Cornish Crusade | Part 20 | Nervy Title Race and Two Cup Finals

Homegrown heroes like Euan Whyte, Frederick Adade and Dion Beeney joined the South American contingent of captain Alejandro Silva, Brazilian superstars Joao Paulo and Maurício Genofre, Enzo Parra and Gabriel Larrea in a fusion of pints of cider, mead and gin and Cornish pasties amid days of wild celebrations. For a review of the squad that achieved this momentous feat, check out our mini-review from last weekend.

When they’d just about finished celebrating, the fans enjoyed watching eight Truro players compete in the 2042 World Cup, which was held in England. And one of them, attacker Ilja Isbouts went all the way to the World Cup Final at Wembley with Netherlands, only to be left on the subs bench as they lost 4-2 to France. The hosts had two Truro players, midfielders Whyte and Kane Atkinson, in the squad as they suffered a 3-0 second round defeat to Belgium, Paulo and Genofre were in the Brazil s ide that lost 1-0 to Portugal in the last 16 and Silva and Larrea were in the Uruguay side that lost 2-0 to France in the semis then lost 3-2 to Belgium in the third-pace playoff. In the aftermath, England sacked Tommy Elphick and offered the role to Trevelyan, who was sorely tempted but decided he could do without the hassle.

When the festivities eventually died down, Trevelyan had to refocus on defending that maiden title, winning domestic trophies and competing with Europe’s elite. That mission began by selling fan favourite but massive underperformer Bernard Touré to Saudi for £24.5m before Saudi also made a surprise bid for backup full back Rodrigo Palacio, who Trevelyan had been planning to release the following summer, for a new club record sale of £34m rising to £42m.

That gave Trevelyan a huge warchest of £150m that he could barely dream of spending. He continued his policy of signing talented young stars by snapping up a couple of Norwegian wonderkids in midfielder Terje Gronningen for £6m from Stabaek and versatile midfielder/centre back Tom Johansen for £5m from Molde, with the latter joining Stoke on loan. He also brought in goalkeeper Paupal Kasong for up to £24.5m from Anderlecht.

Mahtal obviously stuck with the title-winning narrow 4-3-3 approach, with a bit more competition for places across the squad. The only question mark was who to play in the shadow striker role, with Dieter Peterson competing with the likes of Sascha Ablinger, Gronningen and Richard Ferguson.

Truro’s Maiden English Title Defence

The bookies gave Truro an outside chance of retaining their title, predicting a 6th place finish with odds of 18/1. UFC are 6/5 favourites followed by Man City (11/2), Newcastle (6/1) and Spurs and Villa (9/1).

The title defence began with a trip to promoted Sunderland and Truro eased to a 3-0 win through Paulo, Atkinson and Genofre. Peterson scored the only goal against Norwich at Truro City Stadium and repeated the feat as Navalón pulled off nine saves to defeat Man United at Old Trafford. Gronningen scored on his debut as Brentford were seen off 2-0 to make it four played, none conceded, which ended as Paulo’s double earned a 2-2 at Spurs. Ablinger nicked another 1-0 at home to Man City and the strong start continued by beating Leicester, Newcastle, Villa, Forest and Brighton 2-0.

Truro dropped points in a 1-1 at Liverpool, but their relentless form continued to remain undefeated and with only 8 goals conceded through to the start of January. And that form convinced chairman Richard Mukherjee to hand Trevelyan a new contract that boosted his wage from £12.5k to £105k per week!

Back in the Champions League

Truro’s second Champions League campaign began with Paulo, 18-year-old homegrown striker Dion Beeney and Ablinger earning a comfortable 3-0 win at home to Salzburg. Adade and Genofre earned a 2-1 win at Villa before welcoming Real Madrid to Truro for the first time. They made a bright start as a brilliant passing move ended with Genofre converting from 18 yards, another great move was finished off by Paulo 90 seconds after halftime and Ablinger smashed a third in injury time.

They continued to impress as Peterson, Paulo and Isbouts earned a 3-1 win at Napoli, a rotated side dominated Ludogorets 4-1 away and Genofre bagged a hat trick off the bench to defeat Galatasaray 4-0. That guaranteed qualification before Christmas, and a rotated team managed to beat Bayern 1-0 away then thrashed Montpellier 4-0 to top the group with a perfect record.

Kobenhavn followed in the last 16 and Genofre scored twice in a surprisingly porous 4-3 win in Denmark before Whyte earned a more characteristic 1-0 at home. Truro failed to win a Champions League game for the first time this season as Parra earned a 1-1 at AC Milan, but Paulo and Silva earned a 2-0 win in Cornwall to reach the semis for the first time. Tottenham, who battered UFC 9-3 on aggregate, were up next and Paulo’s delicious strike earned a 1-1 in London. A fully rested team dominated the second leg in Cornwall and a Paulo double, Genofre’s sneaky finish and an Ablinger beauty secured a 4-1 win to send Truro City into the Champions League Final!

Truro Compete On All Fronts

Truro brought that fine league and continental form into the domestic cups as they defeated Man City and Newcastle away then West Ham 3-0 at home. They faced Reading in the semis and a tired team snuck a 2-1 home before a 0-0 at home to reach the club’s second Carabao Final. Southampton beat Newcastle to tee up an intriguing Final, for which Trevelyan lined up:

Navalón; Parra, Borko, Larrea, Pereira; Whyte, Atkinson; Paulo; Ablinger, Isbouts; Genofre
Subs: Beeney, Kasong, Edílson, Ferguson, Gronningen, Sakaguchi, Benard, Adade, Caro

Left back Vanderson Pereira hit a freekick against the post after 10 minutes and the sides played out a poor first half. Southampton kicked both Truro full backs out of the game, then gifted their opponents the lead as a woeful backpass put Genofre clean through. And that was enough for a 1-0 win.

Truro City won their first major cup competition as they lifted the Carabao Cup!

Truro also eased through the early rounds of the FA Cup, with reserve teams beating Burnley, Ipswich and Derby before Isbouts’ 114th-minute goal edged them past Reading in the quarters. Trevelyan rotated for a semi final against Liverpool, and it showed as they lost a dreadful game 1-0.

Targeting Consecutive Premier League Titles

A huge game in early February saw Truro entertain 2nd-place UFC. Truro landed the first punch as full back Antonio Caro’s 30-yard effort cannoned off the bar into the path of Ablinger to volley in the rebound. Caro was at it again just after halftime as his looping cross was powered home by Genofre and the striker killed UFC off as he latched onto Ablinger’s throughball. And a 3-1 win moved Truro 10 points clear at the top with 12 games remaining.

The unbeaten run continued with 1-1 draws at Chelsea and Villa either side of cup matches before a rotated side defeated Liverpool 2-1. That saw Truro set a new Premier League record of 54 matches without defeat since December 2041! But the run ended as a fully rotated team to rest for European matters fell to a 3-0 loss at Palace. Two weeks later, they put and the FA Cup defeat to Liverpool right as Genofre’s hat trick led a 6-0 demolition of Bristol City, which was surprisingly a club record usurping a 7-2 win over Plymouth. That kept Truro 7 points clear of UFC going into a two-horse title race.

Game 1 – Reading (18th, away): Struggling Reading posed zero threat as Paulo and Isbouts earned a comfortable 2-0 win. And UFC beat Villa 1-0.

Game 2 – Southampton (10th, home): Truro could win the title if UFC slipped up. Trevelyan rested the first 11 for the Spurs second leg and Beeney’s 79th-minute strike rescued a 2-2. UFC scored in the 95th minute to win 2-1 at Brighton and close the gap to 5 points.

Game 3 – Wolves (15th, away): Trevelyan was punished for more necessary rotation as they slipped to a 4-2 defeat at Wolves. And UFC took full advantage by thrashing Palace 5-0 to close to just 2 points.

Game 5 – Arsenal (15th, away): That took the title fight to the final day as Truro travelled to struggling Arsenal with a 2-point lead over UFC, who visited bottom side Reading. Truro played absolutely terribly while Arsenal managed to score their first two shots to win 2-0. But it didn’t matter as UFC somehow lost 4-0 at Reading!

Truro City defended their Premier League crown!

So despite a pretty shaky conclusion, Truro held on to wrap up back-to-back titles. They finished on 87 points, 6 more than last season, after 26 wins, 9 draws and 3 defeats, scoring just 67 and conceding a league low 26. Genofre was the joint-top scorer with 18 goals and Navalón topped the clean sheets with 19. But the star man was Parra with a ridiculous 7.51 average rating – and it was no coincidence that their wobble occurred when the right back was injured. A thrilling relegation fight saw Reading go down despite their final-day heroics, while Arsenal and Chelsea both survived by the skin of their teeth.

Truro’s Historic Champions League Final

Fans from Cornwall and the north east didn’t have too far to travel as Truro’s maiden Champions League Final saw them face holders Newcastle United at Wembley. Trevelyan just about had star man Parra back fit, so he lined up:

Navalón; Parra, Borko, Larrea, Pereira; Whyte, Silva; Paulo; Ablkinger, Isbouts; Genofre
Subs: Beeney, Kasong, Edílson, Atkinson, Gronningen, Peterson, Adade, Caro, Sakaguchi, Ferguson, Benard

Truro had the first chance as Genofre blazed over from 20 yards then had a goal disallowed. But he eventually did put one away as Isbouts nicked the ball from a goal kick and sent the striker in for a record-breaking strike. And they led at the break, despite Newcastle having 58% possession but doing nothing with it. Paulo crashed a 30-yard freekick against the bar after 70 minutes but, out of nowhere, Newcastle pretty undeservedly equalised in the 89th minute. And a terrible game and an even worse extra time got the penalty shootout it deserved. Both teams scored their first four spotkicks, Peterson converted Truro’s fifth, but Newcastle right back Abbud crashed his against the bar.

Truro City were Champions of Europe!!

Truro Complete A Famous Quadruple!

Trevelyan knew coming into this season that he’d put together a very strong squad, but he probably couldn’t have dreamed of defending their maiden title and becoming the best team in Europe. They finished the season with a famous quadruple of Charity Shield, Carabao Cup, Premier League and Champions League.

Genofre would take the plaudits after a new club record 30 goals plus 9 assists in 52 games. But Ablinger was superb with 17 goals and 17 assists, Paulo scored 17 with just 4 assists, Isbouts scored 15 with 11 assists and Silva delivered 10 assists. However, their best player was Parra, who scored 4 with 9 assists and a 7.39 average rating.

Truro’s efforts were rewarded with personal accolades as Navalón became the club’s first winner of World’s Best Goalkeeper and was named in the FIFA World XI, while Isbouts became the club’s second European Golden Boy winner after Genofre in 2039. At the end of the season, the excellent Parra won Football Writers Football of the Year and PFA Player of the Year – from right back, Ablinger won PFA Young Player of the Year, Navalón won the Golden Glove and Trevelyan won Manager of the Year. While Navalón, Parra, Borko, Pereira and Genofre all made the Team of the Year.

Truro also had a decent youth intake led by 5-star potential striker Chris Molloy-Richards, along with 4.5-star potential centre back Morty Cheshire and midfielder Ted Maltby.

So all in all, there was plenty for Truro supporters to smile about and be even more excited about for the future. Trevelyan had his heart very much set on building a dynasty in their little corner of Cornwall, and had half an eye on becoming world champions at the Club World Cup in two years’ time.

But for now, he was utterly delighted to have taken his hometown club from tier six obscurity to the best team in Europe! Could they build on that in the next few seasons? Join us next Wednesday to find out!