Andy Ridell entered the sight of Wigan Athletic Club at the age of twelve. He had just graduated from a children's education school in Wigan, but his fame had gradually spread in Wigan.

Wigan Athletic noticed this young man and brought him into the Wigan Athletic U-16 youth team for training. Four years later, Ridell had already joined the Wigan Athletic U-18 youth team. It took only a year and a half. When he was less than eighteen years old, he had already joined the Wigan Athletic first team.

So far, Ridell has played for Wigan Athletic for eight years.

In eight years and eight seasons, no matter how good Ridell performed or how many major clubs he attracted, he had never left the team. This kind of heartfeltness to the club is beyond the reach of any other player who came to the team.

He is also very strong.

Since becoming the main player of Wigan Athletics at the age of nineteen, he has been playing in the core of the midfield and has never changed. Over the years, everyone who came to the team has become accustomed to the existence of Ridell. He is the center of the team and the soul of the team.

After Wigan Athletics was promoted to Class A, many media expressed doubts last summer that Ridell could still become the main player of Wigan Athletics. After all, no matter how good he performed, he had never participated in Class A events. But Ridell responded to those who questioned him with his performance.

Fans are used to Riddle, teammates are used to Riddle, and even head coach Jewell is used to Riddle. He knows very well that without Riddle, the overall strength will definitely be reduced by a level.

Ridell also has a substitute.

That is the team's captain Peter Kennedy.

Kennedy is already thirty years old. He is older than Riddle and is also an old man on the team, so he is the captain of the team, but his strength is still much worse than Riddle. Kennedy replaced Riddle and Wigan Athletics' offense is much weaker.

Ridell was injured, especially before the battle with Bolton. Jewell was worried about it. He regretted sending Ridell to play.

But there is nothing he can do, he must prepare the team to face Bolton.

The League Cup has reached the semi-finals, and it is impossible for him to give up because of Ridell's injury. Even if their strength has declined a little, they must fight for victory when they fight Bolton. As long as Bolton can be eliminated, the team will step into the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. That will be of great benefit to the club.

One is reputation. By entering the League Cup final, it can attract the attention of all England and attract the attention of all England fans. This invisible long-term benefit is something that the club must strive for.

Second, if they defeat Bolton, they will likely be qualified to participate in the UEFA Cup next season.

According to the rules of the League Cup in large leagues, the League Cup champion has the qualification to enter the UEFA Cup next season. If the League Cup champion has the European qualification (including the European Champions League and the UEFA Cup, each team can only participate in one), then it will be pushed to the next one, that is, the runner-up team.

The other league cup match was Arsenal and Middlesbrough.

Arsenal have been quite strong this season. They have remained unbeaten in the Premier League so far and have reached the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League. The possibility of their victory over Middlesbrough to enter the League Cup final is very high. That is to say, if the team can defeat Bolton, they will meet Arsenal in the final.

Arsenal is the top of the Premier League. No matter how bad the second half schedule is, it is enough to qualify for a European competition based on the league ranking.

In other words, as long as they defeat Bolton, whether Wigan Athletics can win the League Cup or not, they will have a high chance of being qualified to participate in the UEFA Cup next season.

Wigan Athletics cannot give up the fight with Bolton, and they must also work hard to eliminate Bolton.

According to the rules of the League Cup, the semi-finals will be played at home and away.

The draw drawn by Wigan Athletics is to play away games first, which is beneficial to Wigan Athletics. After all, the second game that determines the victory or defeat is in front of your own goal, which is much better than going to the opponent's stadium.

Many media are also optimistic about Wigan Athletics.

They eliminated several powerful Premier League teams, including Chelsea, and won ten consecutive victories in the League One. It is nothing unusual for such a team to eliminate Bolton, so many people are concerned about the showdown between the two teams. However, when they heard that Andy Riddle was injured, they immediately changed their voices and lamented that Wigan Athletics was not lucky.

It's really bad luck!

Before such an important game, the midfielder, the most important player of the team, was injured and unable to play, which was simply a direct ruin. In the media's opinion, the strength of the two teams is similar. In terms of momentum and schedule, Wigan Athletics is beneficial, but anyone who knows Wigan Athletics knows that Ridell is important to Wigan Athletics. Ridell cannot play, how much strength can Wigan Athletics exert?

Everyone could only shake their heads.

They are not optimistic about Wigan Athletics at all.

...

Before the first round of the battle, the media still made a lot of reports, especially the media in Manchester, who were even more vigorously reporting on the game. The reason was that Bolton and Wigan Athletics were both Manchester County teams, and they staged a Manchester County civil war in the semi-finals of the League Cup, which was simply better.

This proves Manchester's football strength!

Manchester has three Premier League teams, Manchester United, Manchester City and Bolton, which are already ahead of England and are only comparable to London, the capital. Now the semi-finals of the League Cup is another Manchester County civil war. Another team participating in the game is still the unknown Wigan Athletics. Manchester media are naturally very happy.

But it's just a matter of whether the game is good or not.

They had great hope, and the strength of the two teams was similar, which should be a focus battle. Unfortunately, the core of Wigan Athletics was injured and unable to play, so the strength of the two teams was very different, and there was probably no suspense in the game.

It's similar to what the media imagines...

At this time, the match between the two teams had already begun on the Reebok Stadium in the suburbs of Manchester. The time on the scoreboard showed that the game had reached the second half. The score above was ‘2:0’, no, it should be ‘3:0’. Just now, Bolton scored another goal and changed the score to ‘3:0’.

"Kevin-Nolan-"

“goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool!!!!!!”

There was a huge cheer from Reebok Stadium, and the commentator on the scene shouted the name of the goal-scoring player Kevin Nolan.

A strong white player was raising his arms to greet Bolton fans in the surrounding audience and celebrating the goal with his teammates - this was Nolan's second goal in the game and Bolton's third goal. With this goal, they led Wigan Athletic three goals.

Let’s take a look at the players of Wigan Athletics…

They all looked disappointed, even Zhang Tiehan. He was worried about the team and even worried about the next game. Bolton completely defeated them in seventy minutes.

He finally knew what it felt like to be a team that was three goals behind Wigan Athletics.

Despair, helplessness, hesitation...

Everyone has this expression, and Zhang Tiehan is also helpless. He worked hard all the game, but without Ridell, the team seemed to have lost something. They couldn't make a decent offense. Under Bolton's defense of pressing the whole game, they were unable to fight back.

Zhang Tiehan wanted to rely on his ability to do something, but he had no chance at all. Football could not even pass half of the game. His teammates lost the ball after getting the ball. Under Bolton's offensive, he could not do anything.

He worked hard throughout the first half.

In the second half, when he was two goals behind, he could only retreat to defend. Otherwise, the opponent scored another goal and the two rounds of matchup would really lose the suspense. Unfortunately, the opponent scored another one.

What to do next?

Zhang Tiehan didn't know that he could not accept the result at all... His face was a little helpless, but he clenched his fists tightly. He clenched them all tightly, and then released them again. He tried his best to make his fingertips turn white, but he ignored them completely and just looked at Bolton coldly in the direction of the half.

He knew exactly what three goals meant.

Back at home, such a score will be like a huge rock pressing on the hearts of every Wigan Athletic player. As time goes by, the stones will become heavier and heavier, and there will always be a moment when they will all be crushed.

By then, what else would you say to try to eliminate Bolton?

Zhang Tiehan knew that there would be no hope in this game. Even a draw was very luxurious, but he had to reserve a glimmer of hope for the team anyway, so at least the team would have to score a away goal.

A goal must be scored!
Chapter completed!