The Crown Bears Its Weight

The night was cool as water, and La Moraleja lay utterly silent.

Yang Yang sat in his home study, facing the enormous flat-screen television before him. The TV was connected to a laptop, playing the recordings of Barcelona's recent matches that Yang Yang had just obtained from Paco Yestaran.

He watched with complete concentration, constantly studying his opponents. He held a notebook and pen in both hands, recording his insights and thoughts from time to time. Before he knew it, he had already filled several pages.

He was not a head coach, but studying opponents had become a habit he had developed over many years of playing football. It also helped him perform better and play more effectively on the pitch.

Although they were opponents, and although Yang Yang did not have a particularly good impression of Barcelona's godfather, Cruyff, in some respects, he still strongly agreed with the football philosophy Cruyff advocated.

It was not Barcelona's possession-based passing game, but reading the match.

When Yang Yang was still playing for Ajax, Van Basten had explained the concept of [Momentum] on the football pitch to him. Going with the flow and taking advantage of the situation could both change the result of a match, but to grasp and make use of that momentum, one first had to be able to see it.

That required the ability to read the match.

Put simply, it meant knowing what to do and when to do it.

Didn't it sound simple?

In reality, however, it was extremely difficult.

There was a saying among the Chinese: Those in the game were blind to the game.

On a football pitch one hundred meters long and fifty meters wide, twenty-two players from two teams, along with a referee, ran back and forth across the space chasing a