Football career: From winning the championship to becoming a legend

The starting players of the home team Italy and the visiting team Germany have already entered the stadium and lined up. After taking off their anti-racism T-shirts, the players of both teams showed off their new jerseys for the 2006 World Cup.

The two teams have met 27 times before, with Germany at a disadvantage with 7 wins, 8 draws and 12 losses. The last time they lost to Italy was in August 2003, with Vieri scoring the only goal. Since beating England at Wembley in 8, Germany has not won against a world powerhouse.

The referee blew the whistle, and K and Podolski cooperated to kick off and then passed the ball back, gradually transitioning to Friedrich on the right to develop the attack... Unfortunately, two consecutive attacks on the right side failed.

Once, Deisler's pass was too powerful and went out of the sideline. The second time, it was directly intercepted by Grosso. Then Frings could only foul Grosso who was advancing quickly. Italy won a free kick on the left side in the 4th minute of the game.

Del Piero took a free kick from the left and headed directly to the middle of the small penalty area. German captain Ballack headed the ball, and Italian captain Cannavaro jumped high behind him and headed the ball 8 meters in front of the goal... Although Lehmann reacted quickly and fell to the ground before the goal line to stop the ball, Gilardino, who was unguarded, cleverly shot the ball into the empty net with his right foot 3 meters in front of the goal, 1-0!

Italy broke the deadlock with its first set-piece and first shot in the frontcourt. Germany will have to bear the consequences for this lax set-piece defense.

Italy, which was leading, was more aggressive and had the advantage of playing at home, and frequently threatened Germany's defense; Germany could only stop them by committing fouls.

But it was of no avail. The German team, which had obviously not found its form yet, could not solve the problem by committing fouls, and the Italians took advantage of the situation to pursue.

In the 7th minute, Deisler actually made a very low-level mistake. The passing route of the ball was too obvious and the speed of the ball was too slow without any pressure from the midfield, so Camoranesi took a step forward and intercepted it.

Then Camoranesi passed the ball directly behind the German defense line. The German defense line was caught off guard and did not stand in a good defensive position. Gilardino easily made an offside move and got a one-on-one opportunity.

Facing the attacking goalkeeper Jens Lehmann, Gilardino selflessly passed the ball to the middle, helping the 29-year-old late bloomer Luca Toni to easily push the ball into the empty goal. This was also Luca Toni's seventh national team goal, giving Italy a perfect start of 7-2.

(Voiceover: Luca Toni, who plays for Fiorentina this season, will win the Serie A and European Golden Boot with 31 league goals. He is also the first player in Serie A in nearly 50 years to score more than 30 goals.)

Trailing by two goals, the German team had no choice but to fight back, but today the German midfield was clearly weaker, and the Italian team's defense was not like the German team's performance. It was difficult for the German team to penetrate the Italian defense zone, and they could only try to create threats through 45-degree long passes or long shots.

However, Germany still created a golden opportunity in the 23rd minute. The German team played a wonderful combination in the frontcourt. Lahm broke through on the left side and cleverly passed the ball to K who retreated to receive the ball. The latter stopped the ball and faced Pirlo's defense and cleverly passed it to Ballack who was advancing...

After the Super Saiyan entered the penalty area, he passed the ball behind his back to the middle of the penalty area again. First, Podolski made a shot near the penalty spot but was blocked by Grosso. Then the ball bounced in front of Deisler who was unguarded!

Deisler received the ball with his left foot and shot the ball into the upper corner from 14 meters in front of the goal! Fortunately, the ball was saved by the brave Buffon who flew to the left with one hand!

The goal was so thrilling that Ricardo almost jumped up from the bench: "Buffon's father is really awesome!"

(Voiceover: Regarding the legend of German midfielder Ballack as a Super Saiyan, you can refer to his unprecedented “three runner-ups” in the 01/02 season when he helped Leverkusen win the title, and his 13-year career in which he won 13 runner-ups in major competitions, including but not limited to the World Cup, the Champions League and the European Cup…)

Back to the game, Germany's attack was fruitless, so it was the turn of the Italian team, the epitome of the sneaky counterattack style.

In the 27th minute, Pirlo made a long diagonal pass to Del Piero on the left in Italy's quick counterattack. Piero, who was in great form in this game, led the ball directly into the left side of the penalty area, and with a fake move, he got rid of Mertesacker's defense, dodged the gap, and shot with the outside of his foot at a small angle at the edge of the small penalty area, but unfortunately it went wide.

In the 30th minute, Italy got another chance to counterattack quickly. Pirlo sent a penetrating overhead pass again, and Gilardino successfully got a chance to score after overtaking the offside. Facing Lehmann again, Gilardino did not choose to shoot hard or pass horizontally, but instead lobbed the ball from 13 meters in front of the goal, but unfortunately it was slightly higher.

However, Italy continued to put pressure on Germany's defense and finally scored again in the 39th minute of the game.

First, Pirlo took a corner kick from the right side, which was cleared by the German team's joint defense. However, Grosso intercepted the ball with his chest near the center circle and made another long diagonal pass into the right side of the penalty area.

Camoranesi headed the ball to the other side of the goal, overpowering Lahm, who was only 1 meters tall. De Rossi, who was unguarded on the left side of the goal, jumped high 7 meters in front of the goal, and in front of Huth, who was unable to retreat, he easily headed the ball into the bottom corner of the goal with a majestic posture.

Before the half was over, Italy was already leading 3-0. This was De Rossi's third goal for the national team. It can be said that the German team was completely helpless.

Ricardo quickly stood up and applauded while going to the sidelines to warm up. If he continues to play like this, he will probably have a chance to play early in the second half!

After that, neither side made any further progress and Italy entered the second half with a 3-goal advantage.

After the start of the second half, the German team obviously wanted to intensify its offensive, but unfortunately their overall condition was not good and they could not find a way to break through the iron wall of the Italian team's peak vulgar style.

The German team on the opposite side was at a loss, while the Italian team changed the score again in the 57th minute.

First, Grosso cooperated with Pirlo on the left, and then Pirlo passed the ball to Gilardino in the corner of the penalty area. At this time, the German team's defense was obviously missing a man, and Gilardino was left alone...

Gilardino received the ball and turned around to break into the penalty area, then easily got rid of Frings who came to defend, and then made a cross from the left side of the penalty area.

The ball passed the high point in the middle and headed straight for the far post... Camoranesi got in position again, followed by Luca Toni's cover, pressed past Metzelder who was unable to make up for the defense, and headed the ball back to the middle before the ball went out of the baseline. Piero leaned forward and headed into the goal from 4 meters in front of the goal!

意大利队竟然4比0领先了，这也是德尔皮耶罗自2004年8月9日以来的首粒国家队进球。

Seeing that the team was already leading by 4 goals, and considering that training opportunities were extremely precious, Lippi began to send in substitute players for training.

In the 65th minute, Perrotta replaced Gilardino who had just been slightly injured, then Barone replaced Pirlo in the 69th minute, in the 81st minute, Iaquinta and Materazzi replaced Del Piero and Nesta, and in the 89th minute, Pascual replaced Camoranesi - helping the left-back who played for the local Fiorentina team to complete his national team debut.

Our young warm-up activist, Ricardo Rich, also got a chance to play in the 75th minute, replacing De Rossi and playing as a defensive midfielder.

Germany's head coach Klinsmann also replaced players such as Metzelder, Borowski, Schweinsteiger and Asamoah in the second half in the hope of changing the situation.

However, the subsequent games were also a bit dull, because the Italian team deliberately controlled the rhythm and constantly disrupted the German team's attack wave by substitutions. Although the Italian team itself did not get more good opportunities (after all, adults understand that it is not a blood feud, and you have to leave a way out for others so that you can meet again in the future), the German team has not been able to reverse the decline.

Instead, Luca Toni almost scored an own goal with a header in the 77th minute, which really tested the state of goalkeeper Buffon. Fortunately, Buffon's father was very focused and saved the threatening header in front of his team from the goal line and then flew out of the bottom line...

It was not until the 82nd minute that Deisler took a corner kick from the right. Huth and Materazzi took the lead in the wrestling in front of the small penalty area and took the lead to sweep the ball into the top corner of the goal from 9 meters in front of the goal...

At such a close distance, the ball was fired at the speed of a cannonball, and this time Buffon was helpless. Chelsea defender Huth helped the German team score a face-saving goal.

In the end, the referee did not add too much extra time to the game, and the Italian team won the final warm-up match before the World Cup with a score of 4-1.

This was the first time Italy had scored four goals against Germany since the semi-finals of the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, and Germany continued its nearly six-year streak of being unbeaten against world powerhouses.

继上一场热身赛3比1战胜荷兰后，里皮又一次在强强对话中告捷。意大利近1年半以来10胜6平，进29球。里皮对进攻体系的改造收到明显成效，比起前任特拉帕托尼的4-2-3-1，他的4-3-3明显更富攻击性。

……

However, Italy, from the team to the media, remained cautious and pragmatic after the game.

Lippi said at the press conference after the game: "I am more satisfied with the team's spirit of unity than the victory. Forget the score, it is not important. What we need to do now is to continue to improve before the World Cup."

Gazzetta dello Sport said modestly: "This is just a warm-up match. If this score is achieved in the semi-finals or finals, it will not be too late to celebrate then."

As for Germany, there was a lot of wailing, but it was more of a warning and encouragement to the team, hoping that the team could find the problems and improve quickly.

Coach Klinsmann comforted and encouraged the players after the game, saying: "We lack experience and we lost the ball too quickly to react. However, it is better to be in a low point now than in the World Cup. There are still 100 days before the World Cup, and we still have two and a half weeks to solve these technical and tactical problems..."

Germany's Bild newspaper warned: "Klinsmann must do something in the next three months to change the poor situation of the defense, otherwise there will be no hope for the World Cup."

……

Ricardo, who got 15 minutes of playing time, didn't have many outstanding performances. He just played the game fairly well. Fortunately, he didn't make any major mistakes. After all, the German team's main attack was still on the two flanks, and the main task of the central defense was to compete with Ballack for the header...

With the help of captain Cannavaro, Ricardo also won most of the aerial duels, at least not giving Ballack any easy chances of heading or passing the ball through the middle.

……

Ricardo, who did not have a brilliant performance, did not have time to think too much and returned to Barcelona overnight to report to the club to prepare for the 3th round of the Spanish Football League which will be held two days later on the evening of March 4. Barcelona will face the challenge of Super Laco at home.

In order to prepare for the second leg of the Champions League round of 1 against Chelsea next week, Rijkaard arranged for the young Argentine player Messi to rest in this round, with Larsson replacing him in the starting lineup and midfielder Iniesta replacing Motta in the starting lineup... Ricardo is on the roster again, and it is expected that a main player will be replaced in the second half to give him a chance to rest.

In addition, although some players in the team were affected by the Fifa virus, Ronaldinho's father escaped this time because he had a minor injury in the last round and reported it to the Brazilian national team, so he was not called up for the warm-up match between Brazil and Russia this time...

As for the impact of the bar virus, there is definitely some impact, but according to an insider who wishes to remain anonymous, it should not be very serious. After the main force returned to the team, Ronaldinho's father no longer stayed up late at the bar.

Compared with the 3-3 draw between the two sides at the beginning of the season, Super Laco had several main players injured in this round, including the team's midfield soul Belleron.

So with the mentality of taking advantage of your illness to kill you, and also hoping to secure the victory early and then rotate the main players to rest, Barcelona launched a torrential attack as soon as the game started!

Barcelona broke the deadlock in the second minute of the game, Juanma fouled Iniesta in front of the penalty area. Ronaldinho, who was in great form in this game, shot directly from a free kick 2 yards in the middle. The ball drew a rainbow-like arc around the wall and went into the net along the left post!

It was another wonderful world-class set-piece goal, and this was the Brazilian elf's 14th league goal of the season.

After taking the lead, Barcelona's attack became more aggressive, and the whole team hoped to strike while the iron was hot and end the battle in the first half.

However, things often go against one's will, and Deportivo La Coruna equalized the score in the 15th minute. First, Deportivo La Coruna created a corner kick through a quick counterattack. After the corner kick was cleared, Sergio intercepted the ball again near the right and then made another cross...

This time the cross was of excellent quality, spinning towards the middle of the small penalty area, and Puyol, who had just headed the ball to clear the corner kick, had obviously not recovered and found the right position, and even made a mistake in marking. This time Juanma easily jumped up and headed the ball from 6 yards in the middle without being marked, and headed the ball into the near corner...

Although Iniesta still stayed at the near post, hoping to head the ball away, he was unable to prevent the ball from going into the top corner. The score between the two sides came to 1-1.

There is no other way, Barcelona can only focus on attacking again...

However, Barcelona missed a good chance to score in the 23rd minute. Sylvinho made a cross from the left, and Eto'o headed the ball to the back post... Larsson at the far end made a good run, but the angle and strength of the ball were not suitable for attacking, so he could only head the ball back to the middle...

However, two consecutive headers at both ends created a huge gap in the middle! However, Iniesta, who followed up, obviously did not expect that the two forwards did not attack the goal but chose to ferry the ball. Therefore, he stopped the ball a little too long, and the ball bounced out of his feet without shooting at the first time. Goalkeeper Molina attacked quickly and confiscated the ball with a vicious pounce.

Ricardo couldn't help but feel a pang in his heart when watching from the sidelines. Barcelona was already sacrificing defense for offense. If they missed such a good opportunity, there might be problems with the defense!

I hope someone's bad words don't come true, otherwise Ricardo's plan to play early and rotate the main players will be postponed...

……