Although her nickname is Beauty, Heitinga is actually very ugly.

But putting aside his personality, Heitinga's defensive strength is very strong.

Heitinga made his debut in the star factory Ajax. His characteristics are fierce defense, fierce confrontation, and good positioning. As a central defender, he even has a certain assist ability.

Heitinga is not fast, but he has quick reactions. He can not only play as a center back, but also as a right back, midfielder and defensive midfielder.

His shortcomings come entirely from his character. He has a bad temper and often loses control when playing on the court.

The biggest headache for Ajax coach Van Basten is how to calm Heitinga's violent temper on the court.

In the end, the problem was solved by selling Heitinga with great reluctance.

In fact, with Heitinga's ability, he could have become a world-class defender, but his ability to control his emotions held him back.

Heitinga's value could have reached the level of a top star, but a shocking accident at the 2006 World Cup directly led to almost no club being willing to take him.

It was the 2006 World Cup quarter-finals, the Netherlands was playing against Portugal. At that time, Portugal's world-class star Ricardo Carvalho (former Shanghai SIPG player) fell to the ground due to injury. The Portuguese players took the initiative to kick the ball out of the sideline so that Carvalho could receive treatment.

According to the ethics of competitive sports, when the game resumed, although the Netherlands should have the ball, they should have returned the ball to Portugal. After all, Portugal was just in an offensive state and only stopped the attack to help Carvalho with treatment.

The Netherlands should have kicked the ball to Portugal's backcourt to allow Portugal to reorganize the attack.

However, the Dutch team kicked the ball to their own player Heitinga, but Heitinga did not kick the ball out of the sideline, nor did he pass it back with his foot. Instead, he kept his head down and dribbled the ball forward! At first, none of the Portuguese players reacted. They naturally thought that the Dutch would not play hooligans with them.

By the time the Portuguese players reacted, Heitinga had already dribbled the ball across half court and headed straight into Portugal's penalty area, while the Dutch players also followed up, preparing for a fast break.

They are all old capitalist hooligans, how can Portugal bear this? Portuguese Brazilian Deco fully demonstrated the tough style of South American players and directly tackled Heitinga from behind, sending him flying.

Deco's action was too obvious, and the referee Ivanov immediately showed Deco a yellow card.

In fact, Deco's action of tackling from behind should definitely have earned him a red card, but the referee should have taken into account that Deco's circumstances were excusable, so he showed some leniency.

But because of this controversial yellow card, players from both sides were dissatisfied.

The Portuguese believed that giving Deco a yellow card meant that the Netherlands team won a free kick in the frontcourt, which should not have happened.

The Dutch team thought, "Fak, you dare to mess with me, the Netherlands? Don't you know how strong our Dutch team is?" As a result, the already strong atmosphere on the field suddenly exploded, and the actions of the players on both sides became more and more aggressive.

The Dutch three-man team came out to fight, the bad guy De Jong kicked him in the chest, and the whole stadium was a fight! In the end, even the mild referee Ivanov lost his mind. In that game, Ivanov issued a total of 4 red cards and 16 yellow cards, almost everyone got a card!

The players who didn't get a card even felt sorry for their own fans! That match also had the highest card rate in the history of the World Cup.

The referee on duty, Ivanov, also became famous in one battle and became the referee with the most cards issued in the World Cup.

The instigator of this chaos, Heitinga, also got a nickname - Beautiful Helen.

In the myth of hope, it was because Spartan princess Helen eloped with the Trojan prince that the 10-year-long Trojan War was caused.

It was also after the 2006 World Cup that Heitinga's value dropped sharply.

Fortunately, Everton club doesn't care.

After experiencing that major setback in his life, Heitinga's temper has become much calmer.

Everton's other central defender is number 6, Filip Jagiuka.

Jagielka is Polish, but grew up in England and has dual citizenship of England and Poland.

In the end, Jagiulka chose England International and became an England international.

Jagiulka made his debut in the Sheffield United youth training camp and also started his career at Sheffield United.

Jagiuka's marking, positioning, tackling, heading, speed, burst, prediction, and physical fitness are all first-class.

In addition to playing as a central defender, he can also play as a full-back, defensive midfielder, midfielder, winger, attacking midfielder, shadow striker, center forward, and... goalkeeper.

Yes, Jagiuka can play as a goalkeeper in an emergency, and it is not just for fun, but he can play as a goalkeeper in official Premier League matches.

It was the 2006 season, when Jagiulka was still playing for Sheffield United. They faced the powerful Arsenal at home. Because the goalkeeper was injured and there was no substitute goalkeeper, Jagiulka directly put on the goalkeeper gloves and kept the goal without conceding a single goal under the Gunners' fierce attack! From this perspective, the goalkeeper who conceded the fewest goals in the Premier League is definitely not Qi, nor Van der Sar, nor Hart, but Jagiulka - a 100% clean sheet rate.

Tim Howard joined Manchester United in 2003 and his performance has always been remarkable. In the 2006 season, Manchester United bought Van der Sar and Howard rarely had the opportunity to play, so in 2007, Howard was loaned to Everton.

In the 2007 season, Howard played 26 times for Everton, 11 of which were shutouts. He was appreciated by head coach Moyes and officially transferred to Everton.

Howard's characteristics are very obvious. He is good at commanding defense, and has strong one-on-one ability and the ability to save single shots and penalties.

Howard's most impressive game was the penalty shootout in the FA Cup semi-final in 2009, when he saved two penalties from his former teammate Berbatov and Ferdinand, eliminating Manchester United and ending their dream of winning five titles ahead of schedule.

In general, this Everton is definitely a team with both offensive and defensive capabilities.

At present, Everton ranks seventh in the Premier League, second only to Tottenham Hotspur, and has great hope of entering the big6 zone this season.

Therefore, Moyes also kept several main players in the bench in this League Cup knockout match.

Beep! With the referee's whistle, the fourth round of the League Cup knockout match, Southampton's away challenge to Everton, officially began!

Southampton took the first kick-off.

Saints fans waved their flags wildly and cheered for Southampton.

Liverpool's Red Army fans also held up photoshopped photos of Gu Ran and cheered for him loudly.

Everton's Toffees booed all over the field.

At the beginning of the game, Southampton played very conservatively. The ball was first passed back to Lambert, and then a triangle pass was made between Lambert, Lallana and Schneiderlin, looking for Everton's gaps.

This is also Southampton's usual strategy when playing against strong teams.

However, Everton is not a strong team in the general sense, but a strong team in the English Premier League.

Everton pressed directly from a high position and strangled the Southampton player with the ball in the midfield.

Especially when Lallana got the ball, Fellaini directly rushed sideways.

Lallana was unable to confront the tall and strong Fellaini, and could only force the ball to the front court before he lost his balance.

Gully had to retreat to get the ball, but Arteta had already predicted Lallana's passing route and intercepted Lallana's pass in advance.

After Arteta got the ball, he advanced steadily.

Everton players quickly penetrated into Southampton's half.

Arteta controlled the ball flexibly to prevent Guli from counterattacking, while quickly observing the situation on the left, middle and right sides.

When Schneiderlin on the right also rushed up to assist Guli in grabbing the ball, Arteta made a flexible move and looked towards his own right, but at the same time, he passed the ball to his own left, which was the empty space behind Schneiderlin.

Everton's left midfielder No. 7 Ziniyar Bilyaledinov did not move forward to receive the ball, but moved to the middle to protect the ball.

Everton's left back No. 3 Leighton Baines quickly moved up the wing, got the ball in the first place, and went straight to the right side of Southampton!

Everton's tactical play was very clear, which was to avoid Southampton's advantageous left side and attack Southampton's weak right side.

When Baines dribbled forward, Fellaini still maintained his position in the midfield, while Arteta, who had just organized the attack, quickly moved forward to support the attack without anyone noticing.

Arteta's movement seemed to be random, and he did not run towards the front midfielder position, but ran along the gaps of Southampton.

Basically, Arteta runs wherever there is space.

At this time, Southampton's defense centers were all on their own right side and center, so Arteta ran to the empty area on the left side of the center.

Gu Ran stared at Arteta's movements. As soon as he saw Arteta infiltrating to the left, Gu Ran immediately retreated to the same area.

Baines broke into the 30-meter area of ​​Southampton's half. Under heavy siege, he passed the ball back to Fellaini, who was supporting him. Fellaini did not stop and passed the ball to Arteta who had already run to the weak area on the left! Everton's offensive pass was very eye-catching! Lambert rushed back to intercept Arteta, but Arteta had already predicted it and passed Lambert beautifully!

Just when Arteta was about to get rid of Lambert completely and pass the ball to Jermaine Beckford, Gu Ran rushed over with a violent aesthetic force and blocked Arteta's breakthrough channel!

Arteta couldn't help but sigh! A second ago, he predicted that Gu Ran would cut across to intercept, but he never expected that Gu Ran would come so fast and so fiercely! Arteta couldn't stand Gu Ran's strong physical confrontation and was about to lose his balance! At this time, no matter how high your football IQ is, it's useless! ... (End of this chapter)