Full-level pass, please call me the speaker of the Three Lions

Chapter 482 Uncle Drew Football Edition? King of the Baseball Field, Start!

"The ball is in!"

"Pogba scores the first goal for France!"

"One to zero!"

Looking at Pogba who came to the bench to dance and celebrate, Ling Feng, who was sitting on the bench, curled his lips and said lightly in Chinese:
"Stupid!"

In the friendly match with France, in order to protect the main players, Hodgson chose to observe newcomers and substitutes.

Therefore, main players including Ling Feng, Kane, Henderson and others did not start.

In contrast, Deschamps' French team used the Three Lions as a whetstone and sent out all their main players!

The current starting lineup of the French team is very close to the French team that won the World Cup in Ling Feng's impression.

In the backcourt, Lori guards the goal, Varane and Umtiti form a central defender combination, Lucas Hernandez and Sidibe are on the left and right respectively;

The midfield is composed of Pogba, Kante and Matuidi.

In the frontcourt, there are Griezmann, Giroud and Bundesliga superstar Ousmane Dembele.

On the bench, there are also talented young players such as Mbappe, Pavard, Lemar, Martial, Mendy and others.

This lineup, whether viewed now or after winning the championship, can be described as super luxurious!
Without Ling Feng, a core player who had a huge influence on both offense and defense, England had a very difficult time.

Even though he got the chance to start in this game, Tottenham supernova Ali, who replaced Ling Feng as the core of the frontcourt, tried very hard to display his talents.

He even broke into the penalty area during the game, successfully created a penalty, and helped Vardy score and equalize the game.

However, compared to Ling Feng, he is still more than one level lower.

The French team almost completely suppressed England through its gradually mature tactical play and overall strength.

The weakness of England's central defenders in their lack of individual defensive ability was undoubtedly exposed.

Under the repeated attacks of several attackers of the French team, they looked in a very embarrassing situation.

In the end, England lost to France 1-2 at the Stade de France, thanks to Dembele's breakthrough on the wing and assisting Griezmann's shot into the goal.

The two-year unbeaten streak in friendly matches was also broken!

In the view of many British media, this French team is one of the best in today's football in terms of overall lineup and tactical play.

If Ling Feng and England want to compete for the World Cup in Russia next year, the French team will definitely be one of their biggest enemies.

Of course, they also believe that if England field all their main players, they will not be inferior to the French team at all!
. . .

After completing the last game of the season, Ling Feng also flew back to London with the team.

After saying goodbye to his teammates at the London airport, Ling Feng took a car back to his mansion in Cheshire. Looking at the empty house, he felt a little empty inside.

Barbara has been very busy lately because of her personal brand design. She either goes to clothing factories to select suitable fabrics or discusses designs with the designer team.
However, just after putting down his luggage, Ling Feng received a call from his agent Mendes:
"Hey?"

"Ling, I have some good news to share with you!"

"What is it?"

"Netflix wants to collaborate with you on a football show!"

Ling Feng was a little surprised when he heard this:

"Oh, a football show? Let me be a guest commentator? Or..."

"Well, I wonder if you've seen the Uncle Drew commercial for Pepsi?"

Uncle Drew?!
Even though he is a football fan, Ling Feng is very familiar with this name.

The origin of Uncle Drew is actually a creative advertising film jointly produced by Pepsi and NBA Cavaliers star Kyrie Irving.

In the advertisement, Irving transformed himself into a white-haired old man through makeup, and then played the pig and ate the tiger on the baseball field, beating up the young people and earning exclamations from the audience.

Uncle Drew is the identity that Owen disguised himself as in the film.

Of course, this is just the script for the commercial shoot.

However, this commercial received a great response and had such a huge impact around the world that Irving's popularity and fame grew explosively.

This commercial was later shot for four seasons, with many well-known NBA stars participating.

It is worth mentioning that even the daily life in the Far East has borrowed some ideas from this in variety shows.

The profession of playing the pig and eating the tiger is also from NBA players to professional gymnasts, badminton players, track and field world champions, etc.
Thoughts were turning in his mind, and Ling Feng did not forget to continue asking:

"I have seen it, and then what?"

"The format of Netflix's football show is similar to the Uncle Drew commercial, where they want you to disguise yourself as a deformed middle-aged man through makeup, and then go to baseball fields in various parts of England to play football with strangers."

Hearing this, Ling Feng raised his eyebrows and immediately became interested:

"Interesting. What's next?"

"When playing football, it's best to let your opponent take the lead first, and then catch up when you fall behind. Also, you must not reveal your identity within the specified time."

"If your identity is exposed, your mission will be considered a failure!"

"Also, in addition to playing football with ordinary people, you also have an important task during the program, which is to discover future stars!"

"If you find some good talents, you can give them the future star T-shirts prepared by the program team."

"And then these people will qualify for the finals!"

"Of the fourteen players in the final, the seven winning teams will have the opportunity to receive generous bonuses and even get a trial opportunity with a professional club!"

"As for the name of the show, it's called 'King of Baseball Court'!"

After listening to Mendes' description of the program format and plan, Ling Feng already had a preliminary understanding of the entire program process.

"How long will it take to shoot this show?"

"They plan to shoot a season of six episodes first. If the show is well received, they will start shooting for the second season. Each episode is about ten minutes long."

"Well, when can we start shooting?"

"anytime."

"Then let's start tomorrow!"

In Ling Feng's opinion, this program is very interesting and he can't wait to participate in it!

In his mind, he had already started thinking about how he could hide his identity well.
. . .

6 month 16 number.

Birmingham, England. Sponsored by Coca-Cola and produced by Netflix, the first episode of the football variety show "King of the Baseball Pitch" was filmed in Birmingham, the second largest international city in England after London!

After strict selection by the filming team, they chose a baseball field called Morris Park as the filming location for the first episode.

This field is about ten kilometers away from St. Andrews Stadium, the home of the English Championship team Birmingham FC. It is a relatively safe place in the entire Birmingham city.
Therefore, there are many experts playing football on this baseball field.

There were also quite a few spectators watching the game, which was a good opportunity for the program crew to disguise themselves as spectators who came to watch the game, and then use hidden high-definition cameras to record the entire process of pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger!
The show opened at noon in a beauty salon near the baseball field.

"Hey guys, welcome to Baseball Kings! I'm your host."

When the host greeted the camera, Ling Feng, who was sitting next to him, also appeared on camera.

"Hi, this is Ling Feng!"

After briefly interacting with the host and introducing the nature and process of the entire program to the audience, Ling Feng sat in front of the dressing table and let a professional makeup artist transform him.

Originally, Ling Feng is a mixed-race of Chinese and British, so his skin is not that white. Coupled with the sun and rain in the professional arena, his skin has a very healthy wheat color.

No need to make up the complexion at all, just deepen the eye bags, add some wrinkles, tie the hair up, stick on a fake beard, and wear a fake beer belly.
After an hour-long makeup process, Ling Feng transformed from a handsome mixed-race guy into a pot-bellied, middle-aged bearded Spanish uncle!
At this time, even if Ling Feng's parents stood in front of Ling Feng, they might not be able to recognize Ling Feng at first glance.

Facing the camera, Ling Feng waved his hand, lowered his voice, and greeted the "audience" in fluent Spanish:
"Hola (Hello), my name is Andre!"

In order to avoid arousing suspicion, the program team will also arrange a wingman for him.

Ling Feng’s character is the wingman’s Spanish uncle, who comes to England for a trip and plans to participate in a baseball game!

After finishing the makeup, the program team gave Ling Feng a competition task:
"Your mission for this game is to complete three assists!"

For the Premier League assist king, this task is not difficult at all!

After leaving the beauty salon, Ling Feng and the program crew got into a spacious SUV and headed towards the stadium.

"Ling, David (the wingman) will take you to the stadium later."

"Remember, you have to perform worse at the beginning. Don't run around and let your teammates complain about you. Then, when the team needs a hero to step up, or when they want to replace you, you have to show your true ability to give them a surprise!"

Although "playing the pig and eating the tiger" is not in line with my personality.

However, if this was treated as a prank, he would be very happy to do it.

The purpose of the show is entertainment, so do whatever is fun!
The strong contrast is definitely very eye-catching!

What was the expression on the faces of those baseball players when they saw a guy who looked like a loser suddenly turn into a superhero and crush the baseball court?

Confused? Shocked? Unbelievable? Incredible?

Ling Feng has already started looking forward to it
After a while, the car arrived at Morris Park.

Inside the stadium, some players were already doing warm-up exercises.

There were many spectators on both sides who had stayed behind from the previous game, or who had come specially to watch the game.

It is worth mentioning that baseball in Britain and baseball in China are two completely different concepts.

Most of the soccer players in China play together for the love of soccer.

The level of most baseball players is very average.

But in Dai Ying, it’s not the case at all!

Because the football training system in Britain is very complete, the base of football players is huge and the competition is fierce, there are many football players on baseball fields all over the country who have been immersed in the professional youth training system since childhood but ultimately were unable to play professional football, or retired from low-level professional leagues.

These people may not be as strong as active professional players, but they are definitely much stronger than amateur players.

There are even many professional players who started out on baseball fields and then gradually became grassroots players on professional fields.

The most representative and well-known figure among them is Ling Feng’s former Leicester City teammate, “Blue Fox Demon Knife” Jamie Vardy!

And Charlie Austin, the "inspirational brother" at Queens Park Rangers!

The rules on the baseball field are very simple.

You can organize a group freely online, select the area, the golf course, the time period, see if there are any seats available, and then sign up.

In addition to some friends who usually play football together, there are also many passers-by or lone wolves who come to participate in the game alone.

The Morris Park stadium is a standard seven-a-side field.

For the sake of show effect, Ling Feng and David (the wingman) took the initiative to greet other golfers in a friendly manner:

"Hi, I'm David, nice to meet you."

"This is my uncle, Andre."

"Hello, Hola."

When the two of them first greeted other strangers participating in the game, no one could recognize that the bearded and ponytailed uncle in front of them was actually the current No. 1 player in England and the top star of Manchester United - Ling Feng!
As fellow players arrived at the stadium one after another, Ling Feng also discovered that among the players playing baseball, there were teenagers as well as middle-aged people in their thirties and forties.

It is worth mentioning that perhaps the location of Morris Park is very popular, and there are many spectators watching the game from time to time.

Therefore, those who come here to play football are generally good players, some of whom are even well-known in the Birmingham baseball world.

At least judging from the figures of these baseball players, they all seem to be very slim or strong.

Among all the people in the audience, Ling Feng was the only one with a beer belly.

At this moment, Ling Feng's attention was attracted by a young man wearing a Birmingham club jersey.

This young man has a bronze complexion and a kind smile.

Although he is not tall, only about 1.7 meters.

However, the other players seemed to be very familiar with him and went up to him to high-five and say hello.

While Ling Feng was doing warm-up exercises, the more he looked at this boy, the more familiar he looked, as if he had seen him somewhere.

Birmingham jersey. Bronze skin color
He searched his mind for a moment, and soon an image of a British star who had his jersey retired by Birmingham City Football Club at the age of seventeen emerged.

What the hell!

Could it be that kid?!

Just as Ling Feng was lamenting the cruelty of fate, all the players participating in this baseball game, under the instructions of the referee, came to the center of the court and passed the ball to the players.

Coincidentally, Ling Feng was assigned to the same team as that young man.

As soon as he got the red vest from the referee, Ling Feng saw the boy wearing the Birmingham club jersey, who took the initiative to come in front of him, showing two rows of white teeth and a brilliant smile:
"Hey, how are you? It's nice to team up with you."

"You can call me Zude!"

(End of this chapter)