Chapter 31: African Eagle!
荷兰本地时间7月2日的7点30分许，经过刚刚3/4名决赛的预热，乌得勒支的加尔根沃德球场的现场气氛已经被炒作起来了！
As the final of this World Youth Championship, the stadium that can accommodate people was already full, and all the tickets were sold out the day before the game.
At this time, the stadium was playing very moving and uplifting background music, and the atmosphere in the stadium was also very warm. Fans were carrying flags and slogans of their respective teams and cheering for their teams.
The entire stadium was filled with an atmosphere of tension, excitement and anticipation, with everyone looking forward to the wonderful performance of the game and the final winner of the championship.
There were clearly three colors at the scene, blue for Italy, green for Nigeria, and the colors of a third group of fans who supported a more exciting game...
After Li Qi finished his rounds, he looked at the colorful auditorium and probably found the area where Pimenta helped him buy tickets...
But Ricardo seemed to be lost in the cheers of many fans, and couldn't find the girls who came from afar to cheer for him...
Or maybe he deliberately didn't find them. Anyway, Sarafina, Julian, and Chiara all felt that Li Qi seemed to have seen them. Just as they were about to step forward to say hello, Li Qi seemed not to have seen them and turned around to look for the next area...
The atmosphere at the scene was very noisy. No matter how we shouted at Li Qi, he seemed not to hear us. There were also many female fans calling out Li Qi's name...
"Humph! These scoundrels/ladder-scratchers/Fox Fuxi spirits are wearing flashy and revealing clothes. Be careful not to catch a cold..."
"Hmm? That pretentious woman seems a little familiar..."
The three girls were each thinking...
……
Li Qi quickly put aside his nervous and embarrassed mood, took a deep breath, and stopped thinking about what would happen after the game. He must win this game!
... and then take advantage of the chaos to return home! Don't do this again next time... It's too dangerous!
……
Players from both teams will enter the field early for this match, because compared to previous matches, there is one more pre-match activity, which is for the captain to introduce the team's starting players to the guests from the host country of this World Youth Championship, the Netherlands - the Dutch royal family and FIFA representatives.
As a genius who is proficient in Italian, Spanish, English, Chinese, Cantonese and Japanese, Li Qi is not very good at Dutch, which is a Germanic language, but it does not prevent him from pretending to be 6 at the last minute and introducing the starting players of the Italian U13 team in this final to the distinguished guests...
Italy's starting lineup for this game is a classic 4-4-2 formation, the lineup is as follows:
The goalkeeper is the agile beast in front of the goal, No. 12 Viviano!
The defensive line is lined up in a row, the left back is the left-wing madman No. 5 Criscito, the left center back is the steel wall and iron gate No. 14 Canini, the right center back is the air tyrant No. 4 Andreoli, and the right back is the right-wing god No. 2 Motta!
The central midfielder lineup is: left midfielder - the flying left wing angel No. 17 Bentivorio, right central midfielder is the interception machine No. 8 Nocerino, right central midfielder is the elegant football elf No. 7 Montolivo, and there is another left central midfielder, who is me - the prophet on the court No. 10 Ricardo Liqi.
Next is the forward line, consisting of the roaring beast No. 9 Pelle in the penalty area and the smart fox striker No. 11 Rossi!
The Dutch royal family and FIFA representatives smiled and shook hands with each other throughout the whole process. They also looked at Li Qi with interest and listened to Li Qi's nonsense and bragging...
The entire Italian team (except Rossi): ...(°ー°〃)
(Rosie thought to himself: ...Hmm, the nickname Spirit Fox Shadow Front is not bad...I can use it in the future!)
……
Nigeria also used a 4-4-2 formation, and the starting lineup was exactly the same as what the Italian coaching staff had guessed:
守门员是1号范泽金（86年7月13日，176cm，阿克瓦联）
The back line from left to right is: No. 3 Taye Ismaila Taiwo (April 85, 4, 16cm, Marseille, left foot, left back), No. 180 Ayodele Adeleye (December 17, 88, 12cm, Sparta Rotterdam, left foot), No. 25 Monty James (October 189, 5, 86cm, Bayelsa United, right foot), No. 10 Olubayo Adefemi (August 19, 188, 13cm, Happel, right foot);
The central midfield line from left to right: No. 19 Sani Keita (May 86, 5, 2cm, Sparta Rotterdam, left foot), No. 179 Mikel, No. 9 David Abouwo (May 14, 86, 5cm, right foot), No. 10 John Owoyeli (January 170, 20, 87cm, Feyenoord, right foot, future BJ Sports University star);
In front of the striker is No. 7 Obasi and No. 10 Isaac (Promise Isaac, December 87, 12, 16cm, Trabzonspor, right foot);
Apart from the goalkeeper, the only substitute striker on the bench was No. 11 Solomon Okoronkwo (March 87, 3, 2cm, German 184. Aue club, left foot) on standby.
The head coach is Samson Sasia, a 37-year-old young coach.
……
When the two teams shook hands, Li Qi clearly felt that the palms of most of the black guys on the opposite side were very wet, and their facial expressions were slightly stiff - their kind smiles to him seemed a little tense, and some people had a dazed look in their eyes...
Old Li Qi, who has learned some psychology through American TV series such as "Criminal Minds", "Mindhunter" and "House of Cards", naturally knows what these micro-expressions and micro-movements represent, so Li Qi in this game also knows a little bit...
I just wonder if Li Qi’s teammates will be in the same situation.
After deliberately losing the coin toss for kickoff rights, Li Qi gathered his teammates in a circle and explained:
"1. The group of black guys on the opposite side are very nervous, especially those big guys!"
"So I let them kick off first on purpose..."
Italy: …
“2. They may make hasty, incorrect judgments and decisions, or even act rashly.”
"3. We need to be calm, clean in our movements, patient in handling the ball, and we can draw fouls and even penalties."
"4. Try to pass the ball safely and avoid their first attempt to steal the ball."
"5. ...Buddha Explosion!"
The entire Italian team: “Fuck!”
……
"Dear viewers, welcome to watch the live broadcast of the 2005 World Youth Championship Final in the Netherlands. We, ESPN, bring you the live high-definition broadcast..."
"The championship match between the Italian U20 national team and the Nigerian U20 national team is about to begin!"
"In the semi-finals, Italy beat defending champions Brazil 2-1, while Nigeria beat Morocco -."
"As a traditional powerhouse in international football, the Italian team performed quite well in this World Youth Championship, especially the young player Li Qi from Barcelona, who left a deep impression."
"Of course, Nigeria also performed well. They drew 0-0 with the defending champions Brazil in the first group match."
"In terms of strength, Italy is the stronger team, but Nigeria said before the game that they hope to surprise the world."
"In addition, in the history of the World Youth Championship, the Nigerian team has performed better and reached the final in 1989. Unfortunately, the team lost 0-2 to Portugal's golden generation at that time."
"The Italian youth team, which performed better than the adult team, made it to the final of the World Youth Championship for the first time..."
"Okay, with the referee's whistle, let's start watching the game. Nigeria will kick off first!"
"Nigeria launched a surprise attack through long passes from the wing as soon as the ball kicked off!"
"The ball was headed out of the sideline by Italy's right back No. 2 Motta..."
……
Nigeria performed better after the start of the first half.
Nigeria won the initiative of the game through more active running and fighting, and got a lot of shooting opportunities in the first 30 minutes, but none of them really threatened the alert beast in front of the Italian team...
In the 10th minute, Nigerian left-back Taiwo made a big run and made a low shot with his right foot from 22 meters to the left of the frontcourt, but the ball went wide of the left post.
In the 19th minute, Italian defender Andreoli made a mistake in clearing the ball with his head, and Obasi's right-foot shot from the right side of the penalty area missed the target.
In the 23rd minute, Nigerian right-back Adefemi made a run from the back row and shot with his right foot at the edge of the penalty area, but the ball went wide.
In the 27th minute, Adefemi tried to attack the goal again, but his direct free kick from the left side of the frontcourt went wide of the left post.
On the other hand, although the Italian team only attempted a shot by No. 7 Montolivo and there was no other threat, Italy's formation was maintained better and there were almost no obvious loopholes left for the Nigerian team.
Italy's first shot came in the 5th minute of the first half, when Montolivo received a through pass from Li Qi, stopped the ball in front of the penalty area and took a long shot with his right foot, forcing Nigerian goalkeeper Fan Zekin to make a brilliant save.
After 30 minutes of fierce battle, Nigeria's running and pressing declined significantly, and the Italian team began to take the initiative to take the lead in the game.
In the 31st minute, Li Qi reached his "breaking point moment", accurately intercepting Mikel's through ball to Isaac, and then immediately made a long pass to Rossi for a counterattack.
After Rossi stopped the ball with his chest, he made a 2-on-1 wall pass with Montolivo who came in from behind, shook off Taiwo's close entanglement, and started to rush into the penalty area!
But before he could dribble two steps, he was knocked down by Abuwo who had quickly returned to defense with a reckless tackle from the side.
Yellow card!
Fortunately, Rossi was not injured. He avoided possible serious injuries by jumping with less force at the critical moment. He may have listened to Li Qi's reminder before the kick-off...
The Italian team got a good opportunity for a direct free kick 26 meters in the frontcourt, which was taken by Li Qi.
However, this time Li Qi's right-footed arc shot was slightly higher than the crossbar... The ball also fell rapidly after passing the wall of people, heading towards the 10-point corner. The goalkeeper completely gave up on saving the ball, but unfortunately, the ball finally went slightly higher than the crossbar by 1 to 2 centimeters and flew out of the bottom line...
There was exclamation and regret at the scene!
Li Qi shook his head and quickly retreated to his position to arrange defense... Or maybe the angle was too extreme, next time he should aim at the 8-point angle.
Although Italy gradually took control of the situation on the field after 30 minutes, Nigeria still had the opportunity to score the first goal.
In the 35th minute, Adeleye overpowered Pelle and headed Bentivorio's cross out of the penalty area. Mikel then overpowered Li Qi and headed the ball near the penalty area, heading it to striker Obasi who retreated to his own half.
After Obasi got the ball, he raised his butt, opened up a little defensive gap, and then half-turned on the spot to start a strong attack on Andreoli...
Andreoli was hit by Obasi's back and lost his balance. He didn't react in time to commit the foul and was passed by Obasi.
Then Obasi used his speed to defeat Motta who came to defend and forced an outside pass to overtake!
Obasi used his extraordinary speed, agility and balance to overwhelm the Italian defense and forced a cross from the left corner of the penalty area...
Owoyeli received the ball 16 meters from the right side of the penalty area and shot with his right foot. Fortunately, the alert beast in front of the goal flew to the side and saved the ball from going out of the bottom line. The Italian team escaped.
Italy, which survived the disaster, was about to enjoy the blessing of escaping the disaster. Li Qi found that Mikel's performance in this game was not satisfactory. He handled the ball step by step. Although he did not make too many mistakes, he did not have any outstanding performance. After 15 minutes, Mikel's interception and ball handling began to become unreliable.
