Football: Starting from the 05 World Youth Championship

Upon hearing his name called, Lin Feng finally smiled and stood up to walk towards the podium.

Kaka was momentarily lost in thought when Pele called out Lin Feng's name.

He had fantasized about lifting the Golden Globe trophy, but he also knew very well that his disadvantages were too great, and unless a miracle occurred, he had no chance of winning the trophy.

So, after only a moment of stunned silence, Kaka accepted reality and began to applaud Lin Feng.

Even Kaka applauded, and Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, and others who were just there to make up the numbers naturally joined in the applause as well.

The difference is that Ronaldo's gaze towards Lin Feng was filled with envy and jealousy, while Messi's gaze towards Lin Feng was filled with strong hostility.

Since the 2005 World Junior Championships, I have always been outshone by this guy whenever I compete for some major international awards.

The same applies to the World Youth Championship champion and best player, the European Golden Boy award, and this year's Ballon d'Or.

The deep-seated animosity between the two has even led Messi to wonder if this guy is God's chosen nemesis.
Thousands of miles away, when Liu Yifei heard the black man on stage pronounce Lin Feng's name, she couldn't help but cheer excitedly. Startled, she quickly covered her mouth and glanced guiltily at her mother's room.

Thankfully, there was no movement from the other side, which put her mind at ease once again.

At this moment, there are many people across China who share a similar reaction to Liu Yifei.

Tonight is destined to be a sleepless night!
……

Amidst applause from all the guests, Lin Feng walked onto the stage to receive the award.

Smiling, he accepted the trophy, symbolizing the highest individual honor in football, from Pelé's hands, and the two shared a polite embrace.

"Congratulations, child! Your performance was truly amazing!"

"Thank you!"

It's a good thing Pele didn't say "Young man, I believe in you," otherwise Lin Feng wouldn't be able to sleep after he got back!
Pele's jinx is very accurate!

Lin Feng didn't want to be cursed by him!
After embracing Pelé, Lin Feng shook hands with FIFA President Blatter and the two presenters on the podium.

When shaking hands with Blatter, the latter brought up the previous incident:
"I didn't expect that we would meet again so soon after I presented you with the award in Jakarta!"

Lin Feng replied with a smile, "This just shows that I have a special connection with you, Mr. Chairman!"

Blatt laughed:
"Hehe, I hope this connection can continue, and ideally, the next time I see you on the podium, it will be on the World Cup stage!"

Lin Feng wanted to scratch his head; this old geezer was giving him a hard time!

With the Chinese team's current strength, how can they possibly stand on the World Cup podium?

"I'll try my best!"

Upon hearing Lin Feng's promise, Blatt smiled with relief.

If Chinese football achieves a good result in the Asian Cup, it will inevitably spark a huge football craze in China and even across Asia, driving the rapid development of the football industry.

His FIFA campaign to promote football worldwide will be an unprecedented success.

His position within FIFA will be further solidified.

"Let's try to score more penalties and win the Golden Boot or something!"

Blatt's smile froze, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly: This is not the promise I wanted!

Lin Feng ignored him and followed Kaka and Ronaldo onto the podium, standing in the center to take photos with the photographers.

Similar to previous rumors, Lin Feng's Golden Globe win was indeed a huge victory.

He came in first place with an overwhelming lead of 1478 points among all candidates.

Following him is Kaka with 326 points, and the gap between the two exceeds 1000 points.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who ranked third, scored significantly less than Kaká, with only 208 points.

As for Messi (197 points) in fourth place and Drogba (122 points) in fifth place, they received even fewer votes.

Lin Feng's score is a great affirmation of his performance in the past year for both his club and the national team.

Especially noteworthy is his leadership of Inter Milan in lifting the Champions League trophy again after a forty-year hiatus.

This marks the first time a Chinese player has stood on the podium, breaking the void left by players of Asian descent in both the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards.

His sudden emergence is a sign that Asian football is gradually rising from a football wasteland.

Perhaps in the near future, with the rise of Asian football, the landscape of international football will undergo tremendous changes.

……

The awards ceremony lasted for more than an hour. After receiving the Golden Globe Award, Lin Feng had no idea how many people congratulated him; he just felt like his face was about to cramp from smiling so much.

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away in China, Liu Yifei was curled up on the sofa alone in the middle of the night, a maternal smile on her face, seemingly even happier than Lin Feng, the award winner.

"What are you doing here so late at night instead of sleeping?"

Just as she was about to pick up her phone to call Lin Feng to congratulate him, she heard Liu's mother's voice from behind.

Already feeling guilty and completely unprepared, the sudden sound from behind terrified Liu Yifei, who nearly dropped her phone.

Liu's mother hadn't suspected anything at first, but seeing her daughter acting so guilty piqued her curiosity.

She looked curiously at the television and saw Lin Feng and the trophy in his hand.

The Golden Globe Awards ceremony?
What is the Golden Globe Award?
Liu's mother, who knew nothing about football, was simply very curious at that moment.

Seeing my daughter sneaking around like a thief, watching this live broadcast at two or three in the morning, it seems this Golden Globe Award is very important.
Is it the Oscars of the football world?

……

Within hours of Lin Feng winning the award, the news spread throughout the country.

In the following days, major domestic media outlets rushed to report on the matter, and almost every newspaper's front page featured the news of Lin Feng winning the Golden Globe Award.

And when you turn on the TV, all the major TV stations are reporting on this matter.

Even the evening news that day dedicated more than a minute to reporting on his Golden Globe win.

Fans spread the news, praising Lin Feng's name, cheering for him, and feeling proud of him.

Just as Liu Xiang's breaking of the 110-meter Milan world record proved that people of Asian descent can also achieve great results in track and field, Lin Feng's Ballon d'Or trophy is not only of great significance to him personally, but also has a profound impact on Chinese football and even Asian football as a whole.

His victory proves that people of Asian descent can also produce the world's best players, and are in no way inferior to white and black people.

The reason why Asians were not good at football in the past was not because of racial inferiority, but because football started late, developed slowly, or was constrained by economic factors and a lack of public attention.

Given enough time, Asian football will eventually catch up with European and American countries.

Lin Feng never expected that winning the Globe of Champions would have such a huge impact.

Because in the past day, in addition to teammates, coaches, agents and other people he knows in the football circle calling to congratulate him.

Friends outside the football circle also called to congratulate him.

For example, many of the celebrities he met while filming the "Beijing Welcomes You" music video called to congratulate Lin Feng.

After being bombarded by major domestic media outlets, many people have come to understand the prestige of the Golden Globe Award.

This is the Oscars of the football world; for billions of fans worldwide, its influence is even greater than that of the Oscars.

After figuring out the value of this product, domestic sponsors, like sharks smelling blood, approached Lin Feng and his agent, wanting to collaborate and endorse him.

Moreover, it wasn't just domestic sponsors who came knocking; many wealthy individuals from Japan, South Korea, and even West Asia also approached Lin Feng as sponsors.

As an Asian player, Lin Feng's winning the Ballon d'Or caused a huge sensation throughout Asia.

The Japanese tend to admire strength; when someone is far superior to them, they easily develop a sense of worship towards that person.

So while reporting on Lin Feng's award, many Japanese people were reflecting on why Japanese football has not produced a player of Lin Feng's caliber for so many years.
Is it a systemic problem or a racial problem?

Koreans are stubborn. On the surface, they say they don't envy Lin Feng, but behind his back they are trying to prove that Lin Feng has Korean blood. He is Chinese on the surface, but he is actually from South Korea. So, Lin Feng's Golden Globe Award is actually won by a Korean. In short, he wins!

As for the oil tycoons, their goal was even simpler: to leverage Lin Feng's influence to create momentum in order to secure the right to host the 2018 World Cup.

Although Mendes had previously predicted that Lin Feng's commercial income would increase significantly after winning the Ballon d'Or.

But the effect was unexpectedly immediate. In just a few days, the number of sponsors from all over the world grew exponentially.

If things continue like this, Lin Feng's commercial endorsement income next year will surpass that of Beckham, the current highest-earning player in football, making him the player with the highest commercial endorsement income in the world.

It was only then that Mendes belatedly realized how prescient Lin Feng had been when he insisted on not giving up on image rights during the contract negotiations with Real Madrid.

If Real Madrid had granted him 50% of his image rights, his losses in commercial endorsements would likely have been several times the annual salary offered by Real Madrid.

……

"Oh my, our Mr. Golden Ball is back!"

"Lin, where's your Golden Globe trophy? Bring it out and let everyone see it!"

"Is the Ballon d'Or trophy made of pure gold? How much could you get for it if you sold it?"

When Lin Feng returned to Real Madrid's training base with the Ballon d'Or trophy, his teammates all surrounded him like curious children.

Even Mourinho couldn't resist coming over to take a look out of curiosity.

Although he led Porto to a Champions League title once, the Ballon d'Or that year was not awarded to any Porto player.

Therefore, no one has ever won the Ballon d'Or under Mourinho's management during his coaching career.

Lin Feng is the first!
However, Lin Feng's Ballon d'Or award has little to do with him; it is mainly due to his contribution to Inter Milan's championship win last season.

Mourinho hopes that one day in the future, when Lin Feng stands on the Ballon d'Or podium again, he will have a share of the credit!
"Alright, enough of this nonsense, go back to training. The next match is the Spanish El Clásico, and you don't want to lose to our arch-rivals Barcelona at Camp Nou, do you?"

Seeing that everyone had had enough fun, the assistant coach called the players back to training.

With less than three days until their next match, Real Madrid will be visiting Camp Nou.

As the most important match of the first half of the season, this El Clásico is crucial for both Real Madrid and Barcelona.

If Real Madrid can defeat Barcelona away from home and win this six-point game, their lead over Barcelona will extend to nine points.

This means that Barcelona has essentially dropped out of the title race, and Real Madrid is highly likely to defend their league title this year.

Real Madrid's last league title defense dates back to the 89-90 season, almost twenty years ago.
As a super team, it's somewhat embarrassing that they haven't even been able to defend their league title after so many years.

Especially during this period, Real Madrid's arch-rival Barcelona completed a four-peat and two consecutive titles, completely overshadowing Real Madrid.

Although Barcelona has fewer Champions League trophies than Real Madrid, they have won significantly more La Liga titles in the past 20 years.

Real Madrid needs to redeem themselves in the league and show the world that La Liga still belongs to Real Madrid!
However, defeating Barcelona is not an easy task.

Barcelona boasts a star-studded lineup including Ronaldinho, Messi, Henry, Eto'o, Iniesta, Xavi, Deco, Puyol, Yaya Toure, and many other players.

They can definitely be called another Galácticos. In terms of squad strength and team value, they are not only no less than Real Madrid, but even surpass them.

The two teams have a very bad relationship, not only due to historical grievances, but also due to ethnic tensions between the Castilians and Catalans, the main ethnic groups in Spain.

Among so many teams in La Liga, Real Madrid and Barcelona have stood out because they have a strong base of support that is willing to spend any amount of money to back them.

Real Madrid is backed by the Spanish government and royal family, while Barcelona is backed by the government of the Catalan autonomous region.

Both sides are subtly competing with each other by using football as a metaphor.

Therefore, every time these two teams meet, they create intense sparks.

This year, with the hype from the outside world, this match has gained another highlight – Lin Feng vs. Messi!

As the two most famous young players in football today, Messi and Lin Feng have been neck and neck in this year's La Liga.

The two players traded goals for their respective teams, one for you and two for me.

With the season not even halfway through, both players have already scored double-digit goals, firmly holding the top two positions on the top scorers list.

Because he was outdone by Lin Feng in terms of goals and assists, and was once again trampled underfoot by Lin Feng at the recent Ballon d'Or ceremony.

Therefore, for Messi, this direct confrontation between the two is his only chance to turn the tide.

If he can lead Barcelona to victory over Real Madrid, he will earn a point in their rivalry and keep Barcelona's title hopes alive. (End of Chapter)