Football: He suffered a broken leg at the start of the game, but partnered with Haaland!

The next morning, at the secondary training base outside Songkhla Stadium.

Due to strict controls, the huge training base was locked, surrounded by yellow and black striped police tape. Several local security personnel wearing masks patrolled outside with batons. The empty field was devoid of spectators, and even domestic sports reporters covering the team could only film from a few dozen meters away in the restricted area, using telephoto lenses to peer through the barbed wire fence.

The scorching sun beat down on the artificial turf, and the air was so hot and humid that it was hard to breathe.

What should have been a relaxing recovery training session for the key players turned into a freezing atmosphere on the sidelines. Cannavaro's roars, thick with Italian accents, could be heard from a great distance.

"Ridiculous! This is a complete pile of rotten garbage! You're murdering my players!"

Cannavaro, his face flushed, swung his arms and slammed the training schedule he was holding onto the tactics board. He spun around in anger, like an enraged bull.

Standing opposite him was Coach Wang, the senior leader of the Chinese coaching team.

Coach Wang had a large iron whistle hanging around his neck, his face was grim, and the veins on his neck were bulging. He held a large red megaphone and confronted Cannavaro without backing down.

"Mr. Cannavaro, please understand the national situation! This is a long-standing and glorious tradition of our team! During major competitions, we must maintain sufficient physical reserves. Morning exercises must include a 10,000-meter run, followed by tactical drills with the ball! This is called 'Three From One Big'! Today's young players are too delicate; they complain of sore thighs after running 10,000 meters. Back in the day, our old national team players trained like this every day!"

Caught in the middle, the accompanying translator, Xiao Li, was sweating profusely, his clothes completely soaked. He stammered an explanation to Cannavaro about what traditional field training was, then launched into a string of Italian profanities at Coach Wang. The two were speaking at breakneck speed, and the translator simply couldn't keep up.

The young Chinese Olympic team players stood in two rows under the sun, unsure whether to stay or leave, looking at each other in bewilderment.

Zhang Yuning made a face and whispered to Chen Binbin next to him.

"Whose advice should I take? My legs still feel like lead. If I really have to run the 10,000 meters, I'll have to apply for early retirement for tomorrow's race."

Coach Wang, with his sharp ears, heard the commotion in the team and picked up the megaphone to shout.

"Zhang Yuning! Stop whispering! Everyone, stand around the track, at least 10,000 meters! If you're even a meter short, you won't get lunch today!"

Upon hearing the translator finish speaking, Cannavaro rushed forward to snatch the megaphone from Coach Wang's hand, pointing at Wang's nose and continuing to hurl insults. A physical altercation seemed imminent.

Upon seeing this, Sun Yang immediately ran out of the queue, quickly stepped between the two, and forcefully separated them with both hands.

"Coach Cannavaro, Director Wang, everyone calm down."

Sun Yang first reassured Wang Zhizhi in Chinese, then turned to Cannavaro in fluent Italian.

"Fabio, control your temper. Waving your arms around won't solve any tactical problems."

Cannavaro spread his hands, pointed to the schedule on the ground, and complained bitterly.

"Sun, look at the rules they've set! They require every player, whether you're a goalkeeper or a winger, to run 10,000 meters at a steady pace on this hard surface! This is like primitive training from twenty years ago!"

When Coach Wang saw Sun Yang mediate, his expression softened slightly. He still highly regarded this exceptionally talented mixed-race young player, but remained firm in his opinion.

"Sun Yang, you played in Europe, so your technique is impeccable. But you probably don't understand our fundamentals. Chinese players' technique is inherently rough, so on the field we have to rely on our stamina. Without the foundation of the 10,000-meter run, we'll collapse as soon as the opponent charges at us."

Sun Yang didn't rush to argue with him, but instead waved directly at the sunshade outside the field.

"Catherine, bring me my monitoring data tablet."

Catherine, wearing sneakers and carrying a black tablet computer, quickly ran onto the field and handed it to Sun Yang.

Sun Yang turned on the screen, pulled up a detailed thermal monitoring report of bodily functions, and held it directly in front of Coach Wang.

"Coach Wang, let's use scientific data to speak for ourselves. Look at this curve; this is my muscle lactic acid buildup index after yesterday's competition. In modern sports medicine, human muscles are divided into fast-twitch muscle fibers and slow-twitch muscle fibers."

Coach Wang frowned, looking bewildered at the colorful professional charts and English abbreviations on the screen.

Sun Yang patiently pointed to the famous data with his finger and explained it in simple and easy-to-understand language.

"Fast-twitch muscle fibers are responsible for explosive power, while slow-twitch muscle fibers are responsible for endurance. Football is a high-intensity, intermittent sport that combines aerobic and anaerobic exercise. Most of the time, jogging and walking are aerobic, but what really determines the outcome of the game is the absolute sprint speed within the penalty area, from ten to thirty meters. This is entirely anaerobic explosiveness."

"If you make everyone run this 10,000-meter steady-paced long-distance run, you're only training slow-twitch muscle fibers. If you force them to train like this for a long time, the fast-twitch muscle fibers in the players' legs, which are responsible for explosive power, will severely atrophy and degenerate. On the field, they'll be a half-beat slower at the start of a sprint and won't be able to jump high enough to contest headers. This is the fundamental reason why domestic players' legs go weak in crucial confrontations."

Coach Wang was stunned. He had led the team for half his life, always adhering to the training principle of hard work and perseverance. No one had ever dared to refute him to his face with this theory of sports anatomy.

"That's all just theory. We can't create a separate training plan for everyone. That kind of approach isn't practical in China," Coach Wang said, forcing a way out.

Sun Yang's expression turned serious, and he uttered a somber name.

"Director Wang, you guys must have studied Ronaldo, who was called an alien back then, right?"

Upon hearing this resounding name, even the usually irritable Cannavaro fell silent, wanting to hear what Sun Yang had to say.

Sun Yang's voice was clear, directly revealing the truth of history.

"Back when Ronaldo was with the Brazilian national team, the coaching staff had the same training philosophy as you do now. They felt that Ronaldo wasn't making enough defensive runs, so they forced him to do 10-15 kilometer long-distance runs with full-backs Cafu and Roberto Carlos, and even go hiking to train his physical fitness."

"But the three players have completely different positional attributes and physical requirements: Cafu and Carlos are full-backs who need to sprint up and down repeatedly, and endurance is their core ability; while Ronaldo is a striker who relies on bursts of speed and does not need this kind of long-distance endurance training."

"What was the result? Ronaldo's freakish level of muscle explosiveness, combined with this extremely unreasonable endurance training load, directly exceeded the limits of his knee cartilage and patellar tendon! This laid the fatal groundwork for his subsequent several cruciate ligament tears that nearly ended his career! A uniform 10,000-meter training run—this was murdering a talented player!"

These weighty words landed on the training field, leaving all the Chinese coaching staff members looking at each other in bewilderment. Ronaldo's battered knees were a source of pain for all the fans, and Sun Yang's clear explanation of the training principles behind them left them no choice but to believe him.

Coach Wang's face flushed red, and his lips moved slightly.

Instead of embarrassing the other party, Sun Yang presented a perfect solution. He quickly drew a grouping table on the screen using a stylus.

"We don't need a separate plan for every individual, but we can break it down into smaller groups. We can tailor our teaching to individual needs."

"Strong defensive midfielders and defenders who can withstand a lot of physical contact, such as Lao Zhu and Huang Zhengyu, should be placed in the core physical contact group and given more practice in sprinting and powerlifting."

"We need wingers and attacking midfielders who are agile and fast. Chen Binbin and the others will be put into the agility group. They will specifically practice rope ladders and the initial acceleration."

"Zhang Yuning, a center forward with excellent heading ability and who is responsible for acting as a target man, was directly assigned to the set-piece specialization group. He's training on how to break up defensive positions and jump in the penalty area. Good steel must be used where it counts."

Sun Yang clearly and logically arranged the training focus for each position, then directly shoved the tablet into Coach Wang's hands.

Coach Wang held his tablet, staring at the schedule on it, speechless for a long time. He was stubborn but not stupid; this system was indeed scientifically sound. He sighed deeply and waved to the teaching assistants behind him.

"Alright! Since you're the tactical core, and you brought this advanced concept back from Europe, we'll listen to you this time! Old Li, go move the equipment, and redraw the zones and groups as Sun Yang said!"

A tense crisis was averted. The players breathed a sigh of relief and quietly gave Sun Yang a thumbs-up from below.

Cannavaro strode forward, slapped Sun Yang hard on the shoulder, grinned to reveal a set of white teeth, and gave him a big thumbs up.

"Well done, Sun! You're not only a top-notch brain, you could even go straight for the UEFA advanced coaching certification! The General Administration of Sport's decision to force you into my national team roster was absolutely the best they've made in recent years. With you, I finally feel like I'm leading a real army!"

Order has been restored at the training ground.

Following Sun Yang's suggestion, the assistant coaches quickly used colored markers to divide the artificial turf into three distinct training areas. The players took their positions methodically and began efficient group practice.