Donn's deliberate "public apology" and the last sentence of "who is that" made him a popular figure in the major media again. No one had ever played a club in front of so many reporters before, but Donn did.

Next, just like he said to Shania. He ignored the Chelsea Football Club's protests, the voices of the outside media, he concentrated on his work and never made any reply. Chelsea Football Club and Roman Abramovich himself unhappy? What's the matter with me......

His incident has added after-dinner conversation to many people, and the sales of major newspapers and tabloids in England are booming.

The hype about Mourinho's dismissal will eventually come to an end, after all, Mourinho is no matter how much character he has, he is just a Portuguese. Don's foul mouth will also slowly make the public lose interest in continuing to pay attention because of his silence.

In fact, during this period and for some time to come, the focus of the English media was on the England team.

Because the battle of life and death is imminent.

There are two rounds left in the 2008 European Championship qualifiers between Switzerland and Austria. Because there are seven teams in Group E, there are bound to be teams with byes at some point in the schedule, and when the penultimate round comes, it's England's turn – they have one game left. The current standings are England, who have played eleven games, are temporarily in second place with twenty-three points.

According to the rules of the European Championship qualifiers, there are 14 qualifying places for this European Championship, which are the first and second places in the seven groups, and then add the two host teams, exactly 16 teams.

Croatia in first place and Russia in third place are now playing one game less than England, with Croatia on 26 points and Russia on 21. If England are to qualify, they will need to count on a group stage on November 17. Russia lost away to Israel, and then England won their own home game against Croatia on the 21st.

Only then will the team be able to participate in next year's European Championships.

This condition may seem a bit harsh, but it is not impossible.

The English media are very beautiful, Israel is not weak, not to mention that they are playing at home. In the final round, Croatia, which is currently the top team in the group, is likely to have advanced or won the right to qualify. Then they don't need to use all their main force and all their energy to fight with England in advance......

So, anything is possible.

Ahead of matchday on the 17th, England were training intensively, and England's media were cheering on Israel in the hope that they could win at home to Russia and keep their hopes of qualifying alive.

There will be no Premier League fixtures until 24 November, when the league game against Chelsea ends. This is mostly the case with leagues in other European countries. In between, the two weeks are A-level match days for the national team. In Europe, it is Euro 2008 qualifying day, and in South America it is the world's longest South African World Cup South American qualifier - although the official match is in 2010, due to the special environment of South American football, the qualifiers here have been in full swing in October, which is really the longest World Cup qualifier in time.

As for Asia. The World Cup qualifiers in Asia will not start until February next year. Because the Olympics are the hosts, the football team does not need to play any Rausch qualifiers. After losing the Asian Cup, the Chinese Football Association basically disbanded the national team and concentrated on the Olympic strategy. Pull the national Olympic team to play a warm-up match on publicly-funded travel all over the world. Travel expenses, accommodation fees, venue rental fees, appearance fees for opponents, plus messy subsidies...... It cost a lot of money, but how is the effect...... Tang En could only sneer and wish good luck to Chinese football.

Fortunately for him, Sun Jihai, the only Chinese player in the Forest team, is not in the "Olympic Raiders" plan, because he is past the age of 23, and according to the information that Tang Jing has revealed, he will definitely not appear in the list of three overage players at that time. So this national team break has nothing to do with Sun Jihai, he doesn't have to fly thousands of miles to the United States to waste time and play warm-up games with several major league teams. Moreover, overage players generally do not participate in such warm-up games for the National Olympic Games.

Nottingham Forest are already a Premier League team. In Europe, too, it is a force to be reckoned with. There will inevitably be a large number of internationals in the squad and will be called up at this time. It's not strange that Don has seen such a thing for a long time. There is absolutely nothing he can do to stop this from happening other than complaining that it will lead to his team working hard for his country and then recovering from injury while playing for the club, after all, he is only a football manager, not a FIFA president.

David. David Beckham, who scored a late goal against Chelsea to help Nottingham Forest equalise, has gained a reputation in the English media of late, with many of them publicly calling for the veteran to be re-appointed – though not to put him back on the captain's armband. But don't let him run two steps in garbage time. Although it is now up to them whether England will qualify or not. But as long as there is a theoretical possibility of qualifying, you always have to give it a go, don't you?

McLaren declined to talk about whether Beckham would be in the squad for the game against Croatia or to answer the "boring question" of whether he would bet on Beckham. His reason is quite - "for the sake of secrecy".

So the media began to hype Beckham's international appearances – albeit without any room to show off. But the final eight minutes of the away game against Moscow were indeed his 98th appearance for England...... There are still two games left to 100 games. If England can win their clash against Croatia on November 21, they will have a glimmer of hope of reaching the finals, in which case David Beckham's 100 games will still be alive. Otherwise...... It's hard to say what will happen.

Watching the British media gleefully discuss David Beckham's appearances and look forward to 100 games, as if they had already qualified for the European Championship.

It's a strange country where they used to call you "God" when you succeeded, and when you failed, they rushed to get you to the gallows with their own hands. Utilitarian to this point. It's rare. Had David Beckham not been able to turn around in England if he hadn't scored a crucial late goal against Greece in 2001 that made him an instant god.

Somehow, Don suddenly thought of Li Ning, a Chinese gymnast. They were once the darlings of the whole country, and later they were all outcasts who were spurned by hundreds of millions of people. Beckham is more fortunate than Li Ning and he can still save himself in his career and prove himself again; And when Li Ning failed, he was already at the age of retirement - he lost the opportunity to rely on his own efforts to prove that those who scolded him were wrong.

That's how cruel sports are...... There is actually no essential difference between the Olympics and the World Cup, the slogan is beautiful, but in fact the loser is the loser. Only the winners enjoy the cheers and glory – it's not decided by a sport, it's decided by people, who watches the game, who participates in it, who manipulates it...... All human.

Far from it.

At the very least, David Beckham and the entire British media have campaigned for him, hoping to appear in the starting line-up against Croatia and become a hero to save the country.

But in the ambivalence of excitement and apprehension in the English media and the fan public. There was one man who fell victim to Beckham's halo of stardom, or less severely, he was just a forgotten man.

In McLaren's squad for the final showdown, there is no George . Wood's name.

Don hadn't come back yet, and Don wasn't particularly busy. During this time, the team's training was only one practice per day. Not much time, but great intensity. With the back-to-back Christmas fixtures just around the corner, teams need to be fit for the multi-fronts and two and three games a week.

The training session was scheduled for the afternoon. Don had lunch and had a lunch break. Wait for him to wake up again. Then I will go to Wilford and start the day of training.

Every time he came to the training base, George . Wood was already warming up.

McLaren announced his full squad for the final game against Croatia yesterday, with two of the 25 men in the squad – David Bush. David Beckham and Allen. Lennon.

No more George. Wood land name.

Although George. Wood wasn't a regular member of the national team, but the fool knew what it meant to take his name off before this big game. Whether it's Eriksen or the England team of the McClaren era, George . Wood didn't get much of a lot of use other than starting a few inconsequential warm-up games and coming off the bench in garbage time.

He sat on the bench for five games at the World Cup in Germany. Didn't get a second of playing time.

England played twelve games in the European Championship qualifiers. Wood played a total of 180 minutes, an average of 15 minutes per game. He has never been used as much as he did at Nottingham Forest, the manager doesn't trust him and there is no place for him in the tactical system.

But George. Wood has not publicly expressed any grievances in front of the media. Maybe he hasn't learned how to do it for himself in the national team?

However, some Nottingham local media have looked over and openly questioned whether the McClaren manager is biased against the players who came out of Nottingham Forest. McClaren's answer was: "England have a concentration of the best players in England, and each of them may be a core player at their own club, but you can't expect those key players to come to England and continue to be a core player. ”

At first glance it sounds like a lot of sense. If you think about it carefully, you can see that McLaren is simply perfunctory to this group of reporters. No one asked George. Wood also has a central role in the England squad. But there is no minimum playing time, and every time you play, you either win the time to be sent to the gangsters. Or lose the time to change to the gangster...... Anyway, it's all gangster time, and if the game is very fierce and brutal, you can't tell the winner until the last second. Wood will definitely put on the bench. The Nottingham media, which had a good thing, collected information about those games and came to the conclusion that McLaren must have been with George . Wood has a vendetta!

In fact, there is no hatred, but it is certain that there is no trust and no reuse.

McClaren doesn't trust the players that Donn has tweaked. For the players tuned by Donn, McClaren can not be reused if he can not be reused.

"George. Donn saw Wood doing the warm-up alone on the training ground, and he didn't approve of this kind of early warm-up. Because of the unnecessary consumption of physical energy, it will affect the effect of subsequent training. But to George. Wood, a cyborg robot...... It's not too much of a problem.

He stepped forward and stood next to Wood to watch him finish his warm-up.

"On a national team break, I saw you warming up here. Actually, it's quite rare......" Don laughed.

It's really rare, although he has very little playing time in the England team, but he will basically still be in the biggest squad, after all, he is the captain of the European championship team. It is a defensive midfielder who is favored by countless people. If it is placed in other countries' teams, it may have long been the main force that cannot be beaten, that is, there is some helplessness in England, and the "double German problem" is enough for every head coach to have a headache......

Wood muffled: "That's not bad, I can't play anyway." He put on his pullover and stood in front of Donn.

He was not in a high mood. It seems that it was also affected by this list. You know, it's a crucial game, and it's a favorite game for countless professional players – because you can prove your ability to turn the tide and become a hero for the whole country. For someone like Wood, who likes to push the envelope. Even more so. The stronger the opponent and the harder the game is, the more energetic he becomes. However, McLaren deprived him of the right to dream of playing on the field ten days before the game.

When Don heard him say this, he was happy: "I thought you didn't care about this kind of thing at all. ”

Wood glanced at him.

Don was still laughing: "Because you've never expressed your displeasure anywhere." Everyone thinks you're an honest person and a bully. Sitting on the bench will become a habit, George. If I were you, I would jump out and accuse McLaren of not being able to use people, and from then on I would not be in the England team if he did not have me, without me, and if he did not leave class, I would not be in the England team......"

"I'm not you. Wood glanced at him. "But I'm not happy. I'm here...... England are not having a good time. I also thought about not going at all. ”

Unexpectedly, Wood would say such a thing, and Don was still a little surprised. It looks like he's really having a hard time with the national team.

"I hate being a substitute, and if McLaren just said it was for me to be a substitute, I would have turned him down. But he didn't say anything...... At first, I was approached by the Jamaican Football Association and wanted me to play for Jamaica, but I refused...... Now that I think about it, I might as well go to Jamaica. ”

Donn was silent.

He has heard countless similar stories: so-and-so star had no choice but to change nationality because of his domestic competitiveness. Playing for a small country. Just to be able to participate in the World Cup or any other continental cup competition. The most common occurrence of this situation is in Brazil.

Actually, George. Wood also has Brazilian nationality, but when he became famous. The Brazilian Football Federation didn't even look at him because there are so many talented people in Brazil. I don't care about George who is far away in England at all. Wood.

Don was silent for a moment and comforted, "Your choice is right. It's impossible to go to Jamaica and win what you want, so it's better not to go. Don't worry, in England...... If England don't qualify this time, McClaren won't be in that position for long. Maybe a different manager, it would be nice. ”

"What if it doesn't get better?" Wood asked, looking up.

Don didn't know how to answer. It's not out of the question – some players have to retire from the national team because they are not always reused in the national team, and they have lost the opportunity to express themselves on the bigger world stage.

He couldn't say to Wood: "It's good to focus on playing for the club and keep you in shape longer. "Because he also wants to see Wood do what he can on that bigger stage and wow the whole world.

"Things will always get better. Don didn't know what the future would hold, so he could only comfort him.

Outside gradually became lively, and the players and coaches who came to train rushed to the base one after another.

Don was about to go back to his office to attend to some trivial matters, and he was just about to turn around when he heard Wood say, "What if...... McLaren is gone, are you going? ”

Don understood what Wood meant, and he looked at Wood with some confusion: "Then I'm going to give up my current job, do you like it?" ”

Wood thought for a moment and shook his head: "Forget it." If you don't go to England, I won't go at best. If you're not here...... I don't have a job. ”

Don laughed. "When did you learn to joke, George?"

Wood didn't say anything, he turned and walked towards the locker room.

Don was bored too, and he stood there watching Wood's back leave, before turning around and walking back to his office.

His ability to foresee has long since expired, so he can't know if England will make it past Croatia, he doesn't know if McClaren will be out of class, he doesn't know who will succeed him if he does, and if he likes Wood's style of football...... There are too many doubts.

But now he wants England to lose the crucial game and lose their ticket to the European Championship finals.

At that time, according to the habits of this country, there must be someone who will come out and take responsibility for this "tragedy", and that person will not be an FA official, nor will it be some star player, which is the manager McLaren.