Sporting de Gijón's players were very excited. On the way back to the hotel, they were still talking about today's game and their sudden ambition to be promoted.
Before the game, the manager had just mobilized the whole team. The players also agreed and supported Li Ang's words. If they played well in the next four games, at least they had put in effort, worked hard, and had no regrets. Then, it was up to God to wait for their opponents to make a mistake.
Then, they beat the seventh-ranked Tenerife by a score of 4 to 0. After the game, they received news that Cadiz had tied the game.
After the first round of the game, the seven-point gap had shrunk to five points.
Although this meant that the league could only go on for the next three rounds, the narrowing of the gap still made the whole team very excited.
The reason for their happiness was not only because Cadiz had been forced to a draw by their opponents, but also because the eighth-ranked González, who was originally ahead of Sporting de Gijón, had lost the game to the leader, Levante.
In this way, after the 39th round of the Segunda Liga, Sporting de Gijón had 64 points and surpassed Tenerife and González in seventh place, just behind the sixth-ranked Cadiz.
This made the whole team excited and emotional. They were now the real pursuers of the sixth-ranked team. At the same time, as long as they did not make any mistakes, they did not need to worry about the teams behind them catching up to them.
To be more precise, the next three rounds of the game were the chase between the seventh-ranked Sporting de Gijón and the sixth-ranked Cadiz.
In addition, the top three teams, Levante, Numansiya, and Getafe, had all won. These three teams continued to be in the top three with 75, 74, and 74 points respectively.
The fourth-ranked Aravés and the fifth-ranked Huelva had tied the game this round. Their points had become 71 and 70 points respectively, and they continued to be in the fourth and fifth places. The sixth-ranked Cadiz had 69 points.
Although in theory, the fourth-ranked Aravés and the fifth-ranked Huelva had the possibility of being overtaken by Sporting de Gijón, in the three rounds of the game, Cadiz was still the most realistic target for Sporting de Gijón.
*****
They had won Tenerife and narrowed the gap between them and Cadiz.
Sporting de Gijón was in an uproar.
However, Sporting de Gijón did not reveal to the outside world that they were aiming for the top six.
This was Li Ang's idea. He didn't know if Cadiz, who was ranked sixth, was aware of Sporting de Gijón's pursuit and if he was aware of the crisis. Li Ang was not in the mood to pay attention to his opponent's thoughts. His idea was to keep a low profile as much as possible, developing and catching up silently.
If Cadiz thought that he had a five-point lead over Sporting de Gijón and could sit back and relax after three rounds of the game, then he would rather the team be like a poisonous snake hidden in the jungle. They would stay hidden until the last moment, and then bite the most vicious bite.
According to Li Ang's calculations, Cadiz should not have felt the crisis behind him … Because Sporting de Gijón had always been shouting about avoiding relegation, and after the team successfully avoided relegation, everyone would think that Sporting de Gijón had no desire for the rest of the game. Few people would realize that Sporting de Gijón had quietly changed their target and suddenly launched an attack.
In fact, as Li Ang expected, the sixth-ranked Cadiz did not realize the crisis behind him at all. They were even happy that Sporting de Gijón had defeated Tenerife and stopped Tenerife.
After the last round of the league, Tenerife, who was ranked seventh, was five points behind Cadiz.
Now, in another round of the league, Tenerife was stopped by Sporting de Gijón. Although Sporting de Gijón was ranked seventh, this team was now five points behind Cadiz.
After another round of the league, the gap between the chasing team and the chasing team was still not closing. This was a good thing. Sporting de Gijón, an opponent who had no desire for anything, made them feel safer than the chasing team in Tenerife.
In the Sporting de Gijón media, other than continuing to cheer for Sporting de Gijón's victory, no media began to realize the hidden changes and ambitions of this team.
Although there were some media, such as the Voice of Gijón, who also mentioned that Sporting de Gijón was now only five points away from the sixth-ranked Cadiz, the media also lamented that Sporting de Gijón originally had a chance to challenge for the La Liga this season, but the team's poor results before Li Ang took over the team had dragged the team down. Now, they could only lament endlessly.
After three rounds of the league, they were five points behind Cadiz. The gap was too big. Even the Voice of Gijón, which supported Li Ang and Sporting de Gijón the most, did not realize Li Ang's ambition …
*****
After this round of the league, there were two more relegated teams.
Las Palmas, who was second from the bottom in the league, and Almeria, who was third from the bottom in the league, were relegated three rounds in advance.
This was good news for Li Ang and Sporting de Gijón because their opponent in the next round of the league was Las Palmas.
If Las Palmas still had hope of avoiding relegation, then the game against Sporting de Gijón would be a fight to the death. The energy of a team that wanted to avoid relegation was amazing.
And now, Las Palmas had been demoted. Their last bit of strength and fighting spirit had probably dissipated with the demotion.
Li Ang was also paying attention to their opponent in the next round of the league, Las Palmas.
The truth was just as he had guessed. When the team still had hope of avoiding relegation, the players of this team were still able to fight as one. Now that the team's relegation was set, Las Palmas' morale was immediately slack.
If the La Liga team was high and mighty, and the Segunda División B team was thin, then the Segunda División C team was equivalent to the abyss.
Not many players were willing to play in the Segunda División C team.
With the relegation of Las Palmas and Almeria, the two teams began to have internal turmoil. The players had already started to look for their own way out.
According to Scott's information, the agents of some of the Las Palmas players were unprecedentedly active. They began to promote their players to the Segunda División B teams. As players from the Segunda División B teams, it was impossible for them to play in the La Liga. The La Liga teams also looked down on them. Therefore, the main goal of these players was to transfer to the Segunda División B teams.
Some of the Las Palmas players also began to contact Sporting de Gijón, hoping to transfer to the team that would continue to compete in the Segunda División B next season.
Li Ang looked down on the Las Palmas players. However, he was happy to see this situation. It meant that the opponents were no longer in the mood to continue fighting.
*****
June 6, 2004, Round 40 of the La Liga.
Gran Canaria, Spain, Las Palmas, Sporting de Gijón visited Las Palmas' Estadio de Gran Canaria.
Las Palmas was a professional football club from the Gran Canaria, Spain. Founded in 1949, it was one of the newer clubs in the Spanish professional league. However, in the 65 years since it was founded, it had spent nearly half of its time fighting in the Spanish top league. The best record in the team's history was in the 196869 season. Under the leadership of the club's legendary striker, José Leon, Las Palas overpowered Barcelona to become the runner-up in the league and entered the intercontinental arena.
However, the team began to decline in the 1980s. Since then, Las Palmas had only played in La Liga for eight seasons. During that time, they had been relegated to Segunda División B twice. The last time Las Palmas played in La Liga was back in the 200102 season. Despite this, Las Palmas was still considered a veteran club in Spain. Its main honors included four Segunda División B championships, two Segunda División B championships, one La Liga runner-up, and one Copa del Rey runner-up. The "Derby of the Islands" between Las Palmas and Tenerife was also one of the most popular derby games in Spain.
In addition, it was worth mentioning that Las Palmas was not a team from the Iberian Peninsula. It could be said that it was a team from Africa. Its city, Las Palmas on the Gran Canaria, was the largest city in the Canaria region. This island located in the Atlantic Ocean was a famous tourist destination in Spain, attracting millions of people to come for sightseeing every year. Although it was a Spanish territory, its geographical proximity to Africa and the large number of immigrants from developed countries after World War II made the city appear to not have much of a Spanish style. The local residents, from their language to their living habits, were quite different from those on the peninsula. This also created the unique style of the island team, Las Palmas.
Li Ang certainly did not have time to lament about this fallen Spanish veteran team with "African descent."
At this moment, sitting in the technical area of the Estadio de Gran Canaria, Li Ang crossed his legs.
At this time, the game had already gone on for eighty minutes. The score on the field was 0: 2. According to international practice, the home team was in front and the away team was behind. The team captain, Miguel Cobas, and the veteran, Maiquel Pihra, scored for the team at the beginning of the first half and the second half. Sporting de Gijón had obtained a 2: 0 away lead. Li Ang did not have to worry about this game anymore.
The camera zoomed in on Sporting de Gijón's head coach. Li Ang crossed his legs in a leisurely manner, which also attracted the ridicule of the commentator.
"It looks like Manager Li Ang has already started to enjoy his vacation in advance …" the commentator, Dagestino, said with a smile.
"Sporting de Gijón is really a pity," González said. González said, "With their current state, if Coach Li Ang had coached this team earlier, they would have had a good chance of getting promoted this season. What a pity."
*****
Li Ang's heart was not as leisurely as his current posture showed. At this moment, he was constantly paying attention to the game on the other field. He arranged for his assistant manager, Banderas, to listen to Cadiz's game on the radio.
In the first half of the game, Cadiz scored and they were leading González 1: 0 in the away game.
Until now, Banderas had not reported to him the latest progress of the game, which meant that the score on the other side had not changed. Cadiz was still leading their opponents 1: 0.
This made Li Ang very anxious.
If Cadiz won this game, it meant that Cadiz would continue to lead Sporting de Gijón by five points with two rounds left in the league. Under these circumstances, it would be extremely difficult for Sporting de Gijón to overtake Cadiz and fight for the sixth place. It could even be said that they had no chance at all …
In Li Ang's heart, the 40th round of the game was the key to whether Sporting de Gijón could really hope to reach the promotion playoffs. The key point was not the game between Sporting de Gijón and Las Palmas, but the game between Cadiz and González.
At this moment, he noticed that Banderas, who had been listening to the game live with his headphones on, suddenly stood up excitedly …
PS: Second update.
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