Godfather Of Champions

“It’d be a cloudy night with occasional rain. The temperature would be…”

A beautiful and sexy weatherwoman was presenting the weather forecast in Valencia for the upcoming match day. The temperature in Valencia has finally dropped after being immensely hot for five straight days. This is good news for the fans who intend to head down to the stadium to watch the match.

However, the news caused Spain’s manager, Fernando Hierro, to furrow his brows slightly.

A cooling weather would definitely help his players perform better, but if it were to rain, then his team’s coordination would be affected during the match.

Contrary to Hierro, Twain desperately wished that there would be rain during the match. If possible, he wanted it to rain heavily. The heavier the rain, the better it would be for his team. His players are very used to playing in the rain, and this would give them an advantage over Spain during the match.

Sadly for him, the skies in Valencia remained sunny at dusk, and there were no signs that it was going to rain anytime soon. It was not until the sun had descended beneath the horizon that there were visible clouds in the skies. The clouds covered half of the sky, and their edges were gilded by the setting sun.

England’s bus set off right as the sun set. The England fans who did not manage to get their hands on the match tickets congregated outside the hotel to see their team off. The upcoming match is extremely important to the fans. The team needs to play in a total of two matches regardless if they win or lose in the match against Spain, but no one would want the second match that they have to play in to be a fight for the third and fourth place. They are only one step away from success. It would be an absolute tragedy to fall down right before the finishing line.

The England fans who were waiting by the sides of the road became excited when they saw the bus carrying the England team drive by slowly. The flashes from their cameras illuminated the bus windows, and they could see the players waving at them clearly. The fans screamed in response, and they began to wave the St. George’s flag at the bus.

“Champions! Champions! Champions!”

The England fans hollered at the top of their voices in unison.

The players in the bus all rose to their feet and raised their hands to acknowledge the fans’ gestures. The only one who did not react in any way was Twain. He simply leaned against the chair with his eyes closed. He wanted to make use of every minute before the match to rest up so as to keep his mind clear during the match later on.

Twain is talented when it comes to sleeping. He has the ability to block out all sounds when he falls into a deep sleep, and that allows him to sleep through even the noisiest of environments. If not for this talent of his, he’d definitely be suffering from neurasthenia due to his job as a football manager by now.

Twain realized that Spain was the very first thought that had surfaced in his mind after he closed his eyes. He did not know if he should laugh or cry at that. Has thinking about Spain become some kind of conditioned reflex for him now?

Twain has to think about other things if he wants to relinquish Spain from his thoughts, and he eventually thought about his wife. He has not been able to meet his wife ever since they last dated in Barcelona due to his busy work schedule. He misses his wife, even though he knows that they are actually not that far away from each other since she would watch every match of his from the stands.

At the moment, his biggest wish is to take a one-month-long holiday with Shania in a remote but beautiful place after leading the England national football team to become champions of the Euro Cup.

Twain drifted off to sleep amid his thoughts of Shania. When he was woken up by Walker a while later, he could already see the Nou Mestalla stadium from the bus window on the right.

“I know you wouldn’t wish to let your players see their manager asleep before such a big match,” Walker said.

“Ugh… Thank you, Des.” Twain rubbed his eyes a few times before wiping his face with his hands, and he instantly felt refreshed afterwards.

It took the bus 20 minutes to reach the parking lot of the Nou Mestalla stadium after Twain saw the stadium outside the window earlier. There might be police officers at the scene to maintain order, but the fans were simply too passionate and the bus was forced to travel slowly as a result of the crowd.

The fans’ cheers were not able to attract the players’ attention once they neared the stadium. All that was in their minds then was the match that they were going to play in soon. The expressions on their faces became solemn as well.

The veteran players were the only ones who could manage a wave and a smile to the fans when they alighted from the bus. The other players all walked by the crowd hastily with their heads lowered and their bags in their hands. Most of the players in the current England team are playing in their first ever semifinals of a major international competition. It was a day filled with new experiences for them.

Ever since England lifted the Jules Rimet Cup on their home soil in 1966, their best performance at a major international competition was a fourth placed finish. During the Euro Cup that was held in England in 1996, England made its way to the semifinals, but they were eliminated by Germany, who went on to become that year’s champions, on penalties. Several years later, at the Africa World Cup in 2010, Capello and his team defeated Spain, and England once again made its way to the semifinals. Sadly, they were not able to achieve a historic breakthrough. England lost to Italy during the semifinals, and they also lost to Brazil subsequently during the third place playoff.

If the team manages to defeat Spain later on, they would be able to achieve what many of their predecessors were not able to. They would make it into the finals of a major international competition for the very first time in 50 years! It would also be the second time that England is able to make its way into the finals of a major international competition.

That being said, England’s performances at the international competitions have certainly been pathetic… So much for being called the ‘Founder of Modern Football’!

Twain was the last to get off the bus. He did not behave like his jittery players before him, and he was even in the mood to accept a short interview from BBC5 at the entrance to the stadium. The reporter asked him if he was confident of leading his team into the finals. Twain gave a response that every British wanted to hear, “There’s no doubt in my mind that we’re going to be the ones who make it into the finals.”

When the Spain team arrived at the stadium earlier, Hierro had said the exact same words to the press as well. There was no need to be humble at a time like this.

※※※

George Wood attempted a long shot. The ball went higher than he had intended and flew straight towards the stands. The ball was just like a pebble that had been thrown into the lake. It created a disturbance and was never to be seen again.

“We don’t have an infinite number of balls to practise with, George.” Walker said from the side.

“I’m sorry…”

“I’m just joking. Ha!” Walker laughed. “How are you feeling?”

“Very good. I feel…” Wood clenched his fists. “… Like I’m full of energy.”

Walker nodded his head contentedly. He then walked away and did not get in the way of Wood’s warm-up any further.

“Hey! Look at them!” Joe Mattock approached Wood the moment their assistant manager left. He gestured for Wood to look at the Spain team that was warming up on the other side of the pitch.

The Spaniards looked relaxed. Their striker, Bojan Krkić, was juggling the ball during warm-up, while several other players had formed a circle and were performing a series of quick passes amongst themselves. It was clear that the Spain players possessed much better footballing technique as compared to the England players…

“I think they are deliberately showing off their skills to us!” Joe Mattock was upset with what he saw. “Why don’t they copy what Maradona did back then and juggle a bottle?”

“Why are you paying attention to what they are doing?” Wood glanced at the Spain players. He had only taken a quick glance, but it was enough for him to notice that Fàbregas was looking at him from afar.

※※※

“Be careful of George Wood during the match.” Fàbregas averted his gaze from Wood and said to his teammate, Iniesta, who was next to him. He then did a backheel pass and passed the ball that he received from David Silva over to Lago behind him.

“More like we have to be careful of their entire team…” Iniesta laughed. “Mr. Twain has brought the whole England team together. We must not let our guard down.”

“Both the England team and George Wood would be hard to deal with,” Fàbregas said.

“Agreed.”

Hierro had warned his players ahead of time about the England players that they needed to pay close attention to. These players include Gerrard, Wood, Rooney and Mitchell.

The Spain team was not the kind of team that would change its playing style based on its opponents. Their tradition has always been to play an attacking style of football, and they would also rely on their players’ techniques to help them win games. They have never thought about changing the way that they play in a match before. It is impossible to change their playing style in a single match anyway. Hierro hopes that his players would be able to take the initiative in the match. He wants them to dominate possession of the ball from the very first minute of the match to the very last minute of the match and make it difficult for the England players to go on the counter-attack. To prepare his team for the match, Hierro got his players to watch an edited clip of the match between England and France twice. One reason for his action was to get his team to be wary of England, and another reason is to familiarize his players with England’s playing style. The star-studded France team that was regarded to be the favorites to win the Euro Cup did not even stand a chance of winning in the entire match against England. In the words of Hierro, “France was doomed to fail from the very first second of the match.” Hierro hopes that his team would be able to shut England out of the game just as England did to France.

“We have an advantage over them in terms of technique, and we need to ensure that we make full use of it. We have to try and maintain possession of the ball throughout the entire match. I do not wish to see any of you making long passes blindly during offense and defense! If you run into situations whereby there are a large number of defenders positioned before you, then I want you to make use of teamwork and quick passes to pry open their defense. You have to be fast when there is a need for you to be fast, but you also need to be stable when you have to control the ball at your feet…”

Those were the words that had been reiterated by Hierro numerous times during their tactical meeting yesterday night. Every Spain player has to remember his words by heart, because his words provide the action plan that they need to follow during the match.

※※※

Spain finished their warm-ups ahead of England as they had gone onto the pitch earlier than them. The Spain players were already walking off the pitch when the England players were still in the midst of their warm-ups.

Fàbregas looked up at the sky right before he walked off the pitch. The night had fallen completely and the crimson afterglow of the sunset had vanished from the skies. However, it was still considered early for most Spaniards. Most of them would not even have eaten their dinners by this time.

If the Euro Cup matches were held based on the Spaniards’ daily routine, then most of the matches would be played at midnight. However, due to live television coverage, most Euro Cup matches are either played in the afternoon or during primetime.

The dark skies made it hard for Fàbregas to tell if it would rain later. He quickly averted his gaze away before following his teammates into the tunnel.

※※※

“Do you think it would rain just like the weather forecast said it will?” It was the England players’ turn to be concerned about the weather after the Spain players left.

“Who knows?” Two England players stood at the middle of the pitch and had their heads raised to the skies. It was as though there was a UFO above them.

The two players snapped out of their reveries when a ball hit them on their backs.

“What are you two looking at? Warm up!” Gerrard might not be the captain of the team anymore, but he still had the authority to order people around because he was a well-respected veteran player on the team.

“We are wondering if it would rain later…”

“Why do you care about that? It’s not like we can make it rain if we wanted to. Hurry up and get back to your warm-ups. If you don’t warm-up properly, you could get injured later,” Gerrard said to them.

The two players shrugged. “It’s not like we have a chance to play later on. We are just substitutes…”

“You still have a chance to play even if you are just substitutes. Go and warm up.” The two players turned around and ran back to where they were supposed to be at under the watchful eye of Gerrard. Gerrard noticed that Wood was looking at him right as he finished persuading the two players to go back to their warm-ups, and he smiled at him.

The players were not the only ones who were concerned about the weather. The managers for both sides were also equally concerned about it. The weather stations in Spain specially provided their football team with real-time weather reports so as to help them with their preparations for the match. They want to do what they can to help their team achieve a win over the strong England team.

The England football team did not get to enjoy the same privileges as the Spain team. They were not playing on their home soil, and they would not get to enjoy any home advantage during the match either. The England coaching staff could only guess if it would rain later on based on how the skies look like, and the entire England team would also have to put up with the boos from the fans during the match as well. The Anglo-Spanish war that started 500 years ago might not have led to feelings of animosity between the football fans of both countries, but the Spain fans were still going to treat the England fans with hostility purely based on the fact that they are their opponents for today.

It did not look like it was going to rain when the England players finished with their warm-ups, and the players returned to their locker room thereafter.

Twain, who had stayed in the locker room all this while, went up to Des and asked him if it was raining outside currently. When he heard Des say no, he immediately clapped his hands and said with a raised voice, “All right, lads. Don’t think about the weather anymore. The rain has no bearing on our game. What we should worry about is our opponent Spain. I want all of you to collect your thoughts for now… And I want to ask you all a question. Are you all ready to play in the match later on?”

He looked at his players. He saw looks of determination, hesitation, excitement, passion, anxiety and even fear in their eyes…

Twain was relieved by what he saw. His players were behaving in a way that every normal footballer would when they know they are about to play in a big match. They did not only exhibit passion or anxiety. They exhibited a variety of emotions.

“Of course, boss!” The players who had looks of determination in their eyes were the first to reply to Twain’s words in a loud voice.

Twain did not encourage them. He waved his hands and said, “I only know if you are truly ready for the match when I see your performances on the pitch. Do you still have any questions about our tactics for the match? This is your last chance to ask.”

No one raised a question.

“Looks like you all know what you have to do. That’s good. I hope no one gets confused on the pitch. Remember, all of you have to play in not just one, but two matches. These two matches might be the most important matches you’d ever play in throughout your entire career. Oh, I’m not talking about the third place playoff, of course.”

His words amused several players.

“If you win these two most important matches of your career, then we’d be able to trample the whole of Europe under our feet! But, if we lose… Then all the hard work that we’ve put in previously would be for naught. No one will remember that you once defeated Germany, and neither would they remember that you ended your 48-year winless streak against Sweden. They would not remember that you humiliated France by scoring four goals against them either. They would only remember all of you as failures! Look at what happened to the France team! Do you see anyone bringing up how they used to be the favorites to win the competition? No! That’s because they are all mocking them for failing right now!”

Twain raised his voice by a few more decibels.

“Remember, lads. In football, failure is disgraceful! Remember these words well when you get out on the pitch!”