Sure enough!
Mancini’s left-foot tap was just a feint; he pulled off a Rabona, and as the ball flew left, it immediately bounced to the right.
Then, Mancini dribbled horizontally with the ball.
It appeared that Mancini and Lu Yang were making a feint to the same side simultaneously and then truly lunged toward the opposite side at the same time.
The two collided.
Mancini’s cut inside failed.
Lu Yang executed an almost perfect defense.
The reason it’s "almost" is that although Lu Yang blocked Mancini, he couldn’t poke the ball away from Mancini’s feet.
Mancini, stumbling, knocked the ball to the center arc of the penalty area early.
There, Rashim arrived late.
Because another England forward was also charging in, Cortino went to intercept him.
So it had to be Pirola who stepped forward to block Rashim.
However, once Pirola stepped up, Rashim directly stepped over the ball, then pinched the ball between his front right heel and back left foot, leaping lightly with the ball to the side!
Rainbow flick!
Pirola was instantly furious!
Damn!
Dare to show off?
His turning speed wasn’t fast, but he still managed to grab Rashim’s jersey in time after Rashim landed.
Every footballer knows that while dribbling past a player isn’t much, doing so with a showy "flair" can easily provoke opponents.
From a tactical standpoint, provoking an opponent can lead them to act irrationally, like Pirola’s grab right now, which is undoubtedly a foul. If Rashim were to fall as a result, Pirola would definitely be handed a yellow card and give England a well-positioned free kick.
Moreover, if it were a bit more inside, a controversial penalty could arise.
But players who often play like this are unsurprisingly prone to various injuries throughout their careers.
So unless you’re an Ironman, it’s better to consider the defender’s feelings when dribbling past.
However, Rashim is a decent player.
He didn’t fall but tenaciously poked the ball out.
The ball rolled into the penalty area.
On the other side.
Although blocked by Lu, after passing the ball, Mancini used Lu as a pillar for a back-turn and bypassed him.
Lu’s attention was on the ball, not noticing Mancini. Besides, Lam was behind him, so letting Mancini through wasn’t impossible.
Thus, Mancini cut inside the box without the ball.
Lam’s focus remained on Mancini, and as soon as Mancini entered, he leaned towards him.
But surprisingly, Mancini suddenly accelerated.
Lam knew instantly it wasn’t good; glancing to the right, he saw the ball rolling in.
He desperately pressed against Mancini.
Yet, at this moment, Mancini displayed the great advantages of England’s young strikers.
That is, extremely explosive and fast, with decent confrontation ability during high-speed movement.
Mancini relied on Lam, both simultaneously running in the box, ultimately surpassing Lam by half a body length, successfully completing a poke shot!
And since Lam was in the penalty area and in close combat, he couldn’t slide tackle under such circumstances and was practically devoured by Mancini!
Bam!
This poke shot was rapid, with a sharp enough angle that Areola stretched out in time but missed by ten centimeters.
England leads 3-2, the third time in the match!
"GOAL!"
After scoring, Mancini roared wildly!
This is genius!
This is the world’s strongest young player!
Similarly, Rashim, who fell down after the pass, immediately got up and rushed to Mancini.
The two Great British Imperial Stars embraced passionately.
This was another clever connection between geniuses!
"Long live England!"
The England-supporting commentators shouted frantically into their microphones.
"This is undoubtedly the most exciting group stage match of this European Youth Championship, even more thrilling than England’s match against Spain!"
"England is too dominant! They always manage to take the lead, they are unstoppable!"
"Italy had already performed the best defense possible on this ball, whether it was Lu Yang or Pirola or Lam. They all completed their tasks. But the two Great British Imperial Stars were enough to destroy all their efforts!"
"The future belongs to young people. The future of football belongs to England’s youngsters!"
"The top two of the Golden Boy Award plus another from the top twenty of the Golden Boy Award undoubtedly outweigh the combination of a top twenty Golden Boy Award and another from the top one hundred!"
"Rashim’s rainbow flick was filled with ingenuity! This is Manchester’s favored son, the King of Joy!"
"Mancini has scored twice; he has leaped to the top scorer of the European Youth Championship so far! Five goals, leading the pack!"
"Just now, during the simultaneous A group match, Pavovsky scored, equalizing for the Poland Team! If both maintain the current scorelines to the end, England will advance to the semi-finals as the top of group A!"
"The strength of the England Youth Team is terrifying!"
To ensure fairness in the group stage, the final matches are played simultaneously.
This is to avoid some teams from cheating or playing fixed matches, etc.
Some might wonder if a fixed match counts as a rigged game.
The answer is undoubtedly yes.
It does count!
Absolutely counts!
Not only for cup matches, even during the last rounds of a league, specific teams secure from relegation or promotion, deliberately losing or drawing, is a situation the football association would never allow.