Volume 1: Playing football with me will break your legs Chapter 72 We are not good kids!
The Premier League points were calculated incorrectly before. Liverpool is not seventh in the Premier League at this time, but eighth.
…
Because it was too cold in the morning and not suitable for outdoor sports, Adre postponed the last training session to the afternoon.
Although it is called training, it is actually more of a warm-up activity. After all, they will face Liverpool in a few hours. The most important task is to keep the players' bodies excited and get into the game early.
There are 32 matches in this round of the FA Cup, of which only 8 are eligible for television broadcasting. Due to the previous success of the underdogs defeating the strong at Wimbledon, especially the eye-catching provocation of Li Polo at the press conference, the Wilders vs. Liverpool became the most watched duel.
In order to attract the greatest number of television viewers, the event organizers scheduled their game to 7:55 in the evening, at which time the sun had already set in London for several hours!
At 5:30 p.m., the Wimbledon players finished their dinner , leaving their stomachs with plenty of time to digest.
By 7 o'clock, they had completed the first round of field adaptation at the King's Meadow with the home advantage, and Liverpool had just been approved to enter the visiting team's locker room.
It was not until 7:30 that Brendan Rodgers and his players stepped onto the field and took the time to adapt to the grass.
"Damn, this grass is too soft!"
A master only needs to take two steps to know what his opponent is thinking.
Coutinho, who has exquisite skills, immediately told his coach and teammates:
"They want to limit our passing!"
If the grass is too soft and slippery, the football will roll faster than usual, it will be more difficult for players to control the strength when passing the ball, and it will be more difficult to brake in time when sprinting, which is not very friendly to technical players.
However, it is the most suitable for a low-level team like Wimbledon, whose main tactics are wide-open and long passes!
The game was about to start in a dozen minutes. Rogers had no way to deal with this little trick and could only wave his hand:
"Hurry up and get ready to line up!"
…
At 7:45, there were only 10 minutes left before the game officially started.
Li Polo and his teammates had listened to the last words of advice from the coaching team and began to check their equipment.
The door of the locker room was pushed open by club manager Powell:
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to bother you, but... they want to cheer you up."
He pointed to the five middle-aged men behind him:
"They were all members of the crazy gang that beat Liverpool in the 1988 FA Cup final!"
The players all stood up involuntarily.
Although Powell is the club manager, as a club dominated by the fan association, he himself is also the most loyal fan of the Crazy Gang.
He knows these "historical figures" better than today's coaching staff and players - after all, Adre, Cox, including Li Polo and Akinfenwa, they can only be regarded as emotionless workers.
I just heard him introduce the players one by one:
"Our two captains, Beatson, Kyle, the legendary striker who scored the winning goal, Laurie Sanchez, the bad boy who gave the winning assist, Danny Wise, and this, today's movie star, Vinnie Jones!"
Although the current Crazy Gang is no longer the same, with more than half of the players on loan and lacking in-depth knowledge of the team's history, and no sense of identity or belonging, everyone still felt their blood boiling when these legends shook hands and hugged them.
Vinnie Jones, who starred in Hollywood blockbusters such as "X-Men 3", "Condemned", and "Escape Plan", grinned at them and glanced at Li Polo:
"You were the one who provoked Liverpool?"
Li Polo raised his chin:
"That's right."
This "professional villain" slapped him on the shoulder:
"I love you so much, hahaha. Guys, there's nothing to be afraid of. The Liverpool team back then was much stronger than it is now! Didn't they get trampled under our feet?"
The old captain, Beatson, nodded in agreement and gave a final mobilization with one sentence:
"No matter how strong our opponents are, we at Wimbledon are never good kids who just accept our fate!"
…
7:50 pm London time.
3:50 am China time.
With five minutes left before the game whistle, Sina Sports' main commentator Zhan Jun had already started his work.
"Today we are bringing you a focus battle in the third round of the 134th English FA Cup. AFC Wimbledon from the fourth-tier English League Two will host the Premier League's veteran giants Liverpool..."
He only opened the conversation before turning to the sidelines:
"Just three days ago, Liverpool's meritorious captain Steven Gerrard publicly announced that he would leave the team after the end of this season and go to the Major League Soccer. For Liverpool fans all over the world, this news seems so unreal. How to fill Gerrard's role and influence in the team? I'm afraid it will be difficult for Liverpool to handle it. It's very difficult to handle... So Liverpool still has half a season to slowly adapt, slowly adapt to the days when Gerrard is not in the team in the future..."
Although the news had passed, he still couldn't help feeling a little depressed, so much so that he repeated himself unconsciously many times:
"Gerrard is still representing Liverpool today and leading the team as captain. I hope he can perform well."
Liverpool's starting lineup appeared on screen, and he quickly pulled himself out of his emotions:
"Compared to the 2-2 draw with Leicester City last Thursday, Liverpool made four changes today: Lambert, Markovic, Manquillo, and Skrtel who returned from suspension. Coach Li, it can be seen that Rogers did not hold back much today."
His partner is Li Yuankui, the former main defender of the national team. This Tianjin football star who is over 80 years old is still energetic, articulate and quick-witted:
"That's right. Liverpool haven't played well in the league this season. It's unlikely that they will be able to win the championship. If they can win a cup title, it would be a good choice."
Zhan Jun did not comment and began to introduce Liverpool's starting lineup:
"Today's Liverpool insisted on a three-center-back formation. Mignolet is still the goalkeeper. Among the three defenders, Skrtel is in the middle, Sakho and Emre Can are on the left and right respectively. In the frontcourt, Henderson and Lucas form a double waist, Markovic and Manquillo are responsible for the two flanks, Lambert is the striker at the front, and the captain Gerrard and Coutinho have relatively free positions."
Li Yuankui took a look at the players' positions and agreed with his point of view:
"Today we are facing a lower league opponent. Liverpool's defensive pressure should not be too great, and Gerrard can also be freed from his back position and play his role in the offensive end."
Zhan Jun nodded:
"As for the home team Wimbledon, they are the hottest team in English football recently. But not only because of their outstanding performance in the FA Cup, but because of their amazing achievements in all fronts this season."
The commentator, who is famous for his detailed statistics, began to look through his notes:
"As a fourth-tier team, they are far ahead in the English League Two, and have won three cups, the FA Cup, the League Cup, and the English Championship, which can be said to be a triumphant victory on all four fronts. Of course, it must be mentioned that they slaughtered the Red Devils Manchester United with a huge score of 4:0 in the second round of the League Cup, causing the Dutch coach to refuse any interviews after the game and even received a fine and ban from the English Football Association..."
When talking about Manchester United, Zhan Jun was very calm and did not reveal that he was a Liverpool fan:
"What made this match the most talked-about topic in England was the fact that the young Chinese player in their team, Li Polo, made a very provocative statement at the pre-match press conference yesterday, which completely set off the entire football world!"
Li Yuankui laughed:
"This is a newborn calf that is not afraid of a tiger. Although Liverpool is not at its peak, a lean camel is still bigger than a horse. A fourth- tier team is provoking them like this, obviously trying to start a psychological warfare, making Liverpool players feel angry and more likely to make mistakes on the court..."
Zhan Jun also laughed, then glanced at Wimbledon's starting lineup.
Although he had commented on the League Cup before, he still had no impression of most of the players. He could only read out the numbers perfunctorily and then picked a representative figure:
"Except for the main goalkeeper who can't play, Wimbledon's main players are all out, especially their striker, Akinfenwa, who is known as the strongest striker in the universe. He is 1.8 meters tall and weighs more than 200 kilograms. Let's see if he can pose a threat to Liverpool's defense?"
It seemed as if the director in front heard his commentary, the camera lens just switched to the player channel, and Akinfenwa, who was eight feet tall and had a waist circumference of eight feet, appeared on the screen.
Li Yuankui also exclaimed:
"Haha~ This physique looks stronger than both of Liverpool's forwards!"
The camera started from Akinfenwa and Lambert at the back, gradually moved towards the players in the front, and then came to the captains of both teams.
On the left is Gerard in red and on the right is Fuller in blue.
The red-blue battle finally kicked off.
