On June 24th, the quarterfinals of the European Cup were first played in Portugal and England. Although the world Portugal lacked Deco as a firstclass midfielder due to Zhuang Ge, the fighting capacity of the host country was not greatly affected in this game.
Who let Portugal’s opponents in the quarterfinals be even worse at controlling the pace of the game in England!
In this way, Portugal and England, known as the strongest in history, struggled to eliminate the Three Lions Corps through a cruel penalty shootout for a full 120 minutes at Rees Stadium.
On the second day after being declared out of England, Zida led the French team to defeat in Greece, and played for the new Bundesliga champion Werder Bremen. Charles Andreas scored in the 65th minute of the game, which made Greece continue to write the myth that they played in the European Cup. However, the French players had to swallow the bitter fruit of being eliminated in Greece.
After Zida’s first vote, the French veterans were all in tears. After all, for many of them, this is probably their last peak and their last chance to win the championship on behalf of the national team. These veterans have worked hard in the European Cup because they don’t want to end their national team career with both hands.
However, the dark horse of Greece has completely shattered their dream. Does this not make them feel sad? !
After England and France were eliminated one after another, people’s eyes finally turned to the most eyecatching game of the European Cup, that is, the defending champion Italy and the Orange Legion Holland confronted each other headon!
Chapter 1262 Revenge War?
Italy played the Netherlands in the quarterfinal, which was something that most people didn’t expect before the European Cup. In their opinion, the most likely opponent for Italy should be the Czech Republic or Germany, not the orange shirts with the strongest book strength in the death group!
In fact, Italy will meet a strong opponent of this level in the Netherlands after qualifying in the group stage. This is mainly because the current Dutch coach Edvarkat Pot, if it were not for the brain cramp when the goods played against the Czech Republic in the group stage, could not have been successfully turned over by the Czech Republic after chasing three goals, let alone falling to the second place in Group D, so that the Orange Legion would have met the defending champion in the quarterfinals.
It is precisely because of this that the Italian players are very depressed at this time. They didn’t expect the Netherlands to be so weak this time. There are no injuries and problems in the team. Even the top position of a group has not been settled, and even the Czechs have played a big reversal with a twogoal lead!
If I had known this would happen, I might as well put the water in the second place of Group C in the group stage. In any case, the Czech Republic is much easier to deal with than the Netherlands. This is when Italian players learn that their strong opponent is the Netherlands, they have an idea in their hearts.
Although many fans who like the Czech Republic are reluctant to admit this, it is true. Although the Czech Republic has the strength of famous stars such as Devid and Rosicky, which is considered to be the firstclass level in Europe, the Netherlands is much better than the Czech Republic in terms of array thickness and overall strength, and it is even more difficult to deal with.
The Netherlands has never achieved the expected results. On the one hand, the contradiction between colored players and white players has caused serious losses to the combat effectiveness of the Orange Legion because the team problem has not been properly solved. On the other hand, recently, because the two head coaches always have a good hand at the key moment, they always try to make the team play the corresponding strength, and sometimes even take the initiative to add chaos …
During this period, the Netherlands often suffered in international competitions, not because their opponents were stronger than them, but because they were always busy fighting for combat effectiveness, and they were all wasted.
Think about it. The only time the Netherlands didn’t fight in the last decade was in the World Cup in France in 1999, and that time the Orange Legion also won their best record since the World Cup in 7 yearsthe fourth place in the World Cup, and they fell to Brazil in the penalty shootout because they lacked four main players in the semifinal. This shows how many chances the Netherlands won the championship because of the lack of players and head coaches.
However, compared with the Italian players who cried unlucky in their hearts, most fans and the media are very much looking forward to this game. After all, this is the first time that the two sides have confronted each other in an international competition after the European Cup two years ago. At that time, Italy won the championship with tenacious defense and the courage of St. toldo, and the two teams were eliminated from the competition.
It is precisely because of this that many Dutch fans and the media think that this quarterfinal is a revenge war for the Dutch. Of course, Italian fans and the media obviously don’t think so. Instead, they think that the Dutch loser failed to beat Italy at the peak of that year. Now it is even more impossible!
On June 26th, Algarve Stadium was full of people, because the peak match between Italy and Holland will be played here soon!
By the way, unlike most stadiums here, Algarve Stadium is not located in a certain city, but in Faroe and Lore. The name of the stadium comes from the Algarve region where it is located, but the climate here is very suitable for football matches, and few players will not be affected by high temperature or other factors.
After all, although the famous Liverpool coach Shankly once said that football is above life and death, not many people will really choose football in life and football.
Although the group match with the Czech Republic and the conservative extreme strategy made Dutch fans strongly doubt Edouard’s coaching ability, and therefore they were not optimistic about the prospects of the Netherlands in the European Cup, in this key battle, the fans temporarily put aside these prejudices and United the team to cheer.
However, when the starting list of the Dutch game was announced, the fans were still very disappointed with Edouard Carter, who had been labeled as conservative. Perhaps it was because the head coach was too afraid of Italy’s sharp and quick counterattack and didn’t have enough confidence in his own attack. In this quarterfinal, he sent a starting line that paid more attention to defense.
Goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, leftback Van Bronckhorst, centreback Stam and Frank De Boer, and rightback reiziger, the defence line, have been partnered together, and it is needless to say that players have a tacit understanding when they are close to the year. In midfield, Koku and Davis partnered with AC Milan general Seedorf in the middle of the midfield; Striker Ronaldinho and Van der Med are separated on the left and right wings, and they will shoulder the responsibility of Van Nistelrooy, the king of the small restricted area in the middle, to deliver artillery shells.
It can be seen from the arrangement of Edouacat that the coach’s thinking is quite rigid. Even though the glory of Ajax Youth Army was nearly ten years ago, he still clung to these older and older veterans and refused to give more opportunities to the young players who have made a name for themselves.
Therefore, although the configuration of Holland’s midfield and backcourt can be said to be Starlight Glimmer’s tacit understanding, in fact, Frank De Boer and reiziger, who rely heavily on the main force, are old at this time. Skating Koku and Davis are still firmly in control of the midfield, while Van der Vaart and Van Bommel Kuyt can watch their teammates’ performances in front of the bench, which is a great irony.
No matter how inexperienced Kuyt and Van Bommel are, they are better than Boswell and Zenden, right? Edvarkat’s conservative and faithful veteran strategy made Dutch fans look forward to this revenge war, which cast a shadow before the game.
Chapter 1263 Flying Dutchman
Having finished the starting list for the Dutch game, let’s take a look at the Italian side.
Trapattoni is a top coach who has been praised as the gold medal coach by fans. He easily took out Buffon, Grosso, Cannavaro, Starr, Zambrotta, Deco, Derossi, Pirlo, Camorano, vieri and Cassano, which are the starting eleven players in the Italian game.
Obviously, trapattoni believes that even in such an international competition, the Dutch will not give up their offensive system, and intends to emulate the old Maldini. Italy is best at defensive counterattack to defeat the opponent. After all, the Dutch offensive football thought is too deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. If you want to change this style, the head coach will not end up in a good situation.
In Zhuang Ge’s previous life, this phenomenon didn’t change until michels, the godfather of Dutch football, died. Otherwise, Van Basten’s strategy and tactical play would also be strongly criticized by the Dutch media
However, what trapattoni didn’t expect was that Edward Carter would put on such a starting lineup and play so conservatively in this game, which was really beyond his expectation.
Holy cow, Karin and Rebecca, I think we’d better make more preparations for this game, otherwise I think we’ll have to fall asleep in the box before the game is over. When we saw that the head coaches of the two teams unanimously chose to play defensive counterattacks in the game, Zhuang Ge had already predicted how boring the game would be. It’s better to have someone get a UNO card. If the game is too boring, we can have some fun.
After hearing Zhuang Ge say this, Karin and Rebecca have been laughing and living together for many years. Now they have children. Of course, they know what Zhuang Ge is thinking. They just don’t want to waste time watching a defensive game where both sides are fighting for their lives.
If Mourinho were here, he would have a hard time telling off his boss. Didn’t you come to the European Cup to observe the players up close? How can you deliberately skip the number because the game is boring!
Sure enough, as Zhuang Ge expected, when referee frisk announced the game, both players chose the contraction formation and tied the fence to lure the other side to attack so that they could have more counterattacks on their side.
Everyone, including Zhuang Ge, is very impressed with this situation. Italy doesn’t have a ball to play defensive counterattack, so forget it. Now the ball can come and go to Edvarkat under the soles of your Dutch feet. Who do you want your players to play counterattack?
Although it is said that Italy still has the trick of highposition grabbing to deal with the backcourt collapse of the Netherlands, it is also necessary to divide the target. If Italy really takes the frontcourt grabbing against them, it will be suicidal.
Seeing that the Italian players didn’t react too much to their own backcourt’s footdragging, they didn’t take much initiative in the frontcourt. Only when the ball entered the area 30 meters away from the goal did they get up and improve their defensive strength. On the contrary, the Dutch players were a little impatient and gradually pushed forward the front line.
After all, a considerable number of these Dutch players have experienced the semifinal of the European Cup two years ago, and they really have a big psychological shadow over the penalty kick. Compared with the Italian players who put on a calm look, they obviously don’t want to drag the game into the penalty shootout, so the Dutch must score goals as soon as possible and establish a score advantage to repeat the same mistakes.
Strange to say, it is reasonable to say that these Dutch players have seen a lot of big scenes, and they are also pillars in their respective clubs, and their psychological quality is absolutely not bad, but it is really amazing that they get numb when they encounter penalties.
Of course, these Dutch players will take the initiative to attack in less than ten minutes. The main reason is that they are used to attacking constantly in the game. They are not willing to shrink into the halfcourt defense like a turtle. Obviously, they are more willing to put their limited energy into the gorgeous attack than defending this dirty work.
So I couldn’t help but feel the desire to attack and the fear of penalty. The Dutch players changed their style of play and played the offensive football that they were most familiar with and loved. The commander Edouard Carter on the sidelines was dumbfounded.
It’s no wonder, after all, except Hiddink, other Dutch coaches control the team quite well. Generally, most of these bigname stars are obedient rather than tough to get them to obey orders.
Fan Jiaer did have a mind to set up a head coach in the team after he picked up the coach of the national team. It’s a pity that he overcompensated. He caused strong dissatisfaction among the national team bosses because of excessive means. In addition, the Netherlands failed to enter the finals of the World Cup in Korea and Japan, which led him to take classes hastily before the reform of the national team was effective.