Chapter 41 Despair and Hope

Of course, Degan will not be like a nympho who appreciates Beckham for some special reason. What he appreciates is Beckham's professional attitude and football skills.

In the last season of Real Madrid, Beckham was determined to transfer to the MLS and was given up by Capello. He still practiced conscientiously, played games, and finally impressed Capello with his professional attitude. , regained the main position.

England was out, Beckham's career in the England national team was basically over, and Degan cast all his grievances on English football.

Degan's words immediately aroused the dissatisfaction of England fans. Although they cursed McLaren and slandered the England national team, it was their own business.

After becoming Portugal's public enemy, Degan was also the most unpopular man in England.

England's legendary striker Alan Shearer refuted Degan's point of view in an interview with reporters: "I don't agree with Degan's statement. England's players are definitely not second-rate in Europe. On the contrary, the English league is the best league in the world. , it is by no means comparable to Serie A, this time we admit defeat, but there is a reason for this, the most important thing, this is not a player's problem!"

Newcastle head coach Kevin Keegan also ran out to brush up his presence: "Failure is not terrible, but when it comes to Degan's mouth, it's like the end of the world is coming. I believe England will finally cheer up and everything will Get better, although we don't need to prove anything to him, but let him see that the day English football rises again, he will understand how ridiculous his views on English players are! "

Although the rebuttals of Shearer and Keegan sound powerful, they sound more like arguments.

Regarding the reality of not being able to participate in the European Cup, the fans of England can be said to be devastated. They are hailed by them as the strongest national team in history, but they failed to break through the qualifiers.

Missing the opportunity of this competition, the players of this England team can only wait for the World Cup in South Africa three years later, but when the time comes, how many people can stay?

Some old players basically have no hope. Even Terry, Lampard and others will be in their 30s by then, and whether they can continue to fight for the country is still unknown.

Beneath the cheers of the Russians was the deep despair of the English.

The English never expected that they would be blocked from the European Cup finals, which made them disappointed and angry, so they kept cursing McLaren and cursing those players who did not try their best on the field.

But what's the use?

The future of England will depend on those people. Thinking of this, England fans feel even more desperate.

They also want to have a player like Degan who can stand up at critical moments and lead them to victory and be crowned the crown, but they don't have it.

Therefore, the English people who were already very desperate, when they were ridiculed by Degan, their anger can be imagined. They can't eat grapes and say grapes are sour. Now Degan is the one they will never eat. Sour grapes, ever since, the target of anger was immediately diverted, and all the anger was directed at Digan, but Digan didn't care at all, anyway, he was happy, and that was enough.

The English are licking their wounds, but the Belgians are celebrating their success in qualifying for the European Cup. Although Degan's three-game suspension made it difficult for the Belgians to accept for a while, compared to Portugal and England, they are already lucky up.

However, in the celebration team, there was one person who was preoccupied, and that person was Digan.

After returning from Lisbon, Degan couldn't bear it anymore and took the initiative to find Antiiennis. He felt that it was necessary to have a good talk with the head coach about the future of Belgian football.

Although they successfully broke through, there were many problems exposed by the Belgian team during the game, especially the age structure. Although there are young people like Digan, Kompany, Vermaelen, Van den Borre, and Proto , but there are still too many veterans in the team.

Especially Digan, he doesn't even have a substitute now. Although the Mponsa brothers can still play their residual heat, they obviously can't cope with the high-intensity international competition. This time, there are a total of 14 matches in the European Cup qualifiers. The number of goals added up is only one. With such a goal efficiency, it is obvious that there is no way to survive in the Belgian national team.

The age structure is aging, and a topic that cannot be avoided is physical fitness. Belgium's current games always start with vigor and vitality. Whether it is the attack and let go, it can bring a sense of oppression to the opponent, but once it comes to the second half, especially the last half of the game Hours, most players can only hold on on the field.

If all these problems are brought to the European Cup, it will be a disaster for Belgian football.

Degan didn't want to bring up this question before, it was all because of nostalgia, now these teammates of the national team are old people who have experienced the 2006 World Cup, they are very familiar with each other, Degan also wants to lead them in the European Cup next year, and finally Go crazy.

But now it seems that Degan is taking it for granted. Enthusiasm and determination cannot change the aging reality of Belgian football.

If you want to achieve a breakthrough, you can't rely on those veterans alone, and you need young people to step up.

Just like in this game against Portugal, Vermaelen, who replaced the injured Kompany, was slightly nervous at the beginning of the game, which led to the Belgian team's first conceded goal. But it got better and better, and scored the equalizer goal to make up for it.

Vermaelen's performance proves that Belgian football is not without successors. The problem that Degan has been worried about before is that young people are inexperienced and unusable. It seems that it has been filtered.

Facts have proved that Belgian football has a lot of talents, and compared to the old Italy, they can completely look down on each other.

"Coach! Our current situation must be changed. We still have almost a year to prepare for the European Cup next year. We must seize this time and train enough young people."

Antiiennis has been thinking about this issue for the past two days. Like Digan, he was worried that young people would not be able to take on such an important task. In addition, the old players have rich experience and have fully adapted to his tactics. After taking the position of head coach of the team, players have rarely been replaced.

After all, Antiiennis' character is a little conservative, and recruiting Degan to join the Belgian national team is probably the most daring thing he has done in his life.

Stability is what Antiiennis has always pursued. Just look at the current lineup of the Belgian national team. Although some young players were recruited to participate in the training camp during the period, every time it comes to the game, the main lineup is still the one that has participated in the World Cup in Germany. The group of old players.

However, through the recent airport competition, there is no way to continue to avoid the problem of replacement. It is time to make some changes to help Belgium continue to improve.

However, Antiiennis still has some concerns. The renewal of the team will definitely mobilize the interests of old players. If Belgium fails to qualify for the European Cup, everything will be fine, but now that they have advanced, those Veteran players definitely hope to be able to participate. If the unity of the team is destroyed due to the replacement of players, the loss outweighs the gain.

"Rod! You know, these old players have entered the national team since I took office, and some of them even participated in the World Cup in Japan and South Korea. If adjustments are made at this time, I think it may cause some unforeseen problems! "

Antiiennis still has some concerns in his heart. No one doesn't like to use direct-line troops, especially at the level of the national team. As long as they have the support of direct-line troops, they can secure the national team.

But what Degan suggested to him now is to let him drive his direct troops out of the national team.

He must have some concerns about letting Antiiennis do these things.

It's not that Digan didn't think of the same problem, but since reforms and replacements are needed, some labor pains are inevitable, and no one can escape.

When it comes to the relationship with his teammates, veterans like the Mponsa brothers are his friends, but compared with Belgium's results in the European Cup, the personal relationship has become insignificant.

"Of course I know that if I can, I certainly hope to participate in the European Cup with these current teammates, but, coach! When we consider these issues, the first thing we should consider is the team's performance in the European Cup. This It is the most important thing, we can't just think about favors, necessary turnover is normal, everything is for Belgium's results in the European Cup, sometimes, we have to do things we don't want to."

Degan has already made up his mind, especially after seeing Vermaelen's outstanding performance, he moved this idea.

Since Vermaelen can, can those high-quality calves in his memory also be competent for the national team's game tasks, especially those players who will become popular in European football in the future.

Seeing that Antiiennis did not speak, Degan continued to persuade: "Coach! We still have less than a year left, if we all want to achieve a breakthrough in this European Cup, we must do it! "

When he said this, Degan felt that he was a bit cruel, but his desire for honor made him make up his mind. Some old players who couldn't keep up with the team must leave. The seriously old Belgian team must be full of fresh blood.

Such as Fellaini, Dembele, Vertongen, Defour, Bailly, Miralas, Naenglan, Deira, Boleden, Martens, Willy Minck, Lombalz and others, In the future, they will be regular visitors to the Belgian national team.

If we can build a brand new Belgian national team based on the old players who still maintain a high level in the team, and then add these young talents, then the European Cup will definitely be worth seeing.

In the past two days, when Degan carefully recalled the European Red Devils that shocked the world in the future, he was surprised to find that Belgium still had so many pearls that were forgotten by the national team.

In the previous life, the glory of Belgium undoubtedly began in the European qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The combined worth of all the players even surpassed that of Spain, which won the European Cup and the World Cup.

However, now that Degan is here, he doesn't have the patience to wait until seven years later. All changes must start now. Belgium must change its old image, let young people flood in, and let everyone see hope.

Digan said, and handed Antiiennis a list he had put together in the past two days: "Coach! These are the candidates I recommend, and I think they can join us as fresh blood." Inside the team."

Antiiennis was taken aback. He didn't expect Degan to think so far. He even prepared the list. He obviously came prepared. However, Didn't Degan wait for UEFA's punishment these two days? ?

How big a heart does it take to put such an important thing aside and make such a list.

But after reading it, Antiiennis became more and more shocked. This list not only recorded the information of each player in detail, but even the characteristics and experience were clearly written.

This is not a player's opinion, it is simply an old scout's scouting report.

After reading it, Antiiennis smiled wryly and said: "Rod! Maybe Francois is right. If you sit in the position of head coach, you will be more suitable than me!"

Digan is not interested in discussing this issue with Antiiennis now, all he can think about is how to persuade Antiiennis to accept his opinion.

"Coach! I can guarantee that everyone on this list is definitely the best young player in Belgium at present. As long as you give them a chance, they will definitely give you a big surprise like Thomas!"

Seeing Degan's swearing guarantee, Antiiennis couldn't help being a little tempted, but Belgian football has always given people the impression that it is seriously aging. If it weren't for Degan, the title of European Red Devils is probably a big one now. joke.

Does Belgian football really have so many hidden treasures?

Antiiennis was a little skeptical, but at the same time he had some expectations in his heart. After all, which head coach doesn't want his staff to be full of talents.