Fox in the Penalty Area

Xiong Jiahui sat in the seat in the school activity hall, leaning forward and leaning on the edge of the table. He looked past his teammates in the front row and towards the figure sitting next to head coach Li Ziqiang, with envy in his eyes.

The teammates around him also looked at each other with the same eyes.

Li Ziqiang faced the players who did not hide their envious expressions and said to them: "Rong Yi is your senior. I specially invited him to come to the school to share with you his experience in participating in the national team training. I hope you can listen carefully. It’s a very important lesson.”

The event hall fell silent.

Rong Yi, who was sitting on the podium, looked up and saw the expectant and focused eyes of the young players.

The first time he sat on the podium to give a lecture to others, he felt nervous.

His mind went blank for a moment.

However, this blank moment only lasted for a very short moment, and he remembered why he agreed to Coach Li to return to his alma mater to teach this lesson to his juniors.

So he took a deep breath to calm down his emotions, his heartbeat slowed down, and then he said in a teasing tone:

"Actually, this class should be taught by Brother Hu, Brother Luo and Brother Xia. But they are very busy now, so I am the only one who takes over the class..."

This statement made many students laugh.

Rong Yi, who received a positive response, really relaxed. He continued: "Coach Li asked me to share with you my experience in participating in the national team training. I do have some experience to tell you, but it is not a successful experience. On the contrary, It can be said to be a failed experience..."

These words caused a commotion among the students below, who all showed surprised expressions.

Xiong Jiahui couldn't even hold back and said "Huh?" and successfully attracted a lot of attention to himself.

But he didn't care about other people's eyes, but looked directly at Rong Yi, eager to know why the senior said that.

Rong Yi naturally noticed the exaggerated expression of Xiong Jiahui, and he smiled at Xiong Jiahui.

"After the first phase of training for the national team, I returned to the club and back home. Whether it was my teammates at the club or my relatives and friends at home, they warmly welcomed me and comforted me. Said...I I gained experience and gained knowledge, and it was a very successful experience. They were right, right?"

Some people nodded after hearing this.

"That's what I thought at the beginning. I feel that I have completed the task very well. Ever since I was selected for the 50-man training list, I have never felt that I can participate in the World Cup. I have always had a learning attitude to compete with the country. I worked with the seniors of the team. So when I knew that I was not selected for the next stage of training, I was actually not very disappointed. There was definitely some disappointment, but not much."

Rong Yi made a gesture that made him lose the Korean market.

Then he shook his head and said: "But this is actually wrong. When I decided to leave the training camp and say goodbye to Brother Huan, Brother Huan criticized me severely. He thought that I did not try my best in this training camp because I never tried my best. I didn’t think that I could participate in this World Cup from the beginning. Isn’t it normal for a young player, who is participating in the national team training for the first time, to feel that he cannot participate in this World Cup?”

Some of the young players nodded in agreement.

"Brother Huan said that we young players are happy, because even if we cannot participate in the World Cup this time, we will still have the opportunity to participate in four years. The level of Chinese football is developing rapidly, and we no longer seem to worry about whether the national team can participate in the World Cup. But When Brother Huan was young, the Chinese team had not participated in a World Cup in 60 years. So he said that we were happy. But later I felt that it was not happiness, but comfort. The comfort of 'born in sorrow and dying in comfort'. "

Rong Yi made a mistake in saying a sentence, but no one cared about these details.

Everyone was attracted by what he said.

Chinese football is obviously in a good situation. More and more of our players are going abroad and studying in Europe. Campus football is in full swing. Grassroots football sports such as amateur football, community football, and village football are flourishing. All things Chinese football are competing and full of vitality...

Countless people have said countless times that Chinese football has entered a golden age.

Why did Senior Rong Yi say that this was "dying in comfort"?

"Because I knew I would still have the opportunity to participate in the World Cup, so I didn't go all out to fight for that spot in this training camp. Not only this World Cup training, I will encounter many things in the future. If I always Thinking 'I'm still young anyway, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future', I may never achieve anything.

"Brother Huan said I was happy, but I said you are happier than me because you are younger than me. You still have countless possibilities in your life and football career. I know that not all of you will embark on the path of professional football. I don’t know how to use football to make a living. But I still want to say that no matter what you do, whether it is playing football or studying, you must seize the moment and go all out, and never set limits for yourself.

"Brother Huan sent me a message, and I will forward it to you here..."

Having said this, Rong Yi paused for a moment and scanned the audience to ensure that everyone was listening carefully to what he said before continuing:

"Youth is your advantage, but don't use it as an excuse."

※※※

When the wife saw her husband lying next to the window, pointing his cell phone downward, motionless, she joked: "Are you looking at beautiful women again?"

The husband did not answer her, but laughed.

My wife, who was just joking at first, turned serious when she saw this - could I really be right? !

She immediately threw down her cell phone, got up from the sofa, and quietly walked over, intending to "take away the stolen goods."

As a result, when she got close to her husband's face, she saw the picture shaking slightly on the screen of her husband's mobile phone. It was not a beautiful woman, but the Laiqing Football Park downstairs, which was across the street from the community.

To be more specific, it is the open space in front of the three-story building of Laiqing Football Park that integrates the management office, lounge, canteen, shower room, locker room, and restaurant...

A lot of people gathered there, and there were rows of flower baskets placed on both sides of the road.

Dressed in red and colorful, it looks very lively.

"What are you doing?" the wife asked curiously.

Only then did the husband notice that his wife had come to him. He only glanced at her and then turned his attention to the twenty-fold magnified picture on his mobile phone.

Then he gently moved his phone and showed his wife a red banner hanging on the small building.

Thanks to today's technological advancement, small mobile phones, small sensors and small lenses, and through the power of computational photography, can clearly read the words on a banner nearly a hundred meters away. It says :

“Warmly celebrate the establishment of Anton Quanxing Football Club!”

"Football club? Professional?" My wife became even more curious after seeing it clearly.

"Professional?" The husband laughed, "A professional one is established in the football park downstairs? This is an amateur game. It doesn't even have its own training ground, so it can only rely on renting venues for training and competition."

"Amateur...then what are you happy about?"

The smile on the husband's face continued: "Do you think this place is close?"

The wife felt that her husband was talking nonsense: "Of course it's close. Just go downstairs and cross the street out of the community."

"So, it will be convenient for our kids to learn to catch the ball in the future!"

Hearing what her husband said, the wife looked back at her son, who was lying alone in the cradle taking a nap, and said angrily: "You just...have to think so hard all day long! How big is your baby? Wait until he can catch a ball." When is it?"

"How long will it take? In three years... two years, when he is almost three years old, he can be sent to play football." When the husband said this, he also looked back at the sleeping child. "Maybe he's also the second one to mess around?"

"You think beautifully!"

"Hey, am I thinking nicely? Have you forgotten what he likes to play the most? Football!"

"You know?"

The husband smiled even more happily: "My baby! I just know it!"

※※※

Yan Yan, who was standing at the door to greet the guests, saw Wu Yue and shouted exaggeratedly: "What are you doing here? To spy on the enemy?"

"Spy with a hammer! We are not in the same area, okay?" Wu Yue angrily said.

"Then who knows? What if our two families play Jincheng Derby in the future?"

"You think far ahead!" Wu Yue teased this old rival, then looked around at the flower baskets on both sides of the road. Then, as if he had discovered a new continent, he said happily:

"Oh! Why haven't I seen the names of your national players on this big day? Let me tell you, when our Jin Qilin Club was established a few days ago, Team Wang and Xiao Qi specially asked someone to send flower baskets! Can't you do this? We don’t even have a flower basket... If you had told me earlier, you would have asked me earlier, and I will help you find the Wang team and they will ask for a few flower baskets to show off for you! What is the relationship between us, why are you so polite?"

Looking at Wu Yue's triumphant face, Yan Yan smiled slightly: "Haha."

※※※

The hall on the first floor, which was originally used for golfers to rest and dine, was renovated and filled with people.

The large screen on the wall that originally showed videos of football matches was playing a promotional video for Anton Quanxing Club.

The main content is some past activity videos and photos of the Jincheng branch of the Dongchuan Middle School football team, the predecessor of Andong Quanxing Club, introducing the history of this newly established club to neighbors and other guests.

After all, if they want to gain a foothold here, they must win the support of the residents here.

They don't have extensive local connections like Jin Qilin, where Wu Yue is located - Jin Qilin was organized by alumni of Jiaxiang, a famous local school in Jincheng. The members of the Anton Quanxing Club are basically "Jin Piao" who come to Jincheng to work and study from other places.

In order to attract local people, in addition to introducing the origins of his club, he also had to raise a few banners.

So at the end of the video, congratulatory speeches from international players such as Xia Xiaoyu and Luo Kai appeared one after another.

Wu Yue, who had teased Yan Yan before, sat on a chair and stared dumbly at the faces that appeared on the screen.

And this also caused a cry of exclamation at the scene.

When Hu Lai and Li Qingqing appeared in the video at the same time, the exclamation reached its climax and turned into cheers.

Amidst the cheers, the speech of today's Chinese football immortal companion also came to the end. Li Qingqing was seen smiling and saying to the people outside the camera: "Everyone is happy, everyone is happy!"

Hu Lai next to him said: "Everything will be happy!"

The atmosphere at the scene was pushed to a climax.

Amidst the constant "cow" sounds, Wu Yue smiled bitterly and shook his head: Oh my god, Dongchuan Middle School has been tricked again, what a fool...

After the introduction video was played, Yan Yan walked to the front desk with a microphone and looked at the crowd sitting in front of him.

There are colleagues from the club, friends for many years, such as Chu Dui, Mao Xiao, Meng Xi, the bar uncle and other familiar faces, as well as comrades found on the way to establish this club, and many of them are actually completely I didn’t know the new faces, many of them were residents living nearby.

There is no elaborate venue, just a few rows of folding chairs. If there are a lot of people coming, stand at the back or in the aisle.

There was no professional host, Yan Yan completed all the work with just one person and one microphone.

There is no invitation letter, anyone who wants to come can come to watch the ceremony and witness the establishment of a grassroots amateur football club.

Quite crude.

But when he saw these familiar or unfamiliar faces, a sense of mission suddenly arose and burst out in Yan Yan's body.

He decided to forget about scratching his head and wrote the speech for three nights, completely unscripted.

"Dear leaders, friends, bosses, uncles, just like what is said in this video, when we first set up a team, we just hoped to enter the society and continue to play football after coming to this city. Hobby, football was a kind of spiritual sustenance for us at that time. At that time, we never thought that we would seriously establish a football club, and I never thought that I would do this full-time.

"But I believe that in the current situation of Chinese football, my choice is correct, and what we are doing is also correct. Football... no matter how much money those stars make, how much limelight they have, or whether our national team is in the World Cup Regardless of the results, in the final analysis, it is also a sport rooted in the grassroots. It is not noble or aristocratic. It should be closely related to our lives and be a part of our lives.

"Just like this football park, like countless community parks in Jincheng... they appear randomly in every corner of the city, on street corners, or in the open spaces between high-rise buildings. Let the neighbors go out for a walk after eating You can stop and watch for a while when you go to the mall or buy groceries. It also allows children to throw off their schoolbags, put on their sports bags, go downstairs and cross the street to play football after returning home from school. There is no need for high time costs, and there is no need for parents to pick up and drop off in the car. Playing and watching football can naturally become the life of each of us.

"Hu Lailai has a dream, which is to wear the national team jersey and win the World Cup. I also have a dream, but my dream is not as big as his..."

Having said this, Yan Yan smiled.

He continued: "My dreams are what I just said. Football is not just a sport, nor is it a small ball rolling on the pitch. Football should be life. I dream...I hope I Children can truly live that kind of life!”

※※※

"Come on, everyone, please follow me, follow me."

A docent wearing a headset and a "little bee" hanging around his waist walked at the front of the line with his hand raised.

Behind her, visitors crowded around her into an exhibition room.

This exhibition hall is neither big nor small.

This is because there are not many exhibits on display in the exhibition hall, only the two glass display cabinets in the middle, so the exhibition hall seems relatively empty, which naturally gives people a "not small" feeling.

"Come on, everyone, please follow the direction of my finger and look this way."

The commentator took the lead in walking to the glass display cabinets, pointing to one of the glass cabinets containing the trophy and said:

"This trophy is the championship trophy of the 2031 Brazilian Women's World Cup. Of course, this is actually a replica. The real trophy is kept by FIFA, while the trophy won by the Chinese women's football girls is kept by the Chinese Football Association. In the honor room..."

In fact, before she could say anything, tourists had already flocked to the cabinet to admire it.

"...Although this statue is a replica, it is not copied casually. It is an official replica made under the license of FIFA, and it is specially put on display here! There is only one of it in the world, and it is the only example. It can be displayed in a private museum for people to see.”

The commentator's tone was full of pride.

"Okay, let's take a look at the side... There is an empty display cabinet here. You must be curious about what this display cabinet is used for. But in fact, after seeing the Women's World Cup trophy, I believe everyone should be able to guess it. , what is the empty space waiting for here..."

Before the commentator had finished speaking, a child among the tourists couldn't wait to shout loudly: "It's the World Cup! The Hercules Cup!"

"That's right!" The commentator nodded and affirmed, "This is where the Men's Football World Cup is waiting to be installed. It is said that this idea came from Hu Lai's mother, Ms. Xie Lan. When she proposed this idea, it was once considered to be Party A's dream. It’s a strange story. So when this museum was first built, there were only two empty cabinets in this exhibition hall.

"At that time, many people thought that these two cupboards would remain empty... As a result, Li Qingqing led our Roses to win the World Cup in history! 'A Arabian Nights' seems to be turning into a 'God's prophecy'!"

During the guide's passionate explanation, the visitors took out their cameras and mobile phones one after another, pointed at the two cabinets standing side by side, and recorded the scene they saw.

Some people rushed to take photos with the Women's World Cup trophy.

Flashlights reflected on the glass and trophies, stars twinkling.

Behind the tourists, on the wall outside the camera, the numbers on the electronic display are beating:

There are still 001 days, 04 hours, 9 minutes and 14 seconds until the opening of the 2034 World Cup in China.

※※※

Note 1: In order to increase the sense of immersion, the Men's Football World Cup in this time and space still adopts the classic "Hercules lifting the earth" shape.

Attached is the 26-man roster of the Chinese team:

Goalkeeper:

No. 1 Lin Zhiyuan, No. 12 Song Kun, No. 26 Liu Haoxuan;

Defender:

No. 15 Wang Guangwei, No. 5 Qin Qi, No. 3 Cai Shuyi

No. 25 Pei Weilin, Feng Li

No. 2 Yuan Da, No. 22 Sui Sheng, No. 19 Wang Dong;

Midfield:

No. 10 Zhang Qinghuan, No. 8 Xia Xiaoyu, No. 4 Ou Yangjin

No. 17 Shi Wanqing, No. 7 Luo Kai, No. 11 Chen Xingyi

No. 20 Xue Ming, No. 24 Liu Zhonglai, No. 16 Pan Yongliang;

forward:

No. 14 Hu Lai, Tan Yunlong

No. 21 Yu Yefeng, No. 23 Li Maoping