Chapter 81

The prayer took effect, but not completely - the light rain was falling, and it looked much lighter than before. The commentators in England all said that the rain should stop soon. When the rain stops, the ball will be even worse. Good kick.

Yes, that's right. What the commentators said before the game officially started, "The rain fell in time, greatly increasing the probability of England winning the game" is not mentioned now. Nothing else, just because They found that in this rainy battle, their English team did not seem to have an advantage, and there was even a slight headwind - less than twenty-five minutes into the game, the opposing Croatian team had already kicked two extremely threatening shots!

In the 26th minute of the game, the Croatian team attacked again, passing in from the right, and midfielder Kranica was unguarded!

"Kranica! This position is very good! He is unguarded!"

"Go to the top!"

As the commentator's excited voice sounded, Endritt also jumped high towards the direction of the football at the same time.

"Did it go in... Oh no! The ball was a bit wide! The football went straight! Kranica wasted this great opportunity!"

"Endrit missed it... I mean, did Endritt miss this time? Didn't you see that the ball would go wide?"

The moment the football took off, Endritt relied on his own experience to quickly judge that the ball would go wide. The few times he encountered this situation before, he would stand very calmly and watch the football fly out, but this time Endrit didn't dare. He didn't dare to gamble. He would be ready for any ball.

He has given up all hope of winning this game. He has to hold on to the goal. As long as he holds on to the goal, he can advance smoothly.

Endritt threw the football to his defender teammate, and the football was quickly passed from the backcourt to the frontcourt.

Three minutes later, Barry distributed the football to Bridge, who stepped in. After receiving the ball, Bridge passed the football at a 45-degree angle. The football went straight to the Croatian goal and was firmly collected by the opposite goalkeeper Pletiksa.

The ball went to Croatia again, and Endritt watched with calmness as the players from both sides competed with each other in front of the opposite penalty area.

In the 32nd minute, Croatian midfielder Kovac moved too much during the confrontation and was given a yellow card by the referee Froje Fedet.

Six minutes later, the stalemate took a new turn. Amid the enthusiastic cheers of England fans, Gerrard broke into the opposite penalty area after stealing the ball. He was tripped by a Croatian defender just as he was about to adjust his angle to shoot. The referee F. Roger Fedet ran over with his whistle but thought Gerrard had committed a foul.

Gerald:? ? ? ! !

Gerrard was stunned for a second and then exploded. He expressed his dissatisfaction to the referee very fiercely, but Frogfidet was unmoved. After retreating to the sidelines, he blew the whistle to signal a resumption of play.

The fans in England booed the referee with dissatisfaction. Two minutes later, the Croatian team counterattacked again, and the boos from the fans still did not stop.

Midfielder Modric received a long shot from outside the penalty area. Endrit took two steps to the right before stopping and watching the football fly out.

"Oh God! The ball just went too far! It seems that the rain has seriously affected the quality of Modric's shot."

The English commentator thought so, but the Croatian commentator kept ringing when the Croatian players attacked just now. The boos were very dissatisfied, "This behavior seriously affects the performance of our players. FIFA should prohibit these fans from doing this!"

In the 42nd minute, Croatian player Olic shot from outside the penalty area, and Endrit accepted it. After passing the ball, he threw the ball to Richardson who was reaching for the ball. Richardson received the ball and passed the ball. Lampard received the ball and his long shot was blocked by Croatian defender Simunic.

In the stoppage time of the first half, England took a free kick, but in the melee in the penalty area, Richardson deflected the football, and the referee Froj Fiedt also called the first half at this time. The final whistle.

"Beep, beep..."

Players from both sides once again walked to the player tunnel in the rain and headed to the locker room for a short rest. Endrit walked in the front and looked up at coach McLaren holding an umbrella, and sighed softly in his heart. A voice: No, right? Doesn't this person really want this game to end like this?

"It seems that you don't know how to win," said McLaren, who was completely dry, looking at the players sitting on the stools wiping their hair with dry towels, and said in a very urgent tone, "I was very nervous during the first half of the game. Every attack makes 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, Beckham..."

Endrit wiped his hair. Looking around, he found that none of his national team teammates seemed to have listened carefully to McLaren's speech. This was a bit rude, but Endritt felt that he felt a little bit - God proved that the Croatian coach opposite him had just returned to the locker room. I didn’t hold an umbrella when I was there!

"The latest news is that in the qualifying match between Andorra and Russia held at the Andorra La Vella Stadium, Russian forward Sychov successfully scored in the 39th minute after the opening! Russia is one goal ahead of Andorra in the away game!"

"What does this mean! It means that we must not lose this game! Otherwise, our England team will miss the European Cup for the first time!"

The half-time break passed quickly, and the light rain was still falling, and my hair was half dry. After standing on the court for a while, I became soaked again.

Less than a minute into the second half, McLaren replaced Beckham and Defoe one after another. The new forward Defoe and the midfielder Barry who came off immediately changed the team's original lineup to 442.

The commentators were very surprised and said about the new changes in the England team, "McLaren finally replaced the 442 that England is good at. I think we will be able to break the goal drought soon!"

Five minutes later, Croatian forward Eduardo After uprooting England defender Campbell from behind, the referee Frogfidt directly showed the former a yellow card without any ambiguity. The England team also received a penalty kick from a direct free kick in front of the penalty area.

Endritt, who did not participate in the free throw, watched his teammates choose to let Beckham take the penalty and couldn't help but feel hopeful again: This is Beckham, this goal can definitely be scored, right?

Beckham accelerated, rushed towards the penalty spot, raised his leg and shot.

The football hit the wall and bounced off the baseline. Beckham took another corner kick, but this corner kick was pushed out by the opposing defender.

Endrit's heart suddenly felt cold, and the cold icy rain slapped randomly on his face.

Three minutes later, the Croatian midfielder passed a long ball. Eduardo, who had just received a yellow card, used his speed to eat Campbell alive and then directly shot with his leg. Endrit blocked it in time despite the cold ice rain. The football fell on the lawn and was missed by defender Lescott. Stop it with one foot.

Ten minutes into the second half, when it was clear that Endritt had given up hope of winning, things finally turned around.

Defoe, who had just come on the field, was pulled down by defender Simunic in the penalty area, and referee Froj Fiedt called a penalty kick.

I thought this penalty kick could not be scored, but I never expected that Lampard directly kicked the football into the goal in one move.

1:0!

England is temporarily ahead of Croatia!

The stands suddenly erupted in cheers from the England fans, and the English commentators loudly praised Lampard's bravery. Lampard ran in the rain, ran from the Croatian backcourt to the England backcourt, and hugged En. Derrit.

"It's in! The ball is in!"

"We are going to win! We are going to win!"

Endritt patted Lampard on the back very excitedly. At this moment, he had a lot to say in his heart, but thousands of words gathered in his heart, and only one mouth left was Four words: Damn it! Awesome!

Lampard looked up at Endrit with a confused expression, "What did you say?!"

"I said you are so awesome!" Endrit gave a thumbs up, "That's awesome!"

England team player They gathered together very excitedly. Because of the rain, they did not celebrate wildly. They just hugged each other and laughed out loud while looking at the rain on their faces.

"Dudududu..."

The game restarted. Although the qualifying spots had been locked, the Croatian players who wanted to let more people in the world know about Croatia did not relax. On the contrary, they played more aggressively - they wanted to Goal!

For Croatia's players, defeating England in the European Cup qualifiers will be the best way to enhance their national confidence and international reputation. They always win not just for themselves on the pitch.

In the 58th minute, Croatian midfielder Modric made a through pass. Bridge successfully made a clearance under the interference of Croatian forward Olic. The football hit the crossbar and popped up. Croatia immediately took a corner kick and Olic headed the ball from close range. Door.

Endritt bounced up hard to save the football, but when he landed, he slipped and almost fell.

In the 63rd minute, Croatian defender Srna passed the football straight to the right. Bridge, who 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 the ball. He was hit by the opposite forward. Olic stole the ball and shot directly into the far corner.

It all happened very quickly. After Olic took the shot, he hoped that the opponent's goalkeeper would not react and let Croatia tie the score. However, Endrit immediately fell to the ground and pounced on the football to suppress it.

When Endrit stood up again holding the ball, the white clothes on his body had lost their original purity.

Endrit held the ball and looked straight ahead, secretly wondering who to throw the ball to, or kick it directly to Lampard? If you throw it to the defender, the opponent may seize the opportunity to steal the ball and score... huh? That is? Beckham?

Endritt blinked a few times and was sure that Beckham didn't hesitate after asking for the ball. He put the football on the lawn and passed it with his feet.

Beckham received the ball on the right and passed directly to Crouch. Crouch stopped the ball on his chest and then swept the ball.

Like a dream, the ball passed through the rain and into the net, passing by the outstretched hand of goalkeeper Pletiksa.

"Dudududu!"

"The goal is valid! The ball has been scored!"

"England leads Croatia 2:0!"

"England has already secured its qualifying spot in advance!!!"

said McLaren, who was standing on the sidelines holding an umbrella. Almost laughing to his death, he waved vigorously and made a gesture to the celebrating players on the field to continue attacking and scoring goals.

"We want to bring a bigger victory to the fans!" McLaren called Beckham to the sidelines to convey his meaning, "Play like we did just now! Score another goal!"

Beckham was silent for a moment, and slowly He nodded slowly and ran back to the court slowly. He seemed to want to say something, but the referee Frogfidet had already blown the whistle to restart the game again, so he obviously had no way to tell the rest of his teammates. He conveyed what the coach meant - he definitely didn't mean to convey it.

McClaren, who wanted his players to continue attacking and scoring goals, was soon disappointed to find that the players on the court spontaneously changed their formations. Although they did not set up a bus, the midfielders and forwards were positioned further back. When the Croatian team launched an attack again, they faced two lines of defense.

With the poor defensive line and the now fully defensive midfield defense, it was very difficult for the Croatian players to break through to the penalty area and shoot. After trying several breakthroughs to no avail, the Croatian forwards directly chose to shoot from long range.

But this was entirely a gift to Endritt, who leaped high and scooped the football into his arms.

The ball came to England's feet, but they were clearly in no hurry to score.

"England has taken the lead. They are not in a hurry to attack. What they have to do now is to hold on to this score until the end of the game."

"Croatia, uh," the commentator paused, "Croatia is two goals behind. From the overall situation It looks like they shouldn't be in a hurry to score, because the Croatian team has already locked up the qualifying spot."

Although he knew that the Croatian coach Bilic could not hear it, the English commentator gave his advice very sincerely. , "I would say that the Croatian team has saved its physical strength and energy now. There is no need to fight hard with the England team. You can't score a goal anyway. Why not save more energy for the next game?"

Croatia coach Billy Qi didn't hear it, and of course even if he heard it, it wouldn't change the fact that he directed the team to continue attacking.

In the 69th minute, Bilic replaced Eduardo with Petlic, hoping that the former's appearance would open things up for Croatia.

In the 75th minute, Plandjic came on to replace Kranica.

"The Croatian team made another substitution. They hope they can break through the English team's defense, but is this possible? With our English team fully defending and having Endrit, the Croatian team's substitution is probably another one. No use."

Four minutes later, the Croatian team, which had seized the ball, attacked England again.

Plandjic, who had just come on, made a cross pass from the left. After receiving the ball, Petric took a long shot with his left foot. The football drew a parabola in the air and flew towards the net.

Endrit's heart seemed to have stopped beating at this moment. He stared at the football, jumped up with all his strength, straightened his arms, and slapped the football with five fingers. There was only a "bang" sound, and the football smashed through the rain curtain. On the lawn, Campbell stepped 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 getting lighter. The breath he had been holding in his heart was relieved. He knew that victory was close at hand and history was being changed by him.

In the 87th minute, the Croatian team tried its last attack, but Olic's long shot was directly blocked by defender Richardson with his body.

Croatian coach Bilic made the last substitution. He replaced Olic with Rakitic. The Croatian team's commentator held back tears and said: "Our players are already great. They persisted until the end. , Even if the future is slim, even if there is no hope of scoring, our players still persist until the end, they are all good!"

"There are only three minutes before the end of the game!" The England commentator was very excited, "Football is now. At the feet of the backcourt players, they were neither arrogant nor arrogant and passed every ball!"

With only a few dozen seconds left before the end of the game, Wembley Stadium was extremely quiet, and people could only listen. To the sound of raindrops falling to the ground.

At this moment, the England fans who were watching the game were counting their heartbeats and silently counting the time as they watched the national team players pass various fancy passes in the backcourt.

Finally, the whistle that ended the game penetrated the sky, and the entire Wembley Stadium turned into a sea of ​​joy in the next moment.

"We won!"

"Qualified!!"

"England!"

"Ritter!!!"

Endrit looked up at the fans in the stands, and they all shouted his name in unison at this moment.

Endrit couldn't help but laugh. At this moment, the rain should have passed and the sun should have broken through the clouds and hit him right on top - if he was filming a movie.

But he was obviously not filming, so when he grinned, the rainwater drifted directly into his mouth.

Endrit: ...

Damn it! After he retires, he must spend his own money to make a documentary! When the time comes to recreate today's game, artificial sunlight will hit him directly, and Endrit will be the most beautiful kid in the game!

"Ritter!"

"Ritter!"

Endrit had a premonition that something bad was going to happen, but before he could make any further moves, the national teammate closest to him rushed towards him, apparently wanting to jump on Endrit. Endrit hugged him like a football, but there were obviously too many players who had this idea at the same time, so "Iron Man" Endrit was sadly thrown to the ground by his teammates.

Endrit: ...

It seems there is no death penalty in England? right? !