Chapter 221: Chapter 220: Best Player of the Portuguese U17 League (Thanks to Alliance Hierarch Song Jiayi for the additional Chapter)
In order to gain Hathaway’s friendship, Victoria specifically reminded Hathaway not to have any contact with Matthaus, claiming he was no good.
Lately, Hathaway had a phone call with Deng Kai and found out that Deng Kai was also aware of these things; they had quite the session complaining about this shameless old man.
Matthaus: "You steal my Champions League Trophy and then talk behind my back?"
...
On May 20th, the penultimate round of the Portuguese U17 Championship match kicked off.
Deng Kai and Cristiano Ronaldo appeared at Alcochete Base to cheer for their former teammates.
Sporting Lisbon was behind at one point.
However, with Wu Xudong’s continuous bursts down the right flank and the corners he earned, central defender Shao Jiawei headed in an equalizing goal, helping the team to level the score.
Veloso led the field in interceptions and tackles, holding off the fierce counterattacks following turnovers.
In the final moments, Hao Junmin provided an exquisite assist, and Yu Shihao scored from a tight angle, securing Sporting Lisbon U17’s comeback victory over their opponents. They won the Portuguese U17 Championship with a round to spare.
Deng Kai and Cristiano Ronaldo also joined the post-match celebration and participated in the championship team photo wearing their own jerseys.
The teammates urged Deng Kai to lift the Trophy, but Deng Kai declined. He had left the team six months ago.
The achievements of this team were their own, and Deng Kai didn’t regard himself as the absolute hero.
During the media interviews, Deng Kai further clarified his view, "This team has done well; they deserve this Championship Trophy."
"Many people say I’m the greatest contributor to this Trophy, but I strongly disagree. I was with the team only during the district matches. The subsequent regional and championship matches, which were tougher and more important than the district matches, were all on their own."
"So I’m grateful the team notified me to watch today’s match and stand on the podium. But in my heart, I also know that this Trophy belongs more to them."
"I’m proud of every single person on this team. Wu Xudong, Yu Shihao, Hao Junmin, Shao Jiawei, Veloso, Duarte... Each one of them will have a bright future."
The reporters admired Deng Kai’s magnanimity.
At the same time, they continuously took photos of the "Portuguese U17 League’s Best Player Trophy" in Deng Kai’s hands!
That’s right!
Having played only the first half of the season, but Deng Kai still won the most important individual award in the league.
Moreover, if in the next round the player who is second in the goalscoring chart doesn’t score a hat-trick, and the player second in the assists chart doesn’t provide four consecutive assists, then Deng Kai will also become the top scorer and assists leader of the U17 league this season.
During the first half of the season, he scored an impressive twenty-five goals and provided nineteen assists, overshadowing those who played the entire season.
After the award ceremony, Bola newspaper severely criticized Deng Kai’s attainment of the U17 Best Player Award, "Deng Kai’s statistics are terrifying, but they were all accumulated during district matches. He never provided any assists or scored any goals during the regional matches and the championship of the U17 league! What makes him qualified to win the Best Player?"
This statement was quite sensational, causing many who hadn’t watched the matches to say that it was indeed not right.
The Record Report mercilessly refuted the Bola newspaper: "The lack of goals and assists is because Deng Kai simply didn’t participate in those games. He transferred during the winter window, and if he had stayed in the U17 league, his goals would have exceeded fifty, and assists would have exceeded forty!"
"Even if we take his stats from the second half of the season in the much tougher Premier League in Portugal, he scored thirty-five goals and had thirty-six assists. By what right does he not deserve the best player award?"
The Bola newspaper: "I’ve never heard of someone who only played half a season being awarded the best player, especially when it’s just the first half of the season."
The Record Report: "Oh really? Then what do you make of the fact that, at the end of the Lisbon Sporting U17 season, Deng Kai was unanimously voted the team’s best player by his peers? Don’t the players know better than some critic who’s more important?"
"If Lisbon Sporting U17 hadn’t won the championship this season, then there might have been controversy over Deng Kai receiving the best player award, but since they did win, Deng Kai clearly deserves the title of best player."
Soon, the players of Lisbon Sporting U17 began to speak out.
Wu Xudong, the versatile right winger: "Brother Kai definitely should be the player of the season, he helped us through the toughest times, brought us victory, and something even more important than victory... courage!"
The talented midfielder Hao Junmin: "Deng Kai is our leader, after the winter window, before every game he would send us texts to motivate everyone, he never forgot us even when playing on tougher fields."
U17’s best center-back Shao Jiawei: "Our tactics for this season were all built at the start of the season by Coach Trigella and Brother Kai. We owe any success we’ve had to them!"
Yu Shihao, the U17 team’s second top scorer: "I remember before Brother Kai transferred, all the media were saying that just his performance in the first half of the season was enough for him to earn the player of the season. Now the officials have simply met the media’s request, and I don’t understand why the Bola newspaper would issue such a pointless challenge."
Veloso, the U17 league’s king of interceptions: "Isn’t the Bola newspaper’s circulation plummeting? I heard that aside from in bathrooms, they’re hard to find. Does such a media outlet have the right to question Deng Kai, who is leading Moreirense to promotion?"
The Bola newspaper brought shame on itself, and was roundly criticized by the players and other Portuguese media.
But one person treasured a clipping of such an opinion from the Bola newspaper and pasted it closely into their journal.
This Madeira-born Portuguese youth, who wishes to remain anonymous and was born in February 1985, believes that the Bola newspaper is correct, that Deng Kai indeed should not be the U17 league’s best player.
If a player who only played half the matches can be selected, then why not a player who only played one match? And considering match efficiency, that player who only played one U17 match scored goals at a much higher rate than Deng Kai, so the best player of the Portuguese U17 league this season should actually be that more efficient player... Cristiano Ronaldo!
Thump thump thump!
"CR7, come on, we’re heading back to Moreirense! What are you dilly-dallying in your room for?"
Deng Kai was outside knocking on the door.
Ronaldo quickly hid his favorite journal, and came out as if nothing was wrong: "Thanks for keeping the room for me, Auntie. We can come back here after the season ends."
Deng Kai shook his head: "CR7, you’re too old to keep staying at my place, it’s not really convenient. I suggest you rent your own place next season, find somewhere nice, you know what I mean?"
Ronaldo felt a chill in his heart, he swore he never imagined Deng Kai would say such a thing to him.
