My uncle is Inzaghi.

Chapter 233: Qualify if there is a tie

In this game, Hodgson arranged a 4231 formation.

But in actual operation.

The England team formed a 442 system on the defensive end.

Their starting goalkeeper is Joe Hart.

The center back combination is Gary Cahill partnering Jagielka, the left and right full backs are Glen Johnson and Baines respectively. In the midfield, two Liverpool midfielders, Gerrard and Henderson, sit in the middle, on the left It's Sterling, and Welbeck is on the right.

On the forward line, Rooney and Sturridge partnered up front.

Of course, this is the position when defending.

When there is an opportunity to attack.

Welbeck and Sterling can both press forward.

The operation is very clear.

It can be said.

It was Li Mo who scored the goal.

With him pressing the opponent's back line.

The presence of Li Mo alone caused the England team's defensive system to make a series of changes and position adjustments.

He can not only support and pass the ball, but also finish and score by himself.

but no matter.

Prandelli is not afraid that giving Li Mo too many tasks will put pressure on him.

The players in England know very well how powerful Li Mo is.

Hodgson's formation is still arranged like this.

This caused chaos in England's defensive formation.

He touches the ball a lot and has a wide range of motion.

But after playing for a while, I found that my opponent couldn't come up.

He serves as a fulcrum.

The team's offense is completely centered around Li Mo.

Thirty minutes into the game.

It can be said.

They were overwhelmed by the Italian team's offense during the game.

They naturally pressed forward and attacked.

Catching the ball, distributing the ball, and involving gaps.

Balotelli is at the front.

The Italian team completely bet the results of this cup on Li Mo's state.

In order to make up for the defensive holes, England's players must fill in other positions.

The Italian team scored naturally.

Prandelli on the sidelines was very satisfied with Li Mo's performance. In this cup, he designed offensive tactics completely with Li Mo as the core.

Instead, he took the initiative to come back and respond in the midfield.

The key to this is Li Mo.

The Italian team originally hoped to have a comfortable counterattack opportunity.

They wanted someone to step out and target Li Mo, but they came out, and their defensive formation was somewhat deformed by Li Mo.

They chose to shrink their defense and wait for opportunities to counterattack.

Li Mo did not wait for the ball at the front line.

But they soon became worried.

After this first game came out, the English media naturally made a lot of comments, and many critics criticized Hodgson's formation.

Therefore, at the beginning of the game, the England team seemed very cautious.

Li Mo can move between the attacking midfielder and center, which makes the England team very embarrassed.

He was very good at this kind of coordination work.

Originally, when England fans saw this scene, they were looking forward to England's counterattack.

Because Li Mo's personal ability can definitely support him to do this.

Because the Italian team's frontcourt attack was very smooth.

Li Mo is the most critical part of the Italian team.

With relatively fast players such as Sterling, Sturridge, and Welbeck, the England team does have the capital to counterattack.

He received Balotelli's counterattack on the penalty area line, took two steps and then shot with his left foot!
The football flew into Joe Hart's goal like a cannonball.

"Lee! Beautiful! Beautiful!! The Italian team leads one to zero!"

to the roars of the commentators.

The telecast gave a shot to the stands.

Li Mo's family, Inzaghi and others were in the same row of stands. They and the surrounding fans wearing Italian jerseys raised their arms and shouted.

"This is Li Mo's first goal in this World Cup! He made a good start for himself and the Italian team!"

After the goal, the Italian players swarmed towards Li Mo.

England's players were forced to play by Italy, and now they lost the ball again, so they looked a little ugly.

England captain Gerrard kept clapping his hands and shouting something at his teammates, trying to revive the fighting spirit of his teammates.

In the press box.

The English reporters who were chatting and laughing before looked a little ugly.

Originally, they were looking forward to this World Cup.

But who would think so.

The first game was a wake-up call.

If this game is lost.

Then England's next game against Uruguay will be a life and death battle.

If the life and death battle fails.
Then all that's left is a battle of honor and then a glorious return home.

This plot is so frustratingly familiar.
But it's okay.

There is still game time.

England still have time to get back on track.

Italy is used to defense after all.

After scoring a goal.

The Italian team retreated.

They hope to use defensive counterattacks against England.

The England team, after a period of chaos, quickly realized that they had to respond.

So in the last few minutes of the first half.

The England team launched a crazy attack.

The fans in England were excited to watch.

The fierce attack in these few minutes gave them hope of regaining the score.

So much so that when the buzzer sounded at the end of the first half.

There was a sigh in the stadium stands.

Wait until you come back in the second half.

England continued to attack.

As a result, in the fifty-fifth minute of the game, the Italian team scored.

A very classic Italian counterattack.

Pirlo made a long diagonal pass and passed the ball to the feet of Balotelli who was pulled to the wing.

Balotelli received the ball and stuffed it diagonally into his ribs.

Verratti stepped in and swept the ball directly through the middle without stopping.

Li Mo got ahead of Jagielka and kicked the ball into the goal!

Two to zero!
The Italian team extended their lead.

The ball went in.

England's confidence and fighting spirit were basically destroyed.

You know, they are facing Italy, an Italy that is very good at defense.

Two goals behind, and their defense was constantly threatened by Li Mo and Balotelli in the end. under such circumstances.

It is simply too difficult for England to recover.

finally.

Italy defeated England 3-0.

Got a good start in the group stage.

Italy's third goal was scored by Verratti, also through a counterattack.

And it was Buffon's direct counterattack.

Li Mo responded with a header, and Verratti volleyed the ball directly into the goal.

After winning this game.

The Italian team immediately became the focus of the media.

To know.

Although the England team's performance in recent years has not been very good.

But they are famous.

Able to sweep England 3-0.

The strength and state shown by Italy really made people pay attention.

Then the media began to focus on the game.

Everyone suddenly discovered.

In this game, the score of three to zero is not enough to show the content of this game.

Because it's in the data.

The Italian team had an absolute advantage.

Although the two sides are 50-50 in terms of ball possession rate.

But in terms of shots on goal.

Both sides had 13 shots.

But 13 of the Italian team's 7 shots were inside the penalty area.

England had 11 shots outside the penalty area and only two shots inside the penalty area.

This shows that England's offensive organization is very problematic when facing the Italian team. Many times they can only make random shots outside the penalty area.

And another data also proves this point.

In terms of the number of times he entered the opponent's penalty area.

Italy had a full 31 times.

And England... only 9 times!
Also on the shot-on-target data.

The Italian team hit 7 shots within the goal frame, and another shot hit the crossbar.

England only had one shot on target.

It can be said.

Look at this data.

It is completely possible to draw a conclusion: the Italian team is completely a higher level team than England.

They were able to defeat England 3-0 without any blood in the first round of the group stage, which was a complete demonstration of their strength.

After the game.

Many media have declared: Don’t ignore Italy! !

The German media [Bild] wrote an article after the end of this round of group matches: "According to the usual rules, the favorites before the World Cup often fail to win the final championship. Before the World Cup starts, almost all media say , the German team has the opportunity to become the first European team to win the World Cup in South America. All eyes are focused on the German team, but we must say, tens of millions, tens of millions, tens of millions Don’t ignore the Italian team.”

The media in host country Brazil also focused on the Italian team after this game.

[Rio Football News] As a professional football media in Brazil, it specially introduces to Brazilian fans the strong opponents that are likely to prevent the Brazilians from winning the World Cup for the sixth time in the World Cup held in Brazil.

"Some people say that the German team will be Brazil's strong rival, and some say that the Argentinians will become Brazil's stumbling block. But let's not forget another World Cup champion, that is the Italian team. Italy, which has won four World Cup championships, is absolutely It cannot be ignored. They defeated England 3-0 without any blood in the first round of the group stage. They have a strike combination like Li Mo and Balotelli."

Under the hype of the media.

Italy beat England 3-0.

Gradually upgraded to become "one of the favorites of this World Cup"

before this.

The popular "final four" of this World Cup are the two European powers Germany and Spain, and the two South American powers Brazil and Argentina.

However, the Spanish team lost 1:5 to the Netherlands in the first round of the group stage.

Spain, which suffered such a shocking defeat, was naturally kicked out of the ranks of "championship favourites".

Instead, it was Italy.

Such news spread back to Italy.

Naturally, the Italian fans were very happy.

They would love to see their team favored.

But Prandelli remained calm.

on the second day of training.

He gave a special lecture before the training: "I know that after the first round of the group stage, we were very optimistic, and many media thought that we replaced Spain and became one of the favorites for the championship, but I want to remind you, Guys, don’t forget what happened to Spain! This is the World Cup! No game is easy here, even if our opponent is Costa Rica, we can’t relax.”

Although the coaching staff has warned.

But in the second round of the group stage, the Italian team still ran into trouble.

Although Costa Rica drew with Uruguay in the first round of the group stage.

But this is not enough to give the Italian players enough vigilance.

The media also generally believe that Costa Rica is the weakling of this group, and that the only reason for their existence is to be slaughtered by others.

Even though Uruguay was already losing in the first round of the group stage.
The Italian players are also a little arrogant because of the media's praise these days.

In fact, even Prandelli was a little careless.

Because he made certain rotations in this game.

Li Mo's striker partner became Giovinco, and he asked Marchisio to replace Verratti in the starting lineup.

The message conveyed by this rotation is: the Italian team is determined to defeat Costa Rica.

But it turns out.

Costa Rica is indeed a dark horse in this year's World Cup!

With a 541 bus formation, their defense can be described as airtight!
Italy paid the price for its carelessness.

They were tied by Costa Rica!
The score is one to one.

Even, if it weren't for Li Mo's goal at the last minute of the game.

Italy may even suffer an upset loss to Costa Rica.

After the game, Prandelli looked ugly.

Originally, his team could have qualified first in the group after two rounds of group matches, because England and Uruguay tied.
As a result, now they have to fight Uruguay in the final round of the group!

After two rounds of group stage matches.

The situation in Group D, where Italy is located, is as follows:

The Italian team has one win and one draw, and currently ranks first with 4 points.

Costa Rica and Uruguay both had two consecutive draws - Uruguay drew 0-0 with Costa Rica in the first round, and also drew 0-0 with England in the second round.

Costa Rica is temporarily ranked second with the advantage of goals scored.

Uruguay ranks third.

The third round of the group stage.

Italy will face Uruguay.

Costa Rica vs. England.

All four teams still retain the theoretical possibility of qualifying. Even England, which only scored one point, as long as they can win against Costa Rica and the Italian team defeats Uruguay, they can also qualify, or in In extreme cases, Uruguay defeated Italy, and England, with a huge victory over Costa Rica, was able to squeeze out Italy with a goal difference.

And for the Italian team.

The most direct way for them to ensure qualifying is to score three points.

As long as they win, Italy, with 7 points, will surely qualify first in the group.

If they get a draw, they can qualify.

But the first place in the group may not be stable-because if Costa Rica defeats England, then they will have to compete with Costa Rica on goal difference.

This "unexpected" draw between Italy and Costa Rica made the qualifying situation in Group D a little confusing.

for Italy.

They faced a very familiar situation in the final round of the group stage: a draw with Uruguay would qualify them.

(End of this chapter)