Switzerland, Basel.
The city was already flooded with fans.
Besides the locals, fans from Croatia and Poland filled the city to the brim.
Especially Croatian fans, whose enthusiasm for this tournament was exceptionally high compared to before.
This was evident from the massive influx of Croatian fans into Basel.
On June 1 alone, nearly 100,000 Croatian fans poured into Basel, and even now more kept coming nonstop.
Polish fans were also very passionate, but when facing Croatia, they were somewhat anxious.
The Euro 2024 seeding results:
Pot 1: Switzerland, Austria, Greece, Netherlands
Pot 2: Croatia, Italy, Czech Republic, Sweden
Pot 3: Romania, Germany, Spain, Portugal
Pot 4: Poland, France, Turkey, Russia
This was the official draw.
Hosts Switzerland and Austria naturally got Pot 1 spots.
But compared to Switzerland, Austria took a big hit.
Official seedings and media predictions were two different things.
The media's predicted Pot 1 strong teams included Croatia and Germany prominently.
As hosts, Austria was silently bitter about being grouped with these two strong teams.
But the draw was done; they had no choice but to accept it.
The Croatian team had already arrived early in Basel, Switzerland.
They would face Poland in the first match of the second matchday.
The tournament opener was set for June 7, with Switzerland playing Czech Republic.
During preparations, Croatia's routine was simple: training ground to hotel.
Apart from necessary official interviews, there was no going out.
Coach Bilić had ordered strict caution for the first match.
They needed a good start.
They needed to inject hope into Croatian fans.
After all, in the 2004 Euros, Croatia performed terribly in the group stage and failed to advance.
With the big battle looming, the Croatian team's atmosphere was relatively relaxed.
Maybe because it was their first major international tournament, everyone was excited.
Before the matches even started, Suker was already thinking about Euro-themed credit rewards.
If his guess was right, the Euros would offer even richer rewards.
The World Cup was an even bigger deal.
For Suker, this Euro was a chance to show outstanding performance.
"Suker! Look at this!"
Dujić burst into Suker's room, waving a newspaper: "You're on it."
"Big deal!" Suker rolled his eyes irritably.
"No, different!" Dujić spread out the paper: "Look, you're on the list of the most threatening players in the Euros."
Suker raised his eyebrows slightly.
Media loved ranking players — who was most threatening, who was strongest, etc.
On this list, Suker was third.
Ahead of him were Cristiano Ronaldo first.
Second was Fernando Torres.
"Damn! This must be from the British media, right?" Suker complained.
Dujić looked at the English paper and nodded: "Seems like it!"
"Seems like?" Suker rolled his eyes again.
The Premier League was by far the most commercially successful league.
Especially with Serie A declining, the Premier League was rising fast.
The price of commercial success was often exaggeration and fussiness.
Many players disliked British media for a simple reason: they always hyped their own league's players.
Sure, the Premier League was strong overall, but when comparing, they wouldn't be objective.
They'd belittle non-Premier League players and hype theirs as the strongest.
On this list, Cristiano Ronaldo at number one — Suker accepted that.
After all, Ronaldo won the Champions League, league and European golden boots this season.
Suker had the generosity to admit the other's excellence.
Moreover, Ronaldo did perform excellently.
But Fernando Torres, though a strong player who performed well at Liverpool…
By stats and performance, Suker was not inferior and even somewhat dominated in multiple aspects.
Yet British media ranked him third.
Besides, though Torres shone at club level, Spain's national team had another star — David Villa — performing even better.
"Forget it!"
Suker waved his hand suddenly.
No need to get mad — British media probably wanted him to protest or argue, so they could get traffic.
But putting that aside, Torres' club stats aside, Spain's current national team was really strong.
Though not quite Grand Slam level yet, they still troubled many teams.
But now Suker was playing for the national team, and compared to the aging clubs, Croatian players were all energetic runners.
Dujić soon went off to mess around in other rooms.
This guy had endless energy.
In the afternoon, the Croatian team trained as usual.
Suker was called by the organizers to a filming spot.
"We need to shoot player portraits. You can stand or sit, and do whatever pose you like."
Suker didn't get it.
The director scratched his head and showed Suker a sample on his phone.
It was Ronaldo's shoot.
On the phone, Ronaldo clenched both fists, stared at the camera, mouth forming a slight "O."
"SIU~"
Suker whispered.
The director was surprised: "How do you know what he's saying?"
Suker: "."
Awkward.
He didn't remember there was this part!
But the organizer's request couldn't be refused.
Finally, Suker stood with his back to the camera, slightly tilting his head, showing off his number 9 and the name "Suker."
"Make sure to tone down the light on my head, just show a close-up of the back number and name in shadow!"
The director nodded: "We'll try."
"Shoot another one?" Suker suddenly got an idea. "A spin turn!"
"Start top to bottom, slow frame rate like before, then speed up at the turn, do a close-up of my eyes—I'll give you a fierce look!"
"Fierce my ass!"
The director had no energy to argue.
Why were these stars all like this?
Ronaldo insisted on audio with the "SIU!" and crystal clear muscle details.
Suker went further and told them exactly how to shoot.
On June 6, two days before the tournament started, promotional videos of representative players from all 16 teams were released.
Most players appeared in flat shots, with no special effects.
But at the very end, the screen suddenly dimmed.
In a room full of light and shadow, a side-faced silhouette stood.
Red-and-white checkered jersey, shadow covering the head area but revealing a sharp jawline.
The camera slowly zoomed out; the figure suddenly spun faster.
At the moment he looked up, a pair of sharp eyes pierced through the shadow.
Below appeared the words:
[Croatia]!
"Holy shit!"
Watching the promo, Suker couldn't help but be amazed.
He just gave a few requests but actually got this done.
Suker was the final appearance—probably because his was filmed best.
If the previous effects looked cheap, his was suddenly high-end.
In the hotels where Austria and Portugal teams stayed…
Ronaldo stared blankly at the TV promo.
This should have been his highlight video, but Suker had made it look high-class.
Compared to Suker's light-and-shadow appearance, his "SIU!" looked dull.
Portugal teammates struggled to keep from laughing.
But older brother Figo had no shame and laughed uncontrollably.
Ronaldo turned his head, pouting.
Next time, he wanted to do that too!
Damn, that was really cool!