Chapter 48: Destined Results

On November 21, on the day of the game, all England fans were waiting at home or in the bar to watch the game that was about to take place.

According to the news revealed before the game, David Beckham was indeed ranked on the starting lineup by McLaren. It seems that in the face of such an important game, he finally plans to believe in the veteran's experience.

Donn was also waiting in front of the TV to watch the game. He was not trying to cheer for England and McLaren, he was purely trying to investigate Beckham's condition and performance.

In Croatia, the striker Eduardo da Silva, who currently plays for Arsenal, is the most popular. Before the game, the English media took a lot of time to praise his ability. Looking back on his half season at Arsenal, he called it "perfect". In fact, it can't be said to be "perfect", but it's still successful. He scored five goals in less than half a season, considering that this is his first season, it's already very good. He will be the most threatening player to England in this game.

There is another change in the roster announced before the game. Robinson, who had been the main goalkeeper of England, was abandoned in this game, and Carson, who performed well in the warm-up match against Austria, served as the starter. It seems that McLaren also distrusts Robinson, otherwise it would be a risky move to replace the main goalkeeper he has been using in such an important game.

Since Irving and Rooney were injured one after another, Crouch was the starting striker in this game, which was exactly the same as Wenger's previous analysis - Wenger believed that McLaren would play 451 because England lacked a forward now.

The five midfielders are Lampard, Gerrard, Beckham, Joe Cole, and Barry. On the defense line, due to the suspension of Rio Ferdinand and Terry was injured, he could not play. The combination of the lineup was that Richards from Manchester City served as the right back, Campbell and Lescott were central defenders, and Wayne Bridge was the left back.

Before the game, the English media vigorously praised Croatia. The subtext is that we hope that Croatia will give England a single horse in terms of qualifying in advance. There is no need to fight with us...

The Croatian head coach did not express any opinion on this issue. Some reporters asked him to cleverly go around. No one knew whether he was planning to let the team do their best, or was really just pretending and then wait for England to exert its strength...

Don’t think that European football will be much cleaner than Chinese football, such as counterfeiting, betting on football, tacit understanding, water release, black whistle... The dark side of these footballs is the same. It’s just that people are doing better than China. Most people can’t look at it carefully, and even if they see it, there is no evidence.

For example, of course, the English people hope that Croatia will let go. Although this will harm Russia's interests and violate the spirit of fair competition, it will harm Russia's interests and damage England's interests. Which Englishman chooses? No fool will choose to satisfy Russia. Because not everyone is a saint who is not in the world. When this relationship is related to the country and the nation, fanaticism will prevail.

However, the English are smart. They don’t say it directly. They just found Croatia’s seemingly high-sounding reasons to let go—“Prove in advance, and you don’t need to fight for a game that is irrelevant to them. If you get on the team, or if the main players are banned from the red card, it will be a loss.

The reasons are very sufficient and reasonable. Very legitimate. If Croatia really sends a substitute and does not work hard to make the English win the ball, the Russians are dissatisfied with the appeal. If there is no conclusive evidence, the matter will be left alone.

But the question is...will Croats perform according to the script written by the English?

In the first eight minutes, a huge mountain collapse that was pressing over the heads of all the Englishmen fell on a huge rock.

This summer, the assisted full-back Serna, who had made Don hesitate to introduce, made a breakthrough after breaking through, and followed up Kranica shot hard from 25 yards on the left. In this game, Robinson, who was highly anticipated by McLaren, made a major mistake in the face of this shot - he lost the ball!

The football slowly rolled under him like a goal. Carson was still lying on the ground, not recovering from his senses.

"Oh, God..." commentator John Motterson groaned in pain. "Is he too nervous, or... this is a stupid mistake!"

The Croatians were celebrating the goal, but the New Wembley Stadium was silent. The goal was conceded just eight minutes into the game, which no one expected.

Before the game, everyone was generally optimistic that England could use its home advantage to defeat Croatia, so most fans were quite optimistic.

Done straightened his back on the sofa, because of Croatia's active performance. He suddenly felt that he was full of expectations for this game again... It seemed that the Croatians did not intend to act according to the script that the English wrote for them...

The Englishman's nightmare is not over yet. Just six minutes after this goal, in the 14th minute. Eduardo da Silva dribbled the ball and broke through to the edge of the penalty area. He attracted two England's central defenders Campbell and Lescott to follow, and at this time he passed directly to Olic in front.

Campbell raised his hand to signal the opponent to offside, but did not chase back. But the lineman showed no signs. Campbell then realized that Bridge was still dragging behind...

Olic succeeded in counter-offside. He easily dribbled Carson when he attacked and then scored in the empty goal.

In just six minutes, Croatia scored two goals in a row.

2:0!!

Croatia had no intention of letting water out. Their active performance was like a basin of cold water falling from the sky, extinguishing the fire of hope among English fans.

The Wembley Stadium was silent, and the commentator Motson was silent. The camera was given to McLaren, who was standing on the sidelines to direct the game. The poor man looked at the field with a little confused, as if he couldn't figure out what was going on. He was still holding a bottle of water in his hand. From the first goal from Croatia, he kept drinking water on the sidelines. Anyway, as long as the TV camera swept him after a while, he must be drinking water. His face was rosy and sweaty, not because he was in good spirits. He was completely tortured by nervous emotions.

After a long time, Motson's voice finally rang again: "It took less than twenty minutes to start, and we even lost two goals... Campbell is old? Lescott is too young? This is not a reason. Where is our midfield defense? What is the most important barrier in front of the back line? Gareth Barry works very hard. He is an all-round midfielder, Gerald and Lampard are also an all-round midfielder... But we need to be a special defensive midfielder! Barry alone cannot stop Croatia from attacking everywhere, and they have too many offensive points!"

Motson was reminding the TV audience in a very obscure way that someone who was very helpful to this situation was sitting in front of the TV at home watching the game.

Tang En doesn't think so. While watching the game, he explained to the Xianya next to him. He acted as a guest-starred commentator, which has regained the skills he had once been a special commentator for the BBC World Cup.

"Motson was wrong. The one he said can only be used before conceding the ball. Now England is two goals behind, and it doesn't make sense to talk about the midfield barrier. McLaren is now in trouble - is he pressing up and bombing the ball at all costs, or is he strengthening his defense in order not to continue conceding the ball? This is a difficult multiple-choice question, Shania. And this kind of dilemma is the easiest thing to do. If he doesn't choose any answers... so he must make a decision as soon as possible."

Tang En said with a smile. He knew McLaren's feelings very well. Because his opponent and himself had experienced it. When you urgently need to score a goal, your opponent scored a goal. Next, should you stabilize the defense and prevent the goal from being lost, or do you go out and attack the opponent?

McLaren didn't seem to choose his answer. England seemed a little "anarchist" on the court. The players wanted to do it themselves when they got the ball, without any cooperation. Even if they cooperated, they seemed very impatient and always passed the ball to the ball by themselves and left the ball to stop.

The loyal English fans in the stands were still singing, but they could no longer hide their booing to McLaren.

Motson shook his head vigorously: "How can we expect miracles with such offensive quality?"

Gerrard and Lampard have completely overlapped their positions and roles on the court. They are each fighting, and Beckham is limited to the right, but lacks enough support. Except for the pass at the top, they basically cannot play a role once they are stuck. What about Joe Cole on the left? His skills are excellent, but the lack of speed advantage makes his breakthrough completely a fancy way. When it comes to the Croatians, the ball has to be lost. What about Barry? He was placed behind the Double Des. He said it was defense and then taking into account the offense. In fact, his positioning was very embarrassing.

The best game he performed in his national team was against Israel. Lampard and Hargreaves were absent due to injury, Carrick was abandoned by McLaren, and Gerald could only play with a closed and gritted his teeth and insisted on playing. In that case, Barry played in the same state as Aston Villa. It turned out that this was not because he performed extraordinaryly, but because the team's midfield staffing was just right for him to play.

One missing from Double Des. Gerald was injured again and in poor condition. Barry could be the core after moving to the middle lane. His pass created five offensive opportunities for England. He received a ball. In that game, he was completely used as the core of the midfield organization, which could fully utilize his all-round player characteristics.

But now, Gerald and Lampard are not injured or sick, McLaren asked them to be the core, and Barry can only serve as a foil. Such a position and role are very awkward for Barry. He is at a loss and cannot find his own positioning, so he naturally doesn't know how to best play.

The entire lineup is like a freak, with a lot of powerful stars being put on, but they cannot play the role they should have. One plus one plus one plus one is not equal to five or greater than five, but is less than five.

The first half passed by Croatia's counterattack and England's blind mistakes.

Don said to Shania next to him: "If I were McLaren, I would ask all the players to attack during the break, don't consider defense, and try to score a goal within ten minutes of the game, so that there is hope of winning in the second half. Otherwise... just wait to die."

Shania curled her lips: "You are just talking about it here, why don't you coach England?"

Tang En smiled: "I won't go. I wrote an article in the newspaper column to scold the head coach of the national team and criticized his hiring tactics, which does not mean that I will sit on it and be scolded by others. That position. It's not done by people."

After the second half began, as Don N said, England strengthened its offensive. And it was not gradually strengthening, but the offensive suddenly became like a tide and pressed towards the heart of Croatia. It seemed as if there was no defense at all. McLaren replaced the striker Defoe with a mediocre performance in the first half, strengthened the forward line and increased support for Crouch.

Croatia expected England to counterattack in the second half, and they quickly made their own defensive countermeasures against this situation.

Their attack to defend England is very simple. Contract the middle and let you cross from the wing, and you will be cleared when you come in. In the dense penalty area, it is not easy to fight for the top shot. Even a big man like Crouch, who is more than two meters tall, has few chances to face the pincer attacks of two defenders.

Changing the direction of the game is often not an unexpected personnel adjustment or a clever tactical arrangement, but a pure accident...

Joe Cole made a pass to the penalty area. Difo fell in the penalty area. The referee believed that Croatian player Simonic had committed a foul and awarded a penalty. Although Croatian players expressed protests, the referee did not change his plan to make the penalty. The penalty kick made the atmosphere liven up again, and the Wembley fans sang hymns to encourage the players.

Poor McLaren, when the broadcast gave him another shot, the water bottle in his hand was finally thrown away. Tang En maliciously thought, did he spend more time going to the toilet during the halftime break? Or should the players explain tactics more time in the locker room...

Lampard stood up and took the penalty kick. His low shot tricked the goalkeeper and the football flew into the lower left corner of the goal. England scored a goal! It was fifty-six minutes at this time, just one minute passed ten minutes after the start of the second half that Don said.

The morale of England was greatly boosted, while Croatia seemed a little listless.   Things were developing towards the point where the English hoped - the Croatian scored two goals to block the Russians' mouth, and then saw England counterattack, and then he went with the flow to give favors. In the end, England and Croatia tied 2:2, and everyone shook hands and made peace.   Proceeded together.

However, Bridge, who made an offside mistake in the first half, clearing the ball to the crossbar, almost causing an own goal, which made all the Englishmen's hearts come to their throats. Next, Selna made a straight pass, and Bridge made another pass to help his opponent stop the ball. Fortunately, Olic was a little psychologically prepared for the opponent who frequently gave gifts. His hasty shot at the edge of the penalty area was saved by Carson.

Donn shook his head and snorted: "Leighton Barnes is better than Bridge, but unfortunately, you look down on McLaren. You look down on me."

In the 65th minute, David Beckham, who was highly expected to perform a miracle before the game, finally flashed. He made a precise cross on the wing. He sent the football to Crouch, stopped the ball in his chest, and then volleyed directly to tie the score for England!

Wembley Stadium burst out with huge energy at this moment, and even Tang En, who was sitting in front of the TV, felt deafening.

"Crouch! Beckham! David Beckham, he saved England again! This cross was too accurate. Crouch only needed to jump up and stop the ball. He didn't need to get rid of the defender at all, because David's pass made the opponent's defenders unable to grab it!" Motson shouted excitedly. "Get! The situation is good for us!"

On the other side, news came from Russia and Andorra's matches, so Motson said so. If Russia was eventually tied by Andorra in an upset, England would have no pressure at all - they would qualify even if they lost the ball.

Beckham, who assisted his teammates to score, performed more excitedly than Crouch, who scored. After hugging and celebrating with his teammates, he retreated, clenched his fists and pounded the Three Lions logo on his chest, which was the badge of the English FA.

Now that he has joined the England national team again, the number behind him is no longer the glorious No. 7. No. 7 is Barry's, so he can only wear No. 17. Even in Nottingham Forest, he can't wear No. 7 and No. 23. For a while, people thought he had completely fallen and could not return to the past. But every time people think so, Beckham will use his actual actions to prove how outrageous they were.

In the 1998 World Cup, he was sent off to become a "public enemy" to attack the whole of Britain. Everyone thinks his career is over. But in the first game of the 1998-99 season, Beckham announced his return with a goal. That season he helped Manchester United win the great triple crown; in the 2000 European Championship, England was eliminated before qualifying in the group stage. He was in a sluggish state like England, but in the 2001 World Cup qualifier, he called a free kick with Greece. He instantly turned from a human to a god; in the 2004 European Championship, he lost a penalty, resulting in the team being eliminated by Portugal. Countless people laughed at him for a while, and this voice continued until the German World Cup. In the eyes of those people, the current England destabilizing needle is Lampard and Gerrard, Rooney, but

It was in Germany, who almost brought England to the quarterfinals with his own strength. He also helped the team to the quarterfinals with his own free kick? It was David Beckham. Who was wearing the captain's armband and running tirelessly under the scorching sun at the age of 30 until he vomited? It was David Beckham; after the World Cup, he was excluded from the national team and his life was not easy in Real Madrid. He couldn't even enter the bench. Everyone thought he should be completely finished this time, and he could only go to the United States to make a fortune, right? No, Beckham impressed Capello with his amazing professional performance, stable state, and never give up fighting spirit. He returned to Real Madrid's main lineup, helped the team win the first league championship in four years, and announced that he would return to the Premier League and join the new European champion Nottingham Forest, and was about to make a comeback.

Tang En looked at the familiar and ferocious distorted face on the TV screen... He was a little gloating about England being eliminated, but now he can't be happy.

He was in a conflicted mood. Because he neither wanted McLaren to remain in the head coach position, nor did he want to see Beckham's national team career end so miserably - if he did not have the qualification to the finals of the European Cup. Does Beckham still have the conditions to look forward to the World Cup three years later?

If he hadn't returned in the first half of the year, McLaren's team wouldn't even have the chance to compete with Russia for the last qualifying spot in Wembley.

But is this more cruel? Which one is better to quit before the finish line or before the game?

In the following game, Tang En kept silent and did not explain the game to Shania. Shania felt a little strange. She glanced at Tang En with a serious look on her face, and didn't ask.

Beckham is working harder, or the English players are working hard.    Because Croatia is counterattacking.    It seems that the Croatians do not accept the willingness of the English, and they are not willing to shake hands with their opponents here.

Beckham began to frequently retreat and move to the middle to help defend. His offensive threat was weakened. After all, he was older and was not as good as he was when he was young. Sometimes he couldn't come back when he went up, and sometimes he couldn't come back when he came back. In the 74th minute, McLaren made a controversial substitution after the game, and he replaced Beckham with Wright Phillips.

When Beckham was out, the fans stood up and cheered and applauded him, thanking him for everything he did for the team.

It can be seen that McLaren didn't want to just hold on until the end of the game, and replaced Wright Phillips, who had better physical strength and could break through with dribbling skills, just hoped to continue to put pressure on Croatia so that their counterattack momentum would slightly weaken.

His idea is good, but he overlooked a little. Sometimes, by attacking and suppressing defense, it may be killed because it is a double-edged sword...

Wright Phillips may be more active than Beckham in offense, but he is definitely not as responsible as Beckham in defense.

In the 81st minute, when Petrich, who came on the bench, scored a goal from 25 yards from the left to lead the score again, Wembley Stadium fell into a one-minute silence.

Don En did not clench his fists and cheer for Croatia's goal this time, he just sat on the sofa and sighed.

The destined result is just a bit cruel for David.

At the same time, Russia also scored a goal, and the score between Russia and Andorra was scored below the screen - 0:1, and Andorra was behind at home.

This insulting news made everyone Englishmen remain silent.

Just after Croatia scored, McLaren replaced Joe Cole with Darren Bent and continued to strengthen the attack. He used up all three substitutions and wanted to give it a try.

The English team went out in full swing to equalize the score in the end and create miracles. But what made them very uncomfortable was that Croatia did not recycle all of them just because they took the lead and allowed England to siege. On the contrary, they were still insisting on counterattacking and attacking, and they pressed firmly on as long as they had the opportunity, causing trouble for England's defense line and forcing England to withdraw their troops and return to defense.

This is very similar to Tang En's approach. No matter how many balls he leads, he will not give up the idea and opportunity to counterattack. It is to prevent the opponent from trying his best to defeat the attack before he has the conditions and create miracles.

When the referee blew the whistle to the end of the game, the score was frozen at 2:3.

Beckham, who had not changed his jersey, stood on the court. The TV gave him a long shot of his back, with a noisy stand in the background and the dazzling and dazzling large screen above his head.

Beckham wore a No. 17 jersey and looked up at the score on the screen:

England 2:3 Croatia.

No one could see the expression on his face. He stood there alone for a long time. Behind him were his dejected teammates and the Croatians who were cheering and celebrating, and ahead was an empty court and empty goal.
To be continued...