Becoming the Team's Tactical Core

"Wait a moment!"

Hearing the reporters' question, Lin Feng did not waste any words and went straight back to his room.

After searching around, he found the ID card he had obtained just last year in his wallet.

He had specifically returned to China to get this ID card last year after turning sixteen, at Mom's reminder.

Seeing Lin Feng produce the decisive evidence, the reporters finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After several reporters photographed Lin Feng's ID card, they politely returned it to him.

During the process, Lin Feng could clearly sense that the reporters' attitude toward him had changed.

Before seeing the ID card, they had merely been polite to Lin Feng.

But after seeing it and confirming his identity, there was a little more enthusiasm in their manner.

"Your question is actually rather strange. As far as I remember, our country doesn't recognize dual citizenship. If I weren't Chinese, how could I possibly represent the Youth National Team?"

The reporters nodded with smiles. Of course they understood that logic.

But fans—or rather, some conspiracy theorists—simply refused to believe it!

Now that the misunderstanding had been cleared up, there was no need to dwell on the matter.

The reporters began asking the questions they had prepared in advance, mainly asking Lin Feng to introduce himself and his family.

They also asked him about how it felt to play for the national team, his assessment of his own performance, and his expectations for the upcoming matches.

The Football Association had already informed Lin Feng of the questions the reporters would ask. He had prepared his answers long ago, so the interview went very smoothly.

Lin Feng's humorous and witty answers, along with the occasional amusing story about himself and his teammates, had the reporters laughing heartily.

Chen Tao's sense of responsibility and leadership, Hao Junmin's simplicity and thriftiness, Feng Xiaoting's determination and perseverance, Gao Lin's loyalty to his friends—their images came vividly to life through Lin Feng's introduction, gradually taking shape in people's minds.

Every one of these young men was a flesh-and-blood person with distinct traits and personality.

The interview went very pleasantly, and Lin Feng was especially good at handling people.

He had a sweet mouth, calling every man Brother and every woman Sister.

After the interview, he even thoughtfully gave the reporters carefully prepared gifts, leaving them pleasantly surprised.

This kid was worth knowing. They would have to keep in touch with him more in the future.

For reporters who made their living in the Sports Circle, maintaining good relationships with players was an important part of their job.

Especially now that this China Youth Team had achieved unprecedented success at the Youth World Cup, it was even more important to build good relations with them.

If nothing unexpected happened, most of the China Youth Team's members would likely join the national team in the future.

By building good relationships now, they would be able to get more exclusive stories from them later on.

So, after interviewing Lin Feng, they also interviewed several other China Youth Team players.

Compared to the worldly and socially adept Lin Feng, the other players all seemed somewhat restrained in front of so many reporters.

This made the reporters sigh even more. Why was the youngest one the most mature? The players who were older than Lin Feng performed far worse than him.

Sure enough, the gap between people could sometimes be greater than the gap between people and dogs.

"One final question. Your opponent for the next match has been confirmed: Argentina team. Are you confident that you can defeat an Argentina team with Messi?"

When the microphone was handed to China Youth Team captain Feng Xiaoting, he stammered, unable to get the words out. He was afraid that one careless remark would bring a storm of criticism from the fans.

Seeing the captain's embarrassment, Chen Tao was about to take the microphone and answer for him.

But someone moved even faster than he did.

"Of course we're confident. Our goal in this Youth World Cup is the championship. Whether Argentina team has Messi or Mei Dong, neither can stop us from moving forward!"

The reporters were stunned by the domineering answer and only recovered a moment later.

"Well said!"

"That's the spirit!"

"Keep it up! I believe in you!"

Reporter was their profession, but fan was their true nature.

Hearing Lin Feng's stirring response, the reporters present all cheered for him.

Chen Tao, standing nearby, stared in disbelief and could not help raising a hand to his forehead.

You really dared to say that, kid!

If we lose, let's see how you get off the stage!

Forget it, I'll risk my life to keep a gentleman company!

Who told you to call me Brother Chen?

As expected, once the reporters' interview report on the China Youth Team was published, it immediately caused a huge uproar across the country.

"Say something now, haters!"

"Where are those people who spread rumors that Brother Lin was a fake foreigner? Come out and take a few steps!"

"Heh, those guys are all turtles with their heads tucked in. How would they dare show themselves now?"

With ironclad proof of Lin Feng's nationality, no one doubted it any longer, and the previous rumors collapsed on their own.

However, fans were somewhat divided over Lin Feng's declaration that they would win the championship:

"This Argentina team is far too strong. Even a team as strong as Spain youth team was nearly thrashed by them. It'll still be extremely difficult for the China Youth Team to win!"

"That's right. Argentina team is already the top favorite to win the Youth World Cup. They have talent everywhere and an unstoppable Messi. I think the title is basically already theirs!"

Many fans had stayed up late to watch the marquee match between Argentina and Spain team. After watching it, many of them felt their hearts go cold. They believed this Argentina team was almost invincible.

Compared to them, the gap between the China Youth Team and Argentina was obvious. It was not something one or two star players could make up for.

Besides, the China Youth Team had historically reached the Youth World Cup semifinals. They had already exceeded the fans' expectations.

If they lost to such a powerful opponent now, the fans would not blame the China Youth Team players for it.

As long as the loss was not too ugly, they could accept it.

This view held an overwhelming majority among the fans, but a small group still firmly believed the China Youth Team could win.

"Argentina is strong, but weren't German team and Brazil Team strong before? Before those two matches, who thought the China Youth Team could win? But what happened?"

"Didn't the China Youth Team have the last laugh in the end? So I believe the China Youth Team will still win this time!"

Throughout history, media predictions for major tournaments had always been unreliable.

There had been far too many cases of championship favorites unexpectedly crashing out.

Before the China Youth Team entered this Youth World Cup, many European media outlets had ranked them as the weakest team in the tournament.

Yet the "weakest" China Youth Team had reached the semifinals, while the teams everyone favored had been eliminated one after another. That even included title favorites Brazil Team, German team, Spain youth team, and hosts Netherlands team.

So it was fine to listen to media predictions, but if you took them seriously, you had already lost.

No matter how the outside world argued, the China Youth Team's preparations continued in an orderly manner.

As the major match approached, Old man Klopp, who had always been strict, unusually reduced the team's training load.

Although he had never exchanged ideas with Milu, during his time coaching the China Youth Team, Klopp had gradually realized that he could not put too much pressure on Chinese players.

Too much pressure would make them perform abnormally. Against opponents stronger than themselves, performing abnormally was basically a death sentence.

To boost the players' confidence, he had all the China Youth Team players watch recordings of Argentina team's matches together, analyzing each opposing player's technical traits one by one.

Klopp was highly capable and had an exceptionally sharp eye.

After his analysis, Argentina's players had practically been stripped bare.

The China Youth Team players had initially lacked confidence, but as Klopp explained, their understanding of their opponents deepened, and their confidence gradually accumulated.

At the very least, they now knew how to deal with their opponents on the pitch.

"Argentina is good at strangling the midfield. Chen Tao, the next match will probably be very difficult for you. I need you to drop back a little and take on the organizing duties from a relatively safer position."

Moving the Attacking Midfielder deeper?

Lin Feng raised an eyebrow. Wasn't that AC Milan's tactic?

At that moment, a realization suddenly struck him: in the next match, he would very likely become the team's tactical core.

Sure enough, after assigning Chen Tao's task, Klopp looked at Lin Feng, his expression turning serious:

"Lin, for the next match, I will build the tactics around you and make full use of your speed. What you need to do is keep attacking their defensive line, just like Kaka!"