Chapter 67: Chapter 67 The Game Worth Ten Million Euros
"Deng Kai Attends the Golden Ball Award Ceremony, ’Causes a Stir’ Onsite, Bittersweet Laughter!"
"Quite the interesting young player, not shy, very humorous, this is the best stand-up comedy performance I’ve seen this year!"
"Zidane, Ronaldo, Ferguson, Deng Kai join forces to deliver the most spectacular stand-up comedy show in the history of the award ceremony for fans!"
"He shouldn’t play football, he’s a comedy master!"
"C. Ronaldo, has the successor to the extraterrestrial arrived?"
"What is this fairy-tale friendship! Football Caesar Deng Kai, to help promote his teammate Chris’s progress, directly pits Chris against Ronaldo!"
Watching the news scrolling, Ronaldo’s heart was in shambles.
Of course, he considered himself a football genius with a bright future ahead of him.
But to say he could be on par with Ronaldo... sorry, he couldn’t.
That was the winner of two World Player of the Year awards and one Golden Ball.
How could Deng Kai dare?
This bastard!
Was it just because he’d never let him win while dribbling to and from school that he had to take such revenge?
Too vicious!
Fuck!
Different from the media and fans’ frenzy,
Portugal’s major betting companies were now panicking.
Due to the promotion of the Golden Ball Award ceremony and influenced by Deng Kai’s invitation, under the witness of Zidane, Ronaldo, and others, the next match between Sporting Lisbon VS Casabia saw a surge in bettors!
Everyone was betting on Sporting Lisbon to win!
Who could withstand this?
The two teams had faced each other once before, which was Deng Kai’s second match after returning from two months of intensive training.
Sporting Lisbon had won a resounding 4-1 victory over then second-ranked Casabia.
The odds were already in favor of Sporting Lisbon winning the rematch, given their good form.
Although the payout for betting on them was lower, it couldn’t stand up to the number of people placing bets.
Without imbalanced odds, bookmakers almost never lose money.
But sometimes, when the odds are unbalanced, the bookmakers have a problem.
Moreover, there’s competition among the bookmakers themselves.
If fans bet on your side, they’d earn a cent for a dollar, but two cents on the other side—who do you think they’d bet with?
Adding to that, betting companies from outside Portugal in the rest of Europe were also stirring the pot, looking to devour the Portuguese market, so this match had effectively become a do-or-die battle.
...
"The Most Valuable Youth Match of the Season Announced! The Penultimate Match of the Portuguese U15 Regular Training Season Valued at 10 Million Euros!"
"Unbelievable! A youth team match worth more than 70% of the Champions League matches, 30% of the World Cup matches!"
"Does Portuguese football welcome a spring or a nightmare? If Sporting Lisbon wins, Portuguese betting companies will lose more than 10 million euros!"
"The Euro officially issued! The battle at Estádio Alvalade will become the best platform to promote the Euro!"
On January 1, 1999, the Euro was officially introduced.
It thereafter became the unified currency of Europe.
The US Dollar and Pound Sterling, which were more commonly used in assessing player transfers and salaries, were gradually going to be replaced by the Euro.
And the first impression of the Euro in the world of football was this youth match valued at 10 million Euros.
Sporting Lisbon finally realized just how much of a troublemaker the superstar Deng Kai truly was.
For the first time, they sold all tickets for a youth match at regular first-team rates!
It was something the first team hadn’t managed to do in quite some time.
The revenue from this one match almost filled Sporting Lisbon’s entire expenditure on youth players for the season!
On the day of the Golden Ball award ceremony, Sporting Lisbon U15 had a match and won 3-1 against Academia de Coimbra.
Ronaldo scored a goal.
Deng Kai didn’t attend the match because he was at the Golden Ball award ceremony.
January 4th.
The highly anticipated match had finally arrived.
This match was also a direct battle for the second place in the region between Sporting Lisbon and Casabia.
The winner would become the runner-up in the region and advance directly to the north-south zone competition.
Considering this was also the penultimate match of the regular season, it was almost Sporting Lisbon’s last chance.
Since it was close to the winter break, with some leagues already in recess, many VIP guests attended this match.
Some club owners, head coaches, and football stars all showed up.
Even the championship battle of the Portuguese league didn’t have such a lineup.
Before the match started, Trigella appeared in the locker room and emphasized the importance of unity to the young players many times.
In his words, as long as you are united and do your job well, even if you don’t have any statistics, you are excellent.
The young players also understood this principle.
But as everyone was heading to the tunnel, Deng Kai, who was at the back, pulled Ronaldo aside and told him, "Ronaldo, did you know that sometimes a player’s fame only needs one signature match?"
"For some players, the highlight moments are their regular duties, but for others, creating highlight moments is their regular duty!"
Ronaldo seemed to understand what Deng Kai meant and nodded.
He would cherish every opportunity even more today.
Beep!
With a whistle, the match officially began.
Players from both sides were extremely excited.
In the first five minutes, the intensity of the game far exceeded everyone’s expectations.
Many fans in the stands even thought they were watching a Portuguese league match!
In such a fast-paced confrontation, one side was bound to be defeated first.
Then the leading side would gradually take control of the game.
Players who could break the deadlock in such intense confrontations were especially watched by the major clubs.
Players who can score the first goal for the team and kill off the opponent at the last moment are much more valuable to a team.
In the seventh minute, that player stood out.
"Deng Kai has the ball, he’s controlling the tempo, calling his teammates to slow down."
"Deng Kai is an excellent midfielder with a good sense of the game. It seems he thinks Sporting Lisbon has stronger underlying strength than Casabia and playing too quickly might be a disadvantage, so he wants to slow the pace down."
"He has been adjusting the tempo for his teammates, and the whole Sporting Lisbon team is starting to fall back. But if they want to slow down, it depends on whether Casabia’s players agree. If Casabia keeps up the high-intensity pressing, Sporting Lisbon will have a hard time staying out of it, oh... a through ball!"
"Deng Kai suddenly makes a through pass!"
"Beautiful! That was a surgical through ball."
"He fooled everyone, the slowing pace of Sporting Lisbon was just a ruse, and Deng Kai launched the cleanest counterattack with that through pass!"
"This pass has torn through Casabia’s midfield and defense!"
"Chris bursts onto the scene! His speed is too fast! He and Deng Kai are perfectly in sync!"
"One-on-one! Chris is one-on-one! He has already scored nine one-on-one goals this season in the league, making him the king of one-on-ones in the U15 league! His one-on-ones are very stable, will he once again demonstrate his shooting skills?"
"GOAL! One to nil!"
"Chris, no no no, let’s call out his new name, C... Ronaldo!"
At Estádio Alvalade, the home fans cheered in unison, "C. Ronaldo!"
Ronaldo gestured for Deng Kai to join him in celebration.
The two ran towards the corner flag area, leaped high, and spun in mid-air...
Fans familiar with them shouted out together, "Siuuuuuu!"
