Five days later, the first round of the English League Cup officially kicked off.
This competition has always been known as a hotbed for major upsets, with Premier League or EFL Championship teams often falling here.
Cambridge United's first-round opponent was Coventry, a team in the English Championship League.
The English League Cup uses a single-elimination format, and lower-division teams always play at home, making it more prone to upsets compared to the FA Cup.
Premier League teams do not participate in the first round; instead, over 60 teams from the EFL Championship, League One, and League Two battle it out for a ticket to the next round.
At Cambridge United Training Base, after lunch, the players gathered in the lounge, some Reading, some listening to the radio, conserving energy for the afternoon match.
At this time, the two radio hosts were also discussing today's League Cup matches, analyzing teams that were likely to cause upsets.
When Cambridge United was mentioned, the players in the lounge stopped joking and listened intently.
“Let's look at the odds given by the betting company: Coventry 1.21, Cambridge United, hahahaha, 10 times!”
“That's right, it seems like a no-brainer match. Cambridge United should be more concerned with how to avoid a big loss.”
The two hosts clearly agreed with the odds set by the betting company; although Cambridge United had two wins and one loss in the new season, this was only in the Football League Two.
Coventry, on the other hand, currently had one win, one draw, and two losses, and was not in good form in the EFL Championship. However, the team's 21-year-old forward Bennett and 23-year-old Marriott were hailed as the team's future hope.
As the saying goes, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. Although Coventry was not in good form, the two-division gap, in the hosts' opinion, was insurmountable. They quickly moved on, focusing their attention on Reading and Norwich, two EFL Championship teams facing each other in the first round.
Meanwhile, in Cambridge United's lounge, it was uncharacteristically quiet.
A simmering anger, fueled by being underestimated and looked down upon, slowly permeated the room.
“Lads, it seems we’ve been underestimated, huh!”
Huang Hao gazed out the window thoughtfully, but his words, like a stone dropped into a lake, stirred ripples in the hearts of Cambridge United's players.
Cambridge United’s team bus quickly arrived at the Abbey Stadium in the city center.
After getting off the bus, Cambridge United players had a brief rest, changed into their game gear, and began their adaptive training on the field.
The training consisted of jogging, stretching, sprints, and simple passing drills.
However, the coaching staff clearly felt that these lads were all secretly holding back a surge of energy, looking for an outlet.
Huang Hao never expected that the two radio hosts would, even more than he, a self-proclaimed master of rhetoric, motivate the players for this match.
As fans from both teams gradually entered the stadium, Cambridge United players finished their warm-up and returned to the home team's locker room.
Today, Cambridge United was still playing its traditional 3-5-2 formation. For Huang Hao and Cambridge United, the League Cup could only be a training exercise.
Unlike the FA Cup's high prize money of 2 million pounds, only the champions and runners-up in the English League Cup receive prize money.
The amounts are a mere 100,000 pounds and 50,000 pounds.
Moreover, for Cambridge United, which is at the very bottom of the English professional League, winning the championship is probably only possible in dreams.
But even so, it doesn't mean that Cambridge United is a soft target, easily manipulated by anyone.
Especially the contemptuous dismissal from the two hosts made these hot-blooded young men feel a great disrespect.
Therefore, this match no longer required any further motivation from Huang Hao.
Mick Adams is the current Head Coach of Coventry. After successfully acting as a caretaker coach last season, he continued in his role this season. Adams had clearly done well; last season, the team reached the fourth round of the FA Cup, where they met Newcastle United, missing the chance to advance further.
This season, Adams clearly wanted a bigger breakthrough, and with the League Cup offering a direct route to the Europa League, Adams clearly didn't want to let it slip away easily.
After all, there have been successful cases of EFL Championship teams in England.
And the bigger stage of European competition would give Adams more exposure. Therefore, he fielded his full starting lineup for this match.
To use a big win to motivate the team to regain its form became Adams' sole goal for this match.
One hour before the match, both Head Coaches received the final confirmed starting lineups for both teams.
Upon seeing the opponent's starting lineup, Huang Hao and Adams smiled in unison; clearly, neither of them had expected the other to take it so seriously.
Waving the lineup sheet in his hand at the Cambridge United lads, Huang Hao said to the players:
“Do you know? Today, Mr. Mick Adams from next door has put out his entire starting lineup!”
Hearing their Head Coach's words, Cambridge United's players showed no fear; instead, a cheer erupted from the team.
The cheering was somewhat restrained, yet tinged with excitement.
Everyone was reluctant to break the solemnity before the match.
“I know this feeling of being underestimated makes you very uncomfortable. And now, you have an opportunity to prove yourselves.”
“Before, I told you all that our goal was not just to barely survive in the National League.”
“Today, I still want to tell you all that League Two is not our final destination either!”
“Anyone can underestimate us, even mock our weakness with impunity.”
“But one day, they will pay the price!”
“Today, let’s teach Coventry a lesson! Let those so-called experts and hosts see clearly that Cambridge United is not the minnow they claim it to be!”
“With victory, make those who look down on us raise their butts!”
Swish, swish, swish!
Before Huang Hao had even finished speaking, Cambridge United's players all sprang to their feet and gathered together.
“Cambridge United!!!”
Captain Sager shouted.
“Victory!!!”
The players echoed in unison!
At 7:45 PM, the referee Tim blew a long whistle, and the match officially began.
Commentator Karlson stretched backward, leaned his head towards the microphone, and began his work.
“Good evening, my dear ladies and gentlemen.”
“Next, let's watch the first-round match of the English League Cup, starting at Abbey Stadium.”
“Emmm, the strength of the two teams playing today is a bit disparate! Coventry's starting players are valued at a total of 29 million pounds. And that poor Cambridge United, uh, is valued at a total of 900,000 pounds! Not even a fraction of Coventry's value, tsk tsk tsk.”
“I think today's match should be a foregone conclusion. I don't know why, but Coventry's Head Coach Adams actually fielded his entire starting lineup, which is simply speechless.”
“I think he should have let the substitute players play instead, so they could save more energy for the League.”
“Even the substitutes would probably completely overwhelm that League Two promoted team.”
The commentator's view basically represented everyone except Huang Hao and the Cambridge United players.
Even Old Jack, the gatekeeper at Cambridge United’s base, believed that as long as his team wasn't massacred, it would be a good result.
At this moment, the Coventry players on the field also did not notice that every Cambridge United player was in high spirits, with a solemn expression.
But one thing they clearly felt was that the brothers on the other side were not very friendly!
From the very beginning of the match, Cambridge United players delivered fierce tackles and almost barbaric collisions to Coventry.
Adams, standing on the sidelines directing the match, quickly noticed the abnormal performance of the Cambridge United players. Somewhat puzzled, he turned to look at the visiting team's coaching bench. Huang Hao was not standing on the sidelines at this moment, but was sitting on the coaching bench, looking composed.
This was too confident! Could it be that his players were on drugs?
Adams couldn't quite figure out Huang Hao's approach, so he simply stopped paying attention to Huang Hao and refocused on the situation on the field.
The quality of the turf at Abbey Stadium was excellent, which made it very comfortable for the already technically proficient Cambridge United players to play.
The Coventry players also gradually realized that this League Two team was very different from the rough and unsophisticated lower-division teams they had encountered in the past.
However, Coventry was, after all, a veteran powerhouse that had battled for years in the EFL Championship.
After a few minutes of probing at the start, Coventry gradually adapted to Cambridge United's style of play and took the initiative in ball control and attack. Amidst the cheers of the home fans, they began to frequently launch attacks on Coventry's goal.
Midfielder Westwood and forwards Bennett and Marriott combined very skillfully. At the same time, the deep-lying center-backs Wisdom and Evans, with their precise positioning and excellent defensive abilities, did not give Cambridge United's young forwards many good opportunities.
By the 20th minute of the match, Coventry had already taken 5 shots, but fortunately, Cambridge United's goalkeeper Pantilimon was tall and had a very large defensive area, preventing Coventry from scoring.
Commentator Karlson glanced at the situation on the field and was clearly very satisfied with his pre-match judgment.
“From the start of the match, Cambridge United has had almost no defense.”
“It seems that so far, I haven't seen them take a single decent shot! It looks like today's match will quickly turn into a half-field attacking and defending drill for Coventry.”
“Look, Cambridge United’s attack has been thwarted again by Coventry’s excellent right-back, Lowe. It’s obvious that Huang Hao...”
“......”
“......”
“Oh my God! Cambridge United actually scored!!!”
The composed Karlson was left somewhat incoherent by Cambridge United's sudden goal, even forgetting his commentary duties.
“Oh my God! It's incredible! Cambridge United has scored first!”
“This was a cross from left-winger Sager, which after being cleared by Lowe, fell to the left side in front of the penalty area. Grove, the youngster on loan from Bolton, passed it directly into the box without stopping, and Dzeko, with his back to goal, split the ball and the man, facing the goalkeeper and scoring into the right side of the goal!”
“Oh, my God!!! I remember Bergkamp's classic back-to-goal ball-and-man split goal, Dzeko's goal is no less impressive!”
“This goal must be the best goal of this round of the League Cup.”
At this moment, Cambridge United’s substitutes’ bench erupted into madness!
Huang Hao wildly swung his arms, doing a full windmill!
On the home side, Adams angrily threw down his water bottle!
He never expected that Cambridge United, who had been constantly pressured by his team, would take the lead by capitalizing on a second-chance attack!
After calming down, Adams immediately rushed to the field and shouted loudly:
“Only 23 minutes! Get your spirits up! Keep attacking!!!”
After conceding the goal, Coventry immediately intensified their defense.
Especially Bogler on the wing, who repeatedly knocked over Cambridge United players.
Clearly, the recent goal conceded had made Coventry's players somewhat enraged and embarrassed.
On the forward line, Bennett and Marriott began to relentlessly bombard Cambridge United’s goal.
But their somewhat impatient attacks often created a lot of noise but little impact. Either the shots went wide, or Pantilimon directly collected the ball.
After prolonged attacks without scoring, Coventry's players became even more agitated. Being led by a League Two team, even for just a minute, was somewhat embarrassing.
And now, Cambridge United had been leading for several tens of minutes.
Just then, the gloomy sky began to drizzle, and slowly, the raindrops became sharp and dense, making the already unhappy Coventry even more depressed.