Sun Pan's incredible save boosted morale at a critical moment for the team.

The thought, "We can win this," wasn't just on Coach Hao Dong's lips, but in the hearts of all the players.

When everyone... when even He Ying was willing to give his all in defense, what was impossible?

There were seven minutes of stoppage time. During those seven minutes, even the Chelsea youth team's goalkeeper repeatedly charged to midfield, kicking the long clearances from the Chinese team back into their half.

But until the referee blew the final whistle, the Chelsea youth team didn't break through the Chinese team's defense again!

Three whistles, the game was over!

The Chinese players, who had been waiting on the sidelines, swarmed onto the field, cheering and jumping towards their teammates.

Zhou Yi didn't run, because he was too exhausted. His legs were still weak.

He stood on the sidelines, raising his fists in celebration.

As the architect of this victory, Zhou Yi wasn't particularly excited.

He was familiar with defeating the Chelsea youth team. In the virtual world of FIFA Online 3, he and his virtual teammates had beaten them more than once.

Otherwise, why would Zhou Yi dare to say that this team wasn't that strong?

Everyone who flooded onto the field was cheering, laughing, running, and hugging.

Even though it was a game without spectators, without live broadcast, and without prize money or championship honors, none of that mattered anymore. This was their first victory in Europe!

After being relentlessly crushed, the Chinese team finally secured a precious victory. This victory was much more than just a win.

Behind this simple victory were many complex things.

These things were hard to describe; only those involved truly understood.

Including the members of the reality show crew who had been filming everything.

Director Xu Tao stood outside the field, looking at the cheering seventeen-year-olds. Thinking about everything they had been through, he smiled happily.

He suddenly realized the significance of this soccer reality show.

Most variety shows have scripts. You just follow the script. It looks real, but it's all pre-arranged. But this reality show was different. We can plan training sessions, game segments, tasks... but we can't plan the games themselves.

Anything can happen in a game. For example, against Bayern Munich's youth team, they had one player injured and another sent off.

The outcome is unpredictable, and even the process is uncontrollable. This uncertainty is a big reason why soccer is so popular.

Because soccer is like life. You can't predict the future, or determine the outcome before it happens.

In soccer, you can taste all the flavors of life: the joy of victory, the pain of defeat, the pleasure of teamwork, the frustration of desperation, the elation of scoring, the despair of conceding...

All kinds of emotions you can experience in a lifetime can be condensed into these ninety minutes.

He suddenly remembered something.

At the launch ceremony for the *Green Field Inheritors* reality show, a reporter asked their team: "Television is flooded with singing and dancing variety shows. People generally think reality shows should be like that. They're skeptical about soccer reality shows, thinking they're awkward. What's your comment?"

While he was still thinking about how to answer this question from a variety show perspective, Hao Dong grabbed the microphone and said: "I'm not worried about such skepticism. Because in my opinion, soccer is the greatest reality show in the world! A soccer game has tens of thousands of live spectators, hundreds of millions, even billions of television viewers, live broadcasts, no script, every next second is unknown, full of uncertainty and excitement. Which variety show in the world can compare to soccer, to sports competition? Sports, competition, soccer, is the purest and most fitting definition of a reality show!"

Now Xu Tao combined what he had seen and heard over the past month traveling with the team, and thought about Hao Dong's words back then.

What confidence from a soccer professional, every word strong and powerful.

This soccer field, 105 meters long and 68 meters wide, 7,140 square meters, is a dreamlike stage where countless great legends and classics have been born.

It's also a stage for various human tragedies and comedies.

Soccer, for those who love it, is probably more than just a sport.

※※※

The Chinese teenagers celebrated wildly, as if they had won the World Cup.

The Chelsea youth team players were stunned, unable to accept that they had lost to this team.

"What? What?" The coach's voice rang out among them. "What kind of expressions are those? Can't believe you lost? Can't believe you lost to them?"

The coach in the baseball cap walked up and pointed at the cheering Chinese teenagers across the field.

"What's so unbelievable? They played better than you, so it's normal to lose to them! Losing a game is no big deal, but if you don't know *why* you lost, that's a big problem! Why did you go from leading to losing? Because you were careless before the game, arrogant and complacent when you were ahead, and impatient when you fell behind, completely losing your composure. Remember this game, guys. It will be a very important failure on your road to growth. I hope you can learn the simple lesson: 'Don't underestimate any opponent!'"

"Alright, now get in line and shake their hands. You're the hosts, be polite!"

After the coach finished speaking, he turned and walked towards Hao Dong, the Chinese team's coach.

He had originally wanted to shake Hao Dong's hand after the game, but Hao Dong was busy celebrating with the people around him and couldn't pay attention to him, so he had to come on the field to teach his players a lesson first.

"Congratulations, Hao. I saw a great game. You deserved this victory." He said with a smile.

Hao Dong quickly shook his hand: "I should have shaken your hand after the game, sorry."

"It's okay." He laughed. "Enjoying the victory should come first."

Hao Dong also laughed.

This opponent had caused the Chinese team a lot of trouble in the game, but he was genuinely grateful to them.

This game was probably the most meaningful game the team had encountered since coming to Europe.

"Also, your number sixteen... is he okay?" The Chelsea youth team coach also inquired about Zhou Yi.

"He's fine, just too tired, cramped up. Thanks for your concern," Hao Dong said.

"Hmm. Is he a key player on your national youth team?"

"Well..." Hao Dong was a little embarrassed, but he told the truth, "Actually... he's just a high school student, hasn't played professional soccer, and hasn't received professional training."

The Chelsea youth team coach's mouth dropped open wide enough to fit a whole egg without breaking it.

He even asked directly, "Are you kidding me?"

"Of course not." Hao Dong spread his hands. "He's special."

The Chelsea youth team coach finally understood. He nodded, agreeing with Hao Dong's assessment: "He is indeed very special... I heard you're also going to challenge Manchester United and Liverpool's youth teams? Those two teams are nothing to be afraid of. I hope you can beat them too!"

He winked at Hao Dong, revealing a bit of his ulterior motive.

It's more fun if everyone loses together!

※※※

The players' excitement hadn't ended even on the bus back to the hotel from Cobham Training Centre. They couldn't jump around on the bus, but they could sing.

Even with several cameras pointed at them in the bus, they weren't embarrassed this time. Whether they had hoarse voices or couldn't carry a tune, they all sang loudly.

Fully demonstrating the children's nature - give them a little sunshine and they'll shine.

Hao Dong didn't stop them, sitting in the front row with Xu Yang, listening to the children's pop song medley, laughing happily.

Suddenly someone shouted: "Zhou Yi, sing us a song! Zhou Yi, sing us a song!"

His suggestion was immediately met with enthusiastic support.

"That's right! Sing a solo! We want to hear you sing today!"

As the team's hero, Zhou Yi enjoyed this treatment.

Zhou Yi didn't refuse, he jumped up from his seat: "Okay! I'll sing an English song for everyone!"

When they heard he was going to sing an English song, everyone cheered.

Then the bus quieted down, everyone either sitting or standing, all looking at Zhou Yi.

Under the spotlight, Zhou Yi cleared his throat, then struck a pose, with the flair of an international superstar.

Even Xu Yang curiously leaned over the back of his seat to see Zhou Yi's performance.

"This kid can sing English songs?" Sun Pan whispered to Yang Muge, who was sitting next to him.

Yang Muge shook his head: "I don't know, I've never heard him sing... He Ying is his roommate, I don't know if he knows..."

The two turned their attention to He Ying, finding that He Ying was also watching Zhou Yi.

After striking the pose and showing off his flair, Zhou Yi held his right hand in a fist near his mouth, pretending to hold a microphone, while squinting his eyes, looking profound, frowning, and pursing his lips, making his whole face look constipated.

Then he opened his mouth.

"A--B--C--d--e--f--g! h--i--j--k--L--m--n! o! p! Q! r! s! t! uvw! xyz! xyz--now_you_see, i_Can_say_my_ABC!"

Following his singing, the bus was silent for a moment, then exploded with huge laughter.

"Ah hahaha!"

"Hahaha!" Yang Muge leaned back in his seat, laughing so hard he could hardly breathe.

Sun Pan rested his head on the back of the seat in front of him, looking like he was about to die: "Damn, I should have known!"

Xu Yang looked dazed, slowly turning his head back, obviously hit hard.

Hao Dong leaned back in his chair, shaking his head and laughing: "This kid..."

Zhou Yi's performance wasn't over yet. After he finished singing, he shouted "once_Again!" at the end.

At the same time, he raised his hand to invite everyone to sing along with him.

So the whole bus started a chorus.

Everyone laughed with tears in their eyes, and sang this popular classic English song with him.

"A--B--C--d--e--f--g!! h--i--j--k--L--m--n!! o!! p!! Q!! r!! s!! t!! uvw!! xyz!! xyz--now_you_see, i_Can_say_my_ABC!!!"

Laughter and singing floated out of the bus window, straight into the sky.

※※※

ps, Today is Monday, taking advantage of the victory, let's ask everyone for some recommendation tickets, let's rush the charts!