"This is a fateful showdown!" - "The Kicker".

After the round of 16 finals are over, the coverage of the quarter-finals begins, and the media around the world are eyeing the eight teams that will reach the quarter-finals, and the match between England and Portugal is naturally the top priority, and the two teams will always have endless topics to talk about, both in history and in the present.

As early as 40 years ago, that is, in the 1966 London World Cup, England stepped on the shoulders of Portugal to reach the final, winning the only World Cup championship in the history of the England team.

This history is etched in the bones of the Portuguese.

There are still players in Portugal who played in that game, and that is Eusebio, known as the "Black Pearl".

Born in Mozambique, Portugal, Eusebio is a Portuguese legend and the greatest player in the history of Portugal, and he holds a place in the hearts of Portuguese fans what Maradona has in the hearts of Argentines.

Like Maradona, Eusebio has always inspired his national team to move forward.

In the semi-finals of the 1966 World Cup, England beat Portugal 2-1 to reach the final and eventually win the title. Although it was a great shame for the Portuguese, Eusebio remained the brightest star of the World Cup, where he was the top scorer and scored nine goals alone. And in Portugal's 5-3 win over North Korea, he scored four goals alone.

Eusebio's performance was so good, that World Cup belonged to him alone, and although Portugal was eliminated, his nine goals and four goals in a single game made him shine all over the world and made fans all over the world remember him deeply.

Shortly after that World Cup. Madame Tussauds in London quickly made a statue of Eusebio.

Now that Eusebio is old, all he can do is cheer on his team from the stands.

In an interview with the newspaper Kicker, Eusebio hoped that the "Brazilian team of Europe (Portugal)" would achieve unprecedented success and reach the top podium.

"I know it's difficult, there are still some gaps between Portugal and the top teams in the world, but no one can deny it. We have what it takes to challenge for the championship. Eusebio said. There are many fans who support his statement, not only Portugal fans, but also media and fans from other countries, Portugal is by no means a weak team, they may have a zài gap with Germany, Italy, Brazil and other world-class teams, but it is also possible to beat them, after all, in the world of football, strength does not mean that you can win.

The first thing Portugal has to do now is beat England at the Stadium in Gelsenkirchen.

Eusebio had previously been Portugal's top scorer and he had maintained his personal goal chances for the Portuguese side. But last year Pauletta broke his record, and Eusebio has even more confidence in the team.

"Pauletta is very good, he broke my record and I believe Portugal can go further" Eusebio's best result in the Portuguese team is the semi-finals, and if they go further, they will at least reach the final.

However, if Portugal can reach the final now, it will definitely be a remarkable result, and almost every team in the quarter-finals has set their sights on the title. But the mouth says so, actually. Everyone knows it's not easy to get to the final, they're only two games away from it, but how hard is it to win those two games?

In the group stage, the 64-year-old burst into tears after watching Portugal's 2-0 win over Iran, saying: "I have a strong premonition. Portugal were able to do better than what we achieved in 1966. It's not boasting at all, I can feel the confidence of the team and I'm optimistic that they will make it to the final. Ironically, this is the first World Cup final for most of our golden generation. ”

In the early 90s of the 20th century. The Portuguese youth team players are known as Portugal's golden generation, which is not a self-praise of the Portuguese, but a reflection of the world media, because at the World Youth Championships, the Portuguese youth lost the title.

There are many famous players among them, such as Rui Costa, Couto and Figo, all of whom belong to the golden generation.

Figo is still playing for the national team and captaining Portugal on the pitch.

Now that Eusebio has been with the Portuguese players, it is very rewarding for all the players of the Portuguese team, as well as for the manager Scolari, to have Eusebio with the team and to provide them with some pertinent suggestions.

"No one can deny the role of a former world legend, Eusebio deserves respect, he has a lot of experience that our players can learn from, and more importantly, his desire to win is worth learning from everyone."

Brazilian coach Scolari said of Eusebio: "Eusebio is considered the greatest player in Portugal, there is no doubt about it. Everything he said was a treasure trove for the players, as he was the idol of many players, some of whom were involved in football under his influence. ”

"Eusebio's influence in Portugal is also multifaceted, many players nowadays have grown up listening to Eusebio's name, he is the 'myth' of Portuguese football, and I see some players write down what Eusebio said in a small book as a motto to motivate themselves."

It's funny.

In football, Argentine king Maradona and Brazilian king Pele belong to this type of character, they are deified, they are gods in the hearts of fans and players of two countries, so they rarely appear in the public eye - at least they will not follow Brazil or Argentina to participate in the current World Cup.

But Eusebio did, and he still recalls his defeats and admits that he can say something inspiring to give his team more motivation to face the game: "It's hard to imagine the breakdown after losing to England. On the verge of a historic final. But it was suddenly out, which caused us to suffer a lot of spiritual damage. I just want to convey my feelings to the players in the Portuguese team and hopefully it will further strengthen their resolve to win. ”

Portugal were clearly haunted by the defeat they had lost forty years ago, which was their disgrace, but on the other hand, England wanted victory more. Because forty years ago was, after all, forty years ago, and England's shame was only two years ago at the European Championships.

Sight.

The memory of losing to Portugal in the penalty shootout in the round of 16 two years ago is still deeply remembered in the minds of many English players, and eighty percent of the current England team has experienced that game, after all, it was only two years ago, and players like Zhang Tiehan who joined the team are only a minority after all.

It's fair to say that two years ago and two years later, England didn't change much, and it's perfectly fine to say that they were the same team.

The same England team has hope of revenge. They didn't have to wait half a century, just two years before they got their chance.

No one wants to miss an opportunity.

The England players were clearly happy to meet Portugal in the quarter-finals, and after the game against Ecuador, they were locked into more serious training, and every player wanted the team to beat Portugal head-on.

"In the next game, our opponent is Portugal. We lost to them two years ago and it was a penalty shoot-out. I don't think I'll ever forget that game. In the end we lost. ”

David Beckham said in an interview with reporters.

He will certainly be impressed, and after that game he became England's sinner for taking the crucial penalty and "I can't forget the feeling I had at the time, Eriksen asked me to take the penalty. I was a little nervous, but as captain I had to make a good start for my team-mates, but unfortunately I still failed. ”

"Now that we're together with them again, now we're not afraid of any opponent, and any team that stands in our way to winning the title will fail. And of course Portugal. ”

David Beckham is confident.

Beckham also spoke about the team's recent preparations for the quarter-finals: "Everyone is serious, everyone is working hard. ”

Compared to the other three matches – Germany v Argentina, Brazil v France and Italy v Ukraine – there is a lot of feud between England and Portugal to be reported on, and the point is that the players from both teams will not shy away from the topic and will not refuse to be interviewed when they are free from training.

Some professionals who are good at analysing football have also begun to analyze the most probable outcome of the quarter-finals, so according to some historical records, as well as the current table of the two teams, all kinds of 'England penalty loss theories' have come from scratch and instantly prevail in all the arguments.

England and Portugal will draw and lose to Portugal on penalties!!

This argument is the mainstream, and even many fans have said this time, on the one hand, because it is normal for the World Cup to draw, and on the other hand, there are countless examples of England losing to their opponents on penalties in the World Cup and being eliminated.

The 1990 World Cup in Italy, Euro 1996, France 1998 and Euro 2004 have all been marked by penalties in recent years, the last of which was knocked out by Portugal two years ago.

This is the history of blood and tears of the England team.

In addition, the key is the table of the two teams, Portugal's table is difficult and stable, they are the 'Brazil team of Europe', the style is very flexible, the technique is quite good, in the previous game, the Portuguese team has won and lost, and it is dangerous to qualify for the group stage, but they still persisted until now, in contrast, England's results are much better, but England's last table is not good, the score of 2:1 does not mean that England is stronger than Ecuador, looking at the four games that have been completed, Many people also think that the England team's table xiàn seems to be going downhill, at the beginning of the group stage, they won two consecutive big wins, and the momentum is a bit unstoppable, but the current England team is very depressed.

What will England do next against Portugal?

Many people are not optimistic.

If they are still in the same form as they played against Ecuador, it is conceivable that England will certainly not have a chance against a stronger and more technical Portugal team

What everyone knows is that both teams are very concerned about training for penalty kicks.

On the second day after the match against Ecuador, head coach Christian Eriksen asked England players to specialize in a morning penalty. Eriksen must admit that even he is a little afraid of penalties, and his history has been reversed on penalties, and he himself led LinkedIn Gran through a penalty defeat in 2004, and he believes that he must strengthen his penalty training, after all, football is not only about skill and strength. Luck also plays a part.

Eriksen said the team was ready and not afraid of penalties and expressed confidence in the team in an interview.

'I hope the team can beat Portugal in the quarter-finals of the World Cup on Saturday.' Speaking to Sky Sports, Eriksen said: "I said a long time ago that England would have a very good World Cup. Now that we're in the quarter-finals, I hope the team can do better and play better. I also think we're going to be in the World Cup for a long time. ”

Eriksen also responded to criticism of England's poor performance, saying his focus is now entirely on whether England can move forward.

'I don't care about the criticism, we have a good chance of reaching the semi-finals and that's the most important thing. Of course you want to play good football, but the most important thing is to win, otherwise you'll be on the plane home. ”

For the formation of the England team for Saturday's game, despite admitting that he has already made a decision. But Erikson declined to give any hint of information.

It's a secret.

Eriksen told the media about the recent situation of the England team, and the most concerned thing was naturally the question of the team's big man. The Swede spoke about right-back Gary Neville, who is United's main defender and was also brought to the World Cup, but he missed three games due to injury and will likely return to the main squad against Portugal.

Erikson said. 'It's good, he did the same training today as the rest of the team and didn't feel any discomfort. So I think he'll probably be available on Saturday, but we'll have to see tomorrow and Friday. If I think it's a risk for him to play. Then he won't be sent. But in today's circumstances, we don't see that as a problem. ”

For Saturday's clash with Portugal, Eriksen hopes England can improve their table as France did against Spain just past.

In this match, France eliminated Spain 3-1.

"People haven't seen the best of England yet. Hopefully they'll see it on Saturday. I congratulate the French team, I know they've been criticised all the time, just like us, but they've also made it to the quarter-finals, which is good. It's important to be able to play good football, but it's the winning game that counts

On 29 June, England arrived in Gelsenkirchenschalk in North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany, where the whole team had already begun preparations for the match against Portugal, and on the same afternoon, Portugal arrived in Gelsenkirchenschalke.

The big war seems to be on the verge of breaking out.

At this critical moment, the players of both teams are training, and the training of the England team has not been hidden, and the team has to train for a period of time to take penalties almost every day, especially the team's several big players who have excellent goals, such as Lampard, Gerrard, Terry, Beckham and others, they have been asked by Eriksen to have penalty training.

Zhang Tiehan is an exception.

He didn't need to do any shooting training at all, Eriksen didn't think it was necessary, and even joked in front of media reporters, "Zhang needs to do penalty training?" It's the funniest joke in the world, and if I let him do it, I'd be a fool in the eyes of the fans, how many goalkeepers in the world have the courage to take a penalty? ”

"Of course, I don't deny that when that happens, Zhang may be very nervous, but it will be difficult for him to make mistakes when he is nervous, sorry, maybe the Portuguese don't like to hear that, but if there is a penalty shootout, we are already one goal ahead."

Erikson joked.

After this interview, the England team began to 'retreat', with three hours in the morning and afternoon not being interviewed, and no reporters were allowed to enter the training ground to take pictures. The same is true for the Portuguese team, the two teams are very tacit and at the same time 'closed', reporters want to get the news, they can only find some players outside the training ground, and say a word or two, but everyone will not disclose the content of the team's training, it is difficult for them to get accurate news.

June 30th.

There is only one day left until the quarter-final showdown with this focal point. Portugal captain and midfielder Luis Figo made a bold statement: "Against England, 90 minutes is enough, we don't need to practice penalties. ”

In an interview with The Sun, Luis Figo revealed that Portugal did not take the time to practice penalties. Because they believe they can finish England in 90 minutes????

'We haven't practised penalties until now and we could practise tomorrow or the day after tomorrow if the coach needs to. I hope to beat England in 90 minutes, but if the game goes to extra-time, it won't be a problem for us. Our goalkeepers are good at saving penalties, but in a penalty shoot-out anything can happen. It's a psychological problem and we want our nerves to be stronger than England. I think we've shown a good mental quality in the game and we want to outperform the English in everything. ”

When the reporter asks questions about the game the most feared problem. Figo focused on Zhang Tiehan, "Now the whole world is talking about Zhang, and this is a comprehensive issue. After Figo joked, his face looked very solemn, and he said seriously, "Zhang's appearance is very good, his personal ability is very strong, I admit." He's better than I was when I was younger, and now he's scored seven goals in the World Cup. It's a really surprising number, and if England were eliminated like this, I think the Golden Boot would have belonged to him, seven goals, that's enough. ”

"We have to admit that we can't limit his play. It's going to be the key to the game, but I'm sure we can do it. ”

The reporter immediately pressed on what Portugal would do.

"It's a secret." Figo, of course, won't say it, "However, I am confident that I will lead the team to victory against England, their performance is not very good. If we can limit Zhang, we have no reason to lose. ”

Figo's posture is really high.

He looked confident, and when asked by a reporter if Portugal's absence of two big players tomorrow, Deco and Costina, would affect Portugal's table, Figo mentioned that he is likely to move places, "No matter where I am, I will give a contribution to my team and my country." ”

When you hear this, you know that Figo has decided to retire from the national team after the World Cup.

'Maybe the English want revenge, we won them two years ago and now we're focused on winning them again.' Such arguments turn into naked contempt in the ears of the English.

England apparently heard the tone from Portugal.

But the day before the game, England were not interviewed at all, which is also Eriksen's request, they are training behind closed doors and do not accept media interference, but this does not affect their knowledge of the Portuguese team, they will keep an eye on their opponents.

Figo's rhetoric made the England squad hold their breath to beat Portugal, and there was a sense of determination throughout the squad during training that afternoon.

Every player is fully committed to training, there is no laziness, no slackness, which is really rare in the England team, and Eriksen is not only not angry when he thinks about Figo's words, but he is really grateful to the Portuguese captain.

Of course, it's the preparation for the competition that matters.

Eriksen arranged for an indoor 'training session' with the squad on a tactical set-up for Portugal in the game.

It's an internal training session.

Eriksen cautioned everyone to be aware of the possibility that Portugal could use small tricks, which are nothing more than tricks that are not above board but are not foul, and these small moves are not difficult to see in Scolari's players.

Eriksen even brought in a FIFA-appointed official to guide him.

While reminding all England players to abide by the rules of the game, the official also explained the shocking number of red and yellow cards since the start of this World Cup, focusing on the explanation of the rules of action, which will make it clearer for England players to know which actions will be carded and which actions do not matter at all.

This is critical.

Portugal are not a 'good' team, they were shown 16 yellow cards and four red cards against the Netherlands, and at the end of the game, both Portugal and the Netherlands were eliminated with only nine men left on the pitch.

With such a tough game, you can imagine what kind of conflict will happen.

FIFA officials have reminded England to be mindful of their movements, but they are not targeting England, as Portugal will be similarly reminded.

On this day, no England player was interviewed.

This has caused many media to say things like 'England has no confidence'. Because the Portuguese interview can still be conducted, and many players take the initiative to be interviewed, unlike England, who do not accept interviews at all.

But Erikson apparently won't change his mind just because a reporter says two nice things about him

The prelude to the great war has begun.

The German city of Gelsenkirchen has long been very lively, Gelsenkirchen is located in the Ruhr area, a heavy industrial base in the northwest corner of Germany. It is a small city with a population of only 270,000.

The processing and manufacturing of coal and steel is the main economic pillar of the city, which is also a common feature of the Ruhr region. Gelsenkirchen was once known as the "City of a Thousand Fires" by Europeans because of its numerous blast furnaces, coke ovens and steel plants, but now it is a leader in the field of solar energy because the area is covered by solar energy, and the name of Gelsenkirchen has changed from "City of a Thousand Fires" to "City of a Thousand Suns".

Of course, it's not about the game.

What makes the locals feel the influence of football is that in the past few days, more than 100,000 foreign fans have come to Gelsenkirchen, and a small city of 270,000 people has suddenly come to more than 100,000 outsiders. This is clearly going to change the local area, and the government in Gelsenkirchen is clearly taking it seriously, as you can guess from the police on the streets.

The Gelsenkirchen government has done a lot of measures, including the construction of local residents to go to other places for sightseeing, the impact of the World Cup and the holidays has already made Gelsenkirchen residents a lot less, after all, Gelsenkirchen is not too attractive, plus this measure, they can leave temporarily and get subsidies at the same time. Gelsenkirchen soon lost a lot of people.

But a new problem arose - more than 80,000 of the 100,000 foreign fans were England fans. With such a large number of English fans, Gelsenkirchen has completely become the territory of English fans????

"England occupies the !! of Gelsenkirchen" Many media joked about this situation.

"At the moment, Gelsenkirchen has become a sea of English fans, walking in all the neighborhoods of the city, you only hear English, you see only English people, this place has been "occupied" by English fans. ”

As the media says. Walking through the neighborhood of Gelsenkirchen, you can see England fans from almost every location, and all the hotels in the city are already full, and more England fans will choose to spend the night on the streets.

The warm weather in July is a good choice.

And the media from all over the world poured into the city. There has also been a series of reports on the situation, with many Portuguese media outlets constantly protesting in articles because they feel that it is unfair to Portugal.

"The World Cup should be a fair score, but 80,000 English fans have made Gelsenkirchen completely the home of the English people."

"It's likely to affect the Portuguese team." So says the Portuguese media.

It's a pity that they can only protest, FIFA can do nothing, they can limit the number of tickets for the fans of both teams, but they can't restrict the fans from coming to Gelsenkirchen to cheer for the England team, most of these English fans do not have tickets, but they are bent on getting close to the game, which certainly does not violate any terms.

Is it also wrong to have a large number of fans?

This is obviously impossible.

The German government also wants to thank England, because the arrival of these English fans has boosted the economy of Gelsenkirchen and their tourism industry, and the hotels, hotels, restaurants, supermarkets, shopping malls and so on in Gelsenkirchen are very grateful to the English fans, because their business has been very good these days.

However, the local police have a headache.

England fans crowd the city, many of them like to go to pubs, drunk people are the most troublesome, especially England is rich in football hooligans, the night before the game, 27 England fans were arrested on various charges, the most interesting is that two of them were arrested by the German police for disturbing the peace for drunken intimidation of a dog.

This is a big headache for the Gelsenkirchen police.

They have a lot to think about, for example, if England wins, then these 80,000 fans will definitely start a carnival in Gelsenkirchen, which will seriously affect the normal life of Gelsenkirchen, and if England loses, it will be even more chaotic, who knows what disappointed England fans will do in this small town?

But no matter what, they still have to face it.

July 1 is finally here.

The small square in front of the Schalke stadium has been occupied by fans who are ready to enter, and when the stadium passage is finally opened, the fans frantically rush to the open passage, and the square is a little riotous in an instant, and the police rush to maintain law and order to prevent accidents.

The fans are starting to enter.

During the game, the players held their tickets and entered the stadium to find a good seat, but when they walked into the stadium, they saw that the two teams were already warming up on the green field, and the fans were ready for a 'world war'.

It's still very harmonious in the stadium.

The fans of both teams have cheered for their teams, and they are just cheering, and cheering is more than which side has a louder voice, obviously England fans have an advantage in this regard, they have more people, and there are 30,000 English fans who came to the scene, which is three times more than Portugal fans.

Although the Portuguese fans were not to be outdone, the gap between the two sides could not be bridged at all, and the Schalke Stadium became the home of England fans before the game even began.

In contrast, the off-site is even more lively.

More than 50,000 England fans gathered outside the stadium to watch the game on the big screen of the stadium, where the game was far away, and it was not clear that they were sitting at home watching the TV at all, but the England fans still chose to cheer for the team in this way, and they used their actions to hope to give the team more morale, in order to just show the team better.

The Great War has begun. (To be continued......)