At the end, the first half was finally over, and the young Gli Azzurri had to leave the pitch in frustration as they were unable to breach the Young Samurai's disciplined defense even once.
Their best chance was early in the game, when Davide Fratessi managed to sneak into the penalty box and launched a good shot that was blocked by Zion. Other than that, their attempt to put the ball in the box always failed, either because of Japan's good defensive positioning or their poor execution in the final pass that made it easier for Zion to pick up the ball.
Nevertheless, the Japanese team was so excited as they ended the first half with a lead over a strong Italy team. This was definitely a good start for their tournament, and if they could maintain this score for the next 45 minutes, they would snatch a full 3-point lead from the strongest team in the group.
Just thinking about that was enough to make the boys go into a frenzy.
