Next Opponent
Next Opponent
That match was like a dream and it left a deep impression on them.
No matter what, Portugal was still a traditionally strong team in Europe and logically speaking, they were equal to the England team. That's why, while it was not a big shock that England defeated Portugal, to win so easily with a score of 4:2 was unusual.
Even though England did not play much better than Portugal throughout the whole match, the scoreline said it all. 4:2 was a score that could really enable them to hold their heads up high.
The analysis of the English media of this match was very simple and unexpectedly consistent—It was not because Portugal was bad, it was because we were too good! England was a world-class team. Defeating a strong European team like Portugal with a score of 4:2 was not unusual. The English fans were used to believing everything the media said. Since the media said that England was very good, then England was really good.
For a moment, optimism filled the country and it seemed like there would be no issues qualifying from the group stage. Even winning the European Championship would be a piece of cake.
Eventually, such a thought did not just stay within the public, but it spread to the team as well.
At first, they thought the match would be very difficult without George Wood. However, they defeated a strong team like Portugal with a score of 4:2 unexpectedly and this made them very proud.
The atmosphere during training the next day was very relaxed as they were still talking about the match yesterday and it excited them.
Twain did not mind. His brain was filled with thoughts on how to deal with Germany. Yes, he had skipped over Wales… In his mind, Wales would not pose much of a problem for them even without George Wood. Twain was very honest with himself about their level, coupled with the fact that morale was high since they just defeated Portugal. The match five days hence should not be a problem.
Twain announced that they would have the day off after just half a day of training. Half-day off today and a full day off tomorrow since they had enough time anyway. The English Premier League was the league with the most intensive fixtures and the England players were more tired than the players from the other leagues were. Twain was making use of all the opportunities to give the team days off so that they would not be too exhausted.
The players were very happy as they could to go shopping and loosen up.
However, one person did not join them.
George Wood was still doing his recovery training in the hotel's swimming pool. Even though the coaching team told him that there was no need for him to work so hard, nobody was able to talk a determined Wood out of it.
Twain did not care about Wood either. He decided to give himself half a day off as well as he went to look for Shania. The European Championship was work to him but it was a holiday to Shania.
The two of them explored the streets of Barcelona in some light disguise. There were some football fans who walked past them on the streets but even the English fans, much less the Wales fans, did not recognize the man wearing sunglasses in the company of the beautiful lady as Tony Twain.
England's next match would be played here at the Nou Camp too. After the game against Wales, they would have to move to Valencia in preparation for the key match against Germany.
"They are in the mood to relax now," Twain said as he watched the people around him.
"Will the pressure be greater during the later stages?" Shania held Twain's arm and leaned on his shoulder.
"Naturally."
"Isn't it more important to relax when the pressure is mounting?" Shania smiled cheekily.
Twain used the arm that Shania was not holding on to and rubbed her nose with it.
"I'll be able to relax when I think about you in bed," Twain said, fully meaning the double entendre. Shania obviously knew what he was talking about and did not hold back under the bright Barcelona sun as she kissed Twain.
※※※
After saying goodbye to Shania, Twain slowly walked back to the hotel that he was staying in.
Some of the players had come back early and were resting in the coffee shop. When they saw that the boss was back, they stood up to greet him. Twain took a glance at them and asked, "Where's George?"
Everyone knew that the concern the boss had for George was way more than that of a manager towards his player. Therefore, they did not think that it was strange. They looked at each other, shrugged and said, "Didn't see him. He might be in the room, or in the swimming pool, or he might be in the gym, boss."
"Okay… Carry on, guys," Twain waved, left the coffee shop and walked towards the gym.
He thought that there would be a high possibility of finding Wood in the gym.
As expected, he had just reached the gym when he heard the machines being used inside. The England team had already reserved the hotel's gym and the only one who would be training inside at this time could be George Wood.
Twain could see his well-built figure with the back to the entrance when he came in. Sweat glistened on his bare back under the lights.
"Take a break, George," Twain called out.
Wood turned and saw Twain standing at the entrance. He did as he was told and climbed off the machine.
"How do you feel?" Twain walked up to him and gave him a towel.
"Very good," Wood took the towel and wiped his face.
"It looks like you're recovering very well. I'm relieved," Twain looked at the big toe on his right foot. One could not tell that there was anything wrong with it at first glance anymore.
Actually, Twain had looked for him because he wanted to tell him something. Ever since England defeated Portugal, he had been thinking about this question.
Logically speaking, a team that had been winning should not be changed easily unless there was a special situation such as injuries. If they were lucky, this team without George Wood would keep winning until the knockout stage without injuries or illnesses, and then once Wood had recovered, would there still be a place for him on the team?
Twain did like Wood; otherwise, he would not have insisted on bringing Wood to Spain even though he had not recovered fully yet. However, he was not a sentimental person and a rather practical manager. Since this lineup could bring him victory, then what reasons were there for Wood to interrupt it? Whether it was the score or the unity of the changing room, he had no reason to change a winning team just to give Wood a spot on it.
That would be wrong and if he did that, he would run the risk of damaging the credibility that he built up internally in the team.
However, if he did not let Wood play, what was the point of bringing him to Spain? Wood would definitely not be willing to sit on the bench all the way. It would be fine if they won the European Championship but what if they lost? Wood would probably hate him for life.
That was why he wanted to have a talk with Wood.
"Do you have something to tell me?" Wood saw that Twain was confused and he took the initiative to ask.
"Yes…" Twain scratched his head. "George, do you remember what I told you initially? Next to the swimming pool in this hotel, remember? I said that even if you waited until the knockout stages, I cannot guarantee that you would be able to play. Do you know what that means?"
Wood nodded and did not make things difficult for Twain. "I know. The team is winning now, and we should not change the starting lineup easily."
Twain gave a sigh of relief seeing that Wood was so sensible.
Twain did not give him the bullshit talk of, "You're the captain, you should lead by example" etcetera. He knew that Wood had accepted this fact when he said that.
However, Wood suddenly added, "I'll work hard to get a chance to play."
Twain smiled. "Don't overdo it, take care not to hurt your leg again. Go take a break and relax." He patted Wood's shoulder.
Wood shook his head and said, "I still have a set of sit-ups…"
Twain shrugged. "If you hurt yourself again, you won't have a second chance, you know."
"I know," Wood had already started to get busy.
Twain waved and turned to leave.
This kid is so fit, how would he hurt himself? He thought.
Is God displeased that I have been dominating for eleven years and now wants to give me some problems?
Damn you, God!
※※※
While the English players were relaxing in the streets and sunny beaches of Barcelona, the Wales team was training hard behind closed doors. They were training as if they were preparing not for a group match, but for the European Championship final.
Gareth Bale became the focal point of the team because the training during these few days was centered on his specialty—set pieces.
Toshack had designed no less than ten different set pieces that required Bale to be successful. The whole of Europe knew that Bale was an expert in free kicks. As long as he stood in front of the ball, the opposing goalkeeper would be nervous.
As expected, Wales lost the first group match to Germany 0:3. They did not even get a goal and were completely flattened. Even though this was a result that the Wales fans had expected, the Wales players were not willing to accept this result. They finally managed to qualify for the European Championship after 40 years, so how could they just show up for the group matches and leave? The Wales players who had no hopes of participating in such a grand-scale competition previously started to have ambitions and wanted to prove their worth.
Toshack expected England to take them lightly after defeating Portugal so thoroughly, and Tony Twain would probably be only thinking about the match against Germany now. That was something that he could take advantage of.
After the training was finished, Bale stayed behind to practice his free kicks.
As he had promised, he had arrived in Spain. However, he had no intention of stopping then. Even when facing his benefactor, he had set defeating him as his target.
Toshack appeared outside the field. "Gareth," he said
Bale turned back to look at his manager, panting through his mouth.
"It's time to go."
This was not his club where he could go home himself after additional training. They were borrowing the stadium of Espanyol, Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, and after training here, the whole team would have to take the bus back to the hotel they were staying at. Bale could not train for too long, otherwise, it would affect the whole team's schedule.
Bale took a last shot towards the goal. The ball curled past the wall, hit the crossbar and flew out.
Someone would pack up the equipment on the pitch after that and Bale left the pitch with his head down.
Bale seemed to be much more mature than before now that he was 26 years old, Toshack thought as he looked at his retreating back.
※※※
The English media had already started to speculate about the match between England and Germany. Every newspaper would have a prominent countdown on it, stating the time left until the match between England and Germany.
On the buses, on the subway, in the offices, within their kitchens, in the bars, out on the streets… At all places that people were gathered, they were talking about Germany.
The grievances between the English and the Germans were long-standing, so much so that it gave people a wrong impression—Had the conflict between them started ever since the birth of modern football?
At the same time, Wales, being the weakest team of the group, was not enough to pique the interest of the prideful Englishmen at all.
"We defeated Portugal soundly with a score of 4:2, do we still need to worry about Wales? Our neighbor is struggling under our eyes, so weak that we could not bear to kill them."
If someone had bothered to take a survey, they would probably discover that close to a hundred percent of the English fans thought this way.
It was not only the English fans and media who were looking down on Wales; even the England players believed that the match against Wales would be insignificant.
When interviewed, Michael Johnson expressed that he had no doubts that his team would be able to defeat Wales and that the team they should be worried about was Germany.
Mitchell did mention Wales, however, but that was only because his good friend, Gareth Bale, was inside the team.
"Bale is a very good player. I think we have to watch out for his free-kicks…" He was only talking about how good Bale was and he probably did not even know who the other Welsh players were.
On the other hand, the Welsh players expressed immense respect for England and took the game with England very seriously. They did not seem to be angered by the attitude of the Englishmen and when talking about England, they all expressed their beliefs that the England team was very strong.
It looked like they were really in awe of mighty England and dared not have any other ideas.
The Welsh media also said that they were very satisfied that Wales could participate in the European Championship and that it was the greatest breakthrough for Welsh football in the past 40 years. They were really too unlucky to be drawn into the Group of Death and it was inevitable that they would not be able to qualify for the knock out stages…
Losing to Germany in the first round had given a very good gauge of Wales' abilities. Unrealistic hopes would not help the team; they just had to play three good games in the group stages, that was all. At least when they left the competition, they would not leave without scoring a single goal.
"In the game against England, our target is to score," Toshack said humbly. "We wish to leave some proof to show our capability."
But what were Tony Twain's thoughts about this?
"Wales is a formidable opponent that we'll take seriously," He seemed to be distracted when saying this.
"Talking out of his arse!" The Welsh reporters judged Twain's performance like this in their minds, "I bet he's thinking of nothing but Germany now."
Even though they complained that England did not respect their opponent, the Welsh reporters themselves knew that they had better not harbor any hopes for the next day's match. England's morale was high and even if they were facing Germany, they would have the capability to win. Not to mention lowly Wales…
Qualifying for the European Championship after 40 long years, yet they could only be the supporting role for the leading characters, the leaf to the rose…
Even though this was a fact, they were still unhappy about it.