Chapter 823 Dark Horse
After two successful sessions, the third International Champions Cup has been fully expanded.
The competition has expanded from the original eight teams to sixteen teams, divided into two major regions, North America and Asia, with a total of four groups, competing against each other.
The North American region still has two groups of eight teams, and the schedule basically continues the past two events.
In Group A, Manchester City, Atletico Madrid, Juventus and Dortmund were in a fierce battle.
These four teams are all strong, especially Atletico Madrid, which was the runner-up of the Champions League last season and is extremely strong.
However, after letting go of powerful stars such as Miranda, Juanfran, Felipe, Mario Suarez, Turan and Raul Garcia this season, the team's strength has been affected to some extent.
In addition, after the team won the Champions League runner-up, Simeone was determined to adjust the team's tactics and began to focus on improving the team's control. Coupled with the official promotion of young players such as Montoya and Jose Gaya, the actual combat ability of the Colchoneros is still somewhat affected.
But even so, the Colchoneros still drew with Manchester City, narrowly won against Juventus and defeated Dortmund in the three games of Group A, and eventually fell behind Manchester City on goal difference.
Pellegrini's Manchester City advanced as the group leader thanks to a big win over Dortmund.
Juventus and Dortmund ranked third and fourth in the group respectively.
In Group B, Arsenal, which has introduced strong reinforcements this season, unexpectedly won three consecutive games, beating Tottenham Hotspur, Paris Saint-Germain and Naples to qualify as the first in the group.
Paris Saint-Germain finished second in the group, and Benítez's Napoli finished third.
On the contrary, Tottenham Hotspur, led by Van Gaal, the most anticipated and the most watched team in European football this season, suffered three consecutive defeats in the warm-up matches and was shamefully eliminated at the bottom.
Regarding the team's poor performance, the Dutch coach repeatedly stated in media interviews that he was not surprised.
Because the team has just undergone a large-scale reorganization, the players still need to run in, and even he, the head coach, also needs to run in. Van Gaal also pointed out that the team's defensive performance has been getting better and better in the three games.
This proves that the team is continuing to improve.
As it turned out, after being eliminated from the International Champions Cup, Tottenham Hotspur played warm-up matches with teams such as Juventus and Dortmund, winning two consecutive victories and their performance was much better than before.
This also makes many people believe that Van Gaal's statement is credible.
In the semi-finals of the North American region, Manchester City, who ranked first in Group A, defeated Paris Saint-Germain with a score of 2-1.
But Atletico Madrid, second in Group A, unfortunately lost to Arsenal with a score of 0-1.
However, Simeone's team beat Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 in the third and fourth place final thanks to Tevez's key goal, and won the third place in the North American region.
Manchester City defeated Arsenal 3-1 in the final and won the North American championship.
Although this year's International Champions Cup North American Division does not have super popular teams such as Southampton, Real Madrid and Barcelona, each team is very strong, the competition is fierce, and the games are exciting, which makes fans in North America and even the world watch it with great excitement.
This is the case with the North American region, and the Asian region is not to be outdone.
After learning from the chaotic organization of last season's Asian Invitational, this year's International Champions Cup Asia region competition was organized in a more orderly and successful manner.
The Group A events are mainly held in several cities in Japan, South Korea and China, while the Group B events are held in cities such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Sydney and Melbourne in Australia.
Bringing together top European teams such as Southampton, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Liverpool, Manchester United, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, every match in the International Champions Cup Asia region is attracting much attention.
Before the game, Monaco was questioned by the outside media and fans, who believed that they were not qualified to participate in the International Champions Cup. However, they became the biggest dark horse in Group B.
Ronald Koeman, the famous Dutch coach who just replaced Martino and took over Monaco, has only been in office for more than a month, but he led Monaco to defeat Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Manchester United in the three games of Group B, winning three consecutive victories, which is simply enough to make everyone drop their jaws.
You know, Monaco has been bleeding heavily in the transfer market this season.
After selling Mangala, Depay and Aubameyang, three of last season's main stars, one after another, it is surprising that they can still perform so well.
What is even more surprising is that after winning three consecutive games to get first place in the group, Monaco shocked everyone in the semi-finals by beating Southampton, the second place in Group B, with a score of 1-0 and surprisingly made it to the final.
Especially in the game against Southampton.
Bielsa's Saints had an overwhelming advantage almost throughout the game, but goalkeeper Navas and the central defenders of Marquinhos and Abdonour performed quite well. In addition, Biglia, who shined in the World Cup, continued his magical performance, and Monaco managed to withstand Southampton's overwhelming offensive.
Finally, Belgian youngster Carrasco, with an assist from Fekir, shot through Neuer's goal and scored the winning goal for Monaco, eliminating Southampton, the favorite to win the championship.
Southampton's performance in this year's International Champions Cup was indeed not outstanding. One very important reason for this is that none of the international players who participated in the World Cup played, especially the international players from Brazil, Argentina, Germany and other teams that made it to the finals, who were directly frozen out by Bielsa.
This is also for the consideration of the new season. After all, for these national team players, they had a vacation for a while after the World Cup and returned to the team late. They are still in the stage of adjusting their physical fitness. It is not appropriate for them to play rashly.
The most worrying part was the midfield.
Bielsa arranged Pogba, Fabregas and Matic to be the main players. As a result, Fabregas made a seamless connection, Pogba performed quite eye-catchingly, with both goals being impressive, and Matic was as steady as ever.
On the contrary, on the defensive line, Varane and his partners Nastasic and Laporte were all a little uncomfortable and made mistakes one after another during the game.
In addition, Cesar, who temporarily replaced Neuer in the starting lineup, did not perform as well as Neuer, which ultimately led to Southampton winning one, drawing one and losing one in the group stage, losing to Real Madrid, drawing with Inter Milan, and defeating Liverpool.
The most impressive team in Group A is Klopp's Inter Milan.
Under the iron-blooded coaching of Klopp, the Nerazzurri went to Sweden for training for more than half a month. After arriving in Asia, they showed quite outstanding fighting power, especially the tactical style with the distinct imprint of Klopp.
Klopp basically continued his 4-2-3-1 tactics in Dortmund.
But the difference is that Pelle, who many people thought would play a role similar to Lewandowski, did not start. Instead, Aubameyang took the center position and formed an offensive formation in the frontcourt with Felipe Anderson, Dybala and De Bruyne.
Behind them, Khedira, Allan, or Nainggolan all performed very well.
On the defensive line, Alex Sandro, Blind, De Vrij and Damian form the defense.
The goalkeeper is undoubtedly Handanovic.
With this lineup, under the leadership of Klopp, they played on equal terms with Southampton and Real Madrid, and were not inferior at all. Even their style of play was not conservative at all. The game was very exciting.
Especially the 2-1 reversal against Real Madrid was truly amazing.
Brazilian midfielder Alan's performance in this game was even more impressive. The Brazilian, who is both offensive and defensive, beat De Bruyne, who only made one assist and one shot, and was elected the best player of the game.
On the contrary, German midfielder Khedira is as low-key as ever, but very crucial and is the midfielder that Klopp relies on the most.
At least, playing all three warm-up matches is enough to prove Khedira's importance.
Unfortunately, in the end Inter Milan fell behind Southampton on goal difference and had to be eliminated as the third in the group.
But Inter Milan's outstanding performance in the International Champions Cup has won worldwide recognition and affirmation.
Under the leadership of Klopp, in the two warm-up matches with Manchester United and Barcelona, Inter Milan won one and lost one, defeating Manchester United 3-0 and losing to Barcelona 0-1. Both the result and the process were satisfactory.
In the end, in the third and fourth place finals of the Asian region, Southampton lost to Bayern Munich again and unfortunately got fourth place, failing to continue its previous outstanding performance.
The dark horse Monaco also failed to perform a miracle. In the final, after leading for 70 minutes, it was eventually equalized by Real Madrid. It then reversed the situation in overtime and ultimately lost the championship.
But Koeman's team has undoubtedly left an extremely deep impression on fans all over the world.
What is particularly commendable is that Monaco has a very young lineup of players. While continuing the gorgeous offensive football of his predecessor Martino, Koeman has further injected varied tactical coordination, which has further enhanced Monaco's overall strength.
As time entered August, the champions of the two major regions of the International Champions Cup were announced.
Manchester City and Real Madrid also deserved their titles.
Continuing the glory of the past two sessions, although the tournament has been expanded, the market is still hot, every game is sold out, and tickets are hard to come by.
Coupled with the high-level exciting competitions and the star-studded showdowns between the top teams, fans all over the world are thrilled.
As the Wall Street Journal commented in its report.
"The International Champions Cup has once again expanded its brand and enhanced the value of the event through a football feast that lasted for more than half a month and swept the world. It has proved itself to be the most valuable and well-deserved trump card event in the field of football warm-up matches!"
“What is even more exciting is that after the large-scale expansion this year, the International Champions Cup is still very popular, which makes everyone see the huge potential and bright development prospects of this event.”
“But in addition to its huge success on the football field, the International Champions Cup has not only helped the participating teams greatly expand their influence, but also achieved outstanding results in the business field.”
"Monaco, the biggest dark horse of this year, has signed three sponsorship contracts in Asia and is negotiating two more. Inter Milan, which performed well, also signed two major sponsorship contracts. Manchester City, the champion, not only promoted its team in New York, but also signed huge sponsorship contracts."
"Almost all the participating teams, such as Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Southampton, Barcelona and Manchester United, have benefited from this event, which undoubtedly makes people see the value of this event."
"In time, the International Champions Cup may become the most commercially valuable club competition outside of the European Champions League!"
"As the organizer of the International Champions Cup, Miracle Media has also attracted the attention of investors due to the popularity of the event. Another event hosted by the company, the European Youth Champions League, has also begun to attract the attention of investors and sponsors after entering its third year."
"As an important competition for European club youth teams, the UEFA Youth Champions League, although not as influential as the International Champions Cup, has also attracted considerable attention from fans in the past two years."
"It is reported that Miracle Media has reached agreements with several event broadcasting organizations. Starting this year, this event will be broadcast live in Europe. This is undoubtedly a very good start."
"It is particularly noteworthy that when we interviewed the CEO of Miracle Media, he also revealed to our reporter that Miracle Media is secretly planning a new event and has already obtained authorization from UEFA and FIFA. Once the time is right, it will be officially announced."
"In the words of Mr. Sun, this will be a major event that will change the landscape of international football!"
"As Miracle Media's International Champions Cup and UEFA Youth Champions League become more and more popular, we have reason to be excited about their new season."
As soon as the Wall Street Journal report came out, it immediately caused a huge response around the world.
After successfully operating the International Champions Cup, Miracle Media is actually going to create a new event?
What kind of event is that?
What can we rely on to change the current situation of international football?
All of this has whetted the appetite of football fans and media reporters around the world who care about and love football.
So, while Yang Huan was attending an event in Beijing, reporters at the scene threw questions to Young Master Huan.
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