Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
A few days of commercial activities exhausted the players, but soon they would be free. They just needed to finish today’s game.
The China Olympic team’s challenge against Nottingham Forest had long been publicized to the point of being known to the world. Although Chinese football continued to be at a low ebb, the Chinese fans highly looked forward to this game.
Some people might just come to watch the Nottingham Forest star players perform, while some people came to watch the China Olympic team play. China would never lack these people. No matter how many people cursed, sneered and showed contempt towards Chinese football, there would always be a group of people who would consistently pay attention to Chinese football. The standards of the Chinese Super League was low, and the attendance rate was low but there was still attendance in the seats, which meant that people did watch. Went without saying, the national team’s games were almost full—there was certainly a patriotic element involved. It was not entirely due to football.
As the world’s number one sport, football had an extensive base of masses in China, but no organization could integrate and effectively manage these masses. Then the base would always only be the foundation, and there would never be a superstructure built on this basis.
The Chinese Football Association hoped to use this game to rekindle the people’s enthusiasm for football and ride on the wave of the Olympics to take Chinese football up a level. Twain understood the idea of such a covert operation, because the Chinese Football Association leaders were such single-celled organisms with such wishful thinking. But he himself was very dismissive of such a practice.
This put the cart before the horse. The fans’ enthusiasm for football would never ignite because of a commercial game. The level of Chinese football would never change because of what the China Olympic team could achieve in the Olympic Games. These should have been the logical and natural results of continuous developments in football, but the heads of the Chinese Football Association treated them as part of the process.
When Twain was younger, he had the dream that many fans dreamt of—a group of talented players who rose up and a talented manager who led them to the World Cup. Later, as he grew older and had experience, he thought that this would always remain only as a dream. The system would not reform, and Chinese football would never be the first.
FIFA’s regulation clearly stipulated that all the countries’ national football federations could not be government bodies and must be private organizations. The various countries’ governments could not interfere in the affairs of the Football Association, or they would be severely punished. But look at China, the Chinese Football Association came out to state that “We are a private organization.” Would anyone buy that? The General Administration of Sport of China above them was the first to say no. Every Chinese was clear about the nature of the General Administration of Sport as an institution. How could FIFA not know? But they could not help it either.
the only consolation for the Chinese fans was that occasionally one or two good players would play abroad and represent China on another stadium. If they did well at the clubs, it would also excite the Chinese fans.
The Chinese fans’ demands were that simple.
But even with such simple requirements, it was difficult to implement in reality.
So now most of the Chinese fans could only vent their frustrations through ridicule and admonishment. Now Twain was luckier than them because he had the opportunity to express his emotions in person and show enormous face to the Chinese Football Association leaders who specially came to watch the “command of the war” …
※※※
It rained every day for the four days in Ningbo. Yesterday’s weather forecast stated that there would be light rain today, and as expected, it rained continuously from last night until this afternoon.
“Fortunately, we are a team from England.” Twain looked at the drenched world outside the window and said to the coaches next to him. “This is a normal weather for us. How’s the turf?”
“A little slippery.” Dunn replied.
Twain slightly frowned. When the field was slippery, it was not easy to control the technical movements and some unexpected circumstances might arise when the bodies collided, greatly increasing the possibility of an injury.
Even though when he was a fan, Twain was displeased with those European powerhouse clubs who came to China to play and did not put in much effort on top of their players acting lethargically due to the fear of injury, this time he would arrange it as such. Even if Allan did not come to him, he would also keep his team’s strength. He would be the world’s biggest fool if he let his main players be injured in a commercial game in the faraway China.
The bus that the Forest team was on slowly drove on the road. The section of the road near the stadium was somewhat blocked due to the game. Ningbo mobilized a large number of traffic police to maintain order and the speed of vehicles was limited.
Fortunately, the CITIC Ningbo International Hotel where they stayed was very close to Fubang Stadium. They did not have to worry about being late even if the drive was slow as long as there was no traffic jam.
The experience of personally bringing the players to a game on the subway while they were still in League One was considered rare for Twain.
The fans could be seen either taking the taxis, the cars, or on foot to the stadium along the way. When they saw the Nottingham Forest bus, the fans inside the cars would excitedly lean out to wave and shout. China’s five-star red flag and the posters of the Nottingham Forest star players crisscrossed together, which complemented well—all the colors were red.
“If I hadn’t… I would probably be one of them now.” Twain said to Dunn in Mandarin.
“Specially travel from Sichuan to Ningbo?”
“That’s not impossible… I had quit my job once before just to stay up late to watch the UEFA European Championship.” Twain said this with a very proud expression. He was not afraid of Dunn finding out about when he transmigrated from. He only said that it was the “UEFA European Championship.” There was the UEFA European Championship in 2000. As for his true age, he was still in school in 2002, but he never told Dunn, who also never asked about these very personal things. “Never underestimate the enthusiasm of the fans … Of course, never underestimate their anger.”
At the time of the game, the Forest players regained their professional player status and acted like they were going to play in an away league game. Only a handful of the young ones who were brought from the youth team curiously took out their digital video cameras to capture the spectacular “yellow tide” outside the window.
In fact, the team’s coaching unit for this game did not make any arrangements at all. These days the training was mainly based on physical recovery and simple tactical exercises. There was no special training held to deal with the China Olympic team. The team’s overall training plan was to prepare for the new season of the league tournament and European competition. Twain did not even gather the players for a tactical meeting before the game. There was enough to speak in the locker room.
Due to the proximity, Nottingham Forest set out right on time. By the time they arrived at Fubang Stadium, the players of the China Olympic team had already left the locker room one by one to warm up on the field.
“They’re in high fighting spirits.” Twain looked at those men and whistled.
“Because we are the strongest out of all their friendlies’ opponents.” Dunn said, “For them, this game is more valuable than their previous friendlies.”
“It will be even more valuable to them if they defeat us by accident.” Twain winked at Dunn.
“Impossible.” Dunn, the Chinese man, poured cold water on Twain in all seriousness.
“Allan will be very angry if he hears you say that… Ha ha!” Twain laughed. It looked like he was in a good mood. “But you’re right. Even if we don’t work hard, it’s not hard to win them. Fourteen years ago, Chinese football might have defeated those opponents which underestimated them. But now this team certainly won’t be able to. Everything develops, but it’s strange that this rule doesn’t apply at all in Chinese football.” He shook his head.
“Don’t let them dawdle. Better hurry and go warm up.” He turned his head and said to Kerslake, so the assistant manager’s loud voice rang out in the locker room.
“Don’t think you can relax just because it’s a friendly match! You will equally suffer from lack of warm-up! Does anyone want the new season to be over before it has started?”
His bark was effective. The players who took their own sweet time just now to while away the time, immediately dashed out.
Twain did not stay in the locker room to prepare as there was not much to prepare. There was no need to study the China Olympic team to play against their opponent. As long as they played according to their tackles and usual habits, this game would be in their hands.
He felt like he had “returned in glory.” Deep down, he wanted to go out and show off. Although no one would recognized him as a Chinese man and the Chinese people would not be envious of his achievements, this did not stop him from fantasizing in his mind for self-entertainment. To think that I was just an ordinary young fan at that time. Now I have brought a two-time Champions League Double Winner team back to China!
As it rained for several days, the organizers were worried for a while that the fans who had bought tickets would not come to the game. But what Twain saw should give the organizers a sigh of relief. Half of the forty thousand seats had occupied by now, and it was forty minutes away from the start of the game.
The drizzle did not dampen the enthusiasm of the fans at all. Even when the players from both sides came out to warm up, they were happily shouting in the stands.
Looking at them, he thought about the all kinds of fans he had met in England. Suddenly, Twain lost the interest to “show off” outside. He turned back to the locker room.
Just as he walked into the tunnel entrance, he was stopped by a group of Chinese reporters. They wanted to interview this legendary manager, who was full of personality. The person who came out to ask the question was Tang Jing, an old acquaintance of Twain.
“I really can meet you anywhere, Miss Tang.” Twain greeted her in Mandarin.
“I’m the reporter, specially put in charge to cover you and your team. It would be strange if you don’t see me.” Tang Jing shook her head and then threw out her question. “Before the game, the fans were worried that such a commercial game would greatly discount the value of the competition. In terms of the viewing pleasure or the competitive nature, it is not as good as the usual game. What do you think?” ”
“This game is definitely not the same as the league cups. But I don’t agree with the remarks that it would be unexciting. Because excitement can be divided into several kinds. A massive victory of 7:0 against the opponent can also be wonderful to watch.” Twain winked at Tang Jing.
“Oh? Are you saying your team will score a lot of goals in the game?”
“I didn’t say that. It’s just an analogy. Don’t try to manipulate my meaning to that direction.” Twain was well aware of the reporter’s antics. “I don’t know how the game is going to be played out. I can only promise that we will try our best to let the Chinese fans enjoy a wonderful game. We are different from those European teams which come here just to make money. Don’t forget that we are also the cultural ambassador for Nottingham. This game is a great opportunity to showcase the English football culture. And, you know, Miss Tang, I never put my hands up in surrender before a game.”
Hearing Twain said so, Tang Jing smiled. Having said so much useless officialese mumbo jumbo earlier, this last sentence held the real truth. It was really hard to get Twain to give up before the game even started.
“So, this means the Chinese fans and television viewers can enjoy a great game with confidence?”
“That’s the way it looks.”
Twain and Tang Jing had a happy exchange and the other Chinese reporters were not willing to be left out, so they stepped forward to ask their own questions. The biggest advantage of interviewing Twain was that both parties could communicate directly in Mandarin without any translation, which made is less troublesome.
“What do you think of the strength of the China Olympic team, Mr. Twain?”
“I don’t know much about this team…” In fact, I know a lot, but I won’t tell you!
“There are rumors that you guys are interested in Zheng Zhi. Can you please confirm if that’s true?”
“If Zheng Zhi can accept to be George Wood’s substitute, I don’t mind.” Twain grinned. They just needed to understand George Wood to know that this was equal to a denial of the rumor.
“Do you have any expectations for the Beijing Olympics?”
“I’m sorry I can’t come to Beijing to watch the Olympics in person because the English Premier League will have already started at that time. But I believe the Beijing Olympic Games will be an unforgettable Olympic Games.” Twain answered the question with a smile. He was polite, gracious, humorous and gave off a good impression. It was hard for the Chinese reporters who first came into contact with him to believe that this man had a bad reputation in Europe.
Only Tang Jing knew that the outer appearance of this man was completely untrustworthy.
The group of Chinese reporters soon saw Tony Twain’s other side.
An attractive television female reporter squeezed in and asked, “Beckham is in the starting lineup. I would like to know if he will be playing in the entire game?”
“It depends on the situation. Generally, we will make to make a large-scale adjustment.” As this was not a regular game, the substitutions was discussed and agreed between the two sides. Because the China Olympic team wanted to train its players, so everyone decided that they could replace eleven players.
“In other words, it mean Beckham will be replaced midway?”
Twain began to find this female reporter very annoying for asking questions that lacked standards and rudimentary. His warm tone quickly cooled. “I can’t answer you now.”
The female reporter did not sense any dissatisfaction in Twain’s tone and continued to throw out her prepared questions, “Do you think David Beckham’s role in the team is very important?”
Twain finally could not help himself. He asked the reporter in a stern tone, “Lady, I’m not happy with the way you give your interviewees presupposed questions and answers. I can only answer ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Or do you want me to give you answers that you want to hear? I’m sorry, but I refuse to answer this question. Besides, you’re an entertainment reporter, aren’t you?”
Twain’s sudden outburst left the reporters in the room stunned, including the female reporter. She had covered many events in China and always asked such questions. No one had ever said that she asked the wrong questions and badly.
For example: “Do you feel glorious and proud to win the gold medal? Do the coach and the team help you a lot? Are you so excited that you want to cry?”
“Do you feel sorry that you only won a silver medal? Do you feel you have let down the country for your training over the years?”
“Congratulations on running your best time for this year. Liu Xiang won the championship title. Do you feel very happy? What do you think of Liu Xiang’s performance today?”
…
But today, this man was actually merciless in refuting her. She could not wrap her head around this for a moment.
“I’m… I’m not an entertainment reporter.” It took her a long while to answer this inexplicable question.
“You should be an entertainment reporter. You are very talented in that area.” Having said that, Twain walked away and left behind an awkward silence for all the Chinese reporters present in his wake.
Tang Jing saw this scene in the back of the crowd and shrugged her shoulders. She knew things would develop this way …
The displeased Twain quickly walked through the tunnel. When he passed by the home team, the China Olympic team’s locker room door, this door just closed. The action caught his eye and he turned his head over. In that instant, he caught a glimpse of a familiar figure through the door—the Chinese Football Association President, Xie Guanlong.
It was said that Dujković was just an overall head coach by name only for a long time. The Chinese coaching team was just a puppet, only responsible for conveying the instructions and spirit from above. Now it seemed like the rumor was not false.
A glimpse of this scene made Twain laugh. Chinese football was full of jokes. With a track and field background, Xie Guanlong put on an act to arrange the tactics and command the team’s game Then a group of professional coaches bowed their heads and listened, while continuously nodded in agreement. On top of that, they would fawn on and flatter that “the president is really an expert”, “President Xie’s words are correct” … He felt it was very funny just thinking about it.
Fortunately, he did not have to suffer in such an environment.
This interlude suddenly improved his mood.
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The players returned to the locker room after the warm-up. They dried their perspiration and changed into clean clothes.
Twain saw that they had all done this before he spoke up, “With regards to this game … there’s nothing much to say. We will play as we usually play.”
Eastwood stood up and asked, “Chief, is it still defensive counterattack?”
“We don’t just know how to play defensive counterattack!” Twain glared at him, “We are going to practice and train with the offense from the middle routine today. We’re not going from the wings, only in the middle. If the Chinese team comes out punching, we will need to defend more fiercely. Take this opportunity to score a goal against them and start practicing the offense again.”
The players nodded. The middle was an area where all the teams paid more attention to. Whether offensively or defensively there must be more players here. The Forest team had little chance to practice specifically during normal games because they had to win, and it was obviously more effective to play in the wings. Now in the face of such an opponent like the China Olympic team, it would be a waste of opportunity not to use it as a practice of the tactics, but to play the flank attack which they were best at.
“But I want to remind you.” Twain held out his left index finger and said, “Everyone must be aware of the weather and the field conditions with the warm-up just now. The Chinese team will fight fiercely. You have to be careful not to let yourselves get hurt. Don’t go and intercept the more difficult balls from the opponent. When they have bigger movements, just avoid them. Protect yourselves.”
Everyone on the starting list bobbed their heads. Twain gave face to everyone with the starting list for today’s game—almost all of the main force were in the lineup.
The goalkeeper was van der Sar. The center backs were the partners, Piqué and Ayala. The left back was Gareth Bale and the right back was Rafinha. The defensive midfielder was Sun Jihai and the attacking midfielder was van der Vaart. The left midfielder was Ribéry and the right midfielder was David Beckham. The strikers were van Nistelrooy and Eastwood.
The center back, Pepe has been sidelined due to a minor injury because Twain wanted to be careful. Even though George Wood did not have any injuries, Twain put him on the bench. In fact, Twain had his own plans for this arrangement …
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At the same time, in the China Olympic team’s locker room, Xie Guanlong had just guest performed as a manager and arranged the tactics for the China Olympic players. Truthfully, his tactics were very simple, nothing but some terms which a fake fan would know—“Must have a solid defense and quick counterattack. The front field will then begin to force an interception, attack from the both sides. The ball is heavier on a rainy day, so strengthen the long shots …”
After he gave these seemingly professional instructions which in fact amounted to perfunctory nonsense, he began his favorite ideological mobilization which was the motivation of the players before a game.
“Players! It’s a rare opportunity to be able to play against the UEFA Champions League champion. The Chinese Football Association has worked hard to obtain this opportunity for everyone, so I hope you all will cherish it.” He put one hand on the hip and the other hand with his five fingers slightly spread as he brandished his hand, looking every inch like a leader. He said, “We’re definitely not as good as our opponents in this game, but I hope you don’t give up. You’re going to play your own style! Firstly, we must have momentum! Our strength is weaker than the opponent, but if our momentum is worse than the opponent, then we cannot play this game! We have to scare them! We must show a tenacious fighting spirit, ferociously tackle and have bigger movements. As long as the opponent is afraid, the situation of the game will be to our advantage!”
He spoke energetically here while the manager, Dujković sat in the corner, looking indifferent. It was as if everything that happened here had nothing to do with him. In effect, it did not really matter. He was just a figurehead and could not do anything since he had no power. To put it nicely, he was just a spectator who was able to sit in the technical area.
“Secondly, we must not give up! Don’t give up the game under any circumstances! The style of Chinese football is we never give up till the last second!” Xie Guanlong was high-spirited, as if his team had won the game. However, did he not blush when he said those words? … “If the other side scores a goal, we will try our best to grab and mess up their rhythm! Then we strive to equalize the score sooner. You must be fierce during the defense. We use our fighting spirit and tenacity as well as proactivity to make up for our technical disadvantage!”
“Finally, I hope you can give the fans in the entire country a wonderful game and let the fans see the spirit shown in you! The Party and the people are watching you and hope you can deliver a satisfactory result!”
After he irresponsibly threw the heavy burden of 1.3 billion people’s expectations on the shoulders of these regular players, Xie Guanlong left the locker room accompanied by the other officials with ease and confidence. He felt extremely good just thinking about that result and the impassioned speech he gave before the game.
Back on the podium, after he shook hands with the Nottingham Forest’s chairman, Evan Doughty and Marketing Manager, Allan Adams, he sat next to the two men and got ready to watch the game.
In the stands opposite the podium, there were fans who displayed a banner “Xie * Long should be fired!” Give Dujković back!”. However, he swept his gaze across and pretended not to see it.
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The players from both sides came out in a file and the atmosphere at the stadium began to heat up. The live broadcast announced the players from both sides one by one. All the China Olympic team and the Nottingham Forest star players received the most enthusiastic applause and cheers from the spectators. Beckham was certainly the most popular.
Because George Wood was not here, it should have been the second captain, van der Sar who came up to pick for the coin toss. Since it was not an official game, but a commercial one, Twain gave Beckham the captain’s armband from a commercial point of view. This move proved to be welcomed. When Beckham with the captain’s armband was spotted in the center circle doing the coin toss with the China Olympic team captain, Li Weifeng, the fans in the stadium broke out with loud cheers.
Beckham lost to Li Weifeng during the coin toss and won the right to kick off.
After a group photo of the starting lineup, the players on both sides returned to their respective positions. The main referee from China whistled and the game officially began!
Once the game started, the fans in the stands really gave their energy to rally. The majority of them cheered on the China Olympic team. Because Twain heard clearly what they shouted, “China team, come on! China team, keep fighting!”
Any fan who often watched the Chinese team play live on the television would be familiar with this sound, and Twain was no exception. It looked like no matter how popular Nottingham Forest was in China, no matter how big Beckham’s appeal was, as long as the opponent was the China Olympic team, then it would be almost impossible for the fans to cheer for the Forest team.
It was Twain had stated when the game started. The morale of the China Olympic team was very strong. Although they did not control the ball, they were aggressive with the tackles. Any successful defense would gain cheers from the stands. However, in Twain’s view, this performance was bold but not very astute. The “head coach” who made such an arrangement was very incompetent.
The China Olympic team would inevitably consume a lot of physical strength with such fierce interception. Moreover, they could not take care of every corner of the field, especially in the rear defensive line where a lot of gaps could be taken advantage of. The Nottingham Forest team was just waiting for a suitable opportunity to strike a fatal blow.
Nottingham Forest did not have to wait long for this opportunity. Nottingham Forest, with most of its main force deployed, easily controlled the pace of the game. The China Olympic team began to follow the pace of the Forest team. They ran vigorously but also energetically used up a lot of physical strength, which actively opened up gaps for the Forest team.
In the sixth minute, Beckham spotted the right timing to suddenly kick off a cross pass to the penalty area. Van Nistelrooy and Eastwood attracted the attention of all the China Olympic team defenders. Van der Vaart, who was left unmarked, plugged into the penalty area from the back and volleyed a shot in the air without stopping the ball!
If it was a more important game, he might steady and stop the ball before he made a move. But in such a game, the China Olympic team did not give him any pressure, so he had the mind to execute a move with a high degree of difficulty which was not commonly used. And it worked very well…
“The ball’s in! Alas, a gap that shouldn’t have been there appeared in the defense of the China Olympic team…” The commentator of China’s national television station appeared frustrated. It was known that the strength of the two teams was not on the same level, but the China Olympic team represented China. It was really embarrassing for them to concede a goal so soon.
When they saw that the goal was in, the Forest players celebrated minimally. Twain and the others in the technical area did not even get up and clapped. For these people, it was normal to score a goal against the Chinese team. It was not worth celebrating at all.
※※※
After taking the lead, Nottingham Forest deliberately slowed down the pace and began to follow the guidelines that Twain had set up before the game. When there were opportunities to attack, they would attack in the middle without exception, even if the China Olympic team put all the defensive forces in the middle. Even if this led to a sharp decline in the success rate of the offense, they did not intend to try the flanks.
While the trailing China Olympic team strengthened its tackles amid the fans’ cheers. As they were over-excited, their movements got bigger and bigger, forcing the Nottingham Forest players to give up the ball several times to avoid the other side’s ferocious shovels.
This made the Forest players a little disgruntled. The commercial game was increasingly becoming explosive.
Finally, in the twenty-first minute, the China Olympic team’s striker, Gao Lin, received Zheng Zhi’s pass in the penalty area when he suddenly fell to the ground. The referee decided to award a penalty! The Nottingham Forest players felt very wronged. Even though Piqué and Gao Lin had physical contact, it was an exaggeration to rule it as a foul. He could not always whistled for a penalty as long as the opposing striker had physical contact with the defender in the penalty area and fell to the ground, could he?
The referee ignored the protests of the Forest players and insisted on the verdict.
Twain smiled when he saw this scene off the field. Did the Chinese Football Association also double up on the insurance?
Unsurprisingly, Zheng Zhi scored with this penalty shot. The score became a tie at 1:1.
The gongs and drums thundered in the stands and the fans were extremely happy to be able to equalize the scores. The players of the China Olympic team were also affected by this, becoming more excited and aggressive with their actions.
The Forest players soon found a problem. The two teams fought hard and when the Chinese team players fell after any physical contact, the referee would penalize the Forest team for fouls most of the time. The China Olympic team led by a wide margin with the number of free kicks in the first half.
When Ayala skirted around from the back to defend and took the ball off the feet of Zheng Zhi who was glancing around, Zheng Zhi fell to the ground and the referee whistled that he fouled again. The Argentine veteran shook his head helplessly as he stood on the spot with his hands on his hips.
As a result, the Nottingham Forest players played more and more passively. When they attacked in the face of the Chinese team’s defense which bordered on fouling, they played nervously. During their defense, they dared not to make a move lightly because they were afraid of being penalized for a foul. In this way, the Chinese team regained the initiative on the field.
When the Forest team controlled the ball, they preferred to pass the ball back and forth in the center and back field, rather than pass the ball forward. Such a move upset the fans who came to watch the game. They wanted to see both sides pit themselves against each other in the attacks and not a passive game. As a result, the boos against Nottingham Forest began to emerge in the stands. As soon as they started passing the ball to each other laterally, the hissing would immediately erupt.
And the China Olympic team, who strove to compete, naturally got the one-sided enthusiastic support.
Everyone’s thinking was this—since Nottingham Forest is not willing to give their best and doesn’t want to play seriously with a team like us, then we will defeat and embarrass you!
In the second part of the first half, the China Olympic team began to gain the upper hand. There was even a siege on the Forest goal, leading to a dangerous situation in the goal guarded by van der Sar. Seeing such a scene, the grandstand naturally broke out in thunderous cheers. In the podium, Xie Guanlong was also full of smiles.
In the technical area, Kerslake could not sit still. It was strange that Twain, who was a fussy person, stayed calm in the tense situation, crossed his legs, and did not seem worried about the team’s plight.
Nottingham Forest paid the price for their passive play before the end of the first half. Zheng Zhi unexpectedly did a long shot. The football hit Sun Jihai on the thigh, which deflected the shot and caused it to fly into the net. Van der Sar could only sigh as he watched the ball.
In this instant, the decibel at the Fubang Stadium reached the highest level since it was built.
Xie Guanlong even stood up and clapped. The players of the China Olympic team hugged excitedly. They completely suppressed Nottingham Forest in the second part of the first half. And now they were ahead of the European champions! It would be hard to tell these young people not to get excited.
As for Twain? He just turned his head to the restless Kerslake next to him and said, “You should be happy. The first half is about to end, and we don’t have anyone hurt.”
※※※
During the halftime interval, the China Olympic team players ran off the field with their heads held high and their chests puffed up as they received cheers from the fans along the way. While the Nottingham Forest players went off the field a little helplessly with their heads bowed. They would hear the boos from the stands occasionally.
It was no wonder the attitude of these fans who were still pursuing the Forest players before the game had turned one hundred and eighty degrees. People had high hopes for Nottingham Forest, which had the titles of the Champions League champion and Double Winner, in the first half, but did not play at the level which everyone wanted to see. How could this not be disappointing? Since they were disappointed, they naturally had to fully express for the English team to see.
The director of the television broadcast was clearly aware of Twain’s position. When the players came off the field, the camera turned to Twain, but was surprised to find that Twain was not dissatisfied with this result and the team’s performance at all, which was really puzzling. Was it not a rumor that he could accept a loss, but could not accept a loss that was cowardly and had no fighting spirit?
What about now…
How would these people know how Twain’s mind worked?
On the podium, Xie Guanlong left his seat with a smile on his face as he went to the locker room to inspect the team again. He was delighted by the team’s performance in the first half and the reaction of the fans in the stadium made him even happier.
※※※
Everyone was already in the locker room when Twain came in and closed the door.
He did not criticize the players at all. Instead, he smiled and said, “You’ve done a good job, and no one was hurt. I’m relieved.”
But his players disagreed with his view. Eastwood stood up in frustration, “Chief, I can’t accept this result at all.”
His comments were quickly echoed and concurred by most of his teammates.
“Oh? Why?” Twain pretended to be surprised, “Not getting hurt in a friendly match is the most important. I think there is no reason to fight for such a game.”
“You’re right, Chief. But I just can’t accept this result and the awkward situation. Every time I heard the boos in the stands, I don’t feel good.” Eastwood, who was usually smiling, now looked serious. “We’re the European champions, aren’t we? We’re the Double Winner, right? If we played a little more seriously, the first half would be 3-0. To be honest…”
Eastwood hesitated slightly and decided to speak his mind, “… I don’t like this kind of competition. It’s like being on a show and giving the results the spectators want to see. I prefer the real Champions League final to this kind of commercial game!”
Having said that, he looked up and waited for the chief’s criticism. But Twain smiled and did not intend to scold him at all.
“But I think the outcome and situation of a commercial game is insignificant. As compared to that little bit of dignity, I value your health more. We can’t choose whether to play in this kind of competition. As our reputation grows, there will be more of such similar games. But we can choose the way we play…”
Eastwood was set to vent his frustrations suffered from the first half today. He knew the chief liked him, so he was a little unchecked. “I remember, Chief, that you said to us before that the way to finish the game early was to completely wipe out the opponent at the start of the game. Why can’t we be like that in this game? Anyway, I think this kind of game is an insult to my work ethic.”
He was a little heavy handed with his remarks, but Twain was still not angry. He looked at the players with a smile.
“I think, chief… I can guess what these Chinese newspapers will say about us the next day, and it will not be good, that’s for sure.” A second man stood up and it was Pepe, who did not play because of his injury. He shrugged his shoulders and grimaced, “I don’t want other people to look down on us.”
“Boss, we know what a commercial game is. But there is no rule in the commercial game that we have to lose to the hosts.”
“The referee of this game kept blowing the whistle and every situation was against us. I want to teach them a lesson!”
“It was hard to play in the first half. Football is not meant to be played like this!”
More and more people bravely stood up against their king, but the smile on Twain’s face widened.
“So, you don’t want to lose this game?”
“Who was the one who told us that Nottingham Forest’s football is to never say die and admit defeat. Chief?” Eastwood looked directly at Twain and asked.
Twain finally laughed, “I knew you people won’t take it lying down. Actually, I think… Of course, I don’t want to lose, but I don’t really want you to get hurt. You all saw the opponent’s actions. I do not want to wait for someone to get hurt before I start regretting. You must also think about your own bodies.”
“At the start of the second half, I’ll make big adjustments in the players. I will replace all eleven players. But!” He raised his voice, “You’re right, Nottingham Forest’s football is to never say die and admit defeat. I will never accept failure, let alone this kind of failure! We are clearly able to beat them, so let’s beat them!”
Among the crowd of excited people, Sun Jihai began to pray for his fellow countrymen.
Twain bared his lips and grinned happily as he looked at the confidence and fighting spirit that everyone had to win the game.
The only regret was that he could not see the change of expression on the faces of those Chinese Football Association heads in the second half. You must have had a good laugh in the first half, didn’t you?
Allan, I have given you enough face. In the first half, they were one goal ahead of the main lineup. Such a good thing is not easy even for Manchester United, Real Madrid and other big teams to encounter.
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
A few days of commercial activities exhausted the players, but soon they would be free. They just needed to finish today’s game.
The China Olympic team’s challenge against Nottingham Forest had long been publicized to the point of being known to the world. Although Chinese football continued to be at a low ebb, the Chinese fans highly looked forward to this game.
Some people might just come to watch the Nottingham Forest star players perform, while some people came to watch the China Olympic team play. China would never lack these people. No matter how many people cursed, sneered and showed contempt towards Chinese football, there would always be a group of people who would consistently pay attention to Chinese football. The standards of the Chinese Super League was low, and the attendance rate was low but there was still attendance in the seats, which meant that people did watch. Went without saying, the national team’s games were almost full—there was certainly a patriotic element involved. It was not entirely due to football.
As the world’s number one sport, football had an extensive base of masses in China, but no organization could integrate and effectively manage these masses. Then the base would always only be the foundation, and there would never be a superstructure built on this basis.
The Chinese Football Association hoped to use this game to rekindle the people’s enthusiasm for football and ride on the wave of the Olympics to take Chinese football up a level. Twain understood the idea of such a covert operation, because the Chinese Football Association leaders were such single-celled organisms with such wishful thinking. But he himself was very dismissive of such a practice.
This put the cart before the horse. The fans’ enthusiasm for football would never ignite because of a commercial game. The level of Chinese football would never change because of what the China Olympic team could achieve in the Olympic Games. These should have been the logical and natural results of continuous developments in football, but the heads of the Chinese Football Association treated them as part of the process.
When Twain was younger, he had the dream that many fans dreamt of—a group of talented players who rose up and a talented manager who led them to the World Cup. Later, as he grew older and had experience, he thought that this would always remain only as a dream. The system would not reform, and Chinese football would never be the first.
FIFA’s regulation clearly stipulated that all the countries’ national football federations could not be government bodies and must be private organizations. The various countries’ governments could not interfere in the affairs of the Football Association, or they would be severely punished. But look at China, the Chinese Football Association came out to state that “We are a private organization.” Would anyone buy that? The General Administration of Sport of China above them was the first to say no. Every Chinese was clear about the nature of the General Administration of Sport as an institution. How could FIFA not know? But they could not help it either.
the only consolation for the Chinese fans was that occasionally one or two good players would play abroad and represent China on another stadium. If they did well at the clubs, it would also excite the Chinese fans.
The Chinese fans’ demands were that simple.
But even with such simple requirements, it was difficult to implement in reality.
So now most of the Chinese fans could only vent their frustrations through ridicule and admonishment. Now Twain was luckier than them because he had the opportunity to express his emotions in person and show enormous face to the Chinese Football Association leaders who specially came to watch the “command of the war” …
※※※
It rained every day for the four days in Ningbo. Yesterday’s weather forecast stated that there would be light rain today, and as expected, it rained continuously from last night until this afternoon.
“Fortunately, we are a team from England.” Twain looked at the drenched world outside the window and said to the coaches next to him. “This is a normal weather for us. How’s the turf?”
“A little slippery.” Dunn replied.
Twain slightly frowned. When the field was slippery, it was not easy to control the technical movements and some unexpected circumstances might arise when the bodies collided, greatly increasing the possibility of an injury.
Even though when he was a fan, Twain was displeased with those European powerhouse clubs who came to China to play and did not put in much effort on top of their players acting lethargically due to the fear of injury, this time he would arrange it as such. Even if Allan did not come to him, he would also keep his team’s strength. He would be the world’s biggest fool if he let his main players be injured in a commercial game in the faraway China.
The bus that the Forest team was on slowly drove on the road. The section of the road near the stadium was somewhat blocked due to the game. Ningbo mobilized a large number of traffic police to maintain order and the speed of vehicles was limited.
Fortunately, the CITIC Ningbo International Hotel where they stayed was very close to Fubang Stadium. They did not have to worry about being late even if the drive was slow as long as there was no traffic jam.
The experience of personally bringing the players to a game on the subway while they were still in League One was considered rare for Twain.
The fans could be seen either taking the taxis, the cars, or on foot to the stadium along the way. When they saw the Nottingham Forest bus, the fans inside the cars would excitedly lean out to wave and shout. China’s five-star red flag and the posters of the Nottingham Forest star players crisscrossed together, which complemented well—all the colors were red.
“If I hadn’t… I would probably be one of them now.” Twain said to Dunn in Mandarin.
“Specially travel from Sichuan to Ningbo?”
“That’s not impossible… I had quit my job once before just to stay up late to watch the UEFA European Championship.” Twain said this with a very proud expression. He was not afraid of Dunn finding out about when he transmigrated from. He only said that it was the “UEFA European Championship.” There was the UEFA European Championship in 2000. As for his true age, he was still in school in 2002, but he never told Dunn, who also never asked about these very personal things. “Never underestimate the enthusiasm of the fans … Of course, never underestimate their anger.”
At the time of the game, the Forest players regained their professional player status and acted like they were going to play in an away league game. Only a handful of the young ones who were brought from the youth team curiously took out their digital video cameras to capture the spectacular “yellow tide” outside the window.
In fact, the team’s coaching unit for this game did not make any arrangements at all. These days the training was mainly based on physical recovery and simple tactical exercises. There was no special training held to deal with the China Olympic team. The team’s overall training plan was to prepare for the new season of the league tournament and European competition. Twain did not even gather the players for a tactical meeting before the game. There was enough to speak in the locker room.
Due to the proximity, Nottingham Forest set out right on time. By the time they arrived at Fubang Stadium, the players of the China Olympic team had already left the locker room one by one to warm up on the field.
“They’re in high fighting spirits.” Twain looked at those men and whistled.
“Because we are the strongest out of all their friendlies’ opponents.” Dunn said, “For them, this game is more valuable than their previous friendlies.”
“It will be even more valuable to them if they defeat us by accident.” Twain winked at Dunn.
“Impossible.” Dunn, the Chinese man, poured cold water on Twain in all seriousness.
“Allan will be very angry if he hears you say that… Ha ha!” Twain laughed. It looked like he was in a good mood. “But you’re right. Even if we don’t work hard, it’s not hard to win them. Fourteen years ago, Chinese football might have defeated those opponents which underestimated them. But now this team certainly won’t be able to. Everything develops, but it’s strange that this rule doesn’t apply at all in Chinese football.” He shook his head.
“Don’t let them dawdle. Better hurry and go warm up.” He turned his head and said to Kerslake, so the assistant manager’s loud voice rang out in the locker room.
“Don’t think you can relax just because it’s a friendly match! You will equally suffer from lack of warm-up! Does anyone want the new season to be over before it has started?”
His bark was effective. The players who took their own sweet time just now to while away the time, immediately dashed out.
Twain did not stay in the locker room to prepare as there was not much to prepare. There was no need to study the China Olympic team to play against their opponent. As long as they played according to their tackles and usual habits, this game would be in their hands.
He felt like he had “returned in glory.” Deep down, he wanted to go out and show off. Although no one would recognized him as a Chinese man and the Chinese people would not be envious of his achievements, this did not stop him from fantasizing in his mind for self-entertainment. To think that I was just an ordinary young fan at that time. Now I have brought a two-time Champions League Double Winner team back to China!
As it rained for several days, the organizers were worried for a while that the fans who had bought tickets would not come to the game. But what Twain saw should give the organizers a sigh of relief. Half of the forty thousand seats had occupied by now, and it was forty minutes away from the start of the game.
The drizzle did not dampen the enthusiasm of the fans at all. Even when the players from both sides came out to warm up, they were happily shouting in the stands.
Looking at them, he thought about the all kinds of fans he had met in England. Suddenly, Twain lost the interest to “show off” outside. He turned back to the locker room.
Just as he walked into the tunnel entrance, he was stopped by a group of Chinese reporters. They wanted to interview this legendary manager, who was full of personality. The person who came out to ask the question was Tang Jing, an old acquaintance of Twain.
“I really can meet you anywhere, Miss Tang.” Twain greeted her in Mandarin.
“I’m the reporter, specially put in charge to cover you and your team. It would be strange if you don’t see me.” Tang Jing shook her head and then threw out her question. “Before the game, the fans were worried that such a commercial game would greatly discount the value of the competition. In terms of the viewing pleasure or the competitive nature, it is not as good as the usual game. What do you think?” ”
“This game is definitely not the same as the league cups. But I don’t agree with the remarks that it would be unexciting. Because excitement can be divided into several kinds. A massive victory of 7:0 against the opponent can also be wonderful to watch.” Twain winked at Tang Jing.
“Oh? Are you saying your team will score a lot of goals in the game?”
“I didn’t say that. It’s just an analogy. Don’t try to manipulate my meaning to that direction.” Twain was well aware of the reporter’s antics. “I don’t know how the game is going to be played out. I can only promise that we will try our best to let the Chinese fans enjoy a wonderful game. We are different from those European teams which come here just to make money. Don’t forget that we are also the cultural ambassador for Nottingham. This game is a great opportunity to showcase the English football culture. And, you know, Miss Tang, I never put my hands up in surrender before a game.”
Hearing Twain said so, Tang Jing smiled. Having said so much useless officialese mumbo jumbo earlier, this last sentence held the real truth. It was really hard to get Twain to give up before the game even started.
“So, this means the Chinese fans and television viewers can enjoy a great game with confidence?”
“That’s the way it looks.”
Twain and Tang Jing had a happy exchange and the other Chinese reporters were not willing to be left out, so they stepped forward to ask their own questions. The biggest advantage of interviewing Twain was that both parties could communicate directly in Mandarin without any translation, which made is less troublesome.
“What do you think of the strength of the China Olympic team, Mr. Twain?”
“I don’t know much about this team…” In fact, I know a lot, but I won’t tell you!
“There are rumors that you guys are interested in Zheng Zhi. Can you please confirm if that’s true?”
“If Zheng Zhi can accept to be George Wood’s substitute, I don’t mind.” Twain grinned. They just needed to understand George Wood to know that this was equal to a denial of the rumor.
“Do you have any expectations for the Beijing Olympics?”
“I’m sorry I can’t come to Beijing to watch the Olympics in person because the English Premier League will have already started at that time. But I believe the Beijing Olympic Games will be an unforgettable Olympic Games.” Twain answered the question with a smile. He was polite, gracious, humorous and gave off a good impression. It was hard for the Chinese reporters who first came into contact with him to believe that this man had a bad reputation in Europe.
Only Tang Jing knew that the outer appearance of this man was completely untrustworthy.
The group of Chinese reporters soon saw Tony Twain’s other side.
An attractive television female reporter squeezed in and asked, “Beckham is in the starting lineup. I would like to know if he will be playing in the entire game?”
“It depends on the situation. Generally, we will make to make a large-scale adjustment.” As this was not a regular game, the substitutions was discussed and agreed between the two sides. Because the China Olympic team wanted to train its players, so everyone decided that they could replace eleven players.
“In other words, it mean Beckham will be replaced midway?”
Twain began to find this female reporter very annoying for asking questions that lacked standards and rudimentary. His warm tone quickly cooled. “I can’t answer you now.”
The female reporter did not sense any dissatisfaction in Twain’s tone and continued to throw out her prepared questions, “Do you think David Beckham’s role in the team is very important?”
Twain finally could not help himself. He asked the reporter in a stern tone, “Lady, I’m not happy with the way you give your interviewees presupposed questions and answers. I can only answer ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Or do you want me to give you answers that you want to hear? I’m sorry, but I refuse to answer this question. Besides, you’re an entertainment reporter, aren’t you?”
Twain’s sudden outburst left the reporters in the room stunned, including the female reporter. She had covered many events in China and always asked such questions. No one had ever said that she asked the wrong questions and badly.
For example: “Do you feel glorious and proud to win the gold medal? Do the coach and the team help you a lot? Are you so excited that you want to cry?”
“Do you feel sorry that you only won a silver medal? Do you feel you have let down the country for your training over the years?”
“Congratulations on running your best time for this year. Liu Xiang won the championship title. Do you feel very happy? What do you think of Liu Xiang’s performance today?”
…
But today, this man was actually merciless in refuting her. She could not wrap her head around this for a moment.
“I’m… I’m not an entertainment reporter.” It took her a long while to answer this inexplicable question.
“You should be an entertainment reporter. You are very talented in that area.” Having said that, Twain walked away and left behind an awkward silence for all the Chinese reporters present in his wake.
Tang Jing saw this scene in the back of the crowd and shrugged her shoulders. She knew things would develop this way …
The displeased Twain quickly walked through the tunnel. When he passed by the home team, the China Olympic team’s locker room door, this door just closed. The action caught his eye and he turned his head over. In that instant, he caught a glimpse of a familiar figure through the door—the Chinese Football Association President, Xie Guanlong.
It was said that Dujković was just an overall head coach by name only for a long time. The Chinese coaching team was just a puppet, only responsible for conveying the instructions and spirit from above. Now it seemed like the rumor was not false.
A glimpse of this scene made Twain laugh. Chinese football was full of jokes. With a track and field background, Xie Guanlong put on an act to arrange the tactics and command the team’s game Then a group of professional coaches bowed their heads and listened, while continuously nodded in agreement. On top of that, they would fawn on and flatter that “the president is really an expert”, “President Xie’s words are correct” … He felt it was very funny just thinking about it.
Fortunately, he did not have to suffer in such an environment.
This interlude suddenly improved his mood.
※※※
The players returned to the locker room after the warm-up. They dried their perspiration and changed into clean clothes.
Twain saw that they had all done this before he spoke up, “With regards to this game … there’s nothing much to say. We will play as we usually play.”
Eastwood stood up and asked, “Chief, is it still defensive counterattack?”
“We don’t just know how to play defensive counterattack!” Twain glared at him, “We are going to practice and train with the offense from the middle routine today. We’re not going from the wings, only in the middle. If the Chinese team comes out punching, we will need to defend more fiercely. Take this opportunity to score a goal against them and start practicing the offense again.”
The players nodded. The middle was an area where all the teams paid more attention to. Whether offensively or defensively there must be more players here. The Forest team had little chance to practice specifically during normal games because they had to win, and it was obviously more effective to play in the wings. Now in the face of such an opponent like the China Olympic team, it would be a waste of opportunity not to use it as a practice of the tactics, but to play the flank attack which they were best at.
“But I want to remind you.” Twain held out his left index finger and said, “Everyone must be aware of the weather and the field conditions with the warm-up just now. The Chinese team will fight fiercely. You have to be careful not to let yourselves get hurt. Don’t go and intercept the more difficult balls from the opponent. When they have bigger movements, just avoid them. Protect yourselves.”
Everyone on the starting list bobbed their heads. Twain gave face to everyone with the starting list for today’s game—almost all of the main force were in the lineup.
The goalkeeper was van der Sar. The center backs were the partners, Piqué and Ayala. The left back was Gareth Bale and the right back was Rafinha. The defensive midfielder was Sun Jihai and the attacking midfielder was van der Vaart. The left midfielder was Ribéry and the right midfielder was David Beckham. The strikers were van Nistelrooy and Eastwood.
The center back, Pepe has been sidelined due to a minor injury because Twain wanted to be careful. Even though George Wood did not have any injuries, Twain put him on the bench. In fact, Twain had his own plans for this arrangement …
※※※
At the same time, in the China Olympic team’s locker room, Xie Guanlong had just guest performed as a manager and arranged the tactics for the China Olympic players. Truthfully, his tactics were very simple, nothing but some terms which a fake fan would know—“Must have a solid defense and quick counterattack. The front field will then begin to force an interception, attack from the both sides. The ball is heavier on a rainy day, so strengthen the long shots …”
After he gave these seemingly professional instructions which in fact amounted to perfunctory nonsense, he began his favorite ideological mobilization which was the motivation of the players before a game.
“Players! It’s a rare opportunity to be able to play against the UEFA Champions League champion. The Chinese Football Association has worked hard to obtain this opportunity for everyone, so I hope you all will cherish it.” He put one hand on the hip and the other hand with his five fingers slightly spread as he brandished his hand, looking every inch like a leader. He said, “We’re definitely not as good as our opponents in this game, but I hope you don’t give up. You’re going to play your own style! Firstly, we must have momentum! Our strength is weaker than the opponent, but if our momentum is worse than the opponent, then we cannot play this game! We have to scare them! We must show a tenacious fighting spirit, ferociously tackle and have bigger movements. As long as the opponent is afraid, the situation of the game will be to our advantage!”
He spoke energetically here while the manager, Dujković sat in the corner, looking indifferent. It was as if everything that happened here had nothing to do with him. In effect, it did not really matter. He was just a figurehead and could not do anything since he had no power. To put it nicely, he was just a spectator who was able to sit in the technical area.
“Secondly, we must not give up! Don’t give up the game under any circumstances! The style of Chinese football is we never give up till the last second!” Xie Guanlong was high-spirited, as if his team had won the game. However, did he not blush when he said those words? … “If the other side scores a goal, we will try our best to grab and mess up their rhythm! Then we strive to equalize the score sooner. You must be fierce during the defense. We use our fighting spirit and tenacity as well as proactivity to make up for our technical disadvantage!”
“Finally, I hope you can give the fans in the entire country a wonderful game and let the fans see the spirit shown in you! The Party and the people are watching you and hope you can deliver a satisfactory result!”
After he irresponsibly threw the heavy burden of 1.3 billion people’s expectations on the shoulders of these regular players, Xie Guanlong left the locker room accompanied by the other officials with ease and confidence. He felt extremely good just thinking about that result and the impassioned speech he gave before the game.
Back on the podium, after he shook hands with the Nottingham Forest’s chairman, Evan Doughty and Marketing Manager, Allan Adams, he sat next to the two men and got ready to watch the game.
In the stands opposite the podium, there were fans who displayed a banner “Xie * Long should be fired!” Give Dujković back!”. However, he swept his gaze across and pretended not to see it.
※※※
The players from both sides came out in a file and the atmosphere at the stadium began to heat up. The live broadcast announced the players from both sides one by one. All the China Olympic team and the Nottingham Forest star players received the most enthusiastic applause and cheers from the spectators. Beckham was certainly the most popular.
Because George Wood was not here, it should have been the second captain, van der Sar who came up to pick for the coin toss. Since it was not an official game, but a commercial one, Twain gave Beckham the captain’s armband from a commercial point of view. This move proved to be welcomed. When Beckham with the captain’s armband was spotted in the center circle doing the coin toss with the China Olympic team captain, Li Weifeng, the fans in the stadium broke out with loud cheers.
Beckham lost to Li Weifeng during the coin toss and won the right to kick off.
After a group photo of the starting lineup, the players on both sides returned to their respective positions. The main referee from China whistled and the game officially began!
Once the game started, the fans in the stands really gave their energy to rally. The majority of them cheered on the China Olympic team. Because Twain heard clearly what they shouted, “China team, come on! China team, keep fighting!”
Any fan who often watched the Chinese team play live on the television would be familiar with this sound, and Twain was no exception. It looked like no matter how popular Nottingham Forest was in China, no matter how big Beckham’s appeal was, as long as the opponent was the China Olympic team, then it would be almost impossible for the fans to cheer for the Forest team.
It was Twain had stated when the game started. The morale of the China Olympic team was very strong. Although they did not control the ball, they were aggressive with the tackles. Any successful defense would gain cheers from the stands. However, in Twain’s view, this performance was bold but not very astute. The “head coach” who made such an arrangement was very incompetent.
The China Olympic team would inevitably consume a lot of physical strength with such fierce interception. Moreover, they could not take care of every corner of the field, especially in the rear defensive line where a lot of gaps could be taken advantage of. The Nottingham Forest team was just waiting for a suitable opportunity to strike a fatal blow.
Nottingham Forest did not have to wait long for this opportunity. Nottingham Forest, with most of its main force deployed, easily controlled the pace of the game. The China Olympic team began to follow the pace of the Forest team. They ran vigorously but also energetically used up a lot of physical strength, which actively opened up gaps for the Forest team.
In the sixth minute, Beckham spotted the right timing to suddenly kick off a cross pass to the penalty area. Van Nistelrooy and Eastwood attracted the attention of all the China Olympic team defenders. Van der Vaart, who was left unmarked, plugged into the penalty area from the back and volleyed a shot in the air without stopping the ball!
If it was a more important game, he might steady and stop the ball before he made a move. But in such a game, the China Olympic team did not give him any pressure, so he had the mind to execute a move with a high degree of difficulty which was not commonly used. And it worked very well…
“The ball’s in! Alas, a gap that shouldn’t have been there appeared in the defense of the China Olympic team…” The commentator of China’s national television station appeared frustrated. It was known that the strength of the two teams was not on the same level, but the China Olympic team represented China. It was really embarrassing for them to concede a goal so soon.
When they saw that the goal was in, the Forest players celebrated minimally. Twain and the others in the technical area did not even get up and clapped. For these people, it was normal to score a goal against the Chinese team. It was not worth celebrating at all.
※※※
After taking the lead, Nottingham Forest deliberately slowed down the pace and began to follow the guidelines that Twain had set up before the game. When there were opportunities to attack, they would attack in the middle without exception, even if the China Olympic team put all the defensive forces in the middle. Even if this led to a sharp decline in the success rate of the offense, they did not intend to try the flanks.
While the trailing China Olympic team strengthened its tackles amid the fans’ cheers. As they were over-excited, their movements got bigger and bigger, forcing the Nottingham Forest players to give up the ball several times to avoid the other side’s ferocious shovels.
This made the Forest players a little disgruntled. The commercial game was increasingly becoming explosive.
Finally, in the twenty-first minute, the China Olympic team’s striker, Gao Lin, received Zheng Zhi’s pass in the penalty area when he suddenly fell to the ground. The referee decided to award a penalty! The Nottingham Forest players felt very wronged. Even though Piqué and Gao Lin had physical contact, it was an exaggeration to rule it as a foul. He could not always whistled for a penalty as long as the opposing striker had physical contact with the defender in the penalty area and fell to the ground, could he?
The referee ignored the protests of the Forest players and insisted on the verdict.
Twain smiled when he saw this scene off the field. Did the Chinese Football Association also double up on the insurance?
Unsurprisingly, Zheng Zhi scored with this penalty shot. The score became a tie at 1:1.
The gongs and drums thundered in the stands and the fans were extremely happy to be able to equalize the scores. The players of the China Olympic team were also affected by this, becoming more excited and aggressive with their actions.
The Forest players soon found a problem. The two teams fought hard and when the Chinese team players fell after any physical contact, the referee would penalize the Forest team for fouls most of the time. The China Olympic team led by a wide margin with the number of free kicks in the first half.
When Ayala skirted around from the back to defend and took the ball off the feet of Zheng Zhi who was glancing around, Zheng Zhi fell to the ground and the referee whistled that he fouled again. The Argentine veteran shook his head helplessly as he stood on the spot with his hands on his hips.
As a result, the Nottingham Forest players played more and more passively. When they attacked in the face of the Chinese team’s defense which bordered on fouling, they played nervously. During their defense, they dared not to make a move lightly because they were afraid of being penalized for a foul. In this way, the Chinese team regained the initiative on the field.
When the Forest team controlled the ball, they preferred to pass the ball back and forth in the center and back field, rather than pass the ball forward. Such a move upset the fans who came to watch the game. They wanted to see both sides pit themselves against each other in the attacks and not a passive game. As a result, the boos against Nottingham Forest began to emerge in the stands. As soon as they started passing the ball to each other laterally, the hissing would immediately erupt.
And the China Olympic team, who strove to compete, naturally got the one-sided enthusiastic support.
Everyone’s thinking was this—since Nottingham Forest is not willing to give their best and doesn’t want to play seriously with a team like us, then we will defeat and embarrass you!
In the second part of the first half, the China Olympic team began to gain the upper hand. There was even a siege on the Forest goal, leading to a dangerous situation in the goal guarded by van der Sar. Seeing such a scene, the grandstand naturally broke out in thunderous cheers. In the podium, Xie Guanlong was also full of smiles.
In the technical area, Kerslake could not sit still. It was strange that Twain, who was a fussy person, stayed calm in the tense situation, crossed his legs, and did not seem worried about the team’s plight.
Nottingham Forest paid the price for their passive play before the end of the first half. Zheng Zhi unexpectedly did a long shot. The football hit Sun Jihai on the thigh, which deflected the shot and caused it to fly into the net. Van der Sar could only sigh as he watched the ball.
In this instant, the decibel at the Fubang Stadium reached the highest level since it was built.
Xie Guanlong even stood up and clapped. The players of the China Olympic team hugged excitedly. They completely suppressed Nottingham Forest in the second part of the first half. And now they were ahead of the European champions! It would be hard to tell these young people not to get excited.
As for Twain? He just turned his head to the restless Kerslake next to him and said, “You should be happy. The first half is about to end, and we don’t have anyone hurt.”
※※※
During the halftime interval, the China Olympic team players ran off the field with their heads held high and their chests puffed up as they received cheers from the fans along the way. While the Nottingham Forest players went off the field a little helplessly with their heads bowed. They would hear the boos from the stands occasionally.
It was no wonder the attitude of these fans who were still pursuing the Forest players before the game had turned one hundred and eighty degrees. People had high hopes for Nottingham Forest, which had the titles of the Champions League champion and Double Winner, in the first half, but did not play at the level which everyone wanted to see. How could this not be disappointing? Since they were disappointed, they naturally had to fully express for the English team to see.
The director of the television broadcast was clearly aware of Twain’s position. When the players came off the field, the camera turned to Twain, but was surprised to find that Twain was not dissatisfied with this result and the team’s performance at all, which was really puzzling. Was it not a rumor that he could accept a loss, but could not accept a loss that was cowardly and had no fighting spirit?
What about now…
How would these people know how Twain’s mind worked?
On the podium, Xie Guanlong left his seat with a smile on his face as he went to the locker room to inspect the team again. He was delighted by the team’s performance in the first half and the reaction of the fans in the stadium made him even happier.
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Everyone was already in the locker room when Twain came in and closed the door.
He did not criticize the players at all. Instead, he smiled and said, “You’ve done a good job, and no one was hurt. I’m relieved.”
But his players disagreed with his view. Eastwood stood up in frustration, “Chief, I can’t accept this result at all.”
His comments were quickly echoed and concurred by most of his teammates.
“Oh? Why?” Twain pretended to be surprised, “Not getting hurt in a friendly match is the most important. I think there is no reason to fight for such a game.”
“You’re right, Chief. But I just can’t accept this result and the awkward situation. Every time I heard the boos in the stands, I don’t feel good.” Eastwood, who was usually smiling, now looked serious. “We’re the European champions, aren’t we? We’re the Double Winner, right? If we played a little more seriously, the first half would be 3-0. To be honest…”
Eastwood hesitated slightly and decided to speak his mind, “… I don’t like this kind of competition. It’s like being on a show and giving the results the spectators want to see. I prefer the real Champions League final to this kind of commercial game!”
Having said that, he looked up and waited for the chief’s criticism. But Twain smiled and did not intend to scold him at all.
“But I think the outcome and situation of a commercial game is insignificant. As compared to that little bit of dignity, I value your health more. We can’t choose whether to play in this kind of competition. As our reputation grows, there will be more of such similar games. But we can choose the way we play…”
Eastwood was set to vent his frustrations suffered from the first half today. He knew the chief liked him, so he was a little unchecked. “I remember, Chief, that you said to us before that the way to finish the game early was to completely wipe out the opponent at the start of the game. Why can’t we be like that in this game? Anyway, I think this kind of game is an insult to my work ethic.”
He was a little heavy handed with his remarks, but Twain was still not angry. He looked at the players with a smile.
“I think, chief… I can guess what these Chinese newspapers will say about us the next day, and it will not be good, that’s for sure.” A second man stood up and it was Pepe, who did not play because of his injury. He shrugged his shoulders and grimaced, “I don’t want other people to look down on us.”
“Boss, we know what a commercial game is. But there is no rule in the commercial game that we have to lose to the hosts.”
“The referee of this game kept blowing the whistle and every situation was against us. I want to teach them a lesson!”
“It was hard to play in the first half. Football is not meant to be played like this!”
More and more people bravely stood up against their king, but the smile on Twain’s face widened.
“So, you don’t want to lose this game?”
“Who was the one who told us that Nottingham Forest’s football is to never say die and admit defeat. Chief?” Eastwood looked directly at Twain and asked.
Twain finally laughed, “I knew you people won’t take it lying down. Actually, I think… Of course, I don’t want to lose, but I don’t really want you to get hurt. You all saw the opponent’s actions. I do not want to wait for someone to get hurt before I start regretting. You must also think about your own bodies.”
“At the start of the second half, I’ll make big adjustments in the players. I will replace all eleven players. But!” He raised his voice, “You’re right, Nottingham Forest’s football is to never say die and admit defeat. I will never accept failure, let alone this kind of failure! We are clearly able to beat them, so let’s beat them!”
Among the crowd of excited people, Sun Jihai began to pray for his fellow countrymen.
Twain bared his lips and grinned happily as he looked at the confidence and fighting spirit that everyone had to win the game.
The only regret was that he could not see the change of expression on the faces of those Chinese Football Association heads in the second half. You must have had a good laugh in the first half, didn’t you?
Allan, I have given you enough face. In the first half, they were one goal ahead of the main lineup. Such a good thing is not easy even for Manchester United, Real Madrid and other big teams to encounter.
