PS1: This is Monday's update.,It's a little late.,I hope you don't care too much about the update time.,I promise not to break the update......

PS2: Let's talk about the book friend group here, the group number is three, seven, zero, five, four, nine, nine, one, nine, nine, verifies that the answer is NTR knight, well, that's it.

Italy face the Netherlands in the quarter-finals, something most people didn't expect before the start of the tournament. In their opinion, Italy's most likely opponent should be the Czech Republic or Germany, not the Orange Army, who are the strongest on paper in the Group of Death!

In fact, the reason why Italy will meet a strong opponent of the level of the Netherlands after qualifying from the group stage is mainly due to the current Dutch coach Advocat. If it hadn't been for Robben's brain cramp against the Czech Republic in the group stage, the Netherlands would not have been successfully overturned by the Czech Republic by three goals in a row, let alone fall to the second place in Group D, making the Orange meet the defending champions early in the quarter-finals.

It is precisely because of this that the Italian players can be said to be very depressed at this time. They didn't expect the Netherlands to be so weak this time, unable to even get a place at the top of the group when the backbone of the team was all there and there were no injury troubles, and even staged a big reversal by the Czechs with a two-goal lead!

If I had known that this would be the case, then it would have been better to release the water in the group stage and qualify as the second in Group C. No matter how you look at it, the Czech Republic is much easier to deal with than the Netherlands. It was the Italian players who had their thoughts in their minds when they learned that their opponents in the quarter-finals were the Netherlands.

While many Czech fans don't want to admit it, it's true. Although the Czech Republic has well-known stars such as Nedved and Rosicky, and its strength can be regarded as the best in Europe, the Netherlands are much better than the Czech Republic in terms of squad depth and overall strength, and it is also more difficult to deal with.

The reason why the Netherlands never played the expected results is because the problem of infighting in the team has never been properly resolved, and the contradictions between the colored players and the white players have caused serious losses to the fighting power of the orange team; On the other hand, it is because the last two managers have always convulsed at critical moments, holding a good hand but always unable to let the team play the corresponding strength, and sometimes even take the initiative to cause chaos......

Therefore, during this period, the Netherlands repeatedly won cups in international competitions, not because their opponents were stronger than them, but because they were always busy with infighting, and their combat power was wasted.

If you think about it, the only time in the last decade that the Netherlands didn't have infighting was at the '98 World Cup in France, and the Orange had their best record since '78 – a fourth-place finish, and they fell to Brazil on penalties in the semi-finals because they were missing four key players. This shows how many opportunities the Netherlands wasted to win the championship because of the infighting between the players and the lack of effort from the manager.

However, compared to the unlucky Italian players, most fans and media are looking forward to this match. After all, this was the first time the two sides had gone head-to-head at an international tournament since Euro 2000, when Italy knocked out the Netherlands, who were so hungry for the title, thanks to their tenacious defence and Santodor's bravery.

It is precisely because of this that in the eyes of many Dutch fans and media, this quarter-final is undoubtedly a revenge battle for the Dutch. Of course, Italian fans and media obviously don't see it that way, they think that the Netherlands, who lost four years ago, failed to beat Italy at the peak of the year, and now it is even more unlikely!

On June 26, the Algarve Stadium was full of people. Because soon, the pinnacle showdown between Italy and the Netherlands will take place here!

Incidentally, unlike most courses, the Algarve Stadium is not located in a single city, but is built between the cities of Faro and Lore, and takes its name from the Algarve region in which it is located. However, as one of Europe's most famous summer resorts, the climate is perfect for football matches, at least the players will not be affected by the heat or other factors.

After all, despite Liverpool coach Shankly once saying that football is more important than life and death, not many people will really choose between life and football.

Although the group stage game against the Czech Republic and the extremely conservative personnel strategy made Dutch fans strongly question Advocaat's coaching ability, and therefore did not look optimistic about the Netherlands' prospects in this European Championship, in this crucial battle, fans still put aside these preconceptions for the time being and rallied together to cheer for the team.

However, when the starting line-up for the game was announced, fans were still very disappointed with Advocat, who had already been labeled as conservative. Perhaps because the manager was too afraid of Italy's sharp counter-attacks and lacked enough confidence in his own attacking prowess, he fielded a clearly more defensive-minded starting line-up for this quarter-final.

Goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, left-back Van Bronckhorst, centre-backs Stam and Frank de Boer, and right-back Reziger have been working together for nearly eight years, and it goes without saying that the players have a tacit understanding with each other; In midfield, Cocu and Davies partnered in the back, and AC Milan big man Seedorf was in the middle; Up front, Arjen Robben and Donny van der Meyde split the flanks and will be tasked with feeding the 'King of the Small Box' Ruud van Nistelrooy in the middle.

It can be seen from Advocaat's lineup that the head coach's approach to personnel is quite rigid. Even though the glory of Ajax's youth army has been nearly ten years ago, he still clings to these older and older veterans, and refuses to give those young players who have already made a name for themselves more opportunities to prove themselves.

Therefore, although the Dutch central and defensive midfield configuration can be said to be full of star-studded chemistry, in fact, Frank De Boer and Reziger, the two main players that Advocaat relied on, are already in old age, Cocu and Davies, who are in their thirties and declining form, still firmly control the midfield, while Van der Vaart, Van Bommel and Kuyt can only watch their teammates perform from the bench or even in front of the TV, which cannot but be said to be a great irony.

No matter how inexperienced Kuyt and Van Bommel are, they are still better than Bosvelt and Zenden, right? Advocaat's conservative and veteran-believing strategy cast a shadow over the revenge battle that Dutch fans were looking forward to before the game even began.