Football career: From winning the championship to becoming a legend

This is the second time in a row that Colombia has reached the U20 World Cup finals.

Just in January this year, they regained the title of the South American Youth Championship after 1 years. The Colombian U18 team is in its best form; so in this cup, Colombia not only wants to defend the third place in the last World Youth Championship, but also has higher aspirations.

At the South American Youth Championship in early 2005, Colombia showed rigorous tactical organization, superb ball control and terrifying offensive power. They scored 9 goals in 20 games: 5-0 victory over Bolivia in the first stage, 1-0 victory over Peru, 2-0 victory over Venezuela, 1-1 draw with Argentina, and advanced to the next stage with the advantage of goal difference over Argentina.

In the second stage, they defeated Chile 4-3, then Uruguay 3-1, and then they copied the group stage results when they met Argentina and Venezuela, and finally advanced to the final and defeated Brazil to reach the top of South America! Um, correction, it was the top of South American youth...

The current head coach is Lara, who was born in 1959. He led the team to participate in the 2003 Finland World Youth Championship and won the fourth place. Similar to Villarreal head coach Pellegrini, this head coach has a background in architecture and is also an academic who is good at football skills and tactics...

Most importantly, Lala knows the strengths and weaknesses of this Colombian team very well.

As for the stars or threats in Colombia, Li Qi was also surprised. Guarin and Falcao, who he remembered in later life, were sitting on the bench with green faces, and Giovanni Moreno, who had long legs, was not even selected for the roster...

而这支哥伦比亚队伍中风头正劲的却是出生于1985年7月25日的前锋罗达莱加：在南美区预选赛开打时罗达莱加还不是球队的主力，但最后他却一举打破了南美青年锦标赛的进球纪录；这位20岁的小将以11粒进球打破了阿根廷球员加莱蒂此前保持的单届九球的纪录！

The coaching staff said that Rodalega has very comprehensive skills, can shoot with both feet, and has good headers and free kicks. Colombian fans have already crowned him as the new idol after Okocha...

After the first half of the game, Li Qi thought that his skills were very comprehensive. It seemed that he had touched the ball with both his left and right feet and his head...

But as to whether he can become a figure on par with Okocha... Li Qi has never played with Okocha, and Rodalega did not create much threat in the middle in the first half; if he had been on the court in the second half, Li Qi decided to observe carefully...

The 15-minute halftime break passed in a flash. Li Qi ate a banana to replenish his energy and water, re-tied his shoelaces, adjusted his socks and shin guards, patted his face, and finally took a long breath and shouted with his teammates: Go for it! Oh, sorry, I got it wrong, it should be Forza!

Li Qi prepared to cheer up in the second half and take the game more seriously...

When Li Qi returned to the stadium, he found that the enthusiastic and unrestrained Colombian fans welcomed the Colombian team back to the stadium with warm applause and cheers, and then sang and danced to cheer for the Colombian team. The yellow, blue and red colors symbolizing the Colombian team dominated the entire stand...

During the halftime break, Italy decided to make personnel changes and formation changes. No. 7 Montolivo replaced No. 17 Bentivorio who missed a great opportunity in the first half. The new Montolivo and Nocerino reorganized the midfield to build a defensive barrier. Li Qi moved to the left wing, bypassing the heavily guarded center of Colombia to organize the midfield and attack on the left side, and Montolivo, who cooperated better with Li Qi, assisted...

Replacing Bentivorio with Montolivo, who had more energy, more game experience and better skills, had an immediate effect; Li Qi could share some of the tasks of defense and advancing from the backcourt to the frontcourt with Montolivo, and he could also receive the ball and organize the attack in a position closer to the opponent's half.

Italy had more possession and more attacking threat at the start of the second half...

The second half was kicked off by the white-clad Italians. The ball was passed back and forth by Pelle, Criscito, Canini, Nocerino and Montolivo, and then came to the feet of Li Qi standing at the left winger position...

Li Qi stopped the ball, carefully observed the situation on the field, and thought about how to organize the attack...

Colombia's No. 11 Otarvaro, who suddenly became the opponent of Li Qi, half-squatted and took a horse stance, and was also observing Li Qi very carefully. He was a little confused. Why didn't Italy's No. 10 organize the attack in the middle, but ran to the side? He seemed to have good skills. Should he go up and attack him directly, or wait a while before going up to attack him...

Toha and Zuniga, who were originally responsible for defending Li Qi in the middle of Colombia, were also a little confused. Why did the Italian No. 10 run to the wing? Should they follow him? If they followed him, what would happen in the middle...

In the time it took the Colombian midfielder to pause, Li Qi had already made a simple pass and cut with Criscito, easily bypassing Otarvalo's defense and entering Colombia's attack zone 3; this was the first time Criscito entered Colombia's attack zone 3 with the ball in this game...

Before Colombian right back No. 19 Casiera pressed forward, Criscito knocked the ball back to the middle, followed by Li Qi who cut inside to the front midfielder position to intercept the ball, then Criscito pulled away to avoid Casiera's close entanglement and prepared to go around the outside line to the bottom...

After Li Qi moved forward, Zuniga breathed a sigh of relief. He no longer had to run to the wing and immediately came up to block Li Qi... On the Italian side, Montolivo also moved closer to support him, Nocerino moved back to protect him, and at the far end, Cigarini also moved in to support the attack...

Li Qi first made a short pass to Cozzolino who had withdrawn from the penalty area to play a 2-on-1 game, avoiding Zúñiga's close entanglement, but Toha immediately came over to defend Li Qi's long shot or breakthrough, buying time for Zúñiga to get close to Li Qi again...

Just when Zuniga had not caught up yet, Li Qi, who was closer to the top of the penalty area, received the ball from Cozzolino and ushered in another "explosion point moment"!

Time suddenly seemed to stop again. Zapata and Murales, who were defending in front, were being distracted by center forward Pelle. Goalkeeper Arenas stood on the goal line and shouted with his mouth wide open, as if reminding people to defend against long shots. Toha, who was nearby, stretched out his long legs and was ready to block Li Qi's long shots at any time. Zuniga, who was diagonally behind him, had already stretched out his right hand and put it on Li Qi's shoulder, ready to interfere with his body. Montolivo, who was not far behind the right, had already approached and was ready to respond...

Li Qi twisted his waist, shook his ankle, and sent a straight pass diagonally, breaking through the Colombian defense on the right. The ball slipped in front of Casiera and rolled slowly on the right side of the small penalty area. At this time, Criscito quickly inserted the ball, then made a low cross from the bottom, aiming at Pelle in the middle of the small penalty area...

With his strong body of 1 meters, Pelle successfully got into position, leaned on Murales, blocked Zapata, and shot the ball with his left foot... The opportunity he finally got, was hit by this shot with a bang on the goal post!

The goalkeeper didn't react at all, the shot was too close and the ball was too fast, luckily the goal post helped to block it... The ball was so powerful that the goal post kept buzzing, and the ball bounced directly back to the sideline near midfield and went out of bounds... There was an exclamation in the audience!

Smack... Is this the second time? The next time will be the third time, so I should get in... Li Qi couldn't help but resentful in his heart.

At the beginning of the second half, Li Qi had a "breaking point moment", and this "breaking point moment" was named by Ricardo Li Qi himself, because Li Qi could not find any materials or textbooks to explain this state of playing football after his aphasia period...

After Ricardo recovered from his aphasia, combined with old Li Qi's 40 years of experience in playing soccer, his soccer skills improved dramatically. However, he was not a professional soccer player after all, so he still had a lot of misunderstandings about technical moves and kicking methods. He could only bully the kids at a young age by making more reasonable use of his body and having a more advanced awareness...

However, during an elementary school competition, Ricardo discovered something different. At certain critical moments when touching the ball, he always felt as if time had stopped, giving him the opportunity to observe the situation more fully, think more clearly, judge more calmly, and even make more precise moves!

What the hell is this? A superpower? Spider sense? Ricardo is a little excited...

But after several tests, and after being hit hard by his brother Andre, Ricardo knew it was definitely not superpowers or spider sense... It seems that this kind of "explosion point moment" is most likely to occur when playing football...

As for why it was named "Flash Point Moment", Ricardo felt that it was very similar to the moment in the King of Fighters game when time stops and the character shines when performing a big move. There must be a highlight performance in the next moment, so he came up with such a name based on his own poor naming aesthetics... There is no other way, after all, I didn't learn what this situation is called in other books or classes...

Ricardo also asked his first coach, Andre, some of the players who had not signed professional contracts, and two people who he thought must have similar feelings: Ronaldinho and Messi...

The answer from the enlightenment coach was: Well, this situation is normal. It is because you are highly focused, which makes your brain process events faster, so it seems that the time around you has slowed down. I have tried it occasionally a few times before, and other professional athletes should have entered this state occasionally...

Andre: What the hell? Time stopped? Haha! Have you watched too many cartoons? You are so powerful, but you can't avoid my invincible thunderbolt attack from the fire of hell? Hahaha... watch out...

Some amateur players who do not want to be named: Oh? Time stopped? It should be an illusion caused by more stable technical movements and occasional flashes of inspiration?

Ronaldinho: Oh? Ricardo, do you have a similar feeling? Yes, sometimes I feel that I can clearly feel every jump and change of the ball, and sometimes I can even foresee the next jump and change of the ball... It's amazing, isn't it? This is the charm of football!

Messi: Yeah... yes, especially when I'm dribbling at speed, it feels great. I can feel that the players around me seem to slow down, and I can easily touch the ball and change direction before they make any defensive moves...

Yes, not everyone has experienced this “breaking point moment”, and everyone who has experienced it feels differently.

For someone like Ronaldinho, who benefits from his talent for ball sense, his "breaking point moment" is more like the combination of man and ball and his wild imagination; for someone like Messi, it is definitely due to his talent for a step frequency of up to 4.4 Hz.

(In layman's terms, Messi can run 4.4 steps per second. The most intuitive comparison is that the 4.2-meter sprinter Bolt's step frequency is only 4.4 Hz, and the fastest sprinter Powell's step frequency is only Hz. In other words, Messi's running frequency has reached the level of top track and field athletes...)

Messi's "explosion point moment" may appear for a short period of time or appear frequently in a short period of time, helping him to complete a one-stop breakthrough...

What is Ricardo's breaking point? After years of practical research, Ricardo found the following characteristics:

1. The "explosion point moment" is triggered passively. It is not something that Ricardo can stop whenever he wants. It is more likely to occur when he is in better condition and more focused.

2、每次出现大约也就持续0.5-1秒钟，很少持续超过2秒或者在1分钟内多频次出现，里卡多偶尔尝试过在段时间内连续出现2次，但从来没有试过1分钟内刷出来3次或以上，甚至时间放宽到3分钟也没有试过……所以除了偶尔的短时间内能刷出来两次，正常来说里卡多的“爆发点时刻”会间隔大约5分钟以上；

3. There seems to be no obvious upper limit to the number of times it appears, but the more times it appears, especially the higher the frequency in a short period of time, the easier it is for Ricardo to get tired... Ricardo's highest frequency of appearance was in the final of the U17 World Cup, with an average of about 6 appearance every 7-1 minutes. So in that game, it seemed to outsiders that Ricardo was omnipotent and omnipresent, and he directly broke down his opponents...

4. Different from Ronaldinho and Messi's "explosion point moment", Ricardo's "explosion point moment" is more like a static God's perspective. Based on Ricardo's previous observation of the whole field, he can instantly sort out all the situations that Ricardo can find at that moment, and even magnify some details that are not usually noticed and predict the changes in the situation in the next moment (in a very short time)... This may have something to do with Ricardo's super memory, spatial imagination and logical reasoning ability;

5. This outbreak point may be related to the secretion of adrenaline, endorphin or dopamine.

…………

Back to the game, after Colombia's attack from out of bounds failed, the ball was passed back to Li Qi at the left winger position after a few passes... Otarvado, who was on the opposite side, complained in his heart: MMP, again? ...

Fortunately, Toha did not hesitate this time and came to defend in time... After Li Qi observed that the Colombian formation was tilted towards his side, he made a precise long pass to the right back Mazzolati and launched an attack from Colombia's weak side...

In the next round, the same trick was used again, but this time Li Qi passed Montolivo and directly found the right winger Cigarini, trying to launch an attack from the weak side position closer to Colombia's attack zone 3...

But the effects of these two attacks were not very good and neither posed a threat. One was blocked by Zuniga who made timely defense and went out of the sideline, and the other ended with Cozzolino's long shot flying out of the bottom line.

In the 55th minute, the ball came to Li Qi's feet again... Otarvado: Fairy boss, you're coming again? Do you think I'm easy to bully? I'll just go and grab him...

"Beep! Foul..."

"Oh! This time Li Qi didn't pass the ball, but passed it to Criscito. Colombia's No. 11 Otarvado recklessly rushed to steal the ball and Criscito fouled..."

"The referee shows a yellow card... This is the second yellow card for Colombia in this game..."

"Italy got a 40-degree angled kick about 45 meters from the goal..."

"This set piece should be handled by Li Qi, and Montolivo is also standing in front of the ball..."

"Tall men like Pelle, Canini, Andreoli and Mazzorati all squeezed into the Colombian penalty area..."

……

Li Qi stood in front of the ball, observing the crowded situation in the penalty area, thinking about how to deal with the ball:

Which point should we drive to?

Huh?! I feel it...

All right! Let's go...

……