Chapter 272: The whistle sounded

June 29, Brussels, Imperial Stadium, England vs France!

The attention of this game is much greater than the quarterfinals played here in the last game. The grudges between Britain and France have been intertwined for nearly a hundred years, but the pressure on the Belgian police is much less - England and Turkey are because there was a bloodshed just recently, and England and France are not so close to the grudges of life - many French players are playing football in England, Vieira and Petit, Deschamps and Henry, who played for a season at Chelsea, and Anelka, Deselli, and Leboff, who had just left for a season...

So although more than 20,000 English and French fans flocked to the Imperial Stadium, occupying the vast majority of the stands, and some even mixed into many fans of both sides, there was no conflict. They were just cheering loudly for the team they supported.

UEFA and the British police have achieved many results in cracking down on football hooligans. Anyone who has misconduct in the stadium stands will be recorded and then they will be banned from entering the court to watch the game. This is the most severe punishment for fans who regard supporting the club as their life. Therefore, British football hooligans are now in a trend toward a lower-level league. In national team-level games, there are actually very few football hooligans in England.

French fans have always been a relatively civilized group of European fans. A nation with a romantic nature often does not seem so extreme. It is precisely because of this that although the atmosphere in the stadium is quite warm, it is far from intense, at least in the stands.

"We have to know that today we are facing may be the strongest team in Europe... I don't say that because they won the World Cup championship before. In fact, their lineup is also the most complete in Europe. No team can be like them, and at the same time have so many excellent defenders, excellent midfielders, and excellent forwards."

Keegan said in the locker room that his words were quite suspicious of "being ambitious to others and destroying one's own majesty". However, as long as the calmer English player would admit that his words were actually quite correct. After winning the World Cup, people were surprised to find that the current French team is so powerful - their defense is better than Brazil, their offense is better than Italy, and they also have offensive and defensive capabilities that are not inferior to the two teams. Compared with the Netherlands, Argentina, they have the stability that the Netherlands and Argentina lack and a core at the peak. Although the English have always been arrogant, they have to admit that in terms of the strength of the team, England and Brazil, Argentina, Italy, and the Netherlands are still a certain gap, while France is even stronger and more stable than these four teams!

Although Keegan confidently announced before the game that England would enter the finals, he had no intention of underestimating France - at this time, no team could underestimate France.

"Today, France's lineup is 442, and their midfield strength is stronger than us. So in this game, we need to pass the midfield quickly and hand the ball to Tiger, Michael or Alan as soon as possible, and use our forward line to fight their defense line. The midfield is still mainly defense-oriented. The biggest problem for the French national team is that their strong offensive ability is average. Although their midfield organization and offensive ability are very strong, there are not many ways to face the dense defense. Keep it and try not to let them score. As for the offense... it depends on you three forwards."

Keegan really has no choice. Although England has produced some good players, almost all players play in their own country, making their national team's selection more narrow and monotonous. At the same time, many of the Premier League's prosperity are brought by foreign players. Too many foreign players will inevitably shorten the playing time of their own players. Although the strong teams in the Premier League still have many local players, most of them are auxiliary players. There are not many who can become the core, and their characteristics are similar. They are not as French players as there are almost every league, and there are many players with unique characteristics.

Strengthen defense, use intensive defense to deal with France's offense, and then wait for an opportunity to sneak attack to see if he can score a goal - in fact, doing so, Keegan is equivalent to putting Bao on Tiger. Irving and Hiller are both good forwards, but they need someone to pass the ball, and Tiger is the only one who can complete the attack alone. Who else can he expect?

Tiger sighed slightly in his heart, but he also knew that Keegan's arrangement was a helpless move. Even if Tiger led the midfield organization to fight against the French midfield, Tiger had no confidence - it was not that Tiger had no confidence in his ability, but England, which could not even defeat Portugal and Romania in the midfield, why did France have a midfield confrontation?

It’s better to shrink your defense and seize the opportunity to attack one by one, and maybe you can win...

"If there was a Spanish midfielder behind me, I would dare to compete with you Zidane... Now, I can only play a sneak attack." Tiger thought unwillingly.

But think about it, I will face the siege and interception of top mid-lane defensive players like Blanco, Deselli, Vieira, Petit, and Deschamps... Damn, it's all exciting to think about it!

Especially Vieira, there seems to be a calculation between us that has not been settled!

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The French national team made fine adjustments in the lineup in this game, perhaps because Anelka performed well in the game against England. Today, this weird-tempered genius started with Henry on the front line, and veteran Djokkaf, who scored the winning goal in the last game, sat on the bench - from the lineup, France's starting lineup is similar to England. The two forwards are a front midfielder behind, and three defensive midfielders behind the front midfielder - France is Deschamps, Vieira and Petit, England's Beckham and Scholes are in a relatively back position to form the midfield with Gerrard. France's defense is still the best defense line in the World Cup, goalkeepers Badz, defenders Deselli, Blanco, Toulam and Lizarazu, England's goalkeepers are the injured Shimann, and the four defenders are the Neville brothers, Campbell and Adams.

During the player passage, Tiger looked at Vieira. Among the opponent's three midfielders, Petit was his defeated player. Deschamps is already old, and only Vieira will guard him. This midfielder who once defeated him, but this result was what Tiger hoped to see, because Vieira is also a midfielder with strong attack power. If he comes to watch himself, the pressure on the defense line will be reduced a lot.

Then his eyes fell on Zidane. The midfielder who was the champion in the 1998 World Cup was three years older than him and is now at his peak. Although he once performed in Juventus in the past two seasons, he still had top performance in the French national team. At the same time, he performed quite well in Juventus last season. If he had not been lost with Juventus in the heavy rain in Perugia in the last league game, the Serie A championship last season would definitely not belong to Lazio.

In today's game, Zidane would not have the help of Djokkaf. Tiger has never had a skill-breaking player in the national team and his partner. The performance of the two will determine the trend of the game.

Tiger does not think he is worse than Zidane. Maybe Zidane will beat him in organization and scheduling, but he is confident that his scoring ability and direct threat to the goal are above Zidane. This game will be an opportunity for Tiger to test his own abilities.

The three referees standing in front began to move their steps, and Tiger, who was standing at the back of the England national team, also began to move his steps with his teammates in front.

In terms of clubs, Tiger's achievements are no worse than Zidane. He has won the Premier League championship and two shining championship cups. Zidane has not yet won the honor of a Champions League, but in terms of the national team, Zidane won the World Cup championship as the core of the midfield and scored two goals in the finals. This result alone is enough for Tiger to spend all the remaining career time!

A top player can have a great chance to win the Champions League, but to win the World Cup, in addition to his own strength, he also needs some luck.

Tiger didn't know if he had this luck, but in this European Championship, he had this opportunity and proved his excellence at the national team level!

And he can also fight to defeat Vieira and wash away the shame of losing to Vieira and being injured!

Thinking of this, Tiger felt that he was full of fighting spirit - two opponents, two contests on different levels!

When Tiger walked out of the player's passage, his eyes suddenly lit up, and a tide of cheers surged towards him. Tiger took a deep breath and felt the heat that was so hot that it could make people melt.

For a professional player, the game is a kind of enjoyment - as long as he has not lost his enthusiasm and fighting spirit for football!

Players on both sides began to scatter on the court, and then, "Queen of Heaven" and "Marseille" began to ring over the Imperial Stadium one after another.

After both sides and Belgium's national anthem were played, the players began to shake hands with each other one by one. Vieira paused while shook hands with Tiger and looked at Tiger deeply. Tiger immediately knew that his guess was correct. The only person responsible for guarding him was Arsenal's vice captain Vieira!

After Vieira left, Zidane shook hands with Tiger.

Seeing that his face was a bit long and his hair had become a sparse Mediterranean-style top attacking midfielder, Tiger despised the other party in his heart, thinking that no matter what, he would be a little more handsome than Zidane...

However, when he saw the faint smile on Zidane's mouth, Tiger immediately waved this idea - a man, what can you boast about looking like? If you don't have outstanding strength, no matter how handsome he is, no one will look at you with your eyes. The world of football is a world that emphasizes strength!

Just like his handsome appearance, the future Paraguay striker Santa Cruz is not inferior to Beckham at all, and he is even more handsome. However, his fame is not as good as Beckham! Similarly, as long as it is a normal aesthetic, no one thinks Ronaldinho is a handsome guy, but at his peak, his popularity in the world is not even worse than Beckham!

This is the world of football, everything is spoken by strength!

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Hiller shook hands with three referees and the opponent's captain Blanco near the central circle, but thought about what Tiger said to him just now.

"Captain, try to win the right to pick the side... The sun is still very big now, and this stadium is east-west."

After Tiger said this, Sheer immediately understood what Tiger meant - the game was at 3:00 pm, and the weather is very good now, and the weather in Belgium has always been very good. Although there is little dazzling sunshine, the sun is the brightest at this time. At this time, facing the sun game, it will be affected.

When the venues were exchanged in the second half, the sun at 4:00 pm would be dimmer than the sun at 3:00 pm, and the impact would not appear so big.

So in this case, it is very beneficial to choose the Western half-time to turn the sunshine.

Thinking of this, Hiller couldn't help but admire Tiger. It was not uncommon to think of this. However, in such an important game, players often only remember the coach's instructions. Even Keegan and others ignored this detail, but Tiger realized that - it would be fine if he was just an ordinary role player, but Tiger's importance in this game was unquestionable - almost the whole team put most of the hope of defeating France on Tiger! In this case, he could also notice this inconspicuous but very effective detail, which simply surpassed the observation ability of ordinary players who had a big view on the court and reached the level of the coach!

With this meticulous thought alone, it is more than enough to be an ordinary coach.

While thinking in his heart, Hiller began to guess. Perhaps it was Tiger's reminder that brought such a little good luck. Hiller successfully guessed the coin and obtained the right to pick the edge.

After looking at both sides, Hiller pointed to the half-time where most of the places were covered by the sun. Seeing Hiller's performance, Blanco's expression froze for a moment - he was also an experienced defender. Seeing Hiller do this, he immediately understood what he wanted to do...

"Did these brainless British guys work hard on these details?" Blanco couldn't help thinking this way when shook hands with Hiller.

It was not until he shook hands with the referees that Blanco walked back to his half, that he came back to his senses.

Looking at the French teammates who were already surrounded, Blanco coughed dryly and said, "They chose a half-time that is more beneficial to them... I think we need to be more cautious in the first half, slow down the pace, and don't attack with them rashly. After all, a mistake may cause the goal to be lost."

French players are basically veterans, and the younger ones are just Vieira, Henry and Anelka. So when Blanco said this, others also saw the problems with this venue and nodded one after another.

The European Cup semi-finals are mainly about stability. Since the natural environment is not good for the side in the first half, there is no problem with stability. After all, French players' skills are better than English players. If England wants to take advantage of environmental factors to lead in the first half, they will be more impatient in the offense. Such stability will help France fight back. Anyway, France basically enters England's halftime when attacking, and there is no factor in being shaken by the sun.

Seeing that his teammates knew what they meant, Blanco waved his hand and let the players disperse - although this European Cup was the last time the French national team captain played for the French national team, his prestige was still very high in the national team.

Then he walked towards goalkeeper Badz, who consciously lowered his head and asked Blanco to kiss his bald head - describing this scene in words makes people feel a little disgusting, but in fact, it was precisely because of the French team's ceremony before the game that they won the World Cup championship all the way, Badz also announced very badly that except Blanco, he would not let anyone kiss his bald head...

When Blanco explained to the French players, Hiller also walked towards the English players who were in a circle.

"We have to attack in the first half to make the ball more in their half. Of course, the defense cannot be relaxed. Their two forwards are very fast and their personal breakthrough ability is also excellent. The defense can only go up and assist one person at most. Steven, you have to be responsible for defending in the backcourt...Tiger, the organization of the midfield will be left to you."

Tiger nodded, indicating that he knew.

Since he made this suggestion to Shearer and Shearer was also determined to get the right to take sides, then he must be worthy of the opportunity that Shearer has won for him!

"Okay, if we win another game, we will reach the final... Although we have tied our best results in the European Championships now, since we have reached this point, why not go further? Let's fight now! For England!"

"Come on for England!" England players shouted in unison, then put their hands together, then swung them down hard, then got up and spread them on the lawn.

"Okay... Now the players of both sides have been scattered on the court... Ninety minutes later, or one hundred and twenty minutes later, we will know which team is the first to enter the finals... The French team kicked off, Henry and Anelka were both standing in the center circle, waiting for the referee's opening whistle to ring... Now, the game has begun!"

The stands flashed with light from camera lenses, Henry dialed the ball to Anelka and ran forward.
Chapter completed!