, with the top plug-in Santordo, experienced great joys and sorrows, and finally regretfully finished second in the European Cup in 2000. As the core players matured, Italy, which has outstanding paper strength and a large number of handsome guys, The team easily surpassed the Romanian team in the 2002 World Cup European Qualifiers and successfully advanced to the 2002 Japan and South Korea World Cup.
The great joy of eliminating the Netherlands with a penalty kick
The great tragedy of being defeated by Trezeguet
The family portrait of the Italian team in the 2002 World Cup
- The head coach's ability
After the 2000 European Cup, the "gold medal coach" with rich coaching experience and leading the giants to win many championships special Rapatoni became the coach of the Azzurri.
Trapattoni, who pursues utilitarian football and has a conservative tactical style, mainly relies on the unstoppable "human tank" Vieri for his offense, as well as the personal performance of "Number 9 and a half" Totti, who was still accustomed to being competitive at the time. ; And the midfielder, which is dominated by engineers, is severely lacking in offensive ability and organizational creativity (the midfield strength of this Italian team completely fails to meet the standards of a strong team). In addition, when faced with the conflict between Totti, who has his own way as a franchise player, and Maldini, who emphasizes discipline as the captain, Trapattoni, who had a distinctive personality and hot temper when he was young, appears to be tactful, weak, and fond of others. Acting as a "peacemaker", he finally succeeded in kneading the Italian team, which was already full of mountains, into a mess.
Italian team coach Trapattoni
- Personnel and tactics
The Italian team, which seriously lacks midfield creativity, has its main formation between 4-4-2 and 4-3-3, closer to 4-4-2.
In the goalkeeper position, the legendary goalkeeper Buffon , who has no obvious shortcomings and is the perfect template for a goalkeeper, serves as the main goalkeeper; he has historical-level reflexes and saving abilities, has an excellent body shape but is not very good at attacking, and is prone to losing concentration. Toldo, the god of the 2000 European Cup, could only be ranked as the substitute goalkeeper (no way, Buffon was a historical level at his peak). Abia was good but was born at the wrong time and his career was plagued by injuries. Thi served as the third goalkeeper. The wealth of this Italian team at the goalkeeper position is also unique in history.
On the defensive line, Paolo Maldini, who has comprehensive ability, solid defense, can play left or center, has rich experience, and has a leadership temperament, but his physical functions have begun to decline as he gets older, serves as the captain and main force of the Italian team. Left back (transformed into a central defender due to Nesta 's injury during the game); Nesta, who has outstanding confrontation ability, epic defensive skills and abilities, is calm-minded but often injured, and has excellent physical fitness and tenacity Cannavaro , who is tenacious, has outstanding defensive ability but is prone to recklessness, has average positional sense and lacks body size, serves as the main center back combination; Panu has comprehensive abilities, can play right or center, is defensively sound, has knife attributes but has a hot temper. Qi serves as the main right back; Keke , who has excellent foot skills and assist ability, but his career was ruined by dissatisfaction, serves as the substitute left back; cool-headed, outstanding defensive prediction ability and ability to read the game, and excellent steal and defense ability, but Iuliano, who is too low-key and simple to be the leader of the defense, and Materazzi, who is tall and strong, has outstanding frontal defensive ability, amazing header ability but slow turn speed and hot temper, serve as substitute central defenders.
In the midfield position, Gianluca Zambrotta, who can play multiple positions, has comprehensive abilities, excellent skills, and abundant physical strength, serves as the main right midfielder; Doni, who has excellent organizational and linking skills, outstanding skills, creativity but is prone to injuries He serves as the main left midfielder; he is good at attacking and defending, has plenty of physical strength, a dedicated attitude, and extremely clean defensive moves but lacks creativity and imagination. Tomasi occupies a position in the main midfielder; he has excellent defensive ability and good offensive ability from behind. , Di Biagio, who has outstanding long-pass transfer ability, competes with Zanetti , who has outstanding court coverage, strong stealing and interception abilities, but average skills, for the position of another main midfielder; hard-working attitude, abundant physical strength, Di Livio, who has excellent court coverage but average technical ability, and Gattuso, who has abundant physical fitness, strong defense, and is good at physical confrontation and blocking and interception, serve as substitutes.
At the forward position, Vieri is the "tank" center who is at his peak, extremely efficient but prone to injury, and Vieri, who has outstanding personal abilities, excellent scoring efficiency but is unruly, is a typical smooth donkey , and wears the No. 10 jersey. , "Nine and a half" Totti, who is the core of the team, serves as the main striker combination; Del Piero, who is full of spirituality and possesses top skills, but the performance contrast between the national team and the club is too great, and has been demoted from No. 10 to No. 7, has Filippo Inzaghi, who has a historical level of anti-offside ability and ability to seize opportunities, but lacks physical confrontation ability and average foot skills, is more suitable for serving as a wingman next to the center. Montella has outstanding ability to grab points, is fast but has an average body type. , and "Big Goose" DelVizio, who has outstanding tactical execution ability but average scoring efficiency, serves as a substitute forward.
, the Italian male model team, is star-studded on the surface and has outstanding strength on paper, but the team's midfield strength is insufficient, and both offense and defense rely too much on individual abilities. Fiore It is understandable that Ambrosini was not selected for the squad due to long-term sitting on the bench, but Morfeo, who performed well in Florence and is full of creativity and imagination, was also not selected. , it can only be said that Trapattoni's employment cannot accommodate players who have difficulty adapting to the 4-4-2 tactics. Roberto Baggio, who was 35 years old and had made a miraculous recovery from a serious knee injury in order to catch up with the World Cup, failed to get even the slightest chance, which broke the hearts of the fans.
The Italian team in the 2002 World Cup
- Group Stage Journey
In the first match of the group stage, the Italian team faced the Ecuadorian team , with Di Biagio and Tomasi serving as the main midfielder combination. Vieri, who was in great form, scored two goals in the first half to help the Italian team win easily. Among them, the scene where Vieri carried away Ecuadorian defender Augusto Poroso made people even more amazed at Vieri's invincibility and unstoppability. In this World Cup, which has suffered from constant upsets since the beginning, Italy's convincing performance makes people feel that they have hope of winning the championship in chaos.
Vieri's first goal
Vieri's second goal
Vieri carried Poroso
In the second game of the group stage, the Italian team faced the Croatian team. The Croatian team, whose core players are seriously aging, made a major change in this game and sent a large number of young players to play. The Italian team also sent Zanetti and Tomasi to form a combination in the middle of the midfield. In the 24th minute of the first half, Nesta, who was seriously injured and left the field every time in the World Cup group match, was injured again. Materazzi, who came on as a temporary replacement, had a difficult time facing the Croatian team's fast and agile striker. Have obvious effects. In the second half of the game, facing the marking of Himunic, who was tall and strong and also grew up in Australia, Vieri scored the first goal, but his physical energy was severely exhausted. The Italian team wasted opportunities one after another, but Olic and Rapajic scored two consecutive goals within 4 minutes. The Italian team was stunned. Although they launched a furious attack in the last minute, they were unlucky and had to lose an upset 1:2.
Vieri broke through the Croatian team's goal
In the third game of the group stage, the Italian team, which could only ensure qualifying by winning, took the initiative to change its formation to 4-3-3. Inzaghi started with Totti and Vieri to form a front trident. In the 34th minute of the first half, the Mexican team Borgetti's "looking back at the moon" magic goal helped the Mexican team take the lead and pushed the Italian team into a desperate situation.
Borgetti's look back at the moon
In the second half of the game, the Italian team, which could only make a desperate effort to strengthen its offense, replaced Inzaghi with Montella and Del Piero replaced Totti. Finally, in the 85th minute, Del Piero came to the rescue, helping the Italian team equalize the score and save his national team career. In the end, the Ecuador team defeated the Croatian team, and the Italian team was able to stagger out of the group.
Piero's critical savior
Piero's scoring moment
- Epic shady story
In the quarter-finals , the Italian team encountered the host South Korea team. The Italian team continued to use a 4-3-3 formation. Due to Cannavaro's accumulation of yellow cards and suspension, they had to use a central defender combination of Iuliano and Maldini, with Koko as the starting left back. In the last game, he was in danger. Savior Del Piero was able to start this game.
Shortly after the start, under the referee's unprincipled and bottom-line favoritism, the Korean team got a penalty kick, but Buffon, who performed bravely, rejected Ahn Jung-hwan 's penalty kick. Vieri, who was in great form, bravely headed the ball in despite the Koreans' all-out defensive moves, opening the scoring for the Italian team.
Buffon saved Ahn Jung-hwan's penalty
Vieri's header
In the second half of the game, the Korean team, which was full of martial arts and began to perform taekwondo on the World Cup stage, suffered intermittently blindness when the referee Moreno With the help of the black whistle. Xue Qixuan equalized the score in the 88th minute.
The South Korean team is rough in action
The South Korean team is rough in action
The South Korean team is rough in action
The South Korean team is rough in action
The morale-boosted South Korean team continued to get worse in overtime. Totti’s elbow fouls accumulated two fouls. The yellow card was sent off, but Koko was elbowed by a Korean player until his face was bleeding, but the referee Moreno turned a blind eye. Under this shady situation, it can only be considered a routine operation if Tomasi's good shot is blown away. In the 117th minute, the physically fit Koreans scored the golden goal from Ahn Jung-hwan, ending this game that could be called a World Cup farce.
Totti was fined
Dilivio to protest the referee
department blood flow, but he didn't see
hh7hh7h
Tomasi's good ball was blown off
An Zhenhuan's Golden Globe
paper. Facing the powerful Italian team, they fell helplessly in front of the dilemma of having no one in the DPRK and the sportsmanship of the Koreans. However, the Italian team, which lacks team combat capabilities and obviously lacks a midfield level, will actually find it difficult to go far.
What is really regretful is that Vieri, who was at his peak, failed to lead the Italian team further, and he, who was in great shape, failed to win even one World Cup Golden Boot. Maldini, the legendary captain of the Italian team, permanently quit the national team after this World Cup due to conflicts with Totti and Trapattoni. He failed to win a championship trophy for the Italian team in his career, which is a lifelong regret. .
Maldini’s last moments fighting for the national team
