The 2004 UEFA European Championship was a European Championship that Tang En could not remember other than the Greek team two years later. In that tournament, whether it was Rooney's sudden appearance or Zidane's last-minute effort to turn the tide, it had all seemed amazing at the time. But in the end, he realized that what had left the deepest impression on him was a team, not a star player.
Being able to relive the UEFA European Championship in person this time was an additional experience. This made Tang En feel that there were still many benefits to transmigrating. In addition, he could also learn how Rehhagel used tactics from a close distance. The Greek team's overall tactics were too strong. Tang En even felt that they had completely surpassed any other team in that UEFA European Championship. They deserved to be the champions in the end.
Now, the only thing that worried him was whether the chain reaction caused by his arrival would affect the UEFA European Championship in Portugal. What if Greece could not become the champions in the end? Of course, there was definitely a factor of luck involved in winning the championship. However, Tang En felt that Rehhagel's strategy of using the Greek team in the UEFA European Championship would still be passed down and promoted. It was just that if they won the championship, the speed of promotion would be much faster.
In the past, everyone said that the Greek team's techniques were crude. Their defensive counterattack relied on dense defense to intercept the ball, then kick it to the front and make use of the tall center forward's header advantage to form a threat.
But what the Greek team displayed in the competition was a different kind of defensive counterattack. They started from intercepting the ball, then pushed it into the opponent's penalty area. Their speed was very fast, but they did not simply use long passes, letting the ball fly around in the air and not land on the ground. The small coordination between two or three of them and the quick passing and cutting were the essence of Rehhagel's defensive counterattack. Watching those big men pass the ball around skillfully, and then after a few passes, they would reach the opponent's goal. Stopping the ball, passing, and running positions were just right. Even if this was a defensive counterattack, it was also a kind of enjoyment.
When the Nottingham Evening Post found out that Tang En was going to Portugal to watch the match, they wanted him to write his observation notes in their column. Tang En was worried about what to write, and now he decided to keep an eye on the Greek team. Whether this team could become the champions or not, they would definitely bring surprises to the world.
When Pierce Brosnan heard Tang En's plan, he was a little troubled. "Uh, actually, we'd rather you write about England."
Tang En shrugged. "Everyone is writing about England. I don't want to join in the fun. Mr. Reporter, I'll bet you that the biggest dark horse in this UEFA European Championship will be Greece! " The other reason he did not mention was that he really did not like Eriksson as a manager, so he had never been optimistic about England's future in the big games.
During the World Cup in 2202, the English media trumpeted that the current England team was the best since they won the World Cup in 1966. They lost to Brazil, who had stumbled in the qualifiers and were forced into a corner by Turkey in the first game. The only thing that made them happy was that Brazil became the champions of that World Cup. During the 2004 UEFA European Championship, Tang En, who was still a fan, similarly did not think highly of it. Therefore, when Rooney got injured and left the field, it was reasonable for him to be eliminated by the host team in a penalty shootout. In the 2006 World Cup, if not for David Beckham, who was criticized by the media as useless, Eriksson's team might not have even made it out of the group stage.
The English people had a sense of arrogance. They always thought that they were the birthplace of modern football and that their standard should be the best in the world. Therefore, no matter what kind of star player they produced, they would be hyped up by the media to become a world-class star player. The England team, which was formed by this group of "world-class" star players, was naturally the best team in the world.
Their sense of arrogance was not only reflected in football, but also in all aspects of society. Many people must still be reminiscing about the past and how glorious the empire on which the sun never set was. Now, its influence on the international scene had weakened, and it had even become a follower of the United States. They could only use that kind of ridiculous arrogance to continue to maintain the dignity in their hearts.
Tang En was not interested in this kind of ridiculous national pride. He was not a British person and did not have a good impression of the empire on which the sun never set. In addition, he knew the fate of the England team in this year's UEFA European Championship very well. There was really no way he could pretend to be excited and tell the readers: We will definitely be the champions!
Eriksson was more suitable for a club manager than a national team manager. Because he had a soft personality.
Perhaps it was prejudice, but Tang En just thought that people with soft personalities were not suitable to be the manager of a strong team.
"Greece?" Brosnan was stunned for a moment. "I haven't heard this name in an international competition for a long time. Are you sure? "
Tang En nodded. "I'm sure, because they have a very, very good manager and a group of good players."
On the plane to Lisbon, Portugal, Tang En also discussed this issue with Dunn. He felt that the Greek team's tactics were something that the Forest team could learn from in their first season in the Premier League.
Compared to the other teams in the Premier League, the Forest team did not have an advantage in terms of strength. Many teams would more or less underestimate their opponents when playing against a newly promoted team. In addition, they did not understand them. The Forest team could use defensive counterattacks to stabilize their position in the Premier League.
Dunn was a little puzzled as to why Tang En knew so much about a national team that the whole of Europe was not very familiar with. Tang En could only scratch his head and say that he preferred to pay attention to those small teams.
Pierce Brosnan arrived in Portugal earlier than Tang En, but his focus was different from Tang En's. In order to bring back the news that the readers cared about the most, he had to follow the England team throughout. Everything big and small had to be reported. Even the clothes that the players' wives wore on the streets were the focus of the reporters' attention.
Before the start of the competition, the English newspapers were almost filled with all kinds of reports about the England team. Tang En wrote a big feature about the Greek team in the Evening Post, but no one cared at all.
In the end, after the opening match, Brosnan's first reaction was to find the Evening Post that published Tang En's column the day before. After comparing the above words with the opening match, he realized that he might have to admit that Tony Twain was God.
What he said the day before, after the match, was completely correct.
Brosnan was not the only one who was surprised. Dunn, who was always by Tang En's side, was also surprised. It was just that he was surprised even earlier, because he watched the opening match with Tang En. During the match, Tang En kept discussing the tactics used by Greece and Portugal with him.
When Karagounis scored the first goal, Tang En was certain that Rehhagel's tactics could completely suppress Portugal. After watching the first half, Dunn already completely believed the person walking beside him.
Scolari was a master, and so was Rehhagel. The cards that Rehhagel could use were not as good as those in Scolari's hands, but Rehhagel had the upper hand. Perhaps in the eyes of the hosts and many fans, the Greek team played boring football, with ten players defending and one attacking. But from a manager's point of view, Dunn thought that everything was normal.
The Greek team did not have the ability to dance the European samba in front of the Portuguese team. If they wanted to prove that they were not weaker than the hosts, there was only one way: to defeat them, no matter what tactics they used.
Rehhagel did it. Before the match, the result that no one expected before the match actually appeared before everyone's eyes. Even though he said after the match, "This is the most important victory in the history of the Greek national team!" But both Tang En and Dunn knew that Rehhagel did not let that get to his head. He was very clear about his purpose for participating in the UEFA European Championship. It was not to win the opening match, or to score a goal, or to draw a match. He had a very great goal, but no one knew about it.
Tang En knew.
In the following days, other than finding time to write a column for the Evening Post, Tang En and Dunn basically spent their time on the road. They watched most of the matches that they could see live. The remaining matches that were going on at the same time were also watched on television and recorded.
Tang En watched the matches live in Portugal. On one hand, it was to observe the cheap and practical players. On the other hand, it was to learn from the experiences of the various outstanding managers. Regardless of whether they were successful or not, they were all on the list that he and Dunn studied and analyzed.
From the perspective of the players, this year's UEFA European Championship was somewhat disappointing to Tang En. The young people who were called "the stars of hope for this year's UEFA European Championship" were all famous for a long time. There was no freshness to them at all. Even if the Forest team wanted to buy them, there were plenty of competitors. For example, Wayne Rooney, who was still playing for Everton. The English media hyped up the matter crazily, and the experts unanimously agreed that Rooney was the England team's biggest gain from this year's UEFA European Championship. But Tang En knew that after the UEFA European Championship, he would be bought by Manchester United at a high price. Did the Forest team want to snatch players from Manchester United? Don't even think about it!
As for the Dutch rising star Robben, the Swedish rookie Ibrahimović, the Czech Republic's young national goalkeeper Čech, and so on … Strictly speaking, they were not rookies. Which one of them had not been famous for a long time? Robben and Čech had already been booked by Chelsea. No matter how rich Evan Doughty was, could he be richer than Abramovich? Although Ibrahimović had eliminated the Italian team in this year's UEFA European Championship, the Italian clubs were very interested in him. If there were no accidents, Juventus should be able to successfully snatch this young Swedish man, who was known as "the second Basten" during his time at Ajax.
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