Football career: From winning the championship to becoming a legend

The free kick goal in the last period of the first half was Pirlo's 6th goal for the national team. Except for the long shot against Ghana in the World Cup, the other 5 goals were all scored directly from free kicks. As expected of a free kick master, Pirlo was also the most threatening player for Italy in this game. Li Qi naturally knew that most of the balls would be returned to Pirlo's feet for organization, and he could only act as a cover at most...

However, with the help of the master Pirlo, sometimes the cover can play an unexpected role.

In the 57th minute of the second half, Italy, which continued to pressure its opponents, once again created chaos in front of the goal and created a killing opportunity.

It was the same old routine, with Li Qi on the wing initiating the attack. However, Li Qi still did not hold the ball and attacked. He would try to pass the ball to Pirlo in the middle after dribbling a little to attract double-teaming. Pirlo was the core of the attack who delivered the key pass.

But this time, the old wine was replaced with new wine, otherwise, after Georgia adapted, Li Qi's feint attack would be meaningless. Of course, Li Qi's change of tactics was also very simple, that is, changing positions from the left wing to the right wing, from feinting inside to feinting down the bottom, anyway, it looked like a change, but in fact it was still the same routine...

This time, after Pirlo received the pass from Li Qi from the right wing, he made an accurate long pass from the middle to find Di Natale in the open space on the left wing.

Di Natale, who was in an open space, immediately accelerated and cut inside with the ball, and played a clever two-pass cooperation with Grosso on the left side of the penalty area, and then cut into the penalty area. But just as Di Natale was about to shoot at a small angle, the ball was blocked by Georgian defender Salukvadze and Di Natale's powerful shot was blocked outside the penalty area.

Pirlo regained the ball outside the penalty area and pretended to take a long shot, but it was a fake shot and a real dunk. He shook off the oncoming defender and secretly made a straight pass with the outside of his foot at the edge of the penalty area.

Although the ball was blocked by Georgian left-back Shashiashvili when he folded his legs, it still penetrated the visiting team's dense penalty area defense through his crotch. Moreover, because of the block, the ball slowed down and bounced slightly, falling to the side of the Italian attacking player who had inserted into the back row.

This made goalkeeper Lomaia, who was running from the near corner to block Di Natale, a little desperate. It was obvious that he could not reach the ball when he attacked, so he could only fly sideways to expand the defensive area.

The one who attacked from this side was Li Qi, who was in a daze in this game. However, no matter how bad his condition was, Li Qi's basic football literacy and basic skills were still there. He instinctively let him pass the ball and then ran to the side of the penalty area to wait for an opportunity.

Faced with the ball falling in front of him, the goalkeeper lying on the ground, and the empty goal 8 yards away, the defense was attracted by Di Natale and Pirlo. Even if Li Qi did not trigger the outbreak point, he did not need to think too much or make any extra feints. Everything had been arranged. He just had to gently kick the ball over the goalkeeper and into the net!

In fact, Li Qi's shot was not well-taken, and the ball bounced on the goal line and slowed down, giving the defenders a chance to clear the ball. However, defender Asatiani was too nervous when he flew back to defend, so he rushed too far and let his body fly. In the end, his powerful clearance shot the ball into the upper corner of the goal instead...

Perhaps his calm and light hook shot could have killed Li Qi on the spot. But in the end, Li Qi, a weakling, was lucky enough to pick up a dead chicken. This goal basically secured Italy's victory, leading 2-0 over Georgia, which was planning to defend.

After conceding the goal again, Georgia's new coach made two substitutions at the same time, with Konia and Siladze coming on to strengthen the movement and coverage of the midfield and backcourt, and wait for an opportunity to counterattack.

Then Italy made a series of substitutions.

In the 64th minute, seeing that Li Qi had little desire to attack in this game and played even more cautiously after scoring a goal, and was almost switching positions with Pirlo, Donadoni replaced Li Qi with newcomer Foggia to continue to increase the activity in the midfield and frontcourt, while Foggia made his national team debut.

Then in the 67th minute, Donadoni replaced Di Natale with Quagliarella; after all, Foggia is also a small player. After Li Qi left the field, if Di Natale was kept, the height and hardness of the front line would not be enough, so Quagliarella was replaced to improve the overall situation.

Foggia, who came on as a substitute, quickly used his nimble breakthroughs to create a threat. He dribbled past the defender on the right and sent a cross with his left foot. The defender made a mistake in clearing the ball with his head and instead sent the ball to the back post. Luca Toni flew up and volleyed the ball with his left foot, but unfortunately he missed the target and did not touch the ball!

Although they were already two goals ahead, Italy slowed down the pace of attack. However, Georgia also wanted to try to close the gap and even equalize the score through counterattacks, so the visiting team's defense was loose and not as tight as in the first half. Therefore, Italy also got some good scoring opportunities in the final stage of the game and expanded the score again in the 84th minute.

Luca Toni received a diagonal pass from Foggia on the left in the middle of the penalty area. He stopped the ball with his back and chest and made a clever lob pass with the outside of his right foot. Grosso, who had successfully made an offside, cut into the penalty area from the left and stopped the ball slightly. Facing goalkeeper Lomaia who fell to the ground to save the ball, he lobbed the ball into the far corner with his left foot from 9 meters in front of the goal to score, 3-0!

Finally, Ambrosini, who performed well in this game, was replaced by Mauri. Italy finally defeated Georgia 3-0.

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At the post-match press conference, Donadoni emphasized the significance of the victory and praised the performance of his teammates: "Tonight's victory is very important to us. The players gave an outstanding performance, full of desire and fighting spirit to win. Seeing the expressions on the players' faces, I know they have the right attitude, which is what really makes me happy."

"We had no problems with our defense. Georgia only had two shots in the whole game, but Buffon dared to dribble the ball on the goal line once. The European champion combination in the midfield was even better and completely dominated the game..."

Finally, Donadoni complained with interest about Li Qi who couldn't wait to take a short vacation: "Well, our second and third goals were both lobs from the side of the penalty area, but defender Grosso seemed to have better footwork than winger Li Qi. The latter's shot was almost cleared by the opponent's defender. Maybe I should consider letting them switch positions..."

As Italy has no European Championship qualifiers next week, head coach Donadoni has specially arranged a friendly match for the Azzurri: "Wednesday's match against South Africa is also a challenge, which will help prepare for Scotland. I will give young people more opportunities and let some players who played more games at the beginning of the season rest. The addition of veterans can make the team more stable."

Then Donadoni announced the roster for this friendly match. As expected, some core players such as Ricardo Ricci were all absent on vacation. Most of the players on this list were marginal internationals, including Gilardino of AC Milan and Acuna of Juventus. Captain Cannavaro's younger brother Paolo Cannavaro was also called up to the national team for the first time, as well as Maresca, who had been recommended by Ricardo Ricci before.

There are also many young players who participated in the European Youth Championship, including goalkeeper Kurci, defender Chiellini, midfielders Nocerino, Montolivo and De Sena, as well as attacker Rosina, six of Ricardo's national youth teammates and younger brothers. However, Ricardo was absent from this friendly match, otherwise it would be very interesting to form a national youth team lineup...

In addition, veterans Del Piero and Inzaghi did not appear in this list. Currently, the national team has only 20 players, and the one facing South Africa will be a young and experimental Italy.

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Ricardo, who was arranged by Donadoni to take a day off, accompanied Julian to attend the forum the next day and the cocktail party in the evening as scheduled.

Although Ricardo only drinks juice and milk and does not drink alcohol, he still relies on his handsome appearance and elegant conversation, and mainly through the introduction of his beautiful female companion Julian, to meet many big names in the medical industry, especially Julian's mentor at the University of Chicago - Eric Connelly and Julian's classmate who is a doctoral student at the University of Padua in Italy - Liana Mazzoni.

Professor Connolly, 55 years old, still has thick blond hair, and is tall, straight, and strong, but not fat. He does not look like the stereotype of a doctoral supervisor, but he is very much in line with the qualities of a doctoral supervisor in biomedicine and sports medicine.

Professor Connolly is obviously an industry leader with high intelligence and a deep understanding of the market and profession; he knows Ricardo, and because of his profession, he has a good understanding of football and soccer, not only in football, ice hockey, baseball and basketball, which are popular in the United States.

After a conversation, he was very interested in the project described by Ricardo and was willing to give guidance and participate in the initial stage. But the prerequisite was that Ricardo first funded the two research projects on sports injuries and treatment currently led by Professor Connolly through the foundation he controlled. However, Ricardo, a master of software engineering, would definitely not be named in the paper, after all, his level was not high enough, but of course the research results could be shared.

In addition, Professor Connelly also hinted that if the research of these two projects goes smoothly, Ricardo can be recommended to study for a doctorate in software engineering at the University of Chicago, and then he can join his paper team as the third or fourth author.

Possessed by the business veteran old Richie, Ricardo naturally knew what Professor Connolly wanted and what he was hinting at. This kind of cooperation was the best and the easiest to reach an agreement because both sides got what they needed.

When he learned that Ricardo was willing to donate 200 million US dollars to participate in the professor's two research groups, the crow's feet at the corners of Professor Connolly's eyes were so happy that they turned into chrysanthemums: What a sucker! I didn't expect that Julian was not only a good vase, but also a good at seducing men. I have to take care of Julian in the future and let her come to the UK to participate in forums and joint projects more often...

Finally, Professor Connelly volunteered to take Ricardo to meet more big names in the US industry. After all, the big losers, oh no, the high-quality investors, should be poached together, right? Naturally, Professor Connelly was also willing to help Ricardo keep an eye out for high-quality potential investment or acquisition targets in the US, including but not limited to rehabilitation medical clinics or medical research centers. After all, these are intermediary businesses with a lot of money to make...

Julian's classmate Liana Mazzoni is a girl who doesn't look outstanding, but has a very intellectual beauty, especially when she wears a pair of big black-framed glasses. Liana didn't skip grades like Julian, so she is 3 years older than Ricardo. However, because she is petite, it is easy for people to want to protect her.

Liana doesn't talk much, but her words are very targeted. Even from the not-so-in-depth exchanges and communications, it can be seen that she is also a very intelligent friend.

However, facing a female doctor with high IQ like Liana, Ricardo was somewhat helpless and secretly complained: Liana and Julian probably don't have a very good relationship. After all, Liana is suppressed by Julian, who is similar to her in terms of figure, appearance, temperament and academic background. It's very depressing to chat with them. And judging from Liana's bookish temperament, she probably doesn't value interests as much as Professor Connolly. It seems that it's not easy to get Liana to join my project? And the way she looks at me seems a bit sharp and aggressive...

To Ricardo's surprise, when Ricardo initially revealed the sports rehabilitation project he wanted to do, Liana, who was staring at Ricardo's handsome face, nodded without hesitation and said she was willing to join in and help. She directly asked Ricardo what he needed to prepare at this stage, when the next work meeting would be held, and whether he needed to go to Manchester on a business trip...

This immediately made Ricardo feel overwhelmed. Isn't this too straightforward? Faced with Liana's straightforward approach, Ricardo was a little overwhelmed and a little embarrassed: Where is my best friend Julian? Damn, why did this girl take so long to go to the bathroom? Did she go to touch up her makeup?