The Match That Ended in Advance
The Match That Ended in Advance
Queiroz's face would definitely look even more unpleasant than it was if he heard Motson's mockery of him.
It was not as if he never thought about preventing England's counter-attacks. He simply could not dictate the players' behavior for the entirety of the match. The players have constantly attacked Forest for the past 20 minutes or so, and it was only natural that some of them would start to slack off. Who would have thought that England would make use of that one chance and score from it?
Being a goal down put Portugal at a great disadvantage. However, Queiroz had no other choice but to get his team to continue with their attacks because they could not possibly retreat to defend. The word 'retreat' did not exist in Portuguese football.
England did not try to get another goal and continue with their offense after taking the lead. Instead, they retreated back to defend against Portugal's attacks. The Portugal football stars all started feeling helpless against England's compact defense. This was a defense that immobilized the Argentina team led by Messi. If it could work against Argentina, it could also work against Portugal. Hence, Twain did not fear Portugal.
"F*ck! Bunch of cowards!" Zé Castro cursed at the back.
Castro has lost the courage to run forward now. It did not matter how much he might long to run to the front and join in the attack. He was no longer able to do that. He had to stay behind and protect the back of the pitch alongside Pepe.
Castro had to take full responsibility for the team being a goal down. He had run forward rashly earlier, and that had led to him being out of position during England's counter-attack. As a result, he was not able to track back to defend in time. He had finally managed to secure his position as a starting player on the national team, and he certainly did not want to lose his position because of this particular mistake of his.
Pepe heard his partner's complaints, but he only shrugged his shoulders in response. He felt a sense of security when he was a part of Forest's compact defense back then, but now… He felt nothing but hatred towards it.
What Pepe hated, even more, was the fact that England was also able to counter-attack. They would have been somewhat easier to beat if they could only defend well. You are really making things difficult for others, boss, he thought.
Pepe was actually a center-back who enjoyed moving forward to join in the attack. He had managed to bring the ball forward and score a goal all by himself while playing for the Portugal national team before. However, against England… No, to be more exact, against Tony Twain, Pepe has to relinquish all his desires to move forward and attack. He had to defend with all his might and pay extra attention whenever Twain's team attacked.
The match reached a stalemate. The Portugal players were not able to break down England's rigid defense, and England's infrequent counter-attacks were all quickly stopped by Pepe and Zé Castro.
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Queiroz was certain that the current 1:0 score was all that England wanted for the game since they were playing counter-attacking football. Thus, he believed that England would shift their focus onto defense and stop going on the offense as much for the remainder of the match. When England scored a goal against them earlier, he had yelled at his two fullbacks to retreat backward and focus more on defense. Now, he considered getting his fullbacks to go on the offense once again after seeing how England's subsequent counter-attacks had all failed to threaten Portugal's goalpost.
Portugal's current offense lacked depth without the support from the fullbacks, and it would never be able to break down England's defense.
The pressure on the England defense increased immensely when the two Portugal fullbacks rushed forward to join in the offense.
Twain could tell that Portugal had gained the upper hand in the game as he watched from the side of the pitch. Two of their shots had hit the crossbar successively earlier. If things were to go on like this any longer, England might not be able to retain their lead.
He whistled at the players from the side before gesturing for them to go on the counter-attack.
England found another chance to counter-attack on the 36th minute of the match. Gerrard did a long pass to the front of the pitch, and Downing chased after the ball down the flank. Pepe was prepared to deal with England's attack this time around. He got Castro to guard the space at the back while he ran forward towards the ball.
There was too much force behind Gerrard's pass. The ball flew straight towards the corner flag. Most players would choose to give up on such a pass by now, and they might raise a thumb at their teammate and praise him for the pass even if they did not mean it, but Downing did neither. Instead, he charged towards where the ball was going to land at full-speed.
Downing's actions caused Pepe to be on full alert. He knew that Downing would be directly facing the goalpost if he allowed him to get to the ball…
The two soon met each other on the pitch, and Pepe immediately tried to push Downing towards the corner flag.
Downing was positioned nearer to the ball than Pepe, but with Pepe defending against him at such close proximity, he did not know if he could control the ball at his feet once it landed. Even if he managed to control the ball, his position was unfavorable for him to carry out his next action.
The two of them were inching closer and closer to the corner flag. Out of desperation, Downing jumped into the air and headed the ball towards Pepe. The ball was too close to Pepe for him to react. He could not dodge in time and the ball hit him before flying out of bounds. Downing managed to help the team earn a throw-in from a dangerous position. He did not let the opportunity to counter-attack go to waste.
The England defenders did not press forward during the throw-in. Joe Mattock was the only defender who went up to the front of the pitch to throw the ball. The other three defenders had all remained at the back of the pitch. Michael Johnson also stayed at the back to help with the defense. England wanted to ensure that they had an ample number of players at the back at all times to deal with Portugal's counter-attacks.
Besides the four players who were involved in the team's defense, every other England player had rushed to the front to join in the offense. Rooney and Mitchell were both positioned inside the penalty box, whereas Gerrard stood alone at a corner and waited for a chance to shoot at the goal from afar. Walcott ran towards the middle of the pitch, and he planned to either shoot at the goal himself or organize a second attack on Portugal's goal.
Downing was the player who went up to Mattock to receive the throw-in.
Pepe, who stood at 1.86m tall, was Portugal's tallest defender. He naturally went to defend against England's tallest player Mitchell.
Mitchell shook off Pepe's hand. "I'll fall to the ground right now if you continue to grab my shirt, Pepe!"
Pepe was not enraged by Mitchell's words. He grinned and put his hand back on Mitchell's arm. "Be careful not to pick up a yellow card for diving."
Pepe was well aware that he did not have an advantage in terms of height over other players. Thus, he needed to make use of a bit of force while defending to make up for his flaws, or else he would not be fit to play as a center-back. Mitchell was a player he was very familiar with. He knew that he must never let his former teammate get to the ball. Mitchell, who stood at 2.01m tall, was not like the other giants in the game who were poor at jumping into the air and heading the ball. He was good at both aspects.
Miguel Veloso retreated backward to the goalpost and stood next to Mitchell. Mitchell was now sandwiched between Veloso and Pepe. Veloso and Pepe both played for AC Milan, and they were able to coordinate with each other well without the use of words.
Mattock surveyed the situation on the pitch. The only player whom he could pass the ball to was Downing, but Downing was heavily marked by their opponents. Even if Downing managed to receive the ball, he would likely be unable to turn around, and the ball would most probably get passed back to him. If that happened, what should he do next? Should he carry the ball forward by himself? Or should he pass the ball? Where should he pass to?
He had to think through all his options ahead of time. He did not want to be in a situation whereby he was at a loss after throwing the ball. He lifted his head to look at the penalty box. Mitchell was the player that stood out the most. He was much taller than everyone else on the pitch.
Mattock came up with a plan. He tossed the ball over to Downing and made a gesture for the latter to pass the ball back to him.
Downing knew what he had to do next even without Mattock's gesture. Vitorino Antunes has been slamming into him all this time, and he was certain that he would not be able to control the ball under such circumstances. He did not wait for the ball to land. He kicked the ball over to Mattock while it was still in mid-air.
Mattock stopped the ball with his feet as Downing helped to hold Antunes back. Mattock then took a step back to keep a distance between him and Antunes before crossing the ball into the middle of the penalty box without hesitation.
It was a very simple tactic.
Nevertheless, it was very effective when Mitchell was in the penalty box.
Pepe grabbed Mitchell's shirt with all his might after seeing the ball fly towards the goalpost. Mitchell tussled and tried to break free from both Pepe and Veloso.
The goalkeeper, Patrício, did not just stand there and do nothing either. He was trying to time his jump and grab the ball before Mitchell gets to it.
Everything happened in the blink of an eye. When Pepe and Mitchell jumped into the air, the ball was already right above the goalpost.
Patrício was a little too slow with his jump. Pepe and Mitchell had already leaped into the air by then, and all he could do was to pray that Pepe would be able to stop Mitchell, or that Mitchell missed the shot due to Pepe's interference.
Unfortunately, he was disappointed.
Mitchell had jumped much higher than Pepe did. No other player was higher than he was now, and the ball was right before his eyes. There was no better chance than this! There was no one who could stop him, not even Pepe!
"Aaron Mitchell heads the ball! The ball has gone in! A brilliant goal! Well done!" John Motson cheered once again.
The England fans at the stands began singing the song 'God Save the King' at the top of their voices to cheer for their team.
"England leads Portugal 2:0 on the 37th minute of the match! Nobody could have expected this! Portugal has 67% possession and they have been dominating the game so far, but it is England that leads by two goals!"
Mitchell flung his arms out wide and ran over to the corner flag to hug Joe Mattock and his other teammates after scoring the goal.
The Portugal players, on the other hand, looked like they had just been struck by lightning and stood rooted to the ground. They could not believe that they were trailing by two goals before the end of the first half since they were the team that has been dominating possession in the game so far…
What was happening?
Based on the flow of the game and the statistics of the match so far, they should have been the ones with the lead in the match.
Where has it gone wrong?
Where exactly has it gone wrong?
One of Portugal's players shifted his gaze onto his manager, Carlos Queiroz.
Queiroz did not behave as he did previously when England scored a goal against them. He acted with more poise and did not kick the mineral water bottle this time around. All he did was stand rooted by the side of the pitch. Just like his players, he too was thinking about where it went wrong for his team…
Pepe had an inkling as to what happened – he was not young anymore. Two years ago, he would have been able to interfere with Mitchell's shot by making use of his outstanding physical attributes to make up for the difference in height between him and Mitchell. Now, all he could do was raise his head and watch as Mitchell headed the ball into the back of the net…
"F*ck!" Pepe clenched his fists. He longed to hit something to vent his frustration, but there was nothing next to him except the goalpost.
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The Portugal players looked distraught as they stood on the pitch. Twain, on the other hand, could not stop laughing as he sat at his seat at the dugout. "Haha! Did they think that we'd be happy with a 1:0 score because we are playing counter-attacking football? How childish! Who said that teams who play counter-attack couldn't score a lot of goals? I'll prove it to you today!"
Most people liked to jump to conclusions about how a match had progressed based on the score. Whenever they saw a score of 1:0, they would think that the match must have been extremely boring and full of inactivity in which both teams did nothing but defend against each other. Whenever they saw scores such as 4:3 or 6:0 however, they would think that it was an intense and wonderful match in which both teams constantly went at each other.
However, the reality was different. A team was able to – or at the very least had a high possibility of being able to, score a lot of goals even if they played counter-attacking football. The team who dominated possession in the game was not always the team who had the lead.
"Make the score 3:0! Or 4:0! I don't want any of you to give up on any chance to score a goal! I want this match to be the match that ends Portugal's journey in the Euro Cup! Aha!"
Twain clenched his fists and spun around once. He could not hide his excitement after seeing how easily his team had taken a two-goal lead over Portugal.
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The manager of the German national football team was taken aback by how easily England had taken a two-goal lead over a decent Portugal side. He thought that it would be a fierce battle between the two teams since they were both evenly matched, but he did not expect Twain's team to come out victorious without so much as a scratch on them. The result took both him and his coaching staff by surprise. It looked like they'd have to re-evaluate Tony Twain's abilities as a manager…
The Germans were not the only ones who came to watch the match. The French, Italian, Dutch and Spanish were also there to see how the match between England and Portugal would unfold, and every single one of them was given a rough wake-up call by Tony Twain.
They all had the same question in their minds: if it was our team on the pitch right now, would we be able to triumph over England's counter-attacking football?
How could a team break down a rigid defense and deal with a lightning-quick counter-attack at the same time? This was a universal problem.
The Italians were not as worried about having to face England. After all, they were also a team that frequently played counter-attacking football. They were certain that England would end up becoming just like Portugal if they were to go against them.
The England players returned to their locker room with a two-goal lead in the match. The Portugal players, on the other hand, seemed dejected as they walked off the pitch. Anyone who saw how the Portugal players looked like right now would think that the match has ended already and that there was nothing to look forward to in the second half.
An Italian 'intelligence officer' stood up and stretched before putting away his camcorder. He decided to leave the premises early since there would not be many transportation options to choose from when it got late. Coming to watch the match today was nothing more than a routine part of his job. He did not think that either England or Portugal would face Italy early in the competition. The earliest that Italy would face either team would be in the finals.
Could either England or Portugal make their way to the finals? England needed to think about how they were going to advance to the next round without George Wood first. As for Portugal… Look at how they were playing against an England side that did not even have George Wood in the team! Would Italy even need to worry about such a team?
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Carlos Queiroz should have blown his top after seeing how his team had inexplicably gone behind by two goals at the end of the first half. However, throwing a temper tantrum was not his style. His style was to think about where it went wrong for his team and to come up with ways to rationally deal with it in the second half.
He figured out where it went wrong for his team in the first half.
"I think we were too optimistic. We underestimated our opponents. We kept pressing forward, and that led to a lot of space at the back that England could exploit. The first goal was the key to our downfall because it completely disrupted our entire plan." The composed Queiroz analyzed what went wrong for his despondent players. He admitted that he had made an error, although he subsequently also dragged the entire team down with him…
"But I have no intention of playing defensive in the second half! Never!" Queiroz could not help but raise his voice as he recalled the look of happiness on Twain's face after England scored a goal. The glee upon Twain's face was just like a blade that stabbed him in the heart. Queiroz truly hated that man, and anything that made Twain happy would make him miserable.
"Do you all think that the match is over? It's far from over! The England team might think that the match has ended in advance and they might be celebrating in their locker room right now! This is our chance…" He leaned forward and stared at his players, before speaking slowly, "We underestimated our opponents in the first half. But they are the ones who are going to underestimate us in the second half."