Chapter 533: The British team was upset, and other countries mocked them.
Although judging from the score, this seemed to be an easy game.
But from the actual process, this is not the case.
Italy is much stronger than what this score reflects, they have the strength to reach the quarterfinals.
But unfortunately, Italy had bad luck and met Spain.
If they had met the second place in another group, such as England, the result might have been completely different.
In the last match of the round of 16, the British, as expected, encountered an accident.
Before the game, the British generally felt that they had a sure win and were even considering their next opponents.
The reason why the British are so optimistic is simple: their opponent is Iceland.
In the eyes of the British, Iceland has a population of only 300,000 and is just a small country with a small area, harsh environment and a weak football population base.
How can it be compared with my empire on which the sun never sets?
Our British Empire has the world's largest league, and almost all of its national team players come from wealthy clubs. How can a commoner team like Iceland, which has no background, compare? Iceland has never made it to the European Cup finals before, so it is normal for the British to look down on them.
However, the strength of this Icelandic team is definitely not weak, and it can even be called the strongest national team in Iceland's history.
With this group of players as the core, the Icelandic team made it to the European Cup finals for the first time in history and achieved a good result of reaching the quarterfinals of the European Cup.
Two years later, they made another breakthrough, fought their way out of the hellishly difficult European zone, and made a historic entry into the 2018 World Cup in Russia, even tying the Argentina team, which was considered the favorite to win the World Cup!
People are simply deceived by the name Iceland. When they hear the word Iceland, they think that they are a soft persimmon that can be bullied by anyone, just like the British.
However, there will be a price to pay for underestimating this team!
When the competition started, the British people sang and danced, and each of them was full of confidence.
In the third minute of the game, the Icelandic goalkeeper made a mistake in his attack and knocked down the British striker Sterling in the penalty area, giving the opponent a penalty kick.
Rooney scored in one fell swoop, changing the score to 1:0. The opponent gave a big gift at the beginning, which made the British despise their opponents even more, and they felt that there was no suspense in this game.
However, just two minutes later, Iceland threw a sideline ball from the right side, Odnarsson headed the ball to the front point, and Ragnar Sigurdsson volleyed the ball into the net.
Iceland quickly equalized the score and once again created a throw-in goal tactic. This was the second time Iceland scored a goal using the throw-in tactic in this European Cup!
The British paid the price for their arrogance. If they had studied the video of Iceland's previous game, they would not have been so careless when defending just now.
After the score was tied, the British did not realize the seriousness of the situation and still felt that they had the advantage.
After all, only 6 minutes have passed, so they have plenty of time to attack.
So when the game resumed, the British rushed out fiercely, intending to tear through the opponent's defense with their sharp attack.
The British team has a strong forward lineup, with Sterling, Harry Kane and Sturridge as the front trident, with Vardy, Rashford and others sitting on the bench.
However, the British attack not only failed to score a goal, but was also ambushed by the opponent.
In the 18th minute of the first half, Iceland launched a quick counterattack. Gylfi Sigurdsson made a straight pass, and Berzvarsson received the ball and knocked it into the penalty area.
At the critical moment, England's goalkeeper Joe Hart made a mistake and saved Siborsson's shot into his own goal!
The score instantly became 1:2, and the British team fell behind! This goal stunned the audience! British fans looked at their own goal and the goalkeeper who knelt in front of the goal in disbelief. How could it turn out like this? We are so strong, how could we be ahead of Iceland?
At this moment, they were a little panicked.
Could it be that the British Empire was going to lose to tiny Iceland? As they fell behind, the British launched a frantic counterattack.
However, the Icelandic team united as one and tenaciously withstood their round after round of attacks.
Under the tenacious defense of the Icelandic team, these top shooters of the British team performed poorly, either firing anti-aircraft cannons or shooting off target.
They completed a total of 20 shots in the game, but only 4 were on target.
On the other hand, Iceland only had 8 shots, but 5 of them were on target and they scored two goals.
Although the British team had the advantage on the field, they had 20 shots and 72% ball possession but were unable to convert these advantages into victory. In the end, they had to suffer a major upset in this European Cup - they were eliminated by Iceland!
After the game, media from all over Europe rushed to report on it.
As troublemakers in Europe, the British have always had a bad reputation.
No country will miss any opportunity to mock the British.
So, after losing the game, major media from all over the world began to criticize the British team, criticizing them harshly.
Not only foreign media are criticizing, but local British media are also criticizing, and even more harshly.
Some extreme fans even went to the headquarters of the English Football Association to protest and demand the resignation of England coach Hodgson.
This guy has the highest salary among all 24 head coaches in this European Cup, even higher than the legendary Spanish coach Bosque.
British fans are certainly not happy that he is paid such a high salary but has achieved such poor results.
Hodgson couldn't stand the pressure and soon announced his resignation.
Although the salary offered by the English Football Association is very attractive, this job is really too difficult to do.
He has made enough money and doesn't want to be scolded anymore, so he just takes the money and runs away!
While the British were cursing, Iceland was jubilant.
The result of this game was so shocking. Even for the Icelanders, being able to make it to the knockout stage was enough to make them proud.
I didn’t expect that these young men in the national team could continue to create miracles and eliminate the powerful British team.
This has plunged the whole country of Iceland into a carnival. Now every step forward the team takes is creating history, and they are the witnesses of history.
Iceland's outstanding performance reminded many European fans of a team 12 years ago, which was a grassroots team and an underdog dark horse. Its name was the Greek team!
Could it be that Iceland got the same script that Greece got 12 years ago? If so, Iceland's next opponent will be in danger!
Coincidentally, Iceland's next opponent is the host France.
Britain and France are sworn enemies. After losing to Iceland, the British media said maliciously:
"Iceland is an underestimated team. If France dares to attack aggressively, it is very likely to suffer the same fate as England. So if France wants to win, the best way is to play defensive counterattacks!"
This sentence makes the French so disgusted!
What do you mean the French team doesn't dare to attack with a large army? Do you really think the French team is just a boastful team like your British team? France is a serious top team, okay?
So the French said, attack, we must attack!
If we don't dare to attack Iceland, where will the face of the Chinese people be? However, some calm French people said that the British were using provocation.
Iceland's counterattack threat is indeed great. If the French team really launches a large-scale attack, it will be difficult to guarantee that they will not be ambushed by the opponent.
However, the French team has been put in a difficult situation. As the host country, they naturally cannot afford to back down at this time.
You have to go whether you want to or not!
However, compared to the match between France and Iceland, the most attractive match in the quarter-finals is another championship and runner-up match - Spain vs. Germany! If the last match between Spain and Italy was a grudge between the champions and runners-up of the last European Cup, then this match between Spain and Germany is a rematch between the champions and runners-up of the last World Cup.
Will the champion Spain continue its glory and defeat the German team again, or will the German team take revenge and successfully overthrow the Spanish bullfighter? This game will reveal the answer.
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The German team takes Spain very seriously. Since losing to Spain in the World Cup final two years ago, their head coach Loew has added a new task to his daily work - studying Spain's game videos.
Not only do I study the game videos of their national team, I also collect information on each of their players and discuss ways to target the opponent with the players and coaching staff.
It is no exaggeration to say that the people who know the Spanish team best in the world may not be themselves, but the Germans! The Germans have been preparing for this revenge battle for a long time, and this time, they vowed to make the Spanish pay the price!
Compared with the Germans' attention, the Spanish team obviously attaches much less importance to the German team.
It’s not that they underestimated the enemy, but they simply had too many enemies to take care of.
To be precise, Spain has quite a few powerful enemies.
On the European side, there are Germany, the Netherlands, France and Italy.
In Latin America, there is the five-star Brazil and the Argentina team with Messi.
Each of these opponents is not easy to deal with, and each one cannot be ignored.
Therefore, although Bosque also studies the information of opponents, because there are too many opponents, he cannot collect as much as Löw and his team.
"The German team is a top-notch team. I believe there is no need for me to say more about their strength!"
Before the game, Bosque gathered the players together and gave them some ideological mobilization.
"Although Klose has withdrawn from the German team, they have added a lot of strong new players, such as Reus."
Reus missed the last World Cup due to injury, which has always been a concern for many German fans.
They feel that if Reus had not been absent, the result of the World Cup final would probably have been different.
Royce is very strong, and no one who has seen his games will deny that.
Last season, Reus had a perfect performance of 27 goals and 9 assists in 45 games for Dortmund!
When in good health, Reus is capable of competing for the fourth place in the world of football! His joining greatly improves the offensive threat of the German team in the frontcourt and multiplies the pressure on the opponent's defense.
Originally in history, Reus unfortunately missed this European Cup due to injury.
But in this time and space, Royce did not miss this event.
Because of Lin Quan's reminder, Reus reduced his playing time in unnecessary games after communicating with Dortmund coach Tuchel, so that his physical condition has always been very good.
With less playing time, his performance not only did not decline, but improved.
Last season, Reus scored 3 more goals and 2 more assists than his all-time record.
Although Reus' injury is still a hidden danger, after a season of conditioning, everything is moving in a good direction.
After the departure of Gotze, Lewandowski and Klopp, Dortmund lost its glory and entered a period of reconstruction.
Reus also understands that rebuilding the team cannot be completed in a short period of time, so when he is on the court, he will weigh the pros and cons, fight hard when he needs to, and conserve his strength when he needs to.
After not overworking like before, Reus' injury condition improved a lot and he finally caught up with this European Cup.
This made him very grateful to Lin Quan, and he even called Lin Quan before the game and agreed to have a drink together after the game.
"So, don't think we are sure to win, and don't put all your hopes on Lin!"
Bosque emphasized the second half of the sentence. He found that after Lin Quan's return, the players were a little too optimistic.
Optimism is a good thing, but too much optimism is not.
If you don't take your opponent seriously, even if you are a world champion, it will only take a few minutes for you to fail.
Bosque's knock made the Spanish players more alert.
No matter what he was thinking in his heart, he nodded obediently at this moment, looking as if he understood.
"It's not all bad for us to meet the German team early!"
After seeing the players start to take it seriously, Bosque changed the subject: "Germany is undoubtedly one of the strongest teams in this European Cup. As long as we can beat them, we can clear the biggest obstacle on our way to winning the championship. In this way, the rest of the schedule will be much easier, and it will be easier for us to win the championship!"
This statement was unanimously recognized by the players. Compared with the host France team and the European Red Devils Belgium, the Spanish internationals still recognize the strength of the German team more.
The German team's midfield is very luxurious and is one of the few that is not inferior to its Spanish opponents.
Moreover, after joining Bayern, Guardiola brought passing and controlling techniques to the German team, making the German team one of the teams that understands Spain best in terms of tactics.
Such an opponent is the biggest threat to Spain no matter from which perspective!
(End of this chapter)