Football career: From winning the championship to becoming a legend

As mentioned above, this is a special European Under-17 Championship. In order to avoid the World Cup and European Championship held in even-numbered years, the European Under-17 Championship decided to change its format last year, changing the final stage from even-numbered years to odd-numbered years, but it is still held every two years.

Therefore, this year's European Youth Championship after the reform can be regarded as a test field for reform, so there are many temporary adjustments. After all, the European Youth Championship was held in Portugal last year, and the winner was the host Netherlands U21 team.

Due to the tight preparation time, the qualifiers for this European Youth Championship had to be shortened. The Italian U21 team made it through fairly easily and eventually made it to the finals in the Netherlands. They will also work hard to be able to participate in the 08 Olympics.

In addition, only 21 teams entered the finals of the U8 European Championship held in the Netherlands. The 8 teams were divided into two groups, and the top two teams in each group advanced to the knockout stage, and the first round of the knockout stage was the semi-finals.

Therefore, the time span of this European Youth Championship will not be very long, with only 2007 games from the first opening match of the group stage on June 6, 11 to the final on June 6. After all, from the group stage to the final, each team will play at most 24 group matches, one semi-final and one final, a total of 16 games, which can be completed in about two weeks.

This year's European Under-17 Championship in the Netherlands is divided into two groups, A and B. Group A is the group where the host Netherlands team is located, and the other three group members are Belgium, Portugal and Israel; Group B is the group where Italy is located, and the opponents are Serbia, England and the Czech team.

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Ricardo arrived in the Netherlands to join the Italian U37 national team the night after the 2007th round of La Liga, which was June 6, 10. After all, Ricardo was absent due to injury. If he wanted to extend his vacation and participate in the European Youth Championship, he had to wait until the club was sure that they would miss the championship. Then the last round of the league would be irrelevant, so he could continue to take leave, right?

而意大利U21国家队在本届欧青赛的第一场比赛是2007年6月12日的晚上，在荷兰的厄美根市进行B组的第二场比赛，对手是塞尔维亚U21代表队。

Since Ricardo, who had just joined the national youth team, had only had two hasty training sessions, and Ricardo had just recovered from an ankle sprain, even though Ricardo had a good understanding with most of the players in the team, Casiraghi still did not plan to let Ricardo start in the first game. It was a more reasonable arrangement for him to rest and observe first, practice more with his teammates, and then start in the second round of the group stage.

However, just in case, Casiraghi still included Ricardo in the roster for the first round of the group stage and he was on standby on the bench.

In addition, since there is another Ricardo in the Italian U21 national team, Ricardo Montolivo, during the European Youth Championship, the coaching staff and the author all referred to the protagonist as Li Qi.

Li Qi was not too surprised to be on the bench in the first round. After all, he had just arrived and it was not a bad thing to observe more. Moreover, he had played a lot of games this year, so it was not a bad thing to give his body a rest, otherwise injuries would easily come. However, Li Qi, who had been resting for nearly a week due to injury, felt that he was in good shape.

So Li Qi sat on the bench and watched the game with peace of mind. Of course, there were many younger brothers who came to ask about his well-being, chat, help him relieve his boredom, and flatter him, including the number one licker, the roaring beast Pelle in the penalty area, the number two follower, the left-wing demon Criscito, and the steel wall and iron gate Canini and others...

This is how Li Qi is treated in the youth team. He is the absolute core and boss of the team. Whether on the court, off the court, on the bench or in the locker room, he has the final say. This is different from the adult team of the club or the adult team of the national team. There are many big brothers who can control Li Qi, but there are no such people in the youth team.

First of all, Li Qi is a frequent visitor to youth teams at all levels. In almost every youth team, Li Qi is the absolute main force and captain. He has been in the 85 and 86 echelons for longer than head coach Casiraghi, and his influence even extends to the adjacent echelons at the 83, 84, 87 and 88 levels.

Secondly, Li Qi's championships are too exaggerated. In the past, he only won all the youth championships at the domestic and international levels in the youth team, but this was enough to make him the "other people's child" in the eyes of his teammates' parents. After winning the 05 World Youth Championship, it was even more exaggerated. He also won the World Cup and the Champions League. This year's newly won League Cup is also what the younger brothers in the team are most curious about.

Although these younger brothers who followed him all the way up the echelon have won many championships without effort and have also learned a lot from him, they are no longer marginal figures in the club's first team two or three years ago. Most of them have become core training targets in the middle and lower teams of the top league. However, the European arena is still a distant and unfamiliar existence for them. They especially hope to gain experience from Brother Li Qi. Of course, the best thing is to be led by Brother Li Qi...

Speaking of flying, Li Qi couldn't help but glance at No. 11 Rossi who was trying to join the topic circle a few positions away. However, this No. 11 Rossi is no longer the No. 11 from two years ago. The sharp fox striker of that year was not selected for the current national youth team, and it seems that his growth in Rome was not satisfactory; and the one who replaced him in the No. 11 jersey is also called Rossi, but his name is Giuseppe Rossi, who is one year younger than Andrea Rossi.

Born in New Jersey, the United States, Rossi is nicknamed the Golden Boy and joined Manchester United early, even making his debut for the Manchester United first team at the age of 16. However, he was loaned to Newcastle and Parma last season, scoring a total of 10 goals in the Premier League and Serie A, which is also a good record.

So this is the third newcomer in the team who has attracted Li Qi's attention. This forward, who is only 1 meters tall, is a representative of the agile forward type. He has good skills, speed and positioning. If he grows up smoothly in these two seasons, he is indeed qualified to be led by him.

He is also the one that Li Qi intends to focus on in this tournament. As for that big fool Pelle, he has been fed for many years, and it is time for him to be sensible and self-reliant...

Finally, regarding Li Qi's position in the youth national team, Li Qi's technical ability is indeed much higher than his peers. Even in the current football world, he is recognized by many coaches and scouts. He is not at the top, but he can definitely reach the threshold of excellence. The main reason is that he is young enough. Therefore, all echelons arrange tactics and organize offense and defense around Li Qi. Li Qi is the well-deserved core in tactical terms.

In addition, Li Qi's team-cooperation style of play, which is both offensive and defensive, can indeed improve the overall strength of the team; when the wind is favorable, he can play a memorable passing and cutting cooperation with the team, and when the wind is unfavorable, giving the ball to Li Qi can indeed make teammates feel trustworthy...

So he can feed cakes and carry pots, and he is good at dealing with things, and his martial arts skills are high. The key is that he always brings small gifts to his subordinates to treat them to food and drink. Isn’t this a big pot? This is the best big pot in the world!

Teammates who had never played with Li Qi before had more or less heard of this young leader who had risen like a rocket in Italy in recent years. After joining the team, they learned about this legendary man from teammates and coaching staff, especially the horror stories of him knocking on doors in every room in the middle of the night to pack up disobedient teammates. These stories made people worship him and wanted to recognize him as their father, oh no, to recognize him as the scapegoat...

While chatting with his teammates on the bench, Li Qi was also observing Italy's first group match of the 07 U21 European Championship, sharing his understanding of the game.

Although Casiraghi said that he would most likely not play in this match, Li Qi felt that it was better to be prepared. After all, in a cup competition with such a tight format, one wrong step could lead to many wrong steps. If he had to wait until the last round or two to fight passively, that would not be a good idea.

I'm not here to make up the numbers. If I don't win the championship, I won't deserve the title of a time management master. If I can't even qualify for the Olympics, wouldn't that be a huge loss? Especially since I can't resolve the resentment of Old Li Qi, I will regret it for the rest of my life if I don't get my mind right in the future.

So we still have to observe and pay attention to the progress of the game...

Back to the game, Li Qi felt that Casiraghi's lineup was too conservative. The starting players were mainly those aged 84 and above. They were indeed more experienced, had better skills, and were more mature physically, but this was not like selecting a princess...

Although Serbia has always been known for its tall stature and tough defense, at this age, the judgment of high balls and calm ball handling in the penalty area are the shortcomings of all youth teams.

Especially the Serbian defense led by Ivanovic and Kolarov (the future Ivanovic of Chelsea and Kolarov of Manchester City). Although both of them are tall players, they are not aerial masters in the traditional sense, and their turning and flexibility are poor. It is definitely better to use the 1-meter Pelle to face the front and then ambush Rossi to break through flexibly, instead of choosing Pazzini, a more comprehensive but unremarkable striker, as they have now...

Of course, as soon as Li Qi saw the starting lineup, he knew that Casiraghi was thinking about playing it safe when he was not in 100% condition, so he arranged a 4-5-1 defensive counterattack formation.

守门员是1号库尔西，左右两边后卫是3号基耶利尼和17号拉吉，双中卫是2号安德雷奥利和5号曼托瓦尼；

单后腰是4号诺切里诺，双中前卫是7号蒙托利沃和8号阿奎拉尼，左右两边锋是20号拉扎里和15号罗西纳；

The single arrow is No. 9 Pazzini.

Among the starting 11, all 7 players aged 84 in the roster were sent out... Li Qi was speechless. Casiraghi was good in everything, but his deployment of troops as a head coach was still too rigid.

As for the starting lineup of the opponent Serbia, in addition to the two players on the back line mentioned above who Li Qi was familiar with, there was also Krasic, who had blond hair and looked particularly like Nedved. In addition, two future Chinese football stars were sitting on the bench, Nikola Petkovic from Xichuan FC and Jodjer Rakic ​​from Qindao Hainiu.

However, Serbia U21 also lined up in a 4-5-1 defensive formation, with two defensive midfielders, which was obviously more pragmatic than Casiraghi.

So at the end of the first half, although Italy U21 had the advantage in ball possession, the advantage was not obvious. Apart from an offside goal by Pazzini after the opening and a shot in the small penalty area that hit the opponent's goalkeeper, Italy could only create threats through long shots.

In the 22nd minute of the first half, Italy U21's starting goalkeeper Kurci was injured in a collision with an opposing player while defending a corner kick and was unable to continue the game. Casiraghi could only passively play the first card of the game and temporarily activated Viviano.

Before entering the locker room at halftime, Casiraghi came over quietly to exchange ideas with Li Qi, who then simply gave his personal opinion, which was that if the game continued, Sevilla might have a chance to steal a goal. If they wanted to break the deadlock, they should put Pelle on and change to 4-4-2, with crosses from both wings going inwards...

As this is a fast-paced cup competition, Li Qi thought that the sooner the deadlock was broken, the better, otherwise it might be too late. But Casiraghi was obviously confident in Li Qi, thinking that it would be okay to observe for a while, after all, Italy still had the upper hand on the field, and Serbia had not had a single shot on target in the whole game.

This is the characteristic of youth team games, that is, the general technical level is still relatively rough, the control of the ball is not fine, and many attacks rely on the impact of body and speed, as well as the gifts given by the opponent's mistakes. There are not many players who can really threaten the opponent's goal with their technical strength.

This is why technical players like Li Qi and Messi can stand out in the youth team competitions...

But it’s clear that Casiraghi’s conservatism didn’t pay off, but the 84-year-old players taught him a lesson, which is not to have too high and too strong expectations of us.

Just when Casiraghi was still hesitating whether to send Li Qi to the court to warm up and win the game, Serbia broke the deadlock first.

Around the 60th minute of the second half, Aquilani made a mistake in passing the ball and was intercepted by Serbian midfielder Smijanvic, who launched a counterattack and drove straight into the penalty area of ​​the Italian U21 team.

However, Chiellini, who came to make up for the deficit, once again made the common mistake of young players, which is that he easily gets nervous during the game, or gets carried away, and makes reckless moves.

In fact, in Li Qi's opinion, as long as Chiellini continues to put pressure on him, he doesn't need to take any action to force Smjanvic, whose rhythm is already a bit chaotic, to make mistakes himself, and Viviano has already attacked in time to block the opponent's shooting angle.

However, when Smjanvic obviously missed the shot by dribbling the ball, Chiellini made the worst choice in Li Qi's opinion, which was to intercept with a tackle. So the ball didn't touch him, but Smjanvic was knocked down instead...

As Viviano saved the ball, the referee blew the whistle, and the penalty was inevitable. Fortunately, the referee did not give the top red penalty package, but downgraded it to a yellow penalty package, so the game was not over yet.

Milovanovic then scored a penalty kick. Although Viviano guessed the direction correctly, he was unable to prevent the opponent's extremely powerful penalty kick.

Serbia U21 National Youth Team led Italy U1 National Youth Team 0-21 despite the unfavorable situation. It is worth mentioning that this was the first and only shot on target for Serbia in the game.

Before the penalty kick, Casiraghi had already decided to make a substitution. Although the outcome of this game cannot ultimately determine the team's advancement to the group stage, if he does not take the initiative, every subsequent group match will be a life-and-death battle, and he may not even have the initiative.

Just after Serbia scored the penalty, Casiraghi replaced two players in a row. Including the extra time, there were only 30 minutes left, so they had to give it a try.

No. 10 Li Qi and No. 18 Pellet were substituted together, replacing Aquilani, who had just made a mistake and conceded a goal, and Lazari, who had not found his rhythm throughout the game, and changed to a 4-4-2, two-wing tactic. Li Qi played as a left midfielder, responsible for organizing the attack and delivering ammunition to the front line.

The audience in the stands saw Li Qi, who became famous here two years ago, appear on the stage, and gave the biggest star in this European Youth Championship the warmest applause. Everyone was looking forward to Li Qi's wonderful performance...

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