World Cup of Great Powers

The Maojiawan training base is far away from the urban area, so remote that there is no mobile phone signal.

When Zeng Zheng saw Ladd again, he immediately noticed that the white-haired old man had a slight limp in his right leg.

"Mr. Ladd!"

Zeng Zheng took two quick steps and stretched out his hands.

"Hello, Zeng!"

Ladd also stepped forward and hugged Zeng Zheng.

Zeng Zheng and some members of the national team look down on each other, but this [-]-year-old man is not included.

In any case, it is worthy of respect that he abandoned his internationally prominent career and came here to help the poor for so many years.

Asked why he was limping, Ladd waved his hand.

"A few days ago, some lumbar discs protruded, and now it's fine."

Ladd said this, but Zeng Zheng could tell at a glance that the protruding lumbar spine of the other party had obviously compressed the thigh nerve.

If this continues, I'm afraid the whole leg will be useless.

Although I have medicines that can help her recover faster, the only treatment for herniated lumbar disc is surgery besides surgery.

Looking at this old man from the southern country who came to find him non-stop after the Spring Festival, I am afraid that letting him lie in bed and rest for a day is a luxury!
"If only he wasn't the coach of the national team!"

This was the first time Zeng Zheng had such an idea in his heart.

And it has nothing to do with the strength of Chinese football and the intrigue of bamboo shoes.

Unable to resist Ladd's request, Zeng Zheng had no choice but to slow down and follow Ladd to the training ground.

Along the way, Zeng Zheng chatted with Ladd.

"Seven years ago, I also came to Chengdu."

"Oh? Also Maojiawan?" Zeng Zheng asked curiously.

"No, it's Peng County, 70 kilometers away from here." Ladd recalled, "At that time, I was leading the Olympic team."

"Peng County doesn't see the sun all day long, it's cold and humid, and the clothes after washing can't be dried for days. There is no heating in the house, and it's as cold as outside."

Listening to Ladd's reminiscence of the past that was often heard by the older generation, Zeng Zheng felt in a daze that the other party was not a southerner, but a real Chinese.

Ladd recalled one by one the players he had led back then, such as Yang Chen, Qu Shengqing, Xie Hui and others.

Until now, he still pays attention to the football career of these players.

"At that time, the Chinese coaching staff opposed the recruitment of Qu Shengqing. They thought he had no brains and only had a good body."

"But I think Xiao Qu will be a good player by European standards."

Zeng Zheng nodded.

Qu Shengqing has proved himself last season, otherwise he would not appear in the current national team lineup.

Zeng Zheng even felt that Qu Shengqing was no worse than Zhang Yuchen.

Talking along the last Olympic Games, Ladd recalled the scene that made him sad the most.

In Malaysia in 1996, China played a decisive battle with the South Korean Olympic team.

"Before the game, I felt that the mentality of the players was a little out of balance. I wanted to say something to the players, but no one listened."

Zeng Zheng also has a deep understanding of this.

The BUFF of "Koreaphobia" is really not something ordinary people can fight against.

"As a result, the game was lost in the first half. During the intermission, Coach Qi suddenly asked me to say something to the players and asked Xie Hui to be the interpreter."

"Looking at Xie Hui, who was covered in sweat and tired, and thinking of the English that neither of us is very familiar with, I really don't know what to say."

"After thinking about it, I just said, 'What have you got to be afraid of? What have they got to be afraid of?'"

"After that, I could only watch helplessly as the team I had devoted my life to for three years was defeated by South Korea."

"My heart just got ripped piece by piece."

Speaking of this, Ladd stopped and looked at Zeng Zheng solemnly.

"Zeng, you can beat South Korea head-on in the arena."

"It really fulfilled one of my wishes!"

Zeng Zheng was stunned for the first time.

He didn't expect that this old man from the southern country would be so obsessed with defeating South Korea like the Chinese.

Hearing this, Zeng Zheng asked Ladd about his past.

This sixty-year-old man in his sixties also gradually fell into memories.

In 1943, the winter in Yugoslavia was unusually cold.

At that time, the snow fell heavily, and the mountains, forests, and villages were covered in white.

But the sound of rumbling guns and guns made the villagers have no mood to appreciate the beautiful scenery outside the window.

The French XS is attacking the Yugoslav partisans on the mountain, and this village is the only way to go.

Facing the enemy's attack, everyone in the village fled in a hurry.

Among the crowd, a mother with a seven or eight-year-old boy was the last one.

Gun bullets roared and flew over the heads of the two.

"Mom, I can't run anymore!"

"I want to rest here for a while," the boy begged.

The mother clenched the child's hand tightly, with a determined face, "Son, we must run forward. If we don't run, we will die here!"

This little boy is Ladd!
That scene has been etched in Ladd's mind ever since, and has affected him for the rest of his life.

After World War II, Yugoslavia was in a state of devastation, and people were still worrying about food and clothing.

The young Ladd found a perfect solution - to participate in football training!
Although it is bitter and tiring, at least you can live comfortably.

At the age of 18, Ladd was selected for the Yugoslav national team for the first time and was admitted to the Economics Department of the University of Belgrade.

With such achievements, the burden on his shoulders is even heavier.

The training and studies almost overwhelmed him.

He once planned to give up football, but when he thought that his elderly mother and sister in college needed him to support him, the football under his feet began to roll again.

"Zeng, you are also a footballer. You should know that the time for football to make people happy is too short! It is only a few seconds after scoring a goal or a few minutes after winning. The rest of the time, I live under great mental and physical pressure. under."

"I may not be able to say that I love football, but as a profession, I respect it very much!"

"When I was a footballer, I never smoked or drank."

"Every training session, I come more than ten minutes earlier and leave more than 20 minutes later than others."

"The extra half an hour made me the best center forward in Yugoslavia, scoring goals in almost every game!"

What's the secret to being a good center, a reporter asked Rudd?
Recalling his mother's advice, Ladd replied: "Just keep going! Just shoot the ball into the opponent's goal!"

From the age of 18 to the age of 36, Ladd's 18-year football career has made Ladd's body full of injuries and exhaustion.

When he could no longer look directly at the round black and white thing, he resolutely chose to leave the football field.

Armed with a diploma in economics, Ladd arrived at the office of a large Swiss company.

But when he really bid farewell to football, he found that "it was difficult to find water in the sea".

As the days went by, Ladd became more and more disgusted with the shackles of suits and leather ties, the tedious work from desk to wine table, and the intrigue of chasing profits.

After several nights of self-examination, Ladd finally decided to study football coaching.

After obtaining two coaching certificates in Yugoslavia and Germany, he returned to the green field and started the second sprint in his life.

From the start, Rudd was different from most football coaches.

"I am an intellectual coach, which is different from those barbaric coaches!" He commented on himself.

Most soccer coaches are in the middle of the game, shouting "Run!" or "Fuck 'em!"

When Ladd practiced, the court was always quiet.

No matter what the situation, he always insisted on running and jumping with the players.

"I did it just to breathe and sweat with the guys," Ladd explained.

“That way I can get a handle on how they’re really feeling, when they’re tired and when they’re bored.”

"UBI BENE, IBI PATRIA (Latin: where is good, where is home)" is Ladd's motto.

He wants to be the most glorious and hardest international coach.

Working with strangers in a foreign land is a thousand times, ten thousand times more difficult than in Yugoslavia!
But he always believed that his professionalism and courteous demeanor could help him overcome any difficulties.

In 1980, Ladd came to Cameroon as the coach of the national team and worked there for six years.

Uncle Mira in the civilized world was brought out by him alone.

Success followed.

In 1982, the Cameroon team entered the Olympic Games for the first time;

In 1985, Cameroon won the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time.

In just a few years, he trained an unknown team into a world powerhouse.

Since then, he has become a legendary coach.

At the same time, fate closely linked him with a great country in the Far East.

In 1992, China Bamboo Shoes asked FIFA to send a world-class coach as the head coach of the national team.

Rad was selected by FIFA because of his outstanding performance in Africa for more than ten years and his rich experience in training weak teams to turn them into strong teams.

Later, the people of Modu offered to provide financial support, but they had to hire a German coach.

Then came Shrapner.

Although the level of Chinese football is low, it has always been the number one "hot spot" in Chinese sports.

The arrival of Uncle Shi back then directly excited the blood of hundreds of millions of fans who were "disappointed every year and look forward to every year".

With the help of the director of the sports committee, the fans wrote their dreams and aspirations directly on Uncle Shi's car: "Rush out of Asia and go to the world!"

Back then, even a hair of Uncle Shi could be sold for a high price of 5 yuan!
But the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.

In 1993, in Irbid's World Cup qualifiers, the Chinese team lost to the unpopular Yemeni team and lost the right to qualify.

When the news came back, the whole country was in an uproar!The public opinion circles condemned Schlapner together.

Until then, Zhu Xie could only turn his attention to Ladd again.

Compared with when Uncle Shi came a year ago, Ladd got much worse conditions: he could not lead the national team, but could only lead the Olympic team composed of 18 and 19-year-old young players.

The salary is only one-eighth of Uncle Shi's.

Not only that, but the extreme disappointment at that time caused the fans to hate Yangshuai.

In this case, if it were you, would you come?

On August 1993, 8, Ladd was still invited to China.

Everything here makes Ladd happy.

In other words, when he first stepped into this land, he felt a sense of intimacy and familiarity.

On a summer night not long after arriving, Ladd sighed affectionately, pointing to the stars all over the sky; "I want to know the stars here most."

"Before coming here, I have traveled to more than 100 countries. I thought there was nothing on this earth that I didn't understand, and now I know I was wrong."

"If you haven't come here, your understanding of the world will never be comprehensive."

From then on, Ladd told everyone that he was originally Chinese.

He began to learn to eat with chopsticks, and picking peanuts became Ladd's best special practice.

Ladd is fascinated by the collision, communication and integration of cultures.

He worked hard to learn spoken Chinese, tried to soften his stiff tongue, and even added Erhua to himself.

After the Hiroshima Asian Games in October 1994, Zhuxie decided to let Ladd change to the post of technical consultant, and Qi Changsheng took over as the head coach of the Olympic Games.

Overnight, their positions switched.

"The reason for the swap at the time seemed to be two points." Ladd held out two fingers.

"At that time, the National Olympics did not perform very well in a few friendly matches."

"The second is that some people feel that the amount of training I lead is a bit small."

Zeng Zheng nodded. Until now, there are still some coaches in China who follow the credo of high-intensity training to produce elites.

"Then how did you respond?"

"I was appointed by FIFA to come to China, the purpose is to help Zhuxie complete all its work, not for honor and money."

"During my term of office, I will complete the instructions of Zhuxie."

Zeng Zheng also sighed.

Maybe this is why some people like to use rad in bamboo shoes now.

However, actually adapting to this transition can be difficult.

No matter which team he was in before, Ladd has always been the head coach and the executor of his own thoughts.

But after becoming a consultant, he can only stand by in every training class and cannot intervene.

In order not to interfere with Qi Desheng's work, he tried to avoid dealing with the team members directly.

And once he finds a problem or has any opinions, he will also talk to Qi Misheng.

In doing so, Rudd did not deliberately ignore the players.

On the contrary, he believes that the most important thing in a team is not the coach but all the players.

Because no matter how high the level of the coach is, he cannot play the game himself. He must rely on the 11 players on the field to win the game by sweating and even bleeding.

On this point, Zeng Zheng also very much agrees.

There are all kinds of personalities on the football team, but they all have one thing in common: they are very sensitive.

"I've never had a direct confrontation with a player!" Rudd said, "even if sometimes my gut gets knotted in their behavior."

Speaking of which, Ladd recalled.

"In Cameroon, there was a player who had to stretch his belly to sleep before going to bed; another player had to ask a wizard to do a fortune-telling before the game. If the wizard said it was not suitable for him to play, he would not play. .”

Zeng Zheng listened with gusto, "Mr. Ladd, how did you deal with it?"

"It's very simple, just persuasion and education." Ladd smiled, "I'll say it ten times if it doesn't work once, and say it a hundred times if it doesn't work ten times. Anyway, I have a lot of patience!"

Zeng Zheng was dumbfounded.

This point, I really can't do it!
"Mr. Ladd, did the Chinese players make you angry?"

"No." Ladd still shook his head, "It's just that once during training, I saw a player's movements were not very standard, and I asked him to do it again."

"But that team member thought I was deliberately making things difficult for him, kicked the ball away in a fit of anger, and said a few words in his dialect."

"Although I don't understand, I know he is scolding me."

"I looked at him for a few seconds and then walked away."

"After the training, the team member came to me with a look of panic and apologized."

"I told him that my words during training are the law, and you must implement them. If you want to curse someone, just put it in your stomach, and it's best not to say anything."

Hearing this, Zeng Zheng finally understood why Ladd didn't want to leave as soon as he came here.

He is more Chinese than a Chinese!

Gentleness, kindness, respect, frugality, and generosity are fully reflected in Ladd.

Even up to now, he is still suffering from the injustice of Zhu Xie, being treated as a pawn by Zhu Xie, but he still pays silently and works hard.

And this, I am afraid, is also the reason why although he has outstanding achievements and noble character, he has been unknown and depressed all the time!
Even secretly, even Shen Xiangfu felt that Ladd was too weak and useless.

In February 1995, when the National Olympics was going to Hong Kong to play the "Dunhill" Cup, Zhuxie suddenly and temporarily decided to replace Ladd with an official from Zhuxie.

"This is actually a blow against me. It wants me to ignore it, but I can only obey." Ladd sighed.

Because of this incident, Ladd's translator at the time couldn't stand it anymore, and resolutely chose to resign.

Rudd stayed on until August 1996 without an interpreter.

Two years later, when Ladd's translator returned home after finishing his term in the Macedonian embassy, ​​the most surprising news he heard was that Ladd was still in the country!
At that time, Ladd did not play for Zhuxie, but came to an ordinary football school in Beijing as the head coach.

Hearing this, Zeng Zheng was also very curious.

"After the contract with Zhuxie was terminated, I have received invitations from several first-tier clubs and other countries."

"But I have been in professional football for 45 years. Whether it is as a player or as a coach, I have already got what I deserve. Money and honors don't matter to me."

"Out of love and respect for this place, and considering my age, I want to stay here for a few more years to draw a successful conclusion to my football career."

Speaking of this, Ladd's eyes lit up.

"Zeng, did you know? According to the latest research results of international genetics, Africans and Chinese actually have the same ancestor!"

Zeng Zheng snapped his mouth.

This really touched the blind spot of his knowledge.

While thinking about why the other party said this, Ladd continued: "Did you know that Africans and Chinese have very similar muscle types, movement coordination and responsiveness."

"This means that one hundred 'Mila' and one hundred 'Bjek' can be cultivated in China!"

"Ugh!"

"Hopefully some of these I've brought up."

Hearing this, Zeng Zheng couldn't help being moved.

Apparently, Ladd wasn't ready to go home.

"Mr. Ladd." Zeng Zheng grabbed Ladd's hands, "If you can, please help me!"

"I swear, I can definitely fulfill your wish!"

At this moment, Zeng Zheng finally made up his mind.

Even if it is for the old man from the southern country in front of him, he must "grab" the position of head coach!