Born to be a coach [soccer]

Anton drove a convertible car, shuttling between the small towns in Provence in the south of France.It was so hot that even the air seemed to be restless.

In the back of the car were two young men: Eriksson and Pickford.These two players still play in Anton's old club Sunderland, and Anton has a good relationship with them.

That's when Eriksson connected his phone to the Bluetooth speaker in Anton's car and started playing music.

Pickford listened for a while and protested: "Can you stop playing Danish raps-I am the only one in this car who can't understand." The young man is a bit pitiful.

Eriksson quit, saying: "Let's talk about it when you British people invent Bluetooth!"

Not Ericsson Deser, the Bluetooth device was indeed invented by the Danes.

"But you Denmark didn't even make it to the final stage, so now you can only be with us as a spectator and watch the game!" Pickford honestly revealed Eriksson's scars.

Eriksson got angry, slammed the music off, and glared at his teammates.

But it is true.

In the earlier 2016 Euro Cup qualifying play-offs, the Swedish national team met their old enemy, the Danish national team.Sweden's biggest star Zlatan Ibrahimovic is close to retiring, so the Danish media once released word that the Swedish team will be eliminated from the finals and Ibrahimovic will be "retired".

But Ibrahimovic is also a very ruthless guy. He knocked out the Danish national team by himself, and responded domineeringly: "Don't they want me to retire alone? I will let them all retire!"

So in the final stage of the European Cup, Eriksson could only go out to watch the football with Anton.

Eriksson glared angrily for a while, turned his face away, probably because he didn't want to compete with Pickford, lowered his head, and turned on the player on the phone again, this time playing soft and gentle pure music.Listen, Pickford himself came to apologize: "I'm sorry, Christian, I shouldn't have laughed at you..."

Seeing that his teammates ignored him, Pickford quickly pointed to his nose and said: "Look at me! You are at least the main force of the national team, and I have not even been selected for the national team..."

Now the goalkeeper of the England national team is Manchester City "City Gate" Joe Hart.Pickford originally expected to be called up as a substitute goalkeeper and follow the team to meet the market.Who knows that the England national team coach Hodgson did not call him for some reason.Don't mention how disappointed the little goalkeeper is.

Eriksson looked at this guy, thinking that Pippi's failure to be selected for the national team this year was indeed a "true injustice", and all the anger in his heart disappeared.

"Both of us are still young, and we have plenty of opportunities. If we didn't make it to the French European Cup this year, we'll see you in Russia two years later... The key is that when we watch football this year, we have to learn more from Anton!"

Anton, who was sitting in the front and driving: Why did the topic change to me again?

This year is the year of the European Cup. Many of his players have returned to the national team to play, and the club has given its employees a long vacation.

Anton chose to come to France to watch football during the holiday.It happened that Eriksson and Pickford were fine, so they came with them.

Anton had a word with them first: "I have a task, and now the two newspapers publish my column at the same time. The pressure is huge, and I can't take care of you." There are columns in every newspaper, and the editors come to urge the manuscript every now and then.

The two younger ones are fine: "Boss, of course we are the ones who take care of you!"

As a result, such a "trio" galloped across the vast land of France, commuting between cities hosting major events.

They had just watched a round of 1 final in Reims, where Portugal eliminated Croatia 0-[-].Now they will travel to Nice on the "Côte d'Azur", where they will watch another quarter-final match between England and Iceland.

There are his former disciples in the two teams participating in the competition: there are more people in England, Henderson, Vardy, Sterling... The Iceland team only has Halldosson.

Behind Anton, there is an Englishman and a Danish man. Pickford is naturally on the side of his national team; while Eriksson supports the ball of his former roommate Halldosson because of his relationship with the Nordic countries. Team.

The two fought over which team would win.

Anton did not participate in their quarrel, anyway, the two guys would naturally apologize to each other after the quarrel.He was thinking about the column he was about to write: about the Iceland team.

This is the first time for the Icelandic team to enter the finals of the European Cup. At one time, the media shouted that the European Cup final stage expanded and injected water, and the average level of the participating teams dropped significantly. They also pointed out that the ranking of the new Iceland team in FIFA, Not much higher than the Chinese team.

Indeed, the final stage of this European Cup has expanded from 16 teams to 24 teams.However, in the qualifiers, the Iceland team double-killed the traditional powerful Netherlands team at home and away, and eliminated the Netherlands team.The ranking problem is purely due to the fact that Iceland has participated in fewer international competitions before and has not had many opportunities to earn points.

"I heard that there are only a few 10 people in Iceland!" Pickford said loudly behind Anton.

"It's 33 people!" Eriksson corrected him, "But have you ever heard a saying? 'Our Bear Island is a small place, with only 62 soldiers. But everyone can count as ten.'..."

The line Eriksson said is a line from Lyanna, the lord of Bear Island in the popular American drama "A Song of Ice and Fire".

Anton couldn't help laughing.

In this European Cup, the Iceland team seems to be in such a posture, with one against ten.In the group stage, this team drew consecutively with Hungary and Portugal, defeated Austria, ranked second in the group with a slight disadvantage in goal difference, and almost squeezed the Portuguese team led by Ronaldo out of the knockout round.

There was a joke about Iceland's national men's football team before, saying that the total population of Iceland is 3, minus 17 women, minus 18 men under the age of 4, minus 35 men over 8 years old, minus too much 5 for those who are fat or too thin and whose physical conditions are not suitable, minus those who can’t come for whaling, minus those who can’t come for shearing, minus the bank managers who committed crimes during the financial turmoil and couldn’t come in prison, minus those who can’t watch football Fans, minus coaches, team doctors, cooks, masseuses... there are only 2 people left in the national team.

Anton also quoted this joke, and bluntly pointed out in his column that Iceland's investment in football may be beyond the imagination of other European countries with superior geographical conditions.

And the head coach who is a part-time dentist, the goalkeeper who is a part-time director... It is true that they occasionally work part-time, but these people are also qualified as professional football players and coaches, and have been engaged in professional football.

After leaving Sunderland, Halldosson has been playing for the Danish Super League club. It is said that it is relatively convenient to travel to and from his hometown there-although it takes 5 hours to travel from Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, to Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. flight range.

The Iceland team will face the England national team led by coach Hodgson in the quarter-finals.

In the previous group stage, England also qualified smoothly.

In the group stage, Hodgson changed his lineup three times, once with Manchester United and Manchester City players as the main lineup, once with Liverpool players as the main lineup, and once with Sunderland players as the main lineup-this made Anton feel honored, after all, he was the main lineup. The two teams constructed can be recognized by the coach of the national team, which can still bring some "little vanity" to Anton.

Anton once commented in his column before: "But this does not mean that the England national team has embarked on the right path."

It is said that this sentence has a strong response in England, not to say how disgusted England fans are to him, but that there are many voices of "you do what you want".The fans said: Anton, you can, we don't mind if you replace Hodgson.

Anton: ...

Nice Stadium, England v Iceland.

All the goals in this game were staged in the opening 18 minutes.

In the 4th minute, Rooney scored a penalty for England.The Iceland team equalized in the 6th minute, then overtook in the 18th minute, and maintained this score until the end of the game-this is the biggest upset that the Icelandic team broke out in this European Cup.

There seemed to be more Icelandic fans than English fans at the scene. It is said that the president of Iceland came to the scene to cheer for the national team.After the game, all members of the Icelandic national team came to the fans who supported them, and the fans happily played "Icelandic Roar" with the players.

Although sitting in the stands with the Iceland team scarf in his hand, Eriksen, as an active player in the Premier League, still finds it a bit hard to say.The Premier League is known as the most powerful and appealing league in the world, but England always seems to lack the willpower to move forward in international competitions, and it is easy to "soft feet" at critical moments. The Three Lions are more like The Three Meow Legion.

Pickford sat next to Eriksen in his England shirt.After his national team lost, this guy was so lost, he was resting his chin on his hands in a daze.

The young man was actually thinking: If the goalkeeper on the field was not Senior Hart but himself for the two conceded goals just now, would he be able to defend against it?

After Pickford became famous in Sunderland, he was ridiculed for "short hands" by a Belgian national team who played in the Premier League.After the young man was not selected for the national team, he kept thinking: Is it really because his hands are too short that he was not selected for the national team.

So he lowered his head and stared at his hands.

Just then Anton came over, reached out and patted the goalkeeper on the shoulder, and said, "Don't worry, your basic skills are there. As long as you continue to stay focused and confident in the future, in Russia two years later, I believe you can defend England well." country gate."

After listening to Anton's encouragement, Pickford raised his head with a smirk, but there were tears in his eyes: His national team has already finished this European Cup, and even if he wants to win honor for the country again, he will have to wait two years later .

Eriksson also pondered for a while, then turned his head and asked Anton: "Boss, do you think the Danish team has the hope of entering the World Cup in Russia two years from now?"

"Of course!" Anton said with a smile.

"The cup itself is a place where miracles can happen," Anton explained to them in detail. "Take the European Cup as an example. In 92 there was a 'Danish Fairy Tale', and in 2004 it was a 'Greek Mythology'. This year Although all the traditional strong teams are still online... oh sorry, except England, but it is far from clear who will win the trophy in the end."

The two little ones listened.

"The reason is very simple. Football is a sport for 11 people, but it doesn't mean that the best 11 players in the world can become an invincible team. Players' winning spirit and willpower, The cooperation between teammates, physical condition, fatigue, sudden injuries...even many external factors, such as venues, referees, weather...these may affect the final result of the game, thus affecting the championship."

"But once there are exactly 11 suitable people in the right state, it is possible to create miracles."

Eriksson yelled: "This is simply metaphysics!"

He can master the use of the term "metaphysics" proficiently, and he has won the style of Anton.

Anton laughed: "It is indeed metaphysics. But this is also the charm of football competitions."

"However, I can tell you that the road to the championship of each championship is different, but one thing is the same. Before winning the championship, these championship teams may have prayed to God, and asked God to bless them and give them Perfect luck. But before this, the team was ready and had to give [-]% effort."

"That's football."

The author has something to say: What happened in 2018 was probably that Eriksson alone carried the Danish team to the finals of the World Cup in Russia, while Pickford helped the England team reach the semi-finals.

Tomorrow is mainly about Ronaldo, and I will also explain a little bit about the follow-up of other characters.