Becoming a football god from Arsenal

Chapter 256: Deschamps' abnormality! Everything is possible! Against South Korea!
On the evening of October 10, Maher arrived at the Clairefontaine training camp in Paris again, starting another international match day journey.

His schedule this month is quite busy. Including the league game and the Champions League game that just ended, he has to play a total of 1 club games and 1 national team games.

Of course, he will not play in some games. The final degree of fatigue depends on the rotation arrangements of Wenger and Deschamps.

After arriving at the room and settling down, Maher received a call from Deschamps, who wanted him to come to the office.

He agreed, took a shower to wash off his fatigue, and went to Deschamps' office, where he soon met the Basque coach.

"coming."

Deschamps smiled and asked, "Have you seen the schedule for this match?"

"It's too late." Maher shook his head, sat opposite Deschamps, and waited for the other party's next words.

"On October 10, we arranged a friendly match with the South Korean team, mainly for training."

Deschamps stood up and walked to the water dispenser, pouring water for Maher, and said: "The next match is the third round of the European qualifiers against Armenia on October 10, and then the fourth round of the European qualifiers against the Czech Republic on October 15.

"Once this is over, all the European qualifiers for this year will be played, and the remaining games will be put on next year."

South Korea's Maher pursed his lips. It's really hard not to be prejudiced against this country's reputation in various sports.

The "stunning" dance in the 02 World Cup left an indelible shadow on the Portuguese team and many other teams, and also made everyone label them.

In addition, in many other sports, they often become hot searches in various countries, but with an ugly image.

"I looked at your club's schedule. After you go back on the 20th, you still have four games to play. That means there is one game every three days on average."

Deschamps poured a cup of tea and placed it in front of Maher, then said: "I talked to Wenger, he asked me to take care of you and don't get hurt, I think so too.

“So, you only have to play in two of these three games.

"I called you here this time just to ask if you have any opinions on this and to discuss the rotation arrangements with you."

Deschamps glanced at Maher. Out of respect for the player, he wanted to discuss such matters with Maher in advance instead of notifying the player until the game was approaching.

Because Mahel, who has scored 23 goals for the French team, has the potential to break Henry's record in his early 20s if he can maintain his hot form.

Players will most likely want more games and give their all in their preparations for each match.

If we tell the players that they don’t have to play, it will obviously discourage them and affect the relationship between them.

Deschamps might not have this worry for other players, but Mahel is obviously the kind of player who needs special treatment.

"of course not."

Maher smiled and shook his head. “Mr. Deschamps can just make this kind of arrangement. Any player can understand it.”

"Okay." Deschamps looked at Maher tenderly, "Which two of these three games do you prefer to play?
"If nothing unexpected happens, you will definitely want to play in the two European qualifiers, right?"

Maher thought about it, and then said, "Actually, I would rather play against South Korea and the Czech Republic. I haven't played against any Asian teams yet, and I want to get a feel for it. They are all international A-level competitions anyway."

He said this, but what he thought in his heart was completely different.

Having such strength in this life and now having this rare opportunity, he naturally looks forward to competing with the South Korean team and bullying the Koreans. It is human nature to have such thoughts.

As for the Armenian team, although they now have a number of top players such as Mkhitaryan and their world ranking is also good, they obviously cannot pose any threat to the French team.

"Oh?" Deschamps' eyes were obviously surprised. He didn't ask in detail, but just lowered his head to think for a while, and finally raised his head and said: "I respect your idea, but in this case, I will take you with me to fight Armenia.

“If things don’t go right in the second half, you might still have to play.

"You have to think about this. If you play three games in a row, you will definitely miss the two games at the end of this month when you return to the club. You are in the critical period of striving for 3 games unbeaten, so."

"I understand." A bright smile appeared on Maher's face, and he had already begun to predict the game against the South Korean team in his mind.

He is actually quite confident. His physical condition this season is much better than in the first half of last season, so it doesn't matter if he plays two more games.

"There are 10 games in total in the European qualifiers. In previous years, with about 25 points, we can steadily qualify for the World Cup as the first in the group."

Deschamps suddenly brought up a new topic, he stood up and walked to the schedule, looking at it and said: "I said last time that this is our only way.

"We have raised the expectations of fans across the country and even the world at the European Cup. If we cannot go straight through, we will be under great pressure from public opinion.

"Even if we lose a game, we will become the target of everyone's criticism. Our goal is to be undefeated and to be first in the group until the 14 World Cup."

He suddenly turned around and smiled at Maher, "I believe we can do it because we have the best player in the world, a player who can perform well in any arena."

Maher's heart moved and he also smiled. It was a bit embarrassing to be praised by the head coach in person.

However, this feeling is not bad.

On October 10, in the cafeteria, French players were eating their last meal before the game against South Korea.

Maher sat with Arsenal players including Sagna, eating and chatting.

"It's a shame you have to rotate."

Sagna looked at Maher with regret and sighed exaggeratedly, "I thought you could raise your national team goal tally to 30 during this international match day."

"30 goals?" Koscielny, the central defender, obviously had no idea about this number. He said in confusion, "I remember Henry only scored 51 goals. Is Maher going to surpass half of that so soon?"

"When he finished playing other games last time, he had 23 goals for the national team."

Sagna looked at him with disdain, as if he was looking down on his memory. "With his recent form, is it difficult to score 3 goals in 7 games?"

"It doesn't seem to be difficult," Koscielny murmured, shock slowly appearing on his face, and even his eating movements became much slower, as if he was in slow motion.

While everyone was chatting, Maher inadvertently glanced in Giroud's direction and found that the other party was lowering his head with an obviously depressed expression.

He recalled the starting lineup against South Korea, and Giroud's name did not seem to be on it. This might be because he had not gotten much playing time in Arsenal in recent games, and Deschamps was worried about his condition.

"Giroud."

After finishing his meal, Maher called out to Giroud, who was about to leave the cafeteria, and followed him with a smile, "Let's go for a walk together."

"Oh, okay." Giroud was a little surprised, but still stayed there waiting for Maher.

As they walked out of the cafeteria side by side, Maher got straight to the point and asked, "Are you in a bad mood?"

Giroud lowered his head again, and when he raised it again, he was calm, "I envy you guys. Sometimes I feel like I'm not cut out for football."

Maher just took a breath and wanted to speak, Giroud continued: "Although in the eyes of others, I play for Arsenal, was selected for the French national team, won the European Cup, and am a winner in life.

“But compared to you guys, I always feel the blow.”

As he spoke, he opened up and said, "I didn't join the national team until I was 25, and I didn't join a top team until I was 26.

"Sometimes I feel confused about what I am holding on to. It would be better for me to leave European football earlier and go to some platform that can pay higher salary.

"Several Chinese Super League teams contacted me, but I refused. Now I regret it."

At this point, he let out a long sigh, as if he had to let it out. "I've been really depressed recently. After Bale finished his run-in period, it seems that there is no place for me in the club, and my position in the national team is also in danger.

"I saw your sudden emergence, and I also saw Griezmann who was selected for the national team, and a talented black midfielder, I think his name is Pogba, who should be coming soon.

"Maybe I am just a passer-by in this team and Arsenal. I shouldn't sigh so much. Sorry."

Maher listened to him quietly, smiled and put his hand on his shoulder, "For a center player, 25-6 years old, everything is just beginning, isn't it?
"How old do you think you can play until? If you always keep self-discipline." Giroud thought for a moment and replied: "35 years old? 38 years old if you are lucky?"

"There are still 10 years left," Maher shrugged and glanced at Giroud. "Everything is still possible, isn't it?

"Does Platini's European Cup record look difficult to break? Do Henry's national team goal and assist records look difficult to break? Yes, it looks difficult, but as long as you work hard, nothing is impossible."

Giroud nodded thoughtfully, then smiled wryly, "But Maher, that's you, not me."

"I knew you would say that." Maher smiled as if he had expected it, and patted his arm, "But you can score goals for the French team, and you can score goals for Arsenal.

"Keep moving forward, keep moving in one direction, and keep going like this for 10 years. Why is it impossible for you to surpass Henry and become the top scorer in the history of the French team?"

He probably has the impression that later it was Giroud who surpassed Henry and a number of famous players and sat first in the national team's history scorer list.

Giroud's story is actually quite inspiring. He is also a representative of late bloomers, which may be related to his position.

Giroud paused and nodded thoughtfully, as if he understood a lot of things.

"Of course, being able to surpass Henry doesn't mean you can surpass me." Maher smiled and made a clever move, bullying his teammate.

"Haha!" They both laughed together, but it was obvious that Giroud was in a much calmer mood.

When the two returned to the dormitory, a group message made them take out their phones at the same time.

Giroud saw it first, his eyes lit up, and he said excitedly: "Mené has a cold, Mr. Deschamps replaced me in the starting lineup, I am so lucky"

Soon, his expression changed drastically, and he put his hands together and said, "Oh, I'm sorry, Mene, you know I never want you to catch a cold or have a fever, nor do I want you to get injured."

"Ha ha.!"

"Snapped!"

The two laughed again, and this time they even high-fived each other.

They quickly went upstairs to prepare, all looking forward to the game. Their last collaboration was in September.

At the entrance of the Stade de France, more than 2400 Korean expeditionary forces arrived.

Including the international students who came from nearby, there were nearly 3000 people with Asian faces gathered near the stadium.

This game is one that Korean fans take very seriously. It's not every time that they travel to Europe for a friendly match.

After all, there are not many opportunities to meet the European Cup champion, and there are not many opportunities to play against top stars.

Their Asian qualifiers are also in full swing, and South Korea's qualifying situation is a little tense. Fans hope that the team can learn a lot from this game, improve their condition, and thus enter the World Cup in one fell swoop.

“Will Son Heung-min start?”

"The kid from Hamburg? I guess so, but I think he just finished playing in the league, so he should be a little tired."

"Which player on the French team hasn't just played in the league? Maher just played and scored 2 goals and 1 assist."

The fans of the South Korean team were chatting outside the stadium, very loudly, chattering away, and many people passing by would look at them curiously.

"Come and see Senior Ki Sung-yueng!"

"I want to scold Kim Young-Kwon! Ah Si, why would such a talented player go to a Chinese Super League team? Could he have won the Asian Championship in the past? He must have been stunned by the high salary!"

"The level of football there is very low, and the league is just like playing house."

"Hey, I heard that Maher started today. This is really a surprise. It's great to see him."

"I heard that he has Korean ancestry, and his ancestors are from our country."

“Isn’t it China?”

"South Korea!"

"."

After chatting for a while, they gathered together in an organized manner and cheered for the game.

"The Korean team! The Korean team!"

"Blow up the French team! Let the European Cup champions have a taste of our power and make Maher surrender! Western Conference 8!!"

"Aye!!"

"Pa. Pa. Pa.!" The fans clapped their hands, shouted slogans, and walked into the stadium with murderous intent.

The border people following them somehow got into a conflict with the French fans. The two sides kicked each other a few times, but because of the presence of mounted police, the conflict did not escalate.

After being pulled apart, the Korean fans were very arrogant and bared their teeth and yelled at the French, "Go to hell! We will take off your pants, robbers!"

Although the French fans didn't understand what was being said, they probably knew that he was being scolded, so they raised the international friendly gesture.

This scene was also recorded by reporters and posted on social media, and patrolling Korean fans quickly rushed over.

"impolite!"

"Who is it?"

"We have to win this game, we have to show our faces after the game!"

"Kick Mahel over! Let him see the strength of our confrontation!"

“Where is the live broadcast?”

“KT seems to have it.”

“I went to see it!”

"."

Not long after, the buses of both teams arrived at the stadium and the game was about to begin.

On KT, a famous Korean telecommunications company, two Korean commentators also began reporting on this game. Overall, they took this game very seriously.

“Hello, viewers, welcome to the international A-level event exclusively broadcast by KT, the match between South Korea and France!

"The French team sent out almost all their main players today, which is very threatening to us."

"Yes, yes!"

"."

With this, everything was being prepared in full swing, and the players from both sides finally gathered in the player tunnel at 5:15 pm.

Maher stood at the front, looking straight ahead, but was obviously a little absent-minded.

Just now, Isabella sent a message saying that after the game, she had a special news to tell him.

In fact, he didn't need to spend too much time guessing. He quickly thought of the other party's previous abnormality and understood what had happened.

How to do?
This is what he is thinking at the moment. This is not something that can be decided lightly and must be considered carefully. Now he should concentrate on the game and have a good time with the Korean team first!
(End of this chapter)