Chapter 14: Cross-Age Group Team Competition

"Remember to come home early, you still have homework tonight!"

Deng Kai's parents saw him onto the bus to Alcochete Base.

At first, they did not agree with Deng Kai playing football.

But when Deng Kai laid the money he earned from selling autographed footballs in front of them, his parents wavered.

Subsequently, the admissions officer from the University of Lisbon also stated that Deng Kai could attend school on an "offline basis."

This meant he didn't have to attend classes regularly, but he must reach the university's academic standards in the exams.

Should he fail even once, his scholarship for the year would be canceled.

If he failed more than three subjects, he would be expelled from the university.

Deng Kai and his parents accepted the conditions set by the University of Lisbon.

And so, Deng Kai became the first thirteen-year-old university student at the University of Lisbon, and he didn't even have to attend classes.

For their part, the University of Lisbon had its own considerations.

They had previously sent signals through the media that they would not allow Deng Kai to play football.

But Deng Kai was not threatened at all.

In fact, the University of Lisbon could not afford to give up on Deng Kai.

"Prodigy Deng Kai" had already become famous in the educational field, and if Lisbon University refused Deng Kai at this point, it might harm their reputation.

After all, top universities are very concerned about the reputation of "universal education," "inclusiveness," and "flexibility." Deng Kai's admission could directly label Lisbon University with such tags.

This effect was something that Lisbon University could not achieve with several years of normal promotion.

Therefore, University of Lisbon chose to give Deng Kai special treatment.

...

"Damn it! The buses in Lisbon, Portugal, are also unreliable!"

Deng Kai cursed as he got off the bus and ran toward the training field.

He was late on his very first training day after joining the team.

This was really embarrassing.

The experience proved that even in developed Europe the air wasn't sweet and buses weren't punctual.

As soon as he stepped onto the field, Deng Kai heard Trigella cursing, "Fuck! What are they even doing? Didn't I already say to pass the ball to Chris?"

"Or are you saying I can't control your team's kids anymore, Maxa?"

The middle-aged man named Maxa, sweat-soaked, explained, "Well... Chris only joined this summer, and the other teammates aren't familiar with him, so..."

"Bullshit!" Trigella cut Maxa off, "I know what they're thinking. As long as Chris performs as poorly as they do, then they have a chance to become the next Quaresma, right?"

"That's toxic competition! In this kind of environment, no one will play football properly, nor would they dare to!"

Trigella was very disappointed with the youth coach, Maxa.

In fact, in the past two years, there had been some issues with Sporting Lisbon's youth training system.

It might not be obvious since, from Figo to Simon and Quaresma to Hugo Llial, Sporting Lisbon was still producing young stars.

But in reality, the recruitment for their youth teams was not ideal.

Top talents were snatched away by Benfica and Porto, so much so that Sporting Lisbon had even tried to sign a few players that Benfica let go this year.

On the other hand, after Trigella became an assistant with the main team, the abilities of the other youth coaches declined, leading to several generations of youth players not meeting expectations in terms of development.

Just as Trigella was in a state of fury, he noticed the belated Deng Kai.

"Idiot! Why don't you just eat dinner and then come!" Maxa was the first to scold Deng Kai, using it as a way to divert Trigella's anger.

But the next moment he was pushed aside by Trigella.

"Kai, you've arrived. Did you run into some trouble on the way? Perhaps you should live near the base, I'll find you a place. It's quite inconvenient for you to commute like this every day..."

Watching the warm and concerned Trigella, Maxa was bewildered.

This... was this the same Trigella known for his strictness as a youth coach?

Trigella was no ordinary person.

Lisbon's rising star Simon, Quaresma, and the soon-to-be star Hugo Llial were all trained by him.

Rumors had it that if the current coach of Sporting Lisbon failed to produce good results this season, Trigella might very well be his successor.

This was also why Maxa was so eager to please Trigella - he wanted to be part of Trigella's coaching team when Trigella became the head coach.

"Stop the game and get ready to make a substitution," Trigella said to both Maxa and Deng Kai. "Warm up quickly; otherwise, you can easily get injured. Will ten minutes be enough? If not, I can have them wait a little longer."

Deng Kai shook his head: "I ran over here after getting off the car; no need to warm up."

"Fine, get out there quickly. I don't want to see this kind of low-quality training match ever again!" Trigella did not hide his disdain for several of the young players.

He then substituted the players wearing red vests numbered ten and eleven, as well as the player in the yellow vest who was number three.

Ronaldo was in the red team, but due to being ostracized by the core members of the team, he didn't get the ball very often.

The defensive players of the yellow team were also very rough on him with a clear intention of teaching him a lesson.

This went against Trigella's purpose in organizing this training match.

This was the University of Lisbon's U14 youth team, and Trigella needed this match to determine if Ronaldo could adapt to the playing pace of the older U14 category.

It seemed, however, that this group of U14 players wanted to send Ronaldo back to the U13s.

As Deng Kai, wearing a red vest, took to the field, the atmosphere of the pitch changed.

Deng Kai became another low pressure front, no less significant than Ronaldo.

Clearly, everyone also knew who Deng Kai was.

If everyone was jealous of Ronaldo's actions,

then their attitude towards Deng Kai was... contempt.

Deng Kai didn't have anything that stood out among his peers, apart from luck.

How could such a person be interviewed by the media more than a dozen times in a month and become famous throughout the European football youth training world?

Thanks to Deng Kai's entry into the game and Trigella's adjustments, Ronaldo started to receive passes from his teammates.

He also quickly proved himself with a goal.

The current score between the red and yellow teams was one to three, with the red team still behind.

This was the reason for Trigella's anger.

The two teams of equal strength, and the side that got Ronaldo had conceded three goals—complete nonsense.

Even if Ronaldo didn't enhance the strength of the red team, he certainly wouldn't drag it down either.

The U14 kids were just too obvious, and the youth coach saw right through them.

"Chris indeed has the ability to play in the U14, but he hardly ever passes the ball to his teammates. Andoya and the others also dislike him for this reason," Maxa began reporting this month's training situation to Trigella.

Andoya was the number ten player from the red team who was substituted, and he was also the king of the kids in this age group.

Ronaldo is indeed strong.

But his predicament can't be entirely blamed on others.

He has some character issues—too arrogant and untrusting of his teammates.

This isn't professional football; no kid is going to sacrifice themselves for the success of others. Ronaldo needs to learn to compromise.

"Oh, this Deng Kai's... first touch is very stable!" Maxa noticed Trigella was fixated on Deng Kai and knew what to say.

But unfortunately, so far, Deng Kai had not shown anything particularly praiseworthy.

Trigella gave the bootlicker a cold look.

First touch is very stable?

I'm surprised you can say that.

Deng Kai's real strength is not there, but rather... his football intelligence.

This was already evident during the Diamond Generation Tournament.

But unexpectedly, in just a short month, Deng Kai's football intelligence seemed to have surged dramatically.

His vision was frightfully expansive.

Don't be fooled by the few touches he had after coming on.

But his positioning was always very sharp, causing the yellow team's midfielders an unusual amount of discomfort.

The game's dynamics had changed from the yellow team pressing against the red team to the yellow team needing multiple passes to get through the midfield.

This silent transformation could only be understood by insiders.

If this trend continued, it was only a matter of time before the red team scored another goal.

And by that time, ordinary people might still not be able to see what caused the strengths and weaknesses and the transition between offense and defense.