Chapter Twenty-Seven: A Depressed Trip to France

The draw by the Romanian team brought a voice of judgment to the Italian national team, especially the choice of coach Donadoni, whose two qualifying strikers did not surprise Italy in the second half, they were more useless on the field, and even the equalizing goal relied on Pirlo's free kick, which did not have much to do with the two strikers.

In this heated discussion, of course, there are also voices of grievances for Descartes, among the six strikers, only he sits on the cold bench from beginning to end, but Descartes has not proven himself in the national team after all, so the voice of fighting for him is also very weak, and he was soon drowned in the criticism of Donadoni.

After this warm-up match, Italy have one more chance to prove themselves, and they will travel to the Stade de France on 30 February to take on their opponents in the World Cup final.

Unlike Italy, the French national team basically retains the original team, except for Butters who faded out and Zidane announced his retirement due to the "overhead" incident in the World Cup final, veterans such as Vieira, Henry, and Thuram have stayed, and their goal is to win next year's European Championships.

The reunion of the two teams, who met last year at the World Cup final, sparked intense media interest, and even though it was just a warm-up match, TV stations in more than 60 countries bought the rights to broadcast the game, and more than 80,000 fans watched the game.

Donadoni fielded a completely new line-up in this game, with Buffon, Barzagli, Bonella, Cannavaro and Zambrotta at the back, De Rossi, Ambrosini, Pirlo and Camoranesi in midfield, and two new Dins Quagliarella and Rossi in the front.

As we've said before, Donadoni is definitely a tough temper and the more the media criticizes, the more he has to prove himself right, and he started Quagliarella and Rossi, who had a lackluster performance in the last game, in order to prove that he was right.

On the French side, they lined up a decent main lineup in the first half, goalkeeper Mandanda, back line Boumson, Abidal, Gala, Evra lined up, midfielders Vieira and Makelele were in the middle, Malouda and Ribery were separated, and Henry partnered with Benzema on the forward line, which can be described as strong and powerful.

Like Donadoni, Domenech is a controversial manager in France, with a knack for developing young players, but his surname is stubborn and stubborn, and his relationship with the media has been strained.

At the beginning of his tenure at the helm of France, he, like Donadoni, underwent a major change in the national team, with France starting with six straight draws, struggling to find a win in World Cup qualifying, and he became the French team's worst start to the season in 71 years.

At the critical moment, Domenech had to bring out Zidane, Thuram, Makelele and other veterans, and the French team finally withstood the pressure at the last moment and beat Switzerland and Ireland to win the right to qualify for the group.

The French team, which stumbled into the World Cup finals, was not favored by people at that time, and Italy, which was in a uproar at the time of the domestic "phonegate" incident, the odds of the two teams to win the championship were far lower than Brazil, Argentina and other favorites to win the championship, Italy was lower than the Czech Republic, and the French team was only above the Czech Republic......

But it is such a pair of brothers and sisters who not only won the World Cup, but also won the respect of the whole world.

And it is precisely because of the aura of this World Cup runner-up that Domenech retained his position as the head coach of the French national team, but unfortunately at this time Domenech went from one extreme to the other, he was extremely distrustful of those meritorious veterans at the beginning, but now he is very superstitious about them, his national team almost retained all the old players, so that the French team wasted the opportunity to change blood and exercise in the two years of the World Cup and the European Cup, as a result, in the 2008 European Cup, the French team 3 games, 1 draw and 2 losses, The humiliating elimination from the group stage also brought the domestic anti-Domenech wave to its peak.

But that was a year later, and the French team at the Stade de France were at their best when they had just been beaten by Italy in the World Cup final, so although it was only a friendly match, they came with a sense of revenge.

The two teams with very different mentalities showed completely different faces at the beginning, the two strikers on the Italian side were also under a lot of pressure due to their lackluster performance in the last game, they wanted to show themselves in this game, but they were afraid of making mistakes, so they always seemed cautious and timid when making technical moves, and did not put any pressure on the French defence; On the other hand, on the French side, a number of veterans were angry that the Italians had snatched their World Cup, so they seemed to work very hard, and with the experience of the veterans, they quickly took control of the situation on the field, and the Italians were once so pressed that they could not even pass through the midfield.

With the situation almost one-sided, the more than 80,000 French fans in the stands let out earth-shattering cheers, shouting and jumping on the sidelines, desperately cheering for the French team, while the Italian bench looked a little dead in comparison.

Donadoni's stubbornness is not at all bad for Domenech, obviously the team is at an extreme disadvantage, and his own tactics cannot save the situation, but he chose to believe in his choice, did not reveal the slightest idea of changing the situation, as a result, the Italian gate was declared lost in the 17th minute.

The goal was scored by the "Scar Warrior" Ribery, he and Henry's cooperation bypassed Zambrotta's defense, in the face of Cannavaro, Ribery attacked horizontally, and suddenly fired a cold shot from the edge of the penalty area, even Buffon could not react, and was vigorously blasted open by Ribery.

After conceding the goal, Italy finally cheered up and improved on the field, but their two strikers were too weak to break through the French team's defense in front of several veterans in the back.

After a few missed chances, Italy suffered another blow when France swung in a corner, Patrick Vieira headed back and Thierry Henry, who was at the back post, slotted his thigh and the ball flew into Buffon's goal.

After conceding two goals in a row, Donadoni finally couldn't sit still, in the face of the French team's strong offensive, Italy's counterattack looked pale and weak, at this time everyone saw that Italy's forward line could not support the game at all, after thinking about it for a long time, Donadoni finally decided to replace Piero and replace Rossi.

Although Piero is also old, he still has a strong ability to control and stop the ball up front, and Donadoni needs to use his passing ability to keep the ball in the French half more and buy time for his teammates to keep up with the support.

After Piero came on the field, Italy's attack really improved, at least he will not concede the ball easily in the counterattack, with the assistance of Piero, Quagliarella also showed his outstanding long-range shooting skills, and the two powerful shots from outside the penalty area have tested the new goalkeeper of the French team, Mandanda.

But this is not enough, the French team's offensive is very ferocious, the Italian team can pass the half of the players is not many, Piero and Quagliarella are not players who can solve the battle by relying on individual ability, so although the Italian attack has regained a certain momentum, it is still firmly suppressed by the French team.

Seeing that the midfield was out of position, Donadoni replaced Gattuso and replaced Ambrosini, ready to use Gattuso's wide sweep to regain control of the midfield and create more opportunities for the strikers.

But the French team is also very smart, Ribery and Malouda constantly cross and change positions, Gattuso runs to whichever side, the other side of the team will be the main attack, Gattuso, who can't run to death, can only watch his teammates being attacked over and over again, but he seems powerless.

The score of 2:0 lasted until the midfield, and after the start of the second half, both sides made large-scale substitutions, the French team replaced Veeira, Henry and other veterans, replaced by substitutes such as Govu and Nasri, and the back line was also replaced by a combination of Thuram, Sagnol, Gala and Evra to further stabilize the defense and train newcomers.

Italy completely replaced the two starting forwards, Quagliarella went off the field, Gilardino was replaced, the midfielders were replaced by Mauri and Perrotta, Pirlo, Camoranesi, Donadoni replaced all four big players in the midfield with muscles, this substitution was also called "I don't know" by the media after the game, the four interception-type players are indeed very good at protecting the backline, but there is no organized midfield, and Italy's attack is completely paralyzed.

At the back, Donadoni replaced all the players in one go, with Odds, Materazzi, Pasquela, and Toneto playing together, and it seemed that Donadoni was extremely dissatisfied with the backline in the first half.

Even the goalkeeper changed from Buffon to Amelia, and Donadoni's substitution was too radical.

People thought that the unrecognizable Italy might bring a little surprise to everyone, but as soon as the second half began, Italy's gate was once again lost, Nasri's long-range shot, Amelia, who represented the national team for the first time, was too nervous to get out of his hands, and Benzema, who had a keen sense of smell, appeared in front of the goal in time, and easily pushed the score on the field to 3:0.

The Italian players were almost stunned, and Donadoni on the sidelines kicked the canopy by the dugout viciously, muttering something he didn't know what he was swearing.

After sulking for a long time, Donadoni finally set his sights on the bench, and now the situation on the field has not changed at all, and he must make a change as soon as possible.

But after sweeping the bench, Donadoni only felt that his heart was full of disappointment, in his mind, the players who had the ability to change the situation on the field have now either been replaced or are still on the field, and the entire bench is only left with three or two kittens that are so "crooked melons and cracked dates", which is quite a feeling that it is difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice.

At this time, Donadoni began to regret replacing Pirlo, and if he was still there, he could at least rely on long passes to launch a counterattack.

The disappointed Donadoni grabbed his eyes back to the court, and didn't notice Descartes' eyes at the end of the bench, which made Descartes very depressed, and at the same time had a sense of humiliation.

Descartes' resentment towards Donadoni grew in his heart.

It's a pity that the stubborn Donadoni doesn't know what the players are thinking, it is estimated that even if he knows, he will not change his opinion, he is a very stubborn person, he is optimistic even if the outside world doubts him to the end, he is not optimistic about how the outside world praises him will never waver.

He recruited Descartes because of the recommendation of his predecessor Lippi, in fact, he didn't know anything about Descartes at all, in such a big score behind, of course, he would not replace a player he was not familiar with, in order not to continue to be humiliated, he chose a more secure way.

After a dead ball, Donadoni walked to the sidelines and made a gesture to the Italian players to retract their defense, a gesture that changed the faces of the Italian players on the field, and even the football commentators on Italian television were incredulous: "What gesture did Donadoni make?" He asked the players to come back to defense? He even asked the players to go back to defense! Could it be that I am dazzled, and now it is the Italian team that leads 3-0 on the field? Oh my God, is Donadoni in the brain, now that we are down 0-3, he is asking the players to come back to defend, has he given up this game completely? Oh my God, this is incredible, he must be crazy! ”

Indeed, Donadoni is ready to give up this game, although the opponent is the French team, but after all, it is only a friendly match, and the result of 3:0 will not affect his position as the head coach of the national team, but if the score of the loss is a little bigger, it becomes 4:0 or 5:0, then it is difficult to say, at least the Football Association doubts him, which is extremely unfavorable to him.

With the idea of winning with less loss, Donadoni finally chose to retreat from all sides, which also made the Italian players on the court end the game with unwillingness.

It is worth mentioning that Donadoni also replaced Semioli in the final stage of the game, so that Descartes was the only player left in the entire national team who did not get a second of playing time in two games.

At this time, Descartes's face had become very ugly, he felt that he had been seriously insulted, and this feeling of not being able to change everyone on the field was simply unbearable for him, who had always been in the limelight, so when the whistle of the game was over, he walked back to the locker room without looking back, without even waiting for Donadoni to comfort his frustrated teammates.

This was originally just a small detail, but unfortunately it happened to be captured by a camera on the sidelines, so under the provocation of the media and well-intentioned people, the incident quickly turned into a huge storm.