Godfather Of Champions

Wood closed the door after Des Walker left. The first thing that he said to Twain was, “I hope you can play me in the match against Germany tomorrow.”

Twain was not the least bit surprised after hearing Wood’s words. It was as though he had expected Wood to say what he did.

“That’s impossible, George.” Twain replied Wood with a deadpan expression on his face. “You have yet to fully recover.”

“No, I’ve fully recovered.” Wood performed a series of high knees before Twain to prove that he was saying the truth.

“You are lying, George.”

“It’s my own body. Why would I lie?” Wood asked.

Wood was not able to be as calm as Twain. He took a step forward and stood before Twain. “You told me to wait for three games. But, what if we don’t even manage to advance to the next round? What’s the point in me waiting for three games then? I can’t wait and don’t want to wait any longer.”

Twain gestured for Wood to sit down. He was not used to conversing with another person with his head raised.

“Do you not trust your teammates?” Twain looked at the slightly impatient Wood.

Twain’s words rendered Wood speechless. He could not say, “Yes, I don’t trust them”. He could only say, “No, I trust them”. The moment he says the latter however, he would not be able to insist on playing in the match any longer.

Wood went quiet. He understood why Twain had asked such a question, and he was unwilling to give a reply.

Twain decided to strike while the iron is hot. He continued to persuade Wood to abandon his idea of playing in the match against Germany.

“George, your injury has yet to fully recover. I know that very well, because I have been monitoring your injury with the medical staff every single day. The match against Germany is bound to be an intense match, and I can’t guarantee what would happen next if you were to pick up another injury during the match. For the sake of your professional career, I would not allow you to play in the match.”

“Even if it means we can’t advance to the next round?” Wood asked.

Twain responded calmly, “Yes, even if it means we can’t advance to the next round, I would not take the risk and play you in the match.”

Wood’s face became clouded. The expression on his face was just like the summer weather. It kept changing numerous times before he finally stood to his feet and left the room.

Twain spaced out as he sat in the room alone.

He could not believe how good he was at pretending to be a saint… The last few words that he said to Wood did not come from the bottom of his heart. Or, rather, he was not resolute when he said those words. Which is more important? Results or a player’s future? Such a question would never have appeared in Twain’s mind in the past. The him in the past would have said that he wanted both.

Perhaps the situation isn’t that bad… Twain thought inwardly.

It’s not as if England is incapable of competing against Germany without George Wood in the team.

Walker pushed the door open and entered the room. He saw Twain sitting on the sofa lost in his thoughts.

“Tony?”

“Is it time for dinner already?” Twain snapped out of his thoughts and asked.

“No, I just came to take a look at you, and I also wanted to ask you about how things went with George.” Walker took a seat next to Twain.

“He wants to play in the match against Germany, but I rejected him.” Twain said nonchalantly.

“Did you struggle when you made the decision?” Walker asked with a smile.

“No.” Twain lied.

Walker hesitated for a moment before asking, “Tony, what do you think about our chances of winning against Germany?”

Twain glanced at his assistant. “It’s not about our chances of winning, Des. We definitely have to win, or else we are going to die.”

※※※

Three days is really too short a time. The bus trip from Barcelona to Valencia takes up half a day, so essentially, Twain only has two days to prepare for the match against Germany.

Before most people even knew it, the match between England and Germany was about to kick off.

The fact that both George Wood and Bentley are going to miss out on the match due to an injury, and the fact that England’s future in the Euro Cup hangs in doubt after losing to Wales are nothing more than ‘icing on the cake’ for the match. Even if both teams won both their previous matches and go into this match ensured of their qualification into the next round, this match between England and Germany will still attract attention worldwide. Tony Twain might not care about who wins the match, but the England fans do.

The feud between England and Germany football is one of the longest-standing feuds in the world. Both teams have competed against each other for over a century. In the first fifty years, England dominated Germany, but in the later years, Germany became the England fans’ eternal nightmare.

The very first time both teams played against each other was on 20th April 1908. Back then, the arrogant England team, otherwise known as the ‘Founder of Football’, taught the rookie Germany football team a lesson by defeating them with a score of 5:1. England might have won the match, but they acted snobbish after the match, and said that it was ‘humiliating of them to have allowed Germany to score a goal’. A year later, both teams faced off with each other again, and England slaughtered Germany with a 9:0 score on their second meeting. Till this day, the 9:0 victory remains the biggest winning margin either team has managed to achieve against each other.

England was able to achieve 10 wins and 2 draws in their first 12 matches against Germany. The Germany team right now might be known as the ‘King of Europe’ with three Euro Cup titles and three World Cup titles under its belt, but the Germany team back then was nothing like it. Football in Germany back then was still chaotic, and it was no surprise that they lost to a powerhouse team like England.

But, the rivalry between both teams deepened immensely during the 1966 World Cup that was held in England. England was able to lift the World Cup trophy for the very first and only time in its history by defeating Germany 4:2 in the finals with the help of a controversial goal. The controversial goal was scored by Geoff Hurst, who subsequently went on to become England’s ‘national hero’ for his hat-trick in the match. Germany’s legendary striker, Uwe Seeler, looked extremely despondent as he walked off the pitch with his head hung low after the match. This scene of Seeler had been captured by photographers, and the British press would constantly bring up the photo and scorn the Germans for ‘losing to them yet again’.

The match hurt the Germans so deeply that they still complain about the referee error that had cost them their fourth World Cup title even till this day.

Until 1966, the British have always gone into every match against the Germans full of confidence, because they have never lost once against Germany yet.

However, things turned 180 degrees two years later. Franz Beckenbauer, who is nicknamed ‘The Emperor’, scored the goal that ended Germany’s winless streak against England. His goal marked a complete change in fate for both teams. For the next 40 years, England never once won against Germany in the big matches… It did not matter how those matches had progressed. England always came out as the loser.

During the quarterfinals of the 1970 World Cup, England led Germany 2:0 at one point, but Germany managed to come back from behind and score three goals under the guidance of Beckenbauer, and they eliminated England from the competition.

In 1972, England fell before Germany once again. Beckenbauer led his German teammates to a 3:1 victory over England at the Wembley Stadium, and Germany managed to secure a victory in the Euro Cup qualifiers. Thereafter, the British gifted the nickname ‘Emperor of Football’ to Beckenbauer.

During the quarterfinals of the 1990 World Cup, Germany defeated England on penalties. Nottingham Forest’s legend Stuart Pearce missed a crucial goal, and the current assistant manager of the England national team, Des Walker, also played in the match.

The Euro Cup was held in England in 1996. The British thought that they would be able to make use of their home advantage to lift the Henri Delaunay Trophy for the very first time in their history, but unfortunately for them, they ran into Germany in one of the matches. The Germans fought hard and they managed to force the hosts into a penalty shoot-out. The England players lost their composure during the shoot-out and was eliminated from the competition ultimately.

The proud British were not able to accept the fact that their team had lost to the Germans consecutively, and that set off their rivalry. Ever since then, every match played between England and Germany has been exciting to watch. It did not matter if the match is only a friendly. Both teams would always give their all.

England’s starting center-back and former captain, John Terry, once said that there was no such thing as a ‘friendly’ whenever England plays against Germany.

Many memorable football quotes in England came from matches where England faced off with Germany. One such quote came from the famous British commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme during the 1966 World Cup finals match in which he said, “They think it’s all over… It is now”.

When England was eliminated by Germany on penalties in the 1990 World Cup, Gary Lineker said after the match, “Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win.”

However, not every win over Germany becomes a pleasant memory for the British. For example, England won Germany 6:3 in a friendly match that was held at Berlin in 1938, but the England players were forced to do a Nazi salute prior to the start of the match. The British deem that gesture to be a great insult against them, and they all refer to this victory as a ‘humiliating victory’ even till this day.

England and Germany were more evenly-matched in the 21st century. Both teams won some and lost some matches against each other, and England even managed to win 5:1 against Germany once. However, on the whole, the England players always seemed to display a lack of confidence during matches against Germany. The last match held at the old Wembley Stadium before its demolition should have been a meaningful and memorable match for the England national team, but Dietmar Hamann’s goal put the entire team to shame.

If Twain was asked to discuss about the differences between England and Germany, he would say that England is just like a pretty vase that is mesmerizing under the light and highly sought after by others, whereas Germany is just like a black and dull rock. It doesn’t matter if one uses the vase to hit the rock, or the rock to hit the vase. The one that suffers the most would always be the vase.

Twain has an impossible mission on his hands. He has to fight the rock with the vase, and he also needs to ensure that the vase remains in one piece at the end of it all.

※※※

“We can lose to anyone else, just not the Germans!” The England fans marched into the stadium carrying banners with the aforementioned words written over them. The words reflected the voice of every British right now. The match between England and Germany seized the attention of the entire nation, and even the Queen asked the question, “Can we beat Germany?”

The Queen’s words became the headline for numerous newspapers. The Times responded to her words underneath the headline with, “Yes, we can!”

The Sun published an inspirational article that described how their Queen had led the nation to a great victory against the fascist Germany more than 60 years ago as a child. They wrote that it was time for the entire nation to fight once again. They ended the article with the statement, “We can definitely win this battle!”

Unlike England, Germany was much more nonchalant about the feud between them, and they did not react as strongly as them. This has always been the case in the past as well. The British have always been the ones who are obsessed about the feud, and the Germans usually use much more subtle ways to express their thoughts and feelings. For example, the Das Erste channel in Germany re-analyzed the Hurst’s goal from 1966 before the match. They made use of cutting edge technology to restore scenes from the match, and they proved that the ball had not made its way over the line entirely. Hence, Hurst’s goal from 1966 cannot be counted as a goal. The ZDF channel in Germany also showed highlights from the past World Cups. They showed the scenes of the Brazilians lifting the Jules Rimet trophy three times and they also showed how Beckenbauer had persevered in a match with a bandage around his shoulder, but they did not show Hurst’s controversial goal. Additionally, they ranked Maradona’s goal in which he had gone past five England players before scoring as the second best goal scored in the competition. As for the first? It was obviously Maradona’s ‘The Hand of God’ goal that he scored in the same match! That particular goal was replayed five times, and it even caused the audience to wonder if there was a problem with their TVs…

The fans of both countries congregated outside the Nou Mestalla stadium situated in Valencia four hours before the match is due to kick off. Everyone was waiting to make their way into the stadium. Valencia had stationed almost all of their police officers outside the stadium, because the England and Germany fans have a bad reputation all around the world and are known to get into fights. Not only that, the Valencia government also imposed a temporary ‘alcohol ban’ due to the match. The shops that are situated within a 15-kilometer radius of the Nou Mestalla stadium are prohibited from selling all alcoholic beverages four hours before the match all the way till four hours after the match.

The England and Germany fans were made to take different routes towards the Nou Mestalla stadium, and they would also have to take different entrances to get into the stadium. There is also a space that is deliberately left in between the two groups of fans at the stands, and it is occupied by heavily armed riot police. The Valencia government had clearly put in a lot of effort to prevent potential clashes between the two groups of fans.

“This looks like the kind of security that you’d find at the finals of the World Cup.” The England press was awed by what they saw.

Despite the Valencia government’s best efforts however, the fans from both sides were still able to get in each other’s faces.

The German fans made a gesture to the BBC cameras that implied that Germany would win England 3:0. The England fans, on the other hand, made a gesture that implied that England would win Germany 5:1. 5:1 was the score that England defeated Germany with during the qualifying stages of the 2002 World Cup that was held in Germany in September 2001. Michael Owen scored a hat-trick in that particular match and was also awarded the Ballon d’Or in that same year.

The German fans raised their middle finger at the England fans in the distance and yelled at the top of their voices, “You guys are nothing more than a second-rate team in Europe without George Wood in your team! Even Wales can defeat you!”

The England fans sang the Germans’ cheer as a rebuttal, “Mr. Sammer (Matthias Sammer is the manager of the Germany national football team), who are you kidding? Matthias, you lead a team of pigs… We would kick every single one of you back to Berlin. Tony Twain and his kids would say, ‘Thank you, Germany!’ The Euro Cup is right in your hands, our dearest Sir George…”

Look at how the Germany and England fans are getting in each other’s faces. It is as if the only participants in the World Cup are Germany and England, and the other powerhouse countries such as Spain, Italy and France did not even participate…

When the buses carrying the players from both teams appeared before the fans, the atmosphere outside the stadium instantly became feverish. The England and Germany fans began chanting the names of their football players to cheer them on. The 36 degree weather did not seem to be able to shut them up.

“England! England! God save the Queen! The Queen will save England!” The England fans waved a white flag with a red cross on it at the bus.

“March forth, St. George! March forth, England!”

“Fight to the death and never give up! We are the invincible England army!”

“F*ck the Germans! F*ck their asses!”

“Ohhhhh! England will definitely win!”

The fans started roaring hysterically. Their roars and vulgarities seeped through the windows, and everyone in the bus was able to hear everything that they said clearly.

The England players were not surprised by the fans’ uproar. In truth, they were feeling just as crazy as the fans… This is a match between England and Germany. There is no need to motivate any of the players for this match. Every single England player knows the significance behind the match.

Twain whistled at the sexy female fans who were blowing flying kisses his way. “Looks like the pressure riding on our shoulders is immense, lads. But, that’s okay. This is exactly the kind of match that I want to play in. A feud that has lasted for over a century! A game in which both teams would fight to the death! The winners would step over the bloodied bodies of their opponents… The thought of that excites me! I believe the Germans must feel the same way as I am right now! Ha!”

He clenched his fists and felt his body shiver slightly. But, it was not out of fear. It was out of excitement instead.