All Crazy

The south gate of Edward VII Park faced Marquis of Pombal Square. It was where five major roads in Lisbon converged, as well as an important subway station.

After circling the roundabout and passing two intersections, he turned east onto Duke Lore Street. Another six hundred meters brought him to Tang Jose Apartment.

This was the dormitory the team had arranged for Rony.

After passing through the security gate, he went straight upstairs to the dormitory. Just as he was about to take out his key, the door suddenly opened from inside.

"Ah, Rony, why are you only getting back now? You've been missing all day. Where did you go?"

The speaker was a tall, strongly built African youth with dark skin.

His name was Jose Semedo, and he was from Cape Verde.

"Nothing much. I was bored by myself, so I went to the park to practice." Rony replied indifferently.

Semedo shrugged. Everyone on the team knew that Rony was a training fanatic. He could even work out in the gym until after two in the morning, only leaving after being discovered and chased out by the club's security guards.

Still, he was also one of the best players in the team's youth academy.

As they brushed past each other, Rony caught the strong scent of cologne on Semedo and frowned.

"Jose, where are you going?"

Semedo turned around, grinning with a dazzling set of white teeth. "Hugo said he'd introduce us to a few hot girls. Do you want to come along?"

The league was currently suspended, and the youth academy had no training sessions either, so they were free to do as they pleased.

Rony wore an expression that said he knew it, and shook his head.

"Come on, Rony. You're the best-looking one among us. Stop thinking about that girl from Madeira. Now that you're in Lisbon, you should open your arms and embrace even better things, don't you think?" Semedo urged.

Rony shook his head. "You go. I'm not interested."

"That's only because you haven't tasted how wonderful it is." Semedo tried to tempt him.

Rony neither agreed nor disagreed. He walked straight into the dormitory.

He and Semedo were teammates at the youth academy, making Semedo the only person on the team who could be considered his friend.

That was because they both had Cape Verdean blood in them.

Rony's father's grandmother had been from Cape Verde.

This gave them a natural sense of closeness. They became friends and roommates, but that was all.

Semedo left, but the dormitory air was still thick with the scent of hormones and cologne.

Rony gave an exasperated bitter smile, walked over to the telephone, and dialed a familiar number.

"Hello, this is Pontes." The moment the call connected, a familiar voice came from the other end.

"Hey, Lionel, it's Rony." Rony greeted him warmly.

"Oh, my God, Rony, what suddenly made you think of calling me? God, I haven't heard your voice in ages."

Lionel Pontes was extremely excited on the other end of the phone.

All these years, he had been bragging to everyone that Rony was the most gifted and capable prodigy he had ever coached.

Besides, the two of them came from the same place and could be considered hometown acquaintances.

Rony was not very good at chatting with others, even when facing a fellow countryman who had coached him in the Youth Team for four years.

Soon, he shifted the conversation to the purpose of the call.

"It's like this, Lionel. You have a great deal of experience with youth training, and I have some training-related questions I'd like to ask you about. I hope you can help me."

"I'm afraid I can't, Rony." Pontes sounded regretful on the other end. "You know that I'm only good at developing players between the ages of ten and fifteen. I already taught you everything I know. I'm afraid I can't answer your questions anymore. I suggest you ask Aurelio or Nuno instead."

Aurelio Pereira was Rony's mentor and the head of the team's youth development program.

Nuno Nare had been Rony's previous youth coach, though he probably would not be his coach in the new season.

"The questions I want to ask are about that age group." Rony sounded a little embarrassed.

"Oh? Then let's hear them."

"It's like this. If a player is sixteen or seventeen, and many of his basic technical movements are inaccurate and improper, is there any way to correct them and help him improve?"

"Sixteen or seventeen?" Pontes shook his head helplessly on the other end of the phone. "That will be difficult. By then, they've already become habits and formed muscle memory. But Rony, your technique is quite precise and sound. There's no need for you to worry about this."

"Lionel, I'm not talking about myself. I'm talking about a friend."

"Even then, that shouldn't be possible. Normally, players with improper technique can't pass our team's assessment and enter the Youth Team."

"He's not from our team."

"Another team?"

"Yeah."

"Your friend?"

"I only met him today."

"Oh, my God! You've actually made a new friend? That's absolutely unbelievable, but it's also wonderful. You actually have a friend, haha..."

Rony felt very awkward on his end of the phone because he did not think he was particularly antisocial.

At most, he simply did not interact much with his other teammates.

Someone who buried himself in training all day hardly had time to make friends.

"Back to the point, Lionel. Is there any way?"

"He's already missed the best age for technical development."

"I know you must have a way. This is your specialty, isn't it?"

"All right, there is a way, but it's really difficult. Changing a person's habits requires a tremendous amount of effort. Do you think he can do it?"

"I don't know." Rony shook his head. He had only known Su Dong for a short day. "But I really hit it off with him. He's a fanatical football enthusiast, and when he trains, it's as if he doesn't care whether he lives or dies."

"Like you?"

"More or less."

"Then there's still a chance." Pontes replied. "You can use training equipment and aids to correct him, and the training itself will need to be modified slightly. I'll think it over tomorrow and send some material to your email."

"Tomorrow?" Rony frowned. "Could you hurry it up tonight? Please, Lionel. I'll buy you dinner another day."

"Are you in a hurry?"

"Yeah. We arranged to meet tomorrow morning."

"What time?"

"Five."

As he answered, Su Dong's words rang in Rony's mind: Have you ever seen Lisbon at five in the morning?

A faint smile touched his lips. I've seen it at two in the morning.

"You really are just like him. You're both crazy," Pontes said over the phone.

As a Virgo, Su Dong demanded perfection from himself.

When he returned to the dormitory, showered, and lay down on the bed, he entered the Path to the King of Football system. He first raised the Potential Points of the four major attributes—technique, shooting, speed, and strength—all the way to the maximum of 99.

He then discovered that he still had plenty of King of Football Points left, so he struck while the iron was hot and maxed out the Potential Points for defense and tackling as well.

He had spent 27,000 King of Football Points in one go, nearly depleting what he had accumulated that afternoon.

However, when he looked at the Personal Attribute Panel and saw that every Potential Point value was a uniform 99, his mood immediately improved.

Virgo men were simply this plain, unadorned, and boring.

Although his one-on-one match against Rony that day had slightly improved his strength, the progress had not been substantial.

Su Dong felt that he still needed more professional youth training, especially to correct some of his improper technical movements and skills.

He absolutely could not underestimate this.

Improper technical movements and skills would not only affect the stability of his performance but could also easily cause injuries.

Many people said that Ronaldo's frequent injuries were related to his playing habits, especially his Pendulum Dribble.

Many South American players were like this. Put nicely, it was creativity or a spontaneous flash of inspiration. Put bluntly, their techniques were improper and unscientific, with everyone acting entirely on instinct.

Of course, players developed through the more disciplined and scientific European youth system tended to seem somewhat mechanical, lacking a certain spark.

All of that was still too far beyond Su Dong. He had not reached that level yet.

For now, he wanted to keep his feet on the ground and improve his strength as quickly as possible.

At the very least, he had to work harder and strive to establish himself in Sporting Portugal's Youth Team, even if it was only the youth academy of a third-tier team.

After training all day, Su Dong was exhausted and fell into a deep sleep early.

The next morning, before five, his alarm woke him.

After brushing his teeth, washing his face, and changing clothes, he jogged all the way to Edward VII Park Stadium.

At the park's south gate, he saw Rony walking over from the east in the distance.

There was no one else around, so the two easily spotted each other and smiled at the same time.

"What's all this?" Su Dong asked when he saw the many things Rony was carrying.

"An agility ladder, obstacle cones, hurdle poles..." Rony introduced the equipment in his hands. "We'll be using them in training later. I prepared this especially for you—a hellish devil training session."

After saying that, Rony gave him a threatening look. "You can still regret it now."

Su Dong snorted twice without replying. He walked over, took the equipment from Rony, and headed straight into the park.

How could he not know that Rony had prepared all this to help correct his technical movements?

Although they had only known each other for a day, they shared the same interests. Especially after sensing Rony's thoughtfulness, Su Dong felt warm inside.

This was the first warmth he had felt since coming to Portugal.

Rony did not say much either. He followed Su Dong into the park.

He did this purely because he appreciated this peer who had a similar personality. He had never even considered asking for anything in return.

He simply regarded Su Dong as a friend.

Wasn't that what friends were supposed to do?

The two did not go to the three-man training field from the previous day. Instead, they went straight to the largest seven-man training field.

"I'm telling you, I learned this training method from Lionel Pontes." Rony introduced its origins to Su Dong while laying out the field and arranging the equipment.

"You definitely don't know Lionel Pontes, right?"

"Let me tell you, he's the best youth-training expert in Portugal, especially when it comes to developing players between the ages of ten and fifteen."

At this point, Rony deliberately stopped, turned his head, and smiled as he took a jab at Su Dong. "Your fundamentals are probably only equivalent to those of a ten-year-old. You're still a long way from beating me."

Su Dong knew that perfectly well, but he refused to show weakness.

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