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

This position made the French players afraid, but also caused the English people to be extremely displeased – it was almost a penalty shot!

”A free kick on the line of the penalty area ... is not really a good position. Playing here requires better technique, otherwise the probability of the football hitting the human wall is very high.” Motson frowned. The position was really not considered good. Not to mention that it was almost a penalty shot, it was not good that it was too close to the goal.

Gerrard's free kick never scored based on the radian. It was unsuitable for him to carry out the penalty in this spot.

The onlookers had little hope of the free kick succeeding, but Gerrard did not see it that way. Standing in front of the ball, he stared at the goal with shining eyes. After putting the football in place, he stepped back and prepared to kick.

Wood stood five meters away from him and was looking at the penalty area. As they had to defend against the free kick, the players in the penalty area were mainly concentrated in the human wall, in order to block the goal as much as possible to share the burden with the goalkeeper. This time, seven players lined up in the French team's human wall. It almost blocked the half of the goal. Lloris, on the other hand, was nervously laying out the defense on the other side.

The England teammates mostly wanted to squeeze among the human wall, but they were pushed out by the French players. So, they simply stood directly in front of the human wall, which of course caused the French players' displeasure. They pushed back hard while raising their hands to protest to the referee: Do you see what they're trying to do here?!”

The referee had to signal for Gerrard to wait a while. He ran over to mediate the contradiction between the two sides, warning the cunning English players not to stand in front of the human wall and that it was fine to stand beside it... while he also warned the French players not to get started. Neither side was allowed to have a conflict, nor were they allowed to push.

After a minute of effort, England finally managed to squeeze one man into it. Downing was stuck in between Sakho and Mexès. Although the other team was upset, they could not do anything about him since he managed to squeeze in.

With the disturbance from the England players, everyone put their focus on the direct free kick. In fact, even the England players thought so too. They thought that Gerrard would shoot directly. Except for Gerrard himself and George Wood.

The referee finally moved back and signaled that Gerrard could play.

As soon as Gerrard started to run up, the French team's human wall was particularly tense. One by one, they leant their bodies back with one hand to protect the chest and the other hand to protect the crotch area. They got ready to jump and were also worried that the football Gerrard shoot would roll from under their feet covered with grass. Just as they were at odds about it, Gerrard ran to the football and lifted his leg...

Is he going to shoot?!

The French players cried in their hearts.

Gerrard passed the football to the side instead!

”It's ... George Wood!!”

Whether it was the English commentator or the French television commentator, they were all stunned by it.

As the football rolled, George Wood appeared on camera. This time, he lifted his left foot up and his body slightly to the side and adopted the same posture as just now. But this time no one came up to interfere with him...

”... A long shot ——!!!”

Wood's left foot hit the ball hard, and the football ball whizzed into the bottom right corner of the goal like an artillery shell!

No one had reacted to this sudden change yet. The human wall of people who were nervous just now, were looking at the ball flying to the other side of the goal in amazement at this time. Lloris did not even pounce to make the save. He just stood there and watched helplessly as the football roll past his side into the goal...

”Huh?”

It was the first reaction of Lloris and the other French players.

Thunderous cheers quickly struck, scurrying their doubts away - they were three goals behind!

”A beautiful long shot! From a positional play between the two players, Gerrard and Wood! England leads France by three goals!” Motson exclaimed.

After the goal, Wood was hugged by Gerrard before he could make his celebratory action. Then more teammates rushed up to surround the two of them to celebrate the goal.

The goal was scored in a fairly timely manner and completely demoralize the French team and killed their fighting spirit. In an international competition like the UEFA European Championship, few teams could reverse the situation in which they were three goals behind.

The England team's substitutes' bench was also a scene of jubilation. Their victory was basically sealed with a three-goal lead. It was only a matter of time before they reached the semifinals.

The French players could not believe everything their eyes saw. They had intended to have a showdown to fight back in the second half but did not expect England to score another goal... Such a blow drained almost all of their power. Watching the English players embrace and celebrate the goal, they just wanted to fall to the ground and not get up.

Twain was as excited as his players. But this time he did not go to Puel and twist his buttocks to dance in front of him because he did not need to do that anymore. The French team was about to become the past. Was there still a need for him to take another look at a loser who had been trampled in the mud by him?

※※※

After the game resumed, the French team was a little distracted, or to put it more accurately, they were dazed. When the score was still 0:2, they could still tell themselves that it was necessary to fight. But how about now when the score was 3:0?

Puel did not know what to do as well. Trailing behind by three goals, the possibility of reversing the game was too small. And most importantly, was there any solution when they were up against such a situation?

The England team was no philanthropist and would not give the French team the time. Now that the French team had suffered a heavy blow and appeared to be in a dazed state, it was the England team's wonderful chance to go on a large-scale offensive. Without needing Twain to remind them on the sidelines, the England players naturally knew what to do.

England scored again after a flurry. The England fans even became a little numb, and some of the French fans even began to leave the stadium early with more than 20 minutes to go.

This time it was still Mitchell, who scored the goal with a header into the goal after he received Downing's pass from the sideline. It was clear from this goal concede that the French center backs were distracted and not present-minded. So much so that Mitchell, the tall center forward, could easily leap in front of goal to score with a header. Lloris was unable to turn around a hopeless situation no matter how good he was. After failing to save the goal, he did not even have the energy to scold his center backs. He just frustratedly kicked the rebounded football back into the goal.

”The game was over, and the French players are finished.” Twain said as he opened his arms and turned to his partner, Des Walker. The game turned out to be like this, which even Walker did not expect that the England team could beat France so easily...

”4:0...” Motson could not believe his eyes and said, ”The French team that was named as the hottest favorite to win the title before the game, was so vulnerable in front of England... Was it because the French team was too weak, or were we too strong?”

No one could answer his question at this time, because even the most hardcore England fans could not believe the scene that was happening right in front of their eyes, and their brains could not comprehend...

※※※

Although there were still twenty minutes to go before the end of the game, it was already clear that the French players had no heart to play further. Only Diarra was still working hard, but he could not find a target with some of his efforts....

After England's 4:0 lead, Twain brought on Michael Johnson to replace George Wood. He was still worried about Wood's right big toe. Now that the win was locked in, there was no need to continue to let Wood be on the field. It was just in case a French player flew into a rage out of humiliation and had a go at Wood bearing a destructive attitude, then it would be too late for him to have any regrets.

Twain's move to replace Wood also meant that the game had ended early. In the ensuing game, the French team had been unable to organize an effective attack. The offensive lineup which everyone placed high hopes on before the game, ended up ineffective. The French commentator was somewhat dismayed to claim that no one in the French team played well in the game.

He said it right, especially for those players who had been touted as a front-field attack cluster. Under George Wood's iron curtain, all the star players were dim.

The England fans sang non-stop in the stands once the England team scored its fourth goal, until the referee blew the final whistle of the game. The singing suddenly turned into thunderous cheers to send the French players off.

”The French team ended their tour in Spain with this humiliating score ...With the England team's surprise crazy win, they are the first to reach the semifinals! Tony Twain has made one thing clear to all of Europe - his team is very powerful! Very strong indeed!”

The Spanish coach, who was in charge of watching the game and observing the opponents, wrote only one thing in the final summary of the game in his notepad:

Watch out for England.