King of Competition

Chapter 464 European Union Cup

and Chelsea's league victory is very exciting. The media think that this is a 'league final', which everyone knows. Previously, Don Jack said that the team's goal is the league championship, and the media did not comment. More commentators think that it is just a goal. In the face of the momentum of Chelsea, even Manchester United and Arsenal Na Zhiliu publicly said that the team's hope was not great, and Newcastle United's hope was even less.

In fact, Newcastle United players don't have much confidence.

For example, Owen.

As the golden boy of England, Michael. Owen has been pursuing his next peak. He is only 27 years old, but the current situation is that he seems to have entered the end of his career. Constant injuries and bad encounters have made Owen's condition very bad. He came to Newcastle United. In fact, after Manchester United and Liverpool did not accept Owen, it was a very helpless choice. He originally regarded this as a springboard and didn't plan to win the trophy or anything. Besides, Newcastle United won the league championship?

It's incredible...

Few people dare to imagine that Owen is the same. Soness said in the team that the club's goal is to play with a stable attitude. It is the top four of the league, and only Don Jack directly told the media that he wanted to win the championship!

Now it's different. The victory over Chelsea is not only a good form of Newcastle United League, but also the goals of the players are different. After the game, many Newcastle United said in interviews that the team should fight for the league championship.

"We are one of the strongest teams in the Premier League, and our goal is to compete for the league championship!" The team's main central defender Brambo said.

Shearer said: "The game with Chelsea is just a league, and there are still many games in the league after that. Although we won this game, we can't be careless. We have to stick to this kind of performance all the time to win the championship."

These two people are very low-key. In fact, it's not just Don Jack who is high-profile at Newcastle United. There is a guy who is higher-profile than him. That is Newcastle United's 'rich second generation' Taylor. This guy shouted excitedly to reporters at Newcastle United: "What? Do you mean the goal of Newcastle United? Of course it's the champion! We have always aimed at the championship. No, it should be said that the championship should belong to Newcastle United, and no one can take it away!"

"Chelsea? Oh, no, didn't you see that they lost two goals to us at home? If they come to St. James' Park, they will be beaten and peed!"

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The players who returned to Newcastle with excitement had little time to celebrate. After the team disbanded, they continued to train the next day, because only one day after the league with Chelsea, the group stage of the UEFA Cup has begun!

UEFA is the English abbreviation of 'European Football Association Union'. UEFA-CUP is the cup held by the European Football Association Union, referred to as the European Union Cup. The history of this event was until 1971, its predecessor, the Expo Cup.

The City Expo Cup was founded on August 18, 1955 by Swiss Ernst. Toman, Italian Ottorino Barassi and Englishman Stanley. Co-founded by Sir Rolls, the purpose of this event is to promote international trade fairs, so the participating teams are from European cities that hold trade fairs. Although the City Expo Cup is regarded as the predecessor of the UEFA Cup, UEFA does not regard the City Expo Cup as a recognized event by UEFA, so the record of the City Expo Cup is calculated separately from the UEFA Cup.

In 1971, the City Expo Cup was accepted by the European Football League, so it was restructured and renamed the UEFA Cup. Later, in the 98/99 season, the European Winners' Cup was cancelled and merged into the UEFA Cup, and it was added to the UEFA Cup. The champion of the local cup of each country.

With such history and rules, the UEFA Cup covers a lot more clubs.

Now the League Cup is divided into several stages. Teams that perform well in national cups and teams that have won good rankings have the opportunity to join, but the quotas are different. Theoretically, even if it is a small amateur league team, as long as it performs well enough, it will also have the opportunity to participate in the UEFA Cup in the second year. Of course, the premise is that they have not been eliminated.

In terms of the rules, the number of UEFA Cup places in European national leagues is different. The rules are based on the ranking of the league in the UEFA ranking system, which can be divided into one to three places. If there are multiple places in the same league, there is usually a place allocated to the cup champion. Under such rules, there are even cases where the cup champions occupy two places. For example, in England, both the FA Cup champion and the League Cup champion can get the UEFA Cup ticket. In addition, the top leagues on the UEFA fair play list each season can get additional seats in the UEFA Cup, and the three teams that win the international Toto Cup final can also enter the UEFA Cup qualifiers.

Before the establishment of the group stage, the top eight were called qualification by UEFA.

In the qualifying round, it is divided into play-offs, first rounds, second rounds and third rounds. Every year, more than 100 teams can enter the UEFA Cup qualifiers. The lower league teams in the UEFA ranking system need to participate in the play-offs. After two rounds, there are only 32 teams left. At this time, the third round of the group stage will be held in order to eliminate another half of the teams. The above are called the qualifying matches of the UEFA Cup. Only the last 16 promotion teams are selected, plus the 16 teams eliminated in the UEFA Champions League group stage, have been taking over. After the knockout competition, it is not until this is the real League Cup.

Because of its rules, the status of the UEFA Cup is under the Champions League, because there are too many teams in the UEFA Cup. If there is no group stage in the top 32, it is likely that there will be a dark horse. However, it is still a great honor to win the UEFA Cup, and it is a champion that any club is worth boasting. For example, in the minds of many European fans, the champion of the UEFA Cup is at least no worse than the champion of the International Cup.

Of course, except for England's FA Cup, this event is even higher than the league championship in the hearts of English fans.

Since Newcastle United is the champion of the English League Cup last season, Newcastle United is qualified to directly enter the third round of the group stage of the League Cup. In this round, as long as they stand out in the group stage, they will be able to participate in the real League Cup stage, and they are likely to meet the Champions League. A rich team with bad luck and poor performance in the group stage.

Of course, until then, Newcastle United will not encounter any strong teams for the time being.

The first two rounds of the qualifying round of this season's League Cup have ended. Newcastle United is directly inserted into the third round. In Group H, there are five teams in Group H, and the remaining four teams are Dnipro of the Ukrainian Super League, Alkmaar of the Dutch League, and Letix of Bulgaria. As well as the Grasshoppers of the Swiss Super League, except for the Grasshoppers, the other two teams are really much worse.

Of course, compared with a team like Newcastle United that targets the English Premier League championship, the Grasswtocks have become worthless...

There is no suspense about standing out from such a group. Almost no media think that Newcastle United will not make it. Even if it does not perform well, as long as the top two can qualify, Newcastle United has no pressure at all. Such a group stage may be a tourist for players. If it is, they hope that the team will draw all the away games, so they can take a free tour of four countries.

This is really a relaxing group activity.