Portugal is certainly not a football powerhouse in the world.

There will always be a handful of talented players at different times, but none of them will be enough to support a very luxurious and competitive national team.

Take the World Cup results as an example, 70% of the World Cup competitions, they either did not participate, or were eliminated directly in the qualifiers, the best result was the semi-finals in 66, and then down, the second best result is to stop in the group stage.

For a country with a population of only about 10 million, the number of football population also determines its stable strength level, as for those smaller countries that suddenly achieved good results, it is an accidental outbreak, and it does not have the significance of overall strength positioning.

The competition in the European Cup is smaller than that of the World Cup, even so, Portugal in the golden generation represented by Figo before the birth of the United States, in the European Cup is also not good, most of the time is the qualifiers did not qualify, until the golden generation provoked the beam, the record was stable, 8 years ago stopped in the quarterfinals, was blocked by the dark horse Czech team in the semifinals, 4 years ago stopped in the semifinals, was the final champion France team in overtime, 4 years later, Portugal also created the history of its own football national team, They reached the final, and whether they win or lose, it will be a new ranking record for the Portuguese national team at the European Championship.

After three weeks of fierce battles, the European Championship has finally come to the end of the event, and it is also the pinnacle battle.

Fans from England and Portugal flocked to the Stadium of Light in Lisbon.

All over the country of Portugal, on the soil of England, countless fans gather in bars, squares. In front of the TV. The great war was long awaited.

The Stadium of Light in Lisbon is closing the tournament. The lack of entertainment before the final did not decompress the fans of both sides, who were all waiting for their teams to make history.

Aldridge showed up early in the stadium and sat in the dugout waiting for the game to begin.

In the stands behind him, countless England fans cheered his name.

In the VIP box of the stadium, his family was there watching him.

At this moment, Aldridge is lying to say that he is not nervous, at least, an incomparably glorious championship trophy is within reach. No one is unhappy in their hearts.

Perhaps it was for this reason that he did not go to the locker room to "infect" the team with such tension, and he was afraid that he would not be able to help but repeatedly nag about the pre-match arrangement, which would not do the team any good.

When Scolari walked onto the pitch, Aldridge got up and walked over to shake his hand.

Two years ago, the two met in the semi-finals of the World Cup, and Scolari was unconvinced and angry!

And he always thought that the Brazilian team was just lacking luck, not how strong England were. It was God who was not on Brazil's side.

Two years later, the deceased was reunited. And it was the final of the European Cup, this scene, more attractive than what Aldridge and Mourinho met in the Champions League final after meeting in the League Cup final, the sideline reporters focused on the meeting of the two coaches, shook hands, and took pictures without stopping.

The two had nothing to say hello to, shook hands with the etiquette of the arena, patted each other's arms and turned their heads away, looking as usual.

But secretly mood fluctuations are unknown.

Scolari has led Portugal to make new history, but it is clearly only one step away from making this history memorable and glorious, winning the European Championship!

At the same time, he does have the idea of "shame before the snow" in his heart.

History, only the victors will be remembered.

Two years have passed in a hurry, people will mention the majestic 3R combination in the 02 World Cup, but most of the time it will be used to set off the grandeur of England's last-minute Golden Ball stunner, when the neutral sighs, they will not say that the Brazilian team is not good, the strength of the team is there, and it will naturally rise to the fighting style between managers, Brazil's defeat, the defeat to Scolari and Aldridge.

The reunion of the old people in the European Cup, the two armies faced each other again, England was in full swing, Scolari led the Brazilian team no longer, but the meeting two years ago was brought up again in the last two days, as if Scolari's scar was revealed, and the painful memory came to mind, and the pain that should have been forgotten was faintly aggravated.

Aldridge has a relatively calm mentality, he can be excited, but he rarely shows off his power after victory, so he acts in the style of a strong man: forget his opponents.

There are countless people who have lost to him, and he will not always take it to heart, and even when he plays again, he will downplay the past victories, because in football games, each game is independent, and does not have the continuity of advantages and disadvantages, and indulging in the glory of the past does not benefit the present and the future.

More than 60,000 pairs of eyes were watching the line-ups of England and Portugal in the packed Stadium of Light in Lisbon, and the players of both teams, led by German referee Angela Merck, walked into the stadium with their heads held high and launched the final assault on Europe's highest honor.

"Euro 2004 has finally come to an end! Today will be a day that will be remembered in the history of football, not only by the winner of this tournament, but also by the winner of the European Championship! Portugal and England have never won the European Championship, and this is the first time the two teams have reached the final! Both teams have the same record, 4 wins and 1 loss in the previous 5 matches, and both teams have memorable tables in this tournament, Portugal have beaten strong teams like Spain, the Netherlands, England have beaten defending champions France, and the Czech Republic have won strong opponents, so it is these two teams that deserve to reach the final! ”

Ten years later, if people mention the Czech Republic and the Netherlands, they must think that the Netherlands is stronger, but in 04, most fans will not think that the Netherlands is stronger than the Czech Republic, the Czech team played the Netherlands in the qualifiers with one win and one draw, and the group stage was divided with the Netherlands, a shocking reversal became a classic battle of this tournament, Portugal's road to promotion is to start low and go high, and the England team played a few games full of gold, squeezing the French team out of the knockout round, knocking down the Greek team perfectly, and finally killing the Czech team, England's varied and stylistic use of technique and tactics has also been their highlight.

"Let's take a look at the starting line-up for the doubles.

Portugal 4231.

Goalkeeper: Ricardo.

Defenders: Miguel, Carvalho. Andrade. Valente.

Midfielder: Maniche. Costinha, Deco, Figo, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Striker: Pauletta.

England 442.

Goalkeeper: Robinson.

Defenders: Gary Neville, Campbell, Terry, Ashley Cole.

Midfielders: David Beckham, Hargreaves. Scholes, Frank Lampard.

Forwards: Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney.

More surprisingly, England's starting striker, the main player Owen was put on the bench, and the 18-year-old talented teenager Wayne Rooney started in the final, perhaps because he came off the bench to beat the Czech team in his last game, which made Sir Hall look at him differently, so he was listed as a regular as a reward.

Two of the biggest stars in this tournament were on the pitch, Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and England's Wayne Rooney. Interestingly, both are players from Premier League giants Millwall. Since European football added the Team of the Year selection, there has been a rumor among fans that 'Lions of the Half' are the best of the team, and it is no surprise that Millwall's supernova is now shining at the top stage of the European Championships. ”

After seeing Portugal's starting lineup, Aldridge calmed down for a while, and the tension was gone.

The most crucial point he focused on was Deco.

The word unity is easy to say, but in fact it is too difficult, every family has a scripture that is difficult to read, and the stronger the team, the more so.

The fame and fortune of a small team are not heavy, it is easier for a group of dicks to work together to fight the world and unite as one, everyone doesn't have the capital to think nonsense, but the strong team is different, the temptation of fame and fortune follows you like a shadow, it is not easy to concentrate on playing football, plus contributing to others and being willing to be a green leaf, the consciousness required is too high and too high.

Portugal also has problems similar to England, Rooney wants to play the main team, there must be a pimple in his heart, but what can Aldridge do? He couldn't figure it out himself, and Aldrich couldn't change anything if he wore out his mouth.

Portugal's problems stem from Deco.

He is Brazilian, and after obtaining Portuguese citizenship, he chose to play for Portugal, and as a result, a familiar master gradually disappeared from our vision.

Rui Costa.

Regardless of Figo's diswelcome of Deco, or Rui Costa's cold eyebrows with Deco, Scolari still insisted on using his Brazilian countryman, depriving Rui Costa of his main position.

Figo, Cristiano Ronaldo, Pauletta, these are all predictable Portugal absolute starters.

But Deco is still Rui Costa, and Aldridge will be afraid that Scolari will suddenly use Rui Costa, who is on the cold bench, to start.

The reason is that Deco's passing ability is not as good as Rui Costa, although other aspects, such as defense, fitness, and motivation, are better than Rui Costa.

But De Cobi Rui Costa is good and may not have the absolute upper hand in front of the English players.

On the contrary, Rui Costa's brilliant pass, the ability of a scalpel-like through ball to tear through the opponent's defense, is absolutely taboo for the England team!

How to play Portugal in the end, Aldridge didn't think too much about complicated things.

History gave him a reference.

The Greek team told him how to play Portugal.

Anti-reverse!

The Greek team defeated Portugal with a counter-attack, twice!

England will be stronger on the counter-attack than Greece, and they will not be unfamiliar with this kind of technical and tactical play, and the World Cup is won by defending and counter-attacking.

So putting aside what style, personal coaching characteristics, and miscellaneous thoughts, Aldridge doesn't need to think hard and think hard about what tactics to use to deal with Portugal, why bother to go far?

Besides, he didn't have to prove anything anymore.

He's just here to plunder the trophies, and in what way, it doesn't matter anymore.

After the group photo of the two teams in the finals, the game officially kicked off.

When Scolari watched the game for five minutes, his face instantly turned very ugly.

Malegobi.

Aldrich.

What the fuck, why are you fighting back again?

At the beginning, the tempo was not fast, and when Portugal controlled the ball and attacked, England retracted into the half.

Although the commentator said that England was playing 442, they actually went back to their 433.

Becky and Frank Lampard were behind in a position flanking Hargreaves, with Paul Scholes in central midfield, Steven Gerrard in front right and Wayne Rooney in the right.

England defensively is stronger defensively than two years ago, with Gerrard defensively stronger than McManaman, and Rooney being more aggressive than Owen in defensive impact.

Portugal's strength is on the wings.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Figo are on the right and left, and the two can switch positions at any time.

But what if they are good on the wings?

It's not about going back to the original problem, attacking, the wings are just supports, it's the middle that decides the game, whether it's inside the box or outside the box, the threat in the middle is much higher than on the wings.

It just so happens that Scolari has a tactical failure, which is the fatal factor that Portugal fears the most in defending against the back.

Pauletta plays as a single striker.

The striker who has been thriving in Ligue 1 has the best position as a second striker, a shadow striker.

As a single center, it is difficult for him to have room to play.

It's not that he's not strong, it's that he's not playing the strongest role.

Therefore, Portugal's stubborn disease is "weak edge".

It's not about the player's individual ability, just like Gerrard can play as a second striker, but if Gerrard is put in the center forward position, the effect will be greatly reduced, and he can only make limited responses, facing the goal to score? That's not going to be very efficient, because he's the opponent's first target, and it's hard to make a difference in a tight trap defense.

That's the dilemma Paoleta faces, there are people up front who can pull him in, attract the defence, he can unleash a huge threat, but on his own, it's very difficult.

Originally, Figo and Ronaldo tended to be on the wing, and Ronaldo's threat was higher than Figo's, but this was not enough, England shrank back and Portugal needed to activate more attacking points and insert unexpected candidates.

Deco has a steady pace and lack of explosiveness, and his first threat from the back is not lethal, and he still prefers to move widely in midfield rather than rushing to the front line.

Therefore, Aldridge is more afraid of Rui Costa's start, since it is all passing, the character who passes the lethal threat ball naturally plays a greater role, so at least when Pauletta covers Ronaldo, the delivery of the lethal threat ball will make England afraid.

After the opening, Portugal's focus was on Figo, who seemed a bit "alone".

Frequently break through on the side, most of the time sticky to the ball, this is understandable, today's Portugal, the absolute big brother is him, everyone else should be his green leaf, even Ronaldo is no exception.

His breakthrough is not bad, but the England team compresses the space in the danger zone, as long as he does not go over two lines of defense alone, basically only passing people on the periphery, and there is no big threat.

On the contrary, it was England who formed a golden opportunity to score in the 7th minute after the opening! (To be continued......)