954 Watch out for the England Team (1/2)

After Diarra blocked one of Gerrard's attacks, he looked defiantly at Wood opposite him. His meaning was obvious - don't shrink behind like a coward. Bring it on, boy!

George Wood certainly saw what Diarra meant, but he was unmoved and continued to stay in the backfield to establish his position.

Initially, Puel was still complaining that Diarra did not follow his command. But he fell silent after seeing Diarra intercepted England's attack in succession. The back of the French team had obviously stabilized...

Twain certainly could not let that situation happen. Once the French team's defense was stable, they would attack again. At that time, it would be their turn to bear the pressure.

Gerrard was clearly the underdog in his fight with Diarra. His age and physical disadvantage had left him less able in physical confrontations than he used to be. Twain thought about it. He decided to let Gerrard move back to replace Wood and let Wood plug in to get involved in the offense. The two players belonged to the category of midfielders who were good at both offense and defense. Interchanging of positions would not create chaos.

Twain walked to the sidelines and whistled toward the inland. Wood turned his gaze over, and he made a hand signal to change positions, which Wood immediately understood.

Then, taking advantage of a dead ball, Wood and Gerrard completed the handover of positions.

Following which, Diarra was pleased to find that the man who came up this time was not Gerrard, but George Wood!

Although Wood did not take the ball, Diarra remained on high alert against him. He knew Wood was the core of the England team. Although he did not know why he was hiding in the backfield in the first half and not come up, it did not matter for now he had no choice but to finally come out of his bolthole.

Sure enough, Agbonlahor quickly passed the ball to Wood. He met with some trouble on his side. He was unable to play to his speed advantage after his attack was being blocked by the French full backs. So, he could only hand the ball over to Wood to reorganize.

Diarra stuck close when he saw Wood take the ball. Wood did not seem to have the intention of getting rid of him with speed. Instead, he turned around to protect the football and waited for Diarra to come up.

The two great defensive midfielders faced off each other, and Diarra lost on strength.

He only felt that Wood leaned back, and his own body lost its balance to tilt toward the back at the side. He grabbed Wood's clothes with his hand at the crucial moment and regained his balance.

Wood did not give him the chance to continue to pester himself and leaned back again. When Diarra focused all his attention on keeping his balance, he passed the ball to Gerrard, who came up to receive. Next, he turned around and charged forward. Gerrard once again sent a straight pass just in time. The tacit cooperation between the two midfielders freed them of Diarra.

As Diarra rushed up again to tangle him, Wood suddenly sped up and got rid of him. He also went straight into the middle of the penalty area!

”He's going to break through from the middle! Stop him!” The goalkeeper, Lloris yelled behind the defenders.

Wood's sudden breakthrough caught the attention of all the French defenders. Sakho crossed in front of him, and Clichy was moving closer to the middle. Seeing that the two sides were about to meet, Wood gave his ankle a jerk and turned the football to the side!

While Mitchell and Rooney were still under the close watchful eyes of the French defenders, Agbonlahor was not marked by anyone at the side...

After seeing Wood pass the ball to the sideline, Mitchell and Rooney moved toward the ball in sync, while Wood stopped at the edge of the penalty area and did not rush forward.

The center backs' attention were all attracted by the two strikers breaking through and ran into the penalty area one by one.

A three to five-meter-wide gap appeared in front of Wood.

Diarra was the first one to be perceptively aware of the other party's intentions. He hurried toward Wood ten meters away.

Meanwhile Agbonlahor made a move and crossed the ball over! Instead of the football flying towards any of England's strikers, the football was rolling diagonally towards George Wood!

Diarra guessed right!

Wood stood in place and turned his body sideways toward the ball. He picked up his right foot, and he was going to directly shoot!

Would Diarra give Wood what he wanted? Even if he risked getting a card, he had to stop the shot!

Once his mind was made up, Diarra slide tackled Wood's legs from the side and Wood sensed the danger. If it were to be during normal times, he would definitely kick and force a shot toward the goal. But at the moment, he thought of his right foot, and also thought of the next two games ...

At the thought of it, Wood gave up his intention to shoot directly and allowed the ball to cross in front of his feet while he jumped.

He was still a little late. Even though his right foot managed to dodge, his left foot was hooked by Diarra and he lost his center of gravity.

Everyone heard the referee's whistle as Wood fell to the ground.

They became nervous. Was it a penalty shot or a free kick?

Wood himself fell into the penalty area. But was the location of the foul in the penalty area?

The referee ran to the location of the foul and stopped. He did not continue to run into the penalty area, nor did he point his finger at the penalty spot.

”It's not a penalty shot!” The French people breathed a sigh of relief.

The Englishmen were a little disgruntled and complained, ”It was enough of a foul for him to be sent straight off the pitch!”

The referee only showed Diarra a yellow card, prompting boos from the England fans in the stands. Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please clickfor visiting.

Wood was pulled up from the ground by Gerrard, which made it awkward for Diarra, who was supposed to have gotten ready to show some goodwill himself. He went up and patted Wood on the shoulder before he walked away. Although the fight was fierce, he did not have to start a feud with Wood. His special feelings for Wood were limited to the pitch.

”Are you all right?” Gerrard asked after Diarra had gone.

Wood shook his left foot and shook his head, ”It's all right.”

It looked like he was really okay, because Wood was walking normally when he left Gerrard's side. But he was stopped by Gerrard who shouted out, ”George, stay.”

Wood felt strange, but he stopped in his tracks and looked back at Gerrard.

Gerrard stepped forward and said, ”You just stand here. We can coordinate to do a free kick...”

※※※

Under the situation of Bentley's absence, Gerrard was in charge of carrying out direct free kicks. He scored several times at Liverpool using free kicks. The French players clearly knew it, so when they saw Gerrard standing in front of the ball, the human wall looked very nervous - on the one hand, they were afraid that he would score. On the other hand, they were scared of being struck by Gerrard's powerful shot... It would not feel good.

Wood stood five meters away from Gerrard, but no one paid any mind to him, including Diarra. Everyone in the world knew that George Wood did not carry out free kicks, whether at Nottingham Forest or in the England national team. He would have nothing to do with free kicks. He did not even qualify to act as a cover.

He just stood at present and people treated it as he was just standing there. If they were to consider it at a deeper level, he was going to counter press at best after Gerrard's free kick hit the human wall so as to regain possession of the ball.

Gerrard carefully placed the football in the penalty spot designated by the referee, which was just right on the line in the penalty area!