After the quarter-finals of the Europa League, Tottenham played 3-2 in both home and away rounds, eliminating their opponents with a total score of 6-4.
The opponent in the quarterfinals is La Liga's Sevilla. This La Liga team had a strong call to win the championship before the game, so in Martin Joel's view, defeating Sevilla is equivalent to touching the trophy with one hand.
Even though it is the quarter-finals, Tottenham's next two games, home and away, are very important.
For Martin Joel, his biggest reliance this season is the young bodies and strong recovery abilities of the players on the team.
At this stage of the game, other wealthy teams are more or less suffering from injuries and attrition, and there are also miserable teams like Chelsea that have barely fielded a full lineup all season.
There were no injured players on the team, and there were only a few inconsequential yellow cards. This became the Dutch's strongest asset in leading the team to win the championship.
Time has entered April, and the schedule of several games within this month is not so friendly to the team.
On April 1, Tottenham defeated Reading FC 1-0 at home and won 3 points at the minimum cost.
But in the next game against Blackburn, they were equalized by their opponents in the final period of the game.
The 1-1 score had no impact on the team. In fact, in order to test the opponent, Martin Joel only sent out a semi-main lineup.
After carefully counting the points gap with Manchester United and Chelsea, Martin Joel has decided to focus the team on the next cup competition.
The FA Cup semi-final opponent is Blackburn!
The game started at Old Trafford in Manchester.
As soon as the game started, Tottenham's entire lineup came forward, suffocating this "old team" with an average age of over 30 years old.
Due to previous competitions in the league, Blackburn's strengths and weaknesses have long been understood by Tottenham, and their opponents' tactics have also been thoroughly understood by Martin Joel.
Thinking that they can advance to the finals after winning the game, all the players who can score goals are thinking about whether to mix in some goal bonuses to spend.
Just eight minutes into the game, Wang Xiaodong, who was dribbling the ball in the midfield, used a not-so-smooth fried ball to successfully squeeze out of the double-team of the opponent's two midfielders with the ball.
Although the process was not very smooth and his posture when dribbling the ball was not very elegant, Wang Xiaodong's strong thighs and steady lower body allowed him to quickly gain a foothold.
The Blackburn defender never expected that Wang Xiaodong would get out from under the double-team of his two teammates. They were all retreating just now.
It wasn't until Wang Xiaodong started dribbling the ball that the central defender rushed forward without realizing it.
But it's all too late.
Wang Xiaodong, who only took two steps, said nothing, raised his right leg and launched a powerful kick.
The ball continued to accelerate under the attraction of the aiming spell, and Blackburn goalkeeper Friedel's "symbolic" save seemed more like it was made after the ball entered the net.
After scoring the goal, Wang Xiaodong shook his arms fiercely and showed off his biceps in front of the fans.
Only five minutes later, Monkey King on the left received Wang Xiaodong's clever through ball and successfully countered offside. This time, although Friedel saved the great sage's push, Berba, who missed it in the middle, had been waiting for a long time.
With a light step, the ball was blocked into the empty goal.
In the 40th minute of the game, Robbie Keane received a pass from Lennon in the middle. Leaning against the Blackburn defender, he passed the ball back to Wang Xiaodong, who was coming back.
Buzz!
Another jet took off. Under Wang Xiaodong's explosive shot, Friedel, whose vision was blocked, didn't react at all. He almost watched the ball hit the net.
In the first half alone, Tottenham already led 3-0.
At the beginning of the second half, Lennon on the right used his agility and speed to move around in a small area, and even passed three players in a row and got into the penalty area.
Before the opponent's fourth player pounced on him, he succeeded in hitting the goal from a small angle.
At this point, Tottenham's left, center, and right points blossomed, and Blackburn was beaten unable to parry.
Trailing by 4 goals, Violent made a desperate move. In the 63rd minute, they used a set kick in the frontcourt to get back a point and rewrite the score to 4-1.
Blackburn's violent style of play is famous in the Premier League. In order to prevent the opponent's tense nerves from being broken, giving the opponent a sweet spot in a timely manner is also one of Martin Joel's tactics.
The 4-1 score remained until the 84th minute, when Mokena's free kick in front of Tottenham's penalty area once again penetrated Robinson's door.
And this kick also vented all the violent anger of the violent man.
In the end, the score of the second game of the FA Cup semi-finals was fixed at 4-2, and Tottenham's FA Cup decisive opponent was the Red Devils Manchester United, the owner of this stadium.
After the game, the players from both sides shook hands in a friendly manner. The two teams were not of the same level in terms of strength.
Tottenham got their wish and reached the final, Blackburn also regained their face, and overall the atmosphere was quite harmonious.
At the post-match press conference, Blackburn head coach Mark Hughes not only praised the entire team, but also gave high praise to Wang Xiaodong, who helped Tottenham open the scoring.
"Dong is a very good and outstanding football player. It can be said that he is an asset to the entire Premier League."
"Among his peers, there is probably no one else who is better than him."
When the reporters in the audience focused their cameras on Wang Xiaodong, the flash lights continued to sound.
"Dong, congratulations to you, congratulations to Tottenham Hotspur."
"Thank you for your congratulations, but for me, promotion is not a surprise. After all, Tottenham's goal is to win the championship."
"Dong, what do you think of Manchester United, our next opponent in the final?"
"Opinion? No opinion!" Wang Xiaodong shrugged, "Last time we lost to Manchester United in the league, you praised them to the sky. Now that we meet again in the FA Cup final, I will let them fall to the championship again. In front of the trophy.”
Last season, it was Wang Xiaodong who led Southampton to defeat the Red Devils in the League Cup final.
Wang Xiaodong's meaning is obvious, he wants to make Manchester United the biggest loser.
"Xiaodong, I am a reporter from the domestic "Nanfang Daily."" An oriental face stood up and said in English: "Xiaodong, congratulations on being nominated for the English Professional Footballers League Player of the Year. What do you think about this? Woolen cloth?"
Just before the game, the English Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) announced the nominations for the Player of the Year. This list includes six stars in the Premier League. They are: Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Wang Xiaodong (Tottenham Hotspur) , Gerrard (Liverpool), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal) and Manchester United's Giggs and Ronaldinho.
There are many dazzling names engraved in the historical honor book of this award. The winner in 2003 and 2004 was Thierry Henry. In 2005, it was won by the Blues' goalkeeper Terry. Last year, the winner was Liverpool general Steven Gerrard.
Seeing that it was his own reporter asking the question, Wang Xiaodong cleared his throat and said in Chinese: "The emperor takes turns, come to my house this year."
"I have looked at the other players on the list. Their performance this season is good, but compared to me, they are still a little behind."
At this point, Wang Xiaodong also deliberately stretched out his thumb and index finger and pinched them together to make a gesture.
Although the reporters in the audience did not understand the meaning of Wang Xiaodong's Chinese words, they had various thoughts in their hearts when they saw Wang Xiaodong's contemptuous gesture at the end.
"Good guy, it turns out that DONG doesn't like this nomination!"
"Hi~~DONG What does this mean? He thinks everyone else is a noob?"
"No! DONG must be describing the length of other people!"
