Reborn Liverpool

Chapter 17 The FA Cup Third Round

Throughout December 2014, Tranmere was unstoppable in the League Two. They saw who could beat whoever they saw. Even on the 26th, when they were away at home to Burton, the fourth-ranked team in the league, they also mercilessly defeated their opponents 4:1. For a while, the teams of the League Two exclaimed "Wolf is coming!".

Zhang Mai also played a match between the British Championship and the second round of the FA Cup with a group of substitutes. The least important British Championship was given up and lost to Walso 1:2, but the FA Cup They defeated Oxford United, which also belongs to the second division, 3:1, and successfully entered the third round.

The next opponent is the Premier League team Swansea City on January 1.

Zhang Mai really wanted to play against the Premier League team to see how much he had improved. For this reason, he persuaded Edwards to rotate the main players in the 28rd round of the league on the 23th.

……

On the 30th of the end of the month, Wen Xiaopang brought Team Li and several backbones of the "Jiangnan Leather Team" to celebrate Zhang Mai's birthday in person, which moved Zhang Mai inexplicably.

A table was set up in his own restaurant, and Zhang Mai made his wish for the coming year in front of everyone: next year at this time in the Premier League!

Wen Xiaopang also reported good news to Zhang Mai: the platform is developing well, the click-through rate of the video is very high, Zhang Mai's meager account has thousands of fans, and some domestic sports media have also noticed Zhang Mai.

Through Gina Walter of Liverpool's "Echo", Wen Xiaopang also hooked up with several London media, and planned to work together to promote Zhang Mai's domestic promotion.

"It's a pity that most of the domestic media's attention has turned to Guoan teenager Zhang Xizhe's transfer to Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga in the middle of the month, and there is no time to pay attention to us for the time being."

Wen Xiaopang felt a little sorry.

"Xiao Hai, you have lost your sight. This is obviously a gimmick created by the Volkswagen Group to open up the Huaguo market. The 24-year-old will have to go home soon."

Li Dui broke the secret with one word.

"I don't know why, but this is the only one of the Hua people in the five major leagues."

Wen Xiaopang still has the Huaguo football dream.

"It doesn't matter, and brother, this little future will enrich your football dreams!"

Everyone cheered together, I wish Zhang Mai all wishes come true and help fly Huaguo football!
……

On Saturday afternoon, in the third round of the FA Cup, Tranmere played against the Premier League powerhouse Swansea City at home, and the battle was on the verge of breaking out.

Tranmere played with all the main force, Bell Badger and Stockton as the left and right forwards.

Zhang Mai, Powell, Donahine and Laird lined up in the midfield.

Holness (captain) led the backline, and the returning Laird was converted into a wide midfielder and performed well, scoring twice in December.

Swansea City has a lineup of main midfielders and frontcourt substitutes.

The three forwards, but the two wingers are small and small, so they should be small and fast.

After Zhang Mai came on the field, he saw an oriental face in the opponent's camp.

South Korean player Ki Sung-yong is now in the limelight and seems to be the number one star in the team.

But another midfielder of Swansea City, Joanjo Shelvey, did not play, and he should be accumulating strength for the Premier League.

Depend on!This is ready to abuse food.

Zhang Mai immediately called Donahine and Laird, and used his size to bully the two wingers of Swansea City.

At the start of the game, Zhang Mai happened to be facing off against Ki Sung-yong, No. 26 against No. 17, and the two began to fight.

Zhang Mai is short in stature, but he does not suffer from his weight. In the midfield confrontation, he was on par with the opponent. A rare oriental dragon-tiger fight appeared on the field for a while.

It's just that there is an obvious gap in the level of teammates between the two sides. Swansea City has gradually gained an advantage on the field, frequently threatening Tranmere's gate.

Fortunately, Swansea City's center Gomi is just a fulcrum-type striker who missed a lot of good opportunities to score goals, leaving Tranmere with no danger.

Fortunately, the two wingers were greeted in advance, so that the two wingers were not screened. In addition, Zhang Mai's strict defense against Ki Chengyong in the middle, Swansea City had no choice but to take Tranmere for a while.

After 10 minutes in the first half, the score was still 0:0.

Zhang Mai saw that his side was struggling to defend, so he simply called the two forwards back to defend, so that there was no Tranmere player in Swansea City's half.

The two full-backs of Swansea City also joined the attacking group, and only one central defender stayed in the center circle arc. It seemed that Tranmere would be surrounded at the last moment.

Zhang Mai winked at Holness, the long passer in the team, and at the same time moved forward quietly, trying not to attract the attention of the opponent.

In fact, Zhang Mai thought too much, how could the dignified Premier League pay attention to the second-tier, if you don't step forward to fight, no one will look at you more!
Zhang Mai moved quietly along the sideline, almost level with the opponent's trailing central defender.

Holness kicked over with a clearance-style high-altitude ball.

Swansea City's deep-back central defender Williams has rich experience. Seeing that it was too late to rush, he retreated in time to block Zhang Mai's forward route, and called his teammates to return to the defense quickly.

Zhang Mai got the ball easily and rushed straight to the opponent's goal. It's good to have someone blocking in front, let's get rid of the nineteen behind him first.

Williams saw through Zhang Mai's intentions, and simply waited sideways, trying to block both sides and middle of Zhang Mai's assault route.

Zhang Mai was delighted when he saw it, you think I am a primary school student, you think I need 14 seconds for [-] meters!
I suddenly!Stop and poke again...

With a sudden brake and a quick start, Zhang Mai left Williams behind on the right line, then turned left and cut into the penalty area.

Williams was thrown two meters away, and goalkeeper Fabianski kept the goal line and did not attack.

Zhang Mai was about to shoot, but he caught a glimpse of someone rushing from the rear left.

Come to an emergency stop, with the supporting leg forward, and pull back with the right foot to protect the ball.

After dodging the passing figure, he turned right at 270° and shot with his left foot, and the ball hit the net.

The goalkeeper Fabianski had no time to make a save with a tricky angle to the ground, but was stunned by Zhang Mai's dazzling movements.

Ji Chengyong, who rescued thousands of miles away, fell to the ground because he couldn't stop, and the feeling of powerlessness was quickly replaced by confusion: When did Brazilians look like Chinese people?

The Prenton Park stadium is boiling, this is the gate to conquer the Premier League team!I can't be too happy.

"Zhang Mai, it's Zhang Mai again! This is Tranmere's first goal scored by a Premier League team at home since the establishment of the Premier League. It was scored by our little prince of the East with a waltz-like movement after running thousands of miles away. Let us cheer together, Zhang Mai! Zhang Mai!..."

Tommy White's hysterical voice echoed in the stadium, leading the cheers in the stadium.

The Tranmere players rushed up quickly and buried Zhang Mai in the crowd in front of the Swansea City goal.

When Tranmere finished celebrating, the first half would be over.

Edwards praised the whole team during the intermission, and also emphasized the need to continue to maintain defensive strength and strive to win Swansea City in regular time.

The FA Cup game is a game to decide the outcome, and a tie after 90 minutes will result in a penalty kick.

After the start of the second half, Swansea City learned a lesson, storming the Tranmere penalty area will also leave at least two people behind.

Zhang Mai knew that Swansea City could no longer be careless, so he assisted the defense with all his strength, and entangled Ji Chengyong tightly.

The battle was extremely tragic, and Zhang Maiguang fell to the ground twice when he blocked Ji Chengyong's long-range shot.

The fall of Zhang Mai caused Edwards on the sidelines to feel ups and downs.

The ball flew in Tranmere's half 90% of the time, and the only time the goalkeeper kicked in the half.

After being unable to attack for a long time, the players of Swansea City gradually became impatient. It was nothing to lose, but losing to a League Two team would be too embarrassing.

The action of scrambling has become bigger, and the disputes between the players on both sides have also increased.

As the leading side, Tranmere naturally likes to wait for time.

Laird fell down three times in the penalty area, and each time he struggled for more than a minute, and finally received a yellow card.

Donassien was hit in the abdomen by the ball, and he also suffered for 2 minutes.

Bell Badger was a bit too much. The opponent got a free kick and blocked the kick-off. He was nudged by the opponent and fell to the ground like being shot. He rolled back and forth. Zhang Mai watched All blush.

At any rate, when the final whistle blew, Tranmere's players collapsed to the ground from exhaustion.

After being rubbed by people for a whole time, I was tired physically and even more tired mentally.

Zhang Mai is much better, but his body is tired, but his heart is not tired at all.

Because the system told him to score a goal against a Premier League team, one counts as 1 point, which is cool!

Ji Chengyong came over to exchange jerseys with Zhang Mai, and the two exchanged for a while.

It's just that Ji Chengyong didn't believe that Zhang Mai learned the technology in England until he left.

(End of this chapter)