The New English Team Sets Sail and Soars
The New English Team Sets Sail and Soars
Not to mention Twain, perhaps most British people, would not easily be able to locate where Macedonia was on Earth with a map. Had it not been for the fact that they were participating in the UEFA European Championship Qualifying tournament, the citizens of the United Kingdom would have thought the little-known country would have been somewhere on the continent of Antarctica.
Long ago, Twain had thought that Macedonia was in Western Europe. He only found out later he was severely mistaken. Macedonia was part of what was once called Yugoslavia, and their football prowess was little to boast about. FK Vardar, the country's most successful football club, had played in three major European tournaments eight times, but the best results they had achieved had only been to advance to the second round twice...
As for the current Macedonian team, the player whom Twain was most familiar with was Goran Pandev, who still played for SS Lazio. The thirty-one-year-old Pandev was also the Macedonia team's number one star player and team captain. He was also the only player who could pose a threat to England's rear defensive line.
England's coaching staff had focused their research on how to stop Pandev. They were largely unconcerned about the other players. After all, there was a large disparity in England's strength and that of Macedonia's. The only teams in the group that could pose a threat to England's advancing to the next stage were Denmark and Serbia. England's intelligence-gathering work had begun long ago for these two fierce rivals.
The Macedonians could sense England's contempt. As the manager, Tony Twain did not once mention Macedonia in front of the media. Yet, he talked repeatedly about Wales because after playing the game against Macedonia, Twain's England team would play against neighboring Wales.
When accepting an interview from the reporters, Mitchell, as the team's main force, was asked the question "Do you know where Macedonia is?" His answer had greatly incensed the Macedonians – "Maybe it's in the north? I don't know..."
In response, Pandev proclaimed in an interview that they would teach England a lesson, "... Although we are the away team, I am glad that we have the opportunity to tell them where Macedonia is in the world. Hopefully, they will firmly remember it after the game."
Macedonia appeared to be aggressive, but Tony Twain was still unconcerned. He discussed his friendship with Bale in the media and continued to put psychological pressure on Wales... even though the match between England and Wales wouldn't be until October.
"The provoked Macedonia team will attack the moment the game starts. They must be in high spirits now. I can imagine how the opposing manager has goaded them." Twain imitated the manager of the Macedonia team, the Slovenian, Srečko Katanec, and brandished his fists as he growled, "They have a low opinion of you! They look down on you! Teach them a lesson and make them understand the cost of underestimating you!!"
The coaches next to him all laughed.
Twain also looked at this group of colleagues who were in stitches. He waited till their laughter subsided before he continued.
"If Katanec were a smart man, he would make use of our contempt to inspire the team's fighting spirit. Originally, it would have been hard to raise the players' spirits in an away challenge against a strong opponent. Now we've given them a great excuse and opportunity, which they will take advantage of. So, once the game starts, they will take the initiative to attack, and we will attack them as well. Their rear defensive line has a lot of weak points, which we can exploit and make the most of. We must try our best to score early, and as time goes on, Katanec will know he had been beaten. So, he'll start to withdraw his defense. If we haven't scored at that time, he will feel that maintaining a draw and obtaining one point in the game will be a great victory. If that's the case..." Twain analyzed unceasingly to his coaches about the course of the game.
"We'll press on. I'll hand Pandev to George. We don't have to take special care of the others. Next, we have to pay attention to the mental state of our players. If the score continues to be a draw, it will be more and more unfavorable for us. This kind of situation has to be avoided, so I hope the team can score as early as possible. If Macedonia withdraws its defense, we will have a lot of opportunities for positional play. We have to seize this opportunity to try to breach their goal."
"That will not a problem. We've been practicing our positional play these few days," Walker interjected next to him.
"We'll just cover these topics today... No matter how complete a plan is, it can't be compared to the changes in an actual game." Twain clapped his hands and ended the meeting with the coaches regarding the preparations.
※※※
It was the first time George Wood had worn the England captain's armband to play in a match. Before the game, Twain pulled him to one side and instructed him to keep a close eye on Pandev. Formerly a striker, Pandev was now getting closer to the midfield as he became older. Now he was at the core of Macedonia's offense. It was all up to him to organize and end the attacks. By marking him closely, Macedonia would not be able to stir up any trouble.
Wood nodded as he listened to Twain's tactics. His expression was very focused.
Once he was finished, Twain patted Wood on the left arm and said, "Before this game, there are still a lot of voices questioning and objecting to your being the team captain. What do you think of it, George?"
"I'll prove I deserve the captain's armband."
Wood's answer greatly satisfied Twain. He laughed loudly and said, "Yes! That's more like it! If they mock and doubt you, then you use actual performance to slap them in the face! Didn't we do that when we were on the Forest team? There's no difference being the captain of the national team and the Forest team captain. Play the game well, and then all problems will go away."
Twain liked this point about Wood the best. He would not mince his words and say overly self-effacing words like "I'm flattered and overwhelmed to receive the captain's armband" or "I'm surprised that I can be the team captain because Terry and Gerrard are more suitable than I am." He would only confidently express that he had the ability and that he deserved to receive such a treatment. This kind of attitude would seem arrogant to most people. But like Tony Twain, he was entitled to be arrogant and conceited.
As Gerrard aged, the twenty-eight-year-old George Wood had indeed become England's number one midfielder in the country. For Twain to give the captain's armband to him, it could not be considered nepotism. It should be said that he appointed people to important posts based on merits, even if it happened to be his own son.
※※※
For the first time, Twain was leading England to play in official senior international matches (previously, all the matches with the Forest team were against the club opponents and could not be counted as senior international matches). It would also be a test for Twain. He knew that the competition he faced while on the Forest team was just a warm-up. From now on, he was officially on the path to achieve his conquest of the world.
As he stood in front of the technical area and listened to the British national anthem "God Save The Queen" played on the live stadium broadcast, the people next to him sang along loudly. Only Twain closed his lips tightly and did not make the same movement as the players who put their hands over the left of their chests.
Deep down, he was still a Chinese man... Leading the England team to play in the UEFA European Championship Qualifying round, that was for work and to earn money. He did not need to sing the national anthem to express his loyalty. Besides, he could not sing it. He had not even known what the lyrics to the British national anthem were until now.
He set his sights on the pitch. Wood stood next to the referee wearing the team captain's armband. The way he sang the national anthem looked confident and fitting - it was not the first time he had stood in that position. He was a veteran of many battles, and he was a trusted captain.
Then Twain recalled the moment when he first met Wood on his doorstep eleven years ago. The ignorant child of that time had now grown into such a tall man…
Although Macedonia was not a strong team and the Macedonians' anger was almost ignored by people, the Wembley Stadium, which was hosting the match, was still a full house. The English fans' passion for football was evident, and of course, they had to have a great repository of support.
Before the players made their appearances, the fans in the stands were already chanting loudly, "If you hate Manchester United, please stand up!"
With a crashing sound, almost four-fifths of the fans present in the stadium stood up.
Unfortunately, no one sang aloud, "If you hate Nottingham Forest, then please stand up!" Otherwise, Twain could proudly have claimed that his Forest team was already the most powerful team in England.
n the stands, the fans who came from Nottingham hung up banners and caricatures in support of Wood becoming the team captain, while the Liverpool fans booed Wood in dissonance when he made his appearance.
It seemed that even though the dust had long been settled within the national team, the unrestricted fans still did not accept him as the captain. They would vent to their emotions openly.
Wood said he would use his actions to prove that he deserved the captain's title.
Once the game started, he played accordingly.
Just thirteen seconds after Macedonia's kick-off, the football was back at the feet of England.
Pandev received a pass from the back while at the top of the field. Before he could settle it, the football was stolen by George Wood who came diagonally from behind.
The Forest fans in the stands worked hard to shout Wood's name and cheer for their captain. The Liverpool fans, who were waiting to find faults, could not hiss at such a brilliant interception by Wood.
Pandev was Lazio's main force, but Lazio was now a middle of the pack team in Serie A. Their main force's ability was still not as good in the face of the Treble winner's main force.
England took advantage of the interception to launch an attack that quickly broke into Macedonia's penalty area. Aaron Mitchell opened England's attack spree with a low shot.
As Twain had expected, Macedonia wanted to rely on aggressive offense and momentum to catch England off guard at the outset.
But England's tough stance caught them off-guard first.
Just ten minutes into the match, Macedonia shot twice at the goal, while England already had four shots, two of which posed a threat.
As the entire Macedonia team pressed forward, there was a lot of space open behind them. Twain made full use of Rooney's technical abilities, and the breakthroughs that came one after another made Macedonia's rear defensive line jittery. Aaron Mitchell, the tall player with a height of more than two meters, could make all the Macedonian defenders nervous when he cruised in front of the Macedonian goal – could anyone stop him if he jumped?
Eleven minutes later, their nervous hunch became a reality.
Rooney pulled the ball to the sideline and then broke through with a pass. Mitchell outflanked in front of the goal and leaped high to head the ball in. The Macedonian defenders had no chance. They could only watch Mitchell dominate the aerial space in front of them. Then, with a powerful flick of his head to redirect the ball to the goal, the Wembley Stadium erupted in huge cheers.
"Aaron Mitchell!! An efficient header! Macedonia's defenders can only serve as spectators! 1:0! England has taken the lead!"
Twain jumped from his seat. It would be easier to play when they were the first to score a goal in the game. Moreover, it was Mitchell's goal. A goal from a Forest player would undoubtedly ease the pressure on him. Would the media still accuse him of "playing favorites"? This was a hard slap to their faces!
"Aaron Mitchell, from Nottingham Forest, helped England take the lead. Tremendous concerns were raised about Twain's nepotism before the game. And now, Mitchell's goal must be what Twain wanted to see the most... Look at how excited he is on the sidelines! Ha! He's the manager of the national team now, and yet he's still as brash as he was on the Forest team..."
After Mitchell's goal, Macedonia struggled to reverse the situation. Their attack became even faster and ferocious. But with George Wood's tight cover on Pandev, their attacks simply did not pose any real threat to England.
Instead, it was England that fought bravely amid the voices of the home fans. Playing against a team like Macedonia did not require too much energy. But everyone wanted to impress the man on the sidelines with their excellent performance in the game in order to secure a main position in the future England squad.
Therefore, it could not be assumed that just because they were up against a weak team, the England team was not motivated to play with strength. Even if they wanted to take it easier, they would have to wait until their positions in the England team were confirmed first. Now with a new manager in place, it was the time to perform as if their lives depended on it. When they thought of John Terry and Steven Gerrard who had been stripped of the captain's armband, it sent shivers down their backs.
The new coach's methods were formidable and unstoppable. He had dealt easily with the hubbub brewing in the outside world about the change of captain. If they did not show their best in the first few games and please him, they might move farther away from becoming part of the main force in the national team down the road.
Driven by this thinking, the England team continued to pounce on Macedonia to start attacking.
In the 29th minute, England, led by Rooney, had a long shot to score another goal and was in the lead with a score of 2:0. They basically locked in the victory for the game.
"As we said before, the result of this game is not a surprise at all ... Tony Twain's first test is too easy." The commentator found it boring to win so easily. It was the performance of the new captain that made an impression.
Macedonia's only threatening core player, Pandev, could not even touch the ball under George Wood's tight defense. After seeing him under such pressure, Macedonia's players no longer threw the ball away by sending it to him. If they were to do so, it would only transfer the control of the ball more quickly to England.
Following this, Pandev almost disappeared from the pitch. The telecast lasted fifteen minutes without giving him a shot.
"Wood's defense is still so strong..." the commentator exclaimed along with the guest pundits.
The proudest people in the stands were the Nottingham Forest fans. The first goal was scored by Mitchell, and the man who rendered Macedonia's offense ineffective was the Forest team captain. Of course they had reasons to be proud.
The first half ended with a 2:0 score. At the halftime interval, Twain told Wood that he did not have to mark Pandev so closely in the second half because the opposing manager would certainly make adjustments during halftime based on the situation in the first half. They were likely to make the rest of the team share the pressure on Pandev, or push Pandev into the forward line to play simpler attacking tactics and directly pass to Pandev. But these were not things that Wood needed to worry about.
Twain gave Wood a new assignment: to be more involved in the offense in the second half. If there was an opportunity, he could even try a few long shots, which could have an element of surprise.
※※※
It was the second half.
"GOOOOOAL!!" The commentator roared, "An excellent long shot! From England's new team captain, George Wood!!"
"The football bent in the air twice, and the speed of its momentum was still not reduced. The goalkeeper, Miloševski did not react in time at all. The football flew by his side and entered the goal! 3:0!"
Wood swung his fists hard after he scored the goal, and then he was embraced by Gerrard. The hug also shattered rumors of a discordant relationship between Gerrard and Wood.
There was no trace of regret in the game for Twain.
With this game as a test, Twain could officially use Wood as the core player in the next game. England's tactics could also be formulated around Wood.
Towards the end of the game, Bentley, the substitute player who came in to replace Walcott, scored another goal and helped England lock in the score at 4:0.
Tony Twain led the team to a major home win. The team's attacking momentum, as well as well fortified defense, fully reassured England's fans and the media.
After the game, there was no more discussion about whether the captain's armband should be given to Wood, Gerrard, or Terry.
In the face of victory, such a discussion was insignificant.
The next day, The Times used this headline:
"The New English Team Sets Sail and Soars!"