Chapter 50: Chapter 50 Europe’s Most Watched U15 Team
"Benfica is a rare team driven by dual cores, both Joao Vieira and Amorim in midfield are well-rounded in offense and defense. Their defensive midfielder is taken by Fernando Alexander, whose defense is extremely tough... Lorenzo, what are you laughing about! Stand up!"
Trigella was quite annoyed. These U15 kids made some sense when they played football, otherwise they would have been kicked out of the team long ago, but they had big problems when it came to attending lectures, thinking, and learning about tactics.
Essentially, only Deng Kai understood what Trigella meant, and then he would actively explain it to Ronaldo next to him.
The others around them would listen to Trigella and Deng Kai’s analysis if they were willing, or else they would just space out.
Deng Kai, looking at Lorenzo standing up begrudgingly, already felt the powerful inertia of history.
Apart from the results, he had not brought any other change to this U15 team so far.
Even Ronaldo, who was most influenced by him, was already steamrolling competition at this age, and at best, Deng Kai changed only a small part of Ronaldo’s development environment – his brother Hugo.
Lorenzo was almost the most promising player in the team besides Ronaldo, in a way, because he was the only one among them who later played for a national team.
But not for Portugal, it was for Angola.
Because he never had a chance to break into the Portugal national team, Lorenzo took up Angolan nationality in 2011 and played for Angola.
This once again proved the failure in Sporting Lisbon’s youth training during this period.
Because their players from this intake couldn’t even make it into the Portuguese national team, which was already in a low period following the golden generation.
And across the street at Benfica and Porto, they were much ahead of Sporting Lisbon in contributing players to the national team.
Of course, amongst these players, there were quite a few who had the chance to get into the Portuguese youth teams.
This also indirectly confirmed Trigella’s observation about the "learning ability" of the current students.
These players were also outstanding when they were young, but as they grew older, those without the ability to keep learning could only fall behind.
Even including Lorenzo, the highest future transfer fee for these players was only four million euros, and most were just one or two million euros.
That Ronaldo could emerge from such an environment was truly unique.
Back in the classroom, Lorenzo stood up to answer Trigella’s recent question, "On the other side there is an Alexander the Great, but we have a Caesar the Great, and I think Caesar is superior."
Pfft!
Lorenzo’s answer, completely unrelated to the class content, made the players burst into laughter.
Trigella, speechless, waved his hand dismissively.
I’m not lecturing anymore.
What a joke!
I’ve talked so much about positioning tactics, marking details, and you’re talking to me about history?
Deng Kai, on the other hand, didn’t feel much.
These teammates were already considered well-behaved kids.
In England, such large kids who played for big clubs had already started hitting the nightclubs, and some even had kids by this time!
"Mr. Trigella," Deng Kai followed him out, "I’d like to talk to you about Ronaldo’s position for the next game."
Trigella stopped in his tracks.
"I think your analysis just now was very correct, Benfica is definitely a dangerous team. Their overall strength is far superior to ours, and tactically speaking... cough cough..." Deng Kai didn’t quite want to criticize Coach Maxa’s level of coaching.
"I knew you wouldn’t let me down! You’re the smartest kid I’ve ever coached!" Trigella’s mood instantly brightened, "Go on, say anything you like, speak your mind!"
For a teacher, having even one student who listened attentively meant the lesson wasn’t in vain.
His hopes for Deng Kai were even greater than the club’s expectations for Ronaldo’s future.
"Ronaldo’s speed is his strongest weapon that makes him invincible in the league. But I’m very familiar with Joao Pereira, who he’ll be facing next game; he is a player with speed," said Deng Kai, "And Benfica’s three midfielders all have decent defensive abilities."
"If they focus on containing Ronaldo, it’s going to be hard for him to shine in the next game."
"And if he can’t perform, we’re nearly destined to lose."
"So I think, perhaps we could adjust Ronaldo’s position to the center forward spot."
Trigella frowned deeply, "Center forward?"
Why didn’t young Ronaldo play as a striker?
Was it because he couldn’t?
No.
It was because it would have been a waste.
At that time, various shady agents had already summarized a "tricking" tactic.
If we say the future tricking tactic is to help a player crazily pad stats, making his goals and assists look awesome.
Then the tricking tactic of the past two years was to develop speedster players.
As long as the player was fast, you’d just stick him on the wing, let him charge, and whoever charged would look like a damn superstar.
All the shortcomings like not being strong in physical confrontations, lacking dribbling and ball control skills, not being proficient in shooting, inaccurate passing, not being good at heading, and not having a good field of vision could all be concealed.
If, on top of speed, he had a decent curveball, then it was a sure thing!
Simon and Quaresma were products of this kind.
With a bit of hype, a transfer fee of 15 million US dollars could certainly be reached.
Last year, Betis bought Denilson for 22 million pounds, and this year, Lazio signed Vieri for the same price, the highest transfer fees in the past two years!
million, that’s already the price of a superstar!
Ronaldo had the speed, naturally possessing the potential to be packaged.
But playing as a striker, not to mention whether he had the core qualities of being a pivotal striker, the key point was he couldn’t easily burst forward in that position.
Without being able to burst forward, the advantage of speed couldn’t be demonstrated, making it impossible to package.
Moreover, the central path has always been heavily guarded, and even if Ronaldo did manage to charge, it would be difficult for him to replicate the dominance that he showed on the wing.
The defensive intensity in the middle and on the wing is absolutely different, greatly reducing the visual impact.
Therefore, Trigella could not understand Deng Kai’s suggestion.
"My passing is now capable of tearing through most team’s defense," Deng Kai boasted, "and Ronaldo and I also have enough understanding, he can handle my passes."
"The closer he is to the goal, the greater the threat of his shots and my passes."
"If he’s on the wing, my passes, in theory, wouldn’t mean much."
"And although Benfica’s center-back Miguel Veloso comes from a football family and is not lacking in ability, his height limits him, he’s not stronger and taller than Ronaldo."
"Facing such a center-back, Ronaldo could completely take on the duties of a striker."
Deng Kai convinced Trigella.
But during subsequent team training, new problems arose.
The team’s original striker, Lorenzo, could not adapt to working as a left winger, playing quite awkwardly.
And without Lorenzo’s pivotal role in the middle, the team’s midfield and attack showed signs of losing control in their coordination, making some of their standard tactics no longer smooth.
This showed that Ronaldo was also not suited for this position.
In the end, Maxa had no choice but to restore the team to their original positions, in order to face the strongest competitor of the season... Benfica!
Ordinarily, Maxa might take a risk, but not this time.
Because of all the hype, the match between Sporting Lisbon and Benfica had become the most watched U15 match in all of Europe.
Benfica U15 — the first battle to mobilize the whole team for the first team’s championship season!
Sporting Lisbon U15 — just defeated the much-hyped Feyenoord.
Countless scouts and fans came one after another to see Chris, who could defeat Fan Peixi, and Deng Kai, who according to Fan Peixi, was no less talented than the Dutch midfield wonders.
November 30, at Benfica, Luz Stadium.
The match was about to explode!
