Although they were behind for the time being, Sweden's manager, Lagerbäck, was still in high spirits.
"It's time to fight back, gentlemen!" He clapped his hands and raised his voice.
The players looked up at him.
"We gave them too many chances in the first half. We can't continue like this in the second half. We have the advantage of being high up in the air, why not use it? Every corner kick is a good opportunity for us to make full use of. So, I want you to be more proactive in the second half. You have to be more aggressive in the midfield! "He clenched his fist and pounded it.
The group of midfielders, led by Carlstrom, lowered their heads in shame when they heard the manager's words. They also knew that their performance in the first half was terrible. Not only were they completely suppressed by England's midfield, they also did not contribute much during the defense. Sweden was completely suppressed by England in the first half, and the main reason was that they lost control of their midfield.
"We'll make an adjustment in the second half …" Lagerbäck glanced at the team captain, Ibrahimović, who had been silent. "Zlatan (Ibrahimović)."
Ibrahimović looked at the manager.
"How did it feel to be at the front in the first half?"
"I had too little space to move around. Their players were close to me." Ibrahimović answered honestly.
Lagerbäck nodded to show that he understood. "In the second half, you'll be pulled out and not play as the center forward. Retreat behind Goitang and be the second striker and attacking midfielder. Use your footwork and awareness to organize the attack. You can shoot when you have space. "
He did not have to face England's two center backs directly after he was pulled out. He had more space and time to get the ball, and his skills could also be put to use.
Ibrahimović was not surprised by the arrangement. He nodded to show that he understood.
After the tasks were almost arranged, Lagerbäck decided to boost the players' morale again. He could not let the players be negative because they were behind in the first half.
"Do you remember the video of the game I showed you last night?" He asked.
It was the game between Sweden and England in the group stage of the World Cup ten years ago. England played beautifully in the first half, and Sweden's performance in the second half was perfect.
"It's similar to today's situation. We're playing the same game again. I'm confident that we'll win in the end! Let's launch a counterattack in the second half! England has not beaten us for 48 years. There is no reason to let this proud achievement end today! As long as we can score early in the second half, the nightmare of 48 years will haunt the England players. As time gets closer to the end of the game, their mentality will also change. This is an advantageous situation for us. As long as we are more patient than them, we will be able to obtain victory in the end! "
Lagerbäck said confidently to his players. He was sure of his judgment. We know the English too well!
※ ※ ※
George Wood did not follow the team into the locker room for today's game. He and the other substitutes used the half-time break to warm up on the pitch. In that case, he might play in the second half.
He did not know what Tang En had said to his teammates during the halftime interval, but they looked normal when they walked out again.
Seeing captain John Terry appear at the tunnel entrance, Wood ended his warm-up and slowly walked to the substitutes' bench. When he passed by Terry, he heard the man who replaced him to wear the captain's armband suddenly asked, "Hey, George, have you warmed up enough?"
Wood stopped in his tracks and looked at him strangely.
"My intuition tells me that you have a chance to play today." Terry smiled at him and then walked away.
Wood frowned and looked at the tunnel entrance, hoping to see Tony Twain. Did he make any adjustments during the halftime interval?
※ ※ ※
The second half of the game started again. Both teams did not make any substitutions. When Sweden kicked off, Ibrahimović stood in the center circle with Goitang. But after a round of attack, Twain noticed that Ibrahimović had indeed retreated to the position between the attacking midfielder and the second striker.
If Lagerbäck thought that Twain would be surprised by this arrangement and be at a loss for what to do, then he would be disappointed. Then he would be disappointed.
Ibrahimović immediately raised his hand to ask for the ball after he was pulled out. He wanted to take this opportunity to go all out! He wanted to vent his frustration from not being able to do anything in the first half.
Just when he received the ball and was about to take advantage of the situation to look for a chance to shoot, he was blocked by Gerrard.
Ibrahimović stopped abruptly and turned around to see if he could protect the ball. But he once again turned his back to the direction of the attack. Ibrahimović was very surprised. Why was Gerrard here? This was already very close to the penalty area. Logically speaking, it was the area that the defenders were responsible for. Even if the person who was supposed to block him, it should be Michael Johnson and not Gerrard who was more focused on attacking.
He looked up and saw that Johnson was in another area, staring at Carlstrom who was ready to make a move.
Was Gerrard here specifically to mark him, or was it a coincidence?
Ibrahimović decided to do another experiment. He passed the ball and ran away from Gerrard to a new position. Once again, he raised his hand to ask for the ball.
After the ball was passed, Ibrahimović saw Gerrard in front of him again.
Once was a coincidence, twice …
Ibrahimović did not even do a feint and passed the ball out again. He ran away and raised his hand again.
The ball was passed for the third time, and Gerrard arrived shortly after.
The third time was no longer a coincidence!
It looked like Gerrard had his eyes on him.
Ibrahimović did not pass the ball this time. Instead, he chose to use his footwork to get away from Gerrard and break through. However, Gerrard stuck to him and did not give him a chance to get rid of him. After a moment of stalemate, Ibrahimović realized that England's defense was watertight. Gerrard was obviously sacrificing his offense to defend against him. He had no choice but to pass the ball.
Lagerbäck was shocked as he watched from the sidelines. England's adjustment was too timely, wasn't it? Logically speaking, the opponent should not have made a defense against Ibrahimović so quickly. It should have taken at least ten minutes for Twain to react, come up with a countermeasure, and finally give instructions. His team could have taken advantage of the chaos in England's defense during this time to create an opportunity to score.
However, the situation was completely different now. Could it be that Twain had guessed his adjustment in advance? How was that possible?
On the other side, Twain still maintained a faint smile on his face. Lagerbäck certainly did not know that England had long been doing research on their opponents as part of their daily homework. Sweden's cunning tricks could not be hidden from him. Since the start of the qualifiers and during the warm-up games, Lagerbäck would make such an adjustment whenever the team could not break through the situation. Ibrahimović's position on the field was also slowly moving back. His excellent footwork skills and the long-term accumulation of experience and awareness allowed him to be like a fish in the water in the midfield.
During the halftime interval, Twain made targeted arrangements against this habit of Sweden. He asked Gerrard to defend against Ibrahimović, and as for the offense, it would be launched from the two flanks. After all, England had a goal in hand, and they were not worried about scoring a goal. As long as they could stabilize their defense, even a one-goal lead was not an unacceptable result to Twain.
At the same time, Ibrahimović passed the ball three times and raised his hand for the ball three times. His teammates also passed the ball to him three times, which proved that the intelligence was correct. In the second half, Ibrahimović really changed and became the core of Sweden's organization.
It looked like Lagerbäck wanted to decide the winner in the second half. Unfortunately, Twain did not let him have his way.
His judgment was correct, and his countermeasure was correct. The rest was for him to watch the show.
※ ※ ※
Sweden did not expect England to react so quickly, and for a moment, they did not know what to do.
How could England, who had been specially instructed by Twain, let go of such an opportunity? They immediately counterattacked. Since they had guessed that Sweden would strengthen their control over the midfield, Twain naturally would not let the ball stay in the midfield for long. So, after three passes and two passes, the ball reached the front of Sweden's penalty area!
Gerrard did not rush up, and stayed behind to guard against Ibrahimović. England only had two forwards and two midfielders in the front field. Although Gerrard did not go up, the four players in the front field were still very fast. By the time the Swedes reacted, Mitchell had already received a pass from Moke at the top of the penalty area.
Generally speaking, Mitchell's shooting strength was his weakness. He rarely shot from outside the penalty area, and even if he did manage to shoot, he would end up a long distance away from the goal in the end.
The Swedes knew the England team very well, and Lagerbäck had a deep understanding of every England player, which was the main reason why he believed that his team could beat England. Before the game, he told the Swedish players the characteristics of every England player. The defensive players must be familiar with every characteristic of the opposing offensive players.
Now, when the Swedish defenders saw Mitchell with the ball, their minds would come up with his playing characteristics – not being able to shoot from long range was definitely one of them.
The center back, Peter Larsson, who was facing Mitchell, also knew the technical characteristics of his opponent. If he went up, he would only let his opponent use his footwork skills to get past him. So the best way was to retreat a little and maintain a safe distance to prevent him from breaking through. But what he did not expect was that after Mitchell looked up and saw the situation in front of him, he actually swung his right leg!
He wants to shoot!?
Larsson was frightened, and wanted to go up to stop him, but it was too late!
Sweden's goalkeeper, Isaksson also did not expect Mitchell to directly shoot from the top of the penalty area!
The ball that Mitchell kicked out was not strong, and the ball was not fast, but it drew a very obvious arc and hit the far end of the goalpost where Isaksson could not reach …
"Mitchell suddenly swung his leg to shoot!"
The football hit the inside of the goalpost and then bounced into the net. Even though Isaksson made a very comfortable save in the air, he was too far away and could only watch the football hit the goalpost …
The England fans in the stands burst into loud cheers, and it almost made people think that there was an earthquake at Pizjuan Stadium. At this moment, even the television cameras were shaking, and the English people were shouting "Long live".
“What_a_great_GOOOOOAL！！ An unbelievable goal! Mitchell swung his leg and shot, and the football drew a beautiful arc, bypassing Isaksson's defense and flew into the goal! England is leading Sweden by 2: 0 in the 60th minute of the second half!! "
"Two goals! There is no better situation than this! The Swedes are still preparing to fight back, but we have knocked them out! Ah ha! "Motson was so happy that he almost danced. The reason why he was happy was not only that they were leading by two goals, but that England was completely dominant on the field.
But after everyone's brief excitement, they could not help but have such a thought emerge in their minds:
For the past 48 years, England had also encountered such a situation in the game against Sweden, but in the end, the English were still the unlucky ones. Would it be the same this time? It was as if there was a pair of big hands manipulating England's fate at will. Want to win against Sweden? I can even let Sweden equalize the score in the 90th minute!
This time, can Tony Twain's team defeat the hands of fate?
※ ※ ※
After Twain and the people around him celebrated Mitchell's goal, he turned his head to look at the substitutes' bench and found that George Wood had just finished his celebration. So, he walked over.
"George."
Wood looked back at him.
"Go warm up. Five minutes." With that, Twain turned and walked away.
Wood heard this sentence clearly. He did not hesitate at all, nor did he stand in the same place and cheer three times. He directly grabbed the training vest that was thrown on the seat, put it on, and ran to warm up.
Five minutes later, Wood returned in front of Twain and waited for Twain's latest instructions.
"Sweden has conceded two goals." Twain said to Wood, "They will definitely go all out in the next 30 minutes to fight for a goal. I need you to go up and stabilize the midfield defense for me now. "
Wood nodded.
"After you go up, replace Gerrard. Defend against Ibrahimović. "
"Okay." Wood continued to nod.
After assigning the task, Twain glanced at Wood's right toe.
Wood noticed Twain's action. He tiptoed and jumped, "I'm fine."
Twain, who was seen through, grinned a little embarrassedly.
"Go on, George."
When the England fans and the commentator saw George Wood standing next to the fourth official, it was obvious that he was waiting to play. Everyone's previous worries vanished into thin air.
England's patron saint, "Saint George," appeared again, so there was nothing to worry about.
Gerrard saw the substitution order on the field. After he high-fived his teammates around him, he slowly ran off the field. He did not have any objections to Twain's arrangement. He just wanted to use the substitution to delay a little more time.
Sure enough, the Swedes were dissatisfied with Gerrard's dawdling attitude and raised their hands to protest to the referee. But it was only 60 minutes now. There was still half an hour left for the Swedes, and the referee could only turn a blind eye.
Gerrard walked to the sidelines and still stood there with his hands raised. He applauded and thanked the England fans in the stands. Then he hugged Wood.
When Wood stepped onto the pitch, the cheers from the England fans, who were already cheering, became even louder.
John Motson's passionate voice rang out in the deafening cheers, "Let us welcome England's captain — — George Wood!!"
"Saint George bless England — —!!"
As if it was arranged in advance, the fans in the stands shouted in unison at the same time as he finished speaking.
Wood heard the cheers and he raised his hand to respond to the cheers. As a result, the cheers became louder.
Lagerbäck's face was very ugly in the midst of the thunderous cheers. Of course, he knew why Twain brought on George Wood at this time. It was just like when he brought on Wood in the last 10 minutes of the game against Germany and finally secured a 2: 1 victory.
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