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Chapter 30 Switch

"Today's Tyne is a little different from before..."

After watching the game for almost half an hour, Luo Jin came to this conclusion.

"They played more actively and proactively. Of course, this is Tyne's home ground, so it's normal to be more active. But... it's still different. Tyne's offensive desire is stronger."

Luo Jin was right. This Tyne team showed a strong desire to attack and aggressiveness from the beginning of the game.

Their high-pressure defense in the midfield and frontcourt made the players of Hlingham FC very uncomfortable.

This kind of pressing without sparing any physical effort also gave Tyne an advantage on the field.

Tyne fans are also having a great time during this period.

With every successful steal, dribble, pass and shot by Tyne players on the field, Tyne fans cheered loudly in the stands.

Wang Lie was sitting on the bench and it was hard not to be attracted by the continuous cheers.

One thing has to be said, perhaps because Tyne is a small team without any brilliant achievements, the fans here do not have such high demands on their team.

Even though they have been fighting for relegation for so many years, their fans seem to be more tolerant and easy to satisfy.

From the perspective of the entire season, Tyne will be happy as long as they can stay in the Premier League in the end.

If we only look at one game, like now, although Tyne's current ranking and points are not ideal, as long as the team can show their fighting spirit and have a few shining performances, it is enough for them to cheer for the team.

This is really different from top clubs like Sofia United.

Fans of wealthy clubs naturally have their own pursuits. If they fail to win the championship after a season, the whole team will be scolded by the media and fans.

If a player makes a few mistakes during a game, boos can be heard immediately above the Red Rock Stadium.

Even a superstar of Wang Lie's level would be booed immediately at home if he was in a slump and performed poorly for two consecutive games, not to mention others.

Such an atmosphere also forced Wang Lie to always maintain a good condition to be worthy of the red jersey on his body.

Wang Lie did not say which situation is better or worse.

Because every different situation has a corresponding reason.

He believes that if Tyne can always win the game, Tyne fans will gradually raise their expectations and will not be so tolerant of their team's poor performances.

On the contrary, if Sofia cannot win the championship for a few more seasons, then perhaps the League Cup championship that Sofia fans used to look down upon will make them ecstatic.

For example, now that Sofia has not been able to participate in the Champions League for three consecutive seasons, participating in the Champions League has become Sofia's supreme season goal. Sofia fans also think that whoever can lead the team into the Champions League will be the "real son of destiny" of the team.

Sven Helden showed that this was possible, and he gained the support of the majority.

Something similar is Chinese football.

When Wang Lie first came into contact with football, the professionalization reform of Chinese football had just started. At that time, if the Chinese team could participate in a World Cup finals, it would become a major festival celebrated by the whole country.

He still remembers that when the Chinese team entered the World Cup for the first time in Germany in 2006, his father even burst into tears. As for what the whole country looked like, he was too young at the time and did not have a deep impression, but the various banquets, carnivals and celebrations around him really lasted for a month.

If we can win a game, score a goal or get a point in the World Cup - no matter which one it is, it can make Chinese fans happy for the whole year and become a classic that is mentioned repeatedly.

But as China's football reform has deepened and the level of Chinese football has gradually improved, the ideas and expectations of Chinese fans have changed - simply entering the World Cup finals can no longer excite them, and they began to look forward to the Chinese team reaching the knockout stage.

In the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the Chinese team made it to the World Cup knockout stage for the first time in history and ultimately stopped in the round of .

That was also Wang Lie's first World Cup. He played twice and scored one goal.

Four years later, at the 2022 World Cup in China, the Chinese team, with the advantage of playing at home, has made it to the knockout stage for two consecutive World Cups, and this time it has even made it to the quarterfinals of the World Cup! This is the best result in history!
Having reached the knockout stage of two consecutive World Cups, Wang Lie and a group of older brothers in the team at the time were called the "golden generation" of Chinese football.

Since making history, Chinese fans' demands on the Chinese team have also risen sharply. They are not only not satisfied with reaching the World Cup finals, but also not satisfied with just reaching the knockout stage.

Some people even shouted out goals like "winning the World Cup."

It’s a pity that since then, although the Chinese team has been able to participate in the World Cup consistently, it has never been able to make it to the quarterfinals again.

In the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, they didn't even make it to the round of , and went home after playing three group matches...

The "golden generation" of Chinese football all died after this World Cup, leaving only Wang Lie.

Because of the poor performance in this World Cup, Chinese fans have lowered their expectations. They no longer talk about "top four" or "champions", but hope that the Chinese team can one day get back into the quarterfinals.

But things went against one's wishes. Even though Chinese fans lowered their expectations, the Chinese team was blocked from reaching the quarterfinals in the next two consecutive World Cups.

If the Chinese team is eliminated in the round of 16 at the next World Cup in England, Chinese fans will probably have to lower their expectations again, thinking “it would be good enough if we can get to the knockout stage.”

So that's how football is, the winner takes it all.

If you want to win respect and cheers again, you have to win and be the "winner".

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When Wang Lie was distracted, the TV broadcast gave him a close-up shot, but people outside the camera could not tell that Wang Lie was distracted. All they saw was a face that was focused on the court with a slightly frown.

"Tayne had the advantage on the field, but couldn't score. Wang might have been thinking, if I had been on the field for that ball just now, I might have scored, ha!" England commentator Connor Cowley joked.

When Wang Lie was distracted, Tyne got a good opportunity.

Vitini cut in from the wing and made a cross, but the striker Ryan Graham in the center was a little slow to follow up, and missed the ball, missing the chance to break the deadlock.

Seeing the football almost brushing past the goal and finally cleared by a Hlingham FC player, Vitini was even more excited than Graham who missed the opportunity - he knelt down on his knees, punched the grass angrily, and cursed.

Of course, he soon realized his gaffe, and after standing up, he hurriedly looked towards the bench, looking for Wang Lie.

Seeing Wang Lie sitting calmly on the bench, with his upper body not even shaking, Vitini thought of what Wang Lie had said to him before the game.

Based on his understanding of Wang Lie, the idol is definitely not the kind of person who would be indifferent to missing an opportunity, but why is he still so calm and composed?

That must be to remind me to control my anger.

That's right, control! Control!

Flip the switch and turn off the anger!
Vitini closed his eyes and took several deep breaths in succession. The last time he held his breath for a very long time. Finally he opened his eyes and exhaled all the hot breath.

He felt a little calmer. Although he was still very unhappy with Graham's missed opportunity, he was no longer yelling at his teammates, "Why didn't you start earlier?"

Really useful!

Vitini was delighted:
The idol’s method really works!
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What Vitini gained from his idol's approach was not only confidence, but also strength.

After calming down, his performance on the field also improved, and the left side where he was located became Tyne's main attacking direction.

As the first half was about to enter injury time, Vitini received the ball on his usual left side.

Hurlingham FC midfielder Joel Breslin came up to stop it.

Vitini suddenly pushed the ball to the middle, then accelerated and tried to pass in front of the opponent's player.

Breslin was well aware of how fast Vitini's sudden acceleration was, and he also knew that the Brazilian was Tyne's most threatening offensive player in this game, and he absolutely could not let him go so easily.

So Breslin reached out and grabbed the back of Vitini's jersey, and then refused to let go, even though Vitini's jersey was torn into a triangular sail by him, until he heard the referee's whistle and huge boos at the same time.

"Breslin is committing a foul by pulling!" "This is a tactical foul! There is no way, Vitini's starting speed is too fast, there is no way to stop him if we don't pull him!"

"Just now, Vitini was like an electric car at full throttle! The veins on Breslin's neck were bulging as he barely managed to hold him back!"

A great opportunity was ended by a foul, and Vitini felt furious.

If it were in the past, he would have to go to the referee to complain and protest, asking him to give a card to the foul player or something.

But when he turned around, he caught a glimpse of the Tyne bench in the distance.

Although he had not yet accurately found his idol in the crowd, his idol's words had already echoed in his mind.

Control your anger, don't let it control you.

Then he saw several Hurlingham FC players surrounding the referee, seeming to want to make a few arguments.

As a professional player, you don't need to analyze much to know what the situation is.

So he quickly bent down to pick up the football and handed it to Matisse van Ginkel, who was standing next to him and preparing to take a free kick, and whispered to him: "Hurry up, Matisse!"

After stuffing the football into Van Ginkel's arms, Vitini walked away quickly, around the crowd and walked forward.

He didn't run because he was afraid of attracting the attention of the players of Hlingham FC, which would make it impossible to carry out the quick free kick tactic.

He could only hope that Van Ginkel understood him correctly.

In order to avoid being noticed by the players of Hurlingham FC, he even moved closer to the sidelines.

Although Van Ginkel didn't understand how to play this quick free kick, since Vitini was in such good form in this game, he just gave the ball to him and trusted him.

So the Dutch midfielder bent down to put the ball down, stood up, and instead of stepping back, picked up the ball directly and passed it to Vitini near the sideline!
At the same time, most of the players on the field were still paying attention to the referee.

Even some of Tyne's players ran to the referee to ask for a yellow card for Breslin, not to mention the players of Hurlingham FC.

At this time, there were a total of six players from both teams surrounding the referee, and no one noticed the ball.

But the referee noticed.

When he saw Van Ginkel lift the ball, he knew that Tyne was going to take a quick free kick.

He did not whistle to blow the ball back. Instead, he bypassed the players from both teams in front of him - especially the players from Hurlingham FC - and ran towards the visiting team's attacking third zone. This was a very obvious "game continues" signal!
"Tain's quick free kick! Vitini!"

The Tyne fans who were booing just now immediately switched to cheering when they saw Vitini raise his foot to receive the ball.

Amidst huge cheers, Vitini used the outside of his right foot to move the ball picked up by Van Ginkel to the inside!
Because a large number of Hurlingham FC players were paying attention to the referee, their defense line was not neat and there was a huge space in the flank.

Vitini was aiming at this space. In order to increase the suddenness, he simply stopped the ball directly in the empty space and then accelerated to chase it.

Sure enough, this quick free kick caught Herlingham FC off guard!
The player who was originally blocking the referee hurriedly turned around and returned to defense, and the defensive player who was originally in the middle immediately pressed towards Vitini.

Vitini swung his left foot towards the oncoming Hellingham FC centre-back, pretending to cross the ball, which caused the opponent to raise his foot sideways to block. However, he dribbled the ball back to his right foot and stopped suddenly at the same time!

The Hurlingham FC centre-back could only slide past him helplessly...

"Vitini! Vitini!!"

"Good shot! Vitini! That's a great dunk!"

After dribbling past the opponent's central defender, Vitini raised his right foot again and shot into the far corner with the inside of his foot!

The football drew a huge arc, bypassing the second Hlingham FC defender who rushed over, and also bypassing the outstretched hand of Hlingham FC goalkeeper Valdimar Adelstenson...

Then the ball brushed the inside of the far post and flew into the goal!

"Wow!! Vitini - beautiful!! A world wave!" Luo Jin raised his arms and shouted. After Wang Lie transferred to Tyne, he automatically became a supporter of Tyne. Seeing Tyne score a goal, even though the opponent was a Chinese-funded club, he was still happy for Tyne.

Of course, deep down in his heart, perhaps it was because of the bad words that Herlingham FC's head coach Rost said about Wang Lie before the game that made Luo Jin have a personal preference before commentating on this game.

When the football flew into the goal, there was thunderous cheers above the Lize Park Stadium. Vitini, who scored the goal, turned around and ran towards the bench.

Along the way, he dodged several excited teammates and headed straight for his idol in front of the bench.

When he scored the goal, Wang Lie jumped up from his warm seat on the bench and rushed out cheering.

After the initial excitement, he high-fived his teammates, including Sonny Dean, who was also on the bench.

It was only after Dean had high-fived that he realized the person who had high-fived him was Wang Lie...

He was a little embarrassed, but he quickly covered it up by finding another person to high-five, and at the same time passed on Wang Lie's slap to his teammate.

Joshua Parker was originally very happy to celebrate with Dean by high-fiving him, but when Dean slapped his hand, he almost screamed in pain, and then he looked at Dean's back with a grin, wondering what was wrong with this kid, it was just a celebration, are you going to slap me to death? !
Parker was in so much pain that he could only clench his fists, bend over and scream.

But in the eyes of outsiders, this must be the extreme excitement about Vitini's goal.

When Vitini rushed to the bench, Wang Lie was applauding him. He pointed at Wang Lie and then jumped over.

Wang Lie didn't expect this guy to be so reckless, and he quickly opened his arms, but it was too late for him to lunge to steady his center of gravity, and the sweaty Vitini rushed in...

Wang Lie felt the impact from the 22-year-old young man and his body leaned backwards. Fortunately, his teammates were behind him and helped him stabilize his center of gravity, so he was not knocked to the ground by Vitini.

"I did it, Wang! I did it! I controlled my anger!! This is the first time! The first time!! Ahhhh!!" Vitini, who was lying in Wang Lie's arms, closed his eyes and screamed hysterically.

Wang Lie raised his hand and patted his back, and also loudly encouraged and praised him: "Well done! Vitini! Well done! You proved that you can do it! Great!"

Vitini was still pushing forward in Wang Lie's arms, and Wang Lie could only support his body as much as he could... Fortunately, he had teammates behind him to lean on, otherwise he would have been knocked over by this "little bull".

It’s so good to be young. It seems like you have endless energy and power to vent. You can even celebrate with all your might…

Sonny Dean behind Wang Lie was bearing the impact of the two people in front of him alone. He was suffering and embarrassed, and wanted to escape even more.

But he was helplessly surrounded by his excited teammates - they rushed up and hugged Wang Lie and Vitini, and he didn't dodge in time and was wrapped up in them...

His whole body was now pressed tightly against Wang Lie's back, with half of his face pressed against the back of Wang Lie's head. He could hear all kinds of roars in his ears, and he felt that his head, shoulders and back had been hit countless times.

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Luo Jin watched Vitini and his teammates on the field hugging and celebrating with Wang Lie and other substitutes off the field, and said happily: "Ha! After Vitini scored the goal, he ran to Wang Lie and hugged him. This goal should be his dedication to his idol. It's great that Wang Lie adapted to the new team much faster than we thought. This is good news!"

Wang Ziqi, who was watching TV, asked his mother in confusion: "Isn't it said that Tyne's nickname is 'Mercenary'? Why do they look so united?"

Tang Xingmei explained to her son: "Mercenaries are not fighting among themselves all the time. They just tend to have problems when they encounter difficulties."

Wang Ziqi understood: "I understand, I can only play with the wind."

Tang Xingmei nodded in acknowledgement of her son's understanding: "If the ball is played with the wind, Tyne's combat effectiveness is actually not weak."

Wang Ziqi muttered, "Is it a favorable or unfavorable situation today? They scored first in the last game, but were defeated..."

Tang Xingmei didn't answer her son this time because she herself didn't know.

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PS, considering that not all readers are veteran football fans, they may not be able to understand what I write about the flanks, center, and wing, so I use this illustration to help everyone understand.

(End of this chapter)