In fact, it's not just Gerrard who doesn't know much about the Macedonian team, even Tony? Don wasn't familiar with the opponent they were about to face, either.

Not to mention Donn, most Britons will probably not be able to find out where the country of Macedonia is located on the planet for a while with a map. If it weren't for their participation in the European Championship qualifiers, the people of the British Empire would have thought that this little-known country was somewhere in Antarctica.

Don had thought Macedonia was in Western Europe for a long, long time, only to realize that he had been wrong. Macedonia was once part of Yugoslavia, and their football prowess was nothing to boast about. The country's most successful football club, Valdar, have played in the three major European cups eight times, but their best result has been only two second-round appearances......

In today's Macedonian team, the person Donn is most familiar with is the Goren who is still playing in Lazio? Pandev. The Chinese New Year's Eve is also Macedonia's number one star and captain, and he is the only player who could pose a threat to the England backline.

In fact, the England coaching staff has focused on how to stop Pandev, and the rest of the players are largely ignored. After all, the difference in strength between Macedonia and England is too great. The only possible threat to England's qualification in this group are Denmark and Serbia. For these two fierce rivals, England's intelligence-gathering work began long ago.

This contempt for England is palpable to the Macedonians. Because as the team's head coach, Tony? Done never mentioned Macedonia's name in front of the media, but kept talking about Wales, because after the Macedonian fight, Donn's England will play against its neighbor Wales.

As the main player of the team, Mitchel was asked in an interview with reporters: "Do you know where Macedonia is?" His answer made the Macedonians furious - "Maybe in the north?" I don't know ......."

In an interview, Pandev declared that they were going to give England a little bit of a look. “…… Even though we were away, I was glad we had the opportunity to tell them where Macedonia is on the planet. Hopefully they can remember this game after that. ”

Macedonia looks menacing, Tony? Done was still unfazed, and put psychological pressure on Wales by talking about his friendship with Bale in the media...... Although the England and Wales game will not kick off until October.

"The stimulated Macedonia will start the game and they must be in high spirits now. I can imagine how the opposing head coach encouraged them - "Don imitated the Macedonian manager, Slovenian Srejko? Katanic (srecko_katanec), waving his fist and roaring, "They've flattened you! They've flattened you! Give them a lesson and let them know what it costs to see you all over!! ”

The coaches next to him burst into laughter.

Don also looked at the group of colleagues who were smiling crookedly, and waited until they were all unhappy before he continued.

'If Katanic is a smart guy, he will use our contempt to boost the morale of the team. It's hard to get the players interested when they play away from home, but now we've given them a great excuse and a chance. They're going to catch it. So at the beginning they will take the initiative to attack, we will play against them, they have a lot of holes in the back, we can take advantage of it. Aim for an early goal, and as time goes on, Katanic will understand that he has been fooled, so he will start to shrink his defence. If we hadn't scored by then, he would have felt that it would have been a great win to keep the draw and take away a point. If that'......" Donn gushed to his coaches as he analyzed the course of the game.

"Let's press it, Pandev and I'll hand it over to George, and the others won't have to take care of it. Next, pay attention to the psychological condition of our players. If the score is always a draw, it will be more and more disadvantageous for us. That has to be avoided, so I hope the team can score early. Macedonia will have plenty of set-piece chances if they recycle their defence and take that to try to open their net. ”

'It's no problem, we've been working on set-pieces for the past few days. Walker next to him interjected.

"Let's talk about it first...... No amount of planning can compare to the changes in the actual game. Don clapped his hands and ended the preparation meeting between the coaches.

※※※

Is this George? Wood wore the England captain's armband for the first time in a game, and before the game Donn pulled him aside to tell him to keep an eye on Pandev. Pandev used to be a striker, but now as he gets older, he is getting closer and closer to the midfield, and now he is the heart of Macedonia's attack, and it is up to him to organize and end the attack. As long as he is killed, Macedonia will not be able to make any waves.

Wood nodded as he listened to Donn's tactics. The expression is very focused.

At the end, Donn patted Wood's left arm, "Before this game, there are still a lot of voices out there that question and oppose you being the captain. What do you think about that, George? ”

"I'll prove I'm worthy of the captain's armband."

Wood's answer made Donn very satisfied. He laughed out loud: "That's right! That's it! If they laugh at and question you, then you slap them in the face with your actual performance! Didn't we do that when we were in Forest? In fact, there is no difference between being the captain of the national team and being the captain of the Forest team, play well, then there will be no problems. ”

That's what Donn liked most about Wood. He doesn't squirm and say things like "I'm flattered by the captain's armband" or "I'm surprised I can be captain, Terry and Gerrard are better suited than me". He will only be very confident that he has this strength and that he deserves this treatment. Such an attitude would be considered arrogant in most eyes, but with Tony? Don, like him, has the qualifications to be arrogant.

In Gerald's age, twenty-eight-year-old George? Wood has indeed established himself as England's number one midfielder. Don gave him the captain's armband, which is not nepotism, but should be said to be "virtuous and not avoidable".

※※※

Playing his first official international A match with LinkedIn Gran (the previous match against Forest was not counted as an international A match due to the club team) was also a test for Donn. He knew that the game against the Forest team was just a warm-up, and from now on he was officially on his way to conquer the world.

Standing in front of the coach's bench, listening to the British national anthem "Save the Queen" (god_save_the_king) played on the live radio, the people next to him are singing loudly to the music. Only Don closed his lips tightly and didn't make the same movement as a player to put his hand on his left chest.

In his bones, he is still a Chinese...... Take LinkedIn Gran to play in the European Championship qualifiers, that's work, there is money to earn. Sing the national anthem to show loyalty, and forget it. What's more, he can't sing it, and he still doesn't even know what the lyrics of the British national anthem are.

He looked to the pitch and Wood was standing next to the referee with the captain's armband and singing the national anthem – it wasn't the first time he'd been in that position, he was a battle-hardened veteran, he was a trusted captain.

Think about the scene when I met him at my door eleven years ago, and that ignorant child has now grown into such a tall man......

Although Macedonia is not a strong team and the anger of the Macedonians is almost ignored, the new Wembley Stadium for this game is still full. The passion for football among England fans is evident, and of course the repertoire must be there.

Before the players even entered, the fans in the stands were chanting: "If you hate Manchester United, please stand up!" ”

Almost four-fifths of the fans stood up at the scene.

Unfortunately, no one sang: "If you hate Nottingham Forest, please stand up!" Otherwise, Donn can proudly claim that his Forest team is already the strongest team in England.

Now in the stands, fans arriving from Nottingham hung banners and caricatures of slogans and avatars in support of Wood as captain, while Liverpool fans booed discordantly as Wood came on.

It seems that although the national team has long since died down, free fans are not buying it. They will vent their emotions straightforwardly.

Wood said that he wanted to prove that the captain deserved his name with his actions.

That's what he did after the game started.

Just thirteen seconds after Macedonia's kick-off, football was back at the feet of England.

Pandev received a pass from behind in the front court, and before he could get steady, he was killed by George? Wood stabbed the ball out from diagonally behind.

Forest fans in the stands chanted Wood's name and cheered for their captain. The Liverpool fans who were waiting to pick the stab could not boo in the face of Wood's brilliant tackle.

Pandev is Lazio's main force, but Lazio are now hovering in the middle of Serie A, and their main team is still a little less capable of facing the main force of the treble.

England used the tackle to launch an attack and soon found a way into the Macedonian penalty area. Mitchel started England's attacking frenzy with a low shot.

As Donn expected, Macedonia did want to rely on aggressive attacking and momentum to catch England off guard at first.

But England's hard-line attitude caught them off guard.

In just ten minutes, Macedonia had two shots on goal, while England already had four, two of which were dangerous.

Due to the overall forward pressure of the Macedonian front, there were a lot of gaps behind them, and Don gave full play to Rooney's technical characteristics, and broke through again and again to make the Macedonian rear rumor. And Aaron? Mitchel's two-metre-tall guy can also make all the Macedonian defenders nervous when he is cruising in front of the Macedonian goal - if he does jump, will he be able to stop him?

Eleven minutes later, their nervous premonition became a reality.

Wayne Rooney crossed to the flank, Mitchel flanked in front of goal, jumped high to head the ball into the net, and the Macedonian defenders had no choice but to watch Mitchel dominate the air in front of them, and then a powerful header flick sent a huge cheer to the new Wembley Stadium.

"Aaron? Mitchel!! Clean header! The defenders of Macedonia can only act as spectators! 1：0！ England take the lead! ”

Don jumped up from his seat. The game is easy to play if you score first. And it was Mitchel's goal, a goal from a player from Forest, which undoubtedly took the pressure off him. What else do those media want to say that he is "cronyism"? That's a resounding slap in the face!

"Aaron from Nottingham Forest? Mitchel took the lead for England, and with all the talk of Done's cronyism before the game, Mitchel's goal must have been what Done would like to see the most...... Look at his excitement on the sidelines! Ha! As a coach of the national team, he is still as flamboyant as he was in the Forest team......"

After Mitchel's goal, Macedonia were still trying to fight to the death, and their attack was even more rapid. But in George? With Wood firmly on the death of Pandev, their attack simply could not pose a real threat to England.

It was England who grew stronger and braver to the singing of the home fans. It doesn't take much effort to play against an opponent like Macedonia, on the contrary, everyone wants to impress the man on the sidelines with the excellent performance in this game, in order to occupy the main position in the England team in the future.

So don't think that against a belly team, this England team will not be interested. They will have to paddle until they have determined their place in England. Now that we have a new manager, it's time to do our best. Think of John, who was deprived of the captain's armband? Terry and Stephen? Gerald, they felt a chill in their vests.

If he didn't show his best level in the first few games and curry favor with him, he might only be farther and farther away from the main force of the national team in the future.

Driven by this thinking, England continued to storm Macedonia's hinterland.

In the 29th minute, England scored another goal by Wayne Rooney with a long-range shot to take a 2-0 lead. The game was basically set to victory.

"Like we said before, the result of this game is not a suspense at all...... Tony? Donn's first exam was too easy. "The narrator found it boring to win so easily. However, the performance of the new captain is eye-catching.

Macedonia's only threatening core Pandev in George? Wood's tight defense is now almost impossible to catch the ball. The Macedonian players will no longer send the ball to England as soon as they see him like that, which will only transfer possession to England more quickly.

Then Pandev almost disappeared from the pitch, and the television broadcast did not give him a shot for fifteen minutes.

"Wood's defense is still so good...... the commentator exclaimed along with the guests.

The proudest man in the stands was the Nottingham Forest fans, the first goal was scored by Mitchel, and the man who made Macedonia's attack unthreatening was the captain of the Forest team, so why should they not be upset?

The first half ended with a score of 2:0. At halftime, Donn told Wood that he didn't need to keep such a close eye on Pandev in the second half, because the opposing head coach would definitely make adjustments to the situation in the first half at halftime, and they would probably let the rest of the team share the pressure on Pandev, or push Pandev to the front line, play simpler offensive tactics, and go directly to Pandev. But that's not something Wood needs to think about.

Donn gave Wood a new task to be more involved in the attack in the second half and maybe there would be an unexpected surprise if he could try some long-range shots if he had the chance.

※※※

Second.

“goooooal——！！” The narrator yelled, "Wonderful long shot!" The new captain George from England? Wood ——!! ”

"The football refracted twice in a row, but the speed and force were still unabated, and goalkeeper Masuwski couldn't react at all, and the football flew past him and into the goal! 3：0！ ”

After the goal, Wood shook his fist hard, and then Gerrard grabbed him. The hug also shattered rumors of a feud between Gerald and Wood.

In this game, there is no shortage for Donne.

Through the test of this game, Donn can officially put Wood in the core position in the next game. England's tactics also had to revolve around Wood.

Towards the end of the game, substitute Theo Walcott scored another goal to help England make it 4-0.

Tony? Donn led the team to a big home victory, and the team's attacking momentum and solid defense made England fans and media feel reassured.

After this game, there was no discussion about whether the captain's armband should go to Wood, or Gerrard and Terry.

In the face of victory, such a discussion is insignificant.

The next day's Times used this headline:

The New England sets sail!

(To be continued)