Chapter 151 The Vicious German
The 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa was the first World Cup to be held in Africa. Over the course of a month, the 32 teams that qualified for the finals were divided into eight groups for a single round-robin tournament, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the knockout stage.
The Round of 16, Quarter-finals, Semi-finals, and Finals are all single-elimination matches. If the score is tied after regulation time and extra time, the winner will be decided by a penalty shootout.
Defending champions Italy were seeded into Group F, which included South African powerhouse Paraguay, Oceania's top team New Zealand (Australia joined the AFC in 2006), and Slovakia, making their first appearance in the World Cup finals.
On June 14, at Cape Town's Green Point Stadium, Italy faced their first opponent in the group stage – South American powerhouse Paraguay.
Paraguay is also known for its solid defense and is called the "Italy of South America". It is a strong team and has defeated Argentina and Brazil in the World Cup qualifiers.
With Pirlo absent, Lippi fielded a 4-2-3-1 formation, hoping to take on the responsibility of organizing and orchestrating the attack through the combined efforts of the five midfielders and forwards, thereby controlling the midfield and providing support for Fino in the forward line.
Buffon guarded the national team's goal, with Criscito and Zambrotta as the left and right full-backs, Cannavaro and Chiellini as the center-backs, De Rossi and Montolivo as the defensive midfielders, Marchisio as the attacking midfielder, Iaquinta and Pepe as the left and right wingers, and Fino as the lone striker at the front.
Lippi's strategy of heavily utilizing Juventus players was evident in the first group stage match, with five of the six Juventus players selected for the 23-man squad starting.
As the Italian team lined up to enter the stadium, the heavy winter rain had not yet stopped, and the outdoor temperature had already dropped to 8 degrees Celsius. The Italian team put on long-sleeved jerseys.
Fino, who was at the very back of the Italian contingent, reached out and retied his headband, took a deep breath, and prepared for his first World Cup match.
After the match started, Italy quickly experienced the strength and intensity of Paraguay's defense. Italy's attack was already not very fluid, and under Paraguay's interference, they had almost no decent attacking opportunities.
For the first ten minutes of the match, Italy was ineffective, with Fino, who was at the forefront, barely receiving any passes.
In the 12th minute, Italy finally organized a decent attack. De Rossi intercepted the ball from Torres in midfield and passed it forward to Iaquinta on the left wing. Iaquinta dribbled down the left wing, and Fino dropped out of the penalty area to receive him in the middle. Montolivo also made a run up from the right flank.
Iaquinta's run was quickly intercepted by Bonnet. After several unsuccessful maneuvers, Iaquinta passed the ball across to Fino in the middle.
At this moment, Paraguay's two center-backs, Alcaraz and Da Silva, had followed Fino out of the penalty area and were blocking Fino's path as he returned to the penalty area.
Before breaking into the penalty area, Fino caught a glimpse of Montolivo making a run down the right flank. There was still some distance between Montolivo and Vela, who was chasing him. Paraguay's left-back, Rodriguez, remained inside the penalty area and did not come out. In other words, Montolivo was unmarked at this moment.
Fino had an idea.
He passed the ball to Montolivo, and Da Silva immediately lunged at Montolivo, while Alcaraz marked Fino to prevent Montolivo from passing the ball back.
After passing the ball, Fino entered the penalty area again, pinning Alcaraz behind him, waiting for Montolivo to pass the ball into the penalty area, while ensuring that he was not in an offside position.
But the ball didn't get passed back.
Montolivo received the ball and chose to shoot himself. He took a long-range shot from a standing position, but the angle was very straight and it was easily saved by Paraguay's goalkeeper, Villar.
The Italian fans watching the game at the stadium let out a huge sigh.
At the same time, the Italian television commentator slammed his fist on the table in disappointment.
“We wasted our best attacking chance of the game. Cabrini was already in the penalty area and had Alcaraz firmly behind him. Receiving the ball and shooting inside the box should have been a piece of cake for him, but Montolivo didn’t pass the ball. Instead, he took a long-range shot! And the angle was so straight that it looked like he was handing the ball to the Paraguayan goalkeeper!”
Montolivo scratched his head in annoyance and gave Finoby an apologetic gesture.
Fino nodded in response to Montolivo, but said nothing more, simply walking out of the penalty area to wait for Paraguay to kick off the goal kick.
This was also Montolivo's World Cup debut; perhaps he was just too eager to score a goal.
However, a few minutes later, Montolivo wasted another attacking opportunity.
After combining with De Rossi to disrupt Paraguay's attack, Montolivo dribbled down the left flank, while Marchisio waited in the middle to receive the pass, and Fino also held off Paraguay's defenders on the left corner of the penalty area.
Montolivo, Marchisio, and Fino formed a triangle formation, with Marchisio and Fino providing two support points for Montolivo.
Montolivo still didn't pass the ball. Before Caceres could intercept, Montolivo once again opted for a direct shot. This low right-footed shot from nearly 30 meters out lacked power and was easily saved by Villar.
Fino was genuinely angry now.
With Pirlo absent, the midfield organization was not smooth, and the game remained very close. Every attacking opportunity was precious at this time, and Montolivo wasted two of them.
Before he could even go up and "chat" with Montolivo, Marchisio spoke first.
"Should I switch positions with you? I'd be a good defensive midfield partner with De Rossi."
More than 20 minutes into the game, Marchisio had barely touched the ball.
Marchisio is a very good-natured person, but he was also pampered at Juventus from a young age, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him the Juventus crown prince. It's impossible for him to be completely without a temper.
At this moment, Fino also came over. Upon hearing this, he forced a smile, but there was no smile in his eyes. He added, "Then let's make a complete switch. If Claudio plays defensive midfielder, I'll play attacking midfielder, and you can go to the front. That way, we won't have to take long shots."
Montolivo was already in the wrong, and under the verbal assault from Fino and Marchisio, he immediately "slid down to his knees": "I'm sorry, I was too excited and my brain couldn't control my feet, but I promise, this is the last time."
Fino patted him on the shoulder: "It's not that you can't shoot, of course you can if the timing is right, but don't waste opportunities."
Neither Fino nor Marchisio continued speaking. Since the game was still ongoing, they merely reminded Montolivo that Lippi would teach Montolivo a lesson at halftime.
After Italy squandered two attacking opportunities, Paraguay's counter-attacks became increasingly sharp.
In the 24th minute, Vela and Caceres combined to break into the Italian half from the left flank and the center. Under De Rossi's obstruction, Caceres chose to pass the ball to the wing from the center, but Zambrotta immediately stepped forward to clear the ball and disrupt the pass.
But Zambrotta lost control of the ball, and Torres fired a left-footed shot before Cannavaro could react, but the ball went wide of the post, giving Buffon no chance to make a move.
Next, Paraguay's two forwards began to exert their strength, with Valdes and Barrios taking shots one after another, and Buffon directed the defense to defuse the crisis one by one.
Just before the end of the first half, Paraguay changed the score with a free kick.
Torres delivered a free kick from the right wing into the penalty area. Cannavaro's jump was not high enough, and Paraguay's center-back Alcaraz headed the ball into the net from 7 meters out.
Italy went into halftime trailing by one goal.
Lippi was indeed very dissatisfied with Montolivo's waste of opportunities, and severely criticized him, demanding that he and De Rossi work together to intercept and organize the attack, leaving the dribbling and shooting to other players.
Seeing Lippi's barely suppressed anger, Montolivo nodded vigorously.
Lippi has a stubborn temper and will never allow players to go against him. Montolivo only got playing time because Pirlo was injured, so how could he dare to go against Lippi?
Lippi then switched positions between Iaquinta and Pepe, with Pepe moving to the left wing and Iaquinta to the right. Pepe was virtually invisible in the first half, contributing nothing to the attack.
At that moment, the assistant coach suddenly called out anxiously, "Gigi, what's wrong?"
Everyone looked over and saw Buffon leaning back with his hands on his waist, looking pained.
The team doctor rushed over to check and made a preliminary diagnosis of sciatica. Further diagnosis and observation are needed for a more specific diagnosis. Buffon will definitely be unable to play in the second half.
Lippi had no choice but to have the goalkeeping coach take substitute goalkeeper Marchetti out for warm-up.
After the start of the second half, the audience quickly noticed that Italy's goalkeeper had been replaced by Marchetti, and a commotion broke out in the stands.
The camera lingered on Marchetti's face for a few seconds before panning to the Italian bench, where Buffon was not.
This unexpected turn of events left even the commentator baffled.
"After halftime, our goalkeeper Buffon was replaced by third-choice goalkeeper Marchetti, which was an unexpected substitution. Buffon was not on the bench, and we still don't know what happened."
The topic of Buffon's "disappearance" immediately went viral online.
[I'm going crazy! We were already down by a goal, and then Buffon was substituted?]
Where is Buffon? He's not on the field, and he's not on the sidelines either!
Could he be injured? Italy can't do without Buffon right now. Judging from the first half, Cannavaro and Zambrotta's form has dropped drastically. What will they do without Buffon?
Why has this year been so unlucky? The midfield linchpin got injured before the season started, and the starting goalkeeper only lasted 45 minutes?
[May God bless Buffon so he's alright. We've already lost Pirlo, we can't afford to lose Buffon too!]
[This year's World Cup is being held in Africa. Could it be that Germany hired a local African shaman to cast a curse on us?]
I think it's possible. How vicious those Germans are!
[Vicious +1]
[Vicious +2]
...
The defending champions' star goalkeeper mysteriously left the field at halftime, leaving fans around the world curious.
A German fan who understands Italian came to the Italian forums to find out information, only to be completely blown away by the Italians' wild imagination!
Are you kidding me?
We Germans have been the ones getting ripped off by you Italians all along, so who's really being malicious?
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Author's note: Thank you everyone for your support~ [hugs]
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