Chapter 32 The 'Scarlet Witch' Living in the Red House
Sitting in the visiting team's locker room at the red-top stadium, Hu Lai couldn't help but sigh in his heart. It is indeed a football stadium certified by UEFA with five stars. Even the visiting team's locker room is much more luxurious.
The visiting team locker rooms in some stadiums are very simple. Apart from basic cabinets and stools, there are no extra facilities. To exaggerate, there is not even hot water. You can only use cold water to take a shower. Even the stools are very uncomfortable and make you feel uncomfortable.
After sitting for a long time, my buttocks will feel irritated.
Of course, these little tricks are all intended to do everything possible to cause trouble to the away team and interfere with their game, thereby helping the home team win the game more easily.
There is no such problem at the red-roofed stadium where the veteran Premier League giant Tramede plays home. Their visiting team locker room is comparable to the home team locker rooms of some small clubs.
At least compared to the dressing room of the Flanders home team in Leeds City, it is only slightly inferior.
Of course, Leeds City Club will renovate the home team's locker room after the end of the season and upgrade it. For example, adding facilities such as a jacuzzi to help the players recover - it is said that this is the request of head coach Tony Clark.
Therefore, the premise of this project is that Leeds City must ensure that they can successfully avoid relegation. Otherwise, after relegation, it is hard to say whether Tony Clark can still coach at Leeds City, let alone the package of renovation plans he proposed for the club.
Tony Clark was standing in the middle of the visiting team's locker room at the Red Roof Stadium at this moment, saying loudly to his players:
"Everyone thinks we can't beat Tramed on the road. What they say makes sense. In terms of strength, we are indeed far inferior to Tramed. This is still their home court, in their 'red house'
, they are almost invincible. But let me say, if football always relies on these paper strengths to determine the outcome, then what is the meaning of the game? The most fascinating part of the football game is that we go on the field and fight hard, and when the final whistle blows
Before the sound, no one knows who will lose and who will win!"
Having said this, he paused and looked around at his players.
He still remembers the way most of the players looked at him when he came to this team on his first day.
Showing doubt, disgust, and disdain.
But now, after more than half a season of cooperation, those eyes have basically disappeared completely.
Especially after three consecutive victories, even if the next away game was a clean loss to Battleship Port, the players did not seem to doubt his authority as the head coach.
Selling players who clearly do not meet the team's tactical requirements and being disobedient, introducing players he likes, and passing a series of disciplinary requirements including forcing players to take a nap... The seeds he has sown in this team are still paying off.
After so much hard work, there are finally signs of breaking ground.
He raised his voice and continued: "So put aside the strength gap between us and our opponents, and forget how the damn media outside predicted this game! Give it your best! Show our courage to the giants! And at home
Compared with Tramed, we have nothing to lose. After all, everyone thinks we will lose, so isn’t the worst outcome just a loss?"
Hu Lai listened to the coach's words and thought that he had rich experience in relegation, but he had never seen such a relegation team coach. It was completely different from Zhao Kangming, the coach of Flash Star.
I care about every detail, but shout "I just want to beat you to death, or be beaten to death by you"...
Is this going to be relegated? Is this a crazy person?
Run quickly, the lunatic is beating someone! It’s all in vain!
But don't mention it, after being treated so badly by the head coach, Hu Lai actually had a surge of pride in his heart - the head coach doesn't care about the results, what else do we want to do? Just do it!
Not only him, but other Leeds City players were also shouting impatiently.
※※※
The red-roofed stadium, home to England's old giants and traditional strong team Tramed, got its name from the red roof when it was first built. In addition to the roof, the overall exterior wall of the stadium is divided into upper and lower parts, with the upper part connected
The ceiling is red, and the lower half is white - exactly the same color as their home jersey.
Because the isosceles triangular shape of the main stand's roof looks like a huge red spire house from a distance, Tramed fans nicknamed the stadium the "Red House".
The nickname sounds very warm, just like the little girl's home in fairy tales.
But in fact, this was once the famous "devil's home stadium" in European football. During Tramed's most glorious period, this stadium was intimidating to any visiting team.
So there are rumors that the red in the "Red House" is not paint, but the blood of the opponent. The "Red House" is not a warm place full of fairy tale atmosphere, but the lair of some evil beings. Therefore, Tramed has
One nickname is "The Scarlet Witch", which is as feared as the cannibal witch in medieval legends.
In the past ten years, the "Red Witch" has lost its dominance of the Premier League, and the "notoriety" of this stadium is not as prominent as before.
But even so, playing in this stadium is not an easy task for any team.
Tramed's fans don't need to deliberately target the visiting team. They only need to cheer for the home team, which is enough to make many visiting team players feel breathless... After all, the 60,000-person stand capacity is not enough for the current Premier League.
It can indeed be regarded as a very large number. Correspondingly, the Flanders Stadium, the home stadium of Leeds City, can accommodate 30,000 people.
But there was a little accident in the "red house" today.
Tramed's fans noticed that the Leeds City players who came as guests did not seem to be affected by the noise they created.
From the beginning of the game, they played proactively. It didn't feel like they were playing away from home, but more like they were playing at their own home court...
If the performance of the players may still be an illusion of the fans, there is no way to count it.
Then, in the first twenty-six minutes of the game, it was the visiting team Leeds City who scored first, which may allow everyone to confirm this fact - today's Leeds City is different from the one they have seen in this season and a half.
.
“Pete Williams——!!” Matthew Cox yelled in a long voice. “After receiving Lorenzo’s header, he stopped the ball with his chest and nimbly dodged Kirk!
Then he shot! Walker failed to touch the ball! Leeds City took the lead in the away game! What a surprise, it was Leeds City who scored first!"
Watching Pete Williams running wildly to celebrate the goal on the TV broadcast, the fans in the "White Rose" bar opened their arms, beat the time rhythmically, and then sang loudly along with the time:
"Pete! Pete! Pete! Pete! He is our genius Pete! Pete! Pete! Pete! Pete! He is the Pete who will always love Leeds! Ah - Pete Williams! Ah - Pete Williams!"
"
This is a cheering song created by Leeds City fans for their favorite players. Whenever the players perform well, they will sing the character song.
Today Leeds City is playing away from home. Many of them cannot go to the away game, so they can only sing in front of the TV to cheer for the players.
※※※
Leeds City fans were not happy for long.
Before the end of the first half, Tramed's French forward Pap Bonnet fired a powerful shot from the corner of the penalty area, helping Tramed equalize the score.
Just after the start of the second half, Tramed's Dutch midfielder Nick van Delft used a low shot from outside the penalty area to open up Leeds City's goal again.
"Vandelft!! Beautiful!! His shot was completely suppressed, and the football flew forward close to the turf, making it more difficult for the goalkeeper to save! Facing his fellow Dutchman, Vandelft
But there is no intention of showing mercy at all!"
As the score went ahead, Tramed's fans came to life. They sang and danced in the stands. Sometimes they were cheering for their team, and sometimes they were mocking Leeds City's little brother with their songs:
"Go where you belong! Champions League! Go where you belong! Champions League! You know which one we're talking about!"
This was followed by a huge burst of laughter.
Leeds City is not famous in the history of English football and can be regarded as an out-and-out unknown.
It stands to reason that there should be no hatred between them and Tramed in Manchester - in the long history, they and Tramed rarely had the opportunity to interact.
But Tramed's fans still mocked them mercilessly.
This has nothing to do with football, but mainly with regional hatred - stemming from the historical grudge between the two cities of Manchester and Leeds.
The UK is a traditional sheep-raising country and an important wool producer in Europe. Their wool has been supplied to all of Europe.
Later, after the failure of the Hundred Years' War with France, Britain decided not to simply export wool, but to vigorously develop the wool textile industry. The wool textile industry became Britain's "national industry". With the enclosure movement in the 16th century, sheep herding expanded.
market, increased wool production, and British woolen exports accounted for 78% of all exports.
At that time, Leeds was a famous woolen industry center in the UK, with a large number of woolen industry workers gathered.
The home stadium of Leeds City Club is called "Flanders Stadium", which also reflects the development of Leeds' woolen textile industry at that time - Flanders is not the current place name in the UK, nor is it Leeds, but a historical place name in Western Europe. Approximately
It is equivalent to today's Zeeland province in the Netherlands, East Flanders and West Flanders in Belgium, and Pas-de-Calais and Nore in France.
This place had the best wool spinning workers in Europe at that time. British wool raw materials were also shipped here and then exported throughout Europe.
The rise of the British woolen textile industry was also due to the poaching of a large number of Flemish workers.
In order to commemorate this period of history, the stadium of Leeds City Club, which represents the city of Leeds, is called "Flanders".
The rise of Manchester is inseparable from the British cotton textile industry. The cotton textile industry is grabbing the market of the woolen textile industry.
As Lancashire, where Manchester is located, began to imitate Indian cotton with cotton from the East and West Indies and Brazil, the British cotton textile industry gradually got on track. Coupled with the invention of the Jenny loom, an important symbol of the first industrial revolution,
Cotton spinning developed rapidly.
The cotton textile industry is Manchester's pillar industry, and the sales of cotton cloth have impacted the woolen market, causing woolen spinning factories to close down one after another. A large number of woolen spinning workers lost their jobs and had to run from Leeds to neighboring Manchester to find a living.
The competition between wool spinning and cotton spinning contributed to the success of Britain's first industrial revolution, and also caused hatred between the people of the two cities.
Therefore, even if there is no conflict in football, the teams from these two cities will not look down upon each other after they meet. (Note 1)
※※※
Hu Lai heard the singing in the stands and understood it.
After all, he has been in the Premier League for two months and has played five games, so he has some knowledge of the ins and outs of the Premier League.
I know that England fans like to express their emotions with singing. They sing when they are happy, they sing when they are angry, and even when the game is too boring, they also use singing to express their dissatisfaction with the boring game, or simply to entertain themselves.
happy.
For example, they will throw an inflatable penis during the game until the inflatable penis falls under the stands and is picked up and confiscated by the police. Then the fans will start singing a song repeatedly, which has one lyric: "
Give us our big cocks back!”
After Hu Lai has played football for so many years, this is the first time he has seen such boring fans...
Many times the content they sing can be described as "unpalatable".
It's like if you record a live video of watching a game, and then translate the lyrics sung by the fans into Chinese subtitles and put it on the domestic Internet, you will most likely get a 404.
The British football field implements a high-pressure policy against all kinds of racism and resolutely does not allow racial discrimination to appear. But it does not matter about personal attacks.
In other words, hostile fans can call Hulay a fool, but they cannot call Hulay a "yellow-skinned monkey". The former is part of English football culture, and the latter will be severely punished.
Fans will make songs about swear words about players' mothers and family members, they will mock a player's physical defects in their songs, and they will rub salt into the most painful wounds of the opposing team.
If you accidentally score an own goal in a certain final, causing the team to lose the championship, then even if five years have passed, when you play against the opposing team, you will definitely hear the opposing fans singing in the stands.
Let me sing and relive this old dream with you...
Before coming to the Premier League, Hu Lai had seen domestic media criticize those who used local swear words to insult opposing players in the stands, believing that this was discrediting the sport of football and evidence of the low quality of Chinese fans.
After coming to the Premier League, he discovered that compared with British fans, Chinese fans were as polite as good students...
When someone scolds you, they are really vicious.
But if you scold your opponent, it feels really good...
For example, Tramed fans are so happy now that their players are constantly launching fierce attacks on Leeds City's goal amidst the cheers of the fans.
It was obvious that neither the fans nor the players were willing to be just one goal ahead of Leeds City.
After all, they are a traditional giant. Although they have not won a championship for several years, their heritage is still there.
How can you play a difficult game with a team that is trying to avoid relegation at your home court?
※※※
Tramed continued to attack, trying to overwhelm Leeds City.
On the sidelines, Leeds City head coach Tony Clark once again showed his gambler-like approach. He would never accept the result of "losing less but winning instead", but also encouraged the team to fight back and fight with Tramed.
.
Even if this is the opponent's home court, so what?
We are not even afraid of losing, so what else are we afraid of?
In the 66th minute of the game, Leeds City intercepted the ball from Tramed midfielder Vandelft in the midfield and launched a counterattack on the spot.
The football was passed to Charlie Potter by Pete Williams.
After Porter got the ball, he looked up and looked ahead. Because Leeds City stole the ball when Tramed was attacking, Tramed's backcourt was relatively empty at this time.
He didn't hesitate and directly passed the football to the center with a long diagonal kick!
When Charlie Porter passed the ball, Hulay in front ran quickly. He accelerated and ran forward. Tramed's center back Scott Wilson noticed Hulay's movement and immediately accelerated and rushed over.
, blocking Hu Lai behind him.
He could also feel that in order to compete with him, Hu Lai even used his hands to try to pull him away, but with his physical strength, how could he be pulled away so easily? Sure enough, soon there was no one behind him.
There was movement.
What Wilson didn't know was that Hu Lai, who was behind him, suddenly changed his attitude of continuing to run forward and stepped back!
"Hulai!!"
With He Feng's shouting, the football drew an arc in the air and passed over Wilson's head.
He looked back and saw the Leeds City player No. 14, who had scored five goals in three games, using his chest to stop the ball forward, and then taking advantage of the situation and wading the ball into the penalty area!
"Beautiful connection! Great opportunity for Leeds City! Are they going to equalize?" Cox shouted, raising the hearts of the Leeds City fans in front of the TV.
The stands of the Red Roof Stadium were filled with boos from Tramed fans, like thunder.
Hu Lai was completely undisturbed by these interferences. After he put the football into the penalty area, he raised his head to observe the situation. Tramed's goalkeeper Tom Walker had already abandoned the goal!
So he chose to take a volley shot. When his right foot came down, his toes lifted slightly, and the shot changed from a volley shot to a lob shot.
At the same time, Walker judged that Hu Lai was going to shoot low, so he fell to the ground, unable to do anything about the football flying over his head...
"Hu Lai - a shot!! Good shot!! Beautiful!!"
"What a wonderful kick! Hu's kick was so calm that people forgot his age! Facing the attacking goalkeeper Walker, he was calm like an experienced veteran! Great! This is his first time in the Premier League
The sixth goal also helped Leeds City equalize the score! At the Red Roof Stadium, Leeds City stubbornly held on to Tramed and did not let go!"
After scoring the goal, Hulay did not stop. He turned around and ran towards the corner flag area, and then did his signature celebration.
Wearing a white away jersey, he stood out in front of the "red wall" composed of all Tramed fans wearing red jerseys.
"For Chinese fans and players, Tramed's red-top stadium is like a dream stage, out of reach! But now, our player Hu Lai from China has left his presence in this stadium.
In my memory! He not only broke through the England goalkeeper Tom Walker, he also opened the door of the 'Red House'! This scene will definitely become a classic picture of Chinese football in the future!"
In the picture, other Leeds City players are swarming towards Hu Lai. Those white figures on the red "wall" are like bullet holes, making the high red wall look less indestructible and intimidating.
Already...
※※※
Note 1: This content and data come from the article "The Rise and Decline of Britain - The Competition between Wool and Cotton Spinning is a Battlefield Without Smoke" from the Textile Machinery Network.
