Chapter 17 Scouting Reports

As Zhou Yi passed the football into space, and He Ying turned and ran into that space, Gist in a corner of the field softly exclaimed.

"Woah!"

He was cheering for Zhou Yi's pass.

Accurately and keenly grasping the open space and sending the football over without hesitation, passing when he should.

If he had passed even a little later, the Chelsea youth team's center backs would have reacted and closed in again, ruining the attack.

If he had passed too early, the intention of the attack would have been seen through, and the Number Ten wouldn't have been able to draw away Chelsea's center backs.

So, the timing was perfect.

No wonder Klopp was so interested in this kid…

In the previous match against Arsenal, Gist observed Zhou Yi for half the game, until he was substituted off. Although he was pleasantly surprised by Zhou Yi's organization and control of the team in midfield, he still had some doubts.

After all, in the game against Arsenal, Zhou Yi mostly showed control of the rhythm, but lacked that final, forward pass.

A midfielder who can only pass sideways and backwards is naturally unqualified.

Unfortunately, Zhou Yi didn't show Gist what he wanted to see in that game.

But in this match, Gist made up for that regret.

He saw Zhou Yi's ability and talent in the final pass during this attack.

The timing was perfect, and the application of passing technique was precise. Zhou Yi didn't choose some fancy and good-looking passing methods that would be difficult to receive. Instead, he chose the simplest instep push pass, turning his ankle sideways, like a golf club, aiming at the center of the football, tapping it hard, and the football would travel forward along a very stable straight trajectory, instead of deviating halfway and running off course.

Not bad, interesting…

Thinking of this, Gist took out a small notebook from his coat pocket, which he carried with him, with a small ballpoint pen clipped to it. He took out the pen and wrote down what he had just observed in the notebook.

If this wasn't just a lucky performance, but a stable and sustainable one… then it would really be worth looking forward to.

※※※

While Gist was looking down and writing, in another corner, a middle-aged fat man with his collar turned up, shrinking his neck, as if he were cold, was staring in amazement at Chelsea's goal.

There, the Chelsea youth team players, who had just conceded a goal, stood frozen to the spot as if they had been petrified.

As a scout for Arsenal, Alan Powell knew a little about the youth team of their local rivals, Chelsea.

Although Arsenal had a hundred reasons to laugh at Chelsea when it came to youth training, they also knew that Chelsea's youth training was only bad compared to Arsenal, and was still strong for this Chinese team.

But this strong team had conceded the first goal!

What the hell was… going on!

When he received the task from Liam Brady, the head of youth development, to track and observe the Number Sixteen of the Chinese team, he was speechless. What was there to observe about Chinese players? Can they play football?

But now, he was surprised to find that the attack that caused Chelsea to concede was organized by his target!

And not just this goal, but in the game before this goal, Alan Powell could see the role of Number Sixteen in the game. He hadn't watched the previous game between the Chinese team and the Arsenal youth team, but he had watched the Arsenal youth team and the Chelsea youth team play, so he had a horizontal comparison.

So he knew that the Chelsea youth team shouldn't be performing like this against the Chinese team—they were basically being led by the nose by the Chinese team in midfield!

And all of this was because of… that Number Sixteen!

Alan Powell suddenly became very interested in Number Sixteen.

Why?

Why could he do it?

He no longer thought about how boring it was to observe a Chinese player.

※※※

The Chinese team's youngsters and their coach were celebrating wildly, while the Chelsea youth team was collectively stunned—they really didn't expect to concede the first goal. They never thought their opponents would score first!

How could something like this happen to them?

It was… laughable!

Like the Borussia Dortmund youth team before them, when they found that they were the ones conceding the first goal, they went through a psychological process of surprise followed by anger.

The surprise was disbelief, and when they realized it was real, they became angry—such a weak opponent could score on us!

Okay, kids, you've successfully angered a group of lions, and you'll soon regret this goal!

When the game restarted, the Chelsea youth team indeed launched a fierce attack on the Chinese team's goal, an attack that was much more threatening than their previous nonchalant passing and casual shots.

From this, it could be seen that the Chelsea youth team was provoked and took the game seriously.

The serious Chelsea team did show their superior strength compared to the Chinese youngsters.

In the thirtieth minute, they equalized the score with a header from a cross from the wing.

Although Guo Nu jumped high, the opponent managed to flick the football into the goal before him.

Because the distance was too close, Sun Pan reacted to make a save, but he was still half a beat too late.

1:1, the Chelsea youth team equalized!

However, the Chelsea youth team's anger didn't seem to be vented completely. After taking the lead, they pressed frantically in the frontcourt, making the Chinese youngsters flustered and making all kinds of mistakes.

Before the end of the first half, the Chelsea youth team's pressing finally paid off—they scored another goal, taking the lead 2:1!

Only then did they ease up a little.

At the same time, the first half was about to end.

"Tch, what's not strong?" Liang Qiqi, sitting on the bench, gritted his teeth as he watched his dejected teammates on the field. "Now you know you've been tricked by that bastard, right! I said he was just making things up! What does he know!"

Liang Qiqi's angry complaints didn't attract anyone's attention. Everyone wanted to stay away from him now, unwilling to get too close to him.

※※※

Soon after Chelsea's goal, the first half ended.

The players returned to the locker room to prepare for the second half.

The expressions on the faces of the Chelsea youth team players were much better than when they had just conceded a goal. Some of them even looked at the Chinese youngsters provocatively, smugly as if to tell them to recognize reality.

The only thing they regretted was that the first half ended so quickly. They believed that if they had five more minutes, they could definitely score another goal.

If you want to teach these arrogant and conceited Chinese a lesson, then teach them a thorough one!

Unfortunately, the first half was over.

Now they could only use their eyes to show their power.

Sun Pan, who had conceded two goals, was very unhappy. He had boasted to Zhou Yi before the game that he would let Chelsea see what an "immovable object" was, but he had conceded two goals. He wasn't just losing goals, he was losing face…

Sun Pan, full of anger with nowhere to vent, keenly noticed someone looking at him—perhaps this was a racial talent of Northeasterners.

He immediately found the people who were looking at them—several Chelsea youth team players.

Seeing Sun Pan staring at them, they didn't look away, but generously showed the provocation in their eyes.

Sun Pan, who had picked up two footballs from the goal, was filled with anger and pointed at the other side, shouting: "What are you looking at! What are you looking at! What are you looking at?!"

As he said that, he walked straight towards them.

Then he bumped into Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi grabbed him: "They can't understand you when you speak Northeastern dialect!"

Sun Pan was stunned when he heard Zhou Yi say that: "Damn, I forgot about that in my rush… what should I say then?"

"son_of_a_Bitch…" Zhou Yi taught on the spot.

"Got it!" Sun Pan nodded after listening once, then pointed in that direction again, across Zhou Yi, and shouted, "You stupid assholes eat shit!!"

He wanted to continue cursing, but Yang Muge rushed over and pulled him to the sidelines: "Don't be impulsive! Don't be impulsive!"

Zhou Yi also pushed him towards the sidelines.

This conflict, which had just sparked a small flame, was nipped in the bud.

Many people suddenly heard Sun Pan shouting loudly, and didn't react for a while. When they did, they saw that Sun Pan had been pulled off the field by Zhou Yi and Yang Muge. As for what Sun Pan shouted… in the absence of any preparation, not many people heard clearly.

But it didn't seem like anything good…

Seeing Sun Pan's angry face, they knew that there must have been a conflict between the two sides. But it didn't escalate.

After Sun Pan was pushed out, the Chelsea players didn't come up.

"What's going on?" Hao Dong stepped forward and asked with a serious face.

Compared to losing the game, he hated losing face even more. Sportsmanship was crucial for these kids, and he didn't want to see his players lose the game and lose their manners.

"They're mocking us!" Sun Pan said angrily, pointing to the Chelsea youth team players in the distance.

Everyone turned their heads to look, and those Chelsea players hadn't left. Instead, they stood in the distance, looking this way with obvious mocking and sarcastic expressions.

"Damn! They really are!"

"These sons of bitches! Let's kill them!"

The players cursed.

"Enough!" Hao Dong roared, scaring everyone into silence.

"Go back!" He nodded towards the locker room.

Then he took the lead in walking towards the locker room. After looking at each other, the others obediently followed him.

Sun Pan, who was at the back, lowered his head and whispered to Zhou Yi, "Did they understand what I said?"

"Judging from their expressions, they probably didn't understand your Northeastern hick English." Zhou Yi shook his head.

"Damn!" Sun Pan was very dissatisfied. It was a waste of his emotions. "What should I do?"

"Beat them in the game!" Zhou Yi said. "Beat them to death! Defeat them!"

Zhou Yi was also full of murderous intent.

In the first half, as the one who assisted He Ying's goal, he was naturally given "special attention" by the Chelsea youth team. Moreover, he had the ball a lot, and the Chelsea youth team players were not polite to him. He fell a lot in the first half, and his white jersey was covered with green and brown patches of grass and dirt.

Since Chelsea began to counterattack, Zhou Yi had basically not played well. He was always being kicked.

The referee didn't always call fouls on the Chelsea youth team when he was kicked. This was normal, because the referee was the Chelsea youth team's coach, and he would naturally favor the other side.

With no way to appeal, he could only continue to be kicked. This game was…

If Sun Pan was full of anger, then Zhou Yi's entire abdomen was on fire.