I AM the Football Star

Chapter 452: Chapter 126: Going Home to Italy? (Mid-Chapter at 9,700 Words)

This involves aspects of football beyond technical skills, pertaining to the outcome of the game, and is part of football intelligence, yet it’s not just that simple.

Intelligence, emotional intelligence, understanding of the profession and rules, study of human nature...

Such a person would excel in anything they do.

But such admiration, within a few seconds, disappeared.

It turned into resentment!

”Damn it, why is the game not restarting yet! Are they going to celebrate for a thousand years!” The England Youth Team’s head coach angrily rushed to the sidelines, ”They’re stalling for time, you should give them a yellow card!”

”They intentionally ran that far, this is negative play!”

”Urge them to run, you’re the main referee, you should ensure the match continues promptly without such a large gap!”

This head coach was so agitated that he even shouted at the main referee.

Then he received a yellow card from the main referee.

If he dared to loudly abuse the main referee again, the main referee would eject him to the stands!

Of course, the shift in attitude of the England Youth Team’s coach had its reasons.

Because on another field, the lone wolf Enriquez, after squandering many opportunities, scored another goal.

Three to one!

Considering there’s less than ten minutes left of game time, Spain’s win is just a matter of time now.

Six points!

Spain got six points!

And now, England has only five points!

If the match ends with the current score, Spain will directly advance to the semi-finals.

While England, with five points, is likely to miss the semi-finals.

At the moment, it seems there are still two teams that could get six points as the second ranked team!

”Attack, go all out on attack, we must win to advance!” Rashim received the information from the coaching staff and started spreading the message to boost team morale.

This England Youth Team has not yet shown their perfect side, if they have a hundred points of energy, they have only used eighty today at most.

Ten points were because everyone thought the Italian players were impressive too, so they reduced mistakes, which indirectly lowered their own creativity.

Another ten points were because the super striker Mancini seemed to hold back.

It’s not that Mancini didn’t perform well, to be fair, Mancini’s two goals and one assist today were almost perfect. The core of Spain, Enriquez, who is leading Spain to a three-one victory over there, also has two goals and one assist today!

You can’t demand others to always complete hat-tricks to be satisfied, no player can guarantee that.

But frankly speaking, Mancini could perform better today.

He’s restrained, afraid of confrontation and injury.

This is something Rashim, who sometimes undertakes the sharp tasks too, can feel.

So Rashim’s words were mainly directed at Mancini.

Mancini didn’t know if Rashim understood his mental state, but he really wanted to win as well.

Soon, the English launched a fierce attack.

Earlier, it was mentioned that most Premier League teams, when behind, especially in the final moments, prefer bottom crosses and long pass headers.

This old tactic is often the most straightforward.

Plus, the Italians abandoned both flanks, making it easier for the English to hit the bottom.

Having gone to the bottom, if you don’t cross, should you dribble in?

This is actually a very tricky problem.

In general, having a good crossing opportunity but not crossing and instead trying to dribble into the penalty area, you could say you like trying and want to be more prudent, there’s nothing wrong with that.

But at critical moments, with little time left, if you still do this and cause loss of the ball, then not to mention the fans and teammates, even you’d feel like you’ve squandered the opportunity.

Dribbling will result in losing the ball, that’s an eternal truth.

To avoid losing the ball, you must cross as soon as possible.

If you cross it, that’s an attack.

If you lose it while dribbling, it means the attack ends in vain.

This contrast is sometimes very stark.

Italy set a trap that England’s attacking players had to jump into, which is an open strategy.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Over Italy, air-raid alarms blared.

During the first corner, Maniero finally made an adjustment.

He substituted out today’s attacking core Sevajos, bringing on the over six-foot Versachi.

And Lu Yang also joined in defense, guarding the defensive midfield position.

After Cortino left, Italy National Youth Team’s formation shifted to a 4-3-2.

Morici, Lu Yang, and Versachi all retreated to the defensive midfield position.

Pompey and Sogel looked like forwards, but their positions could be described as attacking midfield.

Even when contesting for a corner, Sogel actually stayed in their own penalty area as a defender, not moving forward, literally a 5-3-1!

Italy never intended to score again.

At least from this arrangement, they were ready to hold a draw.

This made the English side extremely frustrated.

You’re third in the group with four points in a draw, aren’t you going to be eliminated anyway?

Rather than this, why not openly come out and attack each other, then everyone has a chance to win!

However, the Italians chuckled.

You think I’m stupid?

We only have ten men, what attack!

We’ve defended our dignity just by drawing with you, there’s no need to seek a win.

Even if the Italians win, six points would only place them second in the group, as they lost to Spain in head-to-head. Given they cannot advance either way, why take the risk?