Des. After Walker left, Wood would close the door and the first thing he said to Donn was: "Tomorrow against Germany, I hope you will let me play." ”

Hearing him say this, Don was not surprised at all, as if he had expected such a thing a long time ago.

"It's impossible, George." Don replied with a blank face. "Your injuries aren't healed yet."

"No, my injuries are completely healed." To prove his claim, Wood also ran high on the spot in front of Donn.

"You don't count, George."

"My body, why don't I say it myself?" Wood asked rhetorically.

"I only trust doctors." Tang En walked on the chair with Erlang's legs crossed, and his tone was a little indifferent.

Wood wasn't as calm as Donn, he took a step forward and walked up to Donn: "You told me to wait three games, but if we can't even qualify for the group stage, what's the point of me waiting three?" I can't wait, and I don't want to. ”

Donn motioned for Wood to sit down and talk, he wasn't used to tilting his head back and talking to others.

"Do you just not trust your teammates like that?" Donn looked at Wood, who was a little impatient.

These words will be Wood's army. He certainly couldn't say "yes, I don't believe them", he could only shake his head and say, "No, I believe them". In this way, he has no position to ask to play anymore.

Wood fell silent, he understood what Donn meant, so he was reluctant to give an answer.

Donn decided to strike while the iron was hot and persuaded Wood to retract his plan to play against Germany.

"George, you haven't fully recovered from your foot injury, and I'm well aware of that, and I and the medical team are monitoring your injury every day. So I'm definitely not going to let you play against Germany. It has to be a tough game, and if you get hurt again, I can't guarantee what will happen after that. For the sake of your career, I won't let you play. ”

"Even if the group doesn't qualify?" Wood asked.

Don said calmly: "Yes, even if the group can't qualify, I won't let you go up and take the risk." ”

Wood's face was cloudy, his expression was like that of summer weather, and after changing back and forth several times, he finally got up and left.

Don sat alone in his room in a daze.

He now thinks he's really good at pretending to be a saint...... That last sentence was definitely not his true words, or when he said it, his heart was not firm. Which is more important, results or the future of the players? Such a multiple-choice question would never have come to Donn's mind, and in his heyday he would say, "I'll have both."

Maybe it's not that bad...... Don thought to himself.

Even without George. Wood, England is not without the ability to play against Germany.

Walker pushed the door open and saw Donn sitting on the couch in a trance.

"Tony?"

"Is it dinner time so soon?" Don asked, coming back to his senses.

"Nope. I'm just coming to see you, and by the way, how was the conversation with George. Walker sat down beside Donn.

'He wanted to play against Germany and I turned it down. Donn said lightly.

"You didn't do any kind of ideological struggle or something?" Walker asked with a smile.

"Nope." Don told a little lie.

Walker hesitated for a moment and asked, "Tony, how sure do you think we will win the game against Germany?" ”

Don glanced at his assistant, "That's not something to be sure of, Des. It's something we have to win or die. ”

※※※

Three days is too short, and when you count the half-day journey from Barcelona to Valencia, there are really only two days left for Donn to prepare for the German team.

By the time most people hadn't reacted yet, the Anglo-German war was imminent.

George. Wood and Bentley missed the game with injuries and lost to Wales with a scarrier prospect of qualifying...... These are just the additions to this game. Even if both teams win both games and qualify early, this game is destined to attract the attention of the world. Tony. Done may not care about the outcome of this game, but England fans can't.

The feud between English and German football is one of the most famous feuds in the world. The two teams have been facing each other for more than 100 years, with England dominating the first 50 years and Germany becoming an eternal nightmare for England fans in the last 50 years.

The first meeting between the two teams was on April 20, 1908, when the arrogant "originator of football" taught football rookie Germany a lesson with a score of 5:1. Although he won the game, the Englishman got cheap and behaved, pretending to say that he was "embarrassed" by the German team to score a goal. A year later, England slaughtered Germany 9-0, setting a record for the largest point margin in the history of the Anglo-German confrontation.

At that time, the German team was not the "king of Europe" who won the European Championship three times and the World Cup three times. In the first twelve matches between the two teams, England are unbeaten with ten wins and two draws. It's fair to say that this was a chaotic time for German football, and it was nothing surprising to lose to a "world powerhouse" like England.

But it was the 1966 World Cup final in England that really turned the confrontation into a "war". At Wembley Stadium, England lifted the World Cup for the first and only time in history by beating Germany 4-2 with a controversial goal. Hurst (geoff_hurst), who scored the controversial goal in the final and also scored a hat-trick, became England's "national hero", while the legend of the German team, striker Uwe. Schiller (ue_seeler) was hit and almost collapsed as he exited the pitch, leaving his head drooping. As a result, this scene was filmed by photographers, and the media in England did not come up with a sarcasm to say that "the Germans have suffered another defeat".

The game hurt the Germans, and to this day, more than 50 years later, the Germans complain that if it weren't for the referee's misjudgment, the German team would have four gold stars on their crest.

Until this year, the English had a huge psychological advantage against the Germans, who had never beaten England in an official match.

But two years later, the situation has changed one hundred and eighty degrees. In Hannover, Germany, "Caesar" Beckenbauer's low shot broke the fate of the German team's winless situation. It was as if they had pierced that layer of window paper, and for more than 40 years since then, England have not won a single major tournament against Germany...... Whether the process is tragic or tragic, in the end the loser must be England.

In the quarter-finals of the 1970 World Cup, England led 2-0, and Germany, led by Beckenbauer, scored three goals in a row to finally eliminate England.

In 1972, Wembley Stadium, England's football mecca, was also lost by the Germans. Beckenbauer led his team-mates to a 3-1 win over England to win a European Championship qualifier. Later, the British gave the title of "Emperor of Football" to the German.

In the quarter-finals of the 1990 World Cup, Germany eliminated England on penalties. Nottingham Forest's legend Stuart. Pierce missed a crucial goal. Now England's assistant coach Dees. Walker also featured in that game.

The 1996 European Championship on England's doorstep led the Englishmen to think they could take advantage of their hosts to lift the De Raunay Cup, which they had never touched, but unfortunately they met Germany once. The Germans stubbornly dragged their proud hosts into a penalty shoot-out, and the English were knocked out of the tournament after a complete psychological breakdown.

……

Back-to-back defeats to Germany are unacceptable to the proud British, so even in a friendly match, England and Germany will surely spark a bright spark when they meet.

John. John Terry, England's main centre-back and former captain, once said that there was never such a thing as a "friendly match" between England and Germany.

And in England, most of the classic quotes about football are also related to Germany. For example, in the 1966 World Cup, the famous British commentator Kennett. Walstenholm's commentary became a classic description of German football: "They thought it was all over, but the Germans got up again!" ”

After England were eliminated by Germany on penalties in the 1990 World Cup, Lineker reluctantly said: "Football is a game of 22 people, but in the end it is always a sport in which the Germans win." ”

Even if England win, it won't necessarily be a good memory. For example, in 1938, England defeated Germany 6-3 in a friendly match held in Berlin, but before the game, the English players were forced to perform a "Nazi salute", which made the whole British people think that they were greatly insulted, and the victory of this game was called a "victory of shame".

After entering the new century, Britain and Germany have won and lost each other, and there are even classic examples such as a 5:1 victory over the German team. On the whole, however, the English always seemed to be lacking in self-confidence in the face of the Germans. In the final game before the demolition of Wembley Stadium, Germany's Hamann put England to shame in a monumental game.

If Done were to talk about the difference between the two teams, he would say that England is like a beautiful porcelain vase, dazzling and dazzling in the light. The Germans, on the other hand, were a swarthy and bland rock. Whether it is to smash the rock with the porcelain bottle, or to touch the porcelain bottle with the rock, the last unlucky one must be the porcelain bottle.

But now Don must complete the impossible task - take the porcelain vase to fight the rock to the death, and finally the porcelain vase must be unharmed.

※※※

"You can lose to anyone, you just can't lose to the Germans!" The banner carried by the England fans who entered the stadium had this sentence on it, and this was also the voice of all the people of England. The match drew the attention of the whole island nation, and even the Queen of England was asking: "Can we beat Germany?" ”

This sentence also made a lot of media headlines, and The Times replied below: "Yes, we can!" ”

The Sun is more sensational, telling readers that more than 60 years ago, when the current queen was a child, she had led the people of LinkedIn to a great victory against fascist Germany. And now, it is time for the all-people war again. "We will win this war!"

Unlike England's bitter enemies, the reaction from the German side was somewhat muted. And so it would have been. Historically, the English were more obsessed with the Anglo-German feud, while the Germans used more subtle means to express their emotions. For example, before the game, German TV re-took out Hearst's controversial goal that year, and after high-tech restoration and analysis, it was finally proved that the goal did not cross the line as a whole, so it could not be counted. In the wonderful footage of the history of the World Cup broadcast by German TV 2, there are Brazilians who win the Remet Gold Cup for the third time, and there are also shots of Beckenbauer insisting on fighting with a bandage on his shoulder, but the controversial goal of Hirst is missing, and they also rank Maradona's goal against England's five players in the second, which is the first? Of course, it was Maradona's hand of God in the same game! That scene was repeated five times so many times that some viewers thought there was something wrong with their televisions......

Four hours before the game, fans from both sides had already gathered outside the Nueva Mestalla Stadium in Valencia, waiting to enter the stadium. Both fans have a bad reputation with police around the world, so this match drained almost the entire police force of Valencia City. At the same time, for this special group stage, Valencia Municipal Axe also issued a temporary "alcohol ban" - in a 15-kilometer radius near the Nueva Mestalla stadium, from four hours before the match to four hours after the match, all alcoholic beverages are banned.

England and German fans will travel from different roads to the Stadium Nova Mestalla, where they will enter the stadium via a completely opposite entrance. In the stands, the area between the fans of the two teams will be vacated and guarded by heavily armed riot police, all to prevent the fans of the two teams from meeting and clashing before entering the stadium.

"It's World Cup final-level security." The British media, who saw this scene, lamented.

Still, fans from both sides sparked a spark wherever they could see each other.

The Germans made a gesture of "Germany beat England 3-0" to the BBC cameras in the UK, and the Englishman responded with a 5:1 gesture. In September 2001, England beat Germany 5-1 in the World Cup qualifiers in South Korea, and it was also at the home of the German team, Michael, who scored a hat-trick in that game. Owen also became the European Footballer of the Year.

The German fans raised their middle fingers to the England fans in the distance and shouted in unison: "You don't have George. Wood, you are the second rate in Europe!! Even Wales can slaughter you! ”

England fans sang a cheering song mocking the Germans: "Mr. Summer, who are you kidding with?" Matthias (Matthias. Summer, head coach of the German team) only has a 'little pig'...... We're going to kick you back to Berlin, Tony. Donn and his children would say: 'Thank you, Germany!' 'The future Sir St. George, the European Championship is in your hands......

Looking at the-for-tat between them, it seems that this European Championship does not have strong teams such as Spain, Italy, and France, but only a heads-up duel between England and Germany.

When the buses of both sides appeared in the field of vision of the fans, the atmosphere of the scene, which had been silent for a while, became feverish again. Fans in England and Germany are chanting the names of their teams and stars to cheer them on. Even the 36-degree heat couldn't silence them for a while.

"England! England! God bless the Queen, Queen bless England! England fans waved the "St. George" flag with a red cross on a white background at the red bus.

"Forward, St. George! Forward, England!! ”

"Fight to the death, never surrender, we are an invincible English fleet!"

"the Germans! Fuck their ass! ”

"Whoa——!! England must win! ”

The frantic roars of the fans pierced through the closed windows, and even the dirty words could be heard clearly.

The England players weren't surprised, in fact they themselves were just as crazy as the fans outside...... You know, this is a match between England and Germany, and this is a decisive battle that does not require mobilization. Every English player should understand the significance of this game and this opponent.

Don whistled at the female fans who kissed him outside: "This is our pressure is unprecedented. But that's okay, it's my dream game. A century of grievances and hatreds, a life-and-death qualifying situation, stepping on the bloody road of the enemy's corpse to the top...... Makes my blood boil! I'm sure the Germans must have thought the same way, ha! ”

He clenched his fists and felt his body tremble slightly. That's not fear, that's excitement.

(To be continued)