The Italians restarted with a little more edge to their play, the sting of conceding still fresh.
From the bench, Leo sat forward, elbows on his knees, eyes following every pass.
He didn't blink much when he watched games like this; it was how he studied, how he learned and how he tried to accommodate to a new philosophy of playing football.
Italy began to move the ball faster, switching play from side to side, forcing the Japanese block to shuffle constantly, with there being no set positions when the Asianic side was defending.
Rovella and Fagioli dropped deep to pull strings, while Bellanova and Udogie took turns bombing down the flanks.
Still, Japan held firm, organised and alert, their counters sharp every time the Azzurri misplaced a pass.
At one point, a misplaced touch from Vignato led to another quick Japanese break, this time down the right.
