Chapter 824： Dark horses

Successfully held two sessions, the third International Champions Cup was fully expanded.

The tournament has expanded from the original eight teams to sixteen teams, divided into two major divisions in North America and Asia, with a total of four teams fighting against each other.

The North American Division still has two groups and eight teams, and the schedule basically continues the past two tournaments.

In Group A, Manchester City, Atletico Madrid, Juventus and Dortmund can be said to be the best.

These four teams are all strong, especially Atletico Madrid, last season's Champions League runner-up, outstanding strength.

But this season after letting go of Miranda, Juan Fran, Felipe, Mario Suarez, Turan and Raúl García, the strength of the team is somewhat affected.

In addition, after the team won the Champions League runner-up, Simeone determined to adjust the team's tactics and began to pay attention to the improvement of the team's control, coupled with the official positions of young players such as Montoya and Jose Gaya. , The actual combat capability of the Sheet Army is still somewhat affected.

But even so, the Sheets still drew with Manchester City, defeated Juventus and defeated Dortmund in the three games in Group A, and finally fell behind Manchester City by a goal difference.

Pellegrini's Manchester City finally qualified first in the group with a big win over Dortmund.

Juventus and Dortmund are third and fourth in the group respectively.

In Group B, Arsenal has been introduced to support this season, surprisingly with three consecutive victories, defeating Tottenham Hotspur, Paris Saint-Germain and Naples, and won the group's first qualification.

Paris Saint-Germain was second in the group, and Naples of Benitez was third in the group.

On the contrary, it is the most anticipated and the most eye-catching team in European football this season. Van Gaal led Tottenham Hotspur, but lost three straight in the warm-up match, humiliating the bottom out.

Regarding the team's poor performance, the Dutch coach repeatedly stated in an interview with the media that he was not surprised.

Because the team has just gone through a large-scale reorganization, the players still need to run in, even his head coach also needs to run in again, and Van Gaal also pointed out that the team's defense performance is getting better and better in three games.

This proves that the team is continuously improving.

Facts have proved that after being eliminated from the International Champions Cup, Tottenham Hotspur played warm-up matches with Juventus and Dortmund successively, winning two consecutive victories and performing much better than before. The improvement.

This also makes many people believe that Van Gaal's statement is credible.

In the semi-finals of the North American Division, Manchester City, the first in Group A, beat Paris Saint-Germain with a score of 2-1.

But Atletico Madrid, second in Group A, lost to Arsenal with a score of zero to one.

However, in the three or four finals, Simeone's team relied on Tevez's key lore to beat Paris Saint-Germain one-to-zero and got the third place in the North American division.

Manchester City defeated Arsenal in the final three to one and won the North American championship.

Although the North American division of this year’s International Champions Cup does not have super-popular teams such as Southampton, Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​the strength of each team is quite outstanding, the competition is fierce, and the competition is also exciting. Fans in the region, and even the whole world, are very addicted.

This is the case in the North American division, and the Asian division is also not to be outdone.

After learning from the experience of the chaotic organization of the Asian Invitational last season, this year's International Champions Cup Asian competition was organized more orderly and more successful.

Among them, the a group of events are mainly in several cities in Japan, South Korea and China, while the b group is in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Australia's Sydney and Melbourne.

Gathering the top European teams such as Southampton, Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Liverpool, Manchester United, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, every game in the Asian Division of the International Champions Cup can be described as a lot of attention.

Before the game, it was questioned by the outside media and fans, who believed that Monaco did not have the ability to participate in this level of the International Champions Cup, but in one fell swoop became the biggest dark horse in Group B.

The Dutch coach Ronald Koeman, who has just replaced Martino and took over Monaco, has only been in office for more than a month, but he led the Monaco team to defeat Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Manchester United in three games in Group B. How To win three consecutive victories is to make everyone startled.

You know, Monaco this season is bleeding heavily in the transfer market.

He sold Mangala, Depay and Aubameyang, the three main stars of last season. I didn't expect to be able to perform so well. How can we not be surprised?

What is even more surprising is that after winning the group first in three consecutive victories, Monaco narrowly defeated Southampton, who was second in the group b group, by a shocking score of one to zero in the semifinals. Surprisingly reached the final.

Especially in this game against Southampton.

Bielsa’s Saints had an overwhelming advantage almost the whole game, but goalkeeper Navas, as well as the central defender composed of Maquinhos and Abdunur, performed very well, coupled with a brilliant World Cup. Biglia continued his miraculous performance, and Monaco just withstood the tide of offensive from Southampton.

In the end, Belgian teenager Carrasco received an assist from Fekir, penetrated Neuer's goal, scored the winning goal for Monaco, and eliminated Southampton, the favorite to win the championship.

Southampton's performance in this year's International Champions Cup is indeed not outstanding. A very important reason is that none of the World Cup internationals played, especially the internationals of the final teams such as Brazil, Argentina and Germany. , It is directly refrigerated by Bielsa.

This is also for the consideration of the new season. After all, for these international players, after the World Cup holiday for a period of time, the return time is late, and they are still in the stage of adjusting their physical fitness. It is not appropriate to rush out.

The most worrying thing was the midfielder.

Bielsa arranged for Pogba, Fabregas and Matic as the main players. As a result, Fabregas seamlessly connected. Pogba performed very eye-catchingly. Both goals were impressive. Matic It is as stable as ever.

On the contrary, on the back line, Varane and the partners of Nastasic and Laporte were a little uncomfortable, and they all appeared in the game.

In addition, Cesar, who temporarily replaced Neuer's starter, did not perform as well as Neuer. In the end, Southampton won, tied and lost in the group stage, lost to Real Madrid, drew with Inter Milan, and won Liverpool. .

The most impressive in Group A is Klopp's Inter Milan.

Under Klopp's iron-blooded commander, the Nerazzurri went to Sweden for training camp for more than half a month. After coming to Asia, they showed quite excellent combat effectiveness, especially the tactical style with the distinctive Klopp brand.

Klopp basically continued his four-two-three-one tactic in Dortmund.

But the difference is that many people thought that Pellet, who would play a role similar to Lewandowski, failed to get the starter. Instead, Aubameyang played the center position, with Felipe Anderson and Dybala. And De Bruyne formed the offensive frontcourt.

Behind them, Khedira, Alan, or Naying Golan, all performed very well.

On the back line, Alex Sandro, Blind, Devry and Damian formed the line of defense.

The goalkeeper is undoubtedly Handanovic.

With this set of lineups, under the leadership of Klopp, he just matched Southampton and Real Madrid, not inferior, and even the style of the game is not conservative at all. The game can be described as very exciting.

In particular, the game that reversed Real Madrid two to one was even more spectacular.

Brazilian midfielder Alan's performance in this game is even more impressive. The offensive and defensive Brazilian is even more powerful than De Bruyne, who has passed and shot, and was elected the best player of the game.

On the contrary, it is the German midfielder Khedira, who is as low-key as ever, but it is crucial. He is the midfielder Klopp relies on most.

At least, playing three warm-up matches is enough to prove the importance of Khedira.

Unfortunately, in the end, Inter Milan fell behind Southampton with a goal difference, and had to be unfortunately eliminated as the third in the group.

However, Inter Milan's outstanding performance in the International Champions Cup has won worldwide recognition and affirmation.

Under the leadership of Klopp, following the two warm-up matches with Manchester United and Barcelona, ​​Inter Milan was one win and one loss, defeated Manchester United three to zero, and lost to Barcelona zero to one, regardless of the result or the process. Satisfying.

In the end, in the three or four finals in the Asian division, Southampton lost to Bayern Munich again, and unfortunately took fourth place, failing to continue its previous outstanding performance.

The dark horse Monaco also failed to perform a miracle. In the final, after a 70-minute lead and finally equalized by Real Madrid, it reversed in overtime and eventually lost the championship.

But Koeman's team has undoubtedly left an extremely deep impression in the hearts of fans all over the world.

It is especially commendable that the Monaco player lineup is very young. On the basis of following the gorgeous offensive football of his predecessor Martino, Koeman has further injected the changeable tactical cooperation, which has further improved the overall strength of Monaco. .

After the time entered August, the champions of the two major divisions of the International Champions Cup were released.

The champions of Manchester City and Real Madrid are well deserved.

Continuing the brilliance of the past two sessions, although this tournament has expanded, the market is still hot, the stadiums are full, and a ticket is hard to find.

Coupled with high-level exciting events, star-studded giants duel, fans all over the world are hooked.

As the Wall Street Journal commented when reporting.

"The International Champions Cup has spent more than half a month in a football feast sweeping the world. It has once again expanded its brand and enhanced the value of the event, proving that it is a well-deserved ace event with the highest gold content in the football warm-up field! "

"What is even more exciting is that after this year's large-scale army expansion, the still-hot market in the International Champions Cup allows everyone to see the huge potential and bright development prospects of this event."

"But in addition to achieving great success on the football field, the International Champions Cup not only helped the participating teams greatly expand their influence, but also achieved outstanding results in the commercial field."

"This year’s biggest dark horse, Monaco has signed three sponsorship contracts in Asia, and two more are in talks. Inter Milan, who has performed well, has also signed two blockbuster sponsorship contracts. The team not only created momentum for their own team in New York, but also signed a huge sponsorship contract."

"In addition, like Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Southampton, Barcelona and Manchester United...Almost all participating teams have benefited from this event, which undoubtedly makes people see the value of this event."

"With time, the International Champions Cup may become the most commercially valuable club event outside the UEFA Champions League!"

"As the organizer of the International Champions Cup, Miracle Media also attracted the attention of investors because of the popularity of the event. Another event hosted by this company, the UEFA Youth Champions League, has also entered its third year. Began to attract the attention of investors and sponsors."

"As an important event for the youth teams of European clubs, although the influence of the UEFA Youth League is not as good as that of the International Champions Cup, it has also attracted the attention of many fans in the past two years."

"It is reported that Miracle Media has reached an agreement with a number of event broadcasters. Starting this year, this event will be broadcast live in Europe. This is undoubtedly a very good start."

"It is especially worth noting that when we interviewed the CEO of Miracle Media, he also revealed to our reporter that Miracle Media is secretly preparing a brand new event, and that it has also obtained authorization from UEFA and FIFA. , Once the time is right will be officially announced."

"In Mr. Sun's original words, this will be a blockbuster event that will change the pattern of international football!"

"After seeing Miracle Media's International Champions Cup and the European Youth Champions League, the more prosperous it is, we really have reason to look forward to their new season."

As soon as the Wall Street Journal report came out, it immediately caused a huge response all over the world.

After successfully running the International Champions Cup, Marvel Media has to create a new event?

What event is that?

What is the basis for changing the current pattern of international football?

All of this has made fans all over the world who care about and love football, and media reporters appetite.

Therefore, while Yang Huan was attending an event in Beijing, reporters on the scene threw questions to Master Huan.

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