Football career: From winning the championship to becoming a legend

俄罗斯当地时间2007年10月18日晚上19时，2008欧洲足球锦标赛预选赛E组一场事关出线权的焦点战在莫斯科中央体育场展开争夺，英格兰客场出击俄罗斯。

England broke the deadlock in the 29th minute and took the lead. England right back Richards made a long pass, Owen headed the ball and then dribbled it, Rooney chested the ball and volleyed it with his right foot from 16 yards in the middle, taking the lead! The entire long pass and lob attack routine was completed in one go, and the process took no more than 7 seconds. This was also the fourth consecutive game that Rooney scored a goal.

However, the home team Russia quickly reversed the score after the key player Pavlyuchenko came on as a substitute.

First, in the 68th minute, Pavlyuchenko equalized the score with a penalty kick. Arshavin, who had not yet been crowned the Tsar of football, passed the ball directly, and Rooney pulled Zuryanov down at the edge of the penalty area, and Pavlyuchenko scored the penalty kick in one fell swoop.

Four minutes later, the morale-boosted Russian team overtook the score in the 4nd minute. A-Berezuskiy's shot from 72 yards on the left was barely saved by England goalkeeper Paul Robinson, but Pavlyuchenko followed up with a shovel shot from 25 yards on the right side of the penalty area, scoring twice and reversing the score to 8-2!

England coach McLaren then gambled and used three substitutions in one go, replacing Lampard, Downing and Crouch in an attempt to strengthen the attack, but it was unable to save the defeat. In the end, England suffered a bitter defeat away from home, being reversed by the home team Russia 1-2 in 4 minutes.

England's conservative mentality and tactics made the team lose their composure and ruined the 1-0 lead. They experienced a nightmare 4 minutes and fell from glory to the abyss. England, who played one more game, was only 2 points ahead of Russia and had lost the initiative to qualify. Now England can only hope that Israel can draw with or beat Russia to let them regain the initiative.

@

After this round of European Cup qualifiers, basically each group has two rounds left; and as the remaining games are getting fewer and fewer, the final answer to the qualifying places that countless fans are betting on is about to be revealed.

Four teams, namely Germany, Czech Republic, Greece and Romania, have already advanced to the next round in their respective groups. Five teams, namely Croatia, Sweden, Spain, Netherlands and Portugal, have already stepped into the final round. The situation of France, Poland and Russia is also good. The situation in Italy has improved slightly, while England has suddenly fallen into the abyss. This round has become a watershed from vague to clear situation.

The four teams in Group A that are likely to qualify are Poland with 24 points, Portugal with 23 points, and Serbia and Finland, both with 20 points.

This group has the most complicated situation at present. Four teams have the possibility of qualifying. Among them, Portugal is in the best situation because their games in the last two rounds are relatively easier to play.

Poland is currently leading in points, but the next two games will not be easy. If Poland cannot beat Belgium before the rise of the golden generation at home, then the away game against Serbia will become a life-and-death battle for qualification.

Finland only has a theoretical chance of qualifying, and the conditions for achieving it are very difficult...

As for Serbia, it is similar. Winning the last 6 points in the last two rounds is the prerequisite for retaining the possibility of qualifying. After that, it depends on the performance of other teams.

Group B is a three-way competition, with France ranking first with 25 points, Scotland ranking second with 24 points, and Italy ranking third with 23 points.

However, Italy, currently ranked third in the group, has one game less. This game is at home against the well-known underdog Faroe Islands, so Italy can be considered to have 26 points.

The situation in Group B is not complicated. If Italy wins or draws with Scotland away, there is no doubt that the Italians will qualify. If they lose to Scotland, the Ukrainians will need to beat France in the final round to qualify.

If Scotland wants to qualify, it would be best if they beat Italy at home. If they lose, they will definitely be eliminated. If they draw, unless France loses to Ukraine in the last round away, Scotland can advance together with Italy.

France is in the best situation. They can qualify if they draw with Ukraine in the last round, and they can even qualify if they lose. If Scotland loses to Italy at home, France's points will never be caught up by Scotland, and they will qualify directly regardless of a draw or even a loss to Ukraine. If Scotland draws with Italy at home, France needs to draw with Ukraine due to its inferior home and away record against Scotland, and use the points advantage to squeeze out Scotland and qualify. If Scotland beats Italy at home, then France can also qualify with a draw thanks to its home and away advantage over Italy.

The situation in Group C is that Greece has already qualified, Norway has 20 points and will compete with Turkey with 18 points for the last qualifying spot.

The next round of Norway's home game against Turkey will be decisive. If Norway wins, they will advance to the next round. If they draw, it will depend on the result of the last game against Malta. As long as they get one more point, they can advance. However, if Turkey beats Norway away, their fate will immediately change and will be in Turkey's hands. As long as they can beat Bosnia in the last home game, the Turks will advance together with Greece with the advantage of home and away records.

There is no suspense in Group D anymore, as Germany and the Czech Republic have already qualified two rounds in advance.

The situation in Group E is that Croatia ranks first with 26 points, England has only 23 points after playing one more game, and Russia is temporarily ranked third with 21 points.

If England wants to qualify, they must beat Croatia at home, but this is the last round. England will have a bye in the next round, and their fate may be decided in advance. In addition, Russia will play Andorra in the last round away, which had lost all 10 games before, scoring 2 goals and conceding 39 goals. Due to the huge difference in strength, they can temporarily count the 3 points.

The match between Russia and Israel is crucial. If the Russians lose to Israel away from home, then England only needs to draw with Croatia in the last round to qualify. If Russia draws with Israel, then England needs to beat Croatia at home. If Russia beats Israel, unless Croatia loses to Macedonia in the next round and loses to England by more than 0-2 in the last round, then England and Russia will qualify together.

But if Russia beats Israel in the next round and Croatia gets at least 1 point against Macedonia in the next round, England will be eliminated early.

As for Group F, similar to Group A, there are still four teams competing for two qualifying places, but the situation is clearer than that of Group A, because Northern Ireland and Denmark, who have only 17 points, will need a miracle to catch up with Sweden, which has 23 points, and Spain, which has 22 points.

Although Sweden missed the opportunity to qualify early, the possibility of being eliminated only exists in theory: that is, Sweden loses the last two games in a row, but at the same time Northern Ireland needs to beat Denmark and Spain at home and away, Sweden can be eliminated. This possibility is very small.

Spain's situation is not bad either. If they win against Sweden at home in the next round, they can advance in advance. If they draw and Northern Ireland fails to beat Denmark, they can also advance in advance. If they lose, they can also advance by getting 1 point against Northern Ireland in the last round at home.

Northern Ireland and Denmark's advancement is only theoretically possible, but due to their disadvantageous home and away records against Spain and Sweden, Denmark is the least likely to qualify. The only scenario that would allow them to qualify is the last two consecutive wins while Spain loses two games in a row.

The situation in the last Group G is not complicated. Romania has already qualified, and the Netherlands with 23 points and Bulgaria with 19 points are competing for the only remaining qualifying spot.

Judging from the difficulty of the game and the 4-point lead, the Netherlands has a great chance of qualifying; even if Bulgaria gets all 6 points, since the Netherlands has an advantage in home and away records, they can advance by getting 2 points from Luxembourg and Belarus, so there is not much suspense.

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While the penultimate round of European Cup qualifiers was underway, international football also held a number of warm-up matches.

其中西班牙客场0比0平芬兰，科特迪瓦客场2比3负于奥地利，以及令人恰柠檬的日本主场4比1大胜非洲冠军埃及，但这只是令华国球迷恰柠檬的开始……

Italy will also face South Africa at home. The two sides have only met once before, in 1, when Italy won 1991-1 in Perugia thanks to a goal from Montella.

In this friendly match, Donadoni fielded a full substitute lineup, and the 24-year-old De Rossi wore the captain's armband. Capello appeared in the stands as a broadcast guest. After the opening, Foggia and Mauri were active, but C. Lucarelli had little chance to shoot.

Not long after the start of the first half, the Italians received the good news that Scotland lost 0-2 to Georgia away, so the whole team played more relaxed afterwards, but it was not until the last ten minutes of the game that the deadlock was broken.

In the 82nd minute, Ricardo's teammate De Sena of the National Youth Team made a cross from the left, Gilardino missed the ball in front of the goal, and Lucarelli leaned forward and headed the ball 5 meters in front of the goal, sending the ball into the center of the goal, 1-0.

In the 89th minute, Maresca, who had just replaced Rosina, made a cross from the right, and Lucarelli headed the ball from 7 meters in front of the goal. The shot hit the ball and it deflected into the far corner in a strange zigzag line, extending the score to 2-0!

In the stoppage time, Lucarelli had the chance to score a hat-trick, but goalkeeper Fernandez blocked the ball and Italy eventually won 2-0.

Having learned his lesson, Li Qi did not show his face in the audience again, to avoid being caught by the camera and causing any weird stories. Wouldn't it be nice to just stay at home with Julian in his arms, play games and watch the TV broadcast?

Yes, Ricardo has reported back to the club in advance. After all, on the third day after the friendly match between Italy and South Africa, Manchester United will go to Villa Park to play an away game in the 10th round of the Premier League.

Moreover, the match between Italy and Russia was, after all, an insignificant friendly match. Ricardo believed that it was mainly for his younger brothers and followers to perform well and then win the opportunity to move up. He only needed to send a text message to each other after the game to comfort and encourage them, to show that the big brother was paying attention and giving them appropriate care...

Before returning to Manchester, Ricardo had arranged for his cousin Francis to gradually sell off the US stocks held by the offshore company, just in time to withdraw from the US stocks on the grounds that he did not know how much money would be needed to start two projects simultaneously. The proceeds from the first phase will be injected into his football development fund in his own name next week with 500 million US dollars, and at the same time, he arranged for the fund's head Bruno Bernard to meet with Professor Connolly and Liana.

As for Liana, she refused to accept the sponsorship at first, saying that she had no shortage of funds and did not need Bruno to coordinate with her.

But knowing that free things are the most expensive, Ricardo put on a stern face and asked Liana to make better use of resources and produce better research results. He also asked Liana to speed up the research process and that Ricardo would check it regularly. Only then did Liana blush and reluctantly accept it - what a sensitive and simple female doctor...

So it was fair to give each person $200 million. As for Liana saying that she couldn't use it all, the extra money could be donated to the school to purchase new equipment. Why can't you spend the money? The key is to have an effect...

As for the analysis of the last two rounds of the European Cup qualifiers, Ricardo didn't care at all.

First of all, I can't help England. I just play in the Premier League, but I don't have the opportunity to play for the England team. I can only pray day and night, hoping that the Israeli team can repay the principal and interest on time, oh no, in the next round, to show my power to stop the Russian team.

In addition, for the Italian team, from the beginning, Ricardo thought that it would be enough to do their best to beat the opponent. Why do we need to analyze so much? Beating Scotland away is a must!

To achieve this goal, Ricciardo decided to abstain from sex for a week before the race! Hmm... maybe 72 hours will be enough? Or 48 hours...

Anyway, I will be in great shape on the day of the competition, go to hell!

@

On the afternoon of October 2007, 10, after a lapse of 20 weeks, the Red Devils Manchester United once again visited the nearby city of Birmingham, but this time the opponent was not Birmingham, but Aston Villa, nicknamed Chelsea.

曼联在双方近10次交锋中取得全胜，近18次交锋取得16胜2平的不败战绩。阿斯顿维拉上次取胜曼联还是在1999年10月的联赛杯，联赛取胜则要追溯到1995年8月。

双方英超交锋30场，曼联21胜7平2负占据上风，其中主场11胜4平保持不败。这是双方的第167场交锋，此前曼联83胜35平48负占据优势。

In terms of Manchester United's starting lineup, Van der Sar recovered from injury and returned to the Red Devils' goal, Wes Brown recovered from injury and started as a central defender, Leitch and Anderson, who performed well as substitutes in the last round, were included in the starting lineup, but Ronaldo was on the bench due to an injury in international competitions. In addition, O'Shea and Fletcher also recovered from injury and entered the bench, but Hargreaves and Gary Neville, who returned to the team after recovery at the same time, were not included in the roster.

Sir Alex Ferguson continued to line up a 4-4-2 parallel formation:

The goalkeeper is No. 1 Van der Sar;

The defense line sent out No. 6 Wes Brown who continued to play as a guest right back, the double central defenders were No. 5 Ferdinand and No. 19 Pique, and the left back was No. 3 Evra;

The central midfield combination from right to left is No. 17 Li Qi, No. 18 Scholes, No. 8 Anderson and No. 11 Giggs who just renewed his contract;

The two strikers are No. 32 Tevez and No. 10 Rooney.

After the start of the game, although playing away, the Red Devils Manchester United still played with an aggressive momentum and took the lead in creating threats.

In the 4th minute, Manchester United won an indirect free kick in the penalty area through full-court pressure. Rooney was responsible for the opening of the game, but Giggs' shot from 18 yards on the right side of the penalty area was blocked by the wall.

Then in the 6th minute, Pique made a long pass, Li Qi stopped the ball and cut inside, then shot with his left foot from 25 yards on the left, but unfortunately the ball hit the post and went out of the bottom line...

However, it was the home team that broke the deadlock first, and it was the home team's first attack, first shot, and naturally the first shot on target, that led to a goal.

In the 12th minute of the game, Ashley Young, who Li Qi had played against in the European Youth Championship, unexpectedly made a precise cross despite Li Qi's top defense on the left. Abang Laho headed the ball from 5 yards in front of the goal, beating Wes Brown who had just returned from injury. The ball was headed into the far corner of the goal and Van der Sar could only watch with regret.

This was Aston Villa's 400th goal in the Premier League, and also ended Manchester United's recent record of 611 minutes in the league without conceding a goal.

However, after losing the ball, Manchester United did not feel depressed or angry. It just felt that the morale of the whole team was boosted again, as if they were offended: I just wanted to hit you twice and then stop, but I didn't expect you to not only fight back, but also take action in advance! I can tolerate that, but I can't! We must have a big fight!

After the second kick-off, the Red Devils pressed forward even more frantically, attacking the home team's goal...

……