In the fourth episode of Ted Lasso season 3, AFC Richmond goes up against West Ham United in a match that they lose. After recovering from the loss, Richmond faces them again during the finale of the third season.
The tensions are high as Rebecca’s team, AFC Richmond, will finally go up against Rupert’s West Ham United, which is trained by none other than Nate, who once worked with Richmond.
Beard and Roy come up with a strategy to take down West Ham. They try to outthink Nate, who knows all of their tricks. They circle around different ideas to come up with something unpredictable and choose to use Nate’s own strategy, False Nine, assuming that he will not expect them to use his technique.
There are a few complications in this technique, as Zava always wants to be upfront, and then there are news channels talking about this match, making the team nervous. All of this distracts the team, but they agree that they should ignore the news channels and focus on their match.
Isaac attempts to motivate everyone by tapping on the team’s ‘Believe’ sign in the locker room. That’s when they find out that someone has torn the sign into two pieces. The revelation brings the mood down, but the team moves on and focuses on the match.
Trent pulls off footage from the security room and shows it to Ted, Roy, and Beard. It turns out that Nate broke into AFC Richmond’s room to tear up the Believe sign. They all decide not to tell the team for now.
Why does AFC Richmond fail to defeat West Ham?
Though West Ham is a strong team, AFC Richmond has what it takes to defeat them. They also have Zava on their side. Therefore, at the beginning of the match, Richmond gives West Ham a tough fight.
Eventually, West Ham scores the first goal for itself. Moving on, Nate instructs his team to use a brilliant new strategy that Ted, Beard, and Coach don’t know about. This strategy allows West Ham to score another goal in a row.
During the break, Rebecca comes down to push Ted a bit, and while he is away, Roy and Beard look to fuel the team up with a new idea. They show the team the video of Nate tearing the ‘Believe’ sign apart.
The team’s hatred for Nate grows, and they give him a stern look while walking back into the game. The team’s fury doesn’t work in their favor. They end up playing aggressively, dirty, and ugly. In turn, the team receives several red cards.
West Ham United wins the match with four goals, while AFC Richmond only scores one extra-ordinary goal, thanks to Zava. Beard and Roy look forward to some scolding from Ted for using this unconventional strategy.
Ted forgives them. He likes to think that they tried something different; it just didn’t work out.
The final confrontation
Richmond faces West Ham again during the finale of Ted Lasso season 3. Unlike before, West Ham doesn’t have Nate on their side, who left after a few differences with Rupert and returned to Richmond, which is on a winning streak.
Despite AFC Richmond’s immense measures, West Ham scores the first goal easily. The news of Manchester City scoring their first goal against Liverpool makes things crucial for the team.
West Ham scores another goal before the second half of the match. In the locker room, Ted lets the team know that it has been an honor to play with them. He also tells them to play together and believe.
The team then brings out the pieces of the “Believe” sign they have. They put the sign together before going back into the match.
After several tries, Tartt finally makes the first goal for Richmond. Isaac is later allowed to take a penalty, and he makes it count. A frustrated Rupert walks all the way down to confront George, Nate’s replacement, and asks him to play dirty. When George denies using such tricks, Rupert pushes him down in front of everyone.
Rupert becomes a villain with that one move. West Ham makes another goal but on the offside. Ted pitches the team to use Nate’s play, which helps them score another goal to win the match.
Also Read: Zava: Ted Lasso season 3 character explained
