champion godfather

Chapter 957
Germany's unexpected defeat made Twain very hurt, but made the media as excited as if they had been beaten.

Originally, after England and Germany defeated their opponents with absolute advantages, everyone felt that the pattern of this group had been finalized. England and Germany were the two strongest teams, and they were probably the two teams that qualified. , the only suspense is who is first and who is second.

As supporters of England and Germany, this is a good thing.But for the media who are afraid of chaos in the world, this is the worst situation.They lamented in their respective positions that the "group of death" did not live up to its name.

Well now, there is no misrepresentation.The Group of Death suddenly became worthy of the name and became interesting.

Both teams that lost in the previous first round won, and the two teams that won before all lost.After the two rounds of the group stage, all four teams have accumulated three points. Such a situation is really rare in international competitions.

The current situation is that the German team ranks first in the group because of their goal difference advantage. They scored four goals, conceded two goals, and had two goal differences.England scored four goals, conceded three goals, and ranked second with a goal difference.Portugal scored four goals, conceded five goals, and ranked third with a goal difference of one loss.In the end it was Wales who scored one goal and conceded three for a goal difference of -[-].

In the final round, England and Germany will face each other, while Portugal will face Wales.Any team can qualify, and any team can be eliminated.

"It is indeed the most deadly 'death group' in this competition!" In the European Cup special program on Sky TV, the invited guests sighed so much. "Such a complicated qualifying situation is the most complicated among all six groups. We don't need to analyze the situation of their four teams for you. You only need to look at the score rankings, and you can guess what will happen next— -It's a mess!"

"Before the second round, the probability of the first and second in the group losing at the same time is one in nine. When the English lost to Wales at the Nou Camp, the Germans may have begun to look forward to their early qualifying The prospects for the future are open. Who would have thought that after a wonderful confrontation, the Germans would also lose!" Spanish national television concluded.

"For the England team, Germany's loss is definitely not good news. Although we have a 40-year feud with them. Because Tony Twain's team will fight the German team in the final round. Only by winning Only Germany can guarantee a certain qualification, and if you lose or draw, you will leave your fate to others." In the special program of BBC TV, experts are analyzing the situation of England's qualification that has become severe overnight for England fans. "But the England team lacks George Wood, and the German team is a very strong opponent..."

"Facts have proved one thing-England without George Wood is second-rate in Europe. They can't even win Wales. Without Wood's scheduling and defense in the midfield, England simply doesn't know how to operate. 4:2 victory over Portugal It was just an accident, and we also have to note that Portugal dominated the game." This is ZDF's program, which is using this program to cheer up worried German fans. "Our loss to Portugal was just bad luck, England to Wales was a complete failure, they took twice as many shots as Wales, but most of them were wide of the goal, all blind shots from long distance...from the team From a standpoint, we are better than England."

"Wales defeated England, and Portugal defeated Germany. This is the result that we neutral fans most hope to see. Because the final round of the group stage will be very, very exciting!" China Central Television Channel [-] belongs to the neutral faction, but German fans And England fans account for a large proportion of Chinese fans. They "gloated" on the show, and there must be a lot of curses on them on the Internet.

In fact, the evaluation of these media is fair and objective.Twain is now under tremendous pressure - he won the first game very well, which raised the expectations of the English people, but in the end he lost the second game embarrassingly, throwing the English fans flying in the clouds. Many people cannot accept such a huge psychological gap.Those print media and internet media directed such anger towards Tang En.Someone has to be responsible for this, no?

Countless tabloids don't care about objective conditions and subjective factors. Anyway, it is the most trouble-free to attribute all the reasons for the loss to the head coach.Who let Tang En leave a handle on them?After the game, he said "I underestimated the enemy" in an interview, which became the biggest reason for many tabloids to attack him.

"Tony Twain's arrogance finally made him pay the price, but he also dragged the fate of the whole of England to be buried with him! This is simply a scandal!"

"...I really don't understand this kind of England. It's a completely different team from the one that beat Portugal 4:2. What's the reason?"

"Simple underestimation of the enemy cannot explain the reason for the loss. I think England has a major flaw in tactics. Facts have proved that it is not enough to rely on defensive counterattacks alone! He tried to transfer Nottingham Forest's set to the England team, but found that the water and soil were unacceptable. ..."

"I think the loss in this game fully demonstrates the importance of George Wood. It is reasonable for Dunn to insist on taking Wood to Spain, but if we go home after the group stage, then what's the point of taking him there? Now there is one last game left, is there anything he can do?"

"Tony Twain is headstrong. If we continue to trust him, the whole of English football will suffer!"

……

There have been too many attacks like this. It is rare for reporters covering the England team not to have conflicts with Tony Twain. This time they finally seized the opportunity to take revenge.

They then attacked Twain, and the fans felt that it was more difficult for England to qualify. So before the match against the German team, the expectations of the fans and the criticism from the media were gathered in the city of Valencia from all directions, forming a huge The invisible pressure enveloped the entire England team.

Tang En obviously also noticed these pressures, so he did something against the media again - canceled the routine press conference, unless it was before the game, the media would not be able to dig anything valuable from him news.The 15-minute public shooting time every day has nothing but warm-up or warm-up.He also asked the security guards of the hotel where he was staying to clean up the journalists wandering nearby, and journalists who did not have permission were not allowed to enter the hotel lobby.

Such an open confrontation with the media obviously made the media even more dissatisfied, and I don't know how much more they scolded him.

The tension was felt in England as well.After the match against Portugal, there was a lot of laughter during the training, and there were also a lot of interesting games arranged during the training to let everyone relax.But after the game against Wales, those games were all called off.Everyone can clearly feel that the amount of training has been improved. Although the boss still has a smile on his face, everyone knows that it is just for them to see.In terms of pressure, there is no one here who is more stressed than the boss.

There are only three days between the second and final round of the group stage, adding to the tension.In three days, what can be changed?
※ ※ ※

After the loss to Wales, England's good luck seemed to run out overnight.

On the second day after they arrived in Valencia, they started training less than 10 minutes ago, and they were still in the period of free filming by the media.David Bentley was injured suddenly during the warm-up.

The scene was chaotic, and reporters desperately tried to squeeze in, trying to get a picture of Bentley's injury.The security guards at the scene were busy intercepting the reporters under Tang En's loud reprimand.While guarding against the reporters, Dunn also wanted to see what exactly happened to Bentley's injury. The scene was very noisy, and his head was almost dizzy.

"What's going on?" Twain finally squeezed his way into the crowd, and saw Derek_Wright, the head of the national team's team doctor, giving Bentley a preliminary examination.

"Thigh muscle strain," White replied. "It's a relapse of an old injury."

Tang En frowned. This is not an injury that can be healed in a day or two.

Bentley, who was sitting on the ground, also looked very depressed.He hasn't started yet in this European Cup, and he was thinking about getting a chance in the next game, but now that his thigh muscle is strained, he will almost certainly not be able to play in the last game of the group stage.And will England play after the game with Germany?
Tang En casually pointed to two players: "You guys take David down."

White followed Bentley to the sidelines, sat him on the ground, and massaged his thighs.

The reporters outside the venue were still arguing, wanting to come in for interviews and filming.They even had conflicts with security guards.Even bad words came out.

Tang En felt upset when he heard such a voice.He turned around and walked in front of the group of reporters, pointing to the watch on his wrist: "It's time, the free shooting time is over! Please go back, ladies and gentlemen!" Then he said to the security guards: "Take Throw them all out!"

"Mr. Dunn! Is Bentley injured?"

"Mr. Dunn, is Bentley's injury serious?"

"Mr. Tony Twain...Maybe he will miss the game against the German team?"

"Bentley is injured, will this affect the morale of the team?"

Unwilling to be kicked out like this, the reporters threw their questions at Twain, but Twain ignored them. He turned around and walked back to the training ground, shouting to the dumbfounded players: " Keep training!"

The reporters finally dispersed, and the training ground returned to calm.Bentley's injury did not affect the quality of the team's training. There was no shortage of training, and the players focused on training.After all, injuries are a very common thing, not to mention that Bentley is not a main player, even if he is injured and cannot catch up with the German team, it will not have a big impact on the strength of the team.

It's just that Tang En's brows became tighter and tighter.

George Wood came to rest on the sidelines after completing his own training program, and he sat next to Bentley.

"Hey, George..." Bentley was a little frustrated, he had an ice pack on his lap, which was filled with ice cubes. "I'm so fucking unlucky..."

Wood glanced at his thigh. "It's just a muscle strain, and it will be fine soon." He comforted his teammates at Nottingham Forest.

"No matter how fast, I won't be able to play against the German team..." Bentley rubbed his strained right thigh.If it was a strain on his left thigh, he would be able to grit his teeth and persevere.He can't do anything with a strained right thigh. "When the time comes, let's cheer for them on the bench together."

Unexpectedly, Wood shook his head: "No, I want to play."

Bentley thought he heard it wrong, he turned his head to look at Wood, his eyes widened. "If I remember correctly, the doctors said that you will miss all three group matches..."

"I feel all right."

Bentley stared at Wood's right big toe and asked, "Does it hurt?"

Wood shook his head: "No, not at all."

Bentley looked at Tony Twain who was standing in the distance again: "I don't think the boss will let you play."

"If it doesn't win Germany, it will."

"Are you kidding about your career, George?"

"I'm serious." After the rest, Wood walked back to the court and continued to do his individual training.

Bentley looked at his back and pouted.

"You haven't even practiced with us, how could you be allowed to play? Don't wishful thinking, George..." he murmured.

※ ※ ※

"We just lost to Wales, and David Bentley was injured again. The England team is unlucky, which is really worrying..." BBC5's European Cup report is broadcasting the news they just received.The chaotic scene on the training ground was on TV.If you listen carefully, you can still hear Tony Twain's voice—"What the hell is going on...Damn it, drive them out! Stop filming!"

"Although Tony Twain canceled the regular press conference, Draco White accepted our interview. He told us that Bentley has a muscle strain in his right thigh and will miss the game against the German team... According to what we know You know, this is not the first time that Bentley has strained his right thigh muscle. When George Wood was absent due to injury, Bentley also entered the injured list. It seems that luck is not on our side..."

Gloomy is probably the best way to describe the mood of England fans.Could it be that this "the strongest England team in history" can't even qualify for the group stage?
※ ※ ※

"It's not hurting the main force, look at the arguments of the media... That's why I hate the media. They always send you ice cubes when you need a charcoal fire for warmth, but dry bread when you need water to quench your thirst ——In short, it will only add to the chaos." Dunn was very dissatisfied with the media's hype about Bentley's injury and creating a tense atmosphere. These English tabloids are too annoying!

"No way, Tony. After we lost to Wales, pessimism prevailed... A little accident will be infinitely magnified." Walker put down the newspapers in England, and almost all of them were full of bad mood. reports.

The two were talking when there was a knock on the door.

"Please come in."

The person who pushed the door and entered was George Wood.This surprised both Tang En and Walker.

Wood didn't expect that there were other people in Tang En's room. He glanced at the assistant coach Des Walker and stood at the door without saying a word.

Walker knew that Wood must have something to say to Dunn, but he didn't want outsiders to be present.It must have been a conversation just for the two of them.

"Then... I'll take my leave first." Walker stood up knowingly and planned to leave.

"Goodbye, Des. Call me at dinner time." Dunn waved to him.

"Goodbye, Mr. Walker." Wood watched Walker leave at the door.

"Goodbye, George."

After Walker left, Dunn said, "Close the door, George. Is there anything you want from me?"

Wood closed the door obediently, but he still stood at the door and said to Tang En: "Tomorrow's game against the German team... I hope you will let me play."

(End of this chapter)