Chapter 931: Volume 7: Heart of the Lion King, New England Sets Sail
In fact, not only did Gerrard know little about the Macedonian team, even Tony Twain was not familiar with the opponent they were about to face.
Not to mention Twain, most British people might not be able to find out where the country of Macedonia is located on the earth in a short while with a map. If they hadn't participated in the European Cup qualifiers, the people of the British Empire must have thought that this little-known country was somewhere in Antarctica.
Tang En always thought that Macedonia was in Western Europe a long, long time ago, and only later did he realize that he was wrong. Macedonia is part of what was once Yugoslavia, and their football prowess is nothing to brag about. Vardar, the most successful football club in China, has participated in the three major European cups eight times, but the best result is only entering the second round twice...
In the current Macedonian team, the person Twain is most familiar with is that Goren Pandev who is still playing for Lazio. The 31-year-old Pandev is also the number one star and captain of the Macedonian team, and he is also the only player who may pose a threat to the England defense.
In fact, the research focus of the England coaching staff is on how to stop Pandev, and they basically don't care about other players. After all, the strength of Macedonia and England is too different. The only players in this group that could pose a threat to England's qualification are Denmark and Serbia. For these two rivals, England's intelligence gathering work has already begun.
The Macedonians can feel the contempt for England. Because as the head coach of the team, Tony Twain never once mentioned the name of Macedonia in front of the media, but kept talking about Wales, because after the Macedonian defeat, Twain's England was about to play against its neighbor Wales.
As the main force of the team, Mitchell was asked "Do you know where Macedonia is?" when he was interviewed by reporters. His answer made the Macedonians very angry-"Maybe in the north? I don't know..."
In this regard, Pandev declared in an interview that they would give England a good look. "...Although we are away, I am very happy that we have the opportunity to tell them where Macedonia is on the earth. Hope they can remember it after this game."
Macedonia looked aggressive, but Tony Twain was still not worried. He talked about his friendship with Bale in the media and put psychological pressure on Wales... Even though the match between England and Wales will not kick off until October.
"The stimulated Macedonia will attack at the beginning, and their morale must be high now. I can imagine how the opponent's head coach encouraged them—" Tang En imitated the head coach of Macedonia, the Slovenian Srejko Katanic (Srecko_Katanec), waving his fists and roaring: "They underestimated you! They underestimated you! Teach them a lesson and let them know what the price of seeing you all is!!"
The coaches next to him laughed.
Tang En also looked at this group of colleagues who were laughing staggeringly, and he didn't continue until they were all unhappy.
"If Katanic was smart, he would take advantage of our contempt to boost the team's fighting spirit. It was difficult to get the players interested in an away game against a strong opponent, but now we have given them a great opportunity. They will definitely seize it. So at the beginning they will take the initiative to attack, and we will fight against them. Their defense has many loopholes, and we can seize it to make a fuss. Try to score early and as time goes by , Katanic will understand that he has been fooled, so he will start to shrink the defense. If we have not scored by that time, he will feel that it is a great victory to keep the draw and take a point. If that... "Twain continued to analyze the progress of the game to his coaches.
"Let's go up, Pandev, I'll leave it to George, and the others don't have to take care of it. Next, pay attention to the mental state of our players. If the score is always a tie, it will become more and more unfavorable for us. This situation must Avoid, so I hope the team can score early. If Macedonia recovers, we will have a lot of set-piece opportunities, take that and try to open their goal."
"It's okay, we've been practicing set kicks these days." Walker next to him interjected.
"Let's talk about this first... No matter how complete the plan is, it can't compare to the changes in the actual game." Dunn clapped his hands and ended the preparation meeting between the coaches.
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This was the first time that George Wood wore the England captain's armband in a game. Before the game, Dunn pulled him aside alone and told him to mark Pandev. Pandev used to be a striker, but now he is getting closer to the midfielder as he gets older. Now he is the core of Macedonia's offense, and he must rely on him to organize and end the offense. As long as he is dead, Macedonia will not be able to make any waves.
Wood nodded while listening to Tang En's tactics. The expression is very focused.
In the end, Tang En patted Wood's left arm, "Before this game, there are still many doubts and voices against you being the captain. What do you think about this, George?"
"I will prove that I am worthy of the captain's armband."
Dunn was very satisfied with Wood's answer. He laughed loudly: "That's right! That's it! If they laugh at you and question you, then you slap them with your actual performance! Didn't we do the same thing when we were in the forest team? In fact, being the captain of the national team and Being captain of the Forest team is no different, just play well and there will be no problems."
Tang En likes Wood the most. He will not coyly say "I am flattered by the captain's armband", "I am surprised that I can be the captain, in fact, Terry and Gerrard are more suitable than me" and other modest words. He will only confidently express that he has this strength, and he deserves such treatment. Such an attitude would make him arrogant in the eyes of most people, but like Tony Twain, he has the qualifications to be arrogant.
Now that Gerrard is getting old, the 28-year-old George Wood has indeed become the number one midfielder in England. Tang En gave him the captain's armband, which was not regarded as cronyism, but rather as "respecting the virtuous and not avoiding relatives".
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Leading England to play the first official international A-level match (the previous match against the Forest team was not an international A-level match because the opponent was a club team), it was also a test for Twain. He knew that the match against the forest team was just a warm-up, and he would officially embark on his road to conquer the world from now on.
Standing in front of the coach's bench, listening to the British national anthem "God_save_the_king" (God_save_the_king) played on the live radio, the people around are singing loudly to the music. Only Tang En kept his lips tightly shut, and he didn't put his hand on his left chest like a player.
At heart, he is still a Chinese... Leading the England team to the European Cup qualifiers is a job and there is money to be made. Singing the national anthem to show loyalty is fine. What's more, he can't sing, and now he doesn't even know the lyrics of the British national anthem.
He cast his eyes on the court, and Wood was standing next to the referee wearing the captain's armband, singing the national anthem. He is a trustworthy captain.
Think about the scene when I met him at the door of my house eleven years ago. That ignorant child has now grown into such a tall man...
Although Macedonia is not a strong team, and the anger of the Macedonians is almost ignored, the new Wembley Stadium where the game is held is still full. The enthusiasm of England fans for football can be seen, of course, there must be repertoire.
Before the players entered the pitch, the fans in the stands had already chanted: "If you hate Manchester United, please stand up!"
Hurray, almost four out of five fans stood up.
It's a pity that no one chanted: "If you hate Nottingham Forest, please stand up!" Otherwise, Dunn could proudly declare that his Forest team is already the most powerful team in England.
Now in the stands, fans from Nottingham put up slogan banners and head caricatures supporting Wood as captain, while Liverpool fans booed discordantly when Wood played.
It seems that although the national team has long died down, the free fans don't buy it. They will vent their emotions directly.
Wood said that he would use his actual actions to prove that the captain deserves his name.
That's what he did after the game started.
Just thirteen seconds after Macedonian kick-off, the football was back at England's feet.
Pandev received a pass from behind in the frontcourt. Before he could stabilize, he was stabbed by George Wood from behind diagonally.
The Forest fans in the stands shouted Wood's name and cheered for their captain. The Liverpool fans who were waiting to pick the thorns could not boo Wood's wonderful steal.
Pandev is Lazio's main force, but Lazio is now hovering in the middle of Serie A. Their main force is still a bit weaker when facing the main force of the Triple Crown.
England took advantage of the tackling to launch their attack and soon found their way into the Macedonian box, where Aaron Mitchell kicked things off with a low shot.
Just as Tang En expected, Macedonia really wanted to catch England by surprise at the beginning by relying on active offense and momentum.
But England's tough attitude caught them off guard.
In just ten minutes of the opening, Macedonia had two shots, while England had already had four kicks, two of which were quite threatening.
Due to the overall pressure of the Macedonian front, there was a lot of space behind them. Twain gave full play to Rooney's technical characteristics, and his repeated breakthroughs made the Macedonian rear jittery. And when Aaron Mitchell, a big guy with a height of more than two meters, was cruising in front of the Macedonian goal, he could also make all the Macedonian defenders nervous-if he really jumped up, would he be able to stop him?
Eleven minutes later, their nervous premonition became reality.
After Rooney pulled to the wing and broke through the cross, Mitchell outflanked the goal and jumped high to head the goal. The Macedonian defenders had no choice but to watch Mitchell dominate the air in front of them. Then a powerful head flick, and the new Wembley Stadium roared with cheers.
"Aaron Mitchell!! A neat header! The Macedonian defenders can only act as spectators! 1:0! England took the lead!"
Tang En jumped up from his seat. It's a good game if you score first. And it was Mitchell who scored the goal. A player from the Forest team scored, which undoubtedly relieved the pressure on him. Those media still want to call him "cronyism"? This is a loud slap in the face!
"Aaron Mitchell from Nottingham Forest took the lead for England. Before the game, there was a lot of talk about Twain's nepotism. Now Mitchell's goal must be what Twain hopes to see the most...Look at him on the sidelines Excitement! Ha! As the coach of the national team, he is as flamboyant as he was in the forest team..."
After Mitchell's goal, Macedonia still wanted to struggle, and their offensive became more rapid. But with George Wood firmly watching Pandev, their offense could not pose a substantial threat to England at all.
It touches England in the singing of the home fans more and more courageous. It doesn't take much effort to beat an opponent like Macedonia. On the contrary, everyone hopes to impress the man on the sidelines with his excellent performance in this game, so as to occupy the main position in the England team in the future.
So don't think that this England team is not interested in playing against a big team. They have to wait until they have determined their position in England if they want to paddle. Now that there is a new head coach, it is time to express yourself desperately. Think about John Terry and Stephen Gerrard, who were stripped of the captain's armband, and they feel chills in their backs.
The new coach's method is thunderous, and the captain change incident that was hyped up by the outside world was solved so easily. If he didn't perform at the best level in the first few games and please him, he may be only a few years away from the main force of the national team in the future. further and further.
Driven by this idea, the England team continued to attack the hinterland of Macedonia.
In the twenty-ninth minute, Rooney scored another victory with a long-range shot by Rooney, leading 2:0. Basically established the victory of this game.
"As we said before, the result of this game is not suspenseful at all... Tony Twain's first test was too easy." The commentator felt that such an easy victory was boring. But the performance of the new captain is impressive.
Macedonia's only threatening core, Pandev, is now almost unable to catch the ball under the strict defense of George Wood. After the Macedonian players saw him like that, they no longer sent the ball over as if they were dying, which would only transfer possession to England faster.
Then Pandev almost disappeared from the field, and the TV broadcast did not show him a single shot for fifteen minutes.
"Wood's defense is still so good..." the commentator and the guests praised together.
The most proud people in the stands are the fans of Nottingham Forest. The first goal was scored by Mitchell. The person who made Macedonia's attack unthreatening is the captain of the Forest team. Why should they not be proud?
The first half ended with a score of 2:0. During the intermission, Twain told Wood that he did not need to mark Pandev so closely in the second half, because the opposing head coach would definitely make adjustments to the situation in the first half during the intermission, and they would probably let the rest of the team share the burden. Pandev's pressure, or push Pandev to the front line, play a relatively simple offensive tactic, go directly to Pandev. But these are not issues that Wood needs to consider.
Twain gave Wood a new task, to participate more in the offense in the second half, and if he had the opportunity to try some long shots, there might be unexpected surprises.
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second half.
"GOOOOOAL——!!" The commentator yelled, "Wonderful long shot! The new captain from England, George Wood——!!"
"The football had two consecutive refractions, but the speed and strength remained undiminished. The goalkeeper Masowski couldn't react at all, and the football flew past him into the goal! 3:0!"
After the goal, Wood shook his fist vigorously, and was hugged by Gerrard. The hug also quashed rumors of a feud between Gerrard and Wood.
For Tang En, there was no regret in this game.
Through the test of this game, Twain can officially help Wood to the core position in the next game. England's tactics should also be developed around Wood.
At the end of the game, Bentley, who came on as a substitute for Walcott, scored another goal to help England lock the score at 4:0.
Tony Twain led the team to a big victory at home. The team's offensive momentum and impregnable defense reassured the England fans and media.
After this game, no one discussed whether the captain's armband should be given to Wood, or to Gerrard and Terry.
In the face of victory, such discussions are insignificant.
The next day's Times ran this headline:
The New England sets sail!
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