948 Opponent for the Quarterfinal (1/2)

Lagerbäck thought that Twain subbed George Wood on to defend, but he soon realized that he was wrong.

After intercepting the ball from Ibrahimović, George Wood did not just clear the ball. Instead, he started to run forward with the ball. Ibrahimović tried to tackle for the ball from behind and gave Wood a push, however, he did not manage to push Wood to the ground, helping Wood to get away from him instead.

Wood running with the ball disrupted Sweden's defensive plans. They did not expect that Wood was not here to defend, but to attack.

Wood eventually passed the ball to Chris Cohen when facing the defense of two Swedish players and Cohen scored from that.

For the rest of the match, Sweden realized that they could not go all out for a goal. That was because the England midfield became even more penetrative after George Wood's introduction and it caused so much trouble for the Swedes.

Just like it was during the match against Germany, one could not tell from Wood's performance that he was a ”casualty” who had not fully recovered from his foot injury yet.

Tireless running, unyielding defense and stable mentality. He organized the midfield so well that the England fans felt doubly safe. This was the change that George Wood's introduction brought to the people.

At that moment, nobody thought about something as trivial as, ”We've not beaten Sweden for 48 years already”.

England had shown them with their performance that concerns like these were unnecessary.

England appeared to have the overall advantage. Even though Sweden changed to a long ball tactic and launched many high balls in an attempt to disrupt England's defensive line, John Terry and Steven Taylor marshalled their defense well. And the 1.96 meters frame of Joe Hart increased his area of command so much that many of the high balls were collected by him. Goitom, who was also 1.96 meters tall, did not have many chances in front of goal.

Time passed very quickly and no matter how Lagerbäck adjusted his tactics, Sweden had no answer to England's compact defense. As the match went on, instead of the England players, the Swedish players were the one who became more and more anxious. After all, they were trailing by two goals now.

So what if ”we have not lost to England for 48 years!” Things like this were unable to allay their fears. There was not much time left in the match and they were still trailing by two goals. Coupled with England's solid defense, even if God came to earth and played as the 12th man for Sweden now, they would probably still lose.

The Sweden team became more and more irritable as the match went on and their attacking qualities dropped. Lagerbäck could not stop himself as he shouted angrily on the sidelines for his players to remain calm. However, the more he shouted, the more his players panicked, and it became a vicious cycle.

This England team was not affected by destiny at all, which surprised Lagerbäck. Their mental strength was way beyond Lagerbäck's imagination too. In the past, England's mental strength was probably one of the worst in Europe…

That annoying guy changed all this.

Lagerbäck looked at the other side. The England manager was now seated on the manager's seat with his legs crossed.

Just look at how at ease he looks, that's so unbearable.

”The match has entered injury time. There will be three minutes of injury time! Looks like Sweden is done and dusted!” John Motson said excitedly, ”We're only three minutes away from breaking this damn destiny!”

Facing Sweden's final frantic attack, England had the whole team defending within the penalty area for the final three minutes. The Sweden goalkeeper, Isaksson, even came forward for the corner that they had during the second minute of injury time. But to what effect? Even if they scored a goal then, they would still be trailing by a goal, it would not change the result.

The England fans were already singing and cheering in the stands. They could finally be rid of the nightmare in their minds for the past 48 years.

The corner from Sweden did not pose any threat to the England goal. The Swedish player who had already lost hope kicked the ball straight out of play for a goal kick. Joe Hart took his time placing the ball and the final whistle went off the moment he kicked the ball!

”The match is over! The match is over! We've beaten Sweden! We've beaten Sweden for the first time in 48 years!” Motson shouted in excitement. To him, ending this dreaded destiny was more exciting than reaching the quarterfinals. ”Tony Twain's team has defeated destiny! This damn destiny has finally ended!”

The Swedish commentator appeared rather disheartened, ”Our psychological advantage over England that lasted 48 years has ended just like this…”

The three long whistles had just ended when the England bench rushed into the field to celebrate their victory.

Tony Twain did not do that. He did not forget to shake the hands of the opposing manager this time.

Lagerbäck appeared to be a little depressed. He shook his head slightly while completing the procedure of shaking hands. He then went straight towards the tunnel without staying long. On the other hand, Twain was surrounded by reporters. As the victor, it goes without saying that he would receive more attention.

”I have nothing much to say. I'm very happy that we have reached the quarterfinals. I've said it before, our target is to be champions and we're currently heading towards the correct path. 48 years without beating Sweden?” Twain laughed, ”That's because I haven't been managing England for the past 48 years.”

※※※

As Twain was being interviewed by the media, the team doctor, Derek Wright rushed onto the pitch to look for George Wood and asked, ”How does your right big toe feel?”

Wood applied some pressure to the tip of his foot and told Wright, ”No problem at all.”

Mister Wright gave a sigh of relief, ”That's good.” Based on his observation on the sidelines, Wood had a much easier time during these 30 minutes than the 15 minutes against Germany. It appeared as though his foot injury had almost fully recovered.

In that case, he should be able to meet Twain's request to start the next game.

Wright felt that he was finally going to be freed once he thought about it…

※※※

England defeated Sweden and ended their destiny of not beating Sweden for 48 years. They also reached the quarterfinals and the English fans were exceptionally excited over these events. They partied the whole night after the match and drank to their fill. All the beer in the Seville bars were ”emptied out” by them and there were naturally conflicts wherever people drank too much. The Seville police had their work cut out for them that night.

Twain did not bother himself about all these. He met up with Wright in the hotel and confirmed that Wood's recovery from his injury was going well. He should be fit to start the next game. This made him very happy.

Even though Twain led the team to taking the lead against Germany and Sweden without George Wood, he was still indispensable if they were going to become champions. It did not mean that Twain was incapable when he placed so much importance on Wood. Any manager would have a favored player. A manager could not bring his team to victory alone, he also needed players supporting him on the pitch. Jacquet had Zidane when he led France to their first World Cup. Just look at how hard France had to fight for their victory when Zidane was suspended for two games. Then look at the France team who dominated Brazil in the final. That was the difference that Zidane made to the team. Zidane became the hero of France, but nobody ever said that Jacquet was incapable.

A meritorious manager would pair up with a meritorious player and become legends together. If Twain was to write his own legend during this European Championship, then he would require George Wood's help.