green winger

Chapter 414 Survival from Desperation and Media Response

However, when the game entered stoppage time under the desperate eyes of the Italians, an unexpected person stood up.

No. In the 901st minute, Kenny dribbled the ball from the side and was tackled by Mexican midfielder Torado. Without stopping the ball, he turned around and volleyed the ball into the penalty area of ​​the Mexican team. The ball crossed the entire defense line of the Mexican team and flew straight to the small penalty area, and Piero was the only one there at this time!
Seeing this scene, many Italian fans no longer had any hope. It has long been known that the Zebra Prince’s failure in the national team has become a matter of common knowledge. The first two group matches extinguished the flame of hope again.

But at this time, Del Piero's eyes were extremely firm. He rushed forward facing the ball, and then attacked the goal of the Mexican team with a diving header under the incredible eyes of everyone. However, the Mexican goalkeeper Perez, who played extremely bravely before, was tricky at this angle, and his powerful header could only be far behind!

"GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!GOAL!!!!!! Piero! Alessandro Del Piero!! He scored a shocking header , he broke the goal of the Mexican with a header that he is not very good at!! This is unbelievable, when the game entered stoppage time, when people thought the Mexican would win again, this man who has always The superstar who was criticized as the soft-footed shrimp of the national team has proved himself in a desperate situation!"

"Piero fulfilled his promise to prove himself before the game with practical actions. When the three Italian forwards each wasted a golden opportunity, this goal was even more valuable. The two players who came off the bench were both in this attack. Made a vital difference, after squandering a great chance, Montella the Glider made up for it with a fantastic pass and Del Piero redeemed it with an incredible goal!!!"

"They pulled back Italy, which was on the verge of death!!! The World Cup cannot be without superstars, and the World Cup cannot be without strong teams! When the French and the Argentines were eliminated one after another, the Italians survived! After a penalty kick was not awarded and two goals were blown for offside, the tenacious Italians did not give up. They relied on their strong spirit and non-stop offense to finally reap the valuable goals here! If not Unexpectedly, they will advance to the top [-] as the second place in the group!!!”

When the ball flew into the net and the referee confirmed that the goal was valid, the entire Oita Sports Park Arena was instantly ignited, and the entire Apennine Peninsula was also ignited!All the Italians were cheering for this escape from a desperate situation. After scoring the goal, Del Piero ran for more than 40 meters with one finger pointing at the sky before being knocked down by the cheering Italian players and celebrated wildly. Today he finally used a precious grain The goal made due contributions to the Azzurri, and the haze that had been buried in his heart for a long time disappeared in this instant.And Kenny and others in the frontcourt also gave a hearty cry. This is a real escape from a desperate situation. No matter what kind of conflicts there are among the players, everyone is cheering and celebrating for being able to advance!
"Loris!! We succeeded!! Hahaha, we succeeded! Damn Croatians, go back to your hometown!" The excited Totti was finally relieved the moment the whistle blew. At this time, Kai Ni also shook off a cry of exhaustion, took off his jersey and shouted crazily!At this moment, Kenny didn't want to worry about what would happen when he met the South Korean team as the second place in the group. He only knew that today they survived a desperate situation, and everything else was unimportant!
This is the first time he has exhausted his physical strength in the national team. Under the command of Zoff, he has left enough space for him to attack. He always urges himself to put enough pressure on the Mexicans, because He knows that only in this way can he be worthy of this tactical arrangement, especially when Vieri and others have misfired!

"The referee finally blew the whistle for the end of the game! The three-time World Cup champion finally saved himself with a goal from Del Piero near the end, and did not go home like the French and Argentinian teams! This is absolutely It was a game full of twists and turns. In the last round of Group G, the Mexican team did not defend with all their strength as expected before the game, but dealt with the Italian team in the midfield in an orderly manner. The Italian team was eager to score After several rounds of unsuccessful offensives, the morale was a little low, and the Mexican team took the opportunity to launch a counterattack, and at the end of the first half, Boghetti's strange header pierced the goal of the Italian team."

"Although the Italian team tried their best to counterattack after conceding the goal and created many good chances to score goals, Vieri, who performed well in the first two games, lost his level under heavy pressure and was completely prevented by the young Mexican captain. The other two powerful forwards Inzaghi and Montella were also out of shape, so that the Italian team, which was one goal behind, could not get rid of the unfavorable situation. Only Kenny and Totti's frequent attacks barely maintained the Italian offensive.

"Under such circumstances, Piero, who was replaced by coach Zoff, played a role in turning the tide. After receiving an excellent pass from Montella, he did not waste nearly as much as the former, but Immediately equalized the score for the Italian team, which made the generals of the Italian team ecstatic, and his goal finally made all the Italians feel relieved!"

"Mexico and Italy shook hands 1:1, while Ecuador defeated the Croats in an upset. No one thought that the Ecuadorian team, which was basically hopeless, did not fight for honor as expected before the game. The game kept suppressing the opponent and did not give the Croatian team any chance to counterattack. However, the Croatian team, which performed well in the previous game, was completely different in this game. In the case of falling behind by one goal in the second half, the Croatian team has never been able to turn around In the end, they lost the game 0-1. In this way, the Croatian team, which won the third place in the last game, could only accept the fate of being eliminated.

In this game, except for veteran Boksic's decent shots, there was hardly any threatening attack organized by the Croatian team in the whole game. However, the Ecuador team, which had not scored a point in the previous two games, showed great performance. Showed some of the true qualities of a strong team and scored the only goal of the game.Although a victory is not enough for the Ecuador team to enter the round of [-], it is somewhat consoling for the Ecuador team that reached the World Cup finals for the first time.The disappointed Croatian team had no choice but to leave the arena. They lost a chance to control their own destiny and could only let their fate dictate it!This result also made the Mexican team and the Italian team reach the top [-] respectively as the first and second in the group. They will face the top two in Group D respectively! "

"However, it is worth mentioning that in the Italian team's match against the Mexicans in this game, Italy's technical state was significantly worse than that of the Mexican team. Threatening the opponent's goal with a pass and lob, although the Italian finally kept the record of ten unbeaten games against the Mexican team, the problem of the unstable state of the Italian team's forwards was quite obvious in this game, which may become A big obstacle for the Italian team to achieve good results!!!”

After the players of the two sides exchanged jerseys, the Mexican, who reached the top [-] in the group, led the fans to leave the stadium after a short celebration, while the Italian players thanked the fans in the stands together. Everyone rejoiced and cheered for the survival from a desperate situation.Only the coach Zoff thought about the same problem as the commentators after a short period of excitement. In this game, the problem of wasting opportunities by several forwards was particularly serious. This should not be what the world's top strikers should do at all. level!

After this game, the ratings of the players on the field by the Italian domestic media "Repubblica" explained everything.

In addition to the success of the savior, Del Piero, who scored the only goal of the Italian team, scored 7.5 points, Kenny scored 7 points, Totti, Inzaghi and others all scored 6.5 points, and the rest of the players were The lower is only 6 points, and this is enough to see that after cheering for the success of entering the knockout round, the calm Italians are obviously not satisfied with the performance of the players.

On the other side, the English media, including the BBC, also commented on this game that is related to the life and death of the Italian team. The title of the BBC commentary article is: "Italy is lucky to advance and owes favor to Ecuador".The article stated that if it wasn't for the Ecuadorians not allowing Croatia to score another 3 points, even if the Italian team drew with Mexico, it would be useless, and they could only go home early like France and Argentina in disgrace.As for the goal at the last moment, Del Piero owes the Italian team, because he was sleepwalking in the European Championship in 2000. If he hadn't wasted many excellent opportunities, Italy would not need Kenny The golden ball to turn the tide.

The headline of the British "Sun" review article is: "Lucky to catch the bus to the top 16, the Italian is still alive".The article stated that this is the toughest challenge the Italian Army has faced in the World Cup since 1974. All the Italians were sweating for their team throughout the game. Fortunately, Del Piero Well-timed header for a crucial goal and thanks to Ecuador, whose victory put an end to Croatia's progress, Italy could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"The Sun" also specifically mentioned the wonderful goal of Mexican striker Borgetti, calling it the most wonderful goal so far in this World Cup.Before the Mexican team scored the first goal, the Italian team had been taking the initiative on the field. This goal stunned the Italian players. The movements of Vieri, Totti and other big-name stars began to deform over time. Things were going badly for Italy until Hierro scored the equalizer.

The British "Guardian" commented on the title of the article: "Draw against Mexico, Italy barely qualified."The article stated that the Italians really experienced today what it means to emerge from a deep and desperate situation. In order to ensure the group qualifying, they had to get three points from the Mexican team, but the Mexicans scored first, so in the life-and-death battle between Argentina and Sweden The tragic scene appeared again. The Italians seemed to have been shut out of the round of 16, but the news that Ecuador led Croatia in another game gave them a shot in the arm. Del Piero's goal at the last moment It gave Zoff and the Italian fans another reassurance.

The "Guardian" said that in any case, qualifying is the most important thing for Italy, and perhaps the stumble in the group stage indicates that they will have a smooth journey in the next game.

The title of the review article by the British "Independent" is: "Grab at straws, Italy's World Cup journey will continue."The article stated that Del Piero's goal will have the Italian team on the verge of being eliminated in the World Cup in Korea and Japan. At the same time, Ecuador's unexpected victory will make countless Italian fans grateful for life.The article stated that the Mexican team undoubtedly played better in this game, while the Italians were too impatient and made the same mistakes as Argentina did against Sweden, but fortunately even God came out to help Italy , so that they finally squeezed into the top 16.

The title of the review article on Sky Sports UK read: "Nervous Italians stay".The article stated that throughout the game, the Mexican team appeared to be more than tough, while the Italian team felt highly nervous.After the Mexican team scored the first goal, the Italian team seemed to have few options. At this time, the head coach Zoff couldn't sit still. He replaced three players. Fortunately, Del Piero's play really worked. Remember the header also sent the Italian into the ranks of the last 16.

The article stated that although the Italian team did not go out after the group stage like France and Argentina, if they do not want to disappoint the fans who have high expectations for them, then they must play better in the next game.

That's right, better performance, almost everyone's evaluation of Italy after the group stage is that they are too different from two years ago, and they cannot be called the strongest Italian team in history at all!Although I don't know the reason for this, it undoubtedly annoyed coach Zoff and countless Italian fans!If they want to go on in the more brutal knockout rounds, they must find out the reason. A game that decides the outcome does not leave them such room for maneuver!

(End of this chapter)