Chapter 95: Chapter 94 The Battle for the Strongest U15 Midfielder (Please Subscribe!!!)
First of all, the national youth team and the national team are different.
Joining the youth team does not affect a player’s choice for the national team later on.
Secondly, although the current Chinese men’s football team has already disappointed many, but... compared to what would come later, they were practically soaring in the sky!
Whether it’s the first team of the national team or domestic youth training players, they now play with presence and flair.
Yang Chen, Fan Zhiyi, and others are mainstays in the top four leagues.
These above-board factors, along with the perennial paralysis problem within the domestic FA, mean that spots on the national team are not easily given to outsiders.
You even have to buy your quota.
The number of matches you want to play, that’s how much money you have to spend, and so on.
Haven’t you seen the ugly faces of the FA planning to bring in a bunch of foreigners who can’t even say "hello" properly?
Fighting to stuff money into others’ pockets!
What the hell!
That’s squandering the taxpayers’ money!
Fucking hell!
So... the domestic FA might not be interested in an overseas Chinese talent, even a Chinese national player.
But if you prefix that player with "Greatly sought after by the Portugal national team".
That would make a huge difference.
It doesn’t matter what it is, once someone is competing with you for it, wants it from you, even if it’s a pile of shit, you would still need to carefully ponder whether there might be some other nutritional components in it that you haven’t discovered.
Therefore, with the opportunity to join the Portugal national youth ranks, Deng Kai would certainly not miss it.
The European Youth Championship this summer might be a bit uncertain.
But for next summer’s World Youth Championship, he was determined to win!
...
April 12th.
Lisbon Sporting hosted Oeiras at home.
A 2-0 victory for the team was nothing new.
Noteworthy, however, was that Ronaldo scored a goal.
This was also his fortieth goal of the season in the Portugal U15 league!
The name Little Alien was increasingly being recognized.
This match was the last one of the second phase of the U15 league.
Lisbon Sporting, Benfica, Porto, and Guimaraes each secured the top two spots in their districts, entering the third phase.
The four teams cycled against each other, playing six matches.
The one with the highest points would be the champion of the 1998-1999 season Portugal U15 league!
These four teams virtually represented the pinnacle of Portugal’s youth training strength at this stage.
Except for Benfica, which was slightly inferior, the other three teams were viewed as nearly equal in their chances of winning the championship.
Especially Porto, their striker Hugo Almeida’s goal count was less than Ronaldo, but his physical advantage was too prominent in U15-level matches.
Many people thought he could play in U19 matches now.
And Porto’s midfield linchpin Flavio Igor, defensive midfielder Aganista Sarginho, had long since been named in the national ranks, selected for Portugal U15.
April 14th.
The FA Cup semifinals.
Manchester United faced their biggest rival in the league, Arsenal, twice within four days and successfully defeated them, advancing to the FA Cup final.
This was one of the classic matches in the history of the FA Cup.
Beckham’s goal helped United take the lead.
However, Keane was subsequently sent off with a red card, forcing United to face their opponent with ten men.
Schmeichel performed heroically, saving a penalty.
In the extra time, alongside Rooney on the wings, Giggs—oh no, sorry, "Gig-gun-suh"—intercepted Vieira’s pass, made a long run and scored one of the FA Cup’s greatest goals, helping the Red Devils triumph over the Gunners.
After the team’s victory, an excited Giggs shouted directly at the camera during the interview,
"Towards the great Treble!"
For a time, Manchester United’s Treble became the center of discussion once again.
Some mocked Manchester United for even falling to third place in the league, behind Arsenal and Chelsea at one point, wondering if the "three" in their Treble was referring to this third place?
Of course, there were also those who remembered the boy who had initially predicted Manchester United would win the Treble.
And when they turned to look, wow!
This little boy still maintained the possibility of capturing two Championship Trophies this season. Was he setting an example for Manchester United?
"Manchester United in three competitions, beware of collapsing in one fell swoop!"
"Reaching the FA Cup Final is not necessarily a good thing, Juventus should thank Arsenal for wearing out Manchester United too much. With an away goal in hand, Juventus is almost certain to win in the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals!"
"The league situation is complicated, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester United all have chances to take the crown, but Manchester United is the least favored!"
"Once again claiming the Treble, who has given Manchester United confidence?"
"Ferguson: Deng Kai has given us confidence! Our little fan still has the possibility of a double this season, we, as the great Red Devils, should not do worse than a little player!"
...
Sporting Lisbon.
It was time for another tactical class.
But this time, it was not only Trigella who attended.
The first-team’s assistant coach, tactical designer, video analyst, and so on, were all present.
The first team had nothing much left to pursue this year, not even making it to the Champions League.
But the U15s still had great potential.
Who would have thought at the start of the season that Simon’s value could soar to more than fifteen hundred euros?
And it wasn’t because Simon performed so well in the first team, but because Sporting Lisbon’s youth training reputation had become top-notch.
All of this was brought about by this group of young players in front of them.
However, the tactical class did not go very well.
It wasn’t that the players weren’t listening attentively, but because... this Ajax team was too strong.
"Their forwards might not have a player of Ronaldo’s caliber, but they have reached the limit of a normal U15 player!" Trigella commented.
Ronaldo had now become a unit of measurement in his terms.
This unit was above the ordinary, but below a true top genius.
This was quite fitting of Ronaldo’s actual situation.
Whether in Madeira or Sporting Lisbon, Ronaldo was never just an ordinary player; he was always a genius.
But the reason he was labeled as "lacking talent" was that compared to his contemporaries and peers, he did indeed fall a bit short.
In previous matchups with Cech, Fan Peixi, Robben, Lahm, Schweinsteiger, and others, his strength might have been on par with Ronaldo, but the quality he displayed to the experts seemed superior to Ronaldo.
Unlike other geniuses who were fixed at one level, Ronaldo’s level climbed over time. Through personal effort, he achieved "class leaps" time and again.
In the eyes of experts, Ronaldo’s talent level was on par with Quagliarella and Hitzlsperger, below Deng Kai.
And the two super geniuses in Ajax far surpassed Ronaldo.
Even more so, they also surpassed the number one talent of the Sporting Lisbon U15 team, cough cough, Deng Kai self-proclaimed!
What’s worse, these two players played the same position as Deng Kai, midfielder.
The outcome of the midfield battle directly determined the situation on the pitch.
Deng Kai might not be able to win against even one of them.
Let alone two of them.
Two super midfielders together would often perform not just additive but multiplicatively, ugh... anyway, certainly greater than two!
The Ajax U15’s midfield Gemini, who dominated the Dutch U15 league, were closely watched by the big clubs.
They are...
Rafael van der Vaart!
Wesley Sneijder!
This pairing roughly translates to the Dutch youth version of Zidane+Rivaldo!
