Born to be a coach [soccer]

Chapter 208

Suddenly, everyone in the locker room dispersed, only Russell and Anton were left.

Russell sat down on the bench in the locker room, and sighed comfortably: Now he has finally unloaded the burden on him.When Anton came back, he finally didn't have to carry the entire team by himself—Russell didn't realize how comfortable his previous life was until this moment.

"Anton, how is Lingmei recently?"

Russell's wife, Mrs Blake, is a fan of Anton's sister Chloe.The last time Chloe spoke out for her brother, Mrs. Black was so distressed that she almost shed tears, urging her husband to call Anton all day long, wanting to know Chloe's current situation.

Anton was looking around the locker room.He seemed to want to see what had changed in Sunderland's dressing room after two games at home.Anton's eyes lingered on the tactical board in the locker room for a while, and finally came to his senses, nodded, and said, "Thank you Madam for your concern, Chloe is fine."

He turned his head to look at Russell, and added, "Bernard is fine, too."

Russell had originally wanted to ask about Bernard.When he heard about Bernard for the first time, he always wondered: Bernard was so sick, Anton, an older brother, still had the time to come to Sunderland to be a football coach—but when he heard Russell understood that Bernard could see what Anton saw, heard what Anton heard, had fun through his brother's coaching, and could make life on the sickbed less boring.

The charm of football is only understood by those who really love football - just like he can't figure out why his wife likes chasing stars so much.

Russell asked again: "What does the doctor say, when will Bernard wake up..."

Speaking of this, Russell suddenly wanted to slap himself, why was he so sloppy, why did he ask these things, what if the doctor couldn't wake up after talking about Bernard.

Anton was very calm, and replied: "The doctor said, it depends on Bernard himself."

Russell was shocked: "...Myself?!"

Anton nodded: "That is to say, when a certain opportunity comes, Bernard may wake up. But none of us know what this opportunity is, so we can only wait... For so long, I actually feel that I have gotten used to waiting, telling myself that maybe good luck will come tomorrow, but after a day, everything remains the same..."

"But even so, people can't lose hope, can they?" Anton said gently and firmly.

Russell: ...

He had nothing to comfort him, so he could only go up and pat Anton on the shoulder.When I first met Anton, Russell only thought that Anton was an airborne young coach, a magical figure full of tricks; but now Russell finally felt that he understood this person thoroughly, and realized that Anton's responsibilities were indeed greater than any of them. Much—since Anton is so optimistic, ordinary people like them should have more hope in life.

Go to its mortgage! —Russell clenched his fist and thought to himself.

"Let's not talk about that, let's talk about the game in three days' time!" Anton smiled and left the heavy topic. Sure enough, as soon as they talked about the upcoming game, the two men in the locker room got excited. Dong simply stood in front of the tactical board.

"Anton, the coaching staff collected some information about Benfica earlier, and tried to arrange a formation to deal with Benfica, but I don't think it's right... Now if I want to arrange a different formation, will it be too late?"

"You don't have to worry about that!" Anton tilted his head, still staring at the tactical board in front of him.

"There is nothing too late - have you heard? Benfica have asked UEFA to re-hear my matter. They don't believe the FA ruling..."

Russell opened his eyes wide and jumped up with fists clenched: "What?"

The FA has determined that Anton has no violations. Why is it a Portuguese team asking UEFA to re-hear.Russell was full of desire to curse: You don't want to believe me, and I don't want to talk to you!

"So UEFA will move the time of this game from the 15th to the 17th, which means we will have two more days to prepare well..."

Originally, Anton was serious, but he couldn't help but chuckle when he said this.He spoke with great certainty, and he should have heard conclusive news from UEFA.

Russell pouted and looked at Anton, thinking: This guy is really cunning!He didn't mention this when the players were all there just now, deliberately keeping people moderately nervous!

"...and, I think, then we'll have the opportunity to treat Benfica well."

Anton looked back at Russell, "Dude, you must have played a snowball fight, have you ever played a snowball?"

Russell: Snowball... huh? !

Anton didn't explain anything to Russell, but turned his head and stared at the tactical board.

There is a round red dot on the tactical board. The coaching staff usually uses it to refer to the big center. In this game, Ibrahimovic was supposed to be the position.But Ibrahimovic only played properly in this position for part of the second half.He stared at van der Vaart in the first half, and part of the second half was Ibrahimovic's "sage time".

Anton reached out and patted the tactical board, and said, "Within two months, we must find a way to make this guy completely 'one of us'."

Sure enough, as Anton said, when the FA made a ruling that Anton's wearing "glasses" on the field was not suspected of violating the law, Getafe and Odense, who were in the same group as Sunderland in the past, were no longer in the same group as Sunderland. Nothing to say, but Benfica, who is about to play the Europa League knockout match with Sunderland, raised objections.

They asked UEFA to continue to "thoroughly investigate" the matter.

This requirement is actually a bit too much, after all, England is one of UEFA's member states.UEFA does not accept the ruling that the FA has made, which is a little bit unreasonable.

But UEFA and the FA obviously foresaw this situation and passed the gas early.

The FA submitted all relevant review documents related to this ruling, the hearing video, the ruling process of the investigation committee, and the opinions and signatures of all members to UEFA.

The fans of Sunderland finally understood: So from the 8th to the 12th, this is what everyone did in these few days!You guys are wrong.

Soon UEFA notified the two teams that in order to allow UEFA time to review all documents, the match originally scheduled for the 15th between the two teams will be postponed to the 17th.

Anton expressed his "understanding" of Benfica's doubts in an interview before the game: "I empathize with the opponent's doubts-after all, they are different countries, and the methods of handling disputes are different. In addition, the equipment involved The equipment and equipment are the top technology products in the world today. There is a saying in China that is 'hearing is believing, seeing is believing'. Our opponents have not been able to see this with their own eyes, and it is normal to have doubts about this."

"But I also hope that the opponent will not complain too much about the game on the 17th, and be prepared to deal with rain and snow-well, England, the weather is always like this in February! It can't be compared with Portugal. I admit it. And I and the team are very much looking forward to the day when we go to Lisbon."

Shortly after the game against Tottenham, the local weather station in Sunderland issued a weather forecast. In a few days, the Northeast of England will usher in a cold air attack.According to the law of many years, the local residents have come to the conclusion that it is time to snow.

If Benfica did not have extra problems and came to England two days earlier to play, then the Sunderland area would still be in the warm "Sunshine" weather.But this delay of two days means that Benfica is likely to encounter rain and snow.

According to UEFA's regulations, unless there is extreme weather that prevents the game from being held, the original game schedule will not be changed again.

The reporters who interviewed Anton in Sunderland could remotely experience the depression of Benfica.

In addition to the weather, the other most interesting talk about Benfica is naturally "Gutman's Curse".

Gutman Bella, a Hungarian, is a well-known champion coach in the history of Benfica.Since he took office in 1960, he immediately led Benfica to two Portuguese league titles and one Portuguese Cup. In 1961, Benfica defeated Barcelona in the Champions League final and won the Champions League for the first time. In the subsequent 1962 Champions League final, Benfica defeated Real Madrid and won the championship again.

While winning the championship trophy, Gutman felt that he really deserved a higher salary.

But Benfica's board members are a group of stingy uncles, and they ruthlessly refused Gutman's request.Gutman resigned in anger and publicly uttered the most famous curse in world football: "Benfica will never win any European championships within 100 years from now."

Gutman then left Benfica.

The amazing thing is that Benfica really never won any European championships.Although the team reached the Champions League final three times in 1963, 1965 and 1968, they all failed.

The old man passed away in 1981, but his curse has no meaning of invalidation.Benfica reached the Champions League final in 1988 and 1990, and the Europa League final in 1983, but they were all "empty."

This is a tragedy caused by a "stingy" board of directors.

Now it may be hard to imagine how regretful the Benfica board is.When the 1990 UEFA Champions League final was held in Vienna, Austria, on the eve of the game, Benfica legend Eusebio himself made a special trip to Gutman's grave to pray and ask for the release of the curse.The remorse of the Benfica people can be seen.

Now the reporters asked Anton: "What do you think about playing against such a cursed team in the European war?"

Anton: "Of course I hope Benfica can break the spell!"

100 years is too long, too cruel for Benfica players and fans - especially considering that they are not the original group of "stingy" directors.

"...but obviously not in this cup. Because, in this cup, Sunderland will have the last laugh!"

Anton adjusted his glasses and said calmly.

Is this the usual harsh words and psychological tactics before the competition?

When the news spread to Portugal, the Benfica club responded: "Don't talk so much, whether Sunderland is eligible to continue to participate in the knockout rounds is uncertain!"

However, on the 15th, UEFA officially made a decision to confirm Sunderland's results in the group stage and knockout qualifications, and announced that the knockout match with Benfica would be held as usual.

Benfica's protest was annulled.

On the 16th, the Benfica team flew to Newcastle.As Sunderland's sworn enemy, Newcastle United very generously lent their training base to Benfica.The Newcastle people also kindly reminded the Benfica players: "Wear more in tomorrow's game!"

Benfica: ...wear more?

They looked up at the bright sun shining in the sky, and the temperature soared to double digits peacefully—it’s not much worse than Portugal!

That night, the northeast region was windy all night, and the temperature dropped sharply.When the Benfica players went out to the training ground, they all felt frozen into popsicles in seconds.

Benfica coach Jorge Jesus himself was caught off guard.He is a southern European who advocates empiricism. This time he came to England in style wearing the thickest clothes he could use in Portugal, a thick woolen coat. As soon as the store opened on the morning of the 17th, Jesús rushed to buy a down jacket, and at the same time cursed the club management a hundred times in his heart:

Who came up with the bad idea to protest the ruling of the FA?

Since there is no certainty that the protest will be successful, there is absolutely no need to make such an attempt. Let the whole team freeze into dogs in this cold weather, and several directors stay comfortably in Lisbon to watch the live broadcast.

Jesús thought to himself: He deserves to be cursed.

But on the surface, he couldn't say this to the players, and could only comfort him patiently: "The weather is fair to everyone. We think that the cold opponent is also cold!"

The Benfica players looked at the coach with mournful faces, shouting in their hearts: Do you really think so?

A team that has been playing in the sunshine of southern Europe all the year round suddenly came here to compete with a team that has just passed the "devil schedule" in the cold winter of England - which one has the advantage?

Jesús sighed helplessly, and said: "I hope God blesses, the wind at the Stadium of Light is not strong during the game tonight."

When Jesús mentioned the "Stadium of Light", the entire Benfica team was in a trance.Because Benfica's home stadium is also called "Stadium of Light", but it is named so because the place where it is located is called "Guangming Road", which is somewhat different from the name of the Sunderland Stadium in terms of conception.

At this time, Jesús' assistant coach quickly took out his mobile phone and played a video to the head coach. It was nothing but the part when Sunderland was playing against Manchester United at home and the goalkeeper almost drove into his own goal.Jesús looked at it, his face was pale, and he quickly called the goalkeeper to come over and let him study hard, so as not to repeat the same mistakes.

At this moment, an assistant coach from Newcastle United came to inform Jesús that the wind had stopped.

The wind in the entire northeast region stopped just in time.

As soon as Jesús was outside, he felt the difference: earlier he felt the wind was biting his bones, and he was blown unbearably.Standing outside the door now, although the sky seemed to be overcast, it was tolerable.

"Aha! God help me too!" Jesus said excitedly.

The Newcastle assistant coach looked helplessly at the Portuguese who had no experience in cold weather: "Mr. Coach, the wind stopped may mean that it will snow soon. Haven't you read today's weather forecast?" ? There will be a burst of snow before noon today, but fortunately it will stop in the afternoon. It is said that it will snow in the evening, but I don’t know if it will fall during the game.”

Jesus: ...

His English wasn't very good either, so he asked with gestures and gestures: "The Stadium of Light...is there that kind of, sizzle, huh huh, huh huh..."

He’s referring to automatic snowmelts, often geothermal devices that quickly melt and dry lawns.But Jesus didn't know how to express it, so he could only express it manually: heating, flowing, evaporating...

The assistant coach of Newcastle United stunned to identify for a long time, and finally understood what Jesús meant.He quickly shook his head, saying that the poor place in Sunderland did not have such high-end equipment.But the assistant coach comforted Jesus and made a snow shoveling action, saying: Don't worry, Sunderland will shovel all the snow in time.

Jesus was speechless again.

He is not worried about snowfall before the start of the game, but if it snows after the start of the game and it is not serious enough to stop the game, then——his players may really have to play "snowballs".

Is this also Gutman's resentment at work?

Sure enough, as the weather forecast had predicted, heavy snowfall began in the morning in the Northeast, and did not stop until three or four in the afternoon.About 2 inches of snow had accumulated on the turf at the Stadium of Light.This is not a big deal, but because the start of the game is very close, the entire Sunderland club has been mobilized, not only the staff of the club, but also the players who need to play in the evening game are also involved in sweeping The army of snow is coming.

The club's "field director" Mills triumphantly led a large group of young and strong boys to shovel and transport the snow from the field.He drove the snowplow again and again, shouting loudly at a decibel higher than the snowplow: "Boys, get used to this damn weather in advance! It must be colder than this at night—"

"Okay!" A group of players shouted in unison.

In fact, working in this icy and snowy field is not too hard, as long as you move around for a while, your whole body will warm up.

However, Ms. Joyce Rohm, the team's chief nutritionist, has been observing the activities of the players on the sidelines, quickly calculating how much heat the players need to supplement before going on the field at night, to help them resist the cold, and to complete A high-intensity game.

Ibrahimovic is currently leaning his head next to Qiao's mother, watching Qiao's mother make a cheat sheet, while holding a paper cup, drinking ginger tea specially prepared for the snow shoveling staff, leisurely and happy.

Qiao's mother was busy for a long time before she remembered to look up at Ibrahimovic. She asked in a rough voice, "Zlatan, don't you need to go with everyone?"

Ibrahimovic pointed at the tip of his nose in surprise: "Me?"