Chapter 203: Chapter 202: Pokémon Special Training Master, Little Deng
Deng Kai hoped that Ronaldo could master these things earlier.
"You may not use it, but you cannot be ignorant of it."
After all, the ability to pass and control the football quickly that Deng Kai showcased, Ronaldo would eventually possess, though it would require several years of refinement at Manchester United.
But what if Ronaldo honed these skills ahead of time?
After that day’s conversation, Ronaldo completely gave up extra training, as experts believed that his height would gradually stop growing after reaching one meter and eighty-three.
Only then could he engage in weight training.
Before that, his main focus had been on nutritional intake, concentrating on eating rather than training.
...
March 2nd, Primeira Liga’s twentieth round.
Moreirense faced off against Santa Clara.
This was a mid-table team.
Ronaldo’s performance in this game was inconsistent.
He achieved a goal.
But he seemed too eager in passing, apparently trying to accelerate his passing speed, yet he was utterly unable to adapt to this change, which drastically decreased the quality of his football distribution.
You see, the quality of his passing was already not high, and with further decline, it was almost equivalent to directly handing the football over to the opposing players.
Fortunately, the team’s right winger, Flavio, had an astounding game, scoring twice, helping the team to turn around Santa Clara and securing a five-game winning streak in the league!
After the match, Deng Kai asked Trigella to buy a joystick arcade machine for the training room, the kind you play King of Fighters in at an arcade.
However, the game inside was Raiden.
The aircraft on the bottom of the screen, with enemies coming from the top.
All sorts of bullets, all sorts of enemies, the difficulty was insane, with no enjoyable experience to speak of.
Many on the team initially showed interest, but after dying dozens of times, no one touched it of their own accord again.
The best performers were the team’s versatile midfielder Emerson and the right back Alex.
Interestingly, these two players were among the top in the team in terms of vision, passing, and ball handling.
Emerson was the vice nucleus of the midfield; without Deng Kai, he had to play as the core midfielder, and naturally had the skills.
Alex was a worm in defense, a dragon in offense, and this wasn’t entirely due to his speed; his advantages were best displayed while moving and attacking—a defensive stance would be tantamount to hampering himself.
"The field vision on the football pitch is complex. Some people’s eyes lack a sensitive depth perception function; they find it hard to distinguish whether an opponent is fifteen meters away or twenty. Even after discounting the influence of human size, they might perceive the farther distance as nearer."
"Others have an excessively focused field of vision. Once they enter a tense state, their field of vision drastically narrows, only seeing the person directly ahead, completely losing their peripheral vision. Such people are easier to spot on a basketball court, where they can only go solo down the lane, blind to any other opportunities—impossible to develop, no matter the training."
"You don’t belong to either of these categories. You have a talent in this area, but you haven’t developed it in the past."
"The difficulty of this game has been set to the maximum. You need not only a top-notch field of vision but also a sufficient amount of anticipatory thinking. Otherwise, some places that seem like opportunities actually lead to a dead end. The outcome is determined at the beginning."
"Clear this game, and your ball handling and passing capabilities will significantly improve. After that, we can talk about the real issues of footwork and movement."
Subsequently, Ronaldo became Moreirense’s well-known internet-addicted youth.
He loved gaming too much.
He even often played until he was moved to tears.
Center forward Anderson couldn’t bear it, "Ronaldo, since you’ve already cried, shall we not play anymore? The boss in this sixth level is too strong! It’s impossible for anyone to beat it."
Ronaldo, with tears streaming down his face, fiercely hammered the game console, as if his inability to win was due to the overly sensitive controls.
And that was the true talent of Ronaldo.
That unparalleled self-discipline, as long as someone pointed him in the right direction, he could definitely make it through.
March 9th, the twenty-first round of the Portuguese league.
Moreirense took on Portimonense.
Ronaldo’s ball handling was still a bit rushed, and in just one week, he had only managed to reduce mistakes, but he still hadn’t provided any help to the offense.
But he still relied on his goal-scoring instincts to find a chance for a rebound at the front and made the break.
Ronaldo was not in a good state, yet still managed to draw the defense’s attention.
In this match, Deng Kai assisted twice, Anderson scored and assisted, Alex and Emerson also scored consecutively.
The team finally took their opponents down with a 4-2 victory.
Achieving a six-game winning streak!
After the game, Ronaldo, who had been on the back foot, brought up a new difficulty.
When afraid of the opponent’s pressing and surrounding, speed up the pace of ball handling.
To increase the pace, you need better vision and more advanced thinking.
But as an offensive player, you can’t avoid others and play football like Deng Kai forever, there are times when you need to be tough.
What do you do when the opponent comes at you with high intensity?
Ronaldo without strength training was completely unable to cope.
Deng Kai and Trigella discussed this problem and invited a basketball training expert the next day.
This expert was said to have worked as a technical coach in the NBA for a while, and the player he focused on training and researching was named Allen Iverson!
"First, you have to let people know you are fast. In the first few attacks, you have to sprint extremely quickly."
"If you are not confident in your dribbling, you let your teammates send you long passes, and then race against your opponent."
"Once the opponent knows your speed, you can start to slow down, but when you slow down, remember to use body feints and deceptive moves. That’s called a threat."
"The purpose of feinting is not really to get past others, dribbling past opponents in football is harder than in basketball, and it’s even harder to do it with just feints."
"The real purpose of feints is to make the opponent constantly judge your direction of progress and dribbling intentions, again and again. When they are judging, they can’t easily come forward to physically challenge you or tackle."
"Sometimes humans are like machines; you need to have a thought before you take action. Shoulder drops, step-overs, sudden stops and starts, half-turn attempts, eye fakes, and some simple flashy moves..."
"Make these things a part of your footballing, and when you no longer need to think to include them, you’ve already gained more thinking time than others. Because others have to think about your moves."
"When you are fully prepared and your opponent is not, even if the opponent is much stronger than you, you might still win the confrontation."
The technical staff instructed Ronaldo on how to make his feints more threatening.
Deng Kai explained the principles, learning the movements alongside.
Trigella recorded the entire process and would also add some of his insightful comments. He would summarize these things into his youth training courses in the future.
Of course, he would highlight that these concepts came from Deng Kai.
He was different from those like Maxa who plagiarized and took credit falsely.
