The strongest blade in football

Chapter 71 Before the Game
Days passed, and Standard Liege's winter break preparations were gradually coming to an end.

The team stayed in the mountains of Italy for a full 10 days. Although the nutritionist ensured that the daily food supply included freshly baked pasta, salad, meat and fish, the players were still a little unaccustomed.

The training was so boring that even some players lost weight because of it.

During the 10 days, Boloni only gave everyone half a day off.

Almost everyone made good use of that half day, and no one wanted to stay in a hotel with last century style and facilities.

Wang Nuo went out again with Witsel and Casella, and they rented a car from the hotel.

Casella always had a good idea.

This time, he proposed to go skiing. There is a great ski resort less than a hundred kilometers to the north.

But sadly, they drove the wrong way.

Instead of driving along the east coast of Lake Garda, they chose the west coast, driving through various villages, and by the time they discovered the problem, time had been wasted and the ski plan fell through.

Because the speed was limited to [-] kilometers per hour, they had no choice but to walk slowly through Salo, Berglisk, Gargano, and finally made a big circle and returned to the hotel before dark.

Fortunately, there was an unexpected harvest this time out.

While passing through a village, they came across a wounded wild goat.

If you ask a native Italian what he thinks of goats, he will describe it to you like this -

"An irritable billy goat with a wrinkled face, long horns on its head, and an old soda can chewing on its mouth, you better not provoke it."

The goat in front of the three of them didn't look very old, nor was it that irritable.

Casella is really an all-powerful guy. Wang Nuo guessed that he must have practiced kickboxing. He held the goat's horns and choked the goat successfully to subdue it.

The trio then worked together to tie the goat's limbs with rope and stuff it into the trunk.

On the way back, Casella was so excited that he shared some of his experiences without interruption.

"Do you know that my uncle is a top chef in Morocco, he is good at all kinds of barbecue, and I have learned a lot!"

"There are many ways to eat goats. Some people think that goat meat has a strong smell. It is undeniable that this is true of old goats."

“But kid meat is different, they smell clean, have a grassy and herbal smell, are sweeter and have less fat than beef!”

Just when Casella was talking about being elated, they suddenly felt the car body shake a few times.

Then, there was a continuous sound of "boom", "boom", "boom" from behind.

This sound lasted for several minutes, but no one took it seriously, the trunk was locked, how could a stupid sheep open it?

After they drove back to the hotel and opened the trunk, Casella's face immediately turned dark.

The trunk has a lot of holes poked by goats!

This will cost a lot of money!

"Damn! You sold yourself for a good price!"

Casella scolded the goat viciously, and in a fit of frustration asked the people in the hotel to chop it up.

The next day, everyone ate delicious mutton.

Casella paid the hotel two hundred euros.

Wang Nuo likes this Moroccan guy who is about his age very much. Every time he is with him, he can always experience a lot of fun.

This meal of mutton boosted everyone's morale very well, and everyone spent another two days of hard training.

Finally, winter training is over.

The team flew back to Belgium on January 1 and returned to the normal human world.

The original league match against Anderlecht on the 16th was postponed to 17:2 pm on the [-]th due to some reasons.

So Boloni gave everyone a whole day off on the 15th to allow the players to rest and adjust.

When Wang Nuo returned home, he looked carefully at the mailbox by the door and found a piece of his mail inside.

When it was unpacked, it was a thin booklet with "Emil Special Issue" written on the cover.

The special issue is about a dozen pages, and the printing process is a bit rough, and there are various small advertisements at the end of the booklet.

Wang Nuo rummaged through it, and on the third page, he saw a report about him called "The Fighter from the East".

Wang Nuo read through the [-]-word article with great interest.

Basically, one-third is about the introduction of Wang Nuo's past experience, and one-third is about the fan incident at the Jan Bredel Stadium.

Another third is the photo of Wang Nuo and Amir's accusation of racial discrimination.

At the end of the article, Emil concluded with a bold and enlarged sentence.

"Racism must get out of our sports and out of our society! If you agree with me, please follow my twitter account @Emilesmile87 and participate in my "eating banana challenge"! You can reply below my tweet Eating banana photos! Campaign titled #we are all monkeys”! "

"I will draw 10 people from all the replies, and each will give a mysterious gift! Come and participate, let's fight for justice!"

Wang Nuo did not expect that Emil could make the special issue like this, and combine it with Twitter's online activities. This is a very good customer acquisition model.

Of course, Wang Nuo didn't have any expectations for the effect, but he still added Emile's twitter.

Then, Wang Nuo put away the special issue and didn't study anything related to it.

Wang Nuo was "very busy" all day long because of the vacation.

Wang Nuo got more than 20 tickets from the club. For this game, many friends contacted Wang Nuo early and wanted to watch the game live.

Including but not limited to former Brussels teammates, U19 teammates, amateur golfers, middle school classmates, Zoe's father, Lisa and Jia Xiaoxian.

Wang Nuo formed a huge cheering group, most of whom offered to watch the game.

The match was highly regarded, and as time went on, the atmosphere about the battle between Standard Liege and Anderlecht became more and more intense.

People in the streets and alleys can always talk about the game, and the Big Four fan clubs have produced the latest flags and slogans, which are distributed free of charge outside the stadium.

Many people in Liege regard this game as a "turning point".

They hope that while the team beat Anderlecht, they will catch up in the rest of the league and defend the Ligue [-] championship for three consecutive years.

The victory in the second game of the play-offs in the first half of the year is still vivid in my memory. If I can win this game again, for Liege fans, it will be no less than another Christmas.

Everyone is almost counting their fingers and looking forward to the arrival of this game.

At the same time, the pressure on the players is naturally not small.

On the morning of the 16th, before the team's last training session, Witsel muttered beside Wang Nuo, "My stomach is knotted. Before this kind of game, the food loses its taste."

His expression looked like he was joking, but it was obviously not all joking, and the rest of the team wasn't having an easy time either.

Boloni announced the starting lineup and game plan before training began, which has never happened this season.

Immediately afterwards, the last targeted training began.

All starters wear red vests and line up in a formation of 442 single midfielders. At the same time, the substitute players put on white vests.

The formation of 442 single midfielders is considered backward and conservative by many people, but it has to be admitted that it is very helpful to improve the overall defensive stability of the team.

Especially in the face of teams with sharp penetration in the middle.

Wang Nuo was asked to imitate Lukaku's style of play and route, while Traore and Colette played Anderlecht's high center forwards De Sut and Flotos.

Train in this way to simulate a real game.

The training took place at Training Ground 3, away from prying eyes.

Boloni set a lot of requirements for the next game. Witsel was given important responsibilities as a single midfielder, and the two full-backs Dalma and Dufour took on a lot of offensive pressure.

Most of the time, teams are asked to use a zone defense, with the closest player pressing for 4 seconds against the opponent who is about to receive the ball.

In addition, Boloni also emphasized speed, requiring the backcourt to follow another 4-second principle, that is, when personal possession of the ball is not necessary, control it within 4 seconds, pass it forward through a fast pace, and strengthen the offensive speed.

The one-and-a-half-hour training session came to an end with Boloni cheering the players on. At the end of the training, two strange staff members showed up.

They brought a trophy.

Wang Nuo had learned the news a few days ago that he was selected as the best rookie of December in League A of League One, and this trophy belongs to him.

In the applause and whistle of his teammates, Wang Nuo took the trophy engraved with his name, shook hands, and took a group photo.

Before the trophy was warm in Wang Nuo's hands, it was taken away and kept for safekeeping again, because it would be awarded again in front of tens of thousands of spectators before the next game.

This time it was just for taking pictures and posting pre-match news on the team's official website.

Even so, the moment Wang Nuo held the trophy in his hand, a surge of pride welled up in his heart without warning.

Wang Nuo thought to himself that at the end of the season, he would have to win another trophy.

Take a trophy for the best rookie of the season!

(End of this chapter)