Feud
Feud
Twain was not the least bit surprised after hearing Wood's words. He had expected Wood to say what he did.
"That's impossible, George," Twain replied to Wood with a serious expression on his face. "You have yet to fully recover."
"No, I've fully recovered." Wood performed a series of high knees before Twain to prove that he was saying the truth.
"You are lying, George."
"It's my own body. Why would I lie?" Wood asked.
Wood was not able to be as calm as Twain. He took a step forward and stood before Twain. "You told me to wait for three games. But what if we don't even manage to advance to the next round? What's the point in me waiting for three games then? I can't wait and don't want to wait any longer."
Twain gestured for Wood to sit down. He was not used to conversing with another person with his head tilted up.
"Do you not trust your teammates?" Twain looked at the slightly impatient Wood.
Twain's words rendered Wood speechless. He could not say, "Yes, I don't trust them." He could only say, "No, I trust them." The moment he said the latter, however, he would not be able to insist on playing in the match any longer.
Wood went quiet. He understood why Twain had asked such a question, and he was unwilling to give a reply.
Twain decided to strike while the iron was hot. He continued to persuade Wood to abandon his idea of playing in the match against Germany.
"George, your injury has yet to fully recover. I know that very well because I have been monitoring your injury with the medical staff every single day. The match against Germany is bound to be an intense match, and I can't guarantee what would happen next if you were to pick up another injury during the match. For the sake of your professional career, I will not allow you to play in the match."
"Even if it means we can't advance to the next round?" Wood asked.
Twain responded calmly, "Yes, even if it means we can't advance to the next round, I would not take the risk and play you in the match."
Wood's face became clouded. The expression on his face was just like the summer weather. It kept changing numerous times before he finally stood to his feet and left the room.
Twain spaced out as he sat in the room alone.
He could not believe how good he was at pretending to be a saint… The last few words that he said to Wood did not come from the bottom of his heart. Or, rather, he was not resolute when he said those words. Which was more important? Results or a player's future? Such a question would never have appeared in Twain's mind in the past. The Twain of the past would have said that he wanted both.
"Perhaps the situation isn't that bad…" Twain thought.
It wasn't as if England was incapable of competing against Germany without George Wood on the field.
Walker pushed the door open and entered the room. He saw Twain sitting on the sofa lost in his thoughts.
"Tony?"
"Is it time for dinner already?" Twain snapped out of his thoughts and asked.
"No, I just came to see you, and I also wanted to ask you about how things went with George." Walker took a seat next to Twain.
"He wants to play in the match against Germany, but I rejected him," Twain said nonchalantly.
"Did you struggle when you made the decision?" Walker asked with a smile.
"No," Twain lied.
Walker hesitated for a moment before asking, "Tony, what do you think about our chances of winning against Germany?"
Twain glanced at his assistant. "It's not about our chances of winning, Des. We definitely have to win, or else we are going to die."
※※※
Three days was too short a time. The bus trip from Barcelona to Valencia took up half a day, so essentially, Twain only had two days to prepare for the match against Germany.
Before most people even knew it, the match between England and Germany was about to kick off.
The fact that both George Wood and Bentley were going to miss out on the match due to injury, and the fact that England's future in the Euro Cup hung in doubt after losing to Wales, was nothing more than icing on the cake for the match. Even if both teams had won both their previous matches and were going into this match assured of their qualification into the next round, this match between England and Germany would still attract attention worldwide. Tony Twain might not have cared about who won the match, but the England fans would have.
The feud between England and Germany football was one of the longest-standing feuds in the world. Both teams had competed against each other for over a century. In the first fifty years, England dominated Germany, but in the later years, Germany became the England fans' eternal nightmare.
The very first time both teams played against each other was April 20th, 1908. Back then, the arrogant England team, otherwise known as the "Founder of Football", taught the rookie Germany football team a lesson by defeating them with a score of 5:1. England might have won the match, but they acted snobbish afterward and said that it was humiliating for them to have allowed Germany to score a goal. A year later, both teams faced off with each other a second time, and England slaughtered Germany with a 9:0 score. To this day, the 9:0 victory remained the biggest winning margin either team had managed to achieve against each other.
England had been able to achieve 10 wins and 2 draws in their first 12 matches against Germany. The current Germany team might have been known as the 'King of Europe' with three Euro Cup titles and three World Cup titles under its belt, but the Germany team back then was nothing like it. Football in Germany back then was still chaotic, and it was no surprise that they lost to a powerhouse team like England.
But, the rivalry between both teams deepened immensely during the 1966 World Cup that was held in England. England lifted the World Cup trophy for the very first and only time in its history by defeating Germany 4:2 in the finals with the help of a controversial goal. The controversial goal was scored by Geoff Hurst, who subsequently went on to become England's national hero for his hat-trick in the match. Germany's legendary striker, Uwe Seeler, looked extremely despondent as he walked off the pitch with his head hung low after the match. This moment had been captured by photographers, and the British press would constantly bring up the photo of Seeler and scorn the Germans for losing to them yet again.
The match had hurt the Germans so deeply that they still complained about the refereeing error that had cost them their fourth World Cup title.
Until 1966, the British had always gone into every match against the Germans full of confidence, because they had never lost against Germany yet.
However, things turned 180 degrees two years later. Franz Beckenbauer, who was nicknamed "The Emperor", scored the goal that ended Germany's winless streak against England. His goal marked a complete change in fate for both teams. For the next 40 years, England never once won against Germany in the big matches… It did not matter how those matches had progressed. England always came out as the loser.
During the quarterfinals of the 1970 World Cup, England was leading over Germany 2:0 at one point, but Germany managed to come back from behind and score three goals under the guidance of Beckenbauer, and they eliminated England from the competition.
In 1972, England fell before Germany once again. Beckenbauer led his German teammates to a 3:1 victory over England at the Wembley Stadium, and Germany managed to secure a victory in the Euro Cup qualifiers. Thereafter, the British gifted the nickname "Emperor of Football" to Beckenbauer.
During the quarterfinals of the 1990 World Cup, Germany defeated England on penalties. Nottingham Forest's legend, Stuart Pearce, missed a crucial goal, and the current assistant manager of the England national team, Des Walker, had also played in the match.
The Euro Cup was held in England in 1996. The British thought that they would be able to make use of their home advantage to lift the Henri Delaunay Trophy for the very first time in their history, but unfortunately for them, they ran into Germany in one of the matches. The Germans fought hard, and they managed to force the hosts into a penalty shoot-out. The England players lost their composure during the shoot-out and were ultimately eliminated from the competition.
The proud British were not able to accept the fact that their team had lost to the Germans twice in a row, and that set off their rivalry. Ever since then, every match played between England and Germany had been exciting to watch. It did not matter if the match is only a friendly. Both teams would always give their all.
England's starting center-back and former captain, John Terry, once said that there was no such thing as a friendly whenever England played against Germany.
Many memorable football quotes in England came from matches where England faced off with Germany. One such quote came from the famous British commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme during the 1966 World Cup finals match, in which he said, "They think it's all over… It is now."
When England was eliminated by Germany on penalties in the 1990 World Cup, Gary Lineker said after the match, "Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes, and at the end, the Germans always win."
However, not every win over Germany became a pleasant memory for the British. For example, England won against Germany 6:3 in a friendly match that was held at Berlin in 1938, but the England players were forced to do a Nazi salute prior to the start of the match. The British deemed that gesture to be a great insult against them, and they all referred to that win as a humiliating victory even to this day.
England and Germany were more evenly-matched in the 21st century. Both teams had won and lost some matches against each other, and England had even managed to win 5:1 against Germany once. However, overall, the England players always seemed to display a lack of confidence during matches against Germany. The last match held at the old Wembley Stadium before its demolition should have been a meaningful and memorable match for the England national team, but Dietmar Hamann's goal put the entire team to shame.
If Twain were asked to discuss the differences between England and Germany, he would say that England was like a pretty vase that was mesmerizing under the light and highly sought after by others, whereas Germany was like a black, dull rock. It didn't matter if one used the vase to hit the rock or the rock to hit the vase. The one that suffered the most would always be the vase.
Twain had an impossible mission on his hands. He would have to fight the rock with the vase, and he also needed to ensure that the vase remained in one piece at the end of it all.
※※※
"We can lose to anyone else, just not the Germans!" The England fans marched into the stadium carrying banners with these words written across them. The words reflected the voice of every British fan at that moment. The match between England and Germany had seized the attention of the entire nation, and even the Queen asked the question, "Can we beat Germany?"
The Queen's words became the headline for numerous newspapers. The Times responded to her words underneath the headline with, "Yes, we can!"
The Sun published an inspirational article that described how their Queen had led the nation to a great victory against fascist Germany more than 60 years ago as a child. They wrote that it was time for the entire nation to fight once again. They ended the article with the statement, "We can definitely win this battle!"
Unlike England, Germany was much more nonchalant about the feud between them, and they did not react as strongly as England. This has always been the case in the past as well. The British had always been the ones who were obsessed with the feud, and the Germans usually used much more subtle ways to express their thoughts and feelings. For example, the Das Erste channel in Germany re-analyzed the Hurst's goal from 1966 before the match. They made use of cutting-edge technology to restore scenes from the match, and they proved that the ball had not made its way over the line entirely. Hence, Hurst's goal from 1966 could not be counted as a goal. The ZDF channel in Germany also showed highlights from the past World Cups. They showed the scenes of the Brazilians lifting the Jules Rimet trophy three times, and they also showed how Beckenbauer had persevered in a match with a bandage around his shoulder, but they did not show Hurst's controversial goal. Additionally, they ranked Maradona's goal in which he had gone past five England players before scoring the second-best goal scored in the competition. As for the first? It was obviously Maradona's "The Hand of God" goal that he scored in the same match! That particular goal was replayed five times, and it even caused the audience to wonder if there was a problem with their TVs…
The fans of both countries congregated outside the Nou Mestalla stadium situated in Valencia four hours before the match was due to kick-off. Everyone was waiting to make their way into the stadium. Valencia had stationed almost all their police officers outside the stadium because the England and Germany fans had a bad reputation all around the world and were known to get into fights. Not only that, but the Valencia government also imposed a temporary alcohol ban due to the match. The shops that were situated within a 15-kilometer radius of the Nou Mestalla stadium were prohibited from selling all alcoholic beverages four hours before the match until four hours after the match.
England and Germany fans were made to take different routes towards the Nou Mestalla stadium, and they would also have to take different entrances to get into the stadium. There is also a space that was deliberately left in between the two groups of fans in the stands, and it is occupied by heavily armed riot police. The Valencia government had put in a lot of effort to prevent potential clashes between the two groups of fans.
"This looks like the kind of security that you'd find at the finals of the World Cup." The England press was awed by what they saw.
Despite the Valencia government's best efforts however, the fans from both sides were still able to get in each other's faces.
The German fans made a gesture to the BBC cameras that implied that Germany would win against England 3:0. The England fans, on the other hand, made a gesture that implied that England would win against Germany 5:1. 5:1 was the score that England defeated Germany with during the qualifying stages of the 2002 World Cup that was held in Germany in September 2001. Michael Owen had scored a hat-trick in that particular match and had also been awarded the Ballon d'Or in that same year.
The German fans raised their middle finger at the England fans in the distance and yelled at the top of their voices, "You guys are nothing more than a second-rate team in Europe without George Wood on your team! Even Wales can defeat you!"
The England fans sang the Germans' cheer as a rebuttal, "Mr. Sammer, who are you kidding? Matthias, you lead a team of pigs… We will kick every single one of you back to Berlin. Tony Twain and his kids will say, 'Thank you, Germany!' The Euro Cup is right in your hands, our dearest Sir George…" (Matthias Sammer is the manager of the Germany national football team).
The Germany and England fans were getting in each other's faces. It was as if the only participants in the World Cup were Germany and England, and the other powerhouse countries such as Spain, Italy, and France were not even participating…
When the buses carrying the players from both teams appeared before the fans, the atmosphere outside the stadium instantly became feverish. The England and Germany fans began chanting the names of their respective football players to cheer them on. The 36-degree weather was not able to quiet them.
"England! England! God save the Queen! The Queen will save England!" The England fans waved a white flag with a red cross on it at the bus.
"March forth, St. George! March forth, England!"
"Fight to the death and never give up! We are the invincible England army!"
"F*ck the Germans! F*ck their asses!"
"Ohhhhh! England will definitely win!"
The fans started roaring hysterically. Their roars and vulgarities seeped through the windows, and everyone in the bus was able to hear everything that they said clearly.
The England players were not surprised by the fans' uproar. In truth, they were feeling just as crazy as the fans… This was a match between England and Germany. There was no need to motivate any of the players for this match. Every single England player knew the significance behind the match.
Twain whistled at the sexy female fans who were blowing flying kisses his way. "Looks like the pressure riding on our shoulders is immense, lads. But, that's okay. This is exactly the kind of match that I want to play in. A feud that has lasted for over a century! A game in which both teams fight to the death! The winners will step over the bloodied bodies of their opponents… The thought of that excites me! I believe the Germans must feel the same way as I am right now! Ha!"
He clenched his fists and felt his body shiver slightly. But it was not out of fear. It was out of excitement instead.