When all the Swedish players and staff rushed into the stadium frantically and jumped up and down in excitement, Pan Yi slowly walked back to the coaching bench and sat in his seat.
His tense nerves were completely relaxed at this moment. He rubbed the bridge of his nose vigorously and closed his eyes to rest for a short while.
This penalty shootout was really painful!
In other words, it was a bit of a fluke.
In fact, as long as the winner is decided through a penalty shootout, it can be said that there is an element of luck in it.
Taking into account the stability of the German team in the penalty shootout, if Pan Yi had not "fucked" Sweden goalkeeper Isaksson in advance, the players of the German team might be celebrating the victory now.
"What's the matter, boss?"
Arteta and Scaloni noticed something unusual about Pan Yi and hurried over to check.
"It's okay, I was just wondering why we failed to win them within 120 minutes." Pan Yi said with a smile.
Arteta and Scaloni looked at each other, a little confused at first, but soon relieved.
This is their leader!
Sweden defeated Germany and entered the European Cup semi-finals. What a cause for celebration!
But now Pan Yi is still wondering why he didn't win more happily...
Perhaps it is because of his attitude of striving for excellence that he became the number one coach in the world.
As for Pan Yi, he really doesn't want to pin the team's fate on such illusory things as "luck."
In fact, in overtime, the tactics Pan Yi designed for the Swedish team were already considered successful.
The physical advantage gradually turned into an advantage on the field, and the offensive became very strong.
However, the inability to achieve an integrated offensive and defensive midfield configuration made it difficult to convert these offenses into victories, and they were eventually dragged into a penalty shootout.
After defeating Germany and reaching the semi-finals, Sweden will face the winners of France and Iceland next.
Whether it is the memory of the previous life or the comparison of the strength of the two teams, the host French team should be the more likely winner.
They are not England, known as the "European Dragon Team", who will capsize in front of Iceland.
France may be stronger than the German team!
In recent years, they can be said to have experienced a star blowout, their strength has greatly increased, and they already have the strength to win any championship.
In fact, in Pan Yi's previous life, the French team did reach the finals in the 16th European Cup, the 18th World Cup, and the 22nd World Cup, and won the final championship in the 18th World Cup.
In front of such a French team, it is obvious that Sweden needs to do better than today to have a chance to enter the finals.
But now, the Swedish team is really not that interesting in the midfield.
Whether it is Ekdahl, Weinblum, Larsson, or Kjellström, they can all achieve certain aspects and fulfill certain tactical needs;
But it is a bit difficult to ask them to be able to combine offense and defense like the French team Pogba and Kanter.
It is precisely because of this that today the Swedish team's three-midfielder tactics can prevent the German team's attack, but it is very difficult to go further to counterattack the opponent.
Today's game actually exposed this weakness to the whole world, including Deschamps, the head coach of the French team.
Of course he also saw how the German team defended the Swedish team's offense.
As long as tactics are shown on the football field, in the eyes of professionals, there can be no secrets!
"But we really don't have the right people on hand."
After listening to Pan Yi's explanation, Arteta and Scaloni also laughed bitterly.
After all, the national team is not a club. Without people, there is no people.
If the Swedish team had Kante and Pogba, would they still be the second-tier team in Europe?
"If we want to completely eliminate the problems of midfield operation and offensive and defensive transitions, having Kjellström and Forsberg start together will have the best effect. The two form a dual-core and can exert a stronger effect, but in this way, Field defense is an issue.”
Scaloni analyzed.
After hearing this, Pan Yi nodded and said: "So, there must be at least one defender behind them. We used Ekdal before."
"But a defensive midfielder is obviously not enough to deal with France, right?" Arteta looked worried.
"So, we have to think about it again."
Everyone nodded.
Everyone also agrees that the French team can enter the semi-finals, and everyone knows the strength of the French team.
Especially the midfield.
Kanter + Pogba + Matuidi, all of them are all-round fighters who can attack well and defend well.
Griezmann in the frontcourt will often retreat to the midfield to help organize the offense.
The midfield combination they formed has become more and more smooth in this European Cup. The more they play, the better they are. It also shows a smooth offensive scene that has been very rare in France in recent years.
If the Swedish team cannot adjust its midfield configuration, then when facing France, the opponent's midfielder will definitely defeat Sweden. There is no doubt about this.
So for the Swedish coaching staff, change is the only way to defeat France.
But how to change, and to what extent, this is the biggest test, and it is also the key to Pan Yi's ability to lead the team to defeat France.
——
On July 4, the 2016 European Cup quarter-finals took place for the last time.
France defeated Iceland 5-2 at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis to advance to the top four. The host country's opponent in the semi-finals will be Sweden!
France arranged a 4231 formation for this game, with Giroud as the center and Griezmann and Payet ambushing behind them.
Midfielder Kante and defender Lamy are suspended for this game, and Moussa Sissoko and Umtiti get the chance to play.
Iceland still uses the 442 formation, and the starting lineup has not changed from before.
In the 12th minute of the game, Matuidi sent an exquisite overhead pass from the center. Giroud broke into the left side of the penalty area and hit a volley. France led Iceland 1-0.
In the 20th minute, Griezmann passed a corner kick from the right. Pogba jumped high to grab a header. The ball flew into the upper left corner of the goal. France expanded its lead 2-0.
This is Pogba's first goal in this cup. The French national team has scored 6 goals in 36 appearances.
In the 43rd minute, Sagna made a pass from the right, Giroud grabbed the first point with a header, Griezmann calmly responded in the middle, Payet adjusted slightly and volleyed, the ball went into the lower right corner of the goal, France 3-0 Ahead of Iceland.
In the 45th minute, Pogba made a long pass from the backcourt. Giroud cleverly missed the ball and made a good pass. Griezmann quickly moved forward to form a single shot. Facing Halldorsson's attack, Griezmann calmly hit the ball and France led Iceland 4-0.
This is Griezmann's fourth goal in this cup. He has also surpassed Sweden's Ibrahimovic and leads the scorer list alone!
In the 56th minute, Gylfi Sigurdsson made a pass from the right, and Sigurd Thorson fell to the ground and shot the ball into the lower right corner of the goal. Iceland tied the score to 1-4.
In the 59th minute, Payet took a free kick from the center and passed into the penalty area. Halldorson made a mistake and Giroud hit the header with a header. France led Iceland 5-1.
In the 84th minute, Skurasson made a pass from the left, and Birgier Bjarnason headed the ball into the lower right corner. Iceland tied the score to 2-5.
The two teams contributed 7 goals, making this game the most scored game so far in this cup.
Although the dark horse failed to win, Iceland has remained in the hearts of all fans watching this European Cup.
Whether it was their goosebump-inducing Viking war dance celebrations or bearded captain Gunnarsson's "grenade tactics", Iceland impressed people both off and on the field.
Everyone who has watched this European Cup may never forget the number of Iceland's national population of 330,000. Yes, it is indeed a number that should be remembered.
The national team with 330,000 people is the national team with the smallest participating population in the history of the World Series, and their achievement of advancing to the top 8 may only wait to be broken by themselves.
Of course, now that Iceland is out, the real dark horse is their Nordic brother Sweden...
In the other two quarter-finals held earlier, Portugal also eliminated Poland through penalty shootouts and advanced to the semi-finals.
Their opponent in the semi-finals is...Wales!
The Red Dragons unexpectedly defeated the European Red Devils Belgium with a score of 3:1 and also reached the semi-finals!
In this game, Belgium scored a goal from Nainggolan in the 13th minute to take the lead against Wales.
But the Welsh team scored three goals in a row and finally eliminated their opponent!
The Belgian team with a luxurious lineup once again lost disappointingly and completely left this cup.
Belgian head coach Wilmots has been strongly criticized by domestic media and fans. The Belgian Football Association also officially announced that Wilmots will no longer serve as the head coach of the Belgian national team.
Soon, the schedule for the two semifinal matches was also released.
Portugal plays Wales on July 7;
On July 8th, France plays Sweden!
——
In the past two days after returning to base camp, Pan Yi has been studying the game between France and Iceland, and at the same time thinking about his lineup.
Iceland and Sweden are both in Northern Europe, and their players' technical and tactical characteristics are actually somewhat similar. They are both tall, able to fight and rush, but their foot skills are slightly weaker.
Moreover, Iceland's midfield structure is even similar to Sweden's, that is, a technical Sigurdsson, accompanied by intercepting captain Gunnarsson to protect him;
Isn’t this the Swedish Forsberg + Ekdahl model?
Therefore, watching the game between France and Iceland is of great reference significance for the Swedish team to find how to deal with France.
Of course, compared to Iceland, Sweden has its own advantages.
That is, Iceland lacks a comprehensive superstar like Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the front line, nor does it have an impactful young player like Isaac. This makes it impossible for the Icelanders to be as rich in offensive methods as Sweden.
Iceland's playing style is actually very simple and crude: make a long pass from the center to find a header from the center, or pass the ball from the wing. If the pass fails, use the won ball to throw a powerful grenade into the penalty area, and then pass the ball forward to attack with two points.
The two goals against France were achieved through two 45-degree slants from the wing, allowing players in the penalty area to grab points and then complete the shot.
But France's offense played more smoothly.
Pogba and Matuidi's double midfielder suppresses the midfielder, allowing Pogba to better display his dispatching ability. Giroud will serve as the fulcrum in front, and the grid will retreat as the attacking midfielder, while serving as the second forward and Payet. Attack the restricted area.
This kind of offensive method made Iceland unable to resist and conceded five goals in a row.
Of course, France's defense team still seems to be unstable.
Evra has always been a weakness, and his air defense capabilities are not strong. Iceland's several grenades and headers pose a great threat.
If it weren't for the good performance of goalkeeper Lloris and the poor quality of Iceland's forwards, France would really not have won so many goals.
Taken together, Pan Yi wants to find a combination that can suppress the performance of the French midfielder and at the same time exploit the loopholes in the French defense to break the opponent's goal.
He doesn't want to risk victory on a penalty shootout anymore!
After all, France has never played a penalty shootout in this cup, whether in its previous life or in this timeline, and Pan Yi will never be able to give as reliable a "strategy" as he did against Germany.
"What? Is it difficult?" Arteta walked to Pan Yi's desk and looked at the tactical drawings he drew on the table with interest, which included France's starting lineup and player positions.
Brother Tazi also understands that the problem that plagues the Swedish team is still the same, how to configure the midfield.
There are still three days to prepare, but Pan Yi hopes to set the tone of the tactics as soon as possible, and then spend the next three days fully practicing this set of tactics.
In such a tournament system, time is really precious, and your room for mistakes is very small!
When you are at the club, you can spend more time on trial and error, and you can even practice in relatively unimportant games such as the League Cup and FA Cup.
But that’s not the case here. Every game is a decisive battle. If you make a slight mistake, you will go home!
"France's style of play is indeed very mature. Deschamps seems to consciously want to pursue high-level cooperation and penetration. Griezmann's up-and-down connection has made them more and more skilled in these routines."
Arteta analyzes the opponent's offense and now he is doing it one by one:
"And the existence of a big center like Giroud makes France's offensive methods very diverse. Of course, this is a natural pursuit. A single routine can easily be frozen by opponents, so France's combination of long and short passes, to a certain extent, From a practical point of view, they are very complementary.”
"Iceland just couldn't guard Giroud. They sometimes froze the French's penetration in the frontcourt, but they were killed by their high-altitude balls. France's first two goals were actually headers..."
"Also, Iceland's diagonal attack and defense against France on both wings was very poor. Pogba found Giroud and Griezmann with many long passes in the first half. As a result, they didn't know how to reflect. As a result, Pogba directly opened the Icelandic defense with a through ball, and finally Griezmann scored the goal."
"These attacks may seem simple, but they are all manifestations of France's offensive capabilities. They are not so easy to defend!"
Arteta analyzed, with a look of embarrassment on his face.
"Unless we can fully suppress France's midfield. Otherwise, it will be difficult to contain their offense. But if we want to restrict their midfield, we will have to invest more troops and pay a greater price. By then , what should we do with our offense?”
On the football field, the advantage is largely reflected by the number of people. Without investing enough troops, it is difficult to establish a sufficient advantage.
But there are only so many starting lineups in a game, and investing more here means less troops are invested in other aspects. This is a matter of choice for the head coach.
Pan Yi nodded slightly, then stood up and walked to the tactical board, writing the names of several Swedish players in the midfield position:
"If I arrange things like this, do you think I can achieve a balance between offense and defense?"
——
After successively defeating the world's top teams such as Italy, Belgium, Spain and Germany, the Swedish team has caused a wave of excitement around the world and has become the most watched focus in the European Cup.
Various "30-year Swedish team fans" have also appeared in major forums. Everyone said that as early as the 1994 World Cup, they fell in love with the Swedish team with Brolin and Dachlin.
At that time, the Swedish team also made it all the way to the semi-finals, and finally lost to the Brazilian team that eventually won the championship in the semi-finals.
In the quarter-finals, the Swedish team also defeated Romania through a penalty shootout, and there was a famous scene in this game.
That was a textbook free kick routine. At that time, Sweden got a free kick on the right side of the penalty area in the frontcourt. Two Swedish players stood in front of the penalty spot.
The whistle sounded, and when everyone thought they would choose to attack the goal directly, the kicker found Brolin who was hiding behind the wall with a direct kick. He was unguarded and succeeded in shooting in the small penalty area.
This classic free kick collaboration also inspired a lot of subsequent teams.
Including later in the 1998 World Cup, Zanetti also performed the same operation when Argentina played against England, and the goal scored by the Dutch team Verhorst into Argentina in the 2022 World Cup also had the same effect.
Many fans believe that the current Swedish team reminds everyone of the Swedish team that won the third place in the World Cup.
Forsberg in the midfield is Dachlin, and Ibrahimovic is an enhanced version of Brolin!
Many people also said that after Pan Yi took charge of the Swedish team, the team's skills and tactics have been further released. Both offensively and defensively, they have made huge progress compared to their predecessors.
Therefore, everyone indeed believes that Pan Yi's slogan for Sweden to win is definitely not groundless. They do have this ability!
However, many professionals believe that although the Swedish team's performance is improving in every game and getting better every game, this team has natural flaws.
"For the current Swedish team, they have performed their defense to a certain height. They unswervingly implemented the tactical guidelines set by Pan Yi, which allowed them to only concede one goal in the previous five games. This is definitely a phenomenon. level performance.”
"But for this Swedish team that aims to win the championship, the biggest problem is not their defense, but their offense and their performance in key games."
"The cup is different from the league. The league relies on offense, while the cup relies on defense. This is well known in the football circle. Pan Yi used the defensive tactic of three midfielders, which allowed them to withstand Germany's attack and pass the penalty kick. We reached the semi-finals. But will such a move work against France?"
"Pan Yi is a very great head coach. There is no doubt about his ability, and he has indeed brought great changes to Sweden. But he still does not do enough in terms of the team's offensive and defensive balance. He still needs to Let’s enrich the Swedish team’s offensive routines and methods.”
"However, unlike defensive adjustments that can be effective immediately, with the current staffing of the Swedish team, it may be difficult for Pan Yi to make changes on the offensive end. The main problem lies in the midfield. The three midfielders are all defensive. Yes, it’s really hard for you to ask them to spare their energy to attack, you don’t have the ability, you know?”
"If he still can't score against France, can Pan Yi really expect his team to drag the game to a penalty shootout again? From the current point of view, France's offensive power is definitely higher than Germany... …”
This is a column report from the British "Times". Obviously they are not very optimistic about Sweden's prospects in the semi-finals.
This is not because Pan Yi is not capable enough, but because they believe that the current staffing of the Swedish team objectively limits Pan Yi's performance.
Pan Yi's improvements to Sweden's defensive end are great and are the key to Sweden's victory over Germany, but it is not enough to enter the finals or even win the championship in this way.
Of course, each coach has different views on this.
Mourinho believes that Sweden can win the championship as long as it defends well.
He affirmed Pan Yi's three-midfielder style of play and said that this style of play won his heart.
"When facing opponents like Germany and France who are far stronger than us, we don't have to think about offense. Let's just defend honestly and then fight in the penalty shootout!"
Wenger obviously disagrees with Mourinho's statement.
He said: "How to think more about sending the ball into the opponent's goal while maintaining a solid defense. This is the moment that reflects the wisdom of a top coach. It is also the biggest test for Pan Yi after he leads the team to the semi-finals!"
But he also added at the end, "No matter what Sweden's results are in the end, by reaching the semi-finals under these circumstances, Pan Yi has done everything he can, and the rest can only be left to God!"
And Ferguson obviously considered the issue from Pan Yi's perspective. He said:
"Everyone wants to play beautiful and winning football, and so do I."
"In fact, when I was coaching Manchester United, every week I was thinking about how to win the game in the most beautiful way so as to please the fans to the greatest extent."
"But when I lost to Barcelona in two Champions League finals, I also started to think about whether I should be more compromised. After all, you can't play what you want when you face opponents who are stronger than you. football."
"The same is true for the Swedish team now. The existing staffing cannot afford more radical and risky tactics, so I can understand Pan Yi."
"Because he can only adopt a tactic that is easier to produce results to help the team and win the game as much as possible!"
(End of chapter)
