China FX University Football Field in 2011

  Yang Cheng stood at the edge of the court, his eyes following the back-and-forth movements of the two teams offense and defense. He would occasionally take a few steps forward, making adjustments with hand gestures towards the group of players wearing school team jerseys on the court.

  FX University is a well-known key university in China, and its football level was originally very poor. In the inter-school cup, it was always a soft persimmon that was trampled by others. However, since Yang Cheng took over as captain two years ago, this team has changed its past weak style and won the championship of the inter-school cup for two consecutive years, becoming a strong team that makes people tremble with fear.

  All students at FX University know that everything relies on him, 23-year-old Yang Cheng!

  He is also a student at FX University, and was the best player on the school team in his freshman year. However, due to a serious illness, he left football. Coincidentally, at that time, the head coach of FX University could not stand the teams poor performance and resigned. Yang Cheng tried to lead the team and achieved remarkable results, and was immediately hired by the school.

  As a university student, he led the weakest team to win the championship for two consecutive years and was hailed as a genius coach. However, only he himself knew that his success today was not due to luck or talent, but the result of his hard work.

  The football field was surrounded by a track, and the outer edge was packed with students from FX University, both male and female, making the football field crowded to the point of being impassable.

  Todays match is a warm-up match, but the opponent is not simple at all. It is the current leader of the China League One, known as the "FX La Liga" team, which is the professional team in the city where FX University is located. The head coach who led the team is Hongbo, a famous coach who has been active in the domestic football field since the professional league began.

  The time has passed 60 minutes, but the score on the manual scoreboard at the scene is still 0:0!

  As he glanced over the manual scoreboard, Yang Cheng turned his head and saw Hong Bo in the distance, who was so anxious that he looked like an ant on a hot pot. He couldnt help but sneer coldly in his heart, "So, this is what they call a famous coach? His composure and calmness are just this much!"

  The reason why Im not satisfied with Hongbo is that before the match, he made some remarks to the reporters who came to hear the news. He said, "We know that FX University is a famous strong team, but after all, they are an amateur team. We cant ask them to play like other Jia-A teams. We just hope to adjust the players state through this warm-up match!"

  The university team played against a professional team, and all the team members had self-awareness except for Yang Cheng.

  "Hes being sarcastic, looking down on us. We can even hear the disdain in his tone. I dont know what you guys think, but after hearing that, I feel really annoyed. Im extremely annoyed! This is our territory, yet they dont even have the slightest respect for us!"

  "If it were me, Id choose to be like a man, stand up, defeat them, and then heavily trample on them after they fall to the ground, telling those turtle grandsons not to underestimate any opponent, even if its just an amateur school team!"

  It has to be admitted that Yang Chengs words stirred up the players morale, and in these two years, they can be said to have redeemed themselves. They are no longer the soft persimmons of the Inter-School Cup, but have instead become the formidable overlords of the Inter-School Cup. Each and every one of them is inevitably a bit arrogant, how can they tolerate others being unruly on their own turf?

  The match began with both sides fighting fiercely, which was beyond Hongbos expectation!

  But if it were just that, it would be better. The school team, which claims to advocate for offensive football in the inter-school cup, has instead tightened its camp and adopted an iron barrel-like defensive strategy, making it impossible for FX to make a move in the first 60 minutes.

  Hongbo looked around at his players on the field, with MVP players from the Brazilian league, annual salary exceeding Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid, second only to Messis world-second annual salary top star; there are also many years of old national foot, domestic first-class striker killer; and many years of European top league experience, veteran defender foreign aid sit town.

  In terms of market value, any player from this team can afford the entire school team; in terms of strength, they can easily play with their opponents one-on-one; in terms of experience, each of them is a veteran who has been playing in professional leagues for many years.

  Its just that this team, which is said to have the qualifications to win the championship in the Super League, happened to encounter a strong counterattack on this field. If this game ends in a draw, it will be the first draw for FX team in all the games they played this season, and their undefeated record will be broken!

  Hongbo had some regrets in his heart, he felt that the team did not consider well when choosing warm-up match opponents, and actually chose such a troublesome opponent, especially that young head coach.

  "Whats... his name?" Hong Bo furrowed his brow, his assistant had mentioned it earlier, but he had forgotten.

  "Yang Cheng, student and head coach of FX University!" The assistant coach immediately came over.

  Hong Bo let out a quiet sigh and silently recited Yang Chengs name twice in his mind, as if to commit it to memory.

  This persons level is really good, at least they can train an amateur school team like FX University to be so strong, and thats a talent!

  Perhaps others may think that things on the football field are hard to explain, anything is possible. This game so far may be Yang Chens luck, but for an old coach like Hong Bo, they wont think that way.

  Things on the football field can be explained by cause and effect. There must be a cause to produce an effect, and there is no such thing as luck!

  …………

  …………

  Time passed minute by minute and second by second, but the situation on the field didnt change much.

  A draw for Yang Cheng means a victory, but for Hong Bo, it is an absolute shameful defeat, so he is not reconciled and makes adjustments with effort.

  Although Yang Cheng is young, he has a maturity and calmness that does not match his youth. This is because he has been helping his family with work since he was very young, which has made him mature early. So every time Hongbo makes an adjustment, he immediately follows suit, plugging the loopholes in the teams tactics.

  The only thing that remains unchanged is that Yang Cheng seems to have never intended to attack from start to finish!

  The scene was calm and peaceful, but nobody knew that Hongbo and Yangcheng had already fought two rounds under the table. Hongbo had changed twice and Yangcheng once, the score was still 0:0, and the time had reached 78 minutes.

  Yang Cheng turned his head, saw Hong Bos gloomy expression that almost wanted to kill people, and felt extremely pleased in his heart. He turned his head back, looked at the substitute bench behind him, and nodded towards one of the players with the number 14 jersey.

  The player would occasionally get up to warm up, so when he stood up and started running to warm up, no one paid much attention.

  No. 14, the jersey number of his idol Henry, so his teammates gave him the nickname Henry because he is very fast and has a lot of Henrys style!

  If Hongbo had investigated the situation of FX University team before the game, he would not have ignored Henley at this time. As a player who has always been Yang Chengs favorite, he and the current FX team captain No. 7 player Xiao Bei are known as the sharp duo of FX University, with one pass and one shot, extremely lethal.

  Yang Chen had already made it clear before the game that there was a huge gap in strength between the two teams, and they could only defend. They would defend until the opponent thought they were almost done, their morale was low, and their attention was relaxed, waiting for the garbage time to end the game, then substitute Henry and attack for a few minutes.

  Hongbo is also preparing to make substitutions on the other side, warm-up match, substituting a few people can be done, in order to give young players some experience, and to maintain the status and physical fitness of the first-line team players, Hongbo plans to substitute some substitutes.

  In his opinion, even if he was just a substitute, it would be more than enough to easily take down this school team!

  But Yang Cheng never thought so, being cautious and careful was his style, he had always been paying attention to the right central defender in the professional team, a veteran who had fought in the domestic league for many years, had gone abroad, but now 33 years old, time is not forgiving, after playing nearly 80 minutes of the game, his physical fitness had declined severely.

  However, Hongbo trusted him even more and entrusted him with the heavy responsibility of being the team captain on the field, so he didnt make any substitutions!

  "Left rib has a chance, as I estimate, at your speed you can easily take him down, be careful not to foul!"

  Yang Cheng pulled Henri over to his side and quietly briefed him on tactics.

  "Theyve replaced their right back with a young player, hes definitely eager to show off in front of the head coach. I noticed that after attacking several times, he couldnt retreat quickly, so lets take advantage of this and take him down!"

  After two years of inter-school competitions and warm-up matches, Henry had long been convinced of Yang Chengs arrangements. Even in this match, Yang Cheng said before the game that he would prevent professional teams from scoring goals. Look at the scoreboard, it was still 0:0. What else did Henry have to doubt?

  "Xiao Beis responsibility is to pass the ball, to pass it into an empty space. Whether or not you can receive the ball is not his problem, but yours, Henry," said Yang Cheng, patting Henry heavily on the shoulder. "I attach great importance to this match, I think its the most important match since I started playing football."

  "Hongbo looks down on us, looks down on me, so I want to prove it to him, I wont lose to anyone, even if hes Hongbo, a famous coach in the country; and you guys also need to prove that youre not inferior to any professional player, no matter how top-notch they are!"

  Henry listened and felt a rush of hot blood from the soles of his feet to the top of his throat, his whole body burning with heat, nodding heavily!

  In the 81st minute, FX University made a substitution, this time Yang Cheng replaced a midfielder who was clearly exhausted and brought on No. 14 Henley.

  Hongbo didnt pay much attention to it, he hadnt investigated the situation of the FX school team, nor did he know Henry, he simply thought that this was just a normal substitution on the field, his mind was filled with one thought, what kind of excuse should he find if the game ended in a tie?

  Iron bucket formation, back and forth running around, poor venue and so on, these should be good excuses!

  Just as Hongbo thought he had found a good excuse, the situation on the field suddenly changed dramatically!

  …………

  …………

  After coming on, Henry wandered around the front four, occasionally interfering, without much effect.

  The right back of the professional team did indeed make a forward run as Yang Cheng had expected, but when he passed the ball, it was intercepted and quickly came under the feet of No. 7 Xiao Bei.

  Although he is No. 7, Xiaobeis position is not his idol Beckhams right route, but the middle route, however, his passing is very level, it is the best passer in FX school team, and also the top assistant of the inter-school cup.

  Beckham took the ball, but didnt receive much harassment. The professional teams backline didnt even retreat, and no one came up to intercept in midfield, allowing him to steadily control the ball, scanning the opponents backline with his eyes, falling on the right-back position, where Henry had just come on.

  As soon as he saw no one was pressing him, knowing that these professional players looked down on him, he got angry and immediately imitated Beckhams posture, swinging his right foot to make a long pass.

  The ball drew an arc, the landing point was a bit off, but Henrys speed was very fast, and he immediately played his own speed advantage after passing the ball, like a sharp knife, tearing open the opponents back defense line, stopping the ball, somewhat big, after all, it is an amateur player, basic skills are not as solid as professional players.

  The opposing goalkeeper hesitated for a moment, and finally chose to attack. He saw Henry offside, and immediately rushed up, but who knew Henrys speed was extremely fast, and he managed to kick the ball again before him.

  Watching the ball slip away from under his own feet, the opposing goalkeeper frantically turned around, only to see Henry seemingly afraid of shooting wide, and instead directly carried the ball into the net!

  Oh my god, goal! FX University team scored a goal!

  The fans around the stadium suddenly boiled, and the students all cheered and applauded with great victory, as if they couldnt wait to humiliate these professional teams into digging a hole in the grass and hiding.

  Yang Cheng just smiled and clenched his fist, he had long known that a goal would be scored, because he believed the opponent would definitely make a mistake!

  The discipline of these professional players is too loose, lacking the will to fight for 90 minutes, and its just a warm-up match. All of this was anticipated by Yang Cheng and taken advantage of.

  "Alright, stop celebrating, the game is not over yet. Keep up this kind of play and we need to strengthen our offense, make a concerted effort and try to score another goal!"

  Yang Chen ran to the side of the field and cheered on the players.

  Now the school team scores, its a great time for morale, while the professional team is depressed due to losing the ball. If we can take advantage of this and create a wave of momentum, its not impossible to score another goal against them!

  As expected, Yang Chengs guess was not wrong. The professional teams willpower was not good, and they were defeated like a mountain collapse. They were scored one goal, plus physical fatigue, the professional players on the field seemed to be unable to move their feet, and in less than 5 minutes, they were caught by No. 14 Henry again and scored another goal.

  2：0！

  The students of FX University were suddenly in an uproar, while Hongbo looked back with a sheepish expression, as if he didnt dare to show his face.

  …………

  …………

  "Cheers!"

  Under the dim streetlights, a group of twenty-something people raised their glasses and clinked them together. The scene at FX Universitys outdoor food stalls was quite spectacular. As they watched this group of young people, each with an excited smile on their face, the middle-aged fat chef at the food stall also got into the spirit.

  Young people should have such vitality and passion!

  "Yang Cheng, thanks to you this time, we defeated the professional team 2:0! Hong Bo that old man is a well-known professional coach in China, its really enjoyable to see him lose face!" Xiao Bei drank two cups of chilled beer in one breath and became more talkative.

  Yang Cheng smiled and patted Xiao Beis shoulder, "Thanks to your two clever passes!"

  Everyone burst out laughing at once, but in their hearts they were all admiring Yang Chengs meticulous plan.

  "By the way, Yang Cheng, what did Hong Bos assistant coach want with you earlier?" Henley asked curiously, taking a sip from his cup and suddenly recalling the scene he saw after the game.

  "He invited me to join Hongbos coaching team and said that he could give me a half-year trial contract!"

  Everyone was stunned for a moment, but soon burst into cheers.

  "Thats great, Yang Cheng, professional coach! Oh my god, isnt your biggest dream to become a professional coach? If you can follow Hongbo for a while, accumulate enough experience and connections, becoming a head coach wont be just a dream!"

  "Thats right, no mistake, Hongbo is a well-known head coach in China, what a rare opportunity!"

  Everyone was delighted for Yang Cheng after hearing the news, and they congratulated him one by one. Only Yang Cheng remained silent from start to finish, with a calm expression on his face.

  After everyone stopped talking, he finally spoke up and said: "I refuse!"

  Everyones eyes widened in shock and they couldnt believe it.

  "Rejected? Why?" Xiaobei gave a "are you kidding me" look.

  Yang Cheng shook his head, stood up, took a deep breath and said, "I also know that in this line of work, to get an opportunity, the most important things are experience and connections. So for players and coaches who have graduated from sports academies, its easy to stand out. But for someone like me who doesnt even have any amateur team experience, its undoubtedly a very difficult thing."

  Yang Cheng snorted, "But Hong Bo is too arrogant, too high and mighty, and self-righteous. He thinks Ill rush to his invitation like a swarm of birds, and the assistant coach who came with him is also full of arrogance. I wont take his nonsense, a defeated general, whats there to brag about? The domestic football scene is full of people like this, Im too lazy to join their ranks!"

  "Moreover, I dont want to stay in the country at all, let alone mix with domestic football practitioners like Hongbo. Its not just a trial contract, even if its an official professional contract, I would refuse, because Im afraid that one day Ill become like them!"

  Everyone who heard it fell silent at once, because for these football fans, domestic football is an eternal pain in their hearts!

  "Domestic football is a big dye vat, since I alone cant change it and cant make it clean, then I have no choice but to escape from here. I hope to go abroad and rely on my own efforts to become a professional coach overseas!"

  Yang Cheng was born into a poor family, he has always been strong and independent. He thought for a long time about going abroad, now he is raising money to study coaching courses overseas. These things are also temporarily hidden from his parents, fearing they will worry and oppose it. They are simple farmers who would not understand Yang Cheng at all.

  "Great, well said, Yang Cheng! Youre no worse than Hong Bo. You can definitely become a professional coach!"

  "Right, Yang Cheng, I believe with your intelligence and talent, even if you go abroad, you will definitely make a name for yourself and return home in glory, shaming those football losers!"

  "Thats right, we all support you, Yang Cheng!"

  Everyone suddenly became a supporter of Yang Cheng with one word and one sentence. They were all passionate young people, easily stirring up the passion in their hearts, especially for the revered Yang Cheng.

  Yang Cheng was also very excited after hearing it, because few people could understand him.

  After finishing the last year of university, struggling to graduate, at most its just holding onto a job that wont starve you but also cant make you rich. In this realistic society where you cant afford a car or a house, even marrying a wife is a problem, hes really tired, he really hopes to be able to do the work hes interested in and loves.

  Tonight, these teammates encouragement undoubtedly gave Yang Cheng a shot of reassurance.

  I must go abroad! I must make a name for myself!

  Yang Cheng gazed at the bright moon embedded in the pitch-black night sky, making a silent vow in his heart.

  …………

  …………

  That night, Yang Cheng and his friends got drunk, he had just vented his dissatisfaction with reality in the game, and boasted in front of his alumni, under the excitement, he couldnt help but drink too much.

  If it werent for Xiaobeis astonishing capacity for liquor sending him back to his dormitory, he probably wouldnt have been able to make it back to the dormitory at all.

  After sending off Xiaobei, Yang Cheng continued to play FM Football Manager under the influence of alcohol. He downloaded the latest scouting tool from PLAYGM and was ready to play all night. However, after midnight, the entire city became completely quiet, and he couldnt resist the effects of the alcohol, falling asleep directly on his computer, leaving the scouting tool installation unfinished.

  Looking out of the dormitory window, the bright moon and twinkling stars are gradually shrouded in dark clouds, replaced by a continuous rumbling sound, as if a fierce storm is about to pour down.

  It had been accumulating energy for more than an hour, but the heavy rain was slow to come. Instead, the dark clouds in the sky seemed to be twisted and turned into a swirling vortex, from which a purple lightning bolt shot out of its core.

  With a loud crack, the entire city seemed to jump in fright!

  After the purple lightning passed, the dark clouds dispersed, and the bright moon and dense stars reappeared.

  However, in Yang Chengs dormitory computer, Yang Cheng who had just drunk to the point of intoxication was nowhere to be seen.

  ............

  ............

  PS: Brothers, Old Chen is back!

  Its been many months, I miss everyone so much, haha!!