"Brothers, these Chinese look down on us, let's smash them!" the captain shouted. The other players were also aggressive. In contrast, the Chinese side was much calmer, with many still trembling with nervousness.
This was understandable. Despite undergoing five years of training, they had never participated in an official match. To prevent the players from picking up bad habits from domestic culture, the training camp management strictly prohibited them from competing against any Chinese teams. They were sent abroad immediately after leaving the camp, making this the first match for most of the players.
As the referee's whistle blew, both teams entered the field. After the captains decided the opening kick order through a coin toss, the match officially began.
At the start, Angers' players played very aggressively. Not only were the forwards pushing up, but the midfielders and even the defenders were pressing forward, as everyone wanted to score.
As a result, although Angers' youth team took the first shot, the angle was poor, and the ball was directly caught by the tall goalkeeper.
Following that, the goalkeeper launched a long kick. The ball landed in the opponent's backfield. Before the Angers youth team could react, a striker from the Chinese team charged out. Facing an almost empty enemy half, he executed a solo run and sent the ball into the opponent's goal with a single kick. The goalkeeper himself hadn't even registered what happened.
The previously lively stadium instantly fell silent.
As mentioned earlier, there were over 5,000 spectators and more than 600 reporters, almost all of whom were French. They had been happily watching their team's fierce attack, only to be caught off guard moments later.
This goal infuriated the Angers players. They wanted to use more attacks to equalize and then score more goals to secure victory.
However, the Chinese team's defense was as solid as a rock. No matter how Angers attacked, the ball was always blocked by the defenders.
Whenever an opportunity arose, the Chinese team would immediately organize a counter-attack. By the end of the first half, Angers managed to score once from a penalty kick awarded for two defensive fouls, leveling the score.
However, another penalty kick was directly saved by the goalkeeper, who accurately predicted the ball's trajectory and caught it mid-air.
But Angers' defensive line was completely breached, with the Chinese team scoring three goals, two of which were scored by the same striker.
During halftime, the Angers coach clearly couldn't accept the score. After all, the club's top management was counting on them to make money from the Chinese, and now it seemed like they were losing points to the opposition.
Fortunately, the coach still had his wits about him. He very seriously told all the players that he had underestimated the Chinese players' abilities, acknowledging their strong defense, their proficiency in counter-attacks, and the exceptional skill of one particular striker.
Consequently, the Angers coach adjusted their strategy, instructing the defenders not to join the attack. Their primary task was to mark the extremely fast striker closely, preventing him from getting shooting opportunities. Additionally, they were to try and stretch the opponent's formation and score through wing breakthroughs.
This was a fairly standard game plan, nothing extraordinary. However, it signaled that the Angers team was shedding its arrogance and beginning to treat the Chinese team as a genuine opponent, acknowledging them as a force to be reckoned with.
Indeed, after Angers adjusted their game plan, the Chinese team found it much harder to create solo breakthrough opportunities in the second half.
Furthermore, the Chinese team's lack of experience became apparent. Many coordinated plays that were perfectly executed on the training ground were difficult to replicate in a formal match.
Moreover, the players seemed to have their own ideas, making it hard to form a cohesive unit. The striker, who was also the captain, had a tendency to charge forward, leading to the team becoming disjointed. In their first match, numerous issues surfaced, allowing Angers to eventually overtake them, scoring four goals in the second half while the Chinese team failed to score any. The match concluded with a score of 5-3, giving Angers a two-goal advantage and a prize of $200,000.
This result left the club's higher-ups somewhat dissatisfied, as they had expected to win at least $500,000 in prize money. Now, they were left with only $200,000.
However, it was better than nothing. They would definitely reprimand the coach upon their return. If it weren't for his foolish strategy in the first half, they would have scored four goals, just like in the second half, earning an additional $200,000 in prize money.
Local French journalists, however, were delighted. The French team had won, and despite some early setbacks, the second half was a resounding victory, fully demonstrating France's strength and superiority in football. This made for excellent news copy.
However, some coaches who witnessed the match firsthand were less optimistic, especially the head coach of the Angers youth football team, who was in charge of directing the match. He sincerely conveyed to the management that the Chinese team's loss was solely due to a lack of experience and team cohesion. He urged the club to maintain a high level of caution regarding the Chinese team, warning that Angers might not have such an easy victory in the next round.
The club's top brass, however, dismissed his concerns. The idea of a Chinese team, composed entirely of Chinese individuals, defeating a French team was preposterous. They considered it merely an excuse fabricated by the head coach to cover his own incompetence.
Consequently, the management summarily withheld the head coach's bonus for half a year and warned him that if he failed to win the second match, he would forfeit his entire year's bonus.
However, the Angers youth football team head coach's concerns proved to be valid. In the following month of match days, although they lost six consecutive games, the goal difference between the two teams steadily decreased.
Moreover, it was evident to the naked eye that the team's unity, reaction time, and experience were continuously improving. At the very least, most of the players no longer trembled with pre-match nervousness.
Since the team was under no pressure to accumulate points, they could play with a more relaxed mindset, and their performance naturally improved. When they faced regional teams, the Chinese team finally secured their first victory, winning 3-1.
What followed was a nightmare that the entire French youth league refused to mention throughout 2020. After losing to opponents 2-3 in the ninth match, all teams, including Angers, never managed to win against the Chinese team again.
Subsequently, the Chinese team achieved a remarkable undefeated streak, navigating through 37 matches across two rounds and concluding their season.
Had the Chinese team been eligible to earn points, they would have been the de facto champions of the French youth league.
Fortunately, after the first match, French journalists largely stopped paying attention to the seemingly weak Chinese team. Moreover, as the youth football league itself garnered little attention, French fans were unaware of how badly their country's youth league was performing. Their focus remained on top-tier football leagues like Ligue 1.
In fact, it wasn't just France's local youth leagues; the top five European leagues faced similar outcomes. The youth team composed of Chinese youngsters displayed astonishing prowess.
Every child in the team was practically a prodigy. After familiarizing themselves with the local competition and living environment, they essentially crushed the youth leagues.
Even though they were physically outmatched by the Europeans on a daily basis, their skills more than compensated for it.
This was understandable, as all the Chinese team's players had trained in a secluded training camp for five full years. Despite their young age, they possessed extensive football capabilities.
Conversely, players in the youth leagues of various countries had mostly started playing football later in life. They also had to balance their studies, practicing with their clubs only half the week, while also facing societal temptations. In terms of football ability, they were inherently inferior to these Chinese children.
Therefore, in their report that year, Sun Hai, who was responsible for the project, directly informed Boss Huang that the intensity of the local European youth leagues was no longer sufficient for their children's development.
He requested that Boss Huang make some arrangements to promote the team from the local youth league to the local junior league.
Although the terms "youth league" and "junior league" sound similar, all members of the junior league must be between 14 and 17 years old. The Chinese team players generally ranged from 11 to 16 years old, which was clearly not in compliance with the regulations.
Nevertheless, in order to provide their children with more formidable opponents for their development, Boss Huang agreed.
Just as he was contemplating which connections to leverage to achieve this somewhat difficult objective, representatives from the French Football Federation unexpectedly arrived. Their purpose was to discuss with the Jiangnan Group the possibility of promoting this Chinese youth football team to the junior league to participate in competitions.
Well, it was like getting a pillow when you were dozing off.