In fact, Don himself was a little nervous. It's not as serious as some of the players, though. He had played in the finals of important competitions many times, but he was only a little nervous about his first time - the first time he led the national team to the final of the World Caste Series.

As a former head coach who was a Chinese fan, he has a bit of a "World Series" complex. National team competitions such as the World Cup and the European Championship have been the theme of his football career for a long time, and he even thought that the national team was better than the club team because it represented the highest level of a country.

Later it all became a joke. But being able to stand in the final of a big event like the European Cup still makes him a little excited.

In order to stop himself from being nervous, he chose to come out of the empty dressing room and stand on the sidelines to watch the players warm up, and work allowed him to forget about other emotions.

He was pleased with the warm-up of the players. Everyone is excited to face such a final, and he doesn't have to worry about a lack of fighting spirit, he just needs to worry that someone might get injured in the warm-up because they are too excited.

The warm-up was the responsibility of the coaches, and Donne, who was idle, set his sights on the stands. The 80,000-capacity Bernabeu Stadium was almost full, with thousands of flags waving in the wind and even small fireworks in the stands.

When England was seen on the pitch to start warming up, the England fans in the stands began to sing in unison. Just like they did in the Premier League, they sent a message to the team with their singing voices – we are with you.

The song gave the English players a home feel. In fact, there were almost as many fans from both sides as there were in the stadium today. Due to the defeat of the Spanish team in the semi-finals, most Spaniards lost interest in the final. Blessed are the England fans who flew from England to Spain before the final, with a number of Spaniards selling tickets outside the Santiago Bernabeu the day before the final. Of course, they were also lucky for the Italian fans who came from within Italy.

Neutral Spanish fans in the stands played a supporting role in this match.

As soon as the English fans started singing, the Italian fans also started singing. The two sides launched a "singing conference" across the court.

While the players on both sides began to warm up on the pitch, the media from all over the world began to get busy.

"This is the Bernabéu, the temple of Spanish football. Here today, under the watchful eye, there will be a heavyweight showdown! China's national television station CCTV5 also sent commentators and reporters to the scene to explain and report on the competition. Although the level of football in the country is very low, Chinese fans are still happy, and the developed TV and Internet allow them to watch the best games in the world, and they are basically free.

"England will wear the white home shirt for this game. However, their head coach is said to be Tony. Donn wants the team to wear the red shirt because red is his lucky colour and the same colour as Nottingham Forest's kit. Now it looks like his wish has not come true...... "The reporter of Spanish TV is giving the audience some details of today's game, such as the jersey. The Italians wore their traditional blue jersey and white shorts. When they won the World Cup 10 years ago, they wore the blue shirt. Sixteen years ago, when they lost to France in the European Championship final, they wore white jerseys. Perhaps for Italians, blue is more auspicious than white. ”

"Thirty-one degrees tonight isn't too hot, but it's not cool. The day is very hot, and the aftermath of Lie Yue has not dissipated until now, which will affect the performance of the players on both sides to some extent. Humidity ......"

Although their teams were eliminated, TV stations around the world still attached great importance to the final coverage. There are as many as 27 satellite cars parked outside the Bernabeu Stadium alone, and the sight of them parked in a row is spectacular.

'We've seen players from both sides on the pitch and they're warming up. We've got Italy's starting line-up, but England's starting XI is still missing...... Tony. It seems that Donn will not announce the starting lineup until the last minute. Compared to the experienced Lippi, he seems to be a little too cautious......"

"From the list we have got, Italy have their strongest squad. The goalkeeper is Marco who plays for AC Milan. Amelia (marco_amelia). The left-back is Simeone from AC Milan. Vital (simone_vitale) and right-back is David Murray, who plays for Inter Milan. Thornton (davide_santon). The two centre-backs are the Juventus duo of George. Chiellini (gio_chiellini) and Domenic. Crichito (domenico_criscito). The midfielder from left to right is Sebastian who plays for Juventus. Giovinco (sebastian_giovinco), Daniel from Rome. De Rossi (daniele_de_rossi) and Alberto. Aquilani (alberto_aquilani), also from Juventus. Lanzafame (davide_lanzafame). The two strikers are Alberto from AC Milan. Paroschi (alberto_paloschi) and Servatore from Juventus. Foti (salvatore_foti). From this start, we can see that Lippi trusts players from the top teams more than those in the middle of Serie A, and the starting line-up is all players from last season's top four in Serie A. In the last four, he prefers to use Juventus players......"

When the England players returned to the dressing room after their warm-up, the media finally got the England starting XI list released by Donn. Donn didn't surprise everyone as much as he did in previous games, and his starting line-up was not much different from what the pundits had predicted before the game. It just didn't surprise Vaughn, who had a good performance in the semi-finals, to start.

Not to mention the media, even the England players themselves don't know who started until now.

Goalkeeper Joe. Hart is the one with the most suspense in the starting position. In this competition, almost all other positions have been changed, and the candidate for his position has not changed. As long as there are no big mistakes and no injuries, the starting goalkeeper will hardly be replaced.

At right-back, Richards, who started after the game against Wales, is still important to Don for his defensive qualities. The left-back is Joe. Mattok, in the European Championships, Mattok withstood the test, performed satisfactorily, and it was natural to continue to start in the final. In the same way that Lippi favours Juventus players he has coached for many years, Donn also favours the Nottingham Forest players he has brought up.

The centre-back is John. Terry and Stephen. Taylor. The centre-back duo has also accompanied England from the first game to the present, and the tacit cooperation is trustworthy.

With Steven Gerrard and Wood in midfield, Donne's "double virtue" is much better than the previous "double virtue" of Eriksen and McLaren. Because he has a universal George. Wood can be both the core and the support of others, so that the England midfielder will not be too messed up at the core. Some teams can have a double core, but England definitely can't.

On the right, Theo Walcott started the game after returning from injury, while the right midfielder was the most changed position due to frequent injuries in the tournament. Where Walcourt has an advantage over Bentley and Mock is that he has the speed and dribbling, and is more dexterous.

On the left is Downing from Middlesbrough, who, like Walcott, has the pace and dribbling skills. Due to Donn's tactics for this game, he was back in the starting lineup.

The most striking thing is the selection of the striker. Mitchel is suspended for accumulating yellow cards, making it the most competitive place. No one wants to start in such an important final, and there is no doubt about Wayne Rooney's selection, as he is the most experienced and qualified player in England's forward line, Donne is in desperate need of him.

And who is the guy who is partnered with Rooney?

James. Vaughn was a vocal advocate with two goals in the semi-finals. He himself thinks he has been in excellent form recently and should be able to start in the final. So when Donn started announcing his starting list, he was eager to hear his name.

After Rooney's name was read, it was left to be the last choice. Vaughn straightened his seat, straightened up for the historic moment when he would be the starting striker in the final of the European Championships.

"Abang Laho."

But the name that came out of Donn's mouth made him stunned.

He didn't expect Don to choose the mediocre Abang Raho instead of himself. He looked at Don in disbelief, but he didn't say anything, lowered his head again, and clenched his fists unwillingly.

Donne's decision also surprised the other players. Previously, everyone thought that the other starting striker position must be Jeffers. Even Abang Laho himself did not expect that he would be able to start in such an important match, and the mixture of surprise and joy made him feel very mixed feelings. He didn't even dare to look at Vaughn, who was sitting next to him.

"Why Abang Laho starts?!" When they saw the list, all the reporters asked such questions.

"Judging by recent form, James. Vaughn should obviously start alongside Wayne Rooney. If it weren't for his two goals in the semi-finals, Spain would have reached the final! ”

"I can't figure out why Tony arranged it this way......"

"Hey, what's not to figure out? Just look at Lippi and the more successful managers do this when it comes to big games – preferring to choose players they know and like better than better. Empiricism only. Abang Lajo is a Nottingham Forest player, he admires Donn very much, and Donn likes him very much, and he is more familiar with him than Vaughn, so he starts. ”

The reporters talked a lot, and for a time "cronyism" gained the upper hand in the hearts of the reporters.

※※※After reading the starting list, Don looked at the players, and he saw everyone's expressions in his eyes and remembered them in his heart.

"That's the starting list."

The tactics were already talked about at yesterday's tactical meeting, and although it was not known who was going to start at the time, it was a tactic that everyone in every position had to keep in mind.

"I hope everyone on this list remembers what happened last night, let's surprise them!"

The impact of this starting list on everyone was so great that they didn't quite listen to what Donn said next. Vaughn is what they care about.

Donn had to get them to put their minds back on the game, so he clapped his hands and raised his voice: "What? Did the nervousness before the final make you a little absent-minded? ”

The players could easily tell that their boss was dissatisfied. So no matter how much he complained about Vaughn, he could only hold his resentment in his heart at this time and put his mind back on the game.

But after the starting list incident, they have long forgotten about the nervousness. They just wondered why the head of the team, who had always been impartial to every player, had made such a glaring mistake. It's not that they don't think Abang Laho shouldn't start, it's just that fools can see that letting Vaughn, who is in great form, start is much more effective than Abang Laho. Doesn't he want to win this game? Is it really because they want to leave their names at such an important historical moment? So why didn't Mock, Cohen and Bentley start in one go? Aren't they also Nottingham Forest players?

With such doubts, a group of people walked onto the final court.

※※※ "They are out! Let's welcome England's eleven starters! "John. Mortensen's voice rang out with emotion, and he began to introduce the fans to each of the English players who had played.

Although Abang Laho's start also surprised him, his tone was not the slightest different when he read Abang Laho's name.

To be honest, Donn's starting lineup was largely not what Lippi expected. Only in the position of forward, he didn't expect Donn to abandon James, who was in very good form in the semifinals. Vaughn, and let Abonraho start. This change also made him incomprehensible. As a striker, Abang Lajo's shooting skills are not as good as Vaughn's, and he basically has no advantages other than speed, and it is more suitable to be placed on the wing than in the middle. For this reason, the Italian team has studied Vaughn, but I didn't expect Donn to let him start!

Although surprised, Lippi was also intrigued. To be able to surprise him is a sign that this game is going to be very interesting. As his last race before retirement, he is no longer just looking for results, and it is best to make him unforgettable.

Tony. Donn and his England team clearly deserve to be his farewell opponents.

Let's have a big final, and then we win the championship.

This was Lippi's last wish.

(To be continued)