England, the originator of modern football, once won the World Cup, and has one of the European giants of the famous "golden generation" such as Owen, Lampard, Gerrard, etc., lacks excellent goalkeepers?

To this question, the answer is the same for almost everyone who follows the England national team. That is—lack, and it's a thief's lack.

Since the 02 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, when the reliable world-class goalkeeper Seaman was completely played by Ronaldinho, who had not yet joined Barcelona at the time, with a strange arc, the position of England goalkeeper is like a curse, which has made all England fans frightened.

First of all, Seaman has suffered from a parabolic nightmare since then, and a generation of England goalkeepers has gone downhill since then, and England's main goalkeeper has gradually drifted away. After Seaman retired from the national team and the England goalkeeper position entered the post-Seaman era, England fans were even more saddened to find that their original birthplace of modern football could not find an excellent goalkeeper to replace Seaman at the moment.

When Italy has Gianluigi Buffon and Spain has Casillas, the England national team can only choose the tallest of the short, digging out Manchester City's main goalkeeper David James and Tottenham's main goalkeeper Paul Robinson, and letting them compete for the position of England's starting main goalkeeper.

And what is the strength and performance of these two, Swede Eriksen, as the head coach of England, is probably the most vocal. Eriksen's assessment of both of them is very simple – they're both cheats.

The performances of these two in their respective clubs are actually quite good, but what makes Eriksen very troublesome and puzzled is why they have become a time bomb in front of their own door as soon as they arrive at the national team, and the occasional low-level mistake can simply blow him up.

James and Robinson, while both good in terms of other goalkeeper qualities, are by no means satisfactory to Eriksen as England manager in the crucial aspect of consistency. Regardless of how they perform at their respective clubs, at least, in Eriksen's eyes, that's how they perform in their national team.

Among them, David James, who is currently leading in the competition for the position of England's starting main goalkeeper, has a nickname that can make Eriksen thunderous - "Disaster James".

Moreover, this does not mean that Robinson, the England No. 2 international who has the best chance of becoming England's starting main goalkeeper other than James, is much better. In Eriksen's view, the reason why the Tottenham goalkeeper's reputation in the national team is better than Robinson is entirely because he is currently a substitute, does not have many opportunities to play, and the attention is much lower than that of James, who is the main starter.

If you really want to talk about real strength and performance, it is really difficult to compliment, and it is not much better. This is what Eriksen came to after seeing his performances first-hand in training and matches for the national team.

Therefore, for Eriksen, who is the coach of England, it is no longer a problem whether the England national team lacks a goalkeeper at all. Whenever he thinks that the only people in front of his team's door are these two big custom bombs, Eriksen's heart aches.

For this, he did not think about digging the potential among England's young goalkeepers. But what disappointed him was that although the England national team currently has a "golden generation" that has been blown up by the domestic media in England, what is missing in this "golden generation" is the goalkeeper position.

After officially entering the Euro 04 year, Eriksen was already desperate for the goalkeeper position, and could only pray that James and Robinson could stay healthy, because he didn't want to see a bigger time bomb stand in front of his team's door.

However, at this moment, an unfamiliar Asian name suddenly broke into his field of vision through the hype and dissemination of the English media, which made him can't help but think about an excellent goalkeeper from the sky.

At the beginning of the season, when the English media began to hype the news that Li Lei, a rookie goalkeeper, had replaced Barthez, the current starting goalkeeper of the French national team, Eriksen did not care about the Asian name. In his opinion at that time, Li Lei was a "star" who was hyped up by the media, and it would never last long, but would only become a meteor in a flash.

However, when Li Lei replicated Ikita's scorpion tail swing to save the goal in the game, this situation began to change. Eriksen, who is eager to find talent in the goalkeeper position, began to secretly pay attention to Li Lei's situation without anyone knowing, until now.

Through this, Eriksen actually has a very clear judgment about Li Lei in his heart - this Asian young man is indeed a talented goalkeeper, at least now, it seems that he is far more reliable than Robinson and James.

But at the same time, Li Lei's unruly, maverick, and often troublesome personality behavior, as well as his forward-looking and bold goalkeeper play, also made Eriksen, the traditional head coach, shake his head and retreat three points, which is difficult to agree with and appreciate.

However, this is not the reason why Eriksen has only maintained a wait-and-see attitude towards Li Lei so far and has not made any call-up. The most critical problem is still in Li Lei's yellow complexion.

After becoming England's manager, Eriksen developed a deep understanding of the stubbornness and arrogance of the once empire on which the sun never sets. Even though he is a white man and has a good teaching resume in Lazio in the past, he is still questioned and dissatisfied with this "outsider" from all over England.

Since the day he became England manager, there has been no cessation of calls in England to replace him as an "outsider" with an English manager and defend the dignity and face of the originator of modern football. And after the failure of the 02 World Cup, this call is even more noisy.

Although he is still in the England manager's position so far, he is well aware that this year's Euros in Portugal will be his last chance to prove himself, if he wants to continue his job as England national team manager with a whopping £4 million a year.

It can be said that the pressure on his performance is definitely not small.

Considering this pressure, is it really appropriate to boldly recruit Li Lei, a Chinese, into the national team, and let himself and the national team fall into a huge whirlpool of public opinion again before the start of the European Cup?

This is the main obstacle to Eriksen's hesitation to this day about whether to recruit Li Lei. But hesitation is hesitation, Li Lei's increasingly more stable and outstanding performance on the pitch has been seducing the eyes of Eriksen, who is thirsty for goalkeepers, making him reluctant to give up.

Today, after watching another performance of Li Lei against Arsenal, who have been invincible this season, and then facing questions from his assistant coach, Eriksen had to admit that he was already moved.

"Book me tickets for Old Trafford for the weekend." After pondering for a long time, Eriksen took a deep breath and said resolutely to the assistant coach beside him.

"Sven, you-"

"I'm going to see for myself how this little guy performs on the spot."

After saying that, Eriksen's eyes looked at Li Lei, who was being interviewed by a routine post-match reporter on the TV screen, and almost wrote the three words of reluctance on his face.

Eyes burning!

Full of urgency!

Craving!!