Manchester United legend

Chapter 138 England Entry List

At the end of the Premier League season, England coach Hoddle has been observing the performance of the players in the league.He already had a rough candidate in mind.

Hoddle told the media that he has only two places left in his squad, but five players are making him hesitant.One is Liverpool teenager Michael Owen, the other is Arsenal veterans Ian Wright and Paul Merson, and Manchester United's midfielder Paul Jost.England's once talented midfielder Paul Gascoigne.

These five people will compete for the remaining two places. The media unanimously asked Hoddle to take Owen to France, thinking that he will be the wealth of England in the future, and should be the same as Ronaldo in Brazil in 94.Go to France to see the big scene.

If Jost was not injured, he would definitely be selected for the national team, but he was absent for most of the season, so he didn't have much advantage. Although Jost came back from injury, Manchester United's loss of the championship did not give Jost any extra points. Jost's advantage is that he is younger than them, but has less experience in major competitions.

Although Jost has recovered slightly, the media did not mention him.It is thought that he will not be back to his best form before the start of the World Cup.

The media commented that the front line is the battle between Irving and Wright, and the midfield is "the war of the three Pauls".The three of them will compete for a spot in midfield.

The good thing is that the media conducted a poll, hoping that Irving, Wright and the "three Pauls" will be selected for the national team?

Opinion polls show Irving taking more than 60 percent of the vote in a Wright-Irwin contest.

In the selection of "Three Pauls", Gascoigne won more than 40.00% of the votes.

Jost thought he had no chance and might miss the big game, but one morning, Jost received a call from England assistant coach Rhodes.On the phone, Jost was informed to report to the La Manga training base.

Before the start of the World Cup, England had several warm-up matches. Hoddle transferred the "three Pauls", Owen and Wright to the national team to observe their performance.

On May 1998, 5, England left the La Manga base and flew to Casablanca to participate in the World Cup warm-up match against Morocco.

Only 200 yards from the hotel, someone asked, "Where did Gazza go?" He didn't get on the bus in time, so the car drove back to find him.

It's Gascoigne's birthday, and maybe that explains everything."Maybe he's celebrating," said one. "Maybe he's on the phone with (wife) Shelley," said another.

Rhodes (who was England's deputy coach at the time) finally found Garza. Rhodes looked at Gascoigne and then at Hoddle, who was furious. The conflict seemed inevitable.

Garza was living in his own world, his mind 1000 miles away: when he read in the paper that Shelley had a "new man," he sank into the abyss of despair.

Gascoigne did not play in the warm-up against Morocco, Joost and Mawson played well respectively.

Then one afternoon during the warm-up against Belgium, when Gazza was on the phone, Hoddle said bitterly to Rod: "He should have rested."

Even before the game started, Garza was standing in the middle circle with his mobile phone in his hand!Hoddle was trimming the World Cup squad and everyone behaved properly except Gazza, which was crazy.

On the flight back to La Manga from Morocco that Friday night, Hoddle finally made his decision.

That Saturday night, Garza was singing karaoke again in a bar in La Manga.

Hoddle did agree that players could drink two beers, but Garza clearly went over the limit.

On the way to the breakfast room on Sunday morning, Hoddle confirmed the dropping of Gazza's bombshell to Rod, "He's out." Rod nodded, not really surprised.

But the world media was shocked.There was chaos when Garza was called into Hoddle's room.

Later, Garza's noise came from the room, "You can't do this to me." Rhode immediately rushed out of his room and ran to Hoddle's room. As soon as Rhode entered the room, it seemed like hell in front of him, flowers and vases flew all the way to the corridor.

In the corner of the room, Ince and Seaman were holding Gaza tightly, while Hoddle said to Rhodes, "I thought he was going to hit me."

Garza kicked over a chair and shattered a lamp, leaving broken glass all over the floor.

And Hoddle asked the staff to clean up the broken glass quickly, because he was about to call the next player into the room.

That person is Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson. Merson did not lose control like Gascoigne, but just expressed regret that he could not play for the Three Lions like Hoddle.

Why Hoddle chose Owen and Jost, because the media previously interviewed Ferguson about his views on the England team.

Ferguson said in front of the media that England should bring more young players to plan for the future of England.Instead of just thinking about the present.

I don't know if Hoddle listened to Ferguson's opinion, or God blessed Jost and Owen. Ian Wright was injured in a training session and withdrew from the competition, so Owen and Jost locked the last two spots.And Gascoigne was eliminated by Hoddle because of his lack of discipline.

In this way, Hoddle confirmed England's 22-man squad for the World Cup in France.

No.1 David Seaman, No.2 Saul Campbell, No.3 Graeme Blackmail, No.4 Paul Ince, No.5 Tony Adams, No.6 Gareth Southgate, No.7 David Beckham, No.8 David Batty, No.9 Alan Shearer, No.10 Teddy Sheringham, No.11 Steve McManaman, No.12 Gary Neville, No.13 Paul Jost, No.14 Darren Anderton, No.15 No. 16 Nigel Martin, No. 17 Paul Scholes, No. 18 Robert Lee, No. 19 Martin Zeon, No. 20 Les Ferdinand, No. 21 Michael Owen, No. 22 Leo Ferdinand, No. [-] Tim Flowers.

England were drawn into Group G, along with Group G: Romania, Colombia, Tunisia.Romania is the re-seeded team.

The World Cup in France is historic because FIFA expanded the number of participating teams to 32 for the first time.

The 32 teams that qualified for the World Cup finals were divided into eight groups, and the top two teams in each group advanced to the round of 16.The second stage of the competition adopts a single elimination system until the champion is determined.

Jost happily flew from London to Charles de Gaulle Airport, west of Paris, with his teammates from England.After a 50-minute flight to Paris, when the entire England team showed up at the airport, the media took pictures, especially Beckham, who was enthusiastically sought after.

Gary Neville pushed the luggage cart and said to Jost: "David is really popular. He is more popular than Shearer."

Jost: "Who made you not have a heart-throb face."

Gary Neville: "I haven't grown, but you have grown. To be honest, you have grown well. It's just that you keep your face in the team so that people dare not approach you."

Jost: "Stop talking nonsense, the bus is here, get on the bus."

The whole England team sat on the bus and came to the training base in Nice, France to prepare for the game.They are preparing for their first group match against Tunisia.

After arriving at the Nice training base, assistant coach Rhodes distributed room keys.Two people share a room. Among the five Manchester United players, Jost and Beckham share a room, and Scholes and Gary Neville share a room.Sheringham shared a room with his strike partner Shearer.

Beckham and Jost came to the room with their luggage, and Jost asked Beckham, "David, you don't snore at night, do you?"

Beckham looked defeated: "Paul, I don't snore."

Jost grinned: "That's great, I snore, and if you're snoring, it's not easy to sleep in this house."

After listening to Jost's words, Beckham felt that he would suffer in the same room with Jost during this trip to France.

(End of this chapter)