Football career: From winning the championship to becoming a legend

England, which fell behind, immediately launched a swift counterattack, but the formation and personnel were not very good. The center of gravity was too far back, and there were too many engineer midfielders and a lack of organizing midfielders. There was a lack of inspiration in the rhythm of passing, and it was too easy for people to see through their intentions. Especially when the young men in England were trying to equalize the score, they exposed their inner impatience but their physical skills could not keep up, which is usually said that the body cannot keep up with the brain...

First, Milner and Leo Cork teamed up to intercept the ball from Rosina who dribbled too much, but just when Milner wanted to speed up the counterattack, he hurriedly passed the ball to Nugent in the middle of the court, but Li Qi saw through his intention in advance.

Li Qi, who was lying in wait in the middle, easily intercepted the ball and passed it to Nocerino who was protecting him. The latter did not hesitate after receiving the ball and directly passed it to Montolivo in the midfield, avoiding Nugent's counter-attack.

Montolivo received the ball and sent it in front of Rosina again. Milner, Leo Koke and right-back Hoyte, who were originally surrounding Rosina, were thinking about counterattacking and had lost their position.

So after being robbed, Rosina, who was left unguarded, easily cut into the penalty area. Facing the center back Taylor who came to defend, he deftly used his heel to knock the ball back to the top of the penalty area in the middle.

Aquilani was guarding the inside-cutting player, while England defenders Onuoha and Baines were being held down by Pelle near the small penalty area. Aquilani volleyed the ball with his left foot from 22 yards in front of the goal, and the ball went straight into the lower left corner of the goal along the grass.

Four minutes after the last goal, the Italian U21 team once again scored a goal past England goalkeeper Carson. In the 4th minute of the first half, Italy was ahead by two goals.

It seemed that the two goals came too easily, and most of the players on the Italian U21 team felt that this game would be like the last half hour of the previous round, with goals scored easily and the game won smoothly. Even Li Qi began to relax a little, feeling that the U21 youth team's games were really easy.

However, although the England U21 team was two goals behind, they did not panic. Although they were still a little impatient when passing the ball, they also learned from the experience of being intercepted by Li Qi just now, and began to pass the ball more cautiously and fight more actively.

而英格兰的主帅皮尔斯似乎也发现这个4-5-1阵型的保守打法不太对了，就算相持阶段合适，现在两球落后了肯定是不行的。于是英格兰果断回到了他们传统的4-4-2，开始通过相对较强的左路来制造威胁。

This adjustment was timely, allowing England's offensive organization to return to normal and bypass Italy's heavily defended center. However, it was not easy for England's duo of centers to grab the cross over Italy's tall back line.

The Italian national youth team, whose fighting spirit had dropped slightly and who were keen on showing off their skills, did not perform much in the last 15 minutes of the first half. Rosina, who was keen on dribbling and breaking through, kept trying to work alone on the wing, while Aquilani, who had just scored a long-range shot, seemed to be in good form, firing frequently from long range...

However, just like England who were eager to equalize the score just now, the technical intentions of these two Italian players were too obvious, so they were basically intercepted by the England defense who spared no effort in defending.

So just as England U21 began to slowly find their attacking feeling and Italy U21 began to play freely, the first half of the game was over. In any case, Casiraghi could not find fault with the situation of leading 2-0 in the first half, especially since he had the advantage of ball possession all the time. He could not expect his team to suppress England U all the time, right?

Just when Casiraghi was thinking about whether to replace some main players early in the second half to rest, the England U21 team suddenly launched an unparalleled offensive after the kick-off, catching the somewhat relaxed Italian U21 team off guard.

In the first minute of the second half, Baines made a diagonal pass from the left, Viviano lost the ball due to Nugent's interference, and Lita's volley from 5 meters in front of the goal hit the bottom of the crossbar and bounced back into the field! Then, Milner made a shovel pass from the right side of the penalty area, but the two teammates in the middle and the back point did not react...

The ball was cleared by Motta and England won a corner kick. Then Baines took a corner kick from the left for England. Stephen Taylor beat Mantovani to the header from 4 meters in front of the goal. Fortunately, the ball was too straight and was lifted by Viviano with one hand!

Italy escaped the first wave of England's attack, but the Italian U21 national team was not nervous. Two minutes later, Italy was in danger again.

Originally, Italy had a steal in the frontcourt, and Li Qi intercepted Milner's through ball, but Li Qi made a mistake when passing it back to Aquilani. The latter thought that the former would pass it to him and directly counterattack on the spot, but the former was thinking of passing the ball with the latter, stabilizing the rhythm, controlling the ball, and increasing the success rate...

So this was Li Qi's first pass error in the game. The pass fell right behind Aquilani who was rushing forward. England midfielder Noble intercepted the ball on the spot, stole the ball and made an accurate long pass after turning around. The ball just bypassed Mantovani's interception, and Lita successfully got a single chance by offside, and cleverly dribbled past Viviano who was hesitant to attack.

However, after dribbling past the goalkeeper, Lita was too impatient. He pushed the ball into the empty goal with his right foot from 6 meters away on the left side of the penalty area, but the ball went out of bounds and rolled into the side net after brushing the near post! Italy was lucky to escape again.

Although there is a saying that those who survive a great disaster will be blessed in the future, there is also a saying that nothing can last more than three times.

England, which created continuous threat of scoring, immediately gained momentum. So in the 7th minute of the second half, Lita, who had missed many good opportunities, finally made up for it and knocked the ball into the Italian goal held by Viviano.

This goal was another Italian mistake, and this time the mistake came from Montolivo. Montolivo was blocked while advancing with the ball in the middle, and Li Qi was closely guarded by the opponent's midfielder. Montolivo did not want to take any risks, and Aquilani, who was supposed to receive the ball, also chose to advance in advance and was not on the passing route.

Montolivo was forced to play it safe and pass the ball back to Nocerino, but Nugent had guessed Montolivo's choice of passing the ball and ambushed the pass in advance. Nugent fought back to Montolivo's dangerous pass, and although Nocerino raised his hands to complain about Nugent's reckless tackle, the referee did not make any gesture.

Ashley Young, who had received Nugent's attack, cut inside and calmly passed the ball to Lita, who was running at the top of the penalty area. The latter successfully beat the offside again, entered the penalty area and shot with his left foot 10 meters in front of the goal. Although the ball was caught by Viviano with one hand, the shot was too close and powerful, and the ball changed direction slightly but still flew into the near corner of the goal!

In the 52nd minute of the second half, the England National Youth Team scored a goal, and the score was 2-1. However, the England U21 team, which was closing the gap, was even more aggressive. After the second kick-off, they pressed the ball like crazy, causing chaos in the Italian U21 team's defense. Li Qi had to retreat quickly to assist and organize the game.

Before Li Qi could stabilize Italy's formation, England's two forwards once again forced Italy's defense to make mistakes. Mantovani made a hasty pass, the ball went over Li Qi's head and landed at the feet of England's left-back Baines.

Baines also learned from his previous experience and lessons, and no longer kicked high balls to expose the height of his own forwards. This time he kicked a half-high ball from a 45-degree angle. The ball took a strong arc and avoided Li Qi who turned back to intercept it, and went straight to the Italian penalty area at high speed.

This time it was another England U21 striker Nugent who made the contribution. Nugent squeezed in between two Italian central defenders, leaned forward and headed the ball into the lower right corner of the goal from 9 yards away!

England U21 team scored two goals in three minutes, tying the score to 3-2! They responded to Italy's lightning two-goal streak in the first half, bringing the two teams back to the same starting line.

The Italian U21 team kicked off again in frustration, and this time Li Qi quickly switched positions with Aquilani and went back to the backcourt to organize the overall situation. They couldn't let England grab the lead again. England had already gained momentum. It felt like they were going to score the third goal at any time and make a big comeback! No wonder they say that a two-goal lead is the most dangerous score in football. If you're not careful, you'll be reversed and then go into the count. Of course, this is not as dangerous as the three-goal lead in the final (some team: Shut up!! Shut up!!)...

Casiraghi also discovered the problem and made consecutive substitutions after the kick-off. He first replaced Aquilani, whose mentality was already unbalanced, with Giuseppe Rossi, letting Rossi play as a winger and moving Li Qi back to the middle to organize the team.

Then two minutes later, Criscito replaced Mantovani, who was also unstable in passing, and replaced Chiellini, who was bold, back to the center. The continuous substitutions were also intended to interrupt England's rhythm and give Italy a break.

Obviously, Casiraghi's substitution strategy was appropriate. After the next kick-off, the Italian U21 team gradually stabilized the tempo. Although the England U21 team fought more fiercely, they found it was not as easy to get the ball as before.

Chiellini followed Li Qi's instructions before the game and resolutely passed the ball to Li Qi's feet, even if there were people beside him. Li Qi's superb stop and pass skills made opponents and teammates amazed. It felt like a few consecutive passes, and the ball was picked up by Li Qi...

After fighting for the ball for another 5 minutes, the England U21 team found that they could not get the ball anymore, so their morale dropped and their running speed also slowed down. They wanted to retreat and take a breather.

Li Qi was waiting for England to have its old strength gone and its new strength not yet born, so he could not let them recover easily. Li Qi, who was originally standing in the backcourt, suddenly commanded the whole team to press forward and began to counterattack England. At the same time, he changed the original passing and cutting rhythm, which was mainly horizontal passing, to a high-speed rhythm, mainly straight passing and diagonal insertion.

In the 63rd minute of the game, after once again intercepting Milner's obviously intended diagonal pass, Li Qi, who was in the defensive midfielder position, suddenly moved forward with the ball, and before Noble could intercept it, he made a powerful through pass and accurately sent it to Rossi deep in the England defense line.

Rossi, the golden boy from Manchester United, obviously had a good football IQ and was very decisive in receiving the ball. He passed the ball directly to Li Qi's forward line and then cut back behind England's defense.

As expected, the ball arrived and Li Qi took a step forward, passed Noble's obstruction, and sent a precise pass directly according to Rossi's pass, which just broke through Baines' defense area.

Rossi received a straight pass from Li Qi on the right side of England's penalty area, looked up at the penalty area, and sent a cross to the tall Pelle in the middle.

England goalkeeper Carson anticipated Rossi's cross and rushed out in advance, hitting the ball over Pelle's head and out of the penalty area...

However, the ball fell again to the feet of Li Qi who had been moving forward. Li Qi originally wanted to call Rossi to pass the ball back to him, but he didn't expect Rossi to pass the ball directly and decisively. But it was not bad, at least the result was good, the ball came to his feet again, and the goal was empty!

So Li Qi stopped the ball steadily with his chest, and pretended to kick it with his right foot directly into the empty goal. After deceiving two English defenders who flew to block the hole, Li Qi unexpectedly volleyed the ball and dunked it steadily in front of his left body. He took another calm glance and observed Carson's position, then Li Qi lightly shot the ball into the far corner of the goal with his left foot!

@

Sarafina, who was preparing for her final exams in London, just returned to the dormitory from the library. As soon as she entered the door, she found that her roommate had already turned on the TV to watch the live broadcast of the European Youth Championship in the Netherlands, the match between England U21 and Italy U21.

But Sarafina knew that her roommate was not the love-brained Emma Watson. As a native Englishman, Olivia was a true England fan...

However, this did not prevent the commentator from delivering a depressed commentary during the live broadcast:

"After Italy made substitutions, they gradually stabilized their formation... The England national team needs to be more patient. They will not be able to sustain such a high intensity of competition..."

"Right, take it back first... Oh! It's Italy's turn to speed up and press. Do you want to fight back?"

"Li Qi! Move forward and pass straight. Rossi, pass back to Li Qi and pass straight!"

"Baines missed the ball! Rossi, cross!"

"Carson attacked in time and swatted the ball away, but the danger was not over yet..."

"Li Qi! Shoot...Oh no! Dunk! It's over, all empty."

"Oh my god! Li Qi rubs his cum!"

"Oh my god! The ball still fell into the bottom of the net in the far corner of the goal. Carson had jumped to his limit, but he couldn't stop Li Qi's accurate lob shot."

"Italy took the lead again, 3-2. What a pity, England had already equalized the score and even had a chance to overtake, but a mistake in defense once again led to the opponent's core No. 10 punishing them."

"Li Qi's technical ability is unique in the European Youth Championship. The English boys have to be very alert when dealing with him. They can't let him advance with the ball or face our goal too easily, and they can't recklessly throw away the focus of defense. He is too experienced, too calm and too dangerous."

"He faked a shot and dunked it, and he got past two of our defenders. Onuoha and Leo Koke were too young and were fooled. They both jumped to block the shot. With Li Qi's dunk, England's central defense was wide open."

"When Carson attacked, his position was not ideal. Looking at Li Qi, he was really experienced. He knew that no one could interfere with him. He calmly observed Carson's position first, and then shot the ball steadily over the top, just passing Carson's extreme defensive area and dropping the ball into the far corner of the goal..."

"And the English boys were obviously a bit too hasty. They fought hard for more than ten minutes after the start of the second half. Although they quickly equalized the score, they did not pay attention to the distribution of their physical strength. Many players were out of breath and urgently needed to catch their breath."

"It was at this critical moment that Li Qi from the other side seized the opportunity."

“But the English boys should not be discouraged. There is still time. We can catch up with both goals and definitely equalize the score or even win the game!”

Olivia, who had recovered from England's terrible situation of falling behind again, turned her pretty face with a facial mask on and looked at Sarafina who had just returned. She said with a complaint: "Sarah, it's all your fault. As soon as you came back, your little wolf dog scored again, and we fell behind again..."

Sarafina could only shake her head with an auntie smile, put down her bag, put on slippers, wash her hands, open the refrigerator, take out a cup of yogurt, sit with Olivia and watch her little wolfdog on the bed, oh no, the performance on the field...

……