Chapter 11 Tension

After training, the four of them sat together again for dinner at the hotel.

"Alright, first of all, congratulations to Zhou Yi for getting the starting spot!" Sun Panpan raised his glass of orange juice and said.

"That's right, congratulations Zhou Yi!" Yang Muge raised his glass.

"Congratulations," Guo Nu said, raising his glass as well.

"Thank you, thank you everyone! Congratulations to Lao Guo on your first start too! Cheers!" Zhou Yi said cheerfully, raising his glass.

The four glass cups clinked together, making a crisp sound, just like the laughter of the young men.

This scene didn't sit well with some people.

"Don't worry, Brother Liang, that kid definitely won't last until the end of the match, you'll replace him!" Yang Fei said to Liang Qiqi, who was glancing at Zhou Yi from the side.

"Brother Fei is right, our team's offensive organization still depends on you!" Forward Zhang Tao echoed. "Without you, He Ying can't do anything!"

Being comforted like this, Liang Qiqi felt a little better, and in turn comforted Yang Fei: "Don't worry, that mad dog will probably be sent off before halftime. We'll watch them make fools of themselves from the bench!"

※※※

While eating, Zhou Yi said he wanted to do extra training, and Sun Panpan was a little surprised: "Aren't you starting already? You should rest early..."

"The match is still a long way off, why would I rest now? Now is when I need to train even harder. Since Lao Guo is starting, if he doesn't perform well, wouldn't all our efforts be in vain?" Zhou Yi saw through Sun Panpan's little thoughts at a glance. "Sun Panpan, you're not worried about those things in your room, are you?"

"Wh-what are you talking about! Who's worried? With my agile and nimble skills, he hasn't broken anything yet!" Sun Panpan quickly defended himself, stuttering in his eagerness.

"Lao Guo is copying you!" Zhou Yi used his skill of sowing discord very skillfully, speaking without thinking.

Guo Nu blushed.

But Sun Panpan didn't fall for it, he scoffed, "Me copying him? How tasteless would I have to be!"

But Guo Nu did fall for it, and his face turned even redder...

Seeing this, Yang Muge quickly smoothed things over: "Alright, alright, let's all hurry up and eat..."

After dinner, the four of them went back to Sun Panpan and Yang Muge's room to continue training. Because Zhou Yi had finished all the free coffee in his room at noon, Guo Nu brought the free instant coffee from his room as a thank you to Zhou Yi.

And so, Zhou Yi's life was like this every day. While others were filled with all sorts of curiosity and longing for a foreign land, he was locked in a room with his friends for extra training in his spare time.

During this time, they were even approached by a camera crew to film them, but Sun Panpan made an excuse to turn them away—their kind of training definitely couldn't be shown on TV...

※※※

Time passed day by day, and the match against Borussia Dortmund was getting closer and closer.

On the last night before the match, Zhou Yi and the others did their usual extra training.

But this time, Guo Nu, who had been performing better and better, kept making mistakes.

"Lao Guo, are you nervous?" Zhou Yi asked after Guo Nu's familiar "Woof woof woof."

"No, I'm not," Guo Nu denied.

"There's nothing shameful about admitting you're nervous. I know this is a match that will determine your fate, so it's normal to be nervous before the match," Zhou Yi enlightened him. "But an important part of overcoming your psychology is to learn to face your inner self. If you're nervous, then admit it, it's no big deal. You're older..."

"I'm younger than you!" Guo Nu immediately retorted, his brain was like it had a keyword filter, reacting immediately whenever it heard the keyword.

"Oh, you look older, you stutter when you talk, you're not very tall, these things can all be faced head-on, it's no big deal. When you do that, no one can laugh at you anymore, and no one can use these things to hurt you. These are all part of you, even if you deny them, they won't disappear. Why bother fighting yourself?"

"That's well said!" Sun Panpan, who had been listening from the side, suddenly applauded. "I definitely couldn't say something like that, you really are a high school student!"

"What would you say?" Yang Muge asked.

"Hmm..." Sun Panpan thought for a while, and said, "When others laugh at you, try to become a pile of dog shit, so no one will step on you again!"

"..." Yang Muge looked helpless, but that was definitely something only someone like Sun Panpan would say...

Guo Nu's expression wasn't very good either.

But Zhou Yi clapped his hands: "The words are crude, but the principle is sound! This is actually self-deprecation!"

Sun Panpan gave Zhou Yi a thumbs up: "I admire you! You really are my soulmate!"

"Haha! I'm just good at discovering other people's strengths!"

Yang Muge retorted: "Can I understand that if someone wants to hit Lao Guo, Lao Guo should hit himself first?"

Zhou Yi and Sun Panpan's mutual admiration came to an abrupt end, and the smiles on their faces instantly froze.

After a few seconds of silence, Zhou Yi chuckled dryly: "Come on, Lao Guo, let's continue training!"

※※※

After a night of extra training, everyone said goodbye and left.

At the door, Yang Muge suddenly asked Zhou Yi, who was about to leave: "Zhou Yi, tomorrow is also your first match, aren't you nervous?"

Zhou Yi smiled when he heard this: "The word 'nervous' has never been in my dictionary!"

With that, he left Yang Muge with a dashing back view, turned around and left.

Back in his room, He Ying was already in bed, Zhou Yi tiptoed to wash up, and then took off his clothes and went to bed as well, and quickly fell asleep. Just like he said, he was immune to caffeine, no matter how much coffee he drank, he could still fall asleep in five minutes.

Falling asleep also meant entering the FIFAoL3 training ground.

"Chu Ling, this time arrange a match against Borussia Dortmund's youth team for me."

Chu Ling was a little surprised: "Didn't you swear to defeat Barcelona's youth team?"

"That's a long-term goal, I have an immediate short-term goal right now," Zhou Yi explained. "I've got the starting spot for the match against Borussia Dortmund's youth team, and I want to learn more about my opponents."

"I see." Chu Ling nodded to show she understood. "A good choice."

In the blink of an eye, Zhou Yi was on the pitch, but he didn't start the match, instead he first used his consciousness to open the settings panel in the void, found the away team column, and then checked the information of each player of Borussia Dortmund's youth team one by one.

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.

The wisdom of the ancestors is still very useful today.

To perform well in a match, you need to make targeted settings, which requires understanding your opponents first.

If you don't know who your opponents are, how strong they are, what their technical characteristics and style are, you'll just be clueless on the field and play by instinct.

Zhou Yi didn't believe his instincts could instantly turn him into a world-class player, because physical instincts also need to be strengthened through a lot of training.

After looking through them, Zhou Yi's eyes stopped on the data of a young man.

Although he was slightly younger, born in 1992, a year younger than himself, his attribute values were the best in the entire Borussia Dortmund youth team.

"This guy is an amazing fellow..." Zhou Yi said with emotion.

He paid special attention to this person's name: Mario Gotze.

But he was an attacking midfielder, his position didn't match Gotze's, and he didn't need to defend him in the match, but he also felt a headache for Yang Muge. Facing this person in the match was definitely not an easy thing...

After reading all the information of all the Borussia Dortmund youth team players, Zhou Yi closed the virtual panel and said to Chu Ling: "You can start the match."

With a whistle, the match began!