With the league suspended and the other players heading off to represent their countries, Su Dong welcomed a much-needed break.
He had no national team matches!
But that also had its benefits: he could finally enjoy a proper holiday.
Whether at Bayern before or now at Man City, the coaching staff trusted Su Dong completely and always gave him time off to rest during international breaks.
With the constant travel and hectic schedule of home and away matches, a holiday was rare, so Su Dong basically stayed home to keep his fiancée company.
When returning to London from Monaco, Su Dong did not travel north to Manchester with the team. Instead, he went straight to Oxford, near London, and hid away in Wang Chuqing's little apartment, focusing on living off his fiancée.
On the last day of August, with the national team matches about to ignite, a piece of news suddenly exploded across world football.
FIFA president Blatter suddenly lashed out, publicly attacking England. He claimed that England wanted to destroy FIFA and vowed to take necessary measures against them. It sounded very much like a promise of revenge.
That immediately enraged the British media, and the ancestors of the paparazzi sprang into action at once.
Su Dong had not paid much attention to the news before, but now that he was resting, he could finally sit back and enjoy the spectacle.
The whole affair had actually originated with the FIFA presidential election in June. Blatter's rival, Hamann, had been brought down over bribery allegations, leaving Blatter as the only candidate.
At that point, The FA believed the election should be postponed to avoid having only one candidate, which would be unfair.
Unexpectedly, Blatter was still elected successfully in the end. During an interview with a newspaper from São