Win the Game Like the Forest Team
Win the Game Like the Forest Team
Goals scored in a friendly match might not have caused the English commentator to be so thrilled if they were playing any other country but Argentina.
Seeing Wood score the goal, Crimson Stadium erupted with huge cheers, filling the air with the roar of fans and stirring everyone's hearts.
After Twain finished hugging his colleagues, he turned to applaud Wood.
Nowadays, Wood's offensive talent was on full display. He had not only become the initiator of the offensive but could also complete the attack. He was a completely different player than the reckless teenager of a decade ago, who only knew defense.
He had scored a number of goals since becoming the England national team captain, some of which were important key goals. It certainly had something to do with Twain, who was familiar with him and knew how to use him well. But more importantly, Wood himself wanted to give the best performance to prove that he deserved the Three Lions' captain armband.
After he scored the goal, Wood no longer looked as aloof as he had before. He waved his fists vigorously and welcomed his teammates' hugs.
Twain wanted him not to look so grim and unapproachable, so he acted accordingly. He had a good opportunity after the goal.
It seemed that Wood had matured a lot since Twain had left the Forest team.
He ought to have matured a long time ago... He was already thirty years old and getting older.
※※※
Looking at George Wood celebrating the goal, Messi raised his fists. Although the two men did not have a direct conversation, he still saw Wood's goal as a challenge.
Which he accepted.
After the game resumed, Messi came alive and tried several times to force a breakthrough, but there was not much time left for him... The first half was over!
Messi's face collapsed when the referee blew the whistle. He recalled that before he had set off for the game, Guardiola had told him that he could only play half the game in this friendly match.
The English team walked into the players' tunnel with excitement, while he stood outside for a moment before walking back with his head lowered. Within one short minute, he had made a decision.
In the Argentina team's locker room, Maradona was making adjustments for the second half. First of all, he needed to switch out the players who had clear instructions not to play the entire game. Luckily, there were not many players with such special treatment. Otherwise, he might have a problem on his hands--although this was a friendly match, the number of substitutes was still just three.
"Messi." Although Maradona was unhappy with being a goal behind, he had to abide by his agreement with Guardiola and bring off the most precious asset the two teams shared. The La Liga tournament was in the final stages of the campaign, and the Barcelona football club did not want Messi to waste his fitness in a friendly match like this.
Messi shook his head and said, "I want to keep playing, coach."
All eyes in the locker room were on him. The remark came as a surprise to all the players.
Maradona did not expect it, either. He looked up at Messi.
"We have an agreement with Barcelona," Maradona said as he looked at him.
"I know." Messi nodded, but the look in his eyes said that he would not back down. "I'll call Mr. Guardiola after the game to explain."
Maradona knew why Messi was so insistent--his performance in the first half had been only average. Although he was the core of Argentina's offense, he hadn't helped Argentina score goals or create threatening opportunities. England's defense was too successful.
He wanted to prove himself, to show that at the very least, he was just as good as Wood under the circumstances.
Maradona was an unruly figure during his time as a player. After his retirement, he had increasingly shown more of his unique personality. Since becoming the manager, he'd toned it down somewhat, but all that really meant was he no longer threatened to kill reporters with a shotgun.
Although we have an agreement with Barcelona, if the player himself insists, I can't stop him, can I?
"Okay." Maradona finally nodded and said, "But you only have fifteen minutes. I can't mess up our relationship with Barcelona just because of your personal feud with Wood..."
His last words were a little redundant. He didn't really care about those things at all.
Messi laughed and sat down again.
Since Messi did not have to be replaced, there was nothing to be adjusted, and all was business as usual.
※※※
In England's locker room, Twain did not praise the England team's performance in the first half, but he did ask the team to continue to play in the same way.
Of course, he made adjustments, too. He knew that Messi could not play in the second half. After the biggest threat had been removed, England's defense did not need to be quite so tight. England could put a lot of force into the offense the majority of the time.
But in the second half, he and the English players were stunned.
Argentina's number 10 stood right there on the pitch...
"Didn't Guardiola say to only allow him to play for half the game?" Twain asked Walker next to him. "Is it a smokescreen that Argentina has cast? Damn it! Do they need to resort to colluding with Barcelona to play a friendly match?"
Walker did not know why, either. A few days before the game, the media had reported that Barcelona didn't want Messi to play full-time in the friendly match. Guardiola further reduced the time to half the game, just forty-five minutes.
As a result, when they saw Messi start in the first half, they weren't worried about the second half. But they didn't expect this to happen. They really didn't even imagine it...
Wood stared blankly for a moment when he saw Messi opposite. At the same time, he found Messi staring back at him. As an old rival, he clearly knew what that look in his eyes meant.
He was just surprised, not afraid.
Bring it on, boy.
※※※
After the start of the second half, Messi became the center of attention once again. The commentator wondered why Messi was still on the pitch and guessed that Guardiola was probably desperate to fly to Nottingham to drag him off...
Messi took the ball, then faced being wedged between two English defenders. He quickly jabbed the ball and turned his body so that he could drill past the two men and break through!
"What a beautiful bypass! He's a magician on the football field!" the Argentinian commentator exclaimed.
Unfortunately, in the next second, Messi's nimble body was bogged down.
Wood struck him without mercy. Messi stumbled at his feet and was knocked off course. The threat to the goal was greatly reduced.
Faced with Wood's close marking defense, Messi tried several times to shake him off, to no avail. When he saw the English player, who he'd just shaken off, come up again to circle him, he had no choice but to pass the ball to the sideline.
"Aha! Don't think that Wood, who scores frequently, doesn't know how to defend! 'Saint George' is good at both offense and defense. He's guaranteed to be every opponent's nightmare!" The English commentator was pleased with the result.
Messi was indomitable, though, and soon made a comeback.
This time he did not meet Wood head-on but was forced out to the side of the penalty area by three English players. He could only kick the ball for a cross pass. The result of the pass was unsurprising. It was headed out by England's tall center-backs.
But it didn't matter. The football fell at the feet of the Argentinian player Higuaín.
Seeing that Messi was still in the penalty area, Higuaín sent a straight pass right over!
Terry raised his arms to signal that Messi was in an offside position, but the assistant referee did not raise the flag.
"Offside position!" The English commentator roared in a fluster.
"Beautiful! He's not in an offside position! A gorgeous straight pass!" The Argentinian commentator rose excitedly from his seat. Six minutes into the second half, Argentina finally had their best chance of the game so far!
Messi received the ball with the side of his body, and England's right back Glen Johnson was trailing just behind. He really wasn't in an offside position!
Now, Messi had no defenders around him. He was completely unguarded!
Terry, who realized that he had misjudged, quickly pounced toward Messi.
Messi just had to swing his leg, and he could shoot straight into the goal. But he spied Terry from the corner of his eye, and he decided to choose a more secure way--he feigned a shot and moved the ball. He easily bypassed Terry who rushed up. Then he picked up his feet again, and this time, it was for real!
Even though Terry did not stop Messi from shooting, he had bought valuable time for the players behind him.
When Messi's supported foot was a little further away from the football as he swung his other leg for the shot, the football was completely unpossessed. It was at this point that George Wood took advantage of the gap to swoop in. Like a fierce tiger coming down from the mountain, he slid and shoveled the ball out of the end line before Messi could kick it. Instead, Messi's powerful kick struck the outside of his thigh.
Messi felt as if he had kicked a piece of iron. He inadvertently allowed his body to fall forward and crashed right on top of Wood.
"A penalty shot!!" The Argentine commentator stood up and poked his body out, desperately wishing that he could reach for the referee's collar and yell at him, with spittle flying.
The English commentator was hesitant. He couldn't really see clearly from high in the stands. The small television screen in front of him hadn't replayed the scene yet. "Messi fell into the penalty area. Maybe Wood got to the ball first?"
It wasn't that the television broadcast was deliberately not showing the replay. It was just that there wasn't enough time to replay for the audience what had just happened. Messi fell in the penalty area, and the Argentinian players held up their hands to demand the penalty shot. Meanwhile, the English players desperately waved their hands to show that it couldn't have been a foul. They even thought that Messi had dived.
The referee made the final decision a moment later. He held out his right index finger and wagged it in front of the Argentinian players. The meaning was obvious: George Wood did not foul!
Then he made a hand gesture for a corner kick, completely shattering the Argentines' idea.
Messi had not gotten up yet. If Guardiola was watching the live telecast at this time, he would surely be rebuking Maradona, George Wood, the referee, and Tony Twain in his mind-- "Do you know what Messi means to Barcelona?! If he gets hurt, we're done for this season! Who's going to take the blame for this?!"
Fortunately, Messi soon got up off of Wood, and he looked normal. He appeared unhurt.
That was when the television broadcast finally caught the chance to replay what had happened. Everyone could see on the screen that even though Wood shoveled ferociously, it was clean, just brushing past the tip of Messi's toes to shovel the ball away. It didn't even touch anyone. If Messi did get hurt, it would be because of how hard he'd kicked the outside of Wood's thigh.
Guardiola and Maradona were worried about whether Messi would be injured, while Twain was worried about whether Wood was injured. Messi's kick was powerful…the strength of the kick was to volley a show. With such a hard kick to the outside of Wood's thigh, how could he not be hurt?
Wood followed Messi and got up from the ground. He appeared to be all right.
Terry came over to ask in concern, "Are you okay?"
Wood knew what he was asking about and said, "I'm all right." He rubbed his hand on the spot where Messi kicked him. It was sore and painful, but it wouldn't affect his play.
His thigh muscles were naturally tight when he shoveled the ball, so Messi felt as if he'd kicked a piece of iron.
Wood looked at Messi beside him. He was looking down and rubbing the tip of his toes.
Agüero came up and spoke a few words to Messi in Spanish. Messi shook his head, so it seemed much like the conversation between Terry and Wood.
Although Messi shook his head to indicate that he was fine, there was still some pain in the arches of his feet. He gave Wood a sideways glance. The other man also happened to be rubbing his leg.
He suddenly thought the scene was somewhat funny. No one got the better of the situation.
It was the first time he saw Wood suffer in front of him or get injured. Even though it was only a surface wound, Messi was in good spirits. The previous atmosphere of mutual hostility dissipated at that moment.
He reached his hand out to Wood and waved in front of him.
Wood was rubbing his thigh with his head lowered when he saw a hand enter his field of view. It was waving at him, so he looked up at the owner of the hand.
Messi was having fun with him.
Wood stopped rubbing his leg and put his hand out.
The two men's hands lightly patted and separated.
This might be the only time they'd made physical contact that wasn't explosive in all the years they had competed against each other... For even when they shook hands before a game, the two men would still match their strength against each other on the sly.
※※※
Messi failed to help Argentina equalize the score within the fifteen minutes. He didn't score a goal or create good opportunities for his teammates. Perhaps the recent continuous competition had made him physically tired. He staggered slightly and went a bit soft in the knees after barely bypassing two people.
By the 15th minute of the second half, Maradona had replaced Messi and watched him come off the pitch in good health, which would be a relief to Guardiola watching at home.
Once the core player was replaced, Argentina's strength was affected. The England team was still playing the defensive counterattack strategy, as they had in the first half, but their counterattacks became more frequent and increasingly sharp.
The Argentinians wanted to equalize the score, which was an opportunity in the eyes of the England team. Taking advantage of the Argentina team's full press, England made use of a quick counterattack to score again in the 27th minute of the second half. Rooney scored his 40th goal for the national team.
Maradona was clearly not equipped when it came to countering such defensive counterattacks. He was not a strategic master. Though he'd led Argentina to the World Cup title, half the credit went to his skillful players...
Moreover, the number of managers in the world who could break through a steadfast defense and quickly counterattack could be counted on one hand. Maradona was clearly not on the list. It was a worldwide problem. The game was ugly to watch, but the strategy could win England the match, and what Twain wanted was results.
As long as he could defeat Argentina, he could shut up the opposition, which still questioned his ability to this day.
It was more than just a friendly match. Messi, Agüero, Higuaín, and Tevez--all four of the attacking players in the front field--had come, which showed the importance the Argentina national team attached to the game.
But the previous World Cup champion, which had such a luxurious attacking lineup, was unable to break through England's defense. Instead, the England team took advantage of the gaps left behind by their offense and was able to score two goals against them through counterattacks.
In terms of ball possession ratios and number of shots, it was the Argentina team that dominated and ought to win. However, the result turned out the other way, which made the proud and arrogant Maradona extremely unhappy. From how worried he was about the Argentina team's offense at the sidelines, it looked as if he wished he could be thirty years younger and able to personally go on the field to play. At that time, it didn't matter that the England team had a few people blocking in front of the goal; he could still ride alone for a thousand miles and bypass five players!
With the exception of Messi, who was already brought off, nobody but Agüero and Tevez, currently on the field, had been called the successors to Maradona. But they were not really the kings of football. They were out of ideas in the face of England's impenetrable defensive wall...
Towards the end, the Argentinian commentator had already lost hope that they could beat England. He only hoped that Argentina, which had Higuaín, Agüero, and Tevez, could score a goal, to save some face for the previous World Cup champion.
Twain wouldn't let them get what they wanted. The team defended to the last and didn't let up just because they had a two-goal lead. He wanted the Argentina team to completely lose hope. In the last ten minutes of the game, Argentina turned out in full strength, and the England players still fought back, making the Argentinians furious.
The Forest fans cheering on the England team in the stands were a little distracted. Was the team in front of their eyes that had rendered Argentina powerless their national team, or was it Nottingham Forest?
In today's game, the Argentina players wore their blue and white striped jerseys, while England wore the red jerseys, which was rather similar to Nottingham Forest's home jersey.
Later on, the Forest fans even sang Nottingham Forest's team song in a collective moment.
"Forest! Forest!... We've got the whole world in our hands, and we are the best team in England! We are invincible and undefeated! And we have nothing to fear! Because we are the best team! Because we've got the whole world in our hands..."
The familiar song rang out above Crimson Stadium, and Twain could not help but turn his gaze from the field to the stands.
The singing became louder and clearer. The Nottingham Forest players in the England lineup were inspired by the singing, and their performances became more and more active. The Argentinians, on the other hand, were getting more and more anxious amid the singing. They hastily sent out long shots, made errors in stopping the ball, dribbled the ball out of bounds... It was simply too horrible to watch.
The game ended amid the singing. The powerful Argentina team, in the face of the England team, which clung fast to defense and counterattack, had not obtained the slightest advantage. Maradona was very unhappy that he'd lost. In the post-match interview with the reporters, he said he hadn't expected England to choose such a tactic, because this was not the World Cup final. There was no need to care so much about the result ...
He said this to mock how shameless Twain could be just because he wanted results.
Twain didn't care. He just wanted his victory. He didn't care if he was being barefaced about it. Even with one layer of face taken off, there was still another layer. He had plenty more where that came from.
In fact, today's set of tactics was also what the England team would use in the future when faced with a strong enemy. Today's game was just a preview.
Bullying a weak team required them to attack freely and play beautiful offensive football to please the fans. In the face of a strong team, it was time to withdraw and lure the opponent out, just the way he'd lured the Argentina team out today.
Twain was cunning.
"We won, and that's what counts. I'm happy!"
The only regret was that Messi had come off too early. He had wanted to see whether his set of tactics could still work if Messi played the entire game.
At the end of the interview, Twain walked toward the tunnel. At the mouth of the tunnel, a passionate Forest fan handed a red scarf to Twain, who thought he wanted him to sign an autograph. But he didn' expect that the other party would just wave at him and say, "It's for you, Tony! A memento for you!"
He ran off after he said it.
Twain held the red Forest team scarf in his hand. It was an ordinary scarf, which could be bought for fifteen pounds in the souvenir shop outside Crimson Stadium.
That spectacular singing in the final stages of the game seemed to linger in his ears. The past eleven years seemed to carved in his heart, brought up again and again to be repeated in his mind. Every time he thought he no longer cared about the past eleven years, there would always be people reminding him of it in different ways--don't forget the Forest team, don't forget the Forest team...
Twain hung the red scarf around his neck and walked into the tunnel.
How could he forget the Forest team?