Chapter XXXVIII

The European Cup is known as the small World Cup, which includes almost all the world's strongest teams except Brazil and Argentina, and compared to the World Cup, upsets are also more likely to occur, because the strength of the teams is relatively close, so there is the Danish myth of 92.

The European Cup is a big stage of miracles, almost any kind of script can be staged on this stage, 92 European Cup, Denmark won the championship, is the most fantastic fairy tale, 96 European Cup, the German team followed the Bern miracle, once again presented people with a heart-wrenching inspirational drama, the final German team in the case of no one available, left Bierhoff's magical two goals, not to mention the 2000 European Cup, the Italians are almost about to start celebrating, The result was another magical substitution, Wiltord equalized in the 91st minute, Trezeguet volleyed in extra time, directly sentenced Italy to death, Euro 2004, the host Portugal and the magical Greece eliminated the powerful Spain to qualify from the group, until the final, so that the Greek team staged the Greek myth, in the 2008 group of death, the Netherlands defeated Italy and France by a big score, Russia and Turkey's dark horses burst out, Belgium after the group stage struggled to qualify, Degana's magical series of performances made the European Red Devils finally reach the top.

A wonderful European Cup brings fans unlimited enjoyment, and now it is time for the opening of the European Cup, as the defending champion, the Belgian team set off again, but this time it is no longer Degan who leads the way, in fact, if it is not before the announcement of the squad, Belgium petitions the whole country, maybe this time, Wilmoci will really let Deegan sit on the cold bench at home.

But even if Digan finally followed the team to the European Championship, Wilmoth had already announced before the departure that the main striker of the current Belgian national team will be Lukaku.

As for Degan, he hasn't been in the national team squad for more than a year since that bombardment, and even the captain's armband has been stripped and worn on Kompany's arm.

The team's coach Wilmoci, before Digan, was the leading figure of Belgian football, and he had wonderful performances in the 2000 European Championship and the 2002 World Cup, especially in the 2002 South Korea-Japan World Cup, the key game of the group stage against the host Japan team, his upside-down golden hook helped Belgium successfully break through the group.

After the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the meritorious coach Antienes left the coaching position of the national team, and the Belgian Football Association chose Wilmoci, who was famous in his playing days, as the head coach of the national team.

However, in the European Championship qualifiers, because of the conflict with Degan, Wilmo announced in a fit of anger that Deegan would be expelled from the national team, a decision that almost caused turmoil in Belgium, and finally the Belgian qualifiers were struggling, and finally eliminated Greece in the play-offs and came to the stage of the European Championship.

Before the squad was announced, under pressure from fans and the Football Association, Wilmoci finally called Degan into the national team, but it is clear that this is only a stopgap measure, what he wants is complete control of the team, and Degan's presence is obviously a big threat to him.

Belgium's lineup, completely continuing the lineup when the World Cup won two years ago, the 23-man squad, without the slightest change, after the World Cup victory, more players have left Belgium to go to the top five European leagues to develop, but the main squad lacks the strong fulcrum of Digan, and Belgium's prospects can't help but make people a little worried.

Degan is still Belgium's leading star, although in the past two seasons, he has had few opportunities in Barcelona, but after careful analysis, it is not difficult to see that Degan's goal efficiency is actually not low at all, in the first season of joining Barcelona, 18 appearances in the league, Degan scored 11 goals, and in the second season, 15 league appearances, scored 9 goals, this goal efficiency, still the best in Europe.

In the just-concluded Champions League final, Deegan only got 18 minutes of playing time, but scored two goals to help the team finally lift the trophy.

The current captain of Belgium, Kompany, is the backbone of the team's defense, and in the two seasons of transfer to Manchester City, Kompany still continued his stable form during the Fiorentina period, and has become the backbone of the Manchester City team's defense, firmly suppressing Richards, who was once a high-profile player in English football, on the bench, and became the captain of the Manchester City team in Robinho.

Elsewhere, Belgium are also star-studded, with goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, midfielders Eden Hazard, Marouane Fellaini and Romelu Lukaku up front, all of whom are high-profile superstars in European football.

As the defending champions, Belgium's goal is undoubtedly to defend the title eventually, but to achieve this goal, Wilmoth will obviously have to think carefully about his relationship with Degan.

Defending champions Belgium are in the same group as hosts Poland, Eastern European Arabia and Russia, who shone at last European Championships.

Poland, one of the hosts of the tournament, are the lowest ranked FIFA team among the 16 participating teams, and it will be difficult for them to break through from a group that includes Belgium, the Czech Republic and Russia.

Although coach Smuda is not too well-known in international football, he has always been highly regarded by the Polish Football Association in Poland, and he has played in the United States, Germany and other places when he was young, so he also has a deep understanding of overseas football.

The same is true of Smuda's coaching experience as a coach, although there are not many highlights, but he has won the strengths of each family, and has coached in Germany, Turkey, Poland, Cyprus and other national leagues.

However, despite his experience, Smuda had never coached a national team before taking charge of Poland, and he had no previous experience in how to lead a team to a tournament-style tournament.

Poland, as the host of this European Championship, did not play in the qualifiers, and although they have participated in a number of friendly matches in the past two years, no one knows what the results of the actual combat drills will be.

Compared with the league's requirement of a stable state and no big ups and downs, the tournament requires a month for the team to always maintain a considerable level of tension and excitement and physical condition, how to adjust the team to play well in international competitions, it will be a considerable problem for Smuda.

At present, as many as 17 of the 23-man squad of the Polish team come from various leagues outside of Poland, and it is clear that coach Smuda is very serious about overseas players, and his list includes almost all of the best Polish players at the moment, and the more well-known players are basically among them.

Seven of them are from the same league Bundesliga, the Bundesliga has contributed a number of internationals to the Polish team, Polanski in Mainz, Bernisch in Bremen, Sobich in Hannover 96, Matuszyk in Dusseldorf, plus the three absolute main players Piszczek, Blaszchikowski and Lewandowski who won the Bundesliga championship with Dortmund for two consecutive seasons, this group advantage cannot be underestimated.

In addition to the seven players in the Bundesliga, Arsenal's Szczesny will be the patron saint of the team, and the young Polish goalkeeper has firmly occupied the Gunners' main position in the past season with a convincing performance.

Sochaux's Pex, Celtic's Rodzek and Bordeaux's Oblagnac have all impressed in the past few years, both in the league and in Europe.

Speaking of the current core strength of the Polish team, there are undoubtedly three internationals from the Bundesliga champion team Borussia Dortmund, full-back Piszczek, captain Blaszczykowski and striker Lewandowski.

Piszczek has outstanding forward and assist ability, is a Bundesliga and Ram name right wing-back, both offensive and defensive, the captain of the winger Blaszczykowski is extremely fast, individual raids and crosses and set-pieces are very threatening, is the team's attacking core, the left and right wingers are competent, but considering that the partner with Piszczek will appear more in the right winger position. Center Lewandowski is Dortmund's most reliable scorer.

Piszczek, Blaszczykowski and Robert Lewandowski, the three champions who have won the title with Borussia Dortmund in two consecutive seasons, are undoubtedly the core players that Poland coach Smuda expects and trusts the most, and in the national team, Smuda can transplant the club's outstanding trio to the Polish team. Whether it is the tacit understanding, cooperation or understanding of each other, the three have been affirmed in the national team and the club, and the requirements of the national team and the club are basically the same, so there is no problem for them to adapt.

Piszczek, Blaszczykowski and Lewandowski's success at club level was directly transplanted into the national team by Smuda, with Piszczek right-back, Blaszczykowski as the right winger, and Lewandowski as a single arrow, and the entire right side will be the main direction of attack of the team.

The left wing may be played by another Bundesliga defender, Bernisch, who is stronger defensively than attacking, and although the attack is average, the victory is solid defensively.

Central defender Vasilevski will certainly occupy a regular position, while Pex may not have much experience in the national team but has a lot of experience and could become another main central defender.

Two experienced veterans in midfield, Dudeka and Murawski, will remain an indispensable part of the team, with Polanski in solid form at the back.

This European Championship is the second time in the history of the Polish national team to participate in the finals of the European Championship, although there have been several quite good results in the World Cup and the Olympic Games, but in the European Championship, Poland did not knock on the door of the European Championship finals for the first time until the last European Championship.

In the 2008 European Championship co-hosted by Switzerland and Austria, the Polish team reached the finals for the first time in history, and Poland, which was in Group B with Croatia, Germany and Austria, only got one draw in the final three group games, and the results were at the bottom, and they went home after the game.

Poland, as the host country, will undoubtedly make new history if they can make it out of the group, and reaching the quarterfinals is not an impossible task for Poland, but it will be difficult to go further.

Even if Poland can qualify from the group, it is very unlikely that they will go further to the semi-finals, according to the schedule, Poland's Group A team will face the top two in Group B after qualifying from the group, Group B has the world runner-up Netherlands and the third place Germany, both of which are the favorites to win the championship, even if these two teams are a little careless, Group B also has a team like Portugal, and it is difficult for Poland to win.

Coach Smuda has a clear view of the team's situation, their goal is to try to qualify from the group, to qualify from the group and reach the quarter-finals, Poland's most realistic and clear goal, as long as the three opponents in the group stage are serious, it is not impossible to reach the quarter-finals.

All in all, the Polish team with limited strength, if it wants to become a dark horse in this European Cup, not only needs to take advantage of the right time and place, but also needs some luck.

In Group A, the most powerful team to compete with Belgium for the top spot in the group is the biggest dark horse in Euro 2008, Russia.

Four years ago, the earth-shattering Tsarist Revolution was still terrifying, Russia squeezed out the favorite England in the qualifiers, defeated the Viking Sweden and defending champions Greece in the group stage, and in the quarter-finals, facing the Netherlands who had won all the groups of death, Russia scored two goals in extra time to advance to the semi-finals and shocked the continent.

Despite being defeated by Spain in the semi-finals, Arshavin's name has resounded throughout Europe, and Russian football has changed dramatically in recent years, especially in 2008, when Russia began to mobilize the whole country to develop the game.

In this European Cup, Russia was lucky to be placed in the weaker Group A, and the Dutch coach Advocaat set the goal for the team to reach the final.

Advocaat took over the reins of Russia after Hiddink's departure two years ago, and the Dutch coach has spent his time in charge of PSV Eindhoven, Rangers and Zenit St. Petersburg, as well as two spells as head coach of the Dutch national team and a semi-final in 2004.

Compared with the "wonder coach" Hiddink, Advocaat has also been in Russia since 2006 to coach Zenit, and he is more familiar with the Russian football environment, and the likes of Arshavin, Anyukov and Zhiyanov are the old parts of the team that led Zenit to the last UEFA Cup, which helps him better control the team and drill the lineup.

In terms of players, among the 23-man squad of the Russian team in this European Cup, the most eye-catching ones are undoubtedly the new and old generations of Russian football "Tsars" Arshavin and Zagoev.

Dutch coach Advocaat chose a combination of old and new lineup this time, Arshavin, Zhirkov and Korzhakov of the Mesozoic Era are the leaders of the team, Shemschov and Sharonov, who participated in Euro 04, will provide valuable experience for the team, and the newcomers have Zagoev of CSKA Moscow and Kokorin of Dynamo Moscow, and the age structure is very reasonable.

In the goalkeeper position, Advocaat recruited Akinfeev, who has recently recovered from injury, which shows the importance of the talented goalkeeper, as well as Zenit goalkeeper Marafeyev and Dina's young goalkeeper Shuning.

At the back, Advocaat brought in eight players, Ignashevic, Zhirkov, Alexei. A number of CSKA players such as Berezudsky were selected, in addition to Zenit captain Anyukov and returning to the national team Kazan captain Sharonov. The main substitute is the versatile Granath, who can play Dimitri on the left flank. Kumbarov and Shishkin, who withdrew at the last moment in place of a stomach problem, were selected Nababkin.

In the midfield position, the players of the Zenit department took the lead, and the "Tsar" Arshavin, Denisov, Schrokov and Zhiryanov are the backbone of the team.

"Future Tsar" Zagoev and Sporting Lisbon winger Ismailov will assist Arshavin in the team's attack, while veteran international Shemshov and Lokomotiv captain Grushakov, who has played consistently in the league, are the main substitutes in the midfield position.

In the silver boot of the Russian Premier League this season, Korzhakov will lead the Russian team's attack, while other options include Pavlyuchenko, who has returned to the Russian Premier League, and Poglebnyak, who has performed well at Fulham.

Arshavin, who made a name for himself in the last cup competition, is still the leader of the Russian team, and after joining Arsenal in the winter of the 08/09 season, Arshavin firmly occupied the main position in the team, playing on the left wing, and he played in the big four against Liverpool. Arshavin is extremely skilled and can play as a winger, midfielder, striker and other positions.

Due to injuries and form this season, Arshavin gradually lost his place at Arsenal, and in order to participate in the European Championship, he resolutely chose to return to his old club Zenit on loan in the winter, and finally helped his old club win the league title.

Korzhakov, who came from the Zenit team along with Arshavin, has not been the first choice of the national team for a long time, and has been repeatedly criticized by fans for missing opportunities, until he won the league silver boot in one fell swoop this season, and has now become the number one choice in the center of the Advocaat team.

At the age of 18 years and 20 days, he made his first appearance for the national team, becoming the youngest international player in the history of Russian football, and became the captain of CSKA before the age of 20.

Of course, there is also the teenager Zagoev, who was named the "future czar" at the beginning of his debut, although he is only 21 years old, he has been famous for a long time, and in the budget of this European Cup, he became the top scorer of the national team.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian football has inherited the main body of football in the former Soviet Union, but the results of the major tournament have not been outstanding, and only one of the three European Championship finals has passed the group stage.

Four years ago, in the summer of the European Championships, which was also the highlight of Russia's history, Arshavin made a name for himself and Pavlyuchenko came out on top to beat one of the favourites, the Netherlands, to reach the semi-finals, only to be defeated by Spain.

The Russian team has a good group in the European Cup, they are in Group A with one of the hosts, Poland, the Czech Republic and Belgium, except for the Belgian team, which is more difficult to deal with, of course, it depends on whether Digan can get the opportunity to play in the game, but considering that in the past two seasons, Digan has always been a marginal figure in Barcelona, and has not even played consecutive games, and the state is difficult to guarantee, coupled with the contradiction with the head coach Wilmoci, speaking of which, this group really does not have a strong team in the absolute sense, All four teams of similar strength have a chance, but on the cards Russia are even better than the other three, so Russia will be aiming to top the group and replicate the magic of the last tournament in the knockout rounds.

The golden age of Brückner is long gone, and the iron man Nedved and the lucky general Baros are also history, and now the Czech team is led by the Blues' goalkeeper and Gunners' "Mozart" Rosicky, and is attacking the highest European glory that their predecessors failed to dream of.

Brückner's coach was the former Czech international Billek, as a player, Billek played as a midfielder, played a total of 35 for the country, in the 1990 World Cup, he was an indispensable member of the national team, as the core of the midfield, after retiring from the retiring Billek began his coaching career in 2001, he coached a number of Czech teams, including Pulzen and Sparta Prague, the most brilliant achievement was to lead Sparta to the top of the league in the 06.07 season, and won three consecutive cup titles. He was also in charge of the Czech Under-19 team, and in 2009 he was rewarded with the national team, and although he failed to lead the team to the World Cup, the re-qualification for the European Championship gave Czech football a glimmer of hope in the trough.

In terms of lineup, goalkeeper Cech's position is unshakable, although he was in a sluggish state in the first half of last season, and repeatedly made mistakes, but in the second half of the season he found his form, and many god-level performances saved Chelsea from fire and water, and almost single-handedly helped Chelsea reach the Champions League final, but unfortunately in the final, the sudden resurgence of Digan penetrated the door twice, unfortunately lost the best opportunity to stabilize the European Cup, the substitute goalkeeper is Hamburg's Drobny and the Ukrainian Premier Dnepr's Rashtuvka.

Defensively, the center-back combination is composed of Kadlec Jr. and Siwalker after the famous player, with Hubnik and teenager Susi on the bench, and the left and right wings are guarded by Limberski and Ethiopian Gebresirasie respectively, Kadlec Jr. can also play left-back, if he returns to the left, Susi will be the main central defender, and the substitute on the right side is Rajtolar.

In the midfield, Rosicky is still the core of the attack, Pilarge and Rezek will be responsible for attacking on the two wings, behind them is the double back combination of Prashier and Ilacek, both of whom are both offensive and defensive, Ilacek's teammate Pilarge in Wolfsburg will be the substitute winger, the midfield substitutes Hübschmann and Kraj, and the teenager Darida is a versatile player.

Up front, veteran Baros and rising star Peckhardt will be battling it out for a starting spot, with the prospect of starting Barosh being more likely to be the starting line-up for now, with CSKA young centre-forward Nessid and veteran Lafata coming off the bench.

At his peak, Rosicky was one of the best attacking midfielders in European football, with excellent speed and dribbling skills, often able to tear through opponents' backlines with passes, and also scored by himself, known as the "Mozart of Football".

Although his conservative injury form has declined in recent years, Rosicky has had a second spring in the second half of the season, performing well in many key battles such as the Champions League, and for the national team, he has scored 20 goals in 85 games for the Czech Republic, both of which are among the best in team history.

Petr Cech, who also rose to fame at a young age, has long been one of the best goalkeepers in European football and, like Rosicky, has been on a low start this season.

The slump in the first half of the league did not break the self-confidence of the Czech goalkeeper, and the repeated god-level performances in the second half of the season saved Chelsea from fire and water, and almost brought the team to the Champions League by himself, but unfortunately met the sudden outbreak of Degan at the last moment, failed to lead the team to the top, after the painful defeat in the last European Cup, Cech is now more mature and stable than ever.

When it comes to Czech football, you can't forget the 1996 European Championship, when the 24-year-old Poposki, the 23-year-old Nedved and Smitchell, and the 22-year-old Berg set off a youth storm in England and established the status of the "golden generation" of Czech football, they defeated Italy in the group stage, and then eliminated Portugal and France to reach the final, only to lose to Bierhoff's golden goal.

Eight years later, in 2004, the "Golden Generation" brought infinite surprises to fans in Portugal, winning three games and three victories in the group stage, beating the Netherlands and Germany to qualify, beating Denmark in the quarterfinals to reach the semi-finals, but Nedved was left due to injury and was scored by Greece to score the winning silver goal.

The Czechoslovakia team, the predecessor of the Czech Republic, has an even more illustrious history, having twice finished third at the European Championship and winning the Delaunay Cup on penalties in 1976 against West Germany.

The strength of the four teams in Group A is relatively average, basically everyone has the opportunity to appear, but the only thing that cannot be determined is the Belgian team, the Belgian team with Deegan and without Deegan is completely two levels, although people are talking about whether Degan, who has been abandoned for two years in Barcelona, can still be as majestic and invincible as he was at the beginning, but people who have watched the Champions League final believe that they can feel that although they have been suppressed for two years, as long as they have the opportunity to play, Deegan can still be at any time, Anywhere, solve any opponent.

As long as Deegan can regain the lead in the Belgian team, then the other three teams can only count on the other qualifying spot.