28 February 2004, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

League Cup final.

Originally, the Carabao Cup final was supposed to be played at Wembley Stadium, but Wembley Stadium is now overhauled, so the game has been moved to the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Inaugurated in 1999 by the Welsh Rugby Union to host the 1999 Rugby World Cup, the 126 million Millennium Stadium in Cardiff has a capacity of 74,500 spectators, making it the second stadium in Europe and the largest in the world with a canopy.

It's huge.

It's a very big stadium in England and it's a very advanced stadium.

Cheers, boos, singing, all kinds of voices have been mixed before the game has even begun. It feels like this is no ordinary game, it's the Carabao Cup final.

"Hello everyone. This is CCTV Sports, and the match we are broadcasting live now is the English League Cup final. I'm Huang Jianxiang, and I'm talking to Mr. Zhang Lu. Mr. Zhang Lu, I read the report that Coach Chen Ping of West Ham was one of the coaches in the Football Association's coach study abroad program ten years ago, I don't know if you know about it. ”

Cctv.

It's still very influential, and it's still very fast to do something. When CCTV decided to broadcast the League Cup final live, it soon negotiated a live broadcast contract with the British side.

CCTV's sports channel began broadcasting the match live.

"It's a thing. ”

Zhang Lu pulled the tail note for a long time, and then said: "Actually, the Football Association had two sets of plans back then. One plan is the player study abroad program, and the other plan is the coach study abroad program. The player's study abroad was later Jianlibao studying in Brazil, and the coach's study abroad was to study in the UK, and I remember that more than 20 people went to the UK to study. Coach Chen Ping should have participated at that time. ”

In fact, Zhang Lu is very familiar with the inside story.

At the beginning, it was indeed the plan of the Football Association, and the air tickets, meals, and studies were all funds advanced by the Football Association. But with the change of leadership of the Football Association, the Football Association soon forgot about these people, and many people chose to return to China halfway due to economic reasons.

There are very few people who can stay and get coaching qualifications, and Chen Ping is the only one who is rooted in English football. But this kind of thing is hard to say. Speaking out is not a criticism of the Football Association at the time.

Huang Jianxiang also knows some things inside.

He just wanted to introduce the events of the year. So he quickly changed the subject and began to talk about Chen Ping's achievements in England.

"Let's take a look at Coach Chen Ping's results. After obtaining his coaching certificate, he joined Oxford United, a League One side that was still in the second tier of England at the time, as a junior team coach. Three years later, Oxford United had been relegated to League C, the fourth tier in England. After the relegation of Oxford United, Coach Chen Ping became the head coach of Oxford United. In the next two seasons, Coach Chen Ping achieved great results, and Oxford United was promoted to League One in two years. It is precisely because of such an outstanding performance that Coach Chen Ping was favored by West Ham, who had just been relegated from the Premier League, and became the head coach of West Ham. Coach Chen Ping has been extremely successful at West Ham this season and currently sits in first place in League One, 30 points ahead of third-placed West Bromwich Albion. It can be said that the West Ham upgrade is a foregone conclusion. ”

Originally, everyone was not familiar with West Ham.

It's a League One team after all. But in order to explain this game, Huang Jianxiang and Zhang Lu have carefully studied the West Ham game this season. CCTV wants to get some information, but it's relatively simple.

'More than that, West Ham have been phenomenal in the Carabao Cup this season. Starting from the third round of the English League Cup, they eliminated Tottenham, Chelsea, and Arsenal all the way, and finally entered the League Cup final. If West Ham can win the championship in this game, Coach Chen Ping will become the youngest champion coach in English football. ”

Flatter.

Tout, of course. CCTV chose to broadcast the League Cup final live in order to mobilize the enthusiasm of Chinese fans. There's a ratings factor, and there's a political one.

This year, China is going to host the Asian Cup, not only hoping to get a good result in the local area, but also hoping to mobilize the emotions of the fans, make the Asian Cup prosperous, and make the Asian Cup a success. Therefore, CCTV is also in order to cooperate with this, give Chinese fans enough atmosphere in advance, and mobilize the enthusiasm of fans in advance.

After Sun Jihai, Li Tie, Yang Chen, and Xie Hui were touted by the players who stayed abroad, it was Chen Ping's turn as the coach.

So Huang Jianxiang touted Chen Ping.

CCTV live broadcast.

It's a big deal in China, but it doesn't have any influence in the UK. Who cares what happens in faraway China. Even Chen Ping is only thinking about the game now.

"Chen, Chen, Chen!"

"Champions, Champions, We want Champions!"

West Ham fans love Chen Ping.

Because West Ham has not reached the final of a cup competition for many years, and Chen Ping led West Ham to the League Cup final in his first season in charge. And now West Ham are doing very well, and there is no problem in getting into the Premier League next season. Therefore, of course, I like Chen Ping very much.

Therefore, when Chen Ping walked out, West Ham fans immediately chanted Chen Ping's name in unison. No worse than the cheers West Ham's star players receive.

The League Cup final is not very golden. So there are very few neutral fans, mostly West Ham and Middlesbrough fans. Almost half of the stands are occupied.

After Chen Ping walked out, Middlesbrough's head coach McClaren was already there waiting for Chen Ping.

Shake hands and say hello.

It's just a simple pre-game routine.

Speaking of which, the two still have some origins. Both men started their coaching careers at Oxford United. McClaren is a player by training, having played for Oxford United before becoming an assistant coach at Oxford United after retiring as a player.

Only later did he leave Oxford United.

It wasn't until 1998 that McClaren accepted Alex Ferguson's offer to join United as Ferguson's assistant coach. It has been a glorious time at Manchester United, including the treble in '99 and three consecutive Premier League titles. Ferguson is very sure of McLaren's quality.

At this time, McLaren's talent was in the eyes of English football. So when he was an assistant coach for Manchester United, England national team manager Christian Eriksen also asked McClaren to be an assistant coach for him. The dry is also impressive.

Ferguson really wanted to keep McClaren because McClaren was a very good assistant coach. But McLaren is so famous, of course, he wants to be the head coach. So he refused Ferguson's offer, left Manchester United, and came to Middlesbrough. Middlesbrough has been around for 128 years and has not had a single national champion until now. So McClaren led Middlesbrough to the Carabao Cup final and made him a hero in the eyes of Middlesbrough fans.

In this game, except for a small part of the media, most of the media is in favor of Middlesbrough and McLaren. They all want Middlesbrough to win the title and McClaren to win it. The reason is very simple, Chen Ping is an outsider, and McClaren is a local coach in England.

English football is xenophobic and proud.

But there is embarrassment in the midst of pride. Because England rarely produces great coaches. Brian Little led Aston Villa to the Carabao Cup in 1996, the closest national title an English coach has ever won. In the past eight years, the English top flight title, the FA Cup, the League Cup and those in Europe, the English coach has never touched it.

Even if you push back the clock by 20 years, there are not many championships won by homegrown coaches in England.

Embarrassing data.

There have been so many championships in the past eight years, and there is not a single coach in England. It's not just embarrassing, it's a shameful thing. English football is so xenophobic, but the championship is all taken away by foreign coaches.

Finally, another homegrown coach in England led the team to the League Cup final. Before the game, most of the media was cheering for Middlesbrough, hoping that McLaren would give England's homegrown coach a mouthful.

"Players from both sides have entered the pitch and are waiting for the final moments. Before the game, I would like to introduce you to the starting lineups of both sides. Start at Middlesbrough. Middlesbrough's goalkeeper is Schwarzer, the backline is Mills, Essiogu, Southgate, Kudru from right to left, the midfield is Mendieta, Boateng, Doriva, Juninho, Zenden, and the forward line is Cameroon international Yob. ”

"Let's take a look at the West Ham starting line-up. Goalkeeper is David James, Bynes, Daley Preka and Glen Johnson at the back from left to right, Ribery, Lomas, Carrick and Leo Cork in midfield from left to right, and Lambert and Andre Arshavin in the attack, who has just joined West Ham on a winter transfer. ”

"Doodoo-"

The referee's whistle blew and the League Cup final of the 0304 season officially began. The referee of this match is international referee Mike Riley. Hopefully we can see a good game. ”