Chapter 300 "Point" Back

"The whole game is over. England won the last round, 4-1. In Group D, they won all three games, and they qualified as the first in the group without any suspense..."

"After Wansheng coached the England team, it took only 20 days to deliver a perfect result!"

"In this game, the England team showed strength, and Ukraine as the host has no chance at all! Many people say that England is not the favorite to win the championship, but after seeing their performance in the group stage, who can be sure?"

"There is another game in Group D, and there are ten minutes left. So far, Sweden leads France 2-0. If the game ends like this, all three teams in Group D will have 3 points. According to the European Cup According to the rules, Sweden will be ranked second in the group and enter the quarter-finals with a goal difference advantage over France!"

"The French team still has a chance, maybe a miracle can happen in 10 minutes..."

"But Ukraine has been eliminated in advance due to the goal difference of minus four. If Sweden wins second in the group, the relationship between Ukraine and France will be at a disadvantage, and they can almost only be at the bottom of group D..."

In the words of the match commentator, the England team and England fans celebrated their victory excitedly. No matter what other teams were like, they won all three games, qualified in the group with an absolute advantage, and entered the quarter-finals of the European Cup.

This is also a perfect first step out of the European Cup.

In England's celebration, the game between Sweden and France also ended. In the end, the French team did not perform miracles in the last ten minutes. They lost their last game 0-2 to Sweden.

According to the European Cup group stage ranking rules, the two teams have the same points. First of all, the relationship between wins and losses must be compared, and the relationship between wins and losses is also the same, and the goal difference will be compared. The relationship between wins and losses is often enough to determine the ranking order, but there is a complicated situation in Group D. Sweden, France and Ukraine all have 1 win and 2 losses. The three teams have the same win-loss relationship, so the goal difference must be compared.

The results of the five matches in Group D are -

France 0:3 England.

Ukraine 0:2 France.

Ukraine 2:1 Sweden.

Sweden 0:3 England.

England 4:1 Ukraine.

Sweden 2:0 France.

Among them, England's goal difference is 9, France's goal difference is 'minus 3', Ukraine is 'minus 4', Sweden is 'minus 2', then Sweden ranks second in the group with a goal difference advantage. , to win the qualification of Group D, France ranked third and was eliminated, Ukraine had the least goal difference and ranked the bottom of the group.

No one expected this result.

After the last game between Sweden and England, almost everyone thought that Sweden had been eliminated. They lost both games and had little hope, but after a 2-0 victory over France, they qualified for the second place in the group. Ukraine, which won in the first round, was at the bottom of the group.

When the two games of Group D were all over, the Swedes were the happiest. They fell into despair for a time, but finally completed the feat of appearing in the group-for their first two rounds, it was absolutely a miracle that they qualified for the group.

Many media have used the 'miracle' to describe the Swedish team's qualifying, such as "The Sun" said, "This is incredible, they should thank England, England's goal difference is three per game, very fair , the last game Ukraine does not lose 3 goals, Sweden is very dangerous."

More media lamented the elimination of the French team. "France and England are also optimistic. They are considered to be the most promising team in Group D, but in the end, the French team was eliminated. It's a pity..."

For the Ukrainian team and head coach Oleg Blokhin, being eliminated is a result of mental preparation. Even if they lose only one goal, their goal difference is only equal to Sweden. After the game, Oleg Blokhin Luo Xin admitted frankly, "England is a strong team, we see no hope in the game, their performance is too good."

Speaking of the final result of Group D, Oleg Blokhin said, "The Swedes had good luck, but in the last game, they played very well. It was a surprise that France was eliminated. I thought it would be France. The team qualified with England."

"Anyway, our European Cup is over, and the rest belongs to other teams. The three games in Group D have given us a lot of experience. The team still has a lot to improve. We must face up to the top teams. difference……"

As the protagonist who has attracted much attention, Wan Sheng did not talk about Group D again. "It's all over, there's nothing to talk about. I can only say, congratulations to Sweden, and wish them to go further."

"For us, qualifying from the group is not the goal. Our goal is only the championship. Now we have taken the first step. There is still a big battle waiting for us. We need to continue to work hard and strive to take the last step..."

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Every next step is very difficult.

In the quarter-finals, England's opponent is Italy. Italy, which has many stars such as Balotelli and Pirlo, must be one of the most difficult teams to deal with. Encountered the 'high day' of the German team.

In the eyes of bookmakers, the German team is the most likely to win the championship.

Their current odds are 3.25, the first of eight teams, with England third at 3.90 and ahead of England, Spain at 3.40.

The odds of Italy are only 9.50, which is related to the poor performance of Italy in the group stage, otherwise they would not be able to finish second in the group and collide with the England team, but like the "Gazzetta dello Sport" after the group stage was all over. The article said, "Although the Italian team's road to the top 8 is very bumpy, once it enters the knockout stage, life and death are even more unpredictable. Because in this cup-one-one-elimination system, in addition to strength, there is a lot of spirit. Layer stuff..."

Italy is not easy to deal with.

However, the Italian players seemed a little arrogant. After the results of the group stage came out, Italian striker Diamanti took the lead in "shooting" when he attended the press conference. "Don't look at the more beautiful England group stage. They also ended up being eliminated."

Diamanti, who played briefly in the Premier League and 'thinks' he knows English football, told reporters: "Maybe England is 30 years ahead of us in terms of things like the pitch and the fans outside the game, but in football , we are stronger and play better. Even in terms of historical results, we are far stronger than them." Diamanti does not deny the strength of the England team: "I have only watched England play Ukraine once. They played very well. Our game is going to be a big fight, we respect them, but there is no fear."

England and Italy play against each other, and the 'core battle' is also a major attraction.

Maurice and Pirlo, who is better?

In Diamanti's eyes, the answer must be Pirlo. "Through observation over the past period of time, I am sure that Pirlo is the best player in the world. I have learned a lot from playing alongside him, and have fun."

Of course, England players see it the other way around.

Every English player who plays can appreciate the importance of Morris in the game. What's more, Morris also helped England score 4 goals. He is the player with the most goals in the European Cup group stage. The second-placed Gomez also only scored 3 goals. In the odds of European bookmakers for the best scorer in the European Cup, Morris also beat Gomez, ranking first among all players. Obviously, the gaming company is as optimistic about Morris as the media and fans.

"Morris is a special one in the England team. Compared with Rooney, Gerrard, etc., he became famous later. When he entered the national team, he was nearly 27 years old. Now that several years have passed, his performance Instead, it's getting better."

"In this England team, Morris is omnipotent. He is the core, the striker, and the defender. He leads the entire team. His performance is related to the overall performance of the England team."

"In terms of goals alone, Maurice has a very strong individual ability and he always runs into the right positions, which is one of the reasons why he can score so many goals as a midfielder... "

"If you compare it to Pirlo, who is a superstar, a midfield master, not an indispensable core, Morris brings a lot of things to the England team, like some tactics, without Morris, Even Wansheng can't let the team kick out..."

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The European Championships are very intensive. After the group stage is over, the knockout stage will follow, and the quarter-finals will be played every day.

Since England is in Group D and is the last group, the third round will be played on the 20th and the knockout round on the 22nd. The match between England and Italy is scheduled to be played on the 25th, with a 4-day interval from the group stage. In other words, there is no rest for England.

Wansheng did not arrange even a morning rest.

"We haven't had time to celebrate yet, we just qualified for the group stage, which is still far from the championship!" Wan Sheng said to all the players.

They have to keep trying.

Even if there is no rest day, there is no player. The England team played very smoothly in the group stage. Every player hopes that the team can really win the championship. It will be a great result. It is not easy for the England team to be great. For example, Italian, Spanish and German teams have won major championships in recent years. England has not performed well in the international arena for decades. Everyone expects the team to play well.

The third round of the group stage did not consume too much energy for the England team, but the first day of training was still focused on recovery.

Wansheng has formulated a training plan for each team member.

Most of them are resumption of training without any personal training content. For the England team, every player is a big star, and they do not need training for personal strength. Most of the time is spent on tactical training. It is the most efficient method for overall coordination and routine practice.

After more than 20 days, the England team has been playing, but the training effect is also very good. Under the effect of 'collaboration', the England team trains for several days every day than other teams. Also equivalent to two months.

The whole team has made rapid progress, especially in some routines, many players are already familiar with it, but before the game against Italy, a very important training must be done, that is penalty kicks.

As Manchester City coach Mancini said in an interview, "The current England team is 'Italian'."

"England are a well organised team and know what they want."

"England now, in the game, wait for the opponent to attack and then hit the opponent with the counterattack. This is our Italian football, and we have been masters in this for a long time."

"Englanders realise that winning is the most important thing in big games and Wan Sheng is a very successful manager, but also a very pragmatic one. Italy must be wary of England's counter-attack, but also need to play as much as possible. Own strengths: technique, speed and possession. It would be a mistake to rely on strength and aerial balls against England."

As an Italian, Mancini is undoubtedly biased towards Italy, but his statement is very pertinent. England is indeed mainly playing defensive counterattacks, and the same is true for Italy, whose 'tradition of counterattacks' is even longer.

It is easy to draw a draw against Italy, because Italy's defense is very solid, and the consequences of an impulsive attack can be fatal.

Even if they have a football training master system, they can bring more help to the team on offense, but Wansheng is not absolutely sure. He will think that the English team will definitely be able to break through the Italian defense line. Chance, that's their forte.

So penalty kicks are a must.

From the second day of preparation training, Wansheng will take one to two hours every day to let all players train for penalty kicks. Put it on goalkeeper Joe Hart to test the effect of the skill.

Wansheng is not afraid of a penalty shootout, but the problem lies in the mentality of the England team.

England has a 'tradition of losing on penalties', and since 1990, England have lost five of their six penalty shootouts in the international arena.

The 1990 semi-finals were eliminated by Germany 4-3...

1996 semi-final 5-6 Germany...

1998 quarter-finals 3-4 Argentina...  

Portugal 5-6 in 2004…

Portugal 1-3 in 2006…

The only time they won was in the quarter-finals of the 1996 European Cup, when England drew 0-0 with Spain and then beat Spain 4-2 on penalties.

Looking at these histories, you can see how 'backward' the England team is.