Chapter 47: McLaren’s Good Luck

On November 17th, there was no England game on this day, but a game broadcast by England's TV stations would pay attention to it. Russia challenged Israel away, and the outcome of this game will determine the fate of England's midfielder.

If Russia wins, then the two teams will play the same game, and Russia will lead by one point. The opponent in the last round England is Croatia, the number one in the group, and Russia is the weakest Andorra. No matter how you look at it, Russia will win firmly. In that case, even if England defeats Croatia at home, it will not be able to avoid the misfortune of being eliminated.

That's why Russia's away game against Israel has attracted attention from all over England.

Tang En also sat in front of the TV to watch the game on time. He was not concerned about whether England could qualify, he had no interest in the fate of the England team. He was just because Russia's starting lineup had two players from his team. Anyway, England's TV stations were going to broadcast, so he checked the performance of the two at home.

Although Akinfeyev is temporarily still a substitute for Van der Sar in Nottingham Forest and only played in the League Cup, this did not affect his position as the main goalkeeper in Russia at all. Hiddink once tactfully expressed his dissatisfaction with Don En put Russia's number one goalkeeper on the bench, but Don En pretended not to hear it and continued to do his own thing. He originally planned to straighten Akinfeyev this season. Who would have thought that Van der Sar's condition would be so good. Winning the Champions League last season did not make him lose his fighting spirit, but instead stimulated his energy and continued his good form to this season. Because goalkeepers are a position that values ​​experience very much. Since Van der Sar is in good shape, then Don En naturally let him, who has more experience, serve as the starter.

Another member of the Forest team, Arshavin is the current captain of the Russian national team. He wore the No. 10 jersey and was the core figure of the team's offensive organization on the court. England lost to Russia away in the game. Arshavin scored a goal himself and assisted his teammates with one goal. His performance in the whole game was very active, which gave England's star defense headaches.

In Nottingham Forest, because Eastwood's injury has never stopped, he is lucky than his Russian compatriot Akinfeev. He has won many opportunities to play, as well as goals and assists. English fans have gradually become familiar with him. As a rookie season in the Premier League, his performance has been able to play 70 so far. It is once again proved that Tony Don has a good vision of people. In fact, it is mainly because Arshavin's technical characteristics are very consistent with Don't play tactics - speed, wing attacks, and back row insertion. Moreover, Arshavin's playing style is also very consistent with the rhythm characteristics of the Premier League, and he is not as uncomfortable as Grosso.

Because these two Russian players play in the Premier League, the English commentator also seems very familiar to the commentary. However, he did not say anything good about Russia. He hoped that Israel could win the game since the beginning of the game.

Although this game consists of Israel and Russia, the protagonists seem to be England and Russia.

Before the game, Chelsea's head coach Abramovich promised that as long as Russia could defeat Israel, he would reward each person with 100,000 pounds! After Russia defeated England at home, Abramovich once walked into Russia's locker room after the game and distributed a reward of 500,000 pounds to each international on the spot!

So in the Mourinho incident and the Dunn swearing incident, the English media almost stood opposite to the Chelsea boss. It was because of national honor.

The Russians are acting, and the English are acting too. Before this game, England team carried out multi-level public relations activities: the national team players have lobbying for their Israeli teammates in the club, hoping that they will not let go of the water for the sake of friendship. Crouch and Gerrard's teammate Ben Haim in Liverpool cannot play in this game due to injury, which is a blow to the English. Chelsea's central defender Israeli Ben Haim was also "tempted" by Joe Kerr. He

Lu said: "These days, England's teammates in the locker room have been putting pressure on me. Cole said that as long as I beat Russia, I can choose to go on vacation anywhere and he will pay the bill. I don't know if he is joking, but I want to try it. I hope Israel will get a good result because I also want to save money for Mr. Abramovich." Another Israeli midfielder, Tamir Cohen, was also found out about the English complex that was turning around: "My father Avi once played for Liverpool, and he loves Liverpool and England..."

The English media continue to publish articles to urge UEFA to closely monitor the game; UEFA's official partner and some major British companies are also busy. Hope to help Israel defeat Russia.

But don't forget that the real game played Israel and Russia.

Israeli head coach Kashtan said in an interview before the game: "I don't care about the English, what the Russians said. I just want my team to perform well."

Obviously, he was a little dissatisfied with the real protagonist becoming a supporting role.

But his words gave England peace of mind.

Sure enough, ten minutes into the game, the Israelis took the lead at their home court. The British commentator was so excited that it seemed as if the England team had scored the goal, and kept shouting the names of the players who scored the goal.

Tang En shrugged.

In the 60th minute, Russia finally tied the score. The TV immediately became silent. It took a while before the commentator could be heard again, and the commentator was very frustrated.

What if Russia tied with Israel? England had to defeat Croatia to ensure qualifying. If Russia lost to Israel, England would have a better life, they only had to tie Croatia to qualify.

Just qualify...

Tang En moved his eyes away from the TV screen, and he thought of a lot of past events...

On TV, the Ramatgan National Stadium, Tel Aviv, thousands of miles away, the game continues. Russia equalized the score and strengthened its offensive. They also cannot pin their hopes of qualifying on Croatia, which qualifies early in the last round, to carry forward the sports spirit. Only by defeating Israel away can they firmly grasp the fate of qualifying in their own hands.

The Israelis seemed a little satisfied with the draw of Russia. They didn't attack hard and were gradually recovering, intending to hold this point. The English commentator was so anxious that they shouted: "It is definitely impossible to defend when they started defending so early! Conservatism usually has no good end!"

Unfortunately, the Israelis couldn't hear him shouting, and they still reclaimed the penalty area to deal with the Russians, as if they didn't want to win this game. Don Eun had already begun to imagine that there would definitely be many drunken English fans scolding the Israelis for not having sportsmanship...

Who knew that the game changed suddenly at the last moment. In the 92nd minute, the score was still 1:1. The English commentator gave up, and he began to introduce the audience to the form that England faced in this situation - "We must defeat Croatia at home in the last game. In this way, even if Russia and Andorra play basketball scores, it will not affect our qualifying... Yes, that's it..."

Before he finished speaking, he saw the Israelites suddenly shouting.

"What? This is... Ommer Golan!!" The commentator who saw the replaying camera also roared excitedly, "Ommer Golan! Golan, I love you! He created a miracle! This is the last minute goal! The Israelites' final kill! The Russians are finished!! The Israelites defeated Russia at home! They did not disappoint the spirit of sports and fair competition! They are the pride of professional football!"

The commentator was almost yelling, "At this moment they are possessed by God."

Seeing the commentator's excited look, Tang En felt a little sour. He didn't want to see such a comedy scene again, so he raised his hand and turned off the TV.

Shania heard a huge roar coming from the TV upstairs. She walked down curiously, but saw a dark screen.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing." Tang En shrugged, "I was watching a movie that is said to be comparable to "Leaping the Crazy Asylum", but I felt disappointed after watching it a little, and I didn't leap at all. It was "Asylum", so I closed it."

Shania looked at Tang En, and became even more strange: "Aren't you watching a football game?"

"Yes, the game is over."

“What is the result?”

"The English won." Don said angrily.

Shania thought for a while and said with a smile: "So it is Israel that defeated Russia? England has hope of qualifying, but why do I think you are not happy at all?"

Don Eun stood in the living room and looked up at Shania on the stairs. He spread his hands and waved: "The FA won't pay me a salary, why should I be happy for their victory?"

Shania just thought that there was a very deep conflict between Don En and the FA, so she didn't continue to ask. Actually, she didn't know that she was unhappy because Don En has never been an English fan or an Englishman. Of course, there is no need to get involved in other people's affairs.

The next day, almost all the newspapers that Don En could see on the market spent a lot of time reporting on the game yesterday on the front page. Ommer Golan seemed to have become a hero in England overnight, and some people even seriously suggested that the bosses and coaches of Premier League clubs buy this hero. Every time Don En saw similar remarks, he would find it funny - in fact, most of the time, he did see many comments from the English media as jokes.

However, it is understandable that the English are so excited, because the Israelis defeated Russia in an upset, and although Croatia lost to Macedonia. However, because England and Croatia are still three-pointers in the second place. In addition, the victory and loss relationship between the two teams is beneficial to Croatia, it has been announced that Croatia has advanced to advance.

In this way, England only needs to tie Croatia, which qualifies for early qualifying at New Wembley Stadium, to be the second in the group to advance to the European Cup finals. In that case, even if Russia beat Andorra and the two teams scored the same point, based on the results of the two teams' confrontation, England still has to rank ahead of Russia.

Now it's the Russians' turn to panic.

Don Eun watched the show coldly, he was an outsider. It would be no loss for him to not be able to participate in the European Cup, and the England internationals in his team can also have a pleasant vacation next summer.

Before this game, England organized a warm-up match with Austria. Before the game, some media said sourly: "If Russia defeats Israel. Then this warm-up match is likely to be the closest time England has to the European Cup." It is the closest time geographically...

The warm-up match was held on the 16th. After the warm-up match, the England team flew back to the UK to disband. All the players watched the game at home.

McLaren's luck is unbelievable. He was originally on the cliff, but after this game, he was temporarily safe after his feet were down to earth.

The pressure is now on Russia. The English team can only qualify as long as they tie. The English media was in jubilation as if they had already qualified.

When Tang En saw these scenes, he really wanted to remind them: qualifying at a tie is the most terrifying curse in the world, and the sweetest and sweetest trap. He can also give these British people an example of Chinese football. Of course, these conceited British people will not listen, because the level of Chinese football is completely different from that of English football. But in Tang En's eyes, except for the team's strength itself, there are many things in English football that are completely different from Chinese football. For example, the media and the FA.

Of course, Tang En is too lazy to do such thankless things now.

Some media also came to interview Don Eun. In the past few days, many people in the English football circle have come out to accept interviews, talking about how wonderful the prospects of England are. Quitting if you tie is almost equivalent to qualifying. Croatia will definitely not do its best, or advocate the friendship between England and Girona...

Even Frenchman Wenger said that he was optimistic about England's victory, and in order to prove that he was not perfunctory, he also analyzed in detail the reason for England's victory from a tactical level. This strengthened the confidence of many English fans and media in a bright future.

When asked, Tang En said: "If you sing the opposite tune at this time, will you become a public enemy of the whole people?" Then, before the stunned reporter came to his senses, he raised two fingers: "England can score at least two goals!"

He didn't say later that the reporters could use their imaginations. What does it mean to score two goals at their home court? They basically won the game! Everyone left Wilford with a good wish.

On the last day before the 20th game, Don En couldn't help expressing his concerns in his column. He tactfully said how terrible it is to "qualify when you tie" and it is the same as Wenger. However, Wenger then said that he had confidence in England, and Don En said that he thought that the Englishman was so optimistic that he might capsize his gutter. Besides, Croatia is not a "gutter".

If he only said this, these remarks might still be very marketable. But then he said that actually draws are not bad, but the English midfield lacks an excellent defensive midfielder. If McLaren really wants to defend, it is not good to rely on those big-name stars. Hargreaves has been injured in pre-match training and cannot play in important games. England basically has no defensive midfielder at all. Such a lineup still wants to draw? Is it really a decoration for Croatia's forward line that scored twenty-five goals?

So, he thought that since McLaren did not intend to summon George Wood, then if he still wanted to defend, it would be a dead end. As for good luck, "When the Israelites defeated Russia, McLaren used up all his good luck."

He said this, giving people the idea of ​​taking the opportunity to avenge personal revenge and promoting his own players. Naturally, it is not pleasing. There are already voices saying that it is inappropriate to pour cold water at this time, and it is to vent the players' strength. Tang En is too lazy to talk to those ignorant people. After he expressed his opinion, he shut up and quietly waited for the fate of England and McLaren to arrive.
Chapter completed!