The next morning, Luton returned from London to Luton.
In Luton city, the players were treated like heroes. The vehicle crawled through the narrow streets of Luton, and the enthusiastic fans made the journey through the city take a full two hours before reaching the training base.
At the training base, Gao Bo announced that the team would have a day off.
Being able to defeat Arsenal was definitely something worth celebrating for Luton, but Gao Bo didn't plan to hold any celebrations at this time. After all, the upcoming schedule was also very crucial for Luton.
Despite it being a day off, Gao Bo stayed in the office until the afternoon before leaving.
Because by this time, the fans outside the base had gradually dispersed, otherwise, Gao Bo would have to sign autographs for the fans along the way, just like the players, taking two or three hours to leave.
The players were all big stars now, and Gao Bo didn't want to steal their limelight at this time.
In the office, Gao Bo wrote down the plans for the next month on the calendar one by one.
The opponent for the FA Cup final had not yet been determined, but regardless of whether it was Everton or Liverpool, the date for the final was already set.
May 20th, at Wembley Stadium, the FA Cup final would take place as scheduled. This would also be Luton's last game of the season.
Before that, the League Two games had also ended. Including the postponed game from the forty-second round, there were still five league games left. The most crucial of these was the next round, the forty-third round of the league, where Luton would face the current league leaders, Wycombe Wanderers, at home. Currently, Luton was two points behind Wycombe Wanderers with one game less. Once this game was won, Luton would immediately overtake their opponents by one point and seize the top spot in the league table.
Wycombe Wanderers were also quite unfortunate. They had been at the top of the league for more than forty rounds this season, but in the next round of the league, they were very likely to be overtaken by Luton....
Back in his apartment, Gao Bo remembered the reward for winning the league championship earlier.
He opened the football card system and found the taskbar.
As a result, after seeing the taskbar, Gao Bo's eyes lit up.
Because in addition to the task of winning the league championship, the taskbar had also refreshed with another task.
The reward for the "Save Luton" task was tiered. In fact, even if they didn't win the championship this season, Gao Bo would have completed the task, but the reward for winning the championship would be even more generous.
If he led Luton to win the League Two championship, in addition to eight thousand experience points, there would also be a blue exchange ticket and one hundred lottery chances!
Gao Bo only had two blue cards in his hand before, and one of them was for training purposes only.
Gao Bo was very clear about the role of blue cards. This was almost a card that could qualitatively improve the team!
This reward was too tempting for Gao Bo, and now it seemed that the team was very close to winning the championship, as long as they beat Wycombe Wanderers in the next round, they would reach the top of the league. As long as the team didn't lose in the next few rounds, they could lock in the league championship, so now the initiative was in their own hands!
If they won the league championship and got this task reward, Gao Bo would have more confidence in the FA Cup final, whether they faced Everton or Liverpool.
Gao Bo guessed that this new task was probably related to the FA Cup.
Sure enough, when he opened it, this task was indeed related to winning the FA Cup!
"Task: Legendary Dark Horse!"
"Lead Luton to win the 2008-2009 FA Cup championship, which will make Luton the most shocking dark horse in FA Cup history!!"
"Task Reward: Eight thousand experience points, one blue exchange ticket, one hundred lottery chances!"
It seems that in the system's view, the difficulty of winning the FA Cup is the same as winning the league championship...
Speaking of experience points,
Gao Bo remembered that he hadn't leveled up for a long time since he reached level two.
He looked at his experience points.
[Level 2: 8600 / 10000]
There were still more than a thousand experience points to level up! Gao Bo calculated that he could level up to level 3 around the end of the league games and expand a card slot again!
Gao Bo was full of confidence. It seemed that by the end of this league, his team would have another qualitative improvement! By then, if Everton or Liverpool looked at Gao Bo's team with old eyes, Luton would probably surprise them...
...
Alexander's bar had been doing good business recently, at least when Gao Bo walked in, the bar was already full of people.
But Gao Bo still had a seat. The seat near the window, close to the TV screen, was specially reserved for Gao Bo by Alexander.
"Do you think we'll face Everton or Liverpool?" Alexander leaned over and asked. The surrounding patrons also pricked up their ears, as they were also very concerned about this question.
Liverpool was originally very hopeful of winning the league championship this season. Benitez's team was still at the top of the league before Christmas.
But after 2008 passed, in January 2009, Liverpool suffered three consecutive draws, and then were forced to a draw by Manchester City. Four consecutive draws caused Liverpool to hand over the top spot. They were now six points behind Manchester United in the league table.
However, despite this, Benitez's team was still one of the best performing Premier League teams this season, especially since March, Liverpool's winning streak had never stopped.
Starting with a 1-1 draw against Manchester City, Liverpool had won six consecutive league games, including a 4-1 away victory over their arch-rivals Manchester United!
So Liverpool's recent form can be said to be very hot. If possible, Gao Bo didn't want to face Liverpool, after all, Benitez's Liverpool was at its peak and not easy to deal with.
However, verbally, Gao Bo didn't reveal anything. Whether it was against Everton or Liverpool, he wouldn't show any difference in front of the fans or players.
"For us, it doesn't make any difference which team we face..." Gao Bo said.
At this time, the tavern also began to discuss.
"I guess it's Liverpool. Liverpool is very likely to beat Everton. Benitez is much better than Moyes..."
"I think Moyes is also good. Liverpool has been winning too much recently. It's time for them to lose a game..."
"Why not lose this game when they play against us?"
"You have a point..."
The fans were discussing.
In fact, Gao Bo also believed that it would be difficult for Everton to win against Liverpool at Wembley. After all, there was still some gap in strength between the two sides, and Moyes was not a match for Benitez in terms of on-the-spot adaptability.
Sure enough, although the two sides drew 1-1 in the first half, Everton couldn't hold on in the second half.
Gerrard's long shot helped Liverpool take the lead, and then the game was controlled by Benitez's team.
They gradually turned their advantage into a victory, keeping the score of 2-1 until the end of the game.
In the end, Liverpool defeated Everton 2-1 at Wembley, winning the Merseyside derby and successfully reaching the FA Cup final.