Rain gradually soaked Adams’s hair, trickling down his cheeks, but he still stood on the sidelines, directing his players to continue attacking.
The sudden rainfall added an element of uncertainty to the match.
Thirty minutes into the game, Cambridge United finally earned a corner kick, giving the players a brief moment to catch their breath.
Longolo and Suxi, the two best headers, were both lurking in Coventry’s penalty area, waiting for an opportunity to launch a header attack.
Meanwhile, Cole, Simmons, and Vardy roamed outside the six-yard box, looking for rebound opportunities.
Coventry was quite wary of Cambridge United’s corner kicks, as set pieces were a potent scoring weapon for Cambridge United.
At this point, Coventry, with the exception of their goalkeeper, had nine players back in the penalty area, participating in the defense of Cambridge United’s corner kick.
The player taking Cambridge United’s corner kick was none other than Grove, the goal-scorer of this match.
Although he was only 19 years old, he possessed a maturity beyond his years, and Huang Hao also praised this young player highly.
Grove looked at the crowded players in the penalty area; at this moment, Longolo was tangled with Wisdom, pulling at each other, and the Head Coach had to intervene to make them maintain a distance of a few centimeters.
Exhaling lightly, Grove took two steps back and launched the ball high!
The ball, in the rain, showed a very obvious swerve!
Clearly, Grove had put spin on the ball when he struck it! The out-spinning ball, after drawing a beautiful arc in the air, rapidly plummeted towards the edge of the penalty area!
And at this moment, almost all the players were crowded near the six-yard box!
A player in a yellow jersey was seen sprinting rapidly from midfield towards the penalty area!
As he reached the edge of the penalty arc, he perfectly met the descending ball!
He supported his body with his left foot, leaned slightly to the left, swung his right leg high back, like drawing a bow and notching an arrow, and unleashed a volleyed shot!!!
The ball instantly shot out like a cannonball, whistling through the players in the penalty area in the rain, straight into the top right corner of the goal!!!
0:2!!!
Instantly, the Abe Stadium fell silent, with only the sound of the pattering rain remaining.
A moment later, behind Coventry’s goal, a burst of cheers erupted, and all of Cambridge United’s fans in the stadium went completely wild in the heavy rain.
“Pasquel!!! What a beautiful goal!!! Absolutely brilliant!!! Puskas Award!!! It definitely deserves to be nominated for the Puskas Award!!! My God!!! That goal was too beautiful!!! I was wrong just now, this goal is not inferior to Dzeko’s goal at all!!!”
Seeing such a spectacular long-range shot, Carlson no longer had any prejudice, showering Pasquel with a long string of praises!
Huang Hao raised his arms, running wildly along the sideline, then performed a beautiful knee slide on the grass, and after stopping, he continued to punch the air, as if he had scored the goal himself.
Huang Hao’s extravagant actions also attracted the attention of the director and commentators, and when the camera turned to Huang Hao, Carlson quipped:
“Woohoo~ It seems this Head Coach from the East greatly admires Mr. Mourinho! His celebration cannot be said to be very similar, it’s practically identical! Hahahaha!”
“I have to say, Pasquel’s goal was truly beautiful!”
“His movement was so fluid, tilting his body and swinging his right leg with such force, making this shot incredibly powerful, and an unbelievable world-class goal was born!”
“I believe that Cambridge United’s two goals today will be the most beautiful goals of this year’s League Cup, oh no, perhaps they will be the most beautiful goals in all of England this season!!!”
After calming down, Carlson continued to lavish praise on this impressive goal.
At this moment, Adams was not overly angry; instead, he slowly turned around, returned to the dugout, and sat down. He knew that at this point, no matter how much he shouted, he could not negate the encouragement that Pasquel’s astonishing shot brought to Cambridge United.
Clearly, it seemed very difficult for Coventry to turn the tide at this moment.
Although there were still more than ten minutes left in the first half, Coventry’s players were clearly quite shaken, and their shots were noticeably off target.
Thus, when Head Coach Tim blew the whistle for the end of the first half, it was they who breathed a sigh of relief, getting a chance to rest.
Adams stood in front of the tactics board in the changing room, looking at the dejected players with their heads down, and suddenly asked, “Westwood, what’s your weekly salary?”
Westwood, who was called out, was a bit stunned, paused, and replied,
“20,000 pounds, Head Coach.”
“Good, 20,000 pounds. Do you know what the total team salary of Cambridge United in the changing room next door is?”
“Let me tell you, it’s 20,800 pounds!”
“You heard right, it’s 20,800 pounds a week! A group of League Two players whose income isn’t even as high as one of yours actually played you to a 2:0 in the first half!!!”
Coventry’s players were not familiar with the incomes of League Two players; after all, those who could play here, while not top-tier superstars, were still outstanding elites.
“Your market value is dozens of times that of your opponents, and your salaries far exceed theirs, yet your performance is a mess.”
The rather gentlemanly Adams never swore.
But these seemingly gentle words still deeply stung the players’ pride and rekindled their fighting spirit.
On Cambridge United’s side, the atmosphere was noticeably more relaxed. Huang Hao high-fived each player one by one, then tightly hugged Dzeko and Pasquel, who scored the goals.
“Lads, how does it feel to be in the lead?”
Huang Hao asked with a mischievous smile.
“It feels amazing, Boss!!! I love seeing the Coventry players look stunned!!!”
Pasquel replied loudly.
“Exactly, I like it too! But there are still 45 minutes left in the game, and I don’t want to see you looking dejected after 45 minutes! Understand?!”
“Understand!!!”
“I love this heavy rain! Remember, we are two goals up, don’t try to control the ball in the second half, even if your technique is excellent, you can’t!”
Seizing the moment while everyone’s spirits were high, Huang Hao immediately began to set up the tactics for the second half.
“Get the ball, go forward quickly, keep it long! Simmons and Sager, make good use of your speed! Also, intensify your pressing, you are the team’s first line of defense!!!”
“You will definitely face more frantic attacks from Coventry in the second half, remember, as long as we don’t rush, they will gradually become ants on a hot pan, understand? Ants on a hot pan!!!”
Huang Hao wondered if these foreigners would understand the Chinese proverb!
“They’ll get burned to death!” Grove said thoughtfully.
“Exactly! Burn them to death!”
Huang Hao didn’t want to explain, and immediately shouted loudly.
“Cambridge United!!!”
“Burn them to death!!!”
The players responded in unison again.
“I have to say, Hao, you’re really good at stirring up emotions, but I like it, hahahaha!” Darren, who was at the back of the line, said admiringly.
“Hahahaha, just average, don’t fall in love with me.”
Huang Hao replied unceremoniously, instantly earning a roll of the eyes from Darren.
Just two minutes into the second half, Coventry’s full-back Lowe penetrated to the bottom side of Cambridge United’s penalty area. The ball he delivered arced beautifully and landed perfectly on Bennett’s head!
Bennett leaped high and powerfully headed the ball towards the goal!
Bang!!!
The ball slammed heavily against the underside of the crossbar, and Pantilimon blocked it while falling to the ground, Cambridge United escaped a scare!
Five minutes later, Coventry came back with a vengeance!
This time, Bogler dribbled past Watts, then faced the goalkeeper and attempted an outside-of-the-foot shot. Just as the ball sailed over Pantilimon’s head and was about to enter the goal, Pantilimon, who had retreated two steps and jumped backwards, barely managed to tip it over the crossbar with his hand!
After blocking the ball, Pantilimon fell heavily into the goal!
“Wow~ I have to say, Cambridge United’s players’ performance today is worth far more than 900,000 pounds!”
“Not only Grove, but their goalkeeper Pantilimon is simply divinely inspired, having already blocked several certain goals from Coventry!”
Carlson no longer dared to underestimate this team, and at the same time, he did not stint on his praise.
In the 51st minute, Marriott broke into the penalty area and unleashed a powerful shot! The ball was once again blocked by Pantilimon for a corner!
In the 55th minute, left-back Johnson headed the ball towards the goal!
The ball was firmly embraced by Pantilimon!
In the 64th minute, Bennett received a precise pass from Westwood and unleashed a furious shot from the six-yard line. The close-range shot was again punched away by the miraculous Pantilimon with both fists!
In the 75th minute, Marriott received the ball and went one-on-one, dribbling into the penalty area and taking a powerful shot!
It was Pantilimon again!
The ball was once again tipped over the crossbar by him!
Facing the “cheating” Pantilimon, after repeated failures, Coventry’s players gradually lost their patience, and for a while, wild shots kept coming!
When Cambridge United’s Simmons’ shot hit Coventry’s goalpost, it even caused the Coventry fans in attendance to stand up and start leaving!
In the 77th minute, Adams substituted Bennett and Westwood, signaling that Coventry had already given up on this match. Huang Hao seized the opportunity to substitute the excellent Grove with Tadić.
In the 92nd minute, when Head Coach Tim saw Marriott’s shot once again denied by Pantilimon, he didn’t even give Coventry a corner kick, but instead pointed his hands to the center circle and blew the final whistle.
Cambridge United’s substitute players, upon hearing the whistle, immediately sprang up and rushed onto the field to embrace their teammates!
At this moment, it was as if Cambridge United had won the League Cup title!
Despite losing the game, Adams still showed good sportsmanship, walking proactively towards Huang Hao, and after shaking hands, he praised Huang Hao’s team.
“Your team played very well!”
“Thanks, yours wasn’t bad either.”
Hearing Huang Hao’s response, Adams gave a wry smile and turned to walk towards the changing room.
At the post-match press conference, the victorious Cambridge United naturally became the focus of attention.
Overwhelmed by the media’s barrage of questions, a helpless Huang Hao looked towards the host.
The host, seeing this, quickly intervened, stating that there was only one last question opportunity.
At this moment, a BT Sport reporter stood up and asked:
“Mr. Huang, almost everyone thought your team would lose this match. How did you feel at the time?”
Huang Hao looked at Adams next to the host, then smiled, and calmly replied:
“You know, Mr. Reporter, I, for one, love nothing more than proving people wrong!”