Chapter 39 This is a sad story
Perhaps because he had just been to the second team's rest area, Su Dong had a particularly strong feeling about the first team's locker room.
That's repression.
The second team's rest area was as lively as a disco. The players gathered in groups of three or five and chatted about all sorts of topics. Jose Semedo and others chatted so excitedly that they even let out some very YD devilish laughter.
But all of this cannot be seen in the first-team locker room.
Everyone sat in front of their own locker, packing their own things, or sitting there listening to headphones, or doing nothing, closing their eyes and resting, and some just looked around and looked at other people.
But no one spoke.
It was a very strange feeling, as if this group of people were not a team at all, but rather strangers who did not know each other.
It was the first time for Su Dong to step into this locker room. To him, these players were all his idols. His heart was filled with excitement, but also a little nervous. Seeing that others didn't speak, he also said nothing and moved closer to Ronnie.
As he got closer, he found that the boy from Madeira Island was not much better and was also nervous.
The two young men, who had just arrived and were equally nervous and at a loss, looked at each other and smiled bitterly at the same time.
"Hi, Ronnie."
Finally someone broke the silence and came over to greet Ronnie softly.
"Hey, Ugo." Ronnie high-fived the other party and bumped shoulders with him. "This is our new teammate, Su Dong."
"Su, this is Ugo Viana."
Of course Su Dong had heard of him. He is the most promising player under Mendes and also the talented midfielder that Mendes values the most. He is known as Rui Costa II. Since October, he has overtaken Quaresma and became the number one talent in Sporting Lisbon.
Perhaps because they were both players under Mendes, Ugo Viana was also very friendly to Sudong. After high-fiving and bumping shoulders, he sat down between Sudong and Ronnie.
"Why is no one talking?" Su Dong asked curiously.
Ugo Viana smiled and said, "It's always like this. Slowly, you get used to it."
After a pause, seeing the puzzled expressions on Su Dong and Ronnie's faces, Ugo Viana smiled and explained more.
"The youth team and the first team are two completely different worlds. Although there is some competitive pressure in the youth team, it is not that big. But it is different in the first team. Everyone here is worried about their future because no one knows how they will perform in the next game. No one can guarantee how they will perform next."
Su Dong nodded, and understood a little.
This kind of survival crisis will indeed make everyone become vigilant at all times and never dare to be careless at any time.
Just like Quaresma.
In the first game of this season against Porto, the player shined and was immediately touted as Sporting Lisbon's top talent and Portugal's hope for the next decade. He was subsequently reused by the club.
But who would have thought that after a few rounds, he would still be wavering between being the main player and being a rotation player.
What is even more unexpected is that since October, Ugo Viana, who was promoted from the youth team, has occupied the main position in the team's midfield, has become the team's top hope, and has firmly controlled the starting lineup.
There are many reasons for all this, including factors related to the opponents, reasons within the team itself, and the head coach's desire for change.
Who could have thought this through? Who could have predicted this?
An existential crisis can easily make people anxious, but it also makes everyone remain in awe.
Only with awe in your heart can you give your best in every game and every training session.
Apart from this, they had no time to do anything unnecessary or meaningless, including chatting in the locker room.
Su Dong has not yet been able to feel the pressure of competition from the first team, but he has seen some of it.
…
…
The player 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 around 30 years old or above, such as Jardel, who is 28 years old, and 29-year-old Sa Pinto, as well as veterans Barbosa and Cruz and so on.
They all have one thing in common, they have all had experience in the four major leagues, and either retired after achieving success or were eliminated due to various problems, but in the Portuguese Super League, these players are still quite strong.
Another part of the players are young players, such as Quaresma, Marcelino, Viana, Ronaldo and so on.
These players are either from the team's youth training camp or rookies with high hopes, such as head coach Boloni's fellow countryman, the 20-year-old Romanian center Niculai, who is the scorer that Boloni insisted on introducing.
It can be said that these two groups of players occupy almost the vast majority of the lineup. There are only a handful of players who are around 25 years old and are in the golden age of their careers.
What caught Su Dong's attention was a center forward introduced during the winter break, the 25-year-old center forward Dimitris Narizis from Greece. This center forward first transferred from Thessaloniki in Greece to Udinese in Serie A in July, then transferred to Perugia in October, and transferred 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 played just 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 forward configuration. Gisvi and Laurenzo are still relatively young, so Narizis, who is in his prime, was introduced as a substitute for Jardel and Nikulai.
The reason why Su Dong noticed him was not only because he was one of the few players in his prime in the team, but also because he would be one of his competitors, even though he had no hope of playing in the first team for the time being.
It is not difficult to see from the lineup of Sporting Lisbon's first team that this team is still the same as other teams in the Portuguese Super League.
The reason why there is a lack of core players in their prime years is that the core players who performed better have all been sold.
This is the current situation of the Portuguese Super League.
Sporting CP can't keep their players, and neither can Sporting Lisbon.
Of course, the prerequisite is that the players perform well enough.
…
Captain Barbosa broke the silence in the locker room.
He introduced three new teammates to everyone present. Su Dong, Ronnie and Nalizis stood up one by one at the captain's call to greet their teammates, but few responded.
More people looked at them with wariness, obviously worried about the competition.
For example, Marcelino.
This player, who also has African ancestry, was very powerful in the youth team and was known as the Three Musketeers of Sporting Tower together with Quaresma and Ronaldo. However, after entering the first team, his development was far inferior to Quaresma, and he was even overtaken by Viana.
So far, he has not played a single minute for the first team.
This is another very sad story.
"I heard that his performance was very bad." Ronnie leaned close to Su Dong's ear and whispered.
Su Dong frowned, "Why?"
"I heard that he is not used to it, who knows?" Ronnie shrugged.
Marcelino's performance in the youth team was no worse than Quaresma's, but after entering the first team, the two were very different.
This is indeed puzzling.
The vast majority of adult players, including the team's top players like Jardel, looked at Su Dong and others with cold eyes. It felt like they were not looking at their teammates at all, but rather standing on the street looking at passers-by.
Su Dong understood that in their eyes, he had not yet been recognized by them and was not qualified to be their teammate.
Everyone of them must be wondering in their hearts, how long these new guys can stay?
Not only the players, but also the head coach Boloni is the same.
Unlike the second team head coach Jean James who specially received Su Dong and had a long talk with him, the first team coach Boloni had no time to say much to Su Dong and the other two. They just had a brief conversation on the sidelines before the training started.
The content of the conversation was simple, even perfunctory.
Boloni encouraged Sudong, Ronnie and Nalizis to work hard to improve their own strength and show their best condition in training.
"I will pay close attention to your performance in training, and arrange for you to play in the appropriate games at the right time. I hope you can give a satisfactory performance when the time comes."
Su Dong nodded continuously as he listened, but in fact, he knew very well in his heart that what he said was as good as saying nothing.
Boloni will not give them chances easily, just like Marcelino.
This player joined the first team at the beginning of the season, but so far he has not even played for a minute.
Gisvi and Laurenzo also lack opportunities. On the contrary, Niculai, the Romanian center forward, is a fellow countryman who was specially recruited by Boloni and has always been valued and trusted by Boloni.
Even though Nikulai's performance was not as good as Jardel's.
Boloni responded perfunctorily, and the other three didn't take it too seriously.
After the formal conversation, the head coach took the opportunity of the pre-training speech to introduce Su Dong and the other two to everyone, hoping that everyone could give them help and work hard to help them integrate into the team.
The response is still rare.
Su Dong and Ronnie didn't care about it either.
The two looked at each other, and saw the defiance and stubbornness in each other's eyes.
There is never a lack of indifference , but they always use their performance to prove themselves.
It was so before and it is still so now.
As a result, they worked very hard in the subsequent training.
In the initial warm-up and recovery training, they were able to keep up with the main team, which made them think that the training of the first team seemed nothing special.
But when they really entered the high-intensity training, the two felt tremendous pressure, especially when they entered the team training, they were completely unable to keep up with the pace.
Body, technology, consciousness...
Everything is out of my reach.
Su Dong felt as if he had returned to the bad situation when he first participated in the training of Atletico Portugal, even worse than before.
