Full-level pass, please call me the speaker of the Three Lions

Chapter 103 The last penalty, a penalty kick to win! (A four thousand word chapter)
Before the game, most fans and football commentators who predicted that Arsenal would resolve the battle within 10 minutes were impressed by Leicester City's tenacious performance.

They never expected that a British Championship team would be able to play inextricably with the "Gunners" Arsenal, who have always been in the top four of the Premier League. In the end, the winner was determined by penalty kicks.

This made them think about a question:
Is Arsenal too weak or Leicester City too strong?
For Leicester City fans and supporters, Leicester City's fighting spirit and desire to win in this final made them extremely happy.

They can't wait to see how Leicester City will perform in the top league after being promoted to the Premier League!
Players from both sides came to the sidelines to replenish water, and the head coaches of both sides began to arrange penalty kick candidates.

Judging from the penalty shootout experience of both sides, Arsenal has a certain upper hand.

Although neither Arsenal nor Leicester City specifically practiced penalty kicks before the game.

However, when Arsenal faced Wigan Athletic in the semi-finals, they were eliminated through penalty kicks.

Leicester City had a penalty shootout for the first time this season.

And it's still in a key game like the FA Cup final.

The player taking the penalty will definitely be under tremendous pressure.

Therefore, the first player must be the one with the best penalty kick skills and the most confidence in the team.

Looking over the players' faces, Pearson was the first to speak:
"Jamie, you go first!"

Hearing this, Vardy just nodded sternly.

Putting Jamie first was the easiest choice to make.

Vardy, the team's top scorer and a perfect hit on penalty kicks in the league, is undoubtedly the first candidate to take the penalty spot!
"Anthony (Connoquet), you're second."

"Andy (King), you're third."

"Danny (Drinkwater), your fourth."

"Ling, you are fifth!"

Everyone was a little surprised to hear that the head coach assigned Ling Feng, the youngest member of the team, as the fifth most critical free throw candidate.

But no one spoke out to object or raise objections.

Of course, Pearson had his own considerations in making such a decision.

First of all, Ling Feng's physical fitness is one of the best players on the team.

In a penalty shootout, it often happens that players' shots are deformed in an instant due to lack of physical fitness, causing the shot to fly or miss.

Therefore, the better the physical fitness, the less likely it is that mistakes will occur in the shooting action.

Secondly, Ling Feng is recognized by the team as a big-time player.

The more critical the moment, the more this young man can calmly respond to the unpredictable situation on the court and make the most reasonable decision.

Many times when the team is behind, assisting teammates or scoring goals to make a comeback are all clear examples!
What's more, without Ling Feng's two assists, they would not have been able to drag the game into a penalty shootout.

Therefore, no matter what the consideration is, it is reasonable to let Ling Feng take the last penalty kick.

As for the head coach's arrangement, Ling Feng was stunned for a moment, then nodded seriously to show that he understood.

Being assigned as the last one to shoot the penalty kick, Ling Feng felt the head coach's trust in him.

There is definitely pressure.

After all, this penalty shootout is related to Leicester City's first FA Cup championship in more than 100 years of team history.

Having reached the final and having a fierce battle with Arsenal for 120 minutes, Ling Feng certainly hopes to win this championship.

Therefore, in his opinion, what he has to do now is to put these distracting thoughts behind and focus on this penalty kick.

This is the first penalty kick of his career.

No matter what, it has to go in!
As for whether you can win in the end, it depends on the performance of your teammates and opponents.

If all his teammates score and his opponent misses two, he doesn't even have to play.

Or maybe the opponent scores all his shots, but his teammates miss two, and he doesn't have to play.

Football is never a one-person sport.

All he can do is to do what he can do well!

After asking the assistant coach to hand over the penalty order list to the fourth official, Pearson came to his players again.

He knew very well that even if they entered the penalty shootout, they were still at a disadvantage.

Because the opponent's goalkeeper Fabianski saved two of the opponent's penalty kicks in the penalty shootout against Wigan Athletic in the semi-finals.

Therefore, he has a certain psychological advantage when entering the penalty shootout again.

Of course, Pearson did not tell his disciples about this.

At this time, the last thing you should do is increase the psychological pressure on the players.

Therefore, Pearson just shared the opponent's goalkeeper Fabianski's saving habits with his disciples, and then stood in a circle with his disciples and shouted a loud cheering slogan:

"Blue fox, go forward!"

. . .

After a coin toss, Leicester City got the opportunity to take the first penalty.

In a penalty shootout, any detail may affect the final result.

Among them, according to FIFA statistics, the team that takes the penalty first has a [-]% chance of winning.

This is easy to understand.

Taking the penalty first in the penalty shootout does have a certain advantage.

The penalty shootout, excluding the element of luck, is a psychological game between players.

From the perspective of psychological pressure, the first one to take the penalty has the greatest pressure, but it can put pressure on the opponent.

As long as the first player to take the penalty takes the lead, the pressure on the opponent's player who takes the penalty will increase by one point, and the pressure on his own teammates will be reduced by one point.

Of course, this probability issue does not apply to every penalty shootout.

Just like Arsenal played against Wigan Athletic in the semi-finals, Wigan Athletic took the lead in taking the penalty, but missed the penalty one after another.

There are too many factors that affect the penalty shootout, such as luck, mentality, shooting skills, etc. The coaches and players on both sides can only find ways to tilt the victory balance in their favor.

Nothing more
The first player of the Blue Fox to take a penalty was Vardy.

He took the ball from the referee and slowly walked to the penalty spot amidst the boos and cheers in the stadium.

Putting the ball in place and straightening it, Vardy slowly retreated.

No more, no less, after taking three steps back, he stopped.

Then, he stared at the turf in front of the ball, waiting for the referee's whistle to sound, and then he suddenly started to rush towards the ball.

The moment he shot, he didn't look at the goal at all, he just shot with a bang!
Great speed and angle!

Although Fabianski pounced in the right direction, he did not touch the ball.

After scoring the penalty kick, Vardy immediately celebrated by pumping his fist to the cheering fans in the stands.

The Leicester City players standing in a row at the center circle applauded him.It's Arsenal's turn.

The first Arsenal player to take a penalty was the team's veteran Rosicky.

Obviously, Wenger hopes that Rosicky's rich experience will bring a good start to the penalty shootout.

And Rosicky did not live up to the trust of the "professor".Run-up, push shot, all in one go!

Schmeichel misguessed the direction of the ball and pounced on the other side.

Both players made the first free throw.

The score is one to one.

The second Leicester City player to take a penalty kick was the 21-year-old French former U22 international Anthony Conoket.

Since missing the most important penalty kick in his life in last year's promotion play-offs, Konokat has been practicing penalty kicks and is always ready to stand on the penalty spot again.

By placing him as the second kicker, Pearson also wanted to give him a chance to make up for his regrets last year.

And Conoket did not disappoint Pearson!
I saw him standing in front of the ball, cutting with one foot to the ground, and the ball quickly went into the lower right corner of the goal.After the penalty kick, Conoket suddenly felt that the inner demon that had been lingering in his mind for a whole year disappeared in an instant.

The whole person also relaxed a lot.

The relieved Konokat couldn't help but roar to the sky, then turned around and shook his fist to signal to his teammates in the center circle.

As if to say: "This time, I didn't disappoint you like last year!"

The fans and teammates responded to him with encouraging applause.

Arsenal's second penalty kicker was the team's starting center, Giroud!

In this game, Giroud performed very well. Although he did not score or assist, he gave full play to the fulcrum role of a big center in the frontcourt.

Not only did he fight hand-to-hand with Morgan and Moore in the penalty area, but he also came to the top of the arc from time to time to play ball for teammates who jumped in.

Giroud's performance made French coach Deschamps very satisfied in the stands, and also made Leicester City coach Pearson realize the importance of a big center in the frontcourt.

"Steve, maybe we should ask Brighton how much that Argentinian guy costs."

While Pearson and Walsh were discussing the team's summer signings on the sidelines, Giroud also completed a shot.

The penalty kick taken by Arsenal and the French national team's main center was powerful.

Even if Schmeichel guessed the right direction, he made a judgment in advance.

However, I still watched the ball fly from my fingertips into the net, splashing white waves.

The first two penalty kicks taken by both sides were all scored.

Leicester City's third penalty came from the dedicated team veteran Andy King.

Andy King, who came on as a substitute in overtime, is full of energy and has strong feet.

He blasted a shot directly into the top corner of the goal, continuing to put pressure on Arsenal's next player.

Arsenal's third penalty came from the team's substitute center, Sanogo, who appeared in overtime.

Watching this little black guy bring the ball to his mouth and kiss it, Ling Feng had an inexplicable feeling.

This ball may be missed!
First of all, Xiao Hei's brain has never been very easy to use, and his mental ability to withstand stress is also poor.

Especially in this kind of stressful penalty shootout, the brain is likely to short-circuit.

Secondly, the action of kissing the ball shows that he is unsure and needs to pray to the ball for blessing.

Therefore, Ling Feng stared at Sanogo's back closely and kept muttering in his heart:

"Hit the plane! Hit the plane!"

Perhaps it was his first time participating in a penalty shootout, and in a crucial game like the FA Cup final, Sanogo was indeed a little uneasy.

At the same time, he had been holding back some energy in his heart.

He has very little playing time this season and can only serve as Giroud's substitute in many cases, which makes him feel unsatisfied with his high self-esteem.

He really wanted to prove to Wenger that he was capable of starting the game.

Therefore, when he shot the ball, he exerted almost all his strength, as if he wanted to explode the ball.

The next second, the ball turned into a black afterimage and shot straight towards the top of the goal.

And Schmeichel just subconsciously raised his hands, but failed to block the ball.

Then, there was only a crisp sound of "dang", and the ball that hit the crossbar did not bounce into the goal, but bounced out!

The slightly trembling crossbar also made the hearts of tens of thousands of Gunners fans in the stadium tremble.

Watching Sanogo miss a penalty kick, he invariably showed a mask of incredible pain.

Even Wenger on the sidelines showed a surprised look for the first time.

Immediately afterwards, a look of disappointment flashed across the eyes of the Arsenal godfather.

He knew very well how important this penalty was to Arsenal and him.
Realizing that he might have kicked away the team's best chance of winning the championship in nine years, Sanogo put his head in his hands and suddenly felt that his world had become gray.

Finished!

It's all over!
After standing there in shock for a while, he was called back to the cruel reality by Fabianski's shout.

Turning around, he didn't even dare to look at his teammates. He directly pulled up his jersey to cover his face, lowered his head and returned to the queue in the center circle.

Although they wanted to beat this guy in their hearts, other Arsenal players held back.

Captain Koscielny even patted his shoulder to comfort the compatriot Xiao Hei who was about to cry.

There is no way. Penalty shootouts test the players' mentality too much.

What can they do if their teammates miss a penalty kick?

They are a team.

If you want to win, you can win together; if you want to lose, you can only lose together!

Seeing Sanogo miss the penalty kick, the Leicester City players standing in the center circle breathed a sigh of relief and then clapped in celebration.

They knew very well that they had taken the initiative in this penalty shootout.

There are only the last two free throws left. If they make them all, they will have the last laugh in this fierce battle!
The player who took Leicester City's fourth penalty was "Water Drinker" Drinkwater.

Perhaps it was Sanogo's missed penalty kick that relieved him a lot.

He didn't do anything false, he just shot low and scored the ball steadily!

Fabianski guessed the right direction again but failed to save the ball. He kicked the goal post angrily before walking away from the goal.

Because he knew very well that he failed to save the ball and had only one last chance.

The player who took Arsenal's fourth penalty was Ramsey. The "Reaper" shot mercilessly to the right side of the goal, flying close to the goal post and into the net.

The next second, he opened his arms and raised them towards the red Arsenal fans' stands.

Seeing this, Gunners fans burst into loud cheers.Apparently, Ramsey was trying to influence the players who took Leicester City's final penalty by calling on the fans to cheer for the team.

"Ling, it's up to you."

Amid the blessings of his teammates and the boos of Gunners fans, Ling Feng slowly walked towards the penalty area.

He did not expect that the key to determining the outcome of the game would eventually fall on him!
As long as he scores this penalty kick, the game will be over.

They will be able to win their second championship this season and the first FA Cup championship in Leicester City's 130-year history!

Ling Feng never thought about what would happen if he missed the penalty.

Because, he firmly believes that he will definitely score this penalty kick!

His firm belief made every step he took sonorous and powerful.

Coming to the penalty area, Ling Feng took the ball from the referee and placed it on the penalty spot.

After stepping back a certain distance, he looked at the goal, roughly visually measuring the width of the goal, and then looked away.

He didn't look at goalkeeper Fabianski, he was just thinking about whether to hit the lower left corner or the lower right corner of the goal later.

His shooting skills are not very good, and his shooting power is not very high.

However, his shooting accuracy is still good.

Especially when facing Fabianski, who is 1.9 meters tall and relatively slow on the ground, hitting the two lower corners of the goal is the best choice.

Taking a deep breath, Ling Feng's eyes narrowed and he stared at the ball.

beep!
As the referee's whistle sounded, Ling Feng ran forward and pushed hard with the inner arch of his foot according to the feeling of using [Putter Master] every time!
In an instant, the ball shot out and flew straight to the lower right corner of the goal!

At the same time, Fabianski also flew sideways and pounced on the right side of the goal!
He guessed the right direction!

However, due to the tricky angle of the shot and the fact that it was close to the turf, he didn't get off the ground that quickly.

In the end, before Fabianski's fingertips could touch it, the ball went into the goal from the inside of the goal post!

　No more for tonight. I’m a little tired these days and have stayed up too late. I’ll write again tomorrow.

　　good night everybody
　　
　
(End of this chapter)