Chapter 54 European War Qualification

For Leeds United, the temptation of the FA Cup championship is quite great, not only because the team's pale honor room has great desire for trophy, but also because this FA Cup is definitely related to the overall investment scale of the team next season. If you can compete in the UEFA Cup, even the stingy Ken Bates will invest more in the team.

Moreover, after winning the English Premier League championship and getting the ticket to the Premier League, Ken Bates has already begun to look at the team's construction issues next season. It is certain to increase investment. At least you can get a considerable TV broadcast fee when participating in the English Premier League. If the team can gain a foothold, the team's value will be greater, which is very consistent with Ken Bates' football philosophy.

If the "Young Guards" can not only compete in the Super League, but also have UEFA Cup games to play, how much value will the club increase?

Money, fame, etc., then the intangible wealth Leeds United will be unimaginable.

For various reasons, this old man, who is famous for his stinginess, offered huge bonuses to the players early. If the team can win the FA Cup, everyone will share a bonus of up to 3 million pounds!

Leeds United is not a giant club like Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea. £3 million is really a huge sum of money for this team that is tight-kicking.

Before the FA Cup final, the "Youth Guards" were also unanimously favored by all media because their opponent was Ipswich, a team that also came from the English Champions League.

Relatively speaking, Ipswich is a more grassroots team than Leeds United. There is no star in this team, and the overall strength of the team is not as good as the "Youth Guards". The reason why they can reach the FA Cup final is because of their good luck, and because they have lost the qualification to compete for the Super League ticket early and put all their energy into the FA Cup.

In addition, Ipswich's insistence on paying more attention to physical confrontation has also made them not afraid when facing teams like the "Red Devils" Manchester United. But Leeds United, which also comes from the English Champions League, seems to care about this at all, right?

English football has always paid great attention to physical confrontation. The English Premier League vs. Serie A, La Liga, and Bundesliga have already been quite large. It is absolutely impossible to play football here without a good body. Players who have been tempered by the English Premier League basically have a strong body.

Ipswich's head coach Holway made a noise early on: "Leeds United used to be a great team, but now they are on the road to revival. Their overall strength is stronger than ours. They will compete in the Super League next season. This is really jealous!"

At first glance, Holway's words seem to be really envious of the handsome and rich, but only those who know this coach with a beard will know that this is just Holway's psychological battle. This coach who has coached too many teams is really a weird thing in the English Champions League. His tactical qualities and coaching ability are not very outstanding, but the teams he has coached basically have one common characteristic, which is that he is tenacious and never admits defeat easily, and is passionate in playing football and dares to fight against his opponents. His psychological battle methods are even more boring and headache-inducing in the English Champions League.

But it was just such a person who led Ipswich to perform a small miracle, and they reached the final of the FA Cup in England!

The unanimous optimism from the outside world and the proactive weakness of Ipswich seem to indicate that Leeds United, the English Champions League champion, can easily win the second FA Cup in the team's history. Everyone in the team was a little impatient, and the quality of training had declined a lot. If Leeds United really faced Ipswich who was well prepared in this state, the result would be destined to be sad.

Holvey's psychological warfare really achieved his goal, and the effect he wanted was coming!

Fortunately, head coach Simon Grayson is not fainting yet. Although he has no experience in leading the team to compete for the Cup championship, he knows his team very well. It can be said that no one can know better about this "Youth Guard" he built with one hand than him. The method he used was not ordinary means, but let his players be floating there first. However, he also increased the team's training volume, which made the players' bodies and psychology contrast, and everyone's bodies were already tense up unknowingly.

It was not until the night before the FA Cup final on May 11 that Simon Grayson gathered all his players in the hotel he stayed, and then... started to scold him!

"Looking at you, you're all very relaxed. I think you're all champions! Or, you're already preparing to go for a vacation now!?"

kindness!?

The limelight is wrong!

The Leeds players who were originally smiling on their faces immediately reacted. The head coach seemed to be very angry. Don't be the first to be a bird at this time.

After Simon Grayson paused for a moment, his tone of speech grew a little higher, and he began to express his anger: "Look at what you look like now! Everyone doesn't know how much you have? Do you really think Ipswich is an opponent we can easily defeat? Yes, we defeated them 6-0 away in the last match, but think about it, is it a normal game? That game... Shaq, you scored two goals, right? Becchio, Jonny, So

La, you all scored goals and even had own goals! You don’t think that every time we faced Ipswich, do you? Don’t forget that when we played against them at home, we only won a 2:1 win. The gap between us... is actually not as big as you imagined, and there is only one goal! And don’t forget that this game is the final of the FA Cup, a final that determines the outcome of the game. Even if it’s just an negligence, we will be doomed!"

Simon Grayson's roar made Leeds United players land their hearts flying in the sky.

This season, Leeds United and Ipswich won both clashes, winning 2:1 at home and playing a crazy 6:0 away. But the head coach is right. This cup final is a winning or losing game. Even if it is just a small negligence, or even a little bit of luck, you may lose, and you will not have a chance to take revenge at all.

After realizing this, the mentality of Leeds United players began to change, and both of them showed firmness.

Simon Grayson was quite satisfied with the changes in his players, but this had not achieved the effect he wanted. The iron continued while the iron was hot: "I know some of you have started to make plans for next season. I will tell you the truth. It is impossible for you to be all in the team's plan for next season. Many people will leave, but... before you leave, I think you should know how to increase your value. The Champions League championship has already shown your ability, but if there is another FA Cup championship, I believe your salary will definitely grow a little longer next season. Okay, after the meeting, go back and think about it yourself."

Simon Grayson turned and left, leaving a room of players there to meditate...

Among these players, many of them actually know that they may have to leave the team after the end of this season. After all, many of them are not strong enough to compete in the Super League. However, as the players of Leeds United, the champion team of the Championship this season, they are definitely not short of next players. They will even get a point higher salary than they are now. However... if they help Leeds United win a FA Cup, their value will be very different. So no matter whether they play football for other teams next season, at least they are in the same interests as the team now!

"Ba, bha!"

Captain Jonny Hausen stood up and slapped twice: "Okay, guys, let's break up! Let's play well for tomorrow's game! The boss is right. No matter who wants to leave the team, winning a FA Cup championship will always add some capital when negotiating the contract! Finally, good luck to all of us!"

I don’t know if it was Simon Grayson’s words that worked, or Jonny Hausen’s blessing brought good luck. In short, in this FA Cup final, the stronger "Youth Guards" won without any danger.

At Wembley Stadium, just 17 minutes into the game, Snoldgras received a pass from Jonny Hausen outside the penalty area on the right. Then, after attracting the opponent's defender, he passed the ball back to Whitehead. The latter kept passing the ball straight and sent the ball near the penalty spot. After Amooby successfully counterattacked, he ran up and shot with a low shot. The ball flew in from the lower right corner of Ipswich's goal... 1:0!

After leading with one goal, Leeds United performed more calmly. Under the control of Wang Tiezhu, Whitehead, and Jonny Hausen, Ipswich failed to organize any threatening attacks in the first half. Their shots were only pitiful twice, while the "Young Guards" had as many as 11 shots. If the players weren't a little anxious to make contributions, the advantage in the score would have been expanded long ago.

The two sides changed sides again in the second half, and the situation in the game was still firmly controlled by Leeds United. However, Ipswich's defense also gave Leeds United a headache, until Simon Grayson replaced Snold Grass with Pew and replaced Becchio with veteran Michael Brown. While increasing the control of his team's midfield, Wang Tiezhu was also liberated. After that, the "Young Guards" offensive became flexible.

At 71 minutes of the game, Wang Tiezhu received a cross from Pew in front of the penalty area on the left, and a signature shot shot hit the ball into Ipswich's goal... 2:0!

The appearance of this goal not only secured the victory for Leeds United, but also obtained a ticket to the Europa League for the "Youth Guards". Although it is just a qualifying match, if Leeds United invests heavily in expanding the lineup after upgrading, a ticket to European events will definitely bring rich returns to Leeds United.

Ipswich, who was two goals behind, finally began to counterattack wildly. They had no way out anymore, so they simply let it go. Their madness also received a reward in 88 minutes. Their top scorer Quentro scored a goal with a header, but it was a pity... it was too late!

In the end, Leeds United won the final of the FA Cup with a score of 2:1!

When Captain Jonny Hausen raised the shiny trophy with both hands, he burst into tears in his eyes. He turned his head to look at Wang Tiezhu behind him. Ben Parker smiled because he knew that his childhood dream had begun to come true step by step...
Chapter completed!