Chapter 15 Curious

The reporters outside the field felt strange, and the players on the field also had an indescribable feeling.

In fact, they had many speculations about Zhou Yi.

After all, Zhou Yi had been the most famous name in Chinese football for the past month.

Through the reports of domestic media, Zhou Yi's legendary experience from high school student to professional player was also known to many people.

Being able to transform from a student into a professional player in such a short period, he must have something special and remarkable about him.

So the national team players also wanted to see what Zhou Yi was so good at.

At first, everyone thought that Zhou Yi's performance in training was just average. Anyone could do what he did.

Wasn't it just receiving the ball, passing the ball, running, receiving the ball, passing the ball, running... that sort of thing?

Nothing remarkable about it. There were no dazzling dribbles past several players, nor any beautiful volleys. During training, he just passed the ball after receiving it, passed the ball after receiving it, and rarely even dribbled with the ball...

How could such a performance win the favor of Borussia Dortmund?

Or... were they also very good, fully meeting the requirements of Bundesliga teams?

Could they also go to the Bundesliga to play as starters?

After a training session, the question marks in the players' minds grew more and more. They couldn't understand what was so great about this new player.

After training, everyone returned to the locker room. Because Zhou Yi was a newcomer who had just been selected for the national team, he didn't know anyone well in the team, so he always acted alone. He was also alone when changing clothes in the locker room.

It was like this before the start of training.

But after the end of training, people started to approach Zhou Yi.

Of course... they came with doubts.

The team's right back, Zhang Linpeng, sat next to Zhou Yi. Zhou Yi glanced at him and nodded with a smile: "Hello." He took the initiative to greet him.

"Hi," Zhang Linpeng nodded and then asked, "Hey, Zhou Yi. I want to ask you something..."

"Go ahead!" Zhou Yi was very enthusiastic.

"Well, I've read media reports about you. They said that you were still in school a year ago. Is that true?" Zhang Linpeng asked.

Everyone else in the locker room was doing their own thing, but at this moment, they all slowed down or simply stopped. Although they didn't turn their heads to look, they were all listening intently.

"Of course, I even have my student ID," Zhou Yi habitually wanted to rummage through his bag, but then he patted his thigh: "Sorry, I didn't bring it with me."

Zhang Linpeng waved his hand: "It's okay, I don't need to see your student ID. I'm just curious, just curious..." Then he suddenly asked again: "What do you think of Dortmund's training compared to our country's training?"

Zhou Yi was about to open his mouth when Zhang Linpeng added: "Tell the truth."

Zhou Yi spread his hands: "I haven't received training from domestic clubs before..."

"No, I'm talking about our national team."

Everyone held their breath even more.

"Uh, Dortmund's training intensity is greater than the national team's," Zhou Yi thought for a moment and told the truth.

Hearing this answer, Zhang Linpeng glanced back at his teammates, his eyes a little disdainful, the subtext everyone understood was "How dare you say that so easily? We haven't seen any impressive performance from you despite the lower training intensity."

Then, Zhang Linpeng turned back and asked, "How much greater?"

Zhou Yi shook his head: "I can't really say..."

Zhang Linpeng glanced at his teammates again, this time he even secretly curled his lips - as expected, he was just talking nonsense.

"Okay, thanks," Zhang Linpeng thanked Zhou Yi politely and left.

After that, no other teammates came to find him.

Zhou Yi, like before the start of training, was doing his own thing alone. Occasionally, he would cast his gaze at his teammates, looking at them with a bit of curiosity. Some of these people, when he was still a student, had already heard of their names. At that time, they were just beginning to emerge in the national team. And now, they were considered "old-timers" in this national team.

The thought that he could eventually be with them made Zhou Yi feel like the past year had been a dream.

※※※

The players changed their clothes, walked out of the locker room, and prepared to take the bus back to the hotel.

There was a short distance between the stadium and the bus, where reporters would be waiting to interview the players. If a player was willing to be interviewed, they would stop and answer a few simple questions. If they didn't want to be interviewed, they would get on the bus directly.

Anyway, the bus wouldn't leave until all the players were on board.

But whether Zhou Yi was willing to be interviewed or not, he had to be interviewed, because the reporters directly reached out and stopped him.

"Zhou Yi, there's a question I'd like to confirm - is this really your first time being selected for the national team?"

Zhou Yi smiled: "Isn't that obvious? Of course. Why?"

"Have you known these national team teammates before?"

"Did they also go to Qingyang High School No. 1?" Zhou Yi was a little surprised.

Seeing Zhou Yi's surprised expression, the reporters didn't know if Zhou Yi was being serious or making fun of their stupid questions...

"No, of course not. We just wanted to ask, since this is your first training session with the national team, why do we get the feeling that you seem very familiar with this team?"

As soon as Zhou Yi heard this question, he knew what was going on. This was, of course, because he had been training with virtual teammates in the virtual world for a long time, but he couldn't say this reason. No one would believe it, and they would only think he was joking again.

He might encounter similar questions like this in the future, but he couldn't give up his advantage just to avoid being asked, right?

Being able to seamlessly integrate into a new team was originally his advantage.

Zhou Yi said: "I have watched this national team's games. Their 1:1 draw against Germany was amazing! I'm a die-hard fan of the Chinese team. The kind of pass-and-control football this national team plays is also my favorite, so even before I was selected for the national team, I knew them quite well."

Zhou Yi's answer was really unexpected for the reporters, but when they thought about it carefully, they felt that what he said made sense.

Zhou Yi's style of play was indeed compatible with Gao Hongbo's national team, so it was no problem for him to like and understand this national team.

But even so... watching the game on TV and playing with them in person were still two different things, right?

And... even if you knew them well and were familiar with them, you couldn't act as if you had been playing together for a year, right? The degree of tacit understanding now was simply a bit excessive...

Seeing that the reporters seemed to have more questions to ask, Zhou Yi decided to strike first and shut them up, so he asked back: "What's wrong? Isn't it a good thing to have a good understanding with a new team and integrate quickly?"

His counter-question left the reporters speechless, and they didn't know what to say.

They had no choice but to give up.

Indeed, Zhou Yi's ability to quickly integrate into this national team was a good thing for everyone who cared about Chinese football. This meant that he could realize his value in the national team faster, wasn't that what everyone was expecting?

Seeing that the reporters didn't ask any more questions, Zhou Yi even asked: "No more questions?"

No one answered him, so he smiled slightly at the reporters, turned around, and got on the bus.

※※※

That night, Zhou Yi received a call from his father.

In the phone call, Zhou Jianliang asked Zhou Yi how he felt about his first day of training with the national team.

"Not bad, it went pretty smoothly. The national team's tactical requirements are also mainly pass-and-control, so I didn't have any difficulty adapting," Zhou Yi said.

"Yeah. What about your teammates? Are they easy to get along with? Is there any hazing?"

"I didn't encounter anything like that at all. Everyone is pretty easy to get along with, but I just entered the team, and I don't know anyone well yet, so it's definitely not the same as it was in Dortmund," Zhou Yi explained. "Everyone is very friendly, and they will say hello when they meet."

"That's good. The national team is different from the club. We Chinese people like to play those games. Whether or not there is any of that in this team, you should pay attention to it. Don't offend anyone easily, you have a sharp tongue... but don't be afraid of trouble either. With your strength, it's already a good thing you're not a ball hog in the national team!"

"Cough, cough, Dad. What are you talking about?" Zhou Yi felt that his father was thinking too much. A ball hog? He definitely wasn't that kind of person.

※※※

The next day's training session was still open to the public, and the outside of the training ground was as crowded with reporters as it had been the day before.

In this day's training, Zhou Yi's performance was about the same as yesterday's, without much difference.

His cooperation with his teammates was as smooth and tacit as ever.

The reporters couldn't see anything new.

But in the eyes of his teammates, they saw something different today.

It was still the same tactical drills, passing and cutting.

When the other national team players stopped looking for some brilliant dribbling past several players or amazing tricks from Zhou Yi, they suddenly realized that Zhou Yi's passes... they couldn't say how exquisite they were, but they made them feel... comfortable.

Yes, comfortable.

To give a simple example, Zhang Linpeng was the team's right back, but he often joined the attack. His attacking ability was very strong, and his physical qualities were also excellent among Chinese players.

Passing the ball to him required a ball with anticipatory timing to take advantage of his running ability.

As long as Zhou Yi passed the ball, Zhang Linpeng never failed to receive it - if he was sprinting forward at high speed, then the speed of Zhou Yi's pass would be very fast, so that he wouldn't have to slow down from his high-speed run to wait for the ball to come up. In this way, the defending player would also be close, and he could maintain his high speed and continue to move the ball forward, directly passing the defender who came to press him.

If he was just receiving the ball on the wing and didn't need to move forward at high speed, Zhou Yi's pass wouldn't be hurried or slow, and he wouldn't have to suddenly accelerate and desperately reach for the ball.

Not too big, not too small, not too fast, not too slow, Zhou Yi's passes were always just right.

This made Zhang Linpeng himself feel incredible.

Once or twice might not seem like much, three or four times could be said to be luck. But every time it was like this, Zhang Linpeng didn't dare to think about it too much, thinking about it too much would make him feel that it was very terrifying!

This was just one of the many details that Zhou Yi showed in training.

Different people saw different details.

For example, in the attack and defense drills, Du Wei, the center back responsible for defense, would feel that Zhou Yi's movement made him very uncomfortable.

Because most of the time, he wouldn't notice Zhou Yi, and when he did notice Zhou Yi, he would realize that Zhou Yi had already reached a very dangerous place!

But if he kept his attention on Zhou Yi, he would lose sight of his defensive target and create defensive loopholes. And if he kept staring at Zhou Yi, he would find that Zhou Yi's movement wasn't anything special. Most of the time he was just jogging, just like taking a walk, except that his head would keep turning.

Oh, speaking of turning his head.

At first, everyone didn't pay attention to it, after all, everyone would turn their head to observe the situation when playing football.

But when everyone noticed this about Zhou Yi, they realized that he almost never stopped turning his head. He seemed to not need to look at the ball at all, and his head was always looking around non-stop.

Did he have ADHD?

Or was there something wrong with his cervical spine?

During training, his teammates discovered more details about Zhou Yi, but they also had more questions.

So after the morning training session, Zhou Yi was cornered by his teammates in the locker room.

This time, Zhang Linpeng asked first: "Zhou Yi, I have another question... Have we... met before?"

Zhou Yi nodded: "I know you."

"Huh?" Zhang Linpeng was very surprised.

"But you don't know me," Zhou Yi suddenly laughed. "I know you from TV and newspapers."

Everyone couldn't help but laugh - so that's what Zhou Yi meant by "know"!

Zhang Linpeng also laughed, while also feeling a little bit of vanity in his heart - it seemed that he was quite famous!

He accepted Zhou Yi's unobtrusive flattery with equanimity.

However, the question in his heart still had to be clarified, so he continued to ask: "Then why do I always feel like we're very familiar? I find that the balls you pass to me are always just right. For example, when I'm sprinting, you give me a quick ball, and when I'm not sprinting, you give me a slow ball..."

"That shows that we have fate!" Zhou Yi continued to use a semi-joking way to get closer to his teammates, and then explained. "And I observed your situation before passing the ball. If you're sprinting, I'll pass it faster and bigger. If you're jogging, I'll pass it slower. Haven't you noticed that I'm always turning my head?"

Zhou Yi mentioned turning his head, and Du Wei stood up and said: "Yes, I noticed that you're always turning your head, is that your habit?"

Zhou Yi nodded: "Yes, I'm observing you. Looking at everyone's situation."

"Everyone's situation?" Du Wei was surprised, and so were the others.

"Yeah," Zhou Yi confirmed.

"This... how is that possible?" Someone couldn't help but blurt out in doubt.

"This is kind of my specialty," Zhou Yi said, "I'm naturally more sensitive to spatial distance."

"Then you don't look at the ball?" Du Wei continued to ask.

"I look. I take a glance..."

"Just a glance?"

"Yeah, how long do I need to look? Just take a look to confirm where the ball is," Zhou Yi continued to explain. He seemed very patient in the face of his teammates' questions.

Hearing what Zhou Yi said, many people fell silent.

When they played football, their eyes almost never left the ball. As for the situation on the field, they only glanced at it occasionally. If they didn't look at the ball, they would feel that they couldn't control the ball at all.

But Zhou Yi could actually not look at the ball and still make passing and receiving movements.

They could not believe what Zhou Yi said, but the training of the past day and a half made them feel that Zhou Yi was right.

Zhou Yi's mouth could lie, but his performance on the training field would not lie.

Zhang Linpeng listened in stunned silence, and then a curse word came out of his mouth: "Damn it!"

Everyone looked at him, and he continued: "No wonder you can start for Dortmund! I'm impressed!" This proud disciple of Xu Genbao, one of the best of his peers in China, gave Zhou Yi a thumbs up.

"I'm also impressed," Du Wei patted Zhou Yi on the shoulder.

Others also praised and marveled at Zhou Yi's abilities.

The teammates became enthusiastic about Zhou Yi, and the atmosphere in the locker room became much more lively.

Zhou Yi smiled and accepted everyone's praise for him, and also expressed some modesty.

Just as he had said to his father, this group of national team players, mostly young people, were really easier to get along with.

※※※

The media also published reports about Zhou Yi's national team training.

When the fans saw reports like "Zhou Yi quickly integrated into the team and cooperated well with his teammates in training" and "Zhou Yi got along well with his teammates and talked and laughed during training," they breathed a sigh of relief.

Everyone knew the situation of the Chinese national team in the past. Zhou Yi, as a complete newcomer who had no traces in Chinese football, was like a blank sheet of paper. He had no connections or relationships in domestic football, and he didn't know anyone.

Everyone was always worried that he wouldn't be able to integrate into the team and would be squeezed out or envied by his teammates.

But that didn't happen.

The team wasn't fighting internally, so the fans were relieved - it was a good start, wasn't it?