I AM the Football Star-Chapter 460 - 127: The Diamond Generation
"Lu Yang! It’s still you, if their wingers frequently try to cut inside, you need to temporarily move back to the defensive midfield position and make interception after interception. They’re practically handing you the ball possession, you know!"
Lu Yang nodded.
Thank you, Mr. Maniero, but why don’t you take this kind of possession yourself?
Saying it like it’s actually very easy.
But the truth is indeed similar, the two wingers of the German Team are at best enhanced versions of Fernandez, far inferior to the top-notch inside cutters or wingers like Sevajos and Pompey.
"The German Youth National Team doesn’t have a super genius, but that’s just in comparison to supernovas like Mancini and Enriquez. In fact, their number eight, Angelo Melcan, counts as a top German talent." Maniero began to focus on introducing the core player of the German Team, "He plays in the midfield, has outstanding abilities in all aspects, and is truly a Hexagon Warrior like Lu."
"He comes from Bayern’s youth training, last season he appeared in more than thirty matches for Bayern, being a key rotation member of the team. He’s twenty-one years old this year, and stands at a height of 188cm, quite robust."
"His current market value is as high as twenty-five million, of course, this is not unrelated to the German media compiling his worth. His threatening long passes and long-range shots outside the penalty area are his specialties to help the team."
"So... our center-backs, you must tightly mark their central forwards and attacking midfielders, don’t give them any chance to break away solo. Their central forward and attacking midfielder aren’t strong, which is the third focus point of their formation!"
Theoretically, the soul of the 4231 lies in that attacking midfielder.
While the central forward’s ability to receive the ball with their back and distribute it in the front field is equally crucial for attacking.
But the two players in the German Youth National Team aren’t outstanding in this area.
Not weak, but not strong either.
At least, in terms of a pivot role alone, the opposition can’t be better than Sogel.
And their attacking midfielder definitely isn’t as comprehensive as Lu Yang, as agile as Sevajos, or as insightful as Morici.
Their engine isn’t the attacking midfielder, but Melcan, this midfielder!
Lu Yang and others began to digest today’s presentation by Maniero, getting some tactical ideas on how to play against Germany.
In the afternoon, everyone went to the training ground for some targeted practice.
Tang Yuqin led the recording team and quietly documented all of this.
The cameraman next to her was excited out of his mind.
He could stay in Germany a few more days, absolutely thrilled.
The documentary crew from "World Football News" next door had already parted ways with the England Youth Team.
The England Youth Team returned to England, whereas the documentary team returned to their home country.
With just three matches worth of content, who knows how they’ll edit it.
It’s unlikely they would create two episodes from pre-match training and one from the match, right?
That would be a bit too mediocre.
In contrast, our own "Super Football" betting on the Italy National Youth Team is akin to textbook-level reverse betting on the big tournament, with villas by the sea.
"This match against the German Team is very significant for Italy," Tang Yuqin muttered.
Her judgment was correct.
This battle garnered more attention in Italy than Italy’s A clash against England.
Because during Italy VS England, elimination was almost certain, and many chose not to watch such a definite loss.
But this match between Italy and Germany.
It’s essentially Italy playing against itself.
That is, Maniero’s Italy VS Calafi’s Italy!
The former allows for highlighted strengths and weaknesses, aimed at discovering and cultivating talented players in Italy.
The latter aims to mold a cohesive team without shortcomings in Italy.
The rivalry between Sword Sect and Qi Sect will have its answer in this match.
Soon, Spain and France’s match took place ahead of this.
The France Black Team was extremely fast, and Spain couldn’t hold up right off the bat, allowing France to score a one to zero easy goal.
But Spain’s adjustment capabilities are strong, their possession-based game later stabilized the situation.
In pursuit of football, the France Team seemed to forget to focus on supernovas like Enriquez.
As a result, Enriquez punished them.
In the last five minutes of the first half, Enriquez once more commenced his showtime, dribbling past three French defenders single-handedly and scoring a brilliant narrow-angle shot inside the penalty area.
In the second half, Enriquez maintained his momentum, scoring two goals at fifty-nine minutes and seventy-two minutes respectively, completing a hat-trick.
This leap also brought his total goals in this European Youth Championship to seven, taking the sole lead atop the scorer’s list!
In the final moments, France made another counterattack bringing the score to three to two, but it was to no avail.
The European Youth Championship journey for the France Black Team ends here.
Spain became the first team to advance to the finals.
The second team will be determined between Germany and Italy.
...
"Hello everyone, this is RAI, you’re watching the European Youth Championship semi-finals between Italy VS Germany, seated next to me is Juventus’s star forward, super celebrity Prince Zebra—Ancelotti!"
The commentator ceremoniously introduced Ancelotti sitting beside him.
Last year, Juventus demonstrated their age-defying ability at the final moments, holding off pressure to reclaim the top of the league table, achieving the magnificent feat of a Serie A championship three-peat.
