Godfather Of Champions

Even the commentator could see how well Eastwood played. How could Sporting Lisbon’s manager, Peseiro, not see it? He got up from the technical area, walked to the sidelines, and urgently whistled twice.

Upon hearing his whistle, the other Sporting Lisbon players had little reaction. Only the defensive midfielder, Fábio Rochemback, turned his head to the sidelines. It appeared that the whistle was specifically meant to be heard by him.

Peseiro pointed at Eastwood, who had withdrawn to support the midfield. Rochemback nodded. He knew what he had to do. It was exactly what he wanted to do.

The manager had asked him to closely mark the most active player on the Forest team.

Because the Forest team usually did not have an attacking midfielder, as a defensive midfielder, Rochemback did not need to mark any players. On the other hand, Eastwood preferred to pull back to receive the ball. His actual position was quite flexible in the opposing half, not like a striker. Consequently, having Rochemback, the best defensive midfielder in the team, to defend against Eastwood would not disrupt Sporting Lisbon’s defensive formation but still ease the pressure on the defensive line.

It was a good idea and Rochemback liked it a lot.

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However, before Rochemback could carry out the plan, Sporting Lisbon lost possession of the ball again.

The Forest team took advantage of the opportunity that opened up from Sporting Lisbon’s adjustment to their defense and implemented a very efficient counterattack.

Eastwood pulled out, attracting all of Rochemback’s attention. Ribéry, who was originally active on the flank, suddenly switched to the middle to replace Eastwood’s position. Within a short time, the Sporting Lisbon player lost his defensive target and Ribéry was unmarked! Without hesitation, Albertini passed the ball just in time. After Ribéry received the ball, he did not give the Sporting Lisbon’s center back the opportunity to defend. He immediately kicked a long shot and the football flew into the Sporting Lisbon’s goal for the second time.

“What a wonderful goal!” The commentator shouted, “2:0! Nottingham Forest once again widens their lead! Sporting Lisbon is in trouble!”

Twain jumped from his seat again, but this time he was not as excited as when the first goal had been scored. He just raised his clenched fist and waved it vigorously in front of his chest.

“This is wonderful, David! 2:0 on home ground!”

Kerslake smiled and nodded. Regardless of how he had previously objected to Twain’s plan, he could only concentrate on doing well since he had agreed. Now the score clearly illustrated that their efforts were not in vain.

“I think... Tony, maybe we should think about defense.”

Twain looked up at the time on the electronic scoreboard. The first half had already been going for twenty-seven minutes. He shook his head. “It’s still too early, David. We’ll assess the situation in the second half before we decide.”

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Despite their two-goal disadvantage, Sporting Lisbon did not give up. After all, there was plenty of time for them to equalize the score. Although it was an away game, the experience of playing in an away game was common for professional players.

They had to be able to compete under the pressure. If they were unable to, they would not be Sporting Lisbon, one of Portugal’s top three teams.

Even though he had caused the team to concede a second goal by letting Rochemback mark Eastwood, Peseiro did not intend to change the arrangement. However, he still took advantage of the moment when the Forest team players celebrated the goal to summon Rochemback to the sidelines. He did not provide any additional tactical instructions. He only made one remark. “Fábio, I don’t care what method you use. I want you to completely freeze Eastwood so that he can’t pose any threat to us! Remember, I don’t care what you do!”

Eastwood’s nightmare began at that moment.

Rochemback might be the most technically crude Brazilian player, but he did not need to rely on his skills because he was a defensive midfielder. He did the dirtiest, most tiresome, and the most detestable moves on the field. He was like the common laborer who was most likely to be ignored by the fans and the club chairman, but who was still the most important and indispensable.

Rochemback was not elegant and at ease like Fernando Redondo, who could turn his playing as a defensive midfielder into an art form. He worked simply; he stuck close to force interceptions. He used petty maneuvers and ferocious tackles. He would commit fouls if necessary.

After Eastwood became entangled with Rochemback, he realized that he could not take possession of the ball as comfortably as he just had. He often had to turn his back towards his opponent’s goal to receive the ball. Whenever the football reached his foot, his center of gravity would tilt forward from a violent push from behind. Or whenever he was about to turn around to break through, he would feel an additional weight on his shoulders.

He had to use all of his focus to deal with the player behind him. It was hard to say how much he could contribute to offense at the time. If possession of the ball was lost at Eastwood’s feet, it would cause problems for the Forest team’s offensive and defensive conversion. Then, if Sporting Lisbon were to seize the chance, it might lead to a reversal of the situation.

Twain saw that Sporting Lisbon was trying to simplify the Forest team’s offense by curbing Eastwood, who was the most active. This would make the team easier for the remaining players to defend against.

Passing to Eastwood would put him under tremendous pressure. He could lose control of the ball at any time. If the ball was not passed to him, the Forest team only had a few attack routes. Eastwood improved the middle in many ways. The flanks were primarily dependent on Ribéry and Ashley Young.

It seemed like the Sporting Lisbon manager had put in a lot of effort to study his opponents.

Twain looked at José Peseiro, who stood on the sidelines to supervise the match.

Do we ease the pressure on Eastwood, or do we carry out the Forest team’s offense like they want us to?

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Eastwood received another pass from Ribéry. Behind him, Rochemback fiercely pressed on. The physical collisions almost became normal defensive actions. This time, Eastwood did not want to pass the ball back. That would make him looked too cowardly!

You want to force me to submit, but I won’t!

Eastwood leaned back with force and used his upper body to signal that he wanted to make a breakthrough on the left. Then, not caring if it worked or not, he quickly switched the ball from the opposite direction and turned around!

He did not look back and could not turn back to confirm if he had successfully shaken off his opponent. But he thought he had done it because he felt that the pressure from behind was not as strong as before. Now, he could speed up and rush past his opponent to charge straight into the penalty area! He could disrupt their defense, score the third goal for the team, and completely lock in the victory!

The football was slowly rolling on the ground, not far from his feet. Eastwood established that he just had to take another step to smoothly dribble the ball away. At that moment, he would have turned around and the pesky Brazilian could no longer have restrained him. He would make the City Ground stadium erupt in momentous cheers again...

The piercing whistle rang shrilly.

There were no momentous cheers. Instead, there was an explosion of earth-shattering boos, enough to make his heart stopped beating.

The football was still rolling in front of Eastwood’s eyes, but he had fallen to the ground. Rochemback was about to climb up from the ground. He raised his arms to indicate that the other man had done a flop.

Indeed, the Sporting Lisbon players were happy to accept this version. But the Forest fans were not. Just as Eastwood was about to get rid of Rochemback, this fierce and violent defensive midfielder had ruthlessly tackled Eastwood.