Chapter 185 Kaka's Call

Zhang Jun received a call from Kaka. The kid gleefully told Zhang Jun on the phone that Brazil had already won two consecutive games and qualified early. Since China had not defeated Mexico and failed to qualify early, Zhang Jun was gnashing his teeth with hatred.

"Hey, Zhang Jun. Do you know the tournament rules for this World Cup?"

"Of course, I know," Zhang Jun replied grumpily.

Groups A, B, C, and D are in the upper bracket; groups E, F, G, and H are in the lower bracket. After entering the knockout stage, the eight teams in the upper bracket will fight each other, and the eight teams in the lower bracket will battle in pairs. The teams in the upper bracket can only meet the teams in the lower bracket in the final.

Brazil's Group D happened to be the last group in the upper bracket, while China's Group G belonged to the lower bracket.

"We can only meet in the final," Kaka said.

"Yeah, I really want to meet you guys early and then eliminate you!"

"Haha!" Kaka laughed loudly. "You're jealous, blatantly jealous! Jealous that we qualified early."

"Tch, who cares! We'll qualify too."

"Seriously, Zhang Jun. I'm really looking forward to having a chance to play against you in this World Cup, you know what I mean, right?"

"Yeah."

"Don't get eliminated before you meet us in the final."

"I should say the same to you, I don't want us to meet in the third-place match, that would be really awkward."

"See you in the final."

"See you in the final."

Zhang Jun hung up the phone and saw that Yang Pan next to him had also just hung up the phone. He casually asked, "How's Yi Lan doing?"

"She's fine, the doctor said she's stable."

"Oh, that's good," Zhang Jun murmured. "Kaka called to ask to meet in the final."

"I thought he called specifically to show off. Did you agree?"

Zhang Jun nodded: "Of course, I agreed. How could I show weakness in this situation?"

Yang Pan sat on the sofa and nodded. "Hey, Zhang Jun. Have you noticed that Xiao Shanzi has been acting strange lately?"

Zhang Jun remembered the situation in the last game, and he also nodded: "Yes, very strange. But I don't understand why."

Yang Pan smiled wryly: "You, you're still asking why. Isn't it all because of you?"

"Because of me?" Zhang Jun was very surprised.

"You and I were both obsessed with basketball for a while when we were in school, right? We both liked to watch NBA games, liked the Bulls, liked Jordan. Right?"

Zhang Jun nodded, "I stopped watching the NBA after Jordan retired. What's wrong?"

"Then how do you think Pippen's strength is?"

"Very strong, very strong. Well-rounded."

"But compared to Jordan?"

"Of course, he's not as good. What are you asking this for?"

"Pippen once wanted to replace Jordan in the Bulls. He thought he could also be a successful leader, so when Jordan temporarily retired because of his father's death, he was very happy, thinking he could finally be the leader of the Bulls. Unexpectedly, the Bulls' performance was a mess, and his own performance was not as good as when Jordan was on the court. The relationship between you and Wu Shanshan is a bit like Jordan and Pippen. Wu Shanshan is actually not willing to be your shadow in the national team. He's always trying to shift the attention from you to him, but it's not very successful..."

Yang Pan shrugged. Wu Shanshan's performance in the last game explained everything.

Zhang Jun suddenly understood. He really had never considered his partner's feelings.

"Then what should I do? Give him more assists in the game? Give up my own scoring opportunities?"

Yang Pan smiled: "Of course not. This is his own problem, he can only find fault with himself. He'll have to understand sooner or later: not everyone can be the protagonist. Some people are destined to be supporting characters, like Pippen. And some people are born to be protagonists, like you." Yang Pan looked at Zhang Jun. Being next to his friend, he, Yang Pan, was also willing to be a supporting character. How could Wu Shanshan not be able to do it?

Zhang Jun was silent. He thought of his teammates in Fiorentina. He rarely contacted Van Persie now. Ren Yudi was bought to be a substitute, but who could stand being a substitute in Arsenal and a substitute in Fiorentina? Besides, the number of appearances for the entire substitute team was very limited.

He had a vague worry in his heart, worried that he would lose some people.

※※※

Wu Shanshan kicked the soccer ball away during training. This was the seventh time he had failed to shoot the ball within the goal frame during today's training.

Yang Pan at the far end shrugged at Zhang Jun, and Zhang Jun shook his head helplessly.

Wu Shanshan stomped hard on the grass under his feet, seemingly complaining that the quality of the training ground's grass was not good enough, causing him to perform poorly.

Qiu Suhui curled his lips and shouted to Hu Li, who was leading the team's training on the field: "Lao Hu, take a ten-minute break!" Then he beckoned to Wu Shanshan in front of the goal: "Come here."

Wu Shanshan knew that Director Qiu calling him over couldn't be anything good. He lowered his head and jogged slowly to Qiu Suhui, first respectfully calling out, "Director Qiu." Then he waited for Qiu Suhui to speak.

Qiu Suhui looked at the soccer field behind Wu Shanshan. There was no one on it anymore. The other players were all sitting on the other side resting.

"Do you know why I suddenly interrupted training and called you over?"

"I didn't perform well..." Wu Shanshan said guiltily.

"Do you know why you didn't perform well?"

"I..." Wu Shanshan vaguely realized something, but he didn't say it out loud.

"What do you think is the most important quality for a forward? Skill? Speed? Physique? No, no, none of those. It's mentality. You have the physique, you have the skill, you also have the speed, but do you know why I value Zhang Jun so much, but not you?"

Wu Shanshan opened his mouth to argue, but Qiu Suhui interrupted him. "You don't need to rush to defend yourself. I know what you're thinking. You don't want to be Zhang Jun's shadow for the rest of your life, and you don't want people to always talk about Zhang Jun and forget about you. To be honest, I'm also helpless about these things. There will always be someone who becomes the protagonist, and there will always be someone who is a supporting character. But the people who are the protagonists can't just become them casually. They need something different from ordinary people. There's a difference between Zhang Jun and you. Remember my question just now? What's the most important thing for a forward? The most important thing is psychological quality. Zhang Jun is more mature in this aspect than you because he has experienced many things that you haven't experienced. He's had more training in this area. You're still too young..."

Wu Shanshan was a little unconvinced. His professional soccer career hadn't been smooth sailing either. He signed with Manchester United, then was loaned out everywhere. He only returned to Manchester United in the last few seasons, and he still couldn't guarantee a starting position. He felt that the hardships he had experienced were no less than those of Zhang Jun.

Qiu Suhui decided to change his angle: "Okay, let's not talk about these off-field things. Then, in the last game, neither you nor Zhang Jun scored a goal. Why did I substitute you, but leave Zhang Jun on the field? Haven't you thought about it carefully? I'll tell you now, when neither of you had scoring luck, Zhang Jun chose to create opportunities for his teammates and sacrifice himself. And you? You chose to be reckless. That's the difference between you. I'm not superstitious about fame. If Zhang Jun is in bad shape and performs poorly, I will also substitute him in the middle of the game, but his performance doesn't give me a reason to substitute him. You, go back and think about what I said!"

After speaking, Qiu Suhui shouted to Hu Li: "Lao Hu, the break time is over, start training again!"

Then he turned his face to the players on the sidelines, no longer paying attention to Wu Shanshan, who was standing there dumbfounded.

Next, Wu Shanshan kicked the soccer ball away again, but this time he didn't blame the grass under his feet, but lowered his head and remained silent.

※※※

Anyone could see that Wu Shanshan was in a bad mood after being called out by Qiu Suhui for a lecture. On the car from the training ground back to the hotel, Wu Shanshan didn't say a word until he entered his own room.

Yang Pan stopped Wang Yu, who was in the same room as Wu Shanshan: "If you have the chance, try to persuade him. I'm afraid he'll get stuck in a rut."

Wang Yu nodded: "I know. But I'm afraid he won't listen to me."

Watching Wang Yu walk into the room, Yang Pan turned to Zhang Jun and said: "We really have a good chance in this World Cup, I don't want this kind of internal conflict to ruin it."

Zhang Jun nodded: "It seems that everything is not as good as the outside world is promoting. If this problem is not solved, we can't deal with Italy with peace of mind." He suddenly thought of a question: "He doesn't listen to Director Qiu, what effect can Ya Tou have?"

Yang Pan shrugged, without answering Zhang Jun's question. In fact, he had an answer in his heart, but he didn't say it: "If it really doesn't work, Director Qiu probably won't let Wu Shanshan start." This was very cruel, so Yang Pan didn't say it.

Zhang Jun fell into another question. Should he also reflect on himself? He always let himself be too much in the limelight, without considering the thoughts of the people around him. Yang Pan, Li Yongle, Kru, and others were very familiar with him, so maybe they didn't care. But what about other people? For example, Wu Shanshan, due to the age difference, the two didn't have much contact. If he had any ideas, he wouldn't be able to know.

Well, maybe the things on the soccer field still need to be solved on the soccer field.

Zhang Jun felt that he should take some practical action to let his partner know that they were partners, not a relationship where one party served the other.

He didn't want to regret it after losing it.

※※※

After Su Fei typed the last word of this manuscript on her laptop, she stood up and stretched greatly.

Today's manuscript was all about the scenery of Johannesburg and her mood, without mentioning anything about the Chinese team preparing for Italy. It wasn't that she couldn't get first-hand material. It was just that the situation within the team was complicated, and Su Fei didn't want to stir up the muddy waters.

Walking to the window and opening the curtains, the bright sunlight outside shone obliquely through the glass window, and she couldn't help but squint her eyes, enjoying this moment of tranquility.

In two more days, it would be time for the highlight of this group to be staged. At that time, maybe all the way until the end of the World Cup, she and Zhang Jun wouldn't be able to rest. Looking down at the watch on her wrist, calculating the time difference with China, Su Fei decided to call home, even if it was just to chat casually.

The wedding arrangements should also enter the countdown.

※※※

Italian television stations were broadcasting news from South Africa every day. Because this game was related to the life and death of the Italian team, there was a lot of news coming from there, and they paid a lot of attention to their opponent, the Chinese team. Thanks to these media outlets, Yi Lan didn't have to call every day to know Yang Pan's latest situation. She even knew what color socks Yang Pan wore during training.

Yi Lan was now pregnant with a big belly, which was inconvenient for her to move around, and her father took care of all her daily life. Every day, she would do prenatal exercises, watch TV, read newspapers, and pay attention to Yang Pan.

Or she would touch her belly and tell the baby inside about his father's heroic performance.

Sometimes she would also think that a few years ago, she was still a college student, but now she was going to become a mother. Life was really wonderful. If she hadn't met Yang Pan, her life after that might have been completely different.

"...Several of the main players in this Chinese team play in our domestic league. They know our players very well, even our tactics. I think this game will be very difficult for Italy. Because the Chinese team also wants to qualify, they can only ensure qualification if they beat us, which is very unfavorable for us..." An expert analyzed in a coherent manner. The picture showed the Chinese team training.

Each time, Qiu Suhui would allow reporters to film fifteen minutes of training content as a form of publicity – of course, these fifteen minutes consisted of running laps and some warm-up exercises, with absolutely no intelligence value.

But for Yi Lan, these fifteen minutes of video were especially precious because she could see what Yang Pan looked like. Yang Pan looked much the same as before, with a spirited buzz cut and bright eyes. Every time he appeared on the screen, Yi Lan would feel very satisfied, and at the same time, she would feel pain – this pain came from her stomach.

Now she frowned again, the fetus in her stomach was moving. Beads of sweat dripped from her forehead, but she still endured the pain and didn't cry out. After a while, after the pain passed, her face was pale and she was covered in sweat.

Pulling out a tissue, she wiped her forehead and breathed a sigh of relief.

She guessed that this child, once born, would also be an energetic guy like his father, and maybe he would end up on the path of soccer.

The report on South Africa on TV ended, and Yi Lan turned off the TV. Then she gently stroked her belly and hummed a lullaby. Before long, she and the fetus in her stomach fell fast asleep.

Big Beard opened the door and looked at his daughter on the sofa, then tiptoed forward, picked up the thin blanket next to her and covered her with it. Then he turned off the air conditioner and opened the window in the room. The summer afternoon breeze gently blew in, lifting the gauze curtains. Big Beard took a deep breath, natural wind was still better than artificial air conditioning.

Looking back at his daughter sleeping soundly on the sofa, a loving smile appeared on his face.

Hey, Lillian, our daughter has a good home.

※※※

"He Wen, come to my office after lunch." The old woman said to He Wen, who was laughing and talking with her colleagues, with a frosty expression. Her appearance made the surrounding temperature drop a few degrees.

After the old woman left, a colleague next to her asked He Wen: "Wenwen, what did you do to offend that old woman again?" The old woman was the nickname that colleagues gave to the manager of this company.

"Nothing. There were no mistakes in last month's report, and there are no problems with this month's accounts so far." He Wen didn't know why, but ever since she entered this company, the old woman had disliked her.

Uneasily, He Wen ate lunch and knocked on the old woman's office door.

"What do you need me for, Manager?" He Wen asked somewhat fearfully.

"Oh, nothing, I just don't think you've been in very good spirits lately." The manager's tone was still cold, but it relieved He Wen.

"Um... uh, because I've been watching the World Cup lately." He Wen decided to tell the truth.

The manager raised her head and looked at He Wen, with an expression as if she was looking at an alien. The expression made He Wen very uncomfortable.

"Staying up late often?"

He Wen nodded.

"No wonder you haven't been in good spirits lately... Have you ever thought about how much staying up late affects your work during the day? What's so good about soccer? Does staying up late to watch it fill your stomach? Does it make you a lot of money? It's just a bunch of idiots messing around!" The old woman spoke in a serious tone, seemingly trying to help He Wen, but He Wen didn't appreciate it.

She hated outsiders commenting on the sport that her brother fought for and gave up so much for. She also hated others slandering the sport that her dearest person considered a life goal.

The old woman was still self-righteously denouncing the evils of soccer, trying to save a lost girl. He Wen had already picked up a folder at hand and slapped it on the other person's face, knocking off a cloud of thick powder.

"Sorry, I like soccer, and I can make a good living off of it. Do you have a problem with that?" He Wen raised her head and pointed at the other person with her chin. The old woman was looking at He Wen in shock, as if she didn't recognize her at all.

Then, without waiting for the old woman's soprano to erupt, He Wen said cleanly and decisively: "I'm quitting now, goodbye, old woman." She finally called out the person's nickname to her face. He Wen didn't feel the slightest regret for her impulsiveness just now, but felt great.

Suddenly, He Wen, who had just burst out, turned around and walked out of the office very smartly. Looking at the group of colleagues outside the door who cared about her, she smiled slightly: "Everyone, goodbye. I quit."

Then, ignoring the expressions of the others, she picked up her small bag and walked straight out of the company's door.

Summer afternoons are the hottest, but He Wen enjoyed the weather. She squinted her eyes, without wearing sunglasses or using a parasol, and let her body be exposed to the scorching sun.

It was much better than blowing air conditioning in that hypocritical office.

Next to her, two student-like people walked by, still excitedly talking about the World Cup.

"When is the game between China and Italy?"

"One thirty in the morning tomorrow."

"Then I'm not going to sleep, I'll stay up to watch the game."

"Aren't you afraid of being late for school the next day?"

"Hehe, the homeroom teacher will be late too, what am I afraid of?"

The two laughed and walked away.

He Wen pursed her lips and smiled. This summer, a new beginning.