Edward VII Park is very peaceful in the morning.

In the indoor football field near the south gate, Su Dongzheng regarded the obstacle pole in front of him as a defensive dummy, rehearsing his shooting movements again and again.

Either he takes a kick and shoots furiously, or he takes the ball with his back turned and hits the goal.

The difference is that each kick will simulate a different situation and choose different kicking methods and angles.

This kind of training is boring, but Su Dong doesn't seem to feel this way. He repeats it over and over again on the court, sweating profusely.

Not far away in the shade on the sidelines, Ronnie and Jose Semedo were both sitting on the ground, watching silently.

"Have you noticed that there is something wrong with him these days?" Semedo asked suddenly.

"What's wrong?"

"It's hard to say, but I feel like he is working harder than before."

"I guess he was stimulated," Ronnie guessed.

"You mean, the opening match?"

Ronnie didn't answer, and Su Dong didn't say anything, but he guessed it was like this.

In fact, after the opening game, Ronnie himself practiced harder than before.

He was already behind Quaresma and didn't want to fall further behind.

If you work hard, you may not be able to catch up, but if you don’t work hard, you will never catch up.

"This is a good thing, isn't it?" Ronnie looked deeply at Semedo, his roommate for many years, who was a bit lazy, "To be honest, Jose, you should think about it carefully. If this continues, don't talk about it.

If you join the team, I guess you will be loaned out sooner or later."

Jose Semedo did not perform well in the Sporting Lisbon youth academy, otherwise he would not have been dismissed in the first place.

After returning, it seems that he still hasn't learned the lessons.

After Semedo heard this, there was a hint of dodge in his eyes, but his expression was pretending not to care. He smiled and said: "It's not bad to go out on loan. Maybe you can't play in the team, but you can become the main force when you go out."

After he finished speaking, he laughed dryly twice.

As if Ronnie didn't hear what he said clearly, he sighed and stood up from the ground, "I won't talk anymore, I still have to practice. Sooner or later, I will kill Quaresma!"

After saying that, he quickly rushed into the stadium.

"Su, let me practice with you!"

…

Jose Semedo lay lazily on the sidelines, watching Su Dong and Ronnie compete one on one on the court. The smile on his face gradually faded away, replaced by a kind of envy, and at the same time a deep feeling.

Deep sadness.

He was born in a poor family of Cape Verdean immigrants in Setubal and played football on the streets since he was a child.

Despite his short stature, only 1.83 meters tall, he has the muscles and speed of an African player. He has been faster and stronger than his peers since he was a child. Naturally, he gradually stood out and was spotted by some teams.

He came to a wealthy club like Sporting Lisbon early to receive training.

That year, he was twelve years old.

According to Sporting Lisbon's youth training standards, Semedo's skills are not outstanding and cannot even meet the team's requirements. The playing habit he has developed since childhood is to rely on his own body and speed.

This is very effective in the youth team, but if his body and speed cannot take advantage, then there is nothing he can do.

Sporting Lisbon is not unaware of this problem. They have tailored a targeted training plan for him early on, but Semedo is not Ronnie after all. He cannot stand the boring and boring training.

During the period when he was kicked out of Sporting Lisbon, he learned from the pain and made up his mind to change his mind.

Because he knew that he was carrying the hopes of his whole family.

His family members are all counting on him to be able to make a name for himself, become a professional player, or even a star, earn more money, and completely change the fate of the family.

This determination allowed him to return to Sporting Lisbon, but unfortunately it did not last long.

The outside world is so beautiful.

There are a group of beauties who take the initiative to throw themselves into their arms whenever they hear the name of Sporting Lisbon; there is a group of reporters who are ready to invite them to dinner, drink, dance and sing anytime and anywhere, and just want to find out some team secrets from them; and there are some eager eyes.

Following them, with the proud fans...

Isn't this delicious?

Why do you have to practice so hard?

Even running to the side of the road in the old city and listening to those street singers is much more interesting than training, isn't it?

It’s not that Semedo doesn’t understand.

Children from poor families mature precociously, and he understands it better than anyone else.

Every time he saw Su Dong and Ronnie, he wanted to make up his mind and work hard with them, but every time he couldn't hold on.

That’s really painful!

He couldn't understand why Su Dong and Ronnie could persist?

It's like Su Dong and Ronnie can't understand him, why can't they persist?

Perhaps, as Su Dong said, the weak can never understand the desire of the strong, and the strong can never understand the sorrow of the weak.

Thinking of this, Semedo stood up silently, without saying a word to his friends who were fighting fiercely on the field, with his head hanging down, and quietly left King Edward VII Park.

The two people who were dueling on the court were so focused that they didn't even notice.

…………

…………

The Portuguese Second Division is the third level of the Portuguese league and is divided into three groups according to region, namely North, Central and South.

Sporting CP is located in the Southern Group of the Portuguese Second Division, with a total of sixteen teams.

This is also a competition method adopted by the Portuguese Football Association considering the financial pressure of the lower leagues. However, the pressure in the Southern Group is relatively high because there are several teams from the Madeira Islands to the west of the African continent.

Sporting CP will sit at home in the second round and face Loletano, who scored all three points in the first round.

This team comes from the city of Relais on the south coast of Portugal and has a very long history. It is backed by the two major cities of Relai and Faro. Reloitano has strong financial resources. This is one of the few professional teams in the Portuguese second league.

The goal of the season is to hit the Portuguese Liga.

Of course, this team is still in the Portuguese second division, which shows that the goal has not been achieved.

But as an all-professional team, its strength is not bad.

…

After all, it is the first home game of the new season, and the fans of the Athletic Club are quite supportive.

With 8,000 seats and including standing tickets, the home stadium has a total capacity of 15,000 people and welcomed more than 3,000 fans in total.

They were all sitting in the stands on both sides, which was quite large.

Don't take it personally. According to the team's statistics, this attendance rate is already considered very high.

For a sports event with an average ticket price of about one euro, the average number of fans per game is about a thousand.

In other words, the so-called three major income channels for European clubs, match days, broadcast fees and commercial operations, are all completely missed by the Athletic Association, and the income of more than 1,000 euros per game alone cannot support a football club at all.

Team's.

Therefore, the athletic association needs to open more side businesses, including training courses, or contract some training services from the government, and the government will also provide appropriate financial support and various subsidies, such as stadium maintenance costs, etc.

And this is why Gorba suddenly valued Su Dong so much after the assessment.

If Su Dong plays well and sells him to a big team, he can earn five or even six figures in transfer fees every minute.

It is basically impossible for a team like the Athletic to resist such a temptation.

Therefore, Su Dong was naturally included in the competition list.

His performance in training is getting better and better, and Martello also thinks highly of him, but he is still on the bench for this game.

"Pay attention to your opponent, I hope you can perform well when you come on the field." Antonio Pereira encouraged.

Su Dong nodded silently.

…

Loletano took the lead.

Although before the game, the players of the Athletic Club satirized this team in the locker room for competing in the first division every year, but from another perspective, this team is indeed very good, and this gives them enough confidence and strength.

Confidence goes to the armor.

Sure enough, as soon as the game started, Loletano took the lead and took the lead.

Although the competition is a home game, the scene is defensive.

But even so, Roletano still frequently penetrated into the 30-meter zone and even near the penalty area.

The role of the old captain Martello came into play at this time. In addition to standing in front of the goal of the Athletic Association like a needle in the sea, he also actively directed his teammates to defend and instructed the movement of the team's defense line.

Looking at Martello who is like a commander on the court, and then looking at Antonio Pereira who is like an old monk on the sidelines, Su Dong finally understands why everyone believes that Martello will replace Pereira.
To be continued...