Chapter 108 Political Lesson and Slap in the Face
On the training ground of the Alcocheti first team, Boloni stood with his hands behind his back.
His eyes were fixed on the players in training, but his thoughts were flying far away.
The current situation is very unfavorable for Nicolaj and also for Boloni.
Su Dong's performance is getting better and better, and Boloni can no longer suppress him.
Not to mention Su Dong's agent, even the outside media and fans are calling for him to take the lead more and more.
He is handsome, good-looking, well-built and muscular, and his playing style on the field is pleasing, especially that shot by Batistuta, which makes many Sporting Lisbon fans love him even more.
In its report this morning, the Public News questioned Boloni remotely.
"When other teams are dreaming and eager to have a young player like Su Dong, why do you always pretend not to see it? Why do you have to suppress him on the bench and instead pay attention to the guy who can't even score a goal?"
On the football field, as forwards, performance is their duty.
Either it can score a goal or it has a tactical effect.
Su Dong has both, but Nikulai's tactical role is not obvious and he can't score goals yet.
Thinking of this, Boloni sighed inwardly, feeling a little disappointed with his friend.
There is the UEFA Cup in the middle of the week and the weekend's match is against Moreirense, another newly promoted team.
Thanks to his previous experience in the Portuguese League, Su Dong is familiar with both Universidad de Cobuyingla and Moreirense.
More importantly, from the current situation, this season's three promoted teams, Moreirense, Nacional de Portugal and Universidad Cobuyingla, are all in the middle and lower reaches of the Portuguese League. The key lies in the overall performance of these three teams.
Facing such a team, Sporting Lisbon should be able to harvest the victory directly.
Instead it was the League Cup in the middle of the week.
Belgrade Partizan is a strong team. Previously, Sporting Lisbon was tied 2-2 at home and was at a disadvantage in qualifying. They must do their best to win away from home. In comparison, this game is much more difficult.
Su Dong has been in good form recently and there is a lot of call for him to be a starting player. It is reasonable to let him play in the League Cup. Even if he really loses, the head coach does not need to take too much blame for the lineup.
Nikulai is conserving his energy and preparing for the weekend's match against the newly promoted team, hoping to break his goal drought as soon as possible.
Thinking of this, Boloni had already made a decision in his heart.
…
On the court, the recovery training is over.
Every morning after a game, there is a recovery training session to adjust the players' physical condition.
Because we had to play in the League Cup in the middle of the week and had two games in a week, we didn't have any rest.
If there is one game per week, then we will have the afternoon and tomorrow morning off.
After training, it was clear to see how close the players were to each other.
Su Dong, Ronny and Pepe always get together, which surprises Boloni.
Because when playing against Maritimo last season, Pepe almost had a fight with Ronaldo. Who would have thought that, in the blink of an eye, it was Sudong and Ronaldo who recommended him to Sporting Lisbon.
Young people’s friendship is so nonsensical.
Andre Cruz is also very close to Su Dong. He took the initiative to practice with Su Dong last year. Now he is personally guiding Pepe in defense, and seems to admire this Brazilian compatriot very much.
Tonito is also very close to Su Dong and the other two. The Spaniard has been in the team for a long time and was loaned out last season, but he still has a good relationship with Ronnie, so they got together.
Although captain Barbosa, Albertini and Quaresma are a little distant, they have a good relationship with Su Dong and the other two.
Seeing this, Boloni turned his head and looked to the side.
His compatriot Nikulai was alone, walking towards the locker room with his head down.
This made Boloni feel helpless.
Football is a sport for eleven people and it relies on teamwork.
The premise of teamwork is that you must integrate into the team.
Only when you truly integrate into the team and perform well, everyone will praise you and identify with you more. Even if your performance is not ideal, everyone will understand and help you instead of complaining and blaming you.
Obviously, Su Dong understood this truth, so he always tried to unite the majority.
Niculai didn't understand. He still wanted everyone to revolve around him, just like when he was playing football in Romania. Therefore, he was left alone and became one of the very few.
Just for this reason, it is difficult for Boloni to be optimistic about Nikulai.
What Boloni didn't know was that when Su Dong was in junior high school in China, political science classes were compulsory.
…………
…………
After the afternoon training session, Su Dong and his teammates conducted additional training as usual.
This is his daily habit.
One of the extra training items was to practice long passes with Albertini.
The former Milan vice-captain's long passes are excellent, his vision is broad, and he is extremely experienced. He can always pass the ball to threatening areas. All Su Dong needs to do is to run over and receive the ball.
But Albertini's requirements were very strict and he always asked Su Dong to stop the ball.
This requires Su Dong to constantly hone his footwork and study various techniques of stopping the ball and relieving force.
After more than two months of training, it finally showed some results.
But today, Su Dong has set his sights on another ability of Albertini.
…
"Demi, our team doesn't seem to have scored a set-piece so far this season."
After practicing long passes and taking a break, Su Dong suddenly spoke.
Albertini was stunned at first, then looked at Su Dong thoughtfully, "Just say it if you have something to say."
"It's the central defender of Belgrade Partisan, Milan Stojanovic, you remember him, right?"
"Yeah, the one you hit on the face with the back of your hand."
Su Dong smiled bitterly, "Don't say that, I really didn't mean it."
"But you did hit someone in the face."
Su Dong was speechless and could only surrender.
"Okay, we played, but that's not the point. The point is, we have a game in Yugoslavia in the middle of the week."
"Then what?"
"That kid is only 1.83 meters tall."
"Um?"
"I am 1.95 meters tall, which is 12 centimeters taller."
"So what you mean is..."
"The tallest person in their entire back line is another central defender, Savage, who is 1.86 meters tall, still shorter than me."
Albertini immediately understood that Su Dong wanted to take advantage of his height.
"There's a problem. You never seem to score a header."
Su Dong clapped his hands vigorously, "You finally hit the point, my headers are actually pretty good, but no one passes them to me."
How come no one is willing to pass the ball to a center forward who is 1.95 meters tall, has a strong build and good strength?
Albertini heard Su Dong's complaints, he wanted to prove that he was comprehensive.
Sudong's goals basically come from his right foot, but Albertini knows that he has been working hard on his left foot. The previous assist for Quaresma's goal came from his left-foot cross. Although there are still some problems, at least it can be used.
The only thing is this header...
"Maybe your footwork is so conspicuous and your speed is so fast that everyone forgets that you actually have a head."
Su Dong felt a little uncomfortable. What do you mean I still have a head?
And it sounds like what Albertini said is a bit like: You can make a living with your looks, but you still insist on working hard.
But now, Su Dong can no longer care about it.
"Demi, I heard that you are really good at set pieces. Can we practice?"
"I am better at scoring directly from free kicks."
"There are always some positions that are off-center, or corner kicks or something like that. You know, those guys in our team are crippled when it comes to free kicks. Last season when we played against Porto, there were more than a dozen free kicks in the front court, but there was no threat at all."
Su Dong was disappointed with the free kick skills of other Sporting Lisbon players.
It was a sneaky flattery, and Albertini felt quite comfortable listening to it.
"Tell me, how do you want to practice?"
"You take the free throws, and I'll let Pepe watch me, and try to develop some tacit understanding."
Albertini pondered for a moment and nodded. "My free kick is called the Falling Leaf Ball. It was first invented by the Brazilian superstar Dididi, who was a contemporary of Pele. As the name suggests, this kind of ball is like a falling leaf, floating in the air. It does not rotate, but after flying a certain distance, it falls faster and more suddenly than the usual ball."
Perhaps seeing that Su Dong didn't quite understand, Albertini simply demonstrated it on the spot.
A falling leaf ball from thirty meters away drew a graceful arc and fell into the unguarded blind corner of the goal.
Perfect!
Most importantly, handsome!
"Demi, how do you kick this kind of ball?" Su Dong asked curiously.
Falling leaves, this is Albertini's specialty.
"Want to learn?"
"certainly."
"It's not that easy. It takes at least a few years of hard work. In addition to the technical skills, free kicks also rely on practice, repeated training day after day."
“I can do that.”
Albertini had no doubts, nor did he want to hide his feelings. "Now let's talk about set-piece coordination first."
Su Dong nodded hurriedly. This was the top priority at the moment.
"If you want to fight for this kind of falling leaf ball, you have to pay attention to the speed of the ball. If the ball speed is fast, the falling point will appear later. Sometimes when you hit the goal directly, the ball has already flown out of the field and it has not fallen yet. If the ball speed is slow, the falling point will usually appear earlier, but this kind of ball has no power."
"Whether it's a set-piece or a direct free kick, the falling leaf kick must control the force of the kick according to the distance between the goal and the receiving point. The receiver must understand his teammates, what kind of force the kick is, whether the ball is fast or slow, and where the falling point is, and then use this to push the landing point..."
Things change rapidly on the court, and there is simply not enough time to slowly think about this problem, so this requires daily cooperation and more practice in daily training.
Seeing Su Dong thoughtful, Albertini smiled and suggested: "Let's practice?"
He also wants to play to his strengths, perform better, and prove to everyone that he is not old yet.
Of course Su Dong would not refuse, and immediately called Pepe over.
Ronnie and Andre Cruz had heard about it and were also interested, so they followed.
For a moment, a very funny scene appeared on the court.
Albertini took the indirect free kick, and Sudon, Ronnie, Pepe and Andre Cruz rushed to score, but they kept bumping into each other and looked very embarrassed.
(End of this chapter)
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