At the post-match press conference, reporters expressed concern about the future of the Swedish team after congratulating Pan Yi on the victory and winning the group.

The reason is simple, first of all, Sweden will face last year's champions Spain in the round of 16, and it is obviously a very difficult opponent.

And secondly, the lower half of the zone where they are located, which can be called the death half!

If Sweden can get past Spain, their opponents in the quarter-finals will be the winner of Germany and Slovakia, and it is clear that they will face Germany more probability.

And the German team is the champion of the 2014 World Cup!

Playing the last European Cup first, and then the last World Cup, the difficulty of passing can be imagined.

And that's not all.

If Sweden beat Germany again in the quarter-finals to reach the last four, they will be the winner of England vs Iceland and France vs Italy.

Of the four teams, the best form at the moment is undoubtedly hosts France.

Of course, even if England or Italy wins, either way, it will be a tough battle.

Don't look at Sweden's victory over Italy in the group stage, but those who are familiar with the history of world football know that Italy in the group stage and Italy in the knockout stage are not the same species at all......

In this way, the overall strength of the other top half of the zone will be much weaker, that is, Croatia is a little bit interesting against Portugal.

It can even be said that Belgium threw themselves into the weaker upper half of the bracket due to today's defeat, which can be said to be a blessing in disguise.

However, Pan Yi's speech was sonorous and powerful, and his words were full of confidence:

"If we can qualify in the Group of Death with Belgium and Italy, we won't be afraid of any opponent."

"In fact, from the very beginning, our goal was not just to qualify from the group, but to go further."

"How far is it? Hehe...... You know me, there's only one thing I like the most, and that's champions! ”

"Why are you looking at me like that? Is that because you don't think Sweden can win the championship? No, a team with Ibrahimovic, they have endless possibilities! ”

"Do you remember Denmark in '92? They relied on Laudrup and Kasper Schmeichel. And in '04, the Greek team didn't have our Ibrahimovic. So, why can't we? ”

"That's right, when I lead the team to the European Championship, I actually have only one goal, and that is to win the championship! So no matter how tough the next games are, I never change our goals and plans. ”

"Three wins in a row in the Group of Death has strengthened our confidence and hope in the fight for the title, we will fight one game at a time, we will beat one opponent after another......"

'At the end of the day, we'll be at the top of European football, I'm very confident in that, and I'm sure my players too!'

This is the first time that Pan Yi has so clearly shouted that he wants to compete for the championship in the European Cup.

This is actually the same reason as he shouted the slogan of the seven-time crown before the Chelsea season.

Now that the team has won consecutive battles and morale, Pan Yi wants to raise the team's goal so that everyone can have the spirit to continue to maintain the team's good momentum.

If the momentum of the team is so good, the players are getting better and better, and they are working harder, you are still blindly conservative, and you say that playing to the top 16 and the top 8 is the goal......

In the end, it will only hurt the morale of the team and the motivation of the players, so it is better to simply set the goal a little more ambitious.

If you have ambition, you will have dreams!

Moreover, after playing Belgium, Pan Yi's confidence in the Swedish team has really increased a lot.

It's not just the substitutions that won Belgium.

Mainly in this game, he also found that there are actually some very good players hidden in his team, who showed their level in the face of strong opponents, and also gave Pan Yi more options in his hands.

For example, the substitute right-back, Lustig, who plays for Celtic, defends Hazard very well and feels a little more solid than the main Johansson.

Another example is left-back teenager Augustinsson, the 22-year-old is a little less experienced, but he is much better than Olsson in terms of technique.

Especially in terms of the quality of the crosses, it is reassuring.

And he even has a good set-piece kung fu, and as a left-footer, he can enrich Sweden's free-kick routine.

Although he is still in Copenhagen, Denmark, he will soon join Bremen in the Bundesliga and become a defensive thigh.

Later, he will also go to teams like Sevilla and Aston Villa, and it can be said that he is also a player in the top five leagues.

And when it comes to set-pieces, Sebastian Larsson is also a good player.

When he played Belgium, he and Augustinsson took all the corners and free kicks of the Swedish team, the difference is one with one left foot and one with the right foot.

He also has a strong running ability in the midfield and excellent mental attributes, which also helped the team successfully block the forward flow of the Belgian midfield.

It can be said that in Sunderland, Sebastian Larsson is the key figure in the Black Cats' relegation.

So, after playing a game, I gained a lot!

The main reason is that Pan Yi's time in Sweden is still too short, and there is only one warm-up game, and it is used to run in the main lineup and style of play, so there is no chance to give these substitute players too many opportunities to perform.

The players of the Swedish team are relatively famous, and Pan Yi didn't know much about them in his previous life, so he followed the general framework of his predecessor at the beginning, but added some personnel according to his own tactical ideas.

But now it seems that Pan Yi still underestimated the ability of his group of players!

They can play a little bit of their own on a stage like the European Championship!

Therefore, Pan Yi himself is also more confident, and when he shouts the slogan of winning the championship, he is even louder.

Of course, even though he was Pan Yi, his words still shocked the reporters in the press briefing room.

After all, the team he's leading now isn't Chelsea.

It's just Sweden, just a team that has been positioned as a second-tier team in Europe for many years.

Although they can beat European powerhouses in some games, and even suffer from some European powerhouses (England), if they want to win the championship, they have to "upset" in a row.

Can they really get past the encirclement of strong teams such as Spain, Germany, and France in a row, and finally stand on the top of Europe?

"What do you think of Belgium's strength?" Pan Yi suddenly asked a reporter who had just questioned him.

"Very strong." The reporter replied, "Otherwise, they wouldn't be ranked second in the world." ”

In fact, in the latest men's national team rankings released by FIFA earlier this year, Belgium still ranked first.

It was only after the May update that they were overtaken by Argentina in the rankings to second place.

Although this ranking is only a reference, it can still reflect the overall strength and record of each national team.

Otherwise, why are the top 10 teams Argentina, Germany, Spain, Brazil, and England all of them, and there have been few changes over the years.

Why is there no Dragon Nation team in the top 10?

Well, they can only be ranked 8th in Asia and are now ranked 81st in the world......

"Then we made a big adjustment in the lineup today, but we still beat them, what do you think of our strength?" Pan Yi asked again.

"This ......," the reporter was speechless.

At this time, another reporter raised his hand and asked: "Mr. Pan Yi, the performance of the Swedish team in this game was very good, and the lead was established from the beginning. Why do you think you can keep Belgium at bay with the bench? ”

Pan Yi smiled slightly and replied:

'I think it's an exaggeration to say that the pressure is exaggerated, at least in the second half the Belgian team had a lot of recovery and caused us a lot of problems.

'But as you know, there are a lot of Chelsea players in the Belgian squad, including Kevin De Bruyne, who also played in my Hamburg squad, so I know them well and I have done some targeting.

"However, I think one of the most important reasons why we were able to win this game was that our players had a stronger desire to win, we played more bravely and showed more fighting spirit."

"That's why I dare to aim for winning the championship. If a team is united and fearless, then they won't be afraid of any opponent! ”

When Pan Yi said this, Belgian coach Wilmots, who was sitting not far from him, also nodded lightly involuntarily.

At least from the game, it can be seen that these substitutes of the Swedish team may indeed be inferior to the Belgians in terms of individual ability, but perhaps because they all know that this is a rare opportunity for them to show in this European Cup, so they play very hard, and it can be said that they have played 100% and 120% of their ability.

But the Belgian team did not do enough in this regard, and it can even be said that it is very poor. To say that they play 50% is probably an overstatement.

The only one who was more desperate was De Bruyne, but in the end, he couldn't lead the whole team alone, plus he was also targeted to death by the players sent by Pan Yi, and Ding Ding didn't create too many chances.

"Mr. Pan Yi, you are now saying that you want to compete for the championship, I don't have any idea about this, after all, it is you...... You're right about anything. However, you are against last year's champions Spain in the round of 16, do you think you can easily beat them? ”

Pan Yi nodded: "Spain is indeed one of the most powerful national teams in football today, and their pass-and-control football has ruled the world for many years. But as you may have noticed, they are stepping down from the altar, so I have the confidence to defeat them. ”

The current Spanish coach is still the Meritorious Coach Bosque.

He was already a success as a player, signing with Real Madrid in 1968 and playing 445 games for the team, scoring 25 goals and helping them to five La Liga titles and four Copa del Rey titles.

Bosque retired in 1984 and became a coach, leading Real Madrid to two Champions League titles.

Bosque became Spain coach in 2008 and won the World Cup and European Championship in 2010 and 2012, leading Spain to a 77.57% win rate.

Suffice it to say, if you ask fans around 2012 who is the best manager in the world, Bosque is definitely one of the favourites.

However, as Xavi and the likes of Xavi aged, the Spaniard's vaunted midfield passing tactics began to become less dominant, and Bosque seemed to have lost his magic.

In the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Spain was swept by the Netherlands 1:5, which also became a sign that the Spanish dynasty was coming to the end.

Xavi started the full game and it became his swan song for the national team.

Spain then failed to qualify from the group.

In the past two years, Bosque has made some changes to the national team, such as Marcos Alonso and Azpilicueta, who have performed well at Chelsea, have become the main players of the team.

However, Spain's performance has been mixed and bad, and in the final round of the group stage of this European Championship, it was quite surprisingly lost 1-2 to Croatia.

In fact, according to common sense, it would not be a surprise if Spain lost to Croatia, which has stars such as Mandzukic, Rakitic, Modric, Perisic, and Brozovic.

But the problem is that the first two teams have basically qualified, so Croatia sent most of the substitutes to play, and many stars did not play.

And Spain, in order to ensure the first place in the group, is still on the main lineup!

As a result, like Sweden vs Belgium, the substitute team won!

It also allowed the Croatians to send the Spaniard to the Swedish team.

Croatia, on the other hand, will face Portugal, third in Group F, in the quarter-finals.

"It's still the same sentence just now, since our final goal is to win the championship, then we will find a way to defeat all opponents along the way."

Pan Yi said at the end of the press conference: "And Spain is just the first opponent in front of us now!" ”

——

Pan Yi's confident remarks also made the front page headlines of major media in Europe and the world the next day.

After all, Pan Yi's remarks are indeed a bit too big in the eyes of some people.

Or is it too high-profile?

After all, whether it was Denmark in '92 or Greece in '04, they didn't shout the slogan of winning the championship just after they reached the knockout round.

Their goal at the beginning was really to qualify from the group, and then they moved forward step by step, and it wasn't until the final that they really started to have the heart of the champion.

After all, compared to other traditional strong teams, they are really just a small team, and they are even considered to only accompany the prince to study.

It is precisely under such a low profile that they can be ignored by the major teams at first, and then come to a sneak attack, and finally succeed in the final battle, achieving Danish fairy tales and Greek mythology.

Now Pan Yi has come to the opposite and directly shouted the slogan of winning the championship...... What's going on?

You know, even traditional powerhouses like Italy, England, and Spain don't shout like that, which onion are you Sweden?

But Pan Yi's remarks also made more media and fans excited.

This is the Pan Yi they know!

The most striking coach in the world of football, the best and most high-profile manager in the world!

Where there is him, there is always a topic with the highest traffic!

Of course, the most important thing is that Sweden's wonderful performance in the Group of Death brought the European Championship to a climax from the group stage early!

Originally, many people thought that when the European Cup was expanded to 24 teams, the group stage became like chicken ribs, tasteless food, and it was a pity to abandon it.

However, the Swedish team has been upset in a row, and they have dominated the group of death, which makes people fall through the glasses.

With the end of the group stage, many people have begun to be optimistic about the Swedish team, thinking that this team really has a championship appearance!

This is not only because of the results of the three battles with 9 points, which can be analyzed from the tactical and field point of view.

Lindelof's backline is getting stronger and stronger, and he is becoming more and more skillful with tall centre-back Glenqvist, who has done a good job of filling in and out of the ball.

Although the two wing-backs Olsson and Johansson are not as offensive and defensive as those big full-backs, they also give full play to their technical characteristics, attacking when they should attack, defending on time, and leaving things to their teammates without delay.

This has led to a very solid backline for Sweden.

Coupled with the stable performance of veteran goalkeeper Isaksson, this made the Swedish team achieve an astonishing result of clean sheets in the match against the three teams in the Group of Death!

This is also what everyone praises Pan Yi the most.

Everyone thinks that he can organize such a solid line of defense when he has not many cards in his hand, which is commendable.

It can be said that the effective training of the Swedish defense alone has already shown the level of a top coach!

What is even more rare is that with a solid defense, the Swedish team's attack did not fall at all.

While Ibrahimovic is the main goal, it's not a simple tactic of "give the damn ball to Ibrahimovic".

In the new Swedish 4-3-3 system, Isak, Guideti, and Forsberg have all contributed well in attack and can provide good support for Ibrahimovic.

If you don't defend against Ibrahimovic, then Ibrahimovic will score;

If you push hard to get to Ibrahimovic, the team-mates next to him will be given more space and they will be able to score goals as well.

This is a bit like Manchester City in 2023, every team has to think about how to defend Haaland, but once you are really pinned down by Haaland, then De Bruyne, Mahrez, Gundogan and others behind him will give you a good look.

Moreover, Pan Yi does not only rely on this set of main lineups, such as Kulusevski, Wayne Bloom, Marcus Berry and others also have good performances after playing, and can perfectly complete the tasks assigned to them by Pan Yi.

They even beat a star-studded Belgium with an all-on-the-bench line-up!

This also made many people start to be optimistic about the Swedish team, and their odds at the bookmaker are also rising, reaching 12 to 1!

Although it is still not as good as those favorites to win the championship, for example, after the round of 16, despite the strong teams in the second half of the region, the host France still ranks first in the odds of winning the championship, which is 1 to 5.

The other strong teams, Germany 1 to 7, England 1 to 10, while Italy only finished third in the group, the odds fell to 1 to 17.

It is worth noting that although Belgium performed well in the group stage, due to their accidental jump to the weaker upper half, coupled with the strength of their team itself, the odds to win the championship are still as high as 1 to 9!

Spain, which will face Sweden in the round of 16, has odds of 1 to 11, which also shows that the gambling company believes that the probability of winning the championship between the two is equal, and the matchup between the two teams is basically five to five.

Or some people think that Sweden's 1 to 12 is not too high, but considering that before the European Championships, their odds to win the championship were only 1 to 126......

It can be said that there has been a sea change!

Of course, the Swedish team still has a relatively clear understanding of these changes in public opinion in the outside world.

Again, despise the opponent strategically and attach importance to the opponent tactically!

Pan Yi shouted the slogan of winning the championship outside to boost morale, but there was no shortage of preparation to be made.

He knew in his heart that a team like Spain, if they were allowed to really pass and play, it would still be very difficult to deal with, especially when the Swedish players generally had poor foot skills.

Sweden has also been completely inferior in the history of the two sides, and the last time they beat Spain was in 2006.

It was in the European Championship qualifiers, and Sweden defeated Spain, who had not really risen yet, 2-0.

Therefore, when Pan Yi was training in the team, he kept reminding his players that they must be cautious.

The game should be played one game at a time, and every game must be guarded against arrogance and rashness, and do your best!

——

Tomorrow is the round of 16 knockout match with Spain, Pan Yi saw that the atmosphere of the team was still a little nervous, so he made an exception today to open the family visit time.

A group of people will have dinner together, and after dinner, the families will leave the hotel as usual.

Meanwhile, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden will also arrive in France tonight.

He will also be accompanied by the president of the Swedish Football Association, Karl Eric Nielsen, to dine with the team and cheer them on.

Pan Yi hopes to relax the players and adjust the atmosphere of the team in this way.

The main reason is that Sweden, like the United Kingdom, is also a constitutional monarchy, and their king is actually a virtual head of state, and his status is purely ceremonial.

Therefore, the arrival of the king will not put too much pressure on the players, but will have a sense of respect to be valued.

And this King Carl XVI Gustav is actually quite down-to-earth.

He often visits foreign countries, receives foreign guests, visits factories, supports welfare projects, etc., and likes to mingle with the masses.

Probably best known for his role in the world is as the presenter of the Nobel Prize every year.

And when he was young, he was personable and dashing, even when he was old, he also liked to mingle with women.

According to a royal biography released in November 2010, "Carl XVI Gustav – The Reluctant King," the Swedish king's hobbies include inviting strippers to wild parties.

The parties took place at a mafia-linked strip club in Stockholm, and the book interviews a number of women who had gone to wild parties, all of whom said they had relationships with the king that went beyond friendship.

Mr. King acquiesced, saying, "It's all old, and I mentioned it to Queen Sylvia, and we agreed that we don't want to dig into the past......

In short, when the king walked into the hall of the Swedish national team's dinner, he was immediately warmly welcomed by everyone.

Pan Yi, including captain Ibrahimovic and several key players sat next to the king, had a cordial and friendly conversation with him, and exchanged views on topics of mutual interest.

The Swedish king wants all the players to be able to put their baggage down and play without pressure.

He said that he always believed that Pan Yi could lead the Swedish team out of the brutal knockout round and all the way to the final.

Carl XVI Gustaf's words also received a positive response from the players, and all the players said that they would do their best to try to win this European Championship and bring the Delaunay Cup (not the De Bruyne Cup) back to Sweden!

During the meal, Carl XVI Gustaf also kept asking about the current situation of the team.

Sometimes it was Pan Yi who answered, sometimes it was Ibrahimovic, and people like Isaac and Kulusevsky would also be questioned by the king on his own initiative.

The atmosphere looked good, and the players were generally relaxed and not unaccustomed to the arrival of Carl XVI Gustaf.

And for Carl XVI Gustav, in fact, his arrival also had its own purpose.

Recent polls have shown that 54 percent of Swedes want the king to abdicate early and pass the throne to Princess Victoria.

This is mainly due to the fact that Carl XVI Gustaf is 70 years old this year, and the retirement age for Swedish men is 65 years old, so many Swedish nationals think that the king should retire as well.

But Carl XVI Gustav he was not ready to pass on to his 38-year-old daughter. "Traditionally, that's not going to happen," he said. ”

He came to France to express his support and affirmation of Pan Yi and the national team, and if Pan Yi and the national team can make a difference in the European Championship, Carl XVI Gustaf's status in the hearts of Swedish fans will naturally rise.

After all, in Sweden, football is the absolute number one sport, and fans make up the vast majority of the country!

The Swedish team has done well, and it can even help the king win the hearts and minds of the people!

(End of chapter)