After the match against Macedonia, England received a bye in the second round of the qualifiers on September 9, but the team did not disband early, but played a friendly match with visiting Australia in London.

It's also Tony's day. Don said that after this day he would be forty-five years old and running towards forty-six.

The Forest internationals were hoping to give the captain a birthday gift with a win, but Donn didn't care about the result. It was an opportunity for him to reinforce the squad and he didn't mind fielding a large number of players who didn't play in the game against Macedonia.

But Donn has one more important thing to do before he plays Australia.

On the morning of the race, he drove away from A.T. Kearney and also left London. He returned to Nottingham on the A1 motorway, where he found the same barber shop he had visited many times before.

Then he sat quietly in a chair and asked the middle-aged master to dye his hair.

Yes, the most important thing is to dye your hair.

Even after a lot of hard work, his gray hair has a tendency to increase again, and the hair that he dyed before has grown, black and white, which doesn't look good.

Dyeing his hair is an important part of maintaining his image. He was only forty-six years old, and he wanted to try to look as young as possible, and he didn't want to give the impression of "old". Forty-six is not too old, of course, but the gray hair on his head gives the impression that he is sixty-six, which is not good......

"Tony." Master Connelly, who dyed his hair, was five years older than him, and since Don decided to dye his hair, he was serving Don Den, and the relationship between the two was quite close. So he was able to dye his hair while chatting with Donn.

"Huh?" Donn, who closed his eyes, replied lazily in a nasal voice.

"Happy life!"

Hearing this, Don opened his eyes and turned his head slightly, wanting to give the other party a surprised look, but was stopped.

"Don't move, Tony."

"How do you know I'm going to be born today? I remember I didn't tell you......"

"Ha, as a celebrity, your life is not a secret for a long time, right? Today's "Corriere della Sera" also devotes a special page to wish you a happy life. Even if you didn't know it before, you know it today. Connery laughed.

Don's mood was not too high, and he muttered, "It's forty-six, and it wasn't a happy thing for me to live six years ago." ”

Connelly smiled silently and continued to get busy with his work.

That's when Donn's cell phone rang. He pinned the headset to his ear and pressed the answer button.

"Happy life, Uncle Tony!"

Shania's energetic voice came out of the Bluetooth headset, which made Donn's mood instantly better. Even though Shania and Connery are both saying the same thing. At the same time, he was a little surprised.

"It's past two o'clock in the morning over there, isn't it?" There is an eight-hour time difference between London and Los Angeles, and it's 10:20 a.m. on Donne's side.

Shania smiled and said, "Wait until this time to call you, otherwise I won't be able to sleep." ”

Listening to his wife's voice, Don suddenly wanted to reach out and put his arms around her. He lifted his shoulders before he realized that the two of them were separated by an Atlantic Ocean and an American continent, and it was probably not enough to describe it as a thousand mountains and rivers.

"Forty-six, another year older......" Don didn't mind having outsiders around, he flirted with Shania on the phone.

"My Uncle Tony gets older and more attractive! I just like old men! Shania sneered. It's as if she's being coquetted in Don's arms. "What are you doing?"

"Dye your hair."

Shania suddenly laughed when she heard Don say this, "Use this to celebrate your birthday, is this your birthday wish, Uncle Tony?" ”

"Of course, if I'm a few years younger, I'll be able to stay with you for a few more years." Perhaps realizing that this problem was a little sad, Don quickly changed the topic: "Is filming in Los Angeles hard?" ”

"It's fine. I'll be in Paris in a few days, and I'll see you then. "Shania was also smart not to dwell on that issue.

"Long stay?"

"I can only stay for three days...... "Shania's voice was a little lost.

Don was also a little silent.

The long separation makes it impossible for them to even live as a normal couple, and it is unknown how long this situation will last.

"I read the news that your England team won against Macedonia or a big win, congratulations, Uncle Tony!" The question was as sad as "how long Uncle Tony could stay with him", so Shania changed the subject, even though she didn't care about football, it was better than that.

The two of them talked a little more, and Don kept urging Shania to go to sleep, and after a lot of time, Shanya finally reluctantly hung up the phone and went to sleep.

Donn took the headphones off, and Connery was finally able to dye his hair here.

"You're in a good relationship, Tony." Connery said enviously. "I just know to complain that I don't make much money."

"Do you envy the separation of the two places, Connery?"

"If it's separated from my mother-in-law, I'd love to! Ha ha! Connery laughed loudly, and Don laughed with him. No one cares when you go to drink, and no one cares when you go to the ball! A life of freedom and ease is what every man like me craves! ”

"Hey, Tony. Can you reveal a little bit about the night game? How are you going to fight Australia? After laughing, Connery suddenly lowered his voice and asked in Donne's ear.

Don smiled: "How else can you fight?" Those who didn't get a chance to play in the last game have a chance to play tonight. ”

"That's right. Australia is not a strong team. "It's a natural thing to say from an England fan, and in their eyes, I'm afraid that other teams are not strong teams except England." Then I'll be in front of the TV to cheer you on that night! ”

"Thanks, Connery."

The two men stopped talking, Connery focused on the work at hand, and Don continued to enjoy the leisure time with his eyes closed, and then he fell asleep at some point. He has been tired and sleep-deprived lately, and he can always fall asleep easily at such times.

But that didn't stop Connery from doing his job, for even when he fell asleep in his chair, Donne's head remained in a fixed position and didn't hang down.

By the time Don was woken up, it was already after dyeing his hair.

"I'm asleep?" Don was still a little confused.

Connery smiled and nodded: "I slept quite deeply, no matter how I fiddled with you, you won't wake up." ”

"Uh...... I'm sorry. Don rubbed his eyes, then looked at himself in the mirror.

With black hair and a good night's sleep, he looks much more energetic than when he first arrived. Appearing in front of the players and the media in this image should be nothing to worry about.

He grinned at the mirror. "It works well!" He praised. "If I could, I'd really like to suggest to the FA that you be called into the national team coaching staff, Connery!"

"Hah!" Connery laughed, "Specifically going to dye your hair?" ”

Donn pulled out the money and gave Connelly a tip, "Yes. ”

Walking out of the shop, Don got into his jeep, pulled down his mirror, looked at his image again, and made sure that there was nothing missing or noticed, before starting the car and driving away towards London.

On the long, boring road, he hummed an English song that he had learned in middle school.

“happy_birthday_to_you~~happy_birthday_to_you~~~happy_birthday_dear_teacher——happy_birthday_to_you……”

※※※

Before lunch, Donn finally rushed back to the hotel, he had told Walker in the morning, he had some personal business to go out, so everyone was not surprised that he had come back from outside.

As the players were eating, Donn found the coach's table and sat down to greet his colleagues.

"Happy life!" Walker held up the glass of juice to him. At the same time, he noticed that there were more black hairs on the top of Donn's head than yesterday, and he guessed what Donn was doing.

"Happy life, Tony!" Others raised their glasses to Donn.

"Thank you, thank you......" Don returned the salute one by one.

When Walker saw Don sit down, he smiled mysteriously at Donn: "We've got a raw cake for you." ”

He clapped his hands.

Then I saw the players standing up one after another, laughing and clapping together, singing "Happy Song" together. The two captains, Wood and Terry, walked in through the door with a small food truck.

As they sang their way through the lobby of the hotel's restaurant, they walked to Don's table.

Wood lifted the lid and revealed Donn's vision of a Wembley Stadium-shaped chocolate cream cake.

"Happy life, chief." Wood tried to put a genuine smile on his face, but it looked even more awkward......

Don smiled and shook his head: "You guys premeditated? ”

"We heard it by chance from Aaron after winning the Macedonian match." Terry explained.

Mitchel heard his name mentioned and hurriedly raised his hand and waved at Donn. It was as if he was introducing him to meet the audience and friends.

"Don't blame me for being too talkative, chief!" Mitchel said in a loud voice, "I was just discussing with David what gift to give you on this day, and they heard it." He pointed to the other teammates around him.

In fact, Don En is a very close to the head coach, although there are many rumors outside that are unfavorable to him, but the players of these national teams found that the demonic man is not difficult to get along with after spending a week with Don En day and night...... And sometimes it's very easy to get along with. If you joke with him, he will never stare at you and reprimand you, and ask you to pay attention to the difference between the top and the bottom. If he's in a good mood, he'll take the initiative to joke with you. For example, after winning against Macedonia, Don drove George in the locker room. Wood's joke, looking at George, who was usually always with a straight face. It's funny how Wood laughs and cries in front of Donn's scoundrel face. The only person who can joke with that cold-faced star is probably Tony. Don't.

Seeing so many players worrying about their lives, Done's heart was filled with a sense of accomplishment. It looks like he's captured the hearts of these players and there's harmony within the team.

He stood up to accept the raw cake from the players, and he held up his glass, which contained the juice.

"I thank you, guys. After this game, the national team will be temporarily disbanded, and the next game will be on October 16, and I hope that then I can see you come back to me, healthy and in good shape. Of course, it's a worry for the manager to have so many good players, but I'd rather enjoy it, and for me it's a happy one. Let's relax and enjoy the evening competition! Thank you! ”

It was a good opportunity and he didn't forget to use it to get closer to his players.

He drank the juice from his glass.

※※※

In the evening's game, as Donn said, the England national team's line-up was completely different from the previous game.

Even George. Wood was pressed to the bench. None of the eleven started against Macedonia.

Australia doesn't see this game that way. Although the UK are politically their overlords, football is apolitical and beating England at the new Wembley Stadium is a tempting result. Australia wants to give it a try.

Such a game still attracts many fans to watch the game.

Australia took the lead when England's squad was not tacit enough, and they were aggressive.

Although Donn doesn't care about the result, he just wants to see how this group of players performs. But not everyone on the pitch thinks so.

Like Joe. Mattok, Bentley and Abonlahor are three players from the Forest team, and they don't want to lose the game on the day they were born. The cake is the cake, and the gift should be the victory of the game. Even if it's just a friendly match, they don't want to lose.

Donn's long-instilled philosophy at Nottingham Forest played a role at this time. Forest's players' reluctance to lose has made them extra the pitch.

The commentator thought it was a desire to perform well in front of Donn and have a chance to be named in the starting lineup.

Before the end of the first half, England's "Nottingham Forest Gang" came to a tacit cooperation and tore apart Australia's defence. In the absence of a team-wide approach, these small collaborations with players from the same club show value.

Joe. Mattok played a long diagonal pass from the left to the right, Bentley stopped the ball beautifully and passed diagonally to the middle, and striker Abang Lajo made full use of his speed to get rid of the bulky Australian centre-back and get the ball into the box!

After the formation of the single knife, things are much simpler, Abang Laho used Xu Huang in the upper body to trick the goalkeeper and shoot, the ball passed through the goalkeeper's feet and rolled into the goal. The score was 1:1 by England!

After the goal, Abang Lajo ran all the way to the England dugout, and Toney. Don hugs.

"Happy life, chief!"

On the way back to the pitch, Abang Lajo pulled his teammates and said, "We can't let the Australians mess with the night, we have to win!" "The movement of his clenched fists is powerful.

The Forest's players worked so hard that it didn't look like a friendly squad scouting and more like a do-or-die battle about who would qualify.

The Australians fought desperately for a moment at the start of the second half before throwing up their hands in surrender.

England started to push in the second half, and it was completely outside of Donn's arrangement.

Sixty-seventh minute, Curtis. Davies won a winning corner and headed England back.

In the 79th minute, Delphi burst into the penalty area and received a pass from Vaughn and scored with a low shot, making it 3:1.

In the 85th minute, Downing also scored a goal, but it was ruled offside and the goal was invalidated.

However, with a score of 3:1, Don En was already very satisfied. England is indeed superior to Australia.

At the post-match press conference, some reporters who had a better relationship with Don congratulated Don on winning the game on this day and receiving the best birthday gift.

It seems that after becoming the head coach of the England national team, his life will not be lived alone.

The 46-year-old was Donn's first in the national team. He was another year older.

(To be continued)