Chapter 63 The group stage ends

In the last round of Group D, only Sweden has two defeats ahead of schedule, and the remaining three teams, including the host Ukraine, still have opportunities.

The match between England and Ukraine can be called a life-and-death battle. In the first half of the game, Ukraine launched a large-scale attack on England with the advantage of the home court, and under the fierce fire of the opponent, the sporadic counterattacks of the Three Lions were ignited by captain Gerard's organization.

24th minute, Glenn. Johnson broke through on the right side, creating a free kick opportunity for England. Gerrard kicked an excellent pass. Rooney jumped in the middle and almost touched the ball. Considering that if Lu Xiaopang rubbed the skin of the ball a star, the ball could fly into the gate. It can be said that Gerrard almost recovered. In the first two group games, he used the right cross to break the deadlock for England.

In the 32nd minute, Gerrard made a corner kick from the right side and accurately found Terry in the penalty area. Unfortunately, the quality of Terry's header was too poor, which wasted this opportunity.

In the 34th minute, Gerrard suddenly sent a pick pass in the middle, Ashley. Yang succeeded in offside and was saved by the Ukrainian goalkeeper, which was also England's most pleasing offensive in the first half.

After the start of the second half, the form also reversed. England began to launch a counterattack against Ukraine, which had lost its physical strength, and as the captain of the team, Gerrard finally ushered in his highlight moment.

In the 49th minute, after getting the ball on the right, Gerrard first stepped on the bicycle and shook it, and then strode to divide the ball of the Ukrainian excellent Almolenko. He shook the opponent's second half of the high ball and sent it out of the pass. The Ukrainian goalkeeper and the defender joined hands to block the ball but failed to stop the ball. Rooney, who ambushed at the back point, was waiting to send the ball in. With an empty goal, England scored the only goal at the home of Ukraine in a passive situation.

And this is also the first time in the 52-year history of the European Cup that Liverpool players have assisted Manchester United players to break the goal, and all England fans are full of faces at this moment.

This is also the third consecutive game that Gerrard made a decisive contribution to the team's first goal. Unlike Beckham's machete pass in the first two games, Gerrard's process of making a final kill today is full of stepping on bicycles, scoring and shaking opponents, which sounds like not belong to English football. The element is more like a skilled player from Brazil or Spain ravaging the opponent's defense line.

This goal unloaded England's pressure and Rooney's pressure. You know, England was in danger of being knocked down by Ukraine before scoring a goal. In this European Cup debut, Xiao Pang, who wasted many opportunities, also faced the possibility of becoming a sinner of the Three Lions.

However, Gerrard used his domineering personal performance to make a goal at a critical moment, so that the whole team and Rooney could face the flash on his body, and made his image extremely tall. You know, he sent direct assists in the first two rounds of the group stage, and used it as a helper in the third group stage. Attack is better than an assist to create a final shot, so that the captain who determines the fate of the team is unique in England's European Cup.

However, in an interview after the game, Gerrard praised his teammates more: "This is the highlight moment in this cup. Our performance is not good enough, but we have worked together to get the good results we deserve, and if Rooney can continue to be like today With the goal, we will definitely be able to go further in this event.

England's journey in this European Cup will continue. After avoiding Spain, the strongest in Group C, their journey is expected to continue longer than expected.

But today, it can be asserted that this European Cup is Gerrard's best world competition. In Euro 2004, Gerrard's only impressive shot was the first round of the group stage against France, in which he inexplicably kicked the ball back to Zidane. In the 2006 World Cup, Gerard, who was severely squeezed by Lampard in the midfield, performed plainly. In the 2010 World Cup, Gerrard also had no chance to get out of water. Despite his first record in the group stage with the United States, his performance throughout the tournament was as disappointing as England in that Cup.

However, in this European Cup, Gerrard finally found the feeling of wearing an English shirt under Hodgson. Ho, who once coached Gerrard in Liverpool, partnered Gerard and Parker in the midfield, making Parker a full-time bodyguard, granting Gerard absolute command of the midfielder, allowing Liverpool's soul to play their talents in the midfield with long passes, raids, breakthroughs, direct plugs and other ways.

The perfect performance at both ends of the attack and defense is enough to show that Gerard, who plans to withdraw from the national team after the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, finally found the feeling of being a prestigious top midfielder in his last European Cup. After the group qualified, England was in the quarter-finals. Will play against Italy. Facing Italy, the second team in Group C, which is slightly inferior to Spain in the plan, Gerrard will naturally be confident to lead the team to win. As he said to reporters after this game: "Italians are well defended, and there are many top players. It takes luck to defeat them. But we will do our best for this!"

The English won the game, but the host Ukraine will certainly feel unconvinced. In the European Group D match between England and the host Ukraine, the home team's shot obviously crossed the goal line, but neither the referee, the lineman nor the goal line referee did react correctly.

Although Ukraine was suspected of offside at the beginning of this attack, what attracted more attention was the misjudgment on the goal line. Terry hooked the ball out of the goal. At that time, the goal line referee was at the bottom line and bent down to stare at the goal line. However, the goal line referee who had crossed the line, who was in an excellent position, had no Reaction.

What was he doing at that moment?

Are you also thinking about life?!

The Lampard injustice case in the 2010 World Cup has intensified the debate about goal line penalties. Under this pressure, UEFA took the lead in changing moves and added goal line referees in the UEFA Champions League and this European Cup. However, since the trial, since childhood, the goal line referee is just a close audience, and it is most needed. When they played a role, they made such a joke. When they stared straight at the goal line at a few meters apart, they still couldn't see whether the ball crossed the line. In this way, the effect of poking such a person behind the goal is questionable.

In fact, in the end, the referee is also wronged, because people will make mistakes, especially in such a major decision as whether the ball cross the line or not, the goal line referee will inevitably hesitate, be sure, and dare not judge under pressure.

In the final analysis, human nature has weaknesses, and human judgment will be affected by various objective conditions, and it is inevitable that there will be deviations. If it is wrong, the fault is in the system. Today, with the high development of science and technology, there are relevant technologies that can replace human judgment, but the institutions in charge of football have been slow to introduce and use, resulting in such a Similar injustices have been staged again and again.

The ball in the Battle of Yingwu made the goal line referee of "thinking about life" "beknown in World War I", which is also a huge challenge to the goal line referee system.

In fact, FIFA has been planning to introduce the "doorline eagle eye" system to replace the naked eye with cameras and computers. It is believed that with the continuous maturity of relevant technologies, this will be an irreversible trend.

As for the famous saying that former FIFA president Avilange talked about Maradona's hand of God, "misjudgment is part of the charm of football" will also be abandoned by the times with the ultimate pursuit of fairness and justice.

After this game, the host Ukraine became the last team to say goodbye in the group stage of this European Cup, but the goal ignored by the bottom line referee in the game made the whole Ukrainian team furious. After the game, coach Bloshin was even more angry.

"There are five referees on the court, and the ball has crossed 50 centimeters, but it is still not counted. In this case, why do we need five referees on the court? We played a good game, and even the English should feel that they are very lucky to win. I will never be ashamed of our team's team's team out. We are a little unlucky to lose the ball and have the ability to equalize, but they don't give us a chance to celebrate, but even so, Ukraine still kicks It was a good game. England only played against the ball, and they didn't have much chance in the second half, but it was not destined to be ours.

After Ukraine lost to England and failed to qualify for the European Cup, the "nuclear warhead" Shevchenko also announced his official retirement from the national team.

The 35-year-old Shevchenko is the greatest player in the history of the Ukrainian national team. In 111 games for Ukraine, he has scored 48 goals.

Shevchenko, who was full of anger, reluctance, parting and melancholy, finished his journey in this European Cup and his last international competition.

The first game was shocking, and fans all over the world are praising his old and strong. Although he has not made any achievements in the second game, he contributed two powerful shots. In the last game, he was injured for 20 minutes, but he did not even have a shot or threatening pass. Although people still have deep expectations for him, he is getting sluggish. The performance is completely corresponding to his own old age, but he still exists. How can the current European Cup become a paradise for veterans over 35 years old? What's more, he is still a striker who mainly plays youth cards.

But there is no need to analyze Shevchenko's performance today. The intensity of such a competition can last the first two games, and the outstanding results have won everyone's hearts. So what if the last battle is not?

But the national team needed him. At the last moment when he had to score, he thought of Shevchenko at the first time. As a great player of the previous generation of Ukraine, Blochen knew what kind of extra movement a player like Shevchenko could bring to the team at a critical moment. Force.

Although it has not been successful, it is also gratifying for Shevchenko to end his 18-year national team career by fighting rather than watching.

In the last 20 minutes, Shevchenko devoted his best efforts to work with Ashley. He competed for the ball and did not hesitate to shovel the opponent up. For the ball that entered the goal but did not count, he was like a young player who was unable to control himself, to pull the referee after the game. Although this kind of reason is meaningless, his disseverance with the referee is actually reluctant to end his mission in the European Cup like this!

When the curtain fell, the sadness of saying goodbye was all over his whole body, and Shevchenko still found Manchester United's wing Ashley with great grace. Yang apologized, although the other party was not angry when he was fouled, and Glenn. Johnson hugged and talked quietly with Terry with a smile. They were all Shevchenko's teammates during his time at Chelsea. The six relatives on the court did not recognize him and "hands" and talked happily off the court.

And in front of the Ukrainian fans who recognized the performance of the national team and were accompanied by tears, Shevchenko applauded, and a shallow smile rippled on his face, even if his heart was full of tears.

Sepchenko announced his withdrawal from the national team immediately after the game, and there may be a special farewell match for him, but the national team record of 48 goals in 111 games that set the history of Ukrainian football came to an end.

Shevchenko has only experienced three leagues and three clubs in his 18-year career, with 326 goals in 653 games, two Serie A golden boots and a Golden Globe winner's super record, and left his favorite field with a fighting physique.

Who said that the 35-year-old Shevchenko will not bloom again, even if the last glory will not last long, but in the hearts of fans, they still agree that this is the most beautiful scenery in the world of football.

At the same time, in another game, when the game ended, everyone was stunned. 0:2, at the Kiev Olympic Stadium, the French team suffered a complete defeat, losing two consecutive defeats in the first two rounds of the group stage, and Sweden, which was already out early

In the last game against Ukraine, the French media and fans were still delighted with the recovery of the Gallic Rooster and the excellent performance of Ribery and Benzema.

But it was quickly beaten back to its original shape. It turned out that the Gallic rooster did not really recover, but caused chicken plague and tossed around, but it really scared the host Ukraine.

The Gallic rooster suffered this disaster, and the biggest sinner was the defense leader Mex. Throughout the game, he was exposed by Ibrasimovic, Toyvonen, Wilhelmsson and others. The team's two goals were directly related to the 30-year-old veteran.

Only three minutes into the opening, Mex was suppressed by Swedish center Toivonen when competing for the corner kick. Fortunately, the latter's header deflected from the left post, which did not lead to France's loss of the ball.

In the tenth minute, Mex made another mistake and was carried away by Toyvonin when competing for the landing point. He turned around slowly and indulged the latter to form a single-knife trend. If it hadn't been for the small angle after Toivonin shook Loris and hit the post, France would have faced the backward dilemma long ago.

But the French team finally failed to escape the bad luck of losing the ball. In the 54th minute of the second half, Ibrahimovic broke the deadlock with a four-seat side volley volley. At that time, it was Max who was responsible for defending Ibrasimovic, the Swedish god rising in the air. In front of the tower, Mex's block seemed so clumsy and helpless.

Mex still has an inescapable responsibility for the French team's second loss of the ball at the end of the game. It was he who was easily shaken by Wilhelmson like a stake on the left side, and the latter had to send a fatal assist for Holman in the bottom pass.

As a product of Auxerre's "star factory", Mex became the main player of Auxerre at the age of 18, showing considerable aura and potential, and was praised by the French media as "New Blanco". At the age of 20, he was selected for the French national team and even partnered with legendary star Desailly. However, the young and famous Frenchman has never been able to grow into a world-class central defender, and this European Cup is actually the first time he has represented the French team in international competitions.

Before the start of the game, Mex vowed to say, "I will do my best. For this kind of competition, any mistake is unforgivable. We have no chance to start again."

But in this game, the former "New Blanco" Mex made a series of low-level mistakes, resulting in the most humiliating defeat for the French team led by Blanke.

Fortunately, in another game in the same group, the host Ukraine, which had an advantage, had poor luck and suffered a "gate line injustice". Otherwise, if Ukraine beat England, France, which lost to Sweden, would be eliminated!

Originally, before the game against Sweden, the French team was in a good situation. As long as the Gallic Roosters won, they were likely to win the first place in the group, thus avoiding the strong Spanish team in the quarterfinals.

And Sweden has locked the last place in the group, and the last game is only for honor, but the final score of 0:2 still stunned people.

Facing the Swedish team, which only fought for honor, the French team actually lost the game with a humiliating score. Fortunately, England did not release water to the host Ukraine. Otherwise, the French team, which was the first in the group before this battle, would be eliminated. Isn't it a big joke?

Judging from the data of today's game alone, the French team is not like a team that lost two goals to its opponent. However, the data does not tell everything.

Judging from today's performance on the court, the French team is not like a well-trained team at all, such as the attack before the end of the first half. Benzema broke through with the ball at high speed in the middle. As a teammate, Ribery grabbed the ball, and then he dribbled the ball horizontally at the front of the penalty area. Originally, the gap had flashed out. However, Ribery still did not shoot. It was not until the second time he shook the angle that he chose a long shot, but the ball was blocked from the bottom line by Melberry. For example, in the 70th minute, Benzema was brought into the penalty area in the front court. His shooting was slightly slower and the ball was blocked by the opponent.

Not only stumbling in the attack, but also the French team is also full of loopholes in defense. Not to mention Mex, as a right defender, Clichy's performance in this game can only be described as unqualified. Before Ibrahimovic's goal appeared, the main force of Arsenal, who should have taken the position, unexpectedly There is no reaction at all, just like an audience.

At the last moment of the game, Larson's goal was caused by Wilhelmson's goal after the anti- offside on his defensive side. At the end of the game, Wilhelmson concocted it, also anti- offside. This time, Clichy was also missing.

In the first two games of the French team, fans fell asleep in the stands. To be fair, although the French team won Ukraine 2-0 in the last game, the French team played a little plainly. In today's game, the French team spent an ugly 90 minutes.

The French team, which was slow to start the game, lost the ball shortly after the start of the second half. However, after losing the ball, the French team's attack still did not make any good.

The four attacking players, Benzema, Ribery, Nasri and Ben Alpha, are still fighting separately, and Ribery and Benzema are often surrounded by each other, which is understandable.

At this time, Ribery's weak encouragement, Arau. Diarra's anger at his teammate's passing error, and even Blanco's helplessness when Mex took the card, seemed too pale and powerless, so there was a scene of being locked in the victory by Sweden.

Does the French team always place their hopes on people like Platini or Zidane?

You know, such a character has only been out for at least 20 years. The problem of the French team relying too much on core players has existed for 30 years. People can't imagine how far such a French team can go in the cruel knockout match.

After all the group stage, eight teams left the European Cup, and eight teams had to move on. In the first round of the knockout, Belgium will face Portugal, which was considered to be a duel between Degan and Kim Remauro. Degan, who returned to the starting lineup, was in a hot state and scored six goals in two games, while Kim Mauro was also in good shape after the outbreak of the last round of the group stage. In last season's La Liga, Kimuro has established his core position in Real Madrid, while Degan has experienced a winter-like season in Barcelona. In the two matches between Real Madrid and Barcelona this season, Digan can only Now that it is on the stage of the European Cup, the two finally have another chance to make a good time.

The second game is a contest between Germany and Russia. These two old enemies from World War II have now met in the knockout stage of the European Cup. Almost everyone thinks that German chariots will easily crush the Russians, but the excellent performance of Arshavin and Zagev may make the Russians a little guaranteed. Wait.

France faces Spain. As far as France's current state is concerned, there is almost no suspense in this game. The powerful Spain is not in trouble at all. France, which has many conditions, can fight against.

There is also the confrontation between England and Italy. The strength of the two teams is relatively average, and it is reasonable who can continue to move forward.