Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

Real Madrid's new coach, Mourinho, is also a workaholic. He arrived at the training ground by car before eight o'clock in the morning.

With the new season about to begin, and because he had been observing the situation for too long, he signed with Real Madrid too late, leaving him with very little time for pre-season preparation and training.

"Once all the players have arrived, we'll conduct a physical fitness test to see how they are doing!"

Mourinho said to fitness coach Severlo as he walked into the training ground.

His tactics place high demands on the players' physical fitness, especially those in midfield positions.

They not only need to be able to run and pass the ball when attacking.

In addition, it is necessary to intercept and annihilate the opponent's midfielders in defense, and disrupt the opponent's attacking rhythm.

To achieve this effect, midfielders need to be physically fit, ideally like Chelsea's defensive midfielder Essien, who never seems to tire.

After giving instructions to the fitness coach, Mourinho turned his gaze to Faria, the tactical analysis coach in the team:

"Our first match is the Madrid derby. Put aside your other work and gather information on Atletico Madrid, analyze their tactics and key players!"

Faria nodded emphatically. With only six days left until the opening match of La Liga, time was running out for him.

"Boas, go ask Valdano how much money Real Madrid has in their accounts. Before the transfer window closes, I need to determine if the team's roster needs further strengthening."

Mourinho is known for his decisive and efficient style. His longtime colleagues have followed him for many years and are very familiar with his approach. So, after he finished giving instructions, everyone went about their own business.

Mourinho then walked towards his office to review the information on the Real Madrid players.

The Valdebebas training base was deserted in the morning, making the vast training ground appear exceptionally empty and quiet.

Walking along the road, you can smell the faint scent of fresh grass emanating from the training field after it has been watered.

A light sniff is incredibly relaxing and stress-relieving.

But Mourinho, whose mind was preoccupied with other matters, clearly had no interest in appreciating any of this.

With only six days until the start of the new season, he needs to familiarize himself with every player on the team within those six days, and formulate and adjust the tactics and ultimate goals for the new season based on the players' abilities.

In addition, he needs to stabilize the team's locker room and establish his authority.

They also need to gather information on their opponents, prepare for multi-front battles, and deal with pressure and even difficulties from club executives and various media outlets.

There are so many things to do, so many things to sort out, I don't know where to start.

Fortunately, Mourinho is experienced, having coached Porto and Chelsea. He is no longer a novice coach and knows how to solve these problems.

The new environment and the new team he was in charge of brought him great challenges, but also excitement and a sense of novelty, which rekindled his fighting spirit after his setbacks at Chelsea.

He can't wait to make a big splash at Real Madrid and prove those who doubted him wrong, especially Chelsea's owner, Abramovich!

Good morning, coach!

Just as Mourinho was thinking about all these messy things, a voice greeted him from the side.

"Well, good morning!"

Mourinho replied instinctively, only realizing what had happened afterward.

He turned to look at the person who greeted him and found that it was none other than the newly minted 100 million euro man, Real Madrid's most expensive signing this season - Lin Feng!
You're here so early?
Mourinho was a little surprised; apart from Lin Feng, he didn't see any other players at the entire training ground.

And judging from the fact that the other person was sweating profusely, they had obviously been training for a while.

Mourinho suddenly stopped rushing upstairs and stood by the training field, quietly watching Lin Feng train.

The two had faced each other on the field before, back at the beginning of the year when the Chinese Olympic team was training in England and played a friendly match against Chelsea.

Although the final result of that match was Chelsea's 7-2 victory over the Chinese Olympic team, the young players of the Chinese Olympic team twice equalized the score in the first half, which still left a very deep impression on Mourinho.

It was precisely because of that match that Mourinho took a liking to Lin Feng, feeling that he was the dream midfielder he had been searching for.

After that match, Mourinho strongly advised Chelsea owner Abramovich to sign Lin Feng.

Unfortunately, before the summer transfer window even arrived, he and Abramovich parted ways on bad terms.

The good news is that the dream he couldn't achieve at Chelsea has now come true at Real Madrid.

Seeing Lin Feng training diligently, Mourinho's mood improved inexplicably, and he had higher expectations for the season's results.

Lin Feng noticed Mourinho's gaze from the sidelines, but he didn't pay it any mind and continued to carry out his training plan step by step.

……

Perhaps knowing that the new coach would be coming to the team today, Real Madrid's players arrived at the training ground much earlier than usual.

At 9:30 a.m., Cannavaro arrived at the training base.

Real Madrid's reporting time is 10:30 a.m., so arriving at 9:30 a.m. is already considered very early.

The main reason he arrived so early was to make a good impression on the new coach.

As the only Italian player in Real Madrid, Cannavaro, despite being last year's Ballon d'Or winner, is not actually in a good position within the team.

After all, connections matter when you're in the underworld. He wasn't part of the local gangs, nor did he get along with the Dutch or South American gangs. He was all alone, so it would be strange if he wasn't in a good situation.

When Capello was still around last season, he could protect him.

But now that Capello has been sacked by Real Madrid, Cannavaro's situation has become even more difficult.

That's why Cannavaro was forced to try to please the new coach and find a new patron.

He thought that since he arrived so early, he would definitely be the first to arrive at the team, since he didn't see a single nice car in the parking lot outside, which meant that his teammates hadn't arrived yet!
But when he entered the team's training base, he was surprised to find that there were already people on the training field.

Cannavaro's heart skipped a beat. Could it be that there are 'birds' even earlier than me?
Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that this person was none other than Lin Feng, who had just transferred from Inter Milan to Real Madrid.

The two were bitter rivals in Serie A, one playing for Juventus and the other for Inter Milan, and their relationship was far from harmonious.

Especially during his last season at Juventus, the club was embroiled in the Calciopoli scandal, and the match in which Juventus defeated Inter Milan at home that season was considered by many to be the biggest scandal in Serie A that season.

With this past grudge still lingering, Cannavaro hesitated, unsure whether to go up and say hello.

After hesitating for a long time, he still walked up to Lin Feng and politely spoke:
"Hello, Lin, it's nice to meet you!"

The awkward scene he had anticipated—the other party giving him the cold shoulder or ignoring him—did not occur. Lin Feng, whose training had been interrupted, not only wasn't angry, but responded enthusiastically:
"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Mr. Cannavaro!"

"No, don't be so formal, just call me Fabio!" "Okay, Brother Fabio!"

Lin Feng's address of "Big Brother" completely dispelled Cannavaro's worries and concerns.

It seems the other party really didn't hold a grudge against him because of the previous grievances. I had been judging him by my own petty standards!

Seeing Lin Feng practicing dribbling, Cannavaro tentatively asked:
"Lin, do you come to training this early every day?"

Lin Feng shook his head: "No!"

Cannavaro breathed a sigh of relief. "I knew it! The deadline for reporting is 10:30 a.m. Who comes that early?"
"Normally I arrive at 7:30, but today I'm half an hour late because I live quite far away and visiting the team's training base took up some time!"

Cannavaro: "..."

Do you want it to be so rolled?
If you're this energetic at such a young age, how are we old folks supposed to survive?

From 7:30 to 10:30, the opposing team trained for a full three hours longer than the other players every day.

He finally understood why Lin Feng had improved so quickly and performed so well on the field over the past two seasons.

As the saying goes, "One minute on stage requires ten years of practice off stage."

The opponent's outstanding performance on the field was entirely based on his hard work and training off the field day after day, year after year.

From that moment on, Cannavaro seemed to understand the secret to Lin Feng's success.

The other person is more talented than you, and works much harder than you!

No, I have to work harder too.

At 34, it's the perfect age to venture out and explore; how can you afford to slack off?
So he ran to the equipment room, took out a bunch of equipment, and prepared to start his training.

Perhaps he felt that training alone was boring, or perhaps he wanted to take this opportunity to get closer to Lin Feng.

Cannavaro also invited Lin Feng to spar with him.

Lin Feng has completed basic ball-handling training and is now worried about finding someone to conduct sparring practice with.

Cannavaro's invitation was like someone handing you a pillow when you're about to fall asleep.

He readily accepted!

Cannavaro has strong one-on-one defensive skills and put considerable pressure on Lin Feng in one-on-one practice.

However, Lin Feng also has a strong ability to adapt and learn. After adapting to the opponent's defensive intensity, his breakthrough success rate began to steadily improve.

During the match, Lin Feng even showed off his footwork skills, using Ronaldinho's signature move, the "cow tail," leaving Cannavaro completely stunned.

"What you just saw was... a cow's tail?"

Cannavaro stared blankly at Lin Feng. He felt that the bull tail that the other party had just used was exactly the same as the feeling of Ronaldinho using the bull tail, and it was impossible to defend against.

Caught off guard, he was completely wiped out by Lin Feng.

"Yeah, I haven't been learning for very long, so I'm not proficient yet!"

Cannavaro's lips twitched: You call this being inexperienced? You've driven me to the point of exhaustion!
If you become proficient, then I won't even be able to react.

Cannavaro was unaware that Lin Feng had not actually lied to him.

Although he felt that Lin Feng was already very skilled at using the bull tail technique, this skill was a skill that came with the Xiao Luo template that Lin Feng had just unlocked. He didn't use it much, so he naturally felt unfamiliar with it.

After winning the Asian Cup, Lin Feng finally made up for the shortcomings in the national team's honors, opened the system shop, and used the honor points he had accumulated to exchange for the last piece of the Ronaldinho template fragment, thus unlocking the second template.

Lin Feng has currently unlocked two templates: the Kaka template (100% development progress) and the Xiao Luo template (70% development progress).

Since the Xiao Luo template comes with the top-tier Bull Tail technique, which overlaps with the Bull Tail technique of Romario that he had previously drawn, Lin Feng chose to integrate the latter into the main template.

Both of their bulltails were top-notch, and after merging, they reached an even higher level, becoming faster and more deceptive.

I just used it, and even though I didn't fully master it, someone as strong as Cannavaro was helpless against it.

Moreover, after activating the second template, Lin Feng received news that greatly surprised him:
When the development progress of the second template reaches 100%, the development progress of the first template can be further enhanced, eventually exceeding 100%!

In other words, one day in the future, when he uses Kaka's Great Leap Forward skill, he will be even stronger than the original Kaka!
After the system shop opened, Lin Feng discovered many good items.

For example, there are keys to unlocking the third template, as well as various top-tier talents such as Undying (increased stamina), Key Player (gained performance boost when behind), Iron Bones (significantly enhanced physical strength, unafraid of opponent's fouls), Iron Man (increased injury resistance), and Light as a Feather (increased speed).

Lin Feng isn't in a hurry to start the third template right now. His current plan is to accelerate the development of the second template first, and then strengthen the first template.

However, his two talents of "iron bones and iron body" are crucial to him, and he must acquire them as soon as possible.

Last season, when Lin Feng was with Inter Milan, he missed several games due to injury.

Fortunately, those matches weren't particularly crucial and didn't affect the team's Champions League qualification.

If his absence coincides with the team playing in the Champions League knockout stage, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Although La Liga is a league that values ​​technical skill, it doesn't necessarily have fewer fouls than Serie A.

Moreover, Real Madrid's season isn't just about the league; they also have to participate in the Champions League.

Given Lin Feng's current fame, it's common for him to be targeted by opponents on the field.

If it's just ordinary targeting, that's fine. The real problem is when a team lacks sportsmanship and uses aggressive tactics against him, committing malicious fouls with the aim of getting him off the court.

This kind of thing is not unprecedented in the world of football; some people will abandon their principles for the sake of victory.

Harmfulness is not allowed, and defensiveness is indispensable.

Lin Feng felt it was necessary to protect himself to avoid being ambushed at a crucial moment.

Moreover, maintaining good health is crucial not only for the club but also for the national team.

The national team will also have a heavy workload next year, with no room for error in the World Cup qualifiers and the Olympics.

As the absolute core of both the national team and the Olympic team, his absence due to injury would be a devastating blow to both teams.

Lin Feng didn't want his injury to render all his and his teammates' previous efforts futile, so for both his own and the team's sake, he had to acquire these two talents as soon as possible. (End of Chapter)