Football: I am only 16 years old, and you want me to retire and make a comeback?

Chapter 388 How Professor Lippi Teaches Middle School Students (Thanks to Ragnarous for the generous donation!)
Dongqiudi pinned post: The friendly match between the Chinese national football team and Brazil is underway, with the current score 0-1, China trailing.

Keep it up!

[Wu Lei is doing well; why wasn't he this dominant in the previous two games?]

The Chinese national team's attack has found its rhythm, but Gao Lin and Yu Hanchao are still far behind.

[You still have to look to Tang the Ball King, he's rock solid!]

The Chinese national football team has a corner kick opportunity. Zhang Xizhe dribbles the ball towards the corner flag.

Snapped!
A corner kick!
First point of view!
"I come!"

Tang Ye jumped up and headed the ball!
But Alisson knocked him out!

"Holy crap, haha!"

Back on the ground, Tang Ye shook his hand: "What a pity, just a little short."

The opportunity was quite good, it's a pity that I didn't seize it.

The second corner kick was headed away by Miranda.

The game continues!

It's now the 34th minute of the first half, and Brazil is slowly picking up the pace of the game.

The Chinese team players are under tremendous pressure right now!

clap clap!

Neymar and Coutinho executed a one-two pass, with Neymar ultimately cutting inside with the ball.

Neymar's target is the top of the penalty arc for the Chinese team.

But Tang Ye will definitely not let him succeed.

Zheng Zhi defended against the first wave of attacks, and then Tang Ye quickly returned to the scene.

Tang Ye often uses Neymar to dribble past opponents in FIFA, so he knows Neymar quite well.

Seize the opportunity!

Tang Ye stretched out his leg to try and steal the ball, but failed!
Neymar, change your rhythm!
We've entered the restricted area!

With a gentle tap, Neymar successfully scored.

2: 0!

Brazil has widened the gap!
"Neymar is still agile." Let me see...

"However, I think the Chinese national football team did quite well to maintain a 0-2 lead at this point."

Wang Chao had a feeling.

That means the Chinese national football team can open Brazil's goal.

But this is just a feeling; the actual situation depends on how the Chinese national team's attacking line performs.

"come on!"

Neymar and Tang Ye clapped hands, then began to retreat.

Shaking his head, Tang Ye was thinking when Captain Feng Xiaoting walked over with Lippi's tactics.

"Let's play faster. Find a tactic that suits you. It's okay to concede a few more goals."

"okay"

Looking at the players opposite him, Tang Ye's mind raced.

Yu Hanchao never seems to think the same way as me, so the only option is to attack the lane where Wu Lei plays.

Manchester United only attack Rashford's route.

The Chinese national football team will only target Wu Lei's path.

hiss……

Tang Ye always felt that the Chinese national football team and Manchester United were somewhat similar.

And they're all red teams!

It looks so much like it, holy crap!
42nd minute of the first half!

China's direct free kick opportunities will still be handled by Tang Ye.

hiss--

call……

Snapped!
Smash the door!

But it flew away!
"Ha ha"

Shaking his head, Tang Ye laughed at himself for making that play.

"Amazing"

Neymar gave Tang Ye a thumbs up.

"Hey, it's just too slippery, the next one will be in!"

……

Dongqiudi Halftime Report: In the warm-up match, China is 0-2 behind Brazil.

"call……"

Tang Ye followed Wu Lei into the locker room, and he seemed to be in a good mood.

"Although we haven't played against each other before, I feel we played much better than in the previous two games."

The warm-up matches played a role.

If we improve a little bit in every game, the Chinese national football team will be able to join the ranks of the strong teams when the World Cup finals come around!

"Still far from it."

Madaloni gestured for everyone to sit down first, and Lippi returned shortly afterward.

"Do you know why our opponents always have the advantage? It's because they outnumber us in both offense and defense. That's the benefit of a fast pace."

Lippi carefully moved the magnetic flag on the tactics board.

Tang Ye tilted his head.

Mr. Marcello speaks very slowly, and sometimes Tang Ye is really worried that the 15-minute halftime break won't be enough for him.

"When we're attacking, that's attacking. The full-backs and center-backs all need to move forward, yes, they all need to move forward."

"I think the best approach for us right now is a balanced offense and defense. Our overall strength is weaker, so we should focus on outnumbering our opponents."

Lippi gestured: "When we're attacking, we have one more player than our opponents, so we have a greater chance to launch an attack."

Lippi's understanding is quite insightful.

Regardless of the difference in strength, as long as there is an objective difference in the number of players, China can gain an advantage when facing strong teams.

Gulu gulu!

Tang Ye took a sip of water and remembered this key point.

There wasn't much to say, so there were still a few minutes left after the tactics were explained.

Lippi was quite laid-back, simply letting the players rest during the extra time.

At that moment, Madaloni pulled Lippi aside and they whispered something to each other.

"Sir, I think we should bring on Zhang (Zhang Yuning). It would be easier to exploit a numerical advantage, and Zhang has some heading ability; he specifically trained for it at Werder Bremen."

"..."

Lippi squinted, indicating that he would give it a try if the time was right.

Madaloni knew that Zhang Yuning could replace Gao Lin, and Lippi, as the head coach, was certainly aware of this as well.

The problem is that, compared to the younger Zhang Yuning, Lippi prefers to trust the experienced Gao Lin.

Even though Zhang Yuning is a substitute center forward for Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga.

While Madaloni and Lippi were talking, Tang Ye was also whispering to Wu Lei.

The second half of the game started very quickly!

Snapped!
Tang Yechang passed the ball directly to Wu Lei!

Stop the ball!

This time, Wu Lei did not disappoint Tang Ye's expectations, and managed to control the ball with his foot.

He dribbled the ball forward himself.

They're sending a message to Zheng Zhi.

The moment Zheng Zhi received the ball, Tang Ye immediately called for it.

Give it to Zhang Xizhe again.

Tang Ye pointed to the left baseline and suggested a quick passing move down the middle.

Yu Hanchao: ?

Yu Hanchao accelerated forward, while Tang Ye dribbled the ball towards the left flank.

Lift your foot!

Just when everyone thought Tang Ye was going to send a through ball to Yu Hanchao, he suddenly twisted his left foot and sent the ball directly into the penalty area.

The ball was given to Wu Lei, who cut into the penalty area from the right!
"Damn, there's a chance!"

"Wu Lei!"

Snapped!
With a powerful shot into the near corner, Wu Lei successfully opened the scoring for Brazil.

"Wu Lei! The score is now 1-2."

"China wins a game."

"That felt good, guys!"

Fans expect that they will succeed as long as they don't concede five goals in this match.

Surprisingly, the Chinese national football team not only avoided conceding five goals, but also managed to breach Brazil's goal!
"Brother Lei!"

Tang Ye raised both hands and gave Wu Lei a high five: "You've found your rhythm, haha!"

really.

Tang Ye's judgment was correct.

If he wants to launch a deep attack, he has to rely on Wu Lei.

Although Wu Lei's shooting and ball control are somewhat lacking, his ability to make runs and find opportunities is still very reliable!

"come on! Come on!"

Lippi's voice came through, and the Chinese team made their first substitution at that moment.

In the 52nd minute, Zhang Yuning replaced Gao Lin!

[Is Gao Lin logging off already?]

Gao Lin's performance in these three games has been average. Zhang Yuning played better as a substitute in the last game against Saudi Arabia.

[The problem is, Zhang Yuning is only 20 years old...]

Why don't you just say Tang Ye is 19? Why don't you make Tang Ye a substitute?

Uh, okay.

"Tang Ye!"

Zhang Yuning ran onto the court, his face beaming with excitement: "Remember to pass me the ball!"

"Haha, it's okay!"

Tang Ye raised his hand in a gesture.

Brazil made significant changes at this point, with Casemiro and Neymar being substituted in succession.

Although the substitutes were replaced, the Chinese national football team did not dare to let their guard down at all.

Because Brazil's substitute midfielder and substitute forward are Fernandinho and Firmino respectively!

"Tom, aren't you going to log off yet?"

Neymar raised an eyebrow at Tang Ye, then pulled Tang Ye and ran directly towards the substitutes' bench.

"Haha, get out of here, get out of here!"

Tang Ye shook off Neymar's hand: "You get off the field now, and I'll equalize the score right away."

Neymar pointed to his eyes: "I was right there watching you equalize the score."

"Ha ha"

Shake your head.

Of course, talking about tying the score is just bragging.

However, Tang Ye will try his best to finish the remaining time, that's for sure.

"Tom!"

"viva TomTom!"

As the fans in the stands raised their voices, Tang Ye dribbled forward through the middle.

Wu Lei came over to receive the pass!

"okok!"

Tang Ye and Wu Lei executed a one-two pass.

Received a pass back from Wu Lei!
Snapped!
Lob the ball up into the penalty area! Zhang Yuning!
Header!

A header from the Chinese national football team's center forward.

Zhang Yuning did a good job in the aerial duel, but because he was interfered with by the opposing defender, his header lacked power and was easily caught by Alisson.

"Wow, that's awesome..."

Tang Ye chewed his gum, somewhat surprised by Zhang Yuning's performance.

The Bundesliga training was very effective; Zhang Yuning is much better than he was last June.

In the 65th minute, Brazil scored again, making the score 1-3.

Tang Ye walked breathlessly to the sidelines and asked Lippi whether to make a substitution or continue playing.

Lippi hesitated for a moment, but ultimately substituted Tang Ye.

"Hey brothers, let's make a change. Wei Shihao replaces Tang Ye."

"Is Lippi going to play Wei Shihao as an attacking midfielder?"

"It's a bit of a pity. I was hoping the Chinese national football team could score another goal against Brazil."

Back on the bench, Tang Ye leaned his head close to Madaloni.

"Fuck!"

Madaloni instinctively covered the notebook with his hand, but released it after realizing it belonged to a player on his team.

"What's wrong, Tom?"

"It's alright, I was just looking. Sir, please don't be nervous, I'm not a bad person."

Tang Ye offered words of comfort, then turned his attention back to the court.

After Wei Shihao came on, China did not start playing defensively, but continued to attack under Lippi's instructions.

From the moment the friendly match against Brazil was scheduled, Lippi never intended to end the game with a good score.

The offensive rhythm must not be interrupted.

Even if the opponent is Brazil!
……

Dongqiudi Match Report: Brazil defeated China 4-1 in a warm-up match. Tang Ye and Wu Lei successfully opened the scoring for Brazil, while Zhang Yuning and Wei Shihao made impressive substitute appearances.

On-site reporter: After the match, Neymar wanted to exchange jerseys with Tang Ye, but Tang Ye's warm-up jersey was left in Shanghai, so Tang Ye unilaterally obtained Neymar's jersey.

Holding Neymar's number 10 jersey in his hand, Tang Ye returned to the locker room.

"wowhoo!"

"Wu Lei!"

The locker room was bustling with activity.

A score of 1:4 isn't great, but considering the opponent was the classic powerhouse Brazil, it's not bad either.

What's more, Wu Lei did score a goal!

Feng Xiaoting and Deng Hanwen pushed Wu Lei, who plopped down on the stool with a loud thud.

"I rely on?"

The locker room suddenly fell silent. Tang Ye opened his mouth wide and exclaimed, "Brother Lei, you...you broke your bones?"

No, I'm fine.

Wu Lei quickly stood up to indicate that he was not injured.

Tang Ye breathed a sigh of relief, then realized that Wu Lei had just stepped on the cabinet behind the stool, crushing the wooden board.

"Holy crap, mine's mine!"

Wu Lei asked apologetically, "Whose seat is this?"

"Forehead……"

Feng Xiaoting walked over, reached into the cabinet, and pulled out two pieces of chewing gum.

Then there was a red Manchester United jersey.

TangYe
10
Clearly, it was Tang Ye's cabinet that was broken.

"Hahaha!"

"Haha, Tang Ye, your cabinet is broken!"

"..."

"Holy crap, Lei-ge, how could you do this?"

Tang Ye helplessly shrugged and picked up the broken wooden planks from the stool.

I want to put it back.

But it was unsuccessful.

Woohoo!

There was no other way, so Tang Ye had to take out the things from his own cabinet, put half of them in Rhodes' cabinet and the other half in Rashford's cabinet.

"Okay, all done."

Tang Ye clapped his hands, and finished his work.

"Sorry, it's mine."

Although it wasn't a big problem, Wu Lei felt it was still necessary to apologize.

"Haha, it's alright, it's alright, just call someone to report it for repair."

Brother Lei is being too kind.

Tom didn't want his friend to be so polite with him.

……

Tik Tok.

Because of the World Cup, it's easy to see short videos related to football on TikTok these days.

Football bloggers wanted to use the extra buzz surrounding the World Cup on TikTok to increase their follower count, indirectly introducing football to many fans who had never watched it before.

[World Cup 32 Teams Preview: Senegal, the Lions of Tranga (China's group)]

Likes: 2.7.

Senegal, a powerhouse in Africa, is one of the favorites for the knockout stage of this World Cup.

"The starting defender is Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli in Serie A, valued at €6000 million. Koulibaly was an absolute key player in Napoli's runner-up finish in Serie A, and is also the highest-scoring defender in Serie A."

"..."

"In terms of forwards, Senegal's main striker is Sadio Mane, the 'Iron Man' from Premier League giants Liverpool, valued at €7000 million, who is Senegal's number one star player."

"Senegal is an underrated team; they actually possess a very high level of tactical awareness. Compared to other opponents in their group, Senegal's physical gifts are quite outstanding."

"Furthermore, Senegal, with Mane, carries all the elements of an upset."

A total net worth of 3 million euros? How the hell is that even possible?!

There are only two Tang Ye, not many, right?

[The problem is that the Chinese national football team only has one Tang Ye...]

Infantino is truly disgusting; he's got Germany and Senegal as his two representatives, he just doesn't want the Chinese national team to qualify.

[6. You still want to qualify? If the Chinese national football team even qualifies, I'll eat the shit I produced.]

Are there still people watching football?

The atmosphere on Douyin (TikTok) is indeed not good; even though the Chinese national football team qualified for the World Cup finals, they were still heavily criticized.

the reason is simple.

You can tell just by looking at the other three groups of teams in the group stage.

The probability of the Chinese team advancing to the knockout stage is infinitely close to 0!

The day after the Chinese national football team was defeated by Brazil 1-4, GG Masao, the father of GGBond, was interviewed by a reporter from Titan Sports.

"This group is definitely not good, because Germany and Senegal are indeed top-tier teams. My son and I even cheered for the German team during the 14 World Cup."

"But group assignments are one thing; we don't know what will happen once the games actually start."

Tang Zhengxiong slowly recounted the story to the reporter.

"A couple of days ago, a friend suggested I download Douyin (TikTok), saying I could post videos related to Tang Ye, so I downloaded it. Then I saw a lot of idiots messing around in the comments section."

At this point, Tang Zhengxiong suddenly asked the reporter, "Can this be broadcast?"

The reporter was somewhat embarrassed: "This is a live broadcast..."

"Alright then, I'll continue."

Finding that the mistake had been rectified, Tang Zhengxiong simply continued down the wrong path.

"Damn it, they haven't even played a match and they're already saying the national football team will suffer three consecutive losses and go home? If you're so good at predicting scores, why don't you go buy a lottery ticket and get rich? What are you doing wandering around the comments section like this?"

"The most outrageous thing is that there are still people supporting the Japanese team, saying they can easily beat the Chinese team. Can you guys use your brains? Japan and China aren't even in the same group."

"..."

The reporter's vision went black.

"Well, Mr. Tang, having nurtured such an outstanding player, you must have a very good understanding of football. Hmm... In your opinion, what kind of result can the national team achieve in the group stage of this World Cup? Or rather, what kind of result would satisfy the fans?"

"hiss……"

Tang Zhengxiong stroked his chin: "A draw should be satisfactory, but I have a feeling the national team can win one."

"Win a game? Which game?"

"Germany and Senegal are unlikely, but Sweden is a better option. I feel like we should be able to beat Sweden."

Tang Zhengxiong shared his opinion.

"But it's hard to say. In my opinion, the Chinese national football team can beat any team. I'm just a blind fan."

……

At Carrington training ground, Chinese national football team players are having breakfast in the canteen.

"Tang Ye, do you have any yogurt here?"

"No, we only have plain milk. If you want yogurt, you can ask the chef to go out and buy it; just give him a tip."

After taking a big gulp of juice, Tang Ye explained the specific steps to Wu Lei.

"Ugh, the main problem is I don't have pounds. Do they accept RMB?"

"It's okay, Lei-ge. Go to the locker room and find my locker. There's an Adidas backpack inside with money in it. A 50-pound or 100-pound tip is fine with you."

"Okay, thanks!"

Wu Lei turned and headed towards the locker room, while Tang Ye continued his unfinished chat with Zhang Yuning.

"Aren't you planning to renovate? A team like Manchester United should have a more advanced gym, right?"

"I don't know either"

Tang Ye shrugged: "Manchester United's gym isn't as comfortable as Villarreal's, but it's not my business to control the gym, I guess as long as it's usable, it's fine."

"That's true"

Zhang Yuning nodded.

The contrast between Manchester United and his previous work is quite significant.

Players earn tens of millions of pounds a year, yet the stadium and training ground are still showing signs of aging and rust in many places.

Perhaps this is the hallmark of Manchester United?

The morning training session was about to begin, with the Chinese national team players warming up on the grass at Carrington, while Madaloni was having a heated discussion with Lippi.

“Marcelo, you saw it yourself, Zhang is indeed more effective. We need to build around Tom, so the strikers should be chosen based on Tom's characteristics. In any case, Zhang plays in the Bundesliga, so he and Tom will have easier time combining, at least compared to Gao.”

"..."

Lippi frowned, holding a portable tactical board in his hand, and remained silent for a long time.

"Furthermore, I feel our tactics are a bit too complicated."

Madaloni continued, "We can play more decisively, like we did against Brazil yesterday. Tom's long passes are very accurate, and we should make good use of his strengths."

"Actually, for us, scoring goals doesn't necessarily require a lot of passing and possession. We can't beat Germany and Sweden at playing passing and possession."

Madaloni's words make a lot of sense, and this is something that Lippi has been thinking about.

The head coach looked up at the players warming up on the field: "I've spoken to Tom, and he thinks our current tactics are just right for him."

"But the problem..."

Madaloni also looked towards the training field: "What level of player is Tom? And what level of players are the others? The difference is huge. The reason we struggled against Saudi Arabia was because the constant passing around confused the players. Tom was the only one in the midfield with a clear head; the rest of them were like drunks."

Lippi's tactics were excellent, that must be acknowledged.

But because there is a college student in the class, you teach advanced mathematics to the other 22 junior high school students.

This is extremely unreasonable!

Lippi needs to set aside his identity as a university professor and look for something suitable for middle school students.

As for the college student on the team, he is certainly very important.

However, he should not be the student representative of the class, but rather Professor Lippi's teaching assistant.

……

(End of this chapter)