long live football

South Africa, Johannesburg, clear skies.

The international airport has become very lively since early in the morning. The airport security personnel have set up a cordon outside the apron early in the morning. Media reporters from all over the world gather there, looking at their watches from time to time, talking to people around them in different languages Communicate, and then look into the distance, as if anxiously waiting for something.

At 8 o'clock local time in Johannesburg, a huge buzzing sound finally came from the sky.

Everyone on the ground looked up.

A large passenger plane slowly landed on the tarmac.

A dozen shuttles headed for the tarmac, loaded with airport security personnel in black jackets and neon vests.

The media stopped talking and became restless. They aimed at the cabin door and raised their video cameras and cameras high.

From the cordon to the landing site, every few meters stood a security guard with a submachine gun.

The aircraft elevator landed, and members of the Three Lions in Armani's silver-gray three-piece suit appeared at the cabin door.

Seeing the figures of those acquaintances, the female reporters immediately screamed in surprise: "So handsome! England's uniform is so handsome!"

In the World Cup, male fans may only pay attention to the skills of the winning players, but female fans tend to focus more on the handsome players themselves. The faces and figures of handsome guys are watched by female fans gathered during the World Cup One of the important reasons for the game.

Therefore, in order to cater to the tastes of more fans and attract the flashes of all media, most national teams will cooperate with well-known designers to design stylish clothing for the World Cup. For example, the clothing of the Italian national team is sponsored by D&G, Spain The team is HugoBoss.

England's official dress for South Africa this time was designed by the famous Italian designer Armani himself. Armani is generous and not only provides a full set of formal clothes for all members of the Three Lions, but also includes underwear, leather shoes, socks, and carry-on clothes. The backpack of the item is more exquisite, and the cuff buttons of each player's jacket are engraved with the same number as their own national team jersey.

Each set of "suit LOOK" for England players is worth more than 8000 pounds, and the total value of the team's uniform is about 28 pounds.If someone took the South African World Cup promotional film shot by the England team to a skilled tailor, it would be possible to make a similar suit.

Reporters from various countries have been pressing the shutters since they appeared, and at the same time they admired: "Even Rooney looks elegant and attractive in this three-piece suit. The England team uniform is really eye-catching!"

The main color of the suit is silver-gray, with the England national team logo embroidered on the left chest. Inside the coat is a silver-gray suit vest, a gray-blue shirt, a textured black tie and shiny black Oxford leather shoes, a standard British gentleman , the Armani brand is already full of elegance, and the British Isles are rich in gentlemen. The combination of the two really complements each other.

The collective appearance of the Three Lions can be said to be the coolest of the entire Nuremnesburg International Airport.

"England Catwalk Team", many media even thought about tomorrow's news headlines.

Carl and Rodgers walked side by side, Beckham and Owen followed closely behind them, and the four were the most favored by the camera.

The picture of unbuttoning the jacket, smiling and strolling casually chatting could not be more beautiful.

Many people committed nympho on the spot. If it weren't for the security guards with guns staring at them, someone might have rushed to ask for an autograph and a group photo.

The media had taken enough photos of the group of four, and they were about to choose another person to continue shooting. When the camera moved to the side, many reporters immediately burst out laughing.

Welbeck was walking towards the bus with a big snow-white pillow half his height.

Many reporters immediately took pictures of Welbeck.

There are still people who bring their own pillows and fly tens of thousands of kilometers to participate in the World Cup. This picture is simply too joyful.

Being stared at by so many cameras, Welbeck felt a lot of pressure.

He suddenly took two quick steps to catch up with Rooney, and stuffed the pillow into the opponent's arms: "They look at me so strangely, I don't want to hold it for you!"

Rooney: "..." It was because when he boarded the plane at the London airport, he was stared at by many people with strange eyes while holding the pillow, so he thought of finding a scapegoat when he got off the plane. Unexpectedly, Welbeck finally gave him exposed.

Reporters from various countries laughed when they saw this scene: Ha, it turns out that this joyful pillow belongs to Rooney!

"This is not an ordinary pillow, this is a musical pillow!"

When boarding the bus to the hotel, even the national team teammates began to look at him and laughed, Rooney couldn't help explaining to his teammates with a serious face: "There is a speaker in the pillow, which can be connected to an IPOD to play music. , I can't sleep without the music!"

……

As early as when South Africa won the right to host the 2010 World Cup, European media reported that the favorite game for South African fans was not their own, but the Premier League. This statement was confirmed when South Africa started selling World Cup tickets. Confirmed: The best ticket sales in South Africa's own country were played by England.

The Three Lions are like home in South Africa.

Many African media have reported this.

When European countries reproduced such news, they were both envious and somewhat skeptical.

The England players were dubious at first, but when the national team bus was driving on the road in South Africa towards the hotel where they were staying, they felt the enthusiasm of the local fans like never before.

From the time the bus left the airport, there were many vehicles following behind. These were not media vehicles, but the spontaneous behavior of the fans.

These fans may come from other cities in South Africa, or from other countries in Africa. The hotel where the England national team stayed was the Royal Marang Hotel in Banfokeng, Northwest Province, South Africa. The England team rented this five-star resort hotel, and also won the right to use the Royal Banfokeng Stadium, one of the top ten venues for the World Cup in South Africa, just because the 36th king of the Kingdom of Banfokeng is England fans.

Not only that, the Royal Marang Hotel also held a warm welcome ceremony for the arrival of the England team. Hundreds of fans shook excitedly holding a board with "England, the winner". Greet you in person in front of the hotel.

As soon as he met the King of Banfokeng, Karl got a bear hug from the other party.

The surrounding media frantically pressed the shutter again.

Although it was broad daylight, the flash was still so bright that it was hard to keep your eyes open.

After parting with the passionate King of Banfokeng, Karl introduced England players such as Beckham, Owen and Gerrard to the king and queen.

After inviting the England team to a dinner, the Banfokens left the hotel on political grounds.

Karl is also going to let all the players enter the hotel for a short rest. In the afternoon, they will go to the Royal Banfokeng Stadium to see the venue and training facilities.

But there are too many media from all over the world gathered here, and they strongly urged the Three Lions not to be invisible, at least to hold a press conference.

So Karl had to be interviewed by the media with the players outside the hotel.

"What is England's goal in this World Cup? Final four? Final? Champion?" A French reporter took the lead in asking.

"A team that doesn't want to win the championship is not a good team." If you answered other answers, news like "England has no intention of winning the Hercules Cup, but came to South Africa just to play soy sauce" would appear in the newspapers tomorrow. Carl would not Let the media catch him. Although it is a bit crazy to want the championship, the current England team is not incapable of shouting such slogans.

"If you didn't win the World Cup, would you take the blame and resign?" a reporter from an unknown country suddenly asked in accented German.

Carl raised his eyebrows slightly: "What about your country? If your country doesn't win the World Cup, will the head coach also take the blame and resign?" When he saw the person who provoked him with an Asian face, Carlton was stunned. After a pause, he posted again: "Ah, I should ask first, has your country been shortlisted for the finals?"

The reporter looked stiff: "Of course my country is also one of the teams participating in the World Cup in South Africa!"

A Chinese reporter interjected in poor English: "Korean team? Japanese team?"

The reporter who provoked Karl puffed out his chest: "I am Japanese!"

'This Japanese reporter is still upset about the disastrous defeat of the Japanese team a few days ago. Carl thought so, and ignored the other party.

A Chinese reporter asked Karl: "Shao Jiayi said on Weibo that he got your free World Cup tickets. Can you tell us what happened?"

Karl answered the other party directly in Mandarin: "When I contacted Jiayi a few days ago, he said that he wanted to come to South Africa to watch the World Cup, but the tickets were too tight for him to buy, so I gave him a few tickets in my hand. , that’s all.”

Seeing that Carl was chatting happily with the Chinese reporters in Chinese, the Japanese reporters wanted to find fault, so they loudly overwhelmed everyone's voices: "If we meet again in the World Cup, the Japanese team will take revenge!"

Carl spoke Chinese fluently, and replied directly: "Okay, I'll wait."

The Japanese reporter was at a loss and did not understand what Karl was talking about.

When he wanted to ask more questions, Karl turned away from the media and went to the hotel together with the English players who had just finished the interview.

The Chinese reporter lowered his head and grinned sullenly.

A Japanese reporter asked the England coach a question in German, and the England coach answered in Mandarin...

I really want to kill him laughing.

Going back and reporting it, there must be more Chinese fans laughing together.

For the World Cup in Germany and the World Cup in South Africa, Chinese fans who have not qualified for the finals can not watch the games of their national teams and become fans of other countries. The popularity of Brazil, Italy, Germany and England is not low in China. The reporter has a hunch: There are already a lot of fans in England. Because of Oston, the head coach who is very close to China, maybe there will be more and more fans in England in the future, and maybe even become the most... …

After arriving in South Africa, the entire England team can often see fans blowing something like a trumpet, making a loud "hum--".

This "buzzing" noise can still be heard from outside the airport, all the way, outside the hotel, and even after the England players enter the hotel lobby.

Rooney is more sensitive to sound, and has touched his ears several times along the way: "What is that, trombone?"

Beckham replied: "It's the vuvuzela, an African horn instrument. It became very famous last year in the Confederations Cup. Don't you know?"

Rooney shook his head: "I haven't paid attention to it."

Carl said: "I read the introduction of vuvuzela in the newspaper. It is said that hundreds of thousands of vuvuzelas have been sold in South Africa this month alone. It can blow up to 127 decibels."

Rooney was surprised: "Then after the World Cup starts, don't we see this thing everywhere in the stadium?"

After everyone got into the elevator, the sound of vuvuzela could still be faintly heard.

Owen couldn't stand it: "My God, I can still hear the buzzing sound here, can't I hear it in the room? The hotel we live in is next to the World Cup venue. If the World Cup starts How are you going to sleep when the fans are blowing it in the stadium every night after tomorrow?"

Rooney looked grateful: "Fortunately, I am holding a musical pillow, and the sound of music can cover up all the noise."

Carl pondered: "Maybe I also need to make some preparations to prevent problems before they happen."

Rooney was startled: Does the boss want to take away my music pillow?

Then he breathed a sigh of relief in the next second, because Carl said, "Let's go check out the nearby pharmacy in the afternoon."

Beckham asks: "What to do at the pharmacy"

Carl: "Buy earplugs."

Before the World Cup started, Karl admired his foresight just a few days later.

The whole South Africa is full of vuvuzela, and the fans not only use it during the game, they blow it during the day, at night, when they are free, and when they play pranks, people who don’t like vuvuzela I was annoyed by other people's bragging, and I would buy another one to retaliate against the bragging.

The sound insulation facilities in many hotels in South Africa are not good. Almost all the people living near the stadium during the World Cup are unbearably disturbed. The earplugs in major pharmacies and shopping malls are out of stock one week before the opening of the World Cup.

Pity those players who didn't buy earplugs. They have to train and play during the day, and they are harassed and unable to sleep at night.

That's when Carl empties out the entire pharmacy's inventory of sound-isolating products when he buys earplugs.

When he met a former disciple who complained about vuvuzela to him, Karl would give him a small gift very thoughtfully.

Karl brand earplugs, Oston disciples are worth having.

……

After moving into the Royal Marang Hotel, the England team began a closed training camp.

Because of the care of the King of Banfokeng, the staff of the Royal Marang Hotel and the Royal Banfokeng Stadium provided the Three Lions with the highest standard of treatment.

Karl hoped that the England training would not be peeped. The security personnel kept patrolling around during the training of the Three Lions to ensure that no reporter could take pictures of the England training.

The outside world is simply curious about the secret training program of the Three Lions.

But because the England team hired too many security guards during training, and the media reporters' skills were no match for the regular security personnel's reach, so they could only be curious and couldn't find any valuable substantive content.

Without on-court news, journalists from various countries began to pay attention to the off-court information of the England team.

Karl's daily outfits are reported and commented on by the media.

Although he always wears formal clothes, only the color and details of the clothes change.

But it seems that his taste is just right for the public's appetite, so at the World Cup where media reporters from all over the world gather, it has become popular like never before.

The daily news about his clothes and collocations from all over the world may add up to a thick magazine.

In the history of the World Cup, the media of various countries have never paid such attention to the head coach of a national team, especially the coach's clothing taste.

In the last World Cup, Klinsmann's white shirt and black trousers were also very popular, but only within the scope of football.

But this time it seems to be different. The photos of the England coach have appeared in the new issues of fashion magazines in Europe and the United States.

And Armani also announced his design concept of 2010 autumn and winter men's clothing five days before the opening ceremony, which is precisely the word "gentleman".

When it comes to gentlemen, maybe eight or nine out of ten people will immediately think of British gentlemen.

On the streets of South Africa, there are more and more male fans in formal clothes.

It looks like the England boss has set the fashion trend.

The "Sun" suggested that the Three Lions collectively make a movie called "The Devil Wears Tom Ford".

……

On June 6, the England team finally ended closed training.

On the 10th, Karl did not arrange any training tasks for the players. Instead, he took all the members of the national team to browse several tourist attractions near the tribal kingdom of Banfokeng, and had a pleasant team dinner. In the evening, he also participated in the A bonfire party held by the locals.

His purpose is to relax and decompress the players, so that they can relax their tense nerves before the big game.

At the end of the day's trip, most of the players had bright smiles on their faces, looking much better than when they first arrived in South Africa.

However, the sensitive media were on the way and found with their sharp eyes that although the English players were relaxed, their bodies looked paler and thinner than a week ago.

The media were even more curious: What was England secretly training during the week that disappeared from the camera?

On the 11th, the Swiss team came to Banfokeng to train with the England team and played a short match in the afternoon.

England, who changed ten players throughout the game, easily defeated their opponents 3:0.

On June 6, local time in Johannesburg, the opening ceremony of the World Cup in South Africa was officially held.

On June 6, the England team ushered in their first World Cup group match.