Beast King Costa

Chapter 213 Language and Cultural Life
Portugal's journey to China was very difficult.

Because, in 2006, there were no direct flights from mainland China to Portugal. It was not until 2017 that BJ Capital Airlines opened the first direct flight from mainland China to Portugal from Hangzhou-BJ-Lisbon.

Most of the time, Europeans who want to go to the mainland of China need to fly directly to Hong Kong, China, and then transfer to the mainland of China in Hong Kong, China.

Because of historical reasons, Portuguese people who want to go to mainland China usually fly directly to Macau, China, and then transfer to mainland China at the international airport in Macau, China.

It's just that such a itinerary is really terrible-it takes almost 16 hours to fly directly from Lisbon to Macau, China!
Then I flew from Macau, China to BJ, the capital of China, which took about 4 hours, and then flew from BJ to Shandong, which took about 1 hour.

Looking at the itinerary arranged by the club staff, coach Fernando Santos almost fainted.

You are so old, how can you endure such a trip of more than 20 hours?

Therefore, with the assistance and arrangement of TAP Portugal, the Benfica club and his team chose another route - direct flight from Lisbon to St. Petersburg, Russia, and then transfer from St. Petersburg to BJ, the capital of China!

In this way, it only takes about 14 hours to fly to BJ, the capital of China.

Then rest in BJ for one night, adjust the time difference, and then fly to SD province, the destination of this trip.

Despite this, most people in the club complained in various ways.

You know, even if you are playing in the UEFA Champions League and you need to go abroad to play against teams from other countries, you can basically fly there in three to four hours—even if you go to some Asian countries that have joined UEFA, such as the three Caucasus countries. Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan are only seven or eight hours away.

Unexpectedly, to go to China, it takes nearly [-] hours to fly, which is really terrible!

Of course, the distance is only one of the minor problems.

Worst of all, jet lag!

As far as the players know, compared with Portugal time, China time is a full 8 hours faster!
After going to China, I have to overcome the jet lag in China, and after playing two friendly matches, I have to reverse the jet lag when I return to Portugal. This is really uncomfortable!
Also because of this time difference problem, some young players even think about how to avoid going to China to play these two friendly matches.

After learning that some young players were retreating, Fernando Santos also made it clear: "The players who will not go to China to play friendly matches this time, unless the team doctor issues an injury report to prove that they are not fit to play, otherwise they are not allowed to ask for leave! Those who ask for leave will be excluded from the squad for the first team next season! Think about it yourself!"

In desperation, these young people did not dare to ask for leave willfully. They could only obediently follow the team and set foot on the flight to St. Petersburg together.

On the plane, when everyone closed their eyes tightly to resist the fatigue of the long flight, Diego did not fall asleep like everyone else.

Fernando Santos handed him the Chinese materials about Yu Dabao of Qingdao Hailifeng Club, but he hadn't finished translating them for him yet.

After carefully reading the Chinese materials about Yu Dabao, Diego discovered that Yu Dabao was a top student when he was a child.

When he was in the youth training of the football school under Qingdao Hainiu Club, other players basically left behind their elementary school homework in order to play football. However, Yu Dabao was still able to maintain the top grades in the class. Not only that, Yu Dabao was also selected Zhong went to the Guangzhou Eagles Club for youth training.

Although it is not a professional football club, the youth training of Guangzhou Eagle Club is very famous in this era.

For example, Yang Zhi, who has occupied the national position for a long time, was born in the youth training of the Guangzhou Eagles Club.

It's a pity that Yu Dabao only spent a year in Guangzhou youth training, and then his parents took him back to Qingdao because he fell behind in his homework, and continued to study and receive football training at the same time.

But at this moment, Yu Dabao is no longer training in the football school. He has entered the youth echelon of Qingdao Hailifeng Club, and was selected for the Chinese National Youth Team in 2003. In 2004, he joined the team to participate in the Asian Youth After winning the championship, he jumped to the U17 National Youth Team training camp.

In July 2005, the Chinese National Junior Team came to Spain to participate in the Don Quixote Cup Invitational Tournament.

In the first game, Yu Dabao scored two goals to help the national junior team defeat the Juventus junior team 4-2.

In the end, Yu Dabao was elected the top scorer of the tournament with four goals!
In this way, Yu Dabao also entered the main lineup of the Chinese National Youth Team as a matter of course, and participated in the Asian Youth Championship with the National Youth Team at the beginning of this year. It is a pity that the Chinese National Youth Team did not win the World Youth Championship next year. Qualification for the competition.

Chinese scouts gave Yu Dabao a high evaluation.

Has speed, has physical fitness, has the ability to hold the ball in the frontcourt, has a high ball quotient, has a good overall view, has a strong sense of grabbing points in front of the goal, and has a strong learning ability...

It can be said that all kinds of praise words have been exhausted.

People who don't know may think they are looking at Shevchenko's scouting report.

But Diego had some understanding of the young Yu Dabao. This later "lucky general" of the Chinese national team did have a pretty good sense of grabbing points in front of the goal, but his overall strength was definitely not as high as the Chinese scouts had boasted. .

At least, Yu Dabao did not play in Benfica because he was not able to read the game well enough to keep up with the rhythm of the Portuguese Super League when he was studying abroad in Portugal.

This is also a problem for most Chinese players studying abroad.

I didn't seriously learn the language and culture of other countries, and adapt to the rhythm of life in a foreign country, so I couldn't understand the coach's intentions, and I couldn't integrate with my teammates. Their trust, and finally gradually faded out of the main frame of the team...

In this aspect, "Chinese Sun" Sun Jihai is definitely an absolute model for other overseas players!

In order to make Yu Dabao more relevant in the eyes of Fernando Santos, Diego did not completely translate the Chinese scouting report into Portuguese.

Instead, I selected some things that Yu Dabao, the "fortune general" of Chinese football in later generations, could do, translated them, and added some of my own opinions.

And added my own suggestion at the end.

"Yu should work harder on language, culture, and life. He is a smart player. As long as he can integrate into the life of Portugal, he will definitely be able to become a very good frontcourt attacker!"

(End of this chapter)