I AM the Football Star

Chapter 953: Chapter 230: FIFA Virus, Just You Wait! (Part 3)

The Main Referee was both crying and laughing, and didn’t respond.

Two–nil!

San Remo calmly cashed in the first half.

Such a dominant display was something many experts hadn’t expected.

Although Parma are also a relegation–battling team, San Remo have made positional changes in this match.

Their starting lineup for this game was:

Bai Zhami, Talista, Lu Yang

Moriba, Kaint, Morici

Camihong, Naji, Palacios, Alme

Areola

Yep, Moriba was over the moon.

He had originally thought that after paying his respects at the dock, he could get relatively stable substitute minutes.

But he didn’t expect Brother Lu to be this powerful, directly giving him a start.

As expected, San Remo really is Lu’s team.

Whatever Brother Lu says, goes.

From now on he could slack off, could skip defending, but he had to serve Brother Lu with all his heart if he wanted more chances.

As for Alme, Sotu was still looking for more possibilities in him.

In the 62nd minute of the second half, defensive midfielder Kaint suddenly pressed forward and successfully dispossessed Parma’s midfield.

The opponents hadn’t expected Kaint’s coverage area to be this big.

Kaint immediately nudged the ball forward, and without relying on the help of Moriba and Morici, carried the ball over the halfway line.

Bang!

After attracting enough defenders, Kaint played a straight through ball.

The ball sliced through Parma’s flank.

Bai Zhami beat the offside trap, received the ball in the box and, with the fullback tracking him, shot from a tight angle.

Three–nil!

The entire stadium turned into a sea of joy.

After this goal, San Remo made substitutions.

Delarre replaced the assisting hero Kaint.

Kaint had been running a lot all game, and recently the team has been adjusting its formation, so this was a good chance to give him more rest.

Moriba and Delarre swapped positions, becoming the team’s double pivots.

This time, Moriba knew exactly how he needed to perform.

He might not like defending, but he can defend, and defending could bring him more playing time and status in the team.

He actually had no choice.

Lam came on in a like–for–like swap for Palacios.

Fernandez replaced Bai Zhami.

After he came off, Sotu specifically reminded Bai Zhami that it didn’t matter what he played next, but he absolutely must not get injured.

After this match, the players would be flying off to their respective national teams.

Sotu was worried that Bai Zhami might get injured over in Africa.

In the 81st minute, Parma executed a successful counterattack.

They dispossessed Delarre, then played the ball into the space behind Moriba, and in the end Alme lost track of Parma’s left Winger, allowing him to arrive at the far post and score.

Three–one!

That was the final score.

Both in terms of the scoreline and the overall performance, San Remo had secured a big win.

Of course, they are still gelling.

Back–to–back wins!

With three goals in net goal difference and two wins in a row, San Remo climbed to fourth place on the Serie A table!

This start is very good.

But given that their last two opponents were both relegation teams, this result doesn’t carry that much weight.

And... the key thing is that because of national team games, San Remo will be missing nearly half of their starters in the next two matches.

This proves the strength of San Remo’s squad, which has been unanimously recognized by World Football.

But at the same time, it means San Remo has finally encountered the headaches that strong teams have.

The FIFA virus!

This isn’t an actual virus.

But because national teams use the players, even if the schedules are staggered somewhat, most players will still perform poorly after the international break due to travel and a congested fixture list.

And injuries to star players in these matches are also quite common, and the ones hit hardest by injuries are the stars themselves and their clubs!

Form slumps and injuries are both common phenomena during international breaks.

So the FIFA virus is infamous, and many big clubs hate it to the core.

...

On September 8, matches for the Italy National Team kicked off.

Lu Yang and Ancelotti scored one after another, helping Italy beat their opponents.

Morici and Perrotta each provided an assist for them.

On September 10, the third round of Serie A kicked off.

Lu Yang, Morici, Areola, Lam, Talista, and Bai Zhami all missed out, and with Canyes sidelined by injury, that’s basically half the starting lineup gone.

Fortunately, Bernulin returned just in time.

San Remo’s bench is not very strong, and especially, there really aren’t many substitutes who can keep up with the starters.

In this match, almost every player San Remo could field was on the pitch.

They even pulled two or three youth team players up onto the bench.

But the performance... it’s hard to call it good.

At home, San Remo were held to a 2–2 draw by relegation–battling Chievo In Serie A.

Kaint assisted, and Fernandez scored.

Delarre assisted Naji’s header from a corner.

But in all the other stats, San Remo and Chievo were nearly neck and neck.

This is still a long way from true top–team standards.

San Remo thus moved to seven points and dropped from fourth to eighth in the league!

The battle for the top half of the table In Serie A is terrifying!

To this day, there are still as many as five teams who have started the first three rounds of Serie A with three straight wins!

They are Juventus, Florence, Rome, AC Milan, and Atlanta!

These teams are all riding a huge wave of momentum right now.

Especially Atlanta, who brought in former San Remo player Vedian.

Up front, they have a trident of Inzitens, Savio, and Vedian, truly a perfect blend of technique, physicality, and Speed!