A muddy Thames River divides London into north and south, in the traditional sense, the south is poor and the north is rich, the east is poor and the west is rich, perhaps this is to blame the German army, when London was bombed in World War II, the East End of London was the hardest hit area, everything became a ruin, it was abandoned, and it also formed the tenacious and unyielding spiritual quality of East Londoners.

Aldrich Hall was ten years old in 1986, a native of East London, and he obviously didn't have much to boast about compared to children born in north-west London, but he was clearly lucky to live in an industrial area mixed with immigrants, and his father, Arthur Hall, co-owned a glass factory here, small but enough to support his family, especially if Arthur had three sons.

Aldrich's eldest brother, Barnett, was eighteen years old, working next to Arthur, and seemed like a glass finisher with no future.

The second brother Andrew is only three years older than Aldridge and is still in school, but no matter how you look at it, he will follow in the footsteps of his eldest brother in the future and become a member of the blue-collar class.

Aldrich is a big ghost, and his family sells glass, so he will always sneak in his arms at night with broken stones, and then take advantage of the darkness to smash the windows of some immigrant-owned restaurants or shops in the community......

Walking a lot at night, it is inevitable to bump into ghosts.

At the end of May, Aldrich went out at night to plan to repeat his old tricks, his target was a new video shop opened by a black man, this black guy was called Sander, in East London, the most racist place, even if Sand was born tall and big, he had to manage his life carefully, he inquired about the surrounding community, and heard rumors that there were naughty children who came to smash glass, so he didn't go upstairs to rest after the video shop closed every night, and stayed in the black-lit shop. Although it is more about guarding against thieves and robbers, it has become a wait-in rabbit by mistake.

"Wow"

When a small rock shatters the window pane and bursts into the video tape shop, Sander erupts into a roar in the dark shop.

This made Aldrich, who had just lost a stone outside the store, startled, he didn't expect the store to react so quickly, so shocked that he hurried into the alley across the street, panicked and walked into a dead end, he heard the door of the video shop across the street behind him open, he was almost half frightened, although he was a native of East London, but most of the immigrants here live in clusters, the immigrants from Africa are united, and the immigrants from West Asia are together

If it was broad daylight, Aldrich was naturally not afraid, as long as the white people here saw that the black man was difficult for him to be a child, whether he knew it or not, someone would naturally come to help him, and the black man would not dare to take the initiative to provoke them as locals, but it was night, Aldrich was afraid that he would fall into the hands of the black man, and he would be isolated and helpless at that time.

Faced with a dead end, Aldrich's ten-year-old body was agile, and he climbed directly onto the high wall to escape, but in a panic in his heart, the wall was turned up, but he accidentally fell to the ground, his head hit blood, and he passed out on the other side of the wall.

Sander jumped on the street and yelled, causing a stir in the surrounding area, so someone soon found Aldridge unconscious and kindly took him to the hospital

Aldrich was hospitalized for three days, his injuries were not serious, but after waking up, he became dazed and silent, and even his parents Arthur and Amelia plus his two brothers Barnett and Andrew gathered around the hospital bed, he did not say a word, and even put his head in the quilt and did not see anyone, which once made Arthur anxious to ask the doctor if there was something wrong with his youngest son's head, or he became a mute.

In fact, Aldrich was not only confused on the surface, but also terrified on the inside, no one knew that under the skin of this ten-year-old child, there was a soul from thirty years later, and it was the soul of an atheist Huaxia.

In line with the idea that what has come is safe, Aldrich quickly adapted to everything, I don't know why Lu Dao came to London in 86, at least he didn't care, he was an orphan in China.

Three days later, Aldridge was discharged from the hospital, and the Hall family prepared a hearty meal for Aldridge at home, but the family had hidden concern for Aldridge in their eyes.

Aldrich, who used to be lively and mischievous, suddenly became quiet after being discharged from the hospital.

No one asks about this, but Aldrich eats a trench and grows wise, and falls off the wall and breaks his head and bleeds, which is also a bloody lesson, and it is better to settle down, so that adults can worry less.

Since May 31 is the opening day of the World Cup in Mexico, the football atmosphere in London has not declined because of the end of the league, on the contrary, every fan hopes that England can exhale and raise their eyebrows in the World Cup, teach the world the best in the world, and also tell the world in disguise: Banning English teams from participating in the three major cups is a loss for Europe and a loss for the world world!

Although the ban on English clubs from European competitions was an order given by Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady.

In May last year, the tragedy of the Heysel tragedy dealt a heavy blow to English football, not only because of the mental damage caused by the tragedy, but also because of the impact on the economy and even the country's image.

At night, Aldridge and his two brothers led him to a fan bar in the community, which was smoky and smelly, but the atmosphere was very high.

Barnett casually greeted young people he knew, Andrew had friends with whom he didn't talk much, and Aldrich, who was only ten years old, was clearly out of place here, and no familiar face could catch his eye.

Fortunately, after the two brothers greeted someone, they took him to the corner and sat down.

Aldridge pricked up his ears to listen to the laughter of the fans around him, mostly about the game, where they could either talk about the community-backed team, the Lions Millwall, the upcoming World Cup, and the occasional Wimbledon.

"Hooligans!"

The bar was full of foul language, and Aldridge listened to it and got a certain idea of these laughing fans.

They don't talk about Millwall's results or look ahead to next season, they talk more about things outside of the game, fights, brawls, provoking opposition fans, how to embarrass opposing fans

It's no wonder that England's east London side is the most notorious, with two bitter rivals known as the cradle of football hooliganism: West Ham United and Millwall.

It's like Leeds United fans, no matter how long it has been, they have been considered the most extreme racists.

Chatting and chatting, many fans in the bar began to admire Wimbledon.

Truth be told, the Madness have done a miracle at Wimbledon in the past three years, completing three consecutive jumps and appearing in the first division next season, which is definitely a commendable result.

But to be praised by Millwall fans, it naturally has nothing to do with the team's record, the most important thing is the performance of Wimbledon's players on the field, they are savage and furious, and even the head coach is to instill a kind of "fight on the field" thinking, for Millwall fans, this is the most appetizing game.

What is Football?

Nothing to them!

Soccer is preferably a combination of boxing and American football with feet!

It is difficult for Aldrich to integrate into such a public opinion environment, he can only lower his head and sneer in his heart: Crazy help Wimbledon?

Don't look at the current madness of the spring breeze, and even a mainstream whirlwind in England, but later in 94 years of absenteeism from the World Cup, more or less the impact of the rude style of play being adopted and leading to the exit.

Wimbledon, on the other hand, will be detached from the community-backed English team, and it will be difficult to have a fan base.

"Hey, help me with the reference."

While Aldrich was pondering, Barnett sat down with a few bottles of wine and gave them directly to his two younger brothers, the most inferior beer.

Andrew and Aldridge, though still children, didn't think there was anything wrong with drinking, and they looked at the paper Barnett had placed on the table, which was a table detailing the twenty-four Mexican teams.

Barnett took a pen and wrote the names of several teams on another blank piece of paper, then handed them to his two younger brothers and said, "How's it going?" The champion is England, the runner-up is Brazil, and the third and fourth places are France and West Germany. ”

Thirteen-year-old Andrew knelt down on the action, looked down at the names of the four teams, and applauded.

Aldrich was confused for a moment before he suddenly realized: Big brother wants to bet on the ball!

Aldrich hurried to stop it, but the words came to his lips and swallowed them back.

This is London, the eldest brother is also an adult, everything is legal.

But Aldridge looked at the names of the four teams, and his brows were wrinkled together.

Seeing his expression, Barnett chuckled, "Why are you doing this?" ”

Aldrich looked up at the big brother with a relaxed face and asked solemnly, "How much do you want to bet?" ”

Barnett put away his smile and whispered, "Five hundred pounds, I saved for two years." ”

He had been working for Arthur since two years ago.

Aldridge's sadness increased, and he shook his head and said: "If you want five hundred pounds to be rewarded, don't support England to win the championship, there is an emotional tilt, don't waste money." ”

"But we have Lineker."

"Argentina still has Maradona, why do you think Argentina can't even make it to the semi-finals?"

"Argentina can't beat England."

"If you say the Falklands War four years ago, yes, Britain won, but football and war are two different things, otherwise, there would definitely be no Brazil in the final four."

Barnett was silent, his expression a little unpleasant.

The hatred between England and Argentina is well known to the world, and when England regained the Falklands four years ago, the people naturally supported it universally, and naturally they did not have a good feeling for the vanquished.

Seeing that the eldest brother stopped talking, Aldrich rolled his eyes and said softly: "Lend me a hundred pounds, and I will bet too." ”

"Then I want it too!"

Andrew was unwilling to be lonely and looked at his eldest brother.

Barnett did his duty as an elder brother, and he loved his two younger brothers very much, and the family was very united, which was probably one of the characteristics of the East London family and group, and he nodded a little helplessly.

It is said to be borrowed, but in fact, it is no different from sending.

Aldrich saw that the eldest brother agreed, so he said: "In this way, big brother, let's bet on the team that qualifies from each group, how about it?" ”

Barnett actually wants to get rich overnight, betting on the championship, runner-up and third or fourth, the return is amazing, but now that he has calmed down, he feels that it is better to seek stability.

The three brothers come together to discuss which teams will qualify from each group.

With 24 teams, two from each group, plus four of the best teams from the third place in the group, 16 teams will enter the knockout round.

They only guess the top two in the group.

Aldridge can't remember the group stage in his mind, but he only remembers the champions and runners-up of this World Cup.

According to the conventional thinking, the strong teams in the six groups qualified, Aldridge asked the eldest brother not to bet all the money at once, but he himself asked the eldest brother to help him bet 100 pounds on the champion Argentina and the runner-up West Germany.

In fact, the only thing he was impressed by was the match between the final and Maradona's Hand of God, but the odds of betting on the champion and runner-up before the game were high, and when the top 8 and top 4 of the knockout round were released, the return was obviously not very high.

The second brother Andrew regarded his 100 pounds as a treasure, and just carefully asked the eldest brother to help him bet on the teams that would definitely qualify for each group, although the odds of the strong team must be very low, but Andrew did not have a strong heart to gamble.