From Arsenal to the Ball God

All kinds of expecting eyes were cast upon them, bringing great pressure to the two, as well as the motivation to prove themselves at this position.

In general, they had only one path to take—to achieve great results!

Scoring the first goal in the tournament wasn’t enough, advancing from the group stage wasn’t enough either; one must challenge the scoring leaderboard, the other must strive to reach the semifinals!

Only then could they deliver a satisfactory answer and smoothly get through this summer.

However, as the captain and coach of this team, as the team spirit incarnate, they both suppressed this nervousness and excitement well, without anyone else noticing.

Just in a tacit glance, they learned of each other’s same feelings and then shared a knowing smile.

"Beep, beep!"

Off the field, the players of both teams soon appeared amidst thunderous applause and cheers, with Lewandowski and Karagounis leading the way as captains of Poland and Greece, respectively.

The match kicked off immediately, showcasing an incredibly fast-paced attack and defense rhythm and a fierce level of contention right from the start.

Ma’el watched for a while and realized this was indeed different from club matches; the two teams weren’t just playing football—they were fighting with all their might.

But unlike reckless desperation, they all knew that while giving their all, they must remain calm and rational, making the best choices with every touch using their minds at the fastest speed!

One might say that once you step onto this field, a player with only a 65% skill level could perform at an 80% level!

This is the difficulty of the European Cup, and this difficulty also reflects the gold content of being European Cup champions!

"Sagna, you’re the only one among us who’s played in a big competition. Can you tell us about it?"

Next to Ma’el, Koscielny poked Sagna. He evidently also realized this match was more difficult than he imagined.

"Let me think..." Sagna, who had played in the World Cup for ten years, recalled and organized his words, causing Ma’el to perk up his ears to listen.

"Firstly, the rhythm is different, as you can see. Everyone is running like mad, with no thought of conserving physical ability."

He pointed to the field below, where you could see almost everyone sprinting at full force around where the football was located. "Moreover, their adrenaline is soaring, offsetting their fatigue.

"Maybe after 70 minutes into the match, someone might suddenly cramp, but no one will stop running.

"They will keep running until they can’t get up or vomit... This will make the match maintain a fast pace from the 1st to the 90th minute, never slowing down.

"It’s like each team has not 11 people, but 13-15 people pressuring you, giving you stress."

Ma’el nodded slightly, agreeing with his statement. He recalled a statistic: the average running distance in each major league at the same time was around 10.3 kilometers, while the European Cup’s should be around 11.5 kilometers.

This is the most obvious data showing the difference in match rhythm between the two competitions—more running and more coverage, making each team seem to have 1-2 more players indeed.

And when these extra players are top-notch, the space on the field becomes very small, requiring everyone to complete passing and receiving at the fastest speed; otherwise, the opponent will immediately close in.

Ma’el was mentally prepared but not worried about this aspect.

From a physical ability perspective, this was his advantage; he held the running record for a single match.

From a technical standpoint, this was also his advantage. Even if he couldn’t perform actions as easily as at the club level, it was very difficult for the opponent to take the ball from his feet.

"Secondly is the error tolerance rate."

Sagna took a long time to say this point, his tone very serious. "Continuous intensive high-intensity battles will cause every team to experience injuries and fatigue.

"This is not occasional but frequent, almost inevitable for every team, depending on whether it’s a key position or a less important one and whether the team can have strong replacements.

"Moreover, the cup competition’s format is very cruel... Any small variable can affect the final result; you can’t predict it, nor can you salvage it when it happens.

"No matter how strong you are, if you encounter the referee’s major misjudgment, unadaptable weather and pitch, or core positions’ red and yellow card suspensions, you may be sent directly home at any time.

"Therefore, you need exceptionally high error tolerance and good luck, or a unique level of strength that can ignore all these to achieve good results."

Koscielny nodded, looking gravely at the field; some things they hadn’t considered before were only felt after the match started.

"Boom!!"

On the field, in the 17th minute of the match, the in-form Polish right midfielder completed a front-court interception, seizing the transition opportunity to pass the ball to Kuba, who crossed it.

The Greece team’s defense couldn’t react in time, and Lewandowski, unmarked in the center, hit a bouncing header, and the football went into the net.

One to zero!

The host leads!

"Wow...!!" Warsaw National Stadium erupted in the warmest cheers for their Polish hero; their favorite player scored the first goal of this European Cup.

Ma’el and the other players of France couldn’t help clapping and cheering, smiling. As footballers, being in this atmosphere, they naturally applauded for the exciting goal.

Especially the first goal to kick off the goal-fest of this grand event!

"Tonight, Lewandowski will become Poland’s hero. The magnitude of such heroism might be beyond our imagination!"