291 Dirty Rochemback Part 1 (2/2)
His center of gravity leaned forward with his legs planted and his toe tips pointed. The football soared and flew over Ricardo's head from where he had initially obstructed Eastwood's shooting angle. The ball went into the goal behind him in the midst of cheers from the Forest fans.
”1:0! The game has barely been going on for ten minutes, and Nottingham Forest has taken the lead! This is really an exciting start! Look at Tony Twain's excitement!”
Twain really was excited. He knew very well what it meant to take the lead in the home ground of this important game. No wonder when he saw Eastwood shoot the ball into the goal, he was the first to rush to the sidelines with his arms raised high from the technical area. He pumped his fist to the sky so that everyone could see his undisguised emotions.
After gaining the lead, the Forest team would undoubtedly play better.
Now it remained to be seen what the Sporting Lisbon manager had planned for this game. If he treated conceding fewer goals as a form of winning, then this score was not unacceptable, and he could continue to hold. But if he wanted to score a goal in this away game and obtain a point, then he had to attack. Even though this would dramatically improve the chances of a goal, there would be more gaps in their defensive line that could be exploited.
Safety or risk. Peseiro had to make a choice.
”0:1? This is nothing.” Peseiro, sitting in the visiting team's technical area, shrugged and spoke to his assistant manager. He was not that frustrated. ”We have to take everything into consideration in an away game. This is in my plan. There's no need to make any changes yet. We'll keep playing. We have enough time.” He looked up and glanced at the electronic scoreboard on the stand.
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”The scorer is Freddy—”
The live broadcast of the commentary announced the player who had just scored, and the fans in the stands replied in unison, ”—Eastwood!”
The Romani Gypsy celebrated in the field with his teammates.
The Brazilian player Fabio Rochemback stood in the spot where the opponent had scored, staring at the crowd with a dark expression.
He had initially thought that by pushing forward to harass the skinny-looking kid, he should have lost his balance. He did not expect to help him instead, and let him make a shot that Ricardo could not save!
Perhaps at least one-third of the credit would have to go to Rochemback.
This was what caused the Brazilian to feel outraged. His defense had turned against his own team. He clenched his fist. I will make them pay for this sooner or later!
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The game started again. Nottingham Forest was in high spirits. Their fans in the stands continued to attack Sporting Lisbon with loud singing, without intending to take a break at all.
They were still not safe with their one-goal lead. Twain had successfully instilled this idea in his players. They would never stop after one goal if they could get two. There were different levels of conservative play. To play conservatively after scoring a goal was obviously low-level. High-level conservative playing was for two to three or more goals. As for playing conservatively without being in the lead, it was clearly the lowest level. One could reference Italy's 1998 match against France in the FIFA World Cup.
After the goal, Eastwood was exceptionally active. He would withdraw to receive the ball and assist his teammates. He would look for opportunities around Viduka. If he could not shoot, he would coordinate with Viduka. In any case, he played a very important role on the field.
Twain watched Eastwood's energetic performance and wondered if the club's focus on Wood had spurred him on. The Romani Gypsy did not care about the club's favoritism. Deep down, he just did not want to lose to George Wood.
Despite becoming the father of two children, Eastwood was still a young lad in terms of age. The age at which Romani Gypsies could get married was so young that they could marry and have children from the age of fourteen.
Since he was so young, he was still quite competitive. Losing to someone he did not like? That was not acceptable to Freddy Eastwood.
Twain knew the Romani Gypsy's mentality. He had known it early on. At that time, he thought that it could be controlled as a form of healthy competition. It was a good thing for the Forest team. However, after the media's unscrupulous speculation, the healthy competitive atmosphere might be shattered at any moment. There was only a fine line between healthy and vicious competition. The consequences could be polarizing.
This game might be an excellent opportunity for them to get to know each other and resolve their differences. Or it could worsen matters with a loss.
At the moment, the team was leading and Twain did not need to worry.
”Freddy Eastwood is by far the most active player on the field. After scoring, he threatened Sporting Lisbon's goal several more times. Recently, he completed his first hat-trick of the season. He's in great shape.”