My uncle is Inzaghi

In this game, Hodgson arranged a 4231 formation.

But in actual operation.

The England team formed a 442 system on the defensive end.

Their starting goalkeeper is Joe Hart.

The center back combination is Gary Cahill partnering Jagielka, the left and right full backs are Glen Johnson and Baines respectively. In the midfield, two Liverpool midfielders, Gerrard and Henderson, sit in the middle, on the left It's Sterling, and Welbeck is on the right.

On the forward line, Rooney and Sturridge partnered up front.

Of course, this is the position when defending.

When there is an opportunity to attack.

Welbeck and Sterling can both press forward.

After this first game came out, the English media naturally made a lot of comments, and many critics criticized Hodgson's formation.

but no matter.

Hodgson's formation is still arranged like this.

The players in England know very well how powerful Li Mo is.

Therefore, at the beginning of the game, the England team seemed very cautious.

They chose to shrink their defense and wait for opportunities to counterattack.

With relatively fast players such as Sterling, Sturridge, and Welbeck, the England team does have the capital to counterattack.

The Italian team originally hoped to have a comfortable counterattack opportunity.

But after playing for a while, I found that my opponent couldn't come up.

They naturally pressed forward and attacked.

Originally, when England fans saw this scene, they were looking forward to England's counterattack.

But they soon became worried.

Because the Italian team's frontcourt attack was very smooth.

The operation is very clear.

The key to this is Li Mo.

Li Mo did not wait for the ball at the front line.

Instead, he took the initiative to come back and respond in the midfield.

He serves as a fulcrum.

Catching the ball, distributing the ball, and involving gaps.

He was very good at this kind of coordination work.

Prandelli on the sidelines was very satisfied with Li Mo's performance. In this cup, he designed offensive tactics completely with Li Mo as the core.

Li Mo is the most critical part of the Italian team.

The team's offense is completely centered around Li Mo.

It can be said.

The Italian team completely bet the results of this cup on Li Mo's state.

He touches the ball a lot and has a wide range of motion.

Prandelli is not afraid that giving Li Mo too many tasks will put pressure on him.

Because Li Mo's personal ability can definitely support him to do this.

He can not only support and pass the ball, but also finish and score by himself.

Balotelli is at the front.

With him pressing the opponent's back line.

Li Mo can move between the attacking midfielder and center, which makes the England team very embarrassed.

They wanted someone to step out and target Li Mo, but they came out, and their defensive formation was somewhat deformed by Li Mo.

In order to make up for the defensive holes, England's players must fill in other positions.

It can be said.

The presence of Li Mo alone caused the England team's defensive system to make a series of changes and position adjustments.

This caused chaos in England's defensive formation.

They were overwhelmed by the Italian team's offense during the game.

Thirty minutes into the game.

The Italian team scored naturally.

It was Li Mo who scored the goal.

He received Balotelli's counterattack on the penalty area line, took two steps and then shot with his left foot!

The football flew into Joe Hart's goal like a cannonball.

"Lee! Beautiful! Beautiful!! The Italian team leads one to zero!"

to the roars of the commentators.

The telecast gave a shot to the stands.

Li Mo's family, Inzaghi and others were in the same row of stands. They and the surrounding fans wearing Italian jerseys raised their arms and shouted.

"This is Li Mo's first goal in this World Cup! He made a good start for himself and the Italian team!"

After the goal, the Italian players swarmed towards Li Mo.

England's players were forced to play by Italy, and now they lost the ball again, so their faces were a little ugly.

England captain Gerrard kept clapping his hands and shouting something at his teammates, trying to revive the fighting spirit of his teammates.

In the press box.

The English reporters who were chatting and laughing before looked a little ugly.

Originally, they were looking forward to this World Cup.

But who would think so.

The first game was a wake-up call.

If this game is lost.

Then England's next game against Uruguay will be a life and death battle.

If the life and death battle fails.

Then all that's left is a battle of honor and then a glorious return home.

This plot is so frustratingly familiar.

But it's okay.

There is still game time.

England still have time to get back on track.

Italy is used to defense after all.

After scoring a goal.

The Italian team retreated.

They hope to use defensive counterattacks against England.

The England team, after a period of chaos, quickly realized that they had to respond.

So in the last few minutes of the first half.

England launched a crazy attack.

The fans of England were so excited.

The fierce attack in the past few minutes gave them hope of equalizing the score.

So much so that when the whistle sounded at the end of the first half, there was a sigh in the stands.

After the second half, England continued to attack.

As a result, in the 50th minute of the game, Italy scored.

A very classic Italian counterattack.

Pirlo made a long diagonal pass and passed the ball to Balotelli who was pulled to the side.

Balotelli received the ball and stuffed it diagonally to his ribs.

Verratti took advantage of the situation and swept the middle without stopping the ball.

Li Mo rushed before Jagielka and kicked the ball into the goal!

Two to zero!

Italy expanded its lead.

As soon as this ball was scored, England's confidence and fighting spirit were basically destroyed.

You know, they were facing Italy, an Italy that was very good at defense.

Trailing by two goals, and their defense was threatened by Li Mo and Balotelli at all times.

Under such circumstances.

It was too difficult for the England team to catch up.

In the end.

Italy defeated England 3-0.

They got off to a good start in the group stage.

The third goal of the Italian team was scored by Verratti, also through a counterattack.

And it was a counterattack launched by Buffon.

Li Mo headed the ball back, and Verratti shot the ball directly into the goal.

After winning this game.

Italy immediately became the focus of the media.

You know.

Although England's performance in recent years is not very good.

But they are famous.

Being able to sweep England 3-0.

The strength and state shown by Italy really made people look sideways.

Then the media began to focus on this game.

Everyone suddenly realized.

In this game, the score of 3-0 was not enough to show the content of this game.

Because in terms of data.

Italy had an absolute advantage.

Although the two sides were 50-50 in terms of ball possession.

But in terms of the number of shots.

Both teams had 13 shots.

But 7 of Italy's 13 shots were within the penalty area.

England had 11 shots outside the penalty area, and only two shots inside the penalty area.

This shows that England had a lot of problems with its offensive organization when facing Italy, and they could only shoot randomly outside the penalty area many times.

Another data also proves this point.

In terms of the number of times they entered the opponent's penalty area.

Italy had 31 shots.

And England... only 9 times!

In addition, in terms of the shots on target data.

Italy had 7 shots within the goal frame, and another shot hit the crossbar.

England had only 1 shot on target.

It can be said.

Looking at this data.

It is entirely possible to draw a conclusion: Italy is a team of a higher level than England.

They were able to beat England 3-0 in the first round of the group stage without any bloodshed, which is a complete reflection of their strength.

After the game.

Many media claimed: Don't ignore Italy! !

German media Bild wrote an article right after the end of this round of group matches: ".According to the usual rules, the favorites before the World Cup often fail to win the final championship. Before the World Cup, almost all media said that Germany had a chance to become the first European team to win the World Cup held in South America. Everyone's eyes were on Germany, but we must say, never, never, never ignore Italy."

The media of the host Brazil also focused on Italy after this game.

[Rio Football News] As a professional football media in Brazil, it specifically introduced to Brazilian fans the strong opponents who are likely to prevent Brazilians from winning the World Cup for the sixth time in the World Cup held in Brazil.

".Some people say that Germany will be Brazil's rival, and some say that Argentina will become a stumbling block for Brazil, but we should not forget another World Cup champion, that is Italy. Italy, which has won four World Cup titles, must not be ignored. They defeated England 3-0 in the first round of the group stage without bloodshed. They have a striker combination of Li Mo and Balotelli."

Under the hype of the media.

After Italy defeated England 3-0, it gradually became one of the favorites in this World Cup. Before that, the favorites in this World Cup were Germany and Spain, two European powers, and Brazil and Argentina, two South American powers. However, Spain lost 1-5 to the Netherlands in the first round of the group stage. Spain, which suffered such a shocking defeat, was naturally kicked out of the ranks of "champion favorites". Italy took its place. Such news spread back to Italy. Naturally, it made Italian fans very happy. They were happy to see their team being favored. But Prandelli was still very calm. In the training on the second day.

He gave a special lecture before the training: "I know that after the first round of the group stage, we were very optimistic, and many media thought that we replaced Spain and became one of the favorites for the championship, but I want to remind you, Guys, don’t forget what happened to Spain! This is the World Cup! No game is easy here, even if our opponent is Costa Rica, we can’t relax.”

Although the coaching staff has warned.

But in the second round of the group stage, the Italian team still ran into trouble.

Although Costa Rica drew with Uruguay in the first round of the group stage.

But this is not enough to give the Italian players enough vigilance.

The media also generally believe that Costa Rica is the weakling of this group, and that the only reason for their existence is to be slaughtered by others.

Even though Uruguay was already losing in the first round of the group stage.

The Italian players are also a little arrogant because of the media's praise these days.

In fact, even Prandelli was a little careless.

Because he made certain rotations in this game.

Li Mo's striker partner became Giovinco, and he asked Marchisio to replace Verratti in the starting lineup.

The message conveyed by this rotation is: the Italian team is determined to defeat Costa Rica.

But it turns out.

Costa Rica is indeed a dark horse in this year's World Cup!

With a 541 bus formation, their defense can be described as airtight!

Italy paid the price for its carelessness.

They were tied by Costa Rica!

The score is one to one.

Even, if it weren't for Li Mo's goal at the last minute of the game.

Italy may even suffer an upset loss to Costa Rica.

After the game, Prandelli looked ugly.

Originally, his team could have qualified first in the group after two rounds of group matches, because England and Uruguay tied.

As a result, now they have to fight Uruguay in the final round of the group!

After two rounds of group stage matches.

The situation in Group D, where Italy is located, is as follows:

The Italian team has one win and one draw, and currently ranks first with 4 points.

Costa Rica and Uruguay both had two consecutive draws - Uruguay drew 0-0 with Costa Rica in the first round, and also drew 0-0 with England in the second round.

Costa Rica is temporarily ranked second due to the advantage of goals scored.

Uruguay ranks third.

The third round of the group stage.

Italy will face Uruguay.

Costa Rica vs. England.

All four teams still retain the theoretical possibility of qualifying. Even England, which only scored one point, as long as they can win against Costa Rica and the Italian team defeats Uruguay, they can also qualify, or in In extreme cases, Uruguay defeated Italy, and England, with a huge victory over Costa Rica, was able to squeeze out Italy with a goal difference.

And for the Italian team.

The most direct way for them to ensure qualifying is to score three points.

As long as they win, Italy, with 7 points, will surely qualify first in the group.

If they get a draw, they can qualify.

But the first place in the group may not be stable - because if Costa Rica defeats England, then they will have to compete with Costa Rica on goal difference.

This "unexpected" draw between Italy and Costa Rica made the qualifying situation in Group D a little confusing.

for Italy.

They faced a very familiar situation in the final round of the group stage: a draw with Uruguay would qualify them.