971 The uncrowned king that cannot be ignored

When Gao Bo got up from bed the next day.

He still remembers the England players celebrating in the dressing room last night.

For this group of England players, before the start of this World Cup, they were dubbed by the English media as "the weakest England in recent years" and "England without stars".

In short, not many are optimistic about their prospects at the World Cup.

However, their performance was unexpected.

The top team in the group qualified and eliminated Greece to reach the quarterfinals. 、

This is already England's best result in these World Cups.

And their beautiful performances in successive games have also started to make people more optimistic about their World Cup prospects.

Of course, when it comes to the quarterfinals, there are no weaker teams.

There are currently four teams in the quarterfinals.

Brazil, Colombia, Netherlands, England.

England's opponent is the Netherlands.

It's a tough opponent to play against.

Nevertheless.

Gao Bo still gave the team a day off.

Because after this match, the quarterfinals will be played in six days.

They still have almost a week to prepare for this game.

After successive training sessions and games, Gao Bo also let the players relax a little.

After all, a fierce battle awaits them.

He turned on his phone.

Lots of information.

At the top of WeChat is Haruko's message.

Looking at the photos that were sent, and the belly that was getting rounder and rounder.

Gao Bo couldn't help but smile at the corner of his mouth.

He opened the curtains.

It was already eight o'clock in the morning.

These days, the members of the coaching staff are also quite tired.

Continuous high-intensity work, everyone is working around a goal.

This day is completely a holiday.

Everybody loves to do whatever they want.

But there is a little .... It is forbidden to drink alcohol and to go out and mess around.

Gao Bo knows that England's players are more or less exposed to some alcohol.

This is in the national team, not the club.

His discipline can only be enforced during international matches, not when players are not in the national team.

So, the national team coach sometimes has some limitations.

Gao Bo replied to the messages that he didn't have time to reply to last night.

Then I washed up and went downstairs for breakfast.

There weren't many people in the restaurant.

A lot of the players are probably out.

There weren't many players left in the entire training base.

Gao Bo had breakfast and was ready to go out for a walk.

On the way to the hotel, I passed by the gym.

He found that Gerald was already sweating on the treadmill early in the morning.

It is not for nothing that some people can succeed.

Many players begin to decline as soon as they turn 30, but there are also many players who become more and more demonic as they get older.

The difference is, to a large extent, the degree of self-discipline of each person.

Gerrard has been able to achieve where he is today, and his self-discipline cannot be ignored.

There's no doubt about Steven Gerrard, it's a banner player.

The flag of English football.

At the same time, it is also the flag of Liverpool.

Gao Bo glanced at it and didn't bother.

...

A one-day holiday.

Many of the players had a good day on the beaches of Brazil.

From the second day, the intense training began again.

The next opponent is the Netherlands, and this is an opponent who has to be 100 points in spirit.

This is the champion of the last World Cup, the World Cup in South Africa.

In fact, the Netherlands are the "uncrowned kings" of the team that fans in the media have called.

Although they have not won the World Cup, their quality is not inferior to any World Cup winning team.

The Netherlands is rich in football talents, from Cruyff to the Three Musketeers to Pogkanpo '96 Ajax Golden Generation in the present Ruud van Nistelrooy, Robben ...... A long list of superstars have never won a worthy honor - World Cup titles, so they are called uncrowned kings.

In the 1974 World Cup in Germany, the Netherlands defeated Uruguay and Bulgaria in the first round of the group stage, and drew with Sweden, advancing with a record of 2 wins and 1 draw.

In the second round of the group stage, the Dutch team won all three games, defeating Argentina, Germany, and Brazil respectively, which can be described as devastating.

In the final, against the German team, he was reversed by Germany by 2 goals after scoring one goal and was relegated to second place.

Cruyff won the title of best player.

In the 1978 Argentina World Cup, the Netherlands lost to Argentina 1:3 Argentina in the final, and was once again relegated to the runner-up.

In the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, he was in the same group as Japan, Denmark and Cameroon in the group stage, and advanced with a record of winning all three games, scoring 5 goals and conceding 1 goal. In the 1/8 finals, they won 2:1 against Slovakia, and Robben and Sneijder contributed to the Dutch team respectively. In the quarter-finals, they also won 2:1 against Brazil, and when Brazil scored a goal from Robinho, Melo's own goal and Sneijder's strike reversed Brazil's advance.

In the semi-finals, the opponent has Diego. Forlan, Suarez's Uruguay team, played hard and finally defeated Uruguay 3-2 to advance to the final. Van Bronckhorst, Sneijder and Robben each made contributions.

In the final against Spain, the game was very anxious, and finally went to extra time, in which Spain defeated the Netherlands 1-0 with a goal from Andres Iniesta to win the championship, and the Dutch team was once again relegated to second place.

The runner-up of the three World Cups has achieved the very sad name of the Dutch team's "uncrowned king".

But at the same time, it also shows the strength of this team.

England and the Netherlands have only met once in the World Cup, 24 years ago at the 1990 World Cup.

In that summer in the Apennines.

The Netherlands and England met in a narrow match that ended in a 0-0 draw.

In fact, the first few meetings between the two sides have also been draws – albeit in friendlies.

History is not representative of the past.

Today, under Louis van Gaal.

The Netherlands are once again attacking for the World Cup title.

Under the pinching of the Dutch coach, the Dutch team has performed well in this World Cup.

Especially in the group stage.

The Netherlands and Spain met in a narrow way.

The Netherlands managed to beat Spain 5-1, handing the previous champions a humiliating defeat and avenging their defeat in the last World Cup final.

In the round of 16, the Netherlands defeated Mexico 2-1.

"Holland, what the name means, I believe everyone knows very well."

Before the start of the next day's training.

Gao Bo said to his players.

Really.

The player, who originally had a somewhat relaxed expression, became serious when he heard the name.

No one can ignore the uncrowned king.