Chapter 644: Sudden Change of Situation
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
While the attack did not result in a goal, it allowed the Nottingham Forest players to regain their confidence. Manchester United’s fierce offensive was broken, and it would be difficult to trap them again.
Nottingham Forest was a ferocious tiger. It could be held down for a while, but not for a lifetime. Ferguson was aware of that. So when he saw Nottingham Forest fiercely attack, he was a little worried and wondered if it was an occasional counterattack or a sustained attack… He decided to continue observing.
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Van Nistelrooy took the ball with his back against Rio Ferdinand, who stuck close. He was not confident that he would keep the ball if he turned around, but it was probably not easy for Ferdinand to effortlessly tackle the ball under his feet.
Van Nistelrooy controlled the football under his feet for a while and decided to forcibly turn around to break through. As a result, he was unsurprisingly knocked down by Ferdinand outside the box.
It was the best outcome. After van Nistelrooy got the ball, it was not easy to tackle the ball under his feet. The center forward had a superb ability to control the ball. Even though he was 1.88 meters tall, his footwork skills were delicate and practical.
Ferdinand fouled, and Nottingham Forest was awarded another free kick in the front field.
It was only 22 meters from the goal this time, which was very close. A free kick was not better as it got closer to the goal. For most players who took the free kicks, a range of 25 to 30 meters was the best. If it was too close, the football might not be able to bypa.s.s the human wall. If a player wanted the ball to bypa.s.s the human wall, it might fly straight out of the end line.
Beckham walked up again with the football in his hands. He still wanted to take it on himself. Bale also stepped forward, but he was not going to take the kick. He wanted to cover Beckham.
“David Beckham took the initiative to take on the ball again. He didn’t score with either of his previous free kicks. Manchester United’s human wall knows his free kick very well — five of the players block the goal.”
When Beckham bent over to place the football, he became the focus of everyone’s attention. There were still boos and applause in the stands. The Manchester United fans loved and hated the man. Their emotions were complicated.
He left in the summer of 2003 to go to Madrid and was far away thereafter. Every time he was unhappy at Real Madrid, there would be a rumor that he would return to Manchester United, but both he and Ferguson would always deny it. It was not that Beckham did not want to go back to Manchester United. He knew very well that as long as his wife, Victoria, was still with him, and as long as Ferguson coached at Manchester United, it was impossible for him to go back. Ferguson would not be interested in a player over 30 years old. Unfortunately, he was 33 years old.
He felt he would not have another chance to wear Manchester United’s red jersey in his career. After his contract with Nottingham Forest ended, if he could still play football, he was likely to go to the United States and play for another two years before he finally announced his retirement. Ferguson had said that Beckham might have achieved more if he was not with Victoria, but Beckham did not know what a higher achievement would be. Other than the national team honors, he had obtained all the honors a club player could get.
But he had never been recognized and respected by more people. When everyone mentioned David Beckham’s name, they always thought of the flashy star player who only knew how to be on a commercial catwalk. That was why he chose to join Nottingham Forest.
In a blink of an eye, the season was about to finish. He had a good time at Nottingham Forest, where he had plenty of appearances except for when he was injured. What people talked about the most was not the business events he had attended, but his performance at Nottingham Forest.
It was nice to conclude the season with the game against Manchester United.
I love Manchester United, but now I play for Nottingham Forest.
Setting up the football, Beckham got up and moved back.
The Manchester United team in front of him was unfamiliar. There was only one old friend, Scholes, among the five players in the human wall. Giggs was on the subst.i.tutes’ bench, and Gary Neville was on the bench.
It might have eased a little bit of Beckham’s psychological burden.
He stood in front of the football and waited for the referee to blow the whistle.
The referee felt that the human wall was too forward and asked it to retreat to the position he designated. Manchester United’s human wall dilly-dallied in moving back, and Ronaldo moved the slowest. He acted in a slippery way, and when the referee turned around, he moved half a step forward. He scooched forward in small, quick steps, moving forward a lot. The Nottingham Forest players reported their displeasure to the referee. The referee turned to signal Ronaldo to retreat, or else he would give a yellow card as a warning.
Ronaldo once again dawdled in returning to the human wall.
It was a kind of psychological warfare. The use of the repeated behavior put pressure on player who was going to take the free kick, leading them to play abnormally, but his ploy seemed to be ineffective on Beckham.
Beckham used to be Manchester United’s number 7, and Ronaldo took over Beckham’s mantle. Ronaldo quickly conquered the Manchester United fans with his skill after he came to Old Trafford. They printed the “one and only Ronaldo” slogan, which could still be found in the stands at Old Trafford.
It was a matchup between Manchester United’s new and old number 7s.
The referee withdrew backwards this time, and Ronaldo made no unusual moves under his watch.
After the whistle, Gareth Bale started running. He did not kick the football. He just crossed over the football. Everyone knew he was a cover and Manchester United’s human wall did not move at all.
Immediately thereafter, Beckham started running and lifted his leg!
The recognizable posture reappeared at the Old Trafford stadium once again: his left-leaning body parallel to the ground and both his arms stretched out, his supporting left foot twisted in a way that it could nearly break. His right foot quickly whipped out and struck the mid-lower part of the football.
The football soared through the air and brought up gra.s.s fragments. The human wall leaped upward at the same time. Ronaldo was tall but did not brush the football. The football bypa.s.sed the human wall!
The football did not fly high. After it bypa.s.sed the human wall, it drilled toward the top left corner of the goal at a very fast speed. Ben Foster struggled to pounce. Although the palm of his hand hit the football, the strength of Beckham’s ball was stronger than he imagined. He did not manage to whack the football out. The football just slightly changed direction and slammed into the net.
The Old Trafford stadium was quiet for about a second before it suddenly sounded with the clamor of mingled cheers and boos.
“The ball went in!! David Beckham! We haven’t watched his performance at Old Trafford for five years. Now he’s back, but as an opponent of Manchester United. He shot a bullet of revenge into the heart of Manchester United! By driving him out of Manchester United that year, Ferguson should have guessed that one day… one day, he will see this scene!”
The commentator roared wildly, and the Nottingham Forest players excitedly jumped on Beckham.
However, Beckham did not have a smile on his face. He did not celebrate the goal and did not even raise his hands. After he saw the football enter the goal, he turned around and walked back. Although he was a Nottingham Forest player and had to give his all for this goal for the sake of Nottingham Forest’s ambition to win the league t.i.tle, it did not mean he would be ecstatic in front of tens of thousands of Manchester United fans. He scored the goal because he was a Nottingham Forest player. He chose not to celebrate after the goal because he loved Manchester United and did not want to let the people have any misunderstanding.
His Nottingham Forest teammates did not care what Beckham thought. They bounced over to surround him and celebrate loudly.
Even Twain waved his fists, cheering this key goal from Beckham.
Surrounded by the crowd, Beckham still did not celebrate. His face remained calm. After the celebrating crowd dispersed, van Nistelrooy hooked his arm around his neck and whispered in his ear.
No one knew what they talked about, but Beckham’s face showed a slight smile.
The two men ran back together, and the Manchester United players put the football in the center circle, ready to kick off.
“It was exciting to see David Beckham come back to Old Trafford for the first time and penetrate his former clubs goal with an iconic free kick! Manchester United’s new number 7 scored two goals and his predecessor did not lose either! Nottingham Forest trails Manchester United by 1:2 because of this goal, which gives them hope of equalizing the score. Judging by the overall trend of the game, the significance of Beckham’s goal is by no means just to help the team reverse a goal…”
The extreme Manchester United fans were still hissing at Beckham, while the less extreme Manchester United fans were in a very complicated mood. Should they clap for him? He scored a goal against Manchester United, and the goal helped the Forest team get out of its predicament. The importance was self-evident. Should they hiss at him? They could not open their mouths to do it. After all, he had given them plenty of delightful time when he was at Manchester United. Just like Keane had put in his open letter when he left Manchester United: he made the world fall in love with Manchester United.
It was poignant to watch the back view of him run alongside van Nistelrooy — they were once part of the Manchester United team and currently the number one enemy of Manchester United in its bid for the t.i.tle.
Van Nistelrooy raised his hands to wave to the grandstand where the Forest fans gathered. Beckham hesitated and put his hands up to wave.
Ferguson sat in the technical area. When Beckham scored, he did not even lift his b.u.t.t. Perhaps he was already mentally prepared for it. Or was it indifference? No one knew what the stubborn old man thought. He would not admit that it was wrong to let Beckham and van Nistelrooy go. When he coached Manchester United, he had personally driven away countless players. Some of those people managed to do well and some did not do well. Manchester United was still Manchester United. Its eighteen trophies were quietly displayed in the trophy room, representing this club’s unshakeable status.
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The game continued, and Beckham saved the team’s future with a goal when the team needed it the most. Now the morale of the Nottingham Forest players had been boosted, it was impossible for Manchester United to use full offense to crush the Forest team again.
Ferguson was well aware of that, so he instructed the team to withdraw and no longer give the Forest team access to the easy gaps. Both sides were entangled in the midfield and engaged in attack and defense. It appeared Nottingham Forest had regained the pace of the game. In fact, the control still laid with Manchester United. To Nottingham Forest, no matter how many advantages they regained in the game, the lag in the score remained an undeniable reality. As soon as Manchester United withdrew, the attacking opportunities available to the Forest team plummeted. As long as they contended with Nottingham Forest like that and drag the game to the end, a 2:1 win would guarantee Manchester United the league t.i.tle this season.
Twain observed closely for a moment, and he realized Ferguson’s intentions.
Manchester United’s withdrawal was not due to fear of attack or how much the Nottingham Forest offense had picked up, but because Ferguson was trying to cut off the Forest team’s offensive route. He wanted to force Nottingham Forest and Manchester United to confront each other head-on and compete with positional play to wear them down. When the two teams pushed and pulled against each other, time would go by quietly.
It was not going to work. If the game was dragged to that point, Nottingham Forest would be in a dangerous position. There were nearly twenty minutes until the end of the game. If the score was still the same in ten minutes, the Nottingham Forest players would become agitated. The game would be out of the manager’s control and progress toward an unpredictable abyss.
What should he do? He could only continue to urge the players to step up their attacks while he prepared for backup at the same time. He summoned Lennon and Bendtner from the subst.i.tutes’ bench to warm up.
If it could not work, he had to force the attack and stake it all.
To win the t.i.tle, Nottingham Forest had to not concede its goal in the final moments and then score two goals. It was an impossible task.
The atmosphere on Manchester United’s bench was a little more relaxed than the tense Nottingham Forest subst.i.tutes’ bench. After all, even if the game was tied, the t.i.tle would belong to Manchester United. The conditions that Nottingham Forest had to meet to win the t.i.tle were too harsh. The Manchester United players themselves had confidence in their team. For a team like Manchester United, an absurd thing like conceding two consecutive goals was definitely not going to happen to them!
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Beckham b.u.mped into Carrick as he defended against him. It looked like a slight collision, but Carrick immediately fell to the ground as he held his ankle with a pained expression. Manchester United’s team doctor ran up to diagnose Carrick after he received the referee’s signal.
Beckham patted Carrick as a sign of goodwill and explained to the referee that he had not meant it.
Everyone knew that the Manchester United players often fell to the ground and used all factors available to waste game time. The visiting team, Nottingham Forest, players had nothing to do but remind the referee of that. Manchester United would not get overwhelmingly booed for doing so because it was their home ground. 50,000 out of 60,000 people supported Manchester United’s bid for the t.i.tle.
Taking advantage of the incident, George Wood gathered the guys.
“We have to find a way to score a goal.” He cut straight to the point. “How about more straight pa.s.ses?”
Van der Vaart glanced at him. “The number of errors will increase.”
“It won’t work if we keep pa.s.sing the ball back and forth outside.” Gareth Bale was on Wood’s side.
“Frequent mistakes can also affect our morale.” Ribéry agreed with van der Vaart.
They were quickly divided into two factions, which was not what Wood wanted to see. Just as he was about to speak up, Beckham spoke. “You guys can plug in more straight pa.s.ses to draw their defensive attention to guard against the straight b.a.l.l.s. Then you can create more gaps in the right wing for me and pa.s.s the ball to me. I’ll find a way to send the ball into the box.”
“A cross pa.s.s?”
“Yes, a cross pa.s.s.”
“But their two center-backs are very…”
“So we need them to focus on the straight b.a.l.l.s.”
Wood thought about it and figured they could give it a try. He nodded. “I think we can try it.”
The simple tactical meeting ended quickly, as Carrick had left the field with the team doctor and the game was back on.
Manchester United’s free kick eventually landed at the foot of a Forest player.
Pepe took advantage of the gap when Manchester United put the defensive focus on van der Vaart, Ribéry, George Wood, and the others to suddenly dribble the ball to plug ahead. He was tripped by Scholes after he forced a breakthrough. He managed to move forward fifteen meters and was awarded a free kick.
In the impa.s.se between the two sides, Nottingham Forest increased the straight b.a.l.l.s, which any fool could see. They single-mindedly sought out gaps behind the Manchester United rear defensive line. Even if it was intercepted midway, the Forest players persisted on trying with straight pa.s.ses.
It was not completely ineffective.
Arshavin received a straight ball from van der Vaart and nearly breached the goal. Fortunately, Ben Foster was focused and blocked it in time. It startled a group of Manchester United fans to jump out of their seats.
Manchester United quickly pinpointed and responded to the Forest team’s tactical tweaks. They stepped up their defense against van der Vaart and Ribéry, as well as George Wood’s pa.s.ses in front of their own box.
Beckham was free on the right wing.
Whenever van der Vaart took the ball, O’Shea would recklessly rush up and stick to him. He would interfere with him and not give him a chance to observe any gaps in the Manchester United defensive line to then send a threatening straight ball.
But this time, van der Vaart did not do a straight pa.s.s. He feinted and suddenly diverted the ball to the side.
Beckham received the ball. Rafinha quickly plugged in and pa.s.sed by Beckham, attracting the attention of the Manchester United defender, who thought he was going to pa.s.s the ball onto Rafinha for him to shoot or cut inside. As Evra followed in retreat, Beckham made a cross pa.s.s.
Without giving the Manchester United rear defensive line any chance to adjust, Beckham’s cross pa.s.s flew over the defenders like a precision guided missile and appeared above van Nistelrooy’s head!
Van Nistelrooy knew what his old friend wanted to do before he pa.s.sed the ball. When he saw that he had received the ball, he paid attention to keeping parallel with the defenders around him, ready to rush out to grab the ball at the critical juncture.
That was the moment that he was waiting for.
Rio Ferdinand was outside helping with the obstruction of van der Vaart and Ribéry on the penalty area line. Only Vidic was defending against him.
Moreover, Beckham’s pa.s.s was too good. Whether Vidic alone or Vidic and Ferdinand were around him, the ball was precisely delivered. Its timing was exactly at the moment van Nistelrooy jumped!
Van Nistelrooy jumped in the air and was able to feel Vidic hindering him behind, but the ball was in front of him. Even if he were to obstruct him, it was useless!
Shaking off Vidic’s tugging, van Nistelrooy suddenly lobbed a header shot!
Swis.h.!.+
It was so easy…
“What a gooooal!! Van Nistelrooy — David Beckham’s precise pa.s.s allowed him to just jump up and move his head! A while ago, Nottingham Forest’s offense seemed to be forcing an attack from the middle, which looked stupid! But this time, Beckham’s pa.s.s and van Nistelrooy’s cooperation changed everything! Nottingham Forest forced a 2:2 tie with Manchester United in this away game! The second half is so dramatic!”
Van Nistelrooy did not keep a straight face and not celebrate his goal like Beckham did. He ran to Beckham with open arms. Beckham also had a happy smile on his face. The two friends hugged each other and were quickly inundated by the other teammates.
Twain was so excited that he did a somersault. Who would have thought that Nottingham Forest could catch up with Manchester United while they had a two-goal lead? Were the Manchester United fans going to start celebrating early? I’m not going to let you do that now!
“Nottingham Forest tied the score. With thirteen minutes left in the game, it’s still full of suspense! It looks like Tony Twain’s team doesn’t want to easily cede the league trophy to anyone else. It’s not that easy for Manchester United to defend the t.i.tle!”