Chapter 125 Strength Wins Respect (2)

The next day, all the big-name stars called up arrived at Wembley Stadium one after another.

On the morning of that day, Paul Robinson, Jamie Carragher, Joe Cole and others arrived. When they entered the stadium, Wang Li was training free kicks. Looking at these unfamiliar faces, he wanted to go up and say hello, but he didn't know what to say.

The other players were gathered in twos and threes, chatting and laughing with each other, but he was the only one on the field practicing alone. As a newcomer in the top league and the England team, he did have an invisible gap with his teammates.

Wang Li really hopes to meet someone familiar now to help him get rid of this embarrassment. Humans live in groups, and no one likes to be excluded from the crowd. In the England team, Wang Li only knows Beckham. It is a bit ridiculous that they have only met once, but Beckham has become the person he is most familiar with.

At this time, another player in training clothes slowly walked towards the court. Wang Li turned his head and looked. He had neat short hair, slightly slender cheeks, naturally drooping eyes, and two deep wrinkles on his forehead. This was England's golden boy, England's top scorer, Liverpool's star player - Michael Owen!

Owen is definitely Wang Li's biggest competitor in the England team. No matter how well Wang Li performs, it is difficult to shake Owen's position in the England team. This is the honor and power of a superstar. Even if Owen is not in good shape, Eriksson will not let him stay on the bench, and will even sacrifice a lot to help him get back to his form!

Seeing Irving walking towards the court, Wang Li stared at his figure with his eyes full of fighting spirit. At this stage, from Wang Li's perspective, Irving is his predecessor, his goal, and even his competitor, although perhaps Irving himself does not think so.

It would definitely be a wonderful thing if he could beat such a world-class superstar on the court. In Wang Li's heart, in the entire England team, Owen is the only person he values ​​most, simply because Owen is a striker and they are players in the same position.

Maybe it was because of his feeling, or maybe Wang Li's eyes were too straightforward. After greeting his teammates, Irving turned his head and looked at Wang Li. Unexpectedly, Irving did not ignore Wang Li like Rooney did, but walked straight towards him.

"Alan Wang? David mentioned you to me a few days ago. I heard that you have filmed a commercial together?" Owen didn't care about Wang Li's eyes, but said to him with a smile.

For a star like Owen, there is no competitive pressure at all in the national team, and having players with better skills joining the team will only make the team stronger. In order for the England team to achieve better results, it doesn't matter if he sacrifices a little. The England team has been weak in national competitions, and the results are mediocre. For these big-name stars, nothing can be more exciting than winning a European Cup or even the Champions League!

Seeing Owen's friendly expression, Wang Li smiled shyly and nodded, "Yes, just a few days ago, it was a foreign communications company."

"A communications company?" Owen frowned and said in surprise, "It's really rare!"

In fact, it is no wonder that Owen feels this way. As far as England is concerned, the communications industry is a low-end industry. Most of the companies are small companies with only a few dozen people. They rely on developing various supporting technologies or organizations to maintain the operation of the company.

In European countries, per capita communication costs are very low. Even international long-distance calls cost only about 2 cents (about 0.1 RMB) per minute. This has forced communication giants to cooperate with mobile phone manufacturers for the development of their companies. This has made pure communication companies increasingly rare. Even if they maintain their development, they cannot afford to hire football stars like Wang Li to shoot commercials. If they knew that there is an ancient country in the far east where international long-distance calls cost two pounds per minute, I wonder what kind of expression they would show.

"You're practicing here by yourself? When did you get here?"

"I came here yesterday." Wang Li forced a smile. "You can see that I am not familiar with the others."

"When the training starts tomorrow, you have to show your real strength. I have seen your football videos and your skills are great. Only real strength can convince those young people. That's how it is on the football field." Owen looked at Wang Li's expression and said in a teaching tone.

"Thank you." Wang Li nodded, thanked Irving for his words, then frowned and asked, "Michael, do you know the content of the coach's training this time? Why is there no fan or reporter on the sidelines? Were they stopped outside?"

Owen propped up his chin with two fingers. "I'm not sure either. Maybe it's a closed training session?" He thought for a moment and continued, "Anyway, you have to trust that Swede. Although Eriksson has a bad temper, his coaching skills are trustworthy. I can guarantee that."

"Maybe, at least better than Dave Jones." Thinking of his current situation in Wolverhampton, Wang Li has a feeling of 'the dog is eaten after the rabbit is dead'. Now the team has no worries about relegation, and he will not get a chance to play.

"You're not happy in Wolverhampton?" Owen smiled and said, "Why don't you come to Liverpool next season? The fans will definitely welcome you."

"Really? Maybe I'll consider it." Seeing that Irving was actually "poaching" in front of him, Wang Li also laughed. He found that these big-name stars were just like ordinary people and were easy to communicate with, with the exception of Rooney of course. But Rooney now is not a big-name star at all.

…………

In fact, head coach Eriksson attached great importance to this pre-war training camp. In order to prevent various media from disturbing this pre-war running-in training, he decided to adopt closed training.

During these days, he needs to understand the technical characteristics and status of each player, and then formulate corresponding tactical plans. In short, Eriksen has a heavy task, so he has no time to deal with those annoying reporters.

For this European Cup, although the English FA has given him the bottom line of only the quarterfinals, it is not easy for Eriksen to achieve this goal.

In recent years, the England team has been performing poorly in international competitions. Although there are various reasons for this, objectively speaking, the traditional style of play is too backward. This is not only visible to outsiders, but of course the English know it as well.

Most of the players in the Premier League are physically strong but have average skills, such as Rooney and Gerrard. This brings a problem. It is very difficult for the England team to change their style of play. Although some players have delicate skills, such as Pennant of Leeds United, in the end, Eriksson gave up.

With the support of David Beckham in the midfield, England's attacking power has definitely risen by more than one level. Without changing the tactics, it will be difficult for these technical offensive players to integrate into the team. Even if they join the England team and play in the game, it will most likely be a tragedy.

Therefore, in the training list for this European Cup, Eriksen only chose Wang Li, who has performed extremely well in the recent Premier League, as a supplement to the team's offense.

"Either, he can become a surprise weapon for the England team, or he won't get any playing time at all?" At this time, Eriksson, who was sitting in the office, was also having a headache about the use of Wang Li. He wanted to give up, but was reluctant to do so.

…………

Finally it was the evening of May 15th. Of the 23-man call-up roster, all were present except Sol Campbell who had taken leave for something.

The next day, under Eriksson's guidance, the players' first training on the court was group confrontation. He needed to gain a deeper understanding of the game abilities of the new team members and their current status through real confrontational matches.

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