Chapter 1 The Apology and the Forum

ps: It's been a week. I haven't accumulated a lot of VIP chapters, but I still need to keep my promise and start unlocking them.

I apologize to the public version readers who have been waiting for a week.

Also: The Midfield Break Forum that I and a few friends started a year ago has expired due to space issues. Now I have restarted a forum. In the future, everyone can go to the forum to talk about anything. There is also a place to publish fanfiction, and I will also post some champion-related content in the forum. For example, the lineup on the field, original comics, etc... I hope everyone can like it there.

Finally, the address:

※※※

"This is Zhang Jun's fourth goal in three league rounds since entering March! He has been selected for the Chinese national team and is in surprisingly good form. Fiorentina has now risen to fourth! Direct promotion doesn't seem far away!"

The goal-scoring Zhang Jun excitedly showed the number on his back to the fans. The fans chanted his name loudly.

Mondonico watched this scene from the coach's bench. He said to his assistant coach, Bottoreto, "As a striker, Zhang Jun knows very well what to do to earn trust. Score, score, keep scoring. I'm already considering asking the club to negotiate with Milan to buy Zhang Jun outright."

Bottoreto pointed to the stands: "Milan has someone recording every game. Zhang's form is so good, they probably won't let him go."

"They've already booked that kid Bojinov, and they still want Zhang Jun? What are they going to do with so many strikers?" Mondonico thought his assistant made sense. He lowered his head and cursed softly.

"Actually, I'm worried about Zhang Jun's stamina. He's currently at a peak, both physically and in terms of form, but next he'll immediately play two national team warm-up matches, and after that it's the league. In the remaining month and a half, we have to play eight league rounds. I'm worried that Zhang won't be able to maintain his stamina." What Bottoreto said was the most practical. Since the World Cup will open on June 9, the forty-two rounds of Serie B must all be completed before May 15 to make way for the World Cup. Therefore, many midweek games have been arranged, and the density of the matches is very high, which will be a severe test for many players.

Especially those players who also have to participate in the World Cup. If they exhaust their energy in the league, how will they perform on the World Cup stage?

Mondonico looked at Zhang Jun, who was running hard on the field: "The World Cup is not something we need to consider. As long as he can perform well for the club, that's enough."

In the end, in this game, Zhang Jun, Riganò, and Lucarelli each scored a goal, and they defeated Bari 3:1, only two points behind third-place Treviso and five points behind second-place Turin.

With eight rounds left in the league, many Fiorentina fans had already begun to look forward to the moment when the team would return to Serie A.

For Zhang Jun, what was more important than Fiorentina's promotion was the national team's matches. The opponents for the two warm-up matches had been determined. First, they would challenge the Spanish national team at the Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, Spain; second, they would go north to Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, and play against Basten's Dutch national team at the Ajax's home stadium, the Amsterdam Arena.

It could be said that this training camp was the strongest and most valuable warm-up match the Chinese team had encountered in recent years. This was naturally achieved by Qiu Suhui's years of connections in Europe.

Because the World Cup was imminent, all teams wanted to test their lineups and personnel configurations, so they would send out their main players. This was exactly what Qiu Suhui wanted. Because the new Chinese team had been assembled for more than half a year, and they had only played a few symbolic matches with teams in China and nearby, they had not really fought seriously. He wanted to know how strong this Chinese team really was, so he had to play against the top European teams. He was not afraid of losing, but only afraid of not exposing the problems. Therefore, he also recalled all the players playing in Europe to form the strongest Chinese lineup currently.

※※※

Dortmund, Germany, Westfalenstadion.

"Aílton breaks through Dortmund's defense!"

Schalke 04's Brazilian striker, "Ball Lightning" Aílton, used his speed to break through Dortmund's defense. Only the goalkeeper stood before him. A one-on-one!

The goalkeeper quickly attacked. Aílton wanted to catch the goalkeeper off guard. Before he could even adjust himself, he forcibly kicked the ball!

The goalkeeper reacted with surprising agility. He made the correct judgment the moment Aílton kicked the ball, diving to the left. As the ball arrived, so did his hand. He slapped it, and the football changed direction, rolling out of the goal along the post!

Aílton stomped his feet in frustration, while the Westfalenstadion erupted in cheers as eighty thousand fans shouted one name: "An! An! An!!"

"Another brilliant save from An. With the game already in injury time, he ensures that Dortmund's goal remains untouched! Dortmund is currently leading Schalke 04 1-0 at their home ground!"

Qiu Suhui had once told An Ke that as long as he maintained his stability, the number one goalkeeper position on the Chinese team would definitely be his. An Ke subsequently proved in matches that Qiu Suhui's trust was not just because he played abroad, but because he really had the strength.

Passion, arrogance, boldness, and decisiveness, each was a quality that Qiu Suhui believed a perfect goalkeeper should possess.

"Hey, Captain! Don't let them break through like that again! Foul him when necessary, trip that kid! The defensive line must maintain formation, concentrate!" An Ke jumped up from the ground and shouted loudly at his teammates. No one blamed him for being impolite for yelling at his seniors, because they were all used to being yelled at by An Ke like this. As a goalkeeper, the Dortmund players would only be surprised if he didn't yell.

"An is very concerned about the performance of the defense, because relying on the goalkeeper alone can never stop Schalke 04's fierce attack. So far, he has not conceded a goal for three hundred consecutive minutes. For Dortmund's terrible defense, this is truly a miracle!"

"Listen to the cheers of the Westfalenstadion, look at the fans' attitude towards him. No wonder so many Dortmund fans sat in protest in front of the club's gate when rumors spread that he would transfer to Bayern Munich."

"Hmm, I'm thinking, if the Chinese team has the opportunity to play in the Westfalenstadion during the World Cup, as long as the opponent is not Germany, maybe this place will become the Chinese team's home ground."

Schalke 04 took a corner kick, which An Ke directly plucked from the air when he attacked. As he kicked the ball out, the referee blew the final whistle. Dortmund narrowly defeated Schalke 04 at home, taking a solid step towards participating in the UEFA Cup next season.

※※※

Belgium, Anderlecht.

This was an ordinary Belgian First Division League match, but also a special one, which was called the "Chinese Derby" by the local Anderlecht media. Because the home team Anderlecht's starting lineup included two Chinese players: left-back Xiang Tao and defensive midfielder Wang Yu, while the starting striker for their opponent, Antwerp, was none other than their former teammate from the national youth team, Wu Shangshan.

After being bought out by Manchester United, he was loaned to Antwerp in Belgium. In the two and a half years, he had experienced ups and downs with the team. At the end of his first season with the team, they were relegated to the second division. Just when many people were worried about his future, he relied on his efforts and teammates to bring Antwerp back to the first division. Currently, the team is in the middle of the table in the first division, but he is ranked in the top four on the top scorers list.

In recent years, Manchester United has bought many strikers, Alan Smith, Saha, Rooney, all of whom are top players in the Premier League, but Ferguson is still not satisfied. The reason he bought Wu Shangshan in the first place was because he valued his excellent physical qualities, intending to have him replace Van Nistelrooy. There have been reports that Manchester United will recall him to the team after the World Cup, officially making him a member of the first team.

He performed very actively in this "Chinese Derby," threatening Anderlecht's goal many times. However, after being tackled out of bounds by Xiang Tao early on, he never tried to break through Xiang Tao again. On the other hand, Wang Yu in midfield had a hard time defending him because he was slow to turn around.

Wu Shangshan's efforts paid off in the twenty-seventh minute of the second half. After receiving a wonderful pass from his teammate, he relied on his speed to forcibly break through Anderlecht's defense, then shot low, scoring his fifteenth goal in the Belgian First Division League this season.

This goal gave the visiting team Antwerp the lead, but Anderlecht equalized the score at the beginning of the second half. The scorer was not the team's biggest star, Mbo Mpenza, but a Chinese full-back.

Xiang Tao got the ball near the midfield. He didn't pass the ball, but dribbled it straight forward. Wang Yu tacitly came up to screen for him, allowing him to pass through the midfield with ease. The Anderlecht fans didn't complain about a defender dribbling forward, but cheered loudly for him. Because they knew that Xiang Tao, as a full-back, actually had a strong attacking awareness. You often saw him running wildly down the left flank, then crossing from the baseline, or cutting inside to shoot. It felt really great watching him use his speed and physique to overtake one defensive opponent after another. Some fans even called him the "Chinese Roberto Carlos."

This time was no exception. With Wang Yu's help, after passing the first person, he flicked the ball forward, then jumped up to avoid the second Antwerp player who was sliding in. His speed was indeed very fast, which was why even Wu Shangshan didn't dare to easily break through him.

By the time Xiang Tao caught up with the ball, the third defender wasn't far away from him, and had positioned himself to intercept. It looked like he could only crash into him head-on, throwing himself into the net. But unexpectedly, Xiang Tao suddenly took a long shot!

From thirty meters away! And the angle was very awkward, yet he still shot!

And the shot was very accurate. Judging from the arc, it would definitely land within the goal frame!

The goalkeeper, who was standing too far forward, hurriedly retreated, jumped up, and raised his right hand high, trying to push the sudden shot away. But the football was a little faster than his hand, drilling into the goal along the crossbar.

Goal... Goal scored? A goal was actually scored!?

Goal scored!!

"An unbelievable goal! This is absolutely an unbelievable goal!! Xiang has performed many plays of beating several players in a row for us this season, but this time is absolutely shocking! Listen to the cheers of the Vanden Stock Stadium!"

Tens of thousands of people shouted one name in unison, which sounded really great. Xiang Tao was feeling that way now. But he didn't forget to make a face at Wu Shangshan on the opposite side. They used to be teammates in the national youth team, and now they could meet again on the Belgian field, thousands of miles away from China. It was really not easy.

Wu Shangshan shook his head as he watched Xiang Tao's excitement. It was difficult for him to break through this person's defense in the national youth team, and now even his goal was not as beautiful as his. God, was he a defender or a striker?

※※※

Kru faced a stand and made a "shut up" gesture. Because there were several banners hanging there insulting him and his family, and those fans were not Southampton fans from the away game, but Chelsea fans.

Kru had endured seventy minutes of boos and insults from these people, starting from the moment he started the game. If there hadn't been billboards and police blocking him, he probably would have kicked his way in and fought with the fans.

So when he scored Chelsea's second goal with a powerful shot from outside the penalty area, his celebration was not cheering, nor hugging his teammates, but rushing to the bottom of that stand, standing in front of the billboards, pressing his index finger to his lips, and demonstrating to the angry faces that were so close.

It's none of your goddamn business which national team I join and what nationality I choose! *!

After putting down his index finger, he kicked hard on the Carlsberg beer billboard in front of him, making a muffled sound.

The boos not only did not stop, but became even louder.

※※※

Yang Pan sat on the sofa in Li Yongle's apartment, watching the kid pack his things. He ran in and out several times, and paced back and forth in front of Yang Pan, pinching his chin: "Um, what's missing..."

Yang Pan yawned: "We're just going to play two warm-up matches, and the training time is only a week. It's not like we're going on vacation. What are you doing with so many game discs? Coach Qiu said that playing games is okay, but only the Pro Evolution Soccer series on the PS2 is allowed. Are you trying to go against the wind?"

Li Yongle blushed and had to dump all the game discs and movie discs out of his backpack. Yang Pan reached out and grabbed him, then rummaged through the movie discs, "Bring more movie discs, there are still some good ones... Like this one." He raised his hand, and Li Yongle saw it was Oliver Stone's film, *Any Given Sunday*, starring Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz, and Dennis Quaid. A sports movie about the story of the National Football League, it was very passionate.

"Oh, I've seen it, it's very passionate." Li Yongle pulled out a disc from the pile, "But I prefer this one." It was *Basic Instinct*, starring Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas.

"Damn it, you lecher!" Yang Pan scolded, "But you better not let Xiang Tao see it."

"Why? Isn't he not interested in this kind of movie?"

"Precisely because he's not interested, he'll scold you for not being high class enough. He's the kind of guy who doesn't even watch Category III films, he only watches adult films. If you don't want to be looked down upon by that impure person, don't let him see it."

Hearing what Yang Pan said, Li Yongle laughed. He remembered the days when they were all in the national youth team. At that time, they joked about someone together, and they shed tears and sweat together for victory and failure. What a wonderful past!

Yang Pan yawned again and casually threw the *Any Given Sunday* disc into Li Yongle's backpack: "Not ready yet? Zhang Jun is about to arrive in Milan!"

Li Yongle looked at the pile of game discs and movie discs—which he originally planned to bring to Wang Yu—and shook his head: "There's nothing else to pack. When he comes, let's go."

※※※

On the plane to Madrid, Spain, Zhang Jun and Li Yongle were sound asleep in the afternoon, but Yang Pan was not tired at all.

He knew that Coach Qiu had made a big change this time, greatly weakening the power of the old players. So how would they feel when facing the new people who suddenly poured in? Would they feel disadvantaged and marginalized?

And the national youth team faction, which had always been influenced by Coach Qiu's ideas, had always disliked those "old guys."

The infighting between the two factions would definitely affect the unity within the national team, and in turn affect the team's performance.

It was okay for himself, he could endure it. But what was Xiang Tao, who dared to fight with Li Suisheng even when he first entered the national youth team, afraid to do? He would probably go berserk as long as an old player provoked him. Ah, there was also the careless An Ke, and the "bad boy" Kru, who came from a gang... None of them were easy to deal with. He and An Ke could still use their status as former captains of the national youth team to suppress them, but Kru was someone who didn't even listen to Coach Qiu.

Coach Qiu, how are you going to integrate this team? Yang Pan rubbed his temples, feeling a headache.

※※※

Qiu Suhui looked at the cup of coffee in front of him that had already cooled down, and only then did he realize that he had been sitting there for half an hour.

Hu Li happened to push the door open and saw Qiu Suhui, who had just woken up. "Still worried about the team's internal unity?" He looked at the coffee that was no longer steaming.

Qiu Suhui nodded: "What else could I be worried about? The most troublesome people are about to report."

Hu Li knew who he was talking about. In the past two days, some bad signs had already appeared in the team's training in Spain. Since Qiu Suhui had been promoted from the national youth team coach, although he had been a national team assistant coach, it had not been for long, and there was always a sense of separation from those old players, making them feel that Qiu Suhui only favored the people from the national youth team and could not make them believe him.

But fortunately, these young players recruited from China behaved relatively restrained because of the environment they were in. These past two days, Hu Li had also been frightened, but had managed to get through them without any major incidents.

However, the next batch of people who were about to arrive were different. Because they were abroad, they all had arrogant personalities, and their existence would inevitably intensify the contradictions between the two factions in the team.

Plus Kru Lee, who was unfamiliar with both sides, could not even speak Chinese well, and did not have much fondness for China, was a time bomb.

Tsk tsk, it looks like this training camp will be very lively. Hu Li shook his head secretly in his heart. No wonder Xiao Qiu was so worried.

"Xiao Qiu, I remember you once said that there would be no factional struggles in your national team, but now there are two distinct factions..."

"I know, I know. Actually, I expected this situation. Lao Hu, don't you think it's better to have two distinct factions than to have several factions entangled together, unable to distinguish between friend and foe?" Qiu Suhui leaned back in the sofa and said to Hu Li, "What I'm worried about now is how to unite the two factions, even if it's just temporarily during the World Cup, even if it's just for show."

"Give them meetings every day and talk about ****..."

"You might as well kill me, Lao Hu..." Qiu Suhui's posture on the sofa had changed from sitting to lying down. "I don't care anymore, there's a saying that goes: There must be a road before the car reaches the mountain, and the boat will naturally go straight when it reaches the bridge. I think there should be a way when the time comes."

Hu Li looked at his watch: "It's almost time, should we go down and wait for them?"

Qiu Suhui also looked at his watch: "It's almost time to arrive at Torrejón Airport in Madrid, right? Well, let's wait a little longer before going down, there's nothing to do now anyway. Let me take a nap, call me when you think it's about time, Lao Hu." He stretched comfortably in the sofa.

※※※

Yang Pan was surprised that the three of them would see An Ke, who was obviously waiting for them, at the exit of Torrejón Airport.

"Shouldn't you and Shao Jiayi have arrived earlier than us?" Yang Pan asked, handing a box to An Ke.

"What a coincidence, I just said that to Wang Hui half an hour ago." An Ke led the way, "The first to arrive were the five playing in England and Belgium. Shao Jiayi and I arrived only ten minutes later than them. Then everyone met in the hall and decided to just stay and wait for you, and then go to the hotel together."

"How thoughtful, let's go then, I guess Coach Qiu can't wait." Zhang Jun interjected from the side.

Yang Pan grinned. He couldn't wait? He was probably having a headache!

※※※

For the Chinese team's match against Spain, Real Madrid Club was very active, not only providing the Chinese team with accommodation, but also giving the Chinese team the best training ground in the Real Madrid Sports City for training.

This Sports City was not the new Sports City covering 1.1 million square meters in the northern suburbs of Madrid, but the old Sports City covering only 100,000 square meters in the center of Madrid. The new Sports City was still in its preliminary form—everywhere was being built, and it could not be used to host team training.

For Real Madrid President Florentino Pérez, he was eager to further develop the Asian market. Therefore, if his team's training ground could become the Chinese team's training base, the Chinese media would inevitably mention Real Madrid's name in various reports, and would also describe the facilities of Real Madrid Sports City in detail, even the toilets. This was undoubtedly free publicity, further consolidating Real Madrid Club's position and reputation in the hearts of Chinese fans.

Three taxis stopped in turn in front of the Melia Fenix Hotel where they were staying. Zhang Jun and the other foreign players got out of the car, then took out their luggage and walked towards the hotel gate.

As soon as they entered the door, they saw Liu Peng and Zhao Pengyu waiting for them in the lobby.

Zhang Jun went straight up and gave Liu Peng a hug: "How long haven't we seen each other, Niupeng?" He called Liu Peng by his nickname from middle school.

Liu Peng also hugged Zhang Jun tightly: "I haven't seen you since that time in Maojiawan, Chengdu."

Zhang Jun let go of Liu Peng: "It's been two and a half years, a lot has happened in between, but I feel like it was just yesterday. How's it going in China?"

Liu Peng smiled: "Just like that, Zhongyuan is not a super team, I can only play in the Jia League."

"Didn't other teams buy you?" Zhang Jun was a little surprised.

Liu Peng shook his head, obviously unwilling to continue this topic. It wasn't that he didn't want to leave, nor that other teams weren't interested in him, but that the Zhongyuan Club couldn't agree with the other party on the price and was unwilling to let him go.

Zhang Jun also knew better than to press on.

On the other side, Zhao Pengyu had already called the former national youth team brothers upstairs down, and the reunion was very lively. A group of kids were hugging and embracing in the hotel lobby, shouting and making noise, with Xiang Tao being the most active, hugging everyone he saw.

"Hey! Xiaoyu, why have you lost weight? Did the club mistreat you?"

"Sima Yanggao, don't smile with a frown, it's really ugly!"

"Li Jie will actually be on the national team? The world is in chaos!"

Everyone was smiling happily. It was really not easy to be able to reunite with former national youth teammates on the national team. You know, in this national team roster, which was mainly composed of young players, there were still many former national youth players who were not selected for this or that reason.

Kru stood alone on the side, looking at the completely unfamiliar faces, listening to the Mandarin that he could barely understand and the dialects that he couldn't understand at all, his face expressionless.

Zhang Jun didn't know when he stood next to him and asked him in English, "Maybe you're not used to it yet? But it will get better slowly. Everyone is very nice, you don't have to worry about anything at all. Haha!"

Kru turned his head to look at Zhang Jun. It was their second meeting at the airport. He had recognized Zhang Jun and Yang Pan at a glance. Zhang Jun hadn't recognized him at first, and even pointed at himself and asked Yang Pan who this was. But when he took off his baseball cap, he remembered when he saw his blond hair.

This was really an interesting person. Although he was six years older than himself, why did he feel that he sometimes behaved less mature than himself?

Like now, he was very enthusiastic. But he didn't even think about whether he could get along well with other players. So what was he thinking? In fact, he was just in a daze, not thinking about anything at all.

"Yeah." After all, Zhang Jun was now the most familiar person in this unfamiliar team. Kru didn't want to embarrass Zhang Jun, so he nodded.

After finishing the commotion with Xiang Tao and Wang Yu, everyone else noticed that there was a blond teenager standing next to Zhang Jun. Seeing that everyone's attention was focused on Kru, Zhang Jun knew that it was time to formally introduce Kru to everyone.

"This is Kru Lee, everyone should know him, right?"

Everyone ohhed: So he was the Kru Lee who had frequently appeared in various news reports recently! He looked quite handsome, but his expression was cold and aloof, keeping people at a distance.

Seeing that Zhang Jun had already introduced himself, Kru felt that it would be a bit too much if he didn't even say hello on their first meeting, so he raised his head and said to everyone in Chinese, "Hello everyone!" But his face was still expressionless.

Zhang Jun was a little surprised: "Can't you speak Chinese?"

"You believed that lie? It was just an excuse to reject you." Kru smiled slightly, with a hint of satisfaction at successfully fooling Zhang Jun.

Yang Pan was stunned. On the way from the airport to the hotel, he had only seen Kru smile twice, and both times it was related to Zhang Jun. Just because Zhang Jun had called him, their relationship shouldn't be that close, right?

Could it be that Zhang Jun had something that others didn't?

Just when Yang Pan was racking his brains over this question, two old national team players walked towards them.

"Wang Hui, Jiaying, Liyi, you just arrived? Go up and see everyone, everyone has been waiting for a long time." The speaker was Kong Liang, the national team defender. When he said this, he completely ignored the other players beside Wang Hui and the other two, treating them as air.

The laughter disappeared instantly, and everyone who had been talking and laughing just now had a straight face, not looking at the two of them.

The atmosphere suddenly became extremely awkward.

Kru was very strange about this change in everyone. He didn't understand why, and wanted to ask Zhang Jun next to him, but saw Zhang Jun frowning, looking helpless.

It seemed that the national team wasn't united either! Kru suddenly understood, although he still didn't know why they were not united.

Interesting, this situation was really interesting. This time, Kru smiled in his heart.

Wang Hui didn't want this scene to continue to be awkward, so he and the other two pulled up their suitcases, said hello to Yang Pan and the others, and left with Kong Liang.

And as soon as they entered the elevator, the players who had been silent again became noisy again. This time, they turned their attention to another "newcomer," An Ke.

Zhang Jun thought that some questions still needed to be explained to Kru. After all, no matter how ignorant a newcomer was, they could see how abnormal the atmosphere was just now.

"Uh, I'm really sorry for letting you see these things on the first day."

"You guys have a bad relationship?"

Zhang Jun nodded.

"Why?"

"This is a long story. Simply put, the national team is now roughly divided into two factions. One faction is mainly composed of those old national team players, like the two you just saw. The other faction is mainly composed of the former national youth team players who are now on the national team, all of us." Zhang Jun pointed to the people who were joking with the "familiar" An Ke.

Kru nodded, indicating that he understood. "It's just a struggle between the old and new factions."

"You can say that."

"Then which faction do I belong to?" Kru asked. After understanding the current situation of the Chinese team, he didn't want to be isolated. The cold expression on his face was just a way to protect himself in front of strangers, it was instinctive. Once he got familiar with people, he would find that he was actually an interesting person.

"You're naturally on our side." Zhang Jun wouldn't let Kru go to the opposing side, and the other side wouldn't accept him either.

"Then, I know what to do."

※※※

In a corner that wasn't noticed.

"Xiao Qiu, why do we have to be sneaky and stay here? Aren't we coaches?" Hu Li looked at Qiu Suhui in front of him in confusion and asked.

Qiu Suhui excitedly pulled Hu Li back: "The enemy is in the open, we are in the dark. We can hear everything they say clearly, know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated!"

"But we're in training, not fighting..."

"No! We must treat this as a war!" Qiu Suhui turned his head and gave Hu Li a serious expression.

Hu Li wiped his sweat. From the head coach to the players, this Chinese team was a bunch of troublesome people. What would wait for us at the World Cup?