Football career: From winning the championship to becoming a legend

Li Qi turned the ball near the sideline, which was already at the edge of Belgium's defensive third zone and in a dangerous area. So Vertonghen, who was closest, let go of Pelle and handed the ball to Lombards, who also hurried over to defend, because Vertonghen did not think that Harino, the second youngest player in the team born in 88, could limit Li Qi alone.

Li Qi quickly pulled the ball under his feet and faked it continuously, making Harino and Vertonghen who were surrounding him confused about his intentions, and thus did not choose to attack him immediately. In this way, Li Qi also gained space to deal with the ball in the next step. In fact, Li Qi wanted to create time for other teammates to run, because he almost rushed to the front of the team just now...

In just two or three seconds, Li Qi had already noticed that his teammates had almost arrived at their positions. If they waited any longer, they would all be offside. So Li Qi pretended to break through and cut inside, causing Harino and Vertonghen to shift their center of gravity. Then Li Qi adjusted his center of gravity and took another step along the sideline to the bottom line, and sent a low and diagonal pass to the middle!

Li Qi's diagonal pass from the inside of his right foot had a slight arc and just slipped over the toe of Vertonghen's tackle and went straight to the middle of the penalty area.

As a low cross, Li Qi's diagonal pass was very well pressed and maintained at a considerable speed. It seemed that the goal was to meet Pelle who was running forward at high speed in the middle near the penalty spot...

@

It was still afternoon in Chicago. Julian had just finished her professor's class and rushed to the lab, planning to watch Li Qi's game on the lab's TV as before. Although the sound couldn't be turned on, it would be too late if she rushed back to the dormitory. And she would have to go back to the lab to study after dinner, which would be too much trouble...

Julian, with her round thighs wrapped in slim blue jeans, her feet painted with red nail polish and beige high-heeled sandals, and wearing a beige gauze shirt with red shoulder straps faintly visible, had just walked quickly into the laboratory when she found that several seniors in the laboratory had already tuned in to the public TV channel in the laboratory to watch the live broadcast, which happened to be the match between the Italian U21 team and the Belgian U21 team.

So Julian was no longer in a hurry. She quietly put down her bag, pushed a chair, and sat obediently behind the seniors to watch the game and listen to them talking about basketball.

Senior A: "Ah! It's very difficult for Belgium to score a high ball. It all depends on Vanden Borre's personal skills..."

Senior B: "It's still too much to pass two people with one. Look, Italy is counterattacking with a long pass!"

Senior C: "The Italian No. 10 stopped the ball well. Isn't he a left winger? Why did he run a big diagonal line to receive the ball on the right? But there is indeed a big gap here..."

A: "We must stop the No. 10 in blue. He is too fast..."

B: "He passed the ball! The goalkeeper couldn't reach it, and the defenders..."

C: "Ha! Italy's center forward is also a step slower..."

A: "Oh! No! There's another one at the back post... Another ball lost, damn!"

B: "Bravo! Bravo! Goal! The No. 7 in blue made a really good pass! The low ball had a distinct arc, and the power and angle were just right. It just passed over the defender who was intercepting it in front, and the goalkeeper couldn't get out. Although the big forward in the middle made a big mistake, he should have been aiming at the running route of the No. at the back."

C: "Well, the goalkeeper shouldn't have come out. He was halfway out before he realized he couldn't reach the ball, which allowed No. 7 at the back post to easily shoot into the empty goal. If the goalkeeper was still in the goal, it would have been difficult for No. 7, who rushed to the back post, to shoot from a small angle!"

A: "Damn it, they're already two goals behind in the first half. It's going to be hard for Belgium to turn the tables..."

As soon as Julian heard it, she knew that almost none of the seniors were fans of Italy. Also, seniors A and C seemed to be Belgians. So Julian just watched with a smile and kept silent, just wanting to be a good little sister to the seniors. She would have to ask the seniors for help with her future homework and experiments.

@

Slow-motion replay showed that Li Qi's diagonal pass was just right, with a good initial speed, just avoiding Vertonghen's tackle and Lombards' interception in the middle of the penalty area. However, Pelle, who was not a fast type, was just one step away from reaching the ball. However, Li Qi did not pass this ball to Pelle.

The diagonal pass from Pelle and Li Qi missed the penalty spot in the penalty area, which also happened to shake the goalkeeper Bailly who was halfway through the attack. Bailly thought that he had a high probability of not being able to reach the ball, but he attacked to reduce the angle of Pelle's frontal shot, but he didn't expect the ball to miss in front of the three people...

However, Drover at the back obviously did not expect the ball to slip through, and he did not return to defense deep enough; but besides him, there was another player in blue, that was Montlivo, number 7.

When Montolivo saw Li Qi making a wide diagonal run to receive the long pass, he hesitated at first, wondering whether he should help Li Qi fill in the position or go in to receive the pass. But when he saw Li Qi glance over here after stopping the ball, Montolivo knew he should go in, because he was the only one on this side of the court who could rush and receive the pass.

So Montolivo did not hesitate to go all out and run forward at full speed. He probably had guessed the route that Li Qi wanted to give. After all, Li Qi had fed the ball several times in training. That route and position were not what ordinary players would think of...

However, looking at Li Qi's passing line, Montolivo knew that he had guessed correctly. Although it seemed that Pelle had a better shooting chance in the middle, Montolivo knew that the middle was definitely a feint. The destination of Li Qi's pass was definitely himself at the back point, and the target should be near the corner of the small penalty area!

A normal defender will not defend as deep as the small penalty area except for corner kicks and set pieces, because that is already the goalkeeper's protection range.

However, under normal circumstances, the goalkeeper will not pay special attention to the small penalty area at the back when facing a cross, because it is common sense that if there is an attacking player at the back, the defender should pull back to assist in defense.

Sure enough, the ball slid past three players in the middle, with a little spin, and began to slow down due to the friction of the grass, but it was still full of power and was ready to slide through the corner of the small penalty area and go to the bottom line. However, the speed of the ball was enough for Montolivo to catch up with the last two steps!

So the ball that was missed by the goalkeeper, defender and forward in the middle was shot by Montolivo who rushed to the corner of the small penalty area at high speed, and the ball hit the inside of the far post of the goal and hit the empty net...

The first reaction of the Belgian U21 team was that the ball was offside, but the linesman did not raise the flag and the referee also indicated that the goal was valid. The second reaction was that the Italian U21 team was lucky, but the third reaction told them that falling behind by two goals in the first half was a fact no matter what.

So Italy went into the half-time break with a 2-0 lead, while Belgium had to take advantage of the 15 minutes of half-time to rearrange its tactics in the hope of having a better performance in the second half.

As soon as the second half started, Belgium changed a forward, replacing the original center forward Tom Demuir who didn't even have a shot in the first half with De Smet. At least De Smet, who is 1 meters tall, is ten centimeters taller than Demuir and is stronger. Although his footwork is a bit lacking, he can at least serve as a fulcrum center forward to pass the ball to his teammates and create space for attack.

Italy did not make any substitutions first, but it was obvious that Casiraghi had made new arrangements for the formation and tactics. Italy's defense line was moved further back and tighter, basically allowing Belgium to attack from both wings while blocking the middle, so they were not afraid of your crosses.

Casiraghi also believed that as long as Li Qi was roaming in the frontcourt, Belgium would not dare to press too far on both sides, after all, they had suffered two losses.

The game went as Casiraghi had imagined. Because they had to focus on defending Li Qi and didn't want to leave Italy too much space to counterattack, the two Belgian full-backs didn't dare to press too high most of the time, fearing that Li Qi would take advantage of the gap behind them again. Blondel and Fellaini took turns defending Li Qi, trying to reduce the number of times Li Qi took and received the ball.

In this way, Belgium's counterattack still relies more on the personal abilities of the two wingers, so the effect is naturally very limited.

However, Italy was not in a hurry to defeat Belgium in one blow, and was slowly wearing down Belgium. After all, they were leading by two goals, and the first thing was to avoid making mistakes. It was safer and more efficient to wait for Belgium to become more impatient and their physical strength to decline before making mistakes.

Li Qi was happy to lead his teammates in circles as he was guarded closely by turns, and tried to reduce his presence as much as possible to avoid injuries and excessive consumption of physical strength. As long as Belgium did not press forward in a big way, Li Qi was happy to waste the game time in a slow rhythm of offense and defense.

In this way, 20 minutes into the second half, Belgium had basically found it difficult to break into Italy's penalty area except for four long shots, and only one of the four long shots hit the target, requiring Viviano to perform a wonderful save.

However, Italy's counterattack did not achieve any results under Belgium's tight defense. They did not even have a successful shot, as they were all intercepted by the Belgian defense. Li Qi did not have any outstanding performance, as if he suddenly disappeared from the court. He only occasionally returned to the backcourt to participate in the back-foot touch, and his kick was quite effortless and simple.

Italy has no complaints about this situation. With two goals in hand, they can play any way they want as long as they don't lose the ball.

But Belgium would definitely not accept it. After all, if they lost they would be eliminated, so they had to try again no matter what.

So when the game came to the second half, Belgium made another substitution adjustment. No. 11 Maarten Martens, whose name is very similar to Mertens, came on the court as a left-footed attacking midfielder, replacing Harino, a pure defensive midfielder who had more defensive tasks.

This substitution by the Belgian U21 team was a signal to go all out and attack. The formation was changed to 4-2-3-1, and the two full-backs began to make large runs forward, regardless of whether Italy launched a counterattack, because if they didn't score, there would be no chance.

Almost at the same time, Casiraghi also made substitutions. Rosina, who did not perform well in this game, and Pelle, who scored the first goal in this game, both left the field. Rossi and Cigarini came on the field, and Italy also changed its formation to 4-4-2. Li Qi and Rossi stayed on the front line to counterattack, while Montolivo and Cigarini were on the two wings to assist in defending against Belgium's two-wing attack.

Casiraghi wanted to further unleash Li Qi's counterattack ability so that Li Qi no longer needed to be distracted by organization and defense. After all, there were only 20 minutes left in the game. In view of this situation, keeping Pelle on the court would not be of much use, so he replaced him with the fast and flexible Rossi to cooperate with Li Qi.

After both sides made substitutions, Belgium's offense still had no way to deal with Italy's defense, especially Italy, which had shrunk its midfield and backcourt to the defensive third zone. In addition, Li Qi and Rossi took turns to come back to cause trouble. Even if Belgium's ten players except the goalkeeper crossed the center line, there was still no good solution.

They almost stole a goal in a counterattack instigated by Li Qi, but unfortunately Rossi, who received Li Qi's direct pass and successfully got out of offside, had his shot blocked when facing Bailly who was attacking, and missed the opportunity to completely end the game.

However, just when Belgium was at a loss for what to do in attack, it won a set piece near the midfield; although this set piece attack did not break Italy's defensive strength, it provided an idea for Belgium's head coach De Sarthe.

In the 78th minute of the game, the high ball kicked by Pocognoli was grabbed by Fellaini who was lying in wait in the penalty area. However, Fellaini did not choose to head the ball directly but used a header to ferry the ball, which caused chaos in the Italian defense. Unfortunately, De Smet, who came on as a substitute in the second half, shot directly into Viviano's arms in front of the goal...

So De Sarthe waved his hand and the Belgian U21 team simply abandoned the formation. Fellaini and Vertonghen went straight into the Italian penalty area as stationary center forwards, while Van den Borre, Mirallas and De Smet surrounded the Italian penalty area to grab the second attack opportunity.

In the midfield and backcourt, Pocognoli, Blondel and the retreating Martens were responsible for sending long passes into the Italian penalty area.

As soon as this style of play was used, the Italian defense was immediately in panic. Fellaini and Vertonghen both had the advantage of height, were more flexible than the average center forward, and had good judgment of penalties. They successfully headed the ball over Chiellini and Andreoli's heads. If it weren't for Viviano's several decisive attacks and blocks, Belgium would have closed the score.

Li Qi and Rossi could only assist in defending the wing, constantly interfering with Belgium's kick-offs near the midfield, reducing the accuracy of Belgium's passes.

Casiraghi also planned to use his last substitution, replacing him with the aerial master Koda to increase the air defense in the penalty area. But just before Koda came on the field, Li Qi found another good opportunity, because at this time, there were only Lombards, Druvé and goalkeeper Bailly left in the Belgian half, and there were gaps everywhere...

In the 81st minute of the game, Belgium's aerial work was a little off this time, and it landed on the side of Criscito's defense. Criscito originally wanted to let the ball go out of the baseline and turn it into a goal kick, but suddenly he heard the boss Li Qi shouting: "Hold it!"

Criscito immediately received the signal, controlled the ball in front of the baseline, and passed it directly to Li Qi who retreated to the corner of the penalty area.

Li Qi did not choose to stop the ball and turn around but instead passed the ball directly to Montolivo on the wing, because there must be a Belgian player pressing on his side.

Montolivo did not dare to pass the ball directly back to Li Qi who turned around and made a run in the middle, because there were many Belgian players in that area. If they were intercepted, it would be a problem for Viviano. So Montolivo chose to pass the ball directly to Rossi who was waiting in front.

Rossi, who received the ball near the midline, was unable to turn around because Drover was approaching from behind; but Rossi had already thought of the route to pass the ball when he first protected the ball with his back to the goal...

@

It was in a biology laboratory at the University of Chicago that Julian learned for the first time that the public television in the laboratory could also play sound. She had never found the remote control before, and it turned out that it was hidden by her seniors.

In the final stage of the competition, it was already dark, and the seniors saw that their instructor would not come to the laboratory today, so they took out the remote control from a hidden drawer and unmuted the sound.

After all, the game had reached its intense end, and the few people who had been chatting for almost the entire game lost interest in talking. The junior sister didn't say much either, just watched the game with a smile, so it was better to make some noise.

But the brothers didn't expect that the ESPN live commentator of this game was an Italian fan, or a Li Qi fan? Who knows...

"Oh, Belgium's long pass went astray... Criscito didn't let the ball go out of bounds!"

"Criscito passed the ball to Li Qi who retreated deep, and the latter passed the ball to Montolivo on the wing."

"Montelivo was under pressure and passed the ball straight to Rossi near the halfway line."

"Rossi protected the ball with his back to the goalkeeper... beautiful! Rossi made the move to the middle and Li Qi cut the ball away at high speed. It was so smooth!"

"Li Qi dunked past Blondel who came forward to intercept him in one step, and the road ahead was smooth!"

"Li Qi rushed forward along the left side, too fast! He had a one-on-one chance! The Belgian formation was too strong, and we couldn't stop him!"

"Baillie attacks! Li Qi cuts inside...Oh no! He dribbles to the baseline again, passes Bailey, and it's an empty goal!"

"Small angle push shot!"

"Ditch oooooh! Ditch oooooh! Ditch!"

"3-0! Li Qi killed the game! The Italian U21 team is going to the finals! The Belgians have no chance..."

……