561 Grow Tall (1/2)

Dai Li only saw the results of the triathlon online that night.

The Brown brothers only got the second and third place. Dai Li then saw Tell helping Hansen cross the finish line on the news. He was moved.

”The older brother gave up on becoming a champion for his younger brother. I hope that after this race, the brothers will become close again.” Dai Li closed the webpage and stood up. He had to go welcome a guest from Spain. It was Fernando, the department head of one of the football giants in the La Liga, FC Barcelona.

”Coach Li, we met again,” Fernando spoke in standard American English. People who didn't know him might think he was a full-blooded American.

Dai Li had met Fernando when he went to visit FC Barcelona. It was then that Fernando promised Barcelona would give Halls a chance if he could grow taller. Fernando was there because of this promise.

A few minutes later, Fernando saw Halls. The Halls had grown taller in the past year.

”The child really has grown taller since last year,” Fernando nodded, satisfied.

”Mr. Fernando, we should let the data do the talking.” Dai Li reached out and pointed to a ruler on a wall that measured height.

Halls immediately went over.

”Wait a minute!” Dai Li stopped Halls and said, ”Take off your shoes.”

Halls nodded. As Dai Li instructed, he took off his shoes. He then went over to the wall.

A staff member immediately stepped forward and measured Halls' height.

”168 cm!” The surveyor reported the measured number and, at the same time, he moved his body to the side so that Fernando could confirm the result with his own eyes.

”The measurement is 168cm when he is barefoot. If you put on your shoes, you will at least be 170 cm. Although you can't be a center-forward that constantly gets to shoot and score points, you are tall enough to be a winger that breakthrough the enemies defense.” Fernando gave a satisfied nod. In his opinion, Halls had reached the minimum height that was required to be a professional football player.

A height of 168 cm was considered small on the football field, but there were many football players that were less than 170 cm tall. There were many well-known ”sideways killers.” Although they were not tall, they were flexible, technically sophisticated, and very fast. They could easily attack their opponent's goal.

The technical characteristics currently displayed by Halls was clearly in line with the idea of the ”sideways killer.”

Dai Li went on to say, ”If we let Halls continue to train here, he should be able to continue to grow taller. Maybe he can grow up to 175 cm, but that will take time. Maybe one or two years. However, during this period, I'm afraid that he will not be able to get professional football training. I am not a professional football coach. I can't provide professional football training here. I think football training should be handled by football clubs such as yours. If I handled his football training we would be wasting his talent.”

”Coach Li, you've really given this a lot of thought.” Fernando rose slightly to pay his compliments before saying, ”I am very satisfied with Halls' current state. I believe that he will have a future after joining Barcelona.”

...

Life in Argentina had been hard recently. The Argentine peso had depreciated by 10% in just a few days. It seemed that a new economic crisis was on the horizon.

However, the people of Argentina had long been used to this. Last century, the struggle between Peronism and anti-Peronism caused the country to slip from being a developed country to being a developing country. The rise of neoliberalism triggered the withdrawal of foreign capital, the collapse of exports, and pushed a large number of businesses to the brink of bankruptcy. It continually drained the vitality of the country. The country was at risk of defaulting on an astronomical debt. Argentinians had become numb to the constant and numerous problems.

No matter how bad the economy got, nothing stopped the Argentinians' passion for football. Every weekend, during the domestic football league in Argentina, people would gather together and watch football matches.

In a dilapidated tavern, twenty people gathered in front of an old-fashioned CRT television which had been in use for more than a decade. They drank the cheapest beer and stared at the television with a chromatic aberration.

Frast was amongst them. As a football coach, he was naturally very passionate about the sport. Although raising four children put him under great economic pressure, he still came to the tavern on the weekends in the afternoon, drank two bottles of beer, and enjoyed the moment.

The phone rang. Frast was unhappy. A phone call during a football match ruined her mood.

Frast still picked up the phone. After a few seconds, his face changed drastically and he screamed wildly.

Everyone in the pub looked at Frast. It wasn't that strange to scream here. Whenever there was a goal, the pub always went crazy. However, there hadn't been a goal. Frast's scream was of a different kind.

”Hey man. What's wrong with you?” The person next to him asked.

”Barcelona has decided to give my son Halls a contract!” Frast yelled excitedly.

The people around the room surrounded him.

”What are you talking about? Barcelona? The Barcelona?”

”Is that the Barcelona in La Liga? Is your son there?”

”What is your son's name? Is he a footballer?”

All sorts of questions instantly arose.