Chapter 73: The European Cup Mania

"Mark, I heard that you were removed from the national youth team. What's going on?" Jack Ma hurriedly called and asked after hearing that Mark was removed from the national youth team.

"It's nothing. Someone wants to destroy me and then get rid of me. It's that simple. But Dad, don't say that to others, otherwise it will be very troublesome." Mark told Jack Ma's truth and then told his father not to tell others the truth.

"I just said that my son would definitely not do such a thing. I know that, don't worry, by the way, you don't have to come back to China. Your mother and I are going to continue traveling. There are many places in China that we have never been to. You promised me that you should do what you promised me to do quickly. Remember to get married first." Jack Ma finally did not forget to tell his son to propose to Koros.

"Did it call from my uncle? Is there anything wrong? Otherwise, we'll go to China again," Colos asked after seeing Mark hanging up the phone.

"Nothing is wrong, just telling me they are traveling so we don't have to go back." Mark did not tell Colos his father that he asked him to propose to Colos. Mark thought it would be better for this incident to be surprised.

Now Mark, Colos and Momo have booked their flight tickets to Portugal and then the three of them went to Portugal for vacation. Of course, this series of things has been completely left to the agent Momo, who made Momo work for Mark now, so these things are also what Momo should do.

The end of Mark's trip to Portugal is mainly vacation and watch football as a supplement. Anyway, the scenery in Portugal is indeed good.

The plane landed in Porto, Portugal. Mark came here for his own purpose. One of the purposes is naturally to watch the opening ceremony of the European Cup. This is a four-year competition. Moreover, due to the team's strength, it can be said that the value of the European Cup is far beyond the World Cup.

Mark may not be able to participate in such international competitions in his entire life, of course, because of his international problems, so for players like Mark, who cannot participate in the European Cup, naturally, they want to watch the European Cup style as an audience.

Moreover, Mark has never watched the opening ceremony of such a high-level game on site, so Mark also wants to experience the fanatical atmosphere of the European Cup.

Porto, located at the mouth of the Doro River, is the second largest city in Portugal. The Doro River winds through the entire city, and there are many famous historical buildings in the city. More importantly, Porto is the distribution center for wines in the upper reaches of the Doro River. Porto wines with sweet quality are known as the "No. 1 Ambassador" of Portugal.

"Mark, I have booked a hotel, but since the European Cup is approaching, there are many people in the hotel now. Can we just do it?" Momo said to Mark after everyone got off the plane.

"Dear, do you think it's OK?" Mark asked to Colos.

"I don't need to see it anymore. Will we live with Sylvia soon? Just call her then. Anyway, I have no objection to where I live." Colos said with a smile. She is in a passionate love period and she has no demands on other things when she is with Mark.

"Sister, I'm in Porto now. Do you want to play with us? Is it still early anyway?" Mark called Sylvia.

Sylvia is now with members of the Dutch national team's wife and girlfriend group. When she heard Mark's call, she went to Porto to meet Mark and others without hesitation. Especially after Sylvia and Kolos met together, it seemed that there was endless topics to talk about.

"Have you met in the United States? Why does it seem like you haven't met for a long time?" Mark said sourly as he looked at the intimate look of the two of them.

Mark's words made the three laugh, "Mark, are you jealous? Do you even eat your sister's jealousy?" Sylvia said as she patted Mark's shoulder.

"Hey, sister, you are so charming, both men and women, when will you marry Raphael home?" Mark spread his hands and said jokingly.

"Don't worry, I will naturally find you to be your best man. My dear brother, when you get married with Du Chen, you must let me be your bridesmaid." Sylvia said with a smile.

"By the way, do you have any room in your hotel? Will we stay together then?" Mark still wanted to solve the problem of where he lived.

"No problem, leave it to me. The players have privileges, just call," Sylvia said.

Everyone was wandering on the streets of Porto, and everyone was dining in Porto's more famous buildings, such as the torredosclerigos, the Crystal Palace, the Porto Cathedral, the Monk Tower, the Duro Estuary, and the Freedom Square. Mark looked like a curious baby and liked this and that, so he bought a lot of things in a short while.

"Mark, you will definitely come to Portugal when you participate in European competitions in the future. Why do you buy so many now?" said silently as Mark holding several bags of things.

"I don't know when I met Momo, as a Chinese, you should know that you have to bring some gifts home once when you go out, or collect or give them to your friends." Mark said to Momo.

I understand this more quietly. Generally, Chinese people buy some souvenirs when going out, but Mark seems to buy a lot of them. Portuguese blue flower tiles and Portuguese blue flower tiles are very representative. White-based blue flower tiles are also pasted indoors. The size of the porcelain tiles vary, with Portuguese scenery on them. There are many kinds of porcelain trays, blue flower bags, cork products, etc.

After walking around the street, everyone came to a restaurant. When they came to Portugal, they naturally had to taste the local delicacies.

Portugal is located on the coast of southern Europe, with the "fedding" of the warm currents of the ocean, with a mild climate and rich seafood. This gift from heaven has naturally become the main ingredient of Portuguese cuisine. You can taste simple grilled fish, which is always so fresh. As you think, fish and seafood are widely distributed throughout the coastline, and seafood and fish bibimbap are wise choices.

One of the major features of Portuguese meals is the top-quality fresh cod (the "Majiexiu" salted fish after pickling), swim shrimp, crab and various shellfish seafood, soaking the same set of appetizers and main courses. The wines that are tasted in conjunction with these dishes are Portuguese wine. The owner said that in Portugal, each meal is accompanied by different wines. The Portuguese cannot do without wine, and some even drink wine as water. It can be seen that wine has the status of the Portuguese in the hearts of the Portuguese.

When tasting the appetizer, it can enhance the taste by serving it with the grape white wine, a specialty of northern Portugal.

The appetizers that came out seemed familiar, but after careful taste, I found that it was different - the general Portuguese-style crab cover is to mix fresh crab meat with onion and stir-fry it into crab shells, and eat one. The crab meat is mixed with light salad sauce and onion, and then spread with cheese and baked it with a little baked - I thought this would bring out the umami flavor of the crab meat. Another tomato sauce, the rich aroma of the tomato sauce and the umami flavor of the clams is also matched appropriately, but there are a little more clam shells, which is not enough to eat.

The appetizer is served with vinhoverde, another specialty other than Portuguese wine. It has a fruity aroma in the mouth, and its "green and tender" feel just brings out the "umami flavor" of seafood.

After enjoying a rich meal, everyone quickly continued to play in Porto, but Sylvia left halfway because he was still worried about Van der Fate. The Dutch national team did not train in a closed manner, and Van der Fate could also come out to date Sylvia frequently.

Now there are three more people left in Mark's small tourism team, but although there are few people, everyone is having a lot of fun, and it will soon be the day when the European Cup officially begins.

The opening ceremony of the European Cup was officially held at 15:45 on June 12th local time. Mark could not buy tickets, but because Mark's current identity is different, Momo got three tickets through his relationship with Ajax. Of course, this is also a blessing for those players in Ajax, because the players all have a certain share of tickets for their wife and friends to watch the game. So Momo also easily got these tickets.

Mark appeared as an audience at the opening ceremony of the European Cup for the first time. The director of the opening ceremony, Ann Dias, was very creative in his conception of this event: once, Portugal discovered the world; and now, the world should re-understand Portugal!

Before Portugal's opening match against Greece, the host welcomed 16 teams and guests from all over the country to Portugal through a 10-minute opening ceremony.

Against the backdrop of original music, the opening ceremony shows the connotation of war, history, world changes and football. The 9-minute performance climaxed in the ups and downs of the crowd formed by nine hundred people. The audience can receive various souvenirs representing the past, present and future of Portugal.

As the ship arrived at the central circle arc of the stadium, the national flags of all the 16 national teams participating in the European Championship appeared on the stadium. The fans in the stands waved blue rakes and danced together. At this time, the mascot of this European Cup "Magic Boy Keenas" appeared. The ship sailed out of the stadium.

Children wearing jerseys of various national teams ran into the court, holding up the national flag and playing. Then, the crowd formed the emblem of this European Cup, and colorful balloons rose slowly...

After the opening ceremony, the football match was officially held. First, the host Portugal team played against the Greek team. As a result, the Greeks were facing the magic of fans all over the world. In the sixth minute, Caragonis scored the first goal and a beautiful long shot! Greek fans were ecstatic!

Mark looked at the exposed-dressed female fans beside him shouting excitedly, and then hugged everyone around him. Mark was also very fortunate to be hugged by the excited female fans.

In the end, the Greek team directly overturned the host with a score of 2-1. However, the whole world felt the magic of the Greeks. Everyone was predicting whether Greece would stage a magical scene of winning the championship like the Danish team back then.

Before the start of this game, the Greek team's odds of winning the championship were 80, which is the odds of the team that certainly had no chance of winning the championship. After the game with Portugal, major bookmakers immediately raised the odds of winning the championship, but obviously the increase was not large, and only ten points were raised. Now the odds of winning the championship of the Greek team are 70. If someone buys one dollar for Greece to win the championship, then the Greek team will eventually win the championship, then this person will get 70 yuan.

"Can you buy 100,000 euros to win the championship? I think this team seems to create miracles," Mark said to Momo after the game.

"It's OK to buy it, but I'm still not optimistic about the Greek team. Their odds are too low. Although they won Portugal, it can be said to be a coincidence." Momo said while analyzing.

"It's okay, just have fun at that time. If we really create miracles, we will make a lot of money." Mark said indifferently.

After listening to it, Momo felt that it was the same. Anyway, it was not difficult for Mark to take out 100,000 euros now. Since Mark wanted to buy it, then buy it. Momo went directly to the betting station and bought 100,000 euros. The Greek team won.

Now that the opening ceremony is over, everyone is about to decide on their next journey.

There are really many teams that Mark likes most in the European Cup. Anyway, Mark likes all the teams that play well. But it is obvious that Mark cannot watch all the games, so Mark decided to follow the Dutch team to watch the European Cup, and see wherever the Dutch team plays.

The Dutch team now should be the only team that is not covered with a utilitarian guise, so many fans like the Dutch team's game. Mark is one of them, and since his girlfriend is a Dutch and he still plays in the Eredivisie, Mark naturally has another relationship with the Dutch team.

The Netherlands was assigned to the fourth group this time, and their first game was also in Porto, but Porto's Drago Stadium. Mark can continue to cheer for the Netherlands without changing cities.

Mark went to the fan supplies store to buy a set of Dutch team jerseys and wore them. Fortunately, during the European Cup, Porto opened the door for fans to provide the team's game jerseys. Otherwise, Mark would have really called his Ajax teammates to ask for a Dutch team jersey.

As a veteran football team in Europe and the world, the Netherlands team, known as the "King of Uncrowned", is the most ornamental and popular team. Orange is the color of this country and the label of this team. In the 1970s, Dutch football was the first to launch a pleasing style of playing in the world with all the best and conscientious style, attracting countless fans around the world. The classic goal in the 1974 World Cup final is still missed by world fans. In the European Championship, the Netherlands team, which owns Van Basten, Gulit and Rijkald, won the championship in 1988. Van Basten's "Rhino Tail Wave" performed by Van Basten in that game was praised by all fans. They have also reached the semi-finals of the European Championship four times, and in the last three games, the Netherlands team was eliminated by their opponents in the penalty shootout.

The Dutch League is a big factory for making stars. Ajax, Eindhoven and Feyenoord, the traditional three teams have trained countless stars for the Dutch national teams, making Dutch players an important force in European football and world football both in history and now. The Dutch national team has inherited the full-time style of play, and there are countless talented players. Since coach Edvocart took office, he has continued to use veterans who have been galloping in the European arena for many years, and at the same time promoted new players in the domestic league, making the national team's age composition younger and more reasonable. Van der Sar and Stam are in the back defense, with new and old talents such as Seedorf and Van der Fate in the midfield, while Cruivette and Van der Fate are still in charge of the front line. If there is better luck, it would not be surprising that the Orange Clothes Final Winners will win the cup.

"Look at it, it's swan." On the day of the game, Mark was about to enter the stadium and was suddenly recognized by sharp-eyed fans.

Mark really admired these fans a little, but he didn't expect that all the players could recognize him with sunglasses and wearing Dutch uniforms.

Soon Mark was surrounded by fans. Of course, these fans were mainly fans of Ajax from Amsterdam, and only they would like Mark. Most of the fans of the other teams had no good feelings for Mark, because Mark basically had goals in every team in the Netherlands.

It is naturally indispensable for fans to take photos and sign autographs around Mark, but the Dutch fans are very self-disciplined. They did not disturb Mark for too long because they knew that Mark was here to cheer for the Dutch team, so although Mark had delayed some time, it did not hinder him from entering the court.

"How about it, how do you feel as a star's girlfriend?" Sylvia asked Koros beside her. She had always been resentful of her underground relationship with Van der Fate.

"It's not bad, there's nothing we can do about it anyway." Colos said with helplessness.

Everyone walked into the stadium together and found a seat.

"Look at that, isn't this Ajax's Mark? He is surrounded by Van der Fate's wife. I don't know what their relationship is when they look intimate." The commentator followed the camera to find Mark and Sylvia talking and laughing with the three of Colos and said curiously.

"Marc should be his girlfriend. As far as I know, Sylvia seems to be Mark's sister. All Ajax players know about this," another commentator stood up and explained.

"Come on, Netherlands, kill Germany" game started and the fans of the two teams began to shout. The Dutch team seemed to want to overwhelm the German team in terms of momentum.
Chapter completed!