"Beep, beep, beep--"
The referee blew the whistle for full time.
Chievo ultimately failed to break through Catania's goal.
It had to settle for a 0-1 defeat at home.
Chievo's players were obviously very frustrated.
The Chievo fans in the crowd looked at the score on the big screen.
Apparently there is no way to accept this reality either.
The full-court numbers are in.
Chievo had 19 shots on goal, 6 on target and 62% possession.
Catania scored a goal on just three shots, one on target, with 38% possession.
The stats are in favor of Chievo across the board.
That's still losing.
It does feel very depressing.
In the locker room, the Chievo players had their heads down.
The new season opens with a blackout, and it's still a stolen one on a counterattack by the other team.
Very overwhelming.
"We wasted too many chances today!"
"If we could have taken our chances and scored one or two, the result would have been different!"
Center forward Orkolini was a bit disgruntled.
He has delivered two great passes today.
Straight away, striker Shalio was given a half-single.
It all turned out to be wasted on the latter.
Shario was silent.
Captain Pelissier said, "The game is over, so what's the point of talking so much now!"
Orkolini was clearly unconvinced: "How it doesn't work, if all the players starting today are in good form."
"It's really hard to say how that turned out."
Pelissier glared at him.
Obviously the person Orcolini was referring to was Shario.
"Who do you think is in good form? Can the intensity of an intra-squad game compare to the league?"
Pelissier argued.
It was then that he noticed that Xu Feng just happened to walk in.
Pelissier said nothing more and walked out of the locker room alone.
Head Coach DeCray walked in at this point as well.
Looking around the room full of drooping players, he said:
"Well, there are multiple reasons for today's loss."
"No one should be psychologically pressured."
"Go back to your lessons learned and train seriously."
"Prepare well for the next league game."
"Next game against Genoa, we're away!"
Get off the field.
Xu Feng did not return to the players' dormitory.
Instead, he went straight to the training room at the team's clubhouse.
Turning on the treadmill, Xu Feng began to sweat.
"Huh, why didn't you go back?"
Head Coach Decray came to the club to write a tactical summary report.
It turned out that the lights were still on in the training room.
"I want to sweat before I go back."
Xu Feng was on the treadmill and said as he ran.
Decrae nodded gratefully, "I know you're ready."
"Patience some lads, not so lucky today."
"Your debut, it shouldn't be too far away."
"Go home early and rest."
With that said, DeCray left.
Xu Feng stepped off the treadmill, dried a large bottle of water, and rested for a while.
That's when his cell phone rang.
"Hey, is Big Ballerina Xu there?"
Xu Feng heard out that it was Liu Suyin's voice.
"It's me, why do you want to get up and call."
"I came here specifically to comfort you."
"I watched the game live."
"You know, I was ready to celebrate when I saw the footage of you warming up."
"How could I have known an accident like that would happen.... Really bad luck...."
Xu Feng smiled and said, "At least I know that I have a chance to play today."
"Next time, if there are no surprises, maybe I'll be able to play, it's okay."
Xu Feng's tone was quite calm.
"Wow, worthy of being a future Serie A superstar, I can't believe you're so calm~"
Liu Suyin said half-seriously, half-jokingly.
"In that case, then, I think that I shall have to witness your Serie A debut!"
"Are you playing Genoa away next week?"
"Yeah." Xu Feng said.
"Good! Then I'll book my ticket now!"
"Hey? Are you going to be there?"
Xu Feng was a bit surprised.
"Of course, Genoa isn't too far from Florence, and I'm just as well off for next Sunday's game."
Xu Feng smiled and said, "Good, then I'll wait for your observation at the arena."
After a couple days of recovery training in between.
A week later, the team welcomed its second round opponent Genoa.
Through these days of training.
Xu Feng once again showed good athleticism.
Especially scoring goals repeatedly in group matchups.
But what the crowd did not expect was this.
This one's on the starting roster.
There was still no Xu Feng's name.
Aside from Pelissier, I'm afraid that in their hearts, many people are fighting for Xu Feng.
Pelissier, on the contrary, supported his brother, Chariot.
Xu Feng has some strength though.
But as the team's patriarch and the team's top scorer.
Pelissier felt that the crowd had not been too high on the newcomer.
The team arrived at Genoa's home stadium in the afternoon and started doing some acclimatization on the field.
Seven o'clock in the evening.
The two teams walk onto the field.
Genoa is an old Serie A team.
If you just look at the history of the founding team.
He is the club with the longest history of building a team in Italian Dull Pear.
Even before Juve and the Milanese duo.
Genoa's strength is very stable, perennially ranked in the middle of the Serie A ranking.
Especially their home ground, the Ferraris Stadium.
It's even known as the Devil's home field.
Last season Genoa had a total of 15 wins in the league.
Twelve of those were at home.
Many giants and powerhouses have even folded on its home turf.
Xu Feng entered the stadium.
Look at the cheering and boisterous fans in the stands.
Everywhere were the colors represented by the Genoa jersey, red and blue.
Xu Feng couldn't help but feel that it was worthy of being the Devil's home field.
Xu Feng had a not-so-good feeling.
Today's game will probably not be too good.
Sure enough, as soon as the referee's whistle blew, Genoa launched wave after wave of attacks on Chievo.
Just 15 minutes into the game, Chievo's goal was breached!
...
Longtime fan, but soccer writing is really the first time I've written it, and I'm apprehensive.
I found very little written about Serie A, so I wrote about it, and may cover other leagues in the future.
I'd like to ask for some flowers and review votes.
It's better if there's a review, and you're all welcome to guide me, it's just that the system keeps jerking around and the reviews are inexplicably gone.
More comments from the big boys are welcome