Chapter 104
Chelsea chose to advance slowly this time. When the ball was passed to the frontcourt, Gerrard stepped forward and was about to intercept the ball, but Cole kicked the ball directly from the spot and made a long shot towards the Liverpool goal.
Reina dived and pressed the ball directly under his body. Then, Reina threw the ball to Arbeloa. Arbeloa dribbled forward a few meters and passed the ball diagonally to Kuyt. After receiving the ball, Kuyt broke into the right side of Chelsea's penalty area and made a cross. Carvalho made a timely clearance and the ball was back to Chelsea.
With twelve minutes left in the first half, the ball was passed back and forth in Chelsea's backcourt. Liverpool head coach Rafael, who was standing on the sidelines, quickly turned his head and looked at Mourinho: Good man, this is how you play, right? Are you not showing off after taking the lead? Don't you want to continue practicing your tactics?
In the 43rd minute, Kuyt intercepted Ashley and made a cross from the right, which was cleared by John Terry. The ball flew directly to Lampard on the left side of the penalty area. Lampard and Kuyt ran towards the ball at the same time, but in the end Kuyt was slightly better and shot directly at the ball before Lampard.
The football flew towards the goal with a "whoosh". Endrit pounced on the football and pressed it firmly under his body. Only one thought flashed through his mind: Why is it another low shot?
The game was in progress, so Endrit didn't think much about it and stood up and threw the ball to Ashley.
This time, the first half of the game was over before the ball was pushed to the front court. Kuyt immediately walked towards Gerrard and put his arm around his shoulders.
"You just told us to keep shooting low. Is there something wrong with that? It didn't go in, did it?" After saying that, Kuyt noticed Gerrard's unhappy face and asked, "What's wrong with you? Why do you look so grim?"
Gerrard shook his head and said nothing. He waited until he reached the locker room before pulling Kuyt in front of goalkeeper Reina and telling him about his discovery and original plan.
“But they seem to be satisfied now and they didn’t want to fight so hard for the first goal.”
"They are already one goal ahead!" Reina's eyes widened, his voice split, "Isn't that enough? If they are not satisfied with this, what else do they want? No, it's what you want? You don't want me to be like Endrit, do you?"
In fact, Kuyt didn't think so at first, but when he heard Reina say this, he couldn't help but focus his eyes on Reina, "Do you think it's possible for you to kick the ball directly to us when the opponent shoots low..."
Reina snorted coldly with a dark face, "If the other team scores a goal and we lose the game, will you stand up and take the blame for me?"
Reina didn't want to say another word. If he defended like this, the coach scolding him after losing the ball would be the least of his worries. The real problem would be if Liverpool fans caught him and scolded him.
Kuyt remained silent, covered his mouth and hid behind Gerrard.
"I don't think so," Gerrard said this, but in fact he was thinking about whether he could cooperate with Reina in the same way in Liverpool. "If we can't keep up with Chelsea's counterattack speed, then you have to react faster when saving the ball, so you can see in the recent training..."
"You were right in front of me and I didn't react at the time," Reina interrupted Gerrard directly, "How could I react? Don't always ask too much of me. I never think of comparing myself with Endrit."
Gerrard was speechless. At this time, Coach Rafael pushed the door open, clapped his hands to attract everyone's attention, and then talked about how to play the second half of the game.
The half-time break was over quickly. As soon as Gerrard opened the door, he was blown by the cold wind outside, and he instantly became much more sober: he would think about unnecessary things after the game. His most important task now was to help the team equalize the score in the second half, or even overtake the score!
"Hey," Endritt extended his hand and greeted Gerrard after meeting him in the player tunnel, "Are you okay? It seems that you are not in a good state today."
Gerard paused, then immediately quickened his pace and walked forward without responding to Endrit's words.
"Look, he ignores you," Ashley said, nudging Endrit's shoulder. "Why do you care about him?"
"I don't care about him, but I care about you," Endrit rolled his eyes at Ashley, "I do care about you, but what about you? Are you just watching from the sidelines when the national team is training?"
Ashley choked, then quickly retorted: "It's not just me watching the show. No, I'm watching and guiding you and the others in your training. What about John Terry..."
John Terry rushed to the front, giving Ashley no chance to reach out and grab him.
Ashley had no choice but to turn around and go up himself. "Isn't Lampard and the others doing the same? After all, our cooperation before was already very proficient. Now it mainly depends on your cooperation with other national team players..."
Gerrard walked forward, but Kuyt kept a parallel distance from Endrit and the others, listening to what Endrit and the others said. The more he listened, the more he couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth: Great, such a relaxed and lazy atmosphere, are we going to open champagne at halftime? Isn't this giving them a chance at Liverpool? Liverpool are the best at turning the tide.
A minute later, the game resumed on the field. Kuyt looked at Chelsea, who were directly deployed in a bus-like manner, and pulled the corner of his mouth expressionlessly: Ha~
No wonder the atmosphere is so relaxed, aren’t you going to fight hard in the second half of your relationship?
“Beep, beep, beep…”
The game started and Endritt jumped twice on the spot and looked up at where the football was.
Ten minutes later, Endrit jumped twice on the spot, stretched his muscles briefly, and kept his eyes on the football.
Ten minutes later, Endrit walked back and forth in front of the goal, blinked hard a few times, and then looked away for a few seconds before continuing to stare at the football.
In the 76th minute, Kuyt took a long shot from half court. The ball was powerful enough to fly directly into the penalty area and straight into the goal.
Endrit stared at the movement of the football with great excitement, and jumped up ready to take the initiative and prepare for the first save of the second half.
But he had only taken a few steps forward when John Terry jumped up on the spot and blocked the football with his body. The ball returned to Chelsea's backcourt, and in the desperate eyes of Liverpool fans, Chelsea began their extremely long passing performance again.
Endrit retreated with regret, wondering if his bonus would be significantly reduced because of Chelsea's subsequent "only victory" policy?
"For Ritter, this was definitely the easiest second half of the game he had ever played." Melville looked at Ritter's face full of regret in the camera, "but Ritter didn't seem to like this kind of ease. He was eager to make wonderful saves again and again."
"Yes, this is the fighting spirit that runs in Ritter's bones," Osmond felt that his partner finally spoke human words, "He is not afraid of challenges at all, and he is eager for more and more exciting games."
"I think it is a very good decision for coach Mourinho to let Ritter have more rest now. In the second half of this year, the European Cup and the 2010 South Africa World Cup qualifiers will start one after another, and Ritter will be the key figure in deciding the outcome of the European Cup and World Cup qualifiers. He is not only Chelsea's hope, he is also our England's hope."
Osmond hummed softly, reluctantly agreeing with Melville's statement. "But Coach Mourinho's decision to let Ritter rest more now is obviously not for the upcoming European Cup and World Cup qualifiers, but from Chelsea's perspective. When they take the lead, they can conserve their strength and energy, which can guarantee Chelsea's upcoming two championships to a greater extent. They are creating a miracle, and it doesn't matter how cautious they are."
With fifteen minutes left in the game, Mourinho used three substitutions at once, replacing Drogba, Lampard and Ballack.
This behavior fully confirmed Osmond's guess, "Chelsea doesn't want their main players to get injured. They are now accumulating strength for the final!"
In the 92nd minute of injury time, Anelka, who had been substituted earlier, wanted to fight at the end of the game. He signaled Kalou, who replaced Ballack, to pass the ball to him on the left. Kalou did not hesitate and passed the ball directly.
Norwegian player Riise, who was substituted by Rafael in the 62nd minute, became excited when he saw the scene. He accelerated his feet, fixed his eyes on the football and jumped directly, ready to clear the ball with his head before Anelka.
He jumped up and threw his head directly towards the football.
Almost the next second, he heard cheers and boos at the same time on the field. Riise could hardly suppress the upward smile on his face. After landing, he looked at the Liverpool fans, ready to greet their cheers.
“Shhh!!!!”
What's going on? ! Why did Liverpool fans boo him? ! He's not... huh? Wait, why are Chelsea fans cheering him?
Reise thought of a possibility. He turned around stiffly and saw their goalkeeper staring at the football in the goal, lost in thought.
The whistle that sounded that the goal was effective shattered his last bit of fantasy.
“Own goal!”
In the studio, Melville stood up excitedly, "It's the own goal I mentioned before the first half! Although the protagonist is not Ritter or Gerrard, it is indeed an own goal! God, I must buy a lottery ticket after get off work today!"
Osmon, who was sitting next to him, pulled the corners of his mouth expressionlessly and cursed in his heart: shit! This guy is so lucky!
On the field, Chelsea players were considerate enough not to celebrate, and the three minutes of injury time quickly began to count down. The referee stared at the watch and blew the whistle to end the game on time.
Reina immediately grabbed Riise, the culprit who made Chelsea lose 2:0. Every bristle on his head showed his anger. "The game is almost over! The opponent kept parking the bus in the second half! How can I guard against you stabbing me in the back? Ah? Even if you let the ball go into the backcourt, it's still unclear whether the ball can hit the goal..."
Gerrard sighed deeply and walked into the player tunnel with his teammates with heavy steps.
Endrit ran past him happily, while Gerard lowered his head and moved slowly.
"What flavor of candy do you like?"
Gerard was stunned and looked up at Endrit who appeared in front of him again.
"What?"
Endrit spread out his palm, revealing the candy in it, "Please eat it, just leave me a taste you don't like."
Gerrard pursed his lips and said, "Perhaps, do you want to come to Liverpool to play football?"
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