At 22:00 on the evening of July 7, Beijing time, the third World Cup 1/4 final was played at the Samara Arena, Sweden vs. England, both sides are very aware of the importance of this battle, and it is of great significance no matter which team advances. You know, it's been more than 20 years since the last time the two teams reached the semi-finals.

England and Sweden have met 23 times in history, with seven wins each and nine draws, which is considered even, but it is worth mentioning that in the tournament, Sweden have an unbeaten record of 2 wins and 4 draws against England. Sweden gave England a 4-2 in 2012, a friendly but also a famous game, and a classic goal was born in the game, Ibrahimovic's shocking barb, which booked the Puskas award a year in advance.

England's "fear of Sweden" is a bit of a metaphysical stalk, between 1968 and 2011, England continued the embarrassing record of not beating Sweden for such a long time, including the two teams in the 2002 and 2006 World Cup encounters, in those two games, England team was the first to score but was equalized, a bit of the top three in the Spanish Super League, especially Barcelona, how can not win away from home "Real Underworld" feeling.

Objectively speaking, the two teams are not necessarily very far apart, although everyone subconsciously thinks that England should be a little "giant", specifically look at the World Cup results of the England team, a total of 1930, 1934, 1938, 1974, 1978, 1994 six World Cups, 1950, 1958, 2014 three group stage eliminated, 1998, 2010 two round of 16, 1954, 1962, 1970, 1982, 1986, 2002, Seven quarter-finals in 2006 and fourth place in the 1990 World Cup......

Looks......

It doesn't quite match the feeling of a wealthy family!

Sweden really takes the results comparison, and England is really not to be underestimated, with 1938 first place, 1950 third place, 1958 second place, 1994 third place......

But there is no way, England has a 1966 champion, one crown and ten runners-up, as long as you win it, no one else can exclude you from the giants......

In addition to the Chinese team......

I haven't even touched the Asian Cup, so it's really hard to look at it directly......

Hey, it seems that England also has a world championship, but it has not won a European championship......

Kane has just appeared on the mural in Kazan under the interference of Lu Zhuhu, thinking of several "curses", and the outside world really pays attention to whether there will be any changes in this field.

Sweden settled the battle in 90 minutes of regular time in the previous knockout round, while England played a penalty shoot-out with Colombia, and Sweden naturally had the upper hand in terms of fitness.

For some time after the start of the first half, England entered the game relatively late, and they followed the rhythm of the Swedish team all the time, making people wonder if Great Britain would return from the Three Lions to Three Meows again. But soon, they still regained the dominance of the game, according to the established tactics to focus on the right side of the bottom cross, from the 20th minute of the game, England on the right side of the continuous creation of the bottom of the cross opportunities, and not exactly high crosses, England of course is well aware of the Swedish team's high air advantage, so consciously play low flat crosses. A cross in the 30th minute gave them a corner and with this corner they took the lead!

Ashley Young takes a corner from the left into the box and Maguire in front of goal seizes the opportunity to head home!

From Ashley Young's gesture of raising his hand, to Kane and Alli running to take away defenders, to Maguire rushing forward to the top according to a pre-planned landing, everything worked together very well - not only at an angle, but also at a fast pace, making full use of Maguire's momentum from behind, and it was almost impossible for such a goalkeeper to save, and it was obvious that it was carefully arranged.

The technical and tactical level of the two Chinese teams in Europe and Asia in this regard is really not as high as ordinary......

At half-time, Sweden fell behind England 0-1, but reminiscent of the previous two teams several encounters, "win first may lose later", but England is really righteous this time, Yibian fought again to the 59th minute, Lingard sent a pass to the front of the goal on the right side of the penalty area, and Ali scored with a header at the back point! 0-2！ England extend their lead to two goals!

The ball transitioned from the left to the right and then from the right back to the middle, moving laterally, looking for chances, and playing patiently.

England have a lot of crosses, but they don't just get the ball and cross without thinking, they will look at the position of the people on the pitch before crossing, and only cross when there is a clear opportunity. Because the Swedish defenders are indeed tall and big, England are well aware that the success rate of brainless crosses will be low. So when there are no good chances, England will constantly move the ball between the two wings, with the aim of disrupting Sweden's defensive formation, and if there is a crack in the defensive formation, they will strike a lethal blow.

England, which everyone used to ridicule in the past, is really different now! There is even a faint look of the return of the king!

Sweden had performed very well in the previous World Cup, exceeding many expectations, thanks to a solid defense and excellent tactical execution, but once the score fell behind, Sweden's tactical play would be ineffective, and the players would be at a loss when they disrupted their plans. The Swedish team not only has a low success rate of crosses, but also does not have many attacks that can successfully advance into the penalty area, and the technique at the feet is rough, and it is often cut off by the England team in the midfield, the conversion of the ball is very frequent, and the offensive rhythm is often disrupted, and there is gradually no resistance at all...... It's a pity that they conceded the goal first, and the game went into a track that they were not familiar with and not good at, and it was inevitable to lose in the end.

At full-time, Sweden lost 2-0 to England and missed out on the semi-finals, with England becoming the third team to reach the semi-finals.

The England fans began to celebrate wildly, and the English players began to dance to their heart's content – what a spell, get out of the way......

England have not reached the quarter-finals for 12 years, and today they have reached the semi-finals even further, which is actually the third time in their history that England have reached the last four of the World Cup. In 1966, he reached the top four for the first time and eventually won the championship. It wasn't until 24 years later that England reached the last four for the second time, this time finishing in the second place.

Well, don't be the boss and crane the tail......

But counting them, England broke the curse of not winning penalty kicks, the curse of not winning Sweden, and the curse of players not being able to score more than five goals......

Now this England team can be said to have unlimited potential, although there are still some problems in the attacking end, but they still win through the most practical style of play, and winning is the last word.

Well, it seems that there is still a "curse" of the Kazan mural, but the Brazilian team did not look affected by the curse in the last game......

Specific to the words of Kane, the owner of the mural, it seems that he has been affected, Kane did not play much in this game, only one shot on goal in the whole game, the sense of presence is not high, and some are outside the entire offensive system of the team. Of course, it is also the Swedish team that attaches more importance to him and spares no effort to mark him.

The two people who are the first in the scorer list, Lu Zhuhu and Kane, are on fire together in this round, and they seem to have a tacit understanding. But if the two want to win the Golden Boot, there is still some pressure, Lu Zhuhu wants to defend the Golden Boot, Kane has to face the England player's single-World Cup scoring record - after Lineker made history by scoring six goals in the 1986 World Cup, and Kane, who has already scored six goals, has a chance to rewrite history.

But history tells us that the average record challenger will stop at that most critical juncture......

Five of Kane's six goals came against underdogs Panama and Tunisia, half of them from penalties, which is not very convincing to be fair, and he needs to score again in the next game to make himself look better......

However, Raheem Sterling, the "Happy Prince", has picked up the ball a lot of times, but his ability to take chances is as hilarious as ever. In the first half, when Sweden fell behind and pressed on, England had a very good chance to play behind, Sterling got such a chance twice in a row, but the first time was offside, and the second time although he was not offside, he hesitated after passing the goalkeeper, did not pass the ball to a better teammate, and missed the opportunity with a blind kick...... Every appearance of Raheem Sterling in front of the penalty area seems to ask the fans: Did you feel happy today?

I can only evaluate him: meet expectations, keep up! England's opponents are in dire need of Raheem Sterling to maintain his position as a regular striker......

The Player of the Match award went to Jordan Pickford, who helped England to a clean sheet with a high deflation. He was very upright and said that England were fantastic, and the last time England reached the semi-finals was back in 1990. "At that time, I was not even born."

Belch......

It is worth mentioning that the guest of honour for Pickford was......

Liu Xiang...... (Really.) ）

Brother Xiang also visited Lu Zhuhu, who was injured in the assassination, and after the visit, the sponsor said that you are okay anyway, why don't you come and present an award - Brother Xiang actually wants to refuse, who said that I am fine, I also want to watch the semi-finals of the Chinese team playing Brazil.

After the game, according to British TV statistics, 19.64 million British TV viewers watched the game, accounting for 87.7% of the viewership. Add in the number of spectators watching football in bars and public places, and the number is even higher. Another 3.8 million people watched the game online. However, the BBC's iPyer burst with 3 minutes left in the game......

Obviously, the advanced Britons are not yet comfortable watching the game online.

Of course, nearly 28 million people watched the penalty shoot-out between England and Colombia on TV and online, second only to Princess Diana's funeral in the UK. But compared with China, these are all trivial, the previous Spring Festival Gala, the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, and the news broadcast will teach you to be a man from time to time, not to mention the 02 Chinese team qualified for the World Cup, 06, 14 years of the Chinese team won the World Cup. (For Mao Duo to mix in for a term?) ）

At 02:00 a.m. on July 8, the last 1/4 final match of the World Cup was held, and Russia sat at the Olympic Stadium in Sochi to face the French team whose champion image was gradually revealed.

In this game, Russia is still fighting with weakness, but the strength of the French team is not comparable to Spain, which has changed the coach on the spot, and has been firmly controlling the rhythm of the field since the opening, and Russia does not have many chances at all. In the 40th minute, Pogba went straight to the left side of the front, Mbappe burst into the left side of the penalty area against offside, and then he shook off the defender with a right-footed volley, and the ball went into the net, and the away French team led Russia 1-0.

After the start of the second half, the French team was still in control, in the 49th minute, the French team had a set-piece opportunity in front, Griezmann passed to the penalty area, Varane shook off the defense and rubbed the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal, 2-0!

The Russian team seems to have finally faded from the dark horse color under such a strong opponent, and coach Cherchesov roared on the sidelines, slightly anxious.

But the players are still very powerful, and they were not intimidated by the two-goal disadvantage, only two minutes after the French team scored twice, in the 51st minute, Cheryshev went straight in the middle of the field, Dzyuba got the ball and knocked it horizontally, Cheryshev got the ball to get rid of Kante's tackle and volleyed with his left foot, and the ball hung in the corner of the goal like a cannonball!

World Wave!

It was Cheryshev's fourth goal of the tournament, and Russia pulled one back!

After the goal, Russia was on the offensive under the cheers of the home crowd, but the French team did not let their fantasy of trying to equalize last long, in the 61st minute, Tolisso chose to divide the ball after receiving Pogba's wonderful pass, Griezmann took the ball and suddenly sent a cold arrow directly at the goal and shot from a distance, Akinfeev failed to judge the trajectory of the ball, although he touched the ball but could not prevent it from falling into the goal, 3-1!

In any case, the French team's offensive strength is so strong, except for the Chinese team in this World Cup, there is no one who can not fall behind, although Russia has a high spirit and strong combat effectiveness, but in the face of absolute strength, it can only sigh.

After entering the second half of stoppage time, Pivariic handball in the front of the penalty area, Zagoev drove a free kick to the right side of the front field into the penalty area, and Fernandez shook his head in the middle of the penalty area to score another goal, Russia 2-3 France.

In the end, the two sides ended the game with this score, and the Russian beauty fans in the stands cried into tears.

Objectively speaking, although Russia was still defeated, the curtain came to an honorable end, and Akinfeev, who played well in this game, also applauded and thanked the fans at the scene - if he hadn't resisted high, the French team might have scored five goals.

Because the host is out of the game today, I don't have any thoughts to play a song of "Glory Years" or "I Really Love You" for Chinese fans.

France had 16 shots on goal with seven of them on target, while Russia at home had just eight shots and three on target, scoring two goals from those three occasions.

Although they had a significant lead in shots on goal and shots on target, France were almost equal to Russia in other respects, with 50% possession and four corners, one less than Russia. In terms of the number of passes, France's 463 passes were only one more than Russia's.

The French team is not excellent in terms of offensive statistics, and in the face of the hosts' iron bucket formation, the French team has played very patiently, and has been seeking to get the most sure offensive opportunities. The reason for maintaining a slower pace of attack and defense is that most of the time they have a two-goal lead, and this unhurried attitude has been present in the past for previous champions.

Regardless, the French team showed that they are still evolving, and their chances of winning the title continue to increase.

At this point, all the top four teams of the World Cup were born, the first half of the last is the Chinese team against Brazil, and the second half is the battle between England and France. The strong France and Brazil are very optimistic about their division, and the two "Chinese teams" are estimated to only meet in the World Cup third-place match......

The good thing is that in any case, the Chinese team and the British team still have two games, and Kane and Lu, who are aiming for the Golden Boot, still have the opportunity to continue to score goals......