Chapter 131: The quarterfinals opponent

Ragbeck thought Donn replaced George Wood for defense, and it didn't take long for him to understand that he was wrong.

After breaking up Ibrahimovic's ball, George Wood did not simply pass the ball, but drove forward by himself. Ibrahimovic grabbed the ball from behind and pushed Wood, but did not push Wood down, but instead helped Wood get rid of his entanglement.

Wood suddenly dribbled the ball forward and disrupted the Swedish team's defensive plan. They did not expect that Wood came up not to defend but to attack.

Wood finally passed the football to Chris Cohen while facing two Swedish players' defense, and he completed a shot.

In the next game, the Swedish team found that they could not attack with all their might to score, because after George Wood came on the court, England's midfielder became more aggressive, causing the Swedes to be at peace.

Just like the game against the German team, Wood's performance is not obvious to him as a "injured soldier" whose foot injury has not yet recovered.

Running hard, defending hard, and having a stable mental state. The midfielder was sorted out in an orderly manner, which made England fans feel relieved. This is the changes that George Wood brought to people after he came on the court.

At this time, no one thought about boring things like "We haven't beat Sweden in forty-eight years".

England told them with actual performance that such concerns were unnecessary.

England had a full advantage in the scene. Even though the Swedish team changed to frequently hit high balls and used long passes to hit England's defense, the central defender formed by John Terry and Stephen Taylor also seemed very calm. In addition, Joe Hart, who was 1.96 meters tall, expanded his control range and made many crosses, allowing him to get it in advance. Swedish forward Goyton, who was also 1.96 meters tall, did not get any good opportunities in front of the goal.

Time flies. No matter how Ragbeck adjusts, the Swedish team has no choice but to take England's intensive defense. As the game progresses, it is not the English players who are becoming more and more impatient, but the Swedish players. After all, they are now behind two goals.

What "We haven't lost to England for forty-eight years!" Such things can't comfort their irritable hearts. Seeing that there was little time left in the game, they were still two goals behind. Look at the solid defense of England, at this time, even if God himself came to be the twelfth man for the Swedish team, it's impossible.

The Swedish team became more and more impatient and the quality of offense became lower and lower. Ragbeck couldn't sit still and yelled desperately on the sidelines to keep the players calm. But the more he yelled, the more panicked the players became, and it became a vicious cycle.

This England was completely unfaithful, which surprised Ragbeck. Their psychological quality was so outstanding that it was far beyond Ragbeck's expectations. You should know that in the past, the psychological quality of England teams could be ranked last in the whole of Europe...

It was the annoying man who changed all this.

Ragbeck looked at the next door. The head coach of England was sitting on the coach's seat at this moment. He raised his legs and crossed his legs.

Look at his leisurely look, it makes people grit their teeth.

"The game entered injury stop time. Three minutes of injury stop time! It seems that the Swedish team has no hope!" John Motterson said excitedly, "It is only three minutes before we break this damn fate!"

Facing the final madness of Sweden, the whole team of England hurried in the penalty area and defended the dead for three minutes. When Sweden won a corner kick in the second minute of injury time, their goalkeeper Isaxon rushed up. But what's the use? Even if they scored a goal, they were still one goal behind and could not change the result at all.

The fans of England were already singing and cheering in the stands, and they could finally get rid of the nightmare that had been weighing on their hearts for forty-eight years.

Sweden's corner kick did not pose any threat to England's goal. The Swedish kicked the corner kick directly out of the baseline with an unbalanced attitude. Joe Hart was slowing down and placing the football. Then just as he drove the ball out with his big feet, he heard the final whistle!

"The game is over! The game is over! We defeated Sweden! The first time in forty-eight years has defeated Sweden!" Motson shouted excitedly. In his opinion, it was even more exciting for him to enter the quarterfinals without ending his fate. "Tony Don't's team defeated Destiny! This damn destiny is finally over!"

The Swedish commentator seemed a little frustrated: "Our team England's psychological advantage for forty-eight years has disappeared..."

Just as the three-win whistle was over, England's substitutes rushed to the court to celebrate their victory.

Tony Tangen did not do this, and this time he did not forget to shake hands with the other local coach.

Ragbeck seemed a little depressed, and he shook his head gently to complete the handshake procedure. Without stopping for a long time, he walked straight to the entrance of the corridor. Tang En was surrounded by reporters. As the winner, he deserved more attention.

"I have nothing to say, I'm happy to be able to advance to the quarterfinals. I said that our goal is the championship, and now we are going further and further down the right path. Forty-eight years will not beat Sweden?" Tang En laughed, "That's because I didn't coach England in the first 48 years."

When Don was still interviewing the media, team doctor Mr. Derek White rushed to the court and found George Wood. He asked with concern: "How does your big toe feel with your right foot?"

Wood pressed his toes and said to White: "No problem."

Mr. White breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good." Based on his observations off the court, Wood was much easier to deal with in these thirty minutes than with the German team in fifteen minutes. It seemed that his foot injury had recovered almost.

In this way, he should be able to meet Tang Endi's requirements in the next game and start.

Thinking of this, White only felt that he was finally going to be free...

England defeated Sweden, ending the fate of not winning Sweden for 48 years, and advanced to the quarterfinals, which made England fans extremely excited. After the game, England fans party all night and drink all night. The beer in the entire Seville bar was "looted". Of course, when someone gets drunk, there will naturally be conflicts. This night gave Seville police a headache.

All these things have nothing to do with Don Eun. He met White in the hotel in the evening and confirmed that Wood's injury was recovering well. The starting point in the next game should not be a problem. This made him very happy.

Although there is no George Wood, Donn also leads the team ahead of Germany and Sweden. But if you need to win the championship, then George Wood is essential. Attention to Wood does not mean that Donn does not have the ability. Any coach must have a player he prefers. He cannot lead the team to win with the head coach alone. He also needs players who can support him on the court. Jake, who led the French team to the first world championship, has Zidane. Look at the two games that Zidane was suspended, how painful it was to win. Let’s look at the France team that suppressed the Brazilian team in the final. This is the difference between Zidane and Zidane. Zidane became a local hero in France. But no one said that Jake was not capable.

Meritorious coaches and meritorious players are always born together and become legends together. If Don Eun wants to write his legend in this European Cup, then he cannot do without the help of George Wood.

The next night, England's quarter-final opponent was released - France. They eliminated the Netherlands 2:0 in the quarter-finals.

Since the "Death Group", England has always encountered strong opponents, and the only one with the weakest strength is Wales. England also lost. It is strange to say that England has a good performance against a strong team. Now, even when facing France, Donn doesn't have much worry.

The English media are a little worried. Donn has said more than once that his goal is the champion in public. This is a good thing, but look at the opponents of England along the way: "Brazil in Europe" Portugal has given England the only defeat, Wales, Germany, Sweden, which has not won for 48 years, and now it is the European Latin representative of France... What other strong teams are waiting for them in the future?

If England can defeat France and enter the semi-finals, it will likely face the host Spain. What about England's opponents? The most comfortable team in the second half is Italy. They hardly encountered any strong players. The Welsh, which entered the quarterfinals, was in high spirits, but eventually fell at the feet of Italy. Teams like Greece and Croatia cannot pose any threat to Italy, as long as the Italians deal with it carefully. It should be no big problem to enter the finals.

Of course, the English now hope that Greece and Croatia will become unpopular and eliminate Italy. In this way, the biggest threat to England's championship will no longer exist. It's a pity that this may be too low. Italy has always been steady and is a team that cannot lose when facing a weak team, but will fall apart when facing a strong team...

There is five days off between the quarterfinals and the quarterfinals. Donne gave the team a day off the second day of the match with Sweden. He didn't seem to worry about the French team, and he still had the time to let the players go shopping.

In fact, he had already taken his assistant Des Walker to Barcelona and watched the game between the French and the Netherlands in the stands at Camp Nou.

The French team's top scorer Benzema is the best player in this game. He took charge of all the goals of the French team in the game. He scored twice, making the Dutch team look weak.

French midfielder Gurkuf also performed well in this game. He directly assisted Benzema to score a goal and also instigated a second goal.

There is also the French new generation of national goalkeeper Loris. The Netherlands team did not have a chance in this game, but in the end, Loris' wonderful save was resolved.

Today, the French team is full of geniuses and is strong and cannot be underestimated. The players of this group of French team are basically the best in Europe in the past few years: Benzema, Enggo, Nasri, Gurkuf, Ben Alfa, Krish, Las Diyala, Sarnia...

Seeing their wonderful performance in the game against the Netherlands, Don Eun frowned.

"This French team is very strong, no wonder they were considered a favorite to win the championship before the start of the game." Walker was sorting out the camera equipment in his hand while expressing his views on the game.

"We are also a favorite to win the championship." Tang En said calmly.

Walker watched him happy.

"Let's go, Des." Tang En ignored him, stood up, put his hands in his pockets and walked down. The two of them mixed in the crowd, left the court, and returned to Sevilla overnight.

When Walker got up in the morning and knocked on Don't's door and told him to go down for breakfast, he found Don't blink at the screen. He leaned over and found that it was a video of the game he recorded yesterday.

"You've been watching all night?" He was startled.

"How is that possible?" Tang En turned his head and looked at him. "I just got up not long ago." After that, he turned his head back and watched the game on the TV screen.

"The French team plays so well..." Des Walker, who was also watching from the side, murmured. "The offensive routines are rich, the methods are diverse, and there are also players with excellent personal skills. In terms of geniuses, there are so many more than us... Such a team is difficult to deal with."

Tang En shrugged: "It's just a bunch of flowers in the greenhouse."

Hearing him say this, Walker suddenly laughed: "Have you found a way to deal with them?"

Tang En shook his head, "Not yet."

He stood up. “Let’s go, I’m going to have breakfast. I’m hungry.”

Walker grimaced at him behind his back and followed him out.

"Our team is full of geniuses! Winning England is no problem!"

This is generally the case in French media. The French have just defeated the strong team Holland, which has made the French feel full of confidence.

Even Benzema said in an interview that he believed that France would definitely beat England, and that was not a problem.

As the number one scorer in this competition so far, his words have been recognized by many people.

For a time, optimism in France took the upper hand. Everyone felt that the French team had reached the finals early, and then continued their previous "resentment" with Italy and wanted to avenge the 2006 World Cup finals. As for England and the semi-finals, they didn't take it seriously.

But at this time someone came out to pour their cold water on them.

Benzema's former teammate at Real Madrid, former Nottingham Forest star Ribery, appeared in the media, and he was worried about the optimism of France.

"...I think it's not wise to consider the finals now. If the French team despises England, they will definitely suffer. I have no doubt at all. The reason is very simple. Their head coach is Tony Donn, who just led the team to defeat Germany in the vengeance, ending the record of unbeatable victory against Sweden for 48 years. This shows that England is a terrible team today... I have played for many years in Nottingham Forest, and I know what kind of head coach Tony Donn is. Anyone who underestimates him and despises him will be very unlucky in the end..."
Chapter completed!