Chapter 109 Chaos and Clarity (4)

Chapter 109 Chaos and Clarity (4)

The two games in Group F also started the next day. Due to the two draws in the first round, the four teams were on the same starting line. In the second round, the battle between Slovakia and Paraguay took the lead. The traditional strong team defeated the new team of the World Cup 2:0. This defeat also dimmed Slovakia's prospects for qualifying in the group.

The core of the team's offense and defense, Hamsik, who played for the European overlord Fiorentina, failed to continue the state of the first game, and the sluggish performance also surprised the Slovak fans.

The game against Paraguay is very important for Slovakia, because in the first round they were drawn by the generally unfavorable New Zealand at the last minute, and the opponent in the last round was the powerful defending champion Italy.

To take the initiative to qualify, Slovakia must win the game against Paraguay, but the result is that the Slovak team lost, and the sluggish performance of the team's core Hamsik is also an important reason for Slovakia's loss.

In the first game, Hamsik delivered a perfect answer with a goal. At the same time, the midfielder he managed provided a lot of support to the frontcourt, but in the end Slovakia was helplessly tied by New Zealand and lost Great advantage to start with.

After a few days of rest, when people were expecting the 23-year-old midfielder to continue to perform perfectly and help the team out of the predicament, the midfielder, who was called a genius by the Slovaks, disappointed.

In offense, Hamsik did not make too many contributions, but saw his futile dribbling again and again, and in defense, this all-round midfielder could not share the pressure on the defense. , The team can only accept the bitter fruit of the 0:2 loss in the end.

Looking at the data handed over by Hamsik in this game, it can better reflect the poor performance of the so-called Slovak midfielder core.

Hamsik, who played the whole game, didn't even take a single shot, which is really embarrassing, and in terms of the number of crosses, Hamsik is even more pitiful, only once, which makes the Slovak striker almost become a decoration in the penalty area , and it is no surprise that the entire team has only six shots on goal.

Hamsik's number of successful passes in this game is also pitiful, which is far from a midfield organizer. It is even no exaggeration to say that Hamsik's game is completely spent in sleepwalking of.

With such a performance, it is obviously difficult for people to regard him as the talented young man in the Fiorentina team. In Fiorentina, Hamsik was able to squeeze Montolivo to the bench and become the absolute main force of Fiorentina this season. , but the talented Hamsik's sleepwalking state in this game is surprising, and at the same time, it is also making people re-examine the problem of how much pressure young players have in the World Cup.

Especially at a young age, he has become the core of the team, which puts a lot of burden on the players, and Hamsik is exactly like this. The reason why he did not perform well is that he is under too much pressure. At the age of 23, he appeared on the stage of the World Cup for the first time, and it is inevitable that he will not perform well.

Now that the two rounds are over, Slovakia has only one poor point. They now only have a theoretical hope of qualifying, and the last round of the match against Italy will be the last time Hamsik proves in this World Cup. The chance of his own strength, even if he can't lead the team to create miracles, at least Hamsik should be in a good state.

Slovakia lost because of the poor performance of the core Hamsik, while the Paraguayans had the last laugh because of their veteran Santa Cruz.

In the first match in Italy, the Paraguayan media repeatedly questioned why Valdes started. The Dortmund striker explained himself as "strength". The all-round performance that can shoot shows that the "strength faction" and "idol faction" are the favorites of the media and coaches.

Paraguayan coach Martino has "happiness troubles". Before the first match in Italy, he admitted that "12 people compete for 11 positions". The "Four Famous Arrests" are available to everyone, but the title of the defending champion makes Martino pragmatically choose conservative tactics. Cruise had to go to the bench.

The soy sauce performance of Santa Cruz, who came off the bench, made the media simply not rate the former Bayern striker. Santa Cruz has no opinion. Obviously he also knows that his performance is completely unqualified.

In this game, Paraguay and Slovakia had a direct dialogue, which can be called a "decisive battle" to qualify. Martino, who intends to score points, sent Santa Cruz to play the Trident as the Paraguayan media wished.

Santa Cruz, who made his debut, did not disappoint Martino, who trusted him. The first "show off" came very early. The Manchester City striker shot a long-range shot with his right foot in front of the penalty area in the third minute. He tried his best to save the ball to the bottom line.

Then Santa Cruz had another good chance to score. The Manchester City striker broke into the penalty area single-handedly and shot into the far corner with his right foot.

Although there was no goal, in the 27th minute, Santa Cruz made a cross pass in the penalty area and assisted Vela to score. It was also perfect. His pass went directly through the gap between the two defensive players in Paraguay. All Bella needed to do was a little nudge.

Martino's conservative thinking relapsed during the half-time break. He waved the flag and closed the city gates. Santa Cruz withdrew to the left wing to help defend. The Manchester City forward did not stick to the position and still played brilliantly. It was amazing, but it was a pity that Bella's header went slightly wide.

However, at the last moment of the game, Santa Cruz once again gave the Paraguayan fans a standing ovation. After he broke through from the wing, he made a cross. Liveros, who was in ambush at the back point, jumped high and headed the ball to expand the score. It is 2:0.

Two games, four points. With the overall strength of the group weak and the defending champion not performing well, Paraguay's qualifying situation is very good.

And then the defending champion Italy also used their performance to make Paraguay's qualifying situation more favorable. Facing New Zealand, the weakest opponent in the group, they even drew with their opponents after 90 minutes.

What is even more unacceptable is that if it is not a penalty kick, they may even fall at the feet of the New Zealanders.

It is precisely because of this penalty that the Italians can at least get something after this game, because since losing to South Korea in the 1/8 finals in 2002, Italy has not lost nine consecutive games in the World Cup .

Although the thrilling draw with New Zealand by virtue of Iaquinta's penalty kick kept Italy's unbeaten record in two World Cups, but in front of New Zealand, the defending champion looked old and had completely fallen into the team's low point of shame. It can be said that four years Since then, Italy has never stopped going backwards.

In the World Cup in Germany four years ago, the Apennines who had just experienced the "telephone gate" were full of gloomy expectations for the prospect of Italy's World Cup, but the Azzurri led by Lippi won the historical championship in one fell swoop. The fourth championship trophy, but this time the shining peak seems to be more like a flash of lightning in the night sky, after a flash. The world of the Italian national team was once again in darkness.

After the World Cup, Lippi's hero retired and Donadoni took over. With the power of the World Cup, Italy hoped to regain the European Cup that was lost at the last moment in 2000. However, in the European Cup two years later, Italy was defeated in the first game. The Netherlands was defeated by three goals, and was then tied by Romania. In the end, although they defeated France and finished second in the group, they met Spain after qualifying for the group and were eliminated on penalties.

Donadoni's record was not good, and the Italian Football Association had no one available, so Lippi had to be invited to come out again. However, the Silver Fox did not completely change the face of the team. Back to 2006.

In the Confederations Cup in 2009, as a preview of the World Cup in South Africa, the world champion Italy competed with the champions of all continents. In the opening game, Italy defeated the subsequent runner-up United States 3:1. People once saw Lippi's transformation of the team, but Then they lost 0:1 to the African champion Egypt. In the last game, they were humiliated by Dunga's practical samba 0:3 at halftime. In the end, they were directly out of the group.

From Lippi to Donadoni, and then back to Lippi, Italy could have ushered in the best time for innovation on the basis of the world championship, but due to the excessive pursuit of competition results and excessive reliance on veterans, In the past four years, the core lineup of the Italian lineup is still Buffon, Cannavaro, Pirlo and others, but the wrinkles carved on them are clearly visible in the four years of years. Cannavaro returned from Real Madrid Juventus, now can only go to West Asia to seek gold, Buffon is subject to the chaos of Juventus, Gattuso and Camoranesi are growing fat, and the aging Pirlo is still struggling with injuries.

The World Cup is held every four years. It was originally a cycle of recuperation and renewal. In Germany and Brazil, they suffered disastrous defeats. However, after Dunga's selection and selection, they are already the favorites to win the World Cup in South Africa. However, as the defending champion, four years have passed. Italy's head coach is still Lippi, but from the 2006 World Cup champion to the 2008 European Cup to stop at the top 8, the 2009 Confederations Cup group stage did not qualify, and now it is in South Africa, Lippi's team is now Being forced into a desperate situation, if you want to qualify smoothly, you must beat Slovakia, but it is still possible to face the Oranje Netherlands in the 16-to-8. Judging from the two games, it is still doubtful whether Italy can beat Slovakia. And the gap with the Netherlands, which has become ugly, is even worse.

Lippi has to bear a lot of responsibility for Italy's declining performance. It is undeniable that Juventus has always been the pillar of the Italian national team. Juventus has always been the most stable and powerful team in Italy, but it is also undeniable that Yes, the current Juventus team is no longer the Juventus team that people are familiar with after going through the "Telephone Gate". Maybe one day they will be able to become that strong man again, but at least not now, the current Juventus team Tus, in the just-concluded season, only ranked seventh in Serie A, and still needs to play a play-off to enter the UEFA Cup, but it is such a team, Lippi selected six players.

Among the six players, the selection of Buffon and Chiellini is not a problem. However, Camoranesi, who has been injured for a season, already has a small belly, and his physical condition cannot be worse, but Lippi is still in the six crowns. The latter was chosen between Florence's Ledesma and him, which shows Lippi's preference for Juventus.

Marchisio Lippi chose and regretted it. He was replaced every game and was reprimanded in training. The bad thing is that Cannavaro, the superstar four years ago, left two shameful mistakes this year, resulting in two conceded goals. People can't think of any reason, a Cannavaro in such a state , but also with the national team for a World Cup.

What's even more ironic is that Italy's two goals were made by Roma players who ranked second in Serie A this season. One was De Rossi's goal, and the second was also a penalty kick made by De Rossi. It's a pity What is surprising is that Cassetti and Totti, who are capable of being selected for the national team in the Roma team, did not get called by Lippi. In the main lineup of the two games, it was not De Rossi who performed the best, but from Zambrotta of AC Milan, but you must know that the 33-year-old Zambrotta is Abarth's substitute even in AC Milan.

As a result, such a situation has now formed. In the starting lineup of this Italian team, there are four players from Juventus, but they are looking forward to the comeback of Pirlo from AC Milan in the last game of the group stage to act as a savior.

In AC Milan's lineup, apart from Pirlo, Lippi chose Gattuso and Zambrotta, two AC Milan players who are currently unable to play the main force, while Ambrosini, Antonini and others have Players with the ability to be selected for the national team were excluded by Lippi from the national team for various reasons.

The coach of any national team should rely on state rather than superstition and empiricism to select players. Lippi can say that the main lineup of the league champion Fiorentina lacks Italian players, but Rome and AC Milan, who rank second and third in the league, only have four. The moment a player was selected, it was doomed to the poor combat effectiveness of this Italian team.

Now that the two rounds are over, although the defending champion still has a great chance of qualifying for the group stage, relying on such a group of old people, Lippi may only exist in the stage of fantasy if he wants to continue his magic on the stage of the World Cup .

New Zealand, which drew the defending champions in this round, even if they are still unable to escape the fate of being out of the game, but with such a draw and the two goals so far, they can look up and leave South Africa.