Many media outside the world are talking about penalty shootouts. More people think that there will be a penalty shootout between Italy and England. The two teams will decide the victory with a "brutal" penalty kick. In terms of penalty shootouts, the Italian media continues to build momentum for Italy, and many neutral media also follow suit and "not optimistic about England."

The English media quickly launched a "counterattack" to clear the name of the England team. The Daily Mirror is the leading media. They used the analysis of the Italian team's data to show that even if there was a penalty shootout, the English team's winning rate was very high.

The Daily Mirror specifically analyzed the penalty kicks of the main penalty shooters in Italy and England from the 2008-2009 season to the present, and analyzed in detail the penalty habits of Italian players, hoping to "help Hart before the 12-yard line."

These data are not optimistic about Italy.

Italian striker Balotelli hit all nine penalty shots in the past. Relatively speaking, he prefers to send the ball to the left of the goalkeeper. His efficiency is still very high and he is also considered to be the only player in the Italian team who is sure to score a penalty.

Another striker, Casano, was saved twice in the penalty kick, and his goal efficiency was not high, but it was difficult to find the rule of Casano's penalty kick direction.

Since the 2008-2009 season, De Rossi has only scored half of the penalty kicks he took. The angle he likes is the upper right corner of the goalkeeper.

Dinatale may be the best penalty kicker in Italy, Italy's "punishment king". He is not obsessed with taking the penalty on the left or right. He is just finding a way to score, but his goal efficiency is actually not high - 9 of them were hit by 14 penalty kicks, and his shooting percentage of less than 70% was barely passing.

Finally, it is the Italian midfielder core Pirlo. Many people compare Pirlo with Morris, and think that Pirlo's skills are better than Morris, and then subconsciously feel that Pirlo's penalties efficiency is definitely higher than Morris.

Actually, this is wrong.

In the past 9 penalty kicks, Pirlo has lost three free throws. It is worth noting that Pirlo never kicks the ball to the left of the goalkeeper, but his shooting percentage on the right is not high (4 out of 7).

The Daily Mirror finally commented, "According to historical records, Italy is not good at penalty shootouts. They have only won two of the past seven penalty shootouts."

The key to the analysis of "Daily Mirror" is to prove that "the Italian's penalty kicks are not very good." Later, the article listed the English team's best players in the penalty shootout - Rooney, Morris, Gerrard, Ashley Cole, Ashley Young and Milner. However, for the sake of possible "confidentiality", the Daily Mirror only gave pictures and did not analyze it.

Other English media quickly followed and began to report on Italian penalty issues.

In addition to the penalty kicks of the two teams, many media reports also focused on two core players - England's core Morris, and Italy's highly sought-after player is forward Balotelli.

Balotelli is a genius in the Italian team. He is only 23 years old, but he has become the core player of the forward line. Almost every team that encounters an Italian team has to worry about defending Balotelli.

At 15 years and 7 months old, Balotelli played for Lumezane of the Serie C League, setting a historical record in the Italian professional league.

On the last day of the summer transfer in 2006, Inter Milan's transfer department head found Balotelli's brother and his agent, Corrado, and asked about relevant information. He immediately gave Balotelli a three-year contract.

In the 2006-07 season, Balotelli scored 19 goals in the first 20 games of the U-17 youth team. He was promoted to the U-19 youth team in the second half of the season and scored another 9 goals, and helped Inter Milan's U-19 youth team win the Youth League championship, so he attracted the attention of first-team head coach Mancini.

On December 17, 2007, two minutes before the end of the match between Inter Milan and Cagliari, Balotelli was reserved for Suazo, which was his first time to play for Inter Milan's first team in the official match. In the Italian Cup against Regina three days later, Balotelli played in the first team match, not only played for 90 minutes, but also scored two goals.

Balotelli's outstanding performance also helped Inter Milan win the 2007-08 Italian Football League championship.

In 2008, the 18-year-old Balotelli renewed his contract with Inter Milan until 2011, with an annual salary of 1.2 million euros making him the highest-paid player among his peers. On November 4, Balotelli won his first European Champions League goal against Cyprus Football League A team, becoming the youngest player in Inter Milan's history to score a European Champions League goal, breaking the previous record of 18 years and 145 days held by Martins.

In the 2009-10 season, Balotelli performed outstandingly. Compared with last season, he lost several key forwards this season, so Balotelli became the third forward after Diego Milito and Etoo. He then prepared to play in the first three games, including a 4-0 victory over AC Milan in the same city derby, and then scored two goals and one assist in the home game against Palermo, and Inter Milan won 5-3.

Due to his outstanding performance in Inter Milan, Balotelli has gained attention from all over Europe and even the world. In 2010, he joined Manchester City Club with a transfer fee of up to 28 million euros.

Last game, Balotelli was in a state of great shape. He almost directed Manchester City's 6-1 slaughter against Manchester United, and made 28 appearances throughout the season, helping Manchester City score 19 goals.

This performance was enough to get Balotelli the highest attention.

The Italian team is actually not outstanding at present. After the failure of the 2010 World Cup, Italy fell into a huge trough. Plandelli took over the team and completed the reconstruction that Lippi did not complete. Although veterans like Buffon and Pirlo were left behind, players of the ages like Casano, Chiellini, and Montolivo began to take the lead, as well as young players such as Balotelli and Ranozia who have become famous for several years. The Italian team can be said to be in the process of reconstruction.

In this Italian team, Balotelli has attracted much attention, and he can also be said to be the "number one" in the team.

England is about to play against Italy, and how to defend Balotelli has become the focus. Wan Sheng also attaches great importance to this. During the preparation process of England, Wan Sheng also emphasized targetedly the blockade of Balotelli to prevent this strong and skilled striker from posing a threat to the England team's defense line and goal.

Balotelli is not easy to defend because his skills and physical fitness are excellent.

Wan Sheng made three defensive strategies against Balotelli: First, conduct more physical confrontations. England is not inferior to others in physical confrontation. Especially after Wan Sheng took over, the physical attributes of the players of the team were improved. Strong defenders such as Terry and Lescott were not afraid of physical conflicts at all. They were able to compete with Balotelli and create enough pressure and trouble for Balotelli.

The second is to create offside.

This is also a consideration of Italy's overall strength. Pirlo and Montolivo's long passes are very fatal. Facing a single sword, Balotelli, you don't need to think about life anymore.

If you can successfully create an offside, Balotelli's temperament will become impatient.

An impatient striker is no longer a threat.

But Wan Sheng emphasized that we should minimize this, because offside is a flying tackle but a dangerous one. The defense line must maintain a high concentration, especially on Aberoa's side, and we should not be distracted by defending Casano. If the full-back fails to push up in time when offside, the goal will become very dangerous.

To defeat the Italian team, of course, overall struggle is indispensable. The midfield becomes the most important "battlefield". Fighting for the initiative in the midfield is very critical to the progress of the entire game.

Three days passed quickly in external reports and internal targeting preparations.

The Italian and England matches are about to begin.

Teams on both sides have entered the stadium to warm up, and fans and spectators have also begun to enter the stadium to watch the game. English fans continue their previous strength. Unless they are facing hosts like Ukraine, the number of English fans is always the largest.

Some foreign media believe that "the ability of England to achieve such a good result is inseparable from the absolute support of England fans."

Italy is relatively weaker.

This is a match between Dynamo Kiev, Ukraine. Italy moved from Poland to Dynamo Kiev. The weakness of the "away" game was fully reflected. There were at least 10,000 fans present in England, while there were at most 4,000 Italian fans.

This has nothing to do with the participation of most Italian politicians to boycott the European Cup in Ukraine, and has little to do with the European economic downturn. It is just because Italian fans bring their inertia towards their own leagues to the national team, and they prefer to sit at home and watch the live broadcast with friends.

Italy vs Ireland, with 17 million viewers at the beginning, Casano scored to 20 million when he scored, and Balotelli scored more than 21 million at the end of the game. The number of attention from the TV media continued to increase, and the increase in the total number shows that there is no sign of fans changing the channel in the middle.

In the ratings report counted by Italian state TV, the ratings at the beginning were 67.6%, and the ratings at the end reached 71.29%.

There are 7 people watching the Blue Shirt Legion game for every 10 spectators.

Italy's population census last year showed that the country's population exceeded 60 million, and more than one-third were paying attention to the national team's qualifying battle.

This is the highest viewership of Italian TV programs this year, with only 13.28 million viewers in the San Remo Music Festival.

But the TV channel ratings do not represent the enthusiasm of Italian fans to support the national team. They rarely come to support the fans on site. Italian star De Rossi said when talking about the small audience: "How many people have the ability to watch the football in this economic background? English fans have been like this for generations, and they gathered together in large numbers. Fortunately, the game was 11 people against 11 people. If we consider the number of fans, we don't have to compare. I hope that if we advance again, there will be more fans, just like in Germany in 2006. Our politicians boycott Ukraine? The details are not clear, so we just play well."

The small number of fans present in Italy is good news for England, and there will be more fans on-site support for the game.

"If the team performs well, it may be our home court."

At the pre-match press conference, Wan Sheng said with a smile, "There will be an advantage at home, and I believe the team will also play an advantage and strive to get more neutral fans to support us."

After talking about some extra topics, the focus returned to the game. Wan Sheng once again reiterated that he wanted to win the game in 90 minutes. "We will strive to win the game in 90 minutes, and I believe we can do it. But the result of the football game is always unpredictable. If we really want to have a penalty shootout, we will be the winners. The only thing is that the game process is a bit difficult..."

The Italian media immediately questioned, "Why do you say that?"

"Because of confidence," Wan Shengdao, "I know my team very well and Italy very well. Yes, I have never coached the Italian team, but it doesn't matter. I have already gained a comprehensive understanding of Italy through the game video. They will not be our opponents."

"If you don't believe me, you can watch it in the game!"

After Wan Sheng said this, he left the venue.

More than 10 minutes later, Italian head coach Plandley also came.

Plandelli is a former Italian national team star player and has made great achievements in coaching the team. Verona's two seasons were the beginning of Plandelli's coaching. He not only helped the team successfully advance to Serie A and successfully relegated, but also ranked ninth.

Afterwards, he led Venice to Class A.

In 2002, Plandeli coached Parma. It was at this time that he began to attract the attention of the whole of Italy. In 2004, he entered the ranks of the head coach of the giants, but because his wife was seriously ill, Plandeli had to resign from his position as head coach.

In 2005, Plandelli took over Fiorentina, but in the first season he brought the team into the Champions League, but due to the phone penalty, Fiorentina missed the Champions League and started with a loss of 15 points in the second season. Although he suffered points deductions, Fiorentina still ranked sixth at the end of the season and qualified for the UEFA Cup.

In the next two seasons, Florence qualified for the Champions League, and performed very well in the league and Champions League.

With Ancelotti leaving AC Milan, Plandelli became the longest-serving Serie A coach at the time.

In 2009, he became the longest coach in Florence's history.

Judging from Plandelli's experience, we know that he is a well-known figure in football. Even though his team's results are incomparable to Wansheng, his reputation is no less than Wansheng. He has never lacked supporters since his professional player.

Plandelli walked into the press conference and heard the reporter repeat Wan Sheng's words, he wrinkled slightly, and then said, "It must be admitted that Wan Sheng is an excellent head coach. He led the team to win one championship after another, but the national team is different from the club. This is the European Cup, not the Champions League, and he coaches England, not Atletico Madrid."

"He likes to put the familiar one on the team, but the team is different from the team, and the game is different. He has never led the team to fight against Italy, so how can he say 'understand'? I believe that this game will be a lesson for him, letting him know not to be careless and underestimate the enemy..."

"As for the game, of course, the winner will be Italy!"

Although Wansheng and Plandelli did not meet head-on, their words were still full of gunpowder. So when the match between England and Italy officially started, many TV channels gave pictures of Plandelli and Wansheng.

In the picture, Plandley had a big forehead and a serious expression, while Wan Sheng was smiling, as if there was no pressure.

"From the expressions of the two, Wan Sheng is more confident in the game, but Italy is definitely not easy to deal with. We can look forward to seeing a wonderful contest!"

Huang Jianxiang, a special guest of "Xinlang Sports", who everyone knows about "Italian fans", analyzed.
Chapter completed!