Chapter 951: Volume 7: The Heart of the Lion King Unveiled

On June 9th, the much-anticipated European Cup kicked off in Madrid, the capital of Spain.

After a Latin-inspired opening ceremony, the hosts, Spain, took on Belgium in their opener.

La Liga is famous for advocating offense, and the style of the Spanish national team is exactly the same as their league. The European Cup held in Spain seems to be a feast of offensive football.

In the past, the opening game of the World Series always gave people the impression of being dull and boring. Both sides played cautiously for fear of making mistakes. But this time, at the Bernabéu in Madrid, Spain and Belgium staged a wonderful confrontation.

In the end, Spain came out on top, beating Belgium 3:1 and winning the group for the first time. Spanish striker Bojan scored the first goal of the tournament, while Belgium's Axel_Witsel received his first yellow card of the tournament.

The Bernabéu Stadium, which can accommodate 80,000 people, was full of seats. The fans witnessed the launch of Spain's new Armada. They hoped that this Armada could once again dominate Europe in their homeland.

On the second day, June 10, the current European Cup was in full swing. The strong teams did not encounter any opponents in the first round, and they won easily.

Due to the expansion of the European Cup, the rules for group qualifying have also been adjusted. The twenty-four teams were divided into six groups of four teams each. The top two teams in each group will qualify directly, and the four teams with the best results will then advance to the third place. In this way, sixteen teams will be gathered to play in the quarter-finals.

With such a modification, the competition in the group stage will not be as fierce as before, because as long as your team can get the third place in the group with the best score, it will still be able to advance to the knockout stage. Except for those strong teams aiming at the first place in the group, most mid-range teams have more pragmatic goals.

It's just that the fierce competition will also be fierce, such as the death group.

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"Portugal's weakness lies in the back." Twain was standing in the meeting room giving the team a tactical lesson. This was the last tactical lesson before the game. What tactics the team will use tomorrow, they must let the players know today.

In fact, each player has a tactical booklet, which is specially formulated by the coaching staff for each individual's characteristics and different tasks, and has been distributed to the players. If they can't remember, look at the booklet and it will be clear. However, Dunn still has to speak in person, from the perspective of the overall layout.

"Their central defenders are too old and move slowly. Pepe is the core of their defense, and he is already 33 years old. Injuries and age have made his physical fitness much worse than before. Ze Castro's The turning speed is also not fast. The two full-backs, Binnello on the right and Antunes on the left are both assisting full-backs. It's always empty in the back."

Twain made a circle behind the Portuguese defender.

"We counter-attacked to lure them up, and then used the speed to hit the spaces." He drew a few arrows in the England half, straight behind the Portuguese defense.

"Portugal's wide offense is very sharp, because they have Ronaldo, Nani, and Quaresma. So I ask our wide players not to shrink back during the game, but to confront them." Dunn clenched his fist and clashed. one time. "If you retreat, it will only make them gain an inch. Our offense should also make more use of the wings, and the full-backs should also actively assist...We are defensive counterattacks, not just defending and not counterattacking. When there is a counterattack opportunity, the two sides The road must be pressed up for me, I don't want to see our ball passed to the frontcourt, our people have not passed the midfield."

Counterattack is the core part of Tang En's insistence on defense. If there is no counterattack, no matter how strong the defense is, it will be useless. Defensive counterattack and defensive counterattack are indispensable, and both play a role to ensure that they win.

"When counterattacking, the speed must be fast, and it must be fast. The number of passes and kicks in the midfield should be minimized..."

Having said that, Tang En turned on the projector beside him, and the warm-up match between England and Argentina appeared on the white screen. George Wood was dribbling the ball. After two runs, he passed the ball to Tang Ning on the left. Tang Ning made a clean cut inside and forced past Fazio, then made a cross. Wood then volleyed and scored.

This is the whole process of England's first goal into Argentina.

"In this goal, we saw the benefits of the midfielder's simple handling of the ball..." Dunn rewinded the scoring process and explained it to the players in detail.

"When we counterattacked, the Argentine players were coming back quickly. What if George Wood took the ball down at this time, turned around and looked up, what would happen?"

He presses the remote, and the frame starts to move, then freezes again where Wood's pass has just slipped past Mascherano's defense. "Then there is a high probability that the pass will fail."

The picture continued, and it was frozen when Tangning forcibly broke through Fazio.

"Even if the pass passes, Tangning won't be able to break through Fazio so easily, because there will be an Argentine defender behind Fazio to protect him, maybe it's a full-back who has returned to defend in place, or a central defender who has come in. But in any case, the probability of success of this attack has been greatly reduced."

"You must remember that the counterattack is to compete with the defense for time. Whoever grabs the initiative will win half of the game first. At this time, don't stop in the midfield. Even if you can't take the football out for a while, you must Pass it to the people around you as soon as possible, and then create the passing route by running the ball yourself."

"Of course, if the opponent's defensive system is well maintained and the defense speed is fast. If there is no good passing point, then there is no need to pursue speed. We can slow down the speed, then pass back, and then pass the ball back. They pull it out." Tang En made a gesture, vividly explaining his words.

"After drawing them out, pass the ball forward decisively! Pass the football to the most dangerous place!"

"Mitchell, you're up front and get all their defensive attention. Rooney and Gerrard will be behind you, waiting to get in. You're not the scorer in this game, you're the bridgehead, you know? "Twain turned to his disciples in the forest team.

Aaron Mitchell nodded. As long as it is the boss's arrangement, he will have no objection even if he is allowed to play as a central defender. Because the boss must have a reason for his arrangement.

"Attract Portugal's defensive firepower, create opportunities for teammates, and score yourself if there is a good opportunity. When we counterattack, you must be the first to go up, press Portugal's defense back, and Rooney and Rooney who are inserted behind. Geraldella come out to space."

"No problem, boss," Mitchell replied.

"When attacking the position, if Portugal focuses on guarding against our side, we should play more cooperation in the ribs. If the Portuguese shrinks the center to defend, they can pass directly from the side." Anyway, Mitchell has an excellent header. With the air bully around, even if Portugal felt something was wrong and wanted to shrink back and fight England, Twain would not be afraid.

He didn't play the double-quick combination of Abanglahor and Rooney, just to defend against this move.

"We didn't play man-to-man in this game, remember how we trapped the Argentine attacking lineup? Still playing like that, zone defense. The back line breaks the ball and passes forward, as few crosses as possible. Or pass back. If there is no good opportunity to play the ball, Johnson (Michael_Johnson) has to drop back more to receive the pass, and you are the hub of the midfield."

Twenty-seven-year-old midfielder Michael Johnson from Tottenham nodded. He was the person Dunn had hired to temporarily replace Wood. However, he is not the only candidate. In fact, although Gerrard's position is closer to the opponent's penalty area, he can also do Johnson's work when necessary. George Wood's abnormal running ability, defensive ability, and offensive ability need to be shared by multiple people. This is Tang En's "non-nuclear tactics". In the past, England's opponents only had to find ways to keep a close eye on Wood, but now they can't think so.

Twain continued to explain tactics on top, while George Wood sat in the corner and listened. In fact, he didn't use it at all, because he didn't know how to play, and the tactics were the same whether he heard it or not. However, as the captain, he still sat here and listened to Tang En's tactical arrangements.

Not for anything else, just want to experience the atmosphere of the competition. In this way, when he can play, he can adjust his state to the best in the shortest time.

Now listening to the tactical arrangement and watching the scoring video, Wood only feels that his body misses the feeling of health more and more.

He is eager to play.

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A tactical meeting was held in the morning, and Tang En went to the Nou Camp Stadium to attend the pre-match press conference in the afternoon. He and Portugal coach Queiroz attended at the same time, and the media were full of expectations.

Because it is said that Queiroz was very dissatisfied with Twain when he was at Manchester United. It was precisely because Ferguson preferred Twain that Queiroz did not finally take the position of his successor. This is also the reason why he chose to coach the Portuguese national team.

Now he has finally ushered in such an opportunity to prove to the world that he is also an excellent coach who does not lose to Twain.

Because of this relationship, Tang En felt that the atmosphere was not right when he and Queiroz shook hands.

There was no smile on Queiroz's face, and Tang En also put away his own smile.

The two head coaches took a group photo in front of the reporters with a straight face.

At the beginning of the press conference, Tang En burst out with an astonishing remark: "Mr. Queiroz and I are old acquaintances. We should be very familiar with each other when we were in the Premier League. Many Portuguese players played in the Premier League. I also treat them well." Very familiar, such as Manchester United's Nani and Adrian, Manchester City's Danny and Moutinho, Middlesbrough's Postiga, and AC Milan's Pepe... I am very familiar with them, This Portugal team has no secrets from me. I have a good chance of beating them."

As soon as this remark came out, there was an uproar at the scene.

It is said that Tony Twain is a madman, and seeing him today really deserves his reputation...

How can anyone make such remarks before the game? Aren't you afraid to arouse the opponent's desire to fight if you obviously don't take your opponent seriously?

Sure enough, Queiroz's face suddenly darkened.

He launched a counterattack: "Mr. Dunn and I are indeed old acquaintances. We played against each other in the Premier League. I respect his achievements." The implication is that I don't like him very much. "In fact, I have stayed in the Premier League for a long time, and I know the England team very well. To be honest, I think Mr. Dunn is joking when he said that they have a great chance of defeating us."

After speaking, he laughed first. Then there was a burst of laughter.

Tang En laughed along, this joke was really clumsy.

He didn't continue to embarrass Queiroz with his mouth. Queiroz's sentence "I think Mr. Tang En said that they have a great chance of defeating us is a joke" was already a sign of weakness.

There's no point beating a dog in the water right now.

However, he was sure that he had successfully provoked the other party's anger. Defensive counterattack Defensive counterattack, how do you counterattack on your own side without irritating the opponent and forcing them out?

Reporters are more concerned about what will happen to the England team if Wood is not there. Tang En did not answer these questions, but he always found excuses for any questions related to tactics and lineup. If you're in a hurry, just don't say anything.

In the ten-minute press conference, he had nothing to mention except for the explosive speech he made when he first appeared on the stage.

On the contrary, Queiroz talked eloquently and completely compared Tang En.

"We will try to attack, Portuguese football is attacking football."

Tang En snickered beside him, it was the best way.

"No one is suffering from injuries and we can play with the strongest lineup."

Tang En followed and nodded, which is consistent with my prediction of your lineup this morning.

"Death group? Our goal is not to qualify from the group, and qualifying is not a problem."

Tang En answered in his heart: The third place in the group with the best score can also qualify.

...

This continued until the end of the press conference. Tang En stood up and shook hands with Queiroz again.

"See you in the game, Mr. Queiroz."

Queiroz was surprised by Tang En's sudden words. Before he could react, Tang En had already let go of his hand, turned and walked away.

Queiroz looked at the somewhat arrogant back, and his lips were tightly pursed.

Are you proud of winning several club championship trophies? Mr. Tang En. Do you think you can do whatever you want after winning a few weak teams in the qualifiers? Mr. Tang En.

You are just a rookie in the field of the national team, let's see how long you can be rampant!

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Tang En didn't know how Queiroz was cursing him in his heart. After returning to the hotel where he was staying, he took a shower and washed off his stinky sweat. Changed clothes and lay on the bed talking on the phone with Shania.

He is very relaxed now, and he doesn't feel nervous at all because he wants to take the national team to participate in the international competition for the first time.

What happened to the European Cup? Lao Tzu's championship has already been softened, why haven't you seen such a big storm?

After finishing the call with Shania, he turned over on the bed and fell asleep.

He didn't dream that he led the team to win the championship trophy, but he dreamed that he had a child, a lovely girl who was as beautiful and lovable as her mother. When she grows up, she must be the focus of all men's attention.

She would be tired of being by Tang En's side all day long, calling "Dad" and "Dad", but Tang En would never tire of hearing it.

He didn't want her to grow up, but he hoped that she would grow up to be well-rounded. In this way, I watched her grow up and become an adult day by day with contradictory feelings.

When Dunn was woken up by Walker to have dinner, he still had an obvious smile on his face.

"Are you in a good mood, Tony?" Walker asked in the elevator.

"Oh, why do you know?" Tang En asked.

"I've heard people say that to judge whether a person is in a good mood, you can just look at his expression after he wakes up. You are clearly smiling..."

Tang En laughed again: "I'm really in a good mood, because I had a sweet dream."

"Did you dream of winning the championship?" For Walker, he couldn't think of anything else that could make Twain laugh out loud in his dreams.

But Tang En shook his head: "No, it's a dream that makes me happier than winning the championship."

"What is that?" The surprised Des Walker asked reflexively.

Tang En did not answer. Judging from the smile on the corner of his mouth, he might be immersed in that dream again, right?

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