Chapter 528: Chapter 527: The Greatest Player in the History of the National Football Team
Ronaldo’s family home.
More than just one or two officials from the Portugal Football Federation had arrived.
Some members of the national team’s coaching staff were also there.
There were also higher-ups from Sporting Lisbon and the president of the Madeira National Club.
All of these people knew Ronaldo; they were all there to persuade, er... that is to say "beg" Ronaldo to join the national team.
With one ’D’ from the Sporting Lisbon’s "CD" duo gone, they could only turn to this ’C’!
Ronaldo’s father and sister were both supportive of him joining the national team.
This was quite normal; it was an honor for the entire family!
But Ronaldo’s brother Hugo and mother remained silent.
They had met Deng Kai and were outraged that he had been left out of the Portugal national team.
They supported Ronaldo in his gesture to stand by his best friend.
Beep beep beep!
Ronaldo’s phone rang.
Upon answering, it was that familiar greeting,
"Are you stupid? Not joining the national team? What do you want to do, then? Ascend to heaven?"
"Didn’t I carry you to so many titles just for this day?"
"Hurry up and stop dilly-dallying! You, day by day..."
Deng Kai came out with his characteristic three-hit combo: "Did I not tell you about my plans for this summer?"
"You go experience the World Cup with Figo and them, I’m over here doing big things, so stop freaking disturbing me, okay?"
"You don’t even listen to Coach Trigella? Maxa’s been blowing up my phone!"
After a while.
Only then did Ronaldo speak up, "If you don’t come, I won’t go!"
There was a long silence on the other end of the phone.
Deng Kai said, "I’ll come, but not this summer."
Ronaldo let out a sigh of relief, covering the phone’s mouthpiece, "Really? You can come back? How will you come back?"
Deng Kai laughed then and there, "Of course, I’m coming back! You think I’ll lead China to win the Hercules Cup? Even with eleven Zidanes, it wouldn’t be possible!"
Ronaldo: "But you already joined..."
Deng Kai: "What’s it to you! I’m busy here, just agree to them already. Joining the Portugal team now is a bargain for you. With a single step, you’ve climbed three peaks."
"No matter how the official background changes in the future, you’ll always be the most secure one, get it? Only then will you have a say!"
"Only if the team is stable can you perform well. If they change your teammates every year, see if you can cope with it!"
"Also, get along with Figo, Rui Costa, and the others; if we want to perform well in the next World Cup, we can’t do without these great allies. Just the two of us can’t hold up the entire Portugal team."
"This so-called Golden Generation of yours is freaking just the two of us! I’m really baffled! Seeing the level of players like Feng Te just infuriates me!"
"Alright, enough, I’ve got to go, busy here!"
Ronaldo nodded repeatedly, "Okay, I’ll join the national team. You busy yourself... Oh, can I ask what exactly you’re busy with?"
Deng Kai: "I’m off to visit Hathaway on set."
Ronaldo???
This...
"Holy shit, you jungling..."
Beep beep beep!
Ronaldo hadn’t even started his retort when Deng Kai had already hung up the call.
In this exchange, Deng Kai gained a clean ten-fold "Are you stupid?"
My loss.
Soon after, the Portugal Football Federation announced loudly and proudly: "Cristiano Ronaldo has confirmed he is joining the Portugal national team! Let’s congratulate Chris, the youngest football player in the history of Portugal’s football!"
"This season, he scored thirty-two goals in the Portuguese league, thirteen in the Champions League, earning the Portuguese Golden Boot, European Golden Shoe, Champions League Golden Shoe, Best Forward in the Portuguese league, Best Forward in the Portugal Cup, Best Forward in the Champions League, and winner of the Portuguese league, Portugal Cup, and Champions League triad of titles, among other honors!"
"Also, last season, Chris even..."
Portuguese TV stations rolled out the introductions!
Not even Figo or Rui Costa had this kind of face value.
Getting on the team as a substitute seemed even more impressive than being a regular selection.
It has to be said; this somewhat eased the anger of Portuguese fans.
Without ’D’, at least ’C’ was retained.
The future of Portugal still holds a chance, right?
If Ronaldo had also left, that would have been too hard for Portuguese fans to accept.
Subsequently, Deng Kai also immediately sent his congratulations to Ronaldo on "Soccer Guru": "Congratulations! Joining the national team at such a young age, I wish you could play in six World Cups!"
Ronaldo replied to Deng Kai, "Forget six, I could do ten!"
Deng Kai: "That’s too hard! Even if the World Cup were every two years, it’d be almost impossible."
Ronaldo: "That’s what makes it impressive. By the way, you haven’t wished me a World Cup Championship yet!"
Deng Kai: "Er... What was your last wish? To play in ten World Cups? I’ll look into it..."
Ronaldo: ...
By then, the impact of Deng Kai joining the Chinese team had been minimized in Portugal.
With Cristiano Ronaldo’s transfer, the threat of the Portugal team remained unchanged in the eyes of other teams.
Cristiano Ronaldo: ???
Because anyone with common sense knew that Cristiano Ronaldo’s selection was more symbolic than practical.
He might take to the field to get a feel for it if the team was doing well.
But the key matches would definitely still be handled by the golden generation themselves.
The significance of this World Cup for the Portugal team hadn’t changed.
It was the golden generation’s battle to fulfill their dreams and to prove themselves.
Before facing real failure, everyone is entitled to dream.
However, in mainland China, the influence of Deng Kai joining the national football team still continued to spread.
Even though Deng Kai had already become incredibly popular domestically.
But after all, it had been only two years.
People who weren’t football fans might at most know the name Deng Kai, but might not even know he played football.
Many people even thought Deng Kai was a basketball player like Yao Ming, the giant from Shanghai.
But now it was different.
All the media were frantically hyping up how powerful Deng Kai was.
They talked it up however they could!
He dominated Zidane in the Champions League final!
He outshone Ronaldo with a hat-trick in the Champions League final!
Rivaldo, Figo, Raul... he had defeated all the winners of the Golden Ball and World Footballer of the Year from the recent three to five years!
The first Champions League treble winner of the new century!
The first European Union Cup five-time winner of the new century!
Plus two summers, ten championships in two years!
Fifteen championships in four years!
He won championships in every competition he participated in!
In the championships he won, he was always the best player—truly unprecedented and unmatched!
Champions League Golden Shoe! European Union Cup Golden Shoe!
Champions League top assist provider! European Union Cup top assist provider! Superliga top assist provider!
Too many honors!
Even mentioning his awards and matches from the youth teams would be like bullying!
Domestic football fans were becoming numb to it!
All these words seemed familiar yet foreign.
It gave people the feeling of "pretending to own a luxury entry-level car online for three to four hundred thousand, but in reality, the bride price of eighty thousand took my life."
Could we in mainland China really have such a high-caliber player?
It was too unreal!
Isn’t this... sort of a waste?
Should we send Deng Kai to play for the Portugal team in the World Cup instead?
Let’s not hold back his great prospects!
After all, outsiders might not know the state of football in China, but how could we not?
It’s okay to trick outsiders, but we can’t trick our own, can we?
We can’t let down Kai Kai!
It can’t be "fellow villagers seeing fellow villagers, only to shoot them in the back," right?
Knowing that excluding Deng Kai, Wu Xudong was the best footballer from mainland China to ever play in Europe.
He was able to play in the Champions League!
He scored goals and assisted in the knockout stages of the Champions League!
He even became a secret weapon in the Champions League final!
Before Wu Xudong, if a Chinese player was named "Man of the Match," everyone would be overjoyed, considering it a great honor and recognition.
But in the blink of an eye, Deng Kai came along and elevated the status of such honors exponentially.
His achievements now can be said to be the best in fifty years of history for the national football team, right?
This is almost... a full set of European honors!
With a super player like him, along with a super assistant coach like Maxa and an excellent head coach like Milu, how could the China team worry about not qualifying?
No, no, no!
With a supercar, why talk about a bicycle?
Why even discuss qualification?
The goal for our China team now is to secure fourth place and contend for the championship!
Group matches don’t count for shit!
Guaranteed top four!
The championship is within reach!
