"Both sides seem to be in a stalemate. One is the goal scorer, the other is the team head coach; even if there’s a game between them, it shouldn’t be now. Friends who just praised Lu Yang for having a great vision, might now feel a bit slapped."
"How should this farce come to an end... Wait! What happened!"
"Candreva! Candreva slowly squats down by himself, he sits on the grass, making a substitution gesture!"
"Injury? No, Candreva hasn’t recently had an injury record! There’s no problem with his physical condition!"
"The director’s replay is here! Lu Yang just talked to Candreva, they communicated!"
"Candreva’s act of falling doesn’t seem like he’s hurt, but his gesture indicates he needs to be replaced!"
"Candreva’s eyes are red, he seems to have made an important decision. His opinion is firm, he keeps making the substitution gesture, tears stream down his face! Candreva cried!"
"I think everyone might know what this means! It’s absurd! There has never been such a match in World Football before!"
"The substituted player refuses to go on the field! The goalscorer and the head coach have a dispute! The player on the field deliberately falls to show he wants to be substituted! These three different states indicate the same desire to win among these players."
"Candreva may not be excellent enough, he couldn’t bring a better change for the Italy Team. But Candreva is great enough! He can do anything for the Italy Team!"
"Fierce applause rings out on site, fans start calling Candreva’s name. Candreva receives a hero’s welcome!"
"Sometimes, strength isn’t about stubbornly refusing to change, but about willingly being the supporting cast or stepping aside."
"A substitution card appears on the sideline, Morici replaces Candreva, marking this young player’s first time serving the Italy Team."
...
Morici takes the field, the game restarts.
Including stoppage time, there’s about fifteen minutes left in the game.
This time Morici is playing the organizing defensive midfield position.
But due to the lack of coordination with teammates, Morici’s organizing function is difficult to achieve; his biggest task is to serve as a defensive midfielder who isn’t too strong but also not easy to lose position.
Five foot seven, skinny, technical player.
If this kind of player appears in the opponent’s defensive midfield position, what would you do?
Sweden Team unhesitatingly targets Morici for key breakthroughs.
They focus on breaking through this point, playing balls behind, trying to make the Italy Team suffer.
But Morici is indeed very different from Candreva, who has never played defensive midfield.
Although he plays attacking midfield for San Remo, he definitely doesn’t take risks at the defensive midfield position; most of Sweden Team’s balls behind him were intercepted by him.
This alone makes him stable enough.
And whenever the opponent prepares to forcefully attack him, Lu Yang will appear by his side.
The two coordinate in a pincer attack, almost without any fish slipping through the net.
Even when Morici passes the ball, Lu Yang often comes back to support.
This stabilizes the Italian midfield on the field.
But... Italy thus misses attacking.
Offense and defense can’t be taken care of at the same time, which is the biggest drawback of an all-purpose midfielder.
It’s also, comparatively, the advantage of an attacking midfielder plus defensive midfielder combination.
Vincent has stopped speaking; he has completely lost his voice over this Italy team.
But subconsciously, he feels a bit happy.
Especially after Drake, Lu Yang, and Candreva successively defied his arrangement.
Because like this, the problem is these people’s, not Vincent’s problem.
"Attack!"
Ancelotti is a bit anxious at the front field, he shouts at Lu Yang, with a not-so-kind tone.
He has emotions.
After all, having experienced the pleasure of Lu Yang pushing forward to pull away the opponent’s defenders, Ancelotti cannot accept it when Lu Yang suddenly stops advancing, leaving Ancelotti to bear it all alone.
Moreover, Italy is currently trailing; they must attack, which is the most important reason for having Lu Yang on.
But now, why would you, an attacking player, run to the backfield to play passing with Morici?
Protecting teammates isn’t done this way, right?
Even if Morici doesn’t make mistakes in this match, he still won’t receive a good evaluation after Italy loses.
Don’t you understand this?
Lu Yang gestures "OK" to Ancelotti, indicating that he is aware of what he’s doing.
Two minutes later, Morici fakes a pass after receiving the ball, then turns around, beats a player at the defensive midfield position and proceeds with the ball!
This is very aggressive behavior, marking Morici’s first such move after he came on the pitch.
When people thought he’s a back pass machine, he suddenly showed a different side.
Sweden midfielders quickly rush to Morici, attempting to hinder.
But Morici pushes the ball to the left front.
Lu Yang receives the ball.
No, not receiving the ball.
Lu Yang wall passes!
Morici receives the ball again.
Sweden’s defensive midfielder rushes to Morici, preparing to coordinate a pincer attack with teammates.
However, Morici also wall passes it back to Lu Yang.
Sweden Team is confused.
What the heck...
Weren’t Italian players supposed to be weak in personal quick coordination?
What’s this ping pong-like dribbling? Oriental special?
Bang!
Lu Yang pushes the ball forward, Ancelotti suddenly initiates, makes a forward run to prepare to receive the ball.
Perrotta moves to the right, drawing away a defending player.
Lu Yang passes the ball!
But the target isn’t Ancelotti; instead, it’s Morici on the right, who has already run to the area outside the arc of the penalty area.