At the post-match press conference, after congratulating Pan Yi on his victory and first place in the group, reporters expressed concerns about the Swedish team's prospects.
The reason is very simple. First of all, the Swedish team will encounter the previous champion Spain in the top 16, and this is obviously a very difficult opponent.
And secondly, the lower half of the area where they are located can be called the death half!
If Sweden can get past Spain, their opponent in the quarterfinals will be the winner of Germany and Slovakia. Obviously, the probability of facing Germany is higher.
And the German team is the champion of the 2014 World Cup!
Playing against the last European Cup champion first, and then the last World Cup champion, you can imagine how difficult it is to pass.
This is not over yet.
If Sweden defeats Germany again in the quarter-finals and enters the semi-finals, what awaits them will be the winners of England VS Iceland and France VS Italy.
Among these four teams, the one currently in the best shape is undoubtedly the host France.
Of course, even if the winner is England or Italy, no matter which team it is, it will be a tough battle.
Regardless of the fact that the Swedish team defeated Italy in the group stage, anyone familiar with the history of world football knows that Italy in the group stage and Italy in the knockout stage are completely different species...
From this point of view, the overall strength of the other top half will be much weaker, that is, Croatia's match against Portugal is somewhat interesting.
It can even be said that due to today's loss, Belgium has thrown itself into the weaker top half, 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:
"Since we can win the group of death with Belgium and Italy, then we will not be afraid of any opponents."
"In fact, our team's goal from the beginning was not just to qualify from the group, but to go further."
"How far is further? Haha... You know me, there is only one thing I like most, and that is the championship!"
"Why are you looking at me like that? Is that because you think it is impossible for the Swedish team to win the championship? No, a team with Ibrahimovic has unlimited possibilities!"
"Do you remember Denmark in 1992? They relied on Laudrup and Schmeichel. And in 2004, the Greek team did not have our Ibrahimovic. So, why is it impossible for us?"
"Yes, when I lead the team to participate in the European Cup, I actually have only one goal, and that is to win the championship! So no matter how difficult the subsequent games are, I will never change our goals and plans."
"Winning three consecutive games in the Group of Death has further strengthened our confidence and hope in fighting for the championship. We will continue to fight one game at a time, and we will defeat our opponents one after another..."
"At the end of the day, we will be at the top of European football. I am very confident about that, and I believe my players will be too!"
This is the first time that Pan Yi has so clearly stated that he wants to compete for the championship in the European Cup.
This is actually the same as when he shouted the slogan of seven crowns before Chelsea's season.
Now that the team has won consecutive victories and its morale is strong, Pan Yi wants to raise the team's goals so that everyone can have the energy to continue the team's good momentum.
If the team's momentum is so good, the players are getting better and better, and they are working harder and harder, and you are still blindly conservative, saying that reaching the top 16 and quarterfinals is the goal...
In the end, it will only dampen the morale of the team and dampen the enthusiasm of the players. In this case, it is better to simply set a more ambitious goal.
Only with ambition can you have dreams!
Moreover, after playing in Belgium, Pan Yi's confidence in the Swedish team has really increased a lot.
It’s not just Belgium that was won with a substitute squad.
Mainly in this game, he also discovered that there were actually some very good players hidden in his team. They showed their own level when facing strong opponents, which also gave Pan Yi more skills in his hands. Lots of choices.
For example, the substitute right back, Lustig, who plays for the Celtics, defends Hazard very well and feels a little more stable than the main player Johansson.
Another example is young left-back Augustinsson. The 22-year-old is slightly less experienced, but he is technically much better than Olsson.
Especially in terms of the quality of the passed ball, it is reassuring.
And he even has good set-piece skills. As a left-footed general, he can enrich Sweden's free kicks in the frontcourt.
Although he is still in Copenhagen, Denmark, he will soon join Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga and become a key defender.
Later, he will also go to teams such as Sevilla and Aston Villa, and it can be said that he is also a player in the five major leagues.
And speaking of set pieces, Sebastian Larsson is also a good player.
When playing in Belgium, he and Augustinsson took all the corner kicks and free kicks for the Swedish team. The difference was that one was left footed and the other right footed.
Moreover, his running ability in the midfield is also very strong, and his mental attributes are excellent, which also helped the team successfully block the forward movement of the Belgian midfielder.
It can be said that in Sunderland, Sebastian Larsson is the key figure in the Black Cats' relegation.
So, after playing a game of football, I gained a lot!
The main reason is that Pan Yi's time in Sweden was too short. There was only one warm-up match, and it was used to adjust the main lineup and playing style. There was no chance to give these substitute players too many opportunities to perform.
The players in the Swedish team are relatively unknown, 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 abilities of his players!
They can play something of their own on a stage like the European Cup!
Therefore, Pan Yi himself was more confident and shouted the championship slogan louder.
Of course, even though he was Pan Yi, his words still shocked the reporters in the press conference room.
After all, the team he is leading now is not Chelsea.
This is just Sweden, just a team that has been positioned as Europe's second tier for many years.
Although they can upset the strong European teams in some games, and are even the victims of some strong European teams (England), but if they want to win the championship, they have to "upset" continuously.
Can they really overcome the siege of strong teams such as Spain, Germany, and France and finally reach 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 football national team rankings released by FIFA at the beginning of this year, Belgium still ranked first.
It was only after the May update that their ranking was surpassed by Argentina and ranked second.
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 ten teams such as Argentina, Germany, Spain, Brazil, and England, and there have been few major changes over the years.
Why is there no Dragon Country team in the top ten?
Well, they can only be ranked 8th in Asia, and now they are ranked 81st in the world...
"Then we made major adjustments to the lineup today, but we still defeated them. What do you think of our strength?" Pan Yi asked again.
"This..." The reporter was suddenly speechless.
At this time, another reporter raised his hand and asked: "Mr. Pan Yi, the Swedish team performed very well in this game and established a lead from the beginning. Do you think you can use the substitute lineup to suppress the powerful team?" Belgium, why?”
Pan Yi smiled slightly and replied:
"I think to say suppression is an exaggeration. At least the Belgian team recovered a lot in the second half and caused us a lot of trouble."
"But everyone also knows that there are many Chelsea players in the Belgian team, including De Bruyne, who also played in my Hamburg team, so I know them very well, so I also made some targeted arrangements."
"However, I think the most important reason why we were able to win this game is that our players have a stronger desire to win. We played more bravely and showed a more fighting spirit."
"This is why I dare to set the goal of winning the championship. If a team is united and fearless, then they will not be afraid of any opponent!"
When Pan Yi said this, Belgian coach Wilmots, who was sitting not far away from him, also nodded slightly involuntarily.
At least from the game, it can be seen that the substitute players of the Swedish team may not be as good as the Belgians in terms of personal ability, but perhaps it is because they all know that this is a rare opportunity for them to show off in this European Cup, so they play I worked very hard, and it can be said that I exerted 100% and 120% of my abilities.
But the Belgian team did not do enough on this point, and it can even be said to be very poor. To say they played 50% is probably an overstatement.
The only one who was more desperate was De Bruyne, but in the end he failed to drive the entire team by himself. In addition, he was also targeted by the players sent by Pan Yi, and Ding Ding failed to create too many goals. Chance.
"Mr. Pan Yi, you are now talking about competing for the championship. I don't have any idea about this. After all, it is you... everything you say is right. However, you will face the previous champion Spain in the top 16, and you think you can easily defeat them. ?"
Pan Yi nodded: "Spain is indeed one of the most powerful national teams in today's football. Their passing football has dominated the world for many years. But you should have also noticed that they are stepping down from the altar, so I have Confidence beats them.”
The current Spanish head coach is still the meritorious coach Del Bosque.
He was already successful as a player. He signed with Real Madrid in 1968, played 445 games for the team, scored 25 goals, and helped the team win five La Liga titles and four Copa del Rey titles.
Del Bosque retired in 1984 and successfully became a coach, leading Real Madrid to two Champions League titles.
Del Bosque became the Spanish coach in 2008. In 2010 and 2012, he led the team to win the World Cup and European Cup championships, and led Spain to a super high winning rate of 77.57%.
It can be said that if you asked fans who was the best head coach in the world around 2012, Del Bosque would definitely be one of the popular candidates.
However, as Xavi and others age, the midfield passing tactics that the Spaniards are proud of begin to become less dominant, and Del Bosque seems to have become less magical.
In the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Spain was swept by the Netherlands 1:5, which also became a symbol of the end of the Spanish dynasty.
Xavi started the game and played the entire game, and this game became his swan song for the national team.
Subsequently, the Spanish group also failed to qualify.
In the past two years, Del Bosque has made some adjustments to the national team. Marcos Alonso and Azpilicueta, who performed well at Chelsea, have become the main players of the team.
However, the Spanish team's performance is still good and bad. In the last round of the European Cup group stage, it surprisingly lost to Croatia 1:2.
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, Brozovic and so on.
But the problem is that the two teams have basically qualified before this game, so Croatia sent most of the substitutes to play, and many stars did not play.
In order to ensure first place in the group, Spain still plays the main lineup!
The result was the same as Sweden VS Belgium, the substitute lineup won!
This also allowed the Croatians to send the Spaniards in front of the Swedish team.
Croatia will face Portugal, third in Group F, in the quarter-finals.
"As I said just now, since our final goal is to win the championship, we will find ways to defeat all opponents along the way."
Pan Yi said at the end of the press conference: "Spain is just the first opponent standing in front of us now!"
——
Pan Yi's confident remarks also became the headlines of major media in Europe and the world the next day.
After all, Pan Yi's remarks are indeed a bit too much in the eyes of some people.
Or is it too high-profile?
After all, whether it was Denmark in 1992 or Greece in 2004, they did not shout the championship slogan as soon as they reached the knockout round.
Their goal at the beginning was really just to qualify from the group stage, and then they moved forward step by step. It wasn't until the finals that they really started to have the heart of a championship.
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 because of such a low profile that they can be ignored by the major teams at first, then make a sneak attack, and succeed in the final battle, becoming a Danish fairy tale and a Greek myth.
Now Pan Yi did the opposite and shouted the championship slogan directly... What kind of fuss was going on?
You know, even traditional strong teams like Italy, England, and Spain don't shout like this. Who are you, Sweden?
But Pan Yi's remarks also excited more media and fans.
This is the Pan Yi they know!
The most eye-catching coach in the world of football, the best and most high-profile head coach in the world!
Wherever he is, there will always be topics with the highest traffic volume!
Of course, the most important thing is that the Swedish team's wonderful performance in the group of death brought the European Cup to a climax early from the group stage!
Originally, many people believed that when the European Cup expanded to 24 teams, the group stage became like a tasteless, tasteless and a pity to abandon.
However, the Swedish team suffered consecutive upsets and stood out in the group of death, which was shocking.
With the end of the group stage, many people began to be optimistic about the Swedish team, thinking that this team really has the potential to be a champion!
This is not just because of the result of 9 points in three games, this can be analyzed from the tactics and scene.
The defense line led by Lindelof can be said to be getting stronger and stronger. His cooperation with the tall central defender Granqvist is becoming increasingly skillful. The two men's coverage and ball play are all perfect.
Although the two full-backs Olsson and Johansson are not as capable of both offense and defense as those wealthy full-backs, they have also given full play to their technical characteristics. They attack when they should attack, defend when they should, and leave things to their teammates when they should. No sloppiness either.
This makes the entire defense line of the Swedish team appear very stable.
Coupled with the stable performance of veteran goalkeeper Isaksson, this allowed the Swedish team to achieve an amazing result of conceding no goals against the three teams in the group of death!
This is what everyone praises Pan Yi the most.
Everyone thought it was commendable that he was able to organize such a strong line of defense even though he didn't have many cards in his hand.
It can be said that just the effective training of the Swedish defense has shown the level of a top coach!
What's even more rare is that despite a solid defense, the Swedish team's offense didn't fall behind at all.
Although the goals mainly depend on Ibrahimovic, this is not a simple tactic of "give the damn ball to Ibrahimovic".
In the new Swedish 4-3-3 system, Isaac, Guidetti, including Forsberg, have all made outstanding contributions in the offense and can provide good support for Ibrahimovic.
If you don’t guard Ibrahimovic, Ibrahimovic will score;
If you put a lot of effort into Ibrahimovic, then the teammates next to Ibrahimovic will get more space, and they can also score goals.
This is a bit like Manchester City in 2023. Every team has to consider how to defend Haaland, but once you are really restrained by Haaland, then De Bruyne, Mahrez, Gundo behind him An and others are going to give you something nice to look at.
Moreover, Pan Yi does not just rely on this main lineup. People like Kulusevski, Weinblum, Marcus Berry and others also performed well after playing and can be perfect. Complete the tasks assigned to them by Pan Yi.
They even defeated the star-studded Belgium with a full substitute lineup!
This has also made many people start to be optimistic about the Swedish team, and their odds in bookmakers are also rising, reaching 12 to 1!
Although it is still not as good as those who are the favorites to win the championship, for example, after the top 16, despite the strong teams in the lower half, the host France still ranks first in the odds of winning, at 5 to 1.
Among the other strong teams, Germany is 7 to 1, England is 10 to 1, and Italy only finished third in the group, so its odds dropped to 17 to 1.
It is worth noting that although Belgium performed well in the group stage, because they accidentally jumped to the weaker top half, and the strength of their team is indeed good, the odds of winning are still as high as 1 to 9. !
Spain, which will face off against Sweden in the top 16, has an odds of 11 to 1, which also shows that the gambling company believes that the two teams have an equal chance of winning, and the matchup between the two teams is basically a 50-50 split.
Or some people think that Sweden’s odds of 12 to 1 are not high, but considering that before the European Cup, their winning odds were only 126 to 1...
It can be said that there have been earth-shaking changes!
Of course, the Swedish team still has a relatively clear understanding of these changes in external public opinion.
As the same saying goes, strategically despise your opponents and tactically respect your opponents!
Pan Yi shouted the championship slogan outside to boost his morale, but there was no shortage of preparations.
He knows in his heart that if a team like Spain is allowed to really pass and control, it will be very difficult to deal with it, especially since Swedish players generally have poor foot skills.
In the history of the battle between the two sides, Sweden was completely at a disadvantage. The last time they defeated Spain was in 2006.
It was in the European Cup qualifiers, Sweden defeated the Spanish team 2:0, which had not really risen yet.
Therefore, Pan Yi kept reminding his players to be cautious when training with the team.
The game must be played one by one. In every game, we must guard against arrogance and impetuosity and give our best!
——
The top 16 knockout match against Spain will begin tomorrow. Pan Yi saw that the team's atmosphere was still a bit tense, so today he made an exception to open family visiting hours.
A group of people will have dinner together, and after dinner, the family members will leave the hotel as usual.
At the same time, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden will also arrive in France tonight.
He will also come to the hotel to have a meal with the team, accompanied by Swedish Football Association Chairman Carl Erik Nielsen, to cheer the team on.
Pan Yi hopes to relax the players and adjust the team's atmosphere in this way.
The main reason is that Sweden, like the United Kingdom, is a constitutional monarchy. 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 give them a sense of respect and respect.
And King Carl XVI Gustaf is actually quite down-to-earth.
He often visits foreign countries, meets with foreign guests, visits factories, supports welfare undertakings, etc. He likes to mingle with the masses.
He is probably best known in the world as the recipient of the annual Nobel Prize.
And when he was young, he was graceful, chic and suave. Even when he is older, he still likes to mingle with the female crowd.
According to a royal biography "Carl XVI Gustaf - The Reluctant King" released in November 2010, the Swedish king's hobbies include inviting strippers to have wild parties.
These parties were held in a Mafia-linked strip club in Stockholm. The book also interviews many women who attended the wild parties, and they all said they had relationships with the king that went beyond friendship.
Mr. King also acquiesced to this. He said, "Those are already old things. I once mentioned it to Queen Silvia. We reached an agreement and did not want to dig into the past..."
In short, when the king walked into the hall where the Swedish national team had a dinner, he was immediately warmly welcomed by everyone.
Pan Yi, including captain Ibrahimovic and several core players sat next to the king, had a cordial and friendly conversation with him, and exchanged views on topics of common concern.
The King of Sweden hopes that all players can put down their burdens and be able to show their strength and compete without pressure.
He said that he always believed that Pan Yi could lead the Swedish team to stand out from the brutal knockout rounds and reach the finals.
The words of Carl XVI Gustaf also received a positive response from the players. All the players said that they would go all out and strive to achieve something in this European Cup and win the Delaunay Cup (not Deb). Laune Cup) brought back to Sweden!
While eating, Carl XVI Gustaf 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 Kulusevski would also be asked by the king on their own initiative.
This atmosphere looks very good. The players are generally relaxed and have not become accustomed to the arrival of Carl XVI Gustaf.
As for Carl XVI Gustaf, his arrival actually had his own purpose.
Several recent polls have shown that 54% of Swedish citizens hope that the king will abdicate as soon as possible and pass the throne to Princess Victoria.
This is mainly because Carl XVI Gustaf is 70 years old this year, and the retirement age for Swedish men is 65, so many Swedish citizens think it is time for the king to retire.
But Carl XVI Gustaf is not planning to pass the throne 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 for Pan Yi and the national team. If Pan Yi and the national team can make a difference in the European Cup, Carl XVI Gustaf's reputation in the hearts of Swedish fans The status will naturally rise with the tide.
After all, in Sweden, football is the absolute number one sport, and fans account for the vast majority of the population!
If the Swedish team performs well, it can even help the King win the hearts of the people!
(End of chapter)
