Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
When Drogba received the football, there were no Forest defenders around him. Chelsea’s persistent maneuvering of the Forest team finally played a role in helping Drogba shake off the annoying defense at the most critical moment. The highly difficult action of turn and shoot was as natural to him as eating, and “the Beast” Drogba was best at shooting with this unconventional move.
It was too close in distance and Edwin van der Sar could not save it in time. He could only watch as the football entered the net.
At that moment, Stamford Bridge rocked and erupted in tremendous cheers. The blue sea set off an upsurge of waves that temporarily drowned the red rolling lava.
“Chelsea! Chelsea! Chelsea!” the fans dressed in blue jerseys chanted. At this moment, only these voices could be heard.
When he saw Drogba scored the goal, Mourinho rushed out of the coaches’ area and slid to the ground with his arms raised, celebrating with the people around him.
The Chelsea coaches and substitutes cheered thunderously.
“Chelsea’s offense has finally paid off! A beautiful offensive set piece that ripped the Forest team’s defensive line apart! 1:0! They finally made a good start at home!”
As the team that conceded the goal, there was a dead silence on Nottingham Forest’s side.
Twain sat in position, still with his legs crossed. Nothing changed before they conceded the goal, but the look on his face was no longer relaxed.
No one wanted to lose the ball, whether it was within or outside of the plan.
He must admit that Mourinho’s change of strategy was timely and outstanding. He did not keep up with this change, so he conceded the goal.
“Chelsea showed the Forest team, trailing in this away game, who’s fighting at home now!”
Twain got up from his seat and curtly whistled twice toward the field. This was his code to communicate with Wood.
George Wood heard Twain’s whistle and turned around to run over.
“Don’t defend both flanks for now. They want to rip you out of the middle. Can you tell?”
Wood nodded and said, “I saw that.”
“Just stay in the middle. If they want to stay on the flanks, let them get tossed on the flanks. Your job is to defend the middle.”
“All right, I get it.” Wood continued to nod.
“Go back and rearrange the defensive line. Their passes are maneuvering our defensive line to look for holes. Don’t be fooled and stay in formation.”
Wood accepted the commands and left.
※※※
The game started again, and Chelsea’s morale was greatly boosted after they scored a goal. They hoped to score another goal, taking advantage of the favorable situation and then score many goals to directly lock in their victory. Although the Forest team conceded the goal, they did not lose their confidence and fighting spirit. Their defensive organization was very tight and the game fell back into a sticky situation.
Five minutes passed and then another ten minutes passed. Chelsea’s successive offense did not result in a goal and their pace slowed.
Now it was the Forest team’s turn to seek an attack opportunity.
The Forest team’s attack was mainly based on defensive counterattack. They did not pursue quantity but quality. If they did not have the required certainty, then they would rather give up the attack than give Chelsea another chance to score a goal. Twain was cautious when playing an away game.
It could not be said that there was no good opportunities at all. By the end of the first half, the Forest team had been given a couple chances to score.
First, Piqué intercepted Drogba’s dribbling and passed the ball to van der Vaart. Then van der Vaart dribbled the ball to attack. Eastwood picked the ball up when he crossed over positions with van der Vaart. Outside the penalty area, Eastwood did not continue to dribble the ball forward or pass it to the others. Instead, he swung his leg to directly shoot outside the penalty box. This was a tricky shot which bypassed Čech’s hands in an obvious arc without circumventing the goalpost.
The football hit the goalpost hard and made a clanging sound.
The Chelsea fans were still in panic when Nottingham Forest’s van Nistelrooy grabbed a second point. The King of the Penalty Box had a keen sense in front of the goal. He appeared the ball landed at the first instance and swung his leg to shoot.
Čech had already fallen to the ground and struggled to get up, but it looked like he was too late. He reached his hands out, but he was still too far away from the football.
Team Captain Terry raced to cover and threw himself in front Čech’s body.
“Van Nistelrooy!”
“It struck Terry on the body!”
“Is that a handball? It doesn’t seem to be! The referee did not make any indication and Terry managed to hold on to the goal. The Forest team’s best chance so far in the first half… What a shame!”
Terry fended off van Nistelrooy’s shot with his chest. If the angle was not right, it looked as if Terry had turned his body to block the football with his arm. Eastwood raised his hand to signal to the referee about Terry’s handball. The referee ignored him but whistled for a corner kick to the Forest team.
Van Nistelrooy, who made the shot, did not dwell on the matter with the referee. He scratched his head with some vexation. It was a pity that this ball did not go in. He had monitored first before he made the shot and did not see another Chelsea player other than Čech lying on the ground.
When van Nistelrooy shot at the goal, Twain also lifted his butt off the seat with his hands reached forward, ready to cheer for the goal. But when he saw that Terry amazingly blocked the football, he slammed his palms on the ground.
“Damn luck! Our luck is so damn bad!” The frustrated Twain kept muttering.
“Chelsea had a narrow escape and Mourinho breathed a sigh of relief in his seat. It is now three minutes before the end of the first half and if all goes well, Chelsea will go into halftime with one goal.”
The Forest team made a little tweak in the corner kick. Before this, the Forest team was awarded three corner kicks which were all directly shot at the goal. The results were not effective. This time they switched to a short corner.
Van der Vaart passed the football to the incoming Ashley Young who did not rush to pass, but instead passed the football again to George Wood. The Forest team intended to make the most of the last three minutes. They patiently passed the ball in search of a defensive loophole in Chelsea.
On the other hand, Chelsea fully retreated to defend and intended to hold until the end of the first half.
The Forest team continuously passed the ball on the outside, from left to right, and from right to left again. Chelsea was not fooled. Their defensive formation remained tight and did not give the Forest team a chance to hit the danger zone with a straight pass.
Van der Vaart was the Forest team’s organization core. The football was passed to his feet several times, but he did not have a chance to send the football where it needed to go. Now he was more like an ordinary ball passer who repeatedly received the ball only to pass it again. The football always moved laterally.
What the Forest team needed now was not a crosswise pass, but a penetrating straight pass. Cross passing was what Chelsea wanted to see the most.
There was little time left in the first half and the Forest team was at a loss in the face of Chelsea’s tough defense.
George Wood was getting anxious in the back. If he could not equalize the score in the first half, it would be a big blow to his team’s morale.
He looked around him. Other than the two center backs, everyone had gone up. But it did not mean that it would be effective for everyone to go up. Now the front field was crowded with players. Our passing back and forth has constricted our routes and space instead.
For George Wood, attacks were meant to move forward. There was no offense without forward movement. If everyone was passing the ball around, then even they controlled the ball throughout the ninety-minute game, it would be impossible to enter the goal.
Could it be said that Wood had a good way to pass the ball? It was not the case either.
Van der Vaart, who was more experienced and skilled at organizing offense than he was, was also out of ideas in face of Chelsea’s tight defensive formation. How could George Wood pass the football in?
But George Wood had his own philosophy and method of playing football.
He ran up and beckoned to van der Vaart whose back was to the goal and facing him, to signal to him to pass the football over.
Meanwhile, the fourth official held up the signboard to indicate a one-minute injury stoppage time on the sidelines for the first half. The game time had reached forty-five minutes.
Van der Vaart hesitated slightly. He also wanted to look for a passing route that could cause a deadly blow and directly penetrated the opposing line.
The closer Wood ran, the more Chelsea players noticed him.
“Watch out for that kid!” Terry yelled loudly in the back. Essien moved forward a little and got ready to tackle Wood.
“Give me the ball!” Wood could not help shouting.
With no other way, van der Vaart passed the football to Wood.
The football rolled towards him and Essien pounced on him along with the football.
George Wood had his own very simple football philosophy — if a complex method was ineffective, then it was time to use the straightforward method.
He did not want to move the football gracefully to a defensive dead corner. He did not think about it at all.
Essien initially thought Wood would pass the ball after he received it, just like the other Forest players involved in the offense had done, but soon he realized that the situation was not right. Wood’s running speed and steps did not look like he planned to stop the ball … He was obviously sprinting and adjusting his pace. He was going to…
Shoot!
In response, Essien sped up and pounced sideways, intending to block Wood’s shot with his body.
Wood looked past Essien’s body and straight to the goal. He did not see a passing path among the crowd, but he saw a thoroughfare to shoot for the goal.
A moment was all it took.
With his left foot firmly planted on the ground and his arms raised, he twisted his body and swung his right leg to powerfully kick the football rolling toward him upwards!
“Boom!”
“George WOOOOOOOOOOD… GOOOOOOOOAL!! What a great GOAL! A terrific goal!”
The football streaked over Stamford Bridge like a comet and plunged into the net, sparking a magnificent brilliance.
Čech had not even changed his position. His line of sight was obscured by the crowd at the front of the penalty box. The ball seemed to rip through the horizon and rushed out of the roiling clouds before it instantly appeared in front of his eyes and by the time he saw the football emerge, it was too late for him to act. The football had already whizzed past his ear,
It was too fast, and power was too great.
This was George Wood’s philosophy and approach to football, simple and straightforward, and also the most effective.
※※※
“George Wood! This is his first goal for the Forest team in the Champions League! As a defensive midfielder, his shooting level is not praiseworthy, but this shot is a shockwave that will ripple through the world!”
All the pubs within the Nottingham city center erupted in cheers at the same time.
“You’re the best, George!”
“Take them down, Captain!”
At the same time at Stamford Bridge, the Chelsea fans were temporarily silenced. The Forest fans were ignited with fervor by the goal.
“George!” The fan leader, Fat John roared in the stands.
His comrades followed loudly with, “—WOOOOOOD!”
It was a volcanic-like eruption. As the temperature rose, the sea began to boil. The entire Stamford Bridge stadium was like a pot of boiling water, bubbling incessantly.
“The goal was so beautiful! It’s hard to imagine it came from George Wood… The speed, strength and angle were excellent… If he were to do it again, would he be able to score again? No matter what, Nottingham Forest relied on George Wood’s amazing shot to equalize the score. On the verge of the end of the first half, both sides are right back on the same starting line!”
This time, Twain did not waste his expression and pose on the sidelines. Once the football rushed into the net, he jumped up and turned in the air. He could not wait to hug everyone around him after he landed.
“Terrific job!” he cried. “What a f**king beautiful job!”
“But I’m really surprised that George could shoot like this…” said Kerslake, next to him.
“Even if it’s just luck, it’s okay as long as the ball is in!”
George Wood did not stop on the field to celebrate with his teammates. After he realized that he had scored the goal, he immediately turned to run to the substitutes’ bench first. He ran all the way to give Albertini a fierce hug.
Demetrio was going to leave soon. He had taught him for three seasons, on defense and offense, from how to be a professional player to how to be a captain. He had a bigger impact on himself than those coaches.
This is for you, Captain… Thank you!
Nottingham Forest’s new and old captains hugged each other tightly.
“George Wood dedicated this goal to Demetrio Albertini. In his career, this Italian man is one of the most important influences on him. Albertini will retire at the end of this season. If the Forest team can finally make it to the final, it will be the best parting gift for him! George Wood’s goal for the Forest team brings the hope of advancement. An away goal at the critical moment is often invaluable!”
※※※
Mourinho had nothing to say about the conceded goal. His players performed well enough and did not give the Forest team any chances to pass the football at all. But he did not expect Wood, who had always been terrible at shooting, to manage to penetrate Čech’s ten fingers with such a remarkable shot.
That… had nothing to do with their performance!
He had a mini notebook computer in his hand with real-time data on the game, allowing him to observe the game and understand the movements in the game. The statistics on George Wood’s shot were typed out and displayed on the screen.
One hundred and forty.
That was the speed of that shot.
Mourinho tossed his laptop to his assistant and shook his head. “What else can we say? That bastard is so lucky. Even a player like George Wood can get that amazing shot.”
The Chelsea coaches were all silent. Just as Mourinho said, they did not know what else to say. The goal was entirely unforeseen.
※※※
Without even giving Chelsea a chance to kick off again, the referee blew the whistle right away to signal the end of the first half. The players from both sides went to the tunnel. Wood was favored by the televised broadcast, and the camera footage followed him the whole time, giving him many close-ups, which were interspersed with the repetitive replay of his shot. It was a thrilling long shot that made people jump up from their seats.
Dunn and Twain stood on the sidelines and watched the players file out.
“Now you can feel better about Demetrio’s retirement, right?”
“An old friend is leaving; how can I feel normal about it?” Twain grimaced. “George is George, Demetrio is Demetrio. But I’m glad to see George’s progress, and Demetrio is happy too.”
As the two men watched, Albertini, who waited at the opening of the tunnel for George to come off the field, pulled him aside and patted him on the head. It felt as if it were a father praising his son for his outstanding performance.
“It was an important decision in my coaching career to travel specifically to Italy and take Demetrio from Atalanta. I wanted Demetrio to help me lead this young team and pass on his experience to the young players. He did such a great job, and now it’s my turn to fulfill my promise.”
