Soccer: If they're using these kinds of cheats, what's the point of training?

Chapter 95 Rooney is having a lot of fun

On July 17, Manchester United played their first pre-season friendly.

The opponent is Scottish Premiership giants Celtic, and the match will be held in Toronto.

Ferguson's starting lineup was: Van der Sar; O'Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra; Valencia,

Scholes, Carrick, Nani; Rooney, arrogant.

Berbatov was on the bench, as was Irving.

Although they have started practicing the new formation, Ferguson does not intend to show it to the public and will continue to use the old formation to mislead outsiders.

Before the match, Ferguson pulled Zhang Kuang aside and said only one sentence.

"Remember what I told you, keep a low profile until the summer transfer window closes."

Zhang Kuang nodded.

"Score one goal, assist one goal, and then I'll substitute you in the second half."

"clear."

After the match started, Manchester United had a high possession rate, but their attacking pace was slow.

Zhang Kuang roamed the attacking third, sometimes drifting to the left, sometimes to the right, sometimes acting like a center forward, without the frantic sprints and forceful breakthroughs he displayed at Auxerre. He focused more on dropping back to receive the ball, making lateral passes, and combining with his teammates in short, short passes.

He looks like a free agent in the frontcourt, not in a hurry at all, as if he is working on integrating with his teammates.

In the thirtieth minute, the opportunity came.

Evra made a run down the left flank and delivered a cross to Zhang Kuang inside the penalty area.

He received the ball with his back to goal, but Celtic's center-backs marked him closely. Instead of forcing a turn, he passed the ball back to Rooney, who was following up, and then turned and made a run into the penalty area himself.

Rooney didn't try to score; instead, he played a through ball that passed between two defenders and found the onrushing Zhang Kuang perfectly.

It has to be said that Rooney's one-two passing game with his teammates is incredibly smooth, which is one of the things that makes Rooney so strong.

Zhang Kuang met the ball head-on and shot, pushing it with the instep of his foot, the ball rolling along the ground into the bottom right corner of the goal.

1: 0.

Zhang Kuang didn't celebrate; he simply high-fived Rooney and ran back to his position.

Ferguson stood on the sidelines expressionless, but he was very satisfied. The goal was a beautiful combination, but the player's arrogant individual ability was not fully displayed.

It looks like a typical spot-grabbing game in front of the gate, nothing particularly special.

This is exactly the effect he wanted.

In the 40th minute, Zhang Kuang received the ball on the left wing, facing Celtic's right-back.

Instead of forcing his way through as usual, he made a feint, causing the defender to lose his balance, and then delivered a low cross.

The ball found Rooney accurately in the penalty area, who controlled it and unleashed a powerful shot that found the back of the net.

2: 0.

Zhang Kuang provided the assist.

Ferguson nodded slightly on the sidelines.

Halftime score: 2-0.

At the start of the second half, Ferguson substituted Berbatov for Zhang Kuang.

Zhang Kuang sat on the bench, draped in a towel, his expression calm.

The Celtic coaching staff were discussing something on the bench. They were analyzing Manchester United's new signing, but their conclusion was: this Chinese player is indeed good, but not outrageously so; he just has a very good ability to seize opportunities.

This is exactly what Ferguson wanted. I guess not only the Celtics' coaching staff thinks so, but the outside world probably thinks so too.

Both sides made numerous substitutions in the second half, and Celtic eventually scored again, with Berbatov also finding the net.

The final score was 3-1, with Manchester United easily securing their first victory in the pre-season friendlies.

On July 21, Manchester United flew to the United States.

The first stop is Kansas City, where the opponent is Philadelphia Union.

The match was held at Arrow Stadium in Kansas City, with over 30,000 spectators in attendance. Most were local American fans, but there were also many Manchester United supporters who had traveled from various places, including several Chinese people waving Chinese flags.

When Zhang Kuang saw the five-star red flag in the stands, his heart stirred.

He didn't show it, just glanced at it again, then looked away and focused on the game.

In this match, Ferguson used the same tactical arrangement as the previous game: Zhang Kuang still started, and the forwards made free runs.

Zhang Kuang executed the task meticulously.

In the 23rd minute, he received a pass from Rooney outside the penalty area and scored with a long-range shot.

In the 40th minute, he crossed from the left wing, assisting Ferdinand to score with a header.

The first half ended with another 2-0 score. The score was being controlled too deliberately, but that's how it is, and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

In the second half, Zhang Kuang was substituted.

Sitting on the bench, he heard someone in the stands calling his name in Chinese.

"Arrogant! Arrogant!"

He turned his head and saw a Chinese boy in his early twenties, wearing his Manchester United jersey with the number 33, holding a small national flag and shouting at the top of his lungs.

Zhang Kuang nodded at him, then turned back.

After the game, he signed autographs and took photos with the fans who came to support him.

Of course, he also managed to book a few post-match health packs, as he hadn't had any for several days and his training had been interrupted.

So, for the next two days, Zhang Kuang would sneak out of the hotel without attracting anyone's attention.

There's nothing we can do about it; he's become incredibly agile now, and the range of his soundproofing spell has increased, allowing him to block out his voice.

On July 23, Manchester United moved to Houston.

Their opponent is the MLS All-Stars—a team composed of the best players from each Major League Soccer team.

The game was held at Reyland Stadium in Houston, with nearly 40,000 spectators in attendance.

The competition proceeded as scheduled.

Zhang Kuang scored a goal in the 30th minute—heading in a cross from Valencia inside the penalty area.

He didn't celebrate after scoring; he simply high-fived his teammates and ran back to his position.

The first half ended with the score tied at 1-0.

In the second half, Zhang Kuang was substituted.

The final score was 1-1, with the MLS All-Stars equalizing in the 80th minute.

Ferguson didn't care about the result; it was just a warm-up match. What mattered was that no one was injured and that the arrogant "performance" didn't reveal any flaws.

After the match, Zhang Kuang returned to the hotel, took a shower, and changed into clean clothes.

Rooney was already waiting for him, wearing a flashy shirt, spraying cologne, and with his hair slicked back.

"Hey bro, where's the guy you were meeting?" Rooney asked as he saw Zhang Kuang come out of the elevator.

"What's the rush?" Zhang Kuang patted his shoulder. "Let's go eat first."

The two left the hotel and got into a taxi they had booked in advance.

Rooney asked, "Where should we eat?"

"Why ask so many questions? Just follow me. Don't worry, I won't trick you into going out and selling you."

"No, please sell me, but I have one condition: don't sell me to a man, and don't sell me to an old woman over 50. Although I also liked older women, that was many years ago. Now I like women under 50."

"Damn, you mean you don't mind that he's over 40?"

"What's there to complain about? You don't know how good these aunties are, let me tell you—"

Zhang Kuang shook his head and smiled, ignoring him completely.

When we arrived, it was just an ordinary commercial street in a villa area. Is this what commercial streets in wealthy American neighborhoods are like? What's so special about it?

The streets here look ordinary, with no special features to be seen.

Rooney followed Zhang Kuang into a restaurant with a blank expression. The restaurant was small but exquisitely decorated, with warm yellow lighting and small vases on the tables, like a family-run Italian bistro.

"You brought me here to eat?" Rooney looked around but didn't see anything special.

"Eating is secondary; the main thing is meeting people," Zhang Kuang said.

"Whom are you going to see?"

You'll find out soon enough.

The two sat down and ordered. Rooney ordered a steak, and Zhang Kuang ordered a pasta dish.

After a short while, three women pushed open the door and walked in.

Rooney looked up and almost spilled the water he had just drunk.

There were three women: one with black hair, one with blonde hair, and one with brown hair. All were over 1.7 meters tall and had near-perfect proportions. The blonde woman wore a black slip dress, and the brown-haired woman wore a white shirt dress. Both wore light makeup and didn't look like the kind of people you'd just bump into on the street.

Rooney's eyes widened.

Zhang Kuang stood up and waved to the two women.

"Over here."

Three women approached and arrogantly introduced them in English: "This is Wayne Rooney, I'm sure you've seen him on TV, the Manchester United striker, my friend. This is my friend Sofia. Sofia, please introduce your companions."

The blonde one is named Emily, and the brown one is named Daisy.

Zhang Kuang shook hands with Amy and Daisy, and Rooney stood up and shook hands with each of the three of them, his palms sweaty.

"Hello, nice to meet you."

The five people sat down, and the three women ordered more food, then started chatting and eating.

Zhang Kuang is a very good conversationalist. When he talks about movies—not the superficial kind of "what movies have you seen?", but a deep conversation that actually yields meaningful content.

"Have you guys seen Inception?" Zhang Kuang asked.

"I've seen it," Emily said. "I've always loved Nolan's films."

"Did you notice that this movie is actually about football?" Zhang Kuang started spouting nonsense.

"What? Talking about football? Seriously? I didn't see that coming from?"

"The dream layers in movies are actually quite similar to the tactical layers in football matches?" Zhang Kuang said. "The outermost dream layer is the individual ability of the players, the second layer is the local coordination, the third layer is the overall tactics, and the deepest layer is the psychological game. Nolan used four layers of dreams, and football matches are also actually four layers."

Emily's eyes lit up as she listened.

"Your perspective is very interesting. This is the first time I've heard someone use such a metaphor."

Rooney listened, completely bewildered. He had seen Inception, but he only remembered that there were many explosion scenes; he didn't understand anything about the layers of dreams.

This is actually a technique for attracting women. You take a novel approach to deconstruct a common-sense concept and present it in a logical and well-supported manner. That's how you attract women.

Zhang Kuang continued chatting.

They talked about music, from Michael Jackson to Beyoncé, from rock to the rise of hip-hop.

"The rise of hip-hop music is not accidental," Zhang Kuang said. "It's in sync with the globalization of the NBA. Black culture has spread to the world through both sports and music, which is one of the most interesting cultural phenomena of the late 20th century."

Sofia nodded: "I like Jay-Z."

"Jay-Z is a business genius," Zhang said arrogantly, "but he's not the best rapper. The best rappers are 2Pac and NotoriousB.IG, but they're both dead."

Sofia laughed: "You're quite knowledgeable."

Rooney sat beside him, unable to get a word in edgewise, but his eyes gleamed with adoration as he looked at the arrogant man.

He doesn't understand film art, music, or cultural phenomena. He's just a football player—no, he's almost too ashamed to even mention the ball. The Chinese striker sitting next to him can score more goals, understands art better, and is a better conversationalist than him.

He felt like a fool.

Strangely, apart from Emily, the other two women didn't cling to her just because she was arrogant and eloquent.

Towards the end of the meal, Sofia and Daisy started asking Rooney questions instead.

"I really like how you play football. You have a lot of power, and you scored a lot of those long-range goals, all of them with great force."

Rooney was taken aback, not expecting anyone to ask him a question.

"Huh? Really?" he said. "Yeah, I like to practice boxing, so I'm pretty strong."

"Really? No wonder you're like a bull." Daisy excitedly poked Rooney's muscle. Rooney laughed, and with that laugh, his honest and simple nature came through.

"Hehe, that's because I like physical contact. I think it's especially wonderful when flesh hits flesh."

Sofia leaned in too: "You like physical contact? You said the feeling of flesh hitting flesh is especially wonderful, I totally agree! I think that's the most beautiful melody of humanity. How do you train? How many abs do you have? Can I touch them?"

The conversation shifted from Rooney's forte of culture and art to his strengths in football and fitness.

Rooney finally felt a sense of purpose and began to talk at length about his training methods, his strength statistics, and his experience in physical confrontations on the field.

The three women listened intently, their eyes holding something Rooney recognized: admiration.

No, it's not worship.

It is appreciation.

Zhang Kuang watched this scene and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

He deliberately brought up topics that Rooney wasn't good at, not to show off, but to give Rooney a psychological suggestion that "I need to perform."

Once Rooney's expectations have dropped to their lowest point, the two women will then steer the conversation toward areas where Rooney excels. Rooney will then feel a sense of validation, thinking, "They actually pay attention to me."

This isn't some profound psychology; it's simply about creating opportunities for your friends.

After finishing their meal, the five people walked out of the restaurant.

Emily took Zhang Kuang's arm, while Sofia and Daisy took Rooney's arm.

"Wayne, is your hotel far from here?" Daisy asked.

"Ah, no—not far." Rooney's voice trembled slightly.

"Let's go to your place and chat. I'd like to hear you talk about playing football."

Rooney glanced at Zhang Kuang, who shrugged.

Zhang Kuang: "Then you guys continue chatting. Emily and I have things to do, so we won't keep you company."

Rooney gave Zhang Kuang a thumbs up, indicating that Zhang Kuang was sensible.

That day, Rooney gave it his all, wanting to prove he was even better than the Bulls.

Zhang Kuang, on the other hand, went to cultivate. This training camp caused him to waste a lot of time that he couldn't cultivate.