Chapter 81
The prayer worked, but not completely - there was a drizzle, and it looked much lighter than before. The English commentators all said that the rain should stop soon, and when it stopped, the game would be easier to play.
Yes, that's right. Before the game officially started, the commentators said things like "the rain fell at the right time, greatly increasing England's chances of winning" but now no one is talking about it. It's because they found that in this rainy game, England didn't seem to have an advantage, and even had a slight disadvantage - less than 25 minutes into the game, the Croatian team had already made two very threatening shots!
In the 26th minute of the game, Croatia launched another attack and made a cross from the right side, but midfielder Kranjcar was left unguarded!
"Kranjcar! This is a great position! He is unguarded!"
“Go to the top!”
As the commentator's passionate voice sounded, Endrit also jumped high towards the direction of the football at the same time.
"Did it go in...Oh no! The ball was a bit off! The ball went straight out! Kranjcar wasted this great opportunity!"
"Endrit missed the ball... I mean, didn't Endrit see that the ball was going to go wide this time?"
The moment the football flew, Endrit quickly judged based on his experience that the ball would go off target. The previous few times he encountered this situation, he would stand there calmly and watch the football fly out, but this time Endrit didn't dare to do that. He didn't dare to gamble, and he had to be prepared for any ball.
He had completely lost hope of winning the game. He had to defend the goal. As long as he did that, he would be able to advance smoothly.
Endritt threw the ball to his defender teammate, and the ball was quickly passed from the backcourt to the frontcourt.
Three minutes later, Barry passed the ball to Bridge, who made a 45-degree pass at the far post. The ball went straight towards the Croatian goal and was caught steadily by the opposing goalkeeper Pletiksa.
The ball was back in Croatia's hands, and Endrit watched calmly as players from both teams competed against each other in front of the opposing penalty area.
In the 32nd minute, Croatian midfielder Kovacs was given a yellow card by referee Frogfeldt for his excessive movements during the confrontation.
Six minutes later, the stalemate in the game changed. Amid the enthusiastic cheers of English fans, Gerrard broke through the opponent's penalty area after stealing the ball. When he was about to adjust the angle to shoot, he was tripped by the Croatian defender. The referee Frogfeldt ran over with the whistle, but thought that Gerrard had committed a foul.
Gerard:? ? ? ! !
Gerrard was stunned for a second and then exploded, expressing his dissatisfaction to the referee very fiercely, but Frogfield was unmoved. He retreated to the sidelines and blew the whistle to signal a restart of the game.
England fans booed the referee in dissatisfaction. Two minutes later, Croatia launched another counterattack, and the fans still booed.
Midfielder Modric received the ball outside the penalty area and took a long shot. Endrit ran two steps to the right before stopping and watching the ball fly out.
"Oh my God! That ball was way off target! It seems like the rain has seriously affected the quality of Modric's shot."
The English commentator thought so, but the Croatian commentator was very dissatisfied with the booing that kept ringing when the Croatian players attacked just now. "This behavior seriously affects the performance of our players. FIFA should ban these fans from doing this!"
In the 42nd minute, Croatian player Olic shot from outside the penalty area. Endrit received the ball and threw it to Richardson who was reaching for the ball. Richardson received the ball and made a cross. Lampard received the ball and shot directly from a long distance, but was blocked by Croatian defender Simunić.
In the injury time of the first half, England took a free kick, but in the melee in the penalty area, Richardson headed the ball off target, and the referee Frogfield blew the whistle to end the first half.
“Beep, beep, beep…”
The players from both teams walked towards the player tunnel and the locker room in the rain again for a short break. Endritt walked in front and looked up at coach McLaren who was holding an umbrella, and said in his heart: No way, no way? Doesn't this guy really want this game to end like this?
"It seems you don't know how to win," said McLaren, who was dry all over, looking at the players sitting on the bench and wiping their hair with dry towels, and his tone was very urgent. "I was very nervous in the first half of the game. Every attack of yours made me very excited, but I think you all know the final result, which is very bad. So we need to change the lineup in the second half of the game, Beckham..."
While wiping his hair, Endrit looked around and found that his national team teammates didn't seem to listen to McLaren's speech seriously. This was a bit impolite, but Endrit felt that he could empathize with him - God knows, the coach of Croatia on the opposite side didn't hold an umbrella when he returned to the locker room just now!
"The latest news is that in the qualifying match between Andorra and Russia held at the Andorra City Stadium, Russian striker Sychov scored in the 39th minute after the start of the game! Russia is leading Andorra by one goal away from home!"
"What does this mean! It means we absolutely cannot lose this game! Otherwise, our England team will miss the European Cup for the first time in history!"
The half-time break passed in a flash, and the drizzle was still falling heavily. My half-dried hair became wet again after standing on the court for a while.
Less than a minute into the second half, McLaren brought on Beckham and Defoe in succession. The new striker Defoe and the substituted midfielder Barry immediately changed the team's original lineup to 442.
The commentators were very surprised to hear about the new changes in the England team. "McLaren finally switched back to the 442 formation that England is good at. I think we will be able to break the goal drought soon!"
Five minutes later, Croatian striker Eduardo tackled England defender Campbell from behind. This time, referee Frogfield showed the former a yellow card without hesitation. England also got a direct free kick in front of the penalty area.
Endrit, who did not participate in the free throw, couldn't help but feel hopeful again when he saw his teammates choose to let Beckham take the penalty: This is Beckham, this ball must, should, be able to go in, right?
Beckham accelerated, rushed to the penalty spot, raised his leg and shot.
The ball hit the wall and bounced out of the bottom line. Beckham took another corner kick, but this one was headed out by the opposing defender.
Endrit's heart suddenly felt cold, and the cold icy rain hit his face randomly.
Three minutes later, the Croatian midfielder made a long pass, and Eduardo, who had just received a yellow card, used his speed to eat Campbell and shot directly. Endrit blocked it in time under the cold icy rain, and the football fell on the grass and was stepped on by defender Lescott.
Ten minutes into the second half, when Endritt had apparently given up hope of winning, things finally took a turn for the better.
Defoe, who had just come on the field, was pulled down by the opposing defender Simunić in the penalty area, and the referee Frogfeldt awarded a penalty.
I thought this ball would not go in, but I never expected Lampard to kick the ball into the goal in one go.
1:0!
England is temporarily ahead of Croatia!
The stands were suddenly filled with thunderous cheers from English fans, and the English commentators loudly praised Lampard's bravery. Lampard ran in the rain, from the Croatian backcourt to the English backcourt and hugged Endrit.
"It's in! The ball is in!"
"We're gonna win! We're gonna win!"
Endrit patted Lampard's back excitedly. At this moment he had a lot to say, but thousands of words gathered in his heart, and only four words came out of his mouth: Damn it! Awesome!
Lampard looked up at Endrit in bewilderment, "What did you say?!"
"You're awesome!" Endrit gave a thumbs up. "That's awesome!"
The England players gathered together excitedly. Because it was raining, they did not celebrate loudly. They just hugged each other and laughed at the rain on their faces.
“Beep, beep, beep…”
The game started again. Although they had already secured a place in the knockout round, the Croatian players, who wanted to let more people in the world know about their country, did not relax. On the contrary, they played more aggressively - they wanted to score!
For Croatia's players, beating England in a European Championship qualifier would be the best way to boost national confidence and international recognition, as they always win for more than just themselves on the pitch.
In the 58th minute, Croatian midfielder Modric made a straight pass, and Bridge successfully cleared the ball due to the interference of Croatian striker Olic. The ball hit the crossbar and bounced out. Croatia immediately took a corner kick and Olic headed the ball into the goal from close range.
Endrit jumped up with all his strength to block the football, but when he landed, his feet slipped and he almost fell.
In the 63rd minute, Croatian defender Srna passed the ball directly to the right. Bridge, who had successfully cleared the ball four minutes ago, made a mistake this time. After successfully intercepting the ball, he made a mistake in stopping the ball when he was about to pass it. The opposing forward Olic intercepted the ball and directly shot into the far corner.
It all happened very quickly. After Olic kicked the ball, he hoped that the opponent's goalkeeper would not react in time so that Croatia could equal the score, but Endrit fell to the ground and pounced on the ball to hold it down.
When Endrit stood up again with the ball in his arms, the white clothes on his body had lost its original purity.
Endrit held the ball and looked straight ahead, wondering who to throw the ball to, or should he just kick it directly to Lampard? If I throw it to the defender, the opponent might seize the opportunity to steal the ball and score... huh? What is that? Beckham?
Endrit blinked rapidly several times, and after making sure it was Beckham who asked for the ball, he did not hesitate, put the football on the grass and passed it.
Beckham received the ball on the right and passed it directly to Crouch, who chested the ball and shot.
Like a dream, the football passed through the rain and went into the net, brushing past the outstretched hand of the opposing goalkeeper Pletiksa.
“Beep, beep, beep!”
"The goal is valid! The ball goes in!"
"England leads Croatia 2:0!"
"England has already secured a place in the knockout rounds!!!"
McLaren, who was standing on the sidelines holding an umbrella, was almost smiling so hard that his face was about to break. He waved his hands vigorously and made a gesture to the players who were celebrating on the field to keep attacking and keep scoring goals.
"We're going to bring an even bigger victory to the fans!" McLaren called Beckham to the sidelines to convey his message, "Play like you did just now! Score another goal!"
Beckham was silent for a moment, nodded slowly and ran back to the court slowly. He seemed to want to say something, but the referee Frogfield had already blew the whistle to restart the game again, so he obviously had no way to convey the coach's meaning to the rest of his teammates - he definitely didn't mean to not want to convey it.
McLaren, who wanted his players to continue attacking and scoring goals to win the game, was soon disappointed to find that the players on the field spontaneously changed their formation. Although it was not a bus formation, the positions of the midfielders and forwards were further back. When the Croatian team launched an attack again, they faced two lines of defense.
With a mediocre back line and the midfield line that was now fully defensive, it was very difficult for the Croatian players to break into the penalty area and shoot again. After several unsuccessful attempts to break through, the Croatian forward directly chose to score with a long shot.
But this was a complete achievement for Endrit, who jumped high and hugged the football in his arms.
The ball came to England, but they were clearly not in a hurry to score.
"England are already ahead and they are in no rush to attack. What they need to do now is to maintain this score until the end of the game."
"Croatia, uh," the commentator paused, "Croatia is two goals behind. From a big picture perspective, they shouldn't be in a hurry to score a goal, because Croatia has already secured their place in the knockout round."
Although he knew that Croatian coach Bilic couldn't hear, the English commentator gave his advice very sincerely, "I would say that Croatia has saved its energy and strength now. There is no need to fight England any more. You can't score anyway, so why not save some energy for the next game?"
Croatia coach Bilic did not hear it, and of course even if he heard it it would not change his decision to direct the team to continue attacking.
In the 69th minute, Bilic replaced Eduardo with Petric, hoping that the former's appearance could open up the situation for Croatia.
In the 75th minute, Planjic came on to replace Kranjcar.
"Croatia made another substitution, hoping they could break through England's defense, but is that possible? With England defending with all their strength and Endrit, Croatia's substitution was probably in vain."
Four minutes later, Croatia, having seized the ball, launched another attack on England.
Planjic, who had just come on the field, made a cross pass from the left. Petric received the ball and shot a powerful long shot with his left foot. The football drew a parabola in the air and flew towards the net.
Endrit's heart seemed to stop beating at this moment. He fixed his eyes on the football, jumped up with all his strength, stretched out his arms, and slapped the football with five fingers. With a "bang", the football passed through the rain curtain and hit the lawn. Campbell took a step forward and stepped on the football.
After landing, his heart began to beat violently. Endrit raised his head slightly and looked at the blue sky where the rain was gradually easing. The breath that had been held in his heart was relieved a lot. He knew that victory was just around the corner and history was being changed by him.
In the 87th minute, Croatia attempted a final attack, but Olic's long shot was blocked by defender Richardson's body.
Croatian coach Bilic made the last substitution, he replaced Olic with Rakitic. The commentator of the Croatian team held back tears and said: "Our players are great, they persisted to the end. Even if the future is bleak, even if there is no hope of scoring, our players still persisted to the end. They are all great!"
"There are only three minutes left in the game!" The English commentator was very excited. "The ball is now at the feet of the players in the backcourt. They are neither arrogant nor impatient and pass the ball well every time!"
With only a few seconds left before the end of the game, Wembley Stadium was exceptionally quiet and people could only hear the sound of raindrops hitting the ground.
At this moment, the England fans who were watching the game were counting their heartbeats and calculating the time silently while watching the national team players making all kinds of fancy passes in the backcourt.
Finally, the whistle that ended the game pierced the sky, and the entire Wembley Stadium turned into a sea of joy the next moment.
“We won!”
“We’re out of the game!!”
"England!"
"Ritter!!!"
Endrit looked up at the fans in the stands, and they all shouted his name at the same time.
Endrit couldn't help laughing. At this moment, the rain should have stopped and the sun should have penetrated the clouds and hit him - if he was filming a movie.
But he was obviously not filming a movie, so when he grinned, the rain went straight into his mouth.
Endrit: ...
hateful! After he retires, he will definitely spend his own money to make a documentary! When today's game is replayed, the artificial sunlight will shine directly on him, and Endrit will be the most handsome guy in the field!
"Ritter!"
"Ritter!"
Endrit had a bad feeling, but before he could make any further move, the national teammate closest to him rushed towards him, apparently wanting to jump directly on Endrit and let Endrit hug him like a football, but there were obviously too many players who had this idea at the same time, so "Iron Man" Endrit was tragically knocked to the ground by his teammates.
Endrit: ...
There seems to be no death penalty in England? Right? !
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