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In April 2003, the city of Almere in Flevoland, the Netherlands.

On a green football training pitch at SportsPark De Marken, a group of 16-year-old Dutch teenagers form a circle and play a football game called Rondo. Although they are practising, the teenagers' faces are unusually relaxed, there is no tension in the training, it seems more like a joke or even a public humiliation.

In this group of Dutch teenagers, there's a Chinese teenager who is in charge of catching the ball in the centre circle.

With his dark hair and yellow skin, he stood out from the rest of the Dutch youngsters and had no hesitation in running around the pitch trying to snatch the ball like a headless fly, occasionally drawing laughs from the crowd.

The fans watching from the sidelines were very excited, as if they were watching a wonderful performance by the Royal Circus of Amsterdam rather than a football training session.

The ball was skilfully passed around the feet of the Dutch teenagers in a circle. The Chinese teenager kept running after the ball, but he was unable to catch it. Several times he was lucky enough to catch up because of a mistake by one of the youngsters but he missed his chance because the Dutch teenager still managed to pass the ball

At first, every time he failed to catch the ball, he was met with laughter, sarcasm and even ridicule. But gradually the noise died down and silence reigned.

Any cruel game may seem fresh and funny to the audience at first, but if it is repeated over and over again, the audience will gradually become numb and feel pity.

A kind of sadness that allows the weak to be dominated by the strong.

"Poor boy, why do you insist?" Someone shook their head in sympathy.

"It's not surprising, he does it every time."

"It's been almost a year, why hasn't he given up yet?"

"If it was me, l would have given up a long time ago."

"He's very quick for his age and has good physical fitness, but his basic skills are terrible."

"I've been watching football for so many years and I've seen this kid play all the time, he can't even meet the requirements for the amateur level, let alone the professional level, he should give up now while he still has time.

"Who hasn't told him that? Even Mr. Rep has tried to talk him out of it, but he just refuses to give up.

"What a stubborn boy."

"Unfortunately, if he had come a few years earlier, with his speed and physical fitness, coupled with that mentality, there would have been hope for him to play at the professional level, but now it's too late.

...

...

Head coach Johnny Rep finally blew the whistle at the end of training.

Everyone, exhales heavily.

It's finally over!

It was only ten minutes, but in their minds, it felt like forever.

When the final whistle blew, the Chinese teenager, who was still unable to touch the ball, was so tired that he knelt down on the training pitch, panting heavily.

His teammates walked around him, one or two patting his head and shoulders in sympathy.

But the consolation of his teammates did not make him feel better, instead he felt humiliated, clenched his fists, punched the grass hard and blamed himself in his heart.

His name is Yang Yang and he is 16 years old. He comes from a small county town in Quanzhou, Fujian, China. His parents run a small shoe factory and his family is well off. As he loves football, he has been following a retired professional player around town since he was a child. He has also tried hard to stand out among his peers.

His uncle, Shen Ming, owns a Chinese restaurant in Almere. When he went back to China to visit his relatives, he saw him playing for his school team and, seeing that he was quite good, suggested to his parents that he should go to the Netherlands to study and try his hand at a football career.

My parents were against it at first. After all, the gap between Chinese football and European football is so wide that Yang Yang has not even had formal professional training since he was a child. How could he succeed?

But Yang Yang kept insisting, and with the help of his uncle Shen Ming, his parents reluctantly agreed to let him go abroad to train.

With a one-year limit, if Yang Yang could get a foothold in a football club in the Netherlands, they would allow Yang Yang to continue playing football, otherwise he would have to return to China, study hard and give up his dream of becoming a professional player.

After ambitiously landing in the Netherlands, Yang Yang has had one setback after another.

First of all, he was frustrated during trial training with several Amsterdam teams because he was not accepted by any team and had to make use of his uncle's connections. He persuaded the third division amateur team in Almere to sponsor Yang Yang to join the youth team, and after a year of training, he proved to be far inferior to his peers in the youth amateur team in the Netherlands.

During the year he spent training with Almere, although he did his best to improve and integrate into the Almere team, his terrible basic skills were still exposed in daily training, especially in the seemingly simple game of rondo, where he can only go into the circle and try to catch the ball over and over again.

Similar to today's scene, it is repeated almost every day.

If Yang Yang was unconvinced before, his personal experience over the past year has shown him the difference in level between himself and Dutch players of the same age.

He didn't want to give up, but he didn't have a solution.

He had missed the best age to consolidate his basic skills.

As the one-year mark approaches, Yang Yang's situation in the team is deteriorating. Even though he has tried his best, he has not been able to improve. This makes him feel very angry and guilty. All he can do is hammer the grass to vent his frustration.

...

...

"Yang."

After the players left, Johnny Rep came over to Yang Yang and looked at him, sweating and panting, feeling helpless as he looked at him.

Of course, he knew everything that had happened on the training ground.

If a year ago, Johnny Rep had been a little annoyed that Yang Yang had entered the team through the back door, Yang Yang's performance had completely changed the Dutchman's view of him with his diligence and determination, but that did not affect his judgement of Yang Yang's future.

As for what happened to Yang Yang during the training, the 51-year-old middle-aged Dutchman couldn't help but feel sorry for him, but in the end he hardened his heart and didn't call for the training to be stopped, but continued to watch.

If Yang Yang had come a few years ago, he thought he might have had a chance with his perseverance, but now... all he can do is politely discourage him.

He feels this is a responsible decision for Yang Yang's future.

"Mr. Rep." Yang Yang rose from the field and called respectfully.

He had learnt a lot from the famous Dutchman over the past year, and he never dared to be careless.

"You know, there is still a month to go before this training program ends and we will have an internal evaluation at that time." Johnny Rep said lightly.

Yang Yang nodded, this is the youth training model that Almere has borrowed from Dutch giants Ajax.

The annual evaluation will weed out some of the unqualified players and then add some new young players with potential to stimulate internal competition, and those with excellent performances will be recommended by the club to go to Amsterdam in July to attend Ajax's talent selection day to have a chance of being selected for Ajax's youth academy.

As a satellite club of the Dutch giants, Almere has three places to recommend each year, and only the best students are eligible to receive this letter of recommendation.

When Yang Yang arrived a year ago, he was full of confidence that he would be one of the players selected for Ajax, but now he has only one idea: to stay in Almere.

But even that is becoming increasingly difficult.

"You know, Yang." Johnny Rep looked at him seriously. His eyes were filled with helplessness. "We are the first team in Almere in almost three decades to hope to get into the professional league. The city council and all the officials are very concerned about the development of our team. This year's evaluation site will definitely attract a lot of guests and fans, so... "

 Johnny Rep could not bear to say some words in person, but the meaning was clear.

Although he has only been in the Netherlands for a year, he believes that Yang Yang's Dutch is good enough to understand the meaning of his words.

"Your class results are very good and the teacher's opinion of you is also very high. We all think that you should concentrate on this direction. If you want, I can convince the chairman that even if you leave the team, you can still stay at the affiliated school that we work with, and you will have the opportunity to enter the University of Amsterdam in the future. "

The University of Amsterdam is the best university in the Netherlands and is also one of the most prestigious universities in Europe.

According to Johnny Rep, Yang Yang's chances of becoming a professional player are slimmer than his chances of getting into the University of Amsterdam, although the latter is also very competitive.

Yang Yang understands that the head coach is trying to persuade him, as he has tried many times in the past, and his remarks have become more and more straightforward, and he knows that the promise Johnny Rep has made is the best he can do for him.

The secondary school he now attends is a local private school in Almere. If he is not an Almere youth player, it is impossible for him to enroll, and the team has never offered similar compensation to other players who have been released. It's an exception.

But Yang Yang still can't accept it.

"Thank you, Mr. Rep." Yang Yang raised his head after a moment of thought, looked directly at the head coach, and shook his head firmly. "I understand your kindness, but I really don't want to give up like this, as long as it's not the last moment, I won't give up. "

"You again …"

"I have decided, Mr. Rep." Yang Yang ended the conversation without question.

Johnny Rep was already psychologically prepared for this outcome. He didn't mind Yang Yang's stubbornness and persistence at all. On the contrary, he appreciated it very much.

If Yang Yang had appeared before him when he was younger than he was now, he believed that the result would have been very different from what it was now.

At the very least, his basic skills would have been better than they were now. With his speed and physical fitness, he can definitely make his mark in Almere and even hope to do better.

Unfortunately, he has missed the best age to do so.

Thinking of this, he looked at Yang Yang's back as he turned away and sighed. 

...

...

Almere is one of Amsterdam's satellite cities. Most of the people who live here work in Amsterdam. Early to late evening is the best time for the restaurant business.

Today, Yang Yang didn't go to the restaurant to help after training as usual. He called his uncle to let him know, and when he got home he locked himself in his room.

He felt that he needed the peace and quiet atmosphere of his room to think.

He lay on his back on the single bed in his low-ceilinged room, the walls covered with large posters of his two favorites idols.

Brazilian superstar Ronaldo, currently playing for Real Madrid, and retired Dutch star Van Basten.

He has laid on the bed like this countless times, watching the posters of his idols before falling asleep and dreaming of competing with them.

But he has never lingered so long.

He had lain on the bed like this countless times, looking at the posters of his idols before falling asleep and dreaming of competing with them.

He thought of his parents in China, who would be very disappointed to hear the news.

Although his parents had always advised him to give up football and return home to study hard, they had hoped he would quit on his own.

No parent would want their children to suffer such setbacks, would they?

Then there was his uncle's family, who encouraged him. They must have been psychologically prepared for his failure, but in the end they will be very disappointed.

When he was thinking about it, he unconsciously fell asleep, and that's when he had a very strange dream that confused him.

He came to a dark place where his fingers could not reach.

Not sure if he was dreaming or not, he began to scream desperately, running around trying to escape this terrifying place.

But the scream was muffled as he ran tirelessly, but he seemed to be still in the same place.

At that moment, a ray of light seemed to hover in the distance.

Yang Yang!

He vaguely heard someone calling his name, faintly at first, but gradually becoming clearer.

He immediately ran towards the voice.