Chapter 66 - Xi Gong Stadium (2/2)

“Dingding! To Victory!”

“Go, Go! Dingding, go!”

“Champions! Champions! To the Nationals!”

The journalists mobbed the team’s coach as soon as they stopped. The door opened and two reserved members leaped out, parting the host of news correspondents to make way for the first team.

Fan Cunjie, captain of the Dingding soccer team, and the player dubbed the “Master Trickster” was first to alight. He smiled with aplomb into the camera lenses that flashed incessantly in his face, and started to squeeze his way out.

“Fan Cunjie, this year’s your final year, what’s your target?”

“To enter the Nationals.”

Three years; he had been repeating the same line in the same place thrice, but he only ever managed to get to the finals. So, what about this year?

“Shu Guang is a formidable team. How will your team beat them?”

“We’ll play according to our rhythm.”

“Will Dingding be the same next year?”

“I’m not clear on this matter, but I believe in my junior team. However, the most important thing at hand is to win today’s game, and then the finals to enter the National Championship!

It was the same answer for three years.

“Every year, Dingding talks about entering the Nationals, but the team has been unsuccessful thus far. Will they insist the same for this year too?”

Fan Cunjie stopped and turned in the direction of the voice.

It had been a young reporter.

“Of course. Dingding will not give up easily, especially this year! We, the players are confident that we can beat anyone!”

But, the other simply pressed on. “Does your side have what it takes to stop the Shu Guang offensive lineup?”

“You’re…”

“Chen Huafeng,  High School Soccer reporter.”

“Oh, the writer who publishes exclusives on Shu Guang.”

“Precisely.”

“Then, you’ll see. Teams that score don’t always win!”

At that, Fan Cunjie ignored every other question and forced his way away from the crowd.

Xia Bo was quickly encircled by the media too. As the goalkeeper who would soon face “Luoyang’s finest offense”, he was naturally the center of attention.

“Xia Bo, about Shu Guang’s offensive lineup—”

He was cut short by the goalie. “I don’t care about the lineup. I’ll catch all their shots!”

“Yang Pan’s drive is extremely powerful. Can you stop that?”

“There’s no need to worry about that. I’ve heard that he often hits the posts.”

Everyone else laughed.

“What about Zhang Jun? He’s scored consecutive hat-tricks in the last two games…”

“He won’t even score one against me!” Xiao Bo replied confidently.

His occasional eccentricities notwithstanding, the shot-stepper had done enough to back his own self-belief. He was generally acknowledged as Luoyang’s No.1 before Zhang Lintao made his appearance. Although he was not tall, his ability to jump above most was helped by his lightning reflexes and courageous charges. Naturally, he was very reliable in big games—apart from the occasional mistakes.

Five minutes after the Dingding team was interviewed, Shu Guang’s bus arrived too. Some of the journalists moved on to them, although most of them still stayed with Dingding—the more established team of the two. Ultimately, Shu Guang was merely making its debut in Xigong Stadium. It was not unusual that the focus would naturally be placed upon Dingding, the frequent guest.

Liang Ke got off first after the door opened. Su Fei followed, instantly shifting the limelight to Shu Guang with her mere appearance; lenses flashed at her like stars in a night sky and the geezers gasped audibly—many had seen her on magazine covers, but those photos did not do her beauty justice.

Needless to say, there was also every reason to suspect that some of the photographers were capturing images of the manager for personal use.

An Ke, who jumped off the bus after her was so overwhelmed by the flashes, he almost fell. When he finally came around and realized that the cameras were not aimed at him, he cursed quietly. “Bunch of old perverts!” He then made his way past the crowd towards the players’ entrance.

Kaka alighted to the shrill screams of fangirls. They may have lost out on the reporters’ attention, but the number of fangirls Shu Guang had would definitely make the Dingding players sweat their brows.

Ren Yu De, Wang Ning, Li Hao, Li Jieguang, Lin Xiaofang, Chen Bo, Xie Yu, and the substitutes alighted before Zhang Jun. The bus door closed after he got down and it drove off to the parking bay.

There was no Yang Pan!

Chen Huafeng was shocked at that discovery. Believing that he had made a mistake, he attempted a recount. But, he was left sighing in the face of the unyielding mob that swarmed his favorite team.

As the last to leave the car, Zhang Jun was paid apparent special attention. However, he answered every question put to him with “We will definitely win”, before leaving them behind and quickly stepping into the stadium.

Chen Huafeng had a feeling the striker was not his usual self that day. Perhaps it was the nerves; it was his first game in Xigong after all.

“What the heck? They’ve only won a few games, but they’re even cockier than Dingding!” Another member of the press spat beside him.

The main gates finally opened and the fans flashed their tickets to enter. Their appearance raised the temperature of the arena, lighting up the early winter afternoon.