long live football

Christopher Holtby, an English veteran who participated in the Falklands naval battle, sensitively noticed the difference in his son recently.

Lewis Holtby is a cheerful and lively young man. He is passionate about football and music. He has many friends of the same sex and the opposite sex. He usually smiles on his lips all day long, but these days he seems a little preoccupied of.

Behavior is also a bit abnormal: boys under the age of 20 who love sports, it would be good if they don’t mess up their room like a pig’s nest, how many of them are good at housework and do housework frequently?At least in Lewis’ nearly 20 years of life, as a father, Christopher has never seen him help in the kitchen (the daily work of the boys in the Holtby family is to wash the car, take out the garbage and clean the lawn), but this week, Lewis But for three days in a row, he went into the kitchen to help...

Even his wife, Heidi, wondered last night: "Is there something wrong with Lewis these two days? I can feel that he is deliberately trying to please me. Why did he do this? Is it because he wants to bring his new girlfriend home for dinner?" Or do you want us to buy him a new car again?" Lewis Holtby, who has no experience in financial management, has earned money from playing football with the help of his parents.

Christopher felt that it was not that simple.

Recall carefully, since when did the son's emotions start to appear abnormal?

It seems like a week ago, when the whole family had dinner together, Lewis, who had just returned from the game, looked excited: "Do you know who went to watch our game against Kaiserslautern today?" Without waiting for others to answer, he said The answer was immediately revealed: "It's Karl Alston!"

Christopher's wife and eldest daughter exclaimed: "Really?"

"It's true! And I saw him outside the court after the game." Lewis showed a shy smile: "He took the initiative to chat with me, and we talked together for three or four minutes, until a large group of reporters rushed up Push me away."

"Is it time for autographs?" The eldest daughter, Christie, almost leaned to the other side of the table: "Or is there a group photo?"

"Ah, not this one." Lewis touched his head, and said a little embarrassedly and proudly, "But I gave him my phone number."

Christie's eyes lit up immediately: "Give me his phone number!"

"...No. Mr. Alston asked for my number. Before I could ask him, the reporters rushed away, and then he made a sign to me that he would contact me, and stopped a taxi. left."

"I don't believe you without evidence." Christie curled her lips at her younger brother: "Liar, be careful to get up tomorrow with a long nose."

As if shocked by Christie's words, Lewis' expression suddenly became uncertain, and he remained silent for the rest of the dinner time.

Lewis drove to the club early the next morning, and when he returned home, he became the preoccupied picture Christopher saw now.

'No matter which direction you infer, the son's emotional change seems to be related to Karl Alston. 'Christopher, a veteran who not only participated in the war, but also performed military missions in Munich before the merger of Germany and Germany, has precise intuition and judgment:'What happened? '

But before Christopher could ask his son, Lewis went to his father for advice with a face full of confusion.

"...Are you saying that Oston wants you to represent the England national team? And the reason why you have behaved abnormally these days is because you are worried about this?" After his son confessed everything to himself, Christopher digested asked after a long time.

Lewis nodded: "I know I should tell you the first time, but I want to think it through before I tell you..."

Christopher understood his son's ambivalence.

Lewis' love for football was cultivated by him. Christopher is an avid Everton fan. As long as his son can remember, he will take him to watch football games together. , and the father and son would go to the scene to watch the game together. Influenced by him, Lewis also became a fan of the England national team and Everton at a very young age.

Most fans in Europe are like this, there is a love inheritance relationship between father and son.

However, probably because his mother is German and he received German youth training from a young age, Lewis gradually became different from his father when he grew up. Christopher is a pure England fan, but Lewis Holtby slowly accepts it from the bottom of his heart. Holtby, 11, would be elated by England's 5-1 away win over Germany, but Holtby, now 19, is embroidered on the sides of both sneakers. There were different flags, one for England and the other for Germany.

Lewis confided his heart to his father: "If I tell my mother that I have a little bit of desire to join the England team, my mother will probably be sad."

Christopher asked his son, "Just a little?"

"Well, I admit, I'm shaken." Lewis scratched his head: "Mr. Alston said that I was a bit like Joe Cole, and that I could play multiple positions in the frontcourt, love to run, good at dribbling and The skill of the left foot is what he values... He asked me if I would mind playing on the wing and looking for opportunities behind the forwards. Mr. Dun said that he trusts every player under him... He also said that at my age and the position I play on the court, even if I have the opportunity to be selected for the German team in the future, I will face great competition, but It's different in England, in England I have less pressure..."

"Indeed." Christopher agreed upon hearing this: "In the German national team, Mesut Ozil and Toni Kroos are both your biggest competitors." With the team coming, it will be difficult for Lewis to compete with the opponent in a short time... Christopher only thought about this sentence in his heart, and did not tell his son.

But Lewis understood his father's voice: "Give me some advice, Dad, should I choose Germany or England?"

"This is not a multiple-choice question of nationality, nor is it a question of choosing father or mother. You choose your own future." Christopher said to his son seriously: "You should choose a team that has the hope of winning the championship." , and you can also occupy a place in the championship team. If it was a year ago, I would think that the German team is more likely to win the championship, but now, Germany and England are very strong, so what should I do? The choice depends on your own heart, my son."

Lewis thought about it all night in his room. On the second day, with two dark circles under his eyes, he announced in front of the whole family: "I'm going to join the England national team!"

……

When the "Sun" first filmed the Three Lions coach in the stands of the Tivoli Stadium to watch Aachen's home game against Kaiserslautern in the 32nd round of the Bundesliga, no one knew he was there. What are you doing there.

Maybe it's because of this old friendship, to set up a spot for 1860 Munich, which is destined to be relegated in the future?Not right either.

Although the lineup of Munich 1860 is scattered this season, the lean camels are bigger than horses. They still have an advantage in the Bundesliga relegation circle where the competition is not fierce. It is possible for Beckham and Irving to walk away together.

The flash of Carl in the Aachen home stands made many British reporters puzzled-it’s not that no one noticed Holtby, but even the British media knew that there was an English-German genius in the Aachen team Boy, they didn't dare to think that this boy would belong to them one day, because since the incident of the Altintop brothers, the German Football Association has paid less attention to these domestic football talents, especially those who have joined the national team below U21 , but also closely follow up every year, for fear of being poached.

The German Football Association keeps a close eye on it, and in recent years the Deutsche Chariots have been among the best in terms of winning odds. Not to mention the British media, even the German media would never have imagined that someone would put a seed that was about to grow under their noses. The big fruit of the

So when the FA issued a call for Lewis Holtby and Holtby responded publicly, the football worlds of England and Germany were boiling like a magnitude [-] earthquake.

"The Sun" said excitedly: "Holtby will write his own future under Auston!" "Daily Telegraph": "FA: Lewis Holtby has been confirmed for the next England squad" "The Times": "Interview with Holtby: I have been an England fan since I was a child" " Daily Mail: "Thoughts brought by Holtby: Which other English talents are living abroad? "Bild": "Unbelievable: U20 genius Holtby switched to England!" ""Süddeutsche Zeitung": "The U20 national team was poached, and too few domestic opportunities in Germany caused all this? "Le Monde": "England may become Germany's biggest enemy in the World Cup in South Africa?" 》To put it simply, the reactions of the British and German media were very simple and direct. The former was: "Happy to hear and see! The more the better!", the latter, in addition to everyone's disbelief, also had a sentence that almost vomited blood: "It's too insane !”.

The vast majority of German diehard fans do not understand why Holtby switched to England. In their view, Germany has the healthiest football league in the world, the most complete youth training, and the most popular head coach (this is doubtful. , because every time a fan takes the initiative to bring up the topic of the most charming coach, it will always lead to a bloodbath, even if it is only the country and the fans of the country can fight to the blood), and from the start of the local World Cup to South Africa next year, three consecutive competitions It is the favorite to win the championship. Compared with the German team, what does England have?

Holtby is not the jigsaw puzzle that the German team under Loew needs. Without him, there is no loss to the strength of the German national team, but the man was taken away by England. This alone makes German fans a little bit intolerable!

Countless saliva was sprayed from Germany to England: Even if Holtby went to England, you would not be able to use him well!There is no champion in England, you don't even want to get your hands on the Hercules Cup!

And the British fans did not show any weakness: Do you know that Holtby has no future after coming to England?Is it so sure that Germany will win the World Cup in South Africa, and we England will get nothing?put P!

The fans of the two countries began to make various comparisons, comparing statistics, comparing the historical relationship between victory and defeat, comparing the current lineup... even comparing the odds of winning.

Not to mention, on the betting boards updated by major European gaming companies about the World Cup in South Africa, the odds of the German national team and the England national team winning the World Cup are really similar-in Ladbrokes, William Hill, etc. On the betting company’s odds list, Spain, the champion of the last European Cup and the strongest team in the past two years, has the lowest odds of winning the championship. Brazil, the South American football kingdom, follows closely. Argentina led by Maradona ranks No. Third, although the German team ranked fourth, they had the same odds in bwin and Argentina. England ranked fifth, followed by the Netherlands and Italy.

In this enthusiastic atmosphere, the popularity of Holtby, who has occupied the headlines of the newspapers for many days, has also increased sharply. Many Premier League clubs, such as Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool, Everton, etc., have extended olive branches to him. , and sent an offer to the Aachen Club of the Bundesliga.

The Aachen Club has no intention of forcing Holtby to stay. On the contrary, they are very happy about the prospect of being able to exchange Holtby for several million euros in cash, and then invest the money in club construction. For the quotation, the chairman of Aachen said generously: As long as you have money, everything is easy to talk about.

With the lessons learned by Holtby, the German Football Association has paid closer attention to the descendants of immigrants in China, as well as talented players with dual passports, and increased their persuasion work to persuade them to enter the German national team.

Half a month before Germany's next World Cup preliminaries, Loew announced the new national team roster, and six or seven fresh faces suddenly appeared in it. These young players were all under 21 years old, but It has long been famous in the national youth teams and low-level leagues at all levels.

Outside speculation: "According to FIFA regulations, even if a player has represented the national youth team, as long as he has not won the opportunity to play in the adult national team, he can still change his nationality and represent another country in the World Cup. The German team probably came up with a remedy this time in order to prevent their youth talents from being poached again: let these players play in the world preliminaries one by one, so that they no longer have to worry about them changing teams.”

The trick that the German Football Association came up with is good, but it just adds a little trouble to the national team coach Loew: taking a group of fledgling young people to play in international A-level competitions, tactical starting and substitutions are all problems.

'It's all the aftermath of Holtby's switch to England, and it's no wonder Loew doesn't like him' Talking bad about you, boss, in the room”, Carl thought.

Karl didn't ask Sven Loew what he complained about in the locker room of the German team. It's not a good thing anyway, but Loew's identity is there, so he can't say too much.

Sven was very "understanding" and said: "Boss, don't be angry, we have secretly revenged you back!"

"……revenge?"

"The coach likes to pick his nose while we are training while sitting on the bench by the side of the court. We took advantage of him to go to the toilet and hid the handkerchief or facial tissue in his coat pocket. Now he picked it out. There's nowhere to wipe my booger hahahahaha!"

Carl hesitated for a moment: "He didn't train you after he found out?"

"Hey, not this one..." Sven said to himself suspiciously: "I saw him picking his nose, why didn't he find a tissue?"

Carl: "..." I don't even know about this.

When he hung up the phone, Sven was still confused: where did the boogers go?

What a puzzle.

……

December 5, Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

There is still an hour before the opening of the 09 Champions League final, in the Manchester United dressing room.

The Red Devils players were warming up on the pitch. Ferguson had just returned from the pre-match press conference and was walking back and forth in the locker room with his hands behind his back, chewing a piece of gum in his mouth at a constant speed.

Looking down at the stadium from the stands, Carl, who only saw Manchester United players but not the coach, found the locker room, knocked on the door, opened the door and walked in after getting permission.

"Why is it you?" Ferguson looked at Carl in surprise, he thought it was the assistant coach of the team who knocked on the door.

"Come to cheer for Manchester United." Carl touched his nose: "Aren't you welcome?"

"Come in and talk." Ferguson patted a bench and told Carl to sit on it, but said, "But if you just want to say cheers, you can get out now."

Carl stood by the door and smiled hypocritically: "Come on for the game!" Then he turned around and said, "I'm getting out." He also closed the door of the locker room as he walked out.

Ferguson: "..."

Five seconds later, Carl pushed the door and walked in again: "I'm rolling back."

"You brat." Ferguson was amused, and the nerves that had been tense since he opened his eyes in the morning were temporarily relaxed, and even chewing gum slowed down.

"Don't be so nervous, old man, Manchester United will win." Carl suddenly said solemnly: "Before this year, Manchester United reached the Champions League final three times and won the trophy twice, with a winning percentage of 67%. Barcelona reached the Champions League final five times and won the trophy twice. , The winning rate is 40%; Manchester United has remained unbeaten against teams from Spain in the past 7 times, while Barcelona has only won once in 8 games against English teams; Manchester United and Barcelona have faced each other 10 times in history. Wins, 3 draws and 4 losses have a slight advantage... No matter how you look at it, Manchester United has a higher winning percentage, so don't worry too much."

"I know, I'm not worried." Although Ferguson tried his best to hide it, there was still a trace of touch and relief in his expression: "In order to cheer me up, you did a lot of homework before the game, right?"

"No." Carl shrugged: "You only need to Google these data to know all about it."

"...You can really roll now." Ferguson was inhaling deeply, exhaling, inhaling, exhaling.

Karl originally wanted to grind for a few more minutes. It would be better to wear down most of the tension in Ferguson's heart, so that the other party would have to chew gum for several hours to appease the rapidly beating old heart... But Ferguson just After saying the words to let Carl go for the second time, the Manchester United players returned from the first warm-up.

Now Karl really needs to leave: "Start plotting with your players to win the championship, I'm leaving."

Ferguson waved his hand impatiently at him.

The Manchester United players who returned from the warm-up were amazed by Carl who appeared in their dressing room. All of them looked up and down intently as if they had never seen him before.

'Could it be that I'm overdressed today? Carl looked at his whole body, "cloud gray taffeta coat, wine red silk shirt, oily yellow calfskin moccasin shoes, completely Italian exquisite, very perfect." '

Some inexplicably nodded to the many Manchester United players in front of him, and Karl was about to go back to the stands.

Ronaldo suddenly ran out of the locker room, caught up with him, and said to him in a low voice, "I'm not interested in dyeing my hair at all, you know that?"

"?" Carl replied with a confused expression.

Ronaldo has already returned to the locker room.

So Karl had no choice but to go back to the grandstand box with a bewildered mind.

In the VIP stands, Prince William was reading today's newspaper with relish.

Carl sat down beside him and asked casually, "The Times? The Daily Telegraph?"

Prince William did not answer the question: "If you did not go to the Bundesliga when you first became the head coach but stayed in the Premier League, if I was not a prince but a professional player, you would definitely buy me into the team, right?"

"...What a strange question, besides, what gave you such confidence?"

"Because I had brilliant blond hair when I was a teenager." Prince William smiled with his white teeth, and waved the newspaper in his hand at Carl: "Admit it, you are a blond fan."

Karl first saw the three words "The Sun", and then saw the headlines today: "From Koch to Hart, on the unknown blonde complex of the England coach"... Well, now he finally understands Ronaldo's words What does it mean.