super all-rounder

Chapter 519 Chapter 517: The defending champion ends his World Cup trip!
Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg was filled with a tragic color, the Italians launched an attack on Slovakia in desperation.

The Italian fans in the stands burst into tears, shouting hoarsely for their team in despair.

In the second minute of stoppage time, the Italian's efforts were rewarded. De Rossi's left rib shot was blocked and then shoveled to Quagliarella. Quagliarella was 24 meters away in front of the goal and shot with his right foot!

The football drew a wonderful arc in the air and flew into the net from the upper left corner of the goal!
The ball is in!
Two to three!
The Italians regained hope for miracles!

At this moment, there are still 3 minutes to the end of stoppage time, which means that they can still save themselves in these 3 minutes!

The atmosphere on the field is suffocating!

Slovakia coach Weiss made consecutive substitutions to consume time. Sestak replaced Witke, and Peter Rush replaced Jendrisek.

At this moment, another game has ended, Paraguay drew with New Zealand [-]-[-], and the Italian only needs to score one more goal to qualify!

In the last minute of stoppage time, Chiellini vigorously threw the ball into the sideline from the right side, and the football was pushed to the back point by the Slovakian defender. Pepe stepped forward to squeeze the opponent's defender away and volleyed!
The air in the stadium froze!

At the critical moment, Slovak goalkeeper Mucha bravely saved the football to the bottom line!
The hopes of the Italians are completely shattered!
When Mucha sent the goal kick, the referee blew the whistle for the end of the game!
The Italian players fell to the ground in pain, and the Italian fans in the stands shed painful tears. They repeated the bleak road in 1950, and they did not qualify as the defending champion group...

When the whistle sounded for the end of the game, the Slovak bench rushed into the field frantically. They beat Italy in an upset and miraculously qualified from the group!

The reporter on the sidelines sighed: There are miracles everywhere in life, as long as you dare to think and fight, miracles can be realized...

The defending champion fell, Italy was stunned, and the whole world was shaken.

L'Equipe commented: The defending champion Italy was out of the group stage at the bottom of the group stage, which was beyond the expectations of many people, but it is also reasonable.

In this World Cup, Italy scored a total of 4 goals, 3 of which came from the forward line. Among them, Di Natale, who came off the bench in the first two games and only started in the third game, and Quagliarella, who only got the chance to come off the bench in the third game, each contributed a goal.

But Iaquinta, who was the only main player on the front line, only scored a penalty.

Iaquinta is indeed the only main player on the front line. In the three games, he is also the only player on the Italian front line who starts every game.

Moreover, he played all three positions in the front court. When Gilardino was the main center forward, Iaquinta played left winger. After Di Natale played, he moved to the right winger.

But how did Iaquinta fare?
The one-handed ball against New Zealand was stabbed due to slow movement. At the beginning of the first half against Slovakia, he kicked Di Natale's wonderful pass directly to the bottom line. In the second half 3 minutes, Pepe's only good pass from the wing, Iaquinta grabbed the point, but the top was outrageous.

In the 22nd minute of the second half, Quagliarella sent a wonderful pass, Iaquinta turned around and broke through, but let the ball hit his heel...

Of course, another Iaquinta heel pass was the source of Italy's first goal, but as the main striker in three games, his contribution was nothing but that penalty.

An Italian reporter once pointed out: "Iaquinta is Lippi's confidant. The reason why he can still secure a World Cup spot after recuperating for a season is because he is Lippi's 'locker room spy'."

The so-called locker room spies are actually direct players who help the coach monitor the words and deeds of teammates in the team. This reporter’s words cannot be verified, but Lippi’s enthusiasm for appointing “locker room spies” has long been made public. At Inter Milan, Baggio was rejected for a long time because of his request.

Not being able to give everyone a fair chance from a competitive point of view is Lippi's biggest problem in this personnel selection.

In fact, this problem has always existed. At the beginning, Panucci was remembered for a lifetime because of a conflict between Inter Milan and Lippi.

A public apology could not allow him to enter the Italian national team coached by Lippi, but at that time there were Grosso, Zambrotta, and Odo in his heyday at the position of full-back, so the problem did not appear.

In today's era of talent withering, if players are selected based on personal likes and dislikes, the problems brought about are obvious.

So Cannavaro can still play the main force in the national team after a poor season, Iaquinta can still play the main force in a season with an injury, Pepe has been reduced to a substitute in Udinese, and is still the main force in the national team.

It is undeniable that Lippi is top-notch in tactics and coaching ability, but in terms of relationship with players, Lippi has never been an expert.

In Juventus, there are strong men like Moggi to help him manage. In the last World Cup, the "Juventus Gang" and Totti worked hard for him.

This time, Lippi avoided players who had a bad relationship with him or who might have a bad relationship with him, and chose a group of people he could control, but when he found that this group of people was incapable of even helping him qualify from such a simple group, it was too late.

People may say how Mourinho toss Balotelli, how Koko and others hate Mancini, the contradictions between Leonardo and Karadze, Inzaghi, and the problems between Ancelotti and Sheva.

But at least these coaches are facing and solving the problems with the players, and Lippi's choice is to escape, and the ending now is the reward for his escape.

The Italian newspaper Milano commented: Italy lost 2-3 to Slovakia. After the referee blew three whistles at the end of the game, the Slovakian players hugged and celebrated, while the Italian players were crying. Lippi hurried back to the locker room without even saying hello to the opposing coach.

"I hope we can cheer up as soon as possible. I did what Lippi asked me to do, but it was not enough. I am really sorry." At the press conference, Lippi took all the responsibility.

Quaarella defended Lippi: "Lippi is protecting us, but we played the game, so the mistake should be ours."

Lippi's use of Quaarella is one of the focuses of media criticism.

Quaarella explained this: "I knew my position, so I sought to take my chances. But I never had a disagreement. Because there were some really great players before me. We had a united dressing room and this game is a huge regret for all of us."

In the locker room, our reporter saw Cannavaro, Pirlo and Gattuso all crying.

"We really care about this World Cup, but football is so cruel." In front of the reporters, Pirlo only said two or three words, and hurried away.

"We should have won the game, but we lost the game in an ugly way. Responsibility? We are a collective, so everyone is responsible." These are the only two sentences Pirlo has.

The World Cup in Italy and South Africa is over, and ended in such an ugly way, Lippi should take responsibility for the failure!

(End of this chapter)