With maxed-out heading ability from the start, I became the king of Arsenal.

Seeing that Xiao Gao actually adopted the respectful attitude of reporting work and the reverent attitude towards the strong, Sun Yu couldn't force the other party to give him "emotional value".

Sun Yu tried to keep his tone friendly but distant: "Coach Gao, I saw the news about the Asian Cup. Our performance was good, it's a bit of a pity."

[Gao Cangbo's defense penetration value +30]

More than a month has passed since the Asian Cup, but I didn't expect his negative emotions to still be so strong.

However, Sun Yu had no intention of engaging in pleasantries and preferred to get straight to the point, which was more in line with their relationship.

Coach Gao chuckled awkwardly. Even through the phone, Sun Yu could hear the complex emotions of embarrassment, helplessness, and caution in the other person's voice.

Why do great actors all start from humble beginnings, while those high-profile, good-looking actors can only play single, stereotypical roles from their twenties to their forties?

The biggest reason is experience. When a nobody who has experienced the ups and downs of human relationships encounters a role, they can often enrich the character's emotions based on their own past experiences.

Just like Xiao Gao's emotional state at that moment, he didn't lead the national football team astray in front of 1.4 billion people, but the effect was real.

Coach Gao briefly introduced the Chinese national football team's performance in the Asian Cup, and then lamented the problems the team is currently facing.

"Our players' training level is definitely higher than our opponents in the group stage, but they couldn't even play at 70% of their potential in the match."

"Some players play for 90 minutes and are very stable for most of the time, but then for a few dozen seconds they suddenly seem to be under a spell, and their performance is greatly affected after making a mistake."

"In addition, we always have a tough time against opponents who have certain skills and a lot of strength."

The Chinese national football team achieved the expectations the Football Association had for the national team at the Korea-Japan World Cup in the Asian Cup: one goal, one point, and one victory.

This slogan sounds simple, but upon closer examination, it turns out to be a pipe dream.

Meeting these three conditions gives them a very good chance of advancing to the knockout stage, just like the Chinese national football team did in the Asian Cup.

As a third-tier team in this Asian Cup, the Chinese national football team is grouped with Qatar, Uzbekistan, and Kuwait.

Judging from the group draw, the national team is not unlucky.

They drew Qatar, the worst team in the first tier, and Uzbekistan, a relatively weak team in the second tier, while even avoiding Syria and North Korea in the fourth tier.

It's no exaggeration to say that if the Chinese national football team fails to advance from this group, they won't be able to make it to the knockout stage in any other group.

The situation in this group is actually quite clear: whoever fails to get three points against Kuwait will go home. All three teams have achieved a minimum guarantee.

The Chinese national football team lost to Qatar in their second match and drew with Uzbekistan in a must-win game to advance.

According to Xiao Gao's euphemistic way of putting it, when the Chinese national football team faces second-tier Asian teams, they are not afraid of either purely technical teams or teams with strong physical strength.

However, they cannot beat opponents who are physically capable and technically skilled, such as Qatar, which frequently naturalizes African players.

If we can't consistently get points from these types of teams, we have absolutely no chance of winning the World Cup; we'll just have to experience a high-level Asian tournament in the final round of World Cup qualifiers.

Sun Yu could only briefly talk about Stoke City's training situation: "Coach Gao, the quality of training in the Premier League is not much different from that of the matches, and sometimes it is even more intense."

"As I understand it, every team has its own characteristics. For example, Sunderland has very strong wingers and a defensive midfielder with a particularly strong interception ability."

Coach Gao readily agreed: "Sigh, maybe I still haven't fully grasped my own tactical direction."

"I've played plenty of high-quality matches and even had a few good games, but my performance in important competitions has been far from satisfactory."

"To be honest, our players are no worse than our opponents', so why is it so hard to get them onto the team!"

At this point, Xiao Gao revealed his true intentions: "Xiao Sun, I know you have your own career plans, and I completely understand that."

"But can you give me a straight answer? When do you plan to come and play for the national team?"

"With the World Cup qualifiers just around the corner, we won't need you for the two rounds of the round of 40 knockout matches. We might need you for the round of 20, which will be a good opportunity for you to integrate with the team and then push for the final round of 10."

No matter how much the other party pleaded and begged, Sun Yu simply wouldn't budge.

Having watched the Chinese national football team for so many years in his previous life, from newspapers to the internet age, Sun Yu knows better than anyone that Chinese football is a very complex and dangerous sport.

Back when Tiezi played 30 times a season at Everton, he broke his leg during his first training session with the national team.

Could it be that he thought he was playing in the Premier League and therefore ignored the team's rules?

Sun Yu didn't know, and didn't want to know.

He only knew that when his influence in football was not yet large enough, there was no need to get involved.

Football can be very simple when it's easy to understand, but it can also be incredibly complex when it gets complicated.

Only when you can control the fate of the team can you decide your own fate.

Things will be much easier then; winning makes you a hero, losing makes you universally condemned.

Having reached this point, Sun Yu is fully capable of handling everything.

Since Stoke City won the League Cup, English media have given Sun Yu, a key player for the Premier League giants, a lot of attention within three days.

Some English media outlets have suggested that Wilshere is not quite a worthy contender for this year's Golden Boy award. They argue that if Sun Yu had performed well last season and won the League Cup, Balotelli would not have been able to win the award.

As the most commercially successful of Europe's top five leagues, the English media are keen to keep the Golden Boy award in the Premier League.

Because both Messi and Ronaldo have managed to retain the Ballon d'Or every year in La Liga, while the Premier League has not achieved much in the last two years, either in the Champions League or in individual player awards.

As a player who grew up in the English league system, Sun Yu was widely regarded by the English media as the top favorite for the 2011 Golden Boy award.

The fact that various media outlets are releasing this information is essentially a way of communicating with each other, indicating that we must work together to retain the Golden Boy Award next year.

As Sun Yu thrived at Stoke City, he saw news about his former club, Leyton Orient, in the media.

After a disappointing start to the season, Leyton Orient have been playing well recently, climbing from 19th in League One to 7th.

If you make it into the top six, you can at least participate in the promotion playoffs.

Another thing that made Sun Yu both laugh and cry was that Slade signed a 16-year-old Chinese player from somewhere and created a high-intensity training plan for the kid, imitating his own training plan at the time.

This guy is trying to create a mini-Sun Yu by clinging to outdated methods; it's really tough on the kid.

During the training session after the League Cup, Pulis and his teammates clearly noticed one thing: Sun Yu was getting better and better at playing football.

Three days after the League Cup, Stoke City will face West Bromwich Albion at home in the 28th round of the Premier League.

West Bromwich Albion adopted Stoke City's tactic of wearing down Arsenal, engaging in physical battles with Stoke City in their own half in the first half, and then sending out speedsters to launch surprise attacks in the second half.

In the 65th minute, Vela, on loan from Arsenal, scored the first goal on a counter-attack, giving West Bromwich Albion the lead away from home.

The two sides remained deadlocked until the 79th minute when Sun Yu suddenly accelerated to the left in the crowded penalty area, and center-back Olsen immediately closed him down.

Sun Yu abruptly stopped his stroll. Just as Olsen glanced at the side of the road, Sun Yu suddenly accelerated from behind him.

Etherington delivered a cross, and Sun Yu headed the ball into the net from just one meter outside the six-yard box.

1:1.

After conceding a goal, West Bromwich Albion players split into two groups, with the attacking and defensive factions dividing themselves into two halves, which allowed Stoke City to gain control of the midfield.

In the 89th minute, Delap threw the ball out of bounds, and Sun Yu accelerated, causing Olsen to misjudge and miss the header, allowing him to easily finish the game with a header.

2:1.

After the match, most teammates attributed today's game to the positive effects of the red aura.

This is similar to how Bale became the absolute core of Tottenham after scoring a hat-trick against Inter Milan.

Some teammates thought this meant everything was going smoothly, and that when luck came, nothing could stop it.

Everyone has noticed that Sun Yu has become the top favorite for the Premier League Golden Boot.