Chapter 249: Qualifying for the European Qualifiers still depends on friendly forces, next (explosiv

Most of the first half had been played. Although Ukraine was forced to press forward and leave Italy with a lot of room for counterattacks, and Italy also successfully created some opportunities, but in general, Ukraine, playing at home, was in high spirits and their defense and blocking were timely, and did not leave Italy with particularly good chances to win.

It was not until the 40th minute of the game that Li Qi cheated and discovered the trick that Timoshuk was going to play on him. He took advantage of the trick and opened the door for Italy!

Seeing Li Qi retreating in the middle and preparing to receive Pirlo's through pass with his back, Timoshuk quickly exchanged glances with Gay and followed the secret plan they had just discussed, to outflank him and take him down together!

Just as Timoshuk approached Li Qi's right side, he found that Li Qi seemed to want to turn to the right after stopping the ball, and had already let the ball go half a body distance: This is a great opportunity! As long as he dived over and got in position, he could definitely cleanly intercept the ball from the feet of the damn No. 17 kid, and directly give the ball to Sheva for a counterattack!

Timoschuk even imagined in his mind the scene of the whole team celebrating after their team scored a goal in a counterattack, so he dived without hesitation, throwing his whole weight forward to occupy the right side of Li Qi's back and stealing the ball from his feet.

But this was exactly Li Qi's first trick. He was waiting for the lonely uncle to pounce on him regardless of the consequences, just like a pervert who sees a half-covered beauty and falls into his trap without any hesitation.

Li Qi used the outside of his right foot to flick the ball and pretended to turn right. He had only turned halfway when he felt the fish had taken the bait. Naturally, he could not wait for Lonely Uncle to get in position. He stepped on the ball and pulled it back in advance, moving it to the left side of his body and causing Lonely Uncle to stumble.

But Gay on the other side was excited. Isn't this a case of the mantis stalking the cicada while the oriole is waiting behind? The unlucky No. 17 dodged the uncle's pounce on the right side, so didn't he put the ball on his side?

Opportunity! Damn it! Gai has also seen the whole team celebrating the goal in the counterattack!

However…Gayi, who also dived forward, was surprised to find that the ball, which he had just given up half of its shadow, was gone: Huh?! Where’s the ball?

After Li Qi pulled the ball back with his right foot, he faked a left shoulder swing, pretending to turn left again to deceive Gayi's center of gravity, but he stepped on the ball and directly did a Cruyff turn. The half right turn was fake, and the half left turn was also fake, and then he turned 180 degrees on the spot, which completely passed the Ukrainian midfielders who rushed to his left and right sides!

At this moment, the center of the Ukrainian penalty area was wide open. Li Qi turned around and faced the Ukrainian goal directly. There were only two Ukrainian central defenders and Acuna in front of the goal.

However, in this situation, Li Qi, who had no intervention from the defensive midfielder, was confident because he had already had a plan and had tried it in the previous game.

Li Qi turned around and pushed the ball slightly to his right front, then took two big steps with the obvious intention of launching a powerful shot from the top of the penalty area.

One of the two central defenders of Ukraine, Jezerskiy, had to let go of Acuna, who was in the arms of his teammates, and rushed forward to block the long shot that might be shot from the dangerous area.

And the old scumbag Li naturally wouldn't just shoot from outside, it was just a fake shot and a real pass. Li Qi changed his pull to a push, and used his foot to pass the ball to Iaquinta who was blocking with his back to the front of the penalty area. The latter naturally understood what he meant, and after receiving the ball, he made a wall-to-wall cooperation with Li Qi, sending the ball behind the diving Jezerski, and he also leaned hard against another central defender to prevent him from making up for the defense.

It is said that the real center forward has to make the pass, and this pass is much better than Daniele's guest appearance in the previous game, very comfortable and just right. Li Qi did not think about feeding the ball back, because Iaquinta was still entangled with the central defender behind him, and it was obviously not convenient to outflank and kill the ball. The goalkeeper Shovkovsky in front of him attacked too late, and he took the first step only when he was alone.

So Li Qi calmly avoided the defensive interception area that Shovkovsky might reach, and near the penalty spot in the penalty area, he gently pushed the ball into the lower right corner of the goal with his right foot...

The ball rolled into the net. In the last minute of the first half, Italy broke the deadlock and led the home team Ukraine 1-0!

Now Ukraine has completely fallen into a dead end...

There was no time to adjust in the first half. In the second half, the Ukrainian team, which was one goal behind and facing elimination in the qualifiers, launched a fearless and desperate counterattack; especially Gusev on the right, who was very active and suppressed Italy in the half.

However, it was the Italian team that first posed an offensive threat.

One minute into the second half, Li Qi grabbed a cross from Cannavaro, and played a wall-to-wall match with Ambrosini to get rid of the defense, then passed the ball directly to Iaquinta, who was lying in wait in the Ukrainian half. If Pirlo had played a long pass, it would have been in front of Iaquinta, but Li Qi still liked to play with his feet...

However, Acuna did not choose to wait for Li Qi to come in from behind, but instead cooperated with another former Udinese player in the frontcourt.

Finally, the taller of the two, Iaquinta, sent a half-high cross from the right side of the penalty area, while the other fast player, Di Natale, headed the ball 9 meters in front of the goal. Unfortunately, the latter's angle of leaning forward was slightly right, and Ukrainian goalkeeper Shovkovsky flew to the right to get the ball.

Li Qi was still secretly feeling sorry. If the two of them had been more patient and switched roles, they would probably have won. Then Pirlo personally gave Li Qi an example...

In the 49th minute, it was Ambrosini who protected the ball cleared by the Cardinals, and then the former passed the ball to Pirlo, who made a long pass and put the ball in the gap not far in front of Li Qi. Before Li Qi could spit out a word of "Fuck", he dodged the defensive player who was entangled with him, turned around and chased the ball.

Li Qi managed to protect the ball on the wing. Facing two Ukrainian defenders Tymoshuk and Kalinichenko who were chasing him, he dodged and feinted, and after protecting the ball, he passed the ball back near the baseline to Pirlo who was waiting at the edge of the penalty area.

Pirlo, who used Li Qi to slip past the Ukrainian defender, received the ball from Li Qi near the left corner of the penalty area and said to himself: "That's good!" Oh no, it was Ben De Foer!

Pirlo made a fake move by lowering his shoulders and then passed the ball back with his left foot. After dodging Gay who came hurriedly to fill the position, he calmly made a cross with his right foot.

This time, Di Natale, who was both tall and fast, did not miss the chance to shoot a half-high ball. He shook off the defense and leaned forward to shoot again from 6 meters in front of the goal. Pirlo's cross was headed out, which was the most helpless bounce for the goalkeeper. Shovkovsky could not react at all and could only watch the ball bounce and fall into the far corner of the goal.

Shortly after the second half started, Italy was leading 2-0! The whole world thought Italy had secured victory, while Ukraine had basically reached its destination...

As a result, Ukraine's pressing and attack became more fierce.

In the 53rd minute, Nazarenko volleyed the ball in the middle circle, and Li Qi could only duck his head to avoid it. The bald sheriff hesitated for a moment but didn't call a foul, after all, Li Qi was a little far away and ducked a little early. So the ball was carried to the left by the former, and Shevchenko used his speed to overtake, and Barzagli couldn't stop him at all. In a blink of an eye, the Ukrainian nuclear warhead inserted it behind the defense line.

Fortunately, Sheva's left-footed shot from a small angle 9 meters away from the goal on the left side of the penalty area was blocked by Buffon in time and went out of the baseline!

Ukraine, which was two goals behind, quickly made personnel adjustments. In the 55th minute of the game, the Ukrainian coach replaced two players, replacing Kalinichenko with Voronin and Nazarenko with Gladky. They changed to a three-forward game and did not intend to defend, but to attack with all their might!

At almost the same time, just 3 minutes later, Italy also made a personnel adjustment. Donadoni replaced Li Qi, who scored the first goal, with Perrotta!

Li Qi was also a little surprised when he saw the sign of substitution: Why is it me who is being substituted? It shouldn't be like this? Is it because I subconsciously flinched when I was hit by a headshot?

Li Qi obviously didn't have the status to refuse to leave the field or change the coach's decision to make a substitution, so he could only jog off the field...

Not long after Li Qi left the court, the offensive and defensive rhythm on the court suddenly became faster, which was not consistent with Donadoni's idea...

In the 63rd minute, Camoranesi made a cross from the right, and Shovkovsky barely managed to tip the ball over Iaquinta's head.

In the 65th minute, Barzagli's defense was flawed, and Shevchenko's volley with the outside of his right foot from 12 meters in front of the goal was blocked by Buffon! Then Voronin got the ball on the left and continued to organize the attack. Shelayev protected the ball and passed it to the right. Jezerski's volley from 25 meters in front of the goal went over the crossbar.

The score was changed again in the 69th minute, but this time it was the home team Ukraine that changed the score.

Voronin took the free kick from the right side and knocked the ball back to the front of the penalty area. Tymoshuk shoveled the ball into the penalty area, and Gusev's left-foot shot was blocked by Perrotta.

But the ball was not blocked, let alone cleared. In the chaos in the penalty area, Shevchenko showed the nose and reaction speed of a top striker. He grabbed the ball 10 meters in front of the goal, then turned halfway and shot with his right foot. The ball went through Buffon's crotch like a sharp arrow and went into the Italian goal!

Ukraine tied the score to 1-2! Only one goal left, with more than 20 minutes left in the game. The Ukrainians have not given up yet, there is still a chance!

Sheva also became the first Ukrainian to score against Italy. In the previous encounter between the two sides, the only goal Italy conceded was an own goal.

After Ukraine narrowed the score, the whole stadium was boiling, and the Ukrainian morale was boosted. Shevchenko quickly fished the ball out of the net and helped the Italians to set up in the center circle, hoping that the Azzurri would kick off as soon as possible. Facing the aggressive Ukrainians, Donadoni, who was worried about gains and losses, was extremely anxious and shouted at the players on the sidelines.

After the second kick-off, Ukraine pressed forward in a big way, constantly kicking the ball or making long passes into Italy's defensive hinterland, not caring about midfield organization or backcourt defense at all.

As a result, Ukraine, which only cared about the head but not the butt, suffered the consequences in the 79th minute of the game.

Ambrosini took a risky tackle and successfully made a lob pass near the center circle. Di Natale, who started from the midfield, made a forward run and successfully beat the offside trap.

Di Natale, who was in a one-on-one situation, stopped the ball with his thigh and rushed into the penalty area in two or three steps. Facing the attacking Shovkovsky, the former calmly pushed the ball into the lower right corner of the goal with his right foot from 11 meters in front of the goal. Di Natale scored twice!

The Italians changed the score again, 3 to 1! The dawn of victory reappeared in Italy's front.

Italy then made consecutive substitutions to ensure the physical strength and defensive enthusiasm of the players on the field. Ukraine made a desperate attack at the last moment, and the Italian team retreated across the board to maintain the victory.

After scoring the goal, Donadoni immediately replaced Camoranesi with Oddo as right winger. A few minutes later, he replaced Iaquinta with Aquilani. All the players retreated to defense, leaving only Di Natale to counterattack in the frontcourt.

In the last ten minutes of the game, the Ukrainians fought desperately, but it was obvious that they were powerless.

Although Ukraine coach Blokhin also played his last card, anyone with a discerning eye could see that the Azzurri's two-goal lead again completely broke the home team's psychological defense. After all, scoring two more goals to overtake is still within the realm of possibility for Earthlings, but scoring three more goals in a row to overtake is something that only exists in the legends of aliens...

In the end, the Italians managed to win the away game 3-1 without any danger.

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