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Chapter 12: The second round begins

At three o'clock in the afternoon that day, Santa Malaga and his party took the train to Alcorcón.

At eight o'clock in the evening, Santa Malaga and his party got off the bus and stood in front of a hotel.

There were no call girls on both sides of the street. Juan took a long breath and his whole body relaxed.

Antonio and Pablo patted his shoulders with satisfaction and gave him a thumbs up.

The expressions of the team members varied. Some felt sorry, while others felt relieved.

Liage smacked his lips, feeling regretful, but he soon thought about it, maybe he would just play a good game this time...

In order to avoid Sabadell's embarrassment, the boss Juan specifically asked a friend of his in Madrid to help when booking a hotel.

Juan quickly completed the procedures, and Li Chuanqi still lived with Liage.

“The scenery here is great!”

Liage stood on the balcony with a glass of boiled water: "Li, come and see, there are so many beauties, oh, no, the scenery is picturesque and the lights are bright."

Li Chuanqi did not go to the balcony to watch the picturesque night view, nor did he care whether he could see beautiful women.

The reason is that he is afraid of heights. The room they live in is on the eleventh floor. Not to mention the view, his legs will become weak and his palms will become sweaty when standing on the balcony.

For some unknown reason, the game was still scheduled for the afternoon. The weather was good this time. It rained yesterday and the weather was cool.

Staying in a quiet hotel, the team members stopped thinking about having an affair and quickly took a shower and went to bed.

Boss Juan couldn't sleep because he had to contact the training venue and wanted to adapt to the competition venue in advance.

However, Alcorcón told them that they would not be able to train tomorrow morning because the turf had to be cleared.

Juan asked for the next step and proposed to train at their training base, but the other party did not agree, saying that their training base was undergoing routine turf maintenance.

If the training problem is not solved, how can he think about sleeping?

Home by their parents, go out to rely on friends.

Juan started looking for the friend who helped him book a hotel, but the friend told him that being able to book a hotel was his limit. He didn't have the ability or friends to find a venue for training.

what to do?

Juan thought anxiously for a long time before he came up with a solution and went downstairs to the front desk to find the hotel manager.

"You've found the right person!"

The manager smiled and said to him: "A relative of mine happens to be the principal of a middle school. Their school has a football field, but the conditions are not very good."

Juan held his hand happily: "As long as there is a venue for training, we are not picky. Thank you so much!"

The manager made a phone call and quickly solved the problem of the training ground. Juan expressed his thanks to him again.



The next morning, Santa Malaga went to a school more than 20 kilometers away from the hotel for training. However, the team members were in a good mood and no one complained.

Antonio did not engage in intense confrontation, but only conducted some warm-up and simple cooperation training.

Antonio was very satisfied with the morning training. In the final stage of the training, he arranged a set-piece attack.

Liag was in good form, hitting the goal with three consecutive kicks during free kick practice, and Pablo also scored twice in corner kick attacks.

Even Li Chuanqi, a little guy who is not good at headers, scored a goal.

The defensive counterattack is rationally formulated based on the team's strength comparison.

Then set kicks are an important means of offense, and modern football pays more and more attention to set kicks.

The second goal in the last round of the King's Cup was achieved through a corner kick.

There is another reason that makes Antonio happy. Through data comparison, he found that Alcorcon's set-piece defense is not good.

Alcorcon conceded 37 goals in Segunda División last season, 20 of which were set pieces.

In other words, more than half of the goals they conceded were due to poor defense of set pieces.

If there's anything to be gained from set pieces...

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Santa Malaga took a minibus to the Santo Domingo Municipal Stadium and arrived half an hour later.

After quickly changing their jerseys, the players entered the court to warm up.

Alcorcon also arrived on time, and players from both sides warmed up meticulously.

Half an hour later, the two sides returned to the locker room to make final preparations for the upcoming game.

In the visiting team's locker room, Li Chuanqi was excited and a little surprised when he heard his name appeared in the starting lineup.

It's not that he has never started, but in such important games, he basically comes on as a substitute in the second half.

When walking out of the locker room, Antonio patted Li Chuanqi on the shoulder: "Are you surprised?"

Li Chuanqi nodded.

Antonio smiled and said: "This is recognition of your ability. We think you are fully qualified to be the starter!"

Li Chuanqi said to him seriously: "I will not betray your trust!"

On the other side, Pablo put his left hand on Liag's left shoulder and said to him: "You have to prepare to play the whole game today, so you have to pay attention to your physical fitness."

Liage exhaled heavily and replied: "Captain, the last game was a shame for me!

I will never make that mistake again, so don’t worry, I will definitely come up with a beautiful answer today!”

Pablo said: "It's not just me, we all believe in your ability."

Trust is a rare quality, and people who are trusted will generally do their best to accomplish their goals.

Alcorcon's starting players appeared very active. For them, this is a rare opportunity to perform because most of them are the team's substitutes.

Although the opponent is only a D-level team, this is the King's Cup venue.

The starting players of both sides walked into the stadium under the leadership of four referees. There were only more than a thousand fans in the stands that could accommodate more than 5,000 people, which seemed sparse.

"Beep!..."

At 4:30 on time, the referee blew the whistle to start the game.

Alcorcon, who took the lead in serving the ball, quickly moved the football to the frontcourt to start the attack.

As coach Alcorcón judged, Santa Malaga's tactics were really a defensive counterattack, huddled in their own half and set up lines of defense.

For some reason, coach Alcorcon did not feel relaxed and watched the game with a serious expression.

Alcorcon's offense was very fierce, hitting the Santa Malaga defense again and again, but every time they advanced within thirty meters of the goal, they encountered the most stubborn resistance.

It was like being trapped in a swamp, making it difficult for them to move forward.

The game reached a stalemate until the ninth minute, when the Alcorcon midfielder took a long shot from the hinterland, which was the first shot of the game.

This shot seemed to open a gap, and in the next five minutes, Alcorcon completed two more shots.

"Don't mess up the formation!"

Antonio could still sit safely on the bench, walk to the command area and yell at his defensive players on the field.

The opponent was able to complete the shots these two times, but the formation was a bit chaotic.

In the next ten minutes, Santa Malaga's defense was impregnable and did not give the opponent any chance to shoot.

Perhaps coach Alcorcon reminded his players before the game, so the players on the field were not impatient and instead slowed down the offensive rhythm.

After Liag breathed out, he began to press aggressively. Now it was up to the midfielders and frontcourt players to contribute.

Liag was not fighting alone. Two wingers and three midfielders participated in the frontcourt press, and almost stole the football several times.

Failure to steal the football should have been a frustrating thing, but instead of being frustrated, the Santa Malaga midfielder and frontcourt players were more aggressive in pressing the ball.

Today's opponent is a second-tier team, the highest-level team they have encountered since they formed a team to participate in the competition.

Almost grabbing it shows that their high-position press is effective, and maybe it will be successful next time!

In the 23rd minute of the first half, Li Chuanqi rushed towards the player who received the ball crazily.

The other five midfielders and frontcourt players moved quickly to block this player's ball route.

Under Li Chuanqi's aggressive pressing, Paris did not panic when he got the ball. Instead, he got stuck and stopped the football.

Li Chuanqi kept stretching his feet to harass, giving him no chance to handle the ball comfortably.

Liage, who was closest to them, had a keen premonition that the opportunity to steal was coming, so he rushed over to double-team Li Chuanqi.

"Pass the ball!"

The teammates noticed the danger and shouted to Paris.

Is it dangerous?

Paris doesn't think so. Is it dangerous to escape from the double-team of two amateur players?

Paris feinted with his left foot and lightly buckled with the inside of his right foot. He wanted to forcefully get rid of Li Chuanqi behind him, and then get rid of Liage who was rushing towards him!

He wants to use this method to break the morale of Santa Malaga and tell them that there is a huge gap between the D and B teams.

However, the picture he imagined did not appear. Not to mention Liage who rushed towards him, he could not even get rid of Li Chuanqi.

An irritability rose in Paris's heart. Damn it, even a little guy can't get rid of it?

Just when he was in a trance, Liag seized this fleeting opportunity, quickly stretched out his right foot and poked the football away from his feet with his toes!

"Ah!... Damn it, why didn't that guy pass the ball earlier..."

There were dissatisfied voices in the stands.

"Don't worry, it's a game. The game is to either steal someone else's ball or be intercepted by someone else. This is a very common thing."

His partner comforted him, isn't this a normal thing? This D-level team can eliminate a C-level team, so it still has certain strength.


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