Football career: From winning the championship to becoming a legend

On Sunday, June 2005, 6, Enschede in the Netherlands was a bustling sea. The city is not big, so you can see that tourists who came to watch the last match of the quarter-finals of this World Youth Championship filled this traditional Dutch ancient town in twos and threes, walking between the unique brick and stone buildings and on the various bridges across the intertwined waterways...

Enschede has had good weather in recent days. According to the weather forecast, there may be a little rain tonight. Li Qi hopes that it will rain after the game, so that it will not affect his hairstyle...

Li Qi took a nap after lunch, and just woke up with his body stretched. He packed up and prepared to meet up with the team and go to the stadium.

Li Qi decided to reply to the emails before leaving:

"Well, the professor replied to my email and said he received my assignment. It looks good. He will give me comments and suggestions in a few days..."

"Okay... Ask me when I will return to school so that I can discuss the topic of my paper next semester..."

"I don't know yet. If we make it to the finals, it will be the week after July 7nd... I think that's it for now..."

"Oh, the professor also wished me good luck in the game, even though he hoped I would lose, haha, he is a fan of Spain, but mainly he hoped that I would return to school as soon as possible to concentrate on my studies... This reason, bad review!"

"Well, there are also discussion emails from the three course groups at school... I sent them all the progress and drafts before going to bed last night..."

"Yes, they are very grateful for my efforts and contributions. The sections and contents they are responsible for are proceeding in an orderly manner, but the written report has not been compiled yet..."

"Damn... these guys haven't even done anything yet, and the final exam is almost here..."

"That sounds nice. In order to take care of my training and competition, they let me be in charge of the more independent and easily divisible sections. It turns out that they let me be in charge of the hands-on and brain-intensive tasks, and they will be responsible for the on-site meetings and taking notes..."

"Although that is also important, well, it's mutually beneficial..."

"Well, in the end they all wished me good luck in the game, but they all hoped to lose..."

"The reason is that they are fans of Spain, but mainly they hope that I can get rid of it as soon as possible so that I can concentrate on writing group assignments and reports... These people are bad friends! Bad review!"

"It seems that quite a few people know about today's quarter-final match, especially in Italy and Spain. The attention is still very high. So is it okay for me to defeat Spain in a high-profile manner?"

"Hmm... How can I package it with a secret plan..."

Li Qi closed his email, put on his gear and prepared to meet up with his teammates, but he kept mumbling in his mind...

"As early as last night, my parents, Sarafina, Julian, and a bunch of friends sent me messages to chat with me, saying that tomorrow is Monday and they are too busy with work and school to get away. Although they can't be with me in person, they are with me in their hearts. May God bless me, Amen, etc...."

"Also, they encouraged me that if I could get lucky enough to make it to the finals, they could come to the scene to cheer me on on Saturday, July 7nd.

"So even though the chances are slim, I still have to prepare the tickets in advance... These guys... bad reviews!"

"But there are still some thoughtful people. Ever since she found out that I have half a billion in cash assets, Chiara has been asking about my well-being every day. Occasionally, she even sends me some MMS pictures and reports on my work and life in detail..."

"She is indeed an excellent bank account manager! As a customer, I am very satisfied with her work attitude and ambition, and I must give her a good review..."

Just last night there was another new MMS, but Li Qi resisted the urge to read it...

I only reviewed for about ten minutes... I definitely didn't rush! After all, I still have a competition today...

Well, feeling Chiara's sincerity and understanding, Li Qi decided to return to Milan after the game and teach Chiara how to better serve customers...

Absolutely serious! Not what you imagine! Li Qi had a face full of piggy YY...

After the team gathered, there was a little traffic jam on the way to the stadium. Li Qi closed his eyes and rested as usual: "I am not like those monkeys who laughed and played recklessly in the car. The coach didn't care and disturbed my rest..."

While walking around the field before the game, Li Qi recalled the arrangements made by the coaching staff during the morning training session.

The three quarter-finals that ended previously all went into overtime, and two went to penalty shootouts.

This is primarily because the teams that have entered the quarter-finals are all strong teams of similar level (although there are still differences in strength, the gap is not far).

Secondly, reaching the quarter-finals gives you a chance to win a medal, so everyone plays more cautiously (although most young people don’t quite understand how to spell the words cautious and modest… they usually just put their heads down and work hard…).

So the third point is the key, that is, the physical state of both sides has declined significantly compared to before, and they are unable to maintain a high-intensity and high-precision game state, so some of the gaps in strength have been eliminated...

The Spanish team won because they had an easy time in the group stage and the first round of the knockout stage, while the Italian team made rotations in the group stage, so the physical levels of both teams are similar.

However, the Spanish team, which has been going smoothly since the start of the season, may be a bit arrogant, which is something Italy can take advantage of...

In this game, Li Qi was arranged as a front midfielder. At first, he planned to lure Spain to attack, and then Li Qi took advantage of the gaps in the Spanish midfield and backcourt to quickly counterattack...

Meanwhile, Spain's head coach Saz and his coaching staff studied the video of the previous match between the Italian U20 team and the Argentine U20 team. Then, based on the Barcelona trainer's observations of Li Qi's good physical fitness, active running, accurate positioning, and precise passing, they focused on how to bypass Li Qi's defensive midfielder and how to block Li Qi's long passes during the transition between offense and defense...

As for how to control the ball and organize the attack? The entire Spanish team thought that this did not need to be deployed, and they just had to keep pushing forward from the midfield and backcourt. Anyway, Spain would definitely have an overwhelming advantage in ball possession...

At 8:15 pm, players from both teams have entered the field, and the final quarter-final is about to begin!

The TV commentary is already introducing the starting lineups for both teams.

Spain uses a classic 4-4-2 formation, with the following lineup:

守门员：1号比尔·里巴斯（85年12月2日，186cm，西班牙人）

The defense line from left to right is: No. 12 Jose Enrique (184cm, Levante, left foot), No. 4 Alexis Luano (August 85, 8, 4cm, Malaga, left center back), No. 183 Lobusti (May 5, 85, 5cm, Espanyol, right foot), No. 20 Francisco Molineiro (July 183, 2, 85cm, Atletico Madrid, right foot).

The central midfielders from left to right are: No. 7 Juanfran (181cm, Real Madrid, left foot), No. 8 Alberto Zapate (June 85, 6, 13cm, Zaragoza, right foot, defensive midfielder), No. 180 Marcel Vergara (May 20, 86, 5cm, Eibar, right foot, defensive midfielder), No. 5 Cesc Fabregas (178cm, Arsenal, right foot).

The forward line is composed of No. 9 Fernando Llorente (194cm, Athletic Bilbao, right foot) and No. 16 David Silva (170cm, Eibar, left foot)

Also, No. 10 Jonathan Soriano (September 85, 9, 24cm, Spanish, right foot, forward), No. 180 Jaime Gavilan (May 11, 85, 5cm, Tenerife, left foot, left midfielder), and No. 12 Casadesus (February 177, 18cm, Mallorca, right foot, midfielder) started the game from the bench...

The head coach is the shrewd 62-year-old coach Saz.

Unlike the previous game, Italy switched back to the classic 4-4-2 formation in this game. The specific lineup is as follows:

Goalkeeper: No. 12 Viviano;

The back line from left to right is: No. 5 Criscito, No. 14 Canini, No. 3 Coda, and No. 6 Mazzorati.

The central midfielders from left to right are: No. 17 Bentivoglio, No. 10 Li Qi, No. 16 Lazari, No. 20 Cigarini.

The forward line is: No. 9 Pelle and No. 18 Cozzolino.

Italy's lineup is very tough. Except for Cigarini, all of them are tough guys over 1 meters tall. Li Qi's original plan was to compete with Spain for the midfield and suppress the Spanish team with stronger technical and tactical capabilities.

But after a classic Italian-style education from head coach Casiraghi, Li Qi realized the narrow-mindedness and recklessness of his previous understanding...

It is true that the defensive counterattack is good, taking advantage of Spain's pride and carelessness, and launching a sneak attack! Low-key, not eye-catching, and still able to steadily win the victory...

"Hehe, the dirty trick, what a great move!"

So the defensive midfielder in this game is Lazari... Li Qi is the one responsible for dribbling the ball and counterattacking. The surprise player in this game is Li Qi who had a burst of dribbling ability in the previous game.

Lazari stood back to defend, while Li Qi rushed forward to organize a quick counterattack. During the counterattack, all players' first choice was to seek cooperation from Li Qi, and the second choice was to pass the ball to Pelle, who was at the high point in the frontcourt. After Pelle received the ball, he also looked for Li Qi first...

Nocerino, who ran wildly in the last game, was suspended due to accumulated yellow cards and could take a rest, while Montolivo, Rossi and others were waiting for an opportunity on the bench...

As soon as the referee blew the whistle, the game began!

Well, very good, the result of the coin toss was that Spain kicked off first. Li Qi once again lost the coin toss based on his strength, but it was mainly to lure the Spanish team to attack first...

In terms of strength, the two teams are almost the same, so on-the-spot performance is quite important.

Before the game, the media was more optimistic about Spain's victory because of their better results in the group stage and knockout stage.

After the Spanish team kicked off, just as Li Qi remembered or expected, Spain passed the ball back and began to slowly pass the ball back and forth in the midfield and backcourt, patiently organizing the attack and gradually moving the formation forward.

As for the Italian team, it is just like tradition: you pass the ball and I defend in a low post. Come over here if you can!

Facing Italy's inherited and developed grandson style of play, the role of Spain's center forward Llorente is very important.

Italy has specially arranged for Coda to guard the Spanish center forward Llorente. Llorente was the core figure of the Spanish offense before and has scored 4 goals in 3 games...

In fact, not much, because Spain scored a total of 4 goals in 16 games; this Spanish team still relies more on ground attacks, passing and cutting to coordinate attacks.

Llorente's presence has a more tactical role, serving as a fulcrum to suppress the opponent's defense and create space for subsequent ground advancement.

Although Llorente is a little taller, Koda is obviously stronger and more accurate in judging penalties. When competing for headers, he also keeps Llorente firmly behind him.

As for Spain's other striker David Silva, he couldn't find any space in the Italian defense zone 3, which was full of tall and muscular players...

So he frequently retreated to the midfield to participate in the organization, to support and assist Llorente...

David Silva seemed to be on the edge of danger, repeatedly jumping left and right, and then instigated the No. 9 in front: "Big guy, we cover you, you go ahead, you fuck them..."

略伦特：“……mmp，这里两个1米9的肌肉棒子，还有4个1米83的围着……我……你们倒是进来一起干啊……”

Soon after the game started, the Spanish team surrounded Italy's defensive zone 3, but they were unable to break in due to Italy's tight defense...

The ball came to Juanfran on the wing. This was also the instruction from the Italian head coach. If there was no choice, then pass the ball to the Spanish No. 7 to block No. 17, No. 16 and others in the middle.