Team Spirit

Chapter 233 Lu Kai Enters a Cool-Down Period After Winning a Grand Slam of European Trophies

Sky Sports: "Lu Kai takes the lead in Green II, leading the team to two championship trophies in half a season!"

BBC: "Europa League! UEFA Cup! Champions League! UEFA Super Cup! Club World Cup! Lu Kai leads Dartford to a grand slam of European trophies!"

France Football: "Except for the now-defunct European Cup Winners' Cup, Lu Kai has won every European club championship!"

AS: "Lu Kai – this man has won every European club honor he could!"

Bild: "Datford have accomplished everything they could for the season, and even the most demanding fans can't find anything to complain about with their current form and results!"

According to Dongqiudi: "Lu Kai's five goals put him far ahead of the competition, earning him the title of Best Player and Top Scorer at the Club World Cup."

Dartford filled a void by winning the Club World Cup for the first time in club history, much to the delight of their fans.

As a result, the London sky turned green again.

Some fans even booked out buildings and decorated them with green lights at night to celebrate the Green Gunners.

December 22nd, EFL Cup quarter-finals.

Green Guns vs. Bolton.

The match was very close at times.

Green Gun is clearly not in good form.

Even Lu Kai, who had been performing exceptionally well all along, finally showed signs of fatigue.

Ultimately, Lu Kai secured the victory with a penalty kick, narrowly defeating Bolton 2-1.

They advanced to the semi-finals alongside Manchester United, Arsenal, and Wigan Athletic.

From December 26th to January 2nd of the following year, in just one week, Dartford experienced an astonishing four Premier League matches.

While everyone else is celebrating Christmas, the Premier League is playing Christmas Day matches.

While other leagues are preparing for their winter break, the Premier League is actually having an even more packed schedule right now.

For the sake of commercial value and broadcasting fees, the Premier League's bad habit of not giving players a winter break is really not friendly to them.

During this period, Green Guns had three losses and one win.

They lost to Aston Villa, Liverpool, and Sunderland.

They only managed to defeat their "good brother" Charlton Athletic.

Southgate's family really gave her face and offered help in her time of need.

Sunderland narrowly won the match against Sunderland, with the Man of the Match being Elvis Markov, a player from the Green Guns.

As for the matches against Liverpool and Aston Villa, the Green Gunners suffered heavy defeats.

If the schedule hadn't been slowed down later, Green Gun might have continued their losing streak.

In all three games in which Green Gun lost, Lu Kai failed to score a single goal.

They then went on a goal drought that lasted 270 minutes.

The pass and shot weren't completed until Charlton Athletic arrived.

Lu Kai was originally leading the Premier League in goals by two or three rounds, but now in 21 rounds he has "only" scored 19 goals and provided 5 assists.

Efficiency is greatly reduced.

Henry: ? ? ?
Drogba: WTF?

Lampard: Have some decency!

Gerrard: F*** you!

And the Premier League's mid-season champions this season are none other than the unstoppable Chelsea.

……

Although there is no winter break, the FA has been trying to find a solution to this problem in recent years.

There were very few matches during this year's winter break.

If you're lucky, you can have a match every week, which is almost like having a holiday.

Unfortunately, Green Gunners weren't very lucky; they managed to stay in the EFL Cup.

With the FA Cup approaching, they are still very busy.

Ashley Young took a break from his busy schedule and drove Lu Kai to the "Pond Convenience Store" to collect payment.

This is the global flagship store of "Green Gun Tea Princess". The store has been expanded since the team moved away.

After Lu Kai and Ashley Young got out of the car, they found a thin black teenager wearing a jersey loitering at the door.

Ashley Young confidently walked over and greeted the other person: "Hello, I'm Ashley Young."

He was all prepared to sign autographs for the other party.

Judging from his appearance, he should be a fan from out of town.

How can we let such devout believers leave empty-handed when they come on a pilgrimage for tourism?

"Hello, I……"

Before the other person could speak, Ashley Young interrupted, "That's right, it's Ashley Young. You can also call me Deputy Dogt!"

The other person smiled and said, "That's great, please take me with you..."

Ashley Young stuck the signed note on the other person, then pushed them away: "Next fan, please come over..."

“He’s not a fan.” Lu Kai came over, shook hands with him, and then introduced him to Ashley Young, “He’s our new signing from the winter transfer window. His name is Thiago Silva.”

Ashley Young was taken aback: "Another Thiago? No, you mean this is our new signing? But he's even thinner than Crouch!"

Lu Kai looked at Thiago Silva.

Who would believe that this skinny boy could become one of the world's best center-backs in the future?

Last season, Thiago Silva went to Europe to pursue his dream.

But they couldn't stay.

He was sold to the Russian league this season and joined Dynamo Moscow.

An even worse situation ensued.

He contracted tuberculosis, and not only did he miss a few games, he also spent the entire six months on his sickbed.

Due to a prolonged lack of exercise, his physical condition has declined significantly and he is far from meeting the standards of a professional player.

Having just recovered from a serious illness, he was disheartened and prepared to retire.

His agent, however, did not give up on him and actively tried to find him a club in the Brazilian league, as if nothing had been possible.

Before any news came from Brazil, London sent out an invitation instead.

Green Guns have invited Thiago Silva to join their team.

Do you think he could refuse?
And so, Green Gunners acquired Thiago Silva, a player considered "reimbursement-level," for 200,000 euros.

If Lu Kai hadn't wanted to avoid any further complications, the price could have been pushed even lower.

However, Thiago Silva didn't explain clearly when he arrived in London, and the driver thought he was going to the team's old site and took him to the wrong place.

"You're saying he's a center-back?" Ashley Young, holding his milk tea, looked at Thiago Silva incredulously.

The two are about the same height.

Ashley Young has a darker complexion and is of more authentic lineage.

In terms of strength, Ashley Young now far surpasses Thiago Silva.

Players who are physically weak can barely play as forwards or midfielders, let alone defenders.

Ashley Young's questioning severely damaged Thiago Silva's self-esteem.

They need encouragement right now.

Since Ashley Young looked down on Thiago Silva, the two didn't talk much along the way.

On the contrary, after visiting the Green Gun Museum, Modric was very enthusiastic towards Thiago Silva.

Modric plays in a league with a similar style to the Russian Premier League, and the two quickly broke the ice.

Green Gunners did not make any further moves in the transfer market this winter.

Finally, they kept a low profile.

The FA Cup kicked off on January 7th.

Dartford easily defeated lower-league side Cheltenham 4-0 at home.

The two teams had a history of playing against each other. "Violent Duff," the cornerstone of the original Green Gunners defense, was a player discarded by this team.

When Cheltenham played in the fifth tier, Chelsea were still in the ninth tier, considered younger teams. Now Chelsea are winning the Champions League and playing in the Premier League, while Cheltenham have come full circle back to the fifth tier.

From this perspective, it is quite a small miracle that a semi-professional team has made it to the third round of the FA Cup.

It's just as good as the Green Gun back in the day!
The outcome of this match is not important. Even if Lu Kai sits on the sidelines as a substitute and does not play at all, Green Guns still cannot lose.

But from start to finish, the game in Cheltenham was no different from playing at home – cheering, applauding, applauding, interacting with the audience, circling the field, taking photos, and so on.

The program was made to be extremely entertaining.

After the game, they immediately approached all the Green Guns players and exchanged jerseys.

The young players of the second phase of the Green team were fine with this situation, and even used to it.

But Lu Kai, Ashley Young, Barton, Alfred, Kylo, ​​Vardy and others couldn't help but sigh.

They saw a reflection of themselves in Cheltenham.

"We did the same thing to Chelsea's players that year, didn't we?" Barton laughed.

Ashley Young added: "And that's not all. It was the same with Manchester City... and Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool... their shirts are worth a lot of money."

At least five Cheltenham players surrounded Lu Kai, lining up to exchange jerseys, making sure the world's number one player's jersey was taken.

That scene was no less dramatic than when Green Gunners forced football superstars to exchange jerseys.

Lu Kai surrendered early on, which allowed him to escape.

This would make for some great footage.

Lu Kai then took more pictures of Liu Shishi and said to Liu Shishi and the camera, "When we were drawn in the third round of the FA Cup this year, the people at Cheltenham were ecstatic."

"The related news quickly rose to the top of the trending topics list that day."

"Over the years, they have been reported by the media very few times. The most recent time was when Duff transferred to Real Madrid, and a media outlet casually mentioned Duff's background in the Cheltenham youth academy."

Liu Shishi asked, "Why?"

Lu Kai: "For a semi-professional team like theirs, the annual operating cost is at least several hundred thousand euros, and sometimes as much as one or two million euros."

"But their sources of income are few. Players are basically not worth much, and prize money from matches is meager."

"Sponsorship is practically nothing, but it often only helps to supplement household expenses."

"Breaking even at the end of the year is considered good; it's hard to expect to make a profit."

"But by playing a match against us, they can earn over a million euros in ticket sales and broadcasting revenue. They won't have to worry about money for the next two or three years, so how can they not be happy?"

"After we drew with Chelsea, we made it to the second leg at Stamford Bridge, where we were thrashed 5-0 by Chelsea."

"But after the game, we went out for a big meal. It was that money that really made Green Guns rise to prominence!"

Liu Shishi was so moved that tears streamed down her face.

"Okay, click click click!"

Seeing that the filming was almost finished, Lu Kai quickly went over to check the footage he had just shot, praising Liu Shishi as he watched: "You're great, Shishi."

"Your acting skills are good enough to go into movies."

"That tear fell so beautifully, um...it was perfect..."

……

January 10th, the first leg of the EFL Cup semi-final.

Wigan Athletic vs. Manchester United.

Dartford will play away against Arsenal.

Another Arsenal derby!

The EFL Cup is Arsenal's domain and has always been a training ground for them.

This time is no exception.

Wenger fielded a rotated squad in an effort to improve performance in the Champions League and the league.

But the red team narrowly defeated the green team 1-0.

The EFL Cup semi-finals are played over two legs.

Logically speaking, a score of 1-0 doesn't offer much of an advantage.

This seemingly simple match has sparked heated discussions in Europe.

Because Lu Kai started in this game, and his performance was not good.

Mundo Deportivo: "Lu Kai suffered a defeat in his first match of the second half of the season, and his world-class form is slipping away!"

Daily Sport: "One effort, then decline, then exhaustion! Lu Kai, having stopped, may no longer have the strength to carry Dartford forward!"

Sky Sports: "Lu Kai's restart fails? Will the world's number one fall from the world stage?"

After disappearing from the public eye for just one match, Lu Kai was put under intense scrutiny.

The following week, Dartford played three consecutive Premier League matches.

Three victories in three battles.

But all of them were minor victories.

Secondly, luck plays a part in everything.

Ribery's header, Vardy's easy goal, Vidic's miraculous volley... it's all so mysterious.

Lu Kai, on the other hand, went on a goal drought of 270 minutes.

Their form has clearly declined significantly compared to the first half of the season.

Now everyone knows that Lu Kai is tired.

"In just six years, Lu Kai has participated in far too many matches." A reporter from World Sports Daily spoke out for Lu Kai for the first time, seemingly impartially. "In addition, he won the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards for the second consecutive year. He has all the honors he should have, so naturally he has become complacent."

"It is said that Lu Kai's training time has decreased significantly."

"He is spending more and more time on business activities."

"Although he doesn't go to nightclubs, standing on the front desk for business events is much more tiring than going to nightclubs."

"On the contrary, my son Ronaldinho has been working hard, maintaining a clean record, and training diligently. He has already prepared himself for the Champions League title this season!"

The Daily Sport also stated: "We acknowledge that Lu Kai once stood briefly at the pinnacle of football, but his era has now passed."

"A new era belongs to Ronaldinho! It belongs to Eto'o!"

Gazzetta dello Sport: "A new era belongs to Adriano, to Kaká!"

Tuttosport: "A new era belongs to Amorim, to Ibrahimovic!"

Manchester Evening News: "A new era belongs to Ronaldo, and to Rooney!"

A large group of exceptionally talented individuals have re-emerged.

Some of what these media outlets said is true.

That's because Lu Kai had too many past competitions, and after a long period of intense overtime work, he needed a considerable amount of time to relax.

This "lying flat" refers to a sustained low state of mind.

This is actually the normal situation; many people experience this, but they are unaware of it due to a lack of long-term data monitoring.

However, professional athletes can use continuous data to observe their fluctuations in performance and even adjust the periods of fluctuation to ensure that they are in the best competitive condition during the most important period of the season.

Women also experience discomfort for a few days each month; no one can defy the laws of nature.

However, the fact that Green Gun managed to win at this time means that Green Gun Phase 2 is finally on the right track. Even without Lu Kai's strong support, they are no longer a disorganized mess.

January 24th, EFL Cup semi-final second leg.

Dartford will host Arsenal.

Arsenal were full of confidence, and Wenger fielded his strongest lineup.

The key word is stability!
This arrangement was absolutely unexpected.

They rotated their squad in the first round, but after taking the lead, they fielded their main players in the second round.

This shows that Wenger initially had no interest in the EFL Cup, but now he considers it his for the taking.

Playing two full-strength matches in the EFL Cup is Wenger's bottom line.

However, Wenger was unaware of this.

This season, the EFL Cup is Dartford's bottom line.

Lu Kai would spare no expense, even sacrificing his precious Moment Card, for the EFL Cup.

(End of this chapter)