It is difficult for Wimbledon to not be popular now. They entered the third round of the FA Cup, which has changed dramatically from entering the second round.

The third round of the FA Cup was when the Premier League and the League One (English League Championship started in 2004-05), the level of the participating teams suddenly increased by more than one level, and the excitement and intensity of the game also increased accordingly. More importantly, more star players will appear from the third round, which is the stage for real fame.

They may be known to all Englanders because of their matches against a Premier League team. If they perform well in the game, they can even realize their dream of "professional players". Every season's FA Cup is when countless low-level players jump over the roar gate, and they become dragons after crossing the roar gate. If they can't get over, they will continue to make fish and wait for the next opportunity.

Amateur team in the ninth league has reached this round, and such a thing has never happened since the founding of the Premier League. In the 132-year history of the FA Cup, it is rare for such low-level teams to enter such high rounds.

When Chu Zhongtian and Borger were walking on campus, people always pointed at them and said, "Look, our Wimbledon heroes! Their team broke into the third round of the FA Cup!"

Although no one came to ask them for autographs, both of them have become the number one celebrities on campus - the original number one celebrity Emily went to the United States and they came up.

When they went to train, they found that there were more and more news media outside the King's Ranch. Almost every time they went to train, they found new reporters joined them.

Eames no longer takes half an hour before training to allow reporters to interview freely. That's too luxurious. Now he also learns from those professional teams, which can be opened for fifteen minutes at most. It's not that he has started to put on airs, but because it won't work if he delays the end of training for thirty minutes every day. Now it's dark early, and there is no floodlight on the Kings Ranch. How can he train when it's dark?

Not only has there been more media, but also many fans. Nowadays, when the players are training, there will be fans watching in the stadium stands, and some people will even come to find players to sign after the training, take photos, and pat their shoulders and make an appointment to drink together. Although fans have come to Kings Ranch to watch training in the past, there are only a few people. Now it is obvious that with their outstanding performance in the FA Cup, fans are looking forward to him more.

As the team's No. 2 shooter, Qiao Xilin naturally has many fans. Every time a fan invites him to drink, he will brag to his teammates afterwards that, "It's great to be famous." Teammates joked about him: "Don't you wear your sunglasses, you're dead Jeep?" Fans wearing sunglasses can't recognize him, so he won't wear it.

The media began to follow this amateur team in newspapers, magazines, television and radio. Many of them looked through the old information pile for a long time before they found out that they had reported this team more than a year ago. At that time, the team had just been established. As the first club in England consisting entirely of fans, it is quite symbolic in this increasingly commercial football environment.

At that time, people thought that this team was the biggest victory if they could appear on the court. Unexpectedly, after a season, they returned to everyone's vision in this way.

The third round of the FA Cup!

If it is quantitative change from the first to the second round, then the second to the third round will be a complete qualitative change.

It’s nothing to defeat teams in the League Two, English C or National League, and it’s a dream to fight against League One, or even Premier League teams.

※※When Chu Zhongtian ran to Kings Ranch again on Saturday to prepare for the afternoon competition, he saw an interview car with the BBC logo printed on it in the parking lot. This is a big guy, TV).

He remembered that when the team reached the main game, he and Bolger also saw BBC's car in the parking lot outside the Kings Ranch. Should they do a series of reports?

Chu Zhongtian felt that their days were not far from being famous all over the world... In fact, he is already a little famous now. At least at the beginning of the school, some people he had never known before claimed to be his alumni, and came to him to ask for autographs or take photos with him.

When he walked into the locker room, he saw his teammates who seemed very excited, and he knew that they must have seen the BBC interview car.

Sure enough, after seeing Chu Zhongtian, Qiao Xilin came up enthusiastically, hugged Chu Zhongtian's neck and said, "Hey, have you seen it, Chu? BBC TV's camera crew!"

"I saw their car, but I didn't see their people." Chu Zhongtian replied.

"They interviewed fans in the stands." Xilin pointed to the top of his head, which was the main stand.

"I heard that they are making special programs for the next FA Cup, and we are attracted by them. We are going to be famous nationwide, man!" Xilin excitedly opened his teeth.

"I have to record this episode and show it to my grandson when I get old, ha!" Some of my teammates said this.

"Oh, I had known they were coming today, so I should have gone to a new hairstyle..." Some people were also worried.

"If they interview me later, would I say that I am still single now?" This is planning to call for a marriage on TV.

The group of people were discussing happily, and captain Kevin Cooper had to remind them to change their clothes quickly and go out to warm up. After the discussion continued like this, the boss Eames would definitely rush in with murderous intent and scold them all.

Obviously, I knew that the arrival of BBC reporters made the players very excited, so after the warm-up, head coach Eames also took the initiative to talk about this issue: "Don't be excited about BBC TV's visit. If you lose the game because of it... you just lost a game in front of TV audiences across England! Do you like to let others see your loss on TV? Or do you like BBC reporters saying this: 'It's a pity that they lost this league...'?"

"This is just an exercise, guys. Let me tell you, our third round of competition is likely to be broadcast nationwide, and it will be a big scene at that time! If you are so excited that you don't know the difference between the south and the west now, what should you do? Just die excitedly? If you can't play such a game well, don't play the third round, just give up!"

Everyone looked at the boss.

"It seems that you don't want to give up? Then just kick me! Stop talking nonsense!" Eames shrugged.

Wimbledon's opponent in this game was horley_town, a team that is not too strong but not too weak.

No matter what Eames said before the game, the players were still influenced by the BBC TV interview team. When they appeared, they saw the BBC people carrying cameras to shoot them on the sidelines, and they couldn't help but have a cold war excitedly.

At the beginning, their performance on the court was a bit weird and seemed to have not entered the game rhythm. So the visiting team Houli Town team took the first goal without hesitation.

Then Eames stood on the sidelines and roared for five minutes before the team's performance improved.

This scene made the bbc reporter in charge of the interview sigh: "It's really worthy of being a person from the 'crazy gang'..." This roar is so "crazy gang". Do you still remember the FA Cup final in 1988? Winnie Jones also roared at Liverpool players with a group of subordinates, but they won 1:0.

Wimbledon's strength is higher than that of Houli Town, and the next step is the massacre.

Before the end of the first half, Wimbledon scored three consecutive games and reversed the lead 3:1.

During the halftime break, BBC's crew followed into the locker room and scared the Wimbledon player who had just taken off his underwear and was so confused.

When they saw the camera coming in, they screamed in panic like a group of women who stepped on rats.

"Okay, guys, we don't have female journalists." said the bbc's cameraman.

"But everyone you take pictures will go on TV, right?" Borge used a basin to block his lower body. He was quick to get the only basin in the locker room. He snatched it. Others can only use towels, jerseys, mineral water bottles, sneakers, leg guards, smelly socks... or simply cover the vital parts with their hands.

"Don't worry, we can code. Okay, let's take a picture with peace of mind. Your head coach looks like you have something to say." The cameraman moved to the corner, found a good shooting angle, and tried to put everyone in.

Eames coughed: "You guys do a good job... I asked if you can put down all the strange things in your hands! I would think that I am not facing a group of players, but a group of women who have just been raped!"

A burst of laughter rang out in the locker room.

"Put your clothes on, if you really don't want to show your figure in front of a national audience."

Chu Zhongtian was sitting in front of his cabinet with his upper body naked, and he glanced at the camera.

"Apart from the goal conceding in the first half, you did a good job at the other time. So let's talk about the second half..."

※※※In fact, Eames didn't say anything that was very useful, because so many league games were played like this, the team has already completed the work and cooperated with each other. They know how to play the game, and they no longer need to talk too much as the head coach. Now he is leading two goals, and as long as he doesn't underestimate the enemy in the second half, he will not capsize in the gutter.

This was true in the second half. Wimbledon mastered the rhythm of the field and quickly scored another goal, expanding the score to 4:1, and the game basically lost the suspense. Then the excited players began to show off in front of the crew of bbc TV.

Borger won applause from the fans after using his speed to forcibly break through, but Eames had a different opinion: "This idiot! If he passes the ball directly, we will be 5:1 now!"

Ingrich laughed at the side. Since he had already led 4:1, he didn't care whether he would score or not. He would definitely win this game anyway.

Next, Qiao Xilin made a very difficult barb shot in front of the goal, but it shot directly into the sky, causing a burst of laughter in the stands.

Xilin himself felt embarrassed and kept explaining to his teammates who were gloating: "It's not that I'm not strong enough, it's that I ran a little, just a little..."

My teammates didn't listen to his explanation and made faces at him - let you play! Have you made a fool of yourself? Hahaha, I deserve it!

The two full-backs also helped forward after leading, and they didn't come back when they went up. They both hoped to score a goal in a game with bbc attention.

Sidwell, a defensive midfielder, tried to cross several players after getting the ball in the midfield, but lost the ball. If Chu Zhongtian hadn't been next to him, he expected that he would have a problem playing with fire and snatch the ball back, maybe the opponent would have a counterattack directly against the central defender.

Sidwell, who was startled, patted Chu Zhongtian on the shoulder and expressed his gratitude in shock: "Thank you, thank you, Chu."

Eames looked at it for a while and sighed: "Faced with the camera lens, only a few people performed normally. Kevin Cooper is the captain, his performance is normal, Andy Sullivan is also normal, and the other person who performs normally is Chu. He is not disturbed by those off-field factors at all... The first two people are older than him, and it is really rare to be valuable for his age. He has mature beyond his age."

Chu Zhongtian was indeed not affected by those off-court factors, and he didn't care about becoming famous on TV or something. There were almost no one who didn't want to become famous when playing football. Chu Zhongtian was not a god who cut off human desires, so he naturally couldn't avoid the vulgarity. He also wanted to become famous, but he could control this emotion, especially during the game. Once the whistle sounded, he devoted himself to the game. Other things would be discussed after the game was over.

He told Emily that he was very serious about doing everything, studying, working, and playing football, not bragging.

As the game was coming to an end, everyone was playing, but the opponent played a goal. The score was frozen at 4:2, and Wimbledon easily won the game.

※※After the game, bbc reporters came to interview Wimbledon's players, mainly to listen to their outlook for the next FA Cup.

Judging from the first two rounds, these players seemed full of confidence. They thought they would hear the "Dragon Slaying Declaration" of a group of grass-roots people, but they didn't expect that everyone would be satisfied if they could enter the third round... "I will be content if I can reach the third round. I don't care whether I lose or win in the next game!" Qiao Xilin said to the camera. His statement surprised the bbc reporters, but it was approved by most teammates.

Compared with the victory of the game, they are obviously more concerned about who the game is. If they can meet a giant team, they will make a profit.

"God bless us to draw away to Manchester United! Apart from Wimbledon, my favorite is Manchester United! I want to play a game at Old Trafford..." Steve Gibson, who has just joined the team this season, cut a cross on his chest.

Everyone is the same as him. Although they all join this team because they like Wimbledon or Wimbledon's local talent, this does not prevent them from liking another team, those Premier League teams. So while Gibson likes Wimbledon, he also supports Manchester United.

In fact, this phenomenon is also very common among professional players. It is not necessary to like a team if you play for a certain team. They have the right to choose which team to support, and no one can interfere with this.

"Arsenal is also good! They play very well, and I really want to play with them."

"Liverpool, I like Liverpool very much..." The person who said this was Andy Sullivan, who is a Liverpool fan.

"No matter who it is, we have our last game anyway!"

"I was satisfied with the last time I was TV, real national live broadcast, ha!"

"That may be the most glorious moment in my life, haha! I can also tell my children in the future that your dad once participated in the FA Cup as an amateur player! And he also reached the third round!"

This group of amateur players are not delicate and artificial in front of the camera, and they speak out their true thoughts directly and cutely. Although it will disappoint some people, it is much better than hypocritical claiming that "our goal is to win the championship."

These people are not lacking in fighting spirit, but they are sober enough. They are sober and aware that if they meet a Premier League team, with their strength, it is absolutely impossible to defeat them. Even if it is a League One team, the possibility of their winning is too low... So for them to enter the third round, it is the end of this FA Cup journey.

What's next? Play the remaining leagues well, strive to upgrade early, and never repeat the mistakes of last season.

"We don't have much ideals, we know that our level is limited." Captain Kevin Cooper finally made a summary statement on behalf of the entire team. "After we achieved our goal of reaching the third round of the main game, we just want to enjoy the football and enjoy the game against strong teams."

"Thank you for your interview. No matter what, you are now successful." BBC reporter shook hands with him and said goodbye. "I think you are already the darkest dark horse in this FA Cup this season."

Before leaving, a group of players surrounded him and asked the reporter when the show would be broadcast.

The reporter told them that it might be next Thursday, before Christmas.

When the reporter left, the players were still savoring the first time they were so close to being on TV.

"Tsk tsk, I've been on the camera five times!" Qiao Xilin said with his fingers.

"You remember this?"

"I've been interviewed twice, haha!"

"Not bad, I feel like I'm really famous now!"

"It will be aired on Thursday? I will have to have a good look at it then!"

"I have to record this program and save it forever! Keep it as a souvenir!"

Chu Zhongtian thought his teammates were so cute. I wonder if there was such a scene in the locker room of the professional team? I guess there wasn't... However, although we are not professional at all, we are very happy.
Chapter completed!