I Want to Be the King of Football

Perhaps because he had just been to the rest area of ​​the second team, Su Dong had a particularly strong feeling for the locker room of the first team.

That is repression.

The rest area of ​​the second team was as lively as a disco. The players gathered together in groups of three or five and chatted about various topics. Jose Semedo and others had a good chat, and even made a very YD's magical laughter.

But all of this can't be seen in the dressing room of the first team.

Everyone sits in front of their own cabinets, packing up their belongings, or sitting there listening to headphones, or doing nothing, closing their eyes and resting, and some simply look around and watch other people.

Only that no one spoke.

It felt very strange, as if this group of people were not a team at all, but like strangers who didn't know each other.

It was the first time that Su Dong stepped into this locker room. For him, the group of players made him stand still. His heart was full of excitement. At the same time, he was also a little nervous. said, and approached Ronnie.

As soon as he approached, he found that the Madeira teenager was not doing much better, and he was also nervous.

The two newly arrived, equally nervous and confused teenagers, after looking at each other, smiled bitterly in unison.

Hi, Ronnie.

Finally someone broke the silence and came over to greet Ronnie softly.

Hey, Ugo. Ronnie bumped his shoulder after high fives. This is our new teammate, Su Dong.

Su, this is Ugo Viana.

Of course, Su Dong has heard of him. Mendes is the most potential player now, and he is also the talented midfielder that Mendes attaches to the most. Known as Rui Costa II, he has overtaken in corners since October. Crossed Quaresma and became the number one talent in Sporting Lisbon.

Perhaps because they were all players under Mendes, Hugo Viana was also very friendly to Su Dong. After high-fives and shoulder bumps, he sat down between Su Dong and Ronnie.

Why don't everyone speak? Su Dong asked strangely.

Hugo Viana smiled, It's always been like this, slowly, you'll get used to it.

After a pause, seeing the puzzled expressions on Su Dong and Ronnie's faces, Ugo Viana smiled and explained one more sentence.

The youth team and the first team are two completely different worlds. Although the youth team has some competitive pressure, it is not really that big, but when it comes to the first team, it is different. Everyone here has a kind of worry in their hearts. I am full of worries about my future, because no one knows, what will I do next? No one can guarantee what will happen next?

Su Dong nodded, knowing something in his heart.

This kind of existential crisis really makes everyone become vigilant at all times and dare not be careless at any time.

Just like Quaresma.

In his first game of the season, against Porto, the player shone brightly and was touted as Sporting Lisbon's number one talent, Portugal's hope for the next decade, and he was subsequently reused by the club.

But who would have thought that after a few rounds, he could still only wander between the main force and the rotation.

What is even more unexpected is that since October, Hugo Viana, who was promoted by the youth team, occupied the main position of the team's midfield in one fell swoop and became the number one hopeful star in the team. Take control of the starter.

There are many reasons for all this, including the opponent's factors, the team's own reasons, and the coach's change.

Who can figure this out? Who could have predicted that?

It's easy to become anxious about an existential crisis, but it also keeps everyone in awe.

Only with awe can we do our best in every game and every training session.

Beyond this,

They simply don't have any other thoughts to do anything superfluous and pointless, including gossiping in the locker room.

Su Dong has not been able to feel this pressure from the competition of the first team for the time being, but he has seen some.

…………

…………

The composition of Sporting Lisbon's first team is actually quite interesting.

Including Su Dong, there are a total of thirty players.

These players are mainly divided into two parts, either mature players in their thirties or above, such as Jardel, who is already twenty-eight years old, and Sa Pinto, who is twenty-nine years old, and a veteran player of Brazil. Bossa and Cruise and more.

They all have one thing in common. They all have experience in the four major leagues. They either retired or encountered various problems and were competed down. However, in the Portuguese Super League, these players are still quite capable.

There are also some players are young teenagers, such as Quaresma, Marcelino, Viana, Ronnie and so on.

These players are either their own youth training or rookies with high hopes, such as the 20-year-old Romanian center Nikule, a fellow of the head coach Boloni, who is the scorer that Boloni advocates to introduce.

It can be said that these two groups of players almost occupy the vast majority of the lineup. There are only a handful of players who are really around twenty-five years old and are in the golden age of their careers.

What caught Sudong’s attention was a high center introduced during the winter break, a 25-year-old center from Greece, Dimitris Naritsis, who was first transferred from Greece’s Thessaloniki in July. Will go to Udinese in Serie A, then to Perugia in October, and to Sporting Lisbon during the winter break.

In just a few months, he has moved to three teams.

During his time in Serie A, he only played three games, two in the league and one in the cup.

Anyone can see that this is because Boloni is not satisfied with the team's striker configuration. Both Gisvey and Lawrenzo are still relatively young, so he brought in Nalizis, who was in his prime, as Jardel and Lawrence. Substitute for Nikolai.

The reason why Su Dong noticed him is not only because he is one of the few players in the team, but also because he will be one of his competitors, even if he has no hope of playing in the first team for the time being.

It is not difficult to see from the first team configuration of Sporting Lisbon that this team is still the same as other teams in the Portuguese Super League.

The reason why there is a lack of the backbone of the year is because the backbone that performed better has been sold.

This is the status quo of the Portuguese Super League.

Sporting Portugal will not be able to retain players, nor will Sporting Lisbon.

Of course, the premise is that the players have to perform well enough.

...

Captain Barbosa broke the silence in the locker room.

He introduced the three new teammates who had just joined to everyone present. Su Dong, Ronnie and Naritsis stood up one by one to greet the teammates under the captain's name, but there were few responders.

More people looked at them with wariness in their eyes, obviously worried about competition.

For example Marcelino.

This player, who also has African descent, is majestic in the youth team. He is also known as the Three Musketeers of the Sports Tower along with Quaresma and Ronnie, but after entering the first team, his development is far less than that of Quaresma. , and was even succeeded by Viana.

So far, he has not played even a single minute for the first team.

This is another very sad story.

I heard news that his performance in the first team was terrible. Ronnie leaned into Su Dong's ear and said softly.

Su Dong frowned, Why?

I heard it's uncomfortable, who knows? Ronnie shrugged.

Marcelino's performance in the youth team is no worse than Quaresma, but after entering the first team, the two are quite different.

This is really puzzling.

Most of the adult players, including the top players in the team like Jardel, looked at Su Dong and others with indifference. It felt like they were not looking at their teammates at all, but were standing on the street watching passers-by.

Su Dong understands that in their eyes, he has not been recognized by them at all, and he is not qualified to be their teammate.

Each of them should be guessing in their hearts, how long can these new guys stay?

Not only the players, but also the coach Boloni.

Unlike the coach of the second team, Jean James, who specially received Su Dong and had a long talk, the first team coach Boloni didn't have time to talk to the three of them at all. He simply conducted it on the sidelines before the training started. had a conversation.

The content of the conversation was simple, even perfunctory.

Boloni encouraged Sudong, Ronnie and Naritsis to work hard to improve their strength and show their best form in training.

I will pay close attention to your performance in training. At the right time and in the right game, I will arrange for you to play the game as appropriate. I hope you can show satisfactory performance at that time.

Su Dong couldn't help nodding, but in fact, he was very clear in his heart that what he said was equivalent to not saying it.

Boloni will not give them a chance, just like Marcelino.

The player entered the first team at the start of the season but so far has not played even a minute.

Also lacking opportunities are Gisvi and Lawrenzo. Instead, it is Nikulei. The Romanian center is Boloni's key introduction fellow, and he has always been reused and trusted by Boloni.

Even if Nikolai's performance is not as good as Jardel.

Boloni was perfunctory, and the three also didn't take it too seriously.

After the walk-through conversation, the head coach introduced the three Su Dong to everyone through his speech before training, hoping that everyone could help them and try to help them integrate into the team.

Responses are still few and far between.

Su Dong and Ronnie didn't care either.

The two looked at each other, and both saw the dissatisfaction and stubbornness in each other's eyes.

There is never a shortage of indifference and indifference around them, but they always prove themselves with performance.

It was so before, and it is so now.

As a result, they performed very hard in the subsequent training.

At the beginning of the warm-up and recovery training, they can keep up with the big team, which makes them think that the training of the first team seems to be nothing.

But when they really entered the high-intensity training, the two felt tremendous pressure, especially when they entered the team training, they couldn't keep up with the rhythm at all.

Body, technology, consciousness...

Everything can't keep up.

Sudong felt as if he had returned to the bad situation he was in when he first participated in the training of Atlético de Portugal, and it was even worse than then.