Hero of the Penalty Area

Chapter 97 League Cup semi-finals (fourth more monthly ticket)

After easily winning Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool's next opponent is Blackburn, and the game is the League Cup semi-final.

Everyone in the Liverpool reserve team is training hard, because the upcoming League Cup final makes them feel full of strength.

The League Cup is a tasteless one for the stars of Liverpool's first team. It is tasteless and a pity to abandon it.

So they didn't go to the game at the beginning. Only Chen Yingxiong went because he wanted to score goals.

But for the players of the reserve team, this is their rare game opportunity-not exercise, but competition. They don't need exercise now, what they need is competition, a serious competition. Although they also have a reserve team to play, can that kind of game compare to the League Cup and the FA Cup? It's not bad that the reserve league can have at most four or five hundred viewers. TV broadcast? Don't even think about it!

However, in the League Cup, no matter how tasteless it is, it is still possible to sit on more than 20,000 fans, to be able to have TV broadcasts and media attention matches, which are absolutely incomparable in the reserve league.

So everyone values ​​this opportunity very much. They know the league, the Champions League, they are a big deal, and their strength is not qualified. Fortunately, England has two domestic cups, so there is no need to worry about not playing.

Whenever this happens, they are particularly upset. Why should the Premier League teams start from the third round in the League Cup and the FA Cup, instead of directly from the first round? In this way they can play two more games in each cup.

In fact, the players of these reserve teams are willing to play more games not because they like football for such a simple purpose. They also have to consider their own future. There are more games and more opportunities for them to show up, so that they can attract the attention of scouts, get the favor of other teams, and maybe make a good future for themselves.

It’s a pity that such a good opportunity belongs to a very small number of people, so most of the time they are like concubines hidden in the cold palace, still looking forward to being selected by the emperor, pregnant with a dragon, and carp leaping overnight. Longmen was upgraded to a noble concubine, and even a queen.

Although luck is not good, the power is not good, but the right to dream is free, and everyone has it.

So everyone continues to look forward to it and take every League Cup and FA Cup game seriously.

Therefore, they are very grateful and like Chen Yingxiong. Because Chen Yingxiong's arrival gave them more opportunities to compete. If it weren't for Chen Yingxiong, they might have played two or three games at most, and then one season would be over.

Yes, for the first team stars, the end of the season is marked by the last game of the league or the Champions League final. For them, being eliminated in the FA Cup means that their season is over.

After Chen Yingxiong arrives, they can play a few more games and have more chances to show up in front of the media and scouts. For their own future, they naturally have to desperately support Chen Yingxiong. Of course they know that Chen Yingxiong has made the limelight. Everyone is discussing his name, the real protagonist, and what about them? They are all supporting roles.

However, they are also very clear that a person like Chen Yingxiong, no matter how good and the protagonist, cannot be valued by those scouts, because now there are not many teams that can buy him, even if they want to buy it, they still have it. It depends on whether Liverpool sells or not. So even if Chen Yingxiong is doing well, scouts will not come to observe Chen Yingxiong.

Chen Yingxiong's performance will not affect other people at all.

On the contrary, if other people play well, assist Chen Yingxiong with a ball in the game, or fully show their strength in the game, they will be favored by those scouts, and maybe they will be able to transfer successfully. Players who can give themselves the main position.

It doesn't matter if you are just a role player. As long as you complete your mission, you will naturally fall into the eyes of the caring people.

Therefore, Chen Yingxiong is like a catalyst. His presence can drive the performance of other players. Because of him, Liverpool continue to win, and while he gets praise, others will also be praised by the media. Look at the teams that have won the game. In the scoring after the game, there are few players with low scores.

Now it's another League Cup match. Everyone is training hard and looking forward to defeating opponents in the semi-finals with Chen Yingxiong and entering the finals.

I also hope that I can help Chen Yingxiong in the game, even if he is just completing the defensive task, it can at least be regarded as letting Chen Yingxiong have no worries.

※※※

However, before the last day of training before the game, they did not wait for Chen Yingxiong and first team coach Martin O'Neal on the second field.

The head coach of the reserve team, Clark, read out a list of about nine people before the training began.

After reading the list, Clark said: "You follow me to training ground No. 1."

The person who was reading looked at each other.

They can't figure out what's wrong.

They know that the No. 1 training ground is where the first team trains, but they don't understand why they want to go to the first team training ground. Tomorrow is the League Cup semi-final. Instead of staying here to train with the team, we will go to the first team to do what?

If they are usually allowed to go to field one, they must be very happy, because it means that they can train with the first team and have the opportunity to play for the Liverpool first team and play in the league. If you are lucky, you might even be able to play in the Champions League.

But now, they would rather stay in the second field so that they have a chance to play in the semi-finals of the League Cup tomorrow.

That was the semi-final!

There will be more people's attention than usual League Cup matches, and more media and scouts will come. That's a big scene!

It was Clark who answered their puzzles: "You will join the first team in the semi-finals of the League Cup tomorrow!"

As soon as the words were spoken, it caused a commotion among the players!

The selected players suddenly realized that there were expressions of pride and happiness on their faces.

Those who have not been pronounced are disappointed, envious, and jealous.

In the end, the nine lucky guys were taken to Field One by Clark under the envy and hatred of their teammates, and the people who were left seemed to have little thoughts to train.

※※※

After changing the number of jerseys, Chen Yingxiong did not go directly to the training ground. Instead, he left the training ground and prepared to go to the second field. Then he was stopped by the head coach Martin O'Neal.

"Why are you going, hero?"

"Training. Isn't tomorrow the semi-finals?" Chen Yingxiong felt that the boss was too mentally retarded to ask this question. There are usually League Cup matches, but O'Neal waits for him to go, why now he is asking what he is going to do instead.

"Oh, then you don't have to go, you go back." O'Neill nodded when he heard that it was because of this.

"What?" Chen Yingxiong was puzzled.

"Tomorrow's game, I will not send all second-tier teams. At that time, the first and second-tier teams will be mixed, so I asked them to call the first team to train with us."

Chen Yingxiong was stunned for a moment, and then he came to understand.

They have all reached the semi-finals, and one step forward is the final. Even if the boss thinks the League Cup is a tasteless before, it is not a tasteless one at this time.

No one would think that there are few championships. Since this is only two steps away to win the championship, and it is not tired of the first team, why can't you fight for it and win the League Cup?

He also nodded, then turned back to training ground number one.

Now that the head coach has made a decision, he has nothing to say, just follow it. He has no other thoughts about this.

He guessed right, Martin O'Neal is indeed planning to hit the League Cup.

Martin O'Neal did not pay much attention to the League Cup before, because the League Cup has to be played from the third round, and it takes at least five games to reach the final. If there is a tie and a rematch, it will have to be increased.

The risk is too great, the investment is too great, and there is not necessarily a profit, and the cost performance is not high. This kind of competition is naturally tasteless.

But if he puts the League Cup in front of him, it only takes one or two games to add a championship, why not?

Therefore, Martin O’Neal made a decisive decision. Starting from the semifinals, the players of the first team will participate in the battle.

If Liverpool can reach the finals, then even the nine second-tier players will have each, and the main lineup will be fully involved. By then, Liverpool who appeared at Wembley Stadium will be the same as the one in the League and the Champions League.

At that time, Martin O'Neal had only the championship trophy in his eyes.

※※※

Nine second-team players came to the first-team training field. This is not the first time they have come. It is nothing unusual. Their excitement about playing alongside the stars of the first team and then playing the League Cup semi-finals has not passed.

Chen Yingxiong came up to greet them, he felt a little strange: "Why are you just a few of you?"

"Coach Clark only pronounced our names!" The person who answered Chen Yingxiong was very proud. He had a sense of pride that "I am one of the best".

Hearing his answer, Chen Yingxiong frowned slightly.

When he heard the boss say before, he thought it was the entire second team coming to field one. Just like before, he played a game with the first team, and then jumped out of the players in good condition to form a combined column to play in the League Cup. finals.

Unexpectedly, there are only nine people, these nine people only accounted for one-third of all the reserve team, that is to say, there are two-thirds of the reserve players not qualified to participate in the next League Cup semi-final.

But before that, in every League Cup match, there were only teammates from the second team and myself, a person from the first team. The talents of the second team are the main force, but they are actually here to help.

Every second team player has a share. As long as they perform well in training, they can be selected for the final 18-man squad. Excluding yourself, there are still 17 people eligible to participate in the League Cup. It's twice as many as these nine people now.

Chen Yingxiong always felt that something was wrong, but he didn't continue to investigate this issue because the training had already begun.

First team assistant coach Sammy Lee stood on the field and greeted all the players loudly, warming up first, and then training.

The players of the second team joined the warm-up crowd enthusiastically.

Chen Yingxiong followed them, as if he was originally a member of the second team.

※※※

Clark returned to the reserve team and continued his training.

Then he soon discovered that the atmosphere of the reserve team was different from before. Many players' minds were obviously not in training, and many people seemed weak.

He froze for a moment, and then wanted to understand what had happened.

They lost the goal of fighting, and naturally they lost their fighting spirit.

Oops, it seems to have overlooked what the League Cup means to these people. When we were thinking about the problem, we thought that the League Cup is a championship that Liverpool can compete for...

But there is no way. If you still rely on these people, it is hard to say whether you can enter the finals, let alone win the championship in the finals.

For the interests of the team as a whole, now it is only possible to sacrifice the personal interests of these people.

He shouted: "All cheer up!"

No effect.

He sighed.

Forget it, let them go. Anyway, the reserve team is a place where there is no hope...

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