Chapter 752: Chapter 751: A Civil War Belonging to the Blue
The Czech team beat the Danish team one to zero in the quarterfinal.
And the Czech goalkeeper Petr Čech, with his high catches and blocks, keeping a clean sheet against Denmark’s trident attack, became the biggest highlight of the match.
After the match, the Danish midfielder Poulsen sighed during an interview.
The media didn’t listen to what he said afterwards, and directly used "The Wall of Sighs - Čech!" as the headline on the front page.
Up to now, Čech has been the best-performing goalkeeper in this tournament.
He is very likely to become the best goalkeeper of this European Championship.
Because the goalkeepers of the other three semi-finalist teams are not the highlights of their teams.
Meanwhile, in the match between Greece and France,
Greece almost created a true myth.
They scored early on and led with a score of one to zero for the rest of the match.
Until the eighty-fifth minute of the game.
Ribery dribbled past several players on the flank, pulling off a one-against-three maneuver, and scored the equalizing goal!
France then came back to life, dragging the game into extra time.
And as the Greek players’ stamina waned in during extra time,
the substitute French defensive midfielder, Manchester City’s powerhouse Essien, scored with a long shot, completely shattering the Greeks’ confidence.
Afterwards, Zidane and Henry scored one after the other, leading France to a big victory over Greece.
After the match, Rehhagel expressed regretfully, "We were so close to reaching the semi-finals. I might even say we were close to making it to the final! We were close to winning the European Championship!"
"Because this French team is one of the two strongest teams in this European Championship, the other, I believe, is the Portuguese team."
"And we had the ability to defeat the French team, so we should rightfully be the finalists or even the champions of this European Championship."
The journalists were puzzled by Rehhagel’s statement, "But you clearly lost to the French team."
Rehhagel corrected the journalists, "We had done a thorough research on the French team, even before the beginning of this season, even earlier this year, Ribery was not even considered for the French team."
"Even last season, he made it seem as if he would never be able to join the French team."
"Before last season, he was just an amateur player."
"Similarly, before this season, it was almost impossible for Essien to join the French team. Essien’s capabilities were recognized by the national team, but what France needed the least was a defensive midfielder, for they once had the world’s first, second, and third best defensive midfielders!"
"If it weren’t for their exaggerated sixty-five undefeated games this season, France wouldn’t have had any reason to bring Essien, let alone give him a chance to come on as a substitute."
"And the reason for all these changes was the club they both joined together."
"Manchester City!"
"It wasn’t France that defeated the Greeks, but Man City!"
"Turn your head and look at the proportion of Manchester City players in the teams of this year’s European Championship, see how many are in the quarter-finals, in the semi-finals."
"You will know what true terror Blue Moon, sweeping through Europe, means!"
Rehhagel’s statements sent shock waves around the world.
Because everyone realized he was indeed right.
Manchester City players are dominating this European Championship, influencing the outcome of matches in various ways.
The team with the least Manchester City players is perhaps England, the last semi-finalist.
This team engaged in a fierce attacking battle with the Swedish team in the quarterfinals.
The Swedish striker Ibrahimovic scored twice, but Owen, Lampard, and Rooney each struck a goal, they three against Ibrahimovic!
Of course, the scoreboard shows a small margin.
But in reality, England had absolute control of the game.
This further highlights Ibrahimovic’s miraculous playing style.
Frankly, neither of his two chances seemed promising, yet he scored them both.
On the English side, they basically had the lowest Manchester City player count.
Because apart from the substitute fullback Ashley Young, the rest of the players are not from Manchester City.
Of course, if you were to count Robbie Fowler and Terry as Deng Kai’s teammates, then two more would be added.
But their impact was far less significant than Ribery and Čech.
The four teams that made it to the semi-finals are all strong.
Whom they play against isn’t really important anymore.
France’s team definitely had the aura of absolute kings.
England has always been an all-star superstar lineup.
This year, Portugal’s team boasted the most honors, and even had the world’s number one, Deng Kai.
Ronaldo: 666, so are you saying that my "face value" is no longer needed now?
Czech team’s ordinary players seemed half a notch weaker, but they boasted a golden central axis, stars and cores galore: Nedved, Baros, Jan Koller, Rosicky, Popovski, they had everyone necessary!
In the end, France was luckier and caught the slightly weaker Czech team.
Actually, the Czech team would have preferred to face England.
It’s not that they thought England was the weakest of the other three teams.
Mainly because the Czech team had an advantage against teams with poorer strikers.
Cech was in too good form.
The Czech team’s defense was also very stable.
On the defensive end, it was like one plus one being greater than three.
Unless you have an exceptional striker, the Czech team could really pull off an upset.
England’s forwards, though not bad...
Owen and Fowler, these were quite deadly assassins.
Heskey... was injured.
He would miss the upcoming European Championship games.
But even if he wasn’t injured, his threat wasn’t that great.
And Rooney, he’s just a young talent after all.
No matter how gifted, he had just started his career and was limited in ability.
What a pity.
The Czech team faced France instead.
Arsenal’s Pires and Wiltord, Juventus’s Trezeguet, Manchester United’s Saha, although the last one was a bit iffy, these were all troublesome offensive players.
Not to say they were better than Owen or Fowler, but they were certainly not worse.
But key among them, France had the Gunner, Henry, and the Scarface, Ribery.
The former, Henry, had unprecedented double-double stats last season if it hadn’t been for the coincidence of Deng Kai.
This season, Henry once again bagged double-double stats and, along with Deng Kai and Adriano, won the Premier League Golden Boot.
It wouldn’t be an understatement to say he’s been the number one comprehensive striker for the past two years.
As for the latter, Ribery’s achievements this year need not be expanded on; suffice to say, some have started calling him the Premier League’s top winger.
Against such superstar forwards... the Czech team had more danger than hope.
Of course, if the Czech team had faced Portugal, it would have been death all the same.
While Ronaldo wasn’t the number one striker or winger in the Premier League, as Manchester United’s top scorer and a constant in any discussion of the strongest Premier League strikers, his name was always there.
As a forward, he ranked in the Premier League’s top five.
As a winger, he could even be in the top three.
Even as a wide midfielder, he was Premier League first-class.
And all this was still without "face value."
The key is that Portugal also had former Golden Ball winner Figo and the current goal scorer, Deng Kai.
Ronaldo: Damn it!
So, the Czech team faced France.
Naturally, Portugal was paired up with England.
People generally thought this was a matchup... the combined lineup of Portugal’s two generations of Champions League winners versus England’s all-star team.
But coincidentally, among the most dazzling stars of the Premier League, Portugal had two to match.
Even France had a couple.
Feng Te: That’s right, it’s Deng Kai and myself!
Ronaldo: I really can’t hold it in today, where’s the knife, give me the knife!
