It had been half a month since the start of the new season, and it was time for the national team's match.
However, Tang En was now worrying about the team's squad list.
Wayne Rooney had a thigh contusion and had to rest for a week. Michael Carrick had a sprained knee and would have to rest for two weeks. Bentley was injured again not long after recovering from his injury. It was the same problem as the last time — a strained ligament in his leg. It would take him at least a month to recover. Downing had strained his calf in the match against Wales on August 24th and would be out for two weeks. Terry had also been sent off with a red card in that match and would be suspended for two matches.
All the injured players had to be replaced and suitable substitutes needed to be found.
Thus, Chris Cohen received a call from the national team for the first time, asking him to pack up and report to London to join up with the national team to go to Macedonia.
Although he was a First Team player when Nottingham Forest won the Treble and had a stable chance to play. But he had never been selected for the England team. After all, there was Downing and James Milner in this position, and he was more mediocre in all aspects. His only strength might be that he was proactive in defending and did not care about his stamina.
Tang En recruited another Forest player and continued to appoint people who were close to him. But now the voices of criticism were a little quieter because his team continued to win. As long as they could win, who cared if he was planning to replace the England national team with Nottingham Forest?
Cohen was a little flattered, but then he confirmed that he was not dreaming and this was not some reality show to prank people. That was because after the Football Association called him, Tang En's call also followed.
"Chris. I was the one who promoted you from the reserve team to the First Team, and now I'm the one who transferred you from the Forest team to the national team. To be honest, I'm under a lot of pressure. If you don't perform well, I'll be scolded badly. I don't care about that, but if you don't perform well, it will definitely cause disunity within the England team … "
Cohen knew what Tang En meant, and he replied, "Don't worry, boss. I won't embarrass you! "
Cohen was replacing Downing, who had left the team due to injury. However, Tang En could not guarantee him a chance to play, because the competition for the same position was not small.
James Milner and Walcott could both play as left midfielders. If they wanted to represent England for the first time, they would need to show all their strength in training to impress Tang En and convince the other doubters.
Moke was very envious that Cohen could actually be selected for the national team. His position in the Forest team was more stable now, but the boss did not call him even once. Even when Bentley was injured twice, he used Walcott to replace him.
Terry was injured and Manchester City's Micah Richards replaced him in the national team. Due to his fluctuating condition, he had been hovering at the doorstep of the national team. Even though he was very talented and had a lot of support for him to enter the national team, Tang En would rather offend half the people of Manchester than recruit Richards into the national team.
As a star player who became famous at a young age, Richards had long been famous in the English Premier League and even in European football. During Capello's era, he was often selected for the national team. Other than the fact that he did not receive any decent honors in the club, he was considered one of the best among his peers. This kind of experience made him a little proud and arrogant. Sometimes his mind was not on playing football.
Tang En did not believe it and wanted to kill the prestige of the Manchester City vice-captain. As a result, ever since he took over the England team, Richards had not been selected for the national team even once. As a result, the Manchester media analyzed whether Tang En had any conflict with Richards.
Tang En had never admitted to this matter, and Richards would occasionally complain a little. Now, he was called into the national team. Even though he was replacing Terry, he finally bought the door and was selected for the first time since Tony Twain took over the national team.
If there was a first time, there would be a second time, as long as he could seize the opportunity.
Michael Carrick could not participate in the national team matches due to injury and Tottenham Hotspur's Delph was the frontline reinforcement. The person who replaced Rooney was Everton's top striker, James Vaughan. Bentley's replacement was Matt Derbyshire from Blackburn Rovers.
With such a team, Tang En flew to Skopje, the capital of Macedonia.
※ ※ ※
Even at home, Macedonia could not pose any threat to England. This was what all the England fans thought.
The England players thought so too. In the previous ten qualifiers, England had achieved an impressive record of nine wins and one draw. It was not a problem at all to advance from the group stage. They had long since looked down on their opponents in the group stage.
After the start of the game, it seemed to develop in the same way.
Just seven minutes after the kick-off, Walcott passed the ball from the flank after a breakthrough and Mitchell easily jumped to head the ball into the goal. England led by 1: 0.
After taking the lead early, the England players began to relax and were a little absent-minded.
This made Tang En very unhappy. He kept walking up and down on the sidelines, baring his fangs and brandishing his claws to order the team to continue attacking.
Macedonia performed much better than when they played against England in the away game. They threatened England's goal many times in the middle of the game.
It was not until the 72nd minute that England took advantage of a corner kick and Richards, who replaced Terry, headed the ball into the goal to lock the score at 2: 0 and basically ended the game.
Richards was very excited after the goal. He ran in front of the television cameras and yelled. After being "ignored" by Tang En for a year, he finally used this goal to prove his value.
After the game, Tang En did not praise the team's performance. Instead, he mercilessly satirized them in the locker room.
"There were 16 shots in the whole game, and only three of your shots hit within the range of the goalpost!" How could he not be angry with these statistics? "Should I be happy that we were so efficient and scored two goals within the range of the goalpost with three shots? Or should I feel sorry for the other nine shots you missed? There are also four legs that have been blocked … This is your statistics, gentlemen! You can play like this against a small Macedonia team. How are you going to face a stronger opponent? "
The group of players were speechless by Tang En's words. They also knew that their play in the game was very average. What the boss said was also right, because when they faced Macedonia, they could not lift their spirits no matter how hard they tried.
Tang En looked at the group of players. He also knew in his heart that no matter what he said when playing against a team that was too weak, the players would definitely underestimate the enemy in their hearts. They also had their own little calculations and would not listen to everything he said. They were living people, not puppets in his hands.
"I don't want to see a game like today again."
Tang En threw down these words and left the locker room.
The group of players looked at each other, still not quite understanding. Even if they underestimated the enemy, they still won the game. There was no need for the boss to be so angry, right?
They did not know that what Tang En valued most was the team's spirit and willpower. They could lose, but their willpower would not be shaken. Underestimating the enemy was not scary. What was scary was a sloppy game attitude. Once it became a habit, it would give the team a fatal blow at a crucial moment.
Only the Forest players understood why the boss was dissatisfied. Because that was what the boss demanded of the team when they were in the Forest team.
※ ※ ※
England won against Macedonia. Although the process was not to Tang En's satisfaction, the result was good. Now they had 25 points and were firmly in first place in the group. As second-ranked Denmark and fifth-ranked Ireland tied 1: 1 in this round of games, they only had 20 points. The difference between first and second place had widened to five points.
As the next round of games would be an away game against Denmark, it was a game worth six points. So as long as England could beat Denmark, they would advance in advance with two rounds of games left.
In the eyes of the English media, the England team had already won the ticket to Spain. Because playing against Denmark in an away game was not a problem at all. After playing against Samsara in the qualifiers, they found that there was no team in this group that could cause trouble for Tony Twain's team.
Whether it was Denmark or Serbia, they were previously regarded as strong teams, but they could not withstand a single blow in front of the powerful England team.
The English media became noisy again. They began to clamor that this was the strongest England team in history and that they would definitely sweep through the European continent. Serbia and Denmark could not stop the team's progress at all. Tony Twain's unbeaten streak since he led the team would continue.
Tang En was tired of hearing such arguments.
But Tang En did feel a little nervous for the next game. The media's over-optimism would definitely affect the team's mood. Just look at what happened in Skopje. Fortunately, their opponent in that game was only Macedonia. What would have happened if it was Denmark? The Vikings would not easily let go of such an opportunity at home.
What worried him more was that this kind of arrogance might bring more terrible results when it came to the UEFA European Championship.
※ ※ ※
Ever since the criticism of the team's performance in Skopje, the players noticed that the smile on the boss's face had decreased significantly.
During the interview, the boss was a lot more cautious when talking about Denmark. He had been emphasizing that Denmark was a strong team and that he respected Denmark very much. His attitude could not be any lower. It was really surprising that the most arrogant manager would take the initiative to show weakness.
The players were talking about it.
"The boss's behavior is very abnormal …"
"What's so abnormal about it? He's doing it for us to see! "
"Doing it for us to see?"
"He doesn't want us to underestimate the enemy."
"Why would we underestimate the enemy against Denmark?"
"It's hard to say … The team has won consecutively. I don't think the game against Denmark will be a problem …"
"It's true. It's not a problem at all to advance. I don't know what the boss is worried about … "
"I really can't muster up any energy against an opponent that can be easily defeated with a kick."
"Look at you, you're underestimating the enemy!"
"Ah …"
Similar discussions like this happened from time to time among the players.
The day before the game, Tang En gathered the whole team for a tactical meeting in the hotel where the England team was staying. In the end, he did not talk about tactics. The first thing he said shocked the players.
"I'm thinking, should we deliberately lose to Denmark?"
Tang En touched his chin. The way he spoke did not seem like he was joking. Everyone was shocked. They stared at their manager with their eyes wide open. They did not know why the boss said that.
"Anyway, we will definitely advance to the next round. It doesn't matter if we lose a game. I don't care much about that consecutive unbeaten record. It's meaningless. Compared to that, I'd rather pour cold water on those muddle-headed media … But, are you willing to do that? "
He stared at the group of players and asked.
As the captain, Wood stood up and said, "I don't like to do that, boss."
"Reason?"
"I don't like to lose, and I don't like to deliberately lose."
Wood's words were agreed by many of the players. They echoed one after another.
"In fact, boss …" Mitchell also stood up and said, "Don't worry about us being instigated by the media. We're not children. We don't know anything. "
His words were also agreed and echoed by many of the players.
Tang En spread out his hands and said, "Am I worrying for nothing? I've already seen that kind of emotion among you. Some of you must think that Denmark is a team that can casually win, right? "
Some of the players shrunk their necks and lowered their heads.
"Since you don't want to lose, then I need to make some adjustments to the starting lineup …"
In this way, Tang En placed all of the Nottingham Forest players in the starting lineup. Joe Mattock, Chris Cohen, Mitchell, Agbonlahor, and the captain, George Wood.
Facing the Nottingham Forest players in the starting lineup, he roared, "You know what I want!"
"Victory!!"
※ ※ ※
Denmark had tried to fight back, so they scored a goal.
However, the storm of England's counterattack was too fierce. The storm was so heavy that the Danes could not even lift their heads.
They defeated Denmark in an away game by 2: 1 and won the game. As a result, they also obtained the right to advance two rounds ahead of schedule.
When the referee blew the whistle to signal the end of the match, the England players rushed onto the pitch and hugged their teammates who had been running on the pitch for 90 minutes. They knew that no matter how the other teams played, they had successfully entered the UEFA European Championship finals in Spain.
Tang En also let out a long breath, stood up and waved his fist, and then was embraced by his colleagues in the coaching staff. The first goal in the contract was achieved.
The next thing he had to think about was the UEFA European Championship.
The chief executive of the English Football Association, Shaun Barclays, stood up and applauded on the rostrum of the stadium. He smiled and showed off his discerning eyes to the people next to him, "If I hadn't called him back then, how would we be here today?"
"People say that Tony Twain is unruly, but under Mr. Barclays' leadership, I can't see this at all." His subordinates flattered Barclays to the "dragon's countenance."
In the eyes of these people, Tang En was uncharacteristically well-behaved for a year. If it was not for Mr. Barclays' personal charm, who else could do it?
※ ※ ※
The news that England had advanced ahead of schedule must have stimulated the other teams in the group who hoped to advance.
In a competition held the next day, Wales, who was originally ranked fourth, beat Serbia with a difficult 2: 1 away game. Taking advantage of Denmark's loss, they jumped to second place in the group, two points ahead of Denmark, and were very likely to directly advance to the UEFA European Championship as the second place in the group.
It was worth mentioning that both of Wales' goals came from one person.
Gareth Bale used two direct free kicks to break Serbia's goal in the game and almost single-handedly sent Wales to second place in the group.
There was jubilation in Wales because their team finally had a chance to participate in an international competition. Bale, who scored two goals for the team, rose his reputation in Wales to a very remarkable height, and the praise was overwhelming. But he only remembered the agreement he made with Tang En on the sidelines.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
