champion godfather

Chapter 989
In fact, Tang En himself was a little nervous.But not as serious as some players.He has participated in the finals of important competitions many times, and he is only a little nervous about this first time—the first time he has led the national team to participate in the finals of a world competition.

As a head coach formerly a Chinese fan, he has a bit of a "World Series" complex.National team events such as the World Cup and the European Cup have been the theme of his football career for a long time. He even once believed that the national team is better than the club team because it represents the highest level of a country.

Then it all became a joke.But being able to stand in the final of such a large-scale event as the European Cup made him a little excited.

In order to relieve himself from being nervous, he chose to walk out of the empty locker room and stand on the sidelines to observe the players' warm-up. Work can make him forget other emotions.

He is very satisfied with the warm-up of the players.Facing such a final, everyone is very excited. He doesn't have to worry about lack of fighting spirit. He only needs to worry that someone may get injured during the warm-up because of being too excited.

The coaches were in charge of the warm-up, and Tang En, who was free, turned his attention to the stands.The Bernabéu Stadium, which can accommodate 8 people, is almost full of seats, the crowd is buzzing, tens of thousands of flags are fluttering in the wind, and some fans who can't wait even set off small fireworks in the stands.

When the England team appeared on the pitch and began to warm up, the England fans in the stands began to sing in unison.Just like they did in the Premier League, they used their singing to convey such a message to the team - we are with you.

The singing made England players feel at home.In fact, there are almost the same number of fans from both sides entering the stadium today.Most Spaniards lost interest in the final due to the Spanish team's failure in the semi-finals.Blessed are those England fans who flew from England to Spain just before the final. There were many Spaniards selling tickets outside the Bernabéu Stadium the day before the final.Of course, for the Italian fans who came from Italy, they are also lucky.

The neutral Spanish fans in the stands of this game became a supporting role.

The English fans started singing, and the Italian fans also started singing.The two sides launched a "la song conference" across the court.

When the players from both sides began to warm up on the court, the media from various countries also began to get busy.

"This is the Bernabéu, the holy temple of Spanish football. Here today, under the eyes of everyone, there will be a heavyweight duel!" China's national TV station CCTV5 also sent commentators and reporters to the scene to explain and report the game.Although the level of football in this country is very low, Chinese fans are still happy. The well-developed TV and Internet allow them to watch the best games in the world, and they are basically free.

"England will wear a white home jersey in this game. However, it is said that their head coach Tony Twain hopes that the team can wear a red jersey, because red is his lucky color, and it is the same color as Nottingham Forest's jersey. .Now it seems that his wish has not come true..." The Spanish TV reporter is introducing some details of today's game to the audience, such as the jersey. "Italy wore their traditional blue jersey and white shorts. Ten years ago, when they won the World Cup, they wore the blue jersey. And 16 years ago, they lost the European Cup final to For the French team, they wore white jerseys. Perhaps for the Italians, blue is more auspicious than white."

"Today's night temperature is 31 degrees. It's not too hot, but it's not too cool. It's very hot during the day, and the lingering power of the scorching sun hasn't dissipated until now, which will affect the performance of the players on both sides. The humidity of the field..."

Although their own teams have been eliminated, TV stations in various countries still attach great importance to the final reports.There are as many as 27 satellite cars parked outside the Bernabeu Stadium alone, and the situation of parking together in a row is spectacular.

"We saw that players from both sides have already appeared in the stadium, and they are warming up. We have got Italy's starting roster, but England's starting roster is still missing... It seems that Tony Twain will not announce the starting roster until the last moment. Compared with Lippi, who has experienced many battles, he seems a little too cautious..."

"From the list we got, Italy sent their strongest team. The goalkeeper is Marco_Amelia from AC Milan. The left back is Simeone Vital from AC Milan. (Simone_Vitale), the right back is Davide_Santon who plays for Inter Milan. The two central defenders are the Juventus combination-Giorgio_Chiellini (Giorgio_Chiellini) and Domenic Crisci Domenico_Criscito. Midfielders from left to right are Sebastian_Giovinco from Juventus, Daniele_De_Rossi from Roma and Alberto Aguilar Alberto_Aquilani, Davide_Lanzafame also from Juventus. The two forwards are Alberto_Paloschi from AC Milan and Selva from Juventus Torre Foti (Salvatore_Foti). From this starting lineup, we can see that Lippi has more trust in players from strong teams than those mid-range teams in Serie A. The starting lineup is all from the top four in Serie A last season players. In the semi-finals, he prefers to use Juventus players..."

When the English players finished warming up and returned to the locker room, the media finally got the starting list for England released by Tang En.Twain did not surprise everyone like he did in the previous games. His starting lineup was not much different from what the experts predicted before the game.It just didn't let Vaughn, who performed well in the semifinals, start a little bit beyond everyone's expectations.

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Not to mention the media, even the England players themselves did not know which of them started the game until now.

Goalkeeper Joe Hart is the least suspenseful person in the starting position.Almost all other positions have been changed in this competition, but the candidate for his position has not changed.As long as there are no major mistakes and no injuries, the starting goalkeeper will hardly be replaced.

The right back is still Richards who started after the game against Wales. Tang En values ​​his defensive ability.The left back is Joe Mattok. In the European Cup, Mattok has withstood the test and performed satisfactorily. It is only natural that he will continue to start in the final.Just like Lippi's preference for the Juventus players he had coached for many years, Twain also favored the Nottingham Forest players he had single-handedly brought together.

The centre-backs are John Terry and Stephen Taylor.This pair of central defenders has also accompanied England from the first game to the present, and the tacit cooperation is trustworthy.

The midfielder is Gerrard and Wood partnering, Tang En's "Double Virtue" is much more effective than the previous "Double Virtue" in the era of Eriksson and McLaren.Because he has a versatile George Wood, who can be the core and assist others, so that the England midfielder will not have too many cores and mess up.Some teams can be dual-core, but England absolutely cannot.

On the right is Walcott, who has returned from injury, to start the game. Due to frequent injuries in the competition, the right midfielder is the position that people change the most.Where Walcott has an advantage over Bentley and Mock is that he has speed and dribbling, more dexterity.

On the left is Downing from Middlesbrough, who, like Walcott, has speed and dribbling skills.Due to Tang En's tactics in this game, he returned to the starting lineup.

Most notable is the striker.Mitchell was suspended because of accumulating yellow cards, and this has become the most competitive place.Everyone hopes to start in such an important final. There is no doubt that Rooney will be selected. As the most experienced and oldest player in England's striker line, Twain needs him very much.

And who is the partner with Rooney?
James Vaughan is the favorite with two goals in the semi-finals.He himself also believes that he has been in good form recently and should be able to start in the final.So when Tang En announced the starting lineup, he was eagerly looking forward to hearing his name.

After reading Rooney's name, there was one last candidate left.Vaughan corrected his sitting posture, straightened his body and prepared to meet the historic moment-he will become the starting striker in the final of the European Cup.

"Abanglaho."

But the name that came out of Tang En's mouth made him stagnate.

He didn't expect Tang En to choose the mediocre Abang Lahuo instead of himself.He looked at Tang En in disbelief, but in the end he said nothing, lowered his head again, and clenched his fists unwillingly.

Twain's decision also surprised the other players.Before, everyone thought that the other starting forward position must be James.Even Abanglahuo himself did not expect that he could start such an important game. Surprise and joy were intertwined, which made his inner feelings very complicated.He didn't even dare to look at Vaughan who was sitting next to him.

"Why is Abanglahuo starting?!" When seeing the list, all reporters asked such questions.

"Judging from the recent state, James Vaughan should obviously start with Rooney. If it weren't for his two goals in the semi-finals, Spain might have entered the final!"

"I can't figure out why Tony would arrange this..."

"Hey, what can't be figured out? Just look at Lippi. These more successful coaches will do this in important games-they would rather choose players they are more familiar with and like than players with better performance. Players. It’s just empirical. Abanglahuo is a Nottingham Forest player, and he admires Twain very much. Twain also likes him very much. Compared with Vaughn, Twain is more familiar with him, so he started."

All the reporters talked about it, and for a while, "the theory of nepotism" had the upper hand in the hearts of the reporters.

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After reading the starting list, Tang En looked at the players. He saw everyone's expressions in his eyes and remembered them in his heart.

"This is the starting list."

The specific tactics have already been discussed in yesterday's tactical meeting. Although everyone didn't know who would start the game at that time, this kind of tactics requires everyone in each position to keep in mind.

"I hope everyone on this list remembers what happened last night, let's surprise them!"

The impact of this starting list was too great for everyone, so that they didn't fully listen to what Tang En said afterwards.Vaughn is the target they care about.

Dunn had to get them to focus on the game again, so he clapped his hands and raised his voice: "What? Did the tension before the final make you a little distracted?"

The players can easily hear that their boss is a little dissatisfied.So no matter how much he complained about Vaughn, he could only hold his resentment in his heart at this time, and put his mind back on the game.

But after the starting roster incident, they have long since forgotten the tension.They were just a little puzzled, why did the leader who always treats every player impartially in the team make such an obvious mistake?It's not that they don't think Abang Lahor shouldn't start, it's just that a fool can see that starting Vaughn, who is in excellent form, is much more effective than Abang Lahor.Doesn't he want to win this game?Is it really because you want your direct troops to leave their names at such an important historical moment?So why didn't Mock, Cohen and Bentley start all at once?Aren't they also Nottingham Forest players?

With such doubts, a group of people walked onto the final court.

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"They're here! Let's welcome the eleven starting players from England!" John Mortensen's passionate voice sounded, and he began to introduce every English player who played to the fans.

Although Abanglahuo's first start also surprised him, his tone was not the same as before when he said Abanglahuo's name.

To be honest, Twain's starting roster basically did not meet Lippi's expectations.Only in the forward position, he didn't expect Twain to abandon James Vaughn, who was in very good condition in the semifinals, and let Abang Lahuo start.This change also made him unable to understand.As a striker, Abanglahor's shooting skills are not as good as Vaughan's, and he basically has no other advantages except for his speed. It is more suitable to be placed on the side than in the center.For this reason, the Italian team studied Vaughan, but Twain didn't expect him to start!
Although surprised, Lippi also became very interested.Being able to surprise him shows that this game will be very interesting.As his last game before retirement, he no longer simply pursues results, it is best to make him unforgettable forever.

Tony Twain and his England team were obviously qualified to be his farewell opponents.

Come to a grand final, and then we win the championship.

This is Lippi's last wish.

(End of this chapter)