Chapter 104: This is the defensive counterattack

This will be Messi's first time playing in Nottingham Forest's new home court. How many stadiums are there?

Messi leaned over and touched the turf when he stepped onto the stadium to prepare for warm-up.

Others think that he is just performing some kind of religious ritual, and only those who are familiar with Messi will be surprised - Messi never did this move before playing...

Only his teammates who were familiar with him laughed at him: "The grassland is of good quality, and this is not the rotten vegetable field."

The treatment Barcelona received in city stadiums has spread all over the world, and many people have used it as a topic of discussion. The teammates also know what Messi is doing.

Messi tried to run two steps, but the feeling of different potholes did not appear. The venue was very flat and the quality of the turf was great, but it was a little short.

Although three seasons have passed that game, Messi still can't forget the feeling of playing on such a field. He has half of his energy to pay attention to not being hurt. Tony Donn may be the most despicable and shameless head coach he has ever seen, and he can come up with such an idea. He will never play football under such a coach in his life. He believes that every move of Donnn insults the beautiful and sacred football in his mind.

For George Wood, his mood was much more complicated. He admitted that it would be a great thing if Wood became his teammate, but he felt very uncomfortable with Wood's defensive move that seemed to always be aimed at his legs.

Whenever Wood ran towards him, he felt a chill in his knees.

However, every time he fights Wood, he is extremely excited. You should know that the person in front of him is an opponent that he needs to do his best to defeat. Every master hopes to have such an opponent on the field, and the competition with them is the greatest pleasure besides winning the championship.

Since that game, Nottingham Forest has never met Barcelona again, and England is also the first time to play against Argentina. Messi is really eager to face George Wood at one time and then defeat them.

The fans who entered the stands began to prepare for their preparations, raising banners in the stands, holding up portraits, and then began to sing. They sang English team songs, and some even sang the cheering songs of Nottingham Forest.

Donn set the game venue here in his hope to use the help of enthusiastic Nottingham fans. He put huge psychological pressure on Argentina.

Although it was just a warm-up match, Don En didn't want his team to lose to Argentina. In his mind, this had nothing to do with the Battle of the Cabernets and the thirty-year feud between Ying and A.

He just wants to fulfill his promise. Nottingham Forest defeated Barcelona, ​​and now it is England's turn to defeat Argentina.

George Wood, as the captain of England, stood in the middle of the field with a triangular squad flag, waiting to exchange the team flag with Argentina's captain Messi.

John in the stands looked at Wood in the center of the venue and exclaimed: "It seems that he really has the style of a leader..."

"Hey, when Vilford watched him do nothing to defend Fabregas. I knew he would be today!"

"Stop bragging! But when I saw him dare to punch first-team coach Corymore, I knew that this kid must be very awesome in the future..."

A group of people began to brag about how foresighted and wise they were.

Fatty John was not involved, and he laughed at him. He remembered the past twelve years ago, when George Wood was still an unknown young man in the youth team. Nottingham Forest was also struggling in the first league, and Tony Donn was depressed in the youth team.

Who would have thought that one day Nottingham Forest would become the treble champion and Tony Donn would be famous all over England. And George Wood would shake hands with Messi in the English national team jersey and captain's armband?

Wood felt the pressure on his hands increased a little, and he looked at the short man opposite him.

Messi was staring at him, his eyes flashing with excitement.

He knew what the eyes and movement meant, so he added force without showing any weakness and squeezed Messi's hand tightly.

Kaka, thirty-four, is already old, and Messi, 28, is at his peak.

The secret competition between the two people was soon over. They could not always hold each other's hands. Otherwise, some bad rumors would appear in the media the next day...

Wood lost when he picked the sidelines and England got the kick-off. This is what Donn wanted.

The wind blew in Nottingham at night and the temperature was cool, which was the weather suitable for football matches.

Players on both sides stood on the court according to their positions and waited for the kickoff.

Donn also stood on the sidelines and waited for the game to begin. People like him also include Argentina's head coach Maradona.

The referee whistle blew and the battle between England and Afghanistan, which has attracted worldwide attention, kicked off.

Don't designs the tactics for England as defensive counterattacks, which was beyond the expectation of many people. Although he always insists on defensive counterattacks in the club, his tactics in England are indeed mainly attacks. They are very strong. The scores of 4:0, 3:2, 3:1 in those games can tell the problem. They scored 32 goals in the European Cup qualifiers. Don't change his conservative image in the club. He conquered those picky fans with constant goals.

But in this game, Don En asked the team to collectively recycle and use a quick counterattack to deal with Argentina.

Is he afraid of Argentina with Messi, Aguero, Higuain, and Mascherano?

Check out England's starting lineup today.

In the frontcourt, Done filmed the offensive combination of Rooney, Abanglaho, Walcott and Downing. These four people are all speed players. Rooney and Abanglaho did not retreat at all in the game, but just stood in front and waited for the pass from behind.

In the backcourt, Donn did not arrange for people to guard the defense. Even for a terrible figure like Messi, George Wood did not guard the whole game. England uses regional joint defense tactics. Any Argentine player will be surrounded by at least two English players after getting the ball in England's defensive third zone, one will be snatched. One is waiting for an opportunity. As long as the Argentine player controls the ball slightly away from his body, the second person will immediately intercept the ball.

This move has been tried and done with the Forest team, and now the English team is also very effective.

Argentina players are very troubled by defense like the Englishman. Unless they can stick football to their feet, they may lose possession with just a slight mistake.

Look at Higuain's retracement, the football bounced on his toes. It was only five meters away from him. It was not a big problem to stop the ball like this. He only needed a big step to catch up, but today this set would not work. After the football bounced out, it was immediately snatched by the English defender Richards who followed Higuain.

There was no Messi yet. He thought he would have an open one-on-one duel with George Wood today, a contest between the captain and the captain. Unexpectedly, Tony Donn did not give him such a chance. After he got the football, whoever was closest to him was forced to come up, and he tried to control the ball and get rid of the first defensive player. The second man appeared within one foot, and he quickly pulled the ball back, but the first man turned over and pounced on him, so he was circling around in the same place.

He tried hard to break forward and finally broke through the siege. He headed straight to England's penalty area, but when he arrived at the penalty area line, he found that he could not pass the ball and could not break through. After hesitating, he was surrounded by English players again with the football under his feet.

Finally found the gap for passing.   When the football was forward, the lineman raised the flag - the forward was offside!

If he wanted to break through by himself, he hit a plate again, and three defensive players stood in front of him. Even if he was powerful, he would not succeed every time.

So he moved to the two sides.

Some of the teammates who took the ball chose to hit the goal directly from a small angle. Forwards like Aguero and Higuain were of course saved by Joe Hart. It would be no difficulty to defend such a ball as long as the angle is blocked.

When Messi's pass is relatively large, the teammates need to run to the sideline to control the football. At this time, Argentina will choose the most common offensive method of crossing from the wing. However, their crossing quality is not very high, and most of the crosses are pushed out by the tall England central defender. Occasionally there are fish that miss the net. Argentina's three forwards are too short, Tvez is 1.68 meters tall, Aguero is 1.72 meters tall, and Higuain is not good at heading.

Argentina's cross from the wing to get the ball. He must pass the ball lower. But if the pass is low, he cannot bypass England's defense line. Although the pass is high, he can bypass England's central defender. The effect of the Argentina's forward is greatly reduced.

Either the top is too high or the top is tilted, even the number of times it reaches the door frame is only a few.

The Argentinians obviously are not suitable for this style of play.

They intend to penetrate through the middle for a short pass, but they will encounter a slight block. The two layers of defense in England can be seen clearly in the stands, with very short intervals between them, just like a filtration of pure water. When Argentina's offensive penetrated through the ground like water, there was nothing clean.

In the end, Argentina had no choice but to shoot from a long distance. If the defenders were not blocked by their hands and bodies, the football could fly to the goal, but Joe Hart was in great shape, saving all the shots that were qualifying within the goal frame.

Of course, occasionally there will be one or two chances that make the Argentinians feel like they have found treasures.

"Joe Hart lost his hand when he saves the ball!!"

Aguero rushed up like a cheetah, and he almost succeeded in shooting. If it weren't for George Wood's rushing out the football in front of him... Aguero hit Wood's leg and flew out. He lies on the ground and patted the turf hard, obviously regretting not seizing this opportunity.

The game has been in the first half forty minutes, and England has few shots. Eighty percent of the time, the audience only saw Argentina bombing in the 30-meter area surrounding England, with the number of shots far ahead.

The commentator was a little dissatisfied with the situation. As old enemies, how could they allow the Argentine team to be so arrogant?

"Tony Don has started playing this game again... But England is by no means a weak team, and Argentina is not a good match. He gave up attacks like this and defended his entire desperation. Argentina could not score a goal with fifteen shots. It does not mean that they could not score twenty shots, twenty-five shots. There is no future for defensive counterattack without offense!"

The commentator shouted loudly. The TV broadcast happened to give Tang En a close-up. He stood on the sidelines, expressionless, and no one could see through his plans.

He has confidence in his team's defense. Does he think everyone can accept it if he plays 0:0 with Argentina here?

The commentator was dissatisfied with this. The atmosphere of the Crimson Field made Tang En very satisfied. The Forest fans who were used to Tang En playing like this in the Forest Team were not surprised, and they knew that whenever this happened, it meant that the balance of victory was tilting towards them little by little.

So as long as England has a chance to fight back, no matter whether it is successful or not, there will be a cheer in the stands.

This is also the reason why Tang En chose the Crimson Field - the fans here understand him. And they will not easily dedicate their boos to their own people.

Messi soon discovered why the turf on the Crimson Field was very short today...

As the first half was about to end, England intercepted Argentina's goal.

In fact, England had many counterattacks before, but not many shots in the end, and even fewer could pose a threat to Argentina's goal.

But this time it's different.

They did not pass the ball forward directly in the backcourt, and Wood looked at the situation after receiving the ball. The Argentine central defenders were a little hesitant and did not come up to save him as soon as possible. After Wood made a move to pass the ball sideways to the side, Mascherano cooperated to move the center of gravity to the side of the body, preparing to save the receiver.

Then Wood put a pack of football with his right foot. He went forward with his left foot and broke through straight from the middle!

Wood, who had a big stride, dribbled the ball very quickly and ran from the penalty area to the middle circle in an instant.

Argentine players retreated in a hurry, while England players were struggling to push.

There were huge cheers in the stands again, and the English fans saw the scene they wanted to see the most.

"Charge! St. George!!" the fans shouted wildly.

Downing, Walcott, Rooney, and Abanglaho were running wildly towards four different points, and the involvement of four people made Argentina's defense full of loopholes. Wood observed the situation ahead while running at high speed. Walcott was taken care of by the side, who made the "little tiger" famous?

His ankle shook.                                                                                                                            

On the hard ground with short turf, the football rolled faster. It quickly passed through Mascherano and rolled to the left.

Tangning inserted at high speed and just caught the ball.

Now Mascherano, who was lying on the ground, could not do anything even if he wanted to return to defense.

Wood's mission was completed, but he was still running forward. Support the team's attack. At the same time, he put psychological pressure on the Argentine defenders who were already helpless, thinking that he was going to wait for an opportunity to shoot a long shot.

This scene did not happen. After receiving the football, Tangning faced the tall central defender Fazio who came up to defend him. He flew and forced a break through after a fake shot.

Fazio is strong and has an excellent header, but his speed is not his strength. He fell to the ground and stretched his legs to touch the football, but the football bounced up and hit Tangning's calves and flew forward. Instead, it helped his opponent's breakthrough...

Tang Ning raised his speed to the highest level and barely recovered the football at the low line. Then he did not hesitate. He swept the football to the center of the penalty area with one kick!

Rooney ran past, Abanglaho also ran past. Could it be another counterattack that failed?

The football passed near the penalty spot in the penalty area. There was no Argentine defender there.

Tang Ning, who finished the cross and fell out, did not feel regretful about it. He stared at the stadium, his eyes flashing.

"This is George Wood!"

Just now, it was against the ground, and Wood appeared in front of the ball. There was no Argentine player next to him - who would specifically target a player without the ball?

He shot hard directly against the football!

Argentina goalkeeper Ustari encountered the football, but Wood's shot was strong and he just stretched out his left hand like a conditioned reflex, and touched the football with one palm, but he could not change its flight trajectory.

The football changed slightly and hit the net!

1:0!

In the 42 minutes of the first half, Argentina had a ball possession rate of up to 64%, with seventeen shots but none of them scored. England had led by just five shots.

This is the defensive counterattack!

Seeing the England players hugging each other and celebrating, the proud former world champion had to bow his head.
Chapter completed!