Chapter 56: A bad start
BIERSHOT'S HOME STADIUM, THE OLYMPIC STADIUM, IS LOCATED IN THE KIEL DISTRICT OF ANTWERP, IN THE SOUTHWEST OF THE CITY OF ANTWERP AND ECHOING THE BOSUR STADIUM IN THE NORTHEAST OF THE CITY. It was only about 10 minutes by bus from the Bosur Stadium to the Olympic Stadium, so the Antwerp players set off from the club at the beginning of the day.
After arriving at the Olympic Stadium and taking a short break in the dressing room, the players were sent out to warm up.
When Yu Liang and the others just walked to the players' tunnel, it happened that Bill Shot's players had just returned from warm-up, and they met unexpectedly in the players' tunnel.
The silent tunnel of the players was immediately surrounded by an eerie atmosphere.
If it's a different team, they might talk to each other in the tunnel. But now not only did they not communicate at all, but they even looked at each other coldly.
"Have you heard a joke lately?"
As Yu Liang passed by them, a Bill Shot player pointed at him and spoke.
"A pig said he wanted to advance!"
"Haha......"
Bill Shot's players immediately burst into laughter in the tunnel.
Hearing the two words of Zhu Qian, all of a sudden, the anger in Yu Liang's heart burned.
βMadmanοΌβ
Yu Liang was just about to fight back when he heard the captain's shout. Looking at the face of the captain Tie Qing, Yu Liang frowned, and glared at the hateful guy unwillingly. Then amidst the laughter of the Bill Shot players, he walked out of the aisle.
"Cut, unseeded fellow!"
The guy who told the joke watched Yu Liang walk out in a gray manner, spat a mouthful, and then followed his teammates towards the locker room.
"Captain......
"Let's warm up! Only by winning the game and then advancing can you shut them up! The more you fight back, the more excited they will be! That guy's name is Prince, and he shouldn't have a chance to play, so he can only take advantage of his tongue and brush up his presence! β
Yu Liang was interrupted by Willocks as soon as he spoke, although he was angry, but after listening to Willocks' explanation, Yu Liang thought that what the captain said was right. Although it was difficult to calm the anger in my heart, I still listened to the captain's words to warm up.
After appeasing Yu Liang, Willocks clapped his hands: "Guys, give me a good warm-up and fully move my body!" β
As the captain of the team, he supported Yu Liang to fight back, but he understood more that there was no point in taking advantage of his words. It will take 90 minutes to beat them. Only by beating them in a game can they shut their mouths completely.
Looking at Yu Liang's back, I hope he was not carried away by anger.
β¦β¦
"Hello everyone, I'm Verbeek, and today I'm bringing you the second leg of the Cup quarter-final match between Antwerp and Biershot, where Antwerp lost 0-2 at home to Biershot! In such an extremely passive situation, the players of Antwerp have been interviewed before the game and said that they will beat Biershort in this game and advance to the semi-finals of the Cup! In an interview, Bill Shot's players said it was the biggest joke they'd ever heard! Partnering me on the commentary bench today is former Bill Shot player Brian Zucker. Brian, what do you think will happen in this match? β
As the cup gradually comes to an end, the attention is also increasing, and the commentary lineup has naturally been upgraded, and it is no longer Verbeck's stand-up comedy. Brian Zucker, who spent two seasons at Bill Shot in the late 90s and coached the team after retiring from football, has been a television commentator.
"Hi Verbek, you know the result, everyone knows the result of this game, it's just that the Antwerp fans can't accept it! But I have to tell you that it was Bill Shot who made it to the semi-finals of the Cup! β
As Bill Shot's Meritorious Player, Bryan is certainly on Bill Shot's side.
"Alright! In fact, Brian's opinion also represents the opinion of most people, that Bill Shot can easily qualify! Regardless of the final result, I think they will give us a good game! First, let's take a look at the starting line-ups of both sides. β
"Antwerp: Ivan Willocks; Cedric, Lavan, Christopher, Braque; Yu Liang, Biga, Mihem; Dong King, Fraser Campbell, Di Gregorio. β
"Bill Shot: Luciano; Monteny, Mario Zvetanovic, De Luck, Chris van der Weyden; Camara, CΓ©saire, Cephas, Marco Hendrix; Cavins, Tosin. β
"We saw Christopher in the starting line-up for Antwerp, who everyone knows no stranger, and before the winter transfer window closed, Antwerp recalled Christopher again. Bryan, what do you think of Van Ake's move? β
"Although Christopher has had bad habits in the past, he has outstanding qualities. I think Van Ake's purpose in recalling Christopher is to strengthen the team's defence, increase the depth of the bench and prepare for the next third period. β
"In this game, compared to the last cup game, the changes made to the starting line-up are still relatively large. Injury aside, winter loan player Fraser Campbell and fire-promoting youth youngster Brak are both in the starting line-up, what role do you think the two of them will play in this game? β
"Both of them are playing in Belgium for the first time and to be honest I don't know much about their characteristics! But Van Ack certainly had his intentions in this arrangement. β
"Okay, now that the players from both sides have entered the stadium, let's turn our eyes to the stadium and enjoy this wonderful game together!"
β¦β¦
The stadium was filled with fans, and under the watchful eyes of the fans, the captains of both sides completed the side-picking, and Bill Shot was finally awarded the kick-off.
The players have returned to their positions and are just waiting for the referee's whistle to blow.
Yu Liang stood in the midfield, and after moving his body for a while, his eyes were fixed on the football at the feet of the Bill Shot players, eager to break the ball from their feet the moment the game began.
Then I poured them three or four balls in a row, and actually called me a pig!
Thinking of what happened in the players' tunnel before the game, Yu Liang couldn't help but be furious.
Backbite......
A whistle pulled Yu Liang's thoughts back into the stadium, watching Dong Wang rush out and scramble in the opponent's half. Yu Liang looked around and immediately moved closer to the side.
Billshot was fast-paced, kick-off in the centre circle and made just two passes before getting the ball right at the feet of the player.
Their right midfielder is Hendricks, a Belgium international with plenty of experience in tournaments, as well as a good cross.
Before the game, Van Ack had analysed his opponent's profile in detail.
Yu Liang, who knew this, did not rush up after getting closer, but kept following Hendrix's side, wanting to interfere with Hendrix by continuously exerting pressure.
But Yu Liang found out that he was wrong.
Although he is becoming stronger, in front of Hendrix, Yu Liang's confrontation ability is still insufficient, and the pressure exerted is not enough to interfere with Hendrix.
"Uncle's!"
Seeing that he couldn't interfere with Hendrix, he went straight down and broke the ball at Hendrix's feet off the touchline and gave them a throw-in.
After Bealshot took the throw-in, he didn't continue to play on the right. After a pass from midfield, the attack was shifted directly to the left.
Such a large-scale transfer, although not particularly fast, still caught the players in Antwerp a little off guard.
Especially when Michem was defending their left midfielder, in the face of Kamara's sudden start, Michem did not keep up for a while, and directly allowed him to form a breakthrough on the wing. The Guinea international, after forming a breakthrough, did not cross, but burst into the box with the ball without Braque defending.
Kamara burst into the box and Lavan in the middle immediately retracted to block his shot. Although Lawan blocked Kamara's shot, the defense in the middle was wide open.
Kamara knocked back, and Cavins, who was unguarded in the middle, fired a direct volley.
In such a close situation, this powerful shot on goal, Willocks couldn't stop it at all, and he didn't even react at all, and the ball jumped directly into the goal.
Rumble!
The Stadium Olimpico immediately erupted in cheers.
Under the loud cheers, the excited Bill Shot players immediately rushed to the sidelines to celebrate.
This goal not only helped them take the lead in this game, but more importantly, they are now 3-0 on aggregate.
'The ball went in, the ball went in, it was incredible, Bill Shot scored less than four minutes into the game. It was their striker Cavins who scored the goal and left wing-back Kamara who gave him the assist, 1-0! Combined with two goals in the first leg, Bill Shot has taken a three-goal lead over aggregate and it is fair to say that Cavins' goal has killed Antwerp's hopes of progression. But there's still a lot of time, and I don't know if Antwerp will be able to pull off a miracle for us in the next few days. β
If it's just two goals in the first leg, they still have a lot of hope! They only need two goals away from home to send the game to extra time, and only three goals need to be scored to progress to the last four. But now three goals on aggregate means they have to score three goals in the next period of time and make sure they don't concede a goal to progress.
Every Antwerp player understands the rules, and looking at the ball lying quietly in the goal, everyone's face is full of disappointment.
Maybe it's a big joke that they made the cut!