Chapter 23 My Name is Mendes
The weekend at the Tapatinha Stadium.
In the fourth round of the Portuguese Second Division South, Sporting CP will host their strong opponent Olhanesun at home.
This team comes from the southern port city of Olhão, which belongs to the Faro district together with Faro and Rolle. Like the wealthy Rolle, this is also a strong professional team aiming for promotion to the Serie A.
But unlike Rollei, Olhanesen has excellent youth training and has established satellite club relationships with Porto, Benfica and Sporting Lisbon, which enables them to receive strong transfusions from the three top teams.
Unlike Rollei, which has been promoted to the Portuguese First Division every year, Olhanesun has always been a Portuguese First Division team, but was relegated last summer.
Facing such a strong team, Sporting CP does not have much to do.
The opponent scored two goals in the first half, which put us in a very passive position. At the beginning of the second half, the opponent scored again.
0-3, Sporting CP didn't even have the ability to fight back.
This is also the match that Su Dong has felt most deeply so far, with the largest gap in strength between the weak and the strong.
Sporting CP is like a soft persimmon, allowing its opponents to squeeze it at will.
Even goalkeeper Matelo, who had performed steadily in the first three rounds, was helpless this time.
Head coach Pereira replaced Su Dong in the 65th minute of the second half.
…
Su Dong's coming on as a substitute did not change the huge gap in strength between the two sides.
But in the 73rd minute, he shocked his opponents and made everyone at the scene applaud him.
It was a pass from midfielder Canelas, sent directly behind Olhanesen's two central defenders.
Su Dong lagged behind the opponent's central defender, but suddenly started up, and arrived first. He passed between the two central defenders at a faster speed, stopped the pass in the penalty area, leaned on the opponent's central defender with his body, and shot directly with his right foot.
The shot was quick and sudden, but the opponent's goalkeeper dived sideways and blocked the ball with one hand.
A brilliant late shot and a brilliant diving save.
After Olhaneson's goalkeeper got up from the ground, he yelled at his two central defenders. It was obvious that Su Dong's shot just now had put him in great danger and he almost scored.
…
"Did you take a picture of this scene just now ?"
Benfica scout Abel Silva asked with concern to his colleague next to him, who was holding a small camera.
"I took the picture. I almost didn't get it. It started up really fast."
Abel Silva nodded. Who said no?
Judging from his height, he should be over 1.5 meters. He doesn't look very strong, but he can use his body to lean on the opponent's central defender, which proves that he is strong enough. The key is his speed and explosive power.
It's rare to have such height and speed.
More importantly, watching him receive and pass the ball several times, he was very concise and his footwork was also very good.
A center with skills, speed, and physique is even rarer.
"Atletico Portugal has unearthed a treasure!" praised Abel Silva.
…
In the closing stages of the game, he seized another opportunity.
This time it was a diagonal pass from the left. Su Dong turned his back to the direction of attack and used his speed to forcefully get rid of the opponent's central defender.
Olhaneson's central defender used his hands and feet to try to hold back Su Dong, but ultimately failed.
However, Su Dong's best opportunity was delayed. After catching the ball, another central defender had already blocked him.
Despite being attacked from both sides, Su Dong was not afraid of the fight. He stopped suddenly and then suddenly accelerated. He used his speed to dribble past the opponent's central defender. From the outside of the penalty area, he shot again with his right foot, making a powerful long shot.
But this shot was obviously less threatening than the previous shot in the penalty area, and was directly caught by the opponent's goalkeeper.
Although he failed to score a goal, Su Dong's attack once again won applause from the audience.
The fans of Sporting CP could naturally see clearly that after Su Dong came on the pitch, his two consecutive shots could be said to be the most threatening shots for Sporting CP in this game.
In addition, the competition will be passive throughout the game.
…
"He is Su Dong!"
In the main stand of the stadium, among the fans of Atlético, there was a middle-aged Portuguese man in a suit and tie who was looking at Su Dong, who was walking back on the field with a lost look on his face, with an appreciative smile on his face.
"For a 17-year-old player, he is indeed very capable." The friend next to him, who was in casual clothes, smiled and nodded.
The Portuguese middle-aged man's eyes were always focused on Su Dong. "Do you think Ronnie's statement is worthy of trust?"
"It's hard to say. It does sound a bit exaggerated. In just less than three months of hard training, he has gone from being an amateur rookie to a key player for a semi-professional team . I have to say that his progress is truly amazing."
"It's a fact that we scored three goals in the previous two games. Although we didn't score in today's game, we were able to shoot two goals against the stronger Olhanesson, which shows that we are quite capable. Our playing style is very similar to that of the god of war Batistuta."
"So..." The Portuguese middle-aged man looked at his friend in confusion.
"Maybe what Ronaldo said is right, he is a buried talent, but he happened to be discovered by Sporting CP."
"In less than three months, your strength has improved by leaps and bounds. It's really something to look forward to." The Portuguese middle-aged man laughed.
Seeing that the game time was about to end, he also breathed a sigh of relief.
After getting used to watching the top Portuguese Super League games, watching this kind of low-level league with a poorer competitive level is a torture for anyone. It makes people feel frustrated because there are too many passing and receiving errors.
"Come on, the game is over, let's go talk to him."
…
…
The game ended with Sporting CP losing 0-3 at home.
Su Dong, who scored in two consecutive rounds, failed to score again in this game, but his two shots still left a deep impression, and the fans at the scene were also satisfied with his performance.
After all, the crushing defeat was due to the fact that Sporting CP's overall strength was far inferior to that of its opponents.
This was Su Dong's first defeat in an official match, so he inevitably felt a little depressed.
Especially since the team had been playing well in recent times, in this game they were closely guarded by opponents and failed to play to their full potential. It is understandable that they were in a bad mood.
Following his teammates, Su Dong returned to the locker room, took a shower and changed clothes. Then he tied the sandbag that he had taken off before the game and walked out of the locker room.
By this time, the Tapatinha Stadium was already empty.
…
"Hello, Sue, can you give me some time so we can chat?"
A strange .
Su Dong turned around and found two middle-aged Portuguese men chasing after him.
One was a bit shorter, about 1.7 meters, dressed in a suit and tie, looking like a senior executive working for a large company in the city center; the other was wearing sportswear and was more casually dressed.
"You are..." Su Dong frowned.
"My name is Jorge Mendes, and I'm an agent registered with both the Portuguese Football Association and FIFA." The middle-aged man in a suit and tie introduced himself . After he finished speaking, he specifically pointed to his friend next to him.
"This is my partner, Jorge Manuel."
Su Dong's brows were still furrowed because he didn't know these two people.
Mendes sensed Su Dong's wariness, and understood what was happening. He smiled and added, "We are Ronnie's friends."
Now Su Dong understood.
Ronnie said before that he wanted to change his agent, but he didn’t tell him who it was. I think it might be these two.
"Hello, Mr. Mendes." Su Dong took the initiative to extend his hand.
Mendes quickly shook it and invited with a smile, "My car is over there, let's find a quiet place to chat?"
"sure."
The three of them went to the parking lot opposite the stadium to get the car and drove towards Belem Tower.
Jorge Manuel was driving, while Jorge Mendes sat in the back seat with Su Dong and took the initiative to talk to him about his career along the way.
In today's Portuguese football, Mendes is not considered a big name.
Before, he was more of a partner of the famous Brazilian agent Figel. This is a nice way of putting it. To put it bluntly, he was more of helping Figel run business.
Everyone knows that the Portuguese Super League is a popular place for Brazilian players to land in Europe. As one of the world's leading agents in football, Figel sends a large number of Brazilian and South American players to the Portuguese Super League every year. At this time, someone is needed to help him handle some business and provide various services to the players.
Mendes is one of them.
But now he is trying to get rid of Feirel and wants to work on his own.
His first target was Sporting Lisbon because the team's youth training camp has had a high success rate recently and the level of the players is quite good. In addition to talented first-team players such as Quaresma and Edgar Marcelino, players from the youth team such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Ugo Viana and Jose Fonte are also quite good.
Although it was only the first time he met Mendes, this Portuguese agent left a very good impression on Su Dong, and from his words, Su Dong could vaguely guess the blueprint outlined by the other party.
Mendes was unable to compete with Jose Vega for famous stars like Figo, Simao and Quaresma, so he took another approach, which was to poach young players who had great potential but whom Jose Vega could not take care of for the time being. He wanted to make a breakthrough from this group of players.
"I am not afraid to tell you frankly that I have signed Ugo Viana and am currently actively connecting with Premier League teams. I also have partners there. What I want to do now is to help Viana enter the first team, preferably play in the game and show good performance, so that I can find a way to get him to the Premier League."
"Not only in the Premier League, but also in Serie A, La Liga and the Bundesliga, I have very good partners. As long as there is strength, I can operate players to any team in the top league."
When Mendes said this, he looked extremely confident and convincing.
