The strongest blade in football

Chapter 2 Physical Fitness Test
On May 2009, 5, the whole city of Liege was immersed in joy.

The bars in the street were packed and there was celebration from morning to night, Standard Liege was crowned again!
They defeated Anderlecht with one goal in the last game of the League Championship play-offs at the Dufrasen Stadium, winning the League Championship for two consecutive years.

Anderlecht is the mortal enemy of Standard Liege. For two consecutive years, Anderlecht has been placed in the second position, which makes the Liege people very satisfied.

Walking on the street, Wang Nuo could feel the crowds pouring out of the celebrations. They sang loudly and put their arms around each other's shoulders. It was as lively as a carnival in February.

Someone notices the jersey on Wang Nuo's body, and they will come over and pat him on the arm affectionately, and pull him to sing along——

"Punch from Liege, traitor from the south, weep Jacobs!"

"The Red Army (Standard Liege) rises, great, brilliant, invincible!"

There are many conflicts between Walloons and Flemish people in Belgium. In the eyes of Flemish people, Walloon people are lazy and greedy, and they are naturally idle and unwilling to work.

The Walloons, on the other hand, believed that the Flemish people were treacherous and petty, with no backbone, and they surrendered at the slightest disagreement in previous historical events.

As a buffer zone in the middle, Brussels, although it is the capital city, cannot please both sides.

Wang Nuo had played for Brussels, but he was a junior player at Standard Liege, so he smiled at them and gave them high fives.

This happened three times along the way, and I arrived at the youth training base a little later than the agreed time.

Wearing a light blue shirt, the U19 echelon fitness coach Van Boer was already waiting at the gate.

Seeing Wang Nuo galloping over from a distance, he clapped his hands vigorously, "Hurry up, I'm just waiting for you."

Wang Nuo ran out of breath, "I'm sorry sir, the street is too busy today, so I wasted a little time."

"Come in." Fan Boer pouted behind him, signaling Wang Nuo to follow.

The two walked through the hall full of various team honors, went out from the side of the building, and walked through two training grounds to the rehabilitation center.

This place is in charge of the physical examination. Three young people have already gathered at the door, two white men and one black man. It is obvious that they are all waiting for Wang Nuo.

So Wang Nuo apologized again.

"Hi Asian boy, Japanese? I like your anime."

One of the tall white men looked at Wang Nuo with sparkling eyes, apparently misunderstood.

Wang Nuo shook his head.

"Korean?" He looked a little disappointed.

"Chinese." Wang Nuo replied, "My name is Wang Nuo. I played in Brussels for a while and moved to Liege in the spring."

"Wow, that's cool, Chinese, you have the audacity to say you're from Brussels. If you couldn't have said that two years earlier, you would have been isolated."

"But it's okay, now they don't care, Standard Liege has won the championship again, no one will embarrass the defeated opponent, right... huh?"

The tall young man was a little outspoken, and he restrained himself after being warned by Van Boer's eyes.

Seeing that Van Boer walked away, he continued, "Just kidding, my name is Issel, and I'm from France."

Before Wang Nuo could raise any questions, Iser continued to speak impatiently.

"Don't make a fuss, it's normal to come from France, it's not surprising at all, people always look down on the youth training in Belgium, thinking that the youth training here is, how do you say that word..."

"Fend for yourself," the black player next to him interjected.

"Oh, yes, fend for yourself, and there's a saying that Belgium's young stars are being nurtured by other countries - 'put their eggs in someone else's nest', is that true? Hmm? Obviously not!"

"Standard Liege has invested 600 million euros in youth training this year. The numbers will not lie. The youth training here has changed. I believe what I see with my eyes is not what I hear with my ears. The Belgian Junyan does not need to go to the Netherlands and France. Or Germany!"

"But now everyone doesn't understand why young French players can't come to Belgium? The French youth training team is already crowded like tomato baskets in a supermarket. Moderate competition is great, but too much competition may not be a good thing. Only we understand this. A little, so only we are smart people!"

After all, Iser looked at Wang Nuo and the other two partners, and blinked meaningfully.

"You know, France is not so easy to mess with. I used to be in Marseille, in the famous..."

"Hey, be quiet." Van Boer had already walked out, and he glared at Issel.

It wasn't until Iser bowed his head in embarrassment that he hooked his index finger at Wang Nuo and the others, and emphasized, "Remember, your task today is a physical test rather than a small talk. I'm welcome to talk too much!"

They nodded quickly and walked in.

Wang Nuo has been here once before, and that time was a medical examination before signing the contract.

But this time, it is mainly to test their physical fitness and other aspects to see if they can start training with the team.

The rehabilitation center is a two-story building. When they entered the large room on the first floor, a middle-aged blonde woman in black sportswear greeted her.

She first asked several people to measure various physical indicators on the body fat meter, and then introduced the main content and precautions of this physical test to Wang Nuo and the others.

After the introduction, the first run is a timed switchback run, where you complete a 20-yard sprint before the bell, then turn back and complete the 20-yard sprint before the next bell, which is a back and forth.

Rest for 5 seconds, start a new back and forth, and so on.

It looks simple, but Wang Nuo has tasted the pain of this thing many times and is quite familiar with it.

The frightening thing is that this kind of test is accelerated, faster and faster each time. The first half of the test is aerobic, and the second half is almost at the maximum heart rate without oxygen.

If the anaerobic endurance is poor, waiting until the final countdown is like a reminder, very strong.

The familiar bell rang, and the four of them were all "battle-tested" guys, and they didn't try their best too early to maintain their own rhythm.

However, due to the high level adjustment (according to the lady just now, it is basically the Premier League standard), so after only four turns, everyone felt the pressure.

Wang Nuo plays as a winger and shadow forward, and occasionally plays as a full-back. What is needed most in such a position is explosive power and the ability to run up and down.

He usually pays attention to physical training, and his monthly running volume is more than 200K (kilometers). Even so, this test has made him suffer a lot.

By the time of the seventh turn, he had to take a big breath. By the time of the No.11 turn, the lactic acid accumulated on his legs had made his steps heavy, and he still had to speed up!
It is worthy of the strength of the Premier League players.

It is said that the top level of the Premier League is [-] turns. Wang Nuo gritted his teeth, ignoring the heart that was about to jump out of his chest.

No.12 and No.13 turned back, and Issel and another white player couldn't hold on and quit one after another.

The two guys were lying on their backs on the ground, gasping for breath as if they lacked oxygen.

Van Boer was a little disappointed with them. With such an intensity, at least fourteen turns would be considered qualified.

Wang Nuo and the black players were still struggling. By the time No. 16 turned back, Wang Nuo was already desperately relying on his physical instincts.

He couldn't hold it anymore, but his strong willpower didn't allow him to give up.

Swallowing down the bloody smell in his mouth, Wang Nuo's mind went blank.

In the end, he staggered to complete the No. 17 switchbacks, but unfortunately, the bell had already rang ahead of schedule.

He was eliminated.

The black player also fell to the No. 18 return and did not get up again.

Van Boer saw everything in his eyes. The performance of the black players was in his expectation, but Wang Nuo was beyond his expectation.

He knew that Wang Nuo was a Chinese-Belgian mixed race, but it was not easy to achieve this level of intensity sixteen times.

Not to mention the youth team, even in the first team, there are many people who cannot reach this level.

Different locations require different anaerobic endurance standards, and the purpose of this time is to test their limits.

Wang Nuo left a good impression on Fan Boer.

After resting for 10 minutes, Wang Nuo and the others recovered most of their strength.

Next, electrodes were attached to their heads and legs, and they were tested on a treadmill.

There will be a video next to it, and a vibrating metal insulating object is attached to the sole of the foot, which grinds the foot.

The blond woman in black joked with a smile: "We carry millions of volts of electricity in our hands. Everyone's life is in our hands. Even if your feet are worn out, you must tie them tightly."

Wang Nuo and the others walk and run at various ranges and speeds on the treadmill.

After some tossing, the staff got several densely packed data.

The last item is - massage, which means that there will be rewards after the hard physical examination.

Van Boer got the physical test data of the four people and glanced at them sloppily. There were no major problems, and he was quite satisfied.

So, he only said a word to the four newcomers of Standard Liege U19 who were enjoying a full-body massage, and left.

"At ten o'clock tomorrow morning, gather at the No. [-] training ground. You will participate in the first formal training session. Don't be late, lads."

(End of this chapter)