Chapter 118 China Overseas Team

Before the Carabao Cup final with Manchester United, Manchester City still has an FA Cup game to play, which is an away game against Aston Villa.

Wansheng has his own considerations for this game.

England has two major cup competitions, the League Cup and the FA Cup. For many top league teams, the League Cup is a tasteless rib, while the FA Cup is the 'tradition of English teams'. This event is in the eyes of fans. It is very important, but in fact, the gold content of the two cups is the same. In addition to the weight of honor, the FA Cup is not higher than the League Cup for clubs. In addition, the FA Cup is more difficult to obtain because of the attention of fans. , so that the giant teams will fight for it when possible, and the difficulty of winning the championship will naturally be higher.

But in fact, the FA Cup is just a cup game.

Because the game is a game to decide the outcome, the host and guest match depends entirely on luck, and the gold content can be imagined.

In the early days of the league, Wansheng wanted to win both the League Cup and the FA Cup. After all, the team was not hindered by European competitions and could have the energy to balance the league and cup competitions, but now he is considering giving up the FA Cup.

The key issue is the situation of the team. Injuries have caused the team to have some crisis, and it is difficult to maintain several fronts. For the team, the most important thing is to win the league championship.

As long as we win the league title, this season's results are equal to perfection, and winning the FA Cup is just icing on the cake. On the contrary, losing the league championship because of the FA Cup is definitely more than the loss and a huge loss.

Another point is that this game against Aston Villa is only three days away from the decisive battle with Manchester United. The team has to go to Cardiff to adapt to the environment, which also takes time.

Although the League Cup is an accumulation, the League Cup decisive battle is obviously much more important than an ordinary FA Cup. Lose the FA Cup. To win the League Cup, this deal is very cost-effective.

Considering the current injury and state of the team, Wansheng hesitated for a long time or decided to give up the game with Aston Villa.

It was a tough choice for him.

If given the choice, Wansheng will definitely fight for all titles, every title for him. All are seductive glory. At the same time, due to the existence of Glory skills, fighting for one more championship is equivalent to directly increasing the strength of the team he leads. Combined, the allure of the championship to him can be imagined, so giving up a competition is a difficult choice.

But people and teams can't be too greedy, in order to win the league championship more stably. In order to be more likely to win the League Cup. He could only reluctantly make this decision.

......

Manchester City's FA Cup away game against Aston Villa is conceivable after Wan Sheng's decision.

Manchester City only sent a few main players to the field. As a result, the teenager Miller got the opportunity to start. Schmeichel, Richards and other players who are difficult to play on weekdays also got the opportunity. Midfielder Joey Barton instead As the only general, he replaced Distin with the captain's armband.

Joey Button's command is not bad, he led the 'Manchester City substitutes' and Aston Villa to play vigorously, and even scored a goal in the 20th minute of the game. lead the score.

Wan Sheng couldn't stop laughing at this scene.

If this game can be won, he is really hesitant to continue to fight for the FA Cup.

O'Reilly's team only 'woke up' in the second half. They played to completely overwhelm Manchester City and scored a goal in the 61st minute and 73rd minute to seal the score at 2:1.

In the end, Aston Villa eliminated Manchester City, won the game, and entered the next round of the FA Cup.

Wansheng had nothing to say to the media after the game, because everyone knew that he gave up the game, and many hostile media ridiculed Wansheng's Manchester City for 'losing the tradition of English football', "giving up the FA Cup is equivalent to giving up the heritage of English football. These outsiders simply don't understand what the FA Cup means to English football..."

There are also supporters who believe that Wansheng's choice is wise, "Such a decision to give up is also a decision of last resort, because the current situation of Manchester City is not good, they have too many injuries, it is impossible for them to take care of the league and cup competitions. , not to mention, three days from now they have to fight Manchester United at the Millennium Stadium..."

There are more neutral media analyzing the situation of Manchester City. In the last four games of Manchester City, Manchester City has two draws and one win in the three rounds of the league, and also lost the FA Cup. That is to say, in four games, they only won With a victory, this kind of achievement makes the outside world's evaluation of them become less optimistic.

Many hostile media said cheerfully, "Manchester City is about to return to its original face!" In their opinion, before the decisive battle with Manchester United, Manchester City's performance was a heavy blow, which is likely to directly affect their state.

They don't believe that this will not have an impact on Manchester City, and it should even have a big impact.

Only one win in four battles!

This fully shows how bad the state of Manchester City is now, and in just three days, considering adapting to the environment of Cardiff, how much strength can Manchester City play at the Millennium Stadium?

Manchester United are not a weak team...Even if they lost to Manchester City twice this season, that doesn't mean anything, they are still one of the top teams, they still have the most luxurious squad, they still have a very strong team The strength of the competition for the League Cup, they may not have any weakness.

......

When the two teams headed to Cardiff, the media was flooded with these reports.

Manchester City didn't refute this, just kept silent. Wansheng has this attitude. Let them say what the outside world says. We focus on adaptation and training, and strive to be the best in the game. the most important.

He not only ignored the media himself, but also asked players not to be interviewed by the media after training.

He is worried that the mentality of the players will be affected.

After all, this is a championship battle. Although it is only the League Cup championship, how many players in the team's lineup have won the League Cup championship? The last time Manchester City won the cup was back in 1976, which was also the League Cup, and the last league title was back in 1968. This is the case in domestic competitions, not to mention European competitions. It is always these players in Manchester City now. There was definitely no chance of touching the title with Manchester City. And most of these players are very young, which means that this is the first time many players on the team have come this close to a championship.

In this case, it is best not to contact the outside world and to train wholeheartedly, otherwise their mentality is likely to be affected by media remarks and the environment.

While Manchester City is preparing for the game. Their rivals Manchester United are doing the same.

They don't have to mobilize anything at all in this game.

Even the most optimistic Manchester United fans know what it means to win or lose against Manchester City. It's not just a Manchester derby, or a title game.

Last season, Manchester United achieved nothing, and the new season is only a little more than halfway completed, and they only have one last chance to win the title - the League Cup final.

If they lose to Manchester City, they will have nothing for the second season, and they have lost three times to their arch-rivals Manchester City in a single season. It is also unacceptable to Manchester United.

This is the harsh reality. They have to face it.

Perhaps in a sense of the severity of the situation, new owner of Manchester United club Glazer is said to have considered attending Sunday's final in person, even if it will make security at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium a little more difficult - Manchester United fans protests over takeover are true Somewhat restrained, but God knows what the extremists will do when Glazer shows up, and it may be wiser to send his three sons to supervise the battle as usual.

In any case, the players don't need the coach's mobilization to do their best for the game, although this was just a tasteless game for training in the past.

The last time United reached the League Cup final was in 2003, even after losing to arch-rivals Liverpool. He also won the league title that season.

Veteran Ryan Giggs said in an interview. "The first title I won was the League Cup in 1992, and we've been invincible since then, and hopefully this is the beginning of success."

Compared with Ryan Giggs, a veteran who has won many honors, the young star hopes to win the championship in a personal and practical sense.

"If a player has not won a championship medal, he is nothing." Rooney defined his success in an interview.

In that sense, it's not a big deal for Eriksen to be named as the future captain of the national team not long ago - his personal honors showcase is not empty, but all the collections are from the original representative. The time when the Copplehouse junior team played.

Since entering the Everton first team in the 2002/03 season to participate in professional competition, Rooney has not yet had a championship medal of his own.

"My honor display cabinet is almost full, but I'm not going to clear those 'antiques'."

"Winning every competition is a big reason why you choose to play, whether you're 12 or 42. And whenever I see Ryan Giggs, Scholes, Neville's older Manchester United teammates and I'm so envious of the titles they've won. I think it's time for me to add a little bit to my collection as well."

Undoubtedly, this time the League Cup final is a good opportunity.

"I don't know how many tickets each player can get, but I've booked 24, and I'd even double if possible. Every one of my family and friends wants to be there in Cardiff to cheer me on , they all want to see me get my first championship medal of my career."

In addition to Ryan Giggs, Rooney, other Manchester United players have also expressed their desire for the championship.

In comparison, Manchester City will be much more low-key. Except for Captain Distin who was interviewed and said a few words like "desiring a championship", other players hardly appeared in the media's field of vision.

This low profile also made the hostile media of Manchester City even more arrogant.

But in fact, Manchester City has received a lot of attention because they have defeated Manchester United twice this season. Even though some media have been saying that Manchester United has a better chance, there are still many people who are optimistic about Manchester City.

In addition, there are also a lot of eyes from abroad, especially from China and South Korea, which are even more fiery.

The Chinese media's concern for Manchester City naturally stems from their concern for their own national players.

The Korean media is also concerned about the game between the two teams.

The teams supported by the two national media are opposite, the Chinese media support Manchester City, because Manchester City is led by Wansheng, and Sun Jihai is likely to appear in the game.

The Korean media are more certain, as Park Ji-sung will almost certainly be in United's starting lineup.

Park Ji-sung is still very important in Manchester United now. His arrival has not brought about the same great changes as Robben improved Chelsea, but he is still one of the most important wing attack players in the Manchester United team, even when facing Fulham. A hat-trick of assists.

The outcome of Manchester City and Manchester United will also determine which Asian player takes the lead in becoming the first Asian player in history to win a trophy in England's top competition.

The confrontation between players from two teams to two countries has been promoted by the domestic media to the level of 'anti-Korea war', and the Korean media's propaganda is also very hot, because they also want to be the first to win the top notch in England The Asian player' of the league title is Korean.

This is barely considered a national honor. After all, in the field of football, Asian countries are relatively weak.

In these vigorous media reports, Manchester City's preparation training is also continuing.

The day before the game, Wansheng asked the whole team to do some tactical drills for small confrontations, but during the training, an accident occurred. The goalkeeper James fell to the ground and fell to the ground, and was limped off the field. .

This is a minor injury, and it is also something that often happens in training. Although training is not a competition, injuries may occur as long as you exercise.

If it was not a problem at all in the past, this kind of minor injury can be fully recovered in three or four days or even less, but now it is a problem because tomorrow is the game against Manchester United.

Wan Sheng felt a headache when he saw this scene.

At the same time, he also saw the excited expression of a young goalkeeper on the other side. His teammates were injured, and it was difficult for ordinary players to be happy. But this young goalkeeper is different. James is his direct competitor. As long as James is there, he can Said there was no chance to appear.

Now that James is injured, his chance will come.

This young goalkeeper is Wang Xiaolei.

......

On the same day, the two teams submitted their squad lists and starter lists to the FA.

In Manchester United's starting lineup, it is worth noting that the Dutch killer Van Nistelrooy was accidentally excluded from the starting lineup, and the striker was composed of Rooney and Saha.

The most eye-catching position of Manchester City is naturally the goalkeeper. Wang Xiaolei started the game in place of the injured James.

This is a rare start for Wang Xiaolei.

This season, Wang Xiaolei has played more in innocuous games. Now that James is injured, he has a chance. At the same time, because Lescott was suspended for accumulating yellow cards, Sun Jihai also got a starting chance.

In this way, there are two Chinese players in the Manchester City team, plus Wansheng himself, so the Chinese media liked to see this Manchester City as the "China Overseas Manchester City Team" title. (To be continued ~^~)