The Prince of Inter Milan starts with Brother Xiaosa

Chapter 55 Advance to the finals!

On July 2008, 7, at the home shooting stadium of the Czech team Jablonec, the Italian U17 youth team ushered in the second round of the group match against England.

Compared with their first opponent Greece, England U19 can be said to be full of talents.

England's U19 team, such as Sturridge, Danny Rose, Bertrand, Gibbs, Jack Cork, etc., are all talented young stars with a good reputation, and they will all have a place in the Premier League in the future.

There is also a black player named Moses. Although he is now in the England U19 team, he finally chose to play for the Nigeria national team.

"Boss, do you know any of those people?"

Leo glanced at them. He played in the Premier League in England and was not familiar with these young players.

"Oh, there is one. Danny Rose is from Tottenham's youth team. I have some impression of him, but I'm really not familiar with the others."

Balotelli is very happy to be teammates with Leo again, and it can be seen from the uncontrollable smile on his face these days.

"That's right. Don't worry so much. With us two brothers here, we will definitely win this game!"

The French referee Olivier, who was officiating the game, blew the whistle, and the "Italian-British war" officially began.

Leo was determined to help the team score a goal at the beginning of the game, but his teammates were not in the state.

I don’t know if it has something to do with the fact that there were only two days between their two games.

It cannot simply be said that there is not enough rest. After all, they are all young people, and their physical strength recovers very quickly.

However, the intense and intensive schedule of the cup competition still has a certain impact on the condition of the boys.

Since this was the case, Leo had no choice but to take a walk on the court to save energy. He was good at this!
  Therefore, in the first half, both sides basically played with thunder and no rain, and missed many opportunities.

In the second minute of stoppage time, Leo made a long pass from the backcourt, but the pass was accidentally too wide.

In fact, last season I often passed the ball like this when encountering this situation, and Bell could catch it, but his teammates were different today.

Balotelli's speed is actually quite good, but naturally it is still slightly slower than the Great Sage.

Bashen struggled to catch up, but it seemed that it was still too late, because England goalkeeper David Barton had already attacked!

However, the long ball sent by Leo hit Button's chest and bounced out, just in time to be picked up by Balotelli, who had just arrived.

In the panic, the young England goalkeeper was at a loss. Barton passed by Barton and easily scored with a single push!

One to zero!

The Italian U19 youth team broke the deadlock before the end of the first half!

It is also tradition for England's goalkeepers to make mistakes.

At the beginning of the second half, head coach Francisco replaced Mazarani with Silvano.

The Italian youth team, which is leading the score, is already considering letting the players rest to prepare for the next game.

Danny Rose dribbled the ball from the left at high speed and broke through the defense of Italian defender Damian and sent a cross.

Sturridge stops the ball, turns around, kicks and shoots in one go!
  The ball went in! Italian goalkeeper Fiorillo is powerless to stop him!
  One to one, England equalized the score shortly after the start of the second half!
  Leo, who was paddling on the court, sighed lightly and couldn't even take a break!

Moses dribbled the ball in the middle and was intercepted by Poli. Leo passed the ball directly to the opponent's penalty area.

Balotelli received the ball with his back under the interference of the England defender, but then Tomkins and Pearce made him lose his balance and fell to the ground.

If a smarter person had just lied in front of the penalty area and tried to "cheat" a free kick at this time, it would have been even better if he could have awarded the opponent a yellow card.

But Bashen has an upright temperament. After falling to the ground, he still reluctantly protected the ball and passed it out.

Leo made a slight adjustment after stopping the ball. The two central defenders in the England penalty area were still on Balotelli's side and couldn't care less.

From an angle, Leo was unmarked and hit the goal with a powerful low shot!
  Two to one! Italy takes the lead again.

Then Leo entered a fishing state again, and the two sides did not have a good chance to score until the end of the game.

The two-to-one score was maintained until the end of the game. Italy's U19 group stage victory in both games had already locked in a qualifying spot in advance!

The host Czech team, which has one win and one draw in the first two games in the same group, is also Italy's opponent in the last game. As long as they can draw, they can ensure qualifying.

England, which is "full of talents", has lost two games and accumulated zero points and has been eliminated early.

On July 7, in the final round of the group stage, Italy faced the host Czech team.

Since no matter what the result of this game is, it will not affect the qualification of Italy U19, head coach Francesco has carried out personnel rotation.

Leo and Balotelli sat on the bench, and they needed to take a good rest for the knockout rounds.

"If I had known that this game would give me a rest, I wouldn't have played more data in the last game against England."

In the first half, the Czech team took the lead and took a 1-0 lead.

In the second half, Bonaventura scored directly with a ground-breaking long-distance free kick, and Italy drew with their opponent 1-1.

In the end, the Azzurri also won two and drew one with seven points, successfully advancing to the semi-finals of this European U19 Football Championship as first place in the group.

In the semi-finals Leo and the others will face another Hungarian U19 youth team from Eastern Europe.

The host Czech team has to compete with Germany for another place in the finals.

Hungary assumed the posture of a weak player after the start of the game, with almost all players retreating to the penalty area, denying Italy any space to attack.

For Leo, a key player in the Italian U19 team, special personnel were assigned to mark him throughout the game.

The opponent was so difficult that Leo had no choice but to be patient and wait for the opportunity.

In the 62nd minute, Leo's long shot from outside the penalty area was saved by Hungarian goalkeeper Gulacchi!
  Andre Poli controlled the ball from two points and passed it across the penalty area. Leo didn't stop the ball and didn't look at anyone and directly kicked the ball into the penalty area!

Balotelli receives the ball and hits the goal!
  However, Bashen is Bashen after all. The first two games were too normal and became a bit abnormal. Today he finally returned to his old ways.

Balotelli made a wonderful Marseille spin in the penalty area and kicked the ball out of the baseline.

The prepared Gulacsi stood on the goal line dumbfounded, and the other Hungarian defensive players were also stunned.

The Italian teammates on the field also stood there blankly, only Leo smiled helplessly and shook his head.

"I don't care what you were thinking just now. Now cheer up, focus, and stop zoning out, do you hear me?"

When Balotelli saw it was Leo, he smiled and said nothing.

There was no other way but to put further pressure on him.

"Mario, you don't want to practice more every day after you go back, do you?"

Ba Shen's expression changed and he nodded repeatedly, and Leo was satisfied.

The game continues, and the score on the field is still zero to zero. Leo doesn't want to drag it into overtime. Why should he work overtime when he can get off work on time?
  Regular time was about to end, and Hungary also tried to organize several attacks, but the effect was not very good.

Damian stole the ball in the backcourt, and Leo dribbled the ball through the middle and got rid of two Hungarian defenders in a row.

Send it out with one kick! Balotelli made a timely diagonal pass into the penalty area!

Facing the Hungarian defender Adrian's attack, Ba Shen suddenly flashed his light and hit the bottom right corner of the goal!
  One to zero!

Italy U19 scored the winner in the st minute of the game!

(End of this chapter)