Football career: From winning the championship to becoming a legend

Li Qi's friends and family, whose appetites had been spoiled by him, basically ignored the fact that the Italian U21 team qualified as the group leader in this European Youth Championship, and almost no one sent Li Qi congratulatory text messages.

This was also within Li Qi's expectations. After all, they sent messages and he had to reply to them one by one, which was a hassle. But what was beyond Li Qi's expectations was that, apart from Sarafina and Julian, who chatted with him regularly on the phone, Chiara and Eva were a little too quiet recently.

Eva might be entangled because of Sofia's kindergarten graduation, but what about Chiara? Her own exclusive account manager, who used to be almost always in person or sent me MMS messages, has not been heard from for several days.

Never mind, let’s prepare for the semi-final against Belgium first. Anyway, I’ve asked Uncle Charles to help me keep an eye on what Chiara is busy with recently. I hope it’s not a big surprise like pregnancy…

On June 2007, 6, the semi-final of the Italian U21 team was still held at the Gelder Stadium in Arnhem, the Netherlands. Although the Netherlands is not a big country, it is more confident to play on a familiar stadium without having to change the venue frequently. And this is the treatment that the top team of the group should receive, unlike the organizing committee of the World Youth Championship two years ago, which made random comments...

The match was held at 17:25 in the afternoon, with a temperature of 45 degrees Celsius, which was slightly hotter than the previous evening matches, but the humidity was degrees, which made it more comfortable; the setting sun in the clear sky made the field look like it was covered with an orange carpet, with a bit of yin and yang. But I believe that in the second half, after the sun goes down completely, it will be better.

The opponent in this game is the Belgian national youth team. Although they have not yet reached the golden generation of Ding Ding and Lu Yuanwai, this Belgian U21 team also has many stars who will become well-known in the future, and their strength should not be underestimated.

Belgium's starting lineup for this game was a 4-3-3 attacking formation.

门将是1号罗根·拜利，左右两边后卫是15号塞巴斯蒂安·波科尼奥利与2号德鲁弗，双中卫是队长6号尼古拉斯·隆巴尔茨与未来的热刺名宿10号扬·费尔通亨；

The three midfielders standing in parallel are mainly responsible for defense and delivering ammunition to the front line. In the middle is No. 8 Harino, on the right wing are the previously mentioned future Lulong star No. 17 Marouane Fellaini, and on the left is No. 22 Jonathan Blondel.

In the forward trident, the center forward is No. 14 Tom Demur, the left winger is FM prodigy No. 20 Anthony van den Borre and the right winger is No. 9 Kevin Mirallas.

The head coach is De Sarthe, and on the bench is the future Quanjian star No. 23 Witsel, who is also the youngest player in this European Youth Championship. He was born in 89 and is only 18 years old.

Yes, the average age of this Belgian national youth team is the youngest among all the participating teams. Except for Witsel, the main framework is basically all Olympic-age players, and most of them are even players in the 87 age group, such as Vertonghen and Fellaini. There are only three players in the 84 age group, namely Druv and Blondel in the starters and Maarten Martens on the bench.

When Li Qi first saw the name of Martens, he thought it was the familiar short-legged man, the future Napoli winger Dries Mertens, but upon closer inspection, it was not him. Moreover, as a player in the 87 age group, Mertens was not selected for this European Youth Championship, which is probably due to his height...

Of course, there are still many talented Belgian players of Olympic age who did not come to participate in this European Youth Championship. I don't know whether it is because they have been selected for the national team and are not as idle as Li Qi and do not want to play in the European Youth Championship, or because of injuries. For example, famous players such as Vincent Kompany born in 86, Vermaelen born in 85 and Moussa Dembele, the future Guangdong City star born in 87, did not appear in the Belgian roster.

This somewhat disappointed Li Qi, because he couldn't abuse the little demons before they matured, otherwise it would be difficult to abuse them when they grow up... or it would be hard to say who abused whom, what a pity...

But the fact that the current Belgian U21 team is not the strongest lineup has its advantages, at least this game will not be too difficult.

The Italian U21 team here is the strongest team in this age group, and it is full of main players. After all, there are only two games left including the final. They can push forward, win the championship and go on vacation directly. Casiraghi naturally will not consider saving his strength. Of course, if they can take a big lead early, it is still okay to replace some main players in the final period of the game to rest, but Li Qi will definitely play the last two games.

意大利这边也是针锋相对的排出了4-3-3的阵型，不过和比利时平行站位的攻击性4-3-3不同，意大利U21代表队是密集中路防守的双边锋4-3-3：

The goalkeeper is No. 12 Viviano;

The left and right wingbacks are No. 14 Criscito and No. 6 Motta, and the double central defenders are No. 3 Chiellini and No. 2 Andreoli;

The single defensive midfielder is Nocerino (No. 4), and the double midfielders are Montolivo (No. 7) and Aquilani (No. 8);

The left winger is No. 10 Li Qi, and the right winger is No. 15 Rosina;

The center is No. 18 Pelle;

Rossi will be on the bench for this game.

With a long whistle from the referee, Li Qi, who lost the game again, could only let the Belgian U21 team in red shirts and black pants kick off first, while he led the Italian U21 team in blue shirts and white pants to stabilize the formation.

However, Li Qi felt that the balance of victory tilted towards Italy shortly after the start of the game. About 3 minutes after the start of the game, Belgium's defense made a major mistake.

As the team that kicked off first, Belgium pressed forward as a whole and began to attack right after the kick-off. This was obviously the tactical arrangement of the Belgian U21 team before the game. They hoped to establish an advantage in the early stage of the game while they were fully physically fit.

However, I don’t know whether it was because of being too excited or nervous, but Belgium’s right-wing attack caused a fatal mistake under the pressure of Italy’s defense.

Belgian right winger Mirallas tried to use his speed to break through the defense of Italian left back Criscito for the first time, but Criscito's clever positioning blocked him from behind. Mirallas, who was exposed and in a bad position, could only pass the ball back to Fellaini on the wing.

Before Fellaini received the ball, Montolivo was close to him. Fellaini could only rely on his height and long legs to block the position. Without observing clearly, he kicked the ball and hit the right back Drover in the direction.

But Drover was thinking about Fellaini receiving the ball, so he just made an overlap and took turns with Mirallas to attack Italy's left side defense line. As a result, his pass was a little misaligned with Fellaini's return pass. One passed back and the other passed forward, and the ball fell right behind Drover.

Originally, if Drover had just let the ball go out of bounds, it would have been ugly but not dangerous; but out of the subconscious reaction of a professional athlete, Drover stopped suddenly, turned around and stretched out his foot to stop the ball.

This time the ball was barely stopped, but it was out of his control, and because he had to stop and turn around suddenly, Drover was in a stiff state of a big split after completing the action.

So Li Qi, who was lying in ambush on the side, quickly approached, swiftly but leisurely stole the ball that Drover had stopped, and then rushed forward in the empty right corridor of Belgium...

Belgian center back Lombards rushed over and used a tackle to try to keep Li Qi with the ball. But Li Qi had anticipated this, and with a right-angle fake body and the activation of the second-stage turbocharger, he dodged Lombards' flying tackle that was about to hit his waist.

But it was useless if he didn't touch it. The speed that Li Qi burst out on the left really made the Belgian defense helpless. After all, Italy's No. 10 gave people the illusion that he was an organizer and dispatcher. Unexpectedly, his speed was so fast and his dribbling with the ball was so skillful.

Belgium's No. 10 Vertonghen, who was lagging behind, was in a dilemma. It was difficult to defend two players at the same time. He could only retreat while blocking Li Qi's diagonal pass to Pellet on his side, while defending Li Qi's inside shot. If Li Qi insisted on going to the bottom of the outside line, Vertonghen would have to give up, after all, the middle was the most dangerous area.

After Pellet exchanged glances with Li Qi who had broken through the defense, he knew what Da Guo was thinking. He just pressed Vertonghen into the penalty area, as if he was not afraid of offside at all. Li Qi glanced at the midfield and observed Vertonghen's position. He knew that the opponent's trick was correct in principle, but it was useless. After exchanging glances with Pellet, he took the ball and went to the outside line, determined to go to the bottom!

Although they had tried their best to leave enough room for defense when Li Qi was dribbling with the ball, they still underestimated his speed and flexibility. Vertonghen couldn't understand how Li Qi, who was as tall as himself, could have such flexible footwork and outstanding explosive power. It was simply not scientific at all!

Seeing that Li Qi had approached the penalty area first and was about to step into the corner of the small penalty area in just two steps, Vertonghen had to abandon Pelle and get as close to Li Qi as possible, and work with the attacking goalkeeper Bailly to block Li Qi's not-too-wide shooting angle.

However, Li Qi slowed down as he entered the penalty area, waiting for Vertonghen to get close and for Bailly to attack. Just before the two were about to surround him, near the corner of the small penalty area, Li Qi kicked the ball in front of him with his right heel, and at the same time, he kicked the ball from behind him with his left heel, sweeping it toward the penalty spot in the middle of the penalty area.

Li Qi's trick seemed to be done in a relaxed and freehand manner, with each move clear and concise, but only Vertonghen and Bailly, who were at the scene, knew how natural and fast Li Qi's moves were, so it looked clear and concise. Moreover, the two had no way to intercept the heel pass from behind at that angle and position, and could only look back at the ball at the same time, hoping that a teammate could come to defend and clear the ball.

But what caught their eyes was Pellet, who suddenly stopped at the edge of the penalty area without knowing when. He was like a hungry beast, with a lustful look on his face, waiting for Li Qi's pass. So there was no suspense, and Pellet, who was not guarded, easily received Li Qi's heel pass near the penalty spot, and gently pushed the ball in the middle of the goal with his right foot, and sent the ball steadily into the empty goal of Belgium U21!

Moreover, he was quite arrogant and deserved to be beaten. Before the ball hit the net and the referee blew the whistle, Pelle had already raised his hands and ran towards Li Qi to celebrate the goal...

The game had only started for 4 minutes when Pelle scored the second goal of this European Youth Championship and helped the Italian U21 team break the deadlock and get off to a dream start, leading the Belgian U1 team 0-21!

Just after celebrating the goal with his teammates, Pellet's unintentional compliment woke Li Qi up: "Boss, your breakthrough on the flank is so sharp, haha, those idiots in Belgium can only follow behind you and eat dust..."

Li Qi finally realized why the industry was comparing Nani to him. It turned out that it was not just a hype. But… “Damn, I am just a guest player in the left winger position. Although I am in this position, I am still an organizer…” Although Li Qi was complaining in his heart, he also knew that the misunderstanding was deepened after the inverted triangle assist today. The impression of the winger was completely lost…

Although they fell behind by one goal because Italy seized on their own coordination errors, this goal actually woke up the highly qualified members of the Belgian U21 team. The look in their eyes when they looked at Li Qi was not only hatred, but also strong fear.

The Belgian national youth team, which was lagging behind, did not launch a fierce attack after the kick-off. Instead, under the command of the head coach, they began to stabilize their formation and plug the defensive loopholes on the wing, leaving no chance for Li Qi to exploit. After all, the knockout stage is different from the group stage. In a battle that determines the outcome, good defense and no more goals are the key.

The leading Italian U21 team naturally followed the traditional Italian style of playing dirty. When they were ahead, they naturally slowed down the pace and counterattacked to increase the success rate of their attack. Li Qi would not blindly break through the barriers alone. Looking at the Belgian defense line that was ready for battle, he was not a brainless guy like a certain Portuguese rising star...

As a result, the two teams entered a stalemate phase of the game, with both sides attacking and defending, but neither was very threatening. Belgium had the advantage in ball possession, but mostly passed the ball carefully in the backcourt to reduce mistakes; while Italy, who was ahead in the score, naturally prioritized defense, slowed down the pace appropriately, and waited for the opportunity.

It was not until the last 5 minutes of the first half that the Belgian National Youth Team decided to launch another offensive in an effort to equalize the score at halftime; however, this time Belgium's offensive wave avoided the left wing where Li Qi was sitting, and instead intended to storm Italy's right wing defense area.

However, Li Qi felt that Belgium's arrangement was useless. After all, the formation and positioning were static, while the players' movements were dynamic, especially in a counterattack that was changing rapidly.

In the 43rd minute of the game, Belgium's Vanden Borre's strong attack on the left rib was blocked by Nocerino and Andreoli. While Vanden Borre was still sitting on the ground complaining to the referee about the foul, Andreoli had already seen the boss Li Qi making a wide-ranging diagonal run in the front court and waving at him.

So Andreoli had no doubt in his mind. He had to give in to the boss's request and made a long and powerful pass, which was a high ball sent to the Belgian half, right in the gap of the Belgian left defense. Li Qi also made a high-speed diagonal run from his own left side towards the open space.

The Belgian midfielder Harino was chasing back at high speed following Li Qi's pace, while Pocognoli, who was supposed to be in that position, was entangled with Rosina near the center line and could not take care of the long pass closer to the wing and Belgium's defensive third zone for the time being.

Indeed, no one expected that Li Qi would make such a big circle and run from the left to the right to support the counterattack.

Li Qi was seen running while looking back to observe where the ball would land. Then, just before the ball was about to go out of bounds, he jumped high, hooked the ball in the air with his right foot, and then landed lightly in bounds together with the ball.

This wonderful high-speed long pass with his back to the basket immediately won applause from the audience. Indeed, in a competition among youth teams where the skills are generally not very mature, this stop was a performance that was close to full marks in terms of difficulty and viewing factor.

However, Li Qi didn't care about the praise from the audience. After all, this was not a difficult technical move for him. Without anyone interfering closely, Li Qi believed that most of the starting players in the top five leagues could easily do it by stopping the high floating ball.

Li Qi, who had just stopped the ball, secretly spat: "I need to practice Andreoli's long pass more in the future. See where it went? Fortunately, it didn't go out of bounds..."

Immediately afterwards, Li Qi raised his head and observed the situation around him and on the field: if he seized the opportunity, he might be able to put an end to this game in advance...

……

(Voiceover: The second volume is about to be finished. What should the third volume be called? Do you have any suggestions?)