Italy's hard-fought 4-3 win over Ivory Coast in a goal shootout gave a lot of confidence and gave them hope for Italy's next game.

But those hopes soon turned into disappointment, as they lost 3-1 to the United States in their second game three days later.

Descartes still got the chance to play in the first half, but the problems between him and the team persisted, and Italy was weak in the first half and drew 0-0 with the United States.

Seeing that the game was still as chaotic as ever, Mr. Rocca finally stopped sticking to his tactics and replaced Descartes at the start of the second half, leaving the original Italian qualifier on the pitch.

But no one expected that this would be a harbinger of the collapse of Italy as a whole.

Although Descartes' performance was indeed below expectations, his aggressive counter-attack in the front court at least brought some obstacles to the United States, and when he was gone, Italy reverted to the level of play they had played in the qualifiers, but also lost control of the midfield, and the United States scored three goals in a row in the second half, while Italy only relied on striker Bertini to score a face-saving goal in the 74th minute.

The defeat was both unexpected and expected.

It is unexpected, because Italy's fame in world football is indeed much greater than that of the American team, even if it is the national junior team, they also have promising rookies like Descartes and Foti, and although the American team also has good players such as Zimmerman and Soroca, their fame is limited to the professional leagues.

And when it comes to expectations, it is because the United States team has indeed performed better than Italy in the previous World Junior Championships.

Both teams have a fourth-place finish, but the United States has made it out of the group seven times, while Italy has only four; The U.S. team barely missed a single World Junior Championship, but Italy missed out on the finals five times.

So judging from the performance of the World Junior Championships alone, the United States team's victory over Italy is not an upset, it is really a normal thing.

In fact, the biggest upset in this tournament was Gambia's 3:1 victory over the mighty Brazil!

With a large number of good players such as Anderson and Marcelo, the Brazilian national junior team is full of strong generals, and it is fighting on the South American continent, which can be said to be the right time and place, but they lost to the African weak team Gambia who traveled thousands of miles in the last game of the first round!

The match attracted the attention of the media around the world, and the continuous discussion continued for about three or four days, so it was very fortunate that Italy's loss to the United States escaped the media bombardment under the cover of this game, and the Italian young players did not have to bear so much pressure anymore.

But not much pressure does not mean there is no pressure, after this game, the format of Group C has become complicated, Italy and North Korea are both 1 win and 1 loss with 3 points, the United States team has won all two games with 6 points, and Ivory Coast has 2 losses with 0 points, and has been confirmed to be eliminated from the competition.

With one big foot in the final round of the tournament, the U.S. team has already made it to the last eight, and they only need to keep a clean win in their final game to secure the title of group leader.

Italy, on the other hand, had to fight North Korea in the last game, because North Korea ended the matches with the United States and Ivory Coast with a score of 2:3 and 3:0 respectively, so their goal difference was two, while Italy's goal difference was -1.

So in the last game, even if Italy and North Korea draw, they will be knocked out by strikeouts.

In fact, the game was more difficult than the Italian team had imagined.

Due to the poor performance in the last game, Descartes did not appear in the starting lineup in this game, perhaps because Mr. Roca was a little disappointed in his performance, or maybe Mr. Roca hoped that Descartes could play in the second half to turn the tide as he did in the Pavia Juniors, in short, Descartes was pressed to the bench for the entire first half 45 minutes.

However, Italy's situation did not change because of Descartes' substitution, and they fell behind North Korea 0-1 at half-time!

Strictly speaking, the media is quite right, what is missing from this Italian team? It's a star!

Although Foti scored a brace in the first game, he was immediately stunned when they met a more well-organized United States team in the second game. He's not a player with great attacking ability, and his goals need more support and cooperation from his team-mates.

The same is true of the rest of Italy's players, who have a certain amount of quality, but they have always lacked a temperament that can change the tide of battle.

In in-game terms, these Italian junior players are like a novice weapon, if their minimum attack power is 10, then their maximum attack power is only about 13, and you can't expect them to burst out with huge energy at critical moments.

Descartes, on the other hand, has a high probability of 25 attack damage if his minimum attack damage in this team is 0! In other words, he is like a double-edged sword, he has the potential to make the team worse, but if he bursts out, it will directly double the team's attack power!

That's why Mr. Rocca insisted on bringing Descartes with him in the first place, and tried to transform him into the heart of the team.

Mr. Rocca is well aware of the current situation of the Italian national junior team. This group of players followed him to the north and south, and he clearly saw that these players could become the third place in the European Junior League with discipline and will, but they were always a little bit away from the championship.

The worse point is that a star with outstanding individual ability!

Football is indeed a team game, but its success is often inseparable from the sudden sparkle of the stars, or the superstars.

The Pistons can take down the dominant Lakers with team basketball, but Valencia is unlikely to win the Champions League under Cooper because they face Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, both of whom have superstars who can change the tide of the game on their own.

In short, in football, especially in the cup format, if you want to become a champion, it is not enough to have stability, and explosiveness is often an important factor in ascending to the throne.

And what this Italian national junior team lacks is explosiveness, the kind of Jedi counterattack that suddenly bursts out with the momentum and ability of a small universe.

So they could only reluctantly and desperately accept this frustrating half-time score.

The dressing room in Italy was quiet, all the young players had their heads down, no one was talking, no one was willing to speak, their expressions were as if the end of the world was coming, everyone was gloomy, quietly waiting for Mr. Rocca's lecture.

Mr. Rocca opened his mouth to say something to rekindle the fighting spirit of the young players. But he was not a wise man of words, and when he opened his mouth, he realized that he didn't even know what to say, so he could only sigh in a low voice, turn his gaze to Descartes, and hesitantly say, "Descartes, go up in the second half." ”

Descartes nodded, in the entire locker room, only his eyes remained hot and clear, he knew very well that his goal had always been to become a hero in Italy, and now, the opportunity was in front of him!

With a score of 0:1, low morale, and troops on the edge of a cliff, isn't this the time when superheroes should come out to save the world?

However, Descartes also understands that if he does not make any changes as he did in the previous two games, even if he plays, he will not be able to solve the problem for the Italian team. He's taken 110 minutes to prove he's not the kind of core Mr. Rocca wants.

So Descartes had the audacity to make his own request: "Mr. Rocca, I have a request, I wonder if I can make it?" ”

Mr. Rocca was frustrated by the team's low morale and replied casually, "Tell me about it." ”

Descartes glanced at the team's three strikers and said cautiously, "I want to play as a striker." ”

"Huh?" Mr. Rocca finally turned his head, looked at Descartes with a uncertain expression, and asked, "Why, are you dissatisfied with my arrangement?" ”

"No, it's not." Descartes hurriedly waved his hand and explained: "It's just that I've played two games in the midfield position and I think it's hard for me to adapt to this position, so I want to go back to the forward position. You know, I've always been a striker in Pavia......"

"Wait a minute!" Mr. Rocca stopped him from continuing with a sudden wave, and then he twisted his chin with his hand and fell into deep thought.

"Striker? Striker? Striker! "Suddenly there was a flash of inspiration in Mr. Roca's mind, yes, Descartes has always played in the forward position in Pavia, and since his performance in midfield is not satisfactory, why not go back to his usual position?

Mr. Rocca patted his head vigorously, what a blind eye! He originally took a fancy to Descartes' organizational ability in the front court and wanted to transform him into an excellent midfield core, but the facts proved that his idea was not reliable, and Descartes' performance can be said to be incompatible with the whole team.

Since neither side can adapt, why not go the other way?

The frontcourt organization doesn't have to be done by the midfielders!

In fact, with the gradual aging or retirement of players such as Boban, Rui Costa, Zidane, Veron, etc., the classical forwards who once dominated world football have slowly disappeared from the field, and in modern football, a large number of midfielders who can rush and grab, can advance and defend, and begin to occupy the main position. It is becoming less and less common for the whole team to revolve around one person, and the responsibility of organizing the attack is no longer concentrated on one or two players, and more players are given the responsibility of organizing and scoring goals.

At AC Milan, Carlo Ancelotti put Pirlo in the midfielder position, and from this time on, it was discovered that the original organizational core could also be placed in the back; In Barcelona, Guardiola has let the defenders also participate in the offensive organization, Pique is no longer a simple defender, his forward insertion, his long pass, have become an important source of planning for Barcelona's attack.

The trend in football is to get faster and more confrontational, and the classical style of play, which hits all the ball to one or two players, can easily be cut off by the counter. Therefore, in today's football, every player on the pitch has taken on more responsibilities, and they are no longer limited to attacking or defending, they have been transformed by nature into "all-round warriors".

If you can't adapt, you can only be eliminated.

In February 2007, Riquelme, known as "the last classical striker in world football", returned to Brazil, and since then, the classical striker has disappeared in the mainstream of world football, and the so-called core of a team must not be the person who controls the rhythm of the whole team, from Milan's Kaka to Barcelona's Messi and Real Madrid's Ronaldo, they were all called the core of the team, but in these three teams, it is Pirlo, Xavi and Alonso who really control the team's breath.

So what Mr. Roca thought about was that he had made a huge mistake all along: he insisted on putting Descartes in midfield and transforming him into the heart of the team, forgetting that he was originally playing as a striker, and there was a huge difference between the two.

Not everyone can be as omnipotent as Hierro.

After figuring out this layer of joints, Mr. Rocca no longer hesitated, he looked at Descartes, nodded slowly but firmly, and then said to Andrew. Rusoto said: "Rosso, you come down and rest in the second half. ”