Chapter 232: Chapter 231 Guardiola Doesn’t Understand The Hidden Meanings (Thirteenth Update, Asking for Full Subscription)
Although the Primeira Liga had already finished, Moreirense’s matches weren’t quite over yet.
They had one last match, which was the Portuguese Cup Final.
In this match, their opponent was the strongest among the top three powerhouses of the Primeira Liga... Porto!
This season, Porto had lost Jia De’er, and their problem with insufficient firepower had become immediately apparent.
But they weren’t without gains.
The young midfield star Anderson Luis de Souza, whom they had taken from Salgueiros for eight million euros two years earlier, had experienced a personal breakout year.
He was practically omnipotent in the midfield, crushing the midfields of fellow Primeira Liga powerhouses Benfica and Sporting Lisbon, and was named this year’s best midfielder of the Primeira Liga.
Meanwhile, Viana, acclaimed as the most talented left-winger in Portugal by Sporting Lisbon, had returned from injury and made appearances in the Primeira Liga, but hadn’t fully adapted yet and mostly served as a substitute for the team.
Of course, comparing Viana with the player with a very long name was unfair since the latter was born in 1977, six years senior to Viana.
Rumors had it that Barça, while observing Quaresma, was also watching this player, and if it hadn’t been for Xavi’s stellar performance this year after being heavily promoted by Van Gaal at Barça, the club might have extended an olive branch to the player with the long name this summer.
Because the name was too long, his teammates called him "Deco".
Deco might be the most successful naturalized footballer in the world.
Later, when the Chinese national football team actively pursued a policy of naturalization, they often cited Deco as an example.
The choice of Portugal over Brazil for Deco was an obvious boost to the Portuguese national team. He not only filled the void left by the declining Rui Costa but also led the team forward in his own way, achieving Portugal’s best World Cup finish.
At his peak, Deco won the titles of Portuguese Footballer of the Year and runner-up for the Golden Ball.
Therefore, this Porto team was considerably tough to deal with.
Since we are on the topic of Deco and the World Cup, we must mention the upcoming "Belgium-Netherlands European Championship" this summer.
This will be the first time the European Championship is hosted by two countries.
All the national teams are taking advantage of the end of the season to prepare their squads.
This could very well be the most exciting European Championship in the eyes of many.
Deng Kai’s own matches hadn’t started yet, but he had already received numerous calls from football stars, asking him which teams he thought had a chance of winning the championship this year.
After all, this was the man who dared to bet on Croatia reaching the World Cup semi-finals and who declared a treble for Manchester United six months in advance, in a situation that was still highly uncertain—a true football pundit!
Guardiola: "Master, ahem, Kai, do you think we can win the championship?"
Deng Kai: "Of course, there’s a chance."
Guardiola, delighted: "Really? That’s great! Is there anything we need to pay attention to?"
Deng Kai: "There isn’t anything particular to pay attention to, but it’s best not to eat macarons, foie gras, escargot, or baguettes because..."
Guardiola interjected: "I understand now, these are junk foods, nothing good for an athlete’s body! Thanks, Kai, I’ll get the national team mates to work on a signed football for you tomorrow."
Guardiola, satisfied, hung up the phone and then gave Raul an OK gesture.
Deng Kai, seeing how eagerly Guardiola had ended the call, knew that Guardiola still hadn’t grasped what he meant.
Macarons and foie gras are classic French cuisine.
What Deng Kai meant was that they should try to avoid France as much as possible. As long as they avoided France... never mind, it’s unavoidable for them.
But that was all good for Guardiola.
Beckham was frantically calling Deng Kai, but Deng Kai refused all the calls.
In the end, with no other choice, Beckham could only ask his wife Victoria to inquire from Hathaway about the situation.
After all, Beckham was a senior colleague, and he had been so supportive of Deng Kai, so why wouldn’t Kai answer the calls at such a critical time?
Hathaway didn’t even call Deng Kai, but rather sheepishly told Victoria, "Umm, the fact that Deng Kai didn’t pick up David’s calls, could that be a response in itself?"
Victoria immediately turned pale.
This...
It couldn’t be possible, could it?
This is the England men’s football team!
They’re dazzling, aren’t they!
"So... can you ask Kai how undesirable this is for him to not even take the call?" Victoria still hadn’t given up hope.
Hathaway chose her words carefully, "Actually, Kai’s predictions, well, they’re just for fun, not to be taken seriously. I know everyone goes to ask him, but it’s just to try their luck."
"If he thinks highly of something, that’s great, but if he doesn’t say anything, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad, right?"
Victoria thought there was some truth to this and went back to tell Beckham that England would achieve a good result, which finally allowed Beckham to sleep at night.
But on the other hand, Hathaway knew that at least from Deng Kai’s point of view, England’s outlook in the Euros that year was not optimistic.
It wasn’t just Beckham whose calls Deng Kai hadn’t answered; it was also Matthaus, who was Marlene’s boyfriend.
Marlene got Deng Kai’s number from Hathaway. Hathaway couldn’t really refuse since they were both central members of the football wives club.
But Deng Kai really didn’t give Matthaus any face at all.
Matthaus called several times, and not once did he answer.
Hathaway, embarrassed by Marlene’s questions, could only go and ask Deng Kai what was going on.
Deng Kai straightforwardly told Hathaway, "Germany is likely to be going home after the group matches this year. Since they defeated Czech Republic in 1996, they have not won a match against European teams in all these years."
"The old players are declining, the team strength is diminishing, Matthaus is 39 years old, still playing on the national team, even as a starter."
"The present and the future are different; players in the future pay more attention to scientific diets and exercise, able to maintain their peak at 35, and keep a high level of play until before 40."
"But the current batch of older players generally started earlier. Either they started in poorer conditions, accruing a deficit in their bodies when young. Or they don’t know how to take care of themselves and exercise properly, and after reaching a certain age, their athletic ability declines rapidly."
"So Matthaus is like a barometer. The ability of Germany’s older generation of players has declined severely. But even so, their younger players are still not able to step up."
"There’s no hope!"
Having learned all this, Hathaway couldn’t just tell Marlene directly; it was too offensive. So she roughly used the same line she had given Victoria today to answer her.
Because Beckham and Matthaus, they got the same treatment.
So that means, whatever trouble the German team is facing, the England team is likely in a similar boat?
Deng Kai’s prediction was really not very kind; how could the two strong teams of England and Germany possibly not make it out of the group stages?
