Chapter 46: The German-Portuguese War

After the big battle between the Netherlands and Denmark, another match in Group B, Portugal vs Germany, this game was also a match between the two top scorers of Camuro and Gomez, and in the end Camuro lost to Gomez, the Portuguese striker failed to make a difference in the game, and Gomez used a powerful header to help the team achieve an important victory.

Some media commented after the game that the performance of the golden mulo in this game was completely unsatisfactory, far less than the level shown in Real Madrid last season, when the team needed him the most, the golden mulo disappeared, in fact, whenever he wore the jersey of the Portuguese national team, the performance of the golden mulo will always be with a deep gray.

At the beginning of the game, Portugal made it clear that it was to play around the number one star Camuro, and after the Real Madrid star received the football for the first time in this game, he faced Boateng who defended him and staged a dazzling bicycle pedaling skill, but the football he passed, Postiga missed the front point, and the ball was also destroyed by Lahm.

After that, it was not until the start of the second half that the golden mulo evaporated, and it was not until the sixty-fourth minute of the second half that the golden mulo got a second better chance, Moutinho crossed diagonally, and the golden mulo burst into the left side of the penalty area to shoot, but was tackled out of the bottom line by Boateng first.

After Germany broke the deadlock and the team fell behind, Camuro also had a few chances to threaten the German goal, but in the end he was unable to help Portugal equalise, and Camuro started Euro 2012 with a defeat and zero goals.

It has to be said that it is a very strange phenomenon, at the club, Golden Mauro played very well, won the Ballon d'Or at Manchester United, and scored 146 goals in 144 games in three seasons at Real Madrid, averaging a staggering 1.02 goals per game.

However, in Portugal, Camuro's goal efficiency has dropped significantly, including in this game, where he scored only 32 goals in 91 games, an average of 0.35 goals per game, almost 1/3 of Real Madrid's goal efficiency.

The Spanish media have said that the goal efficiency of the national team is so much lower than that of the club, it seems difficult to find a reasonable explanation, even if the strength of the Portuguese national team is indeed much worse than Real Madrid.

Historically, in general, great stars have performed equally well both in the national team and at the club, such as Pele, Eusebio, Charlton, Beckenbauer, Cruyff, Van Basten, Maradona, Baggio, and if we talk about it now, the best example is Degan, when he was in Fiorentina, he helped the team to dominate Europe, and then there was the national team that helped the team to dominate the world.

Di Stefano was an exception, but that was also when he was struck by injuries as he prepared to represent Spain at the 1962 World Cup.

However, in recent years, in world football, in addition to Degan, the three talented players Kaka, Camaro and Messi have performed far worse in the national team than in the club, but Kaka still has a shining time in the national team, and now Messi is also beginning to find a feeling in Argentina, and Camuro still seems to be a little lost.

So what's wrong with Camuro in the national team?

It's obviously his mentality, and the biggest problem for Portugal right now is the lack of a leader in the creative area, and the team doesn't have the great passers of the past era, such as Rui Costa.

The Camuro needs this kind of passing expert to avoid being selfish again, and if there is such a passer, then the Golden Mauro don't have to find the ball himself, pass the ball and then score goals single-handedly.

Camuro is good, but he also needs to have a lot of support behind him so that he can play an important role and pull off beautiful moves, and he can't always run around and do everything by himself.

When playing for the national team, Golden Mauro can't think of himself as above the rest of the players, his role at Real Madrid is very important, he plays freely up front and the whole team supports him behind him.

In the national team, Camuro obviously wants the whole team to do everything they can for him, but this is not the case, and Portugal as a whole cannot provide the same level of support as Real Madrid as a whole. Therefore, when he comes to the national team, he can't have the idea of "I have to be the best", he has to be the best for the team, not the best for himself.

But in fact, Camuro came to the Portuguese national team with the idea that "I have to be the best", and he wanted everyone to be there for him, but it was clear that he was a bit delusional.

So, the end result is just like the outcome of this game!

Look up to the sky and sigh, look up to the sky and sigh, look up to the sky and sigh!

This is the Golden Mulo on the pitch of Euro 2012!

All four shots were all within the frame of the German team, but failed to penetrate Neuer's ten fingers, coupled with the lack of strength from his teammates, the Portuguese captain got only depression and disappointment in a defeat!

The most efficient goalscorer in the history of Real Madrid, who has been in the club's glory for the club, habitually turned off the fire when he arrived at the national team, and lost the first game, which not only cast a shadow on Portugal's group qualification, but even the long-awaited Ballon d'Or award for Camuro became unstable.

If you are not afraid of god-like opponents, you are afraid of pig-like teammates.

The Golden Mauro, who was the star of the moon at Real Madrid, looked very tired when he returned to the national team, not only did he have to create chances, but he also had to finish the final blow himself, and he once again lost himself in the choice of organization and finishing.

Postiga on the front line has average scoring ability, more just to disturb the opponent's defense and create opportunities for his teammates, Coentrão plays very hard and actively, but he is tired under the repeated attacks of Ozil and Muller, and the real support given to Kim Mauro is very limited, at this time, Kim Mauro must be thinking: How good it would be if he played the European Cup with Real Madrid!

Due to the lack of a midfielder who can deliver the last pass, the main line map of the Portuguese team's attack is depicted by the wings, with Ferreira and Coentrão as full-backs, and Nani and Camuro as wingers, so that the Portuguese national team's tactics tend to be from the outside in, putting speed and crosses in very important positions.

However, only the wing but the lack of the middle of the connection is also a major weakness of the Portuguese national team, and the result of repeated crosses is fruitless, Portugal's attack is useless, and the team finally lost 0:1 to Germany.

Before the game, the coach of the Portuguese national team, Bento, expressed his concern about the lack of attacking strength of the team: "We want to be the team that controls the situation, because of the characteristics of our players and the specific situation of the game, we have to play counter-attack, but we will not rely on counter-attacks, we have to organize the attack, so that the team must be very strong when conceding the goal, in order to complete the counter-attack quickly, the wing and the middle must be combined, only the wing and no middle is useless, I hope the team can absorb this concept." ”

One of the most criticised aspects of qualifying, Bento's side, was their inability to open up opposition defences without giving them space.

Portugal are not short of defensive strength, with a back three of Veloso, Meireles and Moutinho at the back, who are capable of running but lack rhythm and are unable to balance tactically when the team is in possession.

Tied with the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark in the Group of Death, Portugal had to pursue more tactics, which made it quite difficult for Germany to play against Portugal.

However, despite the depth of Portugal, the team has been affected by the lack of a strong centre-forward, which is something that Portugal have historically failed to strengthen.

Although Portugal has Postiga and Almeida, these two players are in average condition, and they are not first-class center forwards, although Portugal also has Camero, an absolute superstar who has scored countless goals in Real Madrid, but the Real Madrid star is also unskilled, and he cannot juggle both positions without the help of his teammates.

'For many years, everyone has said that Portugal lack a good centre-forward, even when Pauletta was still playing, and to say that, because he is the top scorer in Portugal, we don't have a natural centre-forward, but the players who play on the wings can score easily.

Bento tried to disguise his team's shortcomings in this way, but it turned out that the fears were not unfounded, and against Germany, Postiga only had one shot on goal and failed to shoot on target, and substitute striker Almeida had zero shots, and the lack of a goal-grabbing man in the middle became a major reason for Portugal's defeat.

In stark contrast to Portugal, Germany, with a powerful header, Gomez declared that a strong centre-forward still has a huge role to play in modern football.

Focusing on the wings is the current Portugal tactic, but the role of the wings will eventually have to be reflected through the middle, but neither Queiroz nor Bento have solved the central striker problem.

Portugal hasn't produced a good centre-forward for a long time, starting with Euro 2000 Joao. Pinto, Sa. Pinto, to Gomez and Pauletta, are not strong centers.

Almeida fits the characteristics of a strong centre-forward, but neither Queiroz nor Bento are very appreciative of him, and as a regular in the Portuguese team, Postiga has now been given a place in the main team, but it has not been able to change the problem of Portugal's soft forward line.

The Portuguese media have pessimistically suggested that the national team may never be able to solve this problem, so Portugal now desperately needs a goal from Camuro instead of his cross.

It could even be argued that the number of goals scored by Camuro will determine how far Portugal can go in this European Championship.

In the group of death, the first matchup between the two strong teams was much more dull than expected, the German team that held control did not have more threatening scenes except for goals, and the relatively inferior Portuguese team found more scoring opportunities, but fortunately, the German team helped twice on the goalpost, which is providential.

But the human factor is more important, Neuer's god-level performance, so that the possibility of the Portuguese equalizing or even overtaking is all stifled, so to speak, although there are not many highlight shots, but Neuer is the best in the first four games of the European Cup.

Neuer's first real save of the game actually came around 81 minutes in the second half, and it was difficult for Neuer to wait so long to show his skills, and it was difficult for him to move around on the goal line.

At that time, the golden mulo rushed forward from the left, and then suddenly pulled out his foot and fired a low flat ball, and the ball went straight to the corner of the goal, which was completely the proud trick that the golden mulo used frequently in the league and the Champions League.

Due to the fast speed of the ball, the goalkeeper often saves and will also form the opponent's second attack, a good Neuer, who has been prepared, lowers the center of gravity in the fastest time, and pounces out in a carp posture, the hand is soft and rigid, there is a kind of relaxation of the water surface, and there is also a Chinese kung fu-like inch knock, why is it so complicated?

Because blocking out is only the foundation, hitting the ball to a non-dangerous area is the fundamental, this ball pounced on the Golden Mulo straight breath, this year's Golden Ball Award is the most powerful candidate, and finally hit the common shot in the league, but was "eliminated" by Neuer's palm!

But there was no doubt that blocking Varela's shot in the final moments of the game was the best gift Neuer could have given to the German fans hungry for victory.

Portugal played a rare straight transition in the German penalty area, from left to right, completely breaking the German defence, and when the ball reached Varela's feet, he could choose any angle in the goal, and no one could defend him effectively.

At this time, Neuer really showed the quality of a world-class goalkeeper, rather than judging which direction to play, it is better to completely pull away the body and pounce towards the winner in a horizontal and completely split posture.

This move is the greatest psychological shock that the goalkeeper can give to the single shooter, forcing the ball winner to shoot in a hurry, and sure enough, Varela pounced on Neuer, and when Rahm broke from the side, he hurriedly chose a shot in the near corner, which is the most ordinary one-on-one shooting method, how can you escape the "heaven and earth net" created by Neuer?!

This god-level save, the golden mule who was watching from the side sighed, as if the battle spirit in his heart had dissipated, with such a god-man goalkeeper, it would be in vain to break the door today!

In such a group of death, it is too difficult to score goals, and it is possible to fight for it if there are few goals conceded, and judging from the first leg of the battle, Neuer should be the most reassuring of the four goalkeepers.

With such a goalkeeper, Loew can take the time to study and study the attack, the German team that can't play the mercury effect is not the real German team, once it encounters a strong team with full offensive firepower, it is not a matter of relying on Neuer's save to pass the test!

Manuel Neuer's play ensured that Germany kept the goal open, while Gomez's play directly helped Germany win the victory.

I still remember that in the last European Cup, Gomez, who had high hopes at the time, performed simply a disaster and was entrusted with a heavy responsibility by Loew, but he failed to score a goal, and even a close shot could release an earth-shattering anti-aircraft gun.

There was also a very dramatic scene in this game: when the German team was unable to attack for a long time, Loew decided to replace the then striker Gomes with the veteran Klose, but when Klose was already standing on the sidelines, Gomez broke the deadlock and scored with a header.

Loew said after the game: "Gomez's goal is very important for the whole team, it gives us a 1-0 win, and the win is undoubtedly the most important thing! ”

He did not deny the decision at the time: "I have already decided to replace Gomez with Klose because I think I should bring some fresh energy to the team towards the end of the game. ”

I believe that with this goal, Gomez's situation in the national team can also be changed somewhat, at least he doesn't have to bear the name of an incompetent.

At the end of the match, the Netherlands, another strong team in the same group, was unexpectedly defeated by Denmark, which gave the winning German team a fairly advantageous position.

"After the first round, the losing team is obviously in a very difficult situation," Loew said of the situation after the first round of the Group of Death, "The Netherlands are under a lot of pressure right now, and we are much more optimistic, but we have to keep working hard because the game has just begun." ”

'It was a very tough game,' said Germany captain Lahm in an interview in the mixed zone after the game, "but winning the game is the most important thing, and the victory belongs to the whole team." ”

Gomez admitted after the game that he did feel the pressure when he saw Klose on the sidelines: "I know that very well, Klose will play, so I need to thank the coach even more for believing in me and giving me enough time. ”

Khedira, who provided the assist for Gomes, said: "Today's game was very important and particularly physical, which made us feel a little depleted in the final stages, but we didn't let up and although Portugal were very well prepared, we won the game! ”

Compared with the joy of the German team, the Portuguese team broke out in discord, the reason is that after the end of the first half today, after the team's number one star Jin Mauro returned to the dressing room, he did not find a way to help the team win, but took the time to change his hairstyle.

After the game, some media also posted the different looks of the golden mule in the first and second halves, and for a while, the world was in an uproar.

Golden Mulro, are you here for the European Cup, are you here to play or to walk the catwalk!?

When a reporter interviewed Golden Mulo on this issue, he didn't feel the slightest sense of apology, but said: "As a public figure, I always guarantee my appearance, is this wrong?" ”

All right! You have a point!

But now it's better to think about what you can do to help the team get out of this situation.

As for the hairstyle, let's put it aside for now!

Even head coach Pinto, who has always been very important to the Golden Mauro, criticized: "He should say something more opportune at this time!"