The strongest blade in football

Chapter 26 Youth League Opener
On the afternoon of August [-], the sky was cloudless, sunny and muggy.

It took a lot of effort for Marney to squeeze into the court.

Obesity is one thing, and on the other hand, today's audience is simply too much.

Mani never imagined that a Belgian youth league could make the stadium with [-] seats look overcrowded.

You know, last year's statistics of the U19 Youth League had an average audience of only 300 people.

The afternoon sun was a bit dazzling, he wiped the greasy sweat off his face, narrowed his small eyes into a slit, and tried hard to find the player in his mind.

As a result, nothing was seen.

He came a little late, the players had already warmed up and went back to the locker room to change their jerseys.

There were only a few staff left on the field to clean up the ribbons scattered on the ground.

On the sidelines, the broadcaster was debugging the machine, and the fans chatted in a mess. The auditorium was equipped with seats, but everyone was used to watching the game standing.

Mani is a part-time scout who is active in various stadiums in Wallonia. He does not belong to any club and is only responsible for selling information to several big clubs for a meager salary.

Of course, that is temporary, Mani has already obtained the business license of the corporate legal person, and has prepared a professional liability deposit.

He is preparing for the FIFA player agent exam. If he passes, he will put aside his part-time scout job and concentrate on being a player agent.

A player agent has more "money prospects" than a small scout.

Maney fanned the file bag on his hand like a fan, waiting patiently for the players to come out.

Of course, he was not idle. During this period, he chatted with some fans around him, and soon confirmed that the name of the target of this trip was indeed Wang Nuo, a Chinese.

"Do you know man, we have all played football with him, last month he played amateur games every day, I heard that he is now the new main force of the U19 echelon!"

After hearing this, Mani nodded, feeling a little relieved. It took him half an hour to drive here from Verviers.

Wouldn't it be a joke if the subject of the investigation couldn't show up?

Mani knows some well-known players in the standard Liege echelon, but he has never heard of the Chinese player until he watched a video a few days ago.

A friend in Cologne showed Mani a video of a youth team friendly match, which the friend had recorded himself.

The two sides of the game are Cologne U19 and Standard Liege U19, and this video is only a few minutes.

The camera was a little shaken and even blurred, but this did not prevent Mani from being shocked and impressed by the excellent footwork skills of an Asian player.

Mani watched the miraculous extraordinary in the video more than a dozen times, and he couldn't sit still.

Out of the sense of a scout, Mano reckoned that this Asian boy was still unknown, and he could be regarded as a full-fledged potential stock.

He decided to go and see for himself.

Mani thought in his heart that if Wang Nuo had no obvious technical defects and Standard Liege didn't intend to focus on cultivation, then it was entirely possible for him to step in and operate something in the middle.

Taking a step back, even if I can't do anything myself, I can get some benefits by feeding back Wang Nuo's information to scouts from other big clubs. After all, I am a Chinese.

A burst of cheers from the fans around him interrupted Marney's thoughts.

Mani quickly stood on tiptoe and stretched his neck. He saw the players came out of the locker room and stood in line on the field.

Manny searched the players on the field for a while, and found the target.

Wearing the No. 11 home jersey, Wang Nuo held a freshly plucked grass in his mouth. After shaking hands with Bruges U19 players, he was waiting for team captain Vianne to choose a side.

The standard Liege home jersey has always been red, and they are also known as the Red Devils of the Belgian league.

Looking around, Wang Nuo was very satisfied with the atmosphere in the stadium.

The stands are close to the stadium, nearly 1000 spectators, most of them are local fans, come for the standard Liege echelon, and Wang Nuo can clearly hear their cheering.

On the east side of the stand, a huge flag stretched out against the wind, seven meters long and five meters wide, revealing the red and white shield emblem, representing the spirit of the standard Liège—tenacity, hard work, and protection.

Normally, this gigantic flag would only be seen in the south stand in Dufrassen.

But today's situation is different. Since Walloon Sports [-] and Flemish Super Sports Channel will conduct video commentary, fans will make a decision, and a team of hundreds of people will come to cheer!

They are the most professional fans and diehards of the club. Everyone wears a red No. 12 jersey, which means the No.12 of the team.

They raised the red scarves in their hands above their heads, and the uniform team song soon resounded throughout the audience.

After picking the side, Vianne, the captain, gathered his teammates together, and just a few words aroused everyone's emotions.

Eleven people folded their palms together and pressed down violently.

"Fight!" the players shouted.

With the whistle of the referee, the game started.

"Every audience in front of the TV, you are watching the opening game of the Belgian U2009 Youth League in the 2010-19 season, the home game between Standard Liege and Club Brugge, with Dibent explaining for you, and now the game has begun. "

The commentator Dibent did not come to the scene. Such small games are usually explained remotely through the broadcast signal on the screen.

Since the youth league didn't get much attention, he didn't seriously prepare for the game. It was purely out of coping, and he even read the list of players on the screen according to the subtitles given on the screen.

"Let me first introduce the starting lineups of both sides in this game."

"Standard Liege has the customary 433 formation."

"The goalkeeper is No. 1 Morris, and the four defenders are No. 13 Olevega, No. 3 Langte, No. 28 Goodman, and No. 33 Huzai."

"The three midfielders are No. 8 Cargill, No. 16 Fancourt, and team captain No. 10 Vianne."

"On the forward line, No. 7 Pelli partnered with No. 11... Wangono, who served as the left and right wingers, and the forward was No. 29 Lebia."

As soon as the commentator finished introducing the lineup of Standard Liege, in an old house in Uccle, Brussels, seven or eight young people gathered in front of the TV immediately burst into ridicule and complaints.

"Damn it, what kind of rubbish commentary is this?"

"I actually got Wang Nuo's last name wrong. It's WANG, not Wan Ge."

"This commentary must have regarded Wang Nuo as someone from somewhere else."

They were all Wang Nuo's teammates when he played football in Brussels, and they have a good relationship with Wang Nuo.

Wang Nuo was also the first in their group to "go on TV", so they spontaneously gathered together to cheer for Wang Nuo.

At the same time, Wang Zhongshi in China also had a ridiculous expression.

In order to watch his son's game, Wang Zhongshi specially pulled a light rod, hired an "Internet expert" to help him climb over the wall to a foreign website, and paid a fee.

Even so, the screen still faltered, so he turned off his mobile phone to exclude all external disturbances. This was the first time he watched his son's game online.

The commentator Dibent didn't realize his mistake, and lazily reported the starting lineup of the Brugge team.

At this time, the game has been played for two or three minutes.

Bruges U19 can be regarded as a strong team in the youth league. Last season, they finished fourth in the youth league, ahead of them were Anderlecht, Mechelen and Standard Liege.

Perhaps it was because of the away game, and the five players in last year's main lineup were overage, and some went to the first team, which made Brugge's lineup at the beginning of the season a bit thin.

At the beginning, Brugge's style of play seemed very conservative. They adopted a 451 formation, and the midfielders defended intensively, leaving only a very fast No. 10 to counterattack.

They handed over the ball to Standard Liege, a defensive posture.

Standard Liege naturally accepted it. As a team that pays attention to ground coordination, Standard Liege's style of play is delicate and changeable. Under normal circumstances, mastering the possession of the ball means being more active and playing at their own pace.

"Oh, this is really a distinctive game. The players of Standard Liege were very excited and launched a fierce attack at the beginning."

"Captain Vianne frequently put in assists, and the two full-backs seemed to be unable to bear the loneliness, and their positions were raised very high."

"In contrast to Bruges, their defensive positions are extremely cautious. It seems that they planned to defend and counterattack from the beginning..."

"Look, twice in a row, breaking the ball is a big kick, what a simple and rude way of kicking!"

Cargill's through ball passed to Wang Nuo was intercepted by Brugge's No. 6 midfielder, and a big kick drove to the backcourt of Standard Liege.

Bruges No. 10 Yildum is a Turkish immigrant with a strong body and a typical defensive counterattack weapon.

He ran quickly towards the point where the ball fell. Fortunately, the right back Oliviera did not get lost and rushed to control the ball in front of the opponent.

This is already the second defense danger since the opening.

Last time, it was also Bigfoot looking for Yildum, who was behind Standard Liege.

Bruges did not have more than three people to counterattack, but the effect was surprisingly good.

"It was a dangerous counterattack. It seems that Brugge's anti-counterattack tactics are not as bad as imagined. They sounded the alarm for Standard Liege."

The commentator Dibent expressed his opinion, "If No. 10 got the ball just now and faced Standard Liege's defense, it would be troublesome."

At the same time, Witt Ante also kept reminding his disciples on the sidelines.

"Pay attention to the accuracy of passing!"

"Langte! Pay attention to your position, don't be hit behind by the opponent!"

Compared to Brugge's defensive counterattack, Standard Liege had more chances.

Fancourt and Perry in the left frontcourt almost tore apart the opponent's defense after two consecutive passes. Unfortunately, Fancourt's strength in the last pass was a little weaker, resulting in the ball not being passed.

Wang Nuo also got several opportunities to get the ball, but his playing style has changed. As long as it is not an excellent time to break through, he will give priority to passing the ball, which is more in line with the team's overall style of play.

Standard Liege kept swaying near the center line, seemingly carelessly, but actually looking for loopholes in the opponent's defense line all the time.

(End of this chapter)