The Young Lion

After entering 1997, Millwall seems to have new changes every day. Creative and innovative posters, new club flags, the official website is online, and a blue lion on the side of the home game as a mascot.

After killing Tottenham in the FA Cup in early March, Millwall advanced to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. They entered the rhythm of tying a game and winning one game. This gave Manchester United a chance to catch up. As Vietnam moved closer, Ferguson started a psychological battle again, claiming that Millwall would eventually crash like last season.

Before every league press conference, Aldridge almost has to formulate it again: if Manchester United performs well, the league champion is theirs.

The European war rekindled. On Wednesday afternoon, the Millwall team packed up and boarded the plane to Bergen, Norway, under the leadership of the coaching staff.

In the quarterfinals of the European Winners' Cup, they will be the guest of the first round to challenge Norwegian powerhouse Bran.

The official is to pack a small passenger aircraft, not only all the first team players go out, the youth team also has 18 people to accompany.

The first team is sitting in front of the cabin. The youth team players and coaches are sitting in the back row. Najib is an exception. He sits next to Aldridge. The two discuss the youth team's schedule.

It is Aldrich’s idea to let the youth team go to the European War away. This is not only to cultivate the sense of belonging of the young players, but also to take this opportunity to discuss with clubs around Europe. As for the cost of the expedition, it is all beside The minutiae are not worth mentioning.

Before going to Switzerland and Sion to play in the second round of the European Winners' Cup, Aldridge noticed that these small Nordic countries also have good youth echelons. Regardless of their strength, at least the style must be different from England. In order to let the youth team The players have more contact with different football styles across Europe, so as not to be assimilated by the league opponents in England every day. Aldrich contacted Bran Club before leaving Norway and proposed that the youth teams of the two teams play a friendly match.

The Bran Club readily agreed that they would wait for work anyway and they would not have to provide hotels and accommodations to Millwall.

In addition, Aldridge also sent the intention of the friendly team of the youth team to other clubs in Norway. Many clubs feel very new. It is common for the first team to play friendly games, but they will not be played in the middle of the season. Most of them are pre-season friendly games. , The first time I met someone who took the initiative to come to challenge the youth team.

Several clubs also agreed. As for the Millwall Youth Team’s youth league and the FA Cup in England, Aldridge should not worry too much. The strength of the Youth League is not great because the number of participating teams is not large. It takes an average of 10 days to play a game. As long as you apply to adjust the schedule with the FA, it is not a big deal. The schedule of the Youth FA Cup is more relaxed. You have been promoted consecutively. The average is only two games in a month and a half.

The first team will go back to the country after playing the away game with Bran, and then Najib will take the youth team to make a lap in Norway, under the banner of exchange "stepping on the field" in Norway.

But then again, Aldridge really doesn’t care what the youth team’s record in Norway is. It’s mainly for the young players to develop their horizons. After all, it’s just training and the local youth league. It’s really not enough, so that every week, Najib will take the players to the community to find a street football team for the youth team to exercise.

Aldridge and Najib were discussing the schedule of the youth team’s schedule on the notebook. The noise behind the cabin made him unable to concentrate, so he turned back and said, "Ronaldo, please keep me quiet!"

The first time the boys experienced this kind of scene, they were very excited and restless on the plane, but no, Ronaldinho was there to teach Ashley Cole samba dance with great interest.

After being reprimanded by the head coach, Ronaldinho finally settled down.

The youths of the youth team are no longer loud and noisy. The first team players in front are very quiet, playing cards, playing music, listening to music, watching movies...

When the plane landed at Bergen International Airport at night, the players leaned against the window early to admire this beautiful harbour city. The charming night scenery quickly made a lot of players remember this place.

After disembarking from the plane, a well-arranged bus was already waiting outside the airport. Aldrich and his party boarded the bus with a simple luggage and stayed in a hotel in the city.

Although the first team players do not have much experience in European wars, most of them have traveled with the national team, so when they came to the hotel, they prepared to rest and recuperate to prepare for tomorrow night's game.

But the youth team players were obviously overexcited and restless in the hotel. Villa and Joe Cole were going to sneak out and were caught by Najib. The players were so noisy that the entire youth team's coaching staff couldn't sleep all night, and Naji's assistant Mr. Franz simply put his chair in the corridor and watched the night...

Bran’s position in Norway is similar to that of Newcastle United in England. Previously he won the championship, but now it only occasionally hits the championship, but it does not form a dominant force. However, due to the Nordic style of play, Bran is in the local Bel The root has always been sought after, and the football frenzy caused by it has lasted for a long time.

The youth team's schedule is relatively close, so on the next morning, Najib led the youth team to the Bran Club youth team training stadium. After a short warm-up, the players of both sides will play, planning to leave Bergen in the afternoon and head to Norway The capital Oslo will challenge the youth team of the Capital Club the next day.

The training ground of the Bran youth team is not big, there is only a small stand around, and the residents who are nearby are all coming to watch the game. They all heard that a youth team came from the United Kingdom. The clubs that fight are here during the day to compete with their youth team.

Fans who are concerned about mainstream European games know that this formerly unknown Millwall has set a new streak for five major leagues and set an 18-game winning streak in England. It can be said to be invincible in the Premier League.

So they would like to see what awesome the youth team of this club is.

But they were disappointed.

This Millwall youth team led by Ronaldinho and the Bran youth team have a difference in average age, because like Villa and Ashley Cole, they are still 1516 years old, and Ronaldinho is about to turn 17 years old. Originally, the average age is not big, but there should not be a big gap in strength because of the difference of one or two years.

In the game with the Bran youth team, the Millwall youth team played extremely badly. Najib jumped on the sidelines. He was so angry that Aldridge sat in the stands and laughed.

Look carefully, Ronaldinho, Joe Cole and others are all playing with dark circles. The ghost knows that they have been playing in the hotel room last night.

The Millwall youth team fell behind 1:3 before the first half.

The mentally weak players such as Ronaldinho also knew that they played too long last night and did not have a good rest, which led to abnormal performance. They felt that the body was kicking and sinking. During the halftime break, Najib chose to replace him and put some tired out of breath. The players are replaced.

The team's performance in the second half still didn't improve, so Bran scored two goals.

With every goal scored, the coaches and players on the Bran youth team cheered happily, and the fans in the stands also gave applause.

They think this Millwall youth team's strength is simply scum!

It can be seen that their first team is also not dripping. It is no wonder that English football has performed generally in the past ten years. It seems that Millwall is nothing more than a mouse in the Premier League.

Ronaldinho and other players who were replaced on the court looked selfless and looked at the proud expressions of the young players and coaches next door, which hurt their self-esteem.

Aldridge in the stands was very happy, he felt that the decision to bring the youth team out was really right.

You have to make this group of guys understand that you want to go abroad for sightseeing and play and win applause. How can there be such a good thing in the world?

I hope that today's defeat will teach them a lesson. As long as you are not a faceless loser, you should be able to wake up.

After the game, Aldridge left the scene. In the afternoon, his players performed a simple warm-up training at Bran's home to adapt to the venue.

The weather in Norway is good today. Although it is not as warm as England, it should feel good to wear a long-sleeved jersey when playing football at night.

After the training, Aldridge attended the official press conference.

The atmosphere at the press conference was a little weird.

There are many journalists from the mainstream Scandinavian media, as well as some reporters who follow the UEFA competitions. The English journalists who came here with the team endured a smile and seemed to anticipate what would happen.

When Aldridge sat down, the football reporter in Berg basically said, "Mr. Hall, did you watch the game this morning?"

Aldridge didn't respond for a while, and asked: "What game?"

"The match between Millwall Youth and Bran Youth."

"Oh, watched. Does this have anything to do with the game tonight?"

"The Millwall youth team lost 1:5, what do you think of this?"

"I don’t think what the youth team’s game can represent. It’s normal for those U18 players to have ups and downs, not to mention coming from England to Norway, but it’s a good exercise for them. Even losing is a valuable experience. I feel good."

"Is the 1:5 score good?"

"I don't understand what the score of 1:5 means? What do you want to ask about grabbing the score? You are confusing me. In England, there are teams in the Youth League who can lose seven or eight games a game, but What about then? Do the losing players stop playing in the future? Are they sure they will not succeed in the future?"

Aldridge was puzzled, is it true that in Norway, training youth teams value the results of the game?

The English reporters off the stage, especially those familiar with Millwall, couldn't help it, and grinned, covering their mouths.

Finally, Richard said bluntly: "Mr. Hall, Bran’s head coach Calvinis just commented on the morning game at the press conference and thought that from the performance of the youth team, the strength of the Millwall first team is definitely Not great, he declared that Bran will make the suspense for the promotion to the semifinals completely disappear at home tonight, and will not give Millwall a chance to return to London and make a comeback."

Aldridge was stunned. He did not know the other coach. When he first contacted the friendly match between the clubs, he directly negotiated with the executive director of the Bran club.

"Infer the strength of the first team from the performance of the youth team?"

Aldridge asked suspiciously.

The reporters in England all laughed crazy and nodded, which made the Nordic colleagues despise their behavior.

Aldridge’s expression became weird. He was also holding back his laugh. I don’t know if Calvinis was overconfident or mentally disabled. He wrote lightly: “Oh, well then, we came with a mentality that puts great emphasis on the game. Here, tonight's game, I also look forward to seeing Bran show the strongest strength and can give fans a wonderful game."