Chapter 4 The Fourth Stop

The day after the Bayern Munich youth team game, the young Chinese footballers took a plane to Dortmund, their fourth stop on their European tour. Dortmund was over six hundred kilometers away, west of Munich in the southeast corner of Germany, but the flight didn't take too long.

After arriving in Dortmund, the young players went straight to the hotel to rest and prepare for the evening's training.

He Ying rested seriously in his room to recover his strength, but Zhou Yi hurried out after putting down his luggage, which made He Ying a little strange.

During the time he had spent with Zhou Yi, he had found that Zhou Yi's schedule was very regular, his living habits were good, and he went to bed very early every day, and took a nap at noon. It was like this during the training camp in China, and it was still the same in Europe.

Even more regular than himself.

But the problem was that since last night, Zhou Yi had been coming back to the room to sleep much later than usual.

He didn't take a nap at noon today either, and rushed out after putting down his luggage... This made He Ying suddenly curious, wondering what Zhou Yi was up to.

Did he think he definitely wouldn't get to play, so he gave up on himself and went out to play?

Indeed, this situation existed in the team. The coach told everyone to rest, but coming to a foreign country, it was still difficult to resist the yearning and curiosity for the new world outside, so some people would still sneak out to go shopping. He had personally seen Liang Qiqi do this.

He didn't expect Zhou Yi to be like this now... He Ying shook his head, feeling a little regretful.

※※※

While He Ying was feeling sorry for Zhou Yi's "degeneration," Zhou Yi was in Yang Muge and Sun Pan's room, saying to the three people including Guo Nu: "Okay, let's start!"

"I said, can't we find a more open place to practice? If you don't want to be seen by others, then a secluded place is fine too," Sun Pan suggested. "Why do we have to do it in our room?"

"Because I found that this can also be a special training for you, Sun Pan," Zhou Yi explained. "Don't you think this is a good training for your reaction?"

"Damn it! My reaction is already very fast!" Sun Pan protested.

"Then let it be faster," Zhou Yi said. "Yang Muge, do you object to training in the room?"

Yang Muge shook his head.

"See! 2:1! We win, that's it, let's start training!" Zhou Yi announced.

"Traitor!" Sun Pan glared at Yang Muge and reluctantly accepted the reality.

"Come on, let's improve together," Zhou Yi comforted Sun Pan.

"What have you improved?" Sun Pan rolled his eyes.

"After drinking coffee all night yesterday, I found that drinking coffee can no longer keep me awake."

"What kind of progress is that!"

"Progress in caffeine immunity."

"..."

※※※

Zhou Yi and the others practiced until half an hour before the coach-mandated meeting time before they finished. They said goodbye and returned to their respective rooms, while Sun Pan complained about the mess they had made of the room. Yang Muge helped while enduring his complaints.

When Zhou Yi returned to his room, He Ying had already gotten out of bed and was sitting in a chair reading a book.

Zhou Yi nodded to him, which was his way of saying hello. He had been with He Ying for so long that he had figured out He Ying's temper, knowing that he didn't like to talk and didn't like to be disturbed when he was reading.

But this time, He Ying, seeing him come back, suddenly put down his book and called his name very rarely: "Zhou Yi."

"Huh?" Zhou Yi was surprised.

"Do you think that as the weakest player on the team, you don't have much chance to play?"

Zhou Yi was confused by He Ying's words, but he still shook his head: "I haven't thought about that..."

"Then I see you don't seem to be very worried about being a substitute all the time."

"This thing... it's useless for me to worry, right?" Zhou Yi spread his hands and smiled. "It's the coach who decides the roster, I can't just block Coach Hao's door in the middle of the night, can I?"

"That's true, but I see you're still quite relaxed."

"What else can I do? Frown all day? I'm... a relatively optimistic person, carefree, ha!"

Seeing Zhou Yi smile again, He Ying lowered his head and continued reading his book, but he was a little disappointed in Zhou Yi. He felt that Zhou Yi seemed too indifferent to football. He believed that if a person really wanted to play, they should at least show that kind of emotion, but Zhou Yi didn't, always smiling and joking, as if he wasn't worried at all.

Could such a person... even if he played, would he be able to go all out to pursue victory?

He Ying had doubts about this.

Now it seemed that Zhou Yi was also a person who couldn't be counted on in the team.

Looking at the whole team, it seemed that there was no one he could trust, which gave He Ying a sense of loneliness. On the road to victory, he was a lonely and stubborn forward, and no one in the whole team could accompany him.

After suffering the heaviest blow in Barcelona, He Ying had recovered from the initial frustration. He had regained his fighting spirit and belief.

So against the Real Madrid youth team, against the Atletico Madrid youth team, against the Bayern Munich youth team, no matter how many goals they lost, as long as he was on the field, he would run with all his strength, looking for opportunities to shoot and score, and try to save even a little bit of face for Chinese football.

It's just that as a forward, relying on personal strength alone is not enough to score goals, otherwise there would be no need for midfielders.

Although Liang Qiqi was the team's main attacking midfielder, he couldn't be counted on at all. Apart from infighting, he had no highlights.

Since that was the case... then he would just work hard by himself, even if he was fighting alone.

He Ying had this picture in his mind:

He was standing on the field, his jersey tattered, with a football under his feet. Behind him were all his teammates lying on the ground, and in front of him were players wearing the jerseys of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, Dortmund, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool, and other top teams. They were lined up in rows, from the left sideline to the right sideline of the field, blocking him completely and covering the goal.

This was the enemy he had to face alone.

But he was not afraid. Instead, he looked at the back of the wall with firm eyes, then pushed the football out and dribbled forward!

Though there are a thousand men, I shall go!

※※※

Zhou Yi saw that He Ying suddenly spoke to him and then suddenly stopped talking, and didn't know why. But as for He Ying, he was used to this kind of inexplicable behavior. So he didn't care about He Ying's attitude and went to pack his things on his own.

However, He Ying's words still left ripples in his heart.

He was always laughing and joking, so he didn't care whether he could play?

He cared more than anyone!

Did I win this spot from so many candidates in China to come to Europe for a vacation?

I want to play too!

But this thing... it's not up to me!

Zhou Yi naturally knew that he had performed very well in training, and his attitude was positive and serious, but Head Coach Hao Dong just didn't put him on the starting list, what could he do?

If he had the ability to decide his own appearance, he would definitely start himself in every game, regardless of whether his strength was enough or not.

For example, in the virtual FIFAoL3 system, Zhou Yi would start himself in every game to challenge Barcelona's youth team, and even if his performance was not good, he would never substitute himself.

Zhou Yi, packing his things with his back to He Ying, frowned, and wondered if he should also go to the head coach to express his determination?

But Zhou Yi didn't wait to put his idea into practice before he received good news.

During the team's first training session in Dortmund in the evening, Head Coach Hao Dong announced a decision.

"For the next game against the Dortmund youth team, we will make some personnel adjustments." Hao Dong said, standing in front of the young players who had just finished warming up, "In the center-back position, Guo Nu will start."

A slight exclamation came from the crowd.

Guo Nu had played like that in the last game, and everyone was very unhappy with him. Although Liang Qiqi's words were excessive, he still received some support from his teammates in private.

They didn't want Guo Nu to continue to start.

Yang Fei, who was sent off with a red card, also thought he still had a chance to continue to start, but he didn't expect his starting journey to end after only one game. He looked at Guo Nu with a bad expression.

He now hoped that Guo Nu would continue his performance from the last game in the game against Dortmund, so that after he survived the one-game suspension, he would definitely be able to return to the starting list.

Guo Nu could feel everyone's attitude towards him after the head coach announced this decision. Having been laughed at since he was a child, he was very sensitive to changes in people's attitudes.

He thought of Zhou Yi's special training for him.

The game against Dortmund should be his last chance. If he didn't perform well, he probably wouldn't have another chance to play until the end of this reality show.

He clenched his fists secretly.

Apart from accepting Zhou Yi's special training, I have no other way to go!

"Also, in midfield... Zhou Yi will replace Liang Qiqi as the starter."

The commotion caused by this decision was much bigger than the previous one, because it was too sudden!

Everyone could more or less guess that Guo Nu would start, after all, Yang Fei was suspended.

But Liang Qiqi being taken down... surprised many people.

Although Liang Qiqi's performance in these few games had been very average, or even bad, he had never been replaced. After all, in the position of organizing the attack in the center of the midfield, he had no competitors.

Although Zhou Yi also played this position, how could he, as an amateur player, be qualified to be the opponent of Liang Qiqi, who was trained by the domestic professional football club's youth team?

Everyone turned their attention to the two parties involved.

When Zhou Yi heard the news, he reflexively pointed to himself and asked in disbelief: "Me?"

"Yes, you," Hao Dong said.

Sun Pan laughed from the side: "Good job, Zhou Yi! Finally starting!"

Yang Muge also winked at him: "Great!"

He Ying was a little surprised. This afternoon, he was still criticizing Zhou Yi for being unmotivated and not worrying about not being able to play. He didn't expect the coach to announce that Zhou Yi would start in the next game... He really didn't know what to say.

Should he say that the world is changing fast?

But when he thought of Zhou Yi's state, he felt that letting Zhou Yi start probably wouldn't make much sense, and he might not perform better than Liang Qiqi.

Thinking of this, he lowered his eyes again and stopped paying attention to the surprised whispers.

The most surprised person after hearing this decision was none other than Liang Qiqi himself. He never expected that he would be taken out of the starting lineup by the coach, and that he would be replaced by Zhou Yi, whom he hated the most. This was simply... a slap in the face!

Especially seeing Zhou Yi's blank look after the starting lineup was announced, it made him even more angry - I was actually replaced by such an idiot!

I'm not convinced!

He couldn't help but ask loudly: "Why, coach? Why take me down?"

"Team discipline is more important than anything else, you know that yourself." Hao Dong didn't say it too directly, and he still saved some face for Liang Qiqi. He knew that young children especially cared about face, and it would be bad if he tore his face directly.

Hearing him say this, Liang Qiqi didn't ask any further questions, but fell silent.

From Hao Dong's words, he understood the reason, which was because of the incident the day before...

Yes, it must be because of this!

Damn it, I said why that kid was so eager to stand up for that mad dog! It turned out that he wanted to pull me down and step on me to get to the top! How despicable!

He squinted and took a deep look at Zhou Yi, who was still receiving congratulations from Sun Pan and Yang Muge.

Humph!

Just wait, you will soon regret getting this starting opportunity.

The level of European football is not something that an amateur player like you who only plays football in physical education class at school can imagine! You're just making up the numbers! This will be your last game in Europe!