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Chapter 157 Farewell Match

"…There is only one round left in this season's Premier League. The league championship is no longer in doubt. Clayton Athletic tied with Kensington 1:1 at home, while the second-placed Scouse were tied with Witton Hill at home. The difference between the two teams is four points.

"Clayton Athletic won the championship one round ahead of schedule, creating an unprecedented 'five consecutive championships' in the history of the Premier League! In a sense, this is the second time in a row that Clayton Athletic has won the league championship with the help of Wang...

"Clayton Athletic is not dominant in the championship race this season. After 28 rounds of the league, Hackney Knights led Clayton Athletic by as many as five points. But after losing to Tyne and Scots, Hackney Knights were overtaken by Clayton Athletic, and they have never regained the top spot in the league since then...

"... Now let's look at relegation. Southampton, with only 27 points, has already been relegated, but Leicester and Leeds still have a chance. As long as they can beat their opponents in the last round and Porter FC loses again, one of the two teams can escape the relegation zone and successfully stay in the Premier League...

"The biggest suspense of the season is of course the fight for the last Champions League qualification. After a 9-0 home win over Sofia United in the th round, Tyne took fourth place in the league with a goal difference advantage. But Sofia United did not collapse as everyone thought. Fire-fighting head coach Danilo Lindsay stabilized the team's downward trend. Although they were eliminated in the Europa League semi-finals, they still have hope of returning to fourth place in the league.

"As long as they beat Hurlingham FC at home and Tyne fail to beat Kensington away, Sofia United can regain fourth place. Sofia United's advantages are that they play at home and that their opponent Hurlingham FC has no desire and will not have a strong will to resist. Therefore, Sofia United has a high chance of winning at home.

"As for Tyne, they are playing away from home against a strong team called Kensington. Kensington is currently ranked sixth and their goal is to qualify for the Europa League next season. If they finish with this ranking, they will get what they want. However, the difference between sixth and ninth place is only one point. If Kensington wants to keep their sixth place in the league, they have to beat Tyne at home to be the safest bet...

"The competition between Tyne and Sofia has entered its final intense stage. These two games are also the biggest highlights of the last round of this season."

※※※

The mother suddenly asked her son, "Sonny, can you still cancel your contract with Kensington?"

Dean turned to look at his mother, "Mom, why are you asking?"

"I just think... now that you're living well in Tyne, is there no need for you to go to Kensington anymore? And I'm worried that you'll have to adapt to a new environment again. What if..." Mom didn't say the rest of the words.

But Dean had guessed it.

My mother was worried that I would perform poorly in Kensington and fall into the same vicious cycle as before in Tyne.

"Don't worry, Mom. I can perform well in a different environment, so you don't have to worry about me. But you, are you really not going to go to London with me?"

The mother did not respond to her son's question, but continued to ask him: "Can't you really terminate the contract with Kensington? Just express your intention to stay in Tyne... If there is a penalty, Tyne is so rich, talk to them and ask them to help you pay part of it..."

Dean didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "What... It's not as easy as you say, Mom?"

"I know it's definitely not easy, but there should be a way, right? Ask your agent and let him find a solution..."

Dean interrupted his mother rudely: "Mom, if you don't want me to stay here, then I'm going back."

The mother immediately covered her mouth, she knew her son was angry.

Seeing his mother like this, Dean sighed in his heart.

Terminate the contract with Kensington?

what!
Dean laughed in his heart at his mother's fantasy.

※※※

Seeing Vitini and Wang Lie returning to the locker room from the training ground, Dean snorted in his heart.

He is truly the king's loyal dog!

Moreover, he is the kind of lickspittle who wags his tail every day, afraid that others don’t know his relationship with Wang Lie!
I also train with Wang frequently, but have I publicized it?

No.

Because he announced that he would turn Tyne into a new top club, Vitini is now very popular in the locker room and has a high status.

Especially with the team’s outstanding performance, many people see Vitini as the successor to the team’s king and he will become Tyne’s leader and star player in the future.

But the person who should have carried everyone's expectations and led Tyne forward should have been me...

My mother actually fantasized about breaking her contract with Kensington and staying in Tyne.

What to do if you stay?

Be a supporting role for others?

Does mom think that I can’t do anything without Wang?

Even my mother thinks so...

So in their eyes, I am just like that stupid bird Vitini, who can't live without Wang? Without Wang by my side, I don't know how to play football?
But before Wang came, I was already the most valuable player in Tyne!

Where was Vitini at that time? He must have been playing in the mud in Brazil!
I am a player trained by the team's youth training. I have been a supporter of Tyne since I was a child. I came here earlier than any of you, but why am I the one who has to leave this team in the end?
Dean's mood suddenly dropped.

There is only one round left in the league, and there is less than a week left for Tyne to make historic progress in qualifying for the Champions League. The atmosphere in the Tyne dressing room is very good now, with everyone talking and laughing, and everyone is full of confidence and expectations for the future.

In the locker room filled with laughter, no one noticed the silent Dean.

※※※

All matches in the last round of the 2036-2037 Premier League season will kick off on time at : p.m. on Sunday, the last day of May.

Because it was an away game, the entire Tyne team arrived in London, where Kensington is located, one day in advance.

When playing away games, you can only stay in a hotel, unlike at home, where you can stay in a training base with excellent conditions in all aspects.

When staying at the training base, each first-team player has a separate room.

When playing away games before, each player had a separate room in the hotel. Regardless of their status in the team or their annual salary, everyone's accommodation conditions were the same, all were single rooms.

The Tyne Club is not short of money, so there is nothing wrong with doing this.

But after McNeill took office, he changed some rules within the team.

For example, the rule that everyone must stay in a single hotel room during away games was cancelled, and two players were required to stay in one room.

It's not about saving money for the club.

McNeill believes that doing so will help enhance unity within the team and allow everyone to communicate more.

In order to further enhance communication and bring everyone together, he also required that the accommodation partners for each away game could not be fixed. Before leaving for the away game, the coaching staff randomly arranged them by drawing lots.

McNeill set up such rules in the hope of using all means to enhance the cohesion of this "mercenary army" and thus improve the team's combat effectiveness.

As it turned out, the effect was not completely absent, but it also did not achieve the effect McNeill had envisioned.

The harmonious atmosphere within the team now actually has little to do with the fact that two people live in the same room on the road, but has a lot to do with Wang Lie.

With Wang Lie's transfer, he brought a lot to the team, such as ambition, goals and fighting spirit.

And most importantly – victory.

When the team starts to win games in succession and its results get better and better, the atmosphere within the team will naturally become more and more harmonious.

However, McNeill did not change the rules back. Now when Tyne plays away games, two people still have to live in one room, and who lives with whom is still decided by drawing lots each time.

After boarding the bus at London Heathrow Airport, assistant coach Varo sent the accommodation allocation information to the team group.

Players only need to check the group chat to know who they will be staying in the same room with. The coaching staff does not need to notify each player one by one.

Because it has become a habit, most of the Tyne players took out their mobile phones after getting on the bus to see who their final roommates for this season will be.

Dean held up his phone and looked for his name on the list.

He didn't really have any particular requirements about who he lived with, as long as he didn't share a room with that idiot Vitini.

So when he found his own name, he immediately looked at the name of the person next to him:
Wang Lie!

Dean's pupils shrank when he saw the name - Wang Lie had played eight away games since he transferred to Tyne, and this was the first time he was assigned to the same room with him.

How come I was in the same room with him?
I was about to leave, but I ended up with him...

This fate likes to play tricks on people!
Then he suddenly raised his head as if something had happened and looked forward. He saw Wang Lie, who was sitting in front of him, turned around and looked at him.

When he saw Dean looking up at him, he smiled at Dean, then retracted his gaze and turned away.

This wicked smile made Dean wonder if Wang Lie was taking advantage of his personal relationship with the boss and doing some shady stuff to deliberately put him and him in the same room.

But why would he do this?

Dean frowned and thought about it, then suddenly remembered what his mother had said before:

Could it be that this old scoundrel wanted to use this last chance to persuade me to stay in the team? !

It's too late!

If you didn't come earlier...

※※※

Dean used the room card to open the door of the hotel room, and Wang Lie followed him into the room.

It was a standard twin room in a five-star hotel, nothing much to say, but compared to the dormitory rooms in Northumberland Football City, it was slightly inferior in every aspect.

"Do you snore when you sleep?" Wang Lie asked.

Dean looked back at him, "What? Afraid I'd wake you?"

Wang Lie smiled slightly: "That's not the case. I snore when I sleep. If you snore when you sleep, then we won't affect each other."

Dean rolled his eyes.

Then he put down his bag, but did not start packing. Instead, he half-lay casually on the sofa and watched Wang Lie pack his things.

Actually, there is nothing much to pack, there are very few things.

After all, it was just a one-night away game.

Wang Lie took the toiletries bag out of his backpack, put it in the bathroom, and hung the Tyne sports jacket in the bag in the closet.

He took out a cloth bag from the bag and opened it. Inside was a pair of slippers. He put the shoes beside his bed, took off his sneakers and changed into slippers.

Then he took out a mobile phone charger and a tablet from his bag.

They are all very common things, nothing strange.

But while Wang Lie was doing all this, Dean remained half-lying on the sofa, staring at Wang Lie very intently.

Finally he saw Wang Lie take out a familiar object from his backpack - a table tennis racket case!

He sat up from the sofa: "Really? You still want to play table tennis with me?"

Wang Lie laughed: "Why not? This is your last chance to defeat me."

“But this hotel may not have a ping-pong table.”

Wang Lie laughed again: "I called and asked before coming here, they have a ping-pong table."

Dean made up another excuse: "But I didn't bring my racket."

"When you played against me at Northumberland Football City, didn't you also use a public racket?" Wang Lie ruthlessly exposed his excuse.

"Uh..." Dean was speechless.

Real table tennis players are used to using their own rackets, but he is not like that, so he has never had the habit of using a dedicated racket when playing table tennis.

"How about coming tonight?" Wang Lie shook the racket in his hand. "This is your last chance. If you don't come, it means you admit defeat in advance."

Hearing this, Dean gritted his teeth and said, "Come on! Don't cry when you lose!" Wang Lie laughed, "You have to beat me first!"

※※※

After dinner, Wang Lie and Dean came to the hotel's table tennis room to play.

This attracted many teammates to come and watch the game.

"I really didn't expect that they would compete against each other on the road..." Hugo Guenduzzi, who was standing in the crowd watching the game, shook his head and sighed, "If I had known, I would have brought the banner with me..."

Joshua Parker next to him asked him, "What number is written on the banner this time?"

"What number? This is Sonny Dean's farewell match!"

Parker: "..."

Van Ginkel came up and asked, "Since this is Dean's farewell match, will Wang let Dean win once?"

Wang Lie's number one fanboy, Vitini, shook his head and snorted, "You're overthinking. How could Wang accept defeat? Just wait and see. Wang will definitely win."

Goetz also nodded: "Wang's table tennis level is higher than Sonny's."

Parker asked curiously, "If that's the case, why does Sonny always agree to compete with Wang? Is he a masochist?"

Peter Oliver looked at the ping-pong table with the silver ball flying around, and murmured, "I don't know if Dean is a masochist, but I hope Dean can beat Wang this time..."

Van Ginkel beside him nodded: "Me too. At least this time, I hope Dean can win."

Many teammates around him nodded when they heard this.

At this moment, Wang Lie was playing against Dean.

The two men have been fighting like this for several rounds and seem to be evenly matched.

When Wang Lie hit the ping-pong ball from the far end again, Dean did not pull it back, but changed it to a slice - he used the racket to slice the ping-pong ball horizontally, and the ball turned a clear arc and flew back to the opposite table.

When Wang Lie saw Dean's actions, he realized what the other party wanted to do, so he immediately rushed to the front of the stage.

He arrived and swung his racket and hit the ball.

However, after the ping-pong ball came into contact with the rubber surface of his racket, it bounced in a strange direction. It did not bounce back to Dean's half of the table, but flew directly from the side to the referee Katic.

After Katic dodged the flying ball with his head tilted, he turned the scorecard representing Dean to "10", while Wang Lie's scorecard was "9".

Peter Oliver raised his arms and shouted: "Beautiful! Dean!!"

Not only him, many Tyne players watching the game also cheered.

Hugo Guenduzzi passionately commented: "Best of five games! The total score is now tied at 2:2. In the fifth game, Sonny Dean just won the match point! As long as he wins one more point, he will defeat Wang for the first time in history!!"

As Peter Oliver said, this time, the vast majority of people want Dean to win.

Only Vitini was still cheering for Wang Lie: "Come on, Wang! You can't lose to him!"

Wang Lie held a ping-pong ball in his hand, repeatedly knocking it against his racket and then catching the ball that bounced back.

At the same time, his eyes were fixed on Dean, observing him.

Despite the loud cheers, this time Dean wasn't distracted by the situation around him, but just kept staring at himself.

It seems that it is impossible to steal the ball again...

Then let’s play one ball at a time!
Wang Lie served the ball and Dean swung his racket to hit it back.

The two of them were fighting each other in a stalemate.

The teammates watching the game also held their breath and concentrated, their heads and eyes following the ball.

It wasn't until Wang Lie hit the ball and Dean's return went out of bounds that they sighed loudly.

Wang Lie tied the score to 10:10!
"Oh my! What a pity!"

"Just a little bit!"

"Didn't the ball just now hit the edge?"

Everyone felt sorry for Dean.

Dean had already calmed himself down. He lowered his center of gravity in front of the ping-pong table and got into position.

This time it's his turn to serve.

When Wang Lie received the ball he served, it hit the net and bounced back without crossing the net!

The cheers returned.

"Beautiful! Dean!"

"Match point! Match point!"

At 11:10, Dean was one point ahead and had match point again.

According to the rules of table tennis, the winner is the one who gets eleven points first and is two points ahead of the opponent.

Although Dean now has eleven points, he is only one goal ahead of Wang Lie. If he wants to win, he must score another point and defeat Wang Lie with a score of 12:10.

This time the two sides fought for a very long time. Several times, Wang Lie was beaten left and right by Dean and was forced to run around, looking very embarrassed.

But he always managed to get the ball back.

Every time Dean successfully hit the ball, he would win cheers from the sidelines.

If Wang Lie successfully saves the ball, everyone will sigh.

In this extreme tug of war, Dean seemed a little anxious. He suddenly hit the ball hard, but because he used too much force, he hit the ball directly out of the table.

11:11, Wang Lie saved a match point again!
Then he put down the racket, wiped the palms of both hands on his clothes, and blew away the sweat on the handle of the racket.

Even he felt nervous.

Not to mention everyone else.

In theory, this is just a small game between teammates, and winning or losing is not important.

But looking at the expressions of everyone present, it was as if they were facing a final to decide the champion.

接下来12:11，12:12，13:12，13:13。

Dean got match points continuously, but was saved by Wang Lie every time.

By the time Wang Lie tied the score to 13:13, voices cheering for Dean were heard at the scene.

"Come on, Sonny!"

"You can do it, Dean! Defeat the king! Defeat him!"

"Dean you have to hold on! Hold on!"

"The King is dying! This is your chance, Sonny! Seize it! Defeat him!"

However, the cheers from his teammates failed to help Dean win the match point again. Instead, he lost to Wang Lie.

It is now 13:14 and Wang Lie is leading by one goal.

Next, Wang Lie only needs to win one more point to win the final table tennis game between him and Dean.

After Dean served, Wang Lie suddenly hit the ball with his forehand, contrary to his usual behavior, trying to catch Dean off guard.

But Dean was very focused and immediately blocked the ball with a backhand.

Seeing that his surprise attack didn't work, Wang Lie started to fight with Dean again.

The more the two played, the farther they were from the table. At first, Dean used lobs to force Wang Lie to hit the ball to consume his energy. Then Wang Lie lobbed Dean in return and let him hit the ball.

But neither side could do anything to the other.

They moved closer to the table and hit short, fast balls.

At this moment, Wang Lie suddenly hit the ball towards Dean's backhand, forcing him to rush over to save the ball.

Although he successfully rescued the ball, he also moved away from the table.

Wang Lie jumped high to meet the bouncing ping-pong ball and swung his racket to hit it!

He hit the ball to the opposite corner of the table, away from Dean.

Even though Dean tried his best to dive back, he was still too late... In the end he could only throw the racket in his hand and try to catch the ball.

But how is this possible?
The ball hit the table and bounced out.

The thrown racket fell on the table with a bang...

"Ahhhh!" Van Ginkel held his head in his hands and screamed, feeling even more regretful and painful than Dean himself.

The others sighed in unison, feeling sorry for Dean's failure.

This was the first time that after Wang Lie defeated Dean, there was no cheering at the scene - even Wang Lie's die-hard fan, Vitini, remained silent.

Wang Lie did not cheer for his victory either.

He put the racket on the table and wiped the sweat on his clothes with both hands.

This was the toughest match he had ever played against Dean. He even felt like he was playing in an Olympic men's table tennis final...

Dean held onto the edge of the table, hunched over, and breathing heavily. It was impossible to tell what expression he had on his face at the moment.

Then he straightened up and raised his head, neither shouting that the previous goal did not count and wanting to fight with Wang Lie again.

He didn't even pick up the racket and throw it again.

He didn't point at Wang Lie and say he wanted to continue challenging him like he did before when he lost.

Instead, he turned around and walked out.

For a moment, even his teammates who originally wanted to go up to comfort him involuntarily made way for him and just watched Dean leave.

"Dean..." Goetz called out from behind him.

But Dean didn't stop, as if he didn't hear it.

He didn't stop until he reached the door, then he turned his back and waved to everyone.

As if to say:

"Goodbye, don't see me off."

(End of this chapter)