Chapter 589

Johannesburg, the largest city in South Africa, is also known as the "City of Gold." The World Cup final was held at Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg.

After Charles Capet and Charlize Theron separated, Charles directly traveled from Durban to Johannesburg. He was not interested in the third-place match between Germany and Uruguay in Port Elizabeth.

When Charles' Falcon jet landed at the O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, Shakira came to pick him up.

"Charles, you finally made it to South Africa, but you've missed quite a lot of news," Shakira said, hugging Charles in the business car.

"The German team's performance was impressive. It's a pity they got eliminated," Charles said, leaning back in his seat, feeling a bit regretful.

Back at the hotel where Shakira was staying, it was already dark, possibly because Shakira had once tasted the pleasures of Miami.

That night, Shakira kept Charles up until the early morning.

The next day, Shakira had to perform at the World Cup closing ceremony and was undergoing final rehearsals.

"Waka, waka..." Charles enjoyed Shakira's song created for the South African World Cup in the rehearsal room. It was indeed captivating!

Even though Charles was in South Africa, he was still keeping up with Arsenal and Miami FC transfers.

Former Arsenal forward and French international Thierry Henry left Barcelona to join Miami FC;

Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester City, and Bayern Munich were all vying to buy Arsenal players Suarez, David Sanchez, Yaya Toure, David Silva, Neuer, and Xabi Alonso.

"Barcelona wants to spend 42 million euros to buy David Sanchez?" Charles said during a phone call with Arsenal chairman David Dein in the hotel suite.

"Spain wouldn't have gotten this far without Sanchez's five goals, and this year he added the Champions League title to his resume. Sanchez is a superstar," David reminded Charles over the phone.

"Let's wait until the World Cup final is over. Sanchez still has two years left on his contract. There's no rush; we can push the price higher."

"Got it. Right now, we have Suarez, Neymar, and Van Persie. Our attacking power is terrifying, so we can consider selling David Sanchez," David Dien concluded.

There's also Bale, Nasri, and Walcott...

After winning the Champions League, Arsenal players' values skyrocketed, and even talented players who weren't starters were thinking about transferring!

"Charles, do you want to go see the Spanish national team's training?" Shakira asked, coming back to the hotel, eager to take Charles to see the Spanish team.

"Spain's top scorer, David Sanchez, and midfielder Xabi Alonso are both from Arsenal," Shakira said, sitting next to Charles, kissing him on the lips with a smile.

"Shall we go?" she asked.

"Okay, let's go take a look," Charles said, touching Shakira's face. "Won't it put some psychological pressure on their admirer if you bring a man over?"

Charles couldn't help but laugh and kissed the lady on the lips.

This year, the biggest news of the World Cup for Charles was undoubtedly the internal conflict within the French team, leading to a collective training boycott.

After Anelka's "foul language incident," he was expelled from the national team. The French players collectively boycotted in protest against the French Football Federation, with various tensions between the players and coach Domenech!

Charles, as a bystander, was thoroughly entertained.

In the afternoon, Shakira took Charles to the Spanish national team's training ground at the stadium.

Shakira, being a big star, always caused a stir when she showed up. This was the reason Charles hated to appear in public with big stars!

Charles navigated through the journalists, went straight through the training ground gate, and arrived at the training field under the reception of the Spanish national team staff.

Of the eleven Spanish starters, six were from Barcelona, two from Real Madrid, two from Arsenal, and one left-back from Villarreal.

David Sanchez and Xabi Alonso came over to welcome Charles when they saw him.

"Congratulations to you guys. This year's World Cup champion will definitely be yours," Charles said, hugging David Sanchez and Xabi Alonso.

"Boss, the Netherlands is no pushover," Xabi Alonso reminded, then added, "But if David scores one more goal, he'll be the undisputed Golden Boot winner. The championship will surely be ours!"

David Sanchez smiled, "The Dutch team is strong too; Sneijder will show his prowess on the field."

Charles touched his chin and looked at the scattered groups on the field, "Barcelona's players are really numerous."

"Pedro, Iniesta, Xavi, Busquets, Puyol, Pique - all main players!"

Arsenal had Xabi Alonso, David Sanchez as key players, with Fabregas, Mata, and David Silva also being important members.

"Oh, Shakira!" Suddenly, shouts came from the sideline as the Latin pop queen walked in.

Xabi Alonso and David Sanchez shot gossip-filled glances at Charles, "Boss, did you guys come together?"

"Uh-huh, let's go, I'll introduce you to the Latin queen," Charles said with a smile, leading the two over to Shakira.

At that moment, Shakira was chatting with a few Barcelona internationals. Pique was grinning sycophantically and talking to Shakira, "See, I told you we would meet at the World Cup closing ceremony, and it came true!"

The World Cup closing ceremony performance was to be held two hours before the final kick-off. With Spain in the final, they were naturally going to attend the closing ceremony.

Shakira nodded, "Indeed, Spain has been amazing this year."

On the other side, Charles, along with Xabi Alonso, David Sanchez, Fabregas, David Silva, Casillas from Real Madrid, Ramos, and Torres, started chatting away.

Fabregas pointed to the other side and smiled at Charles, "Boss, you must be quite familiar with Shakira by now?"

Charles smiled and nodded, "Kind of. We have some cooperation, why?"

"We all love Shakira. Why don't you call her over? We wanna meet her too," Fabregas, who had been with Arsenal for a while, was quite familiar with Charles.

Charles looked around, "You all wanna chat with Shakira?"

"Yes!" Ramos and Casillas were the loudest, wondering why Pique from Barcelona got so much time with the goddess.

"Hey, Shakira, you have a few fans who are world-class stars here," Charles called out, waving an arm towards Shakira.

Shakira looked up, then walked over.

This left Gerard Pique standing there dumbfounded...

*****

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