I AM the Football Star-Chapter 453 - 126: Returning Home to Italy? (9,700-Word - )
The defensive tactics of the Italy National Youth Team were very thorough.
Of course, after Versachi came onto the field, he found Lu Yang and Morici and had a few words with them.
It seemed he was discussing the defensive formation.
However, what Versachi actually said was: "Captain Lu, the coach said to seize every counterattack opportunity, but also don’t abandon defense! And you, Morici, Lu, who is involved in defense, can’t get a counterattack opportunity immediately and needs someone to help hold and control the ball!"
"You need to withstand the pressure, not lose the ball, and buy Lu time to charge towards the midfield if there’s a counterattack chance!"
Versachi explained his point very clearly.
Maniero was still not willing to concede.
Coincidentally.
There wasn’t a single player on the Italy National Youth Team who was willing to give up!
...
In the ninety-third minute of the match, the England Team once again made a bottom cross, having just accumulated seven corner kicks!
Their offense was truly relentless.
Bam!
Pirola finally played to his strengths at this time.
As a traditional tall central defender, he was the only one able to overpower the two tall defenders of England in a strong aerial duel.
His aerial defense ability was extremely strong!
Like a stabilizing force, completely erasing the moments when he had been turned into a bystander by England’s talented players.
And the Englishmen obtained their eighth corner kick in a short time.
At this point, the match between Spain and Poland had already ended.
Spain won the final victory with a score of three to one.
Enriquez with two goals and an assist became the true hero of Spain.
Although Pavovsky suffered another loss, no one would say that the Poland Team didn’t perform well in this match; they were just a bit unlucky.
Thus, the standings of Group A had dramatically changed, with Spain first, six points.
Poland fourth, one point.
And England five points, second place.
Italy four points, third.
This score was almost impossible to change.
Because the match on Italy’s side was also about to end.
Considering the red card, excessive celebration, and multiple goals, the main referee gave six minutes of added time.
Now four and a half minutes had already passed.
Seeing their previous offensive attempts failing, on this corner kick, Mancini ran out of the penalty area.
It seemed he realized that the head coach’s strategy of bottom crossing was simply unreliable.
Even though the team wasn’t lacking in tall players, especially two tall defenders,
no forward had the strong aerial ability to contest headers.
The awareness of defenders and forwards in front of the goal is not the same.
Mancini decided to resolve the battle in his way.
In a genius way!
Rashim took a tactical corner, directly sending the ball to Mancini near the corner area.
Lu Yang rushed over immediately.
Mancini turned with the ball, using a Marseille Turn to get past Lu Yang.
And then he...
Bam!
The football at Mancini’s feet flew out.
Lu Yang, who was bypassed, immediately stretched out his leg from behind, "poke tackle" to clear the ball.
For this, Lu Yang even fell to the ground.
However, Lu Yang’s move was clean, only hitting the ball with no physical contact with Mancini.
It was a masterclass defense.
A bit risky, but fortunately successful.
This was also related to Mancini’s too obvious intent to cut inside.
No matter how genius a player is, if they want to score from the wing, they must cut inside. Sometimes, once the intention is exposed, the threat is greatly reduced.
Lu Yang no longer cared about that ball.
He did his best, became his best self, and now it was up to his teammates.
He had to trust his teammates.
Just as he trusted Morici. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶
Miracles rely on more than just one person.
Lu Yang got up and quickly rushed towards the front field!
On the other side, the ball was still being contested.
The ball Lu Yang poked away was picked up by Lam.
Lam made a big clearance, but Jesse Raisim took the risk to block the ball with his body.
The football bounced towards the big penalty area.
The position was a bit far, Areola didn’t dare to rush out to contest the ball.
At this point, he must play it safe.
Just off the bench, Versachi was marking Chaloba, but the height difference was nearly ten centimeters.
However, due to Versachi’s obstruction, Chaloba also didn’t have the chance to shoot and tried to nod the ball to a teammate at the top of the arc of the big penalty area.
However, Sogel was nearby, risking getting kicked in the head to head the ball to the right side of the box first.
Then Sogel was knocked to the ground by an opposing midfielder.
But the main referee didn’t stop the game.
Because the flying wing on Italy’s right finally spread its wings at this moment.
Bam!
Canyes directly kicked the ball ten meters away.
Then accelerating, accelerating, accelerating again.
This big stride dribbling directly let him overtake the England midfielder.
The opponent was overtaken by Canyes in a ten-meter sprint.
Canyes’ start speed was too fast!
"Stop him, stop him!" The England midfielder, following Canyes, called to his left-back.
The England left-back slowly moved towards Canyes from near the halfway line.
He couldn’t retreat any further.
Although England still had a defensive midfielder sitting back on the defense, behind the center circle,
yet if Canyes continued dribbling, more Italian players would join the counterattack.
The speed of Italian players, like Pompey and Lu Yang, was still somewhat faster than the two English central defenders.
So he had to stop Canyes from advancing.
Bam!
Canyes resolutely made a right-footed cross in motion at a position about six or seven meters from the halfway line, not attempting to get past the opponent, because at this moment any mistake was not allowed, and dribbling past players was the attempt with the most mistakes.
