Chapter 469: Chapter 404: Women’s World Cup
"I feel like the entire league is against us."
Brian complained, his brow furrowed.
They had been sniped again.
Just moments ago, Kovol, the player they planned to select, had been taken by the Brooklyn Nets with the 17th pick in the second round.
"Who do we pick?" Brian turned to look at Skiles.
This second-round pick was originally meant to be a throw-in for the Wade trade.
Now that the Wade trade had fallen through, the backup plan was Kovol.
Of all the players projected for the second round in mock drafts, the Phoenix Suns had only worked out Kovol.
Skiles immediately started flipping through the scouting reports.
Brian quickly picked up the phone and called Brooklyn Nets General Manager Rod Thorn.
After a brief conversation where he expressed their interest in acquiring Kovol, Brian hung up.
Skiles and the others still hadn’t come to a decision.
"Chen, you got any ideas?" he asked, turning toward Chen Yu.
He wasn’t too concerned about a second-round pick.
Chen Yu had run a training camp, so he knew the rookies.
Most importantly, Chen Yu was about to become a minority owner of the team, so he had a say.
Chen Yu quickly ran through the players from his training camp in his head, then said, "Mo Williams from the University of Alabama, I believe that’s his name."
Skiles quickly looked for Mo Williams’s scouting report.
Chen Yu continued, "His athleticism is average, and his physical measurables aren’t great. He’s a point guard, but his playmaking is a mess. However, he does have a decent mid-range shot. He’s barely usable."
What could you expect from a rookie at this pick anyway? They were bound to be full of flaws and weaknesses. It was good enough if they had even one bright spot.
For a strong team like the Phoenix Suns, they didn’t expect to find a gem in the second round. It was just about filling a spot. Often, they wouldn’t even offer a contract, instead just packaging the pick in a trade to a weaker team.
As soon as he finished speaking, Granic announced on TV that the Jazz had selected Mo Williams with the 19th pick of the second round.
"Fuck."
Brian cursed again.
Chen Yu shook his head slightly. ’No point thinking about it now. We’ll just see what happens when it’s the Suns’ turn.’
Before long, the Brooklyn Nets got back to them.
They didn’t want the Phoenix Suns’ second-round pick. They wanted cash.
They wanted 150,000 US dollars.
Brian almost swore. He immediately countered with 100,000 US dollars.
After some haggling, they each gave some ground and settled on 125,000 US dollars.
Chen Yu couldn’t help but sigh. ’Same town, different fates.’ He thought about Schringer and Nick Collison, who came from the same town as Kovol. They were first-rounders, while Kovol had fallen to the second round and was being sold for 125,000 US dollars.
But Chen Yu was truly optimistic about him. He felt Kovol had a high probability of making it in the league.
In the world of sports, while talent might determine 99 percent of one’s ceiling, effort was just as important.
Besides, for someone like Kovol who came from a basketball family, his so-called "bad talent" was only relative. His natural basketball talent was already enough to beat ninety-nine percent of ordinary people.
Soon, it was the Phoenix Suns’ turn to pick.
Skiles pushed aside the scouting reports with a pained expression and turned to look at Chen Yu.
He had a few options in mind, but he wanted to hear Chen Yu’s suggestions first.
When it came to this year’s draft class, Chen Yu was more knowledgeable.
Chen Yu thought for a moment as a few names popped into his head. Then he said, "If you’re looking for a big man, I recommend someone: Udonis Haslem. He was an undrafted rookie last year, then played a season in France. When I held my training camp, he specifically took a leave of absence from his team to fly back from France and participate."
"His talent is really just average, but he lost nearly 70 pounds in one year, which is incredible. Because of that, I think his self-discipline makes him worth developing."
Chen Yu had always believed that even among professional athletes, those who could lose that much weight were a special breed.
Especially dropping nearly 70 pounds in a single year.
"If you need a perimeter player, I recommend a guy named Marquis Daniels from Auburn University. His shot isn’t good, and he doesn’t have many offensive moves, but his physical measurables are decent, and he has good defensive potential."
Brian and Skiles glanced at each other and quickly made a decision. "Let’s go with this Marquis, then."
He had keyed in on one thing: Marquis’s defense was good.
For a backup to the backup, what more could you expect than scoring? If he could get on the court, give the starters a few minutes of rest, and play his heart out on defense without giving up points, that would be enough.
Skiles nodded, having no major objections either.
At this point in the draft, it really didn’t matter much who they picked.
The Phoenix Suns immediately made their decision and selected Marquis Daniels.
"Well, that’s that. I have to go to Switzerland tomorrow," Chen Yu said, nodding to the others. It was already late.
Just then, the phone on the table suddenly rang.
Chen Yu glanced at it and was surprised to see it was a call from Jerry West.
Chen Yu showed the caller ID to Brian on the screen behind him, then answered the call.
On the other side of the screen, Brian instantly perked up, glaring intently at the phone.
After the call connected and they exchanged simple pleasantries, Jerry West stated his purpose for calling.
It was just as Chen Yu had guessed: he was calling about Wade’s knee.
"No problem, we’ve already scheduled it."
Since they were planning to keep Wade, West was naturally concerned about the potential issues with his knee and asked if he would be ready for the new season.
"As for the new season, it shouldn’t be a big problem."
Looking at Duncan’s case last year, at worst, he’d be out for one or two months.
"That’s good to hear." After thanking him profusely, West hung up.
Brian quickly asked what West had said. When he found out it was about Wade, his anger boiled over. "Chen, don’t agree to help him! He’s a liar! I’ll never forget this. He better hope he never falls into my hands."
Chen Yu couldn’t be bothered with him. He waved at Nelson and the others and ended the video call.
The next day, however, Chen Yu made a last-minute change to his plans.
It was because of Blatter. He was coming to Paris for a meeting.
On May 3rd of this year, the FIFA Executive Committee met and agreed in principle to the expansion plan for the ’06 World Cup, increasing the number of teams from 32 to 36.
Then, on the 30th of this month, they would hold a formal vote to decide whether to approve the proposal.
And the root of this matter lay with Blatter.
After his successful election campaign last year, he planned to adjust the allocation of World Cup spots for each continent to repay favors to Oceania and Asia.
This action was met with strong protests from CONMEBOL.
As a counter-attack, CONMEBOL President Nicholas Reos directly proposed expanding the World Cup instead.
His proposal even received support from UEFA President Lennart Johnsson, who had always been at odds with Blatter.
Initially, Blatter was strongly against it, but for some unknown reason, he later chose to support it, which ultimately led to the result of agreeing to the expansion in principle and postponing the vote.
Chen Yu decided to stay in Paris and talk with Grayer again.
The next day, while Chen Yu was in his hotel room, the front desk suddenly called to inform him that he had a visitor.
The person’s name was Zhang Jianqiang, and he was from China.
Chen Yu had never heard of this person, but upon hearing he was from China, he hesitated for a moment before deciding to meet him.
Soon, there was a knock on the door.
Chen Yu got up and opened it.
Three men stood outside. The one in the lead had thick eyebrows and large eyes, with his hair parted to the side. The moment the door opened, he smiled cheerfully and introduced himself in English so accented Chen Yu could barely understand it.
His surname was Yan.
Chen Yu looked at the other two men. One was a middle-aged man with slicked-back hair, and the other was much younger, wearing glasses and carrying a briefcase. Based on his attire and demeanor, he looked like a secretary.
"Hello, Mr. Yan. I can speak Chinese," Chen Yu said, switching to Chinese.
Chen Yu’s Chinese had improved a lot in the past two years; he had no problem with normal conversation.
"I’m surprised your Chinese is so good, Doctor Chen," complimented the middle-aged man, whose name was Yan Shiduo.
Chen Yu invited the three men in and led them to the sitting area of his suite.
The other two were the man with the slicked-back hair, Zhang Jianqiang, and the young man, Xu Mulin.
After some simple pleasantries, Chen Yu was surprised to learn that the man before him, Yan Shiduo, was actually the vice-chairman of the Chinese Football Association.
Xu Mulin was his secretary.
And Zhang Jianqiang was the director of the Chinese Football Association’s Women’s Department.
’So that’s how it is.’
Chen Yu took a sip of water. After about half an hour of conversation, he finally understood the whole story.
The three men were here because of this year’s Women’s World Cup.
This year’s Women’s World Cup was supposed to be hosted by China.
But unfortunately, an epidemic had broken out in Asia this year. As a doctor, Chen Yu was naturally aware of and following the situation.
On top of that, the United States was at war. Anyway, there was a lot of crap going on this year.
This then affected the preparations for the Women’s World Cup.
At that same Executive Committee meeting on May 3rd, where the World Cup expansion was discussed, the committee made a final decision to move the tournament and revoke China’s hosting rights.
"But didn’t you already agree to it?" Chen Yu asked.
On May 3rd, FIFA had notified the Chinese Football Association, and after all this time, the Chinese Football Association had agreed to the change of venue out of "respect for FIFA."
Yan Shiduo was a politician, and perhaps because this was a private meeting, he didn’t beat around the bush and directly stated their true thoughts.
They had agreed.
But they had no other choice. FIFA was incredibly high-handed; what could they do even if they disagreed?
The so-called respect was just a public facade born out of helplessness.
Since winning the bid in 2000, the Chinese Football Association had invested enormous funds to prepare for this World Cup.
This included renovating venues in four host cities, as well as constructing new ones.
If it was cancelled, all told, the losses would be over a hundred million.
And that was just the initial investment.
After being forced to agree to the change of venue, Yan Shiduo had proposed that this couldn’t just be the end of it; FIFA had to compensate them for their preparation losses.
Logically, this was a very reasonable request.
But FIFA refused.
Their trip to Europe was also to negotiate this.
But at this moment, things took a turn. In Yan Shiduo’s words, that turn was Chen Yu.
The key person behind the cancellation of their hosting rights for the Women’s World Cup was Dr. Randy Duran, the Medical Director of the Medical Committee. After an investigation and consultation with the World Health Organization, he submitted a medical report to Blatter, concluding that China’s current situation made it unsuitable for hosting this year’s World Cup.
This report also received the full support of the Medical Committee members.
Most importantly, the Chinese Football Association had no one in FIFA.
At the May 3rd meeting, there was only one person who could have saved China’s hosting rights for the Women’s World Cup: the Thai official Voravee Makudi, who held multiple key positions: Secretary General of the Football Association of Thailand, Chairman of the AFC Women’s Football Committee, and Chairman of the FIFA Women’s Football Committee.
He did try to help, but one person wasn’t enough. In the end, FIFA still passed the resolution and revoked China’s hosting rights.
Of course, as compensation, they promised to give the hosting rights for the ’07 tournament to China.
But the problem was that China had already invested so much manpower and financial resources. To have it suddenly cancelled right before it was about to be held meant the losses were far too great.
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