Fox in the Penalty Area

When Hu Lai was a fan, he always felt very strange—why those Chinese professional players, who obviously eat football, are considered "industry insiders" no matter what, but why do they talk about world football? Things, they don't know as much as an ordinary fan, and they don't see them watching European leagues and Champions League games?

Now that he's a pro, he sort of understands why:

Most European games are in the second half of the night, especially in the World Cup.

Professional players must strictly abide by reasonable work and rest regulations in order to ensure their good condition.

If there is training the next morning, how can the players stay up late to watch the game like ordinary fans?

At the beginning, Hu Lai wanted to be like an ordinary fan and watch every game of the World Cup.

But soon he realized that this was impossible.

The group stage is okay, because this World Cup is held in the Middle East, and the time difference from China is not too far away. There are two games in the group stage every day before 24:00 Beijing time. The time comes at six o'clock and nine o'clock in the evening.

It was exactly 10:30 after watching the nine o'clock scene, so it was okay to wash up and go to bed.

But the remaining two games kick off at 0:00 the next day and 3:00 in the morning. As a professional player, Hu Lai has no way to watch the live broadcast anyway-although the other players of the team are still on vacation, but He has been asked to go to the training base to receive targeted training, so it is impossible to stay up late every day to watch the game. Because Wang Guangwei has to hurry up to learn how to drive, he can't stay up late to watch the game.

The two people can only learn about the results of these two games through the news reports the next day.

But whether it is news reports or watching highlights, it is far less intuitive than watching live broadcasts.

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As the World Cup progressed, the French team led by Louis Francis, the oldest of the "Four Heavenly Kings", surprisingly failed to even make the knockout round, and went home after finishing the group stage.

It is embarrassing.

Although he has the title of World Cup champion on his personal honor list, his wish to truly win the World Cup champion with his own strength may never be realized again-four years later, the 2026 World Cup will be held, and he will have already been three years old by then. Eighteen, almost certainly no longer able to participate.

After entering the knockout stage of the game, the defending champion Germany was also eliminated in the quarter-finals, and Aylmer failed to complete the task of leading the team to defend the title. It also once again confirmed the cruelty of the World Cup and the uncertainty of football.

The World Cup curse, in which the defending champions cannot defend their title, will continue for another four years.

In the end, it was the remaining two kings who reached the final of the World Cup. The Italian team led by Caesar faced Spain in Cerrados.

Hu Lai and Wang Guangwei did not see this much-anticipated battle between the heavenly kings.

If it were an ordinary fan, this must have been the battle of Tianwangshan, where they had already prepared a beer supper, called their friends, and stayed up all night.

But for professional players Hu Lai and Wang Guangwei, they are not qualified to stay up late to watch the game-the team has assembled and started the first phase of winter training.

As the World Cup draws to a close, all Anton Shining Star players flew to Yunshan Gaoguanshui Market to prepare for the new season.

Hu Lai did not know the final ownership of the World Cup champion through the news reports the next day.

With their excellent tactical discipline and defense, the Italian team withstood the offensive of Spain's "golden generation" led by Cerrados, and entered extra time after a dull 90-minute game. In the second half of overtime, with the super personal ability of "The Great" Celius Caesar, the Italian team took a one-goal lead.

Next, the Italian team quickly retreated to defend, allowing the Spanish team to bombard indiscriminately outside, but they just didn't go out.

Even a striker like Caesar also acted as a central defender, using his height and header to help the team push out Spain's wide crosses.

In the end, the Italian team managed to survive until the end of the game. They also won the third World Cup championship in history, and they can embroider three stars on their chests.

Needless to say, there were various articles touting the "Emperor" Caesar after the game. It is normal for Caesar fans and Celados fans to quarrel on the Internet.

Amidst the clamor, the first World Cup held in winter, which had been lively for nearly a month, also came to an end.

But this is too far away for the flashing stars who are training far away in China's Yunshan Changshui. Whoever wins the championship is just the excitement of the fans and the media. On the contrary, professional players don't pay much attention to the World Cup...

After all, the World Cup is a carnival for fans and a stage for the world's top players, but for those players who can't participate in the World Cup at all, it is just a big reality TV show.

If you memorize the lineups of both sides in every game of the World Cup, it will not help you improve your playing level.

So the hustle and bustle of the World Cup is over, and the life of a professional player continues.

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Zhang Zihao bought the game "The Godfather of Champions 2023" during the World Cup promotion on the steam platform, and it only cost him 110 yuan, while the usual price of this game on the steam platform is 230 yuan ,no discount.

This discount can be said to be very large.

During the World Cup, all football games on the steam platform have discounted activities with different discounts.

Zhang Zihao never expected that the latest "Godfather of Champions 2023" could be discounted so heavily.

He wanted to buy this game when it first came out, but as a college student whose living expenses depended on his parents, he was still reluctant to spend two hundred and thirty yuan on a game.

Fortunately, there is a World Cup promotion.

After Zhang Zihao bought this game, he kept it in the game library and didn't play it. Now that the World Cup is finally over, he can continue his football dream in the game.

Unlike those players who coached wealthy teams in the "Godfather of Champions" series of games, Zhang Zihao chose to coach his hometown team Anton Shining Stars after creating his own personal image in the game.

"The Godfather of Champions" is a world-renowned football manager game, one generation per year, until 2022, exactly 30 years, 30 generations. At first it was called "The Godfather of Champions 1" and "The Godfather of Champions 2". Later, because there were too many algebras produced, they simply used the year to represent the algebras.

The game is most proud of its detailed and real database, which can include almost all professional players in the world. It is said that the game production company specially invested high insurance for their database.

Based on this huge database, the game company has produced a game that is almost comparable to the real football world. In the game, countless players have become world-renowned coaches and enjoy the sense of accomplishment of commanding world-class stars.

There are really examples of players of this game becoming the head coach of a professional team.

Of course, Zhang Zihao doesn't expect to become the head coach of a professional team. He plays this game purely because of his hobbies and love for his hometown team. He wants to lead Shining Star to become the overlord of Chinese football. The World Cup is such a lively global event, but there is nothing to do with the Chinese team. He can only YY in the virtual game, coach his hometown team, train local players like Hu Lai, and then strive to become a Chinese player in the game. The head coach of the Chinese team recruited a direct descendant like Hu Lai who he had cultivated by himself, and then led the Chinese team to the World Cup...

After choosing the coaching team and choosing the database, Zhang Zihao entered the game.

After a simple opening animation, he enters the game screen.

The congratulatory letter from the club chairman in the inbox, as well as the expectations of the season, he threw aside, and went directly into the team lineup without even looking at it.

This game was released in October. At that time, Zhang Qinghuan was still in the Flash Star team, and Zhang Qinghuan in the game was also there. But Zhang Zihao's opening time is January 2023, and Zhang Qinghuan is still in the team. It seems that this game defaults that Zhang Qinghuan can continue to stay in Flash Star...

Zhang Zihao didn't care about Zhang Qinghuan, he just glanced at the name, and then looked for the person he was most interested in in the team lineup.

Holly.

He quickly found the name and clicked on it to see Hu Lai's attributes.

Without installing the avatar package and team logo package, most players' avatars are grayed out due to portrait rights and copyright reasons.

So is Holly.

Zhang Zihao glanced at Hu Lai's basic data:

Nationality Chinese, age 19, date of birth September 9, 2003, playing for Anton Shining Star, worth 500,000 RMB, position forward, right-footed, 1.75 meters tall and weighs 60 kg.

1.75 meters tall?

Zhang Zihao remembered that Flash Star updated the basic data of each player on the official website before the winter training, including height and weight. Hu Lai seems to have grown to 1.78 meters, and his weight has also increased to 66 kg.

This data is really backward...

But think about it, this height and weight data should also be collected by investigators from the official website of Flash Star. Maybe Hu Lai's height last season was indeed 1.75 meters.

This is not important, it will be correct when the winter transfer database patch is released at the end of March next year.

Zhang Zihao paid more attention to Hu Lai's attributes.

In terms of technical attributes, passing 4, crossing 3, marking 1, penalty kick 4, technique 3, corner kick 2, throw-in 1, dribbling 2, stealing 1, free kick 2, shooting 7, stopping the ball 8, header 6 balls, 3 long shots.

In terms of mental attributes, defensive position is 2, work commitment is 3, concentration is 4, determination is 6, leadership is 3, aggressiveness is 3, vision is 4, teamwork is 8, running without the ball is 9, imagination is 5, willpower is 5, bravery is 4 , Anticipation 6, Calm 7.

Physical attributes, explosive power 5, jumping 6, agility 8, endurance 6, balance 7, strength 3, speed 6, constitution 8.

"What the hell is this?!" After reading all Hu Lai's data, Zhang Zihao uttered a strange cry in the dormitory.

"Why are you yelling so loudly, rat?" The roommate was taken aback by him.

"Is the data on "The Godfather of Champions 2023" so inaccurate?" Zhang Zihao said excitedly, pointing at his computer screen, "What the hell kind of data is this? Huh? There are only seven shots!? Only eight stops?! The number of off-ball runs is only nine! All the statistics don’t even have double digits! Can you believe it?!”

Hearing what he said, his roommate slipped off the bed and looked at his computer: "It's really horrible. I thought it was the gray players that came out of the system... No, the ones that come out are all bigger than the ones that come out." This is strong!"

"Last season, Hu Lai, the best scorer in the Flash Star team, who scored 11 goals in half a season, is here?" Another roommate also joined together, and after seeing Hu Lai's data, he also complained.

The third roommate was lying on the bed without moving, and his voice came from above: "It's normal, Flash Star is only a Chinese team. The Chinese league is not very important, especially the low-level leagues in China... Besides, even the Chinese Super League didn’t have investigators for every team. Our Shining Stars are under trusteeship, and we are usually the investigators of Chiho Shigeyama. The investigators probably haven't even watched Hu Lai's game, so they just filled in casually based on a few words from the news."

Zhang Zihao looked at the game interface on the laptop screen, frowned and complained: "I spent more than a hundred to buy "The Godfather of Champions 2023" just because I want to coach Hu Lai? As a result, Hu Lai only has this data. I'm still playing a fart! Isn't "The Godfather of Champions 2022" delicious?"

"Use an editor to change it yourself..." the roommate persuaded.

"No." Zhang Zihao shook his head, "Hu Lai is such a good player, I don't allow others to think that he is gray trash. Hu Lai will be ridiculed if this data is posted online..."

"What can I do if I am laughed at?"

Zhang Zihao remembered that he had seen someone recruiting investigators in the "Godfather of Champions" section of the "Goal" website.

"I'm going to apply to be an investigator of Shining Star! I want to let all the players of "The Godfather of Champions" know how powerful Hu Lai is!"