Chapter 424: Chapter 423: Trouble in the Backyard, You’re Always Welcome to Return (Monthly Ticket Request)
When Maxa went to China to lead the Chinese squad in the final stages of the World Cup qualifiers, he disappeared from the mainstream view of the football world.
You couldn’t expect everyone to care about the matches of the Chinese team, right?
Yet it was against this backdrop.
On October 7th, Maxa astonishingly led the Chinese men’s football team to a 1-0 victory over the formidable Oman, qualifying for the World Cup finals two rounds early!
Milu: ???
At that moment, Chinese fans’ adoration for Maxa reached its zenith.
Some enthusiastic fans even shouted at the camera while being interviewed, "Geneva, retreat... no, Maxa, awesome!"
In such a manner, Maxa forcefully returned to the mainstream view of European football, creating a miracle.
In an interview, Maxa expressed his views on the current situation of Lisbon Athletics, "Lisbon Athletics has no problems at all; they are as healthy as Chinese football."
Er... practitioners in the Chinese national team fell silent.
Had Maxa become so strong that he saw the pressure from the outside world as nothing?
So strong!
Football leaders were reflecting on whether their admirable work had been too conservative?
It wasn’t adequate.
Maxa said, "The recent results of Lisbon Athletics should not bring any criticism to the players, because they are not the ones at fault. The fault lies with UEFA, which deprived Deng Kai of eligibility for three matches, and this is the consequence."
"Now Kai is back, and to say it in Chinese, this is a triumph! It means welcoming victory!"
"So, from the perspective of ’The Book of Changes,’ Lisbon Athletics will undoubtedly welcome a string of victories."
"In fact, we’ve been doing well in the league, but many people overlooked our later strength because of early season defeats."
The ultimate in football is mysticism.
During his time in China, Maxa had not been without his gains.
He followed the football leaders in their daily prayers and offerings, thereby comprehending the true essence of football.
Through ’The Book of Changes,’ he determined that next year would be the year of lift-off for Chinese football.
Because ’The Book of Changes’ gave a hexagram of the dragon flying in the sky.
In order to achieve better coaching results, Maxa even gave himself a Chinese name — Dragon!
So, you could also call him — Macron.
Of course, because the fans also liked to call him "Maxa, awesome," he could also be succinctly named — Markpen!
...
On October 13th, the eighth round of the Portuguese league.
Lisbon Athletics narrowly beat their opponent Braga 4-2.
Adding the two Super Cup games, they have played a total of thirteen matches and achieved six victories.
In these six winning matches, Ronaldinho and Kaka were both substituted off in five of the games, and they were switched out before the 70th minute.
In another match, it was Kaka who substituted for Ronaldinho.
Add to this Deng Kai’s absence in the Champions League performance.
The issue, actually, had become gradually clear.
Some players, should really start changing themselves from the core.
Like Kaka, and also...
"Take Deng Kai for example! His irrational red card last season was the main reason the team got knocked out of the Champions League early, and he has to take responsibility for the lack of honors this season!"
Ronaldinho’s agent, Eric Rovai, expressed this view in the Bola newspaper.
As everyone knows, in addition to being a well-known football media outlet in Portugal, the Bola newspaper is also Europe’s largest ’anti-Deng Kai’ media.
Ever since Deng Kai began his career, they never looked favorably upon his development.
However, in the face of facts, they became increasingly twisted, constantly digging up dirt to try to smear Deng Kai.
Apart from blaming the loss on Deng Kai, Eric Rovai also increased the credibility of his statement through metaphysical events, revealing a cursed showdown in the European Super Cup:
"Before this year, a three-nil scoreline at halftime was one hundred percent indicative of victory."
"But at the Union Cup, Sporting Lisbon rewrote history. That bottle of red wine blessed by Huo Li’er widely circulated, adding a magical element to the match."
"Therefore, in the European Super Cup, Bayern sent someone to place a bottle of champagne outside the Sporting Lisbon locker room door. They originally wanted red wine, but because they didn’t prepare in advance, they only had champagne, though it’s almost the same."
"Sporting Lisbon nearly fell for the curse, but it was Deng Kai who suggested sacrificing Feng Te to break it. It’s said to be a magical power from the East, a tit-for-tat, blood for blood, a sacrifice of the wife to prove a point."
"Teammates sacrificed to the heavens, and their magical powers were limitless."
"But now, I suspect the curse has still taken effect and fallen on Deng Kai’s head. Because the curse launched by Hitzfeld, gathering all the resentments of Bayern’s fans, couldn’t just be offset by an insignificant Feng Te."
Eric Rovai was adamant.
Because Ronaldo had once overheard the exchange between Deng Kai and Maxa, with Maxa reading his "The Book of Changes" research report to Deng Kai, asking for Deng Kai’s corrections.
At that time, Eric Rovai also began to study this thing.
This is not unusual in the world of football; whether European players, or those from Africa or the Americas, many are highly superstitious.
All sorts of "curses" in European football also reflect this state of affairs.
It’s just that "Eastern magic" is something Europeans are encountering for the first time.
Eric Rovai’s remarks caused a huge stir.
No matter how much substance there was in what he said, it indicated that Sporting Lisbon’s team was no longer unified.
At least Ronaldo definitely had grievances against Deng Kai.
He bowed to Deng Kai’s notice, but he did not fully recognize Deng Kai’s talent.
Ronaldo, a player of supreme skill, was actually quite straightforward, all that talk was pointless, as long as you could beat him, he would respect you.
It’s like NBA players, who regard one-on-one ability as important for speaking out; the team leader must be the king of singles. No matter how much a role player contributes to the team, without solving the thorny issues in one-on-one, they won’t be considered the core of the team.
In the future, many NBA team leaders and cores would struggle to make a mark if they were to return to this era.
It’s not about glorifying the past and diminishing the present, but mainly because, if you go back to that time, you were only ever going to be a little brother, the world would only revolve around the kings of one-on-one, that’s the context of the era.
However, Sporting Lisbon’s team management was very swift in responding.
All the players refused any interviews.
All of them!
Deng Kai invited Ronaldo to dinner.
During it, there was no questioning of Ronaldo, and the two did not discuss anything related to football.
Only after dinner did Deng Kai politely pat Ronaldo on the shoulder and said, "I like the way you play football, you will become the best in the world! There are many players in this world who are the same, but you are different, there is only one Ronaldinho!"
"Trust me, Ronaldo, I always have good intentions towards you. I will definitely find a way to let you play the football you hope to play, but you must know, it’s difficult to do so in every game."
"Remember, the team and I always welcome you back!"
Ronaldo didn’t quite understand at the time.
