Is This Su Dong?

"Su, what position do you usually play?"

On the sidelines, the temporary coach asked Su Dong.

"Forward."

The coach frowned at that, glanced at the other players, and when his gaze returned to Su Dong, he said, "I'm afraid I can't let you play forward today. We already have two forwards and three wingers."

This was a hallmark of youth training—almost everyone gunned for the forward position.

"Alright, you seem to have decent physical attributes. How about you fill in as a center-back for now?"

"Center-back?" Su Dong was taken aback.

He was a forward, how could he be a center-back?

Those two positions were at opposite ends of the pitch—how could he just fill in?

"Coach, I—"

"Alright, that's settled for now." The coach waved a hand, cutting him off, clearly not taking his opinion or thoughts to heart. "Get ready, and do your best out there. Don't focus too much on the result—it's about participation."

They were the weakest team, so they could only console themselves with that.

Su Dong felt a fire inside.

He wasn't convinced.

In the personal inventory of the Path to the King of Football system, Su Dong chose to use the Titan Concoction.

Suddenly, he felt a warm current surge through his bloodstream, spreading rapidly throughout his body.

"Titan Concoction used. Host's strength has been enhanced for 120 minutes."

Su Dong was a bit frustrated, feeling like the system was rigging things behind the scenes, since it hadn't told him exactly how much the Titan Concoction had boosted him.

But he quickly pulled up his personal attribute panel and saw that his strength had gone from 37 points to 41 points.

That meant an increase of about ten percent.

Then, he immediately used the Swiftness Concoction and the Energy Concoction, both lasting 120 minutes.

These two potions also boosted his speed, explosiveness, and endurance by ten percent each.

Individually, they seemed unremarkable, but with the full buff, the overall improvement was quite noticeable.

"Hey, hurry up! What are you dawdling on the sidelines for?"

Seeing Su Dong lingering, the coach on the sidelines grew impatient and urged him on.

Everyone around also turned to look at Su Dong, all thinking this Chinese kid was holding things up.

Su Dong didn't pay their stares any mind. He grabbed a bottle of Bull Drink, took a few gulps, and then leisurely stepped onto the field.

He'd tested it that morning—Bull Drink allowed his body to recover faster than usual.

Playing center-back, huh?

Just you wait!

As Su Dong took the field, he made a silent resolve.

The match began.

Though they were all young players around fifteen to seventeen, the gap in skill was huge.

Su Dong's team, wearing Yellow Vests, was clearly weaker and fell into a disadvantage from the start.

Not long after, they conceded a goal.

This made the coach on the sidelines jump up in frustration.

"Su, what's going on? That was your defensive position."

Su Dong glanced back at the head coach on the sidelines. He wanted to argue that it was his partner who had abandoned his position, forcing him to shift, so how was it his fault?

But he knew it was a matter of bias.

So he didn't bother to explain further.

The Red Vests were indeed stronger and played better together. In contrast, Su Dong's Yellow Vests were not only weaker but also lacked coordination, with many passing errors.

Under the opponent's tight press, a midfielder's sloppy pass went straight to the opposing forward.

Wasn't that practically an assist?

Su Dong was frustrated, but there was nothing he could do about such a useless teammate. He quickly got back into position.

The opposing forward, having just scored a goal, was brimming with confidence. After receiving the ball and turning, he charged straight at Su Dong.

It looked like he wanted to take Su Dong on one-on-one and score another goal.

Su Dong kept a close eye on the opponent's movements, steadily backing up.

Over the past month or so, he had squared off against Rony countless times, all of them one-on-one duels.

And now, watching the opponent dribble toward him, a feeling washed over him—this rival was far too weak.

He had grown accustomed to the intensity of facing Rony. Suddenly encountering a much weaker opponent, he realized that no matter what the other player tried to do, he had a way to defend, even to steal the ball.

This feeling was especially strong—so strong that when the opponent charged into his defensive zone, Su Dong, who had been retreating, decided not to stall any longer. He suddenly stepped forward.

The two nearly brushed past each other. The opponent stumbled, almost losing his footing, but the ball at his feet was gone.

Gasps erupted from all around.

A brilliant steal!

After taking the ball, Su Dong quickly drove it forward.

The center-back suddenly surged forward with the ball, swiftly disrupting the opponent's defensive setup.

The youth team match itself lacked tactical rigor, and once chaos set in, gaps appeared everywhere.

Before the defenders could close in, Su Dong passed to a midfielder teammate and pointed ahead sharply.

"Pass it forward."

The ball felt like a hot potato. The teammate, just receiving it and afraid of being hounded and dispossessed, was eager to get rid of it. Hearing Su Dong's shout, he didn't hesitate and kicked it straight ahead.

The moment he passed the ball, Su Dong, who had been charging forward, sprinted at full speed like an arrow, piercing through the two defensive lines of the Red Vest's midfield and backline.

An opposing defender was chasing back quickly, but Su Dong still got there first, stopping the ball just outside the penalty area.

One-on-one.

Su Dong gave the opponent no chance to react. After controlling the ball, he immediately closed in, keeping an eye on the goalkeeper behind him.

Step by step...

When the opponent couldn't hold back and lunged first, Su Dong suddenly nudged the ball to the right, chased after it, and unleashed a fierce shot.

A loud bang echoed across the field as the ball, like a cannonball fired from a barrel, tore into the net behind the goalkeeper with lightning speed.

From start to finish, Su Dong gave no one—players or sideline fans—any time to react. Only after the ball went in did everyone snap back to reality.

Enthusiastic applause soon rang out from the sidelines.

"Wow, what a beautiful goal!"

"So fast and powerful!"

"I never thought he could pull off a shot like that."

Not only were the nearby fans full of praise, but the players on both sides were also stunned. Even the coaches on the sidelines and head coach Gorba were shocked.

Was this Su Dong?

"A fluke?" the coach asked, incredulous.

Gorba found it hard to believe too, because in his memory, Su Dong had never shown such ability.

If he had, there was no way he wouldn't remember.

"It must be a fluke, definitely," the coach said with certainty.

As the temporary coach of the Yellow Vest, he didn't even believe in his own player.

Gorba tried to recall everything that had just happened—from the steal to the forward run, especially the sudden burst of speed after the pass. Su Dong's performance left him stunned.

Not just in the youth team; even in the first team, many players might not be able to pull that off.

Was it really just a fluke?

"Put him at striker," Gorba said. He wanted to see if it was a coincidence.

Before the coach could react, the head coach added, "Tell the other players to pass to him more."

The two instructions were quickly relayed to the field.

By the time the Red Vest was ready to restart the game, Su Dong was already standing in the striker's position.

Another attack from the Yellow Vest.

Su Dong used his body to shield off the opposing center-back at the edge of the penalty area, but his touch on the ball was a bit heavy.

No matter. He quickly turned, chased after it, and unleashed another fierce shot.

The ball, like a cannonball once again, blasted into the Red Vest's goal.

"Beautiful!"

Gorba, watching from the sidelines, was thrilled.

Not just because of Su Dong's goal.

The surrounding fans were also fired up, because this kind of goal was so exhilarating—brimming with a violent beauty.

"His goal reminds me of Batistuta," Gorba said excitedly.

Once was a coincidence, but twice was a certainty.

He could now say with absolute certainty that Su Dong's goals were no accident.

How had this kid suddenly started performing so well?

Could it be that over the past month or so, he had really been burying himself in hard training?

Gorba didn't intend to dwell on that question, because he saw a sharp blade now firmly in Sporting Portugal's grasp.

A young player who had risen abruptly among his peers.

No one understood what that meant better than Gorba.

In just sixty minutes of play, Su Dong had scored four goals.

Two in the first half, two in the second.

While scoring wasn't particularly hard in youth matches, netting four in a single game for a team like Sporting Portugal was an extremely rare feat.

Gorba had already forgotten who the last player to do that was.

But one thing he was sure of: that player had left not long after.

Sporting Portugal was destined never to keep such players. As soon as they showed promise, they were poached by higher-level teams, especially Belenenses.

As a partner club, Belenenses had first refusal on Sporting Portugal's players.

Of course, every departing player left Sporting Portugal a tidy sum—as much as one hundred thousand Euros, as little as thirty or forty thousand, depending on the player's performance.

To a big club, that amount was a drop in the bucket, but for Sporting Portugal, it was a small fortune.

Gorba was long accustomed to this routine.

As soon as the intra-squad match ended, he dropped everything and walked straight up to Su Dong.

"Su, your performance just now was absolutely brilliant!" Gorba praised with a beaming smile. "If I'm not mistaken, your training contract with us is about to expire, isn't it?"

Su Dong nodded. It would expire in two days.

"Interested in renewing it?" Gorba asked solicitously.

His eager attitude was like a completely different person from just moments ago.

Su Dong immediately understood—after seeing his performance, the team wanted to keep him.

This was within Su Dong's expectations, but it still pleased him.

He had no particular attachment to Sporting Portugal, not even any goodwill toward Gorba and the others.

But he needed a team, a stage to show what he could do.

"Of course, you don't have to answer me right away. Come to my office later and hear our plans for you, along with the sincerity of our offer. Then go discuss it with your family and agent before giving me your answer."

Gorba's words put Su Dong at ease.

He really couldn't make a decision on the spot.

During the new book period, I humbly beg for tips, collections, and recommendation tickets! Thank you!