That goal shattered Team A's morale completely.
They had five S-class players, and yet they were trailing?
When you were behind, it helped to blame someone. It made the frustration easier to handle.
So who should they blame?
Everyone looked at Aguilar.
Team A's defensive strategy had been broken, too. But with no "head coach" to lead them, they couldn't figure out how to respond.
Especially with Lu Yang making repeated runs forward. How were they supposed to stop that?
Mark him?
Could they keep up?
Their stamina couldn't hold out.
Leave him unmarked?
The consequences were already clear: they'd conceded.
It was like defending against four players with four of your own, then suddenly having to account for a fifth. It wasn't just one extra man—it meant a whole new series of possible combinations.
That affected the defense in all sorts of ways, from blocking passing lanes to cutting off the opponent's routes forward.
Soon, the match reached the sixty-fifth minute.
Just five minutes after the last goal, the score changed again.
Lu Yang made another run forward, and Team A's midfielders and center-backs braced themselves.
Soguer moved wide, while Lam stayed put and sent the right center-back out to track Soguer.
Moric's pass came in again. Lu Yang received the ball, and the threat surged.
This time, Lam stayed tight to Lu Yang, ready to step in and tackle as soon as he got the ball.
He was confident he could do it.
But that was the moment the danger came to life.
Lu Yang didn't control the ball. He half-turned and used his body to hold off Lam, then flicked the ball with his heel in the direction it was rolling. The ball had been heading straight into the penalty area; now it rolled sideways near the edge of the box.
Lam froze.
Was someone there?
Bang!
Versace unleashed a powerful shot. Nobody had seen it coming.
The ball flew straight into the net. With Lam and Lu Yang blocking his view, the goalkeeper didn't even have time to react.
"Team B have opened them up! They've completely taken control!" Carlisle spread his hands, convinced the match was already decided.
"Is this another variation on Lu Yang's forward-running tactic?" Ancarelli asked. "Normally, Versace should drop back to cover after Lu Yang makes his run. That's what Team B have always done before. But this time, Versace didn't. After faking a run backward, he surged forward instead, creating a midfield attack with two runners, one ahead of the other."
"Versace was completely unmarked," Taji said. "He was in a perfect position, and that shot showed how complete a player he is. And Lu Yang's backheel pass was perfectly timed. If he'd been even slightly slower, Versace wouldn't have been free."
Perotta nodded. "Lu Yang was crafty, too. He made full use of his physical battle with Lam. After the backheel, he bumped Lam with his body. Otherwise, Lam had the speed and ability to disrupt Versace's long-range shot."
"So now Team A are even harder to defend against!" Maniero nodded.
Sure enough, once play resumed, Team A's defensive task became even more difficult.
They had to keep an eye on Lu Yang and Versace at the same time.
And if Versace on the left could make forward runs, why couldn't Moric, the right-sided defensive midfielder, do the same?
That would leave Team B's defense exposed and make them vulnerable—but Team A first had to survive Team B's attack before they could even think about a counterattack.
Besides, the 3-4-3 wasn't a formation known for its defensive strength.
It was built for possession, but without chemistry and a willingness to share the ball, how could they make possession football work?
In the seventy-third minute, Lu Yang intercepted the ball again. He passed it to Moric and started forward.
Under pressure, Moric chose to pass back to the team's full-back.
At that moment, Versace began to drop back. The center-forward, Soguer, moved wide to the left again, and Lu Yang started his run.
It was the exact same three-man rotation.
Team A's center-back chose to stay in the penalty area. It had already been proven that Lam alone couldn't defend against both Lu Yang and Versace.
Numbers in tight spaces were always crucial to attack and defense.
Whether in football or war.
However...
Bang!
After receiving the ball, Team B's full-back quickly played it back to Moric.
Moric didn't even control it. He half-turned and immediately sent a quick pass with a shot-like strike.
The ball flew toward the left wing.
Soguer had pulled out wide and was completely unmarked. He collected the ball with ease.
Canyes rushed to defend, but he was much too far away.
Soguer adjusted perfectly, waited for Lu Yang and the team's attacking midfielder to charge into the box, then crossed.
Lu Yang and Lam jumped at the same time.
With the attacking midfielder interfering, Lam got his head to the ball, but it bounced off Lu Yang's head and flew toward the far side of the box.
Baizami was waiting there. He swept in a shot, and the ball deflected off a Team A defender's foot before bouncing into the net!
Four to one!
Team B were on fire!
Baizami happily charged toward Lu Yang.
Since the shot had been on target, it wasn't an own goal. The goal went to Baizami.
Lu Yang also picked up an assist.
It had been a goal full of fortunate circumstances.
But from a tactical perspective, it was bound to happen sooner or later.
Soguer was perfectly capable of delivering a cross when left unmarked. Once he got the ball in and sent it across, the attack had succeeded tactically.
Whether or not it ended in a goal came down to luck and the players' individual ability.
The best tactics could do was greatly increase the chances of scoring.
Team B had done exactly that.
First, Lu Yang made a forward run and scored.
Then, Lu Yang made a forward run and laid the ball off for Versace to score.
Then, Lu Yang made a forward run, drawing the defense and forcing them to abandon the wing. That let Soguer pull wide and cross for a teammate to score.
Team B's tactics had evolved again and again.
Team A were running themselves ragged and couldn't stop them.
And Lu Yang had become Team B's greatest weapon and tactical centerpiece.
Every attack was built around his forward runs.
As Lu Yang had said, Team A didn't have a good defensive midfielder. If they had, he could have made Lu Yang's runs harder and rendered Team B's attacking tactics ineffective at their core.
The outcome of one matchup had affected a whole series of others, ultimately turning into a complete team performance.
That was football.
Team A's players had lost all desire to keep playing.
They knew there was no coming back.
Now they had to focus on their own performances and whether they could win the approval of the five mentors.
So more and more players took the chance to show off their dribbling whenever the ball came to them. Team A's attacks completely fell apart.
Everyone wanted to dribble past an opponent, and the three forwards up front could barely get the ball.
But the forwards couldn't blame the others. They kept losing possession themselves.
Especially Aguilar!
He was allowed to lose the ball up front, but nobody else was allowed to lose it in midfield?
That made no sense.
As for the defense, Lam kept trying. He pushed farther up and took on the role of the team's defensive midfielder.
But that left Soguer without anyone to keep him in check.
Moric barely passed to Lu Yang after that. Lam seemed to have shut Lu Yang down, ending Team B's attacking strategy.
But in reality, that was just one of Team B's tactics.
Team B's real tactical centerpiece had never been Lu Yang. It was Moric.
Lu Yang was merely one of the ways Moric had chosen to attack.
If Lu Yang was shut down, Moric could try other approaches, because Lu Yang had also drawn away the opposing team's defensive anchor.
That was the so-called dual-core system, with a primary and a secondary player. Sometimes the secondary one looked more impressive, but the drawback was that he could be neutralized. The primary player, meanwhile, could organize the attack and find new openings for the team in any predicament.
Neither was superior to the other. They simply played different roles.
The primary player was the marshal: there were plenty of generals, but a good marshal was hard to find.
The secondary player was the general: an army had plenty of soldiers, but a good general was just as hard to find.
Moric and Lu Yang shone in their respective roles.
And now that Lam had marked Lu Yang out of the game, Moric sent a long ball straight to the right wing.
Baizami used his speed to beat his marker one-on-one. The opponent couldn't keep up with him.
He raced down the wing, ignoring everything else, and sent in a cross.
The timing wasn't ideal. He'd taken two touches too many and crossed a little late.
But Soguer used his six-foot-two frame to hold off Team A's center-back and stay on his feet.
With Lam away from the defensive line, Soguer ruled the penalty area.
He chested the ball down and smashed it on the volley.
From that close, the goalkeeper could only watch it go in.
Five to one!
Team B were unstoppable!
They'd smashed the match to pieces!
It was over!
The training match had ended in a result nobody had expected.
Team B had won emphatically, five to one, and left Team A in tatters.
Lu Yang scored twice and assisted twice, earning Player of the Match.
Moric had one assist, but he was unquestionably the team's playmaker, a perfect distributor. Whenever there was an opening, he found a way to get the ball there.
He had helped create Team B's last four goals, orchestrating everything with the air of a commander winning a battle from a thousand miles away.
Baizami made the most of his strengths, finishing with a goal and an assist. His stats were eye-catching.
Although he had spent most of the match on the fringes of the team's combinations, unlike Soguer, Versace, Lu Yang, and Moric, who had produced brilliant attacking moves.
But he kept making his runs, time and again, and truly turned Team A's left flank into a sieve. He couldn't combine with the team, but he never slacked off. When he needed to sprint, he sprinted; when he needed to cut inside, he cut inside. He never gave up halfway.
His runs looked pointless, but Lu Yang and even Soguer could use his regular movement to create danger.
Baizami was like a fixed program. He couldn't adapt on the fly, but the team's attackers could make use of him.
That was exactly what Team A lacked.
Team A had three sports cars up front, but after Aguilar's "lessons" in refusing to pass under any circumstances, the other two players barely passed to him either. Their three sports cars ended up producing the output of one, so it was no surprise they couldn't break through Team B's defense.
Versace scored a goal. He could attack and defend, he covered ground, and he was willing to drop back. He was the best lubricant in the team's midfield.
He couldn't completely shut down Canyes and Aguilar, but he took pressure off Lu Yang. Lu Yang could defend against two players once, but not every time.
Likewise, Versace couldn't overpower Canyes in attack, but he could still create a threat now and then.
He and Lu Yang disrupted the midfield, becoming the biggest reason Team B turned the match around.
Soguer delivered a perfect performance as a target man, scoring once and contributing to two dangerous attacks. He wasn't involved in two other attacks, but his movement out wide was what opened up space in the middle.
He showed the threat of a powerful center-forward: he could run, dribble, and hold off defenders. He embodied the target-man role.
Team B had performed exceptionally well.
Team A, by contrast...
Canyes was fast and a good passer, and he picked up an assist.
But he was too eager to attack and didn't work hard enough in defense, creating a huge weakness in the team's back line. When Soguer moved out wide, a center-back had to leave his position to cover. That was one of the openings Team B exploited.
Parrott scored once, but as a poacher, he didn't have many chances in this match. His teammates didn't supply him with enough.
Ceballos's talent and ability were beyond doubt. He might have been Team A's best attacking player!
But after catching Aguilar's selfishness, he abandoned his playmaking and passing. That cost Team A their last chance to turn the match around. In fact, whether he played as an attacking midfielder or a left winger, he could have served as the team's creative hub. There were teams in European football that built their attack around a wide playmaker.
But this time, he hadn't taken responsibility as the team's leader.
As for Aguilar... he had been the root of Team A's chaos throughout the match.
He had given the ball away more than anyone else!
Whenever he got possession, the attack came to an end!
He had almost no success against Lu Yang one-on-one, yet kept trying to prove something by getting past him.
He did manage to beat Lu Yang on a few rare occasions, but by then the team had usually already missed its best chance to attack.
As captain, he hadn't taken on the responsibility of organizing the team or identifying weaknesses in the opposition's tactics during halftime. Instead, he had focused on irrelevant things.
He had not only caused major tactical problems for Team A, but also destroyed the team's unity and cooperation, becoming a liability.
The five mentors all agreed that Aguilar had to shoulder the greatest responsibility for Team A's defeat.
So...
Of the thirty-six players from Teams A and B, thirteen would be selected to play alongside the nine who had previously been eliminated. Aguilar was sure to be one of them!
An S-class player had been placed in the elimination zone!
When the mentor group announced the decision, Aguilar's face burned with shame.
If two of these five mentors hadn't been respected Italian legends, and the other three weren't Serie A's hottest superstars, he would have blown up on the spot!
But with Perotta, the Wolf King of Roma, standing there, how could this little wolf dare act out?
Two hours later, the Group C and Group D match began.
Aguilar didn't become captain. He joined Group D.
The Group D captain's original plan was to bring Aguilar on as a substitute in the second half. This was because of his stamina—he'd already played one match. The captain also recognized Aguilar's exceptional individual ability and hoped he could lead the team to victory in the second half.
But Aguilar refused to come on as a substitute and insisted on starting. He considered being a substitute an insult.
Although he scored a goal in the first half by dribbling past defenders, Aguilar was badly exhausted in the second half and was substituted in the sixty-third minute. Group C then scored twice in a row in the second half, snatching a 2–1 victory over Group D.
For a time, the whole stadium was filled with both laughter and tears.
Some knew they would stay, while others knew they would leave!
The next day, before the roster was announced, everyone had already been notified that Aguilar had withdrawn from the training camp of his own accord.
But no one was surprised. Judging by his performance in the matches, Aguilar might not have made the twenty-four-man roster.
This so-called voluntary withdrawal was simply a way to save the Roma "rising star" some face!
After all, Aguilar was going to play in Serie A. It would be rather embarrassing if a bunch of youth players thrashed him.
That was one way the Wolf King, Perotta, contributed to Roma.
If not for Perotta's sake, Maniero would definitely have announced Aguilar's rejection first.
Not just anyone could pull this "I'm leaving first" stunt in front of Maniero.
Even so, when the program aired, it caused a stir in Italian football.
Lu Yang had been simply outstanding!
His mediocre individual training data from before bore no resemblance to his performance in the matches.
This led the entire Italian football world to question its standards for selecting young players.
Could there really be players who only showed their mettle in matches?
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