When Chen Xi and Hazel had an encounter for a while, Tottenham, who played as a substitute and a reserve team, also defeated Wolves in the FA Cup and advanced to the FA Cup semi-finals!

This also allows Tottenham to continue to play on four fronts. However, this state of affairs is definitely a sweet annoyance for Tottenham!

Take a look at their schedule for the next month! In addition to the usual league games, they also need to play two League Cup quarter-finals, a League Cup final and an FA Cup semi-final!

This kind of schedule even the two giants of Arsenal and Manchester United do not need to go through!

Arsenal will also play in the FA Cup and the league, but they have already been eliminated in the Champions League and League Cup.

Manchester United reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League, but were eliminated by Arsenal in the FA Cup.

It can be said that Tottenham Hotspur has become the team with the heaviest schedule in the entire Premier League and even in the whole of Europe!

Although this proves to some extent that Tottenham have performed very well this season, it has also really put Hoddle feeling a lot of pressure!

The League Cup has reached its final, and although the opponent is a strong Manchester United, there is no reason to give up!

The FA Cup, it has also reached the semi-finals, and it seems a little unreasonable not to fight for it, after all, for some old fans, the weight of the FA Cup is quite heavy.

As for the League Cup, this is the most valuable cup competition that Tottenham has participated in this season, and it is a pity to abandon it after two hard battles with Parma to reach the quarter-finals?

Although the league has been widened by Manchester United to four points, but with eight rounds of the league still to go, this does not seem to be an insurmountable gap!

When all the calculations come down, it seems that there is no event that can be decisively abandoned.

In fact, this also has something to do with Hoddle's previous indecision, and if he had given up one or two cup games early, he would not have been as reluctant as he is now. Of course, this can't be entirely blamed on Hoddle, after all, in the two domestic cup competitions, he has always sent substitutes and reserves to play. Who knew the substitutes and reserves were doing so well? Who knew that Tottenham Hotspur had such good luck in the draw this season and kept hitting underdogs?

In short, a series of reasons have led to the current brilliant but somewhat unbearable situation of Tottenham!

Hoddle can still only take one step at a time! ——

After the weekend's FA Cup, Tottenham Hotspur ushered in the first leg of the League Cup quarter-finals, and this time Tottenham Hotspur's opponent was the dark horse of this competition, Boavista from Portugal!

Although the Boavista team did not encounter any traditional European giants in this year's UEFA Cup, Hertha Berlin, Malaga and Paris Saint-Germain from the five major leagues have become their souls!

In particular, the Paris Saint-German team, they have stars such as Ronaldinho, the Brazilian supernova who performed perfectly in the 02 World Cup, and they are strong. Even so, they were knocked out by this Portuguese team. It shows the strength of the Boavista team.

Therefore, for this opponent, Hoddle did not dare to underestimate it. He brought his main squad to Portugal!

Boavista's home stadium, the Estadio Besa, was one of the main venues of Euro 04 and is still in a hurry. However, since their renovation was carried out one by one, it did not affect the conduct of their home games.

When Chen Xi saw the opponents coming out of the locker room before the start of the game, he almost suspected that he had seen a "chess team". The reason is simple, their jerseys are like a chess board printed on them.

Boavista's head coach Avel Pacheco has some ties to China, as he became the head coach of Guoan in later generations. Of course, Chen Xi didn't know much about this.

The Portuguese coach doesn't have any big names in his squad and can be said to be a team that plays purely as a whole. Pacheco's favourite lineup is a four-three-three, but his team has done a good job defensively, conceding just 18 goals in 34 games last season, almost one goal in two rounds!

This season, although some of the main players were poached, their style was still good, and they also relied on their excellent defensive ability to reach the quarterfinals!

Ricardo is the most famous player in this team, and it is his excellent form that ensures the team's defense!

After the start of the game, Chen Xi felt the "enthusiasm" of the Portuguese.

As soon as he gets the ball, at least two Boavista defenders will stick to him with a fierce look. It is said that they once used this defense to freeze the Ronaldo of the Paris Saint-Germain team in a two-legged match!

Isn't it all said that Portugal is the Brazil of Europe, and the surname is football? I didn't see it! After playing for more than ten minutes, Chen Xi sneered.

In fact, although the Portuguese national team has a lot of technical stars, and their style of play is also gorgeous. However, the Portuguese club has been unable to retain their own stars and the team is not as good as the national team, so in Europe, they can only help the team to move forward with defence.

Pacheco clearly understands this. His bag and trap tactics have worked well on Xiao Luo, and he thinks that today's Chen Xi will not be able to escape his tactics.

Only this time, he was wrong! Although Chen Xi does not have Xiao Luo's rich experience. But he's no stranger to the trap tactic, which has been used by almost all Premier League coaches who have had a bit of a brain this season. It's just that there are almost no teams that can really completely restrict Chen Xi!

Halfway through the first half, Chen Xi took advantage of the gap exposed by the opponent to his bag to create an excellent long-range shooting opportunity for Redknapp!

The Tottenham captain didn't waste this opportunity either, as he received the ball and fired a powerful shot into the top right corner of the goal, which made the Portuguese international look at the goal!

Just like Chen Xi's "virgin ~ hymen" theory, after Tottenham pierced this membrane, the next games will naturally be much better.

Falling behind by one goal at home forced Boavista to step up their attack, and their three Brazilian attackers still have good quality!

However, their big pressure gave Tottenham a lot of opportunities!

Before the end of the first half, Tottenham launched a fast attack, Chen Xi, Morientes and Robbie Keane all three swords!

The trio still completed a few passes in a row despite the fast running, and finally it was Morientes who sent the ball into the gate guarded by Ricardo!

Tottenham went into the dressing room with a 2-0 lead!

Boavista were able to make changes in midfield and were able to pull a goal back early on through a goal from their Brazilian striker, Serginho.

However, the excitement of the home fans lasted less than five minutes before Tottenham Hotspur extended the score once again!

This time it was Chen Xi who scored the goal, and his free kick made Ricardo surrender and expand the score to 3-1!

The Boavista team, who were two goals behind, launched a frantic pounce under Pacheco's chance.

In the 84th minute, Simon Davies' goal helped Tottenham completely seal the victory, and even the second leg was already meaningless!

Boavista's excellent defence was ultimately unable to withstand Tottenham's strong attacking force, and their dark horse road seems to be over!

Back in England, Tottenham had to rush to Bolton Wanderers without stopping. Last time, the Bolton team took advantage of Chen Xi's absence due to psychological treatment to force a draw in White Hart Lane.

The fierce Hoddle is obviously not ready to give up this chance for revenge, and more importantly, the league game cannot afford him to lose!

At Reebok Stadium, Hoddle sent most of the main players, and as a result, Tottenham Hotspur won a big away game and continued to bite Manchester United in the standings -

Although there is still a League Cup quarter-final second leg against Boavista, Tottenham have already started to focus on the Carabao Cup final in a week's time!

After all, this will be the first major final of the Premier League and even the entire European continent this season, and the League Cup winner will also be the first championship produced on the European continent in 03!

For Tottenham manager Nedl Hoddle and a group of new signings, this will also be their first final for Tottenham! Therefore, the whole Tottenham team naturally attaches great importance to this!

For Manchester United's strongest opponent in the league, Hoddle also needs a win to build confidence for the team to compete for the next league title!

The English media have also set their sights on the Carabao Cup final.

The League Cup, the most underappreciated competition in England in the past, has attracted attention because the two sides in the final are the two best teams to go to the Premier League this season!

Before the game, the media routinely had to do a detailed analysis of the game!

First of all, in terms of the Carabao Cup record in recent years, Tottenham Hotspur has a slight advantage.

Their last title was in 1999, but only two defenders, Ridley King and Stephen Carr, have won that title. And at that time, Ledley King had just been transferred to the first team, just an absolute substitute!

Redknapp, who won two Carabao Cups at Liverpool, is arguably the most experienced player in Tottenham's squad for League Cup finals and trophies.

As for the team's most outstanding performance this season, the "three musketeers", Chen Xi and Robbie Keane have never been involved in the League Cup, and although Morientes has won a lot of championships in Real Madrid, because Real Madrid has not won the Copa del Rey for ten years, he does not have a lot of experience in winning domestic cups!

It is precisely because they did not win this title that the players of the Tottenham team are even more eager to make their wish come true this time!

Chen Xi obviously hopes to fill the void in his honor room with this victory!

In everyone's impression, Manchester United, as the hegemon of the Premier League, should have won a lot of League Cups. However, the mighty Manchester United have not been as good as Tottenham in the Carabao Cup in recent years, with their last trophy triumph back in 1992!

You know, at that time, the 92 golden generation that Manchester United now relies on is still playing in the youth FA Cup!

That year, though, their manager Alex Ferguson had already arrived at Manchester United. At that time, the much-doubted Lord Ferguson relied on the League Cup title to consolidate his position and lay the foundation of the Manchester United dynasty.

Before the game, the BBC also made a special trip to interview the Manchester United players. An interesting question is raised: how many handles are there on the League Cup winners' trophies?

As a result, no one can really answer accurately. Solsshal replied "not one", Ruud van Nistelrooy honestly said he didn't know, and Beckham was right: "Is it three? He was obviously half asking and half answering.

In fact, the only player in the Reds squad to have won the Carabao Cup was Ryan Giggs, who was in his first season with the Reds in 1992 and was able to play in the final to win a gold medal, while David Beckham, who had not yet had a chance to play, had to fish in troubled waters to get close to the trophy.

The rest of the main players, who have never won the Carabao Cup, are hungry for the trophy as it is the first time in four years that the team has reached a domestic cup final.

In addition to the historical record, the line-ups of the two teams are also of interest to the media.

Both teams have a few injuries in their squads, but the main line-up is largely unaffected. Manchester United's injured Ryan Giggs returned this week to play in this Carabao Cup final!

It can be said that this game is definitely the strongest dialogue between the two teams, which also makes the fans very satisfied!

Of course, the media will naturally not miss the news of Chen Xi's transfer to Manchester United at this time.

"Every Post" said in the report that this will be Chen Xi's best chance to prove himself in front of the "new owner"!

As is customary, The Sun's Howard didn't forget to jump out before the game to add a bit of chaos to Tottenham. In his column, he predicted that Tottenham would lose to Manchester United in this game, and then start the road to losing the title, and finally end up with a solid result!

These news naturally caused strong dissatisfaction among Tottenham fans, and Chen Xi's stay has not yet been decided, which is the "new owner". And Howard, naturally, was inevitably cursed by Tottenham fans!

The management of Tottenham Hotspur also expressed strong condemnation of the media reports that disturbed the team's morale before the decisive match!

However, for Tottenham, they also have good news, that is, in the draw ceremony before the final, they drew the North Dressing Room, which symbolizes the home stadium, which not only means that they can enjoy the name of the home stadium, but also because of the "North Dressing Room Myth" of the owner of the Cardiff Millennium Stadium, the venue for the final, that is, in the 9 major finals held at this venue, the team that drew the North Dressing Room had the last laugh 8 times!

Ferguson expressed his disdain for this so-called myth: "Any myth and spell will be broken one day!" I think after the 22nd, the South Locker Room team that won there will become two! ”

Hoddle wisely chose not to have a war of words with the old-timers, he just said flatly: "It's a good thing to be drawn to the home team's dressing room, but I think the team's performance will be more important than the myth!" Our team is well prepared! ”

Regardless, the fans have set their sights on the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on March 22

(To be continued)