When the Italians scored the first goal, their players hugged the football and ran to the center circle, hoping that the game would start soon. When they scored the second goal, they just hugged each other and celebrated. The football fell into the goal alone, and no one cared about it.
Because they were in the lead now, they were the ones who needed to delay the game.
Twain only scolded a few times on the sidelines before he recovered from the emotions of conceding the goal. He stood on the sidelines and kept waving his hands to signal the players to keep their spirits up and put the football in the center circle to prepare for the kickoff.
For the England team, they really could not afford to waste any time at this time …
Not counting the injury stoppage time, they were left with less than 18 minutes.
"Now the England team is cornered by the Italian team. What was originally a one-goal lead has become a one-goal deficit. In these last 20 minutes, let's see what Tony Twain can do! "
What kind of countermeasure could he have? It was nothing more than to strengthen the offense and be careful of the Italian team's defensive counterattack at the same time.
The Italian team certainly knew that the England team would attack when they fell behind. Now the initiative was in their hands. They could retreat back and openly play defensive counterattack, which was what Lippi and the Italian team were best at.
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The performance of the England players was not satisfactory at this juncture. Many people were hit hard by the reality of conceding two goals in a row in two minutes. The goal concede came too quickly and everyone was not mentally prepared …
In the next game, the "strengthen the offense" that Twain mentioned was not shown at all. Instead, they were at a loss in the back half of the field.
The Italians had originally intended to strengthen the offense while the England team had not reacted, and strive to score another goal to completely lock in the victory. So, they bombarded the England team's penalty area, and for a moment, Joe Hart became the busiest player on the field.
"De Rossi's long shot! Unfortunately, it missed … "
"Giovinco broke through … He went over! Beautiful! His shot … Was saved by Joe Hart … "
"Paloschi's long shot went over the goal … He should have passed it to Foti next to him …"
"Facing George Wood, Balotelli did not flinch. He wanted to force a breakthrough … Wood fouled! A free kick! That's great, Italy gets another free kick! "
Wood could only shake his head helplessly in the face of such a situation. He was not Superman. No matter how well he performed, it would be useless if he did not have the support of his teammates.
This situation made him angry. Was he going to admit defeat just like that?
Balotelli was given another chance to take a free kick, and the Italian fans were filled with anticipation. They want to see Balotelli score a brace from free kicks. These people had completely forgotten that they had previously complained that Lippi had "wasted an opportunity" by bringing him on.
"Super Mario! Super Mario! The Italian fans were chanting Balotelli's name in the stands.
On the other hand, the England fans were getting nervous. They were still trying to disrupt Balotelli with their boos, but they did not know how effective it was …
Tang En stood by the side of the field, biting his lip as he stared at Balotelli. His heart was beating so fast that he could not control it. But he couldn't care less about his heart anymore.
Balotelli ran up and lifted his leg … The football bypassed the human wall and flew straight towards the goal. Joe Hart did his best to pounce on the ball, but he did not touch it. The ball did not fall into the goal either. Instead, it flew over the crossbar.
That was close!
Tang En heaved a sigh of relief. A number of England fans felt the same way as him.
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When the game entered the 80th minute, England's counterattack still did not improve. On the other hand, Italy was getting more and more energetic. They were relaxed after taking the lead, and they were able to coordinate with each other.
Those fans far away in the United Kingdom stared at the television screen, afraid that they would miss a shot, and it would be the crucial moment that would change the course of the game.
England's performance made them a little depressed, but they did not give up hope. After all, there were still 10 minutes left in the game, and they were only one goal away. There was still a chance.
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Lippi looked at his watch. It was the 80th minute. He looked at the situation on the field again and decided to be more cautious. If they continued to attack like this, if there was a loophole in the backfield and England took advantage of it to score a goal, it would be over … Tony Twain was so cunning, how could he not go all out at the last moment?
So, he walked to the side of the field and signaled to the people on the field to pull back the defensive line and start to defend. They would win if they could drag it out until the end of the game.
The pressure on England's defense lessened, and they also knew that it was the last moment.
The Italians retreated, what should they do? There was almost no need to think about it, of course, it was to attack!
Twain stood on the sidelines and called Vaughn's name. He had been brought on for 10 minutes, and the kid had not done anything yet …
"James! Do you still remember your task!? "
Vaughn certainly remembered, but his team had been compressed into their own penalty area and had no chance to fight back. No matter how good he was, it was impossible to kick the ball directly into the opponent's goal from his own penalty area …
In fact, even if Twain did not remind him, he also knew that he had to go all out. Agbonlahor was in the starting lineup and had a goal. And he, who was considered to be a favorite to start before the game, had not made a single contribution now. If the England team lost the game, it would have a lot to do with him … People would think: If Agbonlahor was still on the field, would they not have lost the game?
Lippi was also a little surprised that Twain only brought Vaughn on in the last 20 minutes. But then his team completed a reversal, so he did not take it to heart. There were only 10 minutes left in the game. As long as they could hold on, it would be useless even if he brought on 11 Maradonas.
Lippi then replaced Giovinco with defender Fabiano Santacroce. On the one hand, Giovinco was physically exhausted, and on the other hand, they now needed to strengthen their defense. Now that Italy had changed to a 5-5-2 formation, the three center backs gave England no chance to attack.
In the last 10 minutes of the game, the Italian team began to think of all ways to kill time in the game.
As long as they were touched, they would fall, and once they fell, they would not want to get up. In just two minutes, three players had fallen to the ground with cramps.
Twain was very angry about this, and he negotiated with the fourth official off the field. The fourth official was also helpless, "We can't pull them up by force, can we?"
"Why not! They're clearly wasting time! "Twain glared at the fourth official. If he were to play on the field and encounter such a situation, he was afraid that he would directly go up and drag the opposing player who had fallen to the ground out of the field …
The fourth official had nothing to say to this unreasonable manager. He stopped talking, so as not to waste his saliva.
Twain's image at this time could not be considered good. He had long thrown his suit on the ground and had not picked it up — he could not care about it — and the tie that he was originally wearing was also pulled off by him. The collar of his shirt was open, the sleeves rolled up, and the front of his back and forehead were drenched in sweat. He looked like a gambler who was anxious to lose.
On the contrary, Lippi sat calmly on the fishing platform. There was still no expression on his face, as if he was not worried for Italy, nor was he happy about being in the lead. The old gentleman did not even have a trace of a mess on his hair. His silver hair was tightly stuck to his scalp, and a pair of gold-rimmed glasses reflected the lights above the field, making it difficult to see his eyes clearly.
The two men, one of ice and one of fire, were a special scenery on the sidelines, but it was particularly eye-catching.
Twain also did not only know how to compete with the fourth official. He turned around and called Bentley from the substitutes' bench to replace Gerrard. Then the England team changed to a 4-3-3 formation, with Walcott marking and playing on the wing, leaving Vaughan alone in the center.
It was different from when the Italy team changed players, where everyone walked down slowly. Gerrard jogged all the way to the sidelines, and after high-fiving Bentley, it was changed to a handover. The whole process did not waste any time.
Seeing Twain change to a 4-3-3 formation, the China commentator said, "This is burning the boats. It's either succeed or die trying. Twain looks like he's not considering anything else at all. "
What overtime? What penalty shootout? It was simply stupid to think about those at this time. If they did not score, there would be no overtime at all, and there would be no penalty shootout at all!
After Bentley ran onto the field, he shouted to his teammates, "The boss wants me to tell you that the final only has these five minutes!!" He opened the fingers of his right hand. It was now the 85th minute of the full game. As for injury stoppage time, Twain did not even think about it.
It was as if an alarm bell rang in the hearts of every England player. "The final only has these five minutes" suddenly made them feel that time was pressing, and one by one their eyes were red: They had fought hard for every game to this point, how could they fall in front of the championship trophy?
Even Terry pressed past the half field, and there was no need to think about defense at all.
England's offense surged towards Italy's goal like a tidal wave.
"James Vaughan, he snatched the header … It's too straight!"
"George Wood has a long shot! It's too high! What a pity … Maybe he should be more steady … "
"Walcott has broken through, pass the ball! Wayne Rooney shoots! "
Rooney's shot hit the near post, and when it bounced back, it hit Chiellini again. It looked like it was about to bounce towards the goal again, but it was hit out by Amelia with a single punch, and the Italian was so shocked that he broke out in a cold sweat.
England was awarded a corner kick. The two center backs, Terry and Taylor, both ran to the Italian team's goal. After Bentley kicked the ball out, Terry sprinted and leaped towards the top!
The football flew straight to the near corner, and it looked like it was about to cross the goal line, but Amelia magically hit the football out with a single palm across the two players!
It did not go in again!
After Balotelli took the ball, he was ready to fight back against England, but his ball was intercepted by Wood. Wood, who intercepted the ball, turned around and sent the football to the front again. Fortunately, the Italian team did not really want to fight back, otherwise they would have caught Wood off guard at this time.
After England regained control of the ball, it was handed over to Cohen on the other side. In terms of breakthrough, Cohen was not as good as Walcott, so he directly raised his leg to pass the ball. This time, the football was directly held in Amelia's arms. England's storm-like offensive came to an end.
And in this suffocating offensive frenzy, the game had quietly reached the 89th minute.
Ever since Bentley was brought on to the field, Twain stood on the sidelines, motionless. Like a statue.
In his coaching career, such moments were not uncommon. Sometimes, his team finally equalized the score, and even completed a big reversal. But sometimes, his team did not create any miracles and lost the game.
This time, which situation would it belong to?
Next to him, the fourth official came out with an electronic number plate. At the same time, there was also an Italian defender behind him. Twain glanced at it. At this time, there was only one purpose for the substitution — to delay the game and let time pass in this dawdling substitution.
Paloschi walked down, looking back three times with each step, shaking hands with this teammate and hugging that teammate. Then, he stopped and turned in a circle, raising his hands to applaud the fans … Seeing this scene, Twain gritted his teeth in anger and loudly protested below, "Why don't you crawl? Italian! You eggless tortoise, bastard! "
Unfortunately, Paloschi could not understand Twain's thick English, but the referee also discovered the other side's intention to deliberately delay the game. It was so obvious that it was really intolerable … He quickly rushed forward and showed Paloschi a yellow card.
The yellow card gave Paloschi a legitimate excuse to delay time. He was very dissatisfied with the penalty and protested to the referee, wanting to take this opportunity to waste more time.
At this time, Paloschi had almost walked to the sidelines. Lorenzo De Silvestri, who was waiting to replace him, was only one step away from him. However, he was not in a hurry to get on the field. He had to wait for Paloschi to give him a high-five before he could make his move.
The Italian was deliberately delaying the game, and Twain could not stand it anymore. He rushed forward and grabbed Paloschi's arm. Caught off guard, Paloschi was pulled down by Twain just like that!
Being dragged out of the field by Twain, Paloschi basically wanted to lose his temper, but when he turned back, he saw Twain glaring at him. That ferocious look scared him, and he did not know what to say. Knowing that he was in the wrong, he could only complete the handover with Silvestri under Twain's glare and walk to the Italian team's bench.
Of course, Twain's actions also earned him a verbal reprimand from the referee, but he did not care. The referee did not act, so he came to enforce justice on behalf of heaven!
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Just after the substitution, the fourth official put down the electronic number plate, pressed on it for a while, and raised it again. This time, it was the announcement of the injury stoppage time.
"Five minutes of injury stoppage time!"
The England fans booed. To them, the Italian players had repeatedly delayed the game, and five minutes of injury stoppage time was too little. There should have been ten minutes of injury stoppage time!
And the Italian fans were also dissatisfied with the five minutes of injury stoppage time — it was too long! According to the usual practice, three minutes of injury stoppage time would be enough …
Beside him, Tang En gestured with five fingers.
This time, there were really only five minutes left in the final …
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PS: Tomorrow's chapter will be around 12,000 words. Everyone can vote for 12000 words to urge me to update now!
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