Chapter 941: The d.a.m.ned Group of Death
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The scene today must have come as a surprise to all England people, especially those English players who were doing their warm-up while playing around at Camp Nou last night.
In their minds, the Wales team was just like ants which could be crushed to death with only one finger. The game was used to adjust their state.
But now the ants had taken hold of the elephant, the England team and took a bite in the nose of the elephant. The elephant was in such pain that tears fell.
Three minutes ago, …
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Tony Twain knew Wales would choose a more conservative tactic playing against England and it would be a nice result to be able to tie with England and obtain one point. Accordingly, he also changed his tactics and did not let the team continue to use defensive counterattack. Defensive counterattack was a weapon used against strong teams, or those that consider themselves as strong teams. To fight the weaker teams, taking the initiative to attack was the way to win the game.
Consequently, the situation in this game and that of the last game had been turned around. In the previous game, the Portugal team had fully pressed on the England almost all of the game. While in this game, England would show the fans of the world, both in the stadium and in front of the television, their equally strong attacking ability.
When the other team could not threaten his own team, Twain would also do some “vanity project.”
But the England team had faced unexpected headwinds.
The Wales team must have closely studied the England team’s recent games, especially the games in which they defeated Argentina and Portugal, and then stole England’s “defensive counterattack” tactic during training.
Breaking tight defense was a problem for coaches all over the world. Twain was still feeling smug that he had confounded Queiroz in the last game. But he himself had to face such a difficulty in this game.
What if we could not get into the penalty area? Twain asked the team to step up the long shots. But the team only had Gerrard who was an expert in long shots, so the points of attack was fewer. Wales could easily mark Gerrard and block him from doing his long shots.
Rooney would also pull out to do long shots, but it was not very effective. Mitch.e.l.l simply disappeared surrounded by the other team’s tight defense.
Wales’ defense was very successful. In terms of offense, their players seemed to have no central core. They would fail nine out of ten times as long as they made physical contact with the England players.
The referee also seemed to have an inclination to favor the weaker team. In more than half of the physical contact between the two teams, it would result in the referee judging that the England players had fouled. Wales was awarded with a lot of place kicks as a result. It was just that the place kicks were not very close to the goal. They were not within an effective range, so there was no way to directly threaten England’s goal. The England players did not take them seriously either.
Twain certainly saw through Toshack’s cunning plot. But he was not worried because it was easy for the Wales, which was lacking in offensive strength, to get a free kick that could directly threaten the goal. After his roars to warn the team off the field, the England players would always pay attention in the spots of their fouls and try their best not to give Wales any place kicks in the danger zone. Even the corner kicks were rarely given to the other team.
Both sides played a dreary first half. The England team could not score, and the Wales team lacked the power to fight back.
Just four minutes into the second half, the Wales team took advantage of their kickoff to go on the offensive for a while and was finally awarded a place kick, directly facing the goal.
“This is the best free kick position Wales is awarded up until now! The distance is a little bit far, thirty meters, but directly facing the goal and attainable on the right and left. Wales should be able to threaten England’s goal as long as they grab hold of the chance and restrain their attacking spree a little.” Even Wales’ own television commentator did not expect Wales to score. To him, Wales’ tactics were nothing more than to ease the pressure on their own defense.
When Toshack saw the team finally received a well-placed free kick, he got up from his seat and walked to the sidelines, watching the field nervously.
They had endured for forty-nine minutes… No, ever since the game with Germany, they had been pretending to be weak up until the present. Now was the time!
He saw Gareth Bale held the football, walked over to the other team’s penalty spot and carefully placed it on the ground.
As an experienced veteran manager, he also felt a little nervous.
Twain Twain was also equally as nervous as Toshack. As the man who personally poached Bale from Southampton to the Forest team, he knew how good Bale’s free-kick ability was. He was already excellent “before.” Later, he became even better after going through his own deliberate cultivation.
George Wood, who had been sitting motionless on the subst.i.tutes’ bench like a wax figurine this entire time, had a change in his expression. He looked up and stared at the field with some interest. He was frowning slightly.
A position from thirty meters away might seem a little far, but for Gareth Bale, that was exactly his best range. Bale’s free kick was fast and powerful. Coupled with the right arc, it was downright lethal. He was not the kind of free kick player who would win purely by relying on the arc. So, the longer distance was more helpful to his play instead. Being too close might cause his shot to hit the human wall, or directly overshot the crossbar. Thirty meters… was a good distance instead.
Bale placed the football on the ground. He got up and looked around before he leaned over to rearrange it again, putting the Adidas logo directly facing the goal. Then he got up and took a few steps back. He did not stare at the goal and the human wall but turn his head to look at the sidelines.
He saw the Wales manager, Toshack as well as Tony Twain, who was also standing on the sidelines.
He really did not expect to encounter the boss at such an important game. He had previously promised the boss he would go to Spain, but he also did not expect to become the boss’ opponent in Spain…
Twain noticed Bale looking at himself, so his tense face contorted with a hint of a smile. He would not let the little monkey see his nervousness.
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England’s human wall was finally formed, and the referee backed away to signal that they had to wait for his whistle to carry out the free kick.
Bale did not pay much attention to it.
He found a lot of distracting thoughts popping up in his mind before he carried out the free kick. He thought of a number of things, from his first meeting with the boss off the pitch at Southampton, the first professional contract he signed, and the first goal he ever scored in a game against Chelsea, as well as the boss’ promise to show him a more unconventional celebratory gesture than what Mourinho had.
In the twelve seasons at Nottingham Forest, the memories were always happy as long as they had something to do with the boss. He was unwilling to let go of that feeling.
But it was not right for them to appear at this time…
Bale shook his head and tried to drive away these messy thoughts from his own mind. He was currently competing in the game. How could he let such things interfere with himself?
Gareth Bale stood in front of the ball and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. His lips moved a few times soundlessly, “We are enemies now, boss…”
In Tony Twain’s teachings, he never allow his players throw a game out in the face of the enemy.
Because Twain instilled a sense of pride in the Nottingham Forest players, the proud Nottingham Forest players could never deliberately throw a game. Wherever they went, the Nottingham Forest players took pride in their origins which made them appear manifestly superior. Being uncompromising and arrogant were their collective trademarks. This was the imposing manner that the team had to dominate European football over the past decade. Even when the boss had already left, the imposing manner remained in the hearts of the old players at Nottingham Forest.
The referee put down his raised-up arm and blew the whistle in his mouth.
Bale glanced at the positional relations.h.i.+p between the human wall, goal and the goalkeeper. He started to run up after he determined how he was going to kick in his head.
The Welsh fans in the stands clapped in rhythm and shouted, “Bale! Bale! Bale! Bale—”
I’m Gareth Bale and I’m from Nottingham Forest. I’ve played for that champions.h.i.+p team for more than a decade. Now please take a look at the pride of a Nottingham Forest player!
Bale said this in his heart and raised his leg to kick the ball.
The football quickly flew over the jumping human wall and spun into the net before the goalkeeper Joe Hart could even respond!
The thirty meters gap seemed to be closed in the blink of an eye. The English people had not even reacted when the ball was still spinning in the net inside the goal.
Was that how the ball got in?
It was too easy; it was that easy?!
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“Gareth Bale!” In the deafening cheers of the entire stadium, the Welsh television commentator had to try his best to raise the volume of his shouts so that the Welsh television audience, who was watching the game, could feel his excitement. “A beautiful free kick! He shot through England’s goal!! 1:0! Wales is ahead of England!”
Bale looked so excited to see the free kick go into the goal. He forcefully pulled at his jersey in front of his chest and was soon swamped by his equally excited teammates.
Seeing Bale’s free kick go in, George Wood leaned back into the seat. He had guessed the result because that position was so good…
The boss could have guessed it too, but he definitely did not want to admit it.
Tony Twain was depressed about the goal concede. He was not angry, but depression. He leaned his body back and swore a foul word. The goalscorer was Gareth Bale, so he could not abuse too harshly. But he was still upset about the fact that his team was behind.
“It is an unexpected game, with the Wales team actually in the lead after being suppressed by England for fifty minutes! The trend of this game inevitably brings us to mind the England and Portugal game five days ago! Can it be that England will repeat Portugal’s mistakes?”
Gareth Bale finally broke free from the crowd. He reached his hands out to the Welsh fans in the stands, calling on them to continue cheering and hailing the team. So, the shouts of “Wales! Wales!” in the grandstand became much louder.
As he ran along the sidelines and ran back to his own half of the field, surrounded by his teammates, he pa.s.sed by the England team’s technical area.
Instead of looking at him, Twain was making hand gestures to the England players on the pitch as a signal to them to step up their attack and not give Wales such a chance for a positional ball again. He had to make some adjustments.
In the crowd, Bale threw a glance at Twain. He saw the anxious look on Twain’s face. What would happen if they did defeat England in the game? Such a thought suddenly flashed across his mind.
Bale and Twain brushed past each other. He high-fived Toshack, who walked to the sidelines, in celebration and then ran back to the field.
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Trailing behind, England launched a frenzied counterattack. In the moments when they had just conceded the goal, they had fully pressed ahead, the Welsh players with no chance to fight back. The football could not get past the center line. England showed their strength. However, Wales’ defense struggled but did well.
Gerrard, Rooney and the other players had been doing long shots repeatedly, but they were simply squandering their chances. Even Gerrard also lost his aim with his long shots.
Wales’ defense was even tighter and more annoying than England’s defense against Portugal. They did not want to leave even the slightest change to the England players. Even if they were rolling and crawling on the ground, they also wanted to make the England players feel their presence during shooting.
They pushed, tripped, b.u.mped into people…they tried every way and means. There was only one purpose for everything – to stop England’s attack and not to let them lift their legs to shoot comfortably.
Soon after, Twain brought off Rooney, who had lost control of his temper because of repeated shooting mistakes. He brought on Agbonlahor to let the team reduce the number of long shots. The frequent cross pa.s.ses from both sides would also allow Mitch.e.l.l to fight for the header shots.
Unfortunately, Mitch.e.l.l could not be effective, wedged between two strong center backs, and England’s luck was completely off today – Mitch.e.l.l grabbed the ball’s point of fall after much difficulty but with a flick of his head to the back, the ball struck the crossbar instead…
As time went on, the England team became more and more impatient. It was already out of Twain’s control. Every England player on the pitch had only one idea in his head – to shoot at the goal!
As for the set pieces and pa.s.sing the ball, they all had to give in to this idea. So, when everyone saw the ball, even the center back, Terry also rushed up to try shoot at the goal.
Twain flew into a rage off the field. Shots like that would only increase the other team’s fighting spirit and caused the England team to lose its confidence to win.
To this end he had to replace Michael Johnson, who had completely lost his way.
When England were still trailing behind Wales by 0:1 in the 87th minute, Twain thought about it for a while before he brought off Mitch.e.l.l and replaced him with James Vaughn. Without his height, the England team could no longer threaten Wales’ goal and the Welsh people had already started to celebrate.
On the subst.i.tutes’ bench in Wales, the players stood on the sidelines, arms over each other’s shoulders. They were waiting for the final whistle to blow so that they could rush into the field to celebrate the remarkable victory.
“It’s unbelievable, but this is simply the biggest appeal of football. England, which swept Portugal by 4:2 in the last game, was left helpless against Wales, the weakest in the group. They are falling behind with a score of 0:1. It looks like they have a good chance of losing to Wales. This should be the biggest upset in the tournament so far!”
Bale no longer partic.i.p.ate in the offense. He and his teammates formed a human wall in front of the goal and blocked every attack from the England team with their bodies. Their white away jerseys had long turned into the color of green gra.s.s, which fully showed how many times they had fallen on the ground.
The fourth official held up a signboard showing three minutes of injury stoppage time on the sidelines. The England fans in the stands booed. They were unable to accept the reality that a strong and invincible England team had lost to their weak neighbor, the Wales team…
What ability do they have to justify defeating us?
“Wales only has one decent enough attack in the entire game, and they grab hold of it. And now they are 1:0 ahead! The proud Tony Twain has no choice but to lower his head…”
On television camera, it just so happened that Twain had bowed his head and pinched his chin in one hand, as if he was in deep contemplation – how did the game turn out like this? An opponent which they had not taken seriously, was crus.h.i.+ng them underneath its feet instead.
With his head bowed in deep thought for a moment, Twain turned and walked toward the technical area. He shrugged his shoulders at Walker, who was looking at him, and spread his hands as he said, “We have lost, Des. Reality has proven once again that if you walk with your head held high all the time, you will be tripped by the stone under your feet. Unfortunately, I always forget that…”
Walker was also helpless about the result. He shook head gently and said, “We’ve all underestimated our opponent. It’s not solely your responsibility…”
Behind Twain’s back, the referee finally blew the whistle to end the game amid the cheers of the Welsh fans after he looked at his watch three times.
“The game is over! Wales has beaten England to take three points! That rekindles their hope to advance from the group stage!”
Bale looked around excitedly after the game for people to hug. He was happy like a seventeen-year-old child. It did not match his steady composure during the game.
When he had hugged all his teammates once, he remembered that he should go and say a few words to the boss. But Tony Twain’s figure was already gone from the England’s technical area.
At this point, Tony Twain was examining his mistakes in front of reporters. He said, “I’ve underestimated my opponent. Wales is a very good team. They have good players and coaches. We lost because of this, there’s nothing to complain about…”
A reporter followed up with a question, “Mr. Twain, losing to Wales has cast a shadow over the team’s prospects of advancement. What’s your strategy going to be in response to the final game against Germany?”
“I don’t know yet.” The reporter asked about Twain’s sore point. Initially, his team would have been able to advance ahead of time if they had won against Wales in this match. They could have just deployed their subst.i.tute players for the final game and eliminate the threat of yellow cards. Now it looked like the match against Germany should be a life-and-death battle…
If the goal was only to advance out of the group stage, being placed third in the group was also acceptable. But Twain had his eye are on the champions.h.i.+p t.i.tle. England would certainly have to fight for the first place in the group so that they could meet a better opponent in the knockout stages.
But it was that they did not have a chance. If Germany beat Portugal in a later match to take the lead after having won both games, then they should have no reason to fight England to death in the final game, which would be good for England in this way.
The reporters still wanted to ask questions, but feeling in a bad mood, Twain just pushed them aside and hurriedly walked away.
Wood was looking at him off the field while Bale was looking for Twain. He looked at him in silence for a moment, and then also walked away.
The loss to the Wales team had cast doubts on England’s ability to advance out of the group stage. George Wood had already waited for two games. Could it be that the waiting he had done for the last two games would be rendered pointless by the final game?
On his way to the locker room, Wood clenched his fists so tightly till his knuckles turned white.
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Three and a half hours later, Twain finished watching the other game in the group in his hotel room.
Germany had lost with a score of 1:2 after their match against Portugal.
Twain had cheered the German team on for ninety minutes, but it did not change the score. Watching the frustrated German players and ecstatic Portuguese players on the television screen, he rubbed his temples in pain and felt that he was in big trouble this time.
“This d.a.m.ned group of death…” He laid paralyzed on the couch and weakly cursed..