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Portugal is in the final of the European Championship for the first time in four years, and the king of the top half has been selected first.

The next thing to see is who the king of the lower half of the district is!

Russia VS Spain!

Russia's qualification to the semi-finals sparked a wave of football frenzy in Russia, and almost overnight, all Russians became football fans.

On the night Russia eliminated the Netherlands, about 700,000 Russians took to the streets to party all night. Then Austrian consulates across Russia were packed, and fans were heading to Austria to watch the semi-final between Russia and Spain.

A fan drove more than 1,000 kilometers overnight to Moscow to apply for a visa. A consulate official in Russia claimed: "We can't say how many people have applied for visas to go to the Olympics, but we can tell everyone that in order to get all the fans, we have been working overtime until the early hours of the morning every night for days, which was impossible before." ”

In Yekaterinburg, a stationery and souvenir shop owner claimed that everything in the store was sold out: "The fans came in with a cheer, all the flags, posters, everything that could be bought, and I had been a shopkeeper for more than ten years, and this was the first time I had encountered such a situation." ”

Head coach Guus Hiddink has become a household name in Russia, with people looking for ways to show their love for the Dutchman. A pair of parents named their newborn son "Gus. Hiddink", in the tourist resort of Aluta, local residents have erected a statue of Hiddink.

But there are joys and sorrows. Russia eliminated the Netherlands, and Hiddink could not escape the infamy of being a "traitor". For the Dutch fans, it was a painful result. Although 90% of Dutch fans said they could understand Hiddink's victory before the match between Russia and the Netherlands, it was still difficult for Dutch fans to accept the fact when it was actually in front of them.

After Russia's defeat to the Netherlands, the media feared that Hiddink would be retaliated against by the Dutch fans, but the truth was as the media speculated, Hiddink said in an interview today: "I haven't had anything like that, but my family is in trouble." Hiddink did not disclose the specifics, but it was clear that Hiddink had some scruples about it.

This isn't the first time Hiddink has encountered something like this. After the 02 World Cup, Hiddink coached the Dutch powerhouse PSV Eindhoven, and during these four years, he received many threatening letters from fans with bullets, and his elderly parents were also threatened, for which Hiddink repeatedly complained about the Dutch coaching environment.

Due to the excellent record, the Russian Football Federation is speeding up the contract renewal process with Hiddink, and even Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is courting Hiddink, saying in an interview: "If Hiddink has a problem with his personal safety in the Netherlands." Then I will grant Hiddink a Russian citizenship. "This shows Hiddink's place in the hearts of the Russians, a fantastic coach and a fantastic country, and we expect even greater miracles.

Russia will take on Spain in the semi-finals, which will be the second meeting between the two teams in this European Championship. In the group stage, Russia lost 1-4 to Spain in the first game, and the two sides met for the second time. Russia, led by Hiddink, will fight for revenge.

A mysterious "Super Polar Bear" stunned the whole of Europe in the quarter-finals against the Netherlands, with their amazing all-round strength and the supernatural individual ability of stars such as Arshavin. The easy dismemberment of a previously hard-to-match "clockwork orange" has led most media outlets to quickly include them as true favourites to win the tournament.

Unfortunately. Their opponents in the semi-finals were Spain, Russia's biggest nemesis in the theoretical sense of the word.

If there is one team in the other 15 teams of the European Championship that can contain the current Russian team that is amazing, skilled and in great form, it must be Spain. The reason is simple, the Russians' blazing attacking football is based on first-class individual skills and overall possession, and even the Dutchman's individual skills and overall coordination are much inferior to them. However, Spain is the only team that is superior to the Russian team in terms of individual skills and overall coordination, and when the "Super Polar Bear" meets the "Super Matador", the latter has more capital to win.

In the group stage, although the Russians had more possession than the Spanish team (the Russians had 56% of the possession time, and few teams could do this with the Espanyol), the Russians were still slightly inferior to the Spanish team in terms of the level of cooperation and one-on-one skills on the field.

However, although the Spanish team can theoretically contain the opponent, they must also have a premise in practice to achieve such an advantage, and this premise is that their coach Aragonés does not make a "stupid move", after all, in the face of the magical coach Hiddink, it is only too late to make amends if they make mistakes.

The tactics and substitutions that the Spanish coach likes at the moment are very unclear in his thinking, and they also limit the advantages of the Spanish team in a large way.

The main thing is that he always puts the talented commander Cesc Fabregas on the bench and always brings him on the pitch with Xavi, the playmaker who can be the most powerful in the middle of the field with Cesc Fabregas.

In this way, neither the starting 11 nor the 11 adjusted in the second half can really exert their power, and the Spanish team's most proud positional attack and one-kick ball coordination are constrained by unreasonable tactics, but give the opponent room to exert power.

There have been 4 meetings between the two sides in history, with Spain unbeaten with 3 wins and 1 draw. The most recent meeting between the two sides was in the first round of the group stage, when Spain thrashed Russia 4-1, with Villa netting a hat-trick and Cesc Fabregas netting his maiden goal for the national team.

The two teams also met in the group stage at Euro 04, when Spain beat Russia 1-0, and only four of the 28 players on both sides were Casillas, Marchena, Puyol and Sergiov.

Spain are currently injury-free and Aragonés will continue to use the same line-up from the first match between the two sides. The 4-1 victory made the Spanish media generally ignore Russia, but Russia, which has improved rapidly, made Zhisu feel careful: "I hope Villa and Torres can put pressure on the Russian central defenders." It is not a superficial harassment, but an appropriate, high-intensity oppression. I want them to get the ball off the feet of the opposition defenders, as quickly as possible. I've never seen a team get the ball from their own box to the opposition box as quickly as Russia. ”

Aragonés said at the same time. He will not send a special person to guard Arshavin: "We have to catch the opponent's mistakes, we will not play man-to-man defense against Arshavin, he is just one of the five best players in Russia, we will not change the tactical system. ”

Spain are playing away from home, and Russia have already opted for the red kit, and Spain will have to use the golden away kit. The somewhat superstitious Aragonese confessed that he did not like the shirt: "Personally, I don't like the colour. But it's not me who wears it, it's just the players. ”

From a big opening win to two stunners to a penalty kick promotion, Spain went downhill. Russia is the opposite. The heavy start did not dampen the morale of the players, and after successive victories over Greece and Sweden, Russia knocked out the favourites the Netherlands in the quarter-finals.

Hiddink is very proud of this qiē: "For a lot of my players, the 4-1 defeat was their first time playing in a major tournament. Since then, they have made tremendous progress, and I am not only proud, but even a little surprised. My goal is simple: to bring Russian football back into the European sphere of influence and show the world that modern football can be just as beautiful. ”

In the match against the Netherlands, Russian centre-back Kolodin received his second yellow card since the start of the game. He will be suspended for this game and Vasily Belevski will form a centre-back partnership with Ignaszevic. Tolbinski, who scored the winning goal last time out, will also be suspended for this game, with the combination of Arshavin and Pavlyuchenko being Russia's only hope of taking the lead. Arshavin missed his first match against Spain due to suspension, and the new tsar has a chance to bring shame to his country.

But. Spain has never lost in the semi-finals in the history of the Euros. At the 1964 European Championship on home soil, Spain narrowly beat Hungary 2-1 after extra time in the semi-finals. The Soviet Union won the tournament in the final, the only major trophy in Spain's history to date. At the 1984 European Championship in France. Spain eliminated Denmark on penalties in the semi-finals, but lost 2-0 to the hosts in the final to finish as runners-up.

Spain are unbeaten in the semi-finals. Hiddink, on the other hand, had the curse of a winless semi-final. Guus Hiddink led the Netherlands to the semi-finals in the '98 World Cup, but lost to Brazil on penalties in the semi-finals. 02 World Cup Hiddink led South Korea to the semi-finals in history, but was swept away by the grandfather of power football, Germany. This is the third time Hiddink has led the team to the semi-finals of the tournament, can the fantastic coach break the curse?

The referee on duty for this match was Belgian De Bricquere. De Briclet has a strict enforcement scale, and in the 4 games of the 06 World Cup, the Belgian averaged 4.75 cards per game. In the group stage, De Bricle whistled two penalties and showed six yellow cards and one red card in Croatia's 2-1 win over Germany. In the do-and-die match between Sweden and Russia, he showed a total of five yellow cards. In order to get out of De Bricle's hands, players from both sides will have to control their range of movement.

When I arrived at the game site, the real situation was very different from the picture rendered by the media before!

Is this really the same Russia that tortured Sweden and kicked the Netherlands to despair?

In the semi-finals against Spain, Russia was beaten to the ground, just as they lost 4-1 to their opponents in the first game of the group stage.

At this time, Russian coach Guus Hiddink's pre-match warning was still in his ears: "If we still want to play like the first game, we might as well not play at all." "If in the first battle against Spain, Russia's strength is still retained, then what happened to Russia today?

The most aberrations of Russia today compared to before are their offensive. Against Spain, Russia only had Pavlyuchenko's dangerous free kick in the first half, which was saved by Casillas (the referee also thought it was a goal kick), and the rest of the time there was no shot on target. It wasn't until the 88th minute that Sychev completed the first and only shot on target from Russia in the official statistics. As for Spain, the number of shots on goal was 11, which was a world of difference.

And the past two games. Russia plays attacking football like a strengthened version of the Dutch team. So even Dutch coach Van Basten went to the Russian dressing room to congratulate his opponents after the loss: "You are a truly modern team. "What makes the Russian offensive suddenly extinguish? The main reason, of course, is the disappearance of Arshavin.

In fact, it was Arshavin's comeback that pulled the bolt of the Russian gun. The 'new Tsar' has been perfect in the last two games, but today under the intense care of Spain, Arshavin almost evaporated from the game. In the whole game, Arshavin only passed a total of 24 balls and had only one shot on goal, giving no help to the Russian attack at all. Without Arshavin as a promoter, the Russian offensive naturally cannot find a direction.

There was news before the game that Arshavin had an awkward falling out with Hiddink, but this should not be the reason for Arshavin's sluggishness, the real problem should be in the style of play.

Arshavin has excellent technology. He becomes extremely dangerous when he has the ball at his feet, but the problem was that in today's game, the ball was almost always at the feet of the Spaniard. The combination of Andres Iniesta and Xavi was arguably the strongest midfield in the tournament, and Spain's midfield was further strengthened after Cesc Fabregas' appearance, spending most of the game on passes between the Spanish players.

Throughout the game, Arshavin ran a distance of 10,210 meters, which is not without effort, but he can't get the ball. Nature is powerless. The Spaniards used their best control to cut off Russia's strongest attacking point.

By sealing Arshavin, the power of the other Russian players was greatly reduced. Pavlyuchenko couldn't get a pass and, like Italy's Toney, was in a hurry. Zhirkov and other good players on the wing were suppressed by Spain's wing attack, and they could not play the momentum of the previous games, and Russia lost all its offensive methods. Wait until Spain breaks the deadlock. Russia had to press back and the game was back in the format of the first game of the group stage. Spain targeted Russia's defensive weakness and counterattacked, and easily completed a big victory.

Psychological factors cannot be ignored either. Reached the semi-finals of the World Series for the first time since independence. Since the presidency and the nation's attention, young Russia has not withstood the enormous pressure of these enormous expectations. Coupled with the desire for revenge, the Russian players are mentally unbalanced, and the Russians' impatience and eagerness can be seen from the first half, and the result is like a red-eyed bull being easily played by a matador, and the last sword pierces the heart.

In addition, today's weather is undoubtedly favorable for Spain. While rain can affect the accuracy of short passes, slippery ground can also affect the speed at which defenders can turn.

Russia's defense line itself has the weakness of turning slowly, and this weakness is infinitely magnified in the heavy rain. In the first half, Ramos and Villa frequently broke through the Russian defense by passing the ball through the ball, and Cesc Fabregas made this weakness of Russia a fatal wound after he came on.

Guus Hiddink also said after the game: "Cesc Fabregas came on and completely broke us. "Almost all three goals were scored by the Spaniard's use of his individual skills to easily shake the defense and send precise passes. If it weren't for the rain, Russia's defense might not have been so porous.

It can be seen from this that the reason why Spain defeated Russia again today is naturally related to the abnormal performance of the opponent, and it is also the result of a combination of technical style and objective environment such as weather.

Russia is not weak, but it is indeed difficult for Spain, just as Germany, which is considered to be the strongest in the upper half, lost to Portugal. Although they lost the game, the Russians should not lose self-confidence. As Hiddink said, "We are entitled to pride, and this is already a great miracle." "As the youngest team at this tournament (average age 26 years and 2 months), Russia still has a bright future ahead of them.

A duel that was originally highly anticipated by fans ended in a three-goal defeat to Spain by Russia, and the result of this disparity was unexpected by many.

But what is even more amazing is that the Russian team's sharp knife and number one star Arshavin boldly and successfully predicted before the game that the Russian team would stop in the top four. The pre-match prediction was even expressed by Arshavin in an interview with UEFA's official website, and Arshavin said: "We may lose this game because I have not played against Spain (Arshavin was suspended for the first two group games). I don't have any concept of this game. ”

Interestingly, Xavi, who opened the scoring for Spain in yesterday's game. Before the game, he also confidently said: The Spanish team defeated the Russian team 4:1 in the first group game. This gives the team a psychological advantage.

The Russians are a superstitious team, and although it was a lot of trouble to move their location, they moved their location from Basel, Switzerland, to the Danube Hotel in Vienna, Austria, before the semi-finals.

The reason for the frequent relocation of the station is that the Russian team was able to win one game every time the Russian team moved to the station.

While still based in Leogang, Austria, the Russian team defeated Sweden 2-0 in the last group game to qualify for the group; When the Russian team moved their residency from Leorgon to Basel, Switzerland. They thrashed the Netherlands 3-1 there and advanced to the last four. After three successive victories in Innsbruck, Salzburg and Basel, the Russians are back in Vienna, their last city to conquer at this European Championship. The semi-finals and possibly the final of the Russian team were held in Vienna.

So, under the superstitious law of "move to win", the Russian team moved from Basel, Switzerland, to the famous hotel Danube Hotel in Vienna. This hotel is located on the north bank of the Danube, and the Russian players have a great view of the Danube from their rooms. Unfortunately, the Russian team was not blessed by the law of moving to win. They ended up out of the tournament after a heavy defeat to Spain.

The Spanish team, known as the green matadors, has a traditional jersey in red, which is in line with their image as a green matador. Red is also the lucky colour of the Spanish team.

However, in yesterday's match with the Russian team, due to the draw of the Russian team, they wore red jerseys. As a result, the Spanish team had to wear yellow jerseys.

Before the game, some Spanish media thought that wearing the yellow jersey might be unlucky for the Spanish team. And some players in the Spanish team are of the same opinion. Even before the game, the coach of the Russian team, Guus Hiddink, was asked by reporters about Spain wearing the yellow jersey in the game. Hiddink said he would certainly prefer the team to wear a traditional jersey.

But. Superstition is superstition, the Spanish players did not pay attention to the game like the Russian team superstitious to move to win, and finally beat the Russian team to the ground, completely overturning the superstitious argument that the Spanish team had to wear a red jersey to win.

In fact, in addition to beating Russia twice in this European Championship, Spain and Russia were also in a group at Euro 2004, when Spain also beat their opponents 1-0, but neither team could qualify from the group at that time.

In the past 12 European Championships, Spain have only reached the final twice, the first was in the second European Championship in 1964, the final was in Madrid, Spain, Pereda took the lead for the Matadors in the sixth minute, and the former Soviet team's Kusenov equalized the score just two minutes later, and then Marcelino broke the ten fingers of the goalkeeper Yashin with a leap to seal the victory for the Matadors, and finally Spain defeated the former Soviet team 2-1 to win the Gold Cup.

It was a 20-year hiatus for Spain to reach the final of the European Championship for the second time, only this time the Matadors lost 2-0 to hosts France, with goals from Michel Platini and Bruno shattering the Espanyol dream.

Spain have played five matches in Switzerland and Austria, with an overall record of four wins and one draw, but the most crucial of those matches is clearly the quarter-final against Italy, and the most thrilling part is the penalty shoot-out. Spain has participated in a total of 6 penalty shootouts in history, and 3 defeats occurred on June 22 in history, and all of them were in the quarterfinals, in the 1986 Mexico World Cup penalty loss to Belgium, in the 1996 England European Championship penalty loss to England, in the 2002 South Korea-Japan World Cup penalty loss to South Korea, in addition to the 2000 Sydney Olympics men's football final, the Spanish Olympic team lost to Cameroon in the penalty shootout, Puyol, Marchena, Capdevilla and Xavi played in that game.

Three victories came at Euro 1984 in France, where Spain beat Denmark on penalties. In the 1/8 finals of the 2002 South Korea-Japan World Cup, the matadors eliminated the Irish team on penalties. The third penalty win came in the semi-final against Italy, so when Casillas saved shots from De Rossi and Di Natale, the Matadors ended a 22-year penalty curse at the European Championships.

It is not difficult to see from the series of numbers listed by the media that perhaps the final will be decided on penalties. (The novel "Flower Ball King" will have more fresh content on the official WeChat platform, and there will also be a 100% lottery gift for everyone!) Open WeChat now, click on the "+" sign in the upper right corner to "add friends", search for the official account "qdread" and follow, hurry up! (To be continued......)