Chapter 1 Just the Same

Just like Zhang Jun and Yang Pan, another highly anticipated player welcomed his first Serie A match on the same day, but like Yang Pan, he spent the entire ninety minutes on the bench, without any performance. With four "No. 10" level players in AC Milan, young Kaka still needs to wait for his chance.

Yang Pan and Kaka both felt the "Little World Cup" of Italian Serie A from the bench. They also learned that Serie A is not so easy to muddle through, and if you want to succeed, you have to put in more effort than you would elsewhere.

However, they were not the only ones putting in more effort.

※※※

"Huh? What? Today's training is over?" An Ke was holding the football, ready to accept the next training item, but Olde told him that today's training was over.

Olde nodded: "There are some things I need to tell you." He sat directly on the grass in front of the goal, then patted the ground beside him, signaling An Ke to sit down as well.

"The first phase of training is over," Olde said.

"Over?" An Ke was a little surprised. He hadn't felt it at all. When he first started training, he was hoping that this goddamn training would end as soon as possible. Could it be that Olde's training really worked? Has it numbed his spirit to the point where he can't remember the days?

"Hey, what are you thinking about?"

"Ah? Oh, nothing."

"Don't you realize it yourself? Your body has undergone a huge change, full of muscles all over, and your reaction speed has also improved significantly. More importantly, you can completely tolerate my training, hehe! Kid, not bad!" Olde showed his yellow teeth again: "I dare say that even if you went to answer the call of the Ninth Border Defense Brigade now, they would accept you without hesitation."

Sure enough, he was still training special forces…

"What are you thinking about again?"

"Ah! Nothing, nothing."

"Well, your school has already started, right?"

"Yes, it's been a week since school started," An Ke nodded.

"Hmm, hmm." Olde continued, "Your body now is that of a professional player, but your mind…" He pointed to his head, "doesn't have the awareness of a professional player."

An Ke was stunned for a moment. The awareness of a professional player? What a joke! If he hadn't wanted to be a professional player in the first place, who would have come to accept your goddamn training? Was he working himself to death every day just to exercise?

"I think you came to accept training just to exercise, right?"

An Ke looked at Olde, still with his big yellow teeth, wine-soaked nose, stubble, messy hair, and those eyes that seemed to never wake up. But why could he see through his thoughts?

"If not, then why do you still go to school every day? Do you think you're Superman? You go to school and then come to accept my training, working yourself to death every day and then having to go to school the next day." So he also knew that this training would kill people! "You don't have a girlfriend anymore, is your energy too much? If that's the case, I can introduce you to a nightclub, the ladies inside are great, and if you mention my name, you can even get a discount of…" Olde quickly calculated, "…8.5%, how about it?"

"I…"

"Do you really want to be a goalkeeper? Have you really been a goalkeeper before?"

"I…"

"I think you don't even have the most basic requirements for being a goalkeeper!"

An Ke raised his head and found that Olde's eyes were wide open, staring at him.

"Answer me, what is the most basic requirement for being a goalkeeper?"

"It's… agility, judgment, um…"

"That's all bullshit! It's decisiveness! It's the determination to never hesitate once you've made a judgment! Hesitant and indecisive people can't be goalkeepers! I'll wait for your news here tomorrow, you decide which path you want to take!" After saying this, Olde stood up from the ground, patted the dust off his butt, and staggered towards the training ground, ignoring An Ke who was still sitting on the ground.

When Olde turned a corner and disappeared from An Ke's sight, Rheinberg appeared in front of his old friend: "Do you think this reverse psychology will work on him? In my opinion, he is a very stubborn person…"

"Feng, do you really think I'm using reverse psychology on him?" Olde took a bottle of beer from Rheinberg's hand and took a swig. "This is my only hobby, ha! So refreshing!" He wiped his mouth.

"Not reverse psychology?"

"Everything I said is true. If An wants to become an excellent professional goalkeeper, then he must complete this multiple-choice question independently."

"But, what situation is more important than the choice of one's future? Oliver, you've given An a tough homework assignment!"

Olde took another swig of beer: "A goalkeeper's decisiveness is not only reflected on the field, but also in life. Once you choose a goal, you must move forward without hesitation, even if that choice is wrong. You say An is stubborn, but for me, that is his advantage, hehe!"

"Just like you are stubborn." Rheinberg laughed. After training Kahn, this old friend of his served as a goalkeeper coach for a team in the German second division, but later, because he fell out with the chairman of the club, he swore that he would never teach in any professional team again, and then left. Now he only works as a goalkeeper coach or head coach in amateur football teams, earning meager commissions. Rheinberg had intended to help him, but he refused. He said that as long as he still had money to drink, it was enough, a truly stubborn old man.

"Wait and see, I gave him a day. The road is walked out by oneself, others can't point fingers, and neither can I." Olde finished the beer in the bottle and then said to Rheinberg, "Want to go drinking? It's my treat."

Rheinberg shook his head, "You know I rarely drink. And you old ghost, every time you say it's your treat, you end up drunk as a skunk, and I'm the one who pays for the drinks?"

"Hehe!" Olde grinned and then turned and walked out, "Then I'll go myself. Hmm, I didn't expect that this old drunkard would actually know a German who doesn't drink, bad choice of friends…" he muttered as he walked away.

Rheinberg leaned over to look at the training ground, An Ke had already left at some point, and it was empty.

※※※

"You want to drop out of school?" The teacher looked at An Ke.

"Yes, due to some family problems, I have to…" An Ke nodded.

"Okay, here is a form, just fill it out and hand it in." The teacher handed him a form and turned to be busy with his own affairs.

An Ke looked at the school withdrawal application form in his hand, his hands trembling. His parents worked hard to earn money, saving money to send him to study in Germany, for more than two years, and now he was actually taking the initiative to ask to drop out of school. If his parents knew about this, he didn't know how angry they would be!

Was his choice correct? Entrusting his future to that drunk old man? This multiple-choice question, he was completely guessing. When he was considering whether or not to drop out of school last night, he thought of the high school exams, what to do if he couldn't do the multiple-choice questions on the paper? He wrote A, B, C, and D on the desk and then spun the pen, whichever the pen point landed on was the answer. Between dropping out of school and not dropping out of school, he played a game of spinning the pen again. Was it too irresponsible to treat his future like this?

However, it is worth mentioning that he spun it five times last night, and every time the pen point landed on the word "drop out"…

※※※

The agreed time had passed for a day, and Olde felt that there was no need to wait any longer. He decided to leave here. The day before yesterday, he received an invitation to coach from an amateur football club in Frankfurt, and he planned to go there to earn some money for alcohol.

The only regret was that a good piece of material was a pity.

When Olde walked out of the training base with his dilapidated travel bag on his back, he was greeted by a person walking towards him.

"Where are you planning to go, old man?"

Olde looked up and saw An Ke carrying a large bag, carrying two large suitcases, and had cut his hair short, looking at himself.

"Ah… this, you…" Olde was so surprised that he didn't know what to say.

"I was a day late, because I had to go through the formalities of dropping out of school and pack my things to move out of the dormitory. But looking at this posture, where are you planning to go, old man?" An Ke put down the boxes.

"Ah, I… I'm going to buy wine, buy wine."

"Carrying a travel bag to buy wine?"

"Yes, that's right. Because the place to buy wine is a bit far…"

"Where?"

"Frankfurt… don't say these boring dialogues, you are…"

"As you can see, I dropped out of school, moved out of the dormitory, and came to rely on you, old man." An Ke laughed.

Olde's eyes flashed, and then he laughed: "Hehe, very good, very good. Then come with me." He turned around and walked back into the base.

"Huh? Aren't you going to buy wine, old man?"

"Ha! I suddenly discovered that Dortmund also has good wine, haha!"

An Ke picked up the two big boxes again, trotted a few steps, and followed. The setting sun stretched the shadows of the two people very long on the road.

Pay for love, be busy for living, why are you working hard? I record carefully.

Use my eyes, find the way in my dreams, when I should ask for directions, I won’t be cool.

I am not clear yet, what kind of speed, is in line with the changing pace of this world.

Life is like clay waiting to be created, happiness, the happiness I want, is gradually becoming clear.

Dreams, ideals, fantasies, delusions,妄想 (wangxiang - wild thoughts)…

I just want to insist on the direction that every step should take, even if I am occasionally frustrated along the way.

Life is the clothes you choose for yourself, happiness, the happiness I want, is not bound.

Happiness, the happiness I want, is not far away…

(Stefanie Sun's "The Happiness I Want")

※※※

"Bullshit! Bullshit! Bullshit! All fucking bullshit!" Xiang Tao threw the newspaper in his hand out, scattering it on the ground. It just happened to startle Liu Peng who came in, "What's wrong with you?"

"Ignore him, he asked for it." Wang Yu was playing Pro Evolution Soccer on the side, and casually chimed in. "I told him not to read the newspaper, but he didn't listen, and as a result, he made himself angry… alas! Poor child!"

"Go to hell, girl!" Obviously, Xiang Tao's anger had not subsided.

"What's wrong with the newspaper? They say what they want, don't pay attention to them." Liu Peng picked up the newspaper and flipped through it. Most of them were news about the national Olympic team preparing for the match against Syria, but it didn't seem to be good news.

Although they tied the Syrian national team 1:1 in the last warm-up match, the media generally didn't buy it, thinking that the team was completely at a disadvantage from the field, and it was still relying on an own goal by the opponent's defender to tie the opponent. They also said that Qiu Suhui dismissed all the former national Olympic team members and recruited some unheard-of new players was gambling, gambling with the Olympic complex of the entire country. The closed training camp was purely stifling humanity, and such a backward training method had worn away the players' enthusiasm and fighting spirit. Some reporters even said that this new national Olympic team had nothing that made people's eyes shine, the strength of the three lines was mediocre, and there were no characteristics. And Qiu Suhui has already stated that Yang Pan and Zhang Jun will not be recalled from Europe for the two matches against Syria, which makes people worry about whether this national Olympic team can enter the final stage of the qualifiers…

"Nonsense! They're fucking full of shit! Those…" Liu Peng suddenly realized that Xiang Tao and Wang Yu were looking at him with surprised expressions, he quickly coughed, "Cough! Cough! Don't pay attention to them, don't pay attention to them…"

"gooooAL!!" A cheer for a goal came from the TV, Wang Yu turned his head and realized that the Chinese Olympic team in his hand had conceded a goal to the Syrian national Olympic team, and the game had already entered stoppage time.

"Damn it!" Wang Yu cursed and turned off the TV directly. "Why are those reporters so unconfident in their own players?"

"Isn't it because of our predecessors, the black three minutes, the inability to win against South Korea… this has become a tradition of Chinese football…" Xiang Tao glanced at Li Suisheng "floating" past the door again, and quickly stopped. Every time he talked about how the former national Olympic team members were, Li Suisheng would definitely appear within his field of vision, even in the toilet. This guy's resentment was not ordinary…

"Well, I think it's because Qiu Tou'er (Head Qiu) has been conducting closed training, and he is usually very harsh on reporters. Reporters don't understand our situation, so they will naturally talk nonsense. In addition, we really played very poorly in that warm-up match."

"No way!" Wang Yu spread his hands, "That was my first time playing such a formal game! I'm not even saying it was the first time I wore the national team uniform to play. I was nervous as soon as I got on the field, and I forgot all the things Qiu Tou'er said before the game! How could I play?"

"Who wasn't nervous? I was also nervous…" Liu Peng said, that was true. Once you put on the five-star red flag uniform, the feeling is immediately different. The Adi Das (Adidas) jersey felt so heavy, it was so heavy that he couldn't even jump.

"In two days, it will be the match against the Syrian national Olympic team, I don't know what the situation will be like then…" Wang Yu said.

"What could happen? Win, lose, or draw." Xiang Tao turned on the TV again at some point and continued playing the game that Wang Yu hadn't quit. The Chinese national Olympic team kicked off, and the 11th player controlled by Xiang Tao directly dribbled the ball towards the opponent's goal, and after continuously shaking off five Syrian players, he passed the goalkeeper again and shot the ball into the empty goal, tying the score.

"Chicken roll! Girl, what level of difficulty did you set?" Xiang Tao quickly pressed the goal replay and let Syria kick off.

"Five, five-star level…"

"Why is it so weak?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the national Olympic team's 11th player directly stole the ball in the frontcourt and took a long shot, and the ball went in again. The national Olympic team actually reversed the score.

"Damn!" Xiang Tao threw the controller away, "Girl, did you change this 11th player? Did you change it to Zhang Jun?"

"Hammer! If I'm going to change it, I'll change it to myself! You're just too lucky, be careful with the controller! That's a vibrating one!"

"Scared of the hammer, I'll pay you for one if it breaks."

Seeing the two of them arguing, Liu Peng suddenly remembered that in that match against the Syrian national team, the only one who wasn't nervous was Xiang Tao, who came on in the second half. His long-distance raid on the left wing followed by a cross forced the opponent's defender to score an own goal in desperation…

But then, after one of his assists, he made a mistake in a tackle while returning to defense, allowing the opponent's forward to easily score into Sima's guarded goal, tying the score. That tackle was too casual, even a defender like him could easily avoid it, right? Was he too relaxed?

Did people with rough personalities not know how to write the word "nervous"?

Liu Peng smiled.

※※※

"Xiang Tao! Can't you be a little more stable?" Team leader Zhu Qiang reprimanded during training, "It was because of your mistake that the opponent scored a goal in the warm-up match, why are you so clumsy in training too?"

Xiang Tao ignored Zhu Qiang's reprimand and turned to walk back. He muttered in a low voice: "I also assisted a goal in the warm-up match, why didn't you see it? Stable? If everyone was like you, what would I be playing?"

Zhu Qiang still didn't want to let Xiang Tao go: "Hey! Where are you going? I'm talking to you! Did you hear me? What kind of attitude is this?"

"Today's training is over! Everyone go back and rest!" Qiu Suhui interrupted Zhu Qiang. As the match approached, the atmosphere in the team was already a bit off, and this team leader insisted on coming out to cause him trouble. He really suspected that he was a Syrian spy. He must find a reason to get rid of him! He didn't want a team leader who did more things than having a team leader.

The players heard Qiu Suhui's words and seemed to have been granted amnesty. They all dispersed with a cheer, and naturally no fool would stay to listen to Zhu Qiang's lecture.

Looking at the dispersing players, Zhu Qiang had a sense of being left aside. He was the team leader! In the national Olympic team, his power was definitely greater than that of the head coach, but what had he become now? A clown laughed at by the players?

"Coach Qiu, I hope you can explain…" But he didn't see Qiu Suhui. The training ground was empty except for himself.

※※※

As the vice chairman of the Football Association in charge of the national Olympic team, Chen Wei made a special trip from Beijing to Kunming before the match, to supervise the battle and cheer for the team. There was also one thing that belonged to his private exchange with Qiu Suhui.

"You want to drive Zhu Qiang out of the national Olympic team?" Chen Wei was a little surprised.

"Yes, he's in the way in the team. The atmosphere has been very abnormal recently, and if he makes such a fuss again, my work will be very difficult. You know, I'm the head coach, and I should put all my energy into training and matches. But now I have to be distracted to deal with the team leader."

Chen Wei thought of the report that he had shredded. "What you said is also reasonable, but Zhu Qiang was personally arranged by Luo Wenqiang, it's not easy to move him, not easy to move him."

Qiu Suhui looked at Chen Wei's embarrassed look and quickly smiled. "Then forget it, pretend I didn't say anything. Let's put all our energy on the match."

Chen Wei nodded: "Well, the match the day after tomorrow, there shouldn't be any problems, right?"

"No problem."

"The outside world is very worried about you not recalling Zhang Jun and Yang Pan, after all, you have a recruit who has only played one official match!"

"Hehe! Not recalling Zhang Jun is because he doesn't think it's time for him to play yet. And not recalling Yang Pan, he is now working hard to play in the big game, and letting him return to China at this time is not good for his competition in Bologna. I believe that relying on my current players, it should be no problem to take down the Syrian national Olympic team."

"What about the players' condition?"

"There is no problem either."

※※※

"Syria, Syria, Syria, Syria…"

As soon as Xiang Tao opened the door, he heard Lin Feng walking past him in the national Olympic team's official match uniform, muttering like this as he walked.

"Got it!" As soon as he entered the house, he saw Wang Yu pasting a piece of paper on a dartboard. Then he picked up the dart and threw it at the dartboard on the wall.

"What is this?" Xiang Tao didn't understand.

"Darts!"

"I know it's darts, I'm asking what you pasted on the dartboard?"

"The Syrian flag."

"…"

"Poof!" The dart hit the bullseye.

"I think you might as well stab twenty-three villains, write the names and numbers of the opponents on them, and then use needles to stab them, it would be better." Xiang Tao grinned.

As soon as he finished speaking, a large group of people poured in from outside the door. Leading the way was Zhao Pengyu, who dumped a pile of things he was holding in his arms on the table. It was the paper figurines that Xiang Tao had just said, a full twenty-three.

"Come on, come on, it's not very similar, but everyone just bear with it!" Zhao Pengyu shouted, and then took out a nail.

"Wait a minute!" Xiang Tao suddenly shouted and stopped Zhao Pengyu, "Everyone, don't rush!" Then he took out the newspaper he had read yesterday, folded and pieced it together, and after using up a newspaper, a super large paper figure appeared in front of everyone.

"This… this is." Everyone didn't understand.

"Girl, what's the name of the head coach of the Syrian national Olympic team?" Xiang Tao asked Wang Yu, holding a marker.

"Sha, Shamas…"

Xiang Tao wrote the name on the chest of the paper figure, and then put it in the middle of a pile of paper figures: "Coach, everyone can continue." He pointed to the paper figure and introduced.

"Damn it! Xiang Tao is too perverted!"

"A big devil?"

"Is this the legendary Syrian head coach?"

"The final Boss? How much health? How much defense? How much magic? How much attack?"

Zhao Pengyu looked at the huge "Shamas" on the table, and then looked at the small nail in his hand: "I'll go get a knife and come back… Damn it, Xiang Tao, are you deliberately messing around?"

"How am I messing around?" Xiang Tao looked innocent.

"We are doing serious business, do you think we are playing house?" Zhao Pengyu said seriously.

Xiang Tao rolled his eyes, then spread his hands and walked out of the house: "Then you continue." After leaving the door, he murmured, "It's better to set up a memorial tablet for Li Huitang and offer incense every day…"

Leaving the dormitory building, Xiang Tao took a deep breath of the evening air of the Honghe base, it was much cooler outside than inside.

"Ah! Honghe's night! Why are you so dark蠼蠼 (ququ - dark)?" Xiang Tao's poetic nature was greatly aroused, and he chanted in Mandarin with great emotion.

"Not afraid of heaven, not afraid of earth, just afraid of Sichuanese speaking Mandarin." In a place that Xiang Tao didn't notice, a black shadow said.

"Who is it?" Xiang Tao was startled.

The black shadow stood up, and the lights inside the building shone on him. It turned out to be Li Suisheng. "The Sichuan dialect is indeed well-deserved, I got goosebumps all over." He pointed to his arm.

"I didn't let you listen!" Xiang Tao said unhappily.

"Have you finished stabbing the paper figures?" Li Suisheng asked Xiang Tao.

"You know? Not yet, I came out before I stabbed them. Didn't you stab them?"

"Do you think I need to do those boring things?" Li Suisheng said disdainfully.

"That's right. You are a professional player who has participated in the Asian Youth Championship, the World Youth Championship, and the World Cup, what scenes haven't you seen? We are different, none of us have even participated in the professional league…" Xiang Tao said in a strange voice.

"Do you think there's a chance?" Li Suisheng suddenly asked.

"A chance for what?"

"…Don't pretend to be stupid with me, you know what I'm asking. Do you think these people can make it to Athens?"

"The Olympics are next August, right?" Xiang Tao said, "I don't even know what's going to happen a month from now, don't even mention…" He counted on his fingers, "…eleven months from now. I only know one thing…"

"What?"

"We can win tomorrow's match, hehe!" Xiang Tao looked at Li Suisheng and said, "Oh, and one more thing. You are a center back, and I am a left back. Don't drag me down in tomorrow's match!" He stretched out his hand to Li Suisheng.

Li Suisheng raised an eyebrow, "Who's dragging who down is not certain!" He also stretched out his hand, but slapped Xiang Tao's hand hard. Then he turned and walked into the building.

Xiang Tao touched his palm that had been slapped sore, and looked at Li Suisheng's back in thought.

The Olympics? I really haven't thought about it, because there's no need to consider it at all…

※※※

Zhao Pengyu looked at the final Boss "Shamas" in front of him, panting heavily, "This is the last one left, I'm really fucking tired! Brothers, how do we deal with this guy?"

"Chop him up and feed him to the dogs!"

"Are you going to find me a dog?"

"Rape him first and then kill him! Rape him again and kill him again!"

"Damn it! You're even more perverted than Xiang Tao!"

"Wouldn't it be easier to burn them all?" A voice came from the door, and everyone turned to look, but saw nothing.

※※※

The players are okay, right?

They should… probably be okay.