golden ball prince

Chapter 241 Only One Target

"I just want to talk about things related to the game now. It's meaningless to talk about things outside the game."

"If you continue to ask these questions, sorry, I still won't answer. This is not my business. Maybe you should ask the police or prosecutors. I am only in charge of the next European Cup!"

Before the warm-up match between Italy and Russia, Prandelli was firm in his attitude from the very beginning when faced with questions from reporters from various countries about the match-fixing case. He did not want to bother himself with these unrelated issues during the European Cup.

Prandelli was very annoyed by these questions, and Buffon, who was also present, was even more annoyed by them, because recently he defended the club coach Conte with the sentence "Sometimes it is better to take a point than to fight against each other." The matter was immediately linked to "match-fixing" by the media with ulterior motives.

Buffon was furious about this.

At the press conference, when asked about this, the angry Buffon also yelled at the reporter: "What I want to express is just the true thoughts of a person who has no secrets in his heart, but you always take my words out of context, and you must connect me to those things, especially the kind of headline party. Just ask for a result, just ask for disputes to be created, and don't try to figure out the ins and outs of the matter."

"What I hate the most is that your news is always extremely fast but there is no authenticity at all! Some people also said that my mistake in Lecce was selling the ball. I don't want to say these people, because this kind of talk is wrong from the beginning. In the overtime match between Real Madrid and Bayern, we all feel that they are rushing to the penalty kick. Is this also a match-fixing?"

What Buffon was talking about was that in the Juventus game against Lecce before, he stopped the ball to the opponent due to a mistake, which eventually led to the victory of the "Bianconeri" and turned it into a draw.

Prandelli and Buffon happily participated in the press conference, but none of the questions at the meeting were about the game itself, so the two people who were not in a good mood ended the interview hastily, and then left the press conference without looking back.

-

a day later.

The warm-up match between Italy and Russia officially started in Zurich.

Because of the impact of the earthquake, the warm-up match between Italy and Luxembourg was forced to be cancelled. Therefore, before the start of the official European Cup, Italy only had this game to test the lineup.So head coach Prandelli also attaches great importance to this warm-up match with Russia.

In this campaign, Prandelli also sent the main players he could choose to play.Captain Buffon guards the "Dragon Gate", and because Chiellini was injured in training on the back line, the four defenders who played became Balzaretti, Bonucci, Barzagli and Maggio.

In midfield, De Rossi, Marchisio, Montolivo and Pirlo played together.Up front is Balotelli's partner Cassano.

Such a lineup also shows that Prandelli is heading for victory, but the actual result has severely taught the Italian coach a lesson.

There was a small moment of silence before the game and then the game started.

In the first half of the warm-up match, the Russian team created more scoring opportunities, but they failed to seize them, while the Italian team launched multiple effective attacks through Pirlo. The team's best scoring opportunity in the first half appeared in No. 206 minutes of the game.

Subsequently, in the No.401 minute of the game, Italy got a free kick in the front court, and Pirlo directly attacked the goal, rubbing the crossbar over.Therefore, Italy also failed to rewrite the score on the field.

After returning from the second half, Russia, which had changed sides to fight again, replaced Malafeyev with the main goalkeeper Akinfeev, and Prandelli also made adjustments in the goalkeeper position. He replaced the main goalkeeper Buffon with De Sanctis.

Back on the field, Italy’s offense became sharper than in the first half, and the players felt that they were getting better, but whether it was Balotelli’s header in the No.409 minute, or Cassano’s shot after a chest stop after 2 minutes, or Marchisio’s anti-offside shot directly facing the goalkeeper after receiving a goal from De Rossi, none of them were converted into goals.

After missing all three good chances to score, Prandelli, who was greatly regretted on the sidelines, made another substitution, and Obonna replaced Balzaretti.

Meanwhile, an unlucky Italy ceded control of the game.

In 6 minutes, Russia's Zheryanov shot wide from the front of the penalty area.

Four minutes later, the first goal of the game was scored, and the scoring side was Russia, which began to take the initiative.Korzakov received a pass from his teammate from the right, and then he scored with his right foot in an unmarked position in the middle of the penalty area.

Italy 0:1 Russia!
After conceding the goal, Prandelli immediately made substitution adjustments, the Paris Saint-Germain duo came on the field, Motta and Wang Zi replaced Montolivo and Balotelli respectively.

Following Prandelli's pace, Russia also made substitutions immediately. Korzakov, who had just scored a goal, went off and Pavlyuchenko came on.

More than ten minutes later, Pirlo and Cassano left the field, and Giovinco and Di Natale appeared, so Prandelli also changed from winning to practicing lineup.

No. 705 minutes, Italy was hit again, because Maggio and goalkeeper De Sanctis made a pass error in the backcourt, and Shirokov seized the opportunity to seal the victory for the Russian team.

Italy 0:2 Russia!
As the game time passed, Italy, which was about to be blocked by zero, finally pulled back a goal in the penultimate minute.Motta made a diagonal pass from the right to the back point. The Russian defender made a clearance error. Behind him, Wang Zi grabbed the ball and entered the penalty area. Facing the attacking Russian main goalkeeper Akinfeev, Wang Zi calmly pushed the goal from the near corner and succeeded!
Italy 1:2 Russia!
In the end, the score did not change again. Italy lost a small goal to Russia, and Prandelli also encountered the embarrassing situation of the national team losing nearly three games. (PS: In fact, it was a three-game losing streak. Italy had 0:1 the US team in a friendly match. In the novel, because it was the protagonist’s national team debut, Wang Zi scored a goal and it turned into a draw.)
In the last warm-up match before the European Cup, the performance of the Italian team was somewhat surprising.

After the game, Prandelli criticized the team's state, "If we go to Poland in this state, let alone face Spain in the first game, any team can easily beat us!"

In front of the reporters, Prandelli also looked helpless, "We made too many mistakes, and some episodes in the game (Macho's mistakes) made us a little confused. As a team, if the defense is not good, it is difficult for you to win the game."

Barzagli, who was injured at the end of the game, was also a focus of attention of the reporters. Prandelli said: "When Barzagli left the field, he told me that he could not hold on anymore and his muscles were strained." After a pause, Prandelli continued with relief: "Fortunately, the team doctor Castellazzi told me that this small injury will not make Barzagli leave the national team. We will do everything we can to help him recover. I am full of confidence in his recovery."

The team's scoring hero Wang Zi also accepted an interview after the game. When asked about the team's poor state, Wang Zi also admitted it, but he still said with confidence: "Although our state has not yet reached the ideal state, it doesn't matter. This is just a warm-up match. I think after this game, my teammates and I can seriously summarize and show a completely different state from the current European Cup."

Regarding the Italian national team's European Cup journey, Wang Zi is also very optimistic, "I believe in my teammates, my coaching staff, and every staff member. We will definitely work hard in the European Cup. The team has only one goal, and that is to win the final championship!"

(End of this chapter)