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Chapter 5 Suicide
"Harris's pass... beautiful! There's space over there! Hughes comes in from behind, great shot! This ball was stopped beautifully! Cross! Cross!"

When Josh Hughes received the ball, Zhao Zhou started looking for Wang Lie's position. He found that Wang Lie was advancing in the middle, so he shouted anxiously, as if Hughes could hear him.

Under the current circumstances, as a "brainless fan" of Wang Lie, he really hopes that Wang Lie can score a goal, and use the goal to slap Helden hard in the face, as well as those who mock and humiliate Wang Lie.

It seemed as if Xius really heard his call and he did pass the ball, and it was indeed passed to Wang Lie.

But just when Zhao Zhou's heart began to beat wildly, he saw Dretin's defender stretched out his foot to touch the rolling football, and then... he passed by Wang Lie!
Wang Lie fell to the ground and the football flew into the net.

Although the goal was scored by Stanley Harris, Wang Lie's fan, Zhao Zhou did not cheer for the goal immediately, but sighed first.

Then he quickly adjusted his emotions, fulfilled the duties of a commentator - even if it was a part-time job - and tried to speak loudly in an exciting tone: "Good shot! Good shot! Harris seized the opportunity! Sofollow United leads Drettin by one goal at home!"

Of course, he did not forget his main task: "Harris must thank Wang Lie very much for this goal! This goal also fully demonstrates the importance of Wang Lie! Although this goal was not scored by him, it was his active forward movement in the middle that attracted two defenders of Drettin and provided Harris with the opportunity to move forward and shoot!

"Also, if the defender of Drettin hadn't touched the ball, it should have been Wang Lie's chance... What a pity! But it doesn't matter! Sofo United's offensive has already started, and they will definitely have more offensive opportunities after taking the lead. And judging from Wang Lie's performance after he came on the court, he was still very outstanding. As long as my brother Wang can continue to perform like this, I think he can really score a goal in this game!"

He said this not only to comfort the Chinese fans who were watching the live broadcast, but also to comfort himself.

But not everyone will be comforted, such as Chi Zhen’s extreme fans.

Not everyone can be comforted, such as Wang Lie’s son Wang Ziqi.

After seeing the football pass by his father and then be scored by Harris, he rolled off the sofa and rolled on the floor, wailing as he rolled: "Ahhh! This ball!! What a good chance! Why did you touch it! Why did you stretch your legs!!"

Because the howling was so shrill, Wang Zilin, the younger sister next to him, covered her ears with both hands. Tang Xingmei had to raise her voice and yell: "Alright! Wang Ziqi! Get up!"

My son is still howling.

Tang Xingmei: “One!”

Wang Ziqi, who had just been floundering on the ground like a fish out of water, suddenly jumped up from the ground and sat back on the sofa obediently, but his expression was still indignant.

Of course he wasn't expressing his dissatisfaction with his mother - how could he dare to?

He was just still upset that it was not his father who scored the goal.

Zhou Hong did not feel sorry because her son did not score a goal - it was not that she did not want her son to score a goal, but compared to scoring a goal, she cared more about her son's physical health.

When she saw her son stop and turn around suddenly, his whole body froze and then fell to the ground, her heart rose to her throat.

She was afraid that her son would be seriously injured. After all, her son had been seriously injured twice in a row between the ages of 19 and 20, and both times the injuries were in his left knee...

Although my son has never suffered any serious injuries since then, the old injuries are like the sword of Damocles, always hanging over my head, and I am afraid that it will be cut off one day.

Now seeing this scene, she naturally thought of the two times her son was seriously injured eighteen years ago, and her heart beat uncontrollably.

If the old injury recurs at this time, my son's career will be sentenced to death...

But after Harris scored the goal, the TV camera followed Harris who scored the goal, and it was a close-up, so her son's situation was completely invisible.

Because she was so anxiously thinking about her son, Zhou Hong didn't even come out to help her grandson when her daughter-in-law was scolding him...

Fortunately, the broadcast camera switched quickly, and she saw her son getting up from the ground and running towards Harris who scored the goal with other Sofia United players.

Looking at his running posture... Zhou Hong felt that he should not be injured. She breathed a sigh of relief, her tense body softened, and she lowered her head, looking at the wheelchair she was sitting in.

She was worried about her son's career just now, but now she suddenly doesn't care about that anymore. She just hopes that her son can retire in good health and come to see her without crutches or a wheelchair...

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Wang Lie didn't know about his mother's worry. In fact, he had never worried about his knee that had undergone two operations. He knew his body very well.

After getting up from the ground, he hugged his teammates around him, ran excitedly towards Harris who was celebrating, and then hugged everyone.

Although it was a pity that no goals were scored, at least the team broke the deadlock and took the lead, allowing everyone to relax.

Besides, Wang Lie didn't mind not scoring a goal, but believed that there would be another chance next time - Dretin was only one goal behind, and they would never accept defeat like this, especially under the premise that Sofollow's performance was not convincing before. So they would definitely attack, and by then Dretin's defense would be full of loopholes, and he would have more chances than before.

His current speed does not support him to be the "tip of the knife" in the counterattack, but his rich experience can help him find good opportunities in the second and third waves of attack.

The so-called "counterattack" cannot be a one-time deal.

"Well done, Stanley!" Wang Lie hugged Harris, rubbed his hair and praised him.

Harris excitedly whispered in his ear: "Thank you, Wang!"

Wang Lie patted his head and said, "Why thank me? This is your chance to escape on your own."

"No, Wang, not this ball... Anyway, I want to thank you, thank you!" In the huge noisy environment, with teammates constantly coming up to slap him, holding his face, and yelling at him, Stanley Harris was unable to fully express his feelings to Wang Lie and could only keep repeating "thank you" to him.

He was thanking Wang Lie for his care and encouragement. As an idol, Wang Lie inspired him; as a senior in the team, Wang Lie gave him a lot of care and advice after he was promoted to the first team.

Although Wang Lie's image in the public opinion field is very controversial, people are always keen to label him, as if they want to use one or several labels to clearly describe him. But Harris is very clear that those labels cannot represent the real Wang Lie.

The real Wang Lie is not a good person in the absolute sense, but he is not a bad person as people say on the Internet. He is a complicated person.

As a fanboy, Harris couldn't say that everything Wang Lie did was right.

But it doesn’t matter. At this moment, he just wants to thank Wang Lie.

Because he knew that Wang Lie could not continue to stay in this team.

Although no one said it explicitly, the moment of farewell was approaching.

It was not known whether Wang Lie heard the hidden meaning of Harris's words. Anyway, he just patted Harris's back and shoulders hard, rubbed his hair hard, and then turned around to hug and celebrate with the other teammates who came up.

Then he ended his celebration and walked to the center circle, ready to kick off.

※※※

Wang Lie's prediction was correct. After Soflian broke the deadlock, Dretin did not show any signs of collapse.

On the contrary, they suddenly accelerated during the game and fought hard with Sofia United, without showing any "respect" of the Championship team towards the Premier League team.

Perhaps it was because Sofollow United played so badly in the first half of this match that they had a sense of pride. Or perhaps they hoped to take advantage of Sofollow United's intensified offensive and steal a goal.

Anyway, no matter what the reason was, when the game resumed, Drettin actually launched a high-pressure defense in Sofia's half.

What Wang Lie didn't expect was the reaction of his teammates when facing Drettin's high-pressure defense - the Sofia players who were completely unprepared for this were thrown into a panic and were actually at a disadvantage for a while!
"After taking the lead, did the players of Sofia United only think about how to score another goal in a short time?" England commentator Connor Cowley joked again. "Their performance is not as good as before they scored the goal..."

Four minutes after the goal, Drettin took advantage of the frontcourt pressure and got a great shooting opportunity.

As a result, their forward hit the ball high with almost no one marking him...

The stands were filled with the sounds of fear from the Sofo United fans, while the Drettin players who missed the chance knelt on the ground, holding their heads in their hands, staring at the stands behind the Sofo United goal with wide eyes, totally unable to believe that they had wasted such a good opportunity so carelessly!

Zhao Zhou had no scruples and didn't need to make fun of it at all. He just ranted about this scene: "I think after the game, Sofia United should give the entire Drettin team a kowtow! What kind of game was this! They played as if they were behind when they were leading, and played at home as if they were away! It was too abstract!"

Wang Lie was wrong. After taking a one-goal lead, Sofo United's offensive opportunities did not increase, but became even less than before.

He is getting further and further away from the goal of scoring.

Under the pressure of Dretin, Soflian finally got an offensive opportunity. However, Stanley Harris, who had just scored a goal, was eager to make a contribution and did not choose to pass the ball to his teammates. Instead, he went it alone and hit the ball out of the baseline.

The fans of Sofia United online were just cheering for Harris, but now I wonder how many of them are scolding him...

Stanley Harris' missed opportunity seemed to boost the morale of the Drettin players.

They fought more and more courageously in the following games, not only gaining the advantage on the field, but also attacking the 30-meter area of ​​​​Sofo United many times, posing a real threat to Sofo United's goal.

During this period, the most frequent sound coming from the stands of Red Rock Stadium was not the singing and cheering of Sofia United fans, but various exclamations and boos.

Oh, it’s not that there was no singing and cheering, it’s just that those came from the small number of Drett fans.

"Dretin is at it again!! It was a close call! Fortunately, Doge made a great save!!"

Amid the loud shouts of commentator Connor Cowley, the TV broadcast focused a close-up on Sofo United goalkeeper Jimmy Dogg. The South African international was roaring at his teammates, dissatisfied with their performance in the defense just now.

Of course he had reason to be dissatisfied. When Drettin's player took a long shot just now, no one in front of the Sofolian penalty area came up to interfere in time, and just let the opponent shoot calmly.

If he hadn't been concentrating, the ball might have been lost and Sofia's lead would have been gone.

After giving a close-up of Doge, the TV broadcast shifted to the Sofia United coaching bench and focused the camera on head coach Sven Helden.

As he frowned, his upper teeth unconsciously bit his lower lip. This was a scene that everyone was familiar with - when such an expression appeared on Helden's face, it meant that he was thinking.

Whether he was coaching in the Portuguese Super League or joining a Premier League giant, Heldon always had this expression when thinking.

So seeing this, Zhao Zhou said, "Helden is showing a constipated expression again. He should make some adjustments! Now it seems that Dretin has obviously gained momentum! He is such a waste. The leading party is being beaten by the lagging party! Alas!"

Heldon was not "constipated" for too long. He made a decision quickly and executed it quickly.

So two minutes later, Pablo Vitali, the main central defender of Sofia United, stood on the sidelines, waiting to go on the field. The fourth official next to him was fiddling with the buttons on the number plate, inputting the jersey numbers of the players to be on and off the field.

Seeing this, Zhao Zhou sneered: "It seems that Helden is very satisfied with the score of 1:0. He is ready to strengthen the defense. Alas, a Premier League giant is actually shrinking its head in the face of a Championship team..."

Then he saw the fourth official fiddle with the electronic number plate and hold it up. Two sets of numbers were clearly displayed on it:

4
9
Zhao Zhou was stunned and didn't even finish his words. He couldn't believe his eyes.

4 is the number of Pablo Vitali who is about to play, and 9 is... Wang Lie!
It was Wang Lie who had just been substituted on twenty-four minutes ago!
"No, buddy...did you dial the wrong number? Did you type 6 instead of 9?" Zhao Zhou, who was still confused, reflexively thought of a reasonable explanation.

Sofia United did have a number six player on the field, and that was their defensive midfielder Andreas Liers.

Although it didn't seem very reasonable to withdraw a defensive midfielder and replace him with a central defender, it was more reasonable than replacing Wang Lie who had just been substituted in the second half, right?

Zhao Zhou, a part-time commentator, was not the only one who was shocked. Even Connor Cowley, a famous English commentator, did not understand the logic of this operation:

"Substitute Wang? Why? It's fine to replace him with a central defender to strengthen the defense. But why replace Wang? Although Wang didn't score any goals or assists after he came on the court, the offensive changes he brought to the team were still very obvious... The key is that Wang was just substituted in the second half, and now he is replaced again. What kind of operation is this?"

The TV broadcast camera quickly focused on the protagonist Wang Lie. Wang Lie in the camera had a surprised expression on his face, staring at the audience with wide eyes, as if he couldn't believe it.

"No...are you really changing? Old Deng, are you serious?!" Zhao Zhou, who had come to his senses, almost roared in the live broadcast room. He even put the name he used to call Helden in private out in the open.

"Change to Brother Wang! What are you thinking?! Are you addicted to using Brother Wang to establish your authority? Do you think I'm giving you face?!"

Zhao Zhou seemed to have forgotten his current identity, and these words were actually inappropriate to say.

But no one held him accountable.

Because at this moment on the domestic Chinese Internet, the angry Wang Lie fans cursed even more harshly than Zhao Zhou.

Sven Helden's 18 generations of ancestors and all the female relatives of his family were greeted countless times. Even Chi Zhen's fans had to temporarily avoid the spotlight.

Because the insults are so dirty, they will not be shown here.

In the broadcast camera, Wang Lie pointed at himself and repeatedly asked the audience whether he should be substituted.

Then the broadcast camera cut to the sidelines. Helden stood aside with his arms crossed, with almost no expression on his face. But the first assistant coach Norbert Demos next to him kept hooking his hands and nodding at the court, telling Wang Lie with body language and mouth shape:
Yes! That's right! It's you! End!
Demos' voice could not be heard at all in the noisy stadium, but Wang Lie could understand what he meant from his body language.

After getting the confirmation, Wang Lie's heart sank, and then a surge of blood rushed to his head. The mixture of humiliation and anger drove his body to run to the sidelines.

Nearby teammate Pablo Castin reached out for a high-five - a customary gesture when sending a teammate off the court.

But Wang Lie seemed to have not seen him at all, ignored his actions and ran straight past him.

From the broadcast perspective, Wang Lie's actions made Castin a little embarrassed because he stood there motionless.

But in fact, Castin's performance was not embarrassing at all. Because he saw the ferocious expression on Wang Lie's face when he came towards him - he was stunned by fear!

Coming to his senses, he realized that Wang Lie was not going to die at all!

He quickly turned around and looked back, and saw Wang Lie had already run to the sidelines. But he did not step out of the court, but stood on the sidelines, roaring at the coaching bench!
※※※

"Why did you replace me?! Why?!"

Wang Lie stepped on the white sideline, looking past assistant coach Demos and glaring at head coach Helden.

In the close-up shots of the TV broadcast, the spitting particles were clearly visible.

Helden did not respond, but his assistant Demos stood in front of him and explained to Wang Lie: "We need to strengthen our defense..."

"Bullshit!" Wang Lie cursed at Demos, but his eyes were always on Heldon, because he knew who made the decision, so it looked like he was scolding Heldon - but it was true.

"Bullshit! We need to attack! We need to attack more than ever before!" Wang Lie said angrily.

Someone nearby saw that Wang Lie was showing signs of losing control of his emotions, so he came up and tried to pull him away.

They were really afraid that Wang Lie would rush forward and hit Helden in the chest - after all, the intensified conflict between the two was almost an open secret within the Sofo United team.

Wang Lie shook off the second assistant coach Danilo Lindsay who was trying to pull him away, and continued to stare at Helden and argue:
"Dreytin is clearly gaining momentum, and we can't stop him by just defending! We need to use a strong attack to push them back! Even if we can't score, we can make it difficult for Dretin to score! Instead of being like now..."

He stared at Helden, but Helden didn't look at him. Instead, the first assistant coach Norbert Demos confronted him: "This is the coaching staff's decision, Wang! You should obey the coaching staff! Anyone can be replaced, why can't you?!"

※※※

Wang Lie rushed to the sidelines but did not leave the field. Instead, he quarreled with the coach, a scene that attracted everyone's attention.

Not only the fans and players from both teams were at the scene, but the TV broadcast also focused on the Sofia United coaching bench.

The commentators couldn't hear what they said exactly, but they could guess some clues from each other's expressions and body language.

England commentator Connor Cowley exclaimed: "Wang doesn't seem to be ready to leave the field! He is roaring at assistant coach Demos... It can be seen that he is very dissatisfied with Helden's decision to replace him early!"

Zhao Zhou said excitedly, "Brother Wang couldn't stand it anymore! Brother Wang angrily scolded Helden's lackey Demos! This is how it should be! Why did you replace my brother Wang? This substitution is definitely wrong! It's targeting Brother Wang! If the tiger doesn't show its might, do you think my brother Wang is Hello Kitty!"

The reason why he was so excited was that he had been feeling depressed for too long. As a die-hard fan of Wang Lie, he had been feeling a sense of suffocation since Sven Helden came to Sofia.

Now that he saw Wang Lie explode, he also wanted to take the opportunity to vent his anger.

As a die-hard fan of Wang Lie, Zhao Zhou felt very happy about what Wang Lie was doing at the moment, but not many commentators shared the same view as him.

For example, after exclaiming, Connor Cowley criticized Wang Lie in a serious tone: "I can understand Wang's feelings, and I also think this substitution is worth discussing. But no matter what, as a player, he should not have argued with his coach in front of so many people on the sidelines! He did this completely disrespectfully to his coach, and he seemed to be trying to put himself above the entire team...

"This is the same as the relationship between players and referees. No matter how unfavorable the referee's judgment is, the player has no right to yell at the referee. Even if it is a misjudgment, the player must accept it. If there is anything, you can appeal to the referee committee after the game, instead of having a 'debate' with the referee while the game is in progress! Now Wang is obviously trying to debate with Helden. Does he want to force Helden to change his mind?"

There are also many commentators who enjoy watching the fun.

"Ooooh! Look what happened?! The King seems to refuse to be replaced?!"

"As everyone knows, the relationship between Wang and Helden has always been tense. However, on the surface, both sides have generally maintained a decent attitude... But I never expected that Wang would choose to show his hand in the competition! This is simply too explosive! Of course, considering the usual impression Wang gives people, it is more surprising that he can endure until now..."

"There are many fans behind the Sofia United coaching booth, all holding up their phones to take photos. You can imagine that they will wait until the game is over... No! Before the game is over, there will definitely be various short videos of this incident on the Internet! I didn't expect that an ordinary FA Cup match would actually have such a good show!"

Not only the fans in the stands, but also the photographers on the sidelines pointed their camera lenses at the Sofia United coaching bench to record what was happening.

Reporters in the media seats also poked their heads out, looked down, and took out their cell phones to record the scene.

It is entirely conceivable that after the game, this mid-game episode will take over and become the highlight of the game.

Everyone knows that this is "big news"!
※※※

"This decision is wrong! We need to maintain enough offensive deterrence! I can help the team! My performance after coming on the court has proved it!"

Wang Lie poked his chest and roared at the expressionless Helden.

Helden ignored him, and Demos didn't know what to do, so he stood by and shook his head. To be honest, he was a little afraid of the man who was furious. After all, in the past ten years, he was the symbol of this club and a well-deserved legend.

Now they have become the focus of the whole stadium, and the game has been interrupted. Demos did not dare to go up and force the club legend off the field.

The second assistant coach Danilo Lindsay, who had just been freed by Wang Lie, stepped forward again: "Wang, calm down! No matter what, you can't do this in public... If you have anything to say, we can communicate after the game is over..."

Wang Lie could not give face to Demos, but he could not not give face to Lindsay who had fought side by side with him, so he turned his head to look at him and explained in an urgent tone: "We might lose after the game!"

Lindsay shook her head slightly: "We are still ahead..."

Before he could finish his words, he saw the referee running over.

The referee on duty for this game asked rudely: "So gentlemen, what's the situation now? Substitution or no substitution?"

Demos quickly went to explain to the referee: "Change, change, we need a substitution! We'll be ready soon..."

On the other side, Lindsay saw that Wang Lie had no intention of coming down, and fearing that he would lose his temper at this time, he hurried forward and hugged him, and whispered to him: "You are not only the oldest player in this team, Wang, you are also the pride of this team! Now they are all looking at you..."

Wang Lie turned his head and looked around. Whether it was the Sofo United players on the field or his teammates on the bench, they all cast their eyes over here at this moment.

Some people panicked, some gloated, and some avoided his gaze when he looked over.

"Danilo, believe me, if you replace me now, we can't win. This substitution proves to Dretin that we are scared! This is a cowardly substitution! This is suicide!"

After staring at Helden and saying these words in a vicious tone, Wang Lie did not continue to make a fuss. He pushed Lindsay away again and walked off the court.

He walked straight to the player tunnel without even high-fiving teammate Pablo Vitali who was waiting on the sidelines.

Then, amid the noisy atmosphere mixed with boos, he lowered his head, walked down the stairs, and gradually disappeared into the corridor entrance.

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(End of this chapter)