long live football

Today's London ushered in a rare sunny day.

The sky was as blue as washing, with a few white clouds lying on it, and the golden sunlight sprinkled on the woods and grass not far away, making the green more verdant.

At the gate of the Cobham training base, several players drove over intermittently.

Ashley Cole, Lampard, Terry, Owen, Beckham, Wilshere...

Carl drove to Cobham early in the morning, but when he parked his car in the garage and came to the training ground, he found that several players had already changed into training uniforms and were doing simple warm-up on the sidelines.

Carl greeted them: "It's really early for you to come." It was almost an hour earlier than the assembly time he announced.

Beckham and Owen said with a smile: "Training in advance, we have developed a habit in Munich."

Wilshere replied: "I live not far from here."

Chelsea players such as Terry and Lampard pointed to an outdoor stadium not far away and said: "We just ran from that stadium to this one, which is very convenient."

Today is Carl's first national team training after taking over the Three Lions. The purpose is to prepare for the friendly match against Spain in a week. The training location is Cobham, Chelsea's training base.

Almost every football power has a dedicated training base for the national team, such as Italy has Corviciano, France has Clairefontaine, but England has nothing.

Although the FA has wanted to build a "National Football Center" since 1975, the FA has been heavily indebted by a Wembley Stadium, and the financial situation has not been able to recover for several years. The training base supporting Wembley Stadium is a long-term plan.

Therefore, the England team, which does not have its own training base, often borrows from others. Arsenal's Kearney, Manchester United's Carrington and Chelsea's Cobham are often borrowed because of their advanced facilities and convenient transportation.

This is actually quite offensive.Arsenal coach Wenger once said: "It seems incredible that the England national team does not have its own dedicated training base." Mourinho also said when he was at Chelsea two years ago: "The England team is best Like building Wembley Stadium, build a comprehensive base for your own use."

The FA originally said that they would continue to use Kearney to greet the Arsenal club this time, but because Karl and Abramovich have a better relationship, they borrowed the Cobham training base.

The Chelsea team actually has training today, but because there have been more international warm-up matches in recent days, almost all the international players in the blue team have been called up, such as Terry and others. Although they also came to Cobham today, they only You can train with the England team, you can't go to the club stadium.

With 10 minutes left before the required assembly time, all the players of the new England national team arrived at Cobham.

Not only was there no one who was late, but all of them came early. This result made many England internationals feel unbelievable: they thought they would be the first to come, but when they went to the training base, there was a huge crowd on the pitch. It's full of human heads...

The more experienced the international footballer, the deeper the emotion at the moment: McLaren period, Eriksson period, Keegan period, and even the older Hoddle period, in England and the Premier League, they all wished they could go sideways When did the stars care so much about the national team training?Although a game has not been played yet, judging from the enthusiasm of the players and the overall atmosphere, this England team is indeed different from the past.

……

According to his old habit, Karl stood on the side of the court like a sculpture, observing the players on the court attentively.

The members of the coaching staff are also scattered around the training ground, some are directing the players, some are acting as coaches, and some are recording data with pens and paper.

Although Karl and his assistants have collected all the players' data before this training camp, the data is updated all the time after all. In this national team training, they need to re-examine the physical strength, Technical characteristics, understanding of tactics, and attitude towards training and competition.

The training ground was full of enthusiasm. The players' jerseys were drenched with sweat, but they were still running vigorously.

They are all trying to bring out the best in themselves.

The players of the Three Lions know that being selected for the national team is just the beginning. The national team's roster of 23 players has come out, but the starting list for Spain next week has not yet been announced-just like every team has main players, The main rotation is the same as the substitutes. Since these England stars have become international players, they hope that they will be the most favored by the head coach and can start every game.

For the same training program, the degree of effort is different, and the process and results will also be different.Three hours later, the English players were sweating profusely, and everyone was as wet as if they had just been fished out of the water. Karl and his assistants also got a satisfactory harvest through observation all morning.

Clapping his hands and focusing everyone's attention, Carl raised his voice and said, "Let's not order takeout in the locker room for lunch today. We will order food in Chelsea's restaurant. I will treat you."

As soon as Karl finished speaking, the players responded enthusiastically: "Long live the order!"

"It's just right. Although I'm about to starve to death, I lose my appetite when I think of those dry takeaways. I have eaten at Chelsea's restaurant. It tastes good!"

"I want spaghetti!"

"Here comes the steak!"

The England team does not have its own training base, and of course it does not have its own restaurant. Traditionally, the FA pays for the food, clothing, housing and transportation of the players during national team games and training, but the FA has built a Wembley Stadium. The numbers on the annual account are all clean and powerful, so unless it is a big competition like the European Cup and the World Cup, when the national team usually orders meals for the players during training, they are all the same set meals, or the minimum specifications (low calorie and low fat regardless of taste) Just eat and drink).

It’s no wonder that the international footballers, whose appetite has long been fueled by millions of pounds of annual salary, would like to eat cold broth and mashed potatoes, but with the teammates and coaches of the national team, they can’t go out alone to start a small cooking, so in the past training camp The British football stars who are used to eating boring set meals from time to time, when they first heard that the head coach wants to treat them to a big meal, they were all very happy immediately, not only because they will have delicious food to enjoy, but also because this little incident made them feel very happy. They understand that the new coach Oston doesn't like to make things difficult for others, and he has a very friendly personality, and he is very considerate of players.Compared with those iron-blooded coaches who scolded others with a stern face at every turn, the players naturally preferred to get along with approachable coaches.

The restaurants at Cobham are big and bright, and the chefs are of a very high standard.

The entire England national team spent thousands of pounds just ordering food. Carl signed the order without blinking an eye, and then smiled and held a glass of juice, listening to the players talking nonsense.

Although many countries have a culture of not talking during meals, the British like to chat during meals. For them, it is very polite as long as there is no food in their mouths when talking, and the voice is not high enough to affect other people. It's over.

I have to say that chatting is indeed a way to enhance mutual feelings. At least in Carl's opinion, the players who were a little unfamiliar during training in the morning became much more intimate with each other at this moment.

There are also many topics, from the weather to football, to FM games and the recent female anchor of BBC TV, and gradually talked about food and dinner.

Then Beckham was collectively complained by everyone.

Because people from different clubs seldom sat together and chatted for a long time, and suddenly discovered that the "heartbeat" has invited old teammates from Manchester United and the national team, as well as several old friends in private, to dinner in the past many years , and it's exactly the same rice - beef pie, mashed potatoes and eel jelly at M.Manze, a long-established restaurant in London.

This is a very East London-style recipe: the beef patty is as big as a palm, baked brown, piled with golden mashed potatoes on the side, and poured with light green celery broth. It looks good and tastes okay.

But whether the eel jelly is delicious or not is up for debate.

This is a food that became popular from East London in the 18th century. At that time, the Thames River was rich in eels. Many poor families could not afford bread, so they fished eels from the river to satisfy their hunger. Their method is also very simple: wash the eels Cut it off, throw it into the water without any seasoning and boil it. After cooking for a long time, the eel will secrete a lot of transparent gelatin. At this time, turn off the heat and refrigerate it for a while. The gelatin will condense into jelly, and the eel jelly will be ready.Because of the method, this dish actually has another name, it is called gel eel.

Beef patties soaked in celery broth are okay to say, but many British people don’t eat eel jelly. This dish is probably only considered a delicacy in the eyes of some old-school East Londoners.

Beckham is a true East Londoner, but his past team-mates are clearly not.

Many people said: "David, you are too heavy on taste. Our tongue is still very ordinary. Next time we will treat you, pizza and curry are fine, but we can't digest eel jelly."

In the current national team, Owen and Beckham have the best relationship, so they are also the most wicked when they tease: "David has a tall, rich and handsome face."

All nodded in agreement.

Then Owen said the next sentence: "And a diaosi stomach."

Beckham: "..."

Others: "...Pfft ha ha ha ha ha!"

The topics of the players went further and further.

Owen: "I like Chinese food, and chicken curry is my favorite."

Rooney: "Chinese food is good. Colin and I don't like to cook, so we often order Chinese takeaway."

Owen: "It's a pity that Shao is not here. The Chinese buns he makes are amazing. By the way, Shao is my teammate with David in 1860."

Amidst the conversations among the crowd, "Glamorous Man" said a bit aggrieved: "Eel jelly is obviously a very delicious food." It was drowned in the conversation.

Beckham's expression was pitiful, as if he was saying: Jelly eel is still a child, so don't discriminate against it like that.

Carl suddenly remembered, it seems that Beckham invited the whole team to dinner for the first time after he moved to Munich in 1860, and he also found a Londoner-owned restaurant in Munich...David, you have beef pie, mashed potatoes and eel jelly How persistent is it...

He stood up and moved to Beckham's side: "Don't be sad, they don't understand you, I will invite you to M.Manze tomorrow."

Beckham suddenly held Carl's hand, his expression a little excited: "So you love going there too!"

"Cough, cough cough." Carl coughed violently: "I don't like this thing, what I invite you to eat means...you eat, I will watch."

Beckham: "..."

……

After lunch, the players gathered in the dressing room, assistant coach Rodgers used the tactical board to explain their respective positions in the national team and the tactics England would adopt against Spain in a few days.

Karl sat in the office—an office borrowed from Abramovich—calling players who needed to make changes in position or training one by one, and had a conversation.

It was Joe Hart who opened the door first.

The cheerful and lively young man seemed very reserved at the moment. He didn't know why he was called here. He thought that his performance in the morning training dissatisfied the coach and he was about to be reprimanded or sent back, so he lowered his head at the moment. Hanging down, the steps are not too big to move forward.

Seeing the other party's performance, Carl smiled and said softly: "Don't be nervous, there is nothing else to call you here, I just hope you can change your usual training plan."

Hart breathed a sigh of relief.

At first, his body was shrunk slightly due to nervousness, but now he relaxed, his head was raised, his back was straightened, and he looked much taller than when he first entered the door.

Carl handed him a stack of materials: "I hope you will train according to the items listed above every day, even in the club. Don't worry, this plan is based on the results of your physical examination by sports medicine experts and physical coaches. The technical characteristics are also designed by the previous training table. Even if Manchester City’s coaching staff redo it, it will not be more scientific than this. You can take it back and let the Manchester City physical coach take a look. If he If you have any objections, you can call me at any time.”

Hart took those documents and flipped through them, and gasped in shock.

The training plan is very heavy, and there are many tricks. Hart casually calculated the amount of exercise, and his current daily training in the club is not even half of the mark on it.

He can easily finish the club's training form every day, but these...he can probably finish it with his hard work, but he will probably be as tired as a dead dog after finishing it.

Talent determines the upper limit of a player, but the degree of effort determines how long the player's career can be.As a head coach, the last thing Karl likes to see is the scene of a talented player squandering his future because of laziness and extravagant life.

But Joe Hart belongs to the Manchester City club while belonging to the national team. Karl cannot give orders that training must be completed every day like he used to supervise Bender Ozil in Munich, so he tried to say euphemistically: " Koch started learning how to be a good goalkeeper when he was almost 16 years old. He didn't know anything at first, but he worked hard to learn. The training tasks assigned to him by the club were already heavy, but he often After the team finished training, he stayed for extra training..."

As soon as he heard the name Koch, Hart became sensitive: "Is my training plan the same as his?!" Although Koch is still very young, his current fame and legendary experience have become countless people who aspire to be goalkeepers. The idol in the heart of the young goalkeeper, and the destined opponent.

"It's not the same." After seeing Joe Hart's disappointed expression, Carl added: "Before I left Munich 1860, Koch's daily training volume was more than twice that of your plan."

This time, Hart was so shocked that he even forgot to breathe... Ten seconds later, he took a sharp breath and almost choked himself: "Ahem, cough, I'll practice! I'll just practice like this!"

"Don't force yourself." Carl's tone became softer.

Hart hurriedly said: "No force, no force!" In fact, after learning about Lambert Koch's current training volume, he already felt that the plan that scared him at first was not enough... He, Joe Hart, is also the No. [-] genius in England's goalkeeper class. Why should he be worse than a German who is one year younger than him?He started slow enough and late enough, and he must work hard to catch up in the future!

Carl waved to him with satisfaction: "Go back to the locker room. By the way, call Gerrard over."

Hart didn't feel any grief about being abused by training from tomorrow onwards. On the contrary, he walked briskly, responded happily, and turned to go out.

He was left alone in the office, and Carl took out another stack of documents from his left hand, which was twice as thick as the one given to Hart.

This is a new tactic, new training, and new development direction for Gerrard after discussing with the coaching staff for a long time.

In order to hope to solve the troublesome double virtue problem of the national team.

To put it bluntly, the double virtue problem is the problem of Gerrard and Lampard appearing on the court together.

Both are world-class players, able to defend well, good at offense and defense, especially good at offense, and are attacking rather than controlling midfielders.

But the positions overlap.

The stadium is so big, and each team starts with 11 players. In fact, each player has a different division of labor and positioning. The waste, while consuming the offensive and defensive capabilities of other positions of the team.

In other words, both Lampard and Gerrard are attacking midfielders, both like to go forward, they don't like to defend, they don't want to do the dirty work, so during the game, the two rushed towards the ball together There was no one to defend, and England's defense immediately had a hole, but the troubles in the frontcourt did not stop-there was only one ball, and there were two people who wanted to get the ball. Who would it be for?

The solution once and for all is to recruit only one of the two, but both Gerrard and Lampard have super popularity and influence in England, and even Carl can't harden his heart to leave one of them behind, and this It's not a real solution to the problem, it will only muddy the water, and if you are not careful, it may even bite back on yourself.

For the coexistence of dual virtues, Karl has his own ideas, but if this method is to be implemented perfectly, it must first communicate with the players.

The Three Lions have many problems. Before playing against Spain, Carl hopes to try to find one or two solutions, verify them in the game, and then completely transform the England team step by step.

...an email from Karl to Ronaldo...

TO Chris who scored a hat-trick in training:

Those three goals were handsome. From the cheers in the video, I can boldly speculate that your popularity in the Portuguese national team should be very good.

I hope you can also have such a good performance in the game against Finland in a week's time.

But who is that person who jumps up and knocks you out of balance immediately after you score the second goal?I couldn't see his face from the shaky camera, I couldn't see his shirt number clearly, I'm so happy for you to have a national team-mate who celebrates your goals so enthusiastically.

Can you tell me his name?If he doesn't play in the Premier League, you must invite him to travel to Manchester in the future. We will invite him to taste traditional English food, look up at the stars and jelly eel.

Was it Nani who helped film you during the game?His photography skills are really bad, he must be replaced next time.

Recently I heard about a very interesting team tradition.

Someone told me that when new players transfer to Manchester United, they have to complete a very embarrassing entrance ceremony, which is to choose a calendar photo of a Manchester United star, and then under the supervision of the old players, in front of the entire dressing room face, facing the calendar photo handjob?

I already know that Beckham chose Blackmore and Wayne Rooney was Whiteside, who did you choose Chris, Bryan Robson?Mark Hughes?Peter Schmeichel, or Eric Cantona?Please do let me know.

carl waiting to hear back