Chapter 8 (1/2)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The National High School Soccer Championship was founded in 1985 in conjunction with the Youth Soccer Program’s slogan, which read, “The cultivation of soccer must start from toddlers!”.
On the levels preceding it were the National Middle School Soccer Championship and the National Elementary School Soccer Championship. These competitions were held annually and, in consideration of the college entrance exams, took place during the winter holidays. Since the Chinese Professional Championship was established in 1994, there would be a live television broadcast of the high school tournament even as its standard and module continue to improve and expand—it was a sign of the standard it had reached, where even professional teams began to send scouts to watch for prospective talents every year in those games.
And that was how the Nationals essentially became a festive season for the high school soccer scene. With 64 participating teams getting eliminated at different stages and asserting themselves ahead of 35,000 high school teams, they represented the standard of each county—the winning team was the unquestionable champion of high school soccer!
Every year, the regional qualifiers for the tournament would begin soon after freshmen were inducted into their respective schools. There were a total of 32 competitive regions including the respective counties, the federal territories and the special administrative region (Hong Kong).
But among them, the Luoyang County was an exemption—while it was a typical county ,it was singled out by the managing board as a singular competitive region. Their decision was due to a matter of results; of the 13 championships held so far, six of them were won by a single school within the region—the high school attached to Zhongyuan University of Science and Technology were an indisputable giant among the high school soccer teams, with six championship titles and three runner-ups placed under their belt.
Indeed, their mere existence was of such influence that the Youth Soccer’s board of directors were concerned about the entire scene of Henan Province being affected negatively. Therefore, they decided to assign Luoyang to its very own competitive region. After all, the National High School Soccer Championship was different from the World Cup; even the defending champions would still have to go through the qualifiers of every new season—with Zhongyuan High’s stranglehold on the representative spot for their region every year, there was such despair that other schools began to lose interest in the national tournament.
This was why everyone effectively celebrated when the panel announced their decision.
And now, the Luoyang regional fixtures for the 14th National High School Championship had been distributed to each school, with kick-offs for the opening match planned for 3.00pm on the upcoming Saturday. Every person in anticipation who had been fighting hard for a year, waited for it eagerly.
…
The players circled Liang Ke as they tried to catch a glimpse of the schedule in his hand.
“Who will be our opponents in the first round?” Those who could not squeeze inside the circle shouted.
“Don’t rush! Don’t rush!” The ones within the circle replied.
“It’s Zhong Xin Heavy Industries Technical High School!” Someone shouted, and the entire activity room instantly went quiet.
…
“Zhong Xin Heavy Industries Technical High?” At the sight of the baffled Chen Huafeng, Sun Liang Liang laughed with malice. “What?”
“You didn’t know? They won fifth-place last year and were only eliminated after a long, fearsome fight against Zhongyuan High, which lasted 100 minutes; they are not your run-of-the-mill team!”
“I know, so what?”
“They are the ones that the Shu Guang team you admire so much will face in the first round.” Sun’s eyebrow lit up as he emphasized he emphasized “you admire so much’. “You still think they have a chance?”
Huafeng pouted and turned to leave, bumping into Chief Editor Liu Yang on his way out.
“What’s the rush, Chen? Heading to Shu Guang again?”
“Yes! And I will now dash over for an interview because I’m afraid I’d have to queue up after the first round!” Chen raised his voice as he finished the last part.
“Such confidence?”
“Lord Editor, want to make a bet?” Chen smiled.
“Urgh, it’s fine, I’m not that young and foolish!”
…
“Zhong Xin Technical High….” Someone murmured, and the atmosphere of the activity room became stuffy almost immediately.
It was Su Fei who then broke the silence, “What’s up with all of you? I don’t get it! Didn’t we just totally destroy Xin’an Yi High last Saturday? We played so well, so why the long faces?”
Her words woke everyone from their reverie.
“That’s right! Almost forgot that match!”
“That game was… tut, tut!”
“Yang Pan’s long shot is too good! With that, who do we have to fear?!”
“We still have An Ke’s goalkeeping at the back, and Zhang Jun scoring up front. Come to think of it, we are pretty strong!”
“Hehe! Losing so many times before, getting scared is almost a habit huh!”
Liang Ke looked on contentedly as their expressions changed. He never knew with a few words, Su Fei could have so much impact. It really was not enough for the manager to only do the washing and documenting!
As the squad filed out of the activity room, their faces and spirits were glaringly different. Their coach followed—but a young man, with a camera on his chest and a notebook on his hand, approached him as he was leaving.