"Tonali! Tonali! Tonali! ”

The Italian fans in the stands have begun to chant Tonali's name rhythmically.

Now Tonali is Italy's number one penalty taker, and his free-kick kick percentage is really good.

Whether it's his Pirlo-like direct shot or his training routine, Tonali gets the job done.

At this time, the Croatian players had already put up a human wall under the command of Subaic.

After all, there is a VAR now, and after being reviewed by the referee, there is no need to continue to plead - after all, it is not a penalty! The chances of being scored will still be smaller.

Although Croatia's goalkeeper Subasic is not as well-known as many famous goalkeepers in the world, his strength is still very strong.

Having said that, Croatia is quite rich in excellent goalkeepers, Subasic in 2018 and Livakovic in 2022 are the kind of goalkeepers who can save the team from fire and water.

Of course, Livakovic is actually in the team now, but he is still a substitute for Subasic for the time being, and this World Cup is not his stage yet.

Now, today's starting goalkeeper Sumic will face the threat of Tonali's free-kick.

Of course, the Croatian coaching staff have done their homework, and Croatia have also put a lot of effort into defending the opponent's set-pieces before the game, and Subasic knows how high Tonali's free-kicks are.

Fast, accurate, and often with a sudden drop effect, Tonali's free kicks are not invariably around the wall to get close, and several times he has taken advantage of the psychology of the opposing goalkeeper to take the opponent off guard, kick a far corner or directly hit a low ball or something.

As the saying goes, you are predecided.

"Is he shooting straight into the near or far corners......"

After the conductor's wall was tightly blocked on the near corner, Subažić was still beating a drum in his heart, and he guessed Tonali's mental activity at this time.

It's the same as in the penalty shoot-out, where there is such a psychological game on both sides.

By this time, Tonali was already standing in front of the ball, Barella was standing next to him, and the two York City team-mates were talking about something, which also caused a little confusion in Subasic Mood's thoughts.

"Tonali doesn't shoot? Sideways for Barella to shoot? It's not impossible, this guy's powerful shot is also very threatening, and he has scored several times before. ”

After thinking about it for a while, Subaic decided to focus more on Tonali.

Mainly at this distance, if there is any horizontal coordination, it seems to be a bit of a snake, it is better to come directly to Tonali.

And more than 20 meters away from him, two Italian players were covering their mouths and discussing.

Barella said to Tonali: "I think Subasic should be focusing on you." ”

"yes, maybe we can take advantage of that......" Tonali laughed.

"Do you kick or do I kick?" Barrera asked.

"I don't kick it. Let Desiglio play, he would never have imagined. Tonali replied.

I don't know when, right wing-back Desiglio also walked over.

But judging from his expression, it seems that Tonali's conversation with Barrera has nothing to do with him, and it looks like he is just "passing by".

"No problem." Barrera replied rather crisply.

That's because the option of shooting by Desiglio, which they have also practiced in training, is to take advantage of the fact that the opposing goalkeeper would not expect Italy to send a right-back who is not good at free-kicks to take the free-kick......

If Subasic had heard the conversation between them, he might have changed his mind.

Unfortunately, the conversation between the two of them was fast and urgent, and the voice was very low, and it was not necessary to know about the discussion between them until Subasic had a pair of tailwind ears.

After the discussion, Tonali and Barella began to complain to the referee that the opposing team's wall was too far forward.

The referee measured it with his footsteps and saw that this was the case, so he waved his hand to the Croatian wall back.

Then Subasic noticed that the wall was loose, and shouted loudly for the wall to continue to be tighter, and the Croatian players moved their feet, and saw the referee turn around and slowly move forward a little bit......

The free-kick tossed for more than a minute before the penalty officially began.

Tonali took two steps back, straightened up, and waited for the referee's whistle to blow.

Barella stepped back a bit, his eyes fixed on the goal, and he looked ready to rush in for a kick at any moment.

And Desiglio took two or three steps back, looking like he was ready to stay in the back and prepare to prevent the opponent from counterattacking - leaving two faster full-backs at the set-piece was a routine operation in the backfield, and it would not be suspicious at all.

Now, with the Croatian players on the wall staring at Tonali, such a top free-kick player can indeed do huge damage to every team.

Desiglio stood a little behind Tonali, who masked his expression.

After all, Desiglio is going to prepare to shoot, no matter how he pretends to be, he also has to use his eyes to observe the position of the opponent's goalkeeper, and then prepare to step forward and shoot cold arrows.

And Tonali is such a block, Subasic only has Tonali in his eyes, and at most one Barella is added.

The whistle blew, and Tonali ran to a stoppage near the ball, then picked up his right foot!

The human wall jumps immediately!

They knew that Tonali's free-kick was fast, and if they waited for the ball to fly out and then jump, it would be too late!

However, Tonali didn't shoot, and his powerful shot only pushed the ball to the side, and the ball rolled around the turf twice before stopping.

"Damn, I'm going to shoot Barrera!"

Subacric tensed and immediately stared at Barella next to Tonali, ready to save the ball.

But at this moment, Desiglio rushed up from behind, picked up his right foot in the run, and pumped the ball hard!

His foot was pumped into the middle and upper part of the ball, so instead of flying, the ball flew forward with a touch of the ground, and then flew under the jumping wall!

This time, it was too unexpected for Subaxiac.

In this case, it is difficult for Subaic to react in time even if he reacts beyond ordinary people!

He only had time to turn around when he saw the ball cling to the turf like a snake into the near corner of the goal!

Desiglio, who was obscured by the wall, was not able to see if the ball had gone in, but when the Italian fans behind the goal raised their arms, he knew that his first goal in the World Cup had been born!

Desiglio threw his hands up in the air, yelled, and then turned to hug Tonali, and Barrera rushed to the side, spreading his hands and holding the two in his arms.

Off the court, Pan Yi waved his fist fiercely, and then high-fived the assistant coaches, and the Italian substitutes had all rushed out of the bench and cheered loudly on the court.

"Aha, what about pressing us to fight? We still scored first! The Croats are no match for us! ”

The Italian fans raised their eyebrows at this time, and even waved international friendly gestures at the Croatian fans opposite.

"One to zero! Italy surprisingly took the lead! ”

Lineker also shouted in surprise and joy:

"Croatia dominated the first fifteen minutes, but Italy scored in the first threatening attack of the game!"

'Balotelli counter-attacked and created a free-kick and Desiglio opened the scoring under the cover of Tonali! It was only Italy's first shot of the game, but they were ahead of Croatia, who already had five! ”

"Efficient, surprisingly efficient! After Pan Yi took office, he simply played the tradition of Italy's defensive counterattack and emphasis on set-piece tactics to the fullest! ”

"And Italy also has a tradition that it can often win without dominating the field, such as 10 to 11 in the 98 World Cup and Cameroon 3:0 is a typical example. Obviously, the Italian team under Pan Yi also has this characteristic! ”

"Today they were so pressed by Croatia in the first fifteen minutes that they couldn't even breathe, but it was just a counter-attack, a free kick, and they took the lead in the 20th minute! Highly efficient! Extremely efficient! Compared with the advantage on the field, superb efficiency is the strongest way to win! Obviously, Pan Yi knows this very well! ”

On the sidelines, in the Croatian dugout, Dalic's eyebrows furrowed.

He could only shake his head and sigh at this free kick, there was really no way, and he couldn't blame Subaxic.

When the penalty taker is Tonali from a free-kick, how can you take your eyes off him?

No one would have imagined that the Italian would be kicked by a Desiglio who was not particularly good at shooting footwork, and also played a boccia ball.

Dalic could only praise in his heart, Pan Yi is really good at making people have a mentality in this regard - you just can't guess who will finish the final blow in each of their set-pieces!

On the other side, after the celebration, Pan Yi quickly calmed down from the excitement.

After all, there are still more than 70 minutes left in the game, and a one-goal lead doesn't mean much.

The opponent's attack is still strong, and now is not the time to relax.

After one side scores the first goal, the psychology of both sides will undoubtedly be greatly affected at this time, which will also affect the trend of the next game.

It's just that no one can predict where the game will go.

The leading side may take advantage of the victory and chase after the victory, extend the lead, or relax for a while, be tied immediately, or even overtaken, in either case, it has happened countless times in countless matches in world football.

Therefore, it is necessary for the coaches of both sides to remind their players to pay attention in time and make corresponding adjustments, so that the game can always be played in their own ideas.

Of course, since coaches don't control players with handles, even the best managers sometimes can't really control the direction of the game.

"In the 20th minute, Italy led Croatia 1-0!"

"Since Pan Yi took office, Italy has always been able to take the lead in the game."

"And in those leading games, apart from being held to a draw by the tenacious Mexicans, they won all the other games."

So, against the equally tenacious Croatians today, can Pan Yi still win? Let's wait and see! ”

This is a German narrator.

With the Germans already coming home early, the Germans now have a playful mentality for the rest of the game, or a neutral fan mentality.

For neutral fans, of course, the more intense and exciting the game, the happier they will be.

It's not a big deal to watch the excitement!

And in today's game, Croatia's attack was fierce before, but Italy relied on a counterattack to score.

When this happens, the game tends to be more exciting and intense, and as a neutral fan, what you want to see is nothing more than such a wonderful game.

These neutral media and fans were not disappointed.

Croatia's players did suffer psychologically after conceding the goal, and after kick-off they were caught off guard by Italy's ferocious interceptions and quick counter-attacks in midfield.

However, after all, they are also a fighting nation, with good psychological quality, and after quickly stabilizing their position, they began to attack more from the midfield, playing directly behind Italy, using the speed and dexterity of the two wide players to play behind Italy.

Strinic and Fosariko did not stop their assists because of the Italian counter-attack, and with Modric and Rakitic closer to the middle, their assists were also extremely active, and they were engaged in a battle with two Italian full-backs who were also very capable of assisting.

First Strinic came up with an assist and then tested Donnarumma's reflexes with a long-range shot, and then Fosarico, who had the assist, sent a beautiful cross for Perisic, but Perisic headed it high.

Not to be outdone, Italy launched a counterattack.

Spinazzola stepped forward to assist, and after the midfielder ran out of space, he latched on to Verratti's pass and forced his way through with his pace.

Under the interference of Strinic, he still crossed into the penalty area, Barella in front of him, and Balotelli followed up with a direct shot at the goal, and the ball hit Lovren and went out of the line.

Under the instruction of Pan Yi, Italy did not hold on to the lead after taking the lead.

When defending, they concentrate on forcing mistakes in the midfield with frantic pressing and pressing the opponent's two forwards to move around.

This is also Pan Yi's unexpected move to the opponent, that is, to make you think that I will stick to it after scoring a goal, but play an anti-routine.

This forced Mandzukic to return to midfield more often to get the ball, leaving Perisic or Rebic up front and using his pace to contain Italy's two centre-backs.

Croatia's adjustment also had a great effect, and Mandzukic was active in the next ten minutes.

He is not a striker who can only score goals, he is also quite good in terms of technique and organisation, and he also has a good combination with Luka Modric in midfield.

Mandzukic was a big threat with two long-range shots in a row, but Donnarumma also played at a very high level in this game, making two good saves in a row to prevent Mandzukic from shooting from distance.

However, such a wide range of runs also added to the burden on Mandzukic.

Perhaps the striker's injury wasn't healing, and in the 36th minute, Mandzukic suddenly fell to the ground and was carried off the pitch on a stretcher with his thigh clutched.

"Mandzukic is injured! Croatia's team doctor is checking on his injury, and perhaps he hasn't fully recovered from the injury he sustained in the last game...... It was a big blow for Croatia, who are by far the most goalscorers and the most dangerous player up front. If he is gone, Croatia's attack will be greatly affected. ”

Pan Yi watched Dalic's actions from afar.

He saw Dalic stand up from Mandzukic with a frown, then turn around and call out Kramaric from the bench.

"Tell them that the full-backs will go up and play with them in midfield!" Pan Yi turned to Evani and said.

Previously, because he was not sure whether Mandzukic would be able to play, Pan Yi also prepared for a long time when arranging tactics how to deal with Mandzukic when he was not on the court, and Kramaric playing as a center forward was one of them, so he was able to come up with a way to deal with it immediately.

Although Kramaric's impact on the field is not as good as Mandzukic's, including the fulcrum role and header ability, he is strong in his smart running, delicate stopping, and accurate left foot, and some people even compare him to the legendary striker Davo Suker in Croatian football history, that is, the one who "can play the violin with his left foot".

His play, although he was less of a direct threat to the goal, was less controllable in midfield.

He added the original Croatian four originally delicate midfielders, and a tough midfielder swept behind them, and the technical ability and control of this midfielder can be said to be the first gear in the world.

Compared with such a midfield, Italy is obviously incomparable, but Italy naturally has their advantage, that is, the ability to run.

Although Croatia has always been known for its strong running ability, it is Pan Yi who said at the beginning that the different trends of the two knockout games determine that Italy has an advantage in terms of physical fitness!

Increase running, strengthen pressing, disrupt their offensive rhythm, and bring the whole game into a scramble, this is Pan Yi's way of coping!

It's just that although Italy's mad dog-style full-court pressing has put Croatia's offense under a lot of pressure, Croatia's frontcourt cooperation has indeed reached an extremely high level.

Several technical players avoided the real and kept tearing apart the Italian defence with tacit passes and runs, and also created a lot of good chances.

Under Bonucci's tight guard, Perisic still had two shots on goal, but it didn't make much difference under Bastoni's filling and interference.

Italy continued to use counter-attacks to slow down the opposition's attack, and Balotelli's several unreasonable individual breakthroughs also caused a lot of problems for the Croatian backline.

There was no shortage of exciting attacking shots in the ensuing period, but the defense of both sides was equally good, and although the fans in the stands enjoyed watching it, the score was still 1-0 after the referee blew the whistle at the end of the first half, and Italy took the lead.

It's just that it can be seen from the expressions of the players on both sides that this score is mostly temporary.

All of them are full of desire and dissatisfaction!

In the first half, both sides actually got a lot of chances, but they didn't grasp them, and in the second half, as the physical strength of both sides declined, there will only be more opportunities, not less.

Therefore, everyone can see that the real battle may not really start until the second half......