Football career: From winning the championship to becoming a legend

The Euroborg football stadium in the Netherlands is located in the new city of Groningen, right in the center of the city and built by the river. It can accommodate 22,525 spectators. The stadium began construction in 2004 and was completed in 2006. Due to sponsorship reasons, the stadium was renamed the Hitachi Stadium in 2018.

The Euroburg Stadium has a white exterior and a beautiful shape. The two high-rise buildings on the south side of the stadium complement the stadium, and a river flows slowly beside the stadium. The interior of the stadium is also carefully designed, and every seat has a good view.

The stadium also has great sound collection. On match days, Groningen's fans turn it into a green ocean, and the fans' singing turns the stadium into a veritable "Green Hell" (the home uniform of FC Groningen is green).

The final of the 07 European Youth Championship was held in this green hell, but the host was the Netherlands U21 team wearing traditional orange jerseys, while the visiting team was the Italian U21 team wearing traditional blue jerseys.

Although there was a heavy rainstorm before the game, the weather turned cloudy with a slight breeze just before the game started. At 2007:6 on the evening of June 24, 20, in the cool weather of 29 degrees Celsius, the players of both teams had already set up their positions on the court, waiting for the referee's whistle.

Like the Italian national youth team, the Dutch national youth team also used almost the same lineup as the semi-final, a 4-4-2 diamond midfield formation, except that left-footed central defender Kruswijk replaced tall central defender Ron Vlaar, who had a minor injury in training.

The goalkeeper is the No. 1 boy waterman, Boy Waterman, who shined in the semifinals;

The left and right backs are No. 2 Zuvirun and No. 5 Peters, and the double center backs are No. 4 Kruswick and No. 18 Donk;

The central defensive midfielder No. 6 is Hedwigus Maduro, the left and right central midfielders are No. 11 Drider and No. 8 Drenthe, and the attacking midfielder is No. 22 Ultraman Bakar, who is known as a superman;

The two strikers were the talented wingers mentioned above but later injured, No. 9 Ryan Babel and No. 13 Rigetts;

There were also some potential new stars sitting on the bench who had some impression on Li Qi, such as Tim Krul, the 88-year-old goalkeeper who is still too young, Calvin Jong-A-Pin, a Chinese player of Guangdong-Surinamese descent, and Harris Medunjanin.

The Netherlands U21 national team was formed by the team that won the European Youth Championship in Portugal in 06.

Although the two finals were held only one year apart, no one was repeated in the starting lineups of the Dutch team in both finals. The only unchanged thing was the team's head coach De Haan and his coaching staff.

However, there are still 6 players in the full roster who have experience in winning the European Youth Championship last year, including No. 11 Derider and No. 4 Kruswick in the starting lineup, and Ron Vlaar, Ismail Essati, Kenneth Vermeer and Medunjanin on the bench.

Maybe because they were the defending champions and had some of the same players who had won the championship, plus they were the host country, the Dutch U21 team gave Li Qi the impression of being full of confidence and extremely excited before the game.

This is very different from the Nigerian national youth team, their final opponent in the World Youth Championship two years ago. That U20 team was obviously still inexperienced and very nervous, so their technical movements during the game were distorted.

However, this Dutch national youth team is probably not like this. They are basically composed of the main players of the Eredivisie, and with the halo of defending champions and hosts, it is estimated that their concentration, on-the-spot state and enterprising spirit will be significantly improved.

The Italian U21 team, which had undergone extensive rotations in the third round of the group stage, did not necessarily have a clear advantage in terms of physical fitness. Although the Dutch U21 team had used the same starting lineup for three consecutive games, in the first two rounds of the group stage, Dutch coach Fopp de Haan was also clearly rotating his players.

Moreover, the main lineup was deliberately used in the last three games in order to allow the young players to be in the most excited and fiery state in the third final. Fortunately, the tenacity of the England team in the semi-finals unexpectedly dragged the Netherlands into a penalty shootout, which basically made Fopp de Haan's arrangement fail.

Even so, Li Qi estimated that the current physical condition of the Netherlands U21 team is not too bad; so even if they play a high-intensity protracted battle and fight until the end of the second half, they may not be sure of winning.

However, Li Qi and the coaching staff were basically in agreement, and they still planned to leave the victory to the end of the second half. Because everyone agreed that the substitute lineup of the Dutch national youth team was obviously not as strong as the main lineup, especially in the offensive end. Bakar, Babel and Rigetts were the three people they could rely on the most. The bench did not have players who could provide changes in the game, and there was not even a substitute attacker whose level was close to the starting lineup.

On the Italian side, Pazzini and Rocina were both substitutes ready to come on at the end of the second half, and there was one substitution spot left for possible accidents...

But if you want to take the trophy with a wave at the end of the second half, the prerequisite is that you must have been able to defend before, or at least not fall behind by more than one goal, otherwise the previous arrangements will not be reliable. Fortunately, the dirty counterattack is Italy's traditional specialty.

So after the game kicked off, the Italian U21 team decisively retreated to a formation, and through careful passing and intensive defensive positions, they tried to slow down the tempo of the game, trying to offset the host country's aggressive attack at the beginning of the game by taking advantage of the home field and the momentum of the first kick-off. Yes, a captain in blue, number , lost the ball again by flipping a coin...

Although the Italian national youth team controlled the defense and rhythm very well, the Netherlands did not get many good opportunities due to their impatience, but it was the Dutch who broke the deadlock first.

In the 12th minute of the game, just when Li Qi thought he could breathe a sigh of relief after surviving the first wave of Dutch attack, the Dutch team scored a goal with their first shot on target of the game.

Barca was about 25 yards in front of the goal. After receiving a straight pass from Riedl from the wing, he suddenly shot against the Italian defense. Nocerino, who should have stepped forward to interfere, slipped because the field was slippery after the heavy rain...

The ball seemed to be flying low over the grass like a hawk, and it bounced off the ground and slightly accelerated near the small penalty area, and hit the dead corner in the lower right corner of the goal! Although Viviano stretched his body to the extreme to dive, his vision was blocked, and the long shot suddenly flew past Chiellini's feet, and it bounced on the slippery grass and accelerated, but he still couldn't stop the ball from hitting the net!

With this lucky world-class long-range shot, the Netherlands broke through Italy's iron wall and took the lead 1-0.

However, the lagging Italy did not rush to counterattack. Li Qi shouted and retreated to signal the team to keep steady and play according to the pre-match arrangement. After all, it is extremely unwise to attack the morale-boosting host in a panic and inconsistent manner, and it is easy to lose the second goal or even the third goal; especially when the opponent is the Dutch team with a tradition of all-out attack and all-out defense, steady and hard work, patience and tenacity are the trump cards to restrain the rhythm of the Dutch team.

Just as Li Qi expected, after scoring the goal, the Dutch team was even more energized and rushed forward to attack frantically; however, their offensive efficiency was not as good as at the beginning of the game.

Seeing that Italy, which was behind, did not launch a large-scale counterattack and scored a goal with the first shot on target, most Dutch players thought that Italy was just so-so, with a reputation greater than strength, and had obviously forgotten the history of being abused by Li Qi in the U19 and U17 European Youth Championships. Of course, a large number of players have also been replaced, and many of the current team members have never experienced it.

Therefore, as soon as the Dutch players got the ball, they would take the lead and shoot, or keep making long and straight passes, constantly accelerating, and want to try a long shot as soon as they get within 30 meters of the Italian goal... This kind of attack has no rhythm at all, let alone a threat. Although it is not to say that there will not be another lucky shot, the probability of such a shot is really too low.

Li Qi liked that the Netherlands maintained this rhythm, which was beneficial to Italy's overall strategy.

The Netherlands had launched a fierce attack at the beginning of the game and just wanted to take a breather, but now they are energized by a lucky long-range shot and continue to speed up the pace and attack. With this pace, the physical strength of the Netherlands starting lineup will be depleted faster, especially those in the midfield and frontcourt.

So after another 5 minutes of fierce attack, it was obvious that the three lines of the Dutch team were a bit disconnected. The midfield and frontcourt rushed too hard and the positions were a bit messy, while the back line did not have time to press the formation forward after making a long pass.

On the contrary, Italy was in stable control of the ball. Although there were not many threatening attacks, they had an advantage in ball possession and the passing and cutting between the team became more and more stable. It was obvious that they had adapted to the rhythm and tension of the final and performed more easily.

So the fans watching the game would think that the Netherlands was attacking very passionately and would try to shoot from time to time; and the professionals would know that Italy had begun to control the tempo of the game and was about to gain momentum, while the Netherlands seemed to be playing enthusiastically but in a disorganized manner.

However, in theory, the rhythm of the Netherlands U21 team is what youth team games should be like. Who knows which talented new stars will break out again, or which defensive players will make unstable mistakes, which will change the situation of the game again!

Just 20 minutes into the game, Li Qi discovered that there was room for improvement in the gap between the Dutch team's midfield and backcourt.

Babel's attempt to cut in from the left again was fruitless. When he tried to pass the ball again, he was intercepted by Aquilani. Then Nocerino passed the ball straight to Li Qi who returned to the middle to receive the ball.

When Li Qi received the ball, he simply made a wall-to-wall cooperation with nearby Montolivo and got rid of Maduro, the only defensive midfielder of the Netherlands. While dodging Maduro, Li Qi also turned around, and in front of Li Qi was a large open area of ​​the Netherlands, and the nearest defender of the Netherlands was still ten meters away from him.

So Li Qi accelerated the advance with the ball, which was also the first time that the Italian U21 team accelerated the counterattack in the first half.

The Dutch defense must have studied Li Qi's technical characteristics, and they did not dare to press forward, fearing that Li Qi would change direction or pass them. As a result, the Dutch defense was constantly pushed back to the penalty area by Pelle and Rossi, and they could only hope that Maduro and other Dutch midfielders would quickly return to support them.

However, the Netherlands was fortunate that the four defenders were in a relatively neat position, and there was no position where they could not get back in time after attacking, and there was no obvious gap...

However, what Li Qi wanted was not the gap behind the Dutch defense line. What Li Qi wanted was the gap in front of the Dutch defense line.

Just as the Dutch defense retreated into the penalty area, Li Qi suddenly passed the ball, but not directly, but gently pushed in front of Pelle. Pelle naturally understood, blocked the biggest Dutch player Donk with his back, then stepped on the ball steadily and gently shot it to the clear space beside him...

Li Qi rushed forward and aimed at Pelle's pass and fired a powerful right-footed shot about 22 yards away from the goal. The ball did not rotate at all and went straight into the blind spot in the upper left corner of the goal like a cannonball!

Of the two central defenders of the Netherlands, Donk was blocked by Pelle and couldn't stop him, while the other Krusvik was still behind Donk and couldn't reach him at all. So Li Qi fired a direct artillery shot at the goal of the Netherlands without anyone guarding or intercepting him!

Li Qi's shot was powerful and at a great angle. Although the Dutch goalkeeper Waterboy made a save, he was too late to stop the ball from hitting the net.

@

Li Qi, who had triggered the explosive point, knew the ball was there the moment it left his feet. It was such a great shot! Sure enough, banning defense can make the powerful shots in the game more exciting! Li Qi made his signature ear-covering celebration move again, and deliberately ran to the side of the stands where Sarafina was sitting...

In the stands, Sarafina, who was wearing a ponytail, was jumping excitedly with her group of girlfriends and nearby fans to celebrate Li Qi's goal!

At this time, Sala, who was still invisible to Li Qi, had the Italian flag painted on his face and wore a slim-fit Italian jersey. He could also tie up the hem of the jersey, revealing his slender A4 waist and vest line. He wore vibrant super short jeans, white socks and Nike sneakers, looking extremely youthful and lively.

@

Less than 10 minutes after the Netherlands scored, Italy equalized the score with a world-class long-range shot, 1-1, and both sides were back on the same starting line!

Although both teams scored with long-range shots, anyone with a discerning eye knows that the difficulty and randomness of the two goals are different. The Dutch goal had too much luck, such as Nocerino's slip, Chiellini's toe sliding, and the ball bouncing in front of the goal.

Italy's goal was clearly a well-rehearsed passing and cutting routine, and they really took advantage of the loopholes and mistakes in the Dutch formation, and the offense was organized very smoothly...

The Dutch U21 team, whose score was tied, did not make any adjustments immediately and continued to play at the same pace as before. What surprised Li Qi was that although the Dutch coach De Haan stood on the sidelines to direct the team, he only asked the Dutch boys to stay focused and asked the back line not to be too far away from the midfield...

Li Qi guessed that De Haan might have felt that if he forced the Dutch team, which was already a little over the top, to slow down its tempo, this group of unstable young players would suddenly lose their game feeling and might even collapse; instead, if he took advantage of the team's high morale and maintained a high-speed operation, he might be able to quickly regain the lead, and it would be safer to adjust the tempo after taking the lead.

Li Qi felt that DeHaan was obviously gambling. This was not the gambling of spinach, but the risk of taking technical and tactical risks in football matches. However, football matches also require risks. Otherwise, if everything was stable and the strength was determined according to the paper, there would be no need for football matches.

The adventurous part of a football match is the essence of the sport. It is the comprehensive embodiment of all the good things such as creativity, courage, perseverance, and fighting spirit. It is also the source of wonderful moments where the weak defeats the strong or the situation changes miraculously!

Obviously, the old coach De Haan, who is very familiar with the Dutch football style and the art of football adventure, won the bet again this time.

Because not long after Italy equalized the score, the Netherlands once again surpassed the score, and this time, there was also a bit of luck, but it was also a reflection of the offensive style of Dutch football...

……