Qualified for the Next Round in Advance
Qualified for the Next Round in Advance
However, Twain had an issue on his hands. He was having trouble coming up with the list of players that he should call up for international duty.
Only three matches had been played in the Premier League so far, but there were already quite a few players who had been injured. Wayne Rooney injured his thigh and had to rest for a week. Michael Carrick twisted his ankle and needed to rest for two weeks at the bare minimum. Bentley pulled a ligament yet again after recovering from his previous injury and would be out for at least a month. Stewart Downing strained his calf during the match against Wales on August 24th and would be unable to play for two weeks. Additionally, John Terry picked up a red card in that same match against Wales and had been suspended for two matches.
All the players who'd been injured would have to be substituted. Twain had to find suitable players to fill in their roles.
Thus, Chris Cohen received his very first call from the national team. They told him to pack his bags and make his way over to London to meet up with the national team before they set off for Macedonia.
Cohen might have been a regular first-line player for Nottingham Forest when they won the Treble, but he had never been selected for the England national team before. The position that he played was typically occupied by Stewart Downing and James Milner, who were much better players than himself. Cohen was much more average across all aspects of his game, and his only strength was that he was very eager to track back to defend.
Twain showed favoritism towards the Forest once again by selecting yet another Forest player. This time, however, the criticism directed at him was significantly less because his team had been winning all the matches that they played in so far. As long as the England national team continued to win, who cared if he swapped the entire national team for Nottingham Forest?
Cohen felt flattered after receiving the call from the Football Association. He was then certain that it had not been a dream or a prank show when he received a subsequent call from Twain.
"Chris, I was the one who promoted you from the reserves to the first line back in the day. Now, I am also going to be the one to bring you over to the national team from the Forest. Honestly, I am under a lot of pressure. If you don't perform well, I will get a lot of flak. I don't care about getting scolded, but if you guys don't perform well, it'll definitely lead to discord on the England national team…"
Cohen understood what Twain was getting at. He replied, "Rest assured, boss, I will definitely not embarrass you!"
Cohen was brought into the national team as a potential replacement for the injured Downing. Twain could not guarantee him the chance to play in the match, as competition for his position was fierce.
Adriano Moke was envious of Cohen for being selected for the national team. He had never received a call from Twain at all, despite recently becoming a regular player for the Forest. Twain had also chosen to play Walcott instead of him when Bentley was hurt.
Manchester City's Micah Richards was the player selected to replace John Terry. Richards was a gifted player, and there were many people who wished to see him play for the national team, but Twain refused to bring him onto the team because his performances had been inconsistent recently. Twain would rather anger half of the Mancunians than take a risk with Richards.
Richards rose to fame when he was still a youth player, and he was well-known in the Premier League, as well as the European footballing scene. He stood out among other players of the same age, and as a result, he was frequently selected for the national team when Capello was in charge.
However, his experiences since childhood had caused him to become proud and arrogant, and that had affected his performances on the pitch: he often lost focus when playing. Thus, Twain refused to pick Richards for the national team, even though there were many people who wanted to see him chosen. He did not want the vice-captain of Manchester City to get too ahead of himself.
Ever since Twain took over, Richards had not been picked even once for the England national team, and that had led to speculation among the Manchester media outlets that there could be a possible conflict between Richards and Twain.
Twain never admitted that there was any conflict between them, and Richards would only complain here and there about not getting picked for the national team.
Now that Terry was absent, however, Richards had finally gotten his ticket into the national team for the very first time.
When there is a first, there will also usually be a second. Richards just needed to know how to make full use of the opportunity that he had been given.
Michael Carrick was unable to participate in the international competition due to an injury, and Tottenham Hotspur's Fabian Delph was the reinforcement that Twain brought onto the team to replace him. The player who replaced Wayne Rooney was Everton's top striker James Vaughan, and the player who replaced Bentley was Blackburn Rover's Matt Derbyshire.
Twain then set off for Macedonia's capital, Skopje, with a team comprising all the aforementioned players.
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Macedonia was not a threat to England at all, despite having the home advantage. That was what the England fans thought prior to the start of the match.
The English players thought the same way as well. England was able to achieve nine wins and one draw in the ten qualifiers that they played thus far. Qualifying for the next round in advance was not an issue at all. None of the players cared about their other opponents in the group stage anymore.
After the match against Macedonia started, it looked like England was en route to their tenth win. Nothing seemed to suggest anything to the contrary.
It had only been seven minutes when Walcott made his way into the penalty box and then crossed the ball into the middle. Mitchell then jumped into the air and comfortably headed the ball into the back of the net.
England led Macedonia by 1:0.
The English players began to relax after they got into the lead early in the game. They lost their focus and began playing with their heads in the clouds.
Twain was extremely upset with what he saw. He paced about the side of the pitch and kept gesturing and yelling for his players to continue to attack.
Macedonia performed much better than they did when they played against England previously in an away game, and they threatened England's goalpost numerous times.
England was only able to score their second goal in the 72nd minute of the match. Richards headed the ball that had been sent in from the corner into the net, and England ended the match with a score of 2:0.
Richards was thrilled after scoring the goal. He ran in front of the cameras and yelled at the top of his lungs. He was happy that he had finally proven his worth after being treated coldly by Twain for an entire year.
Twain did not commend the team's performance after the match ended. Instead, he mercilessly derided the players in the locker room.
"There was a total of 16 shots in the entire match, but only three were on target!" Twain definitely had reason to be angry based on these statistics. "Should I be happy about how we are so efficient because we are able to score two goals with just three shots on target? Or should I feel regret at how you have missed nine of those shots? There were also 4 shots that had been blocked… These are your statistics for the match, gentlemen! Look at how you guys played against the small and weak Macedonian team! Do you all think that you have what it takes to face bigger and stronger opponents?"
None of the players dared breathe a word. They knew that what their boss said was true, that they had put in a mediocre performance for the match. They just could not pump themselves up for the game when they knew that they were up against a weak team like Macedonia.
Twain looked at the players before him. He knew very well that his words would only fall on deaf ears whenever the team faced a very weak opponent. The players all had minds of their own, and they would not listen to anything that he said. They would inevitably look down on opponents that they deemed to be weak, and they would then play according to their own judgement.
After all, they were human beings with minds of their own. They were not puppets on a string.
"I don't want to see a match like this one ever again," Twain said, and he left the locker room.
The players looked at each other incredulously after Twain left. They could not understand why their boss would be so angry. They might have looked down on their opponents, but they still won the match.
They did not know that what Twain valued most was spirit and willpower. Twain did not mind if the team lost a match, but the players must never lose the fight and determination in them.
Looking down on one's opponents was not terrible. Having a lax attitude towards any match was. If the players continued to behave and think in such a way, it could gradually become a habit that would be hard to break, and it could end up delivering a fatal blow to the team.
Only the Forest players understood why their boss was so upset, because those were the same exact demands that he made on the Forest team when he had been their manager.
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England won against Macedonia. It was a good result, even if Twain was not very pleased with the way the match had played out.
England now had a total of 25 points, and they were first in the group. Denmark only ended up with 20 points because they drew with fifth-placed Ireland 1:1 in the latest match. There was now a five-point gap between the first-place team and the second-place team.
England's next match was against Denmark, away. The winner of the match would get six points. Thus, if England managed to beat Denmark, they would be able to qualify for the next round of the competition with two games left to play.
To the English press, the ticket to Spain was already firmly in the grasp of the England national team, because defeating Denmark away would not be an issue at all. England had played against Denmark previously during the qualifiers, and the press was certain that neither Denmark nor any of the other teams in the group would cause any problems for Tony Twain and his team.
Denmark and Serbia might have been regarded as strong teams in the past, but now, both teams seemed weak and vulnerable against the strong and powerful England.
The clamorous English press started calling the current England national team the strongest team in the country's history, and they bragged about how the team would dominate the whole of Europe. Neither Serbia nor Denmark would be able to stop the team in their tracks, and Tony Twain's unbeaten record would only persist.
Twain was sick of hearing comments like that.
The press being overly positive would definitely affect the team's emotions. Look at what happened in Skopje. They were lucky that they were only up against Macedonia. What if they had been up against Denmark instead? The team known as the 'Northern European Pirates' would certainly not miss out on a golden opportunity to defeat England.
Twain could not help but feel a twinge of nervousness over England's next match. What worried him even more was that the press's arrogance and pride would lead to disastrous outcomes during the Euro Cup.
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The players noticed that their boss was not smiling as much as usual, ever since the day he criticized their performance in Skopje.
He was also much more cautious during his interviews when he discussed Denmark. He kept emphasizing that Denmark was a strong team and that he respected the them.
No one could believe that an arrogant manager like him would suddenly become so humble.
His behavior set the players' tongues wagging.
"The boss is behaving oddly…"
"What's odd about that? He's just putting on a show for us!"
"Putting on a show?"
"He doesn't want us to underestimate our opponents."
"But Denmark isn't a team that we would underestimate."
"Not everyone might think that way. After all, our team has been on a winning streak. Even I don't think we'd have a problem winning against Denmark…"
"Yeah, that's right! We are definitely going to qualify for the next round in advance. I don't know what the boss is worried about…"
"They are a team that we can beat easily! I really can't get myself pumped up for the game."
"Look at you! You just underestimated our opponents!"
"Ah…"
Discussions like that occurred frequently among the players.
The day before the match, Twain gathered the entire team for a tactical meeting at the hotel that they were staying in. However, when the meeting started, Twain did not discuss his tactics.
The first few words that came out of his mouth startled the players.
"I wonder if we should lose to Denmark on purpose."
Twain rubbed his chin as he said those words, and he did not look like he was joking. All the players and staff members were shocked, and they stared at him, eyes bulging and mouths agape. They did not know why their boss would say that.
"We are definitely going to qualify for the next round. It doesn't matter if we lose a match. I don't really care about my unbeaten record, either. It's meaningless to me. I'd rather dampen the press's mood a little by losing the match... But are you guys willing to do that?"
Twain stared at the players as he asked the question.
As the captain, Wood stood up and answered Twain. "I don't like doing that, boss."
"And your reason is?"
"I don't like to lose. And I especially don't like losing on purpose."
Several players concurred with Wood, and they echoed his words.
"Boss, actually…" Mitchell stood up to speak as well. "I don't think you need to worry about us being affected by the press's words. We are not kids who don't know anything."
Mitchell's words were met with approval by several players once again.
Twain threw his hands out in front of him. "Do you think I'm worrying for nothing? I can already see from some of your faces that you guys are underestimating Denmark. Some of you must be thinking that Denmark is a team that we can beat comfortably, right?"
A few players scrunched up their necks and lowered their heads.
"I'd have to make some changes to the starting line-up, since all of you do not wish to lose the game…"
Thereafter, Twain included all the Nottingham Forest players in the starting line-up.
Joe Mattock, Chris Cohen, Mitchell, Agbonlahor, and the captain, George Wood, were all named as the starting players.
Twain then faced his team, which was comprised mainly of Nottingham Forest players.
"You all know what I want!" he bellowed.
"Victory!!"
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Denmark tried their best to put up some form of resistance against England's attacks, and that is how they managed to score a goal.
Still, England proved too strong and powerful for them. England was just like a raging storm, and the Danes could not even lift their heads amidst the pouring rain.
The final score for the match was 2:1. England beat Denmark away, and their victory allowed them to qualify for the next round of the competition in advance, with two games left to play.
When the referee blew the whistle to signal the end of the match, the English players ran onto the pitch to hug their teammates, who had played for 90 minutes. They knew that they were guaranteed a spot in the Euro Cup in Spain, and nothing was going to change that.
Twain heaved a long sigh of relief before getting to his feet. He then balled up his fists and waved them in the air. His colleagues soon had him in their embrace.
The very first goal that was stated in the contract had been accomplished.
From now on, all he had to think about was the Euro Cup.
Shaun Harvey, the chief executive of the England Football Association, stood up to applaud Twain and his team at the stands. He then smiled proudly at the person next to him before going on to brag about how he had a discerning eye.
"If I hadn't been the one to give him that call back then, would we even be seeing these sights today?"
"They say that Tony Twain is a recalcitrant man. But I don't see that at all, not now that he is working under Mr. Harvey."
Twain had become rather submissive and obedient over the past year after becoming the manager of the national team. There were quite a few people who believed that his change in behavior would not have been possible if not for Shaun Harvey's charisma.
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The news of England's qualification into the next round of the competition became a form of motivation for some of the other teams who were hoping to qualify, too.
One of the matches that took place the next day was between Wales and Serbia. In the end, Wales defeated Serbia 2:1 away after a grueling match. Since Denmark had lost to England earlier, Wales was able to move up from fourth place to second place in the group, and they led Denmark by two points.
Wales now had a good chance of qualifying for the next round by coming in second in their group.
Notably, both of Wales's goals in that match had come from the same person.
Gareth Bale scored two goals on free kicks, and he single-handedly sent Wales into second place in the group.
His goals also sent the whole of Wales into an uproar, because their football team finally had a chance to participate in an international competition. Bale's fame skyrocketed, and the entire country extolled his performances. However, none of those things mattered to Bale. The only thing on his mind was the promise that he had made Twain by the side of the pitch.
I have to go to Spain!