The Era of Emerald

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To be honest, Cameroon is a very strange team. Since it shined in the summer of Italy in 1990, no matter which World Cup, their book strength is stronger than that of Cameroon, but in the World Cup But the results became more and more cheating, giving people a feeling that they just came here to make a bottle of soy sauce.

This time was no exception. The old Maldini, who still insisted on the four-three-three style of play, was finally proud this time, because his team only took about half an hour to shoot the opponent's goal into a sieve!

In the case of having scored three points, the old Maldini made a certain degree of rotation according to the physical fitness of the players in this game. Inzaghi's starter was replaced by Di Matteo, Panucci and Tomasi respectively. Replacing Zambrotta and Dino Baggio, ushered in their first World Cup game.

In addition, Toldo became the starting goalkeeper in this game, and Pagliuca sat on the bench waiting for the old Maldini's call at any time.

With the assistance of DiMatteo, Baggio and Totti, Vieri, who was at the top, rampaged in the penalty area of ​​Cameroon. It took only 25 minutes to kick the head and kick three times in a row, completing his goal. First hat-trick in the World Cup!

By the way, Vieri's hat-trick is also the first hat-trick in this World Cup!

The Cameroonians fell behind 10-[-] in less than [-] minutes, so the Italian players took this opportunity to continue to attack and further expand the score advantage!

Totti netted his first World Cup goal as Roberto Baggio took his tally to nine, with second-half substitutes Pirlo and Inzaghi scoring one each. Lock the score on the field at seven to zero!

This game made all the Italian fans feel relaxed and happy. They have long been accustomed to defensive counterattacks. They never thought that Italy can also play such a pleasing game, and they can also win seven goals beautifully!

The always unscrupulous media also followed the wind at this time, and vigorously praised the wise and powerful old Maldini. The four-three-three formation that was originally criticized has also become the most suitable tactical play for Italy under their propaganda , The nasty words used made everyone in the Italian national team feel ashamed.

In another group match in Group B, Chile and Austria drew 10-[-] after a full [-] minutes of fierce fighting. Salas, who scored twice in the first game, scored another goal in this game. World Cup goals so that the Chilean killer temporarily ranked second in the World Cup scorer list, and only one goal behind Vieri at the top of the list.

Since Cameroon and Austria were tied in the first round of the Group B group match, the current points for each team in Group B are 6 points for Italy, [-] points for Austria, and [-] point for Cameroon and Chile.

This also means that after two rounds of the group stage, Italy, which poured a whole bottle of Hedy from the Cameroonian, obtained the right to qualify for the group in advance with two victories and six points, and at the same time secured the top spot in the group throne!

The result of locking the top spot in the group ahead of time gave the old Maldini more confidence to adopt rotation tactics in the last group match, allowing the players on his side to get more rest time to adjust their status, so as to better play For the next knockout round.

So, in the match against Austria six days later, the old Maldini, who insisted on using the four-three-three formation in the face of criticism from countless people in the first two games, suddenly changed formation without warning, and played directly for several days. The Austrians who were studying how to deal with Italy's four-three-three play were caught off guard.

Pagliuca, Panucci, Bergomi, Materazzi, Di Livio, Tomasi, Dino Baggio, Pirlo, Di Matteo, Vieri and Inzaghi. It was Italy's starting lineup against Austria.

Although the old Maldini has rotated most of the main players in this game, the strength of the starting 11 is still higher than that of the Austrians. From the beginning of the game, he has firmly controlled the situation on the field. Pirlo and others People kept moving the ball around, exhausting the Austrian players who were eager to compete for another group qualifying place.

"Andre (Pirlo) is really an incredible player. It stands to reason that in Italy, where there are so many stars, a young player like him should be honest to those veteran stars, but he can command them on the court. A star who is much more famous than him, let these people closely surround him and play the game according to his own ideas." This is the famous star Dino Zoff who appeared in the live broadcast room as a special guest during the game The comment given to Pirlo in the middle, "He can have such a strong influence and control on the game and the team before the weak championship year, and this kid will become a big weapon in time!"

Under Pirlo's organization and scheduling, Italy firmly controlled the rhythm of the game, thus creating more scoring opportunities.The biggest beneficiaries of this are Italy's starting striker combination in this game, and they are also Pirlo's teammates in Florence, Vieri and Inzaghi.

No.40 In the second minute, Pirlo sent a through ball after passing two Austrian players in a row in the middle. Inzaghi, who succeeded in anti-offside, shot the ball and scored for Italy first, [-]-[-]!

Since then, Vieri and Baggio, who came off the bench, also made contributions one after another, and it was Pirlo, who was also only 19 years old, who assisted them!

Although the Austrians tried their best to resist under the leadership of captain Andres Herzog, the huge gap in strength between the two teams made the Austrian players feel powerless.

In the end, when the whole game was over, Italy won with a score of [-] to [-], thus qualifying with all three victories and advancing to the top [-] of the World Cup!

With the strong performance in the group stage, the value of Italy's international players has also increased: Vieri, who scored five goals in three group matches, dominated the scorer list and became the limelight of this World Cup One of the most powerful players; Pirlo, who is praised by Zoff as a must-have, has attracted the attention of giants such as Lazio and Real Madrid. The rich and powerful Craniotti even offered him a high price of 2000 million US dollars ; Tomasi also had a remarkable performance in the game, which gave Fiorentina the confidence to ask for a higher offer when negotiating a transfer with other clubs...

As the loser, Austria had to face the bitter fruit of being eliminated-in another Group B match at the same time, the veteran Zamorano showed his prowess and used a goal grab before the final whistle. The point lore beat Cameroon and won a valuable three points for Chile!

It is precisely by virtue of the priceless three points obtained from Cameroon that Chile squeezed out Austria at the last moment and followed Italy into the knockout stage of the World Cup!