Young Football Player

Chapter 72 The situation is unfavorable

At 8:05 pm on September 14th, British time, Dundee United's Europa League group stage debut came.

Dundee United's opponent in the first round of the group stage is Odense of the Danish Super League, which is considered by the Scottish media to be the weakest team in Dundee United's group.

In fact, Odense was the second place in the Danish league last season and qualified for the UEFA Champions League. It was only after being eliminated by the La Liga Yellow Submarine in the UEFA Champions League play-offs that they fell to play in the Europa League.

But even so, Odense is still considered by the Scottish media to be the weakest one in the group. If Dundee United wants to qualify for the group, they must score six points in the two games against Odense, and then win from Fulham and Try to grab points from Twente, this is the correct way for Dundee United to qualify for the group.

This night, the Tanatis Park Stadium was completely covered in bright yellow. Amid the excited cheers of Dundee United fans, Dundee United and Odense drew 2:2.

Odense took the lead twice and Dundee United equalized twice, with Paul Dixon and Barry Douglas scoring goals for Dundee United, two defenders.

Jackie Lee's performance was average, he wasn't the best performer in the team, but he wasn't the worst either. The corner kick that Paul Dixon scored with a header was created by Jackie Lee.

Obviously, Jackie Lee has not been able to get back to good form.

The home game against Odense, which should be the weakest in the group, only got a draw. Now the Scottish media is not very optimistic about Dundee United, and they begin to think that Dundee United may be difficult to break out of this group.

"The group stage is a six-round match. We just didn't achieve the desired results in the first round. I don't think it can be concluded that Dundee United cannot qualify for the group stage." Li Chenglong had to answer this way in an interview after the game.

What Li Chenglong said was not wrong. Although he failed to win Odense at home, he scored a point anyway. This result is barely acceptable.

Another game in the same group also failed to tell the difference. Fulham drew 1:1 with Twente at home.

So after the end of the first round of the group stage, the four teams in Group K where Dundee United are located only scored 1 point.

After the Europa League group stage in the middle of the week, it will soon be the weekend match day.

On September 17th, in the eighth round of the Scottish Super League, Dundee United played against Inverness at home.

Dundee United won this game easily. The goals of Brother Moon, Robertson and Joan Daly allowed Dundee United to win the opponent 3:1 at home.

In the Glasgow Derby that was held at the same time in this round, Rangers won the Celtics 4:2 at home and returned to the top of the list again, while Dundee United's ranking also rose by one.

At present, both Rangers and Dundee United have 19 points, and Celtic have 18 points. The three teams are very tight on points.

On the contrary, Motherwell lost 0:3 at home to St. Johnstone in this round, which means that it is a bit behind.

Jackie Lee had neither scored nor assisted in two consecutive games, and the Scottish media began to notice, but their reports were more about "Bruce Lee finally came out of that horrible state and returned to normal".

※※※

When the time enters September, not only the European war has arrived, but also the domestic cup competition has begun.

On September 20th, the Scottish League Cup round of 16 kicked off. Dundee United's opponent was Airdrie United, the second team of the Soviet Union.

Facing a Scottish third-tier team, Peter Houston went directly to the away game with a group of substitute players. Li Chenglong, the newly promoted core, did not make the squad at all, and stayed in Dundee to rest with peace of mind.

Dundee United did not encounter any difficulties in the away game. They scored a goal in each half and defeated their opponents with a score of 2:0, successfully advancing to the quarterfinals of the League Cup.

Andrew Robertson, who got the chance to start in this game, performed well. He participated in the team's two goals, and the second goal was a direct assist from him.

In the quarter-final draw after the round of 16, Dundee United drew for Falkirk, a Soviet side.

In fact, the result of this draw is not good, because Falkirk just eliminated the Glasgow Rangers 3:2 in the round of sixteen, creating a super upset.

Although the current situation of Rangers is a bit bad and there is some turmoil in the team, no one thought that they would be eliminated by a Soviet team.

After the League Cup is over, the weekend league will come soon.

On September 24th, in the 9th round of the Soviet Super League, Dundee United went to an away game to challenge Hibainian.

In this game, Li Chenglong has recovered his form.

In the 19th minute, Li Chenglong sent a cross after passing the opposing defender Tovir on the right, and Joan Daly shot in front of the goal.

In the 56th minute, Jackie Chan and Keith Watson passed the ball obliquely into the penalty area and assisted Vardy to score a goal.

Li Chenglong sent a total of two assists to help Dundee United beat Xibainian 4:2 in the away game and won five consecutive league victories.

In this game, the striker duo Joan Daly and Vardy both scored twice. Vardy finally scored twice, and he is about to start screaming again.

After winning Xibai, Dundee United needs to rush to the European continent to participate in the second round of the Europa League group stage.

Dundee United's opponent is Twente, which is considered the strongest team in this group.

Twente was the runner-up of the Eredivisie last season and qualified for the Champions League, but was eliminated by Benfica in the Champions League play-offs.

The previous season, Twente was the Eredivisie champion.

You must know that the Eredivisie is a league where the top three compete for hegemony. It is a remarkable achievement to be able to snatch the championship from the top three.

At the De Gerauers Stadium in the Netherlands, Lee Chenglong felt that his performance was not bad.

In the 31st minute of the first half, Li Chenglong received a pass from Moon Brother in the middle of the frontcourt. He smashed the ball away from the opponent's midfielder Lanzat and took a long shot. The ball hit the opponent's defender Shetra, causing a small deflection After forming a refraction goal.

This ball helped Dundee United open the scoring in the away game, and it was also Lee Chenglong's first goal in the European War.

In the 74th minute of the second half, Jackie Lee assisted Conway to score through a personal breakthrough to open the space, helping Dundee United tie the score at 3:3.

But in the end, Dundee United scored a lore in the 83rd minute, being replaced by William Jensen.

Dundee United lost to Twente 3:4 in the away game, and they have not won two consecutive rounds in the Europa League group stage.

With only one point in two rounds, Dundee United is really in a hurry to qualify.

Returning to Scotland early the next morning, the Dundee United team was blocked by Scottish reporters at Edinburgh Airport.

Dundee is a small city with only a small airport and no international flights, so the only way to fight in Europe is to fly to Edinburgh.

"Coach Houston, do you think Dundee United can still qualify from the group stage?"

"Paul (Dixon), you scored first in the away game, but you conceded three consecutive goals loosely. Is there a conflict between the team's defense players?"

"Bruce, you pass and shoot in the away game, but the team can't even score a point. Are you disappointed with your teammates?"

...

A series of problems bombarded the Dundee United team, and everyone could only choose to avoid it.

However, as the head star of the team, Li Chenglong still gave a simple answer.

"Losing is everyone's responsibility, no one is an exception, including me."

"Only one point in two rounds, this is not the end, we still have four rounds to make up for it."

"Some teams only get one point in three rounds, and they can all advance to the knockout round. What's more, we only get one point in two rounds?"

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