After being rejected, I became Shi Yijiao

Chapter 468 Fighting for the championship again?You are Pan Yi, you are right

At the post-match press conference, after congratulating Pan Yi on his victory and first place in the group, the reporter expressed concern about the prospects of the Swedish team.

The reason is very simple. First of all, the Swedish team will encounter the previous champion Spain in the top [-], and this is obviously a very difficult opponent.

And secondly, the lower half area where they are located can be called the dead half area!
If Sweden can cross the barrier of Spain, their opponents in the quarter-finals will be the winners of Germany and Slovakia. Obviously, the probability of facing Germany is higher.

The German team is the champion of the 2014 World Cup!
One can imagine how difficult it is to win the last European Cup first and then the last World Cup.

This is not over yet.

If Sweden beat Germany again in the quarter-finals to enter the semi-finals, then waiting for them will be the winners of England VS Iceland and France VS Italy.

Among these four teams, the current state is undoubtedly the host France.

Of course, even if England or Italy win, no matter which one it is, it will be a tough battle.

Even though the Swedish team won the group stage against Italy, anyone who is familiar with the history of world football knows that Italy in the group stage and Italy in the knockout stage are not the same species at all...

From this point of view, the overall strength of the other upper half will be much weaker, that is, Croatia is a bit worth watching against Portugal.

It can even be said that because of today's loss, Belgium threw itself into the weaker upper half, which can be said to be a blessing in disguise.

However, Pan Yi's speech was powerful and full of confidence:
"Since we can win out of the death group with Belgium and Italy, then we will not be afraid of any opponent."

"In fact, the goal of our team from the very beginning was not only to qualify from the group, but to go further."

"How far is farther? Hehe...you know me, I only like one thing the most, and that is the champion!"

"Why do you look at me like that? Is that because you think it is impossible for the Swedish team to win the championship? No, a team with Ibrahimovic has unlimited possibilities!"

"Do you still remember Denmark in 92? They relied on Laudrup and Schmeichel. In 04, the Greek team did not have our Ibrahimovic. So, why is it impossible for us?"

"Yes, I lead the team to participate in the European Cup, in fact, there is only one goal, and that is the championship! So no matter how difficult the next game is, I will never change our goal and plan."

"Three consecutive victories in the death group have strengthened our confidence and hope in fighting for the championship. We will fight one game at a time, and we will defeat one opponent after another..."

"In the end we will be at the top of European football, I am very confident about that and I am sure my players are too!"

This is the first time that Pan Yi has made it so clear that he wants to compete for the championship in the European Cup.

This is actually the same reason as he shouted the slogan of seven championships before the Chelsea season.

Now that the team has won consecutive battles and the morale is booming, Pan Yi wants to raise the team's goal so that everyone can maintain the good momentum of the team with energy.

If the team's momentum is so good, the players are getting better and better, and they are getting more and more desperate, you are still blindly conservative, saying that the goal is to reach the top [-]...

In the end, it will only hurt the morale of the team and the enthusiasm of the players. In this case, it is better to set the goal even more ambitiously.

Only with ambition can there be dreams!
Moreover, after playing Belgium, Pan Yi's confidence in the Swedish team has really increased a lot.

Not just winning Belgium with the bench.

Mainly in this game, he also discovered that there are actually some very good players hidden in his team. They showed their own level when facing strong opponents, which also gave Pan Yi a better hand. many choices.

For example, as a substitute right back, Lustig, who played for the Celtics, defended Hazard very well and felt a little more stable than the main player Johansson.

Another example is the young left-back Augustinson. At the age of 22, he lacks a little bit of experience, but he is much better technically than Olsson.

Especially in terms of the quality of the pass, it can be reassuring.

And he even has a good set-piece skill. As a left-footer, he can enrich Sweden's free-kick coordination routines in the frontcourt.

Although he is still in Copenhagen, Denmark, he will soon join Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga and become a defensive thigh.

Later, he will also go to teams like Sevilla and Aston Villa, and it can be said that he is also a player in the top five leagues.

And when it comes to set pieces, Sebastian Larsson is also a good player.

When playing Belgium, he and Augustinsson arranged all the corner kicks and free kicks of the Swedish team, the difference is a left foot and a right foot.

Moreover, his running ability in the midfield is also very strong, and his mental attributes are excellent, which also helped the team successfully block the forward transmission of the Belgian midfielder.

It can be said that in Sunderland, Sebastian Larson is the key figure for the Black Cats to relegation.

So, after playing a game, the harvest is really a lot!
The main reason is that Pan Yi's time in Sweden is still too short. There is only one warm-up match, and it is used to adjust the main lineup and style of play. There is no chance for these substitute players to perform too much.

The players of the Swedish team are relatively unknown, and Pan Yi didn't know much about them in his previous life, so he followed the general framework of his predecessor at the beginning, but added some players according to his own tactical ideas.

But now it seems that Pan Yi still underestimated the abilities of his players!
They can play something of their own on a stage like the European Cup!
Therefore, Pan Yi himself has doubled his confidence, and when he shouted the championship slogan, he became even louder.

Of course, even if he was Pan Yi, his words still shocked the reporters in the press conference hall.

After all, the team he leads now is not Chelsea.

It's just Sweden, and it's just a team that has been positioned as a second-tier team in Europe for so many years.

Although they can upset the strong European teams in some games, and even the sufferer of some strong European teams (England), if they want to win the championship, they need to be "upset" in a row.

Can they really cross the siege of strong teams like Spain, Germany, and France in a row, and finally stand on the top of Europe?

"What do you think is the strength of Belgium?" Pan Yi suddenly asked a reporter who had just questioned him.

"Very strong," the reporter replied, "otherwise they wouldn't be ranked second in the world."

In fact, in the latest men's national team ranking announced by FIFA earlier this year, Belgium still ranked first.

It was only after the May update that they were overtaken by Argentina in second place.

Although this ranking is only a reference, it can still reflect the overall strength and record of each national team after all.

Otherwise, why are the top ten teams such as Argentina, Germany, Spain, Brazil, and England, and they have rarely changed much over the years.

Why is there no Long Guo team in the top ten?

Well, they can only rank 8th in Asia, and now they are ranked 81st in the world...

"Then we made a relatively large adjustment in the lineup today, but we still defeated them. What do you think of our strength?" Pan Yi asked again.

"This..." The reporter was at a loss for words.

At this time, another reporter raised his hand and asked: "Mr. Pan Yi, the Swedish team performed very well in this game and established a lead from the very beginning. Do you think you can use the substitute lineup to suppress the powerful team?" Belgium, why?"

Pan Yi smiled slightly and replied:
"I think it is an exaggeration to say that it is suppressed. At least in the second half, the Belgian team recovered a lot and caused us a lot of trouble."

"But everyone also knows that there are many Chelsea players in the Belgian team, including De Bruyne who also played in my Hamburg team, so I know them very well, so I also made some targeted deployments."

"However, I think the most important reason why this game can be won is that our players have a stronger desire to win. We played more bravely and showed more fighting spirit in the game."

"This is why I dare to set the goal of winning the championship. If a team is united and fearless, then they will not be afraid of any opponent!"

When Pan Yi said this, the Belgian coach Wilmots, who was sitting not far from him, nodded involuntarily.

At least from the game, it can be seen that the substitute players of the Swedish team may not be as good as the Belgians in terms of personal ability, but perhaps it is because they all know that this is a rare opportunity for them to show themselves in this European Cup. He worked very hard, it can be said that he brought out 100%, 120% of his abilities.

But the Belgian team did not do enough at this point, and it can even be said to be very poor.To say they played 50 percent is probably an overstatement.

The only one who is more desperate is De Bruyne, but in the end he failed to drive the whole team alone, and he was also stared to death by the players sent by Pan Yi, and Tintin also failed to create too much. Chance.

"Mr. Pan Yi, you say you want to compete for the championship. I don't have any idea about it. After all, it is you... You are right in everything you say. However, you will face the previous champion Spain in the top [-]. You think you can easily defeat them ?"

Pan Yi nodded: "Spain is indeed one of the most powerful national teams in today's football. Their pass-and-control football has dominated the world for many years. But you should have noticed that they are stepping down from the altar, so I have Faith beats them."

The current Spanish coach is still the meritorious coach Bosque.

He was already famous in the player era. He signed with Real Madrid in 1968, played 445 games for the team, scored 25 goals, and helped the team win five La Liga titles and four Copa del Rey titles.

Bosque retired in 1984 and successfully became a coach, leading Real Madrid to two Champions League titles.

In 2008, Bosque became the coach of Spain. In 2010 and 2012, he led the team to win the World Cup and the European Cup, and led Spain to a super high winning rate of 77.57%.

It can be said that if fans were asked who was the best head coach in the world around 2012, Bosque would definitely be one of the popular candidates.

However, with the aging of Harvey and others, the midfield control tactics that the Spaniard is proud of began to become less dominant, and Del Bosque seemed to be no longer magical.

In the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Spain was swept by the Netherlands 1:5, which also became a sign of the end of the Spanish dynasty.

At that time, Harvey played the whole game in the first game, and this game became his swan song in the national team.

Then the Spanish team also failed to qualify.

In the past two years, Bosque has made some adjustments to the national team. Marcos Alonso and Azpilicueta, who performed well at Chelsea, have become the main players of the team.

However, the performance of the Spanish team is still ups and downs. In the last round of the European Cup group stage, it was quite surprising to lose to Croatia 1:2.

In fact, according to common sense, it would not be a surprise if Spain lost to Croatia, which has stars such as Mandzukic, Rakitic, Modric, Perisic, and Brozovic.

But the problem is that the two teams have basically already qualified before the game, so Croatia sent most of the substitutes to play, and many stars did not play.

In order to ensure the first place in the group, Spain still played the main lineup!
The result was the same as Sweden VS Belgium, the substitute lineup won!
It also allowed the Croats to send the Spaniards in front of Sweden.

Croatia will face Portugal, third in Group F, in the quarter-finals.

"It's still the same sentence just now. Since our final goal is the championship, we will find ways to defeat all opponents along the way."

Pan Yi said at the end of the press conference: "And Spain is just the first opponent standing in front of us now!"
-
Pan Yi's confident remarks also became the headlines of the major media in Europe and the world the next day.

After all, in the eyes of some people, Pan Yi's remarks are indeed a bit exaggerated.

Or, is it too high-profile?

After all, whether it was Denmark in 92 or Greece in 04, they didn't shout out the championship slogan as soon as they reached the knockout round.

Their goal at the beginning was really just to qualify for the group stage, and then they moved forward step by step until the finals before they really started to have the heart of a champion.

After all, compared to other traditional strong teams, they are really just a small team, and they are even considered to only accompany the prince to study.

It is also under such a low-key that they can be ignored by the major teams at first, and then they have a sneak attack, and they succeed in the final battle, achieving Danish fairy tales and Greek myths.

Now Pan Yi came to do the opposite and directly shouted the championship slogan... What kind of trouble is this?
You know, even the traditional strong teams like Italy, England, and Spain didn't shout that. What kind of onion are you in Sweden?
But Pan Yi's remarks also made more media and fans excited.

This is the Pan Yi they knew!

The most eye-catching coach in the world of football, the best and most high-profile head coach in the world!

Wherever there is him, there is always a topic with the highest traffic!
Of course, the most important thing is that the wonderful performance of the Swedish team in the group of death brought the European Cup to a climax from the group stage early!
Originally, many people believed that when the European Cup expanded to 24 teams, the group stage became like a tasteless, tasteless food, and it was a pity to discard it.

However, the Swedish team has continued to be upset, outshine the crowd in the death group, which made people fall through the glasses.

With the end of the group stage, many people began to be optimistic about the Swedish team, thinking that this team really looks like a champion!
This is not only because of the result of 9 points in three games, which can be analyzed from tactics and scenes.

The defense led by Lindelof has become more and more solid. He has become more and more proficient in cooperating with the tall central defender Granqvist.

Although the two full-backs Olsson and Johansson are not as good at attacking and defending as those wealthy full-backs, they have also given full play to their technical characteristics, attacking when they should attack, defending when they should, and handing things over to their teammates And without sloppy.

This led to the Swedish team's entire defense line appearing very stable.

Coupled with the stable performance of the old goalkeeper Isaacson, this allowed the Swedish team to achieve an amazing score of zero goals in the match against the three teams in the death group!
This is also what everyone praised Pan Yi the most.

Everyone thought that it was commendable for him to be able to organize such a solid line of defense when there were not many cards in his hand.

It can be said that the effective training of the Swedish defense alone has already demonstrated the level of a top coach!
What's even more rare is that with a solid defense, the Swedish team's offense did not fall at all.

While Ibrahimovic was the main goal, it wasn't a simple "give the damn ball to Ibrahimovic" tactic.

In the new Swedish 4-3-3 system, Isaac, Guidetti, including Forsberg, have made outstanding contributions in the offense and can provide good support for Ibrahimovic.

If you don't guard Ibrahimovic, then Ibrahimovic will score;
If you put a lot of effort into Ibrahimovic, the teammates next to Ibrahimovic get more space and they can also score goals.

This is a bit like Manchester City in 2023. Every team has to consider how to defend Harland, but once you are really restrained by Harland, then De Bruyne, Mahrez, Gundo behind him An and the others are going to give you a good look.

Moreover, Pan Yi does not only rely on this set of main lineup, people like Kulusevsky, Wayne Bloom, Marcus Berry and others also performed well after playing and can perfectly Complete the task assigned to them by Pan Yi.

They even beat a star-studded Belgium with a full bench!

This also made many people start to be optimistic about the Swedish team, and their odds in the bookmaker are also rising, reaching 1 to 12!

Although it is still not as good as those favorites to win the championship, for example, after the top 16 was decided, despite the strong teams in the lower half of the region, the odds of winning the championship in France, the host country, still ranked first at 1 to 5.

For the other strong teams, Germany lost 1 to 7, England lost 1 to 10, and because Italy only won the third place in the group, the odds fell to 1 to 17.

It is worth noting that although Belgium performed well in the group stage, because they accidentally jumped to the weaker upper half, and their team strength itself is really good, so the odds of winning the championship are still as high as 1 to 9 !

Spain, which will face Sweden in the round of 1, has odds of 11 to [-]. This also shows that the gambling company believes that the two teams have the same probability of winning the championship, and the matchup between the two teams is basically [-]-[-].

Or some people think that Sweden's 1 to 12 is not high, but considering that before the European Cup, their winning odds were only 1 to 126...

It can be said that there have been earth-shaking changes!
Of course, the Swedish team still has a relatively clear understanding of these changes in public opinion from the outside world.

Still the same sentence, despise the opponent strategically, and pay attention to the opponent tactically!
Pan Yi shouted the championship slogan outside to boost morale, but there is no shortage of preparations to be made.

He knew in his heart that it would be very difficult to deal with a team like Spain if they were allowed to really pass and control, especially when the Swedish players generally had poor footwork skills.

In the history of the war between the two sides, Sweden also fell behind in an all-round way. The last time they defeated Spain was already in 2006.

At that time, in the European Cup qualifiers, Sweden defeated the Spanish team, which had not really risen, 2:0.

Therefore, Pan Yi kept reminding his players to be cautious when training in the team.

The game needs to be played one game at a time, and every game must guard against arrogance and impetuosity, and do your best!
-
Tomorrow, the round of [-] knockout match against Spain will start. Pan Yi sees that the atmosphere in the team is still a bit tense, so today, he made an exception to open the time for family visits.

A group of people will have dinner together, and after dinner, the family members will also leave the hotel as usual.

Meanwhile, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden will arrive in France tonight.

Accompanied by the chairman of the Swedish Football Association Carl Erik Nielsen, he will also come to the hotel to have a meal with the team to cheer the team on.

Pan Yi hopes to let the players relax and adjust the atmosphere of the team through this method.

The main reason is that Sweden is similar to the United Kingdom, and it is also a country with a constitutional monarchy. Their king is actually a virtual head of state, and his status is purely ceremonial.

Therefore, the arrival of the king will not put too much pressure on the players, but there will be a sense of respect that is valued.

And this King Carl XVI Gustaf is actually quite down-to-earth.

He often visits foreign countries, receives foreign guests, visits factories, supports welfare undertakings, etc., and likes to mingle with the masses.

In the world, he is probably best known for his role as the annual Nobel Prize winner.

And when he was young, he was personable and suave, even when he was old, he still liked to mingle with female crowds.

According to "Carl XVI Gustaf - The Reluctant King," a royal biography released in November 2010, the Swedish king's hobbies include throwing wild parties with strippers.

The parties were held at a mafia-linked strip club in Stockholm, and the book also interviews a number of women who attended the wild parties, all of whom said they had relationships with the king that went beyond friendship.

In this regard, Mr. Wang also acquiesced. He said, "That is already an old thing. I mentioned it to Queen Silvia. We reached an agreement and don't want to dig into the past..."

In short, when the king walked into the hall where the Swedish national team had dinner, he was immediately warmly welcomed by everyone.

Pan Yi, including captain Ibrahimovic and several core players sat next to the king, had a cordial and friendly conversation with him, and exchanged views on topics of common concern.

The King of Sweden hopes that all players can let go of their burdens, and be able to show their strength and play games without pressure.

He said that he always believed that Pan Yi could lead the Swedish team to emerge from the brutal knockout round and reach the final all the way.

The words of Carl XVI Gustaf also received positive responses from the players. All the players expressed that they would go all out and strive to achieve something in this European Cup, and the Delaunay Cup (not Deb Launet Cup) back to Sweden!
During the meal, Carl XVI Gustaf also kept asking about the current situation of the team.

Sometimes it was Pan Yi who answered, sometimes it was Ibrahimovic, and people like Isaac and Kulusevsky would be asked by the king.

This kind of atmosphere looks very good. The players are generally more relaxed, and they are not unaccustomed to the arrival of Carl XVI Gustaf.

As for Carl XVI Gustaf, in fact, his arrival also has his own purpose.

Several recent polls have shown that 54% of Swedish citizens want the king to abdicate as soon as possible and pass the throne to Princess Victoria.

This is mainly because Carl XVI Gustaf is 70 years old this year, and the retirement age for Swedish men is 65, so many Swedish citizens think that the king should also retire.

But Carl XVI Gustaf is not planning to pass the throne to his 38-year-old daughter."Traditionally, that's not going to happen," he said.

He came to France to express his support and affirmation for Pan Yi and the national team, and if Pan Yi and the national team can make a difference in the European Cup, Carl XVI Gustaf will be the favorite of Swedish fans. The status will naturally rise with the tide.

After all, in Sweden, football is the absolute number one sport, and fans account for the vast majority of the country!

The Swedish team's performance is good, and it can even help the king win the hearts of the people!

(End of this chapter)