Born to be a coach [soccer]

Chapter 123

On September 9th, Sunderland's first opponent in the Europa League group stage, Young Boys Arrived in Sunderland.

This team was the Swiss league runner-up last season, and Sunderland has no record of playing against Sunderland in the past 50 years-that is to say, there is no grievance.

The game was played on the second night.In the morning, Sunderland generously lent the Stadium of Light to the opponent for training.Anton accompanied the venue director Mills to meet the opponent's players and head coach.

The young man's head coach, Varner Müller, is a stocky German in his 40s.As soon as he saw Anton, he put on a straight face: "So it was you, you poached our 'Messi' away."

Muller's words are pun intended: On the one hand, he refers to Anton poaching the "Swiss Messi" Shaqiri from the Swiss team, and on the other hand, Muller is a fan of Messi, watching Anton His team rented out Messi, but his own team didn't even dare to think about such a thing.

Anton deliberately pulled his face: "Yes, I poached your 'Messi' away, but I poached it from your sworn enemy. Should you thank me?"

The two football clubs, Young Boys Bern and Basel, are among the top teams in the Swiss Super League. The encounter between these two teams in the league is basically equivalent to the Swiss "National Derby".Anton asked Berne to be grateful for poaching someone from Basel-but this also seemed to make sense.Mu Le couldn't help but smiled, opened his arms to hug Anton, and patted Anton's shoulder vigorously: "Old man, long time no see."

Varner Müller once coached in Danchao and met Anton at that time, but he left Danchao one step ahead of Anton and went to Ruichao to coach the youth team. Cup arena.

"By the way, your club actually has a stadium of this size." Muller looked up at the Stadium of Light and sighed, "Can this stadium host national team matches?"

The home stadium of young people in Bern is called the "Swiss Stadium". It is the second largest stadium in Switzerland, but it is still smaller than the Stadium of Light, with a capacity of only about 3 people.You must know that Sunderland is just a newly promoted Premier League team. Such a scale really shocked the German coach.

Anton also stared at the opposite stand.It's training time now, there are no spectators in the stadium, and there are only rows of neat red seats in the stands, occasionally mixed with a few white painted seats, which form the shape of several letters, forming the name of Sunderland Football Club Shorthand for .

He nodded: "Yes, it is one of the few stadiums in England that meets UEFA international competition standards. A small city like Sunderland has actually built such a stadium. To be honest, I just arrived here Sometimes I was shocked."

It seems that the deafening shouts will sound in my ears at any time - Sunderland, Sunderland, Sunderland!

"So Varner, do you feel the pressure of Sunderland's home court?" Anton asked with a smile.

"Hmph, I'm the one who wants to take three points away from here!" Muller didn't dare to show weakness, and he stretched out his right fist according to the old habit, and punched Anton's left shoulder.

Saying this, Muller is not as confident as he seems on the surface-the opponent is a team that owns Messi.

Not to mention Messi, just "Swiss Messi" Shaqiri may be enough for his team to drink a pot.The young man Shaqiri played for the national team in the World Cup this summer, and his performance in the team can be ranked at the forefront.This makes all the clubs in the Swiss Super League very depressed-how could they be secretly dug to England?

But football is like this. Sometimes knowing that the strength is not enough, you have to fight hard. After all, there is that saying - football is round, and it is possible to roll it however you want.

Thinking of this, Mueller clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, and secretly cheered himself up.Unexpectedly, Anton patted him on the shoulder: "The butcher shop closest to the Stadium of Light in Sunderland specially made a 'special edition' bursting sausage with Swiss cheese in it to welcome you. , it is said to be very fragrant. You can take the team to try it at noon!"

As soon as Mueller heard this, the tense look on his face disappeared immediately, and he nodded happily: "It sounds delicious! Anton, thank you for your arrangement and hospitality." A foodie head coach immediately revealed his true colors.Anton knew him very well, and the two of them had a close friendship, so they told him this.

Speaking of which, in the face of Swiss fans from afar, Sunderland is really hospitable, not only lending training grounds, but also serving special delicacies.In addition, in order to welcome the arrival of away fans, Sunderland, in addition to preparing hotels and hotels, also specially arranged temporary accommodation that can accommodate two to 3000 people.

Are you very enthusiastic?In fact, this is a new plan of the city of Sunderland: strive to develop football-related peripheral service industries, build Sunderland into a "soccer city by the sea", enhance Sunderland's brand image, and solve at least three problems at the same time. Employment of 5000 to [-] people.

Previously, Sunderland Football Club qualified for the Europa League group stage. This plan has already begun to brew. However, the Sunderland City Government has always been procrastinating, and the feasibility report is endless. I really don’t know when the plan will see the sky. day.

But as soon as Messi landed in Sunderland, countless curious fans flocked here. No matter how reserved the Sunderland City Government was, they did not dare to neglect at this time. They appointed special personnel to promote this plan first.

As a result, the young Berners became the first visiting team to test the waters.

This is the image of Sunderland shown in front of the Swiss: the city is clean and tidy, the football atmosphere is strong, the people are enthusiastic, and the organization and service are considerate-it is quite different from the rumored industrial city that has declined.

In the evening, the Stadium of Light was lit up, like a beacon in the dark night, and people came from all over to gather outside the stadium and file through the revolving doors.An hour before the start of the game, the stadium was already very lively.Vendors carrying beer crates, hot dogs, and popcorn shuttled nimbly between seats, and fans chatting and eating snacks seemed to be preparing for a joyful game rather than waiting for a tense game. banquet.

Not many Swiss fans come here, and many even come here just for Messi.The interaction between visiting team fans and local fans was very friendly. They presented a lot of fan hats with bull horns to Sunderland fans. The team song, with a little change, became a song to welcome the visiting team.

Harmony, everything seems very harmonious.

But in the locker room, Anton once again reiterated that he must pay attention to his opponent.

"For many years, we have always believed that the Swiss football team is relatively simple and good at long balls. The Swiss players have good bodies, but relatively rough footwork...Now everyone, look at your teammates. Is this the truth?"

Standing in the locker room are the captain Ghana and Sha Qiri, the younger brother Sha Qiri. Both of them are not inferior to other teammates in terms of footwork and physical fitness.

"In addition, I am very familiar with the opponent's head coach Muller. I played against him when I was in the Danish Super League. His team has always been very good at seizing opportunities..."

Speaking of this, goalkeeper Pickford smiled and said: "Are you still suffering under his hands?"

The assistant coach Russell standing next to Anton coughed twice at this time, and rolled his eyes at the young goalkeeper. The young man immediately realized his slip of the tongue and stuck out his tongue.

Anton ignored the interjection, but lowered his face, and said seriously: "If we have the advantage in the scene but miss the opportunity, or fail to win the game due to our own negligence - we will continue to fight in the future." It's going to be more and more difficult in the game. Do you understand?"

In his pair of gray-blue eyes, someone looked a little cold, like a reminder or a warning, slowly sweeping across the faces of everyone in the locker room.The atmosphere in the locker room became inexplicably tense.

"If any of you feel that you are out of shape and not nervous enough, tell me as soon as possible. I can replace you as soon as possible." The words and tone are very peaceful, but the meaning... sounds a bit fierce.

Anton has always treated people kindly and kindly, speaking in a calm manner, and the heavy responsibility of scolding "little bastard" has always been borne by Russell.So no one expected that the head coach would say something serious in this way at this time.

All the players pursed their lips tightly and did not dare to make a sound, for fear of being mistaken for "not nervous enough" and being replaced.

When the players gathered in the player tunnel and waited together, Russell asked Anton in a low voice: "What's the matter? I think these little bastards are a little bit drifting?"

Anton nodded: "Well, the beginning of this season... went so smoothly."

Messi airborne, the Community Shield overthrew Chelsea, ranked second after four rounds of the league, and just experienced a huge victory with a hurricane score... The lads are used to winning. Facing opponents like "young people", they even They are all a bit "underestimating the enemy"-it seems that these three points belong to them as a matter of course.

There are indeed a few veteran players with rich experience in the team, but most of them are still young people in their early 20s. The characteristic of the youth team is that it is unstable.

"If a loss can bring back their sobriety, then I would rather it be a loss." Anton said quietly with his hands behind his back, "It is better to wake up earlier than to be in a slump in the future. I can't get out."

Russell was startled: ...would rather be a loss?Please, Anton, please don't have a crow's mouth.

At the beginning of the game when we were young, Sunderland played the main force, Messi started playing the false nine position, and formed a trident with the other two forwards Vardy and Royce.Shaqiri lagged behind and played as a midfielder with Eriksson. Henderson was behind them as a defensive midfielder, and four main defenders stood in the back row. Pique was still in the goalkeeper position. Ford.

At the beginning of the game, Sunderland relied on the home court advantage to play extremely beautifully on the scene, almost pressing the "young man" in the opponent's penalty area.

But Anton's face became more and more serious as he looked at it. After No. 20 minutes, he suddenly turned around, walked back to the bench from the command area on the sidelines, and found an empty seat to sit down.

He happened to sit next to backup goalkeeper Craig Gordon and whispered something to Gordon.When Gordon heard this, he opened his mouth wide in surprise, but didn't say anything, his face flushed red.