In the previous three games, if the departure of some veterans was sad, then for England fans, this tournament will be the curtain call for England's golden generation.
The England team performed very well in the group stage, with two wins and one draw allowing them to qualify smoothly.
In this England team, several veterans performed particularly well.
The four veterans, 32-year-old Gerrard, 32-year-old Terry, 32-year-old Ashley Cole, and 32-year-old Scott Parker, are all 32 years old. They are representatives of England's golden generation.
There are also 32-year-old goalkeeper Green and 31-year-old Lescott. There are many veterans in the England team in this cup.
Of course, this cup is also an excellent stage for England's young generation to shine.
25-year-old main goalkeeper Joe Hart, 22-year-old main center Welbeck, 23-year-old high center Carroll, 23-year-old fast horse Theo Walcott, 22-year-old Liverpool star Henderson, 20-year-old Manchester United Young Central defender Phil Jones, 19-year-old Arsenal youngster Oxlade-Chamberlain...
Each of these young faces will be an important asset to England for many years to come.
Coupled with Mesozoic players Rooney, Ashley Young, Milner and other stars, this England team has a very rich configuration of three generations of old, middle and young people, with experience, drive, physical strength and dreams.
At 20:45 on June 24, Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv Olympic Stadium.
As the largest sports venue in Ukraine, the Kyiv Olympic Stadium is the largest stadium in Ukraine. In addition to three group matches and one quarter-final, the final of this European Cup will also be held here. This stadium, which can accommodate 60,000 people, is the most shining stadium in this tournament.
In the stadium, Yun Sheng led the Italian team to arrive here in advance. The Italian players were warming up in the stadium, and Yun Sheng led the coaching team to chat on the sidelines. After all, after several days of preparation, they already know the situation of themselves and their opponents very well.
Speed turned his head and looked in the direction of the England coaching bench: "Sir, you are in a very similar situation to your opponent's head coach today."
Yun Sheng was stunned: "Oh? Where does it look like?"
"You all just took over the national team about a month before the European Championships started."
"It's true, haha."
Like the Italian team, the England team only appointed a new coach before the European Cup.
At the beginning of 2012, Capello, the England coach, had a heated argument with the Football Association over the appointment of the national team captain. In the end, he simply resigned, leaving the Football Association dumbfounded.
Although Capello has a stubborn temper, his 42 games with 28 wins, 8 draws and 6 losses in his few years of coaching broke the record set by Eriksson and became the best coach in the history of the England team.
The Football Association spent the next few months and finally determined the candidate for the new generation of coach in early May - England's famous coach Hodgson. The veteran coach, who is about to turn 65, has encountered a lot of troubles just after taking office. Many generals such as Lampard and Crouch missed the cup due to injuries, and Rooney is facing a two-match suspension. In this situation, Despite the circumstances, the England team still managed to qualify from the group and showed great resilience.
While Yun Sheng and the others were chatting, footsteps came from the players' tunnel nearby, and the England team was coming.
Captain Gerrard was at the front, followed by stars such as Terry and Rooney.
Looking at these English players, Yun Sheng couldn't help but lament how time flies. Thinking that there is not much left of the original golden generation, the England team, like many strong European teams such as France and the Netherlands, is facing a stage of transition between the old and the new.
When England coach Hodgson walked out of the tunnel, Yun Sheng walked over in a friendly manner and shook hands with the coach.
In fact, compared to Yun Sheng, Hodgson is just older, and his achievements on the football field are far inferior to Yun Sheng, who is more than 30 years younger.
Despite this, Yun Sheng was still very polite to him.
For this England team, Hodgson is definitely not the best choice. A temporary firefighter actually coached for four years in the parallel world of later generations. In four years, he failed to reach the quarter-finals at the 2012 European Cup. He was eliminated at the bottom of the group stage with 1 point in the 2014 World Cup. In the 2016 European Cup, he unexpectedly lost to Iceland in the quarter-finals. After four years of hard work, Hodgson was sacked. After he dismissed get out of class, the England team actually shined in the 2018 World Cup and performed very well.
The two shook hands and talked, looking very friendly, but both sides knew the importance of this game.
Although both are new coaches who have just taken office, this game is a good opportunity for both sides to prove themselves, and no one is willing to miss it.
At this time in the live broadcast room, Li Feixiang was taking advantage of the free time before the game started to introduce the starting lineups of both sides.
"The Italian team's formation today is also 4-3-2-1: goalkeeper Buffon, defenders from left to right are Chiellini, Bonucci, Barzagli and Abate, and the three midfielders from left to right are Pirlo, De Rossi and Marchisio, the two shadow forwards are Montolivo and Cassano, and the center Balotelli. On the bench are Di Natale, Del Piero and other offensive and defensive players. Good hands."
"England's formation today is 4-2-3-1: goalkeeper Joe Hart, defenders from left to right are Ashley Cole, Lescott, Terry and Glen Johnson, and the two defensive midfielders are Gerald De and Scott Parker, the three attacking midfielders from left to right are Ashley Young, Rooney and Milner, and the center position is Welbeck. There are also Carroll, Walcott, Henderson, Chamberlain, Phil Jones and many other young stars.”
At this time Li Tie looked at Zheng Zhi: "Dazhi, you have played in both the Premier League and Serie A. You are familiar with both teams. What do you think of today's game?"
"What do you think? Just sit in the private room and watch."
"Don't make trouble... I'm asking you what do you think about the outcome?"
After the joke, Zheng Zhi looked at the starting lineups of the two teams: "I am not very familiar with this England team. Except for Gerrard, Terry and other players, I have never been exposed to many other new stars. But through Judging from their performance in the previous group stage, I think this team is very good. For many young people, this is their first trip to the European Cup, and for Gerrard, Terry, Ashli Ko For several veterans like you, every next game may be their farewell game in England, so they will definitely play very hard in this game.”
Li Tie asked curiously: "So, you are more optimistic about the England team?"
Zheng Zhi shook his head, pointed at the Italian team and said: "No matter how resilient the England team is, I think Italy will win this game."
"Are you so optimistic about the Italian team?"
"To be precise, I am more optimistic about coach Yun Sheng."
