Team Spirit

Chapter 244 Ragnarok World Cup

The transfer window had barely opened when two major deals involving Shevchenko and Amorin were completed.

The departure of Serie A's top star and the new Portuguese king officially kicked off the collapse of Serie A.

Italian Serie A stars are leaving to join other leagues.

However, only Serie A saw frequent player transfers; other leagues' top clubs, aside from picking up bargains, did not make large-scale signings.

Firstly, for two or three consecutive years, everyone was fed up with green guns.

Which top team doesn't have a player like Green Gunner on their roster?
There are even quite a few teams that use Celtics players as their core and cornerstone.

It is indeed very useful; you only need to cultivate it, and there is no need to replace it.

On the other hand, this year's World Cup started early, and everyone wants to see how the players perform in the World Cup.

After all, the recruitment of players in this era has been overly influenced by the World Cup and the European Championship. As long as a player performs well in a major tournament, countless teams will spend a lot of money on him.

It was a real gamble.

Stanley announced the final 23-man roster for this year's tournament on television early on: "This list is in no particular order... The first one selected is Lu Kai from Dartford!"

The fans cheered with joy.

What a fine list, with no particular order!

Up front, there are also Irving, Rooney, Crouch, and Vardy.

The midfielders are Beckham, Lampard, Gerrard, Joe Cole, Hargreaves, Carrick, Barton, and Lennon.

The defense consists of Ferdinand, Terry, Ashley Cole, Campbell, Gary Neville, Ashley Young, and Carragher.

The goalkeepers had the worst performances, with Robinson and Foster performing inconsistently and failing to fully satisfy the fans.

And the last goalkeeper they squeezed in was none other than the young Green Gunner, Joe Hart.

Although he is three months older than Aaron Lennon, the youngest player on the team, considering the special nature of the goalkeeper position, he should actually be the least experienced player on the team.

It is widely believed that Joe Hart's selection was due to back channels.

The England squad is undeniably impressive.

They have the strongest midfield in the world on paper.

Leaving aside Lu Kai and Beckham, Gerrard and Lampard have both come very close to winning the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year awards in the past two years.

The momentum of players like Joe Cole, Carrick, and Hargreaves is not much different from that of DeRozan and Aldridge.

However, anyone familiar with the England team knows that their weakest point is actually their midfield.

On the contrary, the reserve players who failed to make the roster are the truly splendid ones: Downing, Walcott, Bridge, James, Davis, Lescott, Duff, Sherry... There are talented stars and key players from top teams.

Unfortunately, the competition within the team is too fierce, and anyone whose physical condition is slightly off is rejected by the national team. We can only hope that one of the 23 players will get injured and withdraw from the national team.

Irving: ? ? ?
……

Germany is the host of this World Cup.

Brazil was considered the favorite to win the tournament before the competition, boasting the magical quartet of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaká, and Adriano.

Robinho, who was also one of the four top players in the Confederations Cup, has already been excluded from this list.

The second favorite is England. They have won three consecutive world championships, have a stable squad, and are currently in a strong position.

With just one World Cup away, this group of players, led by Lu Kai, will have achieved a Grand Slam.

Although Lu Kai has only been with the team for three years, everyone knows that the current England team is Lu Kai's team.

After all, it was the same group of people before, who had never even achieved good results, let alone won any honors.

Moreover, Lu Kai, currently the world's number one player, is in excellent form this season, scoring 69 goals and becoming unbeatable in Europe!
Spain, Argentina, and Portugal are considered the third favorites.

Italy's popularity has waned due to the Calciopoli scandal, and they are generally not favored.

The French team has the oldest average age of all participating teams. Stars such as Zidane and Makelele retired after the 2004 European Championship, resulting in a sharp drop in the French team's performance. They had to come back and were forced to rely on their veteran players.

It would be strange if they were to be viewed favorably.

Before the World Cup officially began, the England team performed very well in several warm-up matches.

However, they declined the invitation to a friendly match from the Chinese national football team.

After all, Lu Kai didn't want the England team to suffer losses before the match.

Our national football team's scissor tackles and flying tackles are hard to describe in actual matches, but they are absolutely injuring people in training matches.

The French team ignored the advice and played a friendly match against the Chinese national team.

As a result, striker Cissé suffered a broken leg at the hands of Zheng Zhi, and from then on, he became known as Zheng Zhi.

The French team had to call up Trezeguet, who was not in good form.

On the England side, the media has also deduced their approximate lineup for the World Cup finals based on the squad composition.

Sky Sports: "Stanley is insane! DeRozan and Aldridge might not be in the starting lineup!"

BBC: "England has confirmed its 4-3-3 formation, with Lukay and Beckham as the fixed starters in midfield, and Carrick and Hargreaves competing for the last spot!"

Manchester Evening News: "Lampard's wife publicly attacked Stanley's player selection, arguing that Lampard should not be on the bench!"

The Sun: "A female model who claims to have had an affair with Lampard said that Lampard once complained about Lu Kai's suppression of him in the England team."

The leak of related information caused a huge uproar.

These news reports were clearly deliberately released to disrupt the morale of the England team.

England's regular formation is 4-4-2, which reflects their team characteristics of having fewer quality forwards but more quality midfielders.

However, at Stanley Kelly's insistence, England opted for a 4-3-3 formation, reducing the number of midfielders.

Lu Kai, who mainly plays as a striker this season, has surprisingly returned to midfield, taking up another position.

Players of "world's top three" caliber, such as Da Ying and Derrick Rose, were all on the bench.

It can be described as extravagant.

A hotel in Germany.

Boom boom boom!
“Kai, it’s me.” Ashley Young knocked on Lu Kai’s door.

"Come in." Lu Kai was looking at today's training data; England's first World Cup group stage match was the day after tomorrow.

Ashley Young, carrying a laptop, boasted, "Lu, I discovered that the news about Lampard privately criticizing you was deliberately leaked."

"Look, I've already found this person's information."

"His online name is 'Lampard 20-year fan'."

Lu Kai looked at Ashley Young: "Why does this username sound so familiar? I remember this 'Twenty Years' series guy always making fun of me and our Green Guns."

"Are they a group of people or just one person?"

Ashley Young replied without hesitation: "One person."

Lu Kai looked at Ashley Young: "How did you know?"

Ashley Young's eyes darted around: "Uh, I mean, it looks like the same person. But the name is easy to copy, so I think this 20-year Lampard fan is fake."

"Someone did something bad and then deliberately found a scapegoat."

"This is absolutely outrageous!" Lu Kai: "You mean spreading fake news and disrupting team harmony is outrageous?"

Ashley Young: "No. I mean, using someone else's ID is disgusting."

Lu Kai: ???
Ashley Young then opened another page: "I've found this person's address, and he's currently in Croatia."

"I think we should appeal to UEFA, use official means to find this guy, and punish him severely."

Lu Kai nodded, walked over and poured a bag of Nestlé coffee into a cup: "Do you want coffee?"

"Seriously, Lu? You're drinking this cheap stuff? It's instant coffee, so low-class." Ashley Young, a seasoned temporary worker at a milk coffee shop, had a good eye for coffee and immediately started talking about Blue Mountain Espresso. "Besides, it's so late, don't mess up your biological clock and affect your performance in the game."

"The key is that if you use boiling water to brew coffee, it will affect the taste and even destroy the flavor..."

Lu Kai had just finished brewing the coffee and thought Ashley Young's words made a lot of sense, so he poured the scalding hot coffee onto Ashley Young's laptop.

Suddenly, with a series of crackling sounds, the computer screen went black.

“Wang Defa?” Ashley Young stared in disbelief.

Lu Kai asked, "Your computer isn't waterproof, is it?"

Ashley Young wailed, "Of course!"

Lu Kai smiled and said, "Then I'm relieved. When we get back to London, I'll buy you a new one, the one with better specs."

Ashley Young wasn't about to give up: "Lu, do you know how much study material is on this computer? The problem is, those websites I bookmarked are hard to find!"

Lu Kai added, "It's said that the latest laptops have faster internet speeds and smoother streaming."

Ashley Young immediately excused himself: "It's a deal! I won't bother you any longer."

Ashley Young beamed with joy as he stepped outside.

Trading an old computer for the most expensive and newest laptop on the market is a steal!

The learning materials can be downloaded again.

He had already memorized those websites perfectly.

Lu Kai, you deserve to lose money!
After Ashley Young left, Lu Kai dialed a number: "Hey, Luca, let's take a break for a while, wait for my notification..."

The next morning, Lu Kai ran into Lampard at the hotel restaurant.

It looks like Lampard has been waiting for quite a while.

"Lu, you're here for breakfast too?" Lampard's smile was fake; it was obvious he wanted to see Lu Kai.

Lu Kai was prepared for this and took out a small box from his pocket: "Frank, Liu Shishi from our club went shopping yesterday and bought some necklaces. I was thinking of giving them to everyone."

"This is for Allen."

Alan Rivers, Lampard's wife.

Lampard's dissatisfaction with England's lineup came from an interview she gave.

And it wasn't just this year; she had the same complaints in the previous two years as well.

Lampard's expression changed, and he immediately said solemnly, "Lu, to be honest, I absolutely did not say those words. Please don't take them to heart."

"Allen was misled by the host. There are always a lot of people trying to ruin the friendly atmosphere within our team, you know..."

"In fact, as long as I can contribute to the team, I am 100% willing to do so even if I am on the bench."

"After all, we all share the same goal."

Lu Kai laughed heartily and gave Lampard a big hug: "Of course I don't believe those lies. We're comrades-in-arms, and I know your character."

Let's work together for the World Cup trophy!

News of Lu Kai and Lampard's friendly meeting spread throughout the team and around the world on the same day.

As soon as Lampard stepped out of the restaurant, reporters were already waiting to interview him.

"The Voice of Green Guns: Lampard deserves respect for his willingness to sacrifice himself for the England team and sit on the bench!"

Kent Post: "All for the team! Lampard truly deserves to be called one of the best midfielders in England's history! It's a pity that his technical characteristics can't create chemistry with this England starting lineup!"

Lampard's problem has been resolved.

The pressure fell on Gerrard.

Gerrard soon gave an interview, saying he was willing to compromise for the team and wouldn't rule out sitting on the bench.

The long-standing problem of Gerrard and Lampard has finally been completely resolved – both have been relegated to the bench.

That evening, Stanley spoke with his stepfather about the “crisis within the England team.”

Stanley: "This is really lucky. I thought this would blow up the locker room and my job as head coach would be over."

"After all, this year's Shuangde is not the same as the Shuangde of previous years."

A few years ago, De Bruyne and Gerrard were somewhere between rising stars, club-favored core players, and famous British stars.

He's famous, but his status isn't that high.

But this year, both Gerrard and Lampard achieved their highest world rankings of second and third, transforming themselves into formidable forces and showing potential to become the "helmsmen" of the England team.

Lu Kai is ultimately an outsider, and the future symbol of Great Britain will inevitably be one of the two virtues.

Beckham was the previous symbol, but it has been confirmed that he will leave the team after this tournament, and the team's dominance has actually been handed over to Lampard and Gerrard.

It can be said that, whether it's a three-man or four-man midfield, Gerrard, De Bruyne, and Beckham are the undisputed starting midfielders for England in this World Cup.

It's even stronger than before.

Father Shi: "You really think this is luck?"

Stanley: ? ? ?

Father Shi: "This news was most likely leaked by Lu himself."

Stanley: "Huh? Why?"

Shi's father: "Because Lu Kai is currently the only player who can make Lampard and De Bruyne back down temporarily. Only if there is a conflict with him will Lampard relent on the issue of making him a substitute."

"As soon as he gave in, he was immediately praised by the media, putting Gerrard in a very difficult position, and he had no choice but to give in as well."

Stanley: "But why? Gerrard and Lampard have higher reputations than in previous years, which actually means that their athletic ability is stronger than before."

"They can make England stronger, so why did Lu completely squeeze them out of the starting lineup?"

Mr. Shi expressed regret over his son's sensitivity to the situation: "This shows that, in Lu's view, this competition is more difficult than previous ones."

“He needs a team that can help him, not one that makes him clean up the messes of certain players. In order to balance Lampard and DeRozan, the team's lineup will be affected.”

Stanley: "You mean, in this tournament, Lu can't carry Gerrard and Lampard, so you're going to persuade them to retire? Make them accept their substitute status?"

"But isn't this competition mostly for old men?"

"What did the football expert say again? Right, Ragnarok!"

Father Shi nodded: "Stories always feature young talents, but reality often plays the melody of the undying old soldier... Never underestimate the fighting power of a veteran."

"At least in Lu Kai's view, this is the most difficult World Cup ever."

(End of this chapter)