Manchester United legend

Chapter 92 Missing the 1996 European Cup

After the end of the 1995-1996 season of the Premier League, many stars of various wealthy clubs had no time to take a vacation, and had to devote themselves to another important game.

那就是在英国举行的第十届欧洲足球锦标赛。决赛阶段的比赛于1996年6月8日至6月30日在英格兰举行。

For Manchester United and Ferguson, this same tossing summer, a lively summer.There are many players in the Manchester United team who have been called up by their respective national teams.

For Manchester United fans, this European Cup is even more mixed.

Schmeichel and Gary Neville all played well and steadily in the European Cup, but Manchester United's contribution to the England national team is nothing more than that.Manchester United has only the Neville brothers selected for the national team.

And Scholes, Jost, Butt lost the national team.

The players selected by England coach Venables caused a lot of controversy in the UK. Originally, Jost thought he could be selected for the England national team. The media also agreed that Jost should be selected. He has become an indispensable midfielder for Manchester United, but England coach Venables likes players with elegant style of play and obedient players.

Jost has long been labeled as a "bad boy" and "villain" by the media, so Jost lost the election. After losing the election, Jost received a phone call from head coach Ferguson to comfort him.

Ferguson also publicly questioned Venables' selection in media interviews. He believed that Jost was not selected for the national team, which was a pity for England and a mistake for Venables.

After questioning England's selection, Ferguson was busy observing the innovation and changes in football tactics at the national team level, and observing those monsters who are about to shine on the big stage of the European Cup.

The biggest blow to Manchester United fans was that Cantona, who had performed extremely well throughout the season, was turned away by the French coach Jacquet.

Jacquet's reason is to put the overall style of play first, and the team should have Deschamps as the core.

The contradiction between Cantona and Deschamps has a long history. In football, Cantona sneered at Deschamps, which made Jacquet terrified.

In the end, Jacquet gave up Cantona. For this reason, he also went to Manchester United to explain and explain to Cantona.

Previously, Cantona publicly announced that he hoped to be selected for the French national team and hoped to compete for honor for the French team.

But Jacquet's refusal was fatal to Cantona. Such a cold decision even made Cantona disheartened. The disheartened Cantona announced his retirement from the national team that summer, and he will no longer play for the national team.There are also plans to quit football.

This is another football event held in England after 30 years.

In 1966, the British won the World Cup at their doorstep!
For the traditional and proud British, they not only miss that World Cup, but they also emphasize the promotion of "Let football go home!"-they are the inventors of modern football and the earliest birthplace of modern professional football!
Bring football home! "Under such a proud slogan, there is also buried "Let the football champion go home!" "Hopes and expectations.

The British feel that under the leadership of the famous Marshal Venables, the Three Lions, which has brought together a cloud of famous generals and superstars, is absolutely capable of aspiring to the championship.

However, they all forgot that Venables' experience of coaching Barcelona was simply a joke in the eyes of the Spaniards. Since 1995, England has only won two wins in 8 games, and they can't even play the warm-up match. How can they conquer the European Cup?

In addition, Venables actually tried 14 players in 40 games, and the lineup has always been unstable, which is also a huge hidden danger.

Even Alan Shearer, who bears the fans' hope of scoring goals, has not scored in the national team for 21 months before the game!

The number of teams participating in the final stage of this European Cup has increased to 16 teams, namely: England, Netherlands, Scotland, Switzerland; Spain, Bulgaria, Romania, France; Germany, Czech Republic, Italy, Russia; Denmark, Portugal, Turkey, Croatia.They were divided into 4 groups for a single round-robin match, with the top two in each group advancing to the quarter-finals.

Then there will be a cross-elimination match, and finally the champion will be determined.In addition, the rules of this European Cup have also changed. When two teams have the same points, they no longer compare the goal difference, but look at the records of the two teams in the group stage, and the winner will be ranked higher.

In addition, when the game enters overtime, the golden goal system is adopted, that is, once one side scores first, the game will end.This is the first time this new rule has been applied to an international competition.

England were drawn into Group A, along with the Netherlands, Scotland and Switzerland.The media has always believed that England is the favorite to win the championship, and they are strong and strong.

The UEFA European Football Championship kicks off on June 6, with Peter Schmeichel's son in attendance.

Denmark was the champion of the last European Championship. At the opening ceremony, Schmeichel's son and his father participated in a special ceremony. They personally escorted the championship trophy and returned it to UEFA.

The opening game of the first game was host England against Switzerland, and the two teams drew 90:1 after 1 minutes.

With 7 home fans singing "Football Going Home", this talented Three Lions team walked into the magnificent and ancient Wembley Stadium. In the hot afternoon, amidst the crazy shouts of the fans, Alan Shearer regained the feeling of scoring goals and received a through ball from teammate Ince outside the penalty area.

However, England did not take away a victory as they wished. Pierce's handball gave the Swiss a penalty. Then, amidst the boos, the Swiss Turkilmaz sent the penalty into the goal behind Seaman.

When the Swiss celebrated wildly, the pointer of the game timer had already moved towards the 83rd minute.

When Ferguson was still watching the game, the phone rang.

His wife, Cathy, screamed on the other end of the phone, "God forbid, we have a pair of twin granddaughters!" That was the birth of twin daughters of Ferguson's son Jason.

Cathy told Ferguson on the phone, "The little ones are so cute. They were born 9 weeks prematurely. One is a little over two catties, and the other is just over three catties. Although they are very weak, they are obviously healthy."

That call made Ferguson couldn't be happier, it was a joyful moment.

Ferguson was fidgeting while watching the first game between England and Switzerland. Before the game was over, Ferguson couldn't wait to rush to the hospital to visit them.

This is a new member of the third generation of the Ferguson family, and Ferguson was in high spirits throughout the day.

Ferguson is already a grandfather. His son Jason and his wife Tania brought Ferguson their first grandson, Jack Ferguson, two years ago.

But this time Jason's family gave birth to twins, which is still ecstatic news for Ferguson.

Jost also visited the hospital when he got the news. He had lived in Ferguson's house for a while and was very familiar with Ferguson's family.Ferguson's son Jason was also very happy to see Jost coming. Jost got along well with Jason when he lived in Ferguson's house.

In the second game, the Three Lions played against the Netherlands, and the Three Lions played extremely well.The skills and awareness of the English are not bad, and it can even be said to be better than the Dutch team, which is known for its skills.In that group match, under the leadership of Gascoigne, the English played very exciting and pleasing football.

Not only the teamwork, but also the technique, speed and running route of the feet have completely outperformed the opponent.

In that game, Ince also managed to do a brilliant heel kick in the opponent's penalty area, forcing the opponent to be caught off guard and fouling. England also won the penalty.Shearer scored a penalty kick and England led 1-0.

In the second half, Gascoigne was extremely keen to poke the ball away before the opponent's penalty area, making the opponent's position of possession of the ball into a disadvantage. Then Gascoigne controlled the ball and entered the penalty area. After attracting the defense on the left side, he flicked it to Sheringham in the middle of the penalty area.Such cooperation can be called the masterpiece of the artist!The British critics shouted, "Such a combination is like the magnificent performance of the Royal Orchestra musicians, or like the masters performing a wonderful waltz dance!"

In the end, England beat the Netherlands 4:1 and ranked first in the group stage.

Then England played against Scotland in the last group match, and soon England led 1:0. England was also extremely confident on the field and controlled quite well.Beat the Scots without temper.

After withstood the opponent's attack, England launched a quick counterattack with a long pass from the backcourt. Anderton picked a pass to Gascoigne who quickly advanced to the front of the penalty area. Gascoigne picked the ball up with his left foot to the pressing Scottish central defender Henjoz.In the end England beat Scotland 2-0.

This goal was later named the best goal of this European Cup, and Gascoigne's superstar demeanor was fully displayed at this moment.

Ferguson is still watching the European Championship very seriously. On the one hand, he pays attention to the rising stars in Europe. The European Championship is a perfect stage.

For Ferguson, developing and building a high-level squad with depth is a top priority.

Another aspect is learning new tactical styles and variations.Watching Germany take on the Czech Republic at Old Trafford got Ferguson serious about Karel Poborski.

Ferguson was very happy with Poborski, who performed well throughout the game-the agent said he was ready to transfer.One item on Ferguson's agenda is to replace Andrei Kanchelski with a player on the right.

For all David Beckham's brilliance, Ferguson wanted to define his role more centrally.

In addition to the long-haired Poborski, Ferguson even paid attention to Patrick Borg who came off the bench.He also saw in Borg the toughness and toughness that belonged to the midfield iron man.

After watching this game, Ferguson predicted that the German will win the championship in the end.

Ferguson believes that the Germans are strong, regardless of physical strength or technology, so he bet that the Germans will win this championship.Shortly after that game, the German team invited Ferguson to a banquet.

At the banquet, Ferguson had a good chat with the German coach Berti Vogts.

At the banquet, Ferguson noticed the team spirit of the German players and their amazing organization and preparation.

Sitting with Vogts over dinner, Ferguson briefly talked about the team's game and injuries, but that was only half the story.

They are working hard for what they believe in. "We are Germans, nothing can stop us." This is their well-known slogan.

The Germans are known for their rigor, and this European Championship is no exception.For this dinner, they even brought a pop band from Germany to create a "German vibe".

At the same time, they went out of their way to have appropriate local influence, holding public training sessions around Michaelsfield so that their activities could be seen by their supporters and local schools.

They also donated £1 to an organization that took terminally ill children to Disneyland to fulfill their dying wishes, and I collected the check.” Ferguson later recalled that the Germans left a deep impression on him. In terms of management, they have a strict organization in everything, and the source of their strength is their belief in winning the game. This makes people more convinced that the German team will be invincible.

That summer, Ferguson's family had a series of happy events. On June 6, Ferguson's son, Jason's twin brother Darren, held a wedding at the Morlem Building where the German team stayed.

When attending their reception dinner a few days ago, Ferguson and Vogts mentioned this matter and also made a polite invitation.

But what was unexpected was that the German team sent a big flower basket, and several German players also came to bless Darren after the game, and attended a banquet together to celebrate Darren's wedding.

This wedding almost caused an accident. The next day, "Times" published a report, saying that German players broke into the wedding and made a big noise at the venue.

In fact, this was not the case at all. The scene was of course very lively. Many of the friends Darren invited were fans of the German team. In addition, there were more German fans waiting in the restaurant and lobby. They were not invited by Darren.

[-]. When these fans saw their idols at the scene, they were naturally excited and couldn't control themselves, and the scene got out of control for a while.

Jost had a good chat with a guy named Sammer from the German team at Darren's wedding.The two chatted a lot about football.Summer also passed on his game insights to Jost.

The quarter-finals began. As the team with the best performance in the group stage, the host England team is eligible to enter the magnificent Wembley once again, and receive the cheers of 70000 home fans under the sunshine of London. They will launch a fierce attack on the Spanish team.

Subizareta withstood the test of the offensive combination of Alan Shearer, Sheringham and Gascoigne. Amidst the boos, the Spanish team maintained a 0-0 stalemate until the end of the 120-minute game. What the fans expected, the "Golden Ball Rule" did not play out. Next, they will go to 12 yards and use a more brutal penalty shootout to determine the final winner.

Amidst the cheers, Alan Shearer fired a decisive shot that blasted away Zubizarreta's ten fingers. Amidst the boos, Hierro kicked the football and hit the crossbar heavily. Lady Luck began to smile at the Three Lions.

Venables led the Three Lions steadfastly on the road to making history, and they seemed unstoppable.

(End of this chapter)