How many people still remembered Twain's remarks in the newspapers after the World Cup in South Africa six years ago?
The Argentines won the World Cup, and when the major media and football legends congratulated them, Twain made a discordant sound.
"I admit that Messi has won three titles, but it's too early to call him the 'new king.' Argentina can win the World Cup because they did not meet England. Barcelona can win the UEFA Champions League because Nottingham Forest is not there … "
He questioned Messi's identity as the "new king," even though Maradona himself had given the hat of the king to Messi. In Twain's view, a person who could be called the king must have absolute dominance in his era. His brilliance must overshadow everyone else and make him the benchmark of an era.
Messi had not reached that status.
Because there was George Wood. Nottingham Forest with George Wood could end Barcelona's dynasty early, and England with George Wood could do the same.
It was a pity that Twain proved his words at the club level, but the England national team had never had a chance to play against the Argentina national team.
But there was no need to worry, now the opportunity was here!
On April 4th, at Nottingham Crimson Stadium, England would welcome their opponent in a friendly match — Argentina!
The English Football Association listened to Twain completely when choosing a warm-up opponent for the UEFA European Championship. So, Twain picked Argentina's name.
Perhaps others had completely forgotten what he had said in the past, but he still remembered it.
"I'm going to let them see if I'm talking big."
The game aroused a lot of interest from fans in both countries, and also attracted the attention of fans all over the world. Because the feud between them was really known to the world.
Originally, England and Argentina football did not interfere with each other and had nothing to do with each other. But in the 1986 World Cup, a man caused the feud between the two sides that lasted for decades.
And this man was now the Argentina manager — Diego Maradona.
Because of the Falklands War between England and Argentina in 1982, the two countries formed a feud. The hot-blooded young people who played football were always patriotic, so they also wanted to beat their arch-rivals on the football field. The World Cup in Mexico gave the two teams such a chance — the quarterfinals, Argentina against England.
That was a game that would go down in the annals of the World Cup forever. It gave birth to too many classic moments.
Argentina scored their first goal. Maradona, who was only 1.68 meters tall, actually managed to head the ball in front of the tall England national goalkeeper, Shilton … Unfortunately, it was a handball. The referee did not see Maradona's well-hidden action and ruled that the goal was valid. Although the England players tried their best to argue, it was to no avail. They had to accept the result.
Then Maradona scored the most wonderful goal in the history of the World Cup – he passed five players in a row. The other fans relished the goal. Only the Englishmen were indignant – they thought that if there had not been the previous handball, the England players would not have had their emotions affected, and naturally, there would not have been a "five players in a row" after that.
Unfortunately, there were no ifs on the football field.
As the Falklands War intensified the antagonism between the two countries, Maradona did not admit that he had handball. In the end, when he was cornered, he simply said that "it was God's punishment for the English. Half of it was God's hand, and the other half was Diego's head." His refusal to admit his mistake made the Englishmen very unhappy, and the two football teams became enemies just like that.
Although the Falklands War had ended a long time ago, the feud on the football field had been inherited.
People liked to say that "football is a war in peacetime." This sentence was not wrong at all. For the England and Argentina fans, every time their teams met, it was a war to the death.
England and Argentina met again in the 1998 World Cup in France. Beckham's red card, Simeone's sly eyes and exaggerated performance, Owen's sudden appearance, and Argentina's exquisite free kick coordination.
In the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, England and Argentina were divided into the group of death. As a result, Argentina, who was seen as the favorite to win the title before the game, did not even advance out of the group. Many people saw Batistuta crying live in front of the television screen, as well as Beckham's self-redemption after his penalty kick.
Every time England and Argentina met, there would always be such sparks.
They were a famous pair of enemies in the world of football.
When Tang En was still an ordinary fan in China, he was very interested in this kind of game between enemies, such as England and Argentina, England and Germany, Brazil and Argentina … Not to mention old enemies at the club level. Just the examples alone could go on for a day and a night.
He felt that the best embodiment of the nature of football was this kind of intense confrontation, a game full of countless stories. Therefore, when the Football Association gave him a list of candidates, he did not even look at the other teams and directly ticked Argentina's name.
The probability of some teams wanting to meet them in an international competition was not high, and it depended too much on luck. Since it was a friendly game, he could pick any opponent he wanted. Tang En naturally picked a team that could arouse his interest.
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The England and Argentina game, even if it was just a friendly game, was also very closely followed by the England and Argentina media.
As the game got closer and closer, the England media brought up the "Hand of God" again, and the intensity was far greater than before.
In the past, the Argentina manager was not Maradona, and that past was just a topic of gossip. Now it was different. The manager who led Argentina to set foot on English soil was the Argentina national hero, Diego Maradona, who used the "Hand of God" and "passing five people in a row" to humiliate England 30 years ago.
An English reporter ran to ask Diego, 30 years later, what would he say about the handball?
Maradona pretended to be surprised, "It's already been 30 years? Ah, it's really a beautiful memory when I think about it now … "
"You don't feel guilty for using deceitful ways to score?"
Maradona shook his head and said, "No. On the football field, we and you are enemies, and the ultimate goal is to defeat the enemy by any means necessary to win. I still feel that what I did was right. "
Even though the former football king was 55 years old, his temper and character were still a headache.
"If my handball was seen by the referee and the goal was cancelled, I would not have any objections. But he did not see it, so the goal was valid. It's that simple. "Maradona faced the many English reporters, shrugged and spread his hands.
An English reporter could not stand Maradona's "shameless" attitude. He asked a very pointed question, "Mr. Maradona, have you ever thought that you have given a bad start to many Argentine players? So we can often see those famous Argentine stars on the field using their hands instead of their feet and heads to help their team score. For example, your son-in-law Aguero, and your favorite Messi … "
Maradona was a little unhappy, but fortunately he did not have a shotgun at hand. He just said with a sullen face, "The 'Hand of God' is common in South America. It's not exclusive to Argentine players. Besides, I don't think it's common for Argentine players to handball … "
He refused to answer any other questions, pushed the reporters away, turned into the house, and slammed the door shut.
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Tang En held the newspaper, on which there were reports of the reporters "besieging" Maradona. The English reporters were happy to describe Maradona as a scoundrel who was hated by all Englishmen. For example, he refused to admit that scoring with his hands was against the spirit of sports competition, and he repeatedly claimed that if he had to do it again, he would still choose the same way, right?
Any Englishman would gnash his teeth when he saw these remarks, right?
However, Tang En was laughing out loud.
"I like him, ha!" Tang En did not care what Shania's expression was next to him. His words sounded very ambiguous.
"Then you can go hug him and show your love in front of him." Shania curled her lips.
"But I won't be friends with him." Tang En shook his head. "Two maverick and unruly people together can only hurt each other. This kind of person can only be watched from afar." He looked at Shania next to him. "You're not jealous of men, are you?"
"I'm even jealous of football. Why can't I be jealous of men?" Shania pouted.
Tang En smiled and pulled her into his arms.
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The English media even went to Argentina to force Maradona's opinion on an incident that happened 30 years ago. This made the Argentine media feel that it was "too much" and "outrageous."
Therefore, they also "happily" recalled Tony Twain's despicable deeds. For example, he made the City Ground stadium look like a rotten vegetable field, tried to plot against their core, the new king of football, Messi, used despicable means to eliminate Barcelona, and took advantage of the situation.
He also claimed that "Messi can be brought off the field with a broken leg in five minutes." Of course, these were words that were refined by the Argentine media. His original words were actually "If I really wanted to use that kind of means to deal with Messi, I can guarantee that he won't even stay on the field for five minutes."
Look, even the Dutchman could not stand it anymore. Cruyff had once publicly criticized Tang En's actions as stifling football, stifling art. He also called on FIFA to pay attention to the protection of the decreasing number of football artists. "Why are there fewer and fewer players who can bring us joy now? This is obviously related to everyone imitating Nottingham Forest …"
After the Champions League final, he publicly supported Pepe, who was sent off for hitting someone, and declared, "If there's a reason to hit someone, I don't think it's a problem to hit someone. If it were me, I might have hit him too. "
The Argentine media relished in talking about Tony Twain's "notorious record." In fact, they usually did not pay attention to Tony Twain. If it were not for this game, they would not care what Twain said or did.
Just as the Argentine media was frantically smearing Twain's name, a new advertisement poster appeared in the center of Buenos Aires.
It was an advertising poster for Ray-Ban sunglasses. The man in the picture was no stranger to the Argentinians, because his picture had appeared in the street newspapers frequently during this time — Tony Twain was dressed in black, holding a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses in his hand, leaning against the iron bridge railing, his eyes looking into the distance, looking very cool, like the godfather of the underworld.
Next to him was the advertising slogan: Ray-Ban, the choice of real men.
A few days later, in the same downtown area, not far from the billboard, a new poster was erected. This time, the brand that appeared on it was Gillette Razor. The spokesperson was still Tony Twain. He held a Gillette Razor that shone with a cold green light and placed it by his lips, while he himself looked at the bustling crowd and traffic below the advertisement. The black and white poster had a very "cool" feel.
The advertising slogan was: Show off your abilities.
Following that, a third billboard was erected. This time, it was the famous British shoe brand Dr. Martens, and the spokesperson was also Tony Twain. Wearing the personalized shoes of Dr. Martens, Twain did not look like a football manager, but more like an explorer. He was also not dressed in the black suit of the previous two advertisements. The look of a mafia boss was very far from him. He was wearing a casual jacket and jeans, which matched well with Dr. Martens' men's shoes. This outfit made him look much younger than his actual age, and Twain liked this kind of youthful dressing.
The advertising slogan was very compatible with Twain's style of doing things and personality. It was no wonder that Dr. Martens would look for Twain to be the spokesperson:
Confidence. Stubbornness. Never compromise.
The advertisers were completely unworried that Tony Twain's terrible reputation would damage these two world-famous brands. Because the main sales strategy of these two brands was to highlight a unique personality in this mediocre society. There was no better spokesperson than Twain, who had recently become a hot topic in Argentina. Just like how movie villains often had many fans, Tony Twain would definitely be able to find a soulmate here.
In fact, Maradona's personality was also very much in line with the requirements. If only his physique and appearance were a little better …
After the Argentine media found out about those advertisements, they must have been very depressed. Because their efforts to create hype had instead brought Twain more advertising and endorsement income …
Even the English media treated the appearance of Twain's large advertisement in Buenos Aires as social news and repeatedly broadcast it as a counterattack.
This matter did make the bystanders feel funny, but not everyone thought this kind of thing was very funny.
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In the past, when Twain was the club's manager, this kind of situation was relatively rare. It only happened to the players who left Nottingham Forest and transferred to other teams.
That was: when Twain engaged in a war of words with the opposing team, how could the former Forest players endure it …
For example, before the match between Forest and Barcelona, when both sides attacked each other, Piqué was very embarrassed.
Now, most of the Nottingham Forest players had the opportunity to "enjoy" such treatment.
As long as they were not England's national footballers, they had the opportunity to represent their national team against England. If Twain did not know what went wrong and started a war of words, then as a player who was once on the same side as Twain, he would feel very awkward.
This time, it was the unlucky Gago's turn.
There were very few Argentine players in Nottingham Forest's team. Gago was the only one. In this war between the two media, as the only Argentine who had received Twain's teachings, how could he be forgotten?
But fortunately, he did not have to continue experiencing such torment, because he was not called up by Maradona to the national team. He did not need to play in this friendly match. Since he did not need to play, there was no need for him to accept those embarrassing questions. He refused to comment on this match because he would not be participating in it.
Those headache-inducing questions, let his national team teammates face them …
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Argentina did not fly to England as a group. Maradona arrived in Nottingham with the players in Argentina's domestic league, and then flew to Nottingham to meet up with the team after the national footballers who played in various European leagues finished their respective leagues.
As Argentine players who played in Spain, Messi, Higuaín and Agüero arrived in London together and were immediately surrounded by "enthusiastic" reporters.
"Messi! Messi! Can you answer a question? "
"What do you think of Tony Twain, Messi?"
"It is said that he once wanted to break your leg in the game. May I ask if it is true?" Rumors were really scary …
"Messi, will you play in the game against England? Is it true that Barcelona only wants you to play in half the game? "
People who did not know the inside story would think that those who surrounded Messi were crazy fans.
Messi did not want to answer such questions. He lowered his head, covered his face with his hands, and squeezed out quickly. And his two teammates who arrived at the same time as him were like bodyguards, sandwiching him in the middle.
It was not easy to get rid of the group of crazy reporters with the help of airport security. Messi was still a little scared.
"It's just a friendly game, not a World Cup game. Why did those people …"
"Have you forgotten who our opponents are? England and Tony Twain. "Agüero complained next to him. Messi was too popular and he was a victim of it. He was originally a glittering celebrity, but he almost broke his sunglasses when he squeezed out. Now he could not wear them properly no matter how he put them on. He looked as embarrassed as he could be. After adjusting it for a long time, it was still crooked. He simply stuffed the sunglasses into his backpack.
Higuaín also said next to him, "This game can't be seen as an ordinary friendly game no matter what … At England's home ground, you have to be prepared to be booed for the entire game."
They hurried to the car sent by the Argentina team to pick them up before they breathed a sigh of relief.
"Anyway, I only play in half the game …" Messi did not care about the boos.
"Hey, so the rumors in the media are true?" Higuaín was a little envious. To be asked by the manager meant that he was very, very valued and was the indispensable core of the team. He was obviously not that kind of player.
"Mr. Guardiola is afraid that I'll get hurt."
Agüero laughed next to him, "Then it's better to let you not play for a minute. Have you forgotten who your opponent is? "
A name instantly appeared in the minds of the other two, along with his lifeless face. It was as if it was carved out of wood, lifeless and lifeless. However, they definitely could not let their guard down. There were a lot of people who fell at his feet. If you do not want to get hurt in such a friendly game, you have to be careful.
Messi was excited instead.
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