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Chapter 264 The Eighth Miracle

Many years later, Jamie Olsen would still remember that night he stood in the stands at Lize Park.

As the match drew to a close, it started to rain.

He was soaked from head to toe.

As he held up the commemorative scarf for the match and sang "Newcastle upon Tyne" with the 65,000 fans in the stadium, he could no longer tell whether the water on his face was rain or tears.

Just as this popular song that once swept across England goes, a wanderer far from home longs for his hometown.

For those who travel far from home, their hometown usually holds the most beautiful memories and emotions of their lives.

Your hometown shapes the beginning of your life, your hobbies, tastes, personality... These things are like the genetic arrangement at the very bottom of your body. Your hairstyle, appearance, clothing, and hobbies will always change, and sometimes they can even make you look like a completely different person.

But genes, genes are the only factor that determines who you are.

You can change your surname, your first name, or even your gender, but you can't change your genes, which are determined when you are an embryo.

Just like your hometown.

The place where you were born is your hometown.

No matter where you are or where you are buried in the future, your hometown will not change because of this.

Afterwards, a reporter found Jamie Olson, who had initially thrown stones into the pond, and asked him why he would rather be cyberbullied than not post that video.

His answer was simple: "Because Exeter United is my hometown team, isn't it only natural to save your hometown team?"

Yes, because it's their hometown team, because this team carries their beautiful feelings for their hometown, just like how Tyne fans chose a popular song praising their hometown as their cheering song.

In the packed stands of Lize Park Stadium, these strangers shared a common emotion; they weren't cheering for a particular team, but for their hometown team.

Tyne is the hometown team of Newcastle United, and Exeter United is the hometown team of Exeter United.

Of course, Olson also apologized for some of his wording in that video. He was begging for help, but because of the urgency and time constraints, he spoke too bluntly, which caused some people to have a bad impression.

But he doesn't regret making the video.

Because he did indeed save his hometown team.

Ticket revenue from the League Cup match against Tyne allowed Exeter United to survive until the arrival of new owners.

Devon Hawkes, a wealthy man born in Exeter, Devonshire, bought his hometown team.

Although he was no longer in his hometown when he became wealthy, most of his business was overseas, and his company headquarters were not in Exeter, but in London.

But like his genes, his hometown is Exeter, and that can't be changed, so he's been a supporter of Exeter United since childhood.

Realizing that no one but himself could save his hometown team, he spent some time raising funds and eventually became the new owner of the team.

The ticket revenue from the match against Tyne bought Exeter United and Hawkes this time.

It's worth mentioning that because the League Cup ticket revenue from the match against Tyne was substantial enough, the number 99 jersey signed by the entire Tyne team and given to Exeter United was ultimately not auctioned off.

After the change of ownership, Mr. Tom Charlesley, who remained the general manager of Exeter United, later framed the autographed jersey and hung it in the most prominent position in the club's showroom.

He said the jersey is the best testament to the friendship between the two clubs, the two teams, and the fans of both teams.

This is also the best proof of how wonderful football is.

Now, everyone who visits Exeter United can see Wang Lie's jersey in the showroom, which is signed by all the team's players.

Some Tyne fans even went there specifically to take photos under the jersey.

Some even joked that the jersey was a "sacred relic" of Exeter United.

That's not entirely wrong. For Exeter United, who have spent a long time in the lower leagues, their trophy room doesn't have many glittering trophies and medals.

This autographed jersey from the newly rich Tyne is one of the most prized possessions of this small club.

But this won't be the only memento worth showcasing for Exeter United. Exeter United fans can look forward to much more in the future.

On the tenth anniversary of its rebirth, a new stadium with a capacity of 35,000 people has been built in Exeter.

The former Exeter United home ground has been transformed into the team's new training base, capable of accommodating the first team, women's team, and three youth teams of different age groups to train simultaneously.

In the newly built Exeter United home stadium, there is a special private box named "Tyne".

Mr. Charlesley explained that this was to commemorate the fond memories of the two teams – he still maintains that September 30, 2037, is the day Exeter United truly survived, not the day of the change in ownership and Mr. Hawkes officially took over the club.

In hindsight, he was absolutely right.

Exeter United survived, and it seems they're doing quite well.

This story, which started spontaneously because of a fan's video, has a wonderful ending.

—Excerpt from "From Southwest to Northeast: The Exeter United's Road to Survival" by biographer and sports journalist Scott Drummond. The book was first published in 2047, and three years later, the film adaptation, "The Undead United," was released.

※※※

The League Cup match between Tyne and Exeter United has ended, although Tyne fans poured a lot of enthusiasm into the game before it, and it was a hot topic from the bars to the Tyne team's dressing room.

But as the game ended, everything vanished.

Exeter United still has a lot to deal with, and Exeter United fans may not have recovered from the recent events.

But everyone in Tyne – from the club management to the team and the fans – quickly turned around and looked forward.

Decisive and straightforward, even somewhat ruthless.

They no longer discussed what was happening in the port city on the southwest coast; the fate of Exeter United seemed to have become irrelevant to them.

After all, the Tyne River rolls onward, flowing to the sea never to return.

The current Tyne fans don't have much time or energy to dwell on the past; they want to look forward.

Looking ahead, the next match is the Premier League game against Burley United this weekend.

But that's not what everyone is most concerned about.

The most anticipated match is the Champions League group stage game against Milan next week.

That will be the first Champions League match held at Lize Park since its construction.

This time, without anyone calling on them, Tyne fans will fill the stadium once again!
※※※

In the league match before their first Champions League game against Lille, Wang Lie was placed on the bench. This was because he had just finished playing two national team matches, traveling tens of thousands of kilometers and was exhausted from the journey.

McNeil was worried that his body couldn't handle it.

As a result, Tyne almost suffered a major setback.

In the end, McNeil had to bring Wang Lie into the game early in order to win the match.

In the league match before the Champions League group stage game against Milan, McNeil did not put Wang Lie on the bench, but included him in the starting lineup.

On the one hand, he had learned from his previous experience to some extent, and on the other hand, Wang Lie did not participate in the national team matches this time, so his physical fitness was not a problem—he only played for less than 30 minutes in the last League Cup match.

Besides these two obvious reasons, there is another reason that McNeil was thinking, which he never told anyone, not even his assistant coach Cesar Varo.

Because if he said it out loud, no one would understand and would only doubt his professionalism as a head coach.

He didn't want to waste his breath explaining himself to others, nor did he know how to explain it. Was he supposed to say he wanted to see how long Wang Lie's consecutive goal-scoring record could go?

That would probably make people think he's not a head coach, but rather a brainless fan of Wang Lie...

But he really had a thought in his mind. It wasn't about chasing stars, but he felt that if Wang Lie lost the opportunity to continue setting new records because of his own reasons, it would probably become a major regret in his coaching career.

So until Wang Lie stops, at the very least, he can no longer remove Wang Lie from the match roster—whether he's a starter or a substitute, he must at least give Wang Lie the opportunity to participate in the match.

The reasons behind this are so complex that they are indeed difficult to explain to outsiders.

Tyne will host Bethlehem United this weekend, with Wang Lie starting, but not all of Tyne's key players will start.

The key players who weren't even on the roster for the League Cup match against Exeter United started this game.

Most of the key players who played in the League Cup are now on the bench.

Because the Premier League now requires each team to register a maximum of 25 players for their first team, the strategy of relying on sheer numbers to gain an advantage in multiple competitions is unlikely to be successful.

Therefore, it is necessary to arrange more combinations within the limited personnel and deploy different lineups according to different situations in order to cope with multi-front operations.

Although the team lacked experience in dealing with multiple competitions, they could only figure things out as they went at the beginning.

But Tyne has a huge advantage.

That was Wang Lie in excellent form.

As the saying goes, "Having an elder in the family is like having a treasure."

Wang Lie is like the anchor of this team. No matter what difficulties they face, just thinking that there is such a "treasure" in the team can make many people feel at ease.

This is indeed the case.

Facing Burley United, currently ranked tenth in the league, with a rotated squad, Tyne struggled slightly in the first half.

However, the deadlock was broken not long after the start of the second half.

In the 61st minute, when Miguel Ribeiro crossed the ball from the wing to find Wang Lie, the ball struck the arm of a Bethlehem defender.

Because the defenders of Bethlehem United have their arms outstretched, they increase their defensive coverage area.

So after reviewing VAR, the referee awarded Tyne a penalty.

This penalty kick was naturally given to Wang Lie, the team's number one penalty taker and the team's most reliable penalty taker.

This was also Wang Lie's first penalty kick of the season.

"Wang is standing at the penalty spot! If he scores, he will have scored in fourteen consecutive league matches! He is gradually approaching Ronaldo's record of nineteen consecutive league matches with a goal! At the same time, he will also extend his record of scoring in all competitions to eighteen matches!"

Everyone, like Conor Cowley, understood the significance of this ball.

So the cheers that started when the referee blew the whistle subsided considerably at that moment.

Many people dared not make a sound, for fear of disturbing Wang Lie.

All eyes were on him; they realized they were witnessing a new legend in every match…

However, Wang Lie didn't have that much inner turmoil. This wasn't a last-minute penalty kick to win the game, nor was it the fifth penalty kick in a penalty shootout that would decide life or death.

Besides, even if that's the case, so what?

Throughout his long career, he has scored quite a few penalties like this.

People who are used to big storms wouldn't feel nervous in such an ordinary Premier League match...

After the whistle blew, he took a running start, pointed his toes, and fired a shot!
The football headed straight for the bottom right corner of the goal!

Although Bethlehem's goalkeeper guessed the right direction, the angle of his shot was too tricky, and he still couldn't reach the ball...

The football hit the inside of the goalpost and bounced into the net!

When Wang Lie scored, McNeil on the sidelines didn't excitedly pump his fist. Instead, he first let out a long breath and then high-fived his assistant coach, Varro.

As expected, putting Wang on the field was the right decision...

※※※

"Beautiful! A clean and easy penalty! Theoretically the absolute limit! Wang Lie! His fourteenth consecutive league goal! His eighteenth consecutive goal in all competitions! His legendary journey continues! At least for now... there's no end in sight!"

Luo Jin showered Wang Lie with praise.

Connor Cowley, on the other hand, made a clever remark:

"...I think we should change our perception of Wang. We can't still think of him as a 38-year-old player and then cheer for every goal he scores...In fact, if we forget his age, Wang's performance...is still worth cheering for! You know, even when he was 30 to 31 years old, at the peak of his career, he didn't have such an explosive performance!"

However, this witty remark might actually reflect Connor Cowley's true thoughts.

Wang Lie has already scored fourteen goals in just seven rounds of the league this season, averaging two goals per game!

It's safe to say right now that the race for the Premier League's top scorer this season is over.

Looking at the current league top scorers list, Ramon Van Dijk of Clayton Sports is second. His performance has also been very good, scoring seven goals in the first six league games, averaging more than one goal per game, but he is still more than double the score of Wang Lie...

Such a performance would be phenomenal, not to mention for a 38-year-old veteran... even for any 28-year-old player in their prime.

Wang Lie had never done it before, nor had Ronier Nascimento, nor had Arthur Eloun.

Going back further, none of the retired historical and legendary superstars had ever done it.

Even in the primitive era when modern football rules, tactics, and formations were not yet perfected, no one could do it!
At the age of thirty-eight, Wang Lie pioneered a truly uncharted territory, unprecedented in history and likely to remain so for generations to come.

Connor Cowley was still trying to be witty, but commentators from other countries were much more direct.

Watching Wang Lie embrace his teammates and celebrate his goal, the French commentator exclaimed, "Ladies and gentlemen, what you are witnessing now is the eighth wonder of the world: Wang Lie, who at the age of thirty-eight can still average two goals per game!!"

Instead of calling Wang Lie by his surname as usual, he called him by his full name to show respect.

※※※

After Wang Lie broke the deadlock with a penalty, Tyne scored again in the 76th minute.

Anderson Nova, the young left-back, dribbled down the wing, cut inside, entered the penalty area, and then curled a shot into the far corner with his right foot.

Nova is not a player who is good with his right foot, but he performed exceptionally well in this shot, with the ball arcing beautifully into the far corner of the goal.

2: 0!

Tyne leads Bethlehem United by two goals!
Then Wang Lie was substituted.

When he left the field, the entire Tyne crowd stood up and applauded him.

The applause from more than 60,000 people was like a torrential downpour that descended upon the stadium, booming and splashing.

Amid applause, the chorus of "Extraordinary Heart," a song specially written for Wang Lie, was played over the loudspeaker.

The fans joined in, chanting loudly: "China Wang! China Wang! Famous far and wide, renowned throughout the land!"

"China Wang! China Wang! Dragon blood, human form!"

Faced with this scene, Conor Cowley remarked:
"Wang's transfer to Tyne in January of this year can be described as Tyne's best transfer in 165 years. At the same time, it is also the most failed and foolish transfer in Sofia's 159-year history! Without a doubt!"

(End of this chapter)