Chapter 96 Go forward, Wembley!
On the morning of April 19th, Luton players assembled at the training base as usual.
But there is no need for training today, because today is the FA Cup semi-final day, they are going to London! Go to Wembley! And waiting for them in London is their opponent, the North London giants Arsenal!
"Hurry up, pack things up and get in the car!!"
John Aston is busy greeting the players to get in the car. As an assistant coach, his job is still very complicated.
Gao Bo always habitually looks to the sky every time he leaves for away. He wants to know the weather on the day of the game.
The clouds in the sky are not thick. The sun is warm in the morning, and the sun shines through the clouds.
I hope that tomorrow when we return, we can see such a beautiful sunrise.
Gao Bo suddenly thought a little literary.
"It shouldn't rain today..." John, who was finished, came over and said.
"I hope to have a heavy rain during the game..." Gao Bo said.
Arsenal is a relatively gorgeous team in the Premier League. Their team cooperation at the forefront of the penalty area and the overall ground-propelled short pass play are very distinctive.
Although heavy rains have an impact on Luton, the impact on Arsenal will definitely be greater.
"It's useless, Gao, we went to Wembley!" John Aston looked very proud, and he held out a finger: "This is Wembley!"
Rain and windy weather has no effect on Wembley. Of course, the current Wembley Stadium is the new Wembley newly completed two years ago. It is completely different from the previous stadium where England lifted the World Cup champion. His facilities are more modern and can be used in any weather conditions. Organize football matches.
In such a modern stadium, the weather factor has become irrelevant.
Wembley Stadium is the home of England and the mecca of English football. England once won the World Cup championship trophy on this stadium. But because the old Wembley Stadium was built in the 1920s of the last century, after entering the 21st century, it has become increasingly unable to conceal the needs of modern football.
The Football Association finally chose to demolish the old Wembley Stadium. Most of the fans hoped to keep the Wembley Twin Towers when the stadium was rebuilt, but they failed in the end. On May 20, 2000, Old Wembley hosted her last FA Cup final. Chelsea and Aston Villa faced Chelsea and Aston Villa. Chelsea's Robert Di Matteo scored the only goal of the game. On October 7, 2000, the last Wembley game was played between Germany and England. The German team's Hamann scored the winning goal and became the last player to score at Wembley. The loss of the game also directly led to the dismissal of England coach Kevin Keegan. After the game, many fans removed the stadium seats as a memorial, and Wembley was officially closed since then.
Then the Football Association of England began the construction of the new Wembley Stadium.
Wembley Stadium is regarded by the British as a symbol of British sports. Due to the involvement of various interest groups, the debate surrounding the reconstruction of Wembley Stadium has never been interrupted, and the construction costs have also been increasing. ?
After several twists and turns, the new Wembley Stadium was finally built and put into use in 2007. The FA Cup finals that year were held at the New Wembley Service Stadium.
The new Wembley, costing 780 million pounds, is a modern high-tech stadium with 90,000 seats and a floating roof that can be closed. It is the world's largest capped stadium.
...
Just as the members of the team were preparing to set off, the city of Luton was almost boiling.
When the team's bus drove out of the gate of the training base, it was found that the entire street was crowded with fans wearing Luton's orange home jersey.
This game Arsenal drew to the home team's locker room, so they are wearing Arsenal's red home jersey. However, since Luton's home jersey color and Arsenal do not constitute a color collision at all, the Luton players drawn to the away team's locker room also wore home jerseys during the game.
Flags fluttered on the street, and the fans cheered.
The atmosphere reached its peak when the team bus came out.
"Wembley!!! Wembley!!! Wembley!!!"
The players were a little shocked by the atmosphere created by the fans. Let alone these young players now, even John, who has served the team for more than 20 years, has never seen Luton fans so enthusiastic.
"This is... the whole Luton people are coming out!" Linsen smashed his mouth. After coming to England, he truly realized the meaning of football to England fans.
Take Luton as an example. Most people living in Luton are also fans of Luton's team. That's really a loyal loyalty to a team from the ancestors.
Gao Bo stood in front of the car, and there was a straight road connected to the entrance of the training base.
This road is one of Luton's main roads, and even the team's home stadium is named after this road-here is the Wo idea that runs through the entire Luton city.
From the entrance of the training base, you can see the end of Wo's train of thought. On the two or three kilometers long main road, there are densely packed people.
"This is too exaggerated..."
Gao Bo and John looked at each other, and both saw shock in their own eyes. He quickly saw Alexander, who was very active in the crowd. The owner of this tavern seemed to be the person in charge of a fan club. He was now directing the crowd and maintaining order.
"Alexander, how did you make such a big battle?!" Gao Bo got out of the car and walked to the pressure.
The arrival of the head coach aroused the cheers of the fans, and Alexander had to shout: "We are going to Wembley with the team!!!"
"The game time is five o'clock in the afternoon, and how can so many of you get there?" Gao Bo pointed helplessly at the dense crowds on the street. He is now a little worried about so many people. What if there is a safety accident? !
"Railway!! Let's take the train there!! We found the railway company to book two trains!!" Alexander laughed, "It's a big deal for the team to reach the semi-finals, of course we have to all participate."
This Gao Bo understands that the FA gave Luton 30,000 tickets. As a result, on the day of ticket purchase, Luton fans overwhelmed the server through the ticket sales channel on the official website. I know, Luton is just a city with only a few hundred thousand people...
After , Luton only had to put all the tickets on offline ticket sales channels. The fans queued up almost overnight just to grab a Wembley ticket.
"You are not just 30,000 people, right?" Gao Bo pointed to the crowd on the street and said, "And even if you take the train, it is estimated that you can't transport so many people."
Gao Bo doesn't know much about train capacity, but even in China, a 16-knot train can only carry about one or two thousand people...
"This is a problem, we can take a few more trips... haha" Alexander said with a smile.
"This is only the semi-finals. What if the team makes it to the final?!"
"Uh...then wait until we get to the finals and we will do it again..." Alexander said so, but he was muttering in his heart.
I'm afraid I won't have a chance to enter the finals...
Gao Bo doesn't know what the fans think, but seeing this sensational crowd at least shows that at Wembley, Luton's fan power will not lose to Arsenal by much.
Gao Bo is still very happy about this.
...
When the team's bus was out of the city, the players discovered that behind the bus, there was actually a long line of cars!
Some vehicles also protruded Luton's team flags from the windows, which fluttered in the wind.
These are also Luton fans! ! !
The players were shocked by the battles that the fans made.
When the bus drove onto the M1 highway, the trains behind the vehicle merged into a long line and rushed towards Wembley Stadium.