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Chapter 4 Changes
Wang Lie stood in front of the bench, with assistant coach Norbert Demos next to him, who was giving him instructions, while the team's head coach Sven Helden stood not far away, looking at the field.

After listening to the assistant coach's arrangements, Wang Lie nodded and walked towards the fourth official from behind Helden.

Helden was still staring at the field and didn't look back.

During the entire process, the two people did not even make eye contact, let alone language or body language.

This is the replay of the scene in front of the Sofolian bench just after Wang Lie came on the court.

I believe no one can fail to understand what this scene means.

The reason why the director specifically replayed this scene is naturally meaningful.

After seeing this scene, Zhou Hong, who was sitting in a wheelchair, sighed and said, "I didn't expect that now they don't even do superficial work..."

A little boy sitting on the sofa to her right started to yell, "No way, no way? Grandma, you're still thinking that they can get back together? What are you thinking, Grandma? Huh?"

A middle-aged woman on Zhou Hong's left turned and glared at the boy: "Wang Ziqi! How dare you talk to your grandma?"

When Wang Ziqi saw that his mother was angry, he quickly retracted his neck to avoid his mother's "murderous gaze", turned his head and made faces at his sister who was sitting next to him, making his five-year-old sister Wang Zilin giggle.

Grandma Zhou Hong didn't care about her grandson's tone at all. She raised her hand and gently patted Wang Ziqi's thigh, then turned to ask her daughter-in-law Tang Xingmei: "Will this head coach be fired? If Sofo United doesn't get into the top four in the league..."

As one of the most successful giants in England, Sofia United has missed out on the Champions League for three consecutive seasons. This is a huge shame for Sofia United.

In order to return to the Champions League, the team changed three head coaches in the previous two seasons, but all failed.

It was in this context that Swedish coach Sven Heldon became the team's new head coach this season. He is also the fourth head coach of Sofia in the past three seasons. The club has high hopes for this head coach with a not-so-brilliant resume and has given him a lot of support accordingly.

And Heldon did not disappoint the club. Before this FA Cup match, the 2036-2037 Premier League season was just halfway through. Currently, Sofia United ranked fourth with points, only one point behind their third-placed rivals Scots, and four points ahead of fifth-placed Waltham.

Generally speaking, the top four teams in the Premier League each season can directly participate in the Champions League next season, so as long as Sofia can remain in the top four at the end of the season, they will definitely be able to return to the Champions League.

But if Sofia fail to qualify for the Champions League, does it prove that Heldon is no different from his predecessors?

Tang Xingmei knew what her mother-in-law was thinking and smiled helplessly: "Whether Helden is fired at the end of the season has nothing to do with us, Mom. Ali can't waste a whole season under this head coach..."

Even if Helden is really fired after the end of the season, it will be of no help to Wang Lie because he doesn't have much time left.

Her husband's playing time was greatly reduced in the first half of this season. He could only come off the bench most of the time, and was even substituted in during garbage time. How can he maintain such a high quality of play?
And if he can't maintain his good form, how can he hope to participate in next year's World Cup in England?

Yes, even though Wang Lie is almost 38 years old, he still wants to continue to win glory for his country in the World Cup - his dismal departure from the Saudi Arabia World Cup three years ago was definitely not Wang Lie's farewell to the World Cup, although almost the whole world thought so at the time.

After hearing what her daughter-in-law said, Zhou Hong was also very clear about the predicament her son was facing. She felt a little depressed, but then she remembered that it was the winter transfer window, so she asked expectantly, "Have you found a new club?"

"Fernando is still in Germany talking to Isa Munich, I don't know what the result is..." This is not because Tang Xingmei is kind enough to lie to her mother-in-law, she really doesn't know the latest news over there. Today is the game day, in order not to affect her husband's preparations, Tang Xingmei did not contact Wang Lie.

Zhou Hong was a little disappointed when she heard that there was still no news. But she soon cheered up again: no news also means no bad news, maybe it has been negotiated and is waiting to be announced after the competition?
Thinking of this, Zhou Hong adjusted his mentality and started watching the game again.

Most of her son's games were played in the middle of the night. As she got older, it was difficult for her to get up in the middle of the night to watch the games. If this FA Cup match had not been in the prime time of the evening in China, she probably would not have been able to watch it. Fortunately, Alatorre was injured, so her son came on as a substitute in the game, which made her wait in vain.

Zhou Hong stopped talking, and Tang Xingmei also didn't say anything. The whole family stared at the TV screen intently.

At this time on the field, Sofo United was launching an attack.

Wang Lie, who played as a center forward, did not stay in the penalty area, but took the initiative to retreat to the midfield to receive the ball, while raising his hand to ask for the ball.

The teammate immediately passed the ball to him.

Before receiving the ball, Wang Lie looked back and saw that Drettin's midfielder was rushing towards him, so he did not stop the ball, but directly transferred the ball horizontally to his little fan Stanley Harris on the left.

Part-time commentator Zhao Zhou said excitedly: "Wang Lie completed his first touch after coming on the court!"

※※※

After passing the ball to Harris, Wang Lie quickly turned around and rushed into Drettin's penalty area. The Drettin player who had just rushed over immediately turned around and followed.

He was on the passive defensive side, and turned a little slow, lagging behind Wang Lie by half a body length.

Seeing this, Harris, who had the ball on the wing, decided to pass the ball in front of Wang Lie, so that Wang Lie would have an attacking opportunity facing the goal directly!

Thinking of this, Harris feinted and pretended to continue dribbling the ball from the wing, then used the outside of his right foot to kick the ball towards Wang Lie.

When Wang Lie was moving forward, he kept turning his head to look at Harris. When he saw him pass the ball, he immediately sped up and chased after him.

But just when he was about to catch up with the football, his body was squeezed crooked by a force coming from the side and rear!

Although Wang Lie stretched out his foot to control the ball, it was useless. He finally lost his balance and fell to the ground. At the same time, he watched the Deret player pass by him and intercept the ball...

Stanley Harris, who saw this, raised his hands and yelled at the referee: "Foul!!"

But the referee spread his hands, indicating that this was not a foul.

Wang Lie was also very dissatisfied with the penalty. After getting up from the ground, he yelled and complained to the referee.

The referee ignored him, turned around and ran forward, leaving only his back to him.

The close-up shot of the TV broadcast captured Wang Lie's mouth shape at that moment, and he must have cursed.

Soon, someone on the Chinese Internet created a GIF and added four letters to it:
"WCNM"

Both Wang Lie and Harris thought it was a foul, but most other people, such as the commentators, did not think so.

"Jaden Hope chased back from behind and successfully stole the ball! This is a beautiful defense!" England commentator Connor Cowley explained, "This is a reasonable collision, Hope did not push with his hands."

Even Zhao Zhou, a fan of Wang Lie, could only sigh at this scene: "Wang Lie's starting speed was not fast enough after he turned around, and Hope caught up with him from behind. It must be said that Wang Lie, who is almost 38 years old, has obviously declined in physical function. The explosive power he used in those few steps is not as strong as before. If he was ten years younger... No! If he was only five years younger, Hope would never be able to catch up with him..."

The TV broadcast chose to replay the previous scene at this time. Wang Lie was seen passing the ball to Stanley Harris on the wing with his back to the direction of attack, then turned and ran forward.

In the picture, he first turned his head to look at Harris, and after seeing the latter pass the ball, he immediately lowered his head and sprinted hard.

He seemed to be trying very hard, using all the muscles in his body, but his speed did not increase significantly.

Instead, it was Drettin midfielder Jaden Hope behind him who turned around and chased back a step later than him, but was gradually approaching him.

When Wang Lie was about to catch up with the football, Hope had already caught up with him and then squeezed in from the side.

From the bulging veins on Wang Lie's neck, it can be seen that he was trying to stop Hope, but in the end he failed...

This clip left many of Wang Lie's Chinese fans silent.

As a player of the English Championship, Jaden Hope is just an ordinary person in the world football, and can even be said to be "unknown". But it is such an ordinary player who completely suppressed the once omnipotent Wang Lie in this attack and defense.

Nothing can better prove that Wang Lie is "old" than this scene.

Considering that Wang Lie will be turning 38 on February 17 this year, his health will only get worse...

This future is really painful for those fans who still like and support Wang Lie.

Their idols and heroes are struggling in front of the whole world.

And those who hate Wang Lie are partying at this moment.

Look at the comments from Chi Zhen’s fans, whom they call “little white-faced fans”, on the screen…

This is only what they can see in China, and on the Internet, no one knows how many people are going all out.

The ridicule, criticism and personal attacks have been going on for more than half a year. Wang Lie's fans should be accustomed to it, but they still cannot turn a blind eye to it or not get angry.

The barrage in the Pili Pili FA Cup live broadcast room has once again become a battlefield...

※※※

Just as Wang Lie's fans expected, at this moment on the external social media, those fans who didn't like Wang Lie in the first place were celebrating this clip:
"Look at these clumsy steps. I don't understand how Wang's stupid fans can criticize Helden for not giving Wang a chance. If I were Helden, I wouldn't let Wang play either!"

"Another day for Sven Heldon's historic status!"

"It turns out that Wang, who is about to turn 38, is no longer eligible to play in Europe. I don't understand why he doesn't go back to China? Is it because Chinese teams have no money? But hasn't the media always been bragging about how rich China is now? They even exclaimed, 'The Chinese are going to buy the whole world!'"

“To be easily crushed by a Championship player, I don’t know how such a person became one of the top players in the past... Maybe it’s because TikTok is Chinese?”

"How dare you say that the 'Chinese Football King' is a marketing trick!"

"This is how Chinese people should perform in the sport of football! Thanks to Drettin and Jayden Hope, he tore off the disguise that Wang had used to deceive the whole world!"

"Chinese fans even said that Wang is a player who can be compared with Arthur Elorne and Ronil Nascimento. They even invented a term for this, called 'Peerless Three Jiao' (Chinese characters are copied here), which means that Wang is ranked with Arthur and Ronil as the top three players in world football today... Oh, come on, Chinese people, how dare you?"

"I heard that Wang's agent is in contact with Isa Munich? Oh my God! I hope they don't make the deal... As a fan of Isa Munich, I really don't understand why the Bundesliga giants would sign such a 38-year-old 'old man'. I don't understand why Wang's agent team came up with such a brainwave and thought of looking for Isa Munich? Does our team look like a nursing home?"

……

The above may barely be considered as "meaningful words", but in fact many of them are purely emotional releases and are dirty words without any substance.

It wouldn't be too surprising if you knew their identities:
Most of them are concentrated in the following clubs.

Clayton Athletic, Scouse, FC Madrid, Atletico Barcelona.

Clayton Athletic is Sofia United's cross-city rival.

The Scouses are in league with Liverpool's Sofia rivals.

The situation of Athletic Barcelona is rather special - it is Wang Lie's former club.

Wang Lie played for this La Liga giant for four years and achieved success. But he had a bad relationship with the club when he left the team, so every time he met Barcelona in the European competition, he was particularly excited and didn't care about the old friendship at all.

For example, in the 2029-2030 season, Wang Lie helped Sofia United win the "Quadruple Crown" of that season. They defeated his former club Barcelona in the Champions League final. In that game, Wang Lie performed very well. Not only did he score the winning goal, but he also celebrated wildly after scoring the goal, which deeply hurt the hearts of Barcelona fans.

Therefore, in the hearts of many Atletico Barcelona fans today, Wang Lie is the number one traitor in the club's history, and naturally they don't have a good attitude towards him.

As for Madrid FC, it is very simple - they and Athletic Barcelona have been sworn enemies for a century. Wang Lie once played for Athletic Barcelona. How could the fans of Madrid FC like him?

Moreover, Arthur Ilon, the current top player of Madrid FC, played for the Scouse, the arch-rival of Sofia United, before coming to Madrid FC, and he also had many stories with Wang Lie. The fans of Madrid FC must of course stand firmly beside their top player and cheer for him.

※※※

The haters can laugh at Wang Lie without restraint, but the players of Drettin on the field do not dare to really underestimate the number nine player of Sofia United.

After all, the person in front of him is the most deadly terminator among active players.

It doesn't matter if the haters are slapped in the face. At most, they can just bury their heads in the ground and pretend to be dead for a while. The Internet has no memory. Besides, who would stare at an ordinary fan like you and find fault with you every day?

But if any of Dretin's players on the field were slapped in the face, the consequences would be serious... The attack launched by Dretin after he successfully stole the ball from Wang Lie just now failed to threaten Soflian's goal in the end, and their attack was ended in front of the penalty area.

After Sofia United's on-field captain, center back Taylor Murphy intercepted the ball from Drettin, he looked up to observe the situation in the frontcourt, and then made a long pass directly to Wang Lie who was at the front.

Wang Lie jumped up and leaped towards the football while running back.

At the same time, Drettin's center back Liam Griffin also rushed up and jumped at the same time as Wang Lie.

However, since Wang Lie had moved ahead and got in position first, Griffin could only be blocked behind. The ball was still headed by Wang Lie, who then threw the ball to the side and rear, where Sofo United's right winger Adel Deget was making a forward run!

The Red Stone Stadium, which had been a little quiet before, burst into cheers again!
Wang Lie was knocked to the ground by Griffin who pounced on him.

But it doesn't matter anymore, everyone's eyes are on French winger De Gert.

The referee also raised his hands and pointed in the direction of Sofo United's attack, indicating that the attack was advantageous and the game continued.

But in the end, Sofia United's attack failed to score a goal - when De Gert tried to cut directly into the penalty area from the wing, he was blocked by Drettin's defender.

Although no goal was scored, part-time commentator Zhao Zhou praised Wang Lie highly: "This is the role of a center forward! After Wang Lie came on the court, Sofolian was able to hold the ball in the front court when attacking. When Alatorre was on the court before, he couldn't do this kind of header ferrying work!"

The live broadcast room was filled with comments:
"Awkward..."

"Good lick!"

"hehe"

However, the TV broadcast quickly gave a slow-motion replay of Wang Lie's header - the director was using the language of the camera to tell everyone who was the key figure in this attack.

Although he lost the sprint competition with midfielder Drettin just now, sprint speed is definitely not the most important criterion for measuring a center forward.

There was a lot of ridicule on the Internet, as if the goal was an unforgivable sin for Wang Lie. However, Wang Lie himself was not affected by the goal, and he was still focused on the ongoing game.

Soon he accidentally got the ball outside the corner of the penalty area - when Stanley Harris cut inside, the ball was also blocked by the Drettin players, and accidentally fell to Wang Lie's feet.

He swung his foot to meet the ball, pretending to shoot directly, tricking the defender of Drettin into stretching his foot to block. It turned out to be just a feint. After his right foot landed, he used the outside of his foot to push the ball to the middle, and swung his right foot again to pretend to shoot, but this time it was still a feint!

He used the same method to shake off the second Drettin defender who came up to block him and then kicked the ball, and this time it was a real shot!
The football passed between two Drettin players who had not had time to close the door, and went straight to the back corner of the goal!
"Wang——WOOOOOW!!" England commentator Connor Cowley sighed, and the ball flew out of the back post and out of the bottom line...

"Ouch!" Zhao Zhou held his head with both hands and shouted regretfully: "It was almost a goal!! Just a little bit!!"

Wang Ziqi, who was sitting on the sofa, leaned back against the sofa with a heavy thud. His sister Wang Zilin screamed, and it was unclear whether she was frightened by her brother or felt sorry for her father missing the chance to score.

Their grandmother, Wang Lie's mother Zhou Hong, also sighed.

Tang Xingmei, on the other hand, appeared very calm.

※※※

Although Wang Lie's shot did not go in, it obviously boosted everyone's morale, and the atmosphere at the Red Stone Stadium became more heated.

The Sofia fans in the stands even started singing their cheering songs again.

"…We are the Sofu Union, we are from Soford! Red flames surround us! Hot magma flows under our feet! Sofu Union! Sofu Union! Go forward bravely, glorious Sofu Union!!"

Connor Cowley, the commentator who was announcing the game, turned his head and looked around. He saw the home fans waving team towels and singing loudly. He exclaimed: "Red Rock Stadium is alive again!"

It wasn't just the Red Stone Stadium that survived, but also the home team Sofia United.

With Wang Lie as the center forward, the quality of Sofolian's offense has improved significantly.

After all, they have someone in the frontcourt who can hold the ball.

In fact, Wang Lie's back-to-the-basket technique is not top-notch - after all, he used to play the role of a terminator, most of the time he was facing the goal, and there were few situations where he needed to play one-on-one with his back to the basket. But even so, the effect he brought to Sofollow United's offense was immediate.

"What is the backbone? This is the backbone!" Zhao Zhou continued to flatter.

※※※

Because they can hold the ball in the frontcourt, Sofia's full-backs are more daring than before to join the attack.

In the 64th minute, Sofia United's left-back Pablo Castin took advantage of the space on the wing created by left winger Stanley Harris to receive the ball and then passed it towards the goal.

When he made the cross, Wang Lie rushed to the front of the goal and tried to score.

His sprint was so powerful that it immediately attracted the attention of Drettin's defenders.

This time it was center back Liam Griffin who was the first to step up and compete with Wang Lie for the header, while other Drettin players were paying close attention to Wang Lie's movements.

As a result, Castin did not pass the ball to Wang Lie, but passed it to the back point!
There was SofaSoccer's midfielder Andreas Liers, who had come in from outside the penalty area at some point in time!

“Liles——!”

Amid the shouting of commentator Connor Cowley, Liles jumped towards the football!

Because Wang Lie attracted the attention of almost all the Drettin players, when Liers jumped up to head the ball, there was no Drettin player sticking to him!
This ball...I got it!
The cheers at Red Rock Stadium reached a peak!
But the next moment, the cheers suddenly turned into sighs...

Because Liles headed the ball high!
The football passed over Wang Lie's head and was headed over the crossbar by Liles!
"Oh! Liles's shot! Oh! I could have headed it in even if I were on the field!" Zhao Zhou said in a tone of disappointment, "Liles completely wasted Wang Lie's involvement and cover! My brother Wang had already taken away all the defense for this ball! But Liles headed the ball high despite having such a good chance... It's nothing! It's nothing!"

Liles on the screen also held his head in his hands, staring at the stands behind the baseline with wide eyes - that is the final destination of football.

In fact, as a defensive midfielder, Liers' heading ability is not bad. However, competing with the opponent's players in the midfield for the header is not completely equivalent to heading the ball in front of the goal.

The TV broadcast switched to Wang Lie. He saw his teammate missed the opportunity, and he spread his hands with great regret, smashing them down hard, as if he was the one who missed the opportunity.

Of course, some people will interpret it as "Wang Lie is dissatisfied with his teammates who wasted opportunities" or "Wang Lie blames his teammates for missing good scoring opportunities"...

Don't say this is just empty shooting. After the game, there will definitely be Wang Lie's haters who will take the slices of the game video and do this, and then spread it all over the Internet. Because this kind of thing has happened many times before.

So much so that some people on the Internet joked that Wang Lie’s most loyal fans should be his haters. After all, only haters would not miss any of Wang Lie’s games, and would watch the entire game very seriously and attentively, then replay it frame by frame with a magnifying glass, pick out some flaws and publicize them.

It perfectly interprets the saying "the one who knows you best is your enemy" from a magical perspective.

※※※

Lills' header did not result in a goal, but this did not affect Sofia United's offensive momentum.

During this period, Sofolium's offense continuously threatened Drettin's goal.

England commentator Connor Cowley said jokingly: "The Red Stone Stadium now finally feels like the home of Sofia United, and Sofia United have finally remembered that they are actually a Premier League team..."

Faced with the fierce offensive of Sofia United, Dretin was forced to shrink its defense, seemingly wanting to maintain the score of 0:0 until the end of the game.

The FA Cup is a single-elimination competition, which is prone to accidents, so it is called a "hotbed of upsets."

But despite being a single-elimination match, the FA Cup does not have extra time or penalty shootouts before the quarter-finals - if the two sides are tied, they will play another day in a play-off. What if the play-offs are also tied? First, play 30 minutes of extra time, then a penalty shootout.

Dretin obviously wanted to drag the game to the play-offs and return to his home court.

Of course, Sofia does not want them to get their wish.

Not to mention the impact of playing one more FA Cup game on the team's overall preparation rhythm and the unnecessary waste of players' physical energy, let's just talk about the face issue - being dragged to the point of playing in the play-offs by a Championship team, where can the European giants Sofia put their face?

Therefore, Sofia United stepped up their offensive, hoping to break through Dretin's goal and open up the situation in the last twenty minutes of the game.

In the 71st minute of the game, 14 minutes after Wang Lie came on as a substitute, Sofo United launched an attack.

However, facing Drettin's shrinking defense, they didn't have much better solutions and could only pass the ball back and forth horizontally outside the 30-meter area and create opportunities through the players' running.

As the ball moves, Drettin's defensive formation must also move with it. If the number of shifts is too many, it is easy to lose sight of one thing while focusing on another.

After a while of tug-of-war, Drettin's defense was obviously not as fast as before and was not coordinated enough when shifting the focus of defense as a whole.

So when Sofia's left winger Stanley Harris got the ball on the left rib, without any hesitation, he immediately kicked the ball diagonally to the weak side of Drettin's defense, which was the right side of Sofia's attack.

Because Sofia's main right winger Adel Degt moved to the flank to pressure the Drettin defenders, there was actually space on the right side at this time.

This is the opportunity Stanley Harris saw.

The moment he passed the ball, Sofia United right-back Josh Hughes had already started from behind and inserted at high speed!

Then, amid the deafening cheers of Sofo United fans, he received the ball!
"Hughes makes a run forward! Nice stop!"

After stopping the ball, Hughes immediately rushed diagonally into the penalty area.

Dretin's defenders spun hastily and pounced on him, trying to block him or force him off the baseline.

At the same time, Sofia United players were also moving towards the goal to support Hughes.

De Gert, who was on the flank before, immediately moved forward, with a Drettin defender also following him.

Behind Degett in the middle is Wang Lie, and beside him are two Drettin defenders!
Apparently, the players of Drettin did not look down on this 37-year-old guy who was "in name only" like those haters on the Internet...

Josh Hughes, who was almost forced to the baseline, looked up and kicked the ball to the middle, but he did not pass it directly to Deget in the front point, but found Wang Lie in the middle and made an inverted triangle pass!
The defender of Drettin at the front point had been taken away by Adel Degt, but he did not want to give up defense just like that. Just when the football was about to slip away from behind him, he kicked his legs back with all his strength and actually touched the ball!
The football hit the outside of his foot and changed direction.

It was this change of route that confused Wang Lie who was following behind!
If it followed the original trajectory, the football should have landed right at his feet, but now it rolled behind him!
Seeing this, Wang Lie quickly stopped, twisted his waist and stretched his legs almost reflexively, trying to get the ball back.

But when he turned halfway, he felt that his left knee, which supported the entire weight of his body, could not provide enough explosive power to allow him to push out.

When he tried to exert force, he felt his left knee go weak and could no longer support his body, and he fell in the opposite direction.

This kind of full-out sprint followed by an abrupt stop and then a change of direction required too much physical energy, and his nearly 38-year-old body failed at the critical moment...

He was locked in place by this body, but he still turned his head to follow the football, wanting to see who would end up with it.

In his swaying and tilted vision, a player wearing a red Sofia United jersey came out from behind the crowd, accelerated towards the football, and swung his left foot!
"Stanley--!!!" Connor Cowley screamed out the man's name in a long, hoarse voice.

The Sofia fans in the stands couldn't wait to cheer.

Because where the football landed, there was no Drettin player except Stanley Harris!
This is a sure-shot goal opportunity that anyone can score no matter who comes!

Harris faced the rolling football, straightened the instep of his left foot, and kicked it firmly into the middle!

After a dull thud, the football broke through the net and was already in the goal!
"——Harris!!! What a wonderful goal! In the 1th minute of the game, Sofia finally took the lead at home! They led Dretin 0:!"

The cheers that had sounded in advance over the Red Rock Stadium reached their climax at this moment.

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PS, during the new book period, please collect, vote and read it, thank you!
In addition, a big thank you to yesterday’s two leaders, “Sanmu Jiansen” and “Nottingham Forest”!
I'm very sorry that my writing speed has slowed down and I don't have any manuscripts saved to update the book. I can only try my best to write a good book in return for everyone's support and love!
(End of this chapter)