Chapter 29: The Wolf in the Forbidden Zone
In a football game, the average player has the ball for only 3 minutes, so the most important thing is: what do you do in the 87 minutes without the ball? This determines whether you can become a good player.
This is a classic statement from Barcelona godfather Cruyff, which is regarded as a golden rule by all football practitioners.
There is only one football, but there are 22 players. What to do without the ball is more important than anyone imagines.
It can be said that no head coach or team is willing to accept a player who makes no contribution without the ball, even if this person is a super genius when he gets the ball.
Su Dong has a clear understanding of his own strength.
His ability with the ball is relatively weak now. When he doesn't have the ball, he is willing to actively participate in the game. His physical fitness is also good, and his endurance reaches 61 points, barely reaching the passing line of a professional player.
This is pretty good for a 17-year-old player.
In this case, instead of pursuing improvement in ability with the ball, it is better to improve performance without the ball.
For example, running.
The ability card that Su Dong has his eyes on comes from the Brazilian superstar, Romario.
Wolf in the forbidden area!
If Batistuta's ability gives Su Dong the shooting sense of Batistuta and the ability to turn around and shoot with the ball with his back to the goal, then Romario's wolf in the penalty area is an improvement on his running sense.
It was like a hungry wolf that hadn't eaten meat for a long time, with bloodshot eyes and full of hunger.
Someone once said that Romario's greatest skill was scoring goals, but he was very lazy.
How lazy are you?
He is so lazy that after a game, when calculating the distance run by the players, he only runs a little more than the goalkeeper. You may even wonder if he is sweating or just strolling leisurely on the court.
The media once accused Romario of being too lazy. "Even if you put a knife on his neck, don't expect him to obey and run a few more steps on the court, even if these few more steps may make him score one more goal."
This statement has two meanings. The first is that Romario is lazy, super lazy.
Secondly, his efficiency is very high.
Running a few more steps may result in one more goal, which reflects Romario's amazing efficiency in running without the ball.
Looking back at Romario's career, perhaps most people remember his goals as if they were nothing, while others should remember his dribbling breakthroughs, or pay homage to his various top-notch footwork...
But the Brazilian superstar's nickname recognized by everyone is: Lone Wolf!
A lonely wolf in the wind.
His eyes seemed to be able to see through everything. He could capture the minds of defenders and goalkeepers, understand their inner thoughts, and then use his excellent personal abilities to play with them unscrupulously.
Perhaps this is too easy for him, so he often disdains to do so.
So, he looks lazy.
But when he gets serious, he is definitely the most terrifying and deadly killer in the world.
In this situation, no one is more suitable for Su Dong than Romario's "Wolf in the Penalty Area".
A hard-working version of Romario!
Su Dong felt excited just thinking about it.
Thinking of this, he didn't think any more and directly exchanged [Wolf of the Forbidden Zone].
"Congratulations on obtaining the Star Ability Card [Penalty Zone Wolf]!"
At the same time as the system sent a message alert, Su Dong felt as if he was bathed in a warm current, which flowed from the soles of his feet to the top of his head and finally gathered at his brain. A tingling sensation quickly spread throughout his body.
When Su Dong opened his eyes again, he found that the world seemed no different from before, but also seemed a little different.
He couldn't figure out what was going on.
…
"what happened?"
Ronnie was a little surprised to see Su Dong closing his eyes for a long time, then suddenly opening his eyes and looking around.
Su Dong shook his head. This was the deepest secret in his heart and of course he would not tell anyone.
"I was thinking that even if I went to Sporting Lisbon, I wouldn't be able to be your teammate." Su Dong said with a smile.
Over the past period of time, Ronaldinho has spoken well of Sporting Lisbon in front of Su Dong.
For example, he has praised Sporting Lisbon more than once for its ability to train young players and its willingness to invest resources, which has enabled Sporting Lisbon to produce many talented first-team players in recent years.
From Figo to Simao, from Quaresma, Marcelino to Ronaldo, these are all outstanding players.
Of course, they all have one thing in common, that is the wing.
Unlike Benfica which only talks about it, Sporting Lisbon is also extremely poor, but it really spares no effort in cultivating young players. Players like Quaresma, Marcelino and Viana have all played in the first team.
Ronaldo is getting closer and closer to the first team. If Su Dong joins Sporting Lisbon at this time, he will definitely not be able to be his teammate.
"What's the big deal?" Ronnie still hoped that Su Dong could come to the team he played for and fight alongside him. "With your strength and the speed of your improvement, I believe that it won't be long before you can make the first team. Then, won't you become my teammate?"
But Su Dong still shook his head, "But I don't really want to be your teammate."
"What do you mean?" Ronnie jumped up.
"I want to be your opponent!" Su Dong pointed at Ronnie provocatively and smiled.
"Just you?" Ronnie laughed and shook his head, a look of disgust on his face.
Su Dong had a ruthless expression and didn't say anything. He just pointed at the court from a distance, as if to say, stop talking nonsense and just get started!
…
…
It's the weekend again, and there are more than 2,000 Sporting CP fans sitting in the stands on both sides of the Tapatinha Stadium.
In addition to the team's recent good performance, which attracted more fans to the stadium, the more important reason is that the opponent in today's game is Madeira United, a team from the Madeira Islands that is currently ranked first in the Portuguese Second Division South.
Although this team is not well-known, it is named after the Madeira Islands and shares the same stadium with the Portuguese Super League powerhouse Maritimo. It has always been the toughest team in the Portuguese Second Division South.
Whether it was facing Maritimo B before or facing Olhanesun later, Sporting CP's results in the competition with strong teams were not ideal, but this did not prevent the fans from placing high hopes on this game.
Mendes' recent career focus is in Lisbon. As Su Dong's agent, whenever he has time, he will appear in the stands to watch Su Dong's games and closely follow the progress of this Chinese player.
Sitting next to him was his partner, Jorge Manuel.
Looking at the Athletics fans who kept appearing in the stands, both of them couldn't help but feel disappointed.
Even though the attendance rate was already very high, it was only around two thousand people, not even a fraction of those Portuguese Super League teams.
This is the bottleneck for low-level teams.
"He still has to join the Portuguese Super League as soon as possible. Neither here nor this league can satisfy him anymore." Mendes muttered to himself.
At this moment, Manuel beside him pushed him gently and pointed his hand into the distance .
Mendes looked in the direction of his gesture and saw two familiar figures.
"Belleirenses' technical director Jorge Carlos and Figueiredo, the scout responsible for the area around Lisbon, both appeared at the same time. It seems that Belerence is also starting to get anxious." Manuel said with a smile.
Mendes smiled and nodded. "I said before that it would be strange if they were not in a hurry to see us accept Benfica's invitation and go to watch the game. Now it seems that they are much more efficient."
Generally speaking, when the technical director and a professional scout arrive at the site to observe the players at the same time, that is basically the final step.
As long as nothing unexpected happens, they will start the actual action next.
"Look across here again."
At Manuel's reminder, Mendes paid attention to the other side of the stands.
The distance was quite far, but he could still see clearly that there were two people sitting opposite him who were very familiar to Mendes.
Benfica senior executive Vieira and scout Abel Silva.
"Two of the three strong teams in Lisbon can't wait to play. Among the fans at the scene, there must be scouts from other teams, such as Setubal, Maritimo, Leiria and even Porto."
Manuel suddenly felt absurd and unbelievable.
In just a few months, Su Dong has transformed from an unknown small player of a low-level team into a popular player favored by many strong teams in Portugal. This change is really too fast.
"This is professional football, Jorge." Mendes laughed. "To put it bluntly, the competition in football is a competition for talent and also a competition for capital."
Today's Su Dong's transfer fee is not high, but the potential he has shown is amazing, especially his speed of improvement.
"A center forward who is 1.9 meters tall has a speed that is not inferior to shorter players and has skilled footwork. Such players are quite rare. If he continues to develop like this, what do you think he can do?"
No one can answer Mendes' question, but...
"I'm really looking forward to it," Manuel said.
"Me too."
…
…
Su Dong knew that there were many people from other teams in the stands who came specifically to observe him.
Head coach Gorba specifically reminded him before the game to try his best in the game.
For him, this was like a test.
After thinking for a long time, Su Dong entered the system mall and exchanged four bottles of potions at once.
There are Swiftness potions for increasing speed, Energy potions for increasing endurance, Titan potions for increasing strength and resistance, and after upgrading to the ball level, the Troll Blood potion, which is unlocked in the mall and allows players to recover faster within two hours.
Su Dong had used them before. Both the Bull Drink and the Troll Blood Potion could speed up physical recovery , but the former was for rest time, while the Troll Blood Potion could play a role during competitions and training.
This is the value of the Troll Blood Potion, and why it is sold at such a high price.
After drinking four kinds of potions and fighting with full buffs, Su Dong felt much more confident.
And he is also looking forward to it and wants to give it a try in the game to see how powerful Romario's [Wolf in the Penalty Zone] and Batistuta's [Bati GOL] will be.
