Chapter 12: Portugal's Twin Stars
In the next few days, Su Dong's life was fulfilling yet monotonous.
He gets up at four in the morning every day, washes himself, and then does strength training at home.
Pontes arranged training programs for him, including push-ups, squats, sit-ups, pull-ups and handstands. He should do 3 sets of each program, 20 in each set at the beginning. After completing a set in one go, he could take a short rest.
This may not seem like much, but in fact it is not the case at all.
The first thing is to move slowly.
Just like push-ups, with Su Dong's ability, it is easy to complete 20, but Pontes has a lot of requirements. He requires Su Dong to sink slowly, pause for one or two seconds, and then slowly stand up. It takes about 6 seconds to complete one movement, and the movement must be standard.
He didn't feel anything at the beginning, but after finishing one set, Su Dong found that it was more tiring than doing two sets in one go.
This is true not only for push-ups, but also for squats, sit-ups, pull-ups, and handstands.
Ronnie quoted Pontes as saying that these exercises can be done in the dormitory. They are very simple, but they can train every muscle in the body. Among them, the handstand support mainly trains the body's balance and coordination.
After being able to steadily complete the 3*20 training tasks, the next step is to increase the quantity and difficulty.
There is no need to say more about the quantity, from 20 to 30, and finally to 50, and add it slowly according to your own training situation.
The difficulty mainly lies in some techniques. For example, for push-ups, you first support yourself with your hands on the ground, as wide as your shoulders, then gradually shorten the distance, and finally do it with one hand. The difficulty increases step by step.
The same is true for exercises like pull-ups and squats.
In the end, these seemingly simple exercises that everyone is familiar with will become some difficult movements.
Pontes originally required Su Dong to train once a day, and warned Su Dong that if he trained too much, his body might not be able to bear it and might get injured. However, after Su Dong finished a set of training, he decisively added more training to his routine, and trained twice a day, morning and evening.
In the system store, the nutritious meals exchanged with the King of Football Points do not seem to be much in quantity, but strangely enough, after Su Dong finishes three meals a day, no matter what time it is, no matter how much he trains, he will not feel hungry or full.
There is also the Bull drink. After drinking it, your physical energy recovers significantly faster.
With them, Su Dong has the confidence to practice twice a day.
…
After finishing training at home, Su Dong had breakfast and went out.
He would tie weighted sandbags around his legs and waist and run all the way to the Parc Eduardo VII.
Here, he will receive basic training supervised by Ronnie, followed by two-person sparring.
In order to achieve better training programs, Su Dong wore weighted sandbags during basic training.
Jose Semedo also came once, but the Cape Verdean was more focused on his plans to pick up girls.
Su Dong and Ronnie would stay in the park until the afternoon before going their separate ways and returning to their respective teams for training.
After the training, Su Dong still had to undergo one hour of special training from Matello and could not return to the dormitory until nightfall.
At this time, he will conduct his second physical training of the day.
Finally, take a shower and go to bed.
Such days are repeated every day, monotonous and boring, but also fulfilling and compact.
Su Dong feels his own progress every day, especially on the personal attribute panel of the system, he can clearly feel the numbers improving, this feeling brings him great encouragement and stimulation.
At the same time, it also made him more meticulous in his execution.
…
On Saturday, Sporting CP faced off against their rivals in the first match of the new season.
Since Su Dong had just joined the team and was not familiar with the cooperation with his teammates, and the team was playing away, head coach Antonio Perreira arranged for him to stay in the team and did not follow the team to the away game.
But he promised that Su Dong would definitely play in the second round home game next week.
Although Su Dong also wanted to play a formal game, he had no choice but to accept the arrangement of the head coach.
Although Pereira and the team were fully prepared, they still lost the first game of the new season, and they lost to a team that was close to the relegation zone last season, with the final score being 1 to 2.
The teammates were all upset after losing the game, but they didn't feel sad for too long. After all, this is only a semi-professional league team, and for the players of Sporting CP, playing football is more of a hobby and enjoyment.
As long as we can avoid relegation, winning or losing doesn’t really matter.
Anyway, the team can't be promoted to the Portuguese First Division.
Even after returning to Lisbon, many teammates were already eager to call their friends and make plans to go to a nearby bar in the evening to watch the nationally watched game.
In the opening match of the new season of Portuguese Super League, Sporting Lisbon will face Porto at home.
…
…
Some people say that Lisbon is like God's overturned palette.
Brightness is the most beautiful and moving color in this city.
Even the subway ride has a unique elegance that is different from others.
Each platform is decorated with a different theme and is known as the largest art museum in Lisbon.
The four subway lines are in four different colors and the names are also very interesting.
The blue line is called Seagull, the green line is named after a caravelle developed in Portugal , the yellow line is called Sunflower, and the red line is called The Great Voyage of the Orient.
Marquis of Pombal Square is the transfer station for the Yellow Line and the Blue Line. With these two lines, you can transfer to the Red Line and the Green Line after two stops, which is very convenient.
Take the yellow line from Marquis of Pombal Square and it will take you to the Alvalade Stadium in six stops.
This is also the transfer station for the Yellow Line and the Green Line.
…
When Sudon, Ronnie and Semedo walked out of the subway station in the crowd, what came into view was the magnificent Alvalade Stadium, which is currently the largest football stadium in Lisbon.
But soon it wasn't.
In preparation for the 2004 European Cup, Benfica, another Lisbon powerhouse, will have its Estadio da Luz demolished and rebuilt after the end of this season. The stadium will be expanded to have a capacity of 64,000 people, which will be larger than the renovated Alvalade Stadium.
The perimeter of the Alvalade Stadium, which is undergoing renovation, is filled with steel frames, leaving only an entrance for fans.
"Our youth team's training ground is just across the main road, called the Sports Tower training ground, but it has been sold. After the end of this season, we will move to Alcocheti on the outskirts of the city, and the Sports Tower will be converted into an equestrian arena."
Ronnie walked side by side with Su Dong and pointed to the dark darkness across the street.
Su Dong listened silently, still quite shocked.
This stadium is really big.
On the first day he arrived in Lisbon, he passed by the stadium by car from the airport, but at that time he was driving on the viaduct and looked at it from afar. But now he is walking under the stadium, and it feels like a dormant behemoth.
Ronnie and Semedo are very familiar with this place because last year Sporting Lisbon's youth training dormitory was at Gate No. 10 of the stadium. When the stadium began to be renovated, they moved to an apartment on Duke of Lore Street.
Following the crowd and following the instructions on the ticket, I entered the stadium and found my seat easily.
It is located on the second floor of the main stand where the most Sporting Lisbon fans are located, in the front row on the center right, which is a great location.
When the three found their positions, the players of both teams on the court were warming up.
Semedo secretly nudged Su Dong with his elbow and pointed in the direction of Sporting Lisbon, "See? The one with the ball is Ricardo Quaresma. He's on the roster."
Su Dong followed Semedo's gesture and saw a short and thin young Portuguese player who dribbled the ball very skillfully and quickly. He made a curved shot, but it was saved by the goalkeeper.
"The two tall ones with dark skin are Jardel. We used three main players from last season to get him back. We had heard before that he was going to Inter Milan."
Before Semedo finished his words, he saw Jardel receive a pass from his teammate in the penalty area, lightly dribbled past his teammate in front of him, and shot the ball powerfully with his right foot, directly into the goal, winning warm applause from the fans.
He is the number one star of Sporting Lisbon in the new season.
"The other white player is Mariusz Nikulai, who cost us nearly 5 million euros in transfer fees." Semedo said in amazement, "Last season, our attack was the weakest among the top three teams. This season we are determined to strengthen our offense."
Su Dong had read reports before that Nicolae was the top scorer in the Romanian league, scoring twenty goals last season. His performance was very eye-catching, and the head coach of Sporting Lisbon happened to be the Romanian Bologna.
It can be seen that the competition among the top teams is really fierce and cruel.
Shifting his gaze to the other side, Su Dong easily recognized Pena among the Porto players. He was the top scorer of the Portuguese Super League last season. At the age of 26, he was in his prime.
In addition to Pena, there are international midfielder Costinha and international center back Andrade. Andrade is the second youngest center back in the history of the Portuguese national team, second only to Couto, and is only twenty-two years old.
The young central defender Ricardo Carvalho, who performed very well on loan at Alvika last season, and the 18-year-old genius Postiga, who was just promoted from the youth training camp this season.
If Quaresma is hailed as the most talented winger in Portugal, then Postiga is the super genius on the striker line that Portugal has high hopes for in the next ten years. Both of them are hailed as the hope of Portuguese football.
Amid the bustling crowd, Su Dong sat in the stands, looking at the familiar players on the field, he was full of envy.
This was the first time in his life that he watched a top match of a major European league live. When these well-known stars appeared in front of him, he really felt how small and insignificant he was.
The surrounding stands were filled with more than 50,000 Sporting Lisbon fans. From a distance, it looked densely packed and particularly spectacular.
And these more than 50,000 people walked into this stadium and sat here just to watch them play football and see them decide the winner.
