For the past five months at the Inter Milan youth academy,
Tang Long had become thoroughly familiar with the training routine.
Warm-ups, laps, passing, shooting...
The whole routine took exactly an hour.
Recently, the Inter Milan youth team's head coach had gone to study at UEFA,
so today's training was led by the youth team's assistant coach, Chivu.
The veteran player had won the treble with Inter Milan.
After retiring, he had naturally moved into the club's youth ranks,
working his way up from U15 to the U18 youth team, where he served as an assistant coach.
Today, he was keeping a close eye on several players whose youth contracts were about to expire, including Tang Long.
He had to decide whether to recommend that the club renew their contracts.
In Chivu's eyes,
Tang Long was actually the hardest-working player in the entire Inter Milan youth academy.
He held himself to high standards, both in training and in daily life.
Perhaps because Chivu was Eastern European,
he always hoped that Tang Long, who had come from China, would perform well on the pitch and earn the chance to stay with Inter Milan.
But today, Chivu stood on the sidelines with a tactics board in hand and his other hand behind his back.
He watched Tang Long pass, run laps, and shoot. In every aspect, he was mediocre!
He didn't even meet the team's average standard,
and in some areas, he ranked near the bottom.
Chivu couldn't help pressing a hand to his forehead and letting out a quiet sigh.
"Ah, it seems football really does take talent!"
"Even a player as hardworking as Tang will find it difficult to make it into the professional leagues without talent..."
Chivu knew that well.
Not many players from this Inter Milan U18 youth team would make it into a top professional league.
A handful of standouts, like Dimarco,
might be able to go on loan to a Serie A side fighting relegation and earn some rotation minutes.
Some others were only good enough to serve as backups for lower-table Serie B teams.
As for players like Tang Long,
they would either go to a lower division and scrape by,
or they would probably have to retire outright,
and leave the sport behind.
That was just how football worked!
For every general who achieved greatness, countless soldiers fell!
People saw the superstars basking in the world's spotlights,
but there were far more players who toiled away in obscurity.
Many left the professional game not long after reaching adulthood,
and looked for other ways to make a living.
Watching Tang Long work so hard on the training pitch,
Chivu, the Romanian, couldn't make sense of it.
He just couldn't understand.
"China has a population of 1.4 billion. It's the most populous country in the world. So why can't it produce even one player who can start in one of the Top Five Leagues? It's strange!"
(Chivu looked at Tang Long in puzzlement.)
"Everyone, gather up!"
Chivu blew his whistle.
By now, Tang Long was drenched in sweat. He knew his chance was coming!
Next was a thirty-minute intrasquad scrimmage,
with the youth team split into A and B sides to play against each other.
According to the system's prompt,
the first ability awakened by the Green Pitch Engine's beginner system was Tang Long's ability to read passing lanes.
Tang Long knew that this skill wouldn't show in training!
It could only be demonstrated in an actual match.
The A team put on blue bibs, marking them as the starters,
while Tang Long got a yellow bib, marking him as a substitute on the B team.
"Keep working hard, lads. You're all eighteen now. Plenty of talented players your age are already playing in Serie A. You really can't afford to waste any more time!"
Chivu told them.
Tang Long lifted his head,
and saw that Chivu was looking right at him.
There was pity and regret in his eyes.
The intrasquad match began.
Tang Long could play as an attacking midfielder, a second striker, or a defensive midfielder,
and he took his most familiar position, attacking midfield.
At the Inter Milan youth academy, the gap between the players was quite pronounced.
The A team in blue bibs soon began to dominate the B team in yellow.
Tang Long, playing as the B team's attacking midfielder, struggled to get the ball.
"This won't work. I have to drop deeper, or I won't get the ball—and without it, I won't get a chance to show what I can do!"
Tang Long began dropping back toward the defensive midfield position.
A minute later,
Chivu, directing the play from the sidelines, quickly noticed Tang Long's change of position.
"Tang, get back to the position we agreed on before the match! Why are you wandering around?"
Chivu shouted in displeasure.
He really disliked players who didn't follow his tactical instructions.
But Tang Long gritted his teeth and ignored Chivu's order!
He knew the B team couldn't get anywhere near the ball in attack.
He had to drop deep to have any chance of receiving it.
"That kid really is hopeless."
Chivu muttered.
Just as he was about to take Tang Long off and give him a scolding,
the B team, under siege for ten minutes, finally won possession.
After the center-back intercepted the striker's attack,
he looked up.
Tang Long was the closest teammate,
so he passed the ball to him.
As the ball rolled toward Tang Long,
a simulated view of the pitch suddenly unfolded in his mind!
It marked the positions of all twenty-two players with dots.
Even though Tang Long was receiving the ball with his back to goal, he could clearly see which way everyone was moving.
"Press high! Don't let him settle and turn!"
Dimarco, the A team's left-back, charged straight at Tang Long from his advanced position.
From the other side,
the A team's striker also ran toward him!
The two of them moved in to press Tang Long at once.
The center-back who had just passed to Tang Long hurriedly shouted:
"Don't hesitate! Pass it back to me, and I'll clear it!"
But at that moment,
a line of brainwaves flashed through Tang Long's mind, embedding a burst of information almost instantly.
- [The opposition's midfield and forwards are pressing too high. Our striker is near the center circle. A quick, curved pass forward now has an 82.76% chance of creating a threatening attack.]
On the heat map of the simulated pitch in Tang Long's mind,
the icon for one of his team's forwards instantly changed from yellow to bright and glowing.
"Enzo, watch the ball!"
Tang Long twisted his body with great difficulty,
turning partly sideways and making space with his right foot,
then drove his left instep hard into the underside of the ball, sending it forward in a curling pass!
The ball soared through the air—
Enzo's eyes lit up, and he immediately put his speed to use,
racing after the ball.
If he got to it,
he would be one-on-one with the A team's center-back.
Unfortunately,
Tang Long's left-footed, weak-footed pass was a little too long!
Enzo chased after it with all his might, but the ball still went out of bounds.
"Ah, so close!"
"Looks like my passing stats aren't good enough for me to use my weak foot yet."
Tang Long held his head in frustration.
He had followed the system's prompt to the letter.
If he had just put a little less power behind the pass,
Enzo would definitely have reached it.
With his speed, it wouldn't have been a problem!
What a shame...
"Brilliant!"
"That was an incredible pass!!!"
A loud voice suddenly snapped Tang Long out of his frustration!
It was the assistant coach, Chivu, shouting from the sidelines!
His applause echoed around the huge pitch,
and Tang Long could hear the crisp claps from fifty or sixty meters away.
"Your thinking was spot on. You turned and played a long pass first time—what a pass! Well done, Tang!"
Chivu smiled and gave Tang Long a thumbs-up.
Even Enzo, who hadn't reached the ball, ran back to give Tang Long a high five.
"That was a great pass. Too bad I wasn't fast enough to get there. You did nothing wrong!"
Enzo encouraged Tang Long.
Nothing like this had ever happened during Tang Long's training scrimmages over the past five months!
His teammate and coach were actually saying he'd made a good pass!
That helped Tang Long regain some of his confidence.
"The only problem this time was that I used my weak foot. Next time, I'll use my stronger foot and make a perfect pass!"
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