Chapter 305 Advantages and Initiative

Pirlo did not expect Morris to break the ball, and the consequence of being broken is that the England team launched a quick counterattack.

The Italian team’s attack just now was a bit ahead. Strikers Cassano and Balotelli all ran into the penalty area, other midfielders De Rossi also plugged in, and even the central defender Bonucci ran to the front, ready to meet Peel. Luo, it's too late to run back.

England's counterattack begins.

Morris passed the ball to Welbeck, and he ran forward quickly. Welbeck received the ball and brought it forward quickly. After a few steps, he saw someone coming to defend, and immediately handed the ball across to Ashley Young.

Ashley Young made another forward pass, and when Morris received the ball, he had already run to the front of the penalty area.

The game is getting tense!

There are only two players who can limit defense in the Italian backcourt, one is the central defender Barzagli, and the other is the full-back Azart, and they have to face at least two opponents - Maurice and Rooney, followed by Azerbaijan. Shili - Young and Pirlo, the two are behind, it is difficult to go to the front for support.

The frontcourt formed a 2-on-2 situation.

The attacking side is undoubtedly very beneficial. Morris continues to rush forward with the ball. His position is still a little behind, and it is difficult to directly choose to shoot. The central defender Barzagli has come to defend. At the same time, Rooney has run over the penalty area line. Next to him is full-back Azat.

Nearly all cameras were pointed at Morris.

"Morris is holding the ball!"

"England's counterattack was very fast, and Italy was too late to react!"

"Barzagli was defending, he was trying to stop Maurice..."

In the shouts of the various commentators, everyone watched the confrontation between Maurice and Barzagli.

At the beginning of his career, Barzagli was a Rossi-style center, and then switched to midfield. It was not until the age of 18 that he was later trained as a center back at Chievo Verona Football Club.

Barzagli, who entered the national team from Sicily, was not all smooth sailing. In the 2008 European Cup, he replaced Cannavaro who was injured before the game. As a result, Italy was blown away by the Netherlands with 3 goals, although he was the old Materazzi. Still abandoned by the angry head coach Lippi, it was not until October last year that he was favored by Prandelli after returning to Juventus and entered the Italian national team with the entire Juventus defense.

Barzagli is Italy's main defender, but his ability has been questioned.

This time, Barzagli came to defend Morris, and it was also a very important opportunity to prove himself. He is still very experienced in defense. He did not directly observe the football. He has been observing the entire movement of Morris, especially the shoulder movement. , which directly reflects the direction of a player's breakthrough presentation.

When he saw Morris point the ball forward, Barzagli swung his right foot.

Barzagli's judgment is very accurate!

But Maurice's explosiveness was completely beyond his expectations. Maurice slammed forward and threw the ball out before Barzagli. Barzagli's right foot only touched Maury. toes.

Immediately, Morris's center of gravity was a little unstable.

Both of them swayed in a mess, Barzagli fouled, but Morris did not fall directly to the ground, he knew this was a good opportunity, much better than the set-piece from the periphery.

Morris forcibly adjusted his body balance and squeezed in the direction of Barzagli. Barzali was already a little unstable, and was directly pushed to the ground by Morris. At the same time, Morris's body stabilized. Li quickly raised his hand to signal the opponent to commit a foul, but the referee did not suspend the game.

The whole place is boiling!

This is a great opportunity!

"Maurice! Maurice! He threw off Barzagli!"

"This is a foul!"

"Danger!"

"Great chance for England! Let's see... Morris..."

Everyone's spirits were tense.

On the England coach's bench, Wan Sheng had already stood up. He watched Morris's dribbling with anticipation in his heart.

This game is very tough!

In Wansheng's view, it is more difficult to play Italy than Spain and the Netherlands. Although many media believe that Italy is not as strong as Spain and the Netherlands, Italy's style is conservative, and it is not easy to break the Italian defense.

This is the best chance since the opening.

"Morris! One-shot!"

Morris caught the ball and dribbled it directly into the penalty area, the goalkeeper Buffon attacked, it was a one-shot, no one else could stop him.

It was a tough test for Buffon.

As one of the world's top goalkeepers, Buffon's excellence is not explained in words. Although he is 34 years old, Buffon's state is still the same, and his performance is more dull.

In the face of Morris' single-handed shot, he decisively chose to attack the moment the opponent caught the ball, and in the most appropriate position, opened his arms to block the goal, and at the same time flew forward with both feet to slam the ball.

Any frontcourt player will be under pressure to face Buffon's attack, after all, he is one of the best goalkeepers in the world.

Morris didn't panic.

He has always been calm, which is one of the reasons why Wansheng values ​​him. Wansheng never has to worry about Morris' performance in the game.

Just as Buffon threw the ball, Morris swung his right foot.

"Shoot-"

Many commentators shouted for the first time, and there was exclamation from the audience, but the next moment, everyone saw that the football did not rush to the goal.

Morris chose to flick the ball to the side, then quickly turned around and rushed over.

"Morris shook off Buffon..." Even the Italian commentator was very surprised. There were not many players who dared to make such a move when facing Buffon directly in the official game.

Morris moved very fast. Before Buffon threw himself to the ground, he had already completed the turn. Buffon threw himself in front of him, but he turned a step to the left first.

This step is a moat!

Buffon had no chance to defend the goal again, he could only watch Maurice push the empty goal.

"Gooooooooooooooooooooooal!!!" At the moment the football flew into the goal, the England commentator exclaimed excitedly, "Morris! Morris! Shoot the ball into the empty goal!"

"Buffon was completely deceived by him!"

"Goal scored! Morris! 1-0! England lead Italy by 1 goal!"

At the moment when the commentator shouted excitedly, the English fans in the audience were boiling. They were very excited about England's goal, and they were very excited to see Morris's personal performance again.

This is a perfect show!

The collision between Morris and Barzagli, the confrontation between Morris and Buffon, when he successfully passed two people and pushed the empty goal.

"This goal shows Maurice's superb skills and Barzagli's defensive judgment is accurate, but he doesn't have Maurice's explosiveness and physicality, and even was hit directly to the ground. In the face of Buffon, the Italian and even the world The number one goalkeeper, Morris completed the change of direction calmly, deceived the opponent and sent the ball into the goal!"

"Maurice beat the Italian centre-back, beat the Italian goalkeeper!"

"That's Maurice! The heart of Atletico Madrid, the 2008 Ballon d'Or winner, a 34-year-old who is the absolute heart of England!"

"A lot of people say that England lacks skill, but only if Morris is one of the most skilled players in the world..."

Since Morris's goal, the commentators have been talking, analyzing the goal from all angles and constantly praising Morris.

This goal is so beautiful!

The moment the football flew to the goal, the audience was boiling, and the neutral Ukrainian fans began to cheer for the goal.

For neutral fans, the game is the most important thing.

The previous game between Italy and England was dull, but this goal was enough, and they saw a superstar perform in person.

————

Watching the celebration of the England team, the Italian players were silent.

Pirlo had a cold face.

Before the game, the media were hyping his opponent with Morris. In front of his teammates, the media, and fans, Pirlo didn't care at all. It seemed that Morris had nothing to do with him, and he didn't even know the name. On, he was still very concerned about it.

Morris is very, very good!

Like him, Morris is the core of the midfield and is an all-rounder. They are extremely important in their respective teams. The two are also the core players in England and Italy, respectively. Rhys is much stronger than him.

Pirlo does not consider himself worse than Morris.

Those statistics such as goals and assists do not indicate a player's contribution to the team. If you say that alone, defenders have almost no contribution.

In this direct confrontation, Pirlo also hopes to prove that he is stronger than the opponent.

But England's counterattack just now seemed to directly prove the contrast between the two. Pirlo even felt that his teammates looked at him with distrust.

He lost the ball.

The opponent completed the steal, started a quick counterattack, and completed the goal with a personal performance.

The opponent is the one who performed well, and he is the one who performed poorly. Pirlo can even think of what the media will say after the game--

"Morris VS Pirlo, a complete victory!"

"The direct confrontation proves that Morris is excellent, it is not just a matter of data!"

"This is Maurice! Pirlo? Who is he?"

The media always wrote these annoying headlines. Pirlo was very unconvinced. He gritted his teeth and vowed to prove himself, not only to justify his own name, but also for the entire Italian team. He hoped that the team could win in the European Cup. Good results, otherwise we can only stop in the top eight.

————

The face of Italian coach Prandelli was a little unsightly.

He knew that the England team was not easy to play, but he didn't expect it to be like this. In the previous game, the two sides played evenly. Italy had no advantage, and the opponent also had no advantage.

But an accident, created the opponent's goal.

Pirlo was intercepted, the opponent launched a quick counterattack, the opponent's core players performed well, and even shook the goalkeeper Buffon.

The next game...not good!

Prandelli knew very well in his heart that in the game against England, whichever team scored the first goal would have an advantage, because the focus of both sides was on defense.

It is impossible for Italy to attack with all their heart, they are not Spain, they do not have such excellent ball-handling ability, and defensive counterattack is what they are good at.

If you do that, it will prove that the game has reached the most critical moment.

Now we can only expect the team to perform better.

The game restarts.

Morris completed the goal, England had the lead, and Italy had to work harder, so players from both sides frequently collided, and the game became very intense, with people turning their backs everywhere.

The referee's whistle kept sounding.

This is definitely not a good game, but the pressure on both sides is very high, and every player on the field is very cautious at all times.

The smell of gunpowder is getting stronger!

In the 35th minute, Milner received a yellow card. He moved too much in defense and directly knocked Marchisio to the ground. The two almost moved their hands. Only after the persuasion of their teammates did they calm down.

Then Balotelli took the card!

Balotelli was very depressed by the defense. He directly hit Lescott in the fight, and that action made the referee draw his cards without hesitation.

When Lescott stood up, he almost threw a punch.

"calm down!"

Wan Sheng kept shouting on the sidelines to remind the players to calm down. Now that England is the leading team, there is no need to have too many conflicts with Italy.

Italy doesn't care at all.

The head coach Prandelli even indulged the players to stir up anger, so that Italy would have a better chance of winning in chaos.

The attitude of the coaches of both sides also revealed their own situation.

The game got tough.

In the next five minutes, England failed to organize a threatening attack, while Italy had a threatening shot from the outside.

In the 43rd minute of the first half, Wansheng simply waved his hand to let the entire team retreat, leaving only one Rooney in the frontcourt, and all the other players returned to their own half to participate in the defense.

For the rest of the time, defending the ball is crucial!

As long as there is a goal advantage, then in the second half, England will have the initiative and the game will be much easier. On the contrary, if Italy is allowed to score a goal, the situation will be unfavorable for England.

In any game, the side that is tied has the advantage.

The most fundamental advantage of this kind is in the heart. The players who are tied with one side tend to be more relaxed, while the players on the tied side will be very unwilling. They are eager to score another goal and take the lead again. The difference in mentality will be directly reflected in the game. , so the lead in the first half is very important. As long as you can lead the opponent, no matter how ugly the game is, the advantage is still in the hands of the team.

Over time, opponents get agitated, and if they don't score, they lose.

In Wansheng's gestures and roars, the England team retreated across the board and strictly guarded the goal. The Italian team launched a stormy offensive, but still failed to break the goal.

In the end, when the referee blew the whistle at the end of the first half, the score was still 1-0, and England took the lead and entered halftime.