After being rejected, I became Shi Yijiao

Chapter 467 The Surprising Group Stage Finale
If it is a period of 16 teams and only the top two qualify in each group, winning both games does not actually guarantee an early qualifying from the group.

Because there may be such a situation, there are three teams with two wins and one loss, and the other unlucky team loses all three games.

In this way, the three teams need to look at the goal difference to determine the top two in the group.

This situation is rare, but it has also appeared in the World Series.

In the No.1982 World Cup in 12, Algeria, West Germany, and Austria in Group B all had 2 wins and 1 loss. Algeria ranked third and was eliminated due to its low goal difference.

A similar situation has actually occurred in the Champions League.

The UEFA Champions League group stage is a double cycle, and this score has to be multiplied by two. Therefore, in the 2013-14 UEFA Champions League group stage, Arsenal, Naples and Dortmund all had 4 wins and 2 losses with 12 points. In the end, Naples ranked third and was eliminated.

But this year's European Cup, the third place in the group with the best results can qualify, so the Swedish team can be said to have entered the top [-] ahead of schedule!

After all, it is not uncommon for a group with 6 points to be third, let alone more than five groups with 5 points to be third...

"This somewhat unexpected victory allowed the Swedish team to score 3 points, making them the first team to qualify in this death group."

"In this game, Italy's performance is indeed a bit disappointing. They beat the favorite Belgium in the first game, which makes everyone look at this Italian team with admiration, thinking that they may have a better performance in this cup. performance."

"But in fact, the Italian team was not too impressive in front of the Swedish team. On the contrary, the Swedish team showed convincing strength for the second consecutive game."

"In other words, the overall performance of the Swedish team today is even better than when they played against Ireland in the first game. The offense and defense are also relaxed, and they have always controlled the game steadily. Considering that the Italian team is stronger than Ireland, this The performance was really surprising.”

"If only relying on this game alone, the Swedish team can even let people see their unlimited possibilities. After all, not just any team can play the Italian team in such a mess!"

"Of course, if the Swedish team wants to go further in this European Cup, it will undoubtedly require them to maintain this state for a longer period of time. This will also test Pan Yi's overall understanding of this tournament system. control."

"But now there is a very favorable situation for Pan Yi's Swedish team. That is, they have already qualified ahead of schedule, which also makes the last round of the Swedish team against Belgium a less important match. Pan Yi can also take the opportunity to let the More key players are rested to prepare for more brutal knockout matches."

"This is very critical. Because whether it is the European Cup or the World Cup, the schedule is actually very intensive. Such a rest opportunity is really rare!..."

In the slightly excited commentary of the commentator, the Swedish players on the court were already celebrating excitedly.

Before the start of the European Cup, almost everyone was not optimistic about Sweden, thinking that they would be eliminated at the bottom of the group. Even after Pan Yi took over, this view has not changed much;

This also made the Swedish national team hold back their stomachs.

Now, they have qualified ahead of schedule!
Two consecutive victories, in this group of death!
Therefore, the aggrieved emotions before can finally be vented, which made this group of Swedish internationals very excited.

On the other hand, the players of the Italian team who were competing on the same field all lowered their heads, looking very depressed.

Originally, they were the team that thought they could qualify early!
But because they lost to the Swedish team, they had to slam Ireland in the final round, which is actually not so sure.

After all, the Italian tradition, when you are strong, you are not weak, and when you are weak, you are not strong. When you think he is strong, he is weak. When you think he is very weak, he will show you his strength...

"Congratulations, boss!" Seeing Pan Yi walking towards him, De Sciglio immediately showed an indescribable stiff smile on his face.

On the one hand, it was because of Italy's loss, and on the other hand, it was because he didn't even get a chance to play for 1 minute in this losing Italian team!
This also shows that after Pan Yi left Milan, De Sciglio's career development was not as smooth as he expected.

It can't be said that it is very bad-after all, it can also be selected for the Italian national team, but if it is said to be popular, it must not be.

In general, it is a qualified player of the five major leagues, nothing more.

"Good luck to you too!" Pan Yi could only pat De Sciglio's shoulder as a sign of comfort.

The master leads the door, and the practice depends on the individual.

De Sciglio's future still depends on himself.

Fortunately, he is only 23 years old this year, and he still has the opportunity to improve...
-
The post-match press conference was crowded.

Reporters and media from all over the world have gathered here, and they are all waiting for the appearance of the head coaches of both sides, hoping that they can make some comments on this game, especially Pan Yi.

Conte played first, but he lost today, obviously not in a good mood.

After briefly answering several reporters' questions, he left in a hurry.

And when Pan Yi appeared, the atmosphere at the scene reached a climax all of a sudden.

Obviously, this is not only because of Pan Yi's title as the world's number one coach, but more because of the two games he led the Swedish team to play.

Especially today, being able to suppress Italy like this and make Conte's team play so uncomfortable, this fully reflects the combat effectiveness of this Swedish team.

It can be said that after this game, if anyone criticizes Pan Yi and his Swedish team again, it would be like talking nonsense.

After all, this is the first team in this European Cup!

"Mr. Pan Yi, what do you think of this victory?" A reporter was the first to raise his hand to ask.

"It was a very difficult game. Italy was very strong and threatened us a lot, but in the end we won the game, which is very important. The victory belongs to everyone, to the whole team."

Pan Yi's answer was very formal and gave Conte enough face.

Another reporter stood up: "Mr. Pan Yi, which player in the Swedish team do you think played the best today?"

Pan Yi smiled and said: "Everyone's performance is very good. Ibrahimovic and Isaac who scored goals for us are of course very good, but I especially want to praise Lindelof today. He completely defended the opponent's top scorer Pei Lay, I think he has the potential to play for a big club."

The reporters all nodded.

Since Pan Yi joined the team, Lindelof also seems to have changed.

In addition to defending well, he also took on the heavy responsibility of Sweden playing the ball in the backcourt, which made the Swedish team's already somewhat chaotic ball system sorted out in an orderly manner.

This has to make people admire Pan Yi's accuracy in employing people.

After all, under his predecessor, Lindelof was nothing more than a reckless man who often fell to the top.

At this time, Pan Yi continued: "Of course, I still want to emphasize that to play in a major competition like the European Cup depends on the joint efforts of the 23 players in the team, not just one or a few players. of."

At this time, another reporter raised his hand: "After two consecutive victories, the Swedish team has actually qualified from the group. Will you make some lineup adjustments when you play Belgium?"

"Of course!" Pan Yi nodded, "I have to consider the game from the overall perspective. If there is an opportunity to rest my players, why not? Of course, the ranking of the group will also affect the opponents in the knockout round, and I will also take it into consideration. considerate."

"But since the third place in the group can also qualify, it is difficult to predict your opponent in the top [-] now?" The reporter asked, "The situation of qualifying will be much more chaotic than before."

Pan Yi smiled and said: "Then, let's try to occupy a good position in the group, and then let others think about how to avoid us."
-
Soon, the game between Belgium and Ireland also began.

Compared with the starters on the field, Fellaini, Nainggolan and Seaman were taken down by Wilmots and replaced by Dembele, Carrasco and Meunier respectively.

But in the first half of the game, the offense of the two sides was lackluster, and the two teams drew 0-0.

After the start of the second half, Belgium's offensive was in full swing.

In the 48th minute, Ireland failed to attack with a free kick. Belgium launched a quick counterattack. De Bruyne gave the ball to Lukaku. The first goal in the European Cup.

In the 61st minute of the game, Belgium made continuous cooperation. Meunier sent a cross from the side. Witsel quickly went forward and scored a header in the penalty area to help Belgium lead 2-0.

In the 70th minute, Belgium scored again, Hazard knocked calmly in the penalty area, Lukaku pushed and scored in front of the goal, Belgium led Ireland 3-0, Lukaku scored twice.

In the end, Belgium beat Ireland 3-0.

With this victory, Belgium jumped to second place in the group, while Ireland lost both games and scored five goals, with little hope of qualifying.

The situation of the Swedish team has long been clear, that is, as long as they remain unbeaten in the final round, they can qualify as the first in the group.

The same is true for Italy and Belgium with three points in hand, that is, if they don't lose, they have a high chance of qualifying. The difference is only the ranking of the group and the opponent in the knockout round.

In view of the fact that the first group in Group E has a high probability of meeting the second group in Group D, and Group D is composed of Croatia, Spain, Turkey, and the Czech Republic;
The second in Group E will meet the first in Group F, and the four teams in Group F are Hungary, Iceland, Portugal, and Austria;

From the analysis of this situation, maybe it is not a bad choice to get the second place in the group.

Of course, the third place in the group still needs to be avoided, because they will meet the first place in Group A. At present, the host French team is very likely to stand in that position. They just defeated Albania 2-0. It is also a two-game victory.

However, this is still a theoretical arrangement.

Since I don't know which group's No.3 will appear, there are certain variables here, which cannot be fully confirmed yet.
-
The last round of Group E is scheduled for June 6, which is the last day of the group stage.

Therefore, before the start of Italy VS Ireland and Sweden VS Belgium, the rankings of other groups have already been settled.

In the final round of Group A, which ended first, France drew 0:0 with Switzerland, while Romania lost 0:1 to Albania, which made the final ranking of Group A 7 points for France, 5 points for Switzerland, 3 points for Albania, and 1 points for Albania. Romania are out with [-] point.

Then there is Group B. After Wales beat Russia 3-0 somewhat unexpectedly, they actually occupied the first place in the group!

England ranked second in the same group also got the right to qualify, while Slovakia ranked third with 4 points and also secured the right to qualify.

The standings in Group C are Germany with 7 points, Poland with 7 points, Northern Ireland with 3 points and Ukraine with 0 points.

Group D, which Pan Yi needs to focus on, had a moderate upset in the last round. Croatia defeated Spain 2:1!
This also allowed Croatia to beat Spain to win the first place in the group, while Spain could only be second.

Finally, in Group F, Hungary and Portugal completed a 3:3 goal battle, and Ronaldo scored twice.

In this way, Hungary ranked first with 5 points, Iceland also qualified second with 5 points, and Portugal ranked third with 3 points in all three games.

Since in the previous groups, Albania and Turkey have already ranked No. 3 with 3 points and a negative goal difference, so Portugal has already qualified.

In this way, the last round of Group E is a bit tricky.

The first opponent in the group will be Spain, the second in Group D, and the second opponent in the group will be Hungary, the first in Group F. If the third in the group also qualify, the opponent will be the first France in Group A.

In other words, the first place in Group E may not be as good as the second place after qualifying...

But Pan Yi didn't think about it that much, because he was going to "let the water go".

Well, not water.

It's a big rotation of the lineup!
The players who started before all sat on the bench, and all the original substitutes started!

Even the starting goalkeeper was replaced by Robin Olsen from Copenhagen.

In this way, except for the third goalkeeper Karlgren, all the players of the Swedish team ushered in their appearance in the European Cup.

As for Belgium, since they have not yet secured a place to qualify, they still play with the main lineup.

But their mentality is a bit strange.

They want to qualify, but they also think that they can get second in the group, so that they can play Hungary instead of Spain.

Therefore, the Belgian players played a little absent-mindedly on the field, not in a [-]% fighting state.

"Sweden's Lustig steals the ball, gives it to Sijemark, he dribbles the ball forward, and passes it to Levitski's feet..."

"Levitzki takes the ball, turns around, goes straight behind Vermaelen, Kulusevski gets the ball, goes down to the baseline, crosses..."

"Goal! Marcus Berry scored!!!"

I heard deafening cheers from the entire Nice stadium. Countless fans wearing yellow Sweden jerseys jumped up from the stands, raised their arms high, and shouted loud and clear celebratory slogans. Let the whole Nice stadium seem to be in the vortex of the storm.

"In the 14th minute, only 14 minutes after the opening, the Swedish team took the lead in breaking the Belgian team's goal!"

"1:0, this is a very sudden goal, but it seems to be taken for granted. Because the Swedish team has been very proactive in attacking since the beginning, which exerted a huge impact on the Belgian team's defense. pressure!"

"And the Belgian team obviously didn't adjust well. Facing the Swedish team, which played with all substitutes, they seemed powerless to fight back?"

"If this continues, they will be in danger. Now Belgium's instant points are still 3 points, but the goal difference has dropped to 0. If they lose more goals, they may not be able to compare with Albania and Turkey..."

The live TV footage and the big screen of the stadium are replaying the whole process of scoring just now.

Everyone can see that the moment the Swedish team switched from offense to defense after stealing the ball, the players of the Belgian team obviously did not have the awareness of counter-stealing immediately, and even returned to defense slowly. A listless and powerless look.

Vermaelen never returned to his position from when Levitzki took the ball to behind the oblique pass.

When Kulusevski passed, Alderweireld was also naturally blocked by Marcus Bailey, who headed directly into the box without too much interference. The ball goes in.

"There was clearly something wrong with the Belgian team. After this goal, it felt like a lot of Belgian players were blaming each other instead of encouraging them."

At this time, the players of the Swedish team had returned to the court in unscrupulous celebrations, and the game was about to start.

But it's clear that morale in Belgium is yet to pick up.

"Now it seems that the news about the strife in the Belgian dressing room before the game is very likely to be true."

Although the on-site commentator didn't say it clearly, everyone could hear one thing from his tone, that is, disappointment.

This may be the chronic disease of Belgian football.

After all, in the football field, in addition to the level of the team, whether the team is united or not is also an important factor that determines the results of the game.

In the past, some strong teams often had internal strife because of many problems. For example, Yugoslavia has many nationalities, and the players in the national team are divided into cliques. In the Dutch team, there are many players from the colonies.

And in Belgium, they don't even speak the same language in the team!

The Belgians are composed of French-speaking Walloons and Dutch-speaking Flemish peoples, two peoples who have always been at odds with each other.

And this confrontation has a long history, and this cultural and language conflict has also been brought to the football field.

Belgium missed three European Cups and two World Cups from 02 to 12. A very important reason is that the Walloon and Flemish players in the team formed gangs.

Later, the golden generation of Belgium appeared, which finally allowed them to participate in the competition, but the contradictions in the team remained.

During the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Belgian international Vermaelen and Witsel attended a press conference at the same time.Vermaelen spoke Dutch while Witsel insisted on speaking French...

There are even rumors that in order to avoid language conflicts, the Belgian team speaks English uniformly, because English is safer and will not cause divisions within the team because of language.

This led to Belgium being able to fight with its own strength in the qualifiers, but when it came to the competition, it was distracted.

"Perhaps it is because of the current situation of qualifying for the group that has led to internal divisions in Belgium." The commentator speculated, "For example, the Walloons think that they must strive for the first place in the group and do not need to be afraid of any opponent; while the Flemish people think that the group is second. That's good..."

"Of course, this is just my guess. Maybe their internal conflicts are more complicated than I thought."

"For example, De Bruyne is a Flemish, but he has some other conflicts with Courtois whose father and mother are from Flemish and Wallonia respectively..."

"But the problem is, if this continues, their final fate may be to be eliminated by the group!"
-
Of course, Pan Yi has also heard about the internal conflicts in Belgium.

Well, since he was a fan in his previous life, he has heard conflicts within Belgium more than once.

Even such contradictions continued until the end of the 2022 World Cup...

It can only be the golden generation that makes people lament how hard it is for them to emerge, and they are gradually getting old like this, and they have not been able to win any decent championships.

This also shows that football is really not just a sport that tests the body and skills, but more about whether the entire team can form a whole and exert its strength in one place.

This is why Pan Yi never liked that kind of stabbing players.

The same is true for Guardiola.

Wasn't Cancelo strong in his previous Manchester City life?At least the top three levels in the same position.

But because of his conflicts in the locker room, including losing his temper once he didn't start, Guardiola didn't get used to him and sent him away directly.

After Cancelo left, Manchester City's performance got better and better, and finally became the triple crown!

Although in Belgium now, there are several Chelsea players such as Lukaku, Hazard and Courtois, they can be regarded as Pan Yi's "fellow" team;
But he can only ensure that these people do not have conflicts in the Chelsea team-well, the three of them themselves are not easy to form cliques.

But when he arrived in Belgium, Pan Yike couldn't control it anymore.

Even in the future Chelsea, Pan Yi may not be able to control it anymore, after all, he is no longer the head coach of Chelsea...
-
With the whistle of the referee, the game is over.

1:0, Sweden defeated Belgium!
In other words, Marcus Berry's goal in the 14th minute was the only goal of the game.

In the next 70 minutes, although Belgium was distracted, Sweden's substitute lineup was also very limited. Therefore, the two sides reached an inexplicable balance and kept the score until the end.

This also made all the Swedish fans at the Nice Stadium excitedly shout and celebrate.

None of them imagined, absolutely never imagined that the game would become what it is now.

Belgium can also be regarded as a strong European team, after all, it ranks second in the world.

The Swedish team came off the bench, and even in the 70th minute, Pan Yi replaced the third goalkeeper Karlgren on the field, allowing him to enjoy the European Cup...

But that's it, Sweden still won Belgium and achieved an amazing record of three victories!
This is of course surprising, because no matter how you look at it, Belgium cannot be so weak, nor can Sweden be so strong, but it just happened.

then……

Even more surprising news came from another venue:
Italy unexpectedly lost 0:1 to Ireland!

Well, it doesn't seem to be a surprise that Italy lost?
But in this way, in Group E, Sweden has won all three games with 9 points, while the other three teams have a series of 3 points with one win and two losses.

Only in this set, Belgium has a goal difference of 0, Italy has a goal difference of -1 and Ireland has a goal difference of -4.

Therefore, Belgium "got his wish" and won the second place in the group!
The Italian group was third and Ireland was eliminated fourth.

And because Albania, the third in Group A, and Turkey, the third in Group D, both have a 3-point goal difference of -2, which means that Italy has also qualified!
The fate of the three teams in Group E was also decided in the knockout round of 16:
Belgium VS Hungary;
Italy VS France;

Sweden VS Spain! ! !
(End of this chapter)