Chapter 1 The Two Youths

When the day's training ended, Mark did indeed stay behind on the training field to practice his shooting, and Zhou Yi, after finishing his strength training, didn't leave the gym either, but continued with his physical conditioning.

Both teenagers were working hard for their dreams.

However, while Zhou Yi was doing endurance training on the treadmill, his mind was pondering Mark's problem.

Improving one's own abilities is the foundation for gaining a foothold in the team, but the time required to do so is too long. After all, improving skills isn't something that can be achieved overnight.

So, is there any way to improve performance in a short period of time, so that Mark can play in the U19s?

Zhou Yi pondered hard.

But he couldn't come up with any solution until the end of training.

On the way home, Mark's mood was clearly much higher than yesterday. After half an hour of shooting practice, he felt that he had found the right direction to work in, and that he could just continue to work hard.

He suddenly had confidence in his future again.

But Zhou Yi wasn't as optimistic as Mark.

When he went to bed at night, Zhou Yi entered the virtual world of FIFAOL3. When he and his virtual U19 teammates began training, his eyes were fixed on Mark. He was observing Mark, hoping to see something in his observations.

After watching for a while, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he realized the problem!

He had actually seen this problem before, but he had always ignored it, because in terms of playing style, he was somewhat similar to Mark, so he didn't take the problem seriously.

It wasn't until now, when he was racking his brains about how to make Mark perform well, that he realized that this might be the root cause of Mark's poor performance in training.

But he still needed to verify it. So he began to give Mark various passes in training.

Some of the balls were passed into very obvious open spaces, and Mark would appear in the open space at the right time. After receiving the ball, he was almost unmarked. He shot and scored.

But sometimes, when the open space wasn't that big, Zhou Yi would also pass the ball over. This kind of ball required Mark to engage in close combat with the opponent's defenders. Mark's success rate in getting the ball dropped sharply, and some balls he didn't even bother to receive, because he didn't think he could get them.

※※※

The next day, in the locker room, while changing clothes to go out for training, Zhou Yi pretended to ask Mark casually, "Mark, I've noticed that you like to play football away from the defenders?"

Mark nodded, "Well, after all, I'm not a strong forward like Schneider. If I fight with the defenders, I won't have the upper hand. I have to play to my strengths, right?"

"Then Mark, I think I know why you perform worse when I'm not on the field." Zhou Yi said.

Mark heard the words and looked up at Zhou Yi, somewhat surprised and eager, "Why?"

"Well, the reason is that you like to play football away from the defenders. Actually, I also like to play away from the defending players when I play. I always choose to receive the ball at the intersection of several people's defensive zones, so there's space, and I rarely face direct defense from the opponent. The reason is the same as yours, my body is not strong enough, and I can't even hold the ball if I fight directly with the opponent. So I'm doing strength training now to make up for this shortcoming. But it works pretty well for me now, because I'm a midfielder, and there's a large area on the football field for me to move around in. I can always find space to receive the ball. But you can't."

Zhou Yi began to analyze for Mark.

"You're a forward, of course you can fall back to receive the ball, but when it comes to deciding whether you can score, your activity area is basically concentrated in the opponent's thirty-meter area, or even in the penalty area. The space there is narrow, the personnel are dense, and there's not much space for you to receive the ball comfortably. If you're still consciously pulling away from the defenders and hiding from them, then you'll have even fewer opportunities to get the ball..."

"Zhou Yi is right."

Suddenly, a voice rang out unexpectedly from the side, startling both Zhou Yi and Mark.

They turned their heads and saw that it was Gotze!

Seeing that both of them turned to look at him, Gotze quickly apologized, "Did I interrupt you?"

"Not really." Zhou Yi shook his head, "You saw it too?"

Gotze nodded, and simply sat down and said to Mark, "Mark, your problem is that you seem to be a little afraid of making physical contact with the defenders. Actually, although your body isn't particularly strong, it's not as weak as Zhou Yi..."

Zhou Yi rolled his eyes: "Hey, who's weak!"

Gotze ignored Zhou Yi and continued to look at Mark and said, "You're almost one meter eighty now, right?"

"One meter seventy-eight." Mark said.

"That's right, in terms of height, you're also taller than Zhou Yi..."

"Hey! Are you making fun of me for being short?" After talking about weight, he's now talking about height, Zhou Yi has completely become a negative foil. Zhou Yi couldn't stand it anymore, he stood in front of Gotze with his head held high, almost half a head taller than Gotze.

"I said Mark's height is higher than yours, Zhou Yi, not me. Of course I'm not as tall as you." Gotze said. "Don't compare yourself to me, why don't you go stand next to Mark?"

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Zhou Yi snorted, and continued to stand beside Gotze with his head held high, unmoved.

Gotze ignored him and continued to say to Mark, "So your own conditions aren't as bad as you think they are. Of course you can't become a forward like Schneider who can directly post up against defenders. But you can't hide when you see a defender like you're doing now. You have to know that not everyone who passes the ball to you will be as caring and considerate as Zhou Yi, passing it to you so that it's comfortable for you to receive. Most of the time, you have to fight for the ball with the opponent's defenders in a very harsh environment. If you avoid them, how can you play?"

After Gotze finished speaking, Mark fell into deep thought.

Avoiding defenders is indeed his habit, which he has developed since he was a child. In the final analysis, this is a kind of psychological fear. He is afraid of physical contact with defenders, because that way it will be even more difficult to get the ball...

But how many people can accurately find open spaces like Zhou Yi and then pass the ball to him?

And Zhou Yi is not only looking for open spaces, but in the game, he will create some open spaces through his running and passing.

How many others will have this kind of patience?

Mark's position is not very good, and the open space is not very obvious, so they simply don't pass the ball to Mark.

Over time, Mark couldn't even get the ball on the field, so he naturally became a substitute, and a substitute for a substitute.

"So if you want to be able to get playing opportunities, and have a good performance after playing, you have to change this habit, and dare to have physical confrontation with the defenders." Gotze said.

Zhou Yi nodded beside him: "Yes, it doesn't matter if you fall. If you can fall in the penalty area, you might even get a penalty?"

"That's a dive!" Gotze quickly objected.

"How is that a dive? Mark is really falling! With Mark's small body, what's wrong with falling after a confrontation?" Zhou Yi said very seriously.

And when Mark heard Zhou Yi say this, a look of fantasy clearly appeared on his face.

Gotze quickly waved his hand, dispelling Mark's fantasy of getting a penalty for falling in the penalty area: "Don't listen to Zhou Yi's nonsense. If the other party doesn't raise their arm, it's a reasonable collision. It doesn't matter how many circles you roll in the penalty area! You might even get a yellow card for yourself."

Zhou Yi made a face, and Mark realized that Zhou Yi was talking nonsense just now.

※※※

In the attacking combination training, Zhou Yi could see that his and Gotze's words had indeed worked. Mark was obviously consciously looking for defensive players to have physical confrontation with, and no longer deliberately staying far away from the defensive players as before, wishing he could hide directly off the field.

Of course, the effect of doing so was very bad at the beginning. Mark was always falling to the ground when fighting for position or the ball with the opponent's defenders.

Even the head coach Yebala couldn't stand it anymore and scolded Mark, "Didn't you eat breakfast? Why are you always falling?"

"Mark, you fell again, did you wear the wrong shoes? Is our turf very slippery!"

……

Faced with the head coach's scolding, Mark always silently accepted it with his head down, but when the training continued, he started to go his own way and insisted on that set, constantly confronting the defenders, and then falling to the ground without any suspense...

Seeing Mark like this, Schneider's face was full of contempt, and he would even snort coldly from time to time.

But he finally didn't directly mock Mark, because he didn't want to be driven off the training field by the head coach again... that would be too embarrassing!

After a training session, Mark's jersey and training vest were all discolored, covered with grass clippings and dirt, looking like a mud monkey.

But Mark himself was quite happy. After he came down, he said to Zhou Yi, "How is it? Am I particularly brave!"

Zhou Yi looked at Mark's bruised appearance and nodded: "You are very brave, but also very mindless."

"Ah?" Mark didn't expect Zhou Yi to say that to him. Shouldn't he be praising and complimenting himself at this time?

Zhou Yi spread his hands: "So your sister always looks down on athletes, and thinks that athletes are all brainless idiots. I think it's mostly related to you... Courage is commendable, but training and improvement also require correct methods and ways. There's no use in you bumping around like this, except for hurting yourself. If you want to confront the defenders, you also have to have the right way to confront them, right? At the very least, you have to strengthen your strength training, right? It just so happens that I've been practicing strength with Coach Wang Le for a while, and I have some experience. I think you should stop doing shooting practice after training, and come to the gym. I'll teach you how to practice strength, especially upper body strength, so that you can strengthen your ability to confront. Don't you think my physical confrontation has been better than before during this time?"

Mark thought about it carefully and nodded: "It seems to be a little better..."

"So you see, even a body like mine can improve, let alone you. Playing football is actually a sport that requires using your brain. Mastering the correct methods is much better than using brute force." Zhou Yi said.

Mark was sincerely convinced by Zhou Yi. He felt that Zhou Yi knew so much and had a high level.

He nodded repeatedly: "I'll listen to you, Zhou Yi!"

"Then let's work hard together!" Zhou Yi patted Mark on the shoulder.

"Okay, let's work hard together!"