Xinhua News Agency, Munich, June 14 (Reporter Gong Bing Yue Dongxing and Liu Yang) The 2024 European Football Championship kicked off in Munich, Germany, on the 14th. The host German team beat Scotland 5-1 in the opening battle. Next, other European powers will appear one after another. Who will win the championship? "Dark horse" appears The five questions of the European Championships explore the mystery.
Who will win?
The last time England, the world's fourth most valuable team in the European Championships, won the championship was back to the 1966 World Cup. The England team, led by world-class stars such as Cain and Bellingham, is the most popular team to win the European Championships this year. They have made outstanding performances in recent world competitions, and won the runner up in the last European Championships. The England team, which has never won the European Championships, is looking forward to "bringing football home".
The French team has not only talented veterans such as Gretzman and Giroux who are willing to be "green leaves", but also superstars such as Mbape and Denbelle, as well as "versatile player" Kamavenga, and Zaire Emery, who is only 18 years old but occupies the main position of Paris Saint Germain, the French First Division hegemon, relying on excellent physical quality and mature football style beyond age. Although Mbape failed to lead the "Greater Paris" to win the coveted European championship this season, he is still in a hot state, winning the best scorer in the French league for a second time. After resolving the disagreement with the "Greater Paris" and moving to Real Madrid, he can also lead the French team to attack the third European championship of the Shidi team with peace of mind.
After winning the World Cup in 2014 and achieving the great cause of "four stars", the performance of the German team has declined in the past decade. The 2018 and 2022 World Cup group matches were eliminated, and the last European Championship ended in the top 16. In recent years, the German team has gradually completed a "blood change". The composition of the team is no longer the largest in Bayern Munich. Instead, the new German Bundesliga champion Leverkusen, European champions Dortmund, German champions Stuttgart and Bayern jointly contributed more than half of the national players to the German team. In the four friendly matches this year, the German team performed commendably, beating the champion France and Netherlands 2-0 and 2:1 respectively.
After the big victory over Scotland in the opening battle, the "German chariot" has sounded the horn of revival.
Who is the "dark horse"?
Remember the "Danish Fairy Tales" in 1992? At that time, the Danish team entered the competition temporarily. Under the unfavorable situation that only two weeks of preparation time was available and the midfield commander Michel Laudrup could not participate, the team reached the final all the way and finally won the first European Championship crown in the history of the team.
Remember the 2004 "Greek Myth"? Greece won the first and only European championship in its history by defeating the host Portugal. Journalists who were interviewing in Greece at that time fully felt the ecstasy brought by the champion to Greek fans and the spiritual boost brought to Greek citizens on the streets of Athens.
Who has the "dark horse" temperament in this European Championships? Romania may be one. Old fans may remember how spirited the Romanian team was in the times of Haji and Radujo, but in recent years, the Romanian team's sense of existence is not strong. However, in the preliminary round of the European Championships, the Romanian team outdid the Swiss team in the same group and qualified first in the group. During the race, the overall strength of Group E where the Romanian team is located is not too strong, and it is possible to continue to create miracles.
The 2002 World Cup (the third place) and the 2008 European Championships (the last four) were the highlight moments of Turkey, but since then it has been difficult to sustain. In the preliminary round of the European Championships, Turkey beat Croatia to finish first in the group. Compared with the bad performance of losing all three matches in the last European Championship group match, losing eight goals and only scoring one goal, the strong contrast makes Turkey more eager to prove itself in Germany.
In addition, the Serbian and Slovenian teams, which both qualified second in the qualifying group, and the Polish, Swedish and Danish teams, which are characterized by overall defense and efficient counter attack, are also expected to surprise fans.
Whose "last dance"?
Shaohua is fleeting, who will welcome the "last dance" in this European Championships?
In May this year, Cross, 34, announced that he would hang up his boots after the European Championships. The opening game performance of the German midfielder was perfect - 102 of 103 passes were successful, with a success rate of 99%, which is the highest success rate of more than 100 passes in a single game since the statistics of the European Championships.
Another famous player who announced his retirement from the national team after the European Championships was the 37 year old French striker Giroux, who had 15 goals and 8 assists in 35 Serie A matches this season.
The 39 year old Ronaldo will set foot on the European Championships for the sixth time in history. In the recent warm-up match between Portugal and Ireland, Ronaldo scored two goals. Is this European Championship the last time for Ronaldo? We are not sure, because the powerful Ronaldo will always be on the way.
Modric, 39, Noyle, 38, and Lewandowski, 36, will they welcome the "last dance"?
Whose "first time"?
Georgia, with a population of less than 4 million, qualified for the European Championships for the first time through the European preliminary play off.
Georgia's team is worth 160 million euros, of which Napoli winger Kwalatzhelia alone accounts for half of the team's value. Kwalatzhelia has played 34 games in Serie A this season, with 11 goals and 6 assists. His performance will largely determine the performance of Georgia.
Georgia, Portugal, Turkey and the Czech Republic are in Group F of this European Championships, and it is not easy to qualify. It is its pragmatic goal to qualify as the third team of the four best teams in the group.
Serbia also ushered in its first European Championship race. This typical Balkan team is full of physical strength and tenacious style. It is good at high altitude and simple and efficient impact flow tactics. Long pass and flying are its powerful offensive weapons. However, due to the similarity of many players' styles, there is often a lack of organizers in sports games, which leads to a single attack tactics when they face strong teams.
Who is dancing together?
There are 13 official global partners in Euro 2024, 5 of which are from China. Since Hisense was the only Chinese enterprise at the European Championships in France in 2016, and now five Chinese enterprises have jointly appeared at the European Championships, China has become the largest exporter of top sponsors of the European Championships. The overseas influence of Chinese brands is growing with each passing day.
It is understood that Hisense provided VAR (video assistant referee) display technology support for this European Championships, BYD provided official new energy vehicles, Alipay, AliExpress and Vivo provided payment technology, cross-border e-commerce and smart phone services respectively. From commercial sponsorship to product support to technical cooperation, Chinese enterprises are increasingly involved in the European Championships. Taking Hisense as an example, the enterprise provided display technology support for the referee headquarters of Leipzig VAR during the European Championships to help the referee make more accurate judgments. This technology was applied in the opening battle on the 14th. This is the first time in the history of UEFA to open the rights and interests of VAR display technology, which means that China's display technology has been tested and recognized.
The remarkable changes in the way and depth of Chinese enterprises' participation in world-class sports events show the new atmosphere of Chinese brands and the new strength of Made in China.
