On June 5, after playing the Netherlands in the last warm-up match before the World Cup, the Italian team arrived in Russia.

In this game with the Netherlands, Pan Yi still practiced the attacking and defensive routines under different combinations of players, so that all the players, including the third goalkeeper Perrin, were on the court to find their form.

And the current Dutch team, although it also has Van Dijk, Ake, De Jong, De Ligt and other new and old disciples of Pan Yi, plus Wijnaldum, Blind and other powerful players, in the strength of the midfield can compete with any European first-class team;

But in recent years, there has been a lack of forward talent, Robben has been old, and he can only rely on players like Babel, Depay, and Dost who cannot be regarded as top stars to attack the city, so the offense has been very constipated.

In the end, under the tactical blow of the Italian team's combination of offense and defense, the Dutch team was defeated.

Italy relied on goals from Raspadori and Jorginho to beat their opponents 2-0 and go into the upcoming World Cup group stage with a victory.

The base camp of the Italian team in Russia is located at the Vatutinki Hotel, southwest of Moscow.

It is only 35 km from Moscow's Luzhkini Stadium and can be reached in about 45 minutes by car.

The team bus can reach Moscow's Vnukovo Airport in 30 minutes, and CSKA Moscow's training ground in 5 minutes, so it can be said that the transportation is quite convenient.

Don't underestimate this, if the players have to take the bus for two hours and three hours on the way to training and games, not to mention wasting time, the player's condition will be significantly affected.

Otherwise, why would everyone love to play at home instead of going to those distant away games? This is also evidenced by the home and away win percentage.

After arriving in Moscow, the Italian national team's every move is of course also concerned by the media and fans, after all, the combination of Pan Yi + Italy is still very dazzling!

Pan Yi used a semi-open and semi-confidential form to train, which is to take care of the enthusiasm and competitiveness of fans and media.

Of course, when it's open, it's basically physical and recovery training, while in closed training, it's more about tactical drills.

As for the main lineup, it has actually been slowly determined during the qualifiers, including the warm-up matches.

The goalkeeper is Donnarumma, and on the back line, the left back needs Di Marco and Spinazzola to compete for the post, the right back is basically Desiglio, and the center back is Bonucci, Chiellini, Bastoni choose two of the three, depending on the team's backfield needs.

The main combination of the midfield is relatively stable, with Tonali, Barella and Verratti as the core framework, and Jorginho, Parolo and De Rossi as the rotation.

Up front, the two main wingers are basically Insigne and Chiesa Jr., while the central striker will be chosen between Scamacca and Balotelli, mainly depending on the opponent's situation.

El Shaarawy and Raspadori are more often the surprise players as they can play as centre-forwards or wingers.

In training, Pan Yi will often let the main team and the substitute team confront each other, and then intersperse the lineups of the two sides as he did in the warm-up match to cultivate the tacit understanding between different combinations.

As for physical fitness, Pan Yi's old friend Pintus naturally had to come to Russia to work overtime.

With his old man's presiding work, of course, Pan Yi doesn't have to worry too much about this, the physical fitness of the Italian players is definitely guaranteed!

After more than a week, on June 14, the 2018 World Cup in Russia officially opened!

In the opening match, the host Russian team played against the Saudi Arabian team, and the Saudi Arabia, which had just been beaten by the Italian team, was slaughtered again.

In the 11th minute of the first half, Russian player Gasinsky received a pass from a teammate and scored with a header.

In the 42nd minute, Russian player Cheryshev scored after receiving a pass from Zobnin.

In the 70th minute, the Russian player Dzyuba who had just come on as a substitute scored a goal.

In the 90th minute, Cheryshev scored twice.

In the 94th minute, Golovin scored from a free kick.

In the end, Russia defeated Saudi Arabia 5:0 and got off to a good start.

Then, the group stage of the World Cup is in full swing!

Italy's first match in Group F will be against last year's champions Germany, which will be played on 17 June.

The first few games in the first two days were basically relatively strong and weak, and the first climax of this World Cup began on the third day.

There is no doubt that the match between Germany and Italy is not only the first strong match of this World Cup, but also enough to be the focus of everyone's attention.

In the German team, there are also Pan Yi veterans like Rudiger and Goretzka, and German coach Loew is a recognized fan of Pan Yi.

In the last World Cup, the German team was able to win the championship, and Loew even publicly said that he was guided by Pan Yi.

What will be the result of such a battle between "idols" and "fans"?

Of course, for Pan Yi, it doesn't matter what the outside world thinks, he still attaches great importance to the German war.

In Pan Yi's eyes, Germany is Italy's biggest opponent in this group, and if he can beat Germany, he will be able to play the remaining two games in the group more easily.

Even from the best scenario, if the qualification can be determined in the first two games, then the main players can also be rested in the last game against the dragons, which is more conducive to the play of the subsequent knockout rounds.

And from a tactical point of view, if the first two rounds fail to determine the group qualification, then the last game may have to take out all the things, which is quite detrimental to Pan Yi's overall planning.

It is precisely because of these considerations that Pan Yi attaches so much importance to the first game.

Beating Germany is equivalent to qualifying from the group in his opinion! He wouldn't say that about the players, but that's what he thinks.

This is not to underestimate the enemy, but to have the psychology of having absolute confidence.

However, Germany is definitely not an opponent that can be easily defeated.

They have a lot of great players, they have a strong team, and they are the champions of the last edition!

But Pan Yi can still find a breakthrough, that is-Loew.

Although he has learned a lot from Pan Yi, he has a fatal weakness, that is, he is too rigid and dogmatic in the German style.

At that time, Pan Yi played very good in Hamburg and Chelsea, and Loew imitated it and it worked very well, so he has been addicted to it.

This leads to the fact that the tactics of the German team are now easy to grasp, and it is easier to be manipulated by tacticians like Pan Yi.

"Although they still have a big center like Mario Gomez in their squad, Loew will still be more inclined to use Timo Werner in the center forward position."

At the tactical meeting of the coaching staff before the game, Pan Yi was talking while drawing pictures on the tactical board.

"Loew has been working hard to reinvent the German team's tactics for the past few years, and the traditional centre-forward tactics are becoming less and less used. In the German national team squad this time, only Mario Gomez is a real center forward, and the others are similar to the role of a false number nine or pressing striker. ”

"Of course, another reason for this is that in German football, apart from Gomez, he can't find a more suitable player to play as a center forward, so he simply switched to a strikerless team similar to Pep Guardiola's play at Barcelona."

"Although Timo Werner's shooting target is not outstanding, he is strong in running, fast, pressing, and has a good ability to break through, so he is more trusted by Loew."

"On either side of him, usually Draxler and Thomas Müller, two strikers with different styles will help Germany have different attacking routines up front. Like Muller, we are already familiar with him, his running ability can be said to be the current number one in the world, and we must pay attention to his sudden insertion to grab points. ”

'In midfield, Kroos will be the heart of their midfield, and then they will be complemented by Khedira and Goretzka, and possibly Gundogan or Kimmich. But no matter which midfield combination Loew uses, their strategy of getting through the midfield through control is not going to change. ”

"But because they don't have a big center, it makes them very poor. Remember how we played Argentina and led them in the first half? Argentina are also a small striker combination, I think we can just use the same tactics, and we've proven it in practice. ”

Pan Yi's meaning is very clear, that is, since the German team likes to control the ball, let them control it well.

Just like against Argentina, Italy just need to hold the defence and then use their fast forwards to tear apart the opposition's defence.

"Wouldn't it be a bit risky to use defensive counter-attack tactics against Germany?" Evani spoke, "Letting go and letting Germany attack could be a huge mistake, and I feel like they are better in midfield than Argentina. ”

Pan Yi laughed: "You must know that the current Italy is not the Italy of the past, and the current Germany is not the Germany of the past. ”

"In Germany, they may not have had so many shining stars, but they played very neatly and directly.

'From midfield to front, even from the back to the striker, it's very fast and more threatening.

"But what about now? Loew has become a little too immersed in his own style of passing, so much so that he has lost the taste of German football tradition. ”

"In the last World Cup, he still had a traditional center forward like Klose, and he could also play a combination of side and center and fast attacking routines, but this time he didn't have it."

"Gomez is also good, but Loew doesn't trust him too much. And even more sadly, besides Gomez, Loew could not find a second better center than him......"

So Loew chose to play through the false number nine, using the pass to attack and win the victory. And in this regard, we do not have an advantage. ”

'Can our midfielders really overwhelm Kroos in terms of passing? Goretzka, I've seen him, he's a very good midfielder, he's not very good defensively, and if we push forward to attack, we're going to get into a lot of trouble. ”

"This German team is good at attacking, and Coach Loew is a bit of a paranoid person, maybe he is trying to beat me with his attack, and I just took advantage of that."

"All things considered, it's most appropriate for us to play Germany with anti-counter-attack."

Vialli listened to Pan Yi's explanation on the side, thought about it, and then suddenly said: "Then we mainly fight back through the side or the middle?" ”

"That's a good question." Pan Yi nodded, "But I won't limit my team members in this regard." They defended well in all three of our midfielders, but in reality I would have given them more attacking responsibility in this game and don't forget, they were all good passers. ”

'With Scamacca as a beacon up front, and our ability to play long balls at the back, we were able to launch a counter-attack at the first time. As long as Scamacca can grab the first point, Chiesa Jr. and Insigne will be enough to follow up in time for the German defenders......"

'Behind the two wingers, our full-backs will also look for opportunities to assist, and I won't limit their play – provided that we get in the right position to defend against the Germans from the wings.

Evani and Vialli glanced at each other, and it was clear that they had fully understood the tactics that Pan Yi had prepared.

They also understand that Pan Yi has absolute confidence in himself.

Although Pan Yi has not been in charge of the Italian team for a long time, and the players have not really trained and played together for a long time, this team does already have Pan Yi's temperament and can play the football that Pan Yi wants.

And as assistant coaches, as long as they faithfully implement the tactics determined by Pan Yi on the training ground and let the players understand the intentions of the coaching staff, they can say that half of the game has been won! ——

When Loew woke up from his sleep, his eyes were full of exhaustion.

For any team coach, it is always a headache to play against Pan Yi, and Loew is certainly no exception.

Or rather, Loew is more than anyone else.

After all, Loew was the one who had come to visit him to learn Pan Yi's tactics.

Thinking about the European Cup two years ago, Pan Yi led the Swedish team, which was far inferior to Italy, to break through the German team and finally win the European Cup, which made Loew even more headache.

Today, Pan Yi is taking Italy with him, so how should he deal with it?

In the first game against Italy, Loew certainly attached equal importance to this game, and also believed that this game is very likely to be the most important game in this group stage.

Of course, Loew still has a little bit of confidence in his heart.

This is mainly due to the form of Italy and Germany in qualifying.

Italy was stubbornly pressed by Spain in the qualifiers, and was squeezed into the second place in the group, which was forced to the end of the play-offs.

Although they successfully resurrected under the leadership of Pan Yi, in terms of overall strength, Italy is indeed inferior to Germany.

When the German team was in the qualifiers, they played a 10-game win in the group of good teams such as Northern Ireland, the Czech Republic and Norway! Germany are also the only team to keep a clean sheet.

They also scored a staggering 43 goals, an average of more than four per game, which is also the most of any team in the European qualifiers.

As for the goals conceded, only 4 were conceded.

This kind of offensive and defensive efficiency can indeed make Loew satisfied, and at the same time, he is also very satisfied with the strikerless formation he has painstakingly built.

The only thing that makes Loew jealous should be Pan Yi.

After all, no coach dares to ignore the strong prestige accumulated by Pan Yi's brilliant achievements over the years, let alone Loew, whose tactics are mainly born from Pan Yi's pass-and-control tactics.

But Loew still discovered the weakness of Pan Yi's Italian team.

That is, Pan Yi likes to use a center forward with strong impact and excellent headers in this Italian team, but neither the young Scamacca nor the current Balotelli can be regarded as the world's top center forward, to be honest.

In other words, as long as their centre-backs Hummels or Boateng can keep an eye on Italy's centre-forward, Italy's attack could be mostly muted.

After discovering this, Loew conducted a lot of targeted training during this time.

After about 10 days of intensive training, Loew's mind is getting bigger and bigger, and his confidence in the first race is getting more and more strong.

It's important for any coach who wants to win a major tournament to get off to a good start.

In the history of the World Cup, with the exception of Spain in the 2010 World Cup, there is no team that has been able to win the championship after losing the first game (well, Argentina in 2022 also lost the first game).

Thinking of this, Loew suddenly bounced up from the bed, with an excited face:

"Okay, this time, I'm going to defeat Pan Yi and let them see what it means to be better than blue!"

——

'We've got Germany's starting line-up and most of the positions are the same as we guessed.

On match day June 17, in the dressing room of the Italian team at the Luzhniki Stadium, Pan Yi was reading the starting list of the German team.

Like the Italian team, Germany is a 4-3-3.

The goalkeeper is, of course, Neuer, the defenders from left to right are Plattenhardt, Boateng Jr., Hummels, Kimmich, the midfield three will be Kroos, Khedira, Goretzka, and the three forwards are Draxler, Werner and Muller.

"If I'm not mistaken, Loew will send Boateng Jr. to guard you because you're the only high point up front." Pan Yi looked at Scamacca, "Although that guy is strong, you won't be afraid of any strong central defender, will you?" ”

Scamacca, who was the lucky last-minute winner who beat Balotelli and became the starter, puffed out his muscles and replied forcefully: "Of course, boss, that guy is not going to be my opponent!" ”

In front of the 192cm tall and 90kg Boateng Jr., not any striker dares to say this, but Scamacca is one of them.

He is even 3 centimeters taller than little Boateng!

"That's right, don't be afraid to fight him, I want to see you keep grabbing the first spot above his head. Your task today is simple, but important. Fighting, running, dueling, creating opportunities for your teammates to break down their backline...... Do you understand? ”

Pan Yi admonished, while Scamacca kept nodding.

This is the benefit of this kind of grassroots player, this obvious "blue-collar" play Fascamacca will not only not be unhappy, but will think that Pan Yi really values his characteristics.

In fact, he is not actually a prolific goalscorer, but his fulcrum role in the front court is indeed obvious.

That's why Pan Yi decided to start Scamacca today, because he is taller than Balotelli and is more willing to do the dirty work.

Balotelli's physicality may seem like that of a strong centre-forward, but he doesn't really like to fight and fight for headers all the time – he probably prefers to pedal seven or eight bikes in a row and then get the ball into the opposition goal with a scissor kick.

"The German attack was outstanding, or rather, very good." Pan Yi pursed his lips and began to speak to all the players, "I don't emphasize this to intimidate you, but to let you know that we are not afraid of any outstanding attack!" Because we are Italy, we have the best defenders in the world, and defending doesn't mean we're afraid of them, it's about winning a little bit safer. ”

"As you all know, when I talk about defense, I'm definitely not the kind of guy who huddles in the box and waits for them to attack...... We're going to start blocking from the midfield and make it difficult for them to attack! Interrupt the rhythm of their offense, leaving them with an empty offensive but not able to achieve good enough results! ”

"Then, when the whole team starts to get impatient, that's when we fight back! Defending doesn't mean we're going to score fewer goals than them, it's just that we're going to play more effectively! ”

'Germany defensively are nowhere near as good as their attack, and in attack, we are no worse than them. Counter-attacking is the hallmark of Italian football, and let them know today that this sign will never go out of style! How Italy beat Germany in the past, it can be the same today! ”

"That's right! Chief! The players waved their fists in response.

Germany and Italy have a long history and are intertwined.

During the Roman period, their ancestors attacked each other, and then the Frankish kingdom was divided into three, forming the prototype of France, Germany, and Italy.

In modern times, the German military dominated the world, while the Italian army was always weak and seriously dragged behind in the two world wars.

However, in football, Italy has lived up to its reputation as a hard-blooded Blues, and the cycle of "winning" in the German tournament continues to this day.

This is not nonsense. According to statistics, in the main matches of the European Cup and the World Cup, Germany has never won against Italy head-on, with an embarrassing record of 4 draws and 4 losses.

So for the Germans, no matter what form they are in, whether they are the defending champions or not, the Italians are really not afraid of them!

Pan Yi, who successfully managed to control the emotions of the players, looked at his watch with satisfaction and found that there were still five minutes left before the time to play, so he stood up and explained two more sentences: "Of course, we can't defend from the beginning, it's too embarrassing...... If we get the kick-off, we start with an attack and do it like that......"

In the next five minutes, Pan Yi talked in detail about several sets of offensive tactics in various situations, and the specific tactical drills had been done enough before, and it was enough for him to simply mention them now.

"I think the opening attack was enough to scare them. Loew will definitely think we're going to wear down their spirit with a stubborn defence and then we're waiting for an opportunity to attack, and I think all that guy is thinking about right now is how to tear our line apart. But we just have to press them in the middle of the field at the beginning, and first dispel their arrogance! ”

After saying this, Pan Yi found that the time was almost up, so he waved his hand: "Guys, go out, there are more than 10,000 of our fans from China who came to watch this game today, don't let them down." ”

The players nodded one after another, and then walked out of the locker room under the leadership of the assistant coaches, and Pan Yi stayed in the locker room alone.

Instead of feeling nervous, he took a moment to think about whether there was anything missing in his tactics, and then he got up and strode out the locker room door.

After walking for a while, Pan Yi walked to the place near the player's tunnel, where there was a faint light shining through.

At the same time, there were also the shouts and cheers of countless fans outside.

Big scene, this kind of world competition, every game is an absolute big scene, not to mention the collision between strong teams like Germany and Italy, who have won four World Cup titles!

The substitutes were already in their seats, while the starters of the game were waiting in the tunnel to play.

Seeing Pan Yi coming, many German players also smiled at him, after all, many players in the German national team have played against Pan Yi and are very familiar with him.

After saying hello to the captain of the German national team, Neuer, Pan Yi smiled and patted the old Goretzka on the shoulder and chatted with him.

Goretzka started today but Rudiger didn't.

"Hey, what tactics are your coaches going to use against me? Can you tell us about it beforehand? Pan Yi said jokingly.

"Boss, you're kidding again." Goretzka smiled wryly and looked at the reaction of her German teammates next to her.

What if you are really treated as an internal ghost......

"Haha." Pan Yi laughed, patted Goretzka on the shoulder again, and then walked out of the players' tunnel next to the four referees.

When he walked out of the players' tunnel, the light suddenly lit up in front of him and made him really feel that the World Cup was really coming.

He will also be playing in the World Cup for the first time!

The corners of Pan Yi's mouth twitched slightly, and he was whispering to himself:

"I'm here, the World Cup. You will be the next and biggest goal I am ready to conquer next! (End of chapter)