When the players on both sides stood near the center circle waiting for the start of the second half, Tang En changed four players in one go. Four players in Nottingham Forest's yellow away jerseys stood on the sidelines, waiting in line to enter the stadium.
Kompany replaced the elderly Ayala, Akinfeev replaced Edwin van der Sar, Lennon replaced David Beckham, and George Wood replaced Sun Jihai.
Beckham's departure made the fans very dissatisfied with Tang En, and the boos against him continued.
"They're not booing you, David." When Beckham came down to shake hands with Tang En, Tang En laughed. "They're booing me, complaining that I replaced you too early."
"I can understand, boss."
"Well, dry yourself." He personally handed over the towel.
Wood took the captain's armband from Beckham's hands, tied it on himself, and ran onto the field. During the halftime interval, he did not express his views on how the first half went, but Tang En knew that the kid must have been suppressing a wave of energy.
During the halftime interval, Tang En asked the team to strengthen the long shots and still only go through the middle. In addition to the players' fear of injury and the referee blowing the whistle, the first half could not open up the situation, which was also related to Tang En's request for the team to attack the middle. But he did not want to change this in the second half. In addition to this difficult training opportunity, Tang En did not think that with Nottingham Forest's ability, they could not break through by attacking the middle.
In fact, even if the main players did not make trouble during the halftime interval, Tang En had a way to turn the situation around in the second half. Therefore, he specifically left the substitutes in the second half. These players, who usually played little games and were very eager to prove themselves, were sometimes more powerful than the main players. The plan to let them play in the second half and then let the Chinese Football Association's heads see a good show was prepared by Tang En from the beginning.
Yes, he did not want to listen to Allan's words from the beginning and leave any face for the China Football Association. The China Football Association's face had nothing to do with him. He did not directly refuse at the time because he did not want to directly quarrel with Allan. He had a bad temper and a straightforward personality, but it did not mean that he could not play petty tricks.
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While the China Olympic players and most of the fans were still in a beautiful dream in the first half, van der Vaart's long-range shot hitting the goalpost had already sounded the alarm for them.
In the fifth minute of the second half, less than a minute after van der Vaart's long shot hit the goalpost, Ribéry suddenly cut inside after dribbling the ball on the flank. Just when the China Olympic players thought he was going to do a long shot, he pushed a straight shot. Eastwood, who plugged in diagonally, turned to hit the goal after receiving the football. The football rolled past the hands of the Olympic goalkeeper, who could not react in time, and hit the net.
Nottingham Forest equalized the score.
So far, it was still in line with what Xie Guanlong and Allen knew.
But in Allen's heart, a very bad premonition had gradually emerged.
In the 11th minute, Li Weifeng, whose defensive actions were still rough, pushed down Lennon in front of the penalty area. The referee whistled for a foul and awarded the Forest team a free kick 27 meters away from the goal.
Gareth Bale stepped forward to take the penalty kick. The ball drew a beautiful arc and hung in a dead corner!
Nottingham Forest completed the reversal within six minutes.
After this goal, Twain made another substitution. Bale, the scorer of the goal, was replaced by Baines, van der Vaart was replaced by Petrov, and Ribéry moved to the middle to play as the playmaker in the midfield.
Subsequently, Petrov, who had just been brought on, used a brutal and unreasonable burst from the flank. He relied on his speed to break through the China players who were defending him and then sent a pass. Van Nistelrooy pressed on Li Weifeng and headed the football into the goal. :
In the blink of an eye, the score had changed from 1: 2 to 4: 2.
The smile on Xie Guanlong's face, who was sitting on the podium, was long gone. His current complexion was infinitely close to today's Ningbo weather.
Allen sat next to Evan Doughty. In the past, Xie Guanlong was the only person. He could feel the emotional upheaval that was taking place in the Football Association president's heart at this moment. Because he was also a little annoyed.
Tony Twain made a fool out of him!
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Generally speaking, it was acceptable for the host to maintain this score until the end of the game. After all, they had scored two goals against the European champions and only allowed the other side to score four goals. But Twain did not intend to stop there. He continued to send the players who were full of hunger for the game and let them attack the China National Olympic team, which had been beaten to the point of losing confidence.
Bendtner came on to replace van Nistelrooy, and Arshavin replaced Eastwood. Rafinha was replaced by Chimbonda, and Wes Morgan replaced Piqué. The current China Olympic team could not threaten Nottingham Forest's defense at all. Most of the stumbling offense stopped at George Wood's line. George Wood's defense against them still looked very easy.
In the final moments of the game, Nottingham Forest scored another two goals. Bendtner grabbed a spot in the penalty area and scored a goal. Then he relied on his strong body to score a brace with a header.
By the time the Forest team scored the fifth goal, half of the fans in the stadium had already begun to cheer and applaud the Forest players' performances every time.
Under such circumstances, Xie Yalong's face darkened and he pursed his lips tightly. He looked as ugly as he could be.
The players of the China Olympic team fought hard at first, but in the end, they found that the gap in strength between the two sides was too big. They did not even have the thought of fighting hard. Their offense was completely out of shape, and their defense was more like doing their best.
Seeing this scene, Twain shook his head below and said, "Just like that, the goal set by the Football Association for them is to break into the top four of the Olympic men's football tournament …"
"Are they crazy?" Dunn asked.
"They're not crazy. This is their normal stance. If one day you hear the Football Association say we have to be down-to-earth and do something practical for China football, you can call the mental hospital and ask them to send a car to the Football Association to pull people. "
Dunn was amused by Twain's words.
Twain glanced at him and said, "Is it funny? Shouldn't you feel sad and angry when you encounter this kind of thing? But the China fans don't even have the strength to be angry and curse. They can only express their emotions in this seemingly ironic way. You see … "He pointed to the stands and said," Now almost everyone is booing the China Olympic team. This is their way of expressing their emotions. If they were not forced to the point where they could not see any hope at all, who would be willing to use this extreme way to vent? Booing a team with their motherland's flag on their chest … How sad and pitiful, "he murmured.
Dunn stopped laughing and was silent. His understanding and feelings for China football were far from the "Englishman" next to him, but he could imagine what Twain's attitude towards China football was in the past. Maybe he had cried, laughed, cursed, longed for and hoped. But now, he was here talking about other people's affairs in a cold tone.
How sad and pitiful was it?
How lamentable!
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The commercial game ended with Nottingham Forest's 6: 2 victory over the China Olympic team. After the game, all the Forest players held hands and went to the front of the grandstand to thank the fans. This was their tradition and what Twain had asked them to do.
Originally, these people thought that after slaughtering their motherland's team so disrespectfully, these people who booed them in the first half would boo even more now. But what surprised and moved them was that the China fans stood in the stands and applauded the Nottingham Forest players, who played seriously and went all out in the game.
"In fact, they know football very well …" Sun Jihai murmured as he thanked the fans with his teammates.
The people on the other side were not feeling well. Xie Guanlong stood on the podium and applauded out of courtesy. There were already impatient fans who rushed to make new banners and held them up in the stands below the podium, specifically to show the officials on the podium.
"Xie Guanlong is a fool! The Chinese Football Association is a fool! "
Such a sentence expressed the thoughts in the hearts of all the fans present.
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The post-match press conference was lively. Because since China had commercial football games, Nottingham Forest was the first team that dared to beat the host to a pulp. This game set a record for the highest single-game score and goal difference by a foreign team over a Chinese team.
According to the traditional thinking of the Chinese, when the guests came to the host's side, they had to take care of the host's face. It was fine to win, but it would look good for everyone if they won less.
But Tony Twain and his Nottingham Forest did not recognize this principle.
Twain's first words surprised the China reporters present. "I was not satisfied with the team's performance in the first half. We should have scored a few more goals. But I'm still satisfied with the score now. In the second half, we showed the strength of a European champion team. "
Twain knew that some China media would be upset, but he had his own way to shut their mouths.
"Before the game, the media were worried that the Forest team, who came to play a commercial game, would not put in enough effort, causing the excitement of the game to be greatly reduced. But now I think everyone can put aside this worry. We are a professional team, and we have followed the professional ethics. I'm very happy to have given such a wonderful game to the China fans! "He smiled and opened his arms, looking very proud. "After the game, the China fans collectively stood up and applauded my team. I was deeply moved, and it also showed that we have used practical actions to win the fans' approval and recognition! The China fans … "He gave a thumbs up and said in fluent Mandarin," Awesome! "
These words and this performance made the media, who were ready to make trouble, completely speechless.
Only Tang Jing snickered below the stage. This was Tony Twain. You did not know if you should like him or hate him. But no matter if you liked him or hated him, he was so real in front of you. If you had a weak heart, you might really die from anger.
In the past, when you were young, you would still fight with him. Now, you could only smile when you saw him. Because he was not targeting you at all. Maybe he was targeting the whole world?
Mr. Puppet Dujković also had nothing to say. This game had nothing to do with him, but he had to stand up after the game to be scolded by everyone. The salary given by the China Football Association was really not easy to take … "They played very well, and we tried our best. But the difference in strength is too big, and we can't do anything … "He rubbed his temples and answered the reporter's question weakly, as if he was mumbling to himself.
Twain glanced at him. He did not feel that the old man was very pitiful.
If it were him, how could he endure such humiliation? He would have scolded the Football Association and then got up to leave. You can find whoever you want to play with. I'm not going to play with you!
※ ※ ※
After finishing their last task in China, the players got a night's rest. Before 11: 30, they could go out and do whatever they wanted.
And Tony Twain was once again invited to his room by Allan. There were some things that they had to make clear.
Unlike the last time, the club chairman, Evan Doughty, was also sitting in the room this time.
"The atmosphere is not right." He did not rush in. Instead, he leaned on the door frame and poked his head in to look at the two men.
"Tony, ah, Tony. What do you want me to say about you? "Allan shook his head and sighed. There were times when he really did not have a temper with this manager. On the field, he was so angry that he could not wait to find Twain and ask him what the hell he was doing. But now that he saw him like this, the angry roar that he had prepared was nowhere to be found.
Twain hurriedly smiled. "Don't, I know why you are looking for me. Actually, Allan, don't blame me for lying to you. If I had refused at the beginning, then the itinerary and various activities that you have arranged for these few days would have been affected. Think about it calmly, isn't that so? "
Allan did not need to think calmly to know that it was so. It would be a fantasy if the two most important departments in the team clashed face-to-face. If everyone was at loggerheads, perhaps many of the arranged activities would have to be canceled.
In order to come to China, he had studied the many European teams that came to China in recent years to make a fortune. For example, in the summer of 2005, Real Madrid's second visit to China had originally arranged for all the players to go to China's national television to record a program with Real Madrid fans selected from all over the country. But because of a direct conflict between Real Madrid's business department and the sports department. The sports department firmly disagreed with the team participating in any television program recording when they were tired and forcibly canceled the itinerary. The end result was that Real Madrid did not agree to the recording of the program, leaving a very bad image in the hearts of all the China fans.
Real Madrid's position in the football world was deeply rooted and rich. They could ignore this little impact. But Nottingham Forest, which had just entered the China market, had to be careful.
"I'm not someone who acts impulsively. I've thought about it. So, I promised you at that time because I didn't want to affect your other plans. But this matter, I really can't agree to it. It crosses my bottom line. I don't know what you think, Allan. But to a person like me who cares about honor, such a thing is tantamount to me selling out the team. I can't do that, and my players don't agree either. You weren't in the locker room during halftime. Everyone thinks we played badly in the first half, and they don't want the game to end like that. "He shrugged and said nothing else.
Allan stood there, not knowing what to say.
Seeing that he did not speak, Twain continued, "Allan, you understand this team. The whole world probably knows what kind of team Nottingham Forest is. I don't blame you at all for purposely going against you. But this request from the China Football Association is too much. I can't accept it. It's their fault. None of us did anything wrong. It's them who didn't follow the rules of football, so they have to pay the price and ask for trouble. I know the China Football Association better than you do. It's already a habit for them to manipulate domestic competitions and leagues. Now they think they can manipulate us? "
"But, Tony. We're going to open a football school in China. This is something we can't bypass the China Football Association. Now you … "Allan finally had the ability to think, but his words were still very harsh.
Twain laughed, and he laughed very happily. "Are you worried that I'll anger the Football Association by doing this? No, no. Allan. You don't understand this organization well enough. The only person I'll anger is the president. Don't worry. His term is coming to an end, at the end of this year … We don't know what will happen when the next president comes. It's too early to say anything now. "He blinked. "The presidents of the China Football Association are all transferred from other organizations to work for a few years. They'll be promoted after they get enough political achievements. They don't care about what happens to China's football."
Evan clicked his tongue in wonder at the side. This kind of thing was really new to him.
Hearing Twain say so, Allan finally eased his tone. "This is incredible."
"Ha, if you go deeper into this organization, you'll find more incredible things. Some things will make you feel that should not happen on Earth at all. "
But Allan quickly discovered a new problem. "Wait. If they change a leader, then all my previous efforts will be in vain? "
"The cooperation negotiated with the organization should not be affected in the big picture. As long as the relationship is not too stiff, they won't block us in other small areas." Twain thought for a moment before saying.
Evan, who had been quietly watching, clapped his hands and laughed. "Well, Allan, the matter has been resolved. I told you, Tony must have his reasons. To be honest, I think the suggestion made by the China Football Association was stupid. Fortunately, Tony did not follow it. "
Allan pretended to be angry. "So it's all my problem?"
"Ahem …" Evan hurriedly coughed to cover it up. "This trip to China was perfect, Allan. Originally, some people were worried that the commercial football in China had already gone cold, but we've made it very hot this time. I heard that Chelsea is already considering an official visit to China … These are the best affirmation for you. "
Twain also chimed in from the side. "That's right. You're the best I've ever seen in this area. "
"You only deal with the managers, Tony." Allan was no longer angry. He said to Twain, "No matter what, what you did today made me very unhappy. Yes, 'unhappy.'"
After staying in China for a while, he could also understand what "face" was.
Twain pretended not to understand. "What's that? Noodles? "
"Don't play dumb, Tony."
"Okay, okay. In order to make up for your 'face,' I've decided to treat you to noodles." Twain raised his hands in surrender.
"Spaghetti? I'm going to vomit from that stuff … "
"No, Japanese ramen!"
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