When the final ended, the city of Lisbon was silent for a few seconds. Tang En stood in the stands and applauded the Greek team. It was exactly the same as he knew. Even the process had not changed. In this tournament, the only team that could completely restrain the host team was Rehagel's Greek team.
Scolari's Portugal was at their doorstep. They not only wanted to win the championship, but they also wanted to win beautifully. But their offense had no effect at all in front of the Greeks' impregnable defense. It was like stabbing a gorgeous crystal dagger into a boulder. The final result was only a white scratch on the stone, and the crystal dagger shattered into countless pieces.
1: 0. The low-key Greeks defeated the confident host team. They created the greatest victory in the history of their national team.
Looking at the ecstatic Greek players, Tang En was not as excited as he was when he first saw the scene. He applauded and said to Dunn beside him, "I can already imagine what the headlines of the major media will be published tomorrow. This might be the most unconvincing champion in the history of the UEFA European Championship. Denmark is more convincing than them. "
"Because of Schmeichel and Laudrup?" Dunn asked.
Tang En nodded. "The Portuguese must have lost very unwillingly. They lost to a team with no star players. The total value of the entire team may not even be as high as Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo … It's ironic. Dunn, we're not going back to England tomorrow. We're going to another place first. "
"Where?"
"Spain, Barcelona." Tang En looked back at the lively scene in the middle of the field and turned to walk out of his seat. "Let's go. The game is over."
Whether it was the ecstatic Greeks or the depressed Portuguese, or the views and perceptions of the Greek team winning the European and even world football, these had nothing to do with Tang En and his assistant manager, Dunn.
The busy summer officially kicked off.
※ ※ ※
The next day, when Tang En and Dunn sat on the plane from Lisbon to Barcelona, Dunn was reading the newspaper that had just been published. The UEFA European Championship final, which had just ended last night, was naturally the focus of the media's attention. Tang En was right. The media's reaction to the Greeks winning the championship was very interesting. The local Portuguese media almost unanimously believed that the Greeks had stolen the championship and that the tactic of ten players defending and one player attacking was very immoral.
When the Spanish and other European media talked about this game, they also thought that the Greeks' revelry was not good for the future development of European football.
Utilitarian football would sweep across Europe again, and the viewing value of football would be greatly reduced. This might make the already shrinking football market even more difficult — no one liked dull and boring games, the fans did not like it, and neither did the sponsors.
Tang En glanced at it a few times. He could not understand Portuguese at all. However, he was not surprised that Dunn could understand it. This person was very, very eager to learn. He spent all his spare time studying, so it was not surprising that he could learn Portuguese.
"What does it say?" Tang En asked casually.
"Same as what you said yesterday." After living with Tang En for a period of time, Dunn gradually became more talkative. When there was always someone chattering around you, you would slowly open your mouth as well. "Nothing new."
Tang En smiled. "Losers always have all sorts of excuses to excuse their own mistakes. Is the whole world going to talk about defense now? "
Dunn took the newspaper and looked at the smug Tang En. "I don't think defense will become the mainstream tactic of many teams in the future. But all the coaches will start studying how to break this defense. "
Tang En shrugged. "No matter what they think or do. Defense is the foundation of all tactics. Let's go to Barcelona. There's a young man there that I'm very interested in. And our opponent this time is very strong … "Looking at the confused Dunn, he chuckled. "Very, very strong."
When the two of them found a hotel in Barcelona to put down their luggage and then went to Barcelona's youth training camp, only then did Dunn know who Tang En's target was this time, as well as the opponent that Forest Team would be facing this time — as he said, very strong.
Tony Twain took a fancy to the center back, Gerard Piqué, who was still in the Barcelona youth team. At that time, Piqué was not very famous, but in the hearts of the Barcelona fans, he was the future successor of the team captain, Puyol.
When they stood on the sidelines of the training ground to watch their target train, Tang En even found Messi inside. But he was not at all happy or meticulous about this discovery, because he knew very well that at this time, Messi had become the focus of Barcelona's First Team.
As for Piqué, he knew very well that he still had loopholes to exploit.
Spanish law was very special in that they stipulated that youths over the age of 18 were not allowed to sign any professional contracts. This rule was applicable to all businesses in Spain, and naturally, football clubs were included. So when a Spanish club painstakingly cultivated a new star and watched him become the main force in the Spanish youth team, they had to be on tenterhooks for fear that foreign clubs would come knocking to harass them.
Because they could not sign professional contracts with young players, it meant that they could not restrict the player's direction. If the player had feelings for the club that cultivated him, and the club also promised him a future, then he would naturally be happy to stay. But if the club, due to some of its own difficulties, was unable to promise a future for the young player, and at the same time, other clubs that could fulfill this promise took advantage of it, then it was completely conceivable that a genius would leave.
Need an example? Francesc Fàbregas, who loved Barcelona deeply and whose family were loyal supporters of Barcelona's hardcore fans, was unable to get a call-up for Barcelona's First Team. At the same time, because of the strength of Xavi, Iniesta and the others, the Barcelona team was unable to promise the young man that they would let him play in the main force in the future for a long time.
So the best player in the 2003 World Youth Tournament, the captain of the Spanish youth team, left Barcelona, where he had been nurtured, and went to North London.
Wenger was a very cunning man. He had a good eye for people and a unique eye for finding loopholes.
Spanish law did not allow their professional clubs to offer professional contracts to young players under the age of 18, while English law allowed English clubs to offer professional contracts to young players over the age of 16. These two years' time difference was the capital that English clubs could rely on when they ran to Spain to make a fortune — young man, the club that nurtured you could not give you a professional contract and could not promise you a future, but we could!
Arsenal's Wenger was like Columbus during the Age of Discovery, opening up a new continent for English clubs. All English coaches knew that Spain had a large number of outstanding young players. They signed them for free, did not need money, and could still fight when they came! Especially for Barcelona, Fàbregas's success at Arsenal proved the strength of their youth training from an awkward angle for the Catalans.
Therefore, Tony Twain was not at all surprised that he could see people speaking English at the side of the training ground. Moreover, he also knew that there would be scouts from Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea among the disguised crowd. The target of their inspection was also the purpose of his visit — Gerard Piqué.
Standing on the side of the training ground and watching the Barcelona youth team's training for a while, Twain asked Dunn beside him, "What do you think of him?"
"His physique is excellent. As a center back, his technique is also much better than England's defenders," Dunn said. This was the conclusion he had seen for half an hour. As for the other aspects of his qualities, he did not comment on them since he did not see them. "In terms of his physique alone, I don't think it will be a problem for him to adapt to the English league. Who are our competitors? "
"As far as I know … Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea." Twain reported the names of the three most influential clubs in England at present.
Dunn was not surprised. He nodded and said, "Of course." Outstanding players would naturally attract the attention of outstanding clubs. What interested him more was how Twain planned to snatch players from these three clubs.
In terms of economic strength, Nottingham Forest could not compare to the rich and imposing Chelsea. In terms of glory, the declining Forest team could not compare to the Premier League's best team of the decade, Manchester United. In terms of the cultivation of young players, they could not compare to Arsenal. In addition, Arsenal currently had Piqué's good friend — Fàbregas.
In fact, long before Twain, Piqué was already infinitely close to Manchester United. Ferguson's trust and cultivation of young people moved Piqué even more. Chelsea had the least advantage among the three clubs. Their First Team had already hoarded too many star players. Piqué knew very well that there was no difference between him going to Stamford Bridge and staying at Camp Nou.
Twain had no choice but to act later than others. A few months ago, the future of himself and the team was still uncertain. If the Forest team could not successfully charge into the Premier League and still came to Barcelona to snatch players from the three big clubs, it would simply be a joke.
(To be continued, if you want to know what happened next, please log on to WWW. CMFU. com. More chapters. Support the author. Support original reading!)
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