Chapter 72 The international players
“Goals in four consecutive games, a brace, a hat trick, a total of seven goals... It’s unbelievable, this is a thirty-eight-year-old veteran! ”
In the locker room of Lille Athletic’s training base, some people are listening to music, some are playing games, and some are chatting.
Everyone is enjoying their free time before training begins.
Lenni Isara sighed into his mobile phone about the news he just saw.
That was a report about the Premier League.
Or to be precise, it was the report of the Premier League match when Tyne defeated Wolverhampton 3-0 at home.
Although Vitini scored twice in the game, he was elected best of the match after the game.
But the focus of the report is still on Wang Lie.
The data that made Isara sigh was what was listed in the report.
After shaking his head and sighing, Isara touched Fu Xiaofeng next to him: "Fu, do you think Wang has changed his age?"
Fu Xiaofeng turned to look at his midfield partner, with a black question mark. expression.
"Did he change his age? Although he appears to be thirty-eight years old, in fact he is only thirty-three..."
Fu Xiaofeng's expression changed to "The old man on the subway looking at his cell phone" looked like:
"What are you talking about, Lenny? When you change the age, you change it to a younger one, how can you change it to an older one? Is your brain watered?"< br>
"Then there must be some kind of 'Fountain of Youth' in China. Just take a sip and you will be rejuvenated!" Issara did not give up and gave another explanation.
Fu Xiaofeng rolled his eyes at him: "Then do you think I have rejuvenated?"
"You don't look thirty-two years old either." Issara was very serious. After looking at Fu Xiaofeng for a while, he said. "You Chinese all look a little younger than your actual age..."
Fu Xiaofeng nodded and admitted: "That's true, you look just like my peers."
Twenty-nine-year-old Lenny Isara grinned, showing his big white teeth: "Fortunately, I was born in France. If I were born in Africa, then I don't know how old I am now... My Grandpa can’t tell how old he is. I’ve heard several versions of numbers from my father, uncle, and cousin. It’s a mess..."
After complaining about himself, Issara brought the topic back to the news he just watched: "If Wang neither changed his age nor drank the water from the Fountain of Youth, then why did he behave so horribly?"
“Ask me, who am I asking?” Fu Xiaofeng spread his hands.
"Ask Wang, aren't you teammates of the national team?"
Isara said it very matter of fact, but Fu Xiaofeng's expression was a bit subtle...
He He could only say perfunctorily: "Then I can only ask when the national team competes..."
"Don't you have his phone number or something?" Issara was even more surprised.
"No." Fu Xiaofeng told the truth this time.
Issara was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly realized: "Oh, Wang's character and temper are indeed difficult for people to get close to..."
He thought that Fu Xiaofeng was because of Wang Lie's "raw nature" He had an aura of "Keep No People Near", so he had no personal relationship with Wang Lie.
After all, it is not incredible that this kind of thing happened to Wang Lie.
Fu Xiaofeng did not refute, but followed his partner's words and spread his hands: "So."
Isara frowned again and looked back at the news on her phone: "It's incredible. More than three It's not unusual for an eighteen-year-old player to be in such a state once or twice, but for so many consecutive games, every game is like this. I have never heard of anyone who can do it before... I even went to record these games. I looked for the video, Fu, you know? I even had an illusion..."
"What illusion?"
"I think Wang's physical condition is worse in recent games. He is better than when he first arrived at Tyne, especially in the details of sprint power and power confrontation, which are very obvious... Oh, and there is also physical fitness for a 38-year-old player who has played continuously in the Premier League. The game lasted for ninety minutes... Gee, that's really amazing! That's why I thought he was really rejuvenated, right?"
Fu Xiaofeng thought it was nonsense. What is rejuvenation? You have to consider how he was treated in the first half of the season at Soft United - he didn't play a good game, and his training effect was probably not guaranteed. Moreover, he was fined before moving to Tyne. When he goes to the youth team to train, can the intensity of the youth team training be the same as that of the first team? When he goes to Tyne, both training and games will return to normal, and his physical condition will naturally be better than when he first went there."
< br>
"Is that so?" Issara thought thoughtfully.
“Of course it is. Do you really believe in ‘rejuvenation’?” Fu Xiaofeng sneered. "If there really is a 'fountain of youth' in China, then I must take a sip!"
In this way, I don't need to be laughed at as a "seventy-year-old prince"... I can also use it as a better Young bodies to compete again.
Fu Xiaofeng muttered in his heart.
The 32-year-old Fu Xiaofeng was originally the most talented player in Chinese football after Wang Lie. He became famous at a young age as an attacking midfielder and was once considered to be Wang Lie's successor.
He himself is working towards this goal.
Take Wang Lie as your idol, follow your idol as an example, and learn to pursue victory like him and never stop... Then when Wang Lie gets old and fades out of the national team, he can take over the "China With the banner of "Core of the National Team", like his idol, he continues to lead the Chinese team forward and achieve great results in the World Cup.
At the 2022 China World Cup, Fu Xiaofeng is only seventeen years old and is already the main core of the U17 national team.
Of course, he will also become a member and core of the U19, U20, U21, and U23 national teams in the future.
Then he will become a national team player without any prefix.
In the summer of that year, he witnessed with his own eyes how the Chinese national team, led by Wang Lie, reached the quarterfinals of the World Cup in history.
The whole country rejoiced that night when they reached the quarterfinals.
Fu Xiaofeng didn't sleep all night. At first it was because of the party, but later he couldn't sleep at all.
As long as he closes his eyes, the scene of Wang Lie scoring the winning goal will appear in his mind.
Then he couldn't help but think about what it would be like to become a national team player and participate in the World Cup...
He longed for that future.
When he thought that one day he could score a goal in the World Cup, he was so excited that he got goosebumps all over his body. He was still imitating the commentator's voice in his mind, bragging to himself:
"Fu Xiaofeng! Fu Xiaofeng's great goal! Beautiful!! Fu Xiaofeng scored! He beat Brazil! Fu Xiaofeng was the Chinese team that won the World Cup. "He closed his eyes and imagined that he was running on the World Cup field, with the wind blowing on his face, deafening cheers, the shouts of his teammates, and the praise from his idol. :
“Nice shot, Xiaofeng!”
Then he hugged the quilt on the bed and laughed out loud.
He also thought that when he becomes a national team player, he will do his best to assist his idol, and then together we can create better results than the quarterfinals in the World Cup!
The reality is extremely cruel.
Four years later, 21-year-old Fu Xiaofeng participated in the World Cup for the first time. Most of the time he was a substitute, a spectator closest to the court.
He watched helplessly as Wang Lie, who was in a sluggish state, only scored one goal in that World Cup. The Chinese team, which had high hopes, also returned home after playing three group matches.
The top eight results in the last World Cup were like a sweet dream for all Chinese fans, and now they have woken up from the dream.
In the 2030 Spanish-Portuguese World Cup, Fu Xiaofeng is already twenty-five years old. He has long been the main midfielder of the Chinese national team. His and Wang Lie's frontcourt offensive combination was even hailed as "the strongest in Asia" by some media and fans.
With their efforts, the Chinese team finally reached the knockout rounds again in the World Cup.
It was just that he was eliminated at the age of 16 and 8...
In the 2034 Saudi World Cup, the thirty-five-year-old Wang Lie should have participated in the World Cup for the last time. The twenty-nine-year-old Fu Xiaofeng is more mature, and coupled with Chi Zhen, a genius who became famous at a young age, this should be the best time for the Chinese team to make history.
They led the Chinese team to the knockout rounds in two consecutive World Cups.
But once again failed on the way from the top 16 to the top eight.
Fu Xiaofeng still remembers that when the referee blew the whistle to end the game, the Brazilian players ran past him excitedly and bumped into him.
The other party was completely immersed in the ecstasy of promotion and did not stop to apologize to him.
And he himself seemed like a wooden man and had no reaction to this.
After that World Cup, he thought Wang Lie should fade out of the national team. The "Fu Xiaofeng Era" of the Chinese team was finally coming!
The result was not.
Brother Wang didn't mention a word about quitting the national team or retiring. Even though he had no more football to play in Soft United, he still didn't let go.
If he doesn’t say he will retire, who dares to say that the national team will not recruit him?
If Brother Wang does not retire, he, Fu Xiaofeng, will always be the "Prince". If he cannot become that king, his era in the national team will never come.
Here, Brother Wang is still on standby for a long time, but over there, an even more powerful genius, Chi Zhen, has emerged from the Chinese team.
After the failure of the 2035 Asian Cup, the new head coach He Zhenyong took office and directly determined the tactical thinking with Chi Zhen as the core. He did not hesitate to offend Wang Lie for this and was also bullied online by Wang Lie's fans...
As for Fu Xiaofeng, who was originally regarded as "Wang Lie's successor", he was ignored.
In the past, the nickname given to him by Chinese fans was "Prince".
Now this nickname is given to Chi Zhen.
Then he got a new nickname - "The Wasted Prince"...
The old emperor had not abdicated, but the new prince was pursuing him so aggressively.
So I am embarrassed to be caught between the old and new generations.
He neither took over from Wang Lie nor created new glories for Chinese football with Wang Lie.
Recalling my previous aspirations and ambitions, it is almost like a joke.
He couldn't even remember when he stopped considering Wang Lie as his idol, role model and goal.
Maybe it was the same period when he no longer regarded creating new glory in Chinese football as his ideal.
What is the glorious future of Chinese football, what is creating a new history of Chinese football...
What does it have to do with him, the useless prince?
If the sky falls, the tall man will hold it up. After Wang Lie retreats, Chi Zhen will be there. How can it be his turn to worry about the future of Chinese football?
That's it, love whoever...
Fu Xiaofeng tied his shoelaces, stood up and stamped his feet. The spikes made a crisp sound when they collided with the floor of the locker room. Then he turned back to his partner and said: "Do you still watch the news? It's time to go out for training."
Issara reluctantly put down the phone, put on training clothes and got up to go Chase Fu Xiaofeng.
※※※
After lining up to shake hands with their opponents on the field and thank them one by one, the young players of the Avika Five-Star Youth Team came to the sidelines collectively to thank the fans who came to cheer them on.
Then several young players with obvious oriental faces in the formation gathered at a place in the stands.
"Brother Qin! Brother Qin!"
They waved to the man with the same oriental face in the stands.
In their greetings, the man walked down from the stands, then climbed directly over the billboard and came to the young players.
"You played well in today's game! Defeat your opponent 4:0! Awesome!"
He slapped the young players on their shoulders and backs one by one, touched their heads, and ruffled their hair.
“Hey!”
These young players were like cats being petted, smiling happily.
There are several Chinese fans in the stands who are also very excited:
"Sure enough, as the news said, Qin Yu will come to watch the echelon game! Look, he is right to come to the echelon team!"
"Qin Yu really loves Avika Five Star! So For many years, he still insists on coming to the echelon to watch games..."
"Nonsense! This is his parents' home, of course he comes back often."
"Speaking of which, Aweika has come back all the time. Five Star has trained many Chinese players, but only Qin Yu can finally gain a foothold in the first team. Isn’t this input-output ratio too low?”
“Tsk, it can’t be calculated that way. Qin Yu is the only one who has a foothold in the five-star first team, but others can also go to teams that are not as good as the five-star team, or to teams in a lower league... In short, it is for those who come to Portugal from China to pursue the ideal of professional football. The opportunity for young people to continue..."
"That's true. Yue Hang didn't have a chance to play in Barcelona's Atlético B team, but Melendez, who went to Segunda División, played in the game instead. Now he is the main goalkeeper of the Scottish Premier League team. It can also be regarded as a 'curve to save the country'... …”
“So, you don’t have to play in the first team immediately. As long as you can stay in Europe, you will have the opportunity to be seen. In this sense, I am quite grateful. Although Weka Five Stars is a Chinese-funded club, its owner is willing to spend real money to support Chinese football and has persisted for almost 20 years. Look at the current youth team. If you criticize the kids, maybe one or two like Qin Yu will enter the national team in the future?”
In the discussion of the fans, Qin Yu is also talking to the young players of Avika’s five-star youth team? chat.
However, the topic of their chat has nothing to do with today's youth team game, nor with Brother Qin Yu in front of him.
“Brother Qin, have you watched Uncle Wang’s recent games?”
When Qin Yu heard them mention "Uncle Wang", he laughed: "How could you not have seen it? I am the number one 'Wang fan' in the national team! Haha! This period of time has been so exciting for me!"
< br>A few boys aged sixteen or seventeen were also very excited. Brother Qin was a fan of Wang Lie. These juniors who were in the same club were naturally influenced by Brother Qin and preferred Wang Lie.
Of course, some people also asked: "Uncle Wang is obviously already thirty-eight years old, why do I think his condition is getting better and better?"
Qin Yu smiled and said: "That's why I say that Brother Wang is very human! The average person's condition should indeed decline seriously when he is thirty-eight years old, but Brother Wang is not an ordinary person!"
"Uncle Wang should be able to be re-elected to the national team this time. ?”
Qin Yu answered them in a very affirmative tone: "Nonsense! Of course! If you can't be selected for the national team with this kind of performance, then Director He really doesn't want to do it!"
A group of little guys showed up" "Only Brother Qin dares to say such things"...
Chinese fans who were waiting for Qin Yu's autograph and photos in the distance found that Qin Yu was still chatting with the young players of the youth team, and they were also curious. Get up:
"What are they talking about? They look so happy..."
"They should be talking about the game just now. They beat their opponents 4:0. They really played well. …”
"Now we have more young players emerging, Chinese football is really getting better and better!"
※※※
Yue Hang saw the football being passed from the wing to Come to the door.
He immediately yelled: "Mine!"
At the same time, he rushed out of the goal, jumped towards the ball, raised his hands high, and picked the ball in the air among the dense crowd in front of the goal. down.
After landing, he bumped into the people around him, but he didn't pay attention to this. Instead, he rushed out of the crowd, then rounded his arms and threw the football forward:
"Let's go!"
The person who caught the ball from him in front was his teammate Zeng Pu.
After receiving the hand-thrown pass from Yue Hang, he dribbled the ball forward to counterattack.
However, the opportunity to counterattack was quickly lost due to personal interference from the opponent's defender.
In the end, he could only barely create a foul ball, which was regarded as keeping the ball.
“Oops!”
Seeing Zeng Pu wasting this opportunity to counterattack from behind, Yue Hang couldn’t help but shake his head and sigh.
Zeng Pu in the frontcourt also gave Yue Hang a thumbs up embarrassedly, saying that Yue Hang passed the ball well just now.
When Yue Hang saw this, he had to comfort and encourage him.
"It's okay! It's okay!"
He shouted in his native language at the top of his lungs.
Then he stood on the penalty area line with his hands on his hips and continued to watch the training match like a spectator.
He feels that with Zeng Pu’s performance, he still won’t be able to make the starting lineup for the weekend’s game.
Oh, just now you were bragging to me that you would join me in the national team...
At that time, Brother Wang was not in good condition. He could still dream when there was no competition.
Now that Brother Wang is in such a god-like state, Zeng Pu can hardly even dream...
He shook his head.
Not only for his teammate Zeng Pu, but also for his teammate Chi Zhen, whom he has known since the National Youth Team.
Brother Wang is in such good condition, he will definitely take a core position when he returns to the Chinese team.
Although Director He supports Chi Zhen, facing Brother Wang who has scored nine goals in the last six games, Director He may not be able to put him on the bench anymore, right?
Fortunately, I am a goalkeeper!
Yue Hang thought happily in his heart.
At least he doesn’t have to worry about the competition of the national team.
Although he is only twenty-five years old, he has already secured his position as the main goalkeeper of the national team by virtue of his own strength.
After all, he is the only goalkeeper in the Chinese team who can play the main role in a European club.
And it is not a low-level league, it is the top league in Scotland - the Scottish Premier League.
Although it is not one of the five major leagues, the level of the Scottish Premier League is definitely not low.
Being the main force here is definitely not as easy as others think.
Especially the goalkeeper position.
In the entire Asian football world, only China, Japan and Australia have goalkeepers who can play the main role in European teams.
Players in other positions may not be able to be selected for the national team even if they play in Europe.
For example, forward.
As a forward, Zeng Pu was one year older than himself and was not selected for the national team.
But the position of goalkeeper is extremely special. As long as he can play abroad and become a main player in Europe, he will definitely be selected for the national team.
This is one of the reasons why Yue Hang was unable to play in the Barcelona Atlético B team and would rather go to the Spanish second division team Melendez than return to China to play in the Chinese Super League.
Although many teams in the Chinese Super League were interested in him as a talented goalkeeper.
But he knows that if he wants to achieve greater development, he must stay in Europe. It was easy to return to China to play football at that time, but it would be troublesome to think about it again.
The current facts also prove that he was right to stay in Europe.
So Brother Wang was almost desperate some time ago and insisted not to return to China. Many people didn't understand why he was so stubborn, but Yue Hang understood Brother Wang.
As the reform of Chinese football deepens and advances, the level of China's domestic leagues has also made great progress and improved, and many talents have been cultivated.
But compared with the mainstream European leagues, there is still a big gap.
Otherwise, why are the outstanding talents trained in domestic youth training and leagues rushing to come to Europe to play football?
Because they also know where the level of football is higher.
The same is true for Japanese football, China’s neighbor.
The Japanese national team is very strong, and many Japanese players play in Europe, but it does not mean that the level of Japan's domestic leagues can be on par with Europe.
If those Japanese players studying abroad were not desperate and had no other teams in Europe, they would generally not choose to return to Japan to play football.
Although the gap between Asian football and European football is not as big as it was twenty years ago, it is still big.
(End of this chapter)