Start from 1999

Chapter 170 Worried
Arriving in Liege, Belgium, Nick rushed to the team's residence immediately.

"Hey guys, I'm back!" Nick yelled as he walked in.

The teammates also greeted him, and Bierhoff punched Nick when he came up.

"Hey, Nick, where have you been so cool these days? Hey, without you, I feel a little boring in training."

"Haha, I went to China and the United States for two days. I heard that you were seriously injured, so I came back to see you. How are you doing? Are you okay?" Nick laughed, and then joked with a stern look on his face.

Bierhoff sighed and said: "It's really unlucky for him. Before the game, five people were injured. Michael even went back to Germany directly. Hey, this game is difficult."

"It's okay, it's okay, you played well in the first two games, and when it's the third game, I'll come up to cheer you up, and then the championship will still be ours." Nick comforted.

This is the training base of the Belgian top league team Standard Liege. The German national team is preparing for the 2000 European Cup here, but it is only two days away from the first match against Romania.

However, the atmosphere in the German team was very depressing, and they suffered from continuous injuries, which made the players seem a little cautious, for fear of becoming the next carrier of injuries.

Riebeck is now afraid to carry out high-intensity training, Nick is on the bench, but Riebeck's request makes Nick dare not make big moves.

Nick saw how good the training intensity was, and he had to go back after another two days of training. This is going to be done with Romania, can he do it?If the football field is not tight, it is loose. If you are afraid of injury, it will definitely be difficult to beat the Romania team. It is an Eastern European team with excellent skills. How can the German team control the situation without playing high-intensity pressing?
But this is something the head coach cares about, and Nick can't get involved. He can only pray in his heart.

On June 6th, the 12 European Cup was in full swing, and the German team played against Romania at the Dufrasen Stadium, the home stadium of Standard Liege.

Nick was not eligible to play, so he went directly to the stands to watch the game.At the same time, affected by the suspension, the German team's lineup and the qualifiers almost changed.

At the beginning of the game, the German team focused on stability and relied more on Sauer's organizational ability to pass in the midfield, while the Romanian team was not in a hurry. As the team generally considered to be the weakest in the "group of death", if the Romanian team can score 1 point, it must be acceptable.

So the game was quite dull, and Nick almost fell asleep watching it. Such a German team didn’t look like they were going to defend the championship. Moreover, the Romanian team played a few counterattacks with great vigor. If there was a little carelessness, the German team would even lose the game.

After 0:0 at halftime, Ribeck gave the German team a signal to attack in the second half.

Sauer began to attack the Romanian penalty area frequently. In the 69th minute, Sauer broke through continuously and caused Romanian veteran Popescu to foul in the penalty area. The referee gave the German team a penalty kick.

Sauer personally took the penalty kick. He easily tricked Romanian goalkeeper Bogdan into the bottom left corner of the goal, and the German team led 1-0.

After taking the lead, Germany played more conservatively, trying to hold on to a one-goal lead, but Romania stretched out and pressed fast.

The weakness of the German team's insufficient training intensity was also suddenly exposed. Although these players have rich experience, under the repeated impact of Romania, the defense still had problems.

In the 79th minute, Iliyer's continuous change of direction on the left side of the penalty area knocked Friedrich down, and then scored from a small angle, rewriting the score to 1:1.
This conceded goal made the German fans feel a little angry. This was equalized by the opponent in a completely passive situation. The steel line of defense has long gone. The German fans are disappointed and deeply worried about the team's prospects.

Nick also felt the team's sense of crisis. The German team was almost mobilized by the Romanian team. The latter's skills are good and the passing threat is quite large. The key is that the German team can't grab the opponent's ball at all.

But it was useless to be anxious, Nick couldn't play again, and could only watch Romania beat the German team hard.

In the 84th minute, Iriye received a second pass from the veteran Haji again, turned around and volleyed in the penalty area, and the ball was blocked by Enke, who reacted quickly.

Two minutes later, the veteran Haji slammed the goal with his left foot directly at the front of the penalty area, but Enke sprinted back and hit the ball with a single fist.

In the 89th minute, Popescu received a header from Haji's corner kick, and the ball hit the junction of the post and the crossbar hard.

Romania's wave after wave of attacks made the German fans worry, and Nick was even more worried. If they lose, the pressure on the German team will be greater, and the latter two opponents, England and Portugal, will be even more powerful.

Fortunately, with Enke, fortunately, the German team finally withstood Romania's attack, and was very lucky to keep the score of 1:1 until the end of the game, and the two teams each scored one point.

In another contest in this group, the Portuguese team defeated the England team 3:2. In this way, the second German team's game against England will become a life-and-death battle.

However, the media's comments after the game were very unsightly. Compared with the strength of strong teams such as France, Italy, and the Netherlands, the performance of the German team can only be described as 'dismal'.

The French "L'Equipe" praised the French team's 3-goal victory over the Danish team, and Zidane's dominant performance was even more generous.The newspaper also commented on other teams. In addition to the French team, "Team Daily" believes that Italy will become the biggest obstacle for the French team to win the championship. Regarding the performance of the defending champion German team, the newspaper believes that the German team is old. It is not bad to qualify from the group.

The Italian "Gazzetta dello Sport" also praised Zoff's team. The Italian team defeated Turkey 2:1 in the first round. The newspaper believed that Italy's chain defense would make the teams at a loss. This Italian team will rely on defensive counterattacks to win the final trophy.For the German team, the newspaper directly commented that this is the worst German team in history, with unfavorable offense and incompetent defense. If they face a stronger opponent, the German team will be beaten into a sieve.

The British "Guardian" regretted the loss of the England team, but said that the strongest opponent in Group A has already played, and the England team only needs to win two teams that played worse than England to still enter the top 8.The newspaper criticized the performance of the rival German team even more, thinking that the German team has no characteristics at all, which is simply the performance of a second-rate European team.

The low opinion of the media has affected the morale of the German team. The decline in midfield strength has made the team lose its competitiveness. Now the German team really has a kind of idea that it is better to die than to live. Their hope is that there is still one game for Nick to come back. Before that, they must at least not lose to the England team.

(End of this chapter)