Balotelli's shot didn't go in, and the Italian side was sorry, while the Dragon Country side of course felt a little frightened.

After all, if such an opportunity is given to the other party again, it is estimated that he will not have such good luck.

Head coach Lippi also stood on the line of command and kept shouting at the players on the field, telling them to cheer up and concentrate again!

And the Dragon Country players are also running hard.

They certainly don't want to have any regrets at the World Cup, especially as this one is likely to be their last game of the tournament......

In the 10th minute, Wu Lei wanted to pass to Lin Liangming on the side diagonally, but was cut off by Barella halfway, and then Barella passed to Candreva, who immediately broke forward with the ball.

Wu Lei quickly returned to defend and tried to entangle him, but just as he was about to approach Candreva, he suddenly slipped and fell heavily to the ground.

Candreva, who was breaking forward with the ball, suddenly felt that the opponent chasing behind him was silent, and subconsciously glanced back, and saw Wu Lei lying on the ground holding his calf, and after being stunned for a while, Candreva kicked the ball out of the sideline.

As a professional, Candreva certainly knows that if an opponent falls to the ground without confrontation, it must be injured.

Coupled with the fact that the game itself was a relatively harmonious game, Candreva naturally couldn't continue to attack without sportsmanship.

The referee also quickly ran over, asked about Wu Lei's situation, and then made a stretcher on the sidelines.

Wu Lei felt that he was extremely unlucky.

Just now, Candreva tripped Wu Lei when he tackled, and this kind of hard injury can actually be healed for a while, but Wu Lei ran back desperately because he was not convinced, making the injury worse and worse, plus such a fall just now......

Wu Lei knows his body well, he can feel that his left ankle is at least a mild sprain, even if there will be no problems, this game may not be able to continue playing.

Wu Lei was carried off the field on a stretcher, Lippi ran over to take a look with a depressed face, and shook his head helplessly after listening to the team doctor talk about the inspection, and then turned around and asked Huang Zichang on the bench to warm up.

In the first 10 minutes, Long Guo lost a general, or the number one star, I have to say, this is a very unlucky omen.

Lippi also knows that Wu Lei's injury is also related to the fact that he has started and played the whole game in these games, and the load on his body is still too heavy.

But there's no way around it.

This is the case in a small football country, basically relying on the stars in the team to play, even if you know that hard work is not good for the players' bodies, but you have to hold it up.

Besides, for a team as weak as the Dragon Country, every game in the group stage can be said to be a final for them, and every game has to be fought, so there is no possibility of retention.

Which one is like the Italian team opposite?

Pan Yi has been rotating players since the second game, so that the tired players can rest as much as possible, and the young people who can always play are often those who can't run to death.

He does this to better adjust the fitness and condition of the players by sharing the playing time when the club is busy with the schedule.

The Italian national team's current personnel reserves will also allow them to maintain a high level of competition while rotating.

Obviously, this has worked well so far, and although they were held to a draw by Mexico in the second round, it did not affect Italy's qualification situation too much.

But the dragon country team ......

Now that the biggest explosion point in the front court has gone down, how should I play next?

When Wu Lei left the field, Pan Yi also went up to care and condolences, after all, no one wants to touch this kind of thing.

However, objectively, after Wu Lei was gone, Italy's fear of the Dragon Kingdom's counterattack was reduced a lot.

After all, compared with Wu Lei, whether it is in terms of experience, confrontation ability or speed, Huang Zichang is slightly inferior.

Wu Lei was an important player in winning the treble in Hamburg, while Huang Zichang was only a rotation player in York City, and the gap between the two is huge.

It's just that with the forward reserves of the Dragon Kingdom, in addition to the three carriages of Zhang Yuning, Wu Lei, and Lin Liangming, Huang Zichang has already mixed well in foreign leagues, so Lippi also trusts him relatively more.

But in such a situation, Candreva started to get more involved in the attack, and half the time he started to really play as a winger.

After all, he was originally responsible for guarding Wu Lei, and now that the other party has ended, he has nothing to scruple about.

The Italian offensive also began to become more and more intense.

They kept breaking down from the wings to suppress the assists of the opposing two full-backs, and then kept lobbing the ball for their team-mates in the middle to pick up.

Balotelli, who missed a great opportunity to score, rampage in the penalty area of the Dragon Kingdom, fortunately Feng Xiaoting and Mei Fang pulled and dragged in the penalty area, and the referee was relatively lenient in the penalty today, which did not allow Ba Shen to get a good shot opportunity in the middle.

On the side, Zhang Linpeng and Jiang Zhipeng were repeatedly deflated under the impact of Chiesa Jr. and Insigne.

On several occasions, Insigne had dribbled straight into the penalty area, and if it wasn't for Zheng Zhi's timely addition, perhaps Insigne would have completed many threatening shots and even scored.

The Dragon Country players on the field now, in addition to the three fronts, really have experience in the five major leagues, that is, the captain Zheng Zhi.

He also relied on his rich experience to help the Dragon Kingdom stabilize the defense line to the greatest extent.

But the problem is that even he has a gap with Italian players in terms of comprehensive ability, and many times he has no way to make up for his teammates' sinkholes.

The game went on until the twenty-fifth minute.

Tonali sent a beautiful long ball near the centre circle, Feng Xiaoting misjudged again, Insigne unloaded the ball on tiptoe and went straight into the box.

Feng Xiaoting, who had been suddenly dizzy by Insigne, made a back-tackle in a hurry, Insigne fell in the penalty area, and the referee's whistle sounded - penalty!

There was a huge cheer from the Italian fans, but the things that made them happy were yet to come.

The referee walked in front of Feng Xiaoting with a straight face after pointing to the penalty spot, then took it out of his chest pocket and showed a card - it was red, red card!

"I'll go, the luck of the Dragon Kingdom is too bad." On the Italian coach's bench, even Pan Yi couldn't help but say a word.

"We were unlucky in the last round, and it should be our turn to be lucky in this round." Vialli, who was sitting next to Pan Yi, smiled and touched his bald head, "This is called the law of conservation of luck." ”

"Maybe they've exhausted all their luck by going to the World Cup." "As for us, our luck has been slowly increasing since the group stage of qualifying. ”

Pan Yi glared: "Isn't it because I'm here?" ”

Both assistant coaches laughed.

Now, although the Italian team has not scored a goal, Wu Lei from the Dragon Country side, Feng Xiaoting received a red card again, and there is a penalty, the situation can not be better for Italy, and of course their mood is very good.

It's just that Pan Yi slightly felt a little "invincible".

After all, the Dragon Kingdom has also been brought by himself, and today is to have a good battle with real swords and guns.

But what's the solution?

Football is like that, and the unexpected can happen in every game.

Having said that, Feng Xiaoting has indeed become more and more unstable as he gets older, and there are more and more low-level mistakes.

If it was in his previous life, Feng Xiaoting would be about to quit the national team at this point in time......

So today's two mistakes, it can be said that the Dragon Kingdom is unlucky, or it can be said that it is due to strength.

At this time, Feng Xiaoting had already gotten off the field in frustration, and then walked to the locker room.

A minute later, Huang Zichang also walked off the field in frustration.

This is because after Feng Xiaoting left the field, the Dragon Country team only had one central defender left on the Mei side, and of course Lippi had to make personnel adjustments, replacing a striker and replacing a central defender.

Lippi's decision was to replace Deng Hanwen at right-back, and then move the physically strong Zhang Linpeng to the central defender position to continue against Balotelli, and could only replace Huang Zichang in the front line.

Although it was a tactical substitution, it had nothing to do with his own performance, but Huang Zichang only stayed for more than ten minutes for the opportunity to play in the World Cup, even if he had a good temper, he was very unhappy in his heart.

But he also understands that Lippi was forced to make this substitution.

With one less defender, it is impossible for him to hand over the central defense in the penalty area to Mei Fang alone, the defensive ability of the wingbacks on the wings is not so strong, and one less central defender is equivalent to putting the goal undefended in front of Italy's attacking line and allowing others to slaughter.

The back can't move, the defender can't move, and the only one who can move is naturally the attacker in the frontcourt.

Among the three forwards, Lin Liangming cannot be replaced as a front-court assaulter, and Zhang Yuning, as a center at the front, his tactical position is also quite important, so it is naturally impossible to be replaced.

Then the one who was replaced could only be poor Huang Zichang......

At the same time as the dragon country made a substitution, Italy began to prepare for the penalty.

The current Italian team, as long as Balotelli is present, then he is the first penalty taker!

Taking the ball from the referee's hand, Balotelli put the ball on the penalty spot, then straightened up and glanced at Longguo goalkeeper Zeng Cheng.

Then the whistle blew and Balotelli didn't hesitate to start, run, shoot, all in one go.

Zeng Cheng completely misjudged the direction, and the ball flew directly into the middle of the goal, but he pounced on the left......

In terms of saving penalties, Wang Dalei should be the only one in the Dragon Kingdom, Zeng Cheng is relatively stable, but the penalty is average.

With the goal, the cheers of the Italian fans filled the stadium.

Now they have a one-goal lead and one more man on the pitch, and they are now starting to dominate Italy who only need a draw to qualify.

"Keep attacking, don't give them a chance to breathe!" Pan Yi slapped his face and shouted at the players on the field.

Although Pan Yi even has a little sympathy for the Dragon Country team in his heart, as the head coach of the Italian team, he must seize the opportunity to pursue the victory.

His first goal is to make sure he wins this game and then advance to the knockout round as the top of the group!

So it can't give Dragon Kingdom any chance of turning the tables right now - although such a chance seems to be slim at the moment.

The morale-boosting Italy launched a tidal wave of attacks, with the two flanks beginning to break through frequently, and Balotelli in the middle was constantly playing the ball to the players at the back.

In the 30th minute, Balotelli took the ball with his back in the box and passed back, and Tonali, who was inserted, fired a powerful shot over the crossbar.

A minute later, Chiesa Jr. forced his way through Zhang Linpeng's defence on the left and then crossed, and Insigne played a juggling backheel shot in the box, but Zeng Cheng struggled to save the ball.

Balotelli then had two chances to shoot in a row, first after receiving Parolo's overhead ball and volleying it high, then Di Marco broke through the side to send the ground ball, Balotelli received the ball and forced a turn to shoot, the ball went wide of the post.

"This guy, I still didn't have my shooting boots with me today." Pan Yi couldn't help but shake his head and sighed.

Balotelli scored a penalty, but if he had been a little more accurate today, he might have already scored a hat-trick.

can only hope that he will slowly adjust himself later, otherwise if he encounters a stronger opponent in the knockout round, how can he have so many opportunities to squander him?

After a succession of missed opportunities, Italy's offensive slowly stopped, and the dragon country took the opportunity to launch some counterattacks.

However, they also failed to create many chances due to the lack of attacking manpower.

After all, after one person is missing, the backcourt players of the Dragon Kingdom do not dare to press too forward, and Lin Liangming and others are constantly besieged by the Italian defenders, and the offense is lacking.

Before the end of the first half, Italy again missed a good chance to score, Chiesa Jr. was tripped by Deng Hanwen after a cross-cutting breakthrough, and Tonali's free-kick went over the wall and over Zeng Cheng's hand, but hit the bottom of the post and bounced off the bottom line.

"It's a pity that we didn't expand our advantage."

When the referee blew the whistle at the end of the first half, Pan Yi stood up and said regretfully.

However, there was not much disappointment on his face, and Lippi could not have made too targeted tactical changes in the short time since he had already wasted two substitutions first due to injury and then to a red card.

Coupled with the fact that the Italian team is now leading by one goal and playing one more, Pan Yi is already nine out of ten sure of winning this game.

Because of this, in the locker room at halftime, Pan Yi did not make too many adjustments to his tactics.

He just emphasized that his players should continue to seize the holes between the two fullbacks and central defenders in the Dragon Kingdom, continue to attack, and strive to expand the score as soon as possible and lock in the win!

And after the restart of the second half, Lippi unexpectedly let the Dragon Nation launch an onslaught!

Although there is one less, whether it is Zhang Yuning or Lin Liangming, they are all players who are quite good in terms of technical speed and impact, plus the insertion of two fullbacks to assist, and for a while, the attack of the Dragon Kingdom played well, and even suppressed the Italian attack for a while.

"It's really worthy of the silver fox Lippi." Pan Yi couldn't help but praise.

He understands that Lippi, the old man, is the character of not admitting defeat.

This is not the same as many Chinese coaches, often in this case, many people will feel that today's luck is so bad, then it is not ashamed to lose against a strong team like Italy, it is better to try to defend well, and win if you lose less.

But Lippi doesn't, he still wants to win, he still wants to qualify!

It's just that Pan Yi also understands that the Dragon Kingdom has a little upper hand at this time, which is completely based on the massive consumption of physical energy.

Now there is one less person in the Dragon Kingdom, and the captain Zheng Zhidu, who has been running up and down in the back position, is almost 38 years old......

The current Zheng Zhi, if he has a strong running midfielder next to him, and he is only responsible for checking and filling in the gaps, then there may not be much of a problem in playing the whole game.

However, Wu Xi, who partnered with him in the double back waist today, obviously cannot reach the level of a world-class "beast waist", and according to Zheng Zhi's current trend of running, his physical fitness will drop to the brink of danger in the sixtieth minute at most.

In today's game, Long Guo has only conceded one goal so far with such a scattered and flawed backline, in addition to Italy's offensive line wasted a lot of opportunities, Zheng Zhi's firefighting everywhere is also an important factor.

His running made the Italian players always suffer a certain amount of interference when they shot at the end, and also affected the quality of their shots, if Zheng Zhi can't run either, then the back line of the Dragon Kingdom will no longer cause too much hindrance to the Italian attack.

Now, though, the Dragons' dying attack has caused some problems for Italy's backline.

Zhang Yuning and Lin Liangming both had chances to shoot, but they were all defused one by one in the veteran defense of the Italian defenders.

During this time, the fullback Deng Hanwen, who had just been replaced, was very active, and he continued to step forward to participate in the attack.

Several of his breakthroughs and passes also created a threat, which also made him rush forward more frequently and cut forward more and more......

When Deng Hanwen dribbled forward again, Barella and Tonali formed a trap on him at the same time.

"Grab him!" Pan Yi roared below, and he saw the void left behind Deng Hanwen's front insertion.

So, Barella first knocked the opponent with a ferocious charge, and then Tonali reached out to hook the ball at Deng Hanwen's feet, and then a straight kick.

Balotelli near the centre circle received the ball with his back to the opposition half, and Insigne and Chiesa Jr. on both wings had already cut in at high speed at the same time......

Balotelli passed the ball to Insigne, who received the ball and played a beautiful diagonal pass, which was accurate to the left and slipped into the feet of Dimarco!

Dimaco catches the ball on the run and immediately kicks it forward!

These few transfers left and right made the defense of the Dragon Kingdom completely dizzy, and after receiving the pass from DiMarco, Chiesa Jr. immediately used his own sprint to shake off Zhang Linpeng's defense, unloaded the ball beautifully in the air, and then rushed into the penalty area of the Dragon Country national team like the wind!

From Barella and Tonali teaming up to snatch the ball to Chiesa Jr.'s solo appearance, it took less than ten seconds in total!

Little Chiesa kept adjusting his pace in the run, and in the face of Zeng Cheng, who was attacking, little Chiesa suddenly got up and stabbed in the run!

This shot is not standardized, but it is precisely because of this that this shot seems so sudden!

The ball rolled rapidly on the turf, and the splash was pressed to the sides, but it did not slow the ball down, but made it roll faster.

Zeng Cheng fell down to save the ball, but the gap between him and the world-class goalkeeper was undoubtedly revealed at this time, and he was too slow to go to the ground!

The ball rolled under his armpit and flew diagonally into the far corner!

"Two to zero! Nice counterattack! Little Chiesa! It was his third goal of the tournament! ”

Amid Lineker's passionate shouts, Chiesa Jr. did not stop running after his goal.

He sprinted all the way inside the net to get the ball out, then kicked it hard into the sky before rushing to the sidelines in excitement and cheering loudly under the stands occupied by the Italian fans.

On the coach's side, Pan Yi slapped his hands to celebrate the goal while thinking thoughtfully.

Little Chiesa is really one of the few bright spots in Italy's starry years.

He's very versatile up front, he's explosive on the wings, he's good at shooting, and he's not only able to score goals himself, but he's also able to create chances for his team-mates.

It can be said that in Pan Yi's previous life, Italy's ability to win the 2020 European Championship is inseparable from Chiesa's outstanding performance.

But Chiesa Jr. has one of the biggest drawbacks, which is that the body board is too brittle and prone to injury.

It is precisely because he suffered a serious injury in the league at the beginning of 2022 - a cruciate ligament injury in his left knee, which led to the reimbursement of the season, and then missed the World Preliminary Tournament of the Italian team, which can be said to directly cause the Italian team to miss the 2022 World Cup......

This is not an afterthought, and after Chiesa Jr.'s absence, the level of constipation in Italy during the attack is truly outrageous.

If you don't say anything else, you will play in the play-offs in North Macedonia, and you don't know how many kicks, but you can't get in! Those red shells, green shells, and purple shells, there really isn't a reliable one.

Therefore, Pan Yi should also pay attention to the use of Chiesa Jr. in the next game, and don't "repeat the mistakes of the past".

It's just that at least in today's game, Chiesa Jr. is still very healthy and plays well!

If the Dragons still had the courage and hope to fight before, then after Chiesa Jr.'s second goal, they basically lost their fighting spirit.

With two goals down and one man left on the pitch, a draw is not enough to qualify for them, unless there is a miracle if they want to qualify......

On the other field, Germany actually fell behind Mexico 0:1!

If the score were held up until the end, Mexico would have secured five points to qualify from the group, while Germany would have been eliminated with three points.

If the Dragons want to qualify, they must beat Italy by a big beat, and then accumulate four points with their opponents, and then look at the goal difference.

But now, Dragons have a goal difference of -5 and Italy +5......

Although every goal scored by the Dragon Kingdom will reduce the difference of two goal difference, the gap is now ten!

In other words, the Dragons will need to score at least five more goals against Italy to have a chance of qualifying......

This...... Is it possible?

Not to mention the gap in strength between Longguo and Italy, just talking about Pan Yi's career, he really hasn't scored so many goals in a single game.

So......

In the end, Lippi still used the last substitution, but even at this time he didn't want to replace the defender, but replaced the mediocre Wu Xi with Gao Lin, and then the three forwards charged in front.

Naturally, this style of play did not have much effect, and the disjointed attacks only made the Italian defense more comfortable, and at the same time, their attacks were also unfolding in waves.

In order to save money, Pan Yi also replaced Chiesa Jr. and Balotelli with Shaarawy and Scamacca, and then replaced Tonali with De Rossi.

De Rossi, a veteran, seemed to have good luck when he came on and he scored a few minutes later!

El Shaarawy was tripped by Jiang Zhipeng on the counter-attack, and Italy won a direct free-kick from 25 meters from goal.

Candreva pushed, Shaarawy stepped on it, De Rossi followed with a kick, the ball hit the wall, but the catapult flew into the goal!

In the end, Italy defeated the Dragons 3-0 and locked up the top spot in this group.

When the whistle blew at the end of the match, the cheers of the Italian fans mingled with the sighs of the Dragon fans.

But the frustration of the Dragons fans didn't last long, and they soon joined the Italians as well.

Although they only finished at the bottom of the group with one draw and two losses, let's take a look at the German team that went out with them......

In the other game, Mexico maintained a one-goal lead until the end of the game, finishing second in the group with one win and two draws, while Germany went out with one win and two losses.

As a rookie in the World Cup, Dragon Country is going home with the defending champion, so what's so uncomfortable?

(End of chapter)