Chapter 20 (1/2)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
As soon as she caught sight of a figure limping and trudging slowly ahead, Su Fei rushed towards it.
“Where’s Yang Pan?”
“That bastard! Hoes before bros! Some girl wrote him a letter asking him out, so he bailed… Ah? Su Fei?” Zhang Jun turned to her, slightly taken aback. “Isn’t the team training after school today?”
“Coach told everyone to get some rest for the day.”
“And I was wondering how Yang Pan would have time to go for a date!”
“Is your leg hurting a lot?”
“What do you think?” Zhang Jun continued limping and trudging forward.
All of a sudden, Su Fei grabbed Zhang Jun’s arm and slung it over her shoulder, while her other hand held his waist.
“Argh! What?”
“Don’t move! It’ll hurt even more if you move!”
As if on cue, another agonizing pang throbbed in his right foot and Zhang Jun could only accept Su Fei’s “authority” obediently.
“How embarrassing!” Zhang Jun snorted. “Being carried by a girl.”
“Thanks for your birthday present,” Su Fei said quietly.
“What?”
“Nothing…”
…
On the northern side of the school, Mudan Square.
“That’s weird, it’s supposed to be here!” Yang Pan looked at his watch for the umpteenth time. “It’s almost been an hour. Why is the girl Su Fei told me about not here yet?
…
Li Yongle slammed the magazine down. With a gloomy face, he said to the other two, “How can this be?! How can he get injured? And at such a pivotal moment!”
“It says that he was given great ‘care’ by the opponent.” Zhang Yang pointed at the magazine.
“He’s a national champion who’s won the title of ‘best player’. Do you think a striker like him is gonna fall so easily?” Li Yongle frowned.
“Well, could it be a faked injury?” Zhang Yang offered.
“Is there a need to fake it?” Zhang Lintao countered.
Zhang Yang thought about it and shook his head. “Seems like there isn’t.”
“Whatever the case may be, it’s still unknown if he’s gonna play in the next match. You guys, I’ve waited for him for half a year and I’ve finally come to this day. But, he’s going to miss the game due to an injury. What’s this? It’s like when a bride enters her bridal chamber to find that the bridegroom isn’t there!”
“That doesn’t seem to be an appropriate analogy,” Zhang Lintao replied.
Li Yongle blushed.
“Ah, don’t imitate others at using rhetorics if you’re bad at the language!” Zhang Yang added.
“Mind your own business!”
…
Due to Zhang Jun’s injury, Liang Ke started to train the team in a 4-3-3 formation; Ren Yu De and Yang Pan were shifted forward to play as strikers and two defensive players were set up on the midfield. After all, they could not just sit and wait for Zhongyuan to bring the game to them in Zhang Jun’s absence.
After the strategy of having three forwards paid off in dividends previously, it made Liang Ke more determined in his decision to adjust the team composition.
“Yang Pan! Don’t just keep delivering crosses from the flanks. Shoot as much as you can whenever you get the ball! Doesn’t matter from where!” Liang Ke shouted.
“Oh.” A long shot hit the bar forcefully.
“Hey! Hey! This is training, there’s no need to be that extreme, right?” an alarmed and frightened An Ke told Yang Pan. He felt spooked whenever he recalled the shot his teammate made in the last game, and thought that there was no chance the other keeper would have kept to his task of guarding posts―he would probably shudder the next time he saw another person whirling his feet to shoot.
“From now on, I’m cultivating my hatred of goals and goalkeepers!”
“You mean the other team’s goal and goalkeeper?”
“No! Both!”
An Ke gulped. He could see the killing intent in Yang Pan’s eyes; he was not playing around. Silently, he prayed for Zhongyuan’s keeper.
…
The luxurious locker room of Zhongyuan High School’s soccer team.
“There are four days left until we play against Shu Guang High School,” Sun Laihong said as he turned on the television and tape recorder. “They are good. I hope that everyone keeps this in mind and not underestimate them solely because of their older results―records only prove what transpired in the past, not the future. For today’s training, we’ll study their video.”
The television displayed the match between Bai Ma and Shu Guang. “I specifically requested for someone to record this. It can help provide a full understanding on what sort of team Shu Guang is.”
As soon as the match began, Shu Guang immediately started on the front foot and initiated an attack. Wang Bo sent the ball to Yang Pan, who did not make any feints against the defender marking him. In front of the other guy, he merely used his incredible speed to move two paces past him and make a cross.
*Pause*
“You can all see here exactly how fast Yang Pan is. Rumor has it that his 100-m dash record is never more than 11 seconds―and that’s a number estimated during his middle school years; I’m guessing he’s even quicker now. To have such speed as an ambusher on the flanks is horrifying.” Sun Laihong kept rewinding the scene as evidence. “I myself believe that nobody is fast enough to catch up to him. Zhang Yang, you will definitely face him in the next game. Do not give him space to sprint and be careful with your tackles.”
“Then, I should just drop him!” Zhang Yang answered.
“Idiot! Do you want to leave the pitch early! His powerful drive should not to be trifled with either. It’s reported to hit speeds of 180 km/h, although I haven’t seen it other than through journalistic accounts. But, it’s better to believe such things than to doubt its existence. Best be cautious. Zhang Lintao, do you have any ideas?”
“There are ways to stop his shots, but they can’t be used frequently. I’m confident that I can keep nine of his shots out, but when it comes to the tenth…”
“Don’t think of us defenders as being so incompetent!” Luo Bin snapped at the top-choice keeper. “How could we give him 10 chances to shoot in one game!”
“Whatever the case may be, Yang Pan has only fired two long shots over the last few games. It seems that they intend to use it against us. In short, be aware.” Sun Laihong kept the tape rolling.
The scene was the moment where Shu Guang conceded a goal.
“The flaw of this team is as obvious as their strength; they are bad at defending. While they did not concede against the team that had a defensive play in the second match, they conceded in each of the other two games. It wasn’t because their goalkeeper was incompetent―An Ke is an outstanding goalie―it’s simply because their back line isn’t very good. Even a team as average as Bai Ma High School could score against them, which clearly illustrates the problem. Our strikers and midfielders need to create as much confusion as possible among their back line to create scoring opportunities.”
The next scene showed Ren Yu De. He was running into the box and getting past four defenders, who were guarding him before equalizing the score.