The Young Lion

Thanks to Thief Death, Qingqing Little Wolf, Who Hasn't Tried Ershi, ivjun, Three Forests for the Forest for their rewards!

The England national team is stationed in the training base that has already been prepared. The location is in Tokyo, Japan. All the games they may participate in in theory, except for a 3/4 final will be held in South Korea, all other games, group matches, after promotion The knockout rounds will be held in Japan, so I chose to prepare in Tokyo.

Although the games are played in different stadiums in different cities, it is obviously impossible to change places with one shot and change cities back and forth. The first game was against Sweden in Saitama, and it was only half an hour's drive from Tokyo to Saitama, and they would have the help of the World Cup Organizing Committee, so this time would be shortened.

In the past few years, when Aldrich led Millwall to play in the Toyota Cup, he had a brief exchange with the senior management of the Japanese Football Association. At that time, Japanese football began to flourish. In 2002, Hidetoshi Nakata emerged. The golden generation represented by Shunsuke Nakamura is not accidental.

To develop football, the infrastructure must keep up. The training camp that the England national team chose to stay this time is living in a hotel, but the training venue is borrowed from the training base of a local football club in Japan. The facilities are fairly complete. In other respects, it will also be It will be made up by the England national team team.

The national team is responsible for three meals a day, and the bathing facilities for players to recover from training. The national team has greeted the hotel in advance.

One day before the opening of the World Cup, England has already familiarized itself with the environment in the training base. Players adjust to jet lag. Training is on track.

Outside the training base. The reporters who observed them the most were naturally the reporters from Fleet Street, and then there were reporters from South America, and most of them were from Argentina.

This is to inquire about the enemy's situation!

Aldridge was more serious than ever. He was meticulous in training, but he was a bit stingy with his words. He was more often observing and carefully examining the state of the players.

The England national team had a poor record in warm-up games before the World Cup. There are inherent reasons for this.

The team is incomplete!

Scholes and Beckham didn't play, and even Irving was put on the bench by Aldridge to rest. These three, in terms of importance, the absence of Scholes has the greatest impact, followed by Irving, and lastly Beckham, while the three were absent at the same time. It is conceivable that if the England team can play well in the warm-up match. That's the hell!

To be precise, Aldridge took over the national team for a year and a half, no more, no less.

And at this stage,

He will no longer instill tactical concepts in the players. This job has been done in the past year and a half, and it should be done well!

If we talk about tactics at this time, then this team is hopeless. You are not going to play in the league, and you can adjust after losing one or two games. You need to steadily play what you are good at and used to from the beginning.

But at the end of the day's training, Aldridge looked frowning.

Jansen saw it and asked curiously, What are you worried about?

Scholes.

Him? He looks fine.

The reaction he gave me made me a little worried.

What reaction?

Aldridge sat at the table, raised his head and said lightly: I told him that we need to observe the rhythm changes of the game on the court, grasp the rhythm difference that is invisible to the naked eye, cooperate with our counterattack, and maximize the offensive power .And then he just nodded, just a normal nod.

Jansen was taken aback when he heard the words, and then laughed and said: You are too nervous. He has been like this for the past year and a half. If you tell him what he understands, he nods and doesn't ask any more questions. On the contrary, If he doesn't understand, he will react differently.

Aldridge rolled his eyes, as if it was the same thing.

Ah

So I was nervous? !

Back in the hotel room at night, most of the players stayed in their own rooms, either making phone calls with their families, or watching the news in the room, and learning about other teams participating in the World Cup. They will usher in the first World Cup in three days Show, all the players are calmly waiting for the game, probably, there is only one exception, Lu Xiaopang, he is lying on the bed after talking with Colin and his family in the room, and he is a little excited to catch the last train of the World Cup. Fading away, looking at the strange world outside the window, he wanted to go out for a while and experience the humanities of the Eastern countries, but Joe Cole, who was in the same room, did not want to accompany him. Joe Cole’s mentality was completely different from Rooney’s, and he was looking forward to the game , I hope I can make an appearance, and Rooney, he feels that his chances of playing the game are slim.

Aldrich leaned back on the bed. He was in a room alone, holding a laptop to video chat with his family members who also came to the east.

Hey Dad, am I cool?

Seeing Earl wearing a toad mirror and England jersey in the video, Aldrich nodded with a smile and said, Well, that's cool! Is it for me?

Yes! Look.

Earl picked up a brand new pair of sunglasses and dangled them in front of the camera, while Bert next to him didn't dress up in an unconventional way. The two brothers have opposite personalities. Earl is lively and active, Bert sometimes makes people feel dull, and Aldridge will That is understood as quiet.

The two sons were led by their grandparents to watch the World Cup, but they did not come to Japan. They went to South Korea for the first stop, intending to watch tomorrow's opening game played by the defending champion France.

After Aldrich finished talking with them, he picked up his mobile phone and called Ivan who was far away in London.

At 11 o'clock in the evening, Aldridge fell asleep peacefully.

The next day, in Seoul, South Korea, the opening ceremony of the World Cup was held grandly. After that, the defending champion France team made an appearance to face their opponent Senegal in the same group.

Zidane did not play due to injury. Senegal, which is very unfamiliar to the whole world, surprised the world for the first time in the World Cup!

With Diop's goal, the new African army defeated the defending champion France team who lost their soul by one goal!

2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, from the first day of the opening ceremony. It kicked off with a subversive opening.

The last World Cup champion. In addition, the French team, the champion of the new European Cup, encountered Waterloo. Overnight, the excitement for the World Cup really started to heat up.

People are discussing the impact of Zidane's absence, discussing the way for the French team to qualify, and reassessing the strength of the new African army.

After the shocking upset of the French team's first show, England's players became more serious in preparing for the game, as if they had learned from others, and it sounded the alarm for them to treat the World Cup. I really can't have the slightest carelessness and underestimate the enemy.

On Children's Day, the second match day of the World Cup, Aldridge attended the pre-World Cup press conference for the first time.

He swept away his past calm demeanor and put on a serious expression.

The scene brought together media reporters from all over the world. Regardless of whether England is looked down upon by the outside world, at least in terms of reputation, they have the most famous coaches and players, Aldridge and Beckham.

As Aldridge expected, there were still many reporters asking about the transfer of Millwall's four Italian stars, but he ignored them. When the reporters at the scene got a little angry, he said: I am now the coach of the England national team. I only answer topics related to the England team.

Fleet Street, as well as some mainstream European media reporters, are not surprised. Most of those who are self-defeating are reporters who do not understand Aldrich's style.

What is the goal of the England team to participate in this World Cup? The British media said that the FA's internal requirement for you is to reach at least the quarter-finals. Is this true?

Aldrich said in a deep voice: We came to the World Cup with only one goal, to realize our dream. If we can't realize our dream, what difference does it make if we fall to the top 8, top 4, or even the final? Except for the championship, everything else is meaningless.

Huh? Does the England team want to win the championship?

An Asian reporter had a look of sarcasm on his face.

Many other reporters also felt that Aldrich's words were a bit too full.

Aldridge looked at the Asian reporter and asked, Are you Korean? Japanese?

I am Korean!

Okay, Mr. South Korean reporter, let me ask you, what is South Korea's goal for participating in the World Cup?

To reach the round of 16.

Well, this is your goal? It's realistic and utilitarian. But what if you reach the top 16?

Of course I will work harder to enter the top 8!

Well, it's still realistic. Take it one step at a time, that's the plan for South Korea. But it's not England's, we want to go to the end, try to go to the end, from the very beginning, our eyes were set on Yokohama in 30 days. In that final, if we fail halfway, it doesn’t matter, we will come back four years later, we will still aim to reach the end and fight for it forever until we achieve our goal.”

The reporter on Fleet Street nodded frequently, and the South Korean reporter suddenly realized that Aldrich's words were not ironic, but reflected the difference between England and South Korea's football structure.

Maybe England does not have a championship appearance, but England has always had championship dreams and ambitions, but countries with backward football levels do not have such ambitions and dreams, and do not even have the courage to fantasize! Can only see step by step.

For example, the Chinese team going to the World Cup in Korea and Japan is also making the most ideal plan to advance to the top 16 with Brazil with one win and one draw. If they can enter the top 16, it can be called the most brilliant in history. It's a failure, the Chinese team will win the runner-up and the semi-finals compared to the mainstream powers, which is even more a victory!

What is the champion phase? It doesn't just appear out of thin air.

The French team is champions because they were champions four years ago and European champions two years ago.

Spain and Argentina are champions, just look at their crazy performance in the qualifiers and you will know why.

Italy has a champion, and the heyday of the lineup is the confidence.

Even the dwindling German team and the Brazilian team, which stumbled out of the qualifiers, are more champions than England. The former is the background, and the latter is the talent.

What does England have?

Have Beckham? With Owen? With Aldrich?

This is not enough for the outside world to include this team in the top five favorites for the championship, especially since they are in the group of death!

But even so, England's championship dream cannot be lost, and the pursuit cannot be lowered because of the absence of a championship. This retrogression of ambition will have a huge impact on the national team of an era, unless it takes a long time for tall buildings to become ruins. The point of rebuilding brick by brick.

Aldridge said something seriously, which won the appreciation of Fleet Street. In their eyes, Aldridge is the best coach of the Three Lions.

They won't be too hard on him, even if he brings a 16-year-old Rooney to waste places, they are still tolerant of him.

Why?

Because he made the Three Lions have to look forward to the future even if they are in a bad situation, with the most precious heart of expectation!

Aldridge was unwilling to quarrel with reporters. When talking about tomorrow's first game, he still had a serious expression, saying: People say that the England team has not won Sweden for 34 years. 34 years, a long time, but in fact The two teams have not officially played against each other many times in major competitions. In the past, on the stage of the World Cup, the two teams have played zero times. The record is a record, but that only represents the past. The Swedish team will be a formidable opponent. In order to qualify, three points are very important, but in the first game, no one wants to lose, so as to avoid the situation from becoming passive. Tomorrow will decide the result of the game. I think it may be in the use of set-pieces. The England team has a big advantage We will have a little bit of an advantage if we have a star like Wei who has excellent free-kick ability.

The reporters froze.

Even the reporters on Fleet Street couldn't figure out whether Aldrich's words were true or not.

Is there a mistake?

The first game is more conservative, it is not difficult to guess.

But you tell the outside world directly that England will focus on set kicks tomorrow?

Is it true or not? (to be continued...)

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