Team Spirit

Chapter 67 (More updates, please read later) I don’t want to avoid relegation!
An Qi never thought that the danger came from his teammates, and by the time he made the save, it was already too late.

Own goal!
Droylsden picked up a free ball, 4 to 5!
But the goal didn't help.

A minute later, the referee blew the whistle to end the game.

All Dartford players rushed onto the field and celebrated wildly.

"Congratulations to Dartford! The Green Gun has made history again! This is the first time in 20 years that the FA Cup champion has defeated the FA Championship champion!"

"Lu Kai continued to shine, scoring two goals and providing two assists, and was named Player of the Match. Let's take a look at Lu Kai's interview below."

Reporter: "Lu Kai, you won another championship. How do you feel?"

Lu Kai: “It feels great.”

Reporter: "Will this match boost your confidence in avoiding relegation? After all, many people think you belong to the eighth-tier league and may not be able to adapt to the seventh-tier league."

Lu Kai shook his head: "We don't have the confidence to avoid relegation, and we haven't thought about it."

The reporters at the scene were stunned: "Ah? But if you don't avoid relegation, you might fall into a serious debt crisis!"

Lu Kai smiled slightly. "If we don't stay in the league, does that mean we'll definitely be relegated? If we can be promoted to the sixth level, then why should we stay in the seventh level?"

???

Hamburg team: Okay, okay, you who don’t want to avoid relegation are our Hamburg’s burger, right?

The reporters laughed. "You don't think that just because you beat Droylsden you'll be able to compete in the sixth division, do you?"

"Droylsden suffered a serious loss of players this summer. Their current strength is probably only 30% of last season's!"

Lu Kai asked in return: "You don't think that Dartford is what we will eventually be like, do you?"

"Our players are very young, and it's normal for them to suddenly improve their skills at this age."

"We are confident that we can keep growing until we reach the Premier League!"

The reporter couldn't hold back: "You are talking about super geniuses, and you Dartford, I'm sorry... I don't think there are real geniuses."

"The failure of your five best players last season in their summer tryouts is the best example."

"If they were really good enough, why would they be rejected by Manchester United and Arsenal? It can't be that these two clubs have no vision, right?"

Of course Lu Kai knew that the reporters were deliberately guiding him to attack the Red Devils and the Gunners so as to generate topics and traffic.

But Lu Kai did not object, because Dartford also needed such attention: "I don't know how to prove that they have serious problems in the selection of young players."

"Can it be proved by winning games and championships?"

"If that's the case, then we'll probably prove it again this season! Just like we won the treble last season!"

Reporter: "So you signed up for so many games this season just because you wanted to get lucky again?"

"But kid, football isn't about chance. Just because you sign up for various competitions doesn't mean you'll win the championship!"

The reporter was obviously well prepared, and he took out a receipt.

It lists all the competitions Dartford has signed up for this season.

First, there is the seventh-level English and Irish Premier League, which is the league and the foundation.

Secondly, the Yingyi Cup, a cup competition where the seventh-tier Yingyi Premier League, the eighth-tier Yingyi League North and Yingyi League South all compete to determine the champion. It's a bit like the League Cup for Premier League teams.

Third, the FA Championship, also known as the FA Cup, the FA Minor Cup, or the FA Cup Winners' Cup. The FA Cup is awarded to teams from the ninth to eleventh tiers, while the FA Cup Winners' Cup is awarded to teams from the fifth to eighth tiers.

Droylsden were the FA Championship champions last season.

Since the prize money of this event is relatively generous for small teams and it is an important source of income for some teams, it is also called the Cow Cup.

This is one of the most prestigious competitions Dartford has signed up for this season. Fourth, the Kent Senior Cup is an amateur competition with a significant influence in London. Dartford successfully won this event last season.

Fifth, the UEFA Regional Cup, an amateur tournament, is the Champions League for European amateur football clubs! Held during the winter break, it also feels like the European Championship for amateur football fans.

Sixth, FA Cup!!!

This is England's top cup competition and is open to all teams from top teams to amateurs.

However, non-professional teams, that is, teams below the fourth level, need to go through preliminary play-offs, preliminaries, first qualifying round, second qualifying round, third qualifying round, fourth qualifying round and other matches before the FA Cup main competition.

The FA Cup winners can skip the first two rounds and start from the first qualifying round.

The FA Championship champions have a greater advantage, being able to completely skip the qualifying rounds and start from the first round of the main competition with teams from the third (League 2) and fourth (League 3) levels.

The first (Premier League) and second (League One) level teams will start from the third round of the main competition.

The final is the eighth round.

Every year, more than 700 teams participate in the FA Cup, but only about 90 teams are in the top four levels, and the rest are all amateur teams in a broad sense.

However, these more than 600 amateur teams rarely make it past the third round of the main competition.

There is not even a single one in the top 16.

It was not until the 2016-2017 season that Lincoln United, a fifth-tier club, made it to the quarterfinals.

Then in the 2023-2024 season, the sixth-level Maidstone United reached the round of 16.

Over the past 100 years, there have been more than 50,000 amateur teams, but only one team has reached the quarterfinals and one team has reached the quarterfinals.

The difficulty can be imagined.

However, the six events that Lu Kai registered for the team are not uncommon. This is actually the correct way of playing for many low-level teams.

At the beginning of the season, everyone who can register for various events signs up, and then as the season progresses, they are constantly eliminated, so the pressure of playing is not that great.

In the end, if you can just win some mediocre championship, you will be considered a success.

This is still an official competition.

Those entertainment cup competitions set up by certain canneries are not included.

Of course, this is actually also a kind of "money football".

Because many teams cannot even raise the funds for such large-scale registration, such as Dartford in the past.

With the release of this registration form, many people believe that Dartford lacks respect for the English Premier League.

You're an eighth-tier team playing in a seventh-tier league, and you're not even focused? And you're even running so many interest classes?

Madness!

In response to this, Lu Kai said: "We have our own predictions about the intensity of the Yingyi Super League games. Our players need more games, so we have prepared more."

"If we really can't cope, we will make appropriate choices. Don't worry about us."

"Of course, if we are lucky enough to go far in some competitions, we would also welcome capable players to join us."

Lu Kai took the opportunity to send out a recruitment information.

It may not be of much use now.

But that may not be the case in the middle and late stages of the season.

Didn’t three of the Five Green Spears join the group later?

(End of this chapter)