69th minute, Roberts headed the ball into the goal from a corner kick to seal the victory...

Türkiye's counterattack was also futile.

In the end, with the same score as the Netherlands' victory over Chile, Spain also defeated Turkey 3-0 and advanced to the top eight of this World Youth Championship.

After the game, Spain's head coach Inaki Saz also said happily: "... I have been coaching the Spanish youth team since 1996... We have a good tradition and excellent historical record, and our young men are also very good, completely inheriting the glory of their predecessors... I hope we can continue to perform well and go further in this competition..."

……

随着16强淘汰赛最后两场比赛的结束，2005年荷兰世青赛的8强以及1/4决赛的对阵名单也新鲜出炉了：

6月24日，17：30分，乌德勒支赛区，美国U20对阵摩洛哥U20。

6月24日，20：30分，蒂尔堡赛区，德国U20对阵巴西U20。

6月25日，15：30分，凯尔克拉德赛区，尼日利亚U20对阵荷兰U20。

6月25日，20：30分，恩斯赫德赛区，意大利U20对阵西班牙U20。

In this quarter-final match, the highlight on June 8th is the match between Germany and Brazil; and the focus match on June 6th is naturally... Nigeria vs. the Netherlands, the host country quarter-final match!

Whether it is the Italy-Spain match or the Spain-Italy match, the attention it receives in the Netherlands is definitely not as high as that of the host country's Orange Army.

However, there are media outlets that are looking for good news... mainly Italian and Spanish media, which are making a big fuss about this game, saying that this game is an early final and a peak showdown (are there so many final combinations?), and that there are also grudges and hatred mixed in it...

主要是因为两队在一年前欧洲U19青年锦标赛决赛中曾经有过交锋，当时意大利队凭借李奇2球1助的神奇表现以3比1的比分战胜西班牙队从而夺得欧青赛冠军。

There has only been a one-year gap, and the main members of both teams have not changed much, so this battle is undoubtedly a battle of revenge for the Spanish youth team.

As for who the media is more optimistic about?

Of course, the Italian media is overwhelmingly optimistic about Italy. The Italian team, which just defeated the favorite to win this year's championship, Argentina, is in the best condition, with excellent offense and defense, and a mature and stable technical and tactical style of play (completely disregarding the fact that it is a youth team), and will be able to firmly control the situation and defeat the Spanish team.

The Spanish media are of course overwhelmingly optimistic about the Spanish U20 team. They have won all four games since the start of the tournament, scored 4 goals and conceded only one goal, making them the best team of all teams. They are excellent in both offense and defense, and have a mature and stable technical and tactical style of play. They will definitely be able to firmly control the situation and defeat the Italian team.

(I don’t know who copied whom from the Italian media…)

What do the media in other countries think?

Well, the local media in the Netherlands: "... (long-winded and unbridled praise of the advantages and strength of the Dutch U20 team) The Dutch team will definitely defeat the Nigerian U20 youth team to enter the semi-finals and eventually win the championship... Well, one of the knockout matches is between Italy and Spain, and it is estimated that the two teams will be evenly matched in a tense battle..."

German media: "... Although the German team only entered the knockout stage as the third in the group with a better performance, they gradually found their form in the 1/8 finals... I hope they can perform at a better level in the finals that will be held in advance this round and defeat Brazil... Well, one of the knockout matches is between Italy and Spain, and it is estimated that the two teams will be evenly matched in a tense battle..."

(I still don’t know who copied whom…)

Brazilian media: "Although Brazil only scored three goals in the three group matches, they found their rhythm as soon as they entered the knockout stage and defeated their opponents 3-3, proving that Brazil's offensive power has fully recovered... They will definitely beat Germany and win in this early final... Well, one of the knockout matches is between Italy and Spain, and it is estimated that the two teams will be evenly matched in a tense battle..."

(I really don’t know who copied whom…)

Anyway, everyone just made a few simple comments without any bias... After all, it was a match between the U20 youth team and the media didn't care about the match between the adult team.

……

Although Li Qi knew that the next opponent would be Spain on the night of the game.

However, it was not until the next morning when the training session resumed and the coaching staff officially announced the relevant situation that Li Qi officially learned about the opponent Spain...

Then that afternoon, the Italian and Spanish teams went from Emmen to Enschede to prepare for the match...

Li Qi complained in his heart: "…Why bother? How good is it to continue playing in Emmen?! Both our teams are here… Hey, it’s affecting my shopping and eating. I haven’t even had a good look around Emmen yet…"

Well, no, it affected my homework and study. I wasted time on the road! Mom, it’s all the fault of the organizing committee…”

……

On the bus, Li Qi flipped through the textbook and thought:

"It's only three days until the quarter-finals, and there are only two days left to prepare...

It's so stressful!

I have to hurry up tonight...

Let’s play a few games of Victory 11 and beat them up to calm down…”

……