Chen Xi and several club teammates came to Ipswich the day before the warm-up match. The warm-up match between England and Croatia will be played at Ipswich's home stadium, Portman Road.

Now, there is only one final round of qualifiers left for the Euro 04 Portugal Championship, and the sixteen teams that have appeared are basically settled, while England has already locked a ticket in advance, and Croatia has also advanced to the finals stage in advance. Therefore, such a warm-up match between the two teams can be described as very golden.

With the draw for the European Championship finals yet to take place, there is a chance that England and Croatia will still be in the same group (as they have since been).

The managers of both teams attach great importance to this warm-up match, so the players selected for the national team squad this time are also seen as very promising to be selected for the final European Championship squad.

In this game, in addition to Chen Xi, Chelsea's central defender John Terry was also selected for the national team for the first time. Of course, his selection also has a lot to do with the absence of Campbell and Woodgate due to injury.

Compared with Chen Xi, who caused a lot of controversy in his selection, Beckham, who returned to the UK for the first time after transferring from Manchester United to Real Madrid, has attracted more attention.

The heartthrob is the captain of the national team, and although he failed to show his form in the warm-up matches for Real Madrid and was questioned by the Spanish media, Eriksen still has a lot of trust in him.

Since both teams are training for the European Championship, the two teams also agreed before the game that they could make 10 substitutions for this game.

Chen Xi, who was selected for the national team for the first time, was a little nervous, but fortunately, he had four club teammates with him, so that he would not fight alone. In fact, everyone in this England team is an opponent in the Premier League, so they are all familiar.

Liverpool and Manchester United are the rivals who have contributed the most players to the national team, with Liverpool contributing five and Manchester United contributing four, plus Beckham, who has just left Manchester United, the two teams are evenly matched.

Naturally, the players from a club team get closer together, like a small group, but there is no opposition between such small groups in the dressing room. Obviously, everybody knows one thing, and that is that when you get to the national team, they are a collective, unlike in the league, you are from Liverpool, he is from Manchester United, he is from Arsenal.

Due to the tight schedule, the England team only had two joint training sessions, and some players who are often selected for the national team are fine, while players like Chen Xi who are selected for the first time or rarely selected need to adapt to the team's tactics.

Although in the league, the Premier League teams are basically in the same 442 formation as the national team, but there are still big differences in specific tactics.

As the team's fullback, when Chen Xi is fighting in the team, Eriksen will often ask him to return to defense, which makes Chen Xi a little uncomfortable. After all, whether at Tottenham or Liverpool, the coach will not let him defend because of his excellent attacking ability, but give him full freedom.

Now in the national team, Chen Xi can only adapt to the team's tactics, at least before he has a foothold in the national team, he can't ask the team to formulate tactics around him.

In training, Chen Xi has always been on the bench, but he knows that he will always have a chance to play in the game, it just depends on the length of play.

After a brief training camp, England welcomed Croatia at Portman Road the following evening.

In Eriksen's starting lineup, Chen Xi's name did not appear, and he was mentally prepared for this Chen Xi, so he just honestly came to the bench and sat on the bench before the game started like the other substitutes.

"Okay, the players from both teams are playing, let's take a look at their starting lineups......"

England starting line-up (4-4-2):

Goalkeepers: JamesDefenders: Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Ashley ColeMidfielders: David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Barth, Steven GerrardForwards: Heskey, Owen' In the starting line-up, Manchester United and Liverpool each had three places, Liverpool's Steven Gerrard was dropped into the left-back position by Christian Eriksen, and the young Chelsea captain John Terry appeared in the starting line-up for the first time in the national team, and he will form a central defensive partnership with Rio Ferdinand. Thomas Edison, who had been the focus of attention before the game, did not appear in the starting line-up, but he was sure to come off the bench in the second half. ”

Croatia starting line-up (4-4-2):

Goalkeeper; Pletticosa defenders: Robert Kovac, Simic, Simunic, KivkovicMidfielders: Thomas, Nick Kovac, Leko, Lapacc Forwards: Marić, Olic "Croatia also has the strongest lineup, which shows that their team also attaches great importance to this game! ”

Looking at a group of players in the Croatian team, Chen Xi only knows a little about the Kovac brothers, and these two can be regarded as a more famous brother combination in world football.

The pair had played side by side at Bayern Munich in the previous two seasons, but with the transfer of brother Nico Kovac to Hertha Berlin this season, the brothers were separated at the club.

At the same time, seeing his teammate Gerrard being put in the left position, Chen Xi knew that he would definitely have a place in the main squad of the England national team in the future, after all, he was one of the best left midfielders in the Premier League.

However, Chen Xi can't help but worry about Gerrard, after all, Gerrard's most suitable central midfield position, Manchester United's Paul Scholes firmly controls this position.

Although it was only a warm-up match, after the game began, the two sides cautiously made some tentatives.

Even after eight minutes of play, both teams were unable to complete a decent shot on goal. But in the ninth minute of the game, there was an accident.

Beckham's cross caused a handball foul on the Croatian player in the box, and the referee decisively awarded a penalty!

Beckham, captain, opted to take the penalty himself, and his shot was denied to give England an early lead.

"The ball is in! David Beckham scored in his first game back in England and he showed his fine form on home soil! ”

After England broke the deadlock first, the game didn't get any better, but the atmosphere was much more hot, and three minutes after that penalty, Nico Kovac was booked for a foul on Bart.

Bart then drew a foul on Croatia, but the referee didn't show a card.

Halfway through the first half, John Terry, who was making his first appearance for England, also touched the ball with his hand in the box, but he escaped punishment from the referee, much to the displeasure of the Croatian.

A few minutes later, a foul on Huskey on the edge of the box gave England a free-kick.

This excited the England fans in the stands, who clearly wanted to see the Beck arc firsthand.

It's a pity that Beckham's free kick hit the wall directly and popped up, which disappointed the fans.

The time of the first half was more than hot, and the excitement gradually passed, until the referee blew the whistle at the end of the first half, and the score of 1-0 did not change again.

In the dressing room at half-time, Eriksen did not make a massive change in one go.

He simply replaced Nicky Butt, who had suffered a minor injury in the first half due to that Nico Kovac foul, with Frank Lampard. James was then replaced with substitute goalkeeper Robinson.

Chen Xi, who was watching Eriksen, did not wait for the Swede's instructions to assign him to play, he could only continue to wait for the opportunity in frustration.

Soon after the start of the second half, England created another dangerous attack.

Still from the right, David Beckham, the England captain's signature cross found Owen in the box, and in the Croatian captain's box, Owen completed a header that flew straight into the bottom left corner of the goal.

“goooooooal！ Michael~~~ Owen! Not dominant in height, he scored with a header that he was not good at, and of course Beckham also had a lot of credit for it, as his cross almost went around the defender and found Owen's head, giving Owen the chance to complete the fatal blow! ”

Seeing that the team had a two-goal lead at the start of the second half, Eriksen also called five players directly from the bench and told them to warm up.

Chen Xi is one of these five, some fans in the stands also cheered excitedly after seeing Chen Xi warm up, obviously, Chen Xi's crazy performance last season has allowed him to conquer many English fans!

Finally, in the 60th minute of the game, Chen Xi and several warm-up players were called to the sidelines.

"Okay, it looks like England are going to make a big substitution, we've seen Thomas Edison in the middle of it, and this will be his first performance for the England team......

Since many players are temporarily recruited into the team, today's jersey number is also more casual, Chen Xi also chose a No. 13 jersey that he once wore at Tottenham, because no one wants to wear this number...... "Okay, we saw Upson replace Ferdinand, Joe Cole replaced Beckham, Bridge replaced Ashley Cole, Beatty replaced Hesky, Edison replaced Scholes! ”

After high-fives and hugging Scholes, Chen Xi officially stepped on the court, which also heralded the official start of his England national team journey!

Chen Xi came on at left midfield, while Steven Gerrard returned to the middle to form a central midfield partnership with Frank Lampard, with Joe Cole on the right.

Just about a minute into the game, Chen Xi completed his first touch of the ball, and it was club teammate Steven Gerrard who passed the ball for him.

After receiving the ball, Chen Xi was not polite, and rushed up directly with the ball. Off the court, he's been holding back for more than an hour. It's a very uncomfortable feeling of just being able to watch other people play.

Therefore, Chen Xi wants to seize this half-hour opportunity to prove himself, just like when he represented Tottenham in the League Cup qualifier for the first time, and that time it only took him 20 minutes to successfully impress coach Hoddle and gradually start his main career.

Chen Xi faced Robert Kovac, who was put in the right-back position, although the Croatian is not tall, but the body is very strong, he usually plays at central defender at Bayern, and in the national team is a cameo full-back from time to time!

For such a powerful defender, Chen Xi didn't dare to underestimate him, but he didn't plan to let go of the opportunity to perform!

Slowing down his pace slightly, after facing Robert Kovacs, Chen Xi suddenly took the ball forward with his right foot and seemed to be about to burst from the bottom line. Just when Robert Kovacs was about to post it, he found that Chen Xi was like magic, pulling back the ball that was originally going to be kicked in the direction of the bottom line, from the bottom to the inside!

"Beautiful! This is Edison's signature move, flicking the tail, and he completed his first performance with the national team with such a magical performance! ”

Although Robert Kovic had heard that Chen Xi was a difficult guy before, he didn't expect his skills at his feet to be so good, so he was almost unable to fight back and was shaken by Chen Xi!

The younger brother was bullied by Chen Xi, and the elder brother Nico Kovacs immediately made up for it, ready to breathe a sigh for his younger brother!

Nico Kovacs is slightly shorter than Robert Kovacs, but his long hair does not hide the fierce look on his face, and he looks like a fierce waist!

Chen Xi paid attention to his surroundings, and none of his teammates were in a good position, so he didn't pass the ball.

He got past Robert Kovac and headed diagonally towards the box, while Nico Kovac rushed towards him.

Chen Xi watched all this with his peripheral vision, and just as Nico Kovac was about to stick to himself, Chen Xi suddenly swiped the ball back with the outside of his right foot and passed under the crotch of the ill-prepared Nico Kovac. Chen Xi also braked suddenly, bypassed behind Nico Kovac, and after receiving the ball again, Chen Xi did not give the Croatian a chance to make up for the defense, and directly shot into the far corner with the inside of his right foot!

The ball made a wonderful arc in the air, bypassing the crowd in the box and flying towards the far corner of the goal!

Croatia's goalkeeper Pletikosa was obviously a little unprepared for Chen Xi's one-shot action, and he was obviously slow when he made another side pounce. The ball flew almost into the far post!

“what~a~goooooooooooal！！！ Edison ~~~~~~ Chen !! It was Edison's first performance for England, and on his first pick up the ball after coming on the pitch, he scored with such a brilliant back-to-back breakaway! It's incredible, it's like he was born to work miracles! ”

After scoring the goal, Chen Xi excitedly took off his jersey and rushed to the stands with his jersey brandish!

Even he himself could not have imagined that his first international goal would come so quickly. Therefore, even though it was just a warm-up game, Chen Xi celebrated wildly.

The fans in the stands also bought it very much, and sent huge cheers and applause to Chen Xi.

Eriksen, who was on the sidelines, was also smiling at this time, knowing that the problem on the left side of the England national team had been solved. If there is any flaw in England's luxurious squad, it is that the team has two positions.

In the goalkeeper position, the England team has not been able to find a stable country since Seaman withdrew from the national team, if it is just a general strength, but these England internationals are like a curse, no matter how good and stable they are in the league, once they get to the national team, they always have to make some outrageous mistakes, which makes Eriksen very worried.

There is also the center forward position, Heskey is very physical, but his scoring ability is too poor, Beattie's performance in the league is very good, but in the national team he can't play as good as Southampton!

While Eriksen was thinking about these issues, Chen Xi and his teammates also returned to their positions after celebration.

Seeing that the score was expanded to 3-0, the Croatian players obviously felt that they couldn't hold their faces, they knew the gap between themselves and the England team, but the opponent had rotated most of the substitutes, if they couldn't get one or two goals back, then they didn't have the face to face some fans who rushed here to cheer for the national team!

So after the restart, the Croatian players began to attack wildly.

Croatia's two strikers, Marić, are tough strikers who have been playing for Germany for a long time, while the other striker, Orić, is a quicker player who starts to press up front.

The two strikers were not very capable of scoring, and the few chances created by the midfielders were squandered by them.

But in the seventy-second minute of the game, Orić's active scramble in the front court was an excellent opportunity!

Upson and Terry, the two leading central defenders of the national team, made a mistake in coordination, and Orich took the opportunity to break the ball and went directly into the penalty area.

Although James chose to attack at the first time, Orić managed to hit the ball into the goal!

"Oh~~ The ball is in! Orić helped Croatia pull a goal back, and it was a gift from ourselves. Terry and Upson are both obviously a little nervous! Paul Mortenson said depressedly that when commenting on the national team games, he can still be a little biased towards his surname.

The morale of the Croatian team, who pulled back the goal, was boosted and their attack became more and more fierce. Even in the warm-up game, they want to give the strong England team a little bit of goodness.

Croatia's successive attacks made the England backline look more and more flustered. Fortunately, Terry and Upson were unaffected by the mistake. They calmly ruined several chances for Croatia to attack!

In the 76th minute, Eriksen made another substitution, with Carragher coming on for John Terry and Mills coming on for Gary Neville.

In this way, on the entire field, only Gerrard and Owen were not replaced. Eriksen actually wants to see if the Red Army's three musketeers, who are infinitely beautiful in the league, can spark in the national team!

The Reds trio did not disappoint Eriksen, and in the final ten minutes of the game, the three of them completed a simple and effective combination up front!

Gerrard dribbled the ball up front and passed it to Owen, who had retreated to the edge of the box.

Owen leaned on the defender behind him, did not stop the ball, but directly rubbed the situation, and hoisted the ball into the left rib of the penalty area!

Originally, Chen Xi's side was inserted into the penalty area like a gust of wind at this time, and in the face of Owen's appropriate pass, he didn't even need to adjust at all, and directly picked up his left foot, and the ball hit the far corner of the goal like a cannonball!

The Croatian team's substitute goalkeeper Butina, who replaced Pletikosa in the second half, didn't even have time to make a subconscious save, and could only watch the ball fly into the far corner!

Boom~~~ The England fans in the stands couldn't help but cheer for this wonderful combination.

“goooooooooooal！！！ Edison! Edison! Edison! It was a combination from the Liverpool trio who brought their excellent form in the league to the national team and played a classic combination! Edison scored his second goal of the game with a bombardment, and he scored twice in the first international game, which was definitely a fantastic start! ”

This time, Chen Xi didn't celebrate too excitedly after the goal, he just rushed to Owen, who assisted him, and gave him a hug, and Gerrard also ran over as soon as possible. The image of the three people hugging each other made many Liverpool fans in front of the TV excited. Yes, that goal was entirely made by Liverpool!

Eriksen, who was on the sidelines, couldn't help but applaud this wonderful combination, in his opinion, the three of them are quite tacit understanding, and if the cooperation between them can be transplanted to the national team, he can save a lot of worry. After all, the national team doesn't spend as much time training together as the club, and this kind of mature attacking routine is what the national team needs.

At this time, Eriksen also used up the last substitution, which was to replace Irving with Dyer. Dyer is a native of Ipswich Town and Eriksen's substitution was purely a way for him to get a feel for the warmth of the fans back home.

Sure enough, when Dynay appeared on the sidelines, many local Ipswich fans in the stands gave their own applause, which was their own international player. Although Dyer did not play for his hometown team, he is still a hero to Ipswich Town fans!

Dyer is a winger, but his speed and technique also allow him to play as a striker and midfielder, and this time Eriksen brought him on the pitch to play next to centre-forward Beattie as a shadow striker.

Dyer is clearly not as dangerous as Owen for the Croatians, while Beattie continues his poor form with the national team, with Chen Xi and Joe Cole delivering precise crosses that were squandered by Beatty.

Just when everyone thought the game was about to end 4-1, Dyer's position on the edge of the box was violated by the opponent, and England won a well-placed free-kick opportunity!

The free-kick was in much the same position as Beckham's free-kick in the first half, but he was off the pitch now.

"Who will take the penalty for this ball? There were a few free-kick takers on the pitch, but there was no doubt that Edison was the best free-kick player on the pitch! ”

At this time, many people set their eyes on Chen Xi. Those who know him well know that his free-kick percentage is quite high. Last season, he was not only the top scorer in European football, but also the player who scored the most free-kicks. His free-kick shooting percentage is difficult to match even free-kick masters like David Beckham and Carlos.

The players of the England team are also very knowledgeable, and as opponents in the Premier League, they obviously know how terrifying Chen Xi's free kick is, so no one fights him for this goal.

Dyer, who was at the place of the foul, handed the ball directly to Chen Xi's hand, Chen Xi smiled at the result, and did not forget to say thank you.

The eyes of the scene were focused on Chen Xi, because once he scored this free kick, he would complete his hat trick! How amazing would it be to score a hat-trick on his debut for the national team?

After setting the ball, Chen Xi retreated a few steps away, the ball was about less than 30 meters away from the goal, and the position was slightly to the left, which is the favorite position of the right-footed player!

Beep~~~ The referee's whistle sounded, and Chen Xi also started his own run. He planted his left foot in the open space to the left of the ball, and the inside of his right foot slammed into the bottom of the ball!

The ball spun over the top of the wall and flew towards the near corner of the goal!

Butina, who had nothing to do about Chen Xi's volley just now, had been concentrating all the time, wanting to be ashamed. But when he actually saw the ball whizzing towards the goal, he felt a sense of powerlessness in his heart.

Even if he made the first save, he was defeated by a free-kick with impeccable power, speed, angle and curvature!

“unbelievable！！！ Unbelievable! Incredible! Edison really scored a hat-trick! It was his first international game, and he came off the bench in the second half, but it took him just twenty minutes to score a hat-trick! It's an incredible miracle! At the same time, he also became the youngest player in the history of the England national team to score a hat-trick! He's a record finisher! ”

Boom~~~ The moment the ball crossed the wall and fell into the goal, the fans of the entire Portman Road stadium erupted in crazy cheers.

Eriksen on the sidelines was also pleasantly surprised, originally he thought that Chen Xi needed to slowly adapt to the playing style of the national team, and three days later, there was still a round of league to play, for the purpose of protection, Eriksen did not give Chen Xi too much playing time. But I didn't expect that for Chen Xi, the playing time didn't seem to affect his performance!

After the goal, Chen Xi rushed to the sidelines excitedly again, he came to a passionate kneeling, and then was surrounded by his teammates in the middle. It took him just 30 minutes to conquer the fans of England and his team-mates in the national team.

Yes, such a strong player, everyone would like to be his teammate and not an opponent!

Beckham, who was on the sidelines, had mixed emotions at this time, and as the captain of the national team, he was happy that the team had such a talented player. But after Chen Xi came, there was a question, if he and himself were on the field, who would be punished for the set-piece?

You must know that after Beckham joined Real Madrid, even though Carlos, Figo and Zidane in the Real Madrid team are all free kick masters, the team still arranged the right to take free kicks to Beckham.

Now Chen Xi's fame may not be as big as those superstars of Real Madrid, but he is better than these superstars in free kick kung fu!

Eriksen also suddenly realized the problem. David Beckham is England's number one star and captain, and set-pieces are his famous skills, and if he is deprived of this power, it will be a very big blow to him.

But Eriksen also knows that in terms of the scoring rate of free kicks alone, Chen Xi is higher than Beckham!

Eriksen was caught in a sweet frustration when other managers wanted a top-class set-piece player and he had two at once.

At this time, Chen Xi also returned to his own half, with a somewhat pleasant smile on his face.

In just three days, I managed to score two hat-tricks, which is a great feeling!

The smiling Chen Xi has become an out-and-out devil in the eyes of the Croatian players at this time, and the game is about to end. The score of 5-1 was also a foregone conclusion. The Croatian just wants the game to be over soon.

In the end, with the referee's whistle, the game ended, and England won 5-1 in this warm-up match.

After the game, Chen Xi and his teammates high-fived and celebrated one by one, and he also politely declined the request of one of the Croatian players to exchange jerseys.

It's not that Chen Xi is playing the score, but for him, this jersey has a profound meaning to him, so he also hopes to keep this jersey himself.

As the best player in this game, Chen Xi had to accept the siege of the media after the game, and even the heartthrob Beckham, who returned to China for the first time after the transfer, was overshadowed by him!

(To be continued)