Chapter 405: The Curse of Allen Wang

On May 19th, Chelsea has flown to Cardiff, Wales, where they will play against Arsenal in this year's FA Cup final.

Hearing that Chelsea had all gone to Cardiff so early, many media reporters also rushed there to interview Chelsea's preparations. Many Blues fans also followed the team to Cardiff to cheer for the team.

The English Football Association's dedicated training base assigned to Chelsea is a small stadium in the north of Cardiff, right next to Cardiff No. 19 Public School. The surrounding environment is very deserted. Occasionally, some students visit the stadium, but the football field has been allocated to Chelsea, so they can only play in an external stadium. However, even so, there are still many people gathered in the stadium, hoping to have the opportunity to see a Chelsea star. There are no outstanding teams nearby, and this opportunity is extremely rare.

The football field seemed deserted, with only a few players chatting and laughing and doing some warm-up exercises. Having just arrived in Cardiff, many players were still packing their bags in the hotel, and head coach Mourinho did not ask them to train today.

At this time, Wang Li was also on the court. He and Thomas were training free kicks. However, there was no "dummy wall" on the field, so Wang Li could only estimate the distance and try to shoot.

With each day of competition and hard training, Wang Li found that his control over his internal strength had gradually improved. This made him much better than at the beginning of the season when taking free kicks, although he could not hit the target every time.

In recent games, he seldom takes free kicks because the team always wins by a large margin, and there is no need for him to snatch scoring opportunities from his teammates, right?

Of course, the most important thing is that the opponent never commits fouls in dangerous positions outside the penalty area, so it is difficult for Wang Li to find good opportunities. Compared with free kicks in unfavorable positions, he still feels that his teammates' high headers are more reliable.

However, this game is different. If there is a chance, Wang Li will definitely not give up. Facing the final, he has to try his best. If he doesn't try his best and Arsenal wins the championship, it will be something he will regret deeply.

At this time, the atmosphere in the stadium outside the training ground was much more lively than that in the football field. After arriving in Cardiff, many reporters went directly to the stadium, which made the stadium crowded and noisy. Many reporters were shouting to come in, but the administrator of the stadium was helpless due to the crowded situation. At this time, the stadium could only inform the FA officials of the news and ask them to come to coordinate.

The English Football Association responded quickly. They immediately sent officials to seal off the stadium. After negotiating with the owner of the stadium, they directly allocated the entire stadium to Chelsea. Then, the middle school students and fans were banned from entering the stadium, and reporters from various countries were required to wait at designated locations.

At this time, Chelsea's press officer David Pedro became the busiest person. Many reporters requested to interview Chelsea's head coach Mourinho and the players. In order to satisfy the curiosity of the reporters, he also had to find time to hold a press conference to promote Chelsea and increase Chelsea's influence in Wales and around the world. Every Chelsea player and coach could offend reporters, but as a press officer, this was his job and he would never offend these reporters.

Fortunately, Wang Li and Joe Cole temporarily solved the problem for Pedro.

The two of them walked out of the stadium. Some reporters standing on the edge saw this scene. They quickly notified others to take pictures frantically and shouted the names of Wang Li and Joe Cole. However, the stadium was at least 50 meters away from the hall and there was a layer of glass in between. Such shouting was obviously useless. Even if Wang Li had very sensitive ears, he could not hear it.

Even more fortunately, Wang Li and his companion actually walked towards the hall. When they walked through the hall door, they were immediately surrounded by a large group of reporters. At this time, there was no one around David Pedro.

In fact, Wang Li did not intend to provoke the reporters. He did not know that the reporters were gathered here. He and Joe Cole just came out for a walk.

The last time they came to Cardiff was during the League Cup final, but at that time, their hotel was next to the Millennium Stadium, and the training ground was also a small training ground at the Millennium Stadium, so they didn't have much time to go out for a walk. But now the stadium is on the edge of the city, and the periphery here has a bit of a rural atmosphere, so the two wanted to take advantage of the absence of the head coach and the absence of training today to go out for a walk.

However, it was also Wang Li's first time to come to this stadium. Moreover, he was a bit directionally challenged and had no idea how to get around. Joe Cole was the same, of course, so they bumped directly into the reporters.

However, this was not the first time that Wang Li was interviewed. He was very calm. Facing every question from a reporter, he showed confidence and said with certainty that Chelsea had the confidence to defeat Arsenal and win this year's football cup.

But these reporters immediately shifted the question. Joe Cole was fine, but there was too much news to report about Wang Li. They would not miss the opportunity. Soon, a reporter from The Guardian asked about Real Madrid's summer transfer work and Wang Li: "What do you think of Real Madrid? They have publicly stated that they will give you a contract of 35 million pounds. Will you consider going to Madrid?"

"Sorry, I never thought about it. Now I just want to finish this final first. As for other things, my agent and the club will naturally consider them." Wang Li smiled helplessly and answered casually.

"So that means you have a chance to go to Real Madrid?" Another Times reporter followed up with this question, asking rather sharply.

Wang Li frowned and said, "What does this have to do with the game? We are here to participate in the football cup final, not to discuss transfers. Sorry, I refuse to answer such questions."

After hearing this, the surrounding reporters all sounded disappointed. A reporter from The Sun was quick to respond and immediately asked, "Excuse me, can you tell us about Chelsea's preparations? There are rumors that Campbell cannot play at Arsenal, so will Chelsea consider changing its tactics?"

"I don't know about this. Mr Mourinho hasn't announced our starting lineup yet, and I don't know the team's tactics."

"So can you predict the score?"

"Predict the score? Sorry, I'm not God. I can only guarantee that I can score a goal. As for the final score, I think even God wouldn't know."

…

When Wang Li was being interviewed, Joe Cole sat aside helplessly. He seemed to be ignored by these reporters. This shows how great Wang Li's influence is. He is now even more popular with reporters than head coach Mourinho. Part of the reason is that Wang Li is not afraid of anyone when being interviewed. He doesn't even consider what he should and shouldn't say, but most of the reason is that as his number of goals increases and his value increases, he has become the best player in the world.

According to rumors, an official from UEFA revealed that they want to make Wang Li the European football king. Although the source of this news is very secretive, many people believe it.

…………

At this time, the Arsenal Club far away in London was also in a hot scene. Although there were not as many reporters at Arsenal as at Chelsea's training base, there were at least 50 or 60 of them. These reporters came to interview Arsenal's preparations.

For Wenger, the most troubling thing now is that defensive star Campbell cannot play. You know, in the 27th round of the league, midfielder Pennant was imprisoned for drunk driving, which angered Wenger. He directly loaned the latter to Birmingham. Now Campbell is lost again. Facing Chelsea with strong offensive ability, Wenger really has no confidence at all.

"I haven't decided yet." Wenger said calmly in an interview with Arsenal TV channel: "I have to see how the situation is before deciding. I can't say that Sol Campbell will play 100%, but he has participated in two reserve team games and his performance in the second game improved."

In the absence of Sol Campbell, Arsenal have used the defensive partnership of Ivorian international Toure and Swiss player Senderos in recent games. Although this duo is also strong, it is far inferior to the one when Campbell was there. If Campbell is used now, he has just recovered from injury and his recovery is not complete. Wenger does not know how he will perform after playing in such an important battlefield. Moreover, this may affect Campbell's physical condition. For Wenger, this is the most important thing.

At this moment, he was really in a dilemma.

"I need to think about it carefully because Sol Campbell is not fully fit yet and our defence has been very good in recent games.

Although Wenger praised the recent defense, reporters still saw a hint of helplessness on the Frenchman's face.

Perhaps it is consoling that the Spanish talented striker Reyes and Brazilian midfielder Edu have recently returned from injuries. Among the team's main players, only defender Clichy is unable to play due to foot surgery. Even if Campbell cannot play in the game, the team can still put together most of the main lineup.

On May 20th, all Arsenal players finally arrived in Cardiff, but their training ground was on the other side of the city, so the two teams would not meet at all, at least today.

At this time, various media reports on the game were released, the most eye-catching of which was the comments of Brazilian football king "Big Mouth" Pele.

In the last match between Chelsea and Barcelona, ​​Pele had predicted that Chelsea would win and said that they were real warriors. However, this time Pele's words came true. Chelsea beat Bayern Munich 10:3 in two rounds. Many German media said sourly that "Chelsea escaped a disaster."

But now, Pele has made another prediction. He still supports Chelsea and claims that Arsenal is no match for Chelsea.

In this regard, the media have different opinions. Many media supporting Arsenal said: "If they can get away with it once, can they get away with it a second time?"

At this time, the allocation of the two teams at the Millennium Stadium had already been made. Chelsea was assigned to the South Wing dressing room, which made the media supporting Arsenal very happy. They shouted at the top of their voices that Chelsea would definitely lose.

The Millennium Stadium is the home stadium of the Welsh national football team. It was unveiled in 1999 at a total cost of £126 million. The stadium can accommodate 74,500 spectators and is the second largest stadium in Europe and the largest in the world with a retractable roof.

However, the most popular term among English and Welsh football fans is the "Curse of the South Wing Dressing Room".

After many games, various data showed that teams that used the South Wing dressing room of Cardiff Millennium Stadium in many major competitions were unable to win, such as Chelsea, the runner-up of the FA Cup in 2002, Arsenal, the runner-up in 2001, and Preston in the play-offs, etc. This made many media and fans believe that the "favor" of the lucky dressing room on the North Wing might be one of the factors affecting the outcome.

Now, Chelsea is not only suffering from the "Curse of Big Mouth Pele", but also the "Curse of the South Wing Locker Room of the Millennium Stadium". When the two are combined, Chelsea is bound to fail.

However, the media that support Chelsea put forward the "strength theory", saying that Chelsea is much stronger than Arsenal, and the match between the two teams this season shows this point. In Arsenal's home stadium, Chelsea won a big victory, which shows that Arsenal is far weaker than Chelsea. And the difference in the results of the two teams is even greater. Chelsea won the championship in the 31st round, but Arsenal fought until the last round and only managed to get second place.

On other fronts, Arsenal was eliminated in the round of 16 of the Champions League, while Chelsea advanced to the Champions League final; in the League Cup, Arsenal was eliminated long ago, while Chelsea won the championship.

The comparison in all aspects reflects the gap in strength between the two teams. Arsenal cannot even produce a player like Wang Li. It is easy to tell how they will play and who will win the game.

The two media outlets each held their own views and argued fiercely with each other, spitting saliva at each other. Neither side was willing to admit defeat, and they were scrambling to use various arguments to win the victory. However, there will undoubtedly be no winner in this kind of argument, and their war of words is almost meaningless.

…………

On the 20th, head coach Mourinho did not do any special training. In the morning, he just asked the players to do some relaxing exercises, pass the ball to each other, and find the feeling of the game.

In the afternoon, there was a half-hour team training match. However, in order to prevent any player injuries, the training was more of an entertainment purpose. The defensive players would not try hard to defend, and the physical confrontation was not intense. This was also to allow the players to find the feeling of the game.

However, Mourinho requires everyone to attend the tactical class in the evening because he will announce the starting lineup and specific tactical arrangements at that time.

The Portuguese would do this every time before Chelsea's big game. He would explain each player's task carefully so that everyone knew what to do specifically when he got on the court. Such an arrangement was satisfactory for the players because they didn't have to worry about being panicked after going on the court. They just had to do their tasks well.

However, there are exceptions. Wang Li is one of them. Mourinho would not assign him any tasks before the war. His task was very simple, which was to play freely and score goals. No matter how he played, as long as he scored goals, that was his task.

In fact, Mourinho doesn't like to do this, but he feels that assigning specific tasks will restrict Wang Li's performance, which would be counterproductive.

"Hey, this kid's abilities are really comprehensive."

Having such a good player can sometimes be a hassle for the head coach. Of course, Mourinho hopes that this hassle will continue.

After a day of training, Wang Li, Thomas and Joe Cole walked into the city streets together. They all wore golf caps and sunglasses, and their destination was a French restaurant.

This French restaurant located in South City, Cardiff is not big and its prices are not expensive, but it is very famous. It is a small restaurant privately owned by a Frenchman. The owner is a part-time chef and his service attitude is average, but the service has the flavor of a French family meal, which makes many foreign tourists linger.

Joe Cole had eaten here once when he came to Cardiff last time, so this time he brought Wang Li and Thomas to taste it together, and the other two agreed to come since they had nothing to do.

The meal was quite good, at least that’s what Wang Li thought. French restaurants in most cities tend to have an industrial feel, which he doesn’t like, but the taste of this restaurant is indeed unique.

After dinner, the three of them walked slowly towards the hotel. Mourinho's tactical class started at 8 o'clock in the evening. It was only 6 o'clock now, and the sun was still hanging in the sky, but they were not in a hurry.

However, this kind of leisure made the three men less vigilant about their surroundings. When they were about to return to the hotel, Joe Cole took off his sunglasses and hat without realizing it, and was immediately seen by the reporters nearby.

Then, several reporters immediately surrounded the three people with their weapons in hand. Only then did they discover that one of the three people was Wang Li.

Super good luck

However, Wang Li, who seemed bored, also accepted the interviews. These were reporters from the German newspaper Kicker. In the media war of words, they were neutral. Their questions were about the most popular topic today - "curse".

Facing this question, Wang Li burst out laughing. He asked with interest, "Are you saying that Mr. Bailey predicted that Chelsea will win? And that the team in the South Wing locker room will not win?"

Seeing the reporter nod, Wang Li smiled and continued, "Then why were Mr. Bailey's words considered a curse?"

"Because every time he predicts a team, they will have bad luck..." the reporter blurted out.

"I don't know how many times I have predicted before the games this season..." Wang Li thought for a moment and continued, "... probably more than 30 times... Every time I said Chelsea would win, and as you can see, I succeeded more than 30 times. In other words, I cursed the other team to lose for 30 games in a row. So I cursed again this time. I think Chelsea will win and Arsenal will definitely lose. They can only be second."

After saying that, Wang Li took Joe Cole and Thomas and turned away, leaving behind the stunned but delighted German reporters.

This is an exclusive reveal.

…………V! ~!