440 Penalty Shoot-Ou (1/2)

”George Wood has just eaten his third yellow card. This means he will be automatically barred from the next round of the competition. If the Forest Team… and we're saying 'if' Forest Team truly eliminates Arsenal and gets into the finals, they would lose an outstanding defensive midfielder as well as a captain.”

The commentator's voice sounded from the television in the luxury box. Evan Doughty turned to look at the person on his right.

There sat George Wood's mother. She was staring at her son on the field in a daze.

Could she understand what her son was thinking when he had slammed into Henry?

”Ma'am…” Evan said to her, ”Your son is outstanding and remarkable. I'm very regretful about his yellow card…”

Sophia turned to look at him and shook her head, politely smiling. She replied, ”It's no matter, Mr. Chairman. This is just his job.”

※※※

George Wood seemingly forgot in a hurry about getting the yellow card.

As Tang En said, the match was still ongoing. It was not yet the time to be depressed or pained about being absent from the next match. They did not even know if there was going to be a next match. If there was to be pain, there first needed to be a reason for it.

Arsenal's free-kick did not pose any threat to Nottingham Forest's goal. Henry's shot was off the mark.

Following that, Nottingham Forest's players absorbed their lesson and did not press forward on offense blindly. Arsenal, on the other hand, mustering up their last energies along with the earlier gusto, launched into a series of attacks on Forest.

Only this time, Forest's defensive line performed stably under George Wood's leadership. There were not many opportunities for Arsenal to directly threaten Forest's goal. Most of the time, they were forced to take long shots from the outside.

If they wished to get a goal from such attacks, they could only be pinning their hopes on two things: one, that Nottingham Forest's defensive players would make a mistake on their own; and two, God's assistance.

The first was unlikely, and the latter even more farfetched.

Both Wenger and Tang En were standing at the sidelines now with their assistants busying themselves behind them. The two teams had started preparing for the penalty shoot-out.

After George Wood headed Ashley Cole's pass to the center out of the sidelines, the referee finally blew the whistle signaling the end of the match that had already been extended 30 minutes.

”The match has ended. We're officially headed into the penalty shoot-out segment! Neither party was able to defeat the other in a 120-minute match. So, they will have to undergo this cruel trial to decide the victor.”

The players lay on the grass and grabbed every bit of available time to rest. The team doctors were currently massaging the players who would be fielded for the penalty kicks.

Wood sat on the ground. He was the tallest among them now; everyone else besides him was lying on the ground. He was not on the penalty kicker list, so he did not need to undergo the massage to help with recovery. In front of him was Tang En, busying away. He was counseling each of the players who were preparing to take the kicks, helping to ease some of their pressure and build their confidence.

At the same time, the goalkeeper coach grabbed Edwin van der Sar and explained in detail about the penalty kicking habits of Arsenal's players. Perhaps feeling that saying it was not enough to help Edwin van der Sar remember, he even shoved a piece of paper into his hands.

”This is…” Edwin van der Sar was confused.

”The Boss's idea.” The goalkeeper coach pointed to Tang En behind him. ”He made us research in detail everyone's unique habits in penalty kicking and then wrote it down here. If you can't remember, or can't match their numbers, just look at this. Anyway, the rules don't say anything about not being able to look at notes.”

That's right. This was Tang En's idea. And the one who inspired him was Arsenal's main goalkeeper, Lehmann.

Prior to this match, Tang En's plan had already included a segment called ”penalty kicks.” He prepared to go up against Arsenal in a penalty shoot-out and included more penalty kick practice in their training sessions. Later, when he saw Arsenal's player list, he suddenly remembered that Lehmann had been the main goalkeeper for Germany's National Team during the 2006 World Cup match. He had taken over Kahn's core player position. From this, Tang En thought back to the quarter-finals between Germany and Argentina. The victor of that match was decided upon through a penalty shoot-out. And, the secret to Germany's victory lay in the small piece of paper given to Lehmann by his goalkeeping coach. On it were the quirks of all Argentina's players when taking a penalty kick. Based on the points written on the note, Lehmann matched them to the players and adjusted accordingly. He successfully blocked out consecutive penalty shots and ushered Germany into the top four in the end.

After that match, the note became a major topic many media groups fought to report and stir up stories about.

That was how Tang En recalled this particular story. Today, he decided to copy it exactly the way it was and use it to deal with Lehmann and Arsenal. For that, he instructed the goalkeeping coach to research Arsenal players' unique points when taking penalty kicks. After summarizing all the results, he wrote it on a note. If they truly got to the point of a penalty shoot-out, he was to give it to Edwin van der Sar and ask him to use it.

It turned out to be of use.

After hearing his goalkeeping coach explain, Edwin van der Sar opened the note. In it were some simple words describing the penalty kicking tendencies of each Arsenal player.

He thought it was amazing and could not figure out how the Boss had managed to think it up. He did not know if using small notes in a penalty shoot-out was considered cheating; anyhow, he had never tried this method in the past. Everyone used to say that stopping penalty kicks depended on a goal keeper's experience and reaction speed. But now it was turning out to be a precision test on the backstage work carried out by the managerial team earlier on. He only needed to leap out as it was written on the paper; low left, high right, middle…

He was uncertain if this was good or bad for a goalkeeper, but he could not afford to care so much now. Winning was more important.

Edwin van der Sar carefully placed the note in his sock, not daring to let anyone else catch sight of it; he was not sure if doing this was against the regulations.

※※※

Tang En finally finished mentally prepping every player on the list. As he got up, he saw George Wood sitting on the ground, resting.

He walked over and squatted in front of Wood.

”Hm... George, you know, I was not in the least bit angry watching you foul and get that yellow card.”

Wood looked at Tang En and said nothing.

”Thank you.” Tang En patted Wood's leg and stood up, walking away.

He had just left when Albertini walked over. He sat down cross-legged in front of Wood.

”George, I'm extremely curious. At that point, what were you thinking… no, don't tell me.” He stretched out a hand, asking Wood not to speak. ”That's the path you chose… Do you know how many players there are in this world dreaming of being able to participate in the finals of the Champions League? Even when I was playing in AC Milan, when I had numerous remarkable teammates by my side with superior abilities and who were world-class football stars, many of them could not even get through the gates of the Champions League finals.”

”I'm… I'm sorry, Demi…” Wood stuttered a little, seeing Albertini with such a stern face.

Seeing him that way, Albertini unexpectedly smiled instead.

”What are you afraid of? You're a little brat who isn't afraid of anything… If it were me, in that sort of situation, I would have done the same thing as you. Good job, George.” He ruffled Wood's hair and smiled at the boy before him. Just like watching a child grow up day by day, his heart was filled with pride and a sense of achievement incomprehensible to outsiders.

※※※

The assistant managers of both teams submitted their list of penalty kickers. After the referee counterchecked each of the names to ensure no mistakes, non-relevant personnel would be removed from the field.

George Wood stood up again from the ground. Together with Henry, he walked toward the main referee. They were going to carry out a coin toss to determine which team would kick first. While Henry and he were coin guessing, his teammates had walked to the center circle. Over there, they had their arms over each other's shoulders, stuck closely next to one another. They used both their arms to convey their strength and faith in facing an unknown future together.

Wood emerged the victor in the battle against Henry. He chose to take the kicks first.

The first person fielded by Nottingham Forest was Eastwood. Forest had no lack of penalty kickers, and Eastwood was the first candidate in line. So long as he was on the field, the penalty kicks awarded to Forest in matches must be taken by him.

Faced with Lehmann, Eastwood kicked a steady and straight shot down the center. He kicked it in.

Following Eastwood's fist pumping into the air, City Ground rang with cheers.

Arsenal's first player was a fullback, Lauren. Although Arsenal's number one penalty kicker was Henry, he had a habit: he never took a penalty kick that was awarded because of him. So, in the majority of the situations, Arsenal's first kicker was, in fact, this Cameroonian defender. In penalty shoot-outs, putting Lauren first and Henry last was a double insurance.

Edwin van der Sar saw Lauren walk up. Taking the opportunity when his opponent was lowering his head to set the football, he dug out the slip of paper and speedily scanned it once. Then, he stuffed it back in.

”Lauren is taking the kick… and the ball goes in!”

Two thousand Arsenal fans cheered. Edwin van der Sar furiously slammed his fist on the ground. He had gone according to what the paper said. Though it was the correct direction, it needed just a bit more to bump out the ball…

However, that moment also made him resolute in following what was written on the paper.

The second player representing Nottingham Forest was the forward, Anelka. He shot at the lower left corner of the goal. The ball rolled rapidly across the grass. Lehmann got the direction right but was helpless against the difficult angle. The football hit the goalpost and bounced into the goal.

”The score is currently 2:1! Nottingham Forest takes the lead temporarily…”