The Young Lion

A muddy river Thames divides London into north and south. In the traditional sense, it is rich in the south and rich in the north, rich in the east and poor in the west. Perhaps this is to blame the Germans. London was bombed in World War II. The east side of London was the hardest hit area. Everything turned into ruins. Abandonment also formed the tenacity of the spirit of East Londoners.

In 1986, Aldridge Hall was ten years old. He was born in East London. Compared with the children born in northwest London, he obviously had no natural material conditions to show off, but lived in this mixed immigrant industrial area. In the environment, he was obviously lucky. His father, Arthur Hall, had a glass factory here, which was small in scale, but sufficient to support his family, especially if Arthur had three sons.

Aldrich’s eldest brother, Barnett, is eighteen years old. He works alongside Arthur, and looks like a glass decorator without any future.

The second brother, Andrew, is only three years older than Aldridge. He is still in school now, but how he thinks that he will follow in the footsteps of his brother and become a member of the blue-collar class.

Aldrich is a big kid, and his home sells glass, so he always sneaks in his arms at night with rubble, and then smashes the windows of some restaurants or shops opened by immigrants in the community while the night is dark...

The night road is too many, it will inevitably hit the hell.

At the end of May, Aldridge went out at night to reapply his old skills. His goal was a newly opened black video store. The black guy was called Sander. In East London, where racial discrimination was most severe, even Sander was born. He must be very careful to manage his life. He has inquired about the surrounding communities and heard rumors that naughty children are breaking the glass, so he does not go upstairs to rest after the video store closes every night. Guarding in a shop full of black lights, although it is more to prevent thieves and robbers, it has turned into a wait and see.

"Wow"

When a small stone smashed the window glass and burst into the video store, Sander burst into a roar in the dark store.

This struck Audridge, who had just lost his stone outside the store. He didn't expect the store to react so quickly. He was so shocked that he hurried into the alley across the street. In the dead end, he was scared to death when he heard that the door of the video shop across the street was opening. Although he was a native of East London, most of the immigrants here lived in clusters. African immigrants united together. Partner……

If it’s daylight, Aldrich is naturally not afraid. As long as the white people here see the black people as a child, no matter whether they know them or not, there will naturally be someone to help him, and the black people dare not take the initiative to provoke them locals, but now it’s night. Derich was afraid that he would fall into the hands of black people, and he would be helpless by then.

Facing a dead end, Aldridge's ten-year-old had a sharp body and dexterity. He directly overcame the high wall and planned to escape. As a result, in his panic, the wall was turned up, but he accidentally fell to the ground, his head hit the blood, and he fainted. Died on the other side of the wall.

Sander jumped and scolded on the street, causing a lot of movement around him. So soon someone found Aldridge who was stunned and sent him to the hospital kindly...

Aldridge was hospitalized for three days. His injury was not serious, but he became dazed and silent after waking up. Even parents Arthur and Amelia plus two brothers Barnett and Andrew were in front of the bed. Without saying a word, he even blindfolded his head in the quilt, but once made Arthur anxiously ask the doctor to ask if the younger son had something wrong with his head or became a dumb man.

In fact, Aldridge is not only confused on the surface, but even fearful in his heart. No one knows that there is a soul from the thirty-year-old child under the skin of the ten-year-old child, and it is the soul of the Chinese atheist.

In accordance with the idea that what has come is safe, Aldridge quickly adapted to everything. I don't know why he came to London in 1986. At least he didn't care. He was an orphan in China.

Three days later, Aldridge was discharged from the hospital. The Hall family prepared a hearty meal for Aldridge at home, but his family was worried about Aldridge.

Aldridge, who was lively and mischievous before, suddenly became swift and quiet after he was discharged from the hospital.

This is no one to ask, only when Aldridge eats a long grain of wisdom, fell from the wall and broke his blood, which is also a **** lesson. It is better to settle down and let adults 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 will be able to raise their eyebrows at the World Cup and teach the world’s powers. It is also in disguise. World: The ban on the England team from participating in the three big cups is a loss for Europe and a loss for the world!

Although it is the order of the Iron Lady Mrs. Thatcher that banned the English club from participating in European competitions.

In May of last year, the tragedy of the Heather tragedy hit the English football industry hard. Not only did the tragedy cause mental losses, it also affected the economy and even the national image.

At the beginning of the night when the lantern was on, Aldrich, led by two older brothers, came to a fan bar in the community. The bar was smoky and smelled bad, but the atmosphere was very high.

Barnett greeted casually with young people who knew him, Andrew also had a few friends who were not there, and Audridge, who was only ten years old, was obviously out of tune with this place, and no familiar face could catch his eye.

Fortunately, the two brothers took him to the corner after saying hello.

Aldridge raised his ears and listened to the words of laughter and laughter from the surrounding fans, mostly about the game. Here, they either talked about the community-supported team mad lion Millwall, or about the upcoming World Cup, otherwise In addition, occasionally I can hear the gangster Wimbledon talking.

"rogue!"

The bar is full of foul language, and Aldridge has a certain understanding of these nonchalant fans listening to it.

They don’t talk about Millwall’s season results or look forward to the situation next season. They talk more about things outside the game, fighting, fighting, provoking opponent fans, how to embarrass opponent fans...

No wonder, England’s East London team is the most infamous, and two rivals are hailed as the cradle that breeds football hooligans: West Ham United and Millwall.

Just like the fans of Leeds United, no matter how long they have passed, they have been regarded as the most extreme racist.

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

To be honest, Wimbledon has done a miracle in these three years, completed three consecutive jumps, and will appear in the first-class stadium next season. This is definitely a commendable result.

But it can be praised by fans of Millwall, which naturally has nothing to do with the team's record. The most important thing is the performance of Wimbledon's players on the court. They are brutal and violent, and even the coach is inculcating a "fight". Thinking, for Millwall fans, this is the most appetizing game.

What is football?

Nothing for them!

Football is best a combination of boxing and American football with feet!

Aldridge is difficult to integrate into such an environment of public opinion, he can only sneer with his head down in his heart: help Wimbledon?

Don't look at the madness of the spring breeze, and even a mainstream whirlwind in England, but the absence of the World Cup in 1994, more or less because of the rough play was adopted and led to the impact of the out.

Wimbledon is even more betrayed in the future, leaving the community-supported English team, it is difficult to have a fan base.

"Hi, help me refer to it."

While Aldridge was meditating, Barnett sat down with a few bottles of wine and gave the bottles directly to the two younger brothers, the last beer.

Although Andrew and Aldridge are still children, they don’t think there is any problem with drinking. They looked at the paper that Barnett placed on the table. On top is a match table, which lists 24 Mexicans in detail. Participating teams.

Barnett took a pen and wrote the names of several teams on another piece of white paper, then handed it to his two younger brothers and said, "How about? Champion England, runner-up Brazil, and third and fourth place are France and West Germany."

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

Aldridge was confused for a while before realizing: Big Brother wants to gamble!

Aldridge hurriedly stopped it, but then swallowed it back to his lips.

This is London, and the eldest brother is an adult. Everything is legal.

But Aldridge looked at the names of the four teams and frowned.

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

Aldridge looked up at his relaxed brother and asked solemnly, "How much do you want to gamble?"

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

He started working for Arthur two years ago.

Aldridge grew sad and shook his head, saying: "If you want five hundred pounds to pay off, don't support England to win the championship, emotionally tilted, don't spoil the money."

"But we have Lineker."

"Argentina also has Maradona, why do you think Argentina can't even enter the semi-finals?"

"Argentina cannot beat England."

"If you are talking about the Massachusetts war four years ago, yes, Britain won, but football and fighting are two different things. Otherwise, there must be no Brazil in the semifinals."

Barnett was silent, his expression a bit unsatisfactory.

The hatred of England and Argentina is well-known to the world. Naturally, when the island was reclaimed by England four years ago, the people naturally supported it, and naturally they did not like the losers.

Seeing that the elder brother stopped talking, Aldridge rolled his eyes and whispered: "Lend me a hundred pounds, and I also gamble."

"Then I will!"

Andrew looked at his elder brother unwillingly and lonely.

Barnett did his utmost to take care of his brother's duties. He usually loved his two younger brothers. The family is very united. This is probably one of the characteristics of the family and group in East London. He nodded helplessly.

Saying it is borrowing is actually no different than sending it.

Aldrich agreed with the elder brother and said, "So, elder brother, let's bet on the teams from each group. How about it?"

Barnett actually wanted to get rich overnight, betting on the first and second runner-up and three or four. The return was amazing, but calm down now, I think it is better to seek stability.

The three brothers joined together to discuss the teams from each group.

Of the 24 teams, two teams from each group qualify, plus four teams from the best team to qualify for the third qualifying round, and 16 teams have entered the knockout round.

They only guessed the top two of the group.

Aldridge can't remember the group stage, but only remember the champion and runner-up of this World Cup.

According to conventional thinking, the strong teams of the six groups came out. Aldrich asked his elder brother not to bet all the money at one time, but he himself asked his elder brother to help him bet £100 on the champion Argentina and runner-up West Germany. .

In fact, he was only impressed by the game between the final and Maradona God’s hand, but the odds of betting on the championship and runner-up before the game are high. When the top 8 and 4 of the knockout are released, the return is obviously not very high. Too.

The second brother Andrew treats his one hundred pounds as a treasure, but carefully let his big brother help him to bet on the teams that each group will definitely qualify. Although the odds of the strong team are necessarily low, Andrew does not have a strong heart of desperation. .