Li Ang was very satisfied with the addition of Montari. The Ghanaian national footballer had a fierce style and ran without any regard for his stamina. He could improve the toughness of Inter Milan's midfield.
Originally, Li Ang had planned to bring in another player in the midfield. However, after careful consideration, he gave up on this plan.
The addition of Montari could allow Carlos to rest. In addition, Marchisio had improved a lot after two seasons of training. He could be rotated appropriately to allow Modric to rest. David Silva could fill the gap left by Figo's departure. In addition, Modric and even Montari could play in the right midfield position.
Therefore, after bringing in Montari, Li Ang found that the team's signings, unless the player had to leave or was injured, seemed to be closed.
Li Ang was still quite satisfied with the team's current lineup.
2007 was not the year of the Intercontinental Championship. The World Cup had just ended last year, and the European Championship would have to wait until next year. However, there was the Copa America and the Copa Asia.
There were no Asian players in the Inter Milan Team, so the Copa Asia did not have any impact on Inter Milan.
However, the Copa America had a big impact on Inter Milan.
Inter Milan's backline center, Cordoba, represented Colombia in the Copa America in Venezuela. However, Colombia's performance in the Copa America was terrible. They lost the first game to Paraguay 0: 5, and lost the second game to Argentina 2: 4. Only at the end of the group stage, they won a small victory over the United States 1: 0, which saved a little face.
Colombia's elimination in the group stage allowed Cordoba to rest early. However, the 31-year-old Inter Milan Team's performance in the Copa America was a little bad. This also made Li Ang more worried about Cordoba's condition. In fact, this was one of the reasons why Li Ang decisively brought in the Romanian defender, Chivu, from FC Roma.
For Inter Milan, the Argentine national footballer in the team was the most affected because Argentina had made it all the way to the final.
As for Inter Milan, team captain Javier Zanetti, center back Burdisso, and striker Diego Milito were all part of the Argentina national team. Of course, there was also Cambiasso. When he participated in the Copa America, he was still an Inter Milan player. Cambiasso joined Real Madrid after the Copa America.
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Argentina made it all the way to the finals, but they were defeated by Brazil with a score of 3-0.
For this tournament, Argentina had gathered almost all of its main players, including Messi, Riquelme, Verón, Cambiasso, Ayala, Zanetti, Tevez, and Diego Milito. However, Brazil's biggest stars, Ronaldinho and Kaka, were absent. Adriano was not called up either. The main players in the team were Robinho, Baptista, and the others. As a result, Argentina had the highest chance of winning the tournament before the tournament. Brazil stumbled all the way and eliminated Uruguay with a penalty kick in the semifinals, while Argentina easily defeated Mexico with a score of 3-0. Before the final, the outside world was generally optimistic about Argentina. Even the Brazilian media thought that Brazil's biggest victory was to drag the game to a penalty kick. Unexpectedly, the result was completely unexpected. Brazil defeated Argentina by three goals.
After such a final, it was likely that many new fans knew about the fact that the Argentina men's national team had not won any international competition for 14 years.
This might not be a big deal for other countries, but for Argentina, one of the most famous football countries in the world, it was obviously completely unacceptable, especially since Argentina had been constantly producing talents in the past 20 years, and there was an endless stream of classic national team players emerging one after another.
The year after Brazile led the team to win the Copa America in 1993, Argentina, which had made it to the World Cup, was eliminated by Romania with a score of 3-2 in the quarter-finals of the 1994 World Cup in the United States. A year later, in the Copa America in Uruguay, Argentina absent-mindedly lost to the United States with a score of 3-0 in the last group game and advanced as the second group. As a result, they met Brazil ahead of time and led by a goal from Tulio in the 81st minute. In the end, they were eliminated by a penalty kick. Two years later, Argentina was defeated by Peru with a score of 2-1 in the quarterfinals of the Copa America. ,
In the 1998 World Cup in France, Argentina, which was in excellent form, met the Netherlands after the classic England and Argentina war. In the end, Ayala was played by Bergkamp in the last minute, which became the Ice Prince's final kill. A year later, in the Copa America, the only thing that people remembered was Palermo's muddle-headed hat-trick of kicking away penalties and the embarrassment of not being able to advance in the group stage due to the lack of morale.
In the 2002 World Cup, Argentina, which was known as the strongest team in history, appeared in East Asia with countless people's attention. The battle between Batistuta and Crespo for the center forward position was still vivid in people's minds. In the end, both of them scored a goal and the score was tied at 1-1. These were also the two goals that Argentina scored. Bielsa's Albiceleste went home at the same time as the "strongest team in history" France with Batistuta's tears and everyone's ridicule. Two years later, Argentina was once again defeated by the hot Adriano in the Copa America final.
And recently, in 2006, the tragic defender Ayala shot a penalty kick directly into the arms of the German player in the face of Lehmann. This made Argentina, which played the most exciting football in the World Cup that year, miss the World Cup semi-finals again.
Every time Argentina faced the crisis of elimination, people always looked forward to the superstars on the field to stand up and save the team. Why did Maradona have such a status in Argentina? The Argentinians advocated individual heroism and looked forward to their strength to change everything. But when the cruel reality came, the Argentinians could only sing, "Don't cry for me, Argentina." It was very sad.
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Li Ang had studied many strong teams, including Brazil and Argentina. If he were to diagnose Argentina, his point of view would be that Argentina lacked the domineering spirit of a champion at the crucial moment. This was a temperament that many star players could not change in the team. To put it crudely, it was a failure at the crucial moment. Once or twice could be said to be luck, but what about seven or eight times? And the various conflicts between this temperament and the coach and the main players were enough to lead to the collapse of the team. For example, in recent years, the character coaches, Pasarella and Bielsa, did not rely on their own strong methods to change the existence of this temperament. They could only die together in the struggle with this temperament.
Argentina had never lacked star players. Even the spirit of unity, the leadership of the coach, and the strong patriotism of the players, which were lacking in the past, were almost all in the Copa America Argentina team. Scoring 16 goals in five games and conceding three goals seemed to let people see the domineering spirit of a king in Argentina. But in the face of the Brazilian team, which had already been trained to be invulnerable, Argentina's hands and feet were tied by the quagmire created by the Brazilians when they needed to show their domineering spirit.
In the final between Brazil and Argentina, Li Ang watched it live on television and even carefully watched it twice later. The way the Brazilian team played caught his attention and made him think. In the final between Brazil's second team and Argentina's first team, the Brazilian team's posture was very low. It was completely playing defensive counterattack, just like Italy. Argentina's field, ball control, and shooting were all better than Brazil's. But the Brazilians' counterattack was very sharp and could be said to be accurate.
Brazil scored four minutes into the game, which caught Argentina off guard and completely disrupted the opponent's deployment. And after taking the lead, Dunga also very cleverly played defensive counterattack. The high efficiency of the Brazilian team in the game was also the key to the victory. Three out of five shots in the game scored, especially the third goal scored by Alves, which could be called a Brazilian-style counterattack goal. This final also became a classic game of defensive counterattack victory.
In this year's Copa America Argentina's main squad played. In addition to Messi and Riquelme, who were in good condition, they were generally optimistic. A few big wins also boosted their morale. And the Brazilian team, without Kaka and Ronaldinho, was considered a "second team" by the media. It was this huge gap that made a group of "civilians" in the Brazilian team put down their attitude. In fact, looking at the lineup of the Brazilian team this year, it was not objective to say that it was a "second team" because the main squad after Dunga took over was only missing Kaka and Ronaldinho. The rest had always been the main force under him. Big names like Da Luo and Ade, who had not been recruited to the national team since he took over. Dunga had been criticized a lot since he took over, but he had always insisted on using the players and playing style that he had chosen. And he had taken one step at a time to prove himself with the Copa America.
Back to the game, the media was generally optimistic that Argentina would win the title before the game. The history of Pampas not being able to win the title for 14 years also made them hold their breath. The previous few big wins also made the Argentinians hope to take down the Brazilian team in one go. The whole team seemed to be a little overconfident. At the start of the game, Baptista's goal was a wake-up call for them. Although Argentina had an absolute advantage on the field later on, the impact caused by the loss of the ball disrupted Brazil's deployment. And Brazil's defensive counterattack was played incisively and vividly. Except for the first goal, which was a little unexpected, the other two goals were classic Brazilian coordination. It was this group of so-called second team that played the opponents without any temper at all. Different from the five-star Brazil team that aspired to win the World Cup in 2006, the team today was no longer shining with golden light. There were many players in the team that were not very familiar with. They lowered their attitude and pursued practical results. They played defensive counterattack and put themselves in the position of the weak to fight against the opponents. It was a pity that Argentina lost today. Such a team that pursued offense and played very beautifully had received the love and respect of the fans. The only thing they lacked was a championship trophy.
This game was also the third time that Brazil had won three consecutive games against Argentina with three goals. Perhaps some people would say that Argentina had changed to "phobia"? Li Ang felt that it was not so! The confrontation between these two teams had always been a game of Mars colliding with Earth. It was normal for one team to win three times against the other team. Argentina's luck was not very good today. If Riquelme's goal that hit the goalpost had been scored, the rest of the game would not have been easy to say. Today, Brazil won the championship because they were good at grasping opportunities. Of course, there was also some luck. Of course, luck could sometimes be understood as the foundation of the championship.
After the Copa América final, the Spanish media had compared the Brazil team to the Sporting de Gijón team two seasons ago. They felt that the Brazil team was very similar to the Sporting de Gijón team of that season. Li Ang's Sporting de Gijón used such sharp counterattacks to defeat Real Madrid and Barça and miraculously win the treble.
Zanetti, Burdisso, and Diego Milito participated in all the Copa América matches. In addition, the Brazil team had Mai Kong, who was also a Inter Milan player. Therefore, the Copa América had a great impact on Inter Milan.
Li Ang specially approved that the players who participated in the Copa América could delay their return to the team. However, as the team captain, Zanetti set an example and returned on time. Li Ang was very pleased with this. The Inter Milan Team captain had walked out of the shadow of the Copa América final defeat.
Not only Zanetti, but Diego Milito also returned on time.
Mai Kong saw that the team captain had returned and also reported to the team two days later.
Only Burdisso returned to the team after his break, which was specially approved by Li Ang.
As for Cambiasso, he was now a Real Madrid player. Li Ang did not need to worry about him.
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After bringing in Montari, Li Ang announced to the public that the team's recruitment for this summer had ended.
This was also a reassurance for the current team's players. No one would come again, and naturally, no one would leave.
The team had already played a few warm-up games. They needed to adjust their condition before the start of the new season.
For Li Ang's Inter Milan team, the first important game of the new season was the Supercopa Italiana.
Because Inter Milan was last season's Coppa Italia and Serie A champions, it was a double. Therefore, this year's Supercopa Italiana would be played between the league champions, Inter Milan, and the Coppa Italia runners-up, AS Roma.
After the "Calciopoli," AS Roma was Inter Milan's biggest opponent in the Italian arena. Last season, AS Roma was chasing Inter Milan. However, they were later pulled down by Inter Milan in the sprint stage. Inter Milan also created the most exaggerated record of winning the championship in recent years. This was also a shame for the Roma. They clamored to regain their ground in the Supercopa Italiana.
Li Ang sneered at this. Among the powerhouses in Serie A, he looked down on Roma the most. Over the years, other than winning the Serie A title once in 2000, AS Roma did not have any achievements at all. Their performance in the European arena was even worse. However, they always considered themselves as a powerhouse.
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August 19, 2007, Meazza team, Supercopa Italiana, Inter Milan vs AS Roma.
AS Roma, who clamored to beat Inter Milan before the game, collapsed in the face of Li Ang's three-time Inter Milan team in less than half an hour.
In the first half of the game, Adriano scored the first goal for Inter Milan.
In the second half of the game, Agüero scored the second goal for Inter Milan!
With a two-goal lead, Li Ang began to deploy his troops.
Diego Milito, who came on as a substitute, scored the third goal for Inter Milan.
At the last moment of the game, AS Roma's vice-captain, De Rossi, accidentally scored an own goal.
In the end, in this Supercopa Italiana, Inter Milan defeated AS Roma 4-0 at home. With a hearty victory, the curtain of the 20072008 season was lifted …
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