Chapter 215: Group stage of the European Under- Championship in the Netherlands, Part

After Li Qi scored twice, the Serbia U21 national youth team completed the substitution of Drukkovic, but also missed the best opportunity to adjust tactics because the Italian U21 team had already reversed the score to 2-1.

Delincic and Rakic, who came on as substitutes, brought a tactical adjustment plan from the Serbian coaching staff and rearranged the defensive and offensive tasks.

The Serbian defense, which most likely understood the head coach's response strategy, stabilized a little. Ivanovic was responsible for interfering with Pelle, and Tosic filled in. At the same time, Smjanvic and Milovanovic recovered to be responsible for the two-point protection in front of the penalty area.

However, Li Qi did not think that the young Serbian U21 players who lacked the systematic tactical literacy of the adult team could successfully deal with this troublemaker tactic with a simple temporary adjustment on the field. The fact that the tactic had just achieved amazing results had already proved that the Serbian U21 team had not systematically trained how to deal with this kind of standing center style before the game.

Although this tactic has many shortcomings, for example, after only ten minutes of hand-to-hand combat, the sweaty Pellet was already panting like a bellows, but Li Qi still believed that this tactic would be effective as long as it continued, and it only needed a change of rhythm...

Moreover, we only had time to respond after Italy overtook us, which was indeed a bit late.

Seeing that Serbia made adjustments to the attacking midfielder and striker positions without increasing the number of players but simply replacing them with substitutes with more physical strength, Li Qi knew that Serbia was no longer able to fight back and only wanted to fight symbolically.

Then just hold on for now, oh no, hold steady, it will be more cost-effective to pull back and counterattack.

So Li Qi switched positions with Montolivo and moved to the middle to organize the situation. He first passed the ball back to stabilize the formation for a few minutes, which was just enough to paralyze the opponent and make Serbia think that they would retreat and counterattack after overtaking the score. It also allowed Pelle, the troublemaker of the team, to catch his breath.

So Italy slowed down the tempo of the game and appropriately retracted the formation to give the Serbian youth team some room to move. However, Serbia did not have many ways to organize the offense, so it could only imitate Italy's previous tactics of stirring up trouble and constantly pass high balls to the new center forward Rakic.

However, lacking effective support from his teammates and eager to show off, Rakic ​​headed some of the rare crosses away or passed them to Italian goalkeeper Viviano.

And just like that, time passed quickly, and it was almost the end of the game, which was only about 10 minutes including the extra time. Before that, although Serbia had two more shots on target, the number of shots that were really threatening was still Dandan.

Italy still maintained nearly 60% of the ball possession rate. Li Qi also observed that Pelle seemed to have recovered and could try to secure the victory in the final stage of the game and not leave Serbia any chance to create an accident or miracle.

So Li Qi tried again to avoid the dense defense of the Serbian double defensive midfielder in the middle, and once again passed the ball to Pelle at a 45-degree angle from the side. Although Serbia had a certain division of labor and response plan, the actual implementation was still full of accidents, especially at the end of the game, when most of the young players had exhausted their physical strength and relied on willpower to support them.

In the 83rd minute, Italy kicked the ball from the wing, Pelle headed the ball near the top of the penalty area, beating Ivanovic, and Serbian goalkeeper Kahriman got half a step ahead of Pazzini and shoveled the ball out of the sideline.

Then, in the 85th minute, Pellet sat deeper, caught Ivanovic in the corner of the small penalty area, and passed the cross from Montolivo to Rosina. Unfortunately, Rosina did not adjust well and was blocked by Serbian midfielder Smijanvic.

In the 87th minute, Ivanovic finally beat Pelle and managed to jump up and head the ball out. However, the ball went from the wing to the middle, just over the heads of the two Serbian midfielders, and headed to Li Qi who was waiting in the middle.

Li Qi received the pass from Ivanovic for the third time, but he had no time to express his feelings. He took advantage of the opponent's midfielder just turning around and once again made a realistic fake shot and dunk, once again deceiving the center of gravity of the two highly nervous midfielders in front of him.

However, Li Qi felt that it was not so much that he was deceived, but rather that he was exhausted and fell to the ground. No matter what, "A bridge is not afraid of being old, as long as it works well!" Li Qi, who had dodged the gap, was facing the goal and stepped on the penalty area line!

This was naturally a good opportunity to score. Facing the wide-open Serbian defense, Li Qi was about to shoot, this time with his left foot!

However, at the critical moment, the two central defenders of Serbia continued to come to the rescue bravely, flying tackles to block Li Qi's shooting line, and even the goalkeeper Kahriman threw his center of gravity in advance, ready to make a flying move!

So Li Qi, who had triggered the explosive point moment (just like the great reader friend reminded me, the bullet moment in the movie), saw two more people in front of him fall, and once again changed his shot to a dunk before touching the ball. Once again, it tells us, "A bridge is not afraid of being old, as long as it works!" Even if it is used repeatedly.

He hooked the ball from his left foot to his right foot and made a slight adjustment. When Li Qi entered the penalty area, there was no defensive player in front of him. Even the goalkeeper had lost his balance and was half-kneeling on the grass... So Li Qi gently pushed the ball to the side and fed a big cake to the beast in the penalty area who had worked really hard today.

Pellet naturally accepted the gift with a smile, stretched out his long legs, and sent the ball into the net. Then he turned around and lifted up Li Qi beside him, celebrating loudly!

Li Qi quickly asked Pellet, who was as rude as an ape, to put him down, otherwise it would turn into a mass dumping of corpses or a human tower. It would be no fun. At this moment, be low-key...

最终凭借着替补上场的李奇在30分钟内上演两球一助的统治级表现，意大利U21代表队以3比1的比分逆转了塞尔维亚U21代表队，取得了本届欧青赛的开门红。

After the game, Li Qi, who was undoubtedly named the best player of the game, was also a darling of the media. He was surrounded by the media in the interview area on the sidelines, and they all wanted Li Qi to say something about the game.

Well, the shrewd Li Qi naturally knew that now was the time to share the credit with everyone. Of course, he also had to praise his opponent first, otherwise an opponent who was too weak would not be able to show his strength, right?

"Well, the Serbian team is a very tenacious opponent and caused us a lot of trouble. The fact that they scored first proved their strength. If they had been luckier, I believe they could have made it to the end."

“Our teammates were great and stayed calm even when we fell behind. The coach’s adjustments were timely and effective, so we quickly worked together to tie or even overtake the score.”

"There is no doubt that we are a strong team and we are not afraid of any difficulties. I hope that we can continue to play as a team in the next games, work hard and play better and better."

"Of course, we still have many outstanding players who have not had the chance to play in this game. I believe they are already prepared and will shock everyone with their sharp performances in the next games..."

Because Li Qi's post-match interview template was so good, flawless and comprehensive, Casiraghi almost plagiarized Li Qi's speech in the post-match press conference, just changing some individual wording and adding a little bit of spice.

As for the guilt of plagiarizing the young players under his command? Can plagiarizing the science and engineering masters be called plagiarism? It can only be called serious reference and humble learning...

The first stop of Group B of the 2007 European Youth Championship in the Netherlands was also Li Qi's battle to establish his authority in the U21 national youth team. Regardless of whether they were truly convinced or just pretending to be convinced before, after this game basically the whole team was convinced on the surface.

He scored two goals and made one assist in just 30 minutes. And it was only later that we found out that the tactics of the "sticking king" were not arranged by the coaching staff, but were arranged by Li Qi on the spot. The most important thing is that Li Qi's last assist was obviously intended to feed the ball to Pelle, the younger brother of Toffees. So everyone wanted to replace Pelle, so that they could eat as much as they wanted on the court...

With the team leader successfully establishing his position, the coaching staff headed by Casiraghi were also happy to see it happen. After all, as long as Li Qi is not injured, not only the remaining games but also tomorrow's Olympics will depend on him. So the team is happily preparing for the second group match in three days against the England U3 team in an atmosphere full of confidence, unity and vigor.

On the evening of June 2007, 6, at the Gelder Stadium in Arnhem, the Netherlands, it was cloudy, the temperature was around 14 degrees Celsius, and the humidity was 20%, which was very suitable for a football match.

The Italian U21 team faced its second opponent in Group B, the England U21 team.

The England U21 team in white shirts and blue pants drew 0-0 with the Czech U21 team in the first match, so this match is crucial for the England U21 team. If they fail to win, they will not only lose the chance to advance as the group leader, but they may even lose the initiative to qualify from the group.

不过面对小组首轮3比1干掉对手的意大利U21代表队，英格兰国青队还是做出了比较大的首发阵型变化，从第一轮的4-3-3强攻阵型变成了4-5-1的防守反击阵型。

In addition, three defensive midfielders, James Milner, Mark Noble and Leo Cork, were deployed in the midfield to control the performance of Italian midfielder Li Qi. James Milner, who started as the right winger, was mainly deployed to prevent Li Qi from playing as the left winger like in the first round.

In addition, the England national youth team has two midfielders, namely left forward Ashley Young and attacking midfielder David Nugent.

The goalkeeper is Scott Carson, and as for A Moment of Romance, Joe Hart, the protagonist of Hartmon's kick, started on the bench as the second goalkeeper.

England's defense also included Justin Hoyte, who later naturalized to Trinidad and Tobago, Steven Taylor, Chinese star Sun Jihai's Manchester City teammate Nedum Onuoha, and golden left foot Leighton Baines.

The lone striker was the speedy forward Leroy Lita who later suffered an injury.

Also sitting on the bench were rising stars such as Gary Cahill, Kieran Richardson and Tom Huddlestone.

Generally speaking, due to problems with the English Football Association system, the England U21 team does not need to consider participating in next year's Olympics. Therefore, it is one of the teams with the highest proportion of players aged 84 among many participating teams, such as Leroy Litta, Leighton Baines, Justin Hoyte and Leo Cork who started the game.

Of course, the Italian U21 team's conservatism was also due to the fact that the elder brother should not laugh at the younger brother. However, the big victory in the first round and Li Qi's strong performance also gave confidence to Casiraghi, who was cautious and afraid of falling from the altar.

Not to mention that in the second round, when facing the European version of the traditional powerhouse China team, they dared to use a 4-3-3 attacking formation. They were finally able to relax and rotate some of the seniors in the 84-year-old group who did not perform well in the first round, allowing more Olympic-age players to play with Li Qi, accumulate experience and improve their skills.

Due to Cursi's injury, the starting goalkeeper for this game is No. 12 Viviano;

The starting back four made only a few changes at right back, with Olympic-age player No. 6 Marco Motta replacing Andreraghi;

The iron triangle in the middle of the midfield is still the same as in the first round, No. 4 Nocerino, No. 7 Montolivo and No. 8 Aquilani; Casiraghi still hopes that these three can help Li Qi share the pressure of transition between offense and defense, so that Li Qi can concentrate on organizing the attack in the enemy's dangerous area and destroying the city.

The forward trident is led by No. 10 Li Qi, who was so powerful in the last game, oh no, so powerful, partnered with center Pelle and right winger Rosina.

However, after the start of this game, Li Qi found that England is worthy of being the legendary Chinese team in Europe. Although such a comparison is a bit insulting (of course, the insult is to the England team), Li Qi still feels that the England National Youth Team has a luxurious all-Premier League lineup, but plays too timidly, and the midfield transition and offensive organization are as poor as they have been for more than a decade.

I really don’t know how Premier League teams became famous in the European arena. Is it really because of the empty talk from Fleet Street?

Li Qi still thinks that it should be attributed to the conservatism and blind command of the England coaching staff. The only midfielder who has the ability to break through and deliver ammunition to the front line is Ashley Young, and Ashley Young is good at crossing, but the center forward is Lita, who is only about 1.7 meters tall.

Including Nugent, who plays as a central midfielder on the surface but actually plays as a shadow striker, he is only 1 meters tall and not very strong.

This formation really wastes the left corridor for Ashley Young and Baines.

Li Qi, who originally switched positions with Rosina to play on the right, wanted to target England's left corridor, but after less than ten minutes, Li Qi felt relieved and decided to play as he wanted. This England team still played the long pass to Owen in 98. Unfortunately, although Michael Owen is not old, his condition has declined faster than an avalanche...

Facing such a cooperative sparring partner from England in this match, Li Qi decided to take his time and develop more tacit understanding with several new teammates, mainly Chiellini, Aquilani and Rosina.

This kind of running-in under formal and intense matches is not the effect that can be brought about by ordinary training; the main reason is that England played too conservatively in this game, which gave Li Qi more space to move back and forth in the midfield and backcourt, try to pass and cut, and he was not too worried about England's attack.

In fact, England's performance on the field was not as bad as Li Qi thought. Although the energetic England team adopted a defensive counterattack formation, the players on the field still played very actively. Strictly speaking, they should have been attacking against Italy.

So this is why Li Qi thinks the problem lies with the coach. I don't know what England coach Pearce is thinking. If he really wants to attack, he should use attacking players and set up England's traditional 4-4-2! I don't know who they are trying to defend by forcing three defensive midfielders. Let's talk about it first.

In fact, before Li Qi deliberately attacked, the Italian team took the lead in the 25th minute of the first half.

It was a corner kick from the left, and Li Qi's corner kick was originally aimed at Pelle in front, and England was also defending this point. At the corner of the small penalty area near the goal post, a circle of English defensive players gathered around the two big pillars of Pelle and Motta.

But with everyone so crowded, no one was able to catch Li Qi's high-speed curved corner kick. The ball brushed past the ears of Pelle and Onuoha and passed the front point. The Italian and English players who followed up in the middle were too close and the ball was too fast, so they didn't react in time, and missed the front point...

This gave Chiellini, who was lying in ambush at the back post, an advantage. This time the young Coco did not miss the ball again. Having learned from the lesson of the previous round, he did not shoot with force, but instead blocked the ball steadily with his thigh and sent it into the net on the far post side of the England U21 team.

Just like that, with a simple corner kick, the Italian U21 team led the English U1 team 0-21.

……