Chapter 182 The Flame of War (1)

Chapter 182 The Flame of War (1)

In the second round of Group B, Croatia will face the favorite German team to win the European Cup. Although people are unanimously optimistic that the German team will win the final victory, the Croatians, who have created countless miracles, obviously do not intend to sit still.

Coach Bilic hoped the team could get a mental boost from the win over England at Wembley as he said the team was ready to take on Germany.

He expects his players to do well against Germany: "It's one of the most important games for us because we've shown that a football team from a small country like Croatia can beat England. The national team of such a big country, although every player in their team is very good. The victory over the England team has brought a huge boost to our team's self-confidence, and now it is the same when facing the German team. There is a lot of confidence now that my players will be at their best in the game."

And this kind of self-confidence also made Bilic eager to take all three points in the game against the favorite German team. If they can win as they wish, Croatia will smoothly enter the quarterfinals.

"Our whole team is full of confidence now. I know we are a strong team and we have the strength to beat any opponent."

To defeat the German team, Bilic's greatest reliance is Modric, the Croatian midfielder known as "Little Cruyff".

Bilic said that he is full of expectations for Modric, this player is constantly rising, he will be the best player in this European Cup: "It's not that I am putting pressure on him, but I am really I don't think he can reach such heights."

Modric's midfield partner Kranjca also said that he is a superstar in Croatian football: "Modric is the master of our team."

Modric, who is only 22 years old, is a very comprehensive player. This season, Fiorentina won the treble. Anyone can ignore.

Modric is good at both left and right feet, has an innate excellent passing awareness and quick thinking, which makes his passing extremely accurate. He can play the role of organizer behind the striker, or he can play the position of left midfielder.

In the first group match against Austria, he scored a penalty kick created by his teammates shortly after the start, but his performance in the subsequent games was not as good as people imagined, but the coach of the Croatian team, Billy Qi firmly believes that Modric will break out sooner or later: "He is improving every day, getting better every day, this is the case in this European Championship, and it is the same in his entire career."

The final result of this game surprised everyone. The favorite German team "accidentally" lost to the Croatian team. The two goals of Srna and Olic made the German team come back in a feather. It was Digan's Fiorentina teammate Modric who sent Olic the assist.

In addition, Schweinsteiger of the German team was sent off for a retaliatory foul in stoppage time. This defeat cast a shadow over the prospects of the German team.

In this game, the lineups of both sides have not changed much. Croatia just replaced Petric in the previous game with Rakitic. The German team's lineup is exactly the same as in the previous game against Poland.

There is also a very interesting detail in this game. Among the players of the two teams, a total of twelve players are playing in Germany's highest level league, so the contest between the two teams can be regarded as an internal competition in the Bundesliga.

But for the Germans who have trained Croatian players, the final result is definitely something they don't want to see. The goal of the striker Olic from Hamburg in the second half established the victory for Croatia, which also made the Croatian team basically A qualifying spot has been determined, and the German team needs to slam against the Austrian team in the final round.

Croatia defeated the German team with Bundesliga players, and the reason why this team has so many Bundesliga players is not only because the country's geographical location and cultural level are similar to Germany, but more importantly, in terms of Croatia's level , A league like the Bundesliga is more suitable for the development of young players. The competition is not as fierce as the Premier League or La Liga. They can have a stable chance to play and can get favorable growth in the team. Rakitic is a very good player. For example, this season, the teenager born in 1988 has even more assists than the core of Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery.

Germany lost 1:2 to Croatia. This result was unexpected. Loew failed to fulfill his dream of qualifying early. After the game, he also expressed his disappointment when interviewed by the media.

"On the whole, we played quite weakly, and our control over the game was obviously worse than that of our opponents, and the players failed to organize the game well through passing through the midfield. There are too many high balls, and the players' movement without the ball is also very problematic, so they have not been able to play as a whole, and the passing accuracy is not enough. Croatia has to do better in these aspects."

As Loew said, Croatia's performance throughout the game was indeed very good, and eventually lost the game, which made Loew scratch his head. He said that it would take a day to sum up exactly where the German team lost and how to improve, and Guarantee that the team will improve before the final game against Austria.

"It's disappointing for us all to lose the second game, now let's look at the reasons, maybe I can name some of them now, but we have to sit down and analyze and find out all the reasons for this result. The reason and try to improve it. After our victory over Poland, it was a big blow for us to lose this game, but we still have the opportunity to show a different side against Austria."

Losing the game against Croatia really made Loew very disappointed. In the last game, the German team broke the vicious cycle of 12 years without defeating Poland in the European Cup. In this game, facing an opponent that has never lost in 10 years, the German chariot once again rewrote the record.

If Podolski hadn't scored a face-saving goal in the second half, according to the development trend of the game at that time, in the World Cup in France ten years ago, the painful memory of Klinsmann's generation of German internationals would definitely be played by Klose's generation. Tragedy reappeared on the players.

The first victory over Poland, the German media had an optimistic attitude towards the team qualifying, but now, all the optimism will disappear with this defeat. Looking at the trend of this game, it can be found in the game ten years ago Some similarities, although the score is different, but the ending is exactly the same.

The then European champions led by Vogts played in a formation of 352, while Loew's team was 442. Even though the formation is different, the tactical characteristics of emphasizing wing attack and relying on high center forwards to score are still inherited.

In the 1/4 match of 1998, the German team was quite passive in the first half. Hassler was marked by Steinich, and Heinrich and Tanat, who were attacking on the two wings, had few chances to cross. Klinsmann and Bierhoff were unable to form an effective shot due to too few opportunities to get the ball.

In this game, the Croatian's technical superiority showed its prowess again in the first half of the game. The German team's striker twin towers, Gomez and Klose, failed to even threaten Croatia's goal in the first half.

The game scene is similar, but the scoring process is not the same. Back then, the three goals were all scored with a quick counterattack, but today Croatia's two goals are out-and-out positional attacks.

As Bilic, who participated in that game as a player back then, has now become the coach of the Croatian team. Bilic empathizes with the technical characteristics of German players.

In the two warm-up games before the European Cup, the German team had already exposed the problem of the slow turn of the central defender, and the German team ten years ago also had the same technical shortcomings. They wanted to deal a devastating blow to the German chariot. Billy Qi knew that the offensive breakthrough must be chosen in the position of the opponent's central defender.

Olić, who plays for Hamburg in the Bundesliga, is not good at speed. If he wants to make a breakthrough in the central defender position, he must implement the two-wing cross tactic, but the height advantage of Mertesacker and Metzelder is quite obvious. Put forward requirements on the choice of footwork for players' crosses.

Low level! Be sure to keep the ball low!

The Croatian intentionally avoided the left side where Lahm was defending, and Jansen on the right side was regarded as the key attack direction. The Bayern young player made many mistakes throughout the game. Croatia's first goal came from Jansen. clearance error.

Ten years ago, the German team was also the favorite to win the championship. The European Cup champion team was copied by Vogts' original team to the French World Cup. Today's Loew's main frame is also based on the third place in the World Cup, without major adjustments.

Stability is important, but the lack of change is also an indisputable fact.

The Germans, who pursued stability and lacked change, lost. In addition to the loss, they lost their wife and broke up. Schweinsteiger, who came off the bench, received the first red card of this European Cup. The German media unanimously pointed the finger at it after the game Piggy's stupid foul is allowed.

In stoppage time of the game, Schweinsteiger made a retaliatory foul after being tackled by the opponent's player, and the referee directly showed a red card, which also led to Schweinsteiger in the next life-and-death battle between the German team and the Austrian team. Unable to play.

The German team has completed two group games, and those two games do not have too many fond memories for Schweinsteiger.

He was originally the main force of the national team, because Loew changed formation in the first game against Poland and let Fritz, who has a stronger breakthrough ability, play. In addition, because Podolski played well in the right midfielder position before, So that Schweinsteiger can only be sent to the bench.

The final result proved that Loew's change was wise. Fritz's several breakthroughs tore through the Polish team's defense, and Podolski scored twice to become the biggest contributor to the victory of the game.

Before the match against Croatia, some media predicted that because Croatia's strength was a level higher than that of Poland, Loew would probably adjust Schweinsteiger, who had a better overall view and control, back to the lineup. The head coach of the German team obviously hoped that Fritz could continue the state of the game, so Piggy was put on the bench again.

But the German team underestimated the strength of Croatia. Although the right wing composed of Podolski and Jansen can compete with the opponent in offense, it seems powerless in defense. Srna scored the first goal. It was caused by Yang Sen's clearance error.

Fritz, who served as the starter, also lost his sharp breakthrough in the last game when facing the defense of Croatia's Robert Kovac and Joel Luka. Although Lahm's performance in the first half was good, Germany did not let The left side of the team became the stage for Rakitic to show his talents, but the second goal conceded by the German team was precisely because Rakitic got a kick after passing Lahm on the right side, and Modric responded in the middle. The foot crossed the ball, allowing Olic to shoot an empty goal in front of the goal.

It was precisely because of the unfavorable control of the midfield that Loew replaced Gomez with Schweinsteiger in the second half. Piggy returned to his most familiar position as a full-back, while Podolski and Klose Partnering with two strikers, Loew of course hopes that Schweinsteiger can regain the rhythm of the field for the German team through his ability to control the game and the overall situation. In fact, after Schweinsteiger played, Germany The passive situation of the team has indeed improved.

However, in stoppage time, an uncool behavior made the good piggy pay the price. The opponent player tackled Schweinsteiger in the half of the German team. The latter stood up and overthrew the Croatian player to the ground. The referee decisively A red card was shown.

After the game, the German media even gave Schweinsteiger's red card the headline "Pig's Stupid Red Card": "The bad defense is already depressing enough, and Schweinsteiger's overtime card Red card, just plain stupid."

Schweinsteiger, who had a rather unsatisfactory life at Bayern this season, hopes to help him regain his form through this European Cup. However, Loew's changes and this red card have turned his good wishes before the game into a reality. In spite of extravagant expectations, even if the German team can finally qualify or go further, I am afraid that Loew should be careful when using this impulsive pig.

Schweinsteiger paid the price for his stupid red card, but some people should be more responsible for Germany's defeat, such as Mario Gomez, who partnered with Klose as a striker.

For those ordinary players who want to fly to the branches and become phoenixes, if they can perform well in Switzerland and Austria, then the stage of the European Cup will be heaven, otherwise, if they perform poorly, then the trip to the European Cup will be hell German striker Mario Gomez is a typical representative of wandering in hell and unable to extricate himself. After two nightmarish performances in the European Cup, Gomez has obviously lost the support of coach Joachim Loew. All trust.

The season just ended was wonderful for Gomez. Although Stuttgart only ranked sixth in the Bundesliga, Gomez, nicknamed "Super Mario", won the Silver Boot with 19 goals , Such a brave state made Gomez highly anticipated by the German media before the start of the European Cup. Loew even gave Gomez the glorious No. 9 jersey of the German team. It can be seen that "Super Mario" The responsibility is heavy. However, after two rounds of the European Cup group stage, the Bundesliga Silver Boot Award not only failed to win, but even wasted many good opportunities. Gomez's poor performance undoubtedly disappointed everyone.

Gomez wasted two opportunities in Germany's victory over Poland, but this did not affect Loew's trust in the Bundesliga silver boots. German team leader Bierhoff was even more convinced that Gomez could play against Croatia. Goal, so Podolski, who scored twice in the first round, can still only play as a full-back, and Gomez is still the center of Zhengyin.

After Croatia took the lead, Gomez had a great chance to equalize, Janssen's bottom cross landed just on Gomez's head, but the Bundesliga aerial king's header just missed the frame , Love may not have thought that this was Gomez's first shot of the game, but it was also the only shot of "Super Mario".

In the 1/8 final of the World Cup between Germany and Sweden two years ago, Gomez witnessed Podolski's success in the stands, and in the European Cup between Switzerland and Austria, Gomez felt it on the court If Podolski hadn't scored a goal for the German team in the second half, even the final fig leaf for the World Cup would have been torn off.

According to the latest news, Bayern Munich and Gomez have signed a work contract, and "Super Mario" will replace Prince Podolski, who scored three goals in two consecutive games.

After the first game against Poland, Gomez seemed quite indifferent to wasting two chances. He just tsk-tsk said: "It's actually only a slight difference from the goal. In the first game, I just wanted to People see me giving it my all and being aggressive enough that the important thing is that the team wins."

The German team's 2-0 victory did cover up a lot of problems. Gomez's weak attack is precisely the most critical part of it. For a center forward, such a huge pressure is not something anyone can bear.

It is undeniable that Gomez did perform well in the 2007/2008 season. However, the valuation of a player does not only depend on his performance in the league, not to mention that the Bundesliga-level league is especially unreliable in demonstrating the value of shooters. Don't forget that forwards such as Mintal, Yettas, Alex Alves, Herrich, Dundee and Bogdanovic have also been smashing in the Bundesliga, but no player has been able to Bearing the baptism of time, Gomez is obviously another so-called god who has been exaggerated.

Gomez's trip to the European Cup is destined to be a disappointment. For the main striker Olic in the Croatian team, this European Cup will be destined to leave good memories.

In the past season, Olić scored 14 goals in the Bundesliga, second only to Tony, Gomez and Kuranyi, whose performance is very eye-catching.

In addition, Olic is still an out-and-out "German son-in-law". Like his national team teammate Klasnich, he has a German wife. However, it was Olic who became the "nightmare" of the German team in the European Cup.

Olic is not dazzling in the Croatian team. He is not as experienced as the captain Kovac who has many years of experience in the national team, nor is he like the rising star Modric who has the much-anticipated eyes.

But the Hamburg striker was the biggest contributor to Croatia's two consecutive victories. In the first game against the host Austria, Olić created a penalty for the team in less than three minutes, and Modric made it overnight. Croatia won 1:0.

In the match with the German team, Olić created scoring opportunities for his teammates many times, and finally scored a goal himself to seal the victory for the team. This "German son-in-law" also personally shattered Germany's dream of qualifying early and pushed his opponent to the edge of the cliff.

It is worth mentioning that Olić has always been able to play well against strong opponents in Croatia. In the last European Cup qualifier against England at Wembley, Olić's winning goal helped Croatia to the final 3: 2 wins narrowly and also keeps England out of the European Cup.

Now in the European Cup, Olić has continued his true qualities of a "strong team killer" by himself, beheading the German team and showing outstanding talent. It seems that in this European Cup, Olić will also become An important pawn for Croatia, it will play a more critical role in future games.

Croatia beat Germany 2:1. This may be the first upset since the start of the European Cup. Won't surprise people anymore because they've done it.

As the core of the new generation of Croatia, Modric also won the best of the game in the first game against Austria, and won the best of the game for the second consecutive game. After the game, he also came to the post-match conference with coach Bilic , Facing the double honor of winning Germany and the second best in a row, Modric was extremely calm.

"This is just an ordinary game. We played real football. That's what we should be most happy about." Modric was very mature and hardly talked about his personal performance.

Compared with the first game, Modric's position in this game is relatively late, forming a double midfielder with captain Niko Kovac, just like when he was in Fiorentina. Although he is small in stature, he also He shared a lot of defensive tasks, and even in the stoppage time at the end of the game, he received a yellow card for shoveling Frings in the frontcourt. However, from organizing offense to sharing defense, Modric can be described as Completed the task thoroughly.

Coach Bilic also praised the favorite player at the press conference. When the reporter asked which Croatia team was more perfect or the third-ranked Croatian team in the world, Bilic made no secret of it. The importance of Modric to this team: "The Croatian team back then had cores like Boban and Suk, but now we play more as a whole, and Modric is the core of this overall team." Core. At that time, most of Croatia were tall and strong players. Now we can see that we are more technical, except for Modric, Rakitic, Srna and Kranjcar. Style, which also allows our team to have more tactical changes."

Modric also agreed with the coach: "Today's victory is an overall victory. Everyone played perfectly, which allowed us to control the situation on the court. Even though the second half started a little passively, we quickly found out Back to our own rhythm, there is a lot of time left for us, and the opportunities are naturally very good, we will work hard to prepare for the next game."

When asked about his new position in the national team, Modric said: "The position of the defensive midfielder is not unfamiliar to me now. After moving to Fiorentina this season, when my head coach Prand When Mr Leigh, and captain Rod told me, 'Luca, this is your new position', I really thought they were crazy because I'd never played in that position and didn't believe I could play in that position. The position showed my characteristics, but the final result proved that they were right, I like the current position very much, and I have the ability to make greater contributions to the team in this position!"

There are many people who are popular!

Modric is like this now. With his outstanding performance in Fiorentina last season and his amazing performance in the last two European Cups, Modric has attracted the attention of many giants, including Wenger, who is best at cultivating young players. , and the attention of Real Madrid. In addition, it is rumored that Juventus also very much hopes to get Modric to complete the great cause of revival.

For many transfer rumors, Modric is very indifferent: "I am very grateful to people for their appreciation, but now I am a Fiorentina player, I only think about playing for Fiorentina and the national team, and when the end of last season , my captain Rhodes once told me that he will give me a Champions League final next season. I am looking forward to it very much now, yes! That's right! I will stay in Fiorentina next season, and Viola and I will also return. There is a four-year contract, and I respect that contract very much!"

Modric is a junior who is very popular, but as the most famous star in Germany, Ballack seems a bit disappointed. For this loss, Ballack is naturally to blame. His sluggish state in this game is also disappointing. Without this midfield "engine", the operation of the German chariot also began to fail, and was eventually trampled by the "Eastern European Cavalry".

In the first round of the European Cup against Poland, Ballack's performance was also very eye-catching. He passed and shot everything well and became one of the team's heroes. However, in the match against Croatia, Ballack's glory was no longer. , Most of the time he disappeared on the court, posing very limited threats to opponents.

However, Ballack is still the person with the longest running distance in this game. It can be said that he performed very positively, but unfortunately he wasted most of his time on unnecessary return runs. After organizing a decent offensive, it was also difficult for Ballack to organize the rhythm of the German team in the past, which also became a major factor restricting the German team's victory in this game.

As the team's midfield organizer, Ballack failed to mobilize the team well in this game, and at the same time gave the opponent more opportunities to take advantage of.

Over the years, people have placed high hopes on Ballack, expecting him to lead German football to a new glory, but since the moment Ballack put on the captain's armband, his doubts have never stopped. Rucker did not have the qualifications to be a leader.

He does not have the innate arrogance of the former German team captain Kahn and Matthaus, let alone the ability to lead the team.

In 2004, he failed in the group stage of the European Cup. In 2006, he was blocked by Italy in the World Cup final. Ballack always fell short in the face of honor. It depends on whether Ballack can withstand the pressure and prove his ability in this European Cup.

Ballack was not only given the important task of the captain of the German team, but also regarded as a popular candidate for the title of best star in this European Cup.

But judging from Ballack's performance in the game against Croatia, he is still a long way from this honor. A stable state and outstanding performance are essential. Ballack's top priority is to lead the team back to the Cheer up and lead the team on the right track step by step. Obviously, Ballack needs to do a lot.

The Germans lost and broke the first upset of this European Cup. Perhaps compared to Belgium, Romania, Turkey and Russia, they have more potential to become dark horses.

Compared with the level of attention this game received, the other game in this group, the match between Poland and Austria, seemed lackluster. After 90 minutes of dull fighting, the two teams shook hands and drew 1:1.

For the Austrians, if they are not fighting at home, this result is completely acceptable. Even though Poland is a second-tier team in Europe, compared with them, their strength is obviously higher.

However, it is a pity that they failed to win a victory under the conditions of favorable timing, geographical location, and harmonious people.

Austrian football has been dormant for ten years. The last time they appeared in an international competition was in the 1998 World Cup in France. After that, they failed to seize the opportunity to participate in two international competitions. In the 2004 European Cup qualifiers, they lost to With the help of the Czech Republic and the Netherlands, the 2006 World Cup qualifiers had a good start, with a 2:2 draw with the England team, which had high hopes of winning the championship at the time, but in the end they still missed the qualification and were taken away by Poland. The qualifiers all bid farewell to the third regret in the group.

In this game, the Austrians were originally expected to win. In the first half, the young player Nihak who played for Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga helped the team take the lead. In the next game, they still have the opportunity to expand the score. It's a pity that Coolidge failed to seize the opportunity twice in a row.

God will punish those who slack, missed consecutive opportunities to expand the score, the Austrians were punished in the second half, Poland seized a chance that was not a chance, and Smolarek equalized the score with a long shot.

The Austrians paid the price for their carelessness. Seeing that the three points in their hands turned into one point, there is one thing that is gratifying. The other host, the Swiss team, has already been eliminated first, and they kept the suspense until the last round.

In Group B, Croatia has won both games and advances ahead of schedule. Behind them is the German team with one win and one loss. Poland and Austria both have one draw and one loss, and still retain the hope of appearing.