All Out Brawl

After joining Sporting Lisbon, Su Dong settled into a monotonous, dull, yet full and tightly packed life.

Every day was basically a straight line between his apartment and the training base.

Besides taking part in First Team training, he also had to deal with Jardel's one-hour special training every day, as well as two sessions of physical training each week, held in the gym at Alcochete.

Su Dong did not hide it from Pontes either, frankly admitting that he still persisted with physical training every day.

Pontes was mostly pleased by this, but at the same time, he warned Su Dong that the moment he felt any discomfort, he had to reduce his training load immediately.

Seventeen was precisely the age when the body was still growing, and it was also a crucial period when technical ability improved rapidly. If injuries appeared at this time, the impact on a professional player would be enormous, so he had to guard against it.

In the Path to the King of Football system, Su Dong could see his strength inching upward bit by bit every day. Although the speed was very slow, it brought him unprecedented confidence and hope, because he believed that as long as he trained, his strength would keep improving.

Taking advantage of joining Sporting Lisbon and the opportunity to train with the First Team, Su Dong farmed a hefty wave of King of Football Points, and simply raised the potential of every attribute in the two major categories of technique and physique to the maximum of 99 points.

That made his King of Football Points bleed heavily again.

But the benefit was that, for the foreseeable future, he would continue to maintain steady progress.

As long as his potential value did not hit a ceiling, he could keep moving forward.

In the blink of an eye, another week passed.

This time, Sporting Lisbon B went away to challenge Gondomar.

Their opponents were ranked mid-table in strength, and Sporting Lisbon were playing away.

Jean James still set out a 4-3-3 formation, and Su Dong still formed the front three with Marcelino and Rony.

Clearly, the victory in the previous round had given James a taste of success.

But Gondomar reacted very quickly as well, and their targeted defense was very well prepared.

This was also the biggest difference between professional teams and amateur teams: they had specialized channels for gathering intelligence.

Su Dong had just scored twice at Alcochete, and Gondomar had immediately received the news. Their response mechanism was extremely sharp, and they soon produced a targeted plan.

Gondomar were not weak, and they were playing at home. More importantly, this team was located southeast of Porto's urban area and had a very close relationship with Porto. Everyone could see that this season, Porto were battling Sporting Lisbon for the Portuguese Super League title.

At present, the Portuguese Super League had reached the eighteenth round, and Sporting Lisbon were away to Porto in this round.

In the afternoon, the B team played away against Porto's little brother Gondomar; in the evening, the First Team challenged Porto away.

This B team match had virtually become the First Team's preliminary skirmish.

Gondomar also attached considerable importance to this match. They were already not weak, and they were playing at home. Throughout the entire match, they gave Sporting Lisbon no good chances. The front three, who had shone brightly in the previous round, were tightly marked by their opponents this round.

Their attack failed to produce results, and instead there was a mistake on the defensive end. Just before the end of the first half, their opponents scored a goal, and they went into the halftime break trailing.

After the sides changed ends and the second half resumed, although the front three worked very hard to turn the situation around, they were still suppressed by their opponents.

After that, Jean James decisively made a substitution, sending on Fabio Costa and pushing Rony up onto the forward line.

This substitution quickly had an effect.

In the seventy-first minute, after Miguel Paixão won the ball in midfield, Hugo Pina carried it forward two steps and quickly played a through ball. It pierced the opposing midfield and landed directly at Su Dong's feet.

Between the opponent's two center backs, Su Dong did not stop the ball and laid it off sideways to the right.

Rony understood perfectly and, following the momentum, took the ball forward before sprinting rapidly.

The attention of the opponent's two center backs instantly fell on Rony. How could they still have time to worry about Su Dong?

Just as Rony was about to carry the ball into the penalty area, before the opposing defender could get close, he used his right foot to curl in an arcing ball.

The ball quickly dropped toward the left side of the six-yard box, and at some point, Su Dong had looped around behind the opponent's center back. He charged forward at top speed, then threw himself into a diving header and nodded the ball into the goal from close range.

After scoring, Su Dong slid completely off the pitch, but he excitedly climbed up from the ground again.

Rony spread his arms in excitement and rushed over at full speed, leaping straight onto Su Dong's back.

With Rony on his back, Su Dong sprinted wildly along the sideline, until his teammates stopped him.

"Beautifully done!"

"That diving header was so cool."

"As expected of Little God of War. Even his goals are this beautiful!"

"So cool!"

Su Dong modestly accepted his teammates' congratulations.

He had run for the whole match and wasted quite a few chances, but as long as he seized this one, it was worth it.

"Damn it, those two guys never trusted me and made me miss my chance," Rony complained.

Originally, he had planned to dribble into the penalty area himself, but there was nothing he could do. The opposing defender had come over. Unless he took another wild shot, passing to Su Dong at the far post was the best option.

"Because they don't know you've been dating so much lately you've turned into a soft-legged shrimp," Su Dong said with a loud laugh.

Rony lightly elbowed him in the chest. "I don't care. Next time, you have to pass to me."

"No problem," Su Dong agreed readily.

Despite his many goals, in reality, the most threatening player in Sporting Lisbon B was still Rony.

He dared to take the ball, and once he had it, he dared to dribble and drive forward. That was extremely rare.

Only players with absolute confidence in themselves could do that.

Su Dong did have confidence in himself, but in the end, he had climbed up from the lower leagues. He still needed some time.

Thanks to Su Dong's goal, Sporting Lisbon B held Gondomar to a 1–1 draw away from home.

This was the second match in a row in which Su Dong had scored, giving him three goals in total.

Head coach James singled out Su Dong for praise in the dressing room after the match, believing that his performance in this game had been outstanding.

However, the one chosen as Best Player of the match was Rony.

He had been the most eye-catching and also the most threatening player in Sporting Lisbon B, contributing a key assist.

After finishing the match against Gondomar, however, Sporting Lisbon B did not immediately make the return trip to Lisbon.

Everyone in the team took the bus into Porto, heading for Porto's home ground, Estádio das Antas, only four kilometers away in a straight line.

There was a saying that was absolutely right: changing the coach was like changing the blade.

From Machado to Mourinho, Porto's performances had changed very noticeably.

Especially in this match against Sporting Lisbon.

Mourinho had drilled the defense very tightly, and Carvalho and Andrade's performances were still as solid as they had been in the first leg.

This center-back pairing had been the best in the Primeira Liga this season.

Even someone as strong as Jardel found it hard to gain much advantage against them.

Just six minutes after kickoff, Andrade made use of a corner to open the scoring for Porto.

That goal dealt Sporting Lisbon a painful blow, and after that, the team became very passive.

Mourinho had made it clear he wanted to defend and counterattack, while after falling a goal behind, Sporting Lisbon had no choice but to adopt more aggressive tactics.

The two teams played with sparks flying. They went back and forth, and scenes of players being sent sprawling were everywhere.

There were even many moments when Su Dong, sitting in the stands, watched with his heart in his throat.

The referee showed no mercy either, pulling out cards again and again.

In the thirty-third minute, Barbosa pulled one back for Sporting Lisbon, successfully leveling the score.

But in the next two minutes, the two teams outright broke into an all-out brawl on the pitch.

Porto's Carvalho, Capucho, and Pena received yellow cards one after another, while on Sporting Lisbon's side, Barbosa and Paulo Bento were also booked in succession. It showed just how brutal the situation between the two teams had become.

A foul by Mario Silva inside the penalty area gave Sporting Lisbon a penalty.

Jardel made no mistake, putting his team ahead in the thirty-fifth minute.

That further intensified the fiery atmosphere between the two teams.

During halftime, Mourinho made two substitutions in a row, decisively increasing the attack.

Sporting Lisbon responded steadily, working hard to preserve their lead.

The two teams played with great intensity, and Barbosa and Bento even received yellow cards again one after another, both being sent off after two yellows turned into a red.

With two players gone from the field, Porto seized the moment and launched a fierce assault.

Brazilian attacking midfielder Deco, who had missed the first match through injury, stepped up at the crucial moment. With a beautiful late run, he received the ball inside the penalty area, shook off the defender, and calmly slotted it home, equalizing for Porto.

Two-all!

After that, it was Deco again, leading Porto in a relentless assault on Sporting Lisbon.

"This Porto side really is strong."

At first, Su Dong's attention had been on Pena. After all, he paid more attention to the opposing striker. But gradually, he was drawn to Deco.

He was not the kind of attacking midfielder with exceptionally dazzling technique. Instead, he was very well-rounded in both attack and defense, with a powerful ability to make late runs into the box. He was Porto's best-performing player this season. On the contrary, top scorer Pena had been somewhat muted this season.

"Mendes has been focusing on this group of Porto players recently. That guy has such a sharp eye, so these players definitely aren't bad. Even if they can draw tonight and get away from this away match unscathed, the title race will still be extremely dangerous," Rony analyzed with a frown.

"And then there's Niculae. How long exactly does he need to rest? After he comes back, how much of his form can he recover, when he already wasn't able to show his full strength before?"

This was not only Rony's question, but also the question on everyone at Sporting Lisbon's mind.

Nalitzis had still not made even a single appearance so far, and he had not shown very good performances in training either. It made people seriously wonder whether, after wasting half a year in Serie A, he could find his form again in the Primeira Liga.

"Su, did you see that? This is the team's crisis, but it's also exactly our opportunity." Rony looked full of ambition.

"Quaresma only played sixty minutes today. His form has fluctuated a lot this season, and his performances haven't been ideal. Sooner or later, I'll be able to replace him. And you need to work harder too. There's no way Jardel can play every match in full."

Niculae was injured, Nalitzis had not adapted yet, and Gisvi and Lourenço were not trusted. Su Dong was not necessarily without a chance.

Of course, it could not be now.

Nor could it happen in the short term.

Whether it was Su Dong or Rony, they still needed to produce better performances to prove themselves.