Having experienced the luxury of the Theater of Dreams and the exquisiteness of Anfield and St. James' Park in England, Millwall's players looked at the Bran Stadium and felt that it was obviously not worthy of the status of the European competition, and its capacity was larger than that of the Lion's Den.
Small, at first glance, the attendance rate is very high, with not many empty seats, but in fact the number of attendees is less than 15,000, including nearly 2,000 Lions fans who came from afar.
Most of the Nordic countries are vast and sparsely populated, and the population base is there. Compared with Bergen's population of about 200,000, the number of people who come to watch the football is actually a very considerable number. This is also caused by Brand.
Gifted by the football mania.
Millwall fielded its strongest team today. Aldridge just asked Ballack to replace Pirlo in the midfield. The tactical requirement was to rely on defensive counterattacks. 433 was more conservative and became 4231.
Bran came up with a set of 433, three forwards plus three parallel midfielders and four defenders. Nordic countries often have speedy wingers. It is normal for them to play a tactic of flying together on both wings. This extends to the national team and is often seen.
One characteristic.
When the game started, Aldridge sat on the coach's bench. The fans in the stands cheered and cheered. There was no friction between the home and the away parties. Originally, Bran fans felt that Millwall's reputation was hard to live up to. Millwall fans
I feel that Bran fans are all lower-class people and do not understand the appreciation of real football at all.
If it is a wealthy opponent, I will use my momentum to compete with you, so that it can match the strength of the team, but Bran? It seems that it is beneath the dignity to compete with them.
Aldridge has been thinking about why opposing coach Calvin Nice looks down on Millwall.
Is it a smoke bomb?
But I don’t seem to have seen anyone setting off smoke bombs with an attitude of extreme contempt. Most smoke bombs are meant to belittle oneself and lower one’s posture.
Perhaps this has something to do with Millwall's promotion in the previous rounds. Millwall previously sent out a substitute lineup to play in the cup. In the previous round, they faced the Swiss powerhouse Sion in two home and away rounds. They only won a small victory by one goal, and the game was relatively dull.
.
Now Aldridge has space for the main lineup to charge forward. He also deliberately brought the whole team. The other players who cannot play are just a way of getting used to the rhythm of long-distance travel in the middle of the week. They don't necessarily have to play football, but their bodies need to
Adapt and learn to adjust your self-state.
Although the European Cup Winners' Cup is the second most influential club cup in Europe, it actually does not have enough gold. It is known as the king of cup competitions. But consider that only one cup champion from each country participates. Unless the defending champion cannot obtain a Champions League seat, it will
Will continue to compete in the European Cup Winners' Cup in the second season. The domestic cup competition is already full of
Occasionality. In addition to the high competition pressure in mainstream leagues, it is common for cup champions to be won by mid-tier and lower-tier teams. Suppose that in the five major leagues, only two or three cup champions in a season are won by mid-tier teams. Then next season’s European cup championships will be won by mid-tier teams.
The team composition of the Cup Winners' Cup may not include a few familiar traditional strong teams.
This is unlike the Champions League, where the traditional giants have a stronger dominance over the league. Although the Champions League only involves one team from each league, the league championship will not be won by non-rich clubs on a large scale every year, so the Champions League has a very high gold content.
This phenomenon did not decline in the value of the Champions League until more than ten years later when Platini played a balancing act and engaged in "poverty alleviation" in European countries.
Therefore, Millwall advanced all the way to the quarter-finals. The opponent they faced was still the unknown Bran. Of course, their opponents probably thought the same. It was the first time in the history of Millwall's team to compete in the European war, so its name was naturally not famous enough.
.
After the opening, Millwall played a bit conservatively. The pace was also slow. The players kept in mind Aldridge's instructions to defend first and then attack!
Bran's side attacked more fiercely, and the players seemed to trust their skills with their feet. After receiving the ball, the wide players repeatedly tried to break through with the ball. Millwall was not taken seriously at all.
Aldridge saw his opponent press boldly and play extremely unrestrainedly, and he put all the speculations in his mind behind him.
It doesn't look like a smoke bomb.
I am really despised!
Bran's player on the left strides to pass the ball past Schneider. His intention is very obvious. Although Schneider will be overwhelmed by McManaman, McManaman's dribbling is very good with the combination of man and ball.
The style is indeed not easy to mark, because once the defensive player makes a move, it is easy for the opponent to change direction and pass him. Schneider is not as strong as Thuram and can directly block the position to ensure successful defense. Even if he cannot intercept the ball,
Don't even think about it.
But when faced with an obvious flaw in the distance between the ball and the player from Bran, Schneider was not afraid. He predicted that his opponent was going to hit the ball, turned around and got stuck in position, and then half-turned to protect the ball. This turn
He left his opponent behind, then took two steps forward with the ball, observed the situation in front, and then made a straight long pass.
Bran's formation was a little higher. Before Schneider passed the ball, Shevchenko started from the center line. When the ball crossed the center line, Shevchenko had already rushed through the space between the full-back and the center back.
In the past, after the ball hit the ground, Shevchenko caught up with the ball. At this time, he took another step forward, completely leaving Bran's entire defense behind.
He did not continue dribbling, but kicked the ground ball across the middle.
The ball rolled past the chasing center back. In the middle near the penalty area line, Trezeguet rushed between the two center backs. Without stopping the ball, he pushed the ball towards the far corner of the goal.
go.
The goalkeeper made a flying move and stretched out his hand to block it, but the shot was from a tricky angle. Even at the end of the flying move, he was unable to save the shot. He could only watch the ball roll past the goal post and into the goal.
After Trezeguet scored, he pointed at Shevchenko and ran over. The Millwall fans in the stands jumped up and down with excitement.
Did you see it? This is the power of our crazy lion!
"Millwall scored a goal... Well, they only used two passes and one shot to break through Bran's goal. The right back Schneider made a long pass, and the right winger Shevchenko was in front.
After receiving the ball on the right side of the field, he passed the ball across the middle, and forward Trezeguet shot directly and scored. It seems that Millwall is indeed very powerful, but is this style of play a bit conservative? This is the British long pass."
The Norwegian commentator sounded a little embarrassed. For the first ten minutes of the game, he had been praising Bran's offense and belittling Millwall's conservatism. The sudden goal not only struck the Bran fans at the scene like lightning, but the commentator was also confused for a moment.
At a loss.
Brann started a strong counterattack after losing the ball at home. Millwall took the lead. The players' mentality suddenly became calmer and they played more calmly. The players on the field also quickly entered the state.
Bran's penetrating ball from the center was accurately intercepted by Makelele, and then passed the ball to Ballack who was running. The latter passed the ball directly to the frontcourt. Trezeguet, who took the ball with his back, did not turn around and directly
Passed the ball to Nedved who came in at high speed in the middle.
After the iron-willed Czechs started at full speed, Bran's midfielder could not catch up. When Nedvěd received the ball, he moved forward without losing speed and broke through Bran's defense. He went to the meeting alone.
A powerful volley sent the ball into Bran's goal. In the 27th minute of the game, Millwall took the lead by two goals!
The Bran players were dumbfounded, Millwall's offensive and defensive transition was too fast!
This made it impossible for their thinking to keep up. From defensive success to counterattack scoring, Millwall's team chemistry was incredible to them, especially the frequency of ball transfers. They would not stay at the feet of a certain player for too long.
Bran coach Calvin Nice roared angrily on the sidelines, venting his dissatisfaction to his disciples. Two goals were scored at home. If they could not score, their European war journey would almost be over.
Aldridge has always been sitting on the coach's bench. To be honest, he has not studied Bran's game videos before. It cannot be said that he is looking down on his opponent, but he does not think it is necessary. The strength of his own team is definitely better than that of the opponent.
. As long as he is more cautious tactically, he should not encounter Waterloo.
If he asks the players to attack fiercely from the beginning, there may be problems. In any case, in the European war, it is an away game. You should defend first and then attack.
The more fiercely Bran's players attack, the greater the holes in their defense. Often their offense ends just outside Millwall's penalty area. When they turn around, Millwall's counterattack makes their defense crumbling.
Larsson didn't seem to be wearing shooting boots today. A single shot hit the side net, and his long shot from the left side of the penalty area was also ridiculously high.
"Is he letting things slip on purpose?"
Aldridge turned and joked with Benitez.
Benitez also had a rare moment of humor and said: "It's possible that Sweden is next door to Norway. A hundred years ago, they were still the same family."
Maybe the number of goals scored in the league has gone too far. Although Millwall's recent league games have always been winning and mediocre, Larsson started every game and averaged one goal per game.
It has something to do with all the penalty kicks being given to him. The number of goals in the league has reached 27, and the Premier League Golden Boot should have been
It’s gone now. All that’s left is to see if they can hit the European Golden Boot. This year, the European Golden Boot has adopted a points evaluation standard, making it slightly better for shooters in mainstream leagues to win awards than before. After all, when points evaluation criteria were not used in the past, some small European players
The number of goals scored in the league is astonishing, making it beyond the reach of mainstream league shooters.
The Bran players were rushing back and forth on both offense and defense. Compared to them, Millwall seemed more calm, and control of the game gradually fell into Millwall's hands.
In the second half of the first half, the Millwall soldiers found that the opponent could not attack, so the two full-backs also began to take turns to provide assists. After Schneider got the ball on the right, he was like no one and broke through easily.
The opponent's full-back did not pass the ball in front of the goal, but passed back to the penalty area.
At the top of the arc, Nedvěd lightly used the arch of his foot to pad the ball. The defensive players who were rushing toward him suddenly braked. The ball was easily removed and passed to the side, where Ballack ran up.
Facing this comfortable ball, he took a long shot.
The quality of this long-range shot is very high. In addition to its speed, the angle is also very tricky.
Make a sound.
The ball hit the inside of the goal post and bounced into the goal.
Ballack raised his fists and moved them up and down. This was his first European goal, so he was naturally excited.
"Millwall scored the third goal. The first half is not over yet. However, the suspense of promotion should have disappeared. Bran and Millwall are not on the same level at all. What on earth is this team from England doing?"
Appeared? I have never heard of such a powerful team in England before! Their players all look top-notch, and Bran is no match for them..."
The Norwegian commentator was helpless and frustrated. If it weren't for his respect for his hometown team, he might have added this sentence in his commentary.
"Coach Calvin Nice, half of your pre-match rhetoric came true. Yes, in the first leg of the European Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finals, Brann's home game really made the suspense disappear. However, going to London in the next round will not
It’s your team that hopes to make a comeback.”
Bran coach Calvin Nice has sat down dejectedly. The team is three goals behind. He has no way to do it. He can't attack and can't defend. Should he surrender? But he still has the second half!
Poor Millwall, the last round you played in was never the fierce guy you are now!
