Chapter 174: Chapter 173: Another Golden Ball Year (Seeking Full Subscription)
So, with twenty-three goals and sixteen assists to his name, Deng Kai could already be the Golden Boot winner and the Assist Leader in some years with a bit of luck.
People couldn’t help but marvel that while everyone thought Deng Kai was riding Cristiano Ronaldo’s coattails, it turned out to be Ronaldo who was holding back Deng Kai from sweeping both the top scorer and assist titles!
Even some fans joked that Deng Kai was generous, actually giving away a league Golden Boot to Ronaldo.
Deng Kai generally didn’t pay attention to these minor news stories.
However, while he was "casually" tidying up Ronaldo’s room, he "accidentally" came across these clipped-out newspaper reports from Ronaldo’s diary.
Ronaldo had circled the names of the reporters and media outlets that covered these stories—there was no doubt he would remember them.
In the future, he definitely would not accept interviews from them.
Especially this Piers Morgan, the editor of the Daily Mirror, who was completely talking nonsense.
I, the great C. Ronaldo, unable to win a Golden Boot? Need to steal from little Kai?
Deng Kai felt there was nothing wrong with Ronaldo’s behavior. These records were instead a motivation for his hard work. He was a player born to prove people wrong, but... what the hell does it mean to poke holes all over my face on the championship celebration photo?
He was getting anxious!
On December 23rd, the annual Golden Ball Award Ceremony was officially held.
Deng Kai was invited to attend.
It was Beckham who invited him.
Beckham was this year’s front-runner for the Golden Ball.
He had invited several teammates who were available.
Ferguson was also present.
Although Deng Kai was a bit surprised when he received the invitation, he did not hesitate to accept it.
He immediately informed his parents and then prepared a warehouse; he was going to stock up.
The Golden Ball Award!
A gathering of the world’s top thirty footballers and legendary players!
It wouldn’t be too much to get three footballs signed by each one, right?
For this, Deng Kai had specifically contacted a football specialty store in Paris through Zidane, ensuring an ample supply.
Zidane was surprised that Deng Kai would call him.
But adults generally don’t refuse requests from kids, especially such an interesting child.
"Hey, Zizou, don’t be sad. Though you’re not in this year’s Golden Ball, you definitely will be the FIFA World Player of the Year next year..."
Honestly, when Deng Kai said these words, Zidane would have agreed even if he had asked for help in transferring to Juventus’ youth team.
Who doesn’t love a sweet-talking kid?
So, on the night of the Golden Ball Award, Deng Kai once again found his way into the award ceremony.
After arriving, he understood why Beckham had invited him.
It was because Victoria had invited Hathaway and even prepared a decent suit for Deng Kai.
This Victoria, she really had a head for networking; she knew how to capitalize on popularity.
Hathaway was shining bright in North America these days. "The Princess Diaries" had smashed various box office records, racing to 180 million US dollars!
Considering the time left before the end of its run, the final box office in North America could very well hit the two hundred million dollar mark!
And with this, it was certain to break into the top five of this year’s North American box office chart.
For such a lightweight film to achieve such high box office numbers and to have sparked phenomenon-level discussions and fervor across the United States,
how could Victoria, who was focused on penetrating the American market, miss out?
So Deng Kai and Beckham entered the red carpet together, he holding Hathaway’s hand, and Beckham holding Victoria’s.
This instantly became the focus of the entire venue.
After entering the venue, Deng Kai greeted many football stars, becoming a familiar face.
However, this award ceremony was not what Victoria had hoped to see.
Because in the end, Beckham only finished second in the Golden Ball award.
Behind him were Ukraine’s nuclear warhead, Shevchenko.
The King of Fiorentina, Batistuta.
Portugal’s superstar, Figo.
Beckham’s teammate, Manchester United’s midfielder Keane.
The world’s number one striker, Vieri.
The White Wizard, Veron.
Real Madrid’s Lord of the Rings, Raul.
Germany’s iron warrior, Matthaus.
And this year’s Golden Ball goes to... the Red and Blue Scissor, the double-core of Brazil and Barcelona, Rivaldo!
Rivaldo was able to outperform Beckham because Barcelona had won La Liga three years in a row, and last season Rivaldo became the top scorer with twenty-four goals, earning the La Liga Golden Boot.
In the final of the Copa America, he was on fire, with two goals and an assist, helping Brazil defeat Uruguay 3-0 to win the championship.
Even in the national team, he managed to overshadow Ronaldo.
Although Beckham’s and Manchester United’s unprecedented treble were also of great value, and even in the eyes of fans in the years when the Copa America lost its shine, Beckham’s achievements seemed higher, in terms of a player’s contribution to the team, Rivaldo was stronger than Beckham.
Sometimes, even if you become the core on the field, as long as people don’t openly acknowledge you as the core, you’re still not the core.
And indeed, Manchester United’s absolute core was not Beckham.
Therefore, Beckham just missed the Golden Ball award.
Disappointment was written all over Beckham’s face at that moment.
Victoria even lost her ability to manage her expressions, ready to explode at any moment.
As a result, the Golden Ball ceremony host, inopportunely after Rivaldo’s speech, turned to Deng Kai to ask his opinion on this year’s Golden Ball.
After all, his spontaneous speech last year received a lot of praise. Such an excellent segment should naturally be preserved.
Everyone was expecting some explosive news from Deng Kai’s mouth.
After standing up, Deng Kai said, "The cruelty of awards lies in choosing one out of several qualified individuals. Some years this approach is justified, but other years it can make people feel regret."
"Rivaldo certainly deserves this Golden Ball award, that’s undisputed; he’s earned numerous honors over the past year that make him worthy of this trophy."
"But equally, Rivaldo, you must allow me to say this: the honors and efforts Beckham has achieved in the past year also deserve the Golden Ball award."
"So, in my heart, if Beckham were the Golden Ball winner this year, I would feel there’s nothing wrong with that."
"But Rivaldo becoming this year’s Golden Ball winner, I equally feel the award is just and fair."
"Finally, I must also express some personal opinions, starting from next year, I hope people won’t just look at Beckham’s face when watching football but also appreciate his technique, passing, defense, movement... I believe he will still have the chance to challenge for this award in the future."
Applause!
The players below started clapping.
It must be said, Deng Kai’s speech was Emotional Intelligence maxed out.
If it were Ronaldo or Zidane, they might not have been pleased with Deng Kai’s speech upon receiving the Golden Ball themselves.
But Rivaldo was satisfied.
