Godfather Of Champions

Twain realized that luck has slowly been slipping away from his team ever since their loss to Wales. The number of players who would not be able to play in the match against Sweden has just increased to three – Bentley, George Wood and Walcott have all picked up an injury and are all ruled out of the match.

Walcott had sprained his ankle and is definitely not going to be able to play in both the Round of 16 match and the quarter-finals.

Fortunately for Twain, he had brought three right midfielders along with him for the Euro Cup. The media might have heavily criticized this action of his in the past, but now it has become England’s salvation, because they did not need to worry about which player would have to play out of position and play as a right midfielder instead.

Adriano Moke would definitely be starting in the match against Sweden. As for whether or not he would play in the quarter-finals… That still remains a doubt. If he performs well in the match against Sweden, he might continue to start for the next match, but if he fails to perform, then Twain would have to see how well Bentley has recovered before making his decision.

But, if Moke fails to perform and Bentley also fails to recover in time for the next match… Twain would be given a bad headache.

※※※

The Swedes are especially concerned about George Wood’s injury. They did not worry about Walcott since he has been ruled out of the match against them, but there is a chance that Wood might be play. George Wood is the core of the England team, and his effectiveness has been amply shown in the final 10 minutes of the match against Germany.

The manager of the Sweden national team, Lars Lagerbäck, has been closely monitoring the news regarding the England team. He suspects that Tony Twain has been deliberately releasing false information regarding Wood’s ability to play in the match to the public. Twain got Wood to undergo a medical examination earlier in the day, and Wood was subsequently pictured to be training with the rest of the team during the training session. Wood did not look troubled when he trained with the ball, and it seems like he would be fit to play in the match against Sweden.

However, based on their research, they know that Tony Twain is a crafty man. One would never know what Twain plans on doing next because nothing is ever what it seems with this man.

Sweden needs to come up with a set of tactics to deal with Wood if he is starting in the match, and they also need another set of tactics to deal with England if Wood is not starting or if he is not even going to play in the match. Lagerbäck needs to decide on the exact tactic that he would use in the match soon. He cannot possibly get his team to practise two different sets of tactics. There is too little time for that.

Twain obviously would not let Lagerbäck know what his plans for the match are. The reporters have only been able to take photos of the England team’s warm-ups so far.

In the end, Lagerbäck came up with a set of tactics based on the assumption that George Wood would not be starting in the match. He believes that there must be a reason behind Wood’s visit to the hospital, and he thinks it’s because Wood’s injury has yet to fully recover. In addition, Sweden is no match for England. Lagerbäck was certain that Twain would not risk playing his best player in a match where England has a good chance of winning.

Lagerbäck once explained to the media why Sweden is able to maintain a 48-year unbeaten record against England, “We are very familiar with the England team. The British style of football is very predictable. Their biggest foe is actually themselves. They are always so arrogant and they never spend time to research about their opponents.”

Lagerbäck believes that he knows England inside out. This is the case 10 years ago, and it will still be 10 years later. Tony Twain would definitely not start George Wood in the game, and England would definitely not change the way that they play in the match either. His team would be able to keep their unbeaten record against England as long as they stay on their toes and play cautiously.

※※※

Lagerbäck got it right. Twain does not plan on letting Wood start in the match. However, the reason behind his decision is not because he feels that his team can win against Sweden easily without Wood.

Twain has actually become extra cautious after getting punished by Wales previously.

He can’t help but be even more cautious against Sweden since the latter is considered to be England’s nemesis.

Sweden is a team that is not regarded to be a strong team in Europe. However, they are a thorn in England’s flesh. England might not fear France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and other powerhouse European teams, but things are different with Sweden.

What the England fans feel towards Sweden is nothing like the hatred that they feel towards Germany. What they feel is a kind of pain that is brought about by the fact that England has not won against Sweden for the past 48 years…

For a self-proclaimed top team like England, whose aims are to become World and European champions, losing to a weak European team like Sweden for 48 years in a row is depressing. England go into every match feeling confident that they will win against Sweden, but the results are never what they expect.

The last time England faced off against Sweden in an international competition was during the Germany World Cup back in 2006. The two sides met in the last match of the group stage. Both teams played well for one half of the match respectively, and the final score was 2:2. The manager of the Sweden team back then was Lagerbäck, and he still remains as their manager even now. In contrast, England has changed their manager four times in this period of time, from Sven-Göran Eriksson to Steve McClaren to Fabio Capello and finally to Tony Twain.

England’s last victory over Sweden came in 1968, two years after winning the World Cup in 1966.

The year 1968 was an intriguing year. The England national team that had just won the World Cup in 1966 seemed to have used up all the good luck that they had accumulated over the past century in that one year. It was the last time they ever won Sweden in its history, and it was also the very first time that they lost to Germany as well. Not only that, England has never won the World Cup or the Euro Cup since 1968 either. In fact, they have never made it into the finals since then. Every subsequent England team might have been touted as the ‘strongest team England has ever had’, but they always ended up disappointing the entire nation in the end.

Ever since 1968, England has faced off with Sweden 12 times. Eight of those matches were draws and four of them were losses. England still has yet to win once against Sweden.

England has not encountered Sweden in an international competition since 2006, and many people have slowly forgotten about England’s winless record against Sweden after so many years. It was only when England and Sweden met in the knockout stages of this year’s Euro Cup that people began to recall the fact England has not won against Sweden for the past 48 years.

Sweden not only brought shame to the England football team, they also brought bad luck to them. Every time England loses or encounters Sweden in a particular competition, they would become very unlucky in that very competition. This might sound superstitious, but it is true. One example can be found in the 1990 World Cup. England and Sweden were in the same group during the qualifiers for the 1990 World Cup, and England lost to Sweden when the two faced off with each other. England still managed to qualify for the World Cup in the end, but they lost in the semi-finals. In 1995, England played against Sweden in a friendly match in preparation for the Euro Cup. They lost against Sweden in that match and were subsequently eliminated during the semi-finals of the Euro Cup. During the qualifiers for the 2000 Euro Cup, England and Sweden were placed in the same group once again. This time round, Sweden dominated against England and was placed first in the group. England was still able to qualify for the Euro Cup, but they were eliminated in the group stages. Before the 2004 Euro Cup, England tried to break the ‘curse’ surrounding them and Sweden one more time, but they failed. They still lost to Sweden, and they were also eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Euro Cup. During the 2006 World Cup, England and Sweden were in the same group, and both sides went away from the match with a draw. England managed to top the group by gaining one point from the match, and they also successfully evaded their bitter rivals Germany in the next round. However, they still lost to Portugal on penalties in the next match, and the ‘curse’ continues.

Back then, the British stubbornly believed that England would be able to realize their dream of becoming world champions as long as they defeat Sweden.

How embarrassing. It seems like China is not the only country who suffers from some strange curse that prevents them from winning every time they encounter a certain team.

England might have defeated their biggest rival Germany earlier, but the England fans were not able to say that their team would definitely be able to change their destiny against the Swedes this time round. Many of them continued to worry about their team’s future in the competition. The fans who had booked their hotels all the way till the finals were also starting to wonder if their money had gone to waste.

Unlike the match between England and Germany, the match between England and Sweden is not etched in hatred, and it is bound to elicit less of a reaction from both the fans and players alike. The England and Sweden players did not talk much about the match during their interviews, and the fans did not react as strongly as they did previously against the Germany team either.

The reason is because both the Swedes and the British are confused about this ‘record’ that the two countries have with each other.

A Sweden player smiled when he was asked by a reporter why their team has not lost to England for the past 48 years. “This is a question that puzzles all of us. We all don’t know why.”

The 34-year-old Ibrahimovic is a player who participated in the 2006 World Cup, but he did not play in the match against England back then. However, he still vividly remembers the scenes from that match as he sat on the bench. England had just scored their second goal on the 85th minute of the match, and Sweden was still trailing by 1:2 during the 90th minute. Everyone thought that the match was going to end up as a loss for Sweden, but Henrik Larsson’s queer header leveled the score at 2:2 in the final minutes of the match. It is truly an outlandish turn of events.

The smile on Ibrahimovic’s face was quickly replaced by a frown when a reporter asked him about his thoughts regarding the 2006 match between Sweden and England. “I don’t know what happened back then. It truly was a strange match. Our team seemed to be full of energy in the second half. The last goal was definitely odd too. I don’t know how Larsson managed to head the ball into the back of the net. Maybe with help from God?” A smile emerged on his face once again as he finished his words.

The reporters from Sweden were curious and confused about the record that Sweden has against England. Their country is definitely not on par with England in terms of footballing abilities, and England has also consistently performed better than Sweden in the international competitions as well. So, why is it that England can’t beat them for 48 years? There is such a big gap in their abilities!

The England players also found it weird when they were asked about it by the reporters.

Not being able to win against Germany for many years in a row leads to hatred and a strong desire to win in the England players, but not being able to win against Sweden only leaves the players feeling confused. They just can’t seem to be able to bring themselves to hate the Sweden players when they know that their opponents are clearly not on the same level as they are.

To the British, their relationship with Germany can be summed up with the word ‘feud’. But, the only word that can describe their relationship with Sweden would be ‘destiny’, because there seems to be some unknown force at play that keeps them from winning against Sweden.

※※※

“I don’t know why we can’t beat them. Maybe we just have really bad luck…” Rooney could only scratch the back of his head as he recalled about what happened in England’s last match against Sweden back in 2006. He played in that very match back then, but he was left feeling very upset at the previous national team manager, Sven-Göran Eriksson, for taking him off the pitch halfway through the match.

Reporters from England, Sweden and several other countries crowded outside the hotel that the England national team was staying in. They were not allowed entry into the hotel, so they could only wait outside. The moment they see an England player walk out from the hotel, they would all flock up to him and hold out their microphones towards him.

“I did not play in England’s previous match against Sweden, and I’ve also not played in any of those 12 matches from before. I don’t know why such a record exists.” Aaron Mitchell was forced to answer the question after being repeatedly asked by the reporters.

Tony Twain walked out of the hotel, and he frowned when he saw how the reporters had surrounded his players.

He has been repeatedly asked the question regarding the record between England and Sweden for the past two days as well. “Why has the strong England team failed to win against Sweden for the past 48 years?”

Initially, he had dismissed the question as being nothing more than a joke, but now that everyone is asking him the same question, he could not help but be on guard.

The reason was because he glimpsed danger in the fanatic eyes of the reporters.

He was thankful for the fact that England had not faced off with Sweden since 2006, because it meant that most people would have forgotten about the existence of such a record by now, and this is beneficial in helping him prepare for the match. However, he did not expect the media to publish numerous articles about it now. It was as though they were scared that none of the players knew about the 48-year grudge between England and Sweden.

The current situation made him remember how the China national football team suffered from a ‘fear of the Korea national football team’. Losing to the same opponent multiple times was not supposed to be a big deal, but the media blew the entire issue out of proportion, and they made the Korea team seem like an extremely strong team that the China team would never be able to defeat. This bred fear in the hearts of the China players towards the Korea team. The China players were never mentally strong players to begin with, and the media’s actions put the nail in the coffin. It has led to the China team not being able to win against the Koreans for a very long time…

The media was the biggest contributor to the China team’s inability to defeat the Korea team.

Twain did not want the tragedy to repeat itself. People might say that England football is on a totally different level from China football, but in Twain’s eyes, England is just like a ‘European China football team’. There are too many similarities between the two sides. The England players have all been spoiled by the British media and many of them are mentally weak. In fact, the England players might be the most vulnerable when compared against players from other powerhouse teams in Europe.

If he allows the reporters to keep harassing his players, some of his newbie players might suffer from a mental disorder afterwards… This cannot go on.

The one thing that the media is best at is creating chaos.

Twain turned around and walked back into the hotel lobby. He then walked up to the hotel’s security guard, and he pointed at the ‘passionate’ reporters outside the hotel before saying, “My players need a good rest. I don’t want any of them to be harassed by the media. Also, all those reporters are currently blocking the entrance into your hotel. This inconveniences your other guests as well.”

The security guard had heard a thing or two from his colleagues about how to deal with the England team. He quickly nodded his head. “Yes, sir. I will get them to leave.”

Twain nodded his head approvingly at the security guard before he sat down at a vacant seat in the lobby. He then watched as the hotel’s security guards chased away the reluctant reporters.

During the tactical meeting at night, Twain announced a new rule: every single player is not allowed to answer any question regarding the 48-year grudge between England and Sweden during interviews from now on.

“There’s nothing to talk about regarding that question. Don’t be fooled by the reporters.” He reminded his players.

Twain wanted to stop his players from thinking about England’s record against Sweden. He did not know how effective his words or rule would be, but it is definitely better than not doing anything at all.

He had everything under his control initially, but the pervasive media just had to come in and ignite a fire within the players’ hearts. Twain feared that those fires would get bigger and bigger during the match and become uncontrollable. When that happens, there would be irreversible consequences…

If Twain had the power to decide whether a person lives or dies, then the very first bunch of people he would kill off would be the reporters, especially the reporters who write for tabloid newspapers. He wants to enforce a rule that dictates what the media can and cannot do. You cannot ask me any question that pisses me off! If you ask me those questions I would not answer them! You cannot publish anything that makes me feel uncomfortable! If you publish them you would have to take them down at once!

Tsk… Sadly, those things would never come true.