Wimbledon Athletic are now having a hard time not getting on the fire, and they have reached the third round of the FA Cup, which means a lot more than reaching the second round.

The third round of the FA Cup is when the Premier League and League One (Championship from the 04-05 season) teams join, the level of the participating teams has suddenly increased by more than one notch, and the excitement and intensity of the game have also increased correspondingly, and more importantly, there will be more star players from the third round onwards, which is the stage for real fame.

They may be known to all of England because they play against a Premier League team. If you perform well in the game again, you can even realize the dream of a "professional player". Every season's FA Cup is when countless low-level players carp jump into the goal, and when they cross the goal, they become dragons, and they can't continue to fish, waiting for the next opportunity.

And an amateur team in the ninth tier has come to this round, something like this has never happened since the creation of the Premier League. In the 132-year history of the FA Cup, it is not uncommon for such a low-level team to break into such a high round.

When Chu Zhongtian and Borger walked on campus, someone always pointed at them and said, "Look, our Wimbledon heroes!" Their team has reached the third round of the FA Cup! ”

No one came up to them for autographs, but both of them had become the number one celebrities on campus — Emily, the original number one celebrity, went to the United States, and they came to the top.

And when they went to train, they found that there were more and more news media around the King's Ranch, and almost every time they went to training, they found new reporters joining them.

Eames is no longer going to give reporters half an hour before training starts, which would be too extravagant. Now he's learning from the professional teams, and he's open for fifteen minutes at most. It's not that he's starting to put on a show, it's because if you delay the end of training for thirty minutes every day, it won't work, and now it's dark early, and there are no floodlights at the King's Ranch, how can you train when it's dark?

Not only more media, but also a lot of fans. Nowadays, when the players are training, there will be fans in the stadium stands, and some people will even come down to ask the players for autographs after training, take a group photo, and pat the shoulder to have a drink. While there have been fans coming to the Kings Ranch to watch training in the past, but only a handful of them, it is now clear that with their excellent performances in the FA Cup, the fans are expecting more from him.

Joe. As the team's No. 2 scorer, Schilling naturally has a lot of fans, and every time a fan invites him to drink, he will boast to his teammates afterwards that "it's good to be famous". His teammates laughed at him: "Don't you wear your sunglasses, dead jeep?" "Fans won't recognize him when he wears sunglasses, so he won't wear them.

The media began to follow the amateur team in the press, magazines, television and radio, and many of them dug through old documents for a long time before discovering that they had covered the team more than a year ago, when the team was just formed as the first club in England to be made up entirely of fans, which is quite symbolic in an increasingly commercial football environment.

At the time, it was thought that the team's presence on the pitch would be the biggest victory, but one season later, they would return to the spotlight in such a manner.

FA Cup third round!

If the first round to the second round is a quantitative change, then the second round to the third round is an out-and-out qualitative change.

It's nothing to beat a team in League Two, League C or Nations League, it's all about playing against a League One or even Premier League team that makes them feel their blood boiling, it's something they dream of.

※※※When Chu Zhongtian ran to the King's Ranch again on Saturday to prepare for the afternoon race, he saw an interview car with the BBC logo printed on it in the parking lot. This is a big guy, the equivalent of China's Central Television (CCTV).

He remembers that when the team was in the main game, he and Borger saw the BBC car in the parking lot outside the King's Ranch, so were they going to do a series?

Chu Zhongtian felt that the day when they would become famous was not far away...... In fact, he is now a little famous, at least at the beginning of the school there are some people who have never known him before claiming to be his alumni, coming up to him to ask for autographs or take pictures with him.

When he walked into the dressing room and saw his team-mates who were all excited, he knew they must have seen the BBC interview car too.

Sure enough, Joe. After Xi Lin saw Chu Zhongtian, he came up very enthusiastically, put his arms around Chu Zhongtian's neck and said, "Hey, have you seen it, Chu?" The BBC film crew! ”

"I saw their cars, but I didn't see their people." Chu Zhongtian replied.

"They interviewed fans in the stands." Schilling pointed overhead, which was the main stand.

"We heard that they were making a special for the next round of the FA Cup and we were taken by them. We're going to be famous all over the country, man! Shirin flicked his teeth and claws excitedly.

"I have to list this episode and show it to my grandson when I'm old, ha!" Someone among my teammates said so.

"Oh, I knew they were coming today, I should have gone and changed my hairstyle...... "There are also people who are distressed.

"If they interview me in a moment, should I say I'm still single?" This is going to be a TV marriage.

A group of people discussed the elation, captain Kevin. Cooper had to remind them to hurry up and change their clothes and go out to warm up. In such a discussion, the boss Eames will definitely rush in and scold them all out in a murderous manner.

Apparently aware of the excitement of the arrival of the BBC reporters, manager Eames also took the initiative to address the issue after the warm-up: "Don't get excited about the BBC TV visit if you lose the game because of it...... You've lost a game in front of a TV audience all over England! Do you like to have people watch you lose on TV? Or do you like BBC reporters to say, 'It's a shame they lost this league ......'? ”

"It's just a drill, guys. I'm telling you, our third round is likely to be broadcast live across the country, and it's going to be a big spectacle! If you're excited now, what will you do? Die directly with excitement? If you can't play well in this game, don't play in the third round, just give up! ”

Everyone looked at the boss.

"Looks like you don't want to give up? Then give me a good kick! Stop talking nonsense! Eames shrugged.

Wimbledon will face the town of Houley (horley_town), a team that is not too strong but not weak either.

Regardless of what Eames said before the game, the players were a little influenced by the BBC TV interview team. When they came out and saw the BBC people carrying cameras on the sidelines to film them, they couldn't help but shudder excitedly.

They were a little weird on the pitch at first and didn't seem to get into the rhythm of the game. So the away team Houli Town team unceremoniously went to the next city.

Eames then stood on the sidelines and roared for five minutes before his team's performance improved.

This scene made the BBC reporter in charge of the interview sigh: "It's really worthy of being a character from the 'mad gang'......" This roar is simply too "mad gang" style. Remember the 1988 FA Cup final? Pooh. Jones also led a group of men to roar at the Liverpool players, and they won 1-0.

After all, Wimbledon's strength is higher than that of the Houli Town team, and the next thing is the slaughter of the side.

Before the end of the first half, Wimbledon scored three consecutive games to take a 3-1 lead.

At half-time, the BBC film crew followed into the dressing room and frightened the Wimbledon players, who had just stripped off a pair of small panties.

When they saw the camera come in, they screamed. Like a group of women who have stepped on rats, panicking.

"Okay, guys, we don't have female journalists." The BBC's videographer said.

"But what you take is on TV, isn't it?" Borger blocked his lower body with a basin, he was quick, and he grabbed the only basin in the locker room. Others can only use towels, jerseys, mineral water bottles, sneakers, shin guards, smelly socks...... Or simply cover the vital area with your hands.

"Don't worry, we'll code it. Okay, let's shoot in peace, your head coach looks like he has something to say. "The cameraman moved into the corner, found a good angle, and tried to fit everyone in.

Eames coughed, "You guys did a good job...... I said, can you put down all the weird stuff in your hands! You'd think I'm not dealing with a bunch of players, I'm dealing with a bunch of women who have just been raped! ”

There was a burst of laughter in the locker room.

"Put your clothes on, if you really don't want to show off your body in front of a national audience."

Chu Zhongtian sat in front of his cabinet with his upper body exposed, and he glanced at the lens of the camera.

'In the first half, apart from the goal you conceded, you did a good job at other times. So let's talk about the second half......"

In fact, Eames didn't say anything too useful, because so many league games have been played like this, the team has completed the run-in, and with tacit understanding, they know how to play, and they no longer need him as a manager to talk much. Now with a two-goal lead, as long as the second half is not too underestimated, it will not capsize in the gutter.

This was true in the second half, with Wimbledon taking control of the tempo and soon scoring another goal to extend the score to 4-1, and the game was largely out of suspense. The next group of excited players began to show off in front of the BBC TV crew.

Bolger used his speed to force a breakthrough and won a round of applause from the fans, but Eames disagreed: "This idiot! If he had passed the ball directly, we would have been 5:1 now! ”

Ingerrich laughed next to him, since he was already leading 4:1, he didn't care if he scored again, anyway, this game would definitely be won.

Next Joe. Schilling made a difficult barb shot in front of goal, which went straight into the sky. There was a burst of laughter in the stands.

Schilling himself felt embarrassed, and explained to his gloating teammates vigorously: "It's not that I'm not strong, it's that I ran a little bit, just a little bit......"

His teammates didn't listen to his explanation, and they all grimaced at him - let you play! Playing a fool of yourself, right? Hahaha, you deserve it!

The two full-backs also got a big assist after taking the lead and went up and didn't come back. All want to be able to score a goal in a game that has the BBC to follow.

Sidwell, a defensive midfielder, tried to connect several people after getting the ball in the midfield, but lost the ball, if it wasn't for Chu Zhongtian next to him, he expected that he would have a problem playing with fire, and snatched the ball back, maybe the opponent would have faced a counterattack directly against the central defender.

Sidwell, who was taken aback, patted Chu Zhongtian on the shoulder and thanked him in shock: "Thank you, thank you, Chu." ”

Eames looked at it for a while and sighed: "Facing the camera lens, only a few people are acting normally. Kevin. Cooper is the captain and behaves normally, Andy. Sullivan's performance is also quite normal, and the other person who performs normally is Chu, who is completely undisturbed by those off-court factors...... The first two were older than him, which was really commendable for his age. He has maturity beyond his years. ”

Chu Zhongtian is indeed not affected by those off-the-field factors, it's not that he doesn't care about being famous on TV or anything, to say that there are almost no people who don't want to be famous when they play football, Chu Zhongtian is not an immortal who has cut off people's hopes, and naturally he is not exempt from vulgarity. He also wants to be famous, but he can control that emotion, especially when it's time to play, and once the whistle blows, he puts his heart and soul into it. We'll talk about the rest of the game after it's over.

He told Emily that he was serious about everything he did, studying, working, and playing football, but he wasn't bragging.

Towards the end of the game, everyone was playing, and the opponent scored a goal. The score was fixed at 4-2, and Wimbledon won the game comfortably.

After the game, BBC reporters came to Wimbledon to interview the players, mainly to hear their outlook for the next round of the FA Cup.

Judging from the first two rounds, this group of players are full of confidence, they originally thought that they would hear the "dragon slaying declaration" of a group of grass people, but they didn't expect everyone to say that they were satisfied to be able to enter the third round...... "I will be content to be able to play the third round, and I don't care if the next game is won or lost!" "Joe. Shirin said this to the camera. His statement surprised BBC reporters, but was approved by most of his teammates.

They are obviously more concerned about who they are against than they are in the game, and if they can meet a big team, they will earn it.

"God willing, let's play Manchester United away! Aside from Wimbledon, my favourite is Manchester United! I want to play at Old Trafford...... "Steve, who only joined the team this season. Gibson crossed his chest.

It's the same with him, and although they all joined the team because they like Wimbledon or are Wimbledon natives, that doesn't stop them from liking the other team, the big teams in the Premier League. So Gibson likes Wimbledon and supports Manchester United at the same time.

In fact, this phenomenon is also very common among professional players, it is not necessary to play for a certain team to like that team, they have the right to choose which team to support, and no one can interfere with this.

"Arsenal are good too! They look good and I would love to play with them. ”

"Liverpool, I like Liverpool's ......" said Andy. Sullivan, he's a Liverpool fan.

"It doesn't matter who it is, it's our last game anyway!"

"The last time I was on TV, the real national live broadcast, I was also satisfied, ha!"

"That was probably the most glorious moment of my life, haha! In the future, I can say to my children that your dad used to play in the FA Cup as an amateur! And made it to the third round! ”

This group of amateur players is not delicate in front of the camera lens, and they are very direct and cute to say what they really think. It may disappoint some people, but it's better than falsely claiming that "our goal is to win the championship".

It's not that these people lack fighting spirit, but they are sober enough. They are well aware that if they meet a Premier League team, with their strength, it is absolutely impossible to beat, even if it is a League One team, the probability of them wanting to win is too low...... So reaching the third round is the end of the FA Cup for them.

What's next? Play well in the rest of the league and try to get promoted early and not repeat the mistakes of last season.

"We don't have big ideals, we know we have a limited level." Captain Kevin. Cooper finally made a closing remarks on behalf of the team. "Now that we've achieved our goal of reaching the third round of the tournament, we just want to enjoy the football and play against the big teams."

"Thank you for your time, anyway, you're a success now." The BBC reporter shook his hand and said goodbye. "I think you're already the blackest horse in the FA Cup this season."

Before leaving, a group of players surrounded and asked the reporter when the show would be broadcast.

The reporter told them maybe next Thursday, before Christmas.

By the time the reporters were gone, the players were still reminiscing about the first time they had been so close to being on TV.

"Tsk, I've been on camera five times!" Joe. Shirin said, wrenching his fingers.

"Do you remember that?"

"I've been interviewed twice, haha!"

"Yes, yes, I feel like I'm really famous now!"

"Broadcast on Thursday? I'll have to take a good look then! ”

"I've got to keep this episode in the catalogue forever! Keep it as a souvenir! ”

Chu Zhongtian thinks his teammates are really cute, I wonder if there is such a scene in the locker room of a professional team? I guess not...... However, although we are not professional at all, we are happy.

(To be continued)