On July 17, Manchester United ushered in the first warm-up match of the summer training camp.
The opponent is Scottish Premier League, the wealthy family Celtic, and the game is held at Toronto.
The starting lineup for Ferguson is: Van der Sar; O'Shea, Ferdinand, Vidić, Evra; Valencia, Scholes, Carrick, Nani; Rooney, Zhang Kuang.
Berbatov is on the bench, as is Owen.
Although they have started practicing a new formation, Ferguson does not intend to show it to anyone, so they will continue to use the old formation to confuse the outside world.
Before the game, Ferguson called Zhang Kuang aside and said only one sentence.
"Remember what I told you, keep a low profile before the summer transfer window closes."
Zhang Kuang nodded.
"Score one, assist one, and then I'll replace you in the second half."
"Understood."
After the game started, Manchester United had a high ball possession rate, but the offensive rhythm was not fast.
Zhang Kuang cruises in the frontcourt, sometimes pulling to the left, sometimes pulling to the right, and sometimes acting like a center forward. He does not rush like crazy and force breakthroughs like Auxerre. He mostly drops back to catch the ball, crosses the ball and transfers, and plays small coordination with his teammates.
He looks like a free agent in the frontcourt, not in a hurry, as if he is running in with his teammates.
At the thirty-minute mark, the opportunity came.
Evra came in from the left and passed the ball to Zhang Kuang in the penalty area.
Zhang Kuang picked up the ball with his back, and Celtic's central defender was very close. He did not forcefully turn around, but knocked the ball back to Rooney who was following up, and then turned around and inserted into the penalty area.
Rooney was not greedy for credit. He passed the ball through the ball between the two defensive players and accurately found Zhang Kuang.
I have to say that Rooney's coordination with teammates in one-on-one situations is quite smooth. This is the strength of Rooney.
Zhang Kuang hit the ball and shot it, pushing the ball with the arch of his foot, and the ball rolled into the lower right corner of the goal.
1:0.
Zhang Kuang didn't celebrate, he just gave Rooney a high-five and then ran back to his place.
Ferguson on the sidelines had no expression on his face, but he was very satisfied in his heart. The goal was coordinated well, but Zhang Kuang's personal ability was not fully demonstrated.
It looks like an ordinary grab spot in front of the door, nothing special about it.
This is exactly the effect he wanted.
In the 40th minute, Zhang Kuang took the ball on the left and faced the right back of Celtic.
He didn't force a breakthrough as usual, but made a fake move, shaking the defender's center of gravity, and then made a low pass.
The ball accurately found Rooney in the penalty area. Rooney stopped the ball and shot with a kick, and the ball hit the net.
2:0.
Zhang Kuang assists.
Ferguson nodded slightly from the sidelines.
Halftime, 2:0.
At the beginning of the second half, Ferguson replaced Zhang Kuang with Berbatov.
Zhang Kuang is sitting on the bench, wearing a towel and looking calm.
The coaching staff of Celtic was discussing something on the bench. They were analyzing Manchester United's new player, but they came to the conclusion that this China guy is indeed good, but he is not ridiculously strong. He just has a very good ability to seize opportunities.
This is exactly what Ferguson wants. I guess not only Celtic's coaching staff thinks so, but the outside world will also think so, right?
In the second half, both sides continued to make large-scale substitutions. In the end, Celtic also scored, and Berbatov also scored.
The final score was fixed at 3:1, and Manchester United easily won the first victory in the warm-up match.
On July 21, Manchester United flew to United States.
The first stop is Kansas City, and the opponent is Philadelphia Union.
The game was held at Wrigley Stadium in Kansas City, with more than 30,000 spectators present. Most of them were local United States fans, but there were also many Manchester United fans who came from all over the country, including many Chinese faces holding the China national flag.
Zhang Kuang felt moved in his heart when he saw the five-star red flag in the stands.
He didn't show it, he just took one more look, then withdrew his gaze and focused on the game.
In this game, Ferguson followed the tactical arrangement of the previous game: Zhang Kuang still started, and he was still the free agent in the frontcourt.
Zhang Kuang was executed meticulously.
In the 23rd minute, he received a pass from Rooney outside the penalty area and scored with a long shot.
In the 40th minute, he made a pass from the left and assisted Ferdinand to score a header.
At the end of the first half, it was another 2:0. The score was controlled too deliberately, but in fact it was like this and there was nothing we could do.
In the second half, Zhang Kuang was replaced.
Sitting on the bench, he heard someone in the stands calling his name in Chinese.
"Zhang Kuang! Zhang Kuang!"
He turned around and took a look. It was a China boy in his early twenties, wearing his No. 33 Manchester United jersey, holding a small national flag in his hand, shouting at the top of his lungs.
Zhang Kuang nodded towards him, then turned back.
After the game, he signed autographs and took photos with the fans who came to support him.
Of course, he also made appointments for a few post-game Qi and blood packs. He had not had any Qi and blood packs to increase his blood for several days, and his training had also been interrupted.
Therefore, in the next two days, Zhang Kuang always sneaked out of the hotel without attracting anyone's attention.
There's nothing he can do, he's become super agile now, and the range of his soundproofing spell has also been increased, which can block his voice.
On July 23, Manchester United moved to Houston.
The opponent is MLS All-Star Team - a team composed of the best players from each team United States Major League Soccer.
The competition was held at Reliant Stadium in Houston, with nearly 40,000 spectators present.
The game continues as usual.
Zhang Kuang scored a goal in the 30th minute - he received a cross from Valencia in the penalty area and scored with a header.
After scoring the goal, he still didn't celebrate, he just high-fived his teammates and then ran back to his position.
End of the first half, 1:0.
In the second half, Zhang Kuang was replaced.
The final score was 1:1, and MLS All-Star Team equalized the score in the 80th minute.
Ferguson doesn't care about the result, it's just a warm-up match. What's important is that no one was injured. What's important is that Zhang Kuang's "performance" didn't show any flaws.
After the game, Zhang Kuang returned to the hotel, took a shower and changed into clean clothes.
Rooney was already waiting for him, wearing a fancy shirt, sprayed with perfume, and with his hair combed shiny.
"Brother, where is the person you made an appointment with?" Rooney saw Zhang Kuang coming out of the elevator and went up to him and asked.
"What's the hurry?" Zhang Kuang patted his shoulder, "Let's go eat first."
The two people left the hotel and got into a taxi they had ordered in advance.
Rooney asked, "Where to eat?"
"Why are you asking so many questions? Just follow along. Don't worry, I won't trick you into selling you."
"No, please sell me, but I have a request. Don't sell it to a man, and don't sell it to an old woman over 50 years old. Although I also like aunties, that was many years ago. Now I like those under 50 years old."
"Fuck, does that mean you don't mind being in your 40s?"
"Then there's nothing to dislike. You don't know how good these aunts are. Let me tell you..."
Zhang Kuang shook his head and smiled, and stopped talking to him.
When we arrived, it was an ordinary commercial street in a villa area. Is this United States a commercial street in a wealthy area? What's so special about this?
The streets here look very ordinary, with no traces of anything special.
Rooney followed Zhang Kuang into a restaurant with a confused look on his face. The restaurant was small and exquisitely decorated, with warm yellow lights and small vases on the table. It looked like a family-style Italian restaurant.
"You brought me here to eat?" Rooney looked around, but didn't see anything special.
"Eating is secondary, the main thing is meeting people." Zhang Kuang said.
"Meeting whom?"
"You'll find out later."
The two of them sat down and ordered. Rooney ordered a steak, and Zhang Kuang ordered a pasta.
After waiting for a while, three women opened the door and walked in.
Rooney looked up and almost spilled the water he just drank.
There are three women, one with black hair, one with blond hair, and one with brown hair. They are all over 1.7 meters tall, and their body proportions are close to perfect. The blond one is wearing a black suspender skirt, and the brown-haired one is wearing a white shirt dress. Both of them wear light makeup, and they don't look like the kind of people you can meet casually on the street.
Rooney's eyes straightened.
Zhang Kuang stood up and waved to the two women.
"This way."
Three women came over, and Zhang Kuang introduced in English: "This is Wayne·Rooney, I believe you have seen him on TV, Manchester United's striker, my friend. This is my friend Sophia, Sophia, please introduce your companions."
The one with blond hair is named Emily, and the one with brown hair is named Daisy.
Zhang Kuang shook hands with Amy Xian and Daisy. Rooney stood up and shook hands with the three of them one by one, with sweaty palms.
"Hello, nice to meet you."
The five people sat down, the three women ordered more food, and then started chatting and eating.
Zhang Kuang is a person who is very good at chatting. He talks about movies - not the kind of shallow chat about "what movies have you seen?", but a deep chat that can really reveal the content.
"Have you watched "Inception"?" Zhang Kuang asked.
"I watched it." Emily said, "I have always liked Nolan's movies."
"Then have you noticed that this movie is actually about football?" Zhang Kuang started to talk nonsense.
"What? About football? No? Why didn't I see it?"
"The dream level in the movie is actually very similar to the tactical level in the football game?" Zhang Kuang said, "The surface level of the dream is the player's personal ability, the second level is regional cooperation, the third level is the overall tactics, and the deepest level is the psychological game. Nolan uses four levels of dreams, and football matches are actually four levels."
Emily's eyes lit up when he heard it.
"Your perspective is very interesting. It's the first time I've heard someone compare it like this."
Rooney was listening on the sidelines, looking confused. He had watched "Inception", but he only remembered that there were many explosion scenes in it and did not understand the dream level.
In fact, this is the way to attract women. You use a novel angle to re-deconstruct a common sense that everyone believes in, and then you have to say it with reason and evidence, so that women will be attracted to you.
Zhang Kuang continue chatting.
Talking about music, from Michael·Jack to Beyoncé, from rock to the rise of hip-hop.
"The rise of hip-hop music is not accidental," Zhang Kuang said. "It is synchronized with the globalization of the NBA. Black culture goes to the world through sports and music. This is the most interesting cultural phenomenon at the end of the twentieth century."
Sophia nodded. "I like Jay-Z."
"Jay-Z is a business genius," Zhang Kuang said, "But he is not the best rapper. The best rappers are 2Pac and NotoriousB. I. G., but it's a pity that they are both dead."
Sophia smiled, "You quite understand."
Rooney was sitting next to him, unable to say a word, but his eyes when he looked at Zhang Kuang were already shining with admiration.
He doesn't understand film art, music, or cultural phenomena. He just plays football - no, he almost has no shame to even mention the ball. The China forward sitting next to him can score goals, understands art better than him, and can chat better than him.
He felt like a fool.
But the strange thing is that except for Emily, the other two women did not stick to Zhang Kuang because of his eloquence.
In the second half of the meal, Sophia and Daisy started asking Rooney questions.
"I like your football very much. You are very powerful. You have scored many long-distance goals, and they are all scored with great force."
Rooney was stunned for a moment, not expecting that someone would take the initiative to ask him a question.
"Huh? Really?" he said, "Well, I usually like to practice boxing, so I am quite strong."
"Really? No wonder you look like a bull." Daisy poked Lu Ju's muscles excitedly
Rooney smiled, and with this smile, the honesty and simplicity on his face came out.
"Hehe, that's because I like physical confrontation. I think the collision of flesh with flesh is particularly wonderful."
Sophia also came over. "You like physical confrontation? You said that the collision between flesh and flesh is particularly wonderful. I agree very much. I think this is the most beautiful note of human beings. How do you practice? How many abdominal muscles do you have? Can I touch them?"
The topic shifted from culture and art, which Zhang Kuang is good at, to football and fitness, which Rooney is good at.
Rooney finally found his sense of presence and began to talk endlessly about his training methods, his strength information, and his experience of confrontation on the court.
The three women listened very carefully, and there was something very familiar to Rooney in their eyes: worship.
No, not worship.
It's appreciation.
Zhang Kuang looked at this scene, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.
He deliberately talked about topics that Rooney was not good at, not to show off himself, but to give Rooney a psychological hint of "I need to express myself."
When Rooney's psychological expectations are reduced to the lowest, the two women will turn the topic to the areas that Rooney is good at, and Rooney will feel that "they are actually paying attention to me", thus creating a sense of pleasure in being recognized.
This is not some advanced psychology, this is just: create opportunities for friends.
After eating, the five people walked out of the restaurant.
Emily held Zhang Kuang's arm, while Sophia and Daisy held Rooney's arm.
"Wayne, is your hotel far from here?" Daisy asked.
"Ah, no... not far." Rooney's voice was a little shaky.
"Then let's go to your place and have a chat. I also want to hear what you talk about playing football."
Rooney glanced at Zhang Kuang, and Zhang Kuang shrugged.
Zhang Kuang: "Then you can continue chatting. I have something to do with Emily, so I won't accompany you."
Rooney gave Zhang Kuang a thumbs up, indicating that Zhang Kuang was sensible.
On this day, Rooney showed off his full strength, just to prove that he is more powerful than the bull.
And Zhang Kuang went to practice. This time he came out for training, which made him waste a lot of time and failed to practice.