Mister Legend

Chapter 346
11月9日晚上20点45分，两场附加赛率先开球，最终国际排名更高的种子队都取得了开门红。瑞士在客场1比0小胜了北爱尔兰，克罗地亚更是在主场4比1大胜希腊，两队几乎都是已经一只手触碰到了晋级明年俄罗斯世界杯的入场券。

At the same time on the evening of the 10th, at the Solna Friendship Stadium in Stockholm, the first round of the competition between the Swedish team and the Italian team officially began.The home team coach Jan Andersson still maintained the usual 4-4-2 formation. The core Manchester United central defender Lindelof, Leipzig full-back Forsberg and Toulouse striker Toivonen all started on the three lines. In the battle of life and death, they naturally used all their housekeeping skills and did not dare to hide the slightest.

Ventura, who has been criticized all the time, changed his formation again, using a 3-5-2 position that pays more attention to midfield control. The goalkeeper Buffon and the three defenders are former Juventus teammates Barzagli and Chielli. Ni and Bonucci, the midfielder De Rossi, Verratti and Parolo are in the center, the right wing back Candreva, the left wing back is Damian from the right back, and the two forwards are the Turin combination Immobile and Belotti.

This lineup is quite strong on paper, but there are also many shortcomings.The average age of the three defenders is too old, and it will be very difficult to face the Nordic players who are good at physical confrontation; the technical characteristics of the Candreva winger doom him to not ask too much for the team's defensive contribution, which leaves Italy on the right. There are some hidden dangers, and teammates need to pay attention to supplementary defense at all times; as for Damian on the left, he has an inverted foot, and it is difficult to have a reliable performance in the offensive cross. If he cuts inside, it is better to go directly to Insigne's Well, if you want to strengthen your defense, you can also use the authentic left-back Spinazzola, which makes people wonder what Ventura's intentions are.

After the opening, the Swede first took advantage of the home court to make a strong attack. Unfortunately, Forsberg's footwork was not good, and he hit a free kick in an excellent position high, wasting a good chance to score.The tactical intention of the visiting team to attack the two sides is very obvious. Damian and Candreva each made three bottom passes in the first 10 minutes, but most of them were broken by the defensive players. Belotti was the only one In one of the points he won, he missed the post because he failed to fully correct the position.In addition, it is rare to see short pass penetration and direct pass diagonally in the middle. It is rare that Verratti, who was not injured during the national team match day, turned into an engineer and rarely appeared in the opponent's penalty area. The offensive was organized in the dangerous area at the front, so that the two forwards on their side could not find a chance to threaten the home team's goal.

On the other hand, the Swedish team, which has always been regarded as a simple and rough playing style by the outside world who does not know the truth, has obviously enriched more than one level of offensive routines on the field. Although the two forwards have excellent header ability, the home team players are not. Blindly passing the ball from the wing, but combining multiple methods, caused a lot of trouble for the Italian defense.

In the 7th minute, Forsberg struck horizontally, and Toivonen's long-range shot at the top of the penalty area was slightly wide; the midfielder Kleisson, who played in Sweden, sent a precise oblique pass and pierced the visiting team's two goals Defensive line, unfortunately Fosberg's running position was a little earlier, and the line referee raised the flag to indicate offside, otherwise this would be a beautiful single-handed chance; No.306 minutes, after four consecutive passes by the home team players, the ball was passed Sent into the penalty area in Italy, striker Borg, who played for Al Ain, shot from close range in front of the goal and was promptly resolved by Buffon.

Judging from the offensive options on the scene and the tactical qualities of the players, the Nordics have a clear advantage, which is something that 99% of people could not have imagined beforehand.I believe that the Chinese fans watching the live broadcast at this time will have the same illusion as Li Mudi that this is the Swedish team playing against the Chinese men's football team.To be honest, even if Lippi leads his team to play, the effect will not be much different, at most, the offensive end is rougher and weaker. I really don’t know how an idiot like Ventura won Italy Favored by the Football Association and qualified to take over the national team.

Yes, although he looked down upon his predecessor at first, at least Li Moody still thinks that this old coach can survive in Italian football for so many years, so he must be an old fritter with some abilities and means.However, after watching the Azzurri this year, the current Turin coach has repeatedly felt that the opponent's coaching philosophy and on-the-spot response are bad to a certain extent, and they are stubborn and lagging behind. The labels of these old-age coaches are in his There is really nothing missing in the body. Such a person has been eliminated by the times and cannot survive in the modern football world.The Turin club, which had a fairly good foundation in the past few years, suffered from it and has been struggling in the middle and lower reaches of the league. Now the victims have become the national team and all Italian fans.

At the end of the half, the two teams were basically evenly matched in terms of technical statistics, but from the perspective of offensive quality, it was obvious that the home team was much stronger. The two forwards of the Torino team were almost lost between the opponent's defense line, and except for the goalkeeper Except for the last three defenders, the rest of the Italian players performed poorly and played a terrible 45 minutes.

After the rematch, the visiting team, still in the frontcourt only knowing that they were playing hard on the two sides, could not pose any threat to the opponent's goal. Candreva on the right first made a pass from the bottom and slipped past the goal. The cut goal was easily embraced by the Swedish goalkeeper Olsen because the angle was too positive, and the other Italian players just acted as spectators.

Seeing that the opponent was showing signs of momentum, Jan Andersson quickly made personnel adjustments. In 7 minutes, the 27-year-old midfielder Jakob Johansen, who played for AEK in Athens, came on to replace Ekdal, who played in general, and This substitution also proved to be a key decision that determined the final fate of the two teams afterwards. No. In the 60th minute, right back Kraft threw a long-range sideline ball from the right side near the bottom line. Toivonen resisted Chiellini's squeeze and dived the header to the front of the penalty area. He just played for 3 minutes Johansen volleyed with his right foot, and the ball passed between two Italian defenders, causing Buffon to make a misjudgment, flying in front of his fallen legs and into the right corner. 1 to 0, the Swedish team took the lead.

The Italians, who were behind in the score, naturally had to make changes. Ventura chose to replace Belotti, who was unable to display his ability to grab points against tall defenders, with Edel, which made the team completely lose the competition in the opponent's penalty area. The basic point of the high-altitude ball can only be a fuss about the ground attack in the remaining time, and this kind of substitution idea is somewhat similar to when Spalletti fell behind the Turin team in the last round of the league.

However, after taking the lead, the Swedish team began to defend the penalty area firmly, and all three lines retreated, using the advantage of numbers to seal off the dangerous area in their own half, making the visiting team's tactics completely ineffective.At this time, Verratti, who had gained more offensive organization rights, was helpless in the face of the dense defense in front of him. He wanted to use a direct pass to penetrate the opponent's defense line, but because the home team's defense line retreated very far, his pass The landing point could only be closer to the goal. As a result, it was resolved by the goalkeeper once, and once it went directly out of the baseline.

However, the Swede's defensive back still left a certain space in the front of the penalty area. No. 609 minutes, the Italian team almost seized the opportunity to equalize the score.Verratti's left side attracted the defense and hit the top of the penalty area. Damian took a long shot with his right foot before the block came. Unfortunately, the goddess of luck did not stand on their side. The ball hit the post and bounced back into the penalty area .Since everyone was caught off guard, it was unavoidable to be slow in the fight for the second landing. In the end, the home team defender took the first kick and knocked the ball back to the goal, and Olsen threw it into his arms.

The fact that the kick hit the goal frame seriously hit the morale of the players of the visiting team. They did not form any decent offensive afterwards. Ventura inexplicably replaced Verratti in the No.706 minute, allowing Insigne to play more than ten games Minutes of central midfielders caused chaos in the frontcourt. In the end, they failed to retreat from the away game and lost 0-1 for a while.

Although everyone has already prepared for the difficulty of the game, some people think that losing can be reluctantly accepted. After all, it is a two-round confrontation, and there are nine and 10 minutes at home. However, the content of this game is hopeless.The team's offense is simply an amateur performance. Even Benevento, who has set a [-]-game losing streak in Serie A, is playing better than the national team. How can this be played?What do you rely on to make a comeback at home?

Some pessimistic Italian fans have begun to express their disappointment on the Internet, but most of them are still supporting and encouraging, because there is nothing else they can do at this critical moment.Change coaches?Not to mention whether there are any fools who will take the blame at this time, even if there is, it is too late, the second round will be held in three days, and a new player will have to enter the game before the new tactics are finished. The result is probably will be worse.Change players?The roster has been declared, and no changes can be made without injuries. Even if substitutions can be made, who else can be recruited?Although I dare not say that all the players who are eligible to be selected for the national team are there, the current list of 25 players can be regarded as a collection of the best players in the country. They are outstanding, and it is not necessarily better than them if they are replaced by others.

Therefore, with the expectations of the people of the whole country and a little abuse, the Azzurri ushered in this life-and-death battle at the San Siro Stadium on the night of the 13th.Once Ventura's formation was announced before the game, most of the home team's supporters were shocked. It was still the same 3-5-2, only three positions were exchanged.Parolo was retained in the middle of the midfield, and the other two became Florenzi and Naples midfielder Jorginho, who was born in Brazil. Belotti, who did not perform well in the first round of the striker, sat on the bench. He was replaced by Southampton striker Gabbiadini.

This starting lineup is even more unreasonable than it was three days ago. Jorginho's passing ability is as high as 18 in the FM system, which is the same as Verratti, but there is still some gap with the Parisian midfielder in terms of imagination and personal skills, and The performance in the competition is also very average. More importantly, Ventura's tactical thinking rarely uses the pass of the central midfielder. As an all-round midfielder, it is really not as good as De Rossi or Gagliardini. .And Florenzi has always been active on the right side of the club. Although he can also play the role of the center, it is only a cameo. Playing as a central midfielder cannot give full play to his advantages in speed and running without the ball.As for the adjustment of the striker line, even though Belotti has just returned from injury, the status is doubtful, but in the case of an urgent need to score, it should be Zaza. The Valencia striker has scored nine goals in La Liga before. There are as many BBC three people combined, and this state is also intoxicating.

After the opening, it really was the home team's aggressive attack, while the Nordics retreated across the board. Even the two forwards turned into defenders and continued to aggressively scramble near the center line to interfere with the Italian players passing the ball.Except for Florenzi's long-range shot that went wide, in the first 10 minutes, various attempts to pass from the side to the Swedish team's penalty area were all unsuccessful and failed to create a wave.To sum up Ventura's tactics, it is Candreva's cross from the right, Parolo's cross from the left, Candreva's corner pass, Florenzi's 45-degree cross... Unfortunately Immobile and Gabbiadini is not an opponent with an average height of about 1.8 meters in the back line. He can only try to grab the second spot outside the penalty area, and formed two long-range shots that are not threatening.

At the end of the halftime, both sides had the same ball possession time, but the home team's 13-2 shots showed different tactics on both sides. However, facing the intensive defense of the Swedes, the Italian players seemed helpless and could only hope for This passive offensive method of making opponents' mistakes by indiscriminate bombing has attracted criticism from all broadcast commentators, but they can only watch Ventura, an idiot with no skills, go all the way to the dark.

It is worth mentioning that today's referee also had a lot of controversy on the penalty. Parolo was hit by the visiting team defender Augustinson when he dribbled the ball in the penalty area. An's hand and Forsberg's diagonal pass were intercepted by Barzali. These three possible penalty kicks escaped his attention. Both teams have their own reasons for complaining.

At the beginning of the second half, Damian received a cross from his teammate from the right on the left side of the penalty area and was kicked down by Swedish defender Lustig when he was about to stop the ball. Deafening boos from the fans.The home team still made various crosses after that, and only two low-level balls were robbed by their own people, but neither Immobile's stab shot from the front point nor Candreva's shot from the penalty area line. Being able to hit the goal frame, the Azzurri are still a little far away from scoring.

Ventura then changed two people in a row at 62 minutes. Roma winger Shalawi replaced Damian, and Belotti, who had the best header ability among the forwards, replaced Gabbiadini, who had been doing nothing after starting.After switching Florenzi to left-back, the formation also changed to 4-2-4, and the previous two times when using this style of play, the results were poor.The Italian team used this routine in the two away games where they lost to Spain with three goals and beat Albania with just one goal, but the scene was ugly and had no technical content at all.Today, due to the pressure of scoring goals, this formation was used again. I believe the fans are almost desperate.

No.605 minutes, after receiving the team's cross-knock, Florenzi made a pass from the left side of the penalty area with the instep.And as the mentality became more impatient, the offensive choices of the home team players became easier. Almost every pass was to directly create an attacking opportunity, which made the Swedish players' defensive choices easier to handle.After that, Florenzi, Candreva, Parolo, Bernardeschi, Belotti, and Shalawi who came off the bench all shot, but most of them ended up missing the target.After No.90 two minutes, Jorginho's long-range shot also missed the post, and the entire San Siro Stadium has fallen into endless sorrow.

Li Mudi watched the broadcast on TV in the apartment, and once again felt the heartache of losing the qualification for the national football team. Even though this is not the best group of players in the history of the Azzurri, with their ability and hard work, There is no problem in obtaining a qualification for the World Cup, but why did things develop to such an extent?
When the whistle sounded for the end of the game, watching the Swedish team celebrate crazily, all the Italians had tears in their eyes and their minds went blank. Today's Apennine Peninsula is shrouded in hell and lost all hope.

(End of this chapter)