Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The fans and media focused their attention on those footballers from France with attacking flair as their goals and assists brought upon excitement to the fans. However, people who really understood football knew that the key to France’s winning streak was not Benzema or Gourcuff, but the little black man in midfield with not many eye-catching moments——Lassana Diarra.
Diarra was 31 years old and in his prime now. To him, this European Championship was his best chance of winning an international honor. However, to do that, there was someone that he could not avoid.
George Wood was one year his junior, and the one recognized by the world as the best defensive midfielder in the footballing world now. Even though the terrible results of his club affected his performance, he was still the undisputed core of the England national team. He had not started a game in the current European Championship yet, and the time he played in the two previous games added up to be not more than 45 minutes. However, that short amount of time was enough to prove how good George Wood was.
The media was not interested in a dialogue between defensive midfielders, but Diarra knew very well how good his opponent was.
He did not know whether George Wood would be in the starting lineup for tonight’s match or would he be sent in as a substitute. If Wood was going to be playing, then he would have to pay close attention to him. That was because George Wood was no longer the blue-collar worker who could only defend now. He also shouldered the responsibility of organizing the attack, otherwise how could he be known as the core of England? A boorish brute who could only defend would never be able to become the core.
※※※
The match was still eight hours away, but the media was especially interested in England’s starting lineup. Twain did not seem to have any intention of releasing it yet and it seemed like he was going to wait for the team to enter the changing room before releasing it.
Media from all over the world gathered outside the hotel that the England team was staying in, hoping to get some valuable inside information from the players. However, even the players themselves did not know anything about the starting lineup.
Naturally, there was only one reason why the media would pay so much attention to the starting lineup——Would George Wood be part of the starting lineup in tonight’s match?
When Twain insisted to bring Wood to Spain, he said that Wood’s foot injury would fully recover after they reach the knock-out stage of the competition. Therefore, the round of 16 was supposed to be the day when Wood came back from his injury. However, his first match was the last game of the group stages against Germany, meaning he actually came back earlier than expected. However, this delayed his official return and he continued to sit on the bench during the match against Sweden, only coming on in the second half.
Would he be starting in the match against France?
The England players shook their heads and said that they did not know.
Mitchell actually knew about it, but Wood had already reminded him not to tell anyone about this as Boss requested. As he admired Boss so much, Mitchell naturally kept his mouth shut.
The media knew that he was sharing a room with Wood and they came to question him. He merely smiled and shook his head, “I don’t know, I haven’t heard anything like that… Of course, I hope that George can play but I’m neither the team doctor nor the manager… That’s all I can say.”
Twain was resting in the hotel lobby with a coffee in his hand, but not a single media personnel thought of interviewing him. They knew that if they could not get any newsworthy information from the players, they could forget about getting any from this manager’s mouth. This was a person who had so much prejudice against the media that if he did not want to say anything, even “press freedom” would not scare him into saying anything. The media only got whatever he wanted to say. When one thought about it that way, the media was pretty sad, and they were like a dog that Twain kept. If he was in a good mood, he would feed them something and they had to act happy with some tail wagging. If he was unhappy, he would stay indoors for half a month and they could not complain about it at all, or else he would stay even longer.
※※※
Unlike England, France’s starting lineup was already released when they were setting off to the stadium, and it was exactly the same as the previous matches as Puel did not make any change at all.
France was playing a 451 formation with Benzema at the front as the striker. Behind him, there were three attacking midfielders in a line, Gourcuff in the middle, Nasri on the right and Ben Arfa on the left. Behind the three attacking midfielders were two central midfielders, Flamini on the left and Lassana Diarra on the right. The left-back was Clichy from Arsenal and right-back was Sagna, also from Arsenal. One of the center-backs was 26-year-old Mamadou Sakho from Serie A giants, Juventus, and the other was Mexes from Roma. The goalkeeper was Lloris.
The French felt superior even though it was just the timing of the release of the starting lineup. They claimed that releasing the starting lineup early indicated that Puel’s team was confident and they were not afraid of any other teams, a mentality that a championship winning team should have. On the other hand, Tony Twain’s insistence on keeping the starting lineup a secret demonstrated his fear and helplessness. Did it mean that George Wood had not recovered from his foot injury yet since he did not dare to release the starting lineup?
The French started to dream about them beating England and reaching the semifinal, then beating the host nation, Spain, and meeting Italy in the final before defeating them 3:0, avenging the World Cup final defeat 10 years ago.
※※※
“England’s starting lineup is not released yet and I believe that George Wood’s injury is the only reason why that is so. From our analysis, we can conclude that Wood has not recovered from his foot injury yet.” In the pre-match special program on the French television, they invited two professional pundits to analyze the match for the French viewers. In general, they were praising France and claimed that all uncertainties were gathered on England’s side.
“If George Wood has really recovered from his foot injury, I believe that Tony Twain would have released it as early as possible to serve as a morale dampener for his opponent, “Another pundit who claimed to understand Tony Twain very well said that, “But, we don’t have any news about that up till now. This can only mean that Wood has not recovered from his foot injury sufficiently to be in the starting lineup. I think Twain plans to do the same thing as the two previous games and bring Wood on in the second half. Therefore, we have to establish a lead in the first half and getting the first goal as early as possible is key…”
On the big screen television in the broadcasting hall, there was a live broadcast of the scenes of the teams’ arrival at the stadium. Naturally, France’s bus appeared multiple times on screen while England only appeared for a few times when they arrived at the stadium.
The host and the experts were discussing the match that was about to start with a smile on their faces. It did not look like they were affected by the anxiety and uneasiness of going into a big match. Maybe they were experienced, or maybe they thought that their team was stronger than England and there was no problem defeating England.
However, the host’s smile froze when he received England’s starting lineup from the reporter on the scene.
An awkward silence is really bad for a live show, and there was an awkward silence from the host now…
He was still in a daze while holding the starting lineup in his hand and the two experts next to him did not know what was going on and they could only smile.
The host tried to cover up for his mistake very quickly as he coughed and said, “We…we’ve just received the starting lineup for the England team…” He looked at the two experts who gave him an expression which meant “tell us about it, we want to know”.
“George Wood is starting,” the expressions on the experts’ faces changed instantly after the host said that, as if their faces were stuffed with a bunch of live flies.
“Um…” One of them was stunned on the spot, but the other reacted well by saying, “Looks like Tony Twain is going to go for it…”
The big screen showed England’s starting lineup. George Wood sits right in the middle of England’s midfield with Gerrard partnering him.
※※※
The people who were shocked, just like the host and experts on this French show, included the media from all other countries. The English reporters could not believe it when they saw the lineup. However, after they reacted to it, they did not dare to think too optimistically and they thought that Twain was taking a risk with Wood, who had not recovered yet, because he had no choice if he wanted to defeat France.
“Even if we defeat France, how can we beat Spain if we aggravate Wood’s injury?”
“Twain did not think through it properly by doing this!”
“Did Wood volunteer or did Twain force him into it? We have to look into this…”
When the reporters were deep in discussion, the players in the English changing room were similarly shocked.
They looked at Twain standing next to the tactics board, then looked at Wood sitting at one side. Boss had just announced that George Wood was part of the four starting midfielders.
“Is your foot okay? George?” Rooney stood up and asked. This was the question that everyone was concerned about.
“There’s no problem,” Wood replied.
In fact, the team doctor, Wright, specially did another examination for Wood that morning and he believed that Wood’s recovery was very smooth, and he was able to start the match. Twain could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Wood’s return should have been something that they were happy about, but when they thought about the strange behavior that Boss exhibited the past few days, everyone’s mood dropped to a new low again——Could Boss be worried that the current lineup would not be able to defeat France, that was why he forced Wood to start this match?
There were new doubts in the looks that these people gave Wood. They did not really believe that Wood’s right toe had recovered now.
Of course, Twain knew what his players were thinking of. However, he acted as though he did not see and did not give them any explanations. The players were unhappy with France now, and with him too of course. However, this unhappiness could turn into their motivation and if he explained his actions, all these would be for naught.
After introducing the starting lineup, he repeated the tactics that he explained the day before and then clapped and said, “Good luck.”
He ended the final pre-match preparation just like that, without any passionate speech.
However, nobody cared about his strange behavior. They were all angry at him now so the lesser he spoke the better.
Twain did not continue to stay in the changing room. There were a few minutes before the start of the match and he left the room with assistant manager, Des Walker, leaving the room for the players.
Once Boss left, the players started to become active and they surrounded Wood, “Are you really okay, George?”
Wood nodded with conviction, “I’m fine.”
“I’m very unhappy about Boss’ performance during the past few days…” Someone frowned and said as he looked at the changing room door, “He’s obviously looking down on us, aren’t you mad about that, George?”
Wood shook his head and said, “If you think he’s wrong, then prove it by beating France.”
Wood knew what Twain was planning and as captain, he had the responsibility to help the manager fulfill his plans and that included lying.
As the English players surrounded Wood and questioned him, over in the French changing room, they received the news that George Wood would be starting too.
Puel was a little shocked as he did not expect Wood to start the match. However, this also proved his analysis before——Tony Twain’s fear of France was real and not something that he made up. Otherwise, he would not have taken the risk of starting Wood. George Wood was the only trump card in Twain’s hands. In order to defeat France, he had no choice but to start a half-fit Wood.
Puel calmed down very quickly once he thought of that. George Wood was not omnipotent and there was nothing that the mighty France needed to worry about.
He continued to explain to the players about the things to look out for in the match, but he noticed that there were people getting distracted…
There were probably not many French players who were happy that Wood would be starting the match. Lassana belonged to this minority.
Seated next to Diarra was midfielder Feghouli who was not in the starting lineup. He noticed the strange behavior of Diarra very quickly.
Diarra was trembling as he looked down and his fingers turned white from clenching his fists.
“Hey Lars, are you okay?” Feghouli touched Diarra and asked with concern.
Diarra stopped his trembling, looked up and smiled at Feghouli while exposing his white teeth, “It’s nothing. I’m thinking about defeating England and getting into the semifinal and got a little excited…”
Feghouli thought that Diarra’s answer was hilarious. He was 31 years old and not a newcomer anymore, would he be so excited about getting into the semifinal?
Diarra ignored Feghouli. Not everyone could understand the feeling of desiring to meet his opponent so there was no need for him to explain himself. He was very happy that George Wood was going to start. This match had become even more meaningful.
