That pass just now had been excellent.
Both the placement and the direction had been spot-on!
But Tang Long knew the pass had failed for one crucial reason:
The problem wasn't that the Green Field Intelligence Engine System had given him bad advice.
The AI system's advice had been absolutely correct!
It was simply based on analysis of 1,000 professional football matches.
Among them were games featuring top passers like Pirlo, Iniesta, and Ronaldinho.
There was nothing wrong with the system's ideas or the passing lanes it had suggested.
They were based on data from 1,000 matches.
The real problem was that Tang Long's passing skills were too poor!
It was what people in football called "having the vision, but not the technique to pull it off!"
Tang Long understood that.
And as an assistant coach on the sidelines, Chivu understood it even better!
But as a former top player who had played for Ajax, Roma, and Inter Milan, Chivu knew another simple truth:
Sometimes, having the right idea mattered more than executing it perfectly!
Technique could always be improved through training.
But
in the blink of an eye on the pitch,
whether a player could make the right decision in an instant—that was what truly showed his potential!
That was especially important for a young player like Tang Long.
It was also the key flash of brilliance that revealed the limits of a player's potential.
That was why Chivu had been so excited, clapping for Tang Long from the sidelines.
It didn't matter that the pass hadn't come off.
As long as the idea was right,
he was still moving forward.
"That really was a great pass. He played it first time, under pressure from two defenders, and even used his weaker foot. In all my years coaching at the Inter Milan Youth Academy, I've never seen anyone pull that off."
Chivu thought to himself.
The match continued.
After being pinned back for more than ten minutes, Team B
was finally beginning to settle down
and string together some effective passes.
Tang Long also gradually moved from defensive midfield back to his familiar attacking midfield role.
Since Team A was pressing high up the pitch,
Tang Long actually faced less defensive pressure in the attacking midfield position,
closer to the opposing penalty area.
"Tang, here!"
After the Team B fullback played a one-two with a midfielder,
he passed the ball to Tang Long in the attacking midfield position.
Seeing Tang Long get ready to receive it,
Team B's striker, Enzo, immediately perked up.
He tried the same move as before,
making a quick lateral run
in anticipation of Tang Long's pass.
Especially when he noticed Tang Long could receive the ball with his non-dominant right foot this time,
Enzo thought he had a much better chance of getting on the end of one of Tang Long's brilliant passes.
"Watch Enzo's position!"
Chivu couldn't help calling out instructions to Tang Long from the sidelines.
But this time, Tang Long didn't pass the ball first time.
He brought it under control,
then pulled it back and turned,
shifting from facing the goal to having his back to it.
When Tang Long didn't pass,
the opposing defenders from Team A immediately moved up.
Enzo was suddenly caught offside.
"Ah, still not decisive enough. He had a great passing lane..."
Chivu frowned.
"That first pass with the outside of his weaker foot must have been a one-off. Tang Long still doesn't have much feel for the game."
But the next second,
Tang Long made a pass that left everyone on the pitch,
including the opposing team, stunned!
He dragged the ball around and turned,
then used the outside of his right foot to curl it toward the far side of the pitch on the left!
The ball rose into the air!
Team B had spent so long controlling the ball on the right that
the left side of the pitch had opened up considerably.
So even though Tang Long's outside-of-the-foot pass
was slow and floated through the air,
it still landed at the feet of Team B's advancing left back—
the defense had been torn open once more!
Team B's attack suddenly opened up!
"Ah! He—he actually saw the other side!"
Chivu's jaw nearly hit the ground.
Even someone as experienced as Chivu
had been focused entirely on the crowded right side of the pitch.
He hadn't noticed Team B's left back making a quick run up the left!
Rather than combine with Enzo on the congested right,
it was much better to send the ball over to the left.
"Holy crap! He really played it!"
Meanwhile,
Team B's left back was astonished to receive the ball on the left.
Honestly,
he had made that run forward entirely on instinct!
He hadn't imagined Tang Long would be able to send the ball his way.
After the switch of play,
the left back had acres of space in front of him.
He accelerated straight into the penalty area!
With no defender in sight, he played a simple cross,
and Enzo slotted it home.
"Perfect! That was an absolutely perfect pass! The idea was spot-on! I can't believe a player from the Inter Milan Youth Academy has this kind of vision!"
This time, Chivu didn't clap.
Instead, he took a deep breath on the sidelines.
His heart was pounding!
He remembered his days playing for Inter Milan.
Back then, when he made runs forward from left back,
he would sometimes receive outside-of-the-foot passes from the Dutch passing maestro, Sneijder.
They could tear open the defense in an instant!
Chivu knew that
Tang Long's outside-of-the-foot pass just now,
in both speed and accuracy,
was nowhere near the level of Sneijder's passes back then!
But so what?
As an 18-year-old academy player,
at least in the moment Tang Long made that pass,
Chivu felt that his vision was every bit as good as Sneijder's—the midfield maestro who had led the team to the treble in 2010!
"Vision, vision, vision!"
Chivu repeated the word to himself over and over from the sidelines.
At that moment,
he saw limitless potential in Tang Long.
For the rest of the match,
Chivu didn't watch anyone else.
His eyes stayed fixed on Tang Long alone.
To be honest,
Team B's players were still far inferior to Team A's.
Although Team A won the match 3–1,
if Chivu had to choose the best player on the pitch,
he would have awarded it to Tang Long without hesitation.
In those brief 30 minutes,
Tang Long had shown far greater vision and awareness on the pitch
than his teammates and opponents.
Several times, he played through balls just outside the penalty area,
and his ideas had been completely right!
He had already read his teammates' runs and the defenders' positioning in advance.
But either his pass lacked the right amount of power,
or his teammates were late making their runs,
so none of them became assists.
Still, Tang Long's outstanding vision
had already won over Chivu on the sidelines.
"Tang, you're something else. Did you have some kind of cheat code today?"
"How did you come up with those passing lanes? Those through balls were straight out of a textbook!"
"Sorry, Tang. If I hadn't been a step slow, your chipped pass near the end would have put me through one-on-one. Ah!"
Tang Long put on a mysterious air. "I just like watching football. I watch a lot, you know?"
After the match,
several teammates crowded around him,
chatting about the game and praising Tang Long's excellent passing.
"Tang, don't go to the locker room yet. Come straight to my office."
Chivu walked over with a smile.
He patted Tang Long on the shoulder,
signaling for him to come to the coach's office.
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