Chapter 36
The Community Shield was formerly known as the Charity Shield and has been held at Wembley Stadium since 1974.
In March 2002, the English government pointed out in a report that the FA's use of the income from the Charity Shield violated the fund use regulations, so the Charity Shield was forced to be renamed the Community Shield that year.
From 2001 to 2006, Wembley Stadium was under renovation, so the Community Shield has been held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales in recent years.
In 2005 and 2006, Chelsea played their opening matches against Arsenal and Liverpool at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, beating Arsenal but losing to Liverpool.
This year, Chelsea will play the opening game against Manchester United at Wembley Stadium.
Before the game, coaches from both teams attended the Community Shield pre-match press conference.
The reporters turned their microphones to Mourinho and Ferguson with great enthusiasm. The difference is that nine out of ten questions asked by reporters to Mourinho were related to "goalkeeper" Endrit, while the questions asked to Ferguson were more mixed.
"Manchester United has already spent £50 million in the transfer market this year. Now that the transfer window has not closed, will Manchester United continue to spend money in the transfer market?"
"Sir Ferguson, what impact will Hargreaves' joining this year have on Manchester United? Will Hargreaves start in this game?"
"Sir Ferguson, Ronaldinho was photographed kissing a woman in a nightclub. Has he given up on himself? Has this affected his game status? Is Ronaldinho still the core player of the team this season?"
“…”
"Sir Ferguson, you bought out goalkeeper Kuszak's contract this summer. Are you dissatisfied with the current goalkeeper, Edwin van der Sar?"
"Sir Ferguson, what do you think of Chelsea's latest starting goalkeeper, Endrit?"
Ferguson took the microphone and selectively answered a few irrelevant questions. However, when he heard the question about Chelsea's goalkeeper, Ferguson smiled and said: "I welcome Cech to Manchester United. Cech is a very good goalkeeper. I think no coach in England would refuse Cech's joining."
Ferguson answered the reporter's question indirectly, expressing his love for Chelsea goalkeeper Cech. As for the question that reporters repeatedly asked about what he thought of Endrit, Ferguson pretended that he heard nothing.
It's not that he doesn't want to comment, nor is it that he is not familiar with him, but he is not sure - because Endrit is so famous, Ferguson did watch a few of his games, but because the opponents were all teams that Ferguson considered to be second-rate, it was difficult for him to determine whether this newcomer was better than Cech.
This is England. Everyone knows the nature of the English media. When they start to praise someone with all their might, even a sow can be praised to the sky.
So Ferguson did not give a direct answer, but if Mourinho let Endrit start in this game, Ferguson would have to take a closer look at Endrit.
Sunday, August 5, 3 p.m.
The Community Shield match officially kicked off at Wembley Stadium
Before the game started, Ferguson couldn't help but take a few more glances at the opposing goalkeeper Endrit: He knew Mourinho was crazy, but he didn't expect him to be this crazy.
The Community Shield is not a club friendly match, but Mourinho not only let Endrit start, but the rest of the players were also substitutes? !
This shows how much confidence we have in Endrit!
Ferguson was amazed in his heart and decided to observe the opposing goalkeeper more closely in this game to see if he could continue to keep the game scoreless under the attack of their Manchester United forwards.
It was at this moment that Manchester United striker Rooney reached a high degree of ideological unity with Ferguson for the first time. Both of them wanted to use this game to see whether the opposing goalkeeper Endrit was really that good.
…
Two days ago, Rooney was reading a newspaper promoting this year's Community Shield in the locker room and discovered that there were two sections in the newspaper reporting on "The Iron-faced Superman" and "Future Goalkeeper" Endrit. He flipped through all the newspapers but only found content reporting on him in the corner.
It wasn't like this before. He had been a regular in the newspaper since last year and a top star in the sports world. This huge gap made Rooney a little unhappy. He threw the newspaper aside and complained: "What kind of iron-faced Superman is this? I'll knock his head off when I meet him in the next game!"
Complaining about other teams' players in the locker room doesn't happen often, but it's not surprising when it does happen. No one takes it seriously, and if no one brings it up again, it's just forgotten.
But these words were heard by Ronaldinho who had just pushed the door open - as everyone knows, the two had been in conflict since last year, and Ferguson's mediation was of little use, while Ronaldinho treated Endritt as his friend during the two-month vacation.
So, Ronaldinho started to attack directly: "What are you dreaming about? With your mediocre skills, you can't even knock Ritt's head off, and there is no way your football can hit Ritt's face!"
"Ritter is a goalkeeper. You know what a goalkeeper is, right? You can't kick the ball into the goal he is guarding!"
…
Back to the present, standing on the court, the only thought in Rooney's mind is: kick this damn football into the face of the damn goalkeeper on the opposite side!
At this time, Endrit, who was standing on Wembley Stadium and breathing fresh air, did not know the reason. He just felt from the bottom of his heart that Manchester United was worthy of being Manchester United after the game started. Even in the Community Shield, their forwards played so seriously and fought so hard.
Less than five minutes into the game, Manchester United striker Rooney completed a long shot outside the penalty area, but the ball was blocked by defender Paul just in front of the goal.
Endrit noticed that Rooney, who failed to score, glared at Paul and himself, as if he wanted to make the two of them disappear so that the football could fly directly into the goal - this sense of belief was so strong that the difference between the forwards of the Premier League giants and those of the youth teams was indeed huge.
In the ninth minute of the game, Manchester United midfielder No. 19 Carrick passed the ball, Rooney shot from the edge of the penalty area, the ball went straight to the crossbar, Endritt stared at the ball, and after the ball bounced off the crossbar, he immediately directed his teammate Ben Haim to take the ball away to prevent the opponent from making a supplementary shot.
This time, Endritt's eyes were fixed on the football, so he didn't notice that Rooney glared at him angrily before turning around and running back to the half court, ready to steal the football and attack the goal he was guarding again after a while.
In the 14th minute, Chelsea midfielder Mikel made a straight pass, Shevchenko received the ball and broke into the penalty area from the right side and shot, but unfortunately it missed the far corner.
In the 16th minute, midfielder Ballack fouled Ronaldinho and Manchester United won a free kick on the right.
After placing the football at the foul spot, the referee blew the whistle loudly. Ronaldinho excitedly accelerated towards the football and kicked it with the inside of his instep. The football spun out, bypassed the wall of people and flew directly towards the goal. However, the football suddenly fell in front of the goal - it was an elevator ball! Endritt has been hit in the face by this ball more times than any other player in the past two months.
But now, Endrit can already dive forward and kick the ball directly out of the goal.
The ball didn't go in, but Ronaldinho was quite proud of it. When he ran to the backcourt, he met Rooney and said in a very proud tone, "Did you see that? Many goalkeepers couldn't do anything with my shot just now, but Ritter saved the ball easily."
After saying this quickly, Ronaldinho ran away, but Rooney knew what the man had not finished saying: I can't even score, it would be strange if you, Rooney, can score.
Rooney rubbed his face expressionlessly. In his mind, he had already treated this game as the World Cup - he, Rooney, must score a goal in this game!
In the 29th minute, Manchester United's No. 3 player Patrice made a straight pass, and No. 32 striker Tevez knocked the ball to Rooney, who was about to grind his back teeth, on the right side of the penalty area. Rooney, who was unguarded, stopped the ball sideways and turned around to volley the ball, which went straight into the dead corner of the goal.
Haha, as if no one knows how to shoot! Just this one ball, let’s see how you save it - damn? How can this guy jump so high!
Endrit jumped on the spot to temporarily free himself from the entanglement of gravity. When his eyes fell on the football, his arms followed quickly. When he was pulled down by gravity, he stretched out his hand and slapped the football hard.
The football bounced on the grass and flew directly to Paul's position on the left side of the penalty area. Paul, who had just missed Rooney, stretched out his foot to take the ball with lingering fear, and then raised his leg to pass the ball directly to Chelsea's midfield.
In the 34th minute, the ball was intercepted by Ronaldinho in the midfield, who broke through from the left to the penalty area and volleyed the ball.
The football flew to the right side of the goal. Endrit dived sideways and the football hit his face, but he was quickly pinned down by Endrit's hand.
Then, Endrit stood up as if nothing had happened and threw the ball to Ben Haim, the defender closest to him.
Ronaldinho missed the shot again and was a little depressed at first, but when he turned around and saw Rooney's long face, he felt much better.
"Hey, do you want me to pass the ball to you?"
Xiao Xiao Luo suggested "kindly", but was glared at.
In the 43rd minute, Chelsea midfielder Seidwell cut into the penalty area and passed the ball to striker Sinclair. Sinclair shot directly after receiving the ball, but was blocked by Manchester United defender Ferdinand. The ball hit the post and went out of the far corner.
At 44 minutes and 34 seconds, Rooney took a long shot from outside the penalty area. Endrit stared at the football, determined where the football would land, then quickly moved to the left and stretched out his hand to knock the ball out of the goal.
Defender Alex jogged a few steps and caught up with the football. After a few kicks, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half of the game.
Chelsea 0-0 Manchester United
The two teams walked back to the locker room from the player tunnel together. Ronaldinho waved excitedly to Endrit from a distance. He seemed to want to say something, but as soon as he called out a name, Ferdinand covered his mouth and pulled him aside.
Endrit was stunned for a moment and then shook his head with amusement: No wonder some fans in later generations called Ronaldo "Luo San Sui".
The ten minutes of halftime passed quickly and the second half of the game began soon.
Endrit stood in front of the goal for less than five minutes before he blocked another Rooney header. Endrit saw clearly that this header was passed to Rooney by Manchester United striker Tevez - they are both strikers, so why does Tevez always pass the ball to Rooney?
Does this mean that Rooney was the only scoring point for Manchester United in this game?
With this guess, Endritt not only stared at the football on the court, but also used his peripheral vision to confirm Rooney's position on the court from time to time.
More than thirty minutes passed, and Endritt, who had saved six of Rooney's shots in these thirty minutes, was sure that his guess was true.
At several attacking points of Manchester United, except for Ronaldinho who would shoot after getting the ball, the rest would pass the ball to Rooney, who would take the shot.
You know what, if it weren't for this speculation, Endrit would have looked at Rooney from time to time to determine his position, and two of the six shots would probably have hit him directly in the face.
But because Endrit guessed it in advance, he moved a step faster. Although he failed to kick the ball out directly as Coach Mourinho expected, he was able to catch the ball in his arms quickly without hitting the crossbar, which was considered a successful outcome.
With thirteen minutes left in the game, the opposing coach Ferguson replaced Rooney.
In the 84th minute, Chelsea midfielder Ballack took a corner kick, striker Sinclair headed the ball but it went wide, Shevchenko made a successful follow-up shot, and Chelsea took the lead 1:0.
In the 87th minute, Ronaldinho made a long-range shot in the frontcourt, but Endrit failed to save the ball because the ball was a little off and flew directly out of the baseline.
In the last three minutes of the game, Chelsea simply contracted their defense line, passed the ball back and forth between the backcourt and midfield, and successfully spent the last three minutes.
“Beep, beep…”
At the end of the game, Chelsea defeated last year's Premier League champion 1:0 and successfully won a trophy!
Endrit took off his gloves in a good mood, touched his ears with his fingers, and couldn't help but smile after listening to the cheers of the Blues fans.
However, the smile did not last long and disappeared immediately because some fans started shouting his nickname, and they shouted it very loudly. Endrit could even hear the strong pride and pride in their voices.
It’s… hard to say.
"Ritter!"
As soon as Endrit turned his head, Paul rushed towards him and hugged him, saying excitedly, "You are amazing! You saved so many balls in this game!"
Endrit immediately showed a very reserved smile, "It's okay, it's okay. Well, you guys continue to celebrate. I'll go back to the locker room to drink some water first."
"Ritter!" When they met again in the player tunnel, Ronaldo, who was not stopped by Ferdinand, pulled Endrit and boasted about his great achievements, "I told you he couldn't do it! Look, he really can't do it! He shot so many times in this game, but he didn't score a single goal!"
Endrit: ? ? ?
What the hell? ! Isn't this your Manchester United tactic?
"I was wondering why Manchester United played so fiercely in this game. I thought you changed your tactics for the new season, but I didn't expect it was you, the guy with thick eyebrows and big eyes, who betrayed the team!"
"Ah?" Xiao Xiao Luo was a little confused. "What did you just say? Was it Chinese?"
"Yes," Endrit smiled brightly, "I was just praising you. You are such a nice person."
"Hehe," Xiao Xiao Luo smiled and touched the back of his head, "I think I'm a good person too."
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