Chapter 625 Volume 5 Red Outside the Big List
Tang En's deliberate "public apology" and the last sentence "who is that" made him once again a famous figure in the major media. No one had ever teased a club in front of so many reporters before, but Twain did it.
Next, just like what he said to Shania. He ignored the protests from the Chelsea club and various voices from the outside media. He concentrated on his work and never responded. Chelsea club and Abramovich himself unhappy? So what does it matter to me...
His incident has added to the conversation of many people after dinner, and the sales of big newspapers and tabloids in England are booming.
The hype about Mourinho's dismissal will eventually come to an end. After all, no matter how characterful Mourinho is, he is just a Portuguese. Tang En's swearing will also slowly make the public lose their interest in continuing to pay attention because of his shutting up.
In fact, during this period and for a period of time to come, the focus of the English media is on the England team.
Because the battle of life and death is imminent.
There are two rounds of Euro 2008 qualifiers between Switzerland and Austria. Because there are seven teams in Group E, in terms of the schedule, there must be a team that will have a bye at some point. As early as the penultimate round, it will be England's turn-they have one round left. The current standings is that the England team, which has played 11 games, temporarily ranks second with 23 points.
According to the rules of the European Championship qualifiers, there are 14 qualifying places for the current European Championship qualifiers, which are the first and second places in the seven groups, and then add the two host teams, exactly 16 teams .
Top-ranked Croatia and third-placed Russia now have one game less than England, with Croatia on 26 points and Russia on 21. If England want to qualify, they need to count on Russia's away loss to Israel in the group stage on November 17, and then England's own home victory over Croatia on the 21st.
Only in this way can the team participate in the European Championship next year.
This condition may seem harsh, but it is not impossible.
The English media made good calculations, Israel is not weak, not to mention they are playing at home. And in the final round, Croatia, who is currently number one in the group, is likely to have already qualified ahead of schedule, so they don't need to use all their main force and energy to fight against England...
So, anything is possible.
Before the game day on the 17th, the England team is training intensively, and the media in England are cheering for Israel, hoping that they can beat Russia at home and keep the hope of qualifying for England.
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Counting from the end of the league game with Chelsea until November 24th, there will be no games in the Premier League, and most of the leagues in other European countries are like this. The two weeks in between are A-level matchdays for the national team. In Europe, it is the 2008 European Cup qualifiers, and in South America, it is the South American qualifiers for the South African World Cup with the longest schedule in the world-although the official match time is 2010, due to the special environment of South American football, here The World Cup qualifiers have already started in full swing in October, and it can be regarded as the longest-delayed World Cup qualifiers.
As for Asia, the Asian World Cup qualifiers will not start until February next year. For the Olympics, because it is the host country, the football team does not need to play any preliminaries. After losing everything in the Asian Cup, the Chinese Football Association basically disbanded the national team, concentrating on some Olympic strategy, and pulling the national Olympic team to travel around the world at public expense to play warm-up matches. Travel expenses, accommodation expenses, venue rental fees, appearance fees for opponents, plus various subsidies... This money was spent a lot. As for the effect... Tang En could only sneer and wish Chinese football good luck.
Fortunately for him, Sun Jihai, the only Chinese player in the forest team, is not included in the "Olympic Raiders" plan, because he is already over the age of 23, and according to the information disclosed by Tang Jing, he is also sure Will not appear in the list of three overage players at that time. So this national team match day has nothing to do with Sun Jihai. He doesn't have to fly thousands of miles to the United States to waste time playing warm-up matches with several major league teams. Moreover, overage players generally will not participate in such Olympic warm-up matches.
Nottingham Forest is already a Premier League team, and it can be regarded as a force to be reckoned with in Europe. There will inevitably be a large number of international players in the team lineup, and they will be recruited at this time. It's not surprising that Tang En has seen such things for a long time. Apart from complaining that this will cause his team to play desperately for the country and then recuperate while playing for the club, he has no other way to prevent this from happening. After all, he is just a football coach, not President of FIFA.
David Beckham has recently gained a high reputation in the English media because he scored a goal at the last minute of the game against Chelsea and helped Nottingham Forest equalize. Take the heavy responsibility-although it is not for him to wear the captain's armband again, but it is also not necessary to let him take two steps on the field and then come off in garbage time. Although it is beyond their control whether England qualify or not, as long as there is still a possibility of qualifying in theory, they have to give it a go, right?
McLaren declined to comment on whether Beckham would be in the squad for the Croatia match, or to answer the "frivolous question" of whether he would bet on him. His reason is full - "for the sake of confidentiality".
So the media began to hype Beckham's national team appearances-although there was nothing worth showing off, the last eight minutes of the away game against Moscow were indeed his ninety-eighth appearance on behalf of England... a distance of 100 There are still two games left. If England can win the match against Croatia on November 21, then they still have a glimmer of hope to enter the finals. In that case, there is still hope for Beckham's 100 games. Otherwise...it's hard to say what will happen.
Watching the big and small British media happily discuss Beckham's appearance record, looking forward to a hundred games, as if they have already qualified for the European Cup qualifiers.
It's a strange country. They used to call you "God" when you succeeded, but when you failed, they rushed to hang you with their own hands. It's rare to be so utilitarian. If Beckham hadn't scored a vital goal at the last moment of the game against Greece in 2001, making him an instant god, he might not be able to turn himself around in the UK now.
For some reason, Tang En suddenly thought of the Chinese gymnast Li Ning. They were once the darlings of the entire country, and later they were all outcasts cast aside by hundreds of millions of people. Beckham is luckier than Li Ning in that he can still save himself in his career and prove himself again; while Li Ning has reached the age of retirement when he fails-he has lost forever to prove those who scolded him wrong by his own efforts opportunity.
Sports is so cruel... There is no essential difference between the Olympic Games and the World Cup. The slogan is beautiful, but in fact, the loser is the loser. Only the winner can enjoy the cheers and glory-this is not determined by a certain sport, it is It's decided by people, the people who watch the game, the people who participate in the game, the people who manipulate the game... all human beings.
Far away.
At the very least, Beckham has the entire British media to support him and plead for his life, hoping to appear in the starting list against Croatia and become a hero to save the country.
But in the ambivalence of excitement and apprehension in the English media and supporter public, there is one man who has fallen victim to Beckham's stardom, or not so badly, a forgotten one.
In the big list announced by McLaren for the final battle, there is no George Wood's name.
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Tang En hadn't come back yet, but Tang En wasn't particularly busy. During this period of time, the team's training was only practiced once a day. There was not much time, but the intensity was high. The continuous Christmas schedule is coming, and the team needs to reserve enough physical energy to cope with the subsequent multi-line battles and a week of double and triple matches.
The training time was arranged in the afternoon. Tang En had lunch and still had a lunch break. When he wakes up again, he will go to Wilford and start a day of training.
Every time he came to the training base, George Wood was already warming up.
McLaren announced yesterday the full roster for the final game against Croatia. Among the 25 people, Nottingham Forest has two seats - David Beckham and Alan Lennon.
No more George Wood's name.
Although George Wood is not considered a regular member of the national team, any fool will know what it means to remove his name before this important game. Regardless of whether it was Eriksson or the England team in the McLaren era, George Wood has not been reused at all except for starting in some insignificant warm-up matches and coming off the bench in garbage time.
In the World Cup in Germany, he sat on the bench for five full games and didn't get a second of playing time.
England played twelve games in the European Championship qualifiers. George Wood played a total of 180 minutes, averaging 15 minutes per game. He has never been reused like he was at Nottingham Forest. The manager does not trust him and there is no place for him in the tactical system.
But George Wood did not publicly express any dissatisfaction in front of the media. Maybe he hasn't learned how to fight for greater benefits for himself in the national team?
However, some Nottingham media looked at it and publicly questioned whether the head coach of McLaren was biased against the players who came out of Nottingham Forest. McLaren's answer was: "The England team has concentrated the best players in England. Each of them may be a core player in their own club, but you cannot ask these cores to continue to be the core after they come to England."
It sounds very reasonable at first glance, but after careful consideration, we know that McLaren is simply perfunctory to this group of reporters. No one asked George Wood to have a core role in the England team, but he didn't have the minimum playing time. Every time he played, he either won the game and sent it to play for a while, or lost. It's bullshit time. If the game is so fierce and cruel that the winner can't be decided until the last second, George Wood will definitely sit on the bench. The Nottingham media, which has a good thing, collected the information of those games, and then came to this conclusion-McLaren must have a grudge against George Wood!
In fact, there is no grudge, but distrust and disrespect are certain.
McLaren didn't even trust the players trained by Twain. For the players trained by Twain, McLaren will not reuse them if he can.
"George." Tang En saw Wood warming up alone on the training ground. He actually disapproved of this kind of warm-up in advance, because it would waste energy unnecessary and affect the effect of subsequent training. But for George Wood, a biochemical robot... it's not a big problem.
He stepped forward and stood next to Wood, watching him complete a set of warm-ups.
"On the day of the national team match, I saw you warming up here. Actually, it's quite rare..." Tang En laughed.
It is indeed rare. Although he has very little playing time in the England team, he will basically enter the most important list. After all, he is the captain of the European championship team and is a defensive midfielder favored by countless people. If it were placed in other national teams, it might have been the main force that could not be beaten. That is to say, in England, there is some helplessness. The "double virtue problem" is enough for every head coach to have a headache. If Wood is added, the "double virtue" Change "Three Virtues"...
Wood said in a muffled voice: "It's not bad, I won't be able to play anyway." He put on his jumper and stood in front of Tang En.
He is not in a high mood, and it seems that he was also affected by this big list. You know, this is a key game, and it is the game that countless professional players like to encounter most-because they can prove their abilities, turn the tide, and become the hero of the entire country. This is especially true for people like Wood who like to constantly challenge the limit. The stronger the opponent and the more difficult the game, the more energetic he is. It happened that McLaren deprived him of the power to look forward to the race more than ten days before the race.
When Tang En heard him say this, he was happy instead: "I thought you didn't care about such things at all."
Wood glanced at him.
Tang En was still laughing: "Because you have never expressed your dissatisfaction anywhere, everyone thinks you are an honest person who is easy to bully. Sitting on the bench will become a habit, George. If I were you, I would jump out and accuse Mike Laren doesn't know how to employ people, so he declares from now on that if there is him without me, if there is me without him, if he doesn't leave class, I won't be in the England team..."
"I'm not you." Wood glanced at him. "But I'm not happy. I'm not happy with...England and I thought about not going at all."
Unexpectedly, Wood would say such a thing, Tang En was still a little surprised. It seems that his life in the national team is indeed difficult.
"I hate being a substitute. If McLaren directly said that he wanted me to be a substitute, I would simply reject him. But he didn't say... the earliest people from the Jamaican Football Association also approached me, hoping that I would play for Jamaica. , I refused at that time...Thinking about it now, I might as well go to Jamaica."
Tang En was silent.
He has heard countless similar stories: a certain star has no choice but to change his nationality because of his domestic competitiveness, and plays for a weak country, just to be able to participate in the World Cup or other Intercontinental Cup competitions. This happens most often in Brazil.
In fact, George Wood also has Brazilian nationality, but when he became famous, the Brazilian Football Association didn't even look at him because Brazil has too many talents. Don't care about George Wood who is far away in England.
Tang En was silent for a while, and comforted: "Your choice is right. It is impossible to win what you want by going to a place like Jamaica. It is better not to go. Don't worry, in England... If England can't get out this time Line, McLaren won't be in that position for long. Maybe a change of manager will do."
"What if it doesn't work?" Wood looked up and asked.
Tang En didn't know how to answer. It’s not impossible—some players have to announce their withdrawal from the national team early because they are not reused in the national team, and have since lost the opportunity to express themselves on a larger world stage.
He couldn't say to Wood: "It's not bad to concentrate on playing for the club, and it can keep your state longer." Because he also hopes to see Wood exert his ability on a broader stage, so that the whole world will be excited about it. marvel.
"Things will get better." Tang En didn't know what the future would be like, so he could only comfort him in this way.
The outside gradually became lively, and the players and coaches who came to train rushed to the base one after another.
Tang En was planning to go back to his office to deal with some trivial matters. Just as he was about to turn around, he heard Wood say, "If...McLaren is gone, are you going?"
Tang En understood the meaning of Wood's words, and he looked at Wood with some doubts: "Then I will give up my current job, do you like it?"
Wood thought for a while and shook his head: "Let's forget it. If you don't go to the England team, at most I won't go. If you're not here... I won't have a job."
Tang En laughed out loud. "When did you learn to joke, George?"
Wood didn't say anything, he turned and walked to the locker room.
Tang En also felt bored. He stood there watching Wood's back leave before turning around and walking back to his office.
His predictive ability has expired a long time ago, so he has no way of knowing whether England can get past Croatia this time. Love Wood's style of football...too many doubts.
But now he particularly hopes that England will lose key games and lose tickets to the European Championship finals.
At that time, according to the habits of this country, there must be someone responsible for this "tragedy". That person will not be an official of the English Football Association, nor will it be a certain star player, but the head coach of McLaren.