Before leading the team to the European Cup, Lippi, the head coach of the Italian national team, was interviewed by a TV station. In the interview, the elegant "Silver Fox" talked with a cigar produced from "Paradise" Tuscany, saying goodbye to TV audiences all over Italy.

"This is my last time coaching the national team. After the end of Europe, no matter what kind of results I get, I will leave. Of course, I hope to win the championship, and Italy is a team with championship strength. It's just that before things happen, I can't say too much..."

In fact, Italy does not have high hopes for this team. They believe that the host Spain and France, which has an undefeated game in the qualifiers, have more hopes to win the championship than Italy. If Italy encounters these teams before the finals, the outcome is hard to say.

Italians' pessimism comes from the Brazil World Cup two years ago. In that cup, the Italian team, which was considered a favorite to win the championship before the game, was eliminated home in the group stage, and the group where Italy is located is not a "death group", which caused a big upset at that time.

The defeat in that World Cup caused many people to leave the national team, including Pirlo, 35 years old, Casano, 32 years old, Dorcena, and Buffon, 36 years old... The national team is now rebuilt, and they have nothing to do with the Italian team that won the World Cup in Germany ten years ago.

But Italian football is so strange. Every time the whole world is not optimistic about them, they can always achieve impressive results. For example, in the 1982 World Cup and the 2006 World Cup, they are all champions.

Now, they have reached the finals all the way, with the hope of winning the European championship. As a team that won the world championship four times, the highest game in the continent has only won one. It is really inconsistent with their identity as a world-strong team. The Italians hope to write their names for the second time in the history of the European Cup. Although they are generally not optimistic before the game, since they have reached the finals, then Italy is naturally a popular saying at this time. I believe that the blue warriors led by Lippi can defeat England and reach the top of Europe again.

In order to cheer up the team and encourage themselves, the Italian media took all the games six years ago as an example. In the South African World Cup six years ago, England led by Capello performed well. She reached the semi-finals but met the Italian team led by Lippi. In the duel between the two Italian head coaches, Lippi laughed to the end. The Italian media now said - "Look, we have a psychological advantage in playing England."

This statement is really far-fetched, but now Italians just like to listen.

Italy is deliberately creating an optimistic atmosphere, but Lippi does not think there is anything to be optimistic about in this game. As a head coach who has experienced many battles, he has seen all kinds of opponents. He has led the team to play countless unrepeated games, and he has rich experience. He knows that this England team is difficult to deal with.

Although at the beginning of the European Cup, Donn's team gave people a bad impression and even almost couldn't get out of the line. But since the game against Germany started, their performance got better and better. They defeated Germany 2:1, ended their 48-year destiny to not defeat Sweden 2:0, and defeated the favorite French team 4:0, and eliminated the host Spain 3:1. Such a result is enough to make people admire them. You must know that they have basically eliminated the top teams in Europe along the way. On the contrary, Italy's path to promotion is much easier.

The good news now is that England has been fighting with strong teams all the way. They must be better than Italy in terms of physical exhaustion, and the English players are even more tired in their mental state. Although Italy has had a day off less than England, they played very easily in the semi-finals, which can be said to be "no bloodshed".

Lippi's tactics are very simple and not difficult to guess. Before emphasizing offense, emphasize defense first. No matter what you do, defense is the most important. England demonstrated their strong offensive strength in the European Cup, and only did not score goals against Wales. This game is something Lippi needs to focus on. The games that teams that lost to England are of little value. Only Wales' victory over England is worth studying, and you can find the code to defeat England.

Lippi has already studied this game. Wales used a defensive counterattack. Deliberately showing weakness, and then waited for England to be proud and underestimated the opponent. Then use their ability to play the set piece to determine the outcome with one goal. The tactics are simple, but very effective. Wales head coach Toshak seized the high-spirited but proud characteristics of England's just defeated Portugal, formulated this set of tactics, and finally achieved miraculous results. They only won this European Cup in this game and sent them to the quarterfinals.

When facing Italy, Wales did not continue to use the dead-defense tactic. Perhaps because they had achieved their pre-match goal, the game was very relaxed. Perhaps Toshak hoped to let the team show another side. They actively attacked at the beginning, hoping to break through Italy's goal. It's a pity that they played an iron plate - even when facing the weak Wales, Lippi insisted on defending and counterattacking. The iron-like defense made Wales' offense come back in vain, and even revealed loopholes in their defense line. Italy seized these loopholes to counterattack and easily defeated Wales.

Thinking about it now, Lippi may hope that Wales will use the same tactics as England in the game, so that he will have a chance to test how much the team can do when facing such a dead-breaking defense.

He is not sure what tactics Tang En would use when facing Italy.

"Lippi will definitely stick to the defensive counterattack." Tang En said in a meeting with the coaching staff. "He led the team to play many games. Whenever he wanted to hold the banner of offense, he would die miserably. I personally think there is a game that is very valuable to us. I don't know how many people still remember this game now - a group match in the South African Federation Cup in 2009, Brazil beat Italy 3-0.

As soon as he said this, several knowledgeable coaches immediately showed a sudden expression. Everyone still remembered that game.

"In that game, Lippi had already sent the strongest lineup he could send at that time. He wanted to attack Brazil because he needed to score goals and win to qualify from the group. 433 was the Italian formation at that time. Pirlo and Montolivo were dual cores, and there was also a de Rossi. But such a lineup performed terrible. Because Pirlo is old, Montolivo lacks speed and is not good at defense, so the midfielder is only

A De Rossi fought against Brazil's Kaka, Robinho, Macon, Melo and others. In that game, Italy not only lost the score, but also did not gain any advantage in the scene. This game brought great shock to Lippi and completely abandoned his fantasy. From then on, he returned to the old way of defensive counterattack..." Tang En talked happily, as if the game did not happen seven years ago. But yesterday.

"In this final, we can't expect Lippi to make mistakes like he did back then. I think Lippi will continue to stick to the tactic of defensive counterattack. They have players in the frontcourt who can solve problems alone. As long as they can defend the draw, they are likely to win. We have two choices: first, strive to score the goal as soon as possible in the game, forcing Italy to press against us, so that we will have more opportunities." He stretched out two fingers. "Second, we also retreated and focus on defense, avoid losing the ball first, dragging them to the penalty kick to a final battle, and betting on luck."

"Which one do you choose?" he asked.

The coaches fell into deep thoughts.

Generally speaking, the finals of the World Championship are usually boring, because most people choose to be more conservative, first make sure that they do not concede the ball, and then consider scoring goals. If both coaches think so. Then if there is nothing unexpected happening in this final, it will be extremely boring.

The oldest coach, the sixty-six-year-old man Tony Carl, was the first to express his opinion: "I think it's better to be cautious, Tony. Defensiveness is the first priority, and we must first make sure that we are not us before we can consider defeating Italy. In such a final, the side that loses the ball first will become very passive, especially when we are facing a team known for its strong defense..."

Tang En did not respond. He neither nodded in agreement nor shook his head to deny it. He just turned his attention to others, hoping to hear their opinions more.

"I don't agree with you, old Carl." Steve Wigley had a different opinion, "I think we should be more active. Lippi would never have thought that we would take the initiative to attack in the finals. He thought we would do what you thought, and I think this is exactly what we can use. Take the initiative to attack and strive for the first goal. We have this strength." He even clenched his fists.

Hearing someone objected to his suggestion, Carl did not refute immediately. He just smiled and shook his head.

"I think it's better to be conservative. This is the final, we can't make mistakes. At least we can't make mistakes first..." Another coach, Steve Gaitin, said, "It's not about who performs better in the final, but about who makes fewer mistakes. Even if we delay the penalty kick, we have a chance of winning. Just strengthen the penalty training these days."

It's 2:1 now, and conservatives temporarily take the upper hand.

Donn turned his attention to Deswook. As an assistant coach, he must also express his opinions.

"I agree with Wigley's." Walker's opinion was simple.

Now everyone is looking at Tang En again. The score between conservative and offensive is 2:2, which is comparable.

Tang En did not give an answer immediately, and he was obviously hesitating. The conservatives have their reasons and are very convincing. In the final victory in such a final, the team that makes fewer mistakes or even no mistakes. If you want to avoid making mistakes, conservative defense is the way.

Logically speaking, Tang En is the kind of person who can do whatever he wants to win and not be afraid of sacrificing the scene. He is not afraid of being the infamous for negative football. As long as he can win the championship trophy, he can step on all those who have scolded him in the quagmire under his feet.

But today, Tang En didn't plan to do it really. Or rather, he didn't plan to just do it.

"Everyone said it makes sense, it really makes me embarrassed..." He deliberately made a dilemma expression.

George Wood, who had just taken a shower, received a call from Gareth Bell.

"Guess where I am! George!" As soon as he answered the phone, he heard Bell's vibrant voice.

"Home." Wood didn't have the time to play this kind of childish game with Bell, so he casually called the place name.

"Tsk, you're so boring! I'm in the Maldives! Palm trees and white beaches.   It's 10 million times better than the broken weather in the UK! I love this place! It's also good to get out early..." Bell shouted exaggeratedly.

Mitcher pushed the door open and saw Wood calling, and asked casually: "Is your mom?"

Wood shook his head: "A noisy little monkey."

Mitcher laughed, he knew who called.

"Hey, George!" Bell was unhappy when he heard Wood's words. "I kindly call you, are you just treating me?"

"Is there anything wrong?" Wood ignored his trick and asked directly.

"Congratulations on your advance to the finals." Bell said this very sourly. Although he said it was good to be eliminated in advance. In fact, he would rather stay in Spain at this time.

"Thanks. "

"I heard that your opponent is Italy. I have something to tell you, and maybe it will be helpful to you."

Wood raised his eyebrows: "Oh?"

"Oh what does it mean!" Bell knew that Wood was interested, and he finally grabbed Wood's handle.

"Okay, thank you. Please tell me."

Bell cleared his throat and fully enjoyed the respect Wood gave him before continuing: "If you can tell the boss, tell him that he would be better off taking a more conservative defensive counterattack in the game against Italy..."

"Italy will do this, too."

"I know! But this is the final, not a group stage. There is no draw. Even if everyone defends, the winner will be decided! Penalty! I think this is the best way to decide the title. When we were playing against Italy, the quarterfinals of sixteen made us a little dizzy, from the coach to ourselves. They all thought we could challenge Italy. So we tried to take the initiative, but what happened? We lost all our underwear. Lippi was very cunning, so he waited for others to attack and waited for an opportunity.

Counterattack. This is really similar to the boss. So I suggest that the boss do the same. The scene is ugly and the game is dull and it doesn’t matter. You are not playing for those TV viewers. This method gives you a very high chance of winning the championship. I believe that with you, England’s defense will not be a problem. To be honest, if we continue to use the tactics against you in that game, maybe we can drag them into overtime or even a penalty kick. It’s a pity..."

Bell was silent for a while.  It was obvious that being eliminated made him feel uneasy.

"If you win Italy, maybe we will meet you in the finals! At that time, we will have a psychological advantage against you! Haha!" After a moment, his voice was full of vitality again.

Then Bale told Wood the players in the Italian team that they need to pay special attention to, reminding him to be extra careful with these people during the game. These are the first-hand information that Bale has mastered after the game against Italy. Of course, he knew that the boss was always used to studying the opponent thoroughly, but the information collected from the player's perspective should have some new things, even if it is just a little bit. He hopes that it can help the boss.

Finally, after he showed off the scenery and weather in the Maldives, he was about to close the line.

"George." He suddenly called again.

"Hmm?" Wood stopped when he was about to put down his phone.

"You must win! You must win the championship!"

"Of course. We are not here to compete for the runner-up."

"Hehe. That's good, that's good..." Bell smiled wickedly, "I can say - 'Look, we are the only team that the European champion has never won!'"

The windows were raining heavily, and the wind was raging on the sea in the distance, rolling up amazing waves and hitting the dam on the shore. The poor palm trees bowed down in this bad weather, and seemed to be in danger of breaking in half at any time. The shore was covered with white mist, and no matter how far away they were, they could see nothing.

Even if the windows were closed, it could not be stopped and kept drilling into the dim room.

There are few such weather in the Maldives, but it does not mean that there will never be one. May to November in the Maldives are rainy season. The heavy rainfall brought by the southwest monsoon is like a fight against the dryness brought by the northeast monsoon. There are often strong winds and strong winds. At this time, passengers can only hide in hotel rooms and sigh.

The unlucky man Gareth Bell threw down his cell phone, lay on the bed, looking bored at the ceiling. His girlfriend was taking a shower, so he had time to call Wood.

"It's really a hell! I finally came to Maldives once, but I encountered this kind of ghost weather...ah, Spain is better..."
Chapter completed!