Chapter 159 Italy vs. Netherlands

On June 28, the World Cup Round of 16 match between Italy and the Netherlands was held at Durban Stadium.

In this match, Italy's lineup changed again, with Lippi fielding a Christmas tree formation.

De Sanctis, who did not perform well in the previous match, lost Lippi's trust, and Lippi once again fielded Marchetti in the goalkeeper position.

Zambrotta, Nesta, Chiellini, and Criscito continued to form the defensive partnership, while midfield maestro Pirlo returned from injury to take the field, joining De Rossi and Gattuso to control the midfield.

After Pirlo came on, Fino still did not return to the front line, but instead partnered with Camoranesi in the attacking midfield, with Di Natale playing as the lone striker up front.

Before the last match, Lippi's communication with Fino, and Fino's performance in that match, led Lippi to decide to no longer confine Fino to the striker position. In Italy's tactics, that would be a waste of Fino's talent. Letting him drop back, giving him more space and a wider field of vision, will reward him with even more surprises.

While waiting to enter the stadium, Fino greeted Sneijder and Robben, whom he had met in the Real Madrid dressing room last summer.

Fino then turned around and pointed to his jersey number with his thumb, and Sneijder laughed.

Sneijder once suggested that Fino wear number 10, and Fino was telling him, "I took your advice and chose number 10." Although Fino now wears the Italian national team jersey, Sneijder understood his meaning.

The interaction between Fino and Sneijder was also captured on camera, and the commentator immediately made up a story: "Cabrini pointed to his own number, he was provoking Sneijder, as if to say, 'I can steal your number 10 at Real Madrid, and I can outshine you in the national team. There's only one number 10 in this match.' Sneijder also gave a contemptuous smile, as if to say, 'I won the Champions League this season as the core player, what title did you win at Real Madrid?' The tension in this match was palpable from the moment they entered the field!"

Van Persie scoffed to himself, clearly displeased with Sneijder and Robben's pre-match interactions with their opponents, calling it hypocritical!

Fino immediately noticed Van Persie's mood. He suddenly realized that the gossip about the infighting within the Dutch team that Ambrosini had mentioned wasn't entirely without credibility. Even if it hadn't escalated to the point of armed conflict, Van Persie and Sneijder's relationship must have been strained.

I wonder if we can use this in the game.

After the match started, Italy was on high alert against the Netherlands, a team known for its attacking style. However, the Netherlands seemed to have learned from their past mistakes of being too eager to attack, and their offense was not too aggressive. They wanted to control the pace of the game.

This is good news for Italy. With their star goalkeeper Buffon out and their two full-backs in poor form and lacking experience, Italy relies heavily on Nesta and Chiellini to fill the gaps.

In this situation, it would be better for the Netherlands to reduce their attacking intensity. Italy is not afraid of them controlling possession; Pirlo has recovered from injury, and Fino can drop back to support in the attacking midfield position. With the two key players working together, plus De Rossi and Gattuso, two very strong defensive players, Italy has a significant advantage in midfield control.

For the first 10 minutes of the match, both sides were in a state of probing each other.

When the Dutch attack reached the Italian midfield, it was often intercepted by De Rossi, Gattuso, and the center-backs coming up from the backfield, leading to a transition between attack and defense.

In his only chance to break through the Italian midfield blockade, Kuyt passed the ball diagonally from the wing to Van Persie in the penalty area, but Van Persie's header was blocked by Nesta and went out of bounds.

Italy's counter-attacks were very swift, either with Fino dribbling past defenders or Pirlo launching long passes, which made the Dutch defense struggle.

Under the guidance of head coach Bert van Marwijk, the Netherlands quickly changed their attacking strategy, starting to try long balls from the back to bypass Italy's midfield defense.

In the 12th minute, Dutch captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst launched a long ball from the backfield, sending it across most of the pitch into the Italian backfield.

Gattuso, Nesta, and the Dutch players Sneijder and Kuyt all rushed towards the ball's landing point. In the end, Sneijder was a step ahead, controlling the ball with his chest and passing it directly to Robben in front of him. Robben easily bypassed his marker Criscito and cut inside to shoot.

The ball hit the crossbar, giving Marchetti a real scare.

Marchetti immediately caught the ball.

Robben shook his head in disappointment, while Van Persie, who had blocked Chiellini's position in the penalty area and was ready to receive the pass, looked dissatisfied.

After Marchetti took the goal kick, Italy's counter-attack began.

Nesta evaded Van Persie's immediate counter-pressing and passed the ball directly to Gattuso, who then passed it to Pirlo.

Pirlo gently passed the ball to Fino, who had retreated to the center circle, and Fino dribbled through the middle. Pirlo and De Rossi then surged forward from the left and right flanks respectively.

Two Dutch defensive stalwarts, De Jong and Van Bommel, ran towards Fino one after the other.

Fino and De Rossi played a one-two, and Fino got past De Jong off the ball. After receiving a back pass from De Rossi, Fino continued his forward run.

As Van Bommel closed in, Fino saw that the two Dutch center-backs, Mathijsen and Heitinga, had already left the penalty area. Right-back Van der Wiel was marking Di Natale on the left side of the penalty area, while captain Van Bronckhorst was chasing the retreating Camoranesi, getting further and further away from the penalty area.

Fino glanced at Pirlo to the left, and Pirlo immediately understood, continuing to run towards the area to the left where there were no defenders for the time being.

De Jong chose Fino, who was dribbling, over Pirlo, following behind him to double-team him with Van Bommel.

Fino acted decisively, immediately slowing down and then accelerating past Van Bommel the moment they met, without the slightest hesitation.

He then continued to dribble forward.

Upon seeing this, the two Dutch center-backs immediately accelerated and closed in. Fino assessed the distance between the opponent and the penalty area and, realizing it would be difficult for them to retreat in time, passed the ball to Pirlo on the left wing. Unmarked, Pirlo calmly unleashed a long-range shot.

Van Bronckhorst, marking Di Natale, and center-back Heitinga sprinted towards the ball from both sides, but they were too late. The ball passed between the two players and nestled into the top right corner of the goal.

Dutch goalkeeper Stekelenburg was powerless to stop the shot.

1-0, Pirlo opened Italy's scoring account.

After conceding the first goal in three consecutive group stage matches, Italy finally scored first this time.

"Gooooal! After missing three group stage matches, Pirlo has finally recovered from his injury and returned to the field. In the 15th minute of his appearance, he scored a beautiful long-range shot to change the score for Italy, staging a triumphant return!"

Fino immediately ran to Pirlo and embraced him tightly. The other teammates also rushed over, surrounding Pirlo, hugging and kissing him to express their congratulations and joy at taking the lead.

Lippi was also applauding silently from the sidelines. After struggling to break through the group stage, Italy finally found its rhythm again.

Next, the Netherlands had an attacking opportunity. Captain Van Bronckhorst participated in the midfield kickoff and successfully passed the ball to Robben in the Italian half. Robben then passed the ball from the right flank to Van Bommel, who had made a run forward.

Van Bommel ran down the right flank and, as Criscito came up to intercept, Van Bommel delivered a timely cross. Van Persie leaped high and headed the ball towards the goal, but it grazed the post and went out of play.

The Netherlands' scoring opportunity came in the 39th minute of the match.

Sneijder received the ball in midfield, withstood the pressure of being double-teamed by Fino and Gattuso, and launched a long pass, transferring the ball to Robben on the right wing. Robben continued to break through from the right and cut inside.

Arjen Robben is known as an injury-prone player in football, with injuries plaguing his entire career. His frequent injuries severely impacted his availability, yet he remained a highly sought-after winger. When he recovered from his injuries, his astonishing speed, exquisite dribbling, sharp breakthroughs, and almost unstoppable inside cuts were enough to amaze everyone.

In this match, Italy's left-back Criscito was almost completely outmaneuvered by Robben, requiring Nesta and Chiellini to frequently cover for him and provide defensive support.

Robben's attack was no exception. After Van Persie dropped back to cover and draw Nesta's attention, Criscito was completely helpless against Robben's cut inside and was left behind in an instant.

Robben unleashed a shot from the top right corner of the penalty area, sending the ball hurtling towards the far corner, where Marchetti, positioned near the near post, was powerless to reach it.

Robben's goal helped the Netherlands equalize in the first half.

The Dutch team, having scored, also celebrated passionately, with Kuyt and Sneijder rushing up to embrace Robben.

Fino noticed that Van Persie, who had just been setting a screen for Robben's cut inside, did not participate in the celebration.

That's interesting!

Fino thought to himself that even if he was unwilling, he still had to cooperate for the sake of victory; the Dutch players' professional attitude was quite good.

The two teams went into halftime with a score of 1-1.

At the start of the second half, Lippi substituted Bocchetti for Criscito, moving Zambrotta to the left-back position, while Bocchetti filled the right-back position vacated by Zambrotta's move.

There was nothing they could do. Criscito looked like he was about to be completely demoralized by Robben's dribbling, and he was utterly distraught. At this point, Lippi didn't dare to trust Maggio and could only let the experienced Zambrotta deal with Robben.

Fino pulled Nesta aside, whispered a few words in his ear, and Nesta nodded to indicate that he understood.

After the start of the second half, the Netherlands continued to launch attacks from the right flank, and Robben became the most eye-catching player for the Dutch team.

In the 51st minute, Robben received the ball on the right wing, cut inside, and continued to shoot into the far corner, thwarting the goal that had been scored in the first half.

Marchetti was prepared this time and fought hard to punch the ball out of bounds.

A few minutes later, Robben came back strong, breaking past Gattuso and Chiellini to reach the Italian penalty area. He then passed the ball across the goal to Mathijsen on the other side, whose shot was blocked by Nesta and went out of bounds.

Van Persie, standing near Matthijsen, frowned and muttered something to Matthijsen.

Nesta noticed immediately. Even though he couldn't understand what they were saying, he could roughly guess that they were complaining about Matthijs de Mathijsen wasting opportunities or something like that.

Based on Fino's instructions at the start of the second half, Nesta had an idea.

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Author's Note: Thank you everyone for your support! [cat paw emoji]