The finale of the final day of the European Cup 1/8 finals, the Great Britain-Germany battle, finally kicked off this morning in Beijing time.
After a fierce battle full of gimmicks, the England team at home defeated the more promising German team 2:0 and broke into the quarterfinals.
Sterling opens the door to victory for England. Source: Osports All Sports Photo Agency
The two teams of England and Germany have been complaining in the football field for a long time, but most of the time it is the German team that has the last laugh.
The most famous one among this pair of rivals is the helpless sigh: Football is a simple sport. 22 people chase the ball for 90 minutes, and the Germans always win in the end.
But this morning's matchup is a basically 50-50 contest.
Although the German team has a slight advantage on the scene, the lack of a strong center is once again exposed, which makes it difficult for them to penetrate the English team's defense.
The England team hit 4 of 5 shots in the game. Based on a solid defense, Sterling and Kane scored in the second half, opening the door to victory for the team.
Kane finally won the European Cup. Source: Osports All Sports Photo Agency
The ability to seize opportunities ultimately determines the fate of the two teams.
This game also shows that the England team can reach the semi-finals in the last World Cup, relying on more than just good luck.
With the German team being blocked from the quarter-finals, Loew, who has been in charge of the team for 15 years, finally stepped down as the German coach.
If you count the time as Klinsmann's assistant, Loew has served in the German national team even longer.
This is the last game in which Loew will coach the German team. Image source: Osports All Sports Photo Agency
After the 2006 World Cup, Loew succeeded Klinsmann as the head coach of the German team.
In the following two World Cups, the German team, which completed the renewal, entered the semi-finals in a row and won the World Cup in 2014, which was also the pinnacle of Loew's coaching career.
However, in the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the defending champions of Germany lost to South Korea in the final round of the group stage and were eliminated.
Although the suspicion of Loew was once high, the German Football Association rejected all the arguments and kept him in office.
Before this tournament, Loew led his team to compete in the European Cup three times, securing the bottom four and entering the final once.
Therefore, after being eliminated by the England team this morning, this is also the worst record of the team led by Loew in the European Cup.
Data map: Germany won the 2014 World Cup championship
Love's departure also took away the youth of a group of fans.
In the past 15 years, the German team under Loew has risen to the peak and then slipped to the bottom. The ending also contains too many regrets.
With only more than a year left before the World Cup, the burden left to the successor of the German team coach Flick is not light.
Before the German team, the French team and the Portuguese team that climbed out of the "death group" have already been eliminated, and the German team could not hold on for a while longer than the brothers who were born and died.
At this point, the most discussed Group F teams before the start of the European Cup have been wiped out.
This group was dubbed the "death group", but neither the world champion France, the European Cup defending champion Portugal nor the German team with the best record in the history of the tournament, failed to go further after qualifying.
Carefully appraise the "Death Group", it turns out that it means this...
The group of death is really "death"
In another match that ended this morning, Ukraine defeated Sweden 2:1.
Zinchenko's goal gave Ukraine the lead, then Fosberg helped the Swedish team equalize, and the two teams entered overtime with a score of 1:1.
In the 98th minute, Danielson was sent off.
The Swedish team, with one less player on the field, fell in the last minute before the final.
After Dovbik received Zinchenko's pass, he headed the goal to complete the lore, and the Ukrainian team won the last eight tickets.
At this point, all the quarterfinals of the current European Cup have been released. The four teams in the upper half are Switzerland, Spain, Belgium, and Italy, and the Czech Republic, Denmark, England and Ukraine are left in the second half.
Among the eliminated teams, Portugal and Germany lost to the other favorites, while France and the Netherlands were both upset and out, which once again proved that Europe has no underdogs.
Quarterfinals against
The next quarter-finals will be held on July 3 and 4, Beijing time. The specific matches are: Switzerland vs Spain, Belgium vs Italy, Czech Republic vs Denmark, England vs Ukraine.
It seems that England is in a good situation, but the upper half is really hard to say.
Which two teams do you think will be able to compete in the final?