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Chapter 135 Greetings
Stanley Harris was standing in the player tunnel waiting to go out. He lowered his head and tried to clear his mind and get into the game state, and then someone patted him on the shoulder.

He looked back and saw Wang Lie smiling.

He was a little surprised. He didn't expect that before such an important game, Wang Lie would actually greet him, his "enemy".

"Uh, King..."

Emptying his mind had worked well before, but now he didn't know what to say.

Logically speaking, when Wang Lie left the club, he didn't even have time to say goodbye to him. Now that they met again, he should have a lot to say to Wang Lie.

Wang Lie didn't care about his former teammate's embarrassment and surprise, but smiled and asked him: "How is it, are you ready?"

"Are you...ready...right?"

Harris was really confused by Wang Lie - is this a question that an opponent should ask? Is this also a question that an opponent should answer?
"If you want to defeat me, don't hesitate, Stanley." Wang Lie patted his shoulder with a smile and continued walking forward.

Harris stood there staring at Wang Lie's back, still not understanding what Wang Lie meant by coming up to greet him.

Then he watched Wang Lie greet his former teammates one by one.

If you are not very familiar with someone, just raise your hand and wave. If you are relatively familiar with someone, just say a few words.

Similar to "How are you?" "I'm fine, how about you?" "I'm fine too."

Then every Sofia United player he greeted, like Stanley Harris, stood where they were, staring blankly at Wang Lie's back.

They all didn't understand, this game was so important, why did Wang Lie behave like he was in an ordinary game?
Is he really not nervous?

Or was he pretending to be calm and composed just to influence them?
They thought Wang Lie was out for revenge, so they should have regarded them all as enemies from the beginning of the player tunnel. If they were enemies, why did they greet each other?
Although they were once Wang Lie’s teammates, and some of them even spent quite a long time with Wang Lie, when they met him again today, they felt that the man in front of them was a little... strange.

※※※

"I thought Wang wouldn't say hello to his former teammates, but I didn't expect that..."

Wang Lie's actions in the player tunnel also attracted the attention of the commentators.

Connor Cowley said: "It seems that Wang still has old feelings in his heart. No matter what his attitude towards Heldon is, he actually has no conflicts with the players of Sofia United."

Commentator Marvin Block said: "Perhaps Wang is using this method to influence the mentality of the Sofolian players. From the broadcast screen, we can see that every Sofolian player who was greeted by Wang had a stunned expression at first..."

Fellow commentator Luke Milne interrupted Block: "I don't think you know the king well enough, Marvin. The king doesn't need to do this."

"I know Wang very well. He will do anything to win. Besides, why not? Isn't psychological warfare normal before a match?" Milne said that he didn't know Wang Lie, but Brock still had to refute him.

Milne continued to shake his head: "I think Wang may feel that it is not necessary to use any means to defeat the Sofian League."

His words revealed his disdain for the Sofia team.

Brock really wanted to ask Milne, is it really okay to say this about your old club on a national live broadcast? Is it really putting Sofia first?
However, this topic had nothing to do with the work of broadcasting the game live, and he didn't want the outside world to see him and Milne fighting, so he could only keep this matter in mind and prepare to discuss this topic with Milne after the live broadcast.

Connor Cowley didn't expect Milne to say that. He turned his head to take a look, then tried to smooth things over by saying, "It looks like Wang is very confident today! Of course, before the game, everyone was optimistic that he would complete his revenge against Sofia United, but the favorite is bound to lose. Let's wait and see what the result will be..."

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Wang Lie walked to the front of the team, stood in his position, then turned his head to look at Soflian captain Taylor Murphy, who was also looking at him.

"Is this some kind of psychological tactic, Wang?" Murphy asked.

Wang Lie smiled and shook his head: "No, it's not. I just wanted to say hello to you. After all, it's been a long time. How are you, Taylor?"

"To be honest, it's not that great." Murphy covered his mouth and said, "You guys have pushed us into a corner."

Wang Lie grinned, and the smile on his face became wider: "I'm sorry, Taylor."

Murphy couldn't see any "sorry" in his expression, so he sighed.

He didn't say anything else, because he didn't know what to say in this situation.

Wang Lie did not continue the greeting, but retracted his gaze and looked forward.

The smile on his face gradually faded.

When the TV broadcast gave him a close-up, the expression on his face had returned to calm.

"Players from both teams are ready and are about to play!"

Seeing this scene, Chinese commentator Luo Jin shouted excitedly.

Countless Chinese fans in front of the TV were also moved by this sound - they have been waiting for this game for too long!

Ever since Wang Lie left Sofia, many of Wang Lie's fans have been looking forward to this game.

At that time, Wang Lie had not yet re-demonstrated his dominance in Tyne, and everyone just hoped that Wang Lie could perform well against Sofia United and vent his anger in front of his old club.

Of course, everyone’s expectations now are definitely no longer as simple as venting their anger.

Defeat Sofia and step on Sofia's corpse to go to the Champions League!
This is what Wang Lie’s fans want to see most.

“Come on, Dad!!”

“Come on, Dad!!”

Wang Ziqi and Wang Zilin in front of the TV shouted at Wang Lie on the screen.

This attracted the loving gaze of their grandmother.

And the cheers of others in the living room.

At this moment, Wang Lie is at his hometown, where his relatives gather together, waiting to watch the live broadcast.

In fact, this game is not in a time period that is particularly suitable for watching live TV - the game kicks off at 5 pm local time in the UK, which is midnight in China.

At this time, many people are asleep.

Not to mention the elderly and children.

But now the home of Wang Lie’s mother Zhou Hong is brightly lit and full of noise.

Not only were she and her two grandsons watching in front of the TV, but her relatives also came here specially to watch the game with her.

Today is Saturday. Even though it is already past two in the morning after watching the game, it will not affect Wang Ziqi and Wang Zilin's school. They can sleep in tomorrow and get up at noon.

This game is so special. Let alone tomorrow being Sunday, even if it were Monday, Zhou Hong would probably let her two grandchildren watch the live broadcast. At most, she could just take half a day off the next day...

※※※

Players from both teams walked out of the tunnel amid huge cheers, and then the captains of both teams came forward to exchange team flags and conduct the side-to-side ceremony.

During this process, guest commentator Zhao Chuanfeng introduced some basic information of the game to the audience:
"This game is a key match in this round of the Premier League... It can even be said to be one of the most crucial games of the entire season. Tyne is currently ranked fifth in the league, only three points behind fourth-placed Sofia United, but with two more goals than Sofia United. So as long as Tyne can beat Sofia United at home, they can become fourth in the league with the advantage of goal difference..."

Luo Jin smiled and said, "If we had said before the season that Tyne, a relegation team, could qualify for the Champions League this season, many people probably wouldn't have believed it. But this did happen. And all these changes started with Wang Lie's transfer!"

There was pride in his tone when he said this.

As they were talking, Wang Lie and Murphy completed the pre-match side-choosing ceremony.

Murphy won the side-to-side ceremony and chose to take the right to kick off. Wang Lie got the right to toss sides and chose to keep the status quo. The Tyne players will stay in whichever half they are in.

It is cloudy today, so there is no question of yin or yang.

After the side selection, Wang Lie ran to the sidelines, handed the Sofia United team flag to the team staff, then turned around and ran back to the court.

He ran directly to the intersection of the center circle and the center line, waiting for the game to start.

The Lize Park Stadium, which had been noisy before the game, gradually became quiet at this moment, and everyone was waiting for the whistle.

The referee stands outside the center circle and raises his wrist to check the time.

Then he blew the whistle for the game.

After a crisp whistle, Richie Weddle turned around and kicked the ball to his teammates who were waiting behind him. At the same time, Stanley Harris, who was standing at the corner of the center line and the sideline, took the lead and rushed into Tyne's half!

"The game has begun! CCTV, CCTV! Good evening, dear audience friends! You are now watching the 2036th round of the 2037- Premier League, with Tyne City at home against Sofia United. On the left side of the screen, the home team Tyne City are wearing blue shirts and white shorts. And the team attacking from the right side of the screen to the left is Sofia United, who are wearing red shirts and black shorts in this game!"

The cheers at Leather Park began again.

※※※The reason why Sofia United captain Taylor Murphy wanted the right to kick off was arranged by head coach Helden before the game.

Be the first to make a splash!
The one who received the return pass was Sofia United midfielder Aaron Schouten, the core midfielder of the Dutch national team and also an absolute main force in the club.

He has excellent long-range scoring ability, but he is not good at attacking with the ball, but is better at "dealing cards".

So he received the ball, turned around and passed the ball to the team's right back Jose Gomez.

Portuguese right-back Gomes moved to Sofia United last summer following his mentor Heldon.

Now he has become a key player for this Premier League giant.

As a right back, he is characterized by a balance between offense and defense.

The reason for passing the ball back to the full-back instead of passing it directly to the advancing wingers Harris or De Gert is because it is necessary to pull Tayne's formation outwards.

Tyne is determined to win this game, so they should play more actively after the game starts.

Heldon asked the team to take advantage of this, stretching Tyne's formation and playing forward instead of passing the ball directly forward.

So after Gomes received the ball, he did not pass the ball forward, but adjusted his body direction and passed the ball to the middle, giving it to the central defender captain Taylor Murphy.

It was when he made the horizontal pass that Wang Lie rushed towards Murphy.

As soon as the football was kicked, Gomez's heart skipped a beat, because when he looked from the side, he found that Wang Lie's speed was faster than he expected!
As a teammate of Wang Lie for half a season, he knows Wang Lie well.

At least when Wang Lie was still in the team, he didn't feel how fast Wang Lie was.

Later, Wang Lie transferred to Tyne, and his performance became better and better, which attracted more attention. Many people mentioned that Wang Lie's speed had returned.

Before the game, the coaching staff showed them highlights of Wang Lie's recent performances, and from the videos they could see that he was indeed very fast.

Among them, they focused on analyzing the match between Tyne and Witton Hill, in which Wang Lie and Feng Qiyuan competed in speed.

The Sofia United players are naturally very clear about how fast Feng Qiyuan is as they had just faced each other in the last round of the league.

In the video recording at that time, Wang Lie's speed was not inferior at all, which shows how fast Wang Lie was.

Although it is incredible that a 38-year-old veteran can still run so vigorously...but the facts are in front of everyone, and head coach Helden also reminded them not to think about "why", but to consider how to stop him.

Although he had fully expected it, when Gomes saw Wang Lie rushing towards Murphy, his eyes widened - how could he be faster than what he saw in the video? !

Oops!

Gomez exclaimed in his heart.

He found that Wang Lie's quick rush would make it difficult for Murphy to handle his pass.

If things go wrong... it's entirely possible that we'll lose the ball here!

Thinking of this, he immediately moved closer to Murphy.

Taylor Murphy also noticed Wang Lie, after all, the latter was too fast...

He actually intended to pass the ball forward to the defensive midfielder Felipe Mejia.

But seeing Wang Lie rushing towards him aggressively, he suddenly felt unsure. He was not sure if he would have space to pass the ball when the ball rolled over...

If the pass hits Wang Lie's body and bounces into the penalty area behind him, it would be dangerous!

So Murphy made up his mind and swung his right leg to kick the ball forward!
Bigfoot comes to the rescue!

As soon as he kicked the ball, Wang Lie kicked it...

If he had hesitated for half a second, the ball might have been intercepted!

"Wang Lie! Ouch!"

Seeing that Wang Lie failed to stop the ball, Luo Jin held his head in his hands and screamed in regret.

Zhao Chuanfeng said: "Wang Lie was very fast. He ran all the way from the center circle to Murphy, but he didn't run all the way. He suddenly accelerated after observing Gomes' pass. But Murphy handled it decisively and kicked the ball directly..."

Unlike a conscious long pass, Murphy's hasty clearance failed to successfully deliver the ball to his teammates, but instead allowed the ball to fall into the hands of Tyne.

The ball changed hands.

Sofo United, which originally wanted to attack, had to temporarily give up this plan and switch to defense.

However, Sofia's defense did not completely shrink to the 30-meter area to park the bus.

Instead, start from the center line and build three lines of defense.

Center forward Richie Weddle is the man at the front. When defending, he is responsible for pressuring Tyne's central defenders and preventing the two central defenders from being able to easily respond near the center circle. This will force Tyne players to not dare to pass back when the attack in front is blocked, thereby reducing their tolerance for offense.

Stanley Harris and Adel Degert, two wingers, moved inwards, one on the left and one on the right, to the ribs. The two of them and the three midfielders who started the game for Sofo United formed a "meat grinder".

Responsible for using running, assisting and man-to-man defense to break up Tyne's midfield and prevent the football from flowing smoothly in Tyne's midfield.

The last line of defense is the back line.

Judging from this defensive arrangement, the focus is on the midfield.

By letting the two wingers retreat to the flanks, Sofia United gathered five players in the midfield to deal with Tyne's three midfielders.

Of course, Wang Lie will also retreat to help the team's midfield organize the attack.

But in this case, Sofia still has five against four in the midfield, which gives them the advantage in numbers.

Moreover, if Wang Lie could be forced into a melee in the midfield, Tyne's offense would lose its backbone, and it would not be too difficult for the remaining four defenders to defend against Vitini and Dean.

When Tyne was attacking, Heldon stood on the sidelines, looking at the field silently.

Just as he expected, when Tyne attacked, Wang Lie, as the center forward, did not stand in the front to pressure the central defender of Sofia United, but retreated to support.

It is normal for the center to retreat and provide support, and it is also required by the team's tactics.

However, this tactic becomes a bit strange when used on Wang Lie - the other centers retreat to support in order to serve as an offensive fulcrum and create space for other teammates.

The main role of this type of center is not to score, but to allow the team's offense to proceed smoothly.

But Wang Lie is not only the fulcrum, he also has to be the offensive terminator.

That means after he pulls out, he will counterattack. The whole team has to wait for him to get in place before attacking, which invisibly slows down the rhythm and speed, and the opponent's defense line is also set up...

This was actually a problem that Helden noticed when he first took over Sofia United.

Under the tactical idea that the whole team serves Wang Lie, although Wang Lie can rely on the team's support at all costs to score many goals, that can only allow him to rank high on the scorer list, but cannot help the team rank high on the standings.

So when he became the head coach of this team, he had already decided to remove Wang Lie from his tactics. In his tactics, the center is a fulcrum, and his tactical role is greater than scoring. The center is supposed to sacrifice and serve the entire team, rather than sacrificing the team to serve one person.

This is also why Richie Wilder, who doesn't score many goals and is criticized for his poor shooting skills, can be a main player in Heldon's Sofo United lineup.

Now seeing Wang Lie retreating as usual, Helden immediately went to find his midfielder Felipe Mejia.

The task he gave Mega in this game was that as long as Wang Lie retreated, he had to stick to him and never let him get the ball easily.

Sure enough, as soon as Wang Lie retreated, Mega noticed him and moved closer to him.

Seeing Mega approaching, Tyne midfielder Joshua Parker, who had the ball, hesitated and did not pass the ball, but turned to the wing.

Seeing this, Wang Lie shouted at him: "Hey! Hey! Give me the ball! Joshua!"

He pointed at his feet, signaling Parker to pass the ball to him next time.

Seeing this scene, Helden couldn't help but smile in his heart:
Very good, just like when you played for Sofia United, you siphoned all the team's offensive opportunities to you. It's always easier to defend you alone than to defend a team...

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PS, I will update twice a day starting today! The second update will be at 6pm!
In addition, the prize-winning guessing contest for the score of this game has also ended!
After the game plot is updated, I will draw a lucky winner from the friends who guessed the score and give him a signed illustration photo as a reward.

The illustrations were all drawn by me and then printed out as photographs, with my signature on the back.

Thank you everyone for participating!
(End of this chapter)