But no, as Xavi and others age, the midfield passing tactics that the Spaniards are proud of begin to become less dominant, and Del Bosque seems to have become less magical.

In the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Spain was swept by the Netherlands 1:5, which marked the end of the Spanish dynasty.

Xavi started the game and played the entire game, and that game was his swansong for the national team.

Subsequently, the Spanish group also failed to qualify.

In those two years, Bosque made some adjustments to the national team. Marcos Alonso and Azpilicueta, who performed well at Chelsea, have become the main players of the team.

However, the Spanish team's performance is still mixed. In the last round of the European Cup group stage, it was quite surprising that it lost 1:2 to Croatia.

In fact, according to common sense, it would not be a surprise if Spain loses to Croatia, which has many stars such as Mandzukic, Rakitic, Modric, Perisic, Brozovic and so on.

But the problem is, the two teams have basically qualified before this game, so Croatia sent most of their substitutes to play, and many stars did not play.

And whether Spain can guarantee first place in the group, it will be the main lineup!

It turned out that just like Sweden VS Belgium, the substitute lineup won!

That also allowed the Croatians to send the Spaniards in front of the Swedish team.

Croatia will face Portugal, third in Group F, in the quarter-finals.

"It goes without saying what I just said. Since their original goal is to win the championship, they will find a way to defeat all the opponents along the way."

Pan Yi said at the beginning of the press conference: "Spain is just the first wrong leg standing in front of them!"

——

Pan Yi's confident remarks made the headlines of major media outlets in Europe and the world the next day.

After all, some people think that Pan Yi's remarks are indeed a bit too much.

Or is it too high-profile?

After all, no matter whether it was Denmark in 1992 or Greece in 2004, they did not shout the championship slogan as soon as they reached the knockout round.

Their goal at the beginning was really just to qualify from the group stage, and then they moved forward step by step, and it wasn't until the finals that they really started to have the heart to be champions.

After all, compared with other traditional strong teams, they are really not a small team, and they are not even considered worthy of accompanying the prince to study.

It was precisely in such a low-key place that they were initially ignored by the major teams, and then they made a sneak attack and succeeded in the final battle, becoming a Danish fairy tale and a Greek myth.

Now Pan Yi did the opposite and directly shouted the slogan of winning the championship... So what will happen?

I want to know, even if the traditional strong teams like Italy, England, and Spain don't shout like that, who am I, Sweden?

But Pan Yi's remarks will not excite more media and fans.

That's the Pan Yi they know!

The most eye-catching coach in the world of football, the best and most high-profile head coach in the world!

Wherever he is, there will always be a topic with the highest traffic volume!

Of course, the most important thing is that the Swedish team's wonderful performance in the group of death brought the European Cup to a climax early from the group stage!

Originally, many people believed that when the European Cup expanded to 24 teams, the group stage would become like a useless tournament, tasteless and abandoned.

However, the Swedish team suffered consecutive upsets and stood out in the group of death, which shocked people.

With the end of the group stage, many people began to be optimistic about the Swedish team, thinking that this team really has the potential to win the championship!

That's not just because of the result of 9 points in three games, but it can be analyzed from the tactics and situation.

The defense line led by Lindelof can be said to be getting stronger and stronger. The cooperation between him and the tall central defender Granqvist is becoming more and more skillful. The two men's replacement and ball delivery are all perfect.

Although the two fullbacks Olsson and Johansson are not as capable of both offense and defense as those wealthy fullbacks, they have also given full play to their technical characteristics. They attack when they should attack, defend when they should, and leave things to their teammates when they should.

No sloppiness either.

This makes the Swedish team's entire defense look very stable.

Coupled with the stable performance of the old goalkeeper Isaksson, the Swedish team actually achieved an amazing result of zero goals in the match against three teams in the death group!

This is probably what everyone praised Pan Yi most.

Everyone thought that he was able to organize such a strong line of defense despite not having many cards in his legs, which was very commendable.

It can be said that the effective training of the Swedish defense alone has shown the level of a top coach!

What's even more rare is that despite a solid defense, the Swedish team's offense didn't fall behind at all.

Although Ibrahimovic cannot be relied upon to score goals, it is not a simple tactic of "give the damn ball to Ibrahimovic".

In the new Swedish system, Isaac, Guidetti, and Forsberg have all made outstanding contributions in the offense and can provide good support for Ibrahimovic.

If I don't guard Ibrahimovic, Ibrahimovic will score;

If I put a lot of effort into Ibrahimovic, then the teammates next to Ibrahimovic will get more space, and they can also score goals.

That's a bit like Manchester City in 2023. Every team is thinking about how to guard Haaland, but once Haaland is really contained, then De Bruyne, Mahrez, Gundo behind him.

An and others can just give me something nice to look at.

Moreover, Pan Yi not only relies on that main lineup, but also people like Kulusevski, Weinblum, Marcus Berry and others have performed well after playing.

Perfectly completed the tasks assigned to them by Pan Yi.

They even defeated the star-studded Belgium with a full substitute lineup!

This also made many people start to be optimistic about the Swedish team, and their odds in bookmakers have also been rising, reaching 12 to 1!

Although it is true that no is better than those who are the favorites to win the championship, for example, after the round of 16, despite the strong teams in the eastern half, the host France still ranks first in the odds of winning, with 5 for 1 if no.

Among the other strong teams, Germany is 7 to 1, England is 10 to 1, and because Italy finished third in the group, the odds dropped to 17 to 1.

It is worth noting that although Belgium performed well in the group stage, because they accidentally jumped to the weaker half, and the strength of their team is indeed good, the odds of winning the championship are still as high as 1 to 9.

!

Spain, which will face off against Sweden in the round of 16, has odds of 11 to 1. This also shows that the gambling company believes that the probability of winning the championship is equal between the two teams, and the odds between the two teams are basically 50-50.

Or some people think that Sweden’s odds of 12 to 1 are not high, but considering that before the European Cup, their winning odds were only 126 to 1...

It can be said that there have been earth-shaking changes!

Of course, due to the changes in public opinion in the outside world, there is a relatively clear understanding within the Swedish team.

As the saying goes, strategy despises wrong legs, while tactics pay attention to wrong legs!

Pan Yi shouted the championship slogan outside to boost his morale, but there was no shortage of preparations.

He knows in his heart that if a team like Spain is allowed to really pass the ball and control, it will be very difficult to deal with it, especially since Swedish players generally have poor foot skills.

The war history between the two sides means that Sweden has completely fallen behind. They defeated Spain once, which happened in 2006.

In the European Cup qualifiers at that time, Sweden defeated the Spanish team, which had not really emerged, 2:0.

Therefore, Pan Yi constantly reminds his players to be cautious when training with the team.

Please play one game at a time, avoid arrogance and impetuosity in every game, and give your best!

——

Tomorrow is the top 16 knockout match against Spain. Pan Yi saw that the atmosphere in the team was a bit tense, so he made an exception to open family visiting time tomorrow.

A group of people will have dinner together, and after dinner, the family members will leave the hotel as usual.

At the same time, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden will also arrive in France tomorrow night.

He will also be accompanied by Carl Erik Nielsen, chairman of the Swedish Football Association, to the hotel to have a meal with the team and cheer the team on.

Pan Yi hopes that in this way, the players can relax and adjust the atmosphere of the Yidong team.

The Lord asks that Sweden, like the United Kingdom, is a constitutional monarchy. Their king is actually a virtual head of state, and his status is purely ceremonial.

Therefore, the arrival of the king will not put too much pressure on the players, but will give them a sense of respect and respect.

And King Carl XVI Gustaf is actually quite down-to-earth.

He often visits foreign countries, meets foreign guests, visits factories, supports welfare undertakings, etc. He likes to mingle with the masses.

Around the world, his best-known role is probably as the recipient of the annual Nobel Prize.

When he was young, he was graceful, unrestrained and suave. Even if he is older, he still likes to mingle with the female crowd.

According to a royal biography "Carl XVI Gustaf - The Reluctant King" released in November 2010, the Swedish king's hobbies included inviting strippers to have wild parties.

Those parties were held in a strip club in Stockholm that was associated with the Black Legs. The book interviews many women who participated in the wild parties, and they all said that they had some relationships with the king that went beyond friendship.

Mr. King also acquiesced to this. He said, "That is no longer an old thing. He once mentioned it to Queen Silvia. They reached an agreement and did not want to dig into the past..."

In short, when the king walked into the hall where the Swedish national team had a dinner, Ma Zai received a warm welcome from everyone.

Pan Yi, including captain Ibrahimovic and several core players, walked next to the king, had a cordial and friendly conversation with him, and exchanged views on topics of common interest.

The King of Sweden hopes that all players can put their burdens aside and be able to display their strengths and compete without pressure.

He said that he always believed that Pan Yi could lead the Swedish team to stand out from the brutal knockout rounds and reach the finals.

The words of Carl XVI Gustaf also received a positive response from the players. All the players said that they would go all out and strive to achieve something in this European Cup and win the German Cup.

Blauwai Cup) brought back to Sweden!
To be continued...