When George Wood appeared on the pitch, the England fans in the stands let out a huge cheer. They chanted Wood's nickname "Saint George" over and over again, completely beating down the arrogance of the French fans.
They could not help but be excited. It had been more than two months. Although George Wood had appeared as a substitute in the games against Germany and Sweden, it was his first time in the starting lineup. What did it mean for George Wood to be in the starting lineup? Saint George's right big toe was completely healed! They did not have to worry about anything for the rest of the game.
However, the opponents who were watching the game from the stands to gather first-hand information were not concerned about Wood's comeback, but about Twain's actions. Wood's comeback was expected. Tang En did not bring his most prized disciple to Spain just to keep him on the bench, so there was nothing to be surprised about. But Twain's uncharacteristic low-key style before the game made those opponents very wary.
The opponents who were watching the game from the stands included Spain and the Czech Republic, which the two teams were likely to meet in the semifinals, as well as Italy, which they were likely to meet in the final.
They were all the coaches of their respective teams and came to San Mamés Stadium with the mission of spying on the military. Few of them would believe that Twain was really afraid of the French team. Although the French team's performance in the previous games was indeed eye-catching, no matter how they analyzed it, Twain was not the kind of manager who would be afraid of his opponents. On the contrary, when the opponent was stronger, the more fighting spirit he should have. Look at how he led a little-known Nottingham Forest team to create a dynasty … It was almost a collection of classic battle examples of the weak defeating the strong.
They were so concerned about Twain's various abnormal performances before the game that they thought George Wood's starting lineup was not worth mentioning. It was as natural as when the conditions were right …
※ ※ ※
Puel was no longer thinking about what Twain said and did before the game. Now all his thoughts were on the game — the madness of the English was something he did not expect …
At the start of the game, the French team kicked off. It was reasonable to say that the French team should take advantage of this opportunity to control the ball at their feet, and then launch wave after wave of continuous attacks to threaten England's goal, correctly score first, and drag the game into the track that the French were familiar with.
However, before their attack could get close to England's goal, it was intercepted by George Wood and Gerrard. Next, the French team wanted to regain possession of the ball in the midfield – Lassana Diarra and Flamini were playing as central midfielders, which was closer to the opponent's penalty area. The French team's intention could be seen from the adjustments made in this position. They intended to completely suppress England with their offense in this game. The ideal result was that England could not even get out of the half of the field.
In fact, this was also the reason why the French team had been so successful so far. Puel was not a fool who only knew how to attack. After the two strong intercepting midfielders were brought forward, the French team's offense was more oppressive, making it easier for them to counterattack on the spot. When faced against teams that were not strong enough or unprepared, this move could really play a decisive role.
Unfortunately, they encountered a high-spirited and well-prepared England team today.
After seeing Gerrard take the ball, Flamini rushed up tacitly. Before the match started, Diarra looked for his partner and told him that his target was George Wood, so he told Flamini not to interfere with the match.
When Gerrard saw Flamini pouncing towards him, he passed the ball to Wood, who was not far away.
Almost at the same time as he passed the ball, Diarra also moved. He pounced like a black panther towards Wood, who was ready to receive the ball. He planned to intercept the ball at the same time when Wood received the ball. At that time, Wood had not yet stabilized his footing, and it was an opportunity.
"Diarra goes up to defend against Wood … Beautiful!"
Mortensen shouted excitedly.
At the same time as Diarra pounced, Wood used his heel to knock Gerrard's pass directly to Terry at the back. It did not matter if Diarra pounced on empty air. The important thing was that after he and Flamini both rushed up, the French team's midfield and backfield were separated, and there was a wide empty space in the middle! One had to know that the positions of the French team's two intercepting midfielders were originally very forward …
This was clearly what Twain had specifically told Wood before the start of the game: to be good at taking advantage of the loopholes in the opponent's formation.
Terry did not waste any time and directly passed the ball to the feet of Moke, who had already rushed to the front!
"England's quick attack!"
When Stuart Downing stopped the ball, there were only three French defenders in front of him, while England's two strikers and another side midfielder, Agbonlahor, had already rushed to the front of the penalty area. Gerrard even rushed up after passing the ball to Wood. On the other hand, after Wood passed the ball back to Terry, he continued to sit in the backfield to defend.
Twain's starting lineup for this game was different from the previous two games. The two Nottingham Forest players, Chris Cohen and Moke, did not continue to be in the starting lineup. Instead, they gave their positions to Downing and Agbonlahor. The latter two had one thing in common — speed.
Twain expected the French team to press heavily and strive to score first. At this time, the most important thing for the England team in the attack was not ball control, but speed. Cohen's offense and defense were balanced, and he had good endurance. Moke's control of the ball was excellent, and his technique was exquisite. But they were not players with speed. Downing and Agbonlahor, on the other hand, had outstanding speed and were quite useful in counterattacks.
And this lineup was also greatly beyond the French people's expectations. Puel certainly did not expect that when England's right midfielder was in crisis, Twain would give up the only true right midfielder left and choose Agbonlahor, who was originally a striker.
Downing did not stay long after receiving the ball. Instead, he passed the ball out horizontally. Rooney, who had retreated back, received the ball and then passed the ball to Agbonlahor. Just now, the French team's left back, Clichy, had rushed up to participate in the attack. At this time, he was still running back to defend.
Agbonlahor did not stand on ceremony. After receiving the ball, he directly cut inside and plugged into the penalty area!
The French team's center back was originally guarding against Mitchell and Rooney. He did not expect England to quickly move the ball to the other side. He also did not expect Agbonlahor to plug into the penalty area so resolutely, without the slightest hesitation …
After Agbonlahor rushed into the goal, he swung his leg to look like he was going to shoot. He tricked Sakho into flying over to block, but he passed the ball horizontally to Mitchell in the small penalty area …
"Aaron Mitchell is now unmarked … He's shooting …"
The football flew straight to the goal. The goalkeeper, Lloris, flew to save, but the distance was too close. Mitchell's shot also used all his strength. No matter how good the goalkeeper was, there was nothing he could do at this time …
“GOOOAL！ GOOOOOAL！ GOOOOOAL!!! "John Motson, the ace commentator of BBC5, jumped up from his seat.
He was perhaps the first person to react, because when the football that Mitchell shot out hit the net, whether it was the fans in the stands or the audience in front of the television, their brains had not yet recovered — What was going on? It had only been a little more than a minute since the start of the game. What was going on?
Equally surprised were all the members of the French team. The coaches sitting in the technical area and the French players who had been desperately returning to defend on the field just now all stared blankly at their own goal at this moment. There was a football spinning there, rubbing against the net.
At the same time, in England, only John Motson's voice was shouting in the big and small bars, on the big screens in the squares and in the taxis' radios, "This is the fastest goal of the tournament! This is also the second fastest goal in the history of the UEFA European Championship! One minute and thirty seconds, Mitchell has taken the lead for England! We're in the lead! This lead is really surprising, but we're really in the lead! "
※ ※ ※
After a few seconds of stagnation, loud cheers erupted from the stands of the San Mamés Stadium.
The commentators from various countries also announced that England was leading the French team by 1: 0 in the way they were good at.
To be honest, even the England team's own people did not expect their start to be so smooth that they took the lead just a minute and a half into the game. It was Tony Twain who reacted the fastest. He opened his arms and rushed out of the technical area, doing a butt shaking dance near the French team's technical area, as if he was deliberately trying to annoy Puel.
Agbonlahor, who passed the ball, rushed up to pull Mitchell down, and then more England players pressed on. Even the goalkeeper, Joe Hart, ran up from behind. It could be seen how excited the Englishmen were.
Yes, they were excited. Because they were not only ahead of the French team, but they also let the boss see clearly what kind of trash the strong opponent, the French team, which he had been afraid to boast about, was! They were simply too weak!
"Benzema, Gourcuff, Ben Arfa … A group of geniuses in the French team are helpless against this ball!"
They were really helpless. They were still standing in front and did not move. Who would have thought that the failure of the first attack would lead to a goal concede?
Twain walked back after he finished his butt shaking dance in front of the French team's coaching staff. He met Des Walker's expectant eyes and said with a smile, "The storm is coming, Des."
※ ※ ※
Yes, the storm was coming. The first gust of wind overturned the greenhouse roof above the French team's head. The delicate flowers trembled in the storm and swayed.
In fact, at this time, the French team very much hoped to get support from the stands, but at this time, the French fans chose to be silent. Even if they wanted to make any noise, they were suppressed by the singing of the England fans. At the San Mamés Stadium, only the singing of the England fans could be heard, and only the singing of the England fans could be heard. They turned Deportivo de La Coruña's home ground into a Premier League venue.
Twain's compliments to the French team before the game not only made the England players very angry, but also made the England fans angry. Seeing their team leading the French team so quickly, they were happy to use their singing to embarrass Twain.
The game continued, and the French team could not boost their morale in the singing of the England fans. They wanted to attack, but found that England's defense in the backfield was impregnable. More importantly, they lacked the experience to deal with this kind of situation. The manager did not tell them before the game that they would concede the goal in the opening minute and a half. How should they play next? Continue to attack according to the original plan, or retreat a little and pay attention to the defense?
Sakho shouted at his teammates in the front field after the goal concede, asking them to actively return to defend. Otherwise, they would not be able to defend by relying on the four defenders, not to mention that there were two full backs who liked to assist. But the players in the front field did not listen to him. Now their minds were full of the idea of equalizing the score. The French team's front and back fields gradually became disjointed.
Puel also lacked the countermeasures to deal with it. He watched helplessly on the sidelines but could not do anything. Because he was also hesitant in his heart – was the goal concede an accident or a premeditated trick by the other party?
In the end, he thought it was just an accident, so he instructed the team to continue to attack and strive to equalize the score as soon as possible and pull the game back on the right track.
But he was wrong.
The wind in England blew harder and harder, and the rain became heavier. The bean-sized raindrops hit people's faces like hail.
In the 23rd minute, England seized the opportunity when the French team was eager to equalize the score and pressed on. Through a quick counterattack, Agbonlahor personally scored a goal and extended the lead to two goals.
After the goal, Agbonlahor opened his arms and ran to the corner flag, but he did not escape the fate of being pressed under someone's body.
"2: 0! The England team has completely taken the initiative. They are two goals ahead of the French team! This is really a situation that we did not expect before the game … The French team, who was previously thought to be the favorite to win the title, was actually unable to fight back after England scored two goals in 20 minutes! "
"I can't believe what I see. Our team is actually two goals behind … What's going on? Why did Benzema, Gourcuff, Ben Arfa, Nasri and the others all disappear? And what about our defensive players? The talented goalkeeper, Lloris, who had only conceded one goal before, actually conceded two goals in 20 minutes. It's really unexpected … "The French commentator was very depressed. He could not figure out why the French team would perform like this, and the French players and coaches could not figure it out either.
The group of England players in front of them were simply like lions that had been starved for several days. Not only did they not lose their strength, but they became more ferocious and dangerous. Even the breath they exhaled carried a strong smell of blood, as if they had just walked out of the depths of hell.
They fought desperately with the French players in every corner of the field. Even if the ball was not a fifty-fifty game, they still had to snatch it, which made the French very afraid. Not only that, when they got the opportunity to attack, they would do their best to make the French defenders feel strained to defend. This was a completely irrational play, but the French team could not do anything about them.
After England was two goals ahead, they did not stop there. Instead, they became more and more energetic. Wave after wave of offensive hit the French team to the point where they could only shrink back to defend, and there was no way to threaten the England team's penalty area.
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.
