The Young Lion

On the eve of the Munich expedition, the England national team assembled again in London, and after a big victory over Finland, the team had a day off.

After two days of restorative training, the team's physical and mental state recovered to the best on the third day.

In the early morning, in the restaurant of the training base, the players sat together for breakfast, and the coaches sat at another table. This is also the requirement of Audridge. The team must eat uniformly, and the table rules have no special requirements, unlike Some iron-fisted coaches will ask players to keep quiet.

Aldrich always believes that the formation of unity in a team, communication is a very important part, in addition to work, if in life together, try to maintain a harmonious relationship, in order to shape unity.

The situation of the national team is much more complicated than that of the club. After all, it is an opponent in the league. The only good situation is that the English public enemy Millwall, the club's main iron is only Southgate.

The players looked at the morning newspaper and many people showed a faint smile on their faces.

Anyone who gets praise from the outside world just after getting up is estimated to be very happy.

If England wins, it will naturally be held up.

Irving flipped through the newspaper and read a few articles praising England, especially the scoring players.

But he suddenly thought: the coach has not praised any player.

With such a thought, the complacent heart disappeared immediately.

In four games, England scored 15 goals. After four wins, Aldridge’s remarks after the game were almost the same: England played a good game.

Albania, Greece, Finland.

Anyway, Aldridge did not feel that England’s victory over such an opponent deserved praise, and he personally just revealed that England should have won such an opponent.

In this context, especially with an honorable captain Southgate, the spirit of the entire England team is also changing. They were not children, they were floating with some praise, but before Aldridge took office, The England team has been controversial and highly blamed. From the 98 World Cup Beckham red card to Hoddle’s autobiography caused turmoil, to the defeat of the European Cup in 2000 and the loss to Germany at home, such a team needs encouragement. After being praised, there may be a kind of long-term drought and pleasure. It is normal psychology for players to be slightly complacent, but Aldridge still needs the team to quickly come to a temperamental state of "winning, not arrogant, not discouraged," because In fact, there is not much time left for England. The World Cup and 9 months are coming!

Fleet Street tracked the entire England World Cup preliminaries. During the trip to Germany, the outside world photographed the suit and leather of the entire England team. Under the leadership of Aldridge, he walked into the airport and took a plane to Munich.

Although the stars on the court are Beckham and Irving, no one will ignore the changes that Aldridge has brought to this team.

Now the England team is less impetuous and has a more calm. The fans always criticize that the England team is not like a team. The fans are not interested in seeing David Beckham’s salon fashion show, or what hairstyle they have changed. , Only fans who are pure star chasers are interested. The English team under Aldridge is more like a pure competitive team, less off-court offense and attention, but during the national team game, the players are strict and self-discipline, no Commercial activities, no indulgence of lingering nightclubs, no annoyance requires a coach to extinguish the fire, even though this is not the iron-blooded England that the old fans expect in the traditional impression, but at least they want to blame them, but there are not many valid reasons.

Aldridge's prestige within the team has made players feel fear and crisis.

This sense of crisis is that if they violate the rules set by Aldridge, they will most likely face the danger of being kicked out of the national team. Is anyone in the team indispensable?

Beckham? Irving?

Maybe they are very important in the club, but in front of Aldridge, they dare not have the slightest thought that they can definitely stay in the confidence of the England national team.

Millwall sold the absolute main force in succession that year. Did Aldridge succeed in finding a replacement?

If there are major mistakes today, they will be kicked out of the national team tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, Aldridge will definitely find a suitable replacement.

This is the true thinking of the national team players.

Despite the fact that Aldridge did not have that kind of magic, he could make talents or first-class stars out of England, but he gave the impression of players.

Beckham is atonement, McManaman is making his own redemption and the final rush of his career The difference, but they all have one thing in common, that is, obedient, listen to Aldridge, everyone’s efforts are the same goal, there is something to do in the national team!

Moreover, as the World Cup enters the one-year countdown period, the national team needs absolute stability. Aldrich’s working attitude is obvious to all. The trust he gave to the players, the players can’t fail, otherwise, they will feel guilty if they are true. If he was kicked out of the national team by Aldridge, what is the right to complain?

In Munich, Aldridge once again led the team to this unfamiliar city and set foot on the land of Germany. The English team seemed to have stepped onto the battlefield.

There was a feud between England and Germany. At that time, England's home win was the goal line. After 30 years of unbeaten Germany, the European Cup England group defeated Germany last year. Germany also returned to England with a defeat at Wembley. Eliminating these footballs Enmity and resentment on the field, England and Germany are inherently feuds.

At that time, the Nazi bombers blasted London into ruins. On top of the ruins, would the English have less resentment against the Germans?

This kind of emotion Aldrich understands, it is a bit like the emotion of the Chinese team encountering the Japanese team, although not so deep, after all, the UK is not directly beaten by Germany like France and surrendered to the country.

The day before the game, Aldridge attended a press conference and declared that Germany is very strong before the game, and England will stubbornly resist the German team on the road!

"In the past 50 years of history, the German team has won three World Cup titles and three World Cup runner-ups. It has never missed the World Cup. The worst result is the quarterfinals. German football has always been a strong representative of international football. In terms of football, there is still a gap between England and Germany. We have indeed achieved good results in the past year, but the opponents we encountered are not strong. Albania, Finland, Greece, these opponents we have won, in fact, many in the world The strong teams also have the strength to win them, so England is not special. Tomorrow's game is a severe test. We will try our best to resist the German offense and limit the German team's play. As long as we don't lose , I think it is an acceptable result. On the German soil, the last time the England team defeated the German team, it should be, uh, a friendly match played in Nuremberg 36 years ago. In the official game, England never took this land. Walk past victory."

Aldrich’s words are basically true.

In fact, the record of engagement between England and Germany is not one-sided, dating back more than half a century ago, the two teams have now confronted each other, and England still has a slight upper hand.

The German team has 9 wins, 5 draws and 10 losses.

But there are a lot of friendly games in it. England hasn't counted in the 30 years of Germany and Germany, and it hasn't counted the victory or defeat of the friendly game. Otherwise, the 85-year friendly game has beaten Germany.

In the past 30 years, the two teams have only met 6 times in the main game. The German team has 1 win, 4 draws and 1 loss in the regular time. The losing game was last year’s European Cup group game, and after two of them, there were two draws in the penalty shootout. They defeated the England team. These two defeats caused great pain to England. The 90 World Cup was blocked from the finals. In 1996, the local European Cup was blocked from the finals. That year, Germany was in Wembley. Lee took the European Cup.

In the official match between England and Germany, England never defeated the German team in Germany. It was only when German football was still behind the world. At that time, England was a pioneer in leading the tactical change in world football. In the friendly game away scored a big score on Germany, when England won Germany two or three, regardless of home and away, it is a breeze.

Time flies, the seas are turbulent, Germany later came up, and now has left England far behind, empty-mouthed, just look at the honor, football is about success and failure heroes, more trophies than you, I am stronger than you, everything else Nonsense.

The reporters at the scene did not expect that Aldrich would come to Munich to make such remarks.

The German media felt that the young marshals in the sky were Jiang Long. Today, they will definitely speak loudly to boost the military's heart, but unexpectedly, this Jiang Long first put on a posture to worship the mountain.

Well, it's quite interesting.

Then, we don't have to make things difficult for him.

Fleet Street was unhappy.

England and Germany come to a decisive battle. As the national team coach, how can you increase the popularity of others and exterminate your own prestige?

"Mr. Hall, you said that there is a gap between England and German football, Germany is stronger, but these years, the German football club has been suppressed by the English club in the European War. Don’t you think your words are contradictory? Millwall , Manchester United, don’t all represent England?"

Aldridge shook his head with a serious expression, he would not have discussed the club on this occasion, but this topic did not have much contact with the club itself, so he solemnly said: "First of all, clarify that Millwall is an English club, But they cannot represent the level of football in England. Manchester United Arsenal, the same is true. They just represent the Premier League. Hear clearly, they represent the Premier League in the European War. The national team and the club are ultimately two concepts. Look at the German team’s local players. What is the proportion, and then look at the proportion of local players in the English club. This is the gap. I insist on my point. The German national team is a representative of the international football powerhouse. I can also express another point of view. The German football club The overall competitiveness in Europe is not strong at this stage."

Fleet Street is no longer in my heart.

Aldridge's elbow turned outward, and his face was a bit unbearable.

"So why doesn't England focus on training local players?"

"Because you want to make the team stronger and fans want to watch higher-quality games, rich clubs naturally need to introduce high-level stars. If the German club is very rich and the German Football Association also allows the team to introduce foreign aid, then the German club 'S competitiveness will also increase rapidly."

"As the national team coach, don't you have the responsibility to build England's future level of competition?"

"Yes, but I can't do it. I don't have the power to decide whether the quota of foreign aid in the Premier League is limited, nor can I counter the club's opposition. Only stronger teams can increase the probability of obtaining honors and benefits."

...

The German media are happy.

The English are so funny, the national team coach and his own media ran to the German site to fight.

This was a ridiculous press conference, and was also mocked by the German media as "the farce of the English" the following day.