Godfather Of Champions

“George Wood!! YES! A beautiful coordinated counterattack! Wood started the attack, and he ended it again this time! England leads Argentina by 1:0! Well done!”

Goals scored in a friendly match might not have caused the English commentator to be so thrilled, but it held a different meaning when it was scored in Argentina’s goal.

Seeing Wood score the goal, the Crimson Stadium erupted with huge cheers, roaring in the air over the stadium and stirring everyone’s hearts.

After Twain finished hugging his colleagues around him, he turned to applaud Wood.

Nowadays, Wood’s offensive talent was fully on display. He not only had become the initiator of the offensive but could also complete the attack. He was a completely different player than the reckless teenager who only knew about defense a decade ago.

He had scored a number of goals since becoming the England team captain, some of which were important key goals. It certainly had something to do with Twain who was familiar with him and knew how to use him well. But more importantly, Wood himself had the belief that he wanted to use the best performance to prove that he deserved The Three Lions’ captain armband.

After he scored the goal, Wood no longer looked as aloof as he had been before. He waved his fists vigorously and welcomed his teammates’ hugs.

Twain wanted him to not look so grim and unapproachable, so he acted accordingly. It was a good opportunity after the goal.

It seemed that Wood had matured a lot during the period after Twain had left the Forest team.

He ought to have matured a long time ago… He was already thirty years old and getting older.

※※※

Looking at George Wood celebrating the goal, Messi raised his fists. Although the two men did not have a direct conversation, he still saw Wood’s goal as a challenge to himself.

Which he accepted.

After the game resumed, Messi came alive and tried several times to force a breakthrough, but there was not much time left for him… The first half was over!

Messi’s face collapsed when the referee blew the whistle to end the first half. He recalled that before he had set off for the game, Guardiola told him that he could only play half the game in this friendly match.

The England players walked into the players’ tunnel with excitement, while he stood outside for a moment before walking back with his head lowered. Within one short minute, he had made a decision.

In the Argentina team’s locker room, Maradona was making adjustments for the second half. First of all, he needed to switch out the players who had clear instructions not to play the entire game. Luckily, there were not many players with such special treatment. Otherwise he might have a problem on his hands – although this was a friendly match, the number of substitutes was still three spots.

“Messi.” Although Maradona was unhappy with being a goal behind, he had to abide by his agreement with Guardiola and bring off the most precious asset shared by the two teams. The La Liga tournament was in the final stages of the campaign and the Barcelona football club did not want Messi to waste his fitness in such a friendly match.

Messi shook his head and said, “I want to keep playing, coach.

All eyes in the locker room were on him. The remark came as a surprise to everyone.

Maradona did not expect it as well. He looked up at Messi.

“We have an agreement with Barcelona.” Maradona said as he looked at him.

“I know.” Messi nodded, but the look in his eyes showed that he would not back down. “I’ll call Mr. Guardiola after the game to explain.”

Maradona knew the reason why Messi was so insistent – his performance in the first half was average. Although he was the core of Argentina’s offense, he did not help Argentina score goals and create several threatening opportunities. England’s defense was too successful.

He wanted to prove himself, at least to show that he was just as good under the circumstances that Wood had scored a goal.

Maradona was an unruly figure during his time as a player. After his retirement, he increasingly showed more of his unique personality. Since becoming the manager, he somewhat toned it down, but it was only limited to him stopping to threaten to kill the reporters with a shotgun.

Although we have an agreement with Barcelona, … since the player himself insists, I can’t stop him, can I?

“Okay.” Maradona finally nodded his head and said, “But you only have fifteen minutes. I can’t mess up the relationship with Barcelona for your personal feud with Wood…”

His last words were a little redundant. He basically did not care about those things at all.

Messi laughed and sat down again.

Since Messi did not have to be replaced, there was nothing to be adjusted and it was business as usual.

※※※

In England’s locker room, Twain did not praise the England team’s performance in the first half, but he asked the team to continue to play in this way.

Of course, he made adjustments too. He knew that Messi could not play in the second half. After the biggest threat had been lifted, England’s defense did not need to be as tight as it was. England could put in a lot of force into the offense majority of the time.

But in the second half, he and the England players were stunned.

Argentina’s number 10 stood right there on the pitch…

“Didn’t Guardiola say to only allow him to play for half the game?” Twain asked Walker next to him, “Is it a smokescreen that Argentina has cast? Damn it! Do they need to resort to colluding with Barcelona to play a friendly match?”

Walker did not know why as well. A few days before the game, the media reported that Barcelona did not want Messi to play full-time in the friendly match. Guardiola further reduced the time to half the game at forty-five minutes.

As a result, when they saw Messi start in the first half, they did not take the second half to heart. But they did not expect this to happen. They really did not think of it…

Wood stared blankly for a moment when he saw Messi opposite. At the same time, he found Messi staring at himself too. As an old rival, he clearly knew what that look in his eyes meant.

He was just surprised, but not afraid.

Bring it on, boy.

※※※

After the start of the second half, Messi became the focal point of attention once again. The commentator also wondered why Messi was still on the pitch, and guessed that Guardiola was probably desperate to fly to Nottingham to drag him off the pitch…

Messi, who took the ball, faced being wedged between two England defenders. He quickly jabbed the ball and turned his body so that he could drilled past the two men to break through!

“What a beautiful bypass! He’s a magician on the football field!” The Argentine commentator exclaimed.

Unfortunately, in the next second, Messi’s nimble body was bogged down.

Because Wood struck him without mercy. Messi stumbled at his feet and was knocked off course. The threat to the goal was greatly reduced.

Faced with Wood’s close marking defense, Messi tried several times to shake him off but to no avail. When he saw the England player whom he had just shook off, came up again to circle him, he had no choice but to pass the ball to the sideline.

“Ah ha! Don’t think that Wood, who scores frequently, does not know how to defend! ‘Saint George’ is good at both offense and defense. He’s guaranteed to be every opponent’s nightmare!” The English commentator was pleased with the result.

Messi was indomitable and soon made a comeback.

This time he did not meet Wood head-on but was forced out the side of the penalty area by three England players. So, he could only kicked the ball for a cross pass. The result of the pass was unsurprising. It was headed out by England’s tall center backs.

But it did not matter. The football fell at the feet of the Argentine player, Higuaín.

Seeing that Messi was still in the penalty area, Higuaín directly sent a straight pass over!

Terry raised his arms to signal that Messi was in an offside position, but the assistant referee did not raise the flag.

“Offside position!” The English commentator roared in a fluster.

“Beautiful! He’s not in an offside position! A gorgeous straight pass!” The Argentine commentator stood up excitedly from his seat. Six minutes into the second half, Argentina finally had their best chance of the game so far!

Messi received the ball from the side of his body and England’s right back Glen Johnson was trailing at the back. He was really not in an offside position!

Now Messi had no defenders around him. He was completely unguarded!

Terry, who realized that he had misjudged, quickly pounced toward Messi.

Messi just had to swing his leg and he could shoot straight into the goal. But he spied Terry from the corner of his eye, and he decided to choose a more secure way – he feigned a shot and moved the ball. He easily bypassed Terry who rushed up. Then he picked up his feet again and this time it was for real!

Even though Terry did not stop Messi from shooting, he had bought valuable time for those players behind him.

When Messi’s supported foot was a little further away from the football while he swung his other leg for the shot, the football was completely unpossessed. It was at this point that George Wood took advantage of the gap to come in. Like a fierce tiger coming down from the mountain, he slid and shoveled the ball out of the end line before Messi could kick the ball. While Messi’s powerful kick struck the outside of his thigh at the same time.

Messi felt as if he had kicked a piece of iron. He inadvertently allowed his body to fall forward and pressed right on top of Wood.

“A penalty shot!!” The Argentine commentator who stood up, poked his body out, desperately wishing that he could reach for the referee’s collar with his hands and yelled at him with spittle flying.

The English commentator was hesitant. He could not really see clearly from high in the stands. The small television screen in front of him had not replayed the scene yet. “Messi fell into the penalty area. Maybe Wood got to the ball first?”

It was not that the television broadcast was deliberately not showing the replay. It was just that there was not enough time to replay for the audience what just happened again. Messi fell in the penalty area and the Argentine players held up their hands to demand for the penalty shot. While the England players desperately waved their hands to show that it must not have been a foul. They even thought that Messi had dived.

The referee made the final decision at the next minute. He held out his right index finger and wagged it in front of the Argentine players. The meaning was obvious – George Wood did not foul!

Then he made a hand gesture for a corner kick, completely shattering the Argentines’ idea.

Messi had not gotten up yet. If Guardiola was watching the live telecast at this time, he must have rebuked Maradona, George Wood, the referee, and Tony Twain in his mind –”Do you know what Messi means to Barcelona?! If he gets hurt, we’re done for this season! Who is going to take the blame for this?!”

Fortunately, Messi soon got up from Wood’s body and looked normal. He appeared as if he were unhurt.

That was when the television broadcast finally caught the chance to replay what happened just now. Everyone could see from the television screen that even though Wood shoveled ferociously, it was clean and brushed past the tip of Messi’s toes to shovel the ball away. It did not even touch anyone. If Messi did get hurt, it must be because he kicked himself on the outside of Wood’s thigh.

Guardiola and Maradona were worried about whether Messi would be injured, while Twain was also worried about whether Wood was injured. Messi’s kick was powerful…the strength of the kick was to volley a show. With such a hard kick to the outside of Wood’s thigh, how could it not hurt?

Wood followed Messi and got up from the ground. He appeared to be all right.

Terry also came over to ask in concern, “Are you okay?”

Wood knew what he was asking about and said, “I’m all right.” He rubbed his hand on the spot where he was kicked by Messi. It was sore and painful, but it would not affect his play.

His thigh muscles were naturally tight when he shoveled the ball, so Messi felt as if he had kicked a piece of iron.

Wood looked at Messi beside him. He was looking down and rubbing the tip of his toes.

Agüero came up and asked Messi a few words in Spanish. Messi shook his head, which should be similar like the conversation between Terry and Wood.

Although Messi shook his head to indicate that he was fine, there was still some pain in the arches of his feet. He gave Wood a sideways glance next to him. The other man also happened to be rubbing his leg.

He suddenly thought the scene was somewhat funny. No one got the better of the situation.

It was the first time he saw Wood suffer in front of himself and was injured – albeit it was only a surface wound – Messi was still in good spirits. The previous atmosphere of mutual hostility dissipated at this moment.

He reached his hand out to Wood and waved in front of him.

Wood was rubbing his thigh when he saw a hand enter his field of view with his head lowered. It was waving at him, so he looked up at the owner of the hand.

Messi was having fun with him.

Wood put down the hem of his shorts and put his hand out.

The two men’s hands lightly patted and separated.

This might be the only time they had a physical contact that was not explosive in all the years they had competed against each other… One must know that the two men would even match their strength against each other on the sly when they shook hands before a game.

※※※

Messi eventually failed to help Argentina equalize the score within the fifteen minutes. He did not score a goal and create good opportunities for his teammates. Perhaps the recent continuous competition had made him physically tired. He always slightly staggered and went a bit soft in the knees after barely bypassing two people.

By the 15th minute of the second half, Maradona had replaced Messi on time and watched him come off the pitch healthily, which would be a relief to Guardiola in front of the television.

Once the core player was replaced, Argentina’s strength was affected. The England team still played the defensive counterattack strategy as they did in the first half, but their counterattacks became more frequent and increasingly sharper.

The Argentinians liked to equalize the score, which was an opportunity in the eyes of the England team. Taking advantage of the Argentina team full pressing, England made use of a quick counterattack to score again in the 27th minute of the second half. Rooney score his 40th goal for the national team.

Maradona was clearly not equipped when it came to counter such defensive counterattacks. He was not a strategic master. To be able to lead Argentina to the World Cup title, half the credit was because his players were so good…

Moreover, the number of managers in the world who could break through a steadfast defense and quickly counterattack could be counted with one hand. Maradona was clearly not on the list. It was a worldwide problem. The game was ugly to watch but it could win the game.

And what Twain wanted was results.

As long as he could defeat Argentina, he could shut up the opposition, which was still questioning his ability to this day.

It was more than just a friendly match. Messi, Agüero, Higuaín and Tevez, all four of the attacking players in the front field came, which showed the importance the Argentina national team attached to the game.

But the previous World Cup champion, which had such a luxurious attacking lineup, were unable to break through England’s defense. Instead, the England team took advantage of the gaps left behind by their offense and was able to score two goals against them through counterattacks.

In terms of ball possession ratios and number of shots, it was the Argentina team which dominated and ought to win. However, the result turned out like this, which made the proud and arrogant Maradona extremely unhappy. Looking at how worried he was about the Argentina team’s offense at the sidelines, it was as if he wished he could be thirty years younger and be able to personally go on the field to play. At that time, it did not matter that the England team had a few people blocking in front of the goal, he would still ride alone for a thousand miles and bypassed five players!

With the exception of Messi, who was already brought off, Agüero and Tevez, currently on the field, had also been called the successors to Maradona. But they were not really the king of football. They were out of ideas in the face of England’s impenetrable defensive wall…

Towards the end, the Argentinian commentator had already lost hope that they could beat England. He only hoped that Argentina, which had Higuaín, Agüero and Tevez, could score a goal to save some face for the previous World Cup champion.

Twain would not let them get what they wished. The team defended to the last and did not let up just because they had a two-goal lead. He wanted the Argentina team to completely lose all hope. In the last ten minutes of the game, Argentina turned out in full strength and the England players still did not forget to fight back, making the Argentinians furious.

The Forest fans cheering on the England team in the stands were a little distracted. Was the team in front of their eyes that had rendered Argentina powerless their national team, or was it Nottingham Forest?

In today’s game, the Argentina players wore their blue and white striped jerseys, while England wore the red jerseys, which was rather to Nottingham Forest’s home jersey.

Later on, the Forest fans even sang Nottingham Forest’s team song in a collective moment.

“Forest! Forest!… We’ve got the whole world in our hands and we are the best team in England! We are invincible and undefeated! And we have nothing to fear! Because we are the best team! Because we’ve got the whole world in our hands…”

The familiar song rang out above the Crimson Stadium, and Twain could not help but turn his gaze from the field to the stands.

The singing became louder and clearer. The Nottingham Forest players in the England lineup were inspired by the singing and their performances became more and more active. The Argentinians, on the other hand, were getting more and more anxious amid the singing. They hastily sent out long shots, made errors in stopping the ball, dribbled the ball out of bounds… It was simply too horrible to watch.

The game ended amid the singing. The powerful Argentina team in the face of the England team, which clung fast to defense and counterattack, did not obtain the slightest advantage. Maradona was so unhappy that he lost. In the post-match interview with the reporters, he said he did not expect England to choose such a tactic, because this was not the World Cup final. There was no need to care so much about the result …

It was to mock Twain that he could be so shameless just because he wanted results.

Twain did not care. He just wanted his result. He did not care if he was being barefaced about it. With one layer of face taken off, there was still another layer. He had plenty of that where it came from.

In fact, today’s set of tactics was also what the England team would use in the future when faced with a strong enemy. Today’s game was just a preview.

Bullying a weak team required them to attack freely and play beautiful offensive football to please the fans. In the face of a strong team, it was time to withdraw and lure the opponent out, just like how he lured the Argentina team out today.

Twain was cunning.

“We won and that’s what counts. I’m happy!”

The only regret was that Messi had come off too early. He had wanted to test whether his set of tactics could withstand it under the circumstances that Messi played the entire game.

At the end of the interview, Twain walked toward the tunnel. At the mouth of the tunnel, a passionate Forest fan handed a red scarf to Twain, who thought he wanted him to sign an autograph. But he did not expect that the other party just waved his hand to him and said, “It’s for you, Tony! A memento for you!”

He ran off after he said it.

Twain held the red Forest team scarf in his hand. It was an ordinary scarf, which could be bought for fifteen pounds in the souvenir shop outside the Crimson Stadium.

That spectacular singing in the final stages of the game seemed to still linger in his ears. The eleven years of time was like a mark carved in his heart, brought up again and again to be repeated in his mind. Every time when he thought he no longer cared about the past eleven years, there would always be people reminding him of it in different ways – don’t forget the Forest team, don’t forget the Forest team…

Twain hung the red scarf around his neck and walked into the tunnel.

How could he forget the Forest team?