Chapter 74: Call-up to the National Team
After the conclusion of the seventh round of the Bundesliga, the domestic league took a temporary break as the national team resumed action.
This season, Werder Bremen's performance in the Bundesliga was decent, and many of their players received call-ups to the national team.
For Werder Bremen, this situation had its pros and cons. While having more players called up to the national team helped increase the club's visibility, the players running between the national team and the club could affect their fitness and increase the risk of injuries, thereby impacting the club's performance.
However, for the club, they couldn't stop players from representing the national team. For many professional players, representing their country was the ultimate goal.
Lin Quan initially thought he would report to the Spanish U-21 national team as before.
But to his surprise, the call-up he received was not from the U-21 team but from the senior Spanish national team.
Due to a shortage of forwards, Vicente del Bosque's national team recruited a large number of forwards for this round of matches, and Lin Quan was among them.
"Hehe, I bet the journalists never expected us to recruit 7 forwards at once, all just to cover for that kid!" Del Bosque and his assistant coach, Toni, exchanged glances and burst into laughter.
If they had only recruited Lin Quan, he would undoubtedly have attracted the media's full attention. However, by recruiting 7 new forwards in one go, Lin Quan would blend in among them, reducing the media pressure on him.
"I hope that kid doesn't disappoint us, or else we'll probably get a lot of criticism from the journalists!" Del Bosque sighed. The team's forward line problems were so severe that they had to rely on a young player under 17, which was truly troubling.
He couldn't understand why Spain had such a strong midfield but such a weak forward line. If they shifted half of their midfield stars to the forward line, Spain would have been unbeatable long ago!
Their speculation was correct. After the announcement of the new national team squad, the media's focus was indeed not on Lin Quan.
"Desperate move? Del Bosque summons seven forwards to solve the team's attacking problems!"
"Can seven forwards solve Spain's chronic issues? Who will be the nuclear warhead of the invincible fleet?"
"Young talent favored by the U-21s, 16-year-old Barcelona youngster may break the national team's youngest appearance record!"
The Spanish media knew exactly where their national team's weaknesses lay, so they focused their reports on Del Bosque's decision to call up 7 forwards.
Some believed it was a desperate move by the coach, while others thought Del Bosque was boldly seeking change by recruiting new players to inject fresh blood into the team.
Supporters and detractors argued incessantly, and the day for the Spanish national team's gathering arrived amidst such debate.
On October 8th, Lin Quan arrived at the training base of the Spanish national team.
Located in the outskirts of Madrid, Las Rozas was in Real Madrid's territory.
As soon as Lin Quan arrived at the national team, he was greeted by jeers from fans watching nearby.
Lin Quan didn't expect to be treated like this and looked over at the fans in surprise.
Huh? They don't seem to be booing at me?
Following the fans' line of sight, Lin Quan noticed a luxury sports car parked behind him, and a stylish man wearing sunglasses stepped out of the car.
It wasn't until the man took off his sunglasses that Lin Quan recognized him as Gerard Piqué, a key defender for Barcelona.
With his trendy outfit and stylish appearance, one might mistake him for a model walking the runway!
"You're Lin, right?"
After getting out of the car, Piqué recognized Lin Quan after a moment of hesitation.
Lin Quan had originally wanted to leave directly, but he unexpectedly got recognized, so he could only awkwardly smile in response.
He wasn't too keen on greeting Piqué; this guy had a questionable character, playing a role in Guardiola's departure from Barcelona. And rumors had it that he was involved with his teammate Gabi's mother...
Regardless of the truth of these rumors, Lin Quan decided to keep his distance from Piqué.
Piqué seemed unaware of Lin Quan's aloofness and thought he was just not good with words. So he opened his arms and gave Lin Quan a warm hug:
"Don't let these guys outside scare you. They're just jealous of our success at Barcelona!"
The onlookers, upon realizing that Lin Quan was also a Barcelona player, increased their jeers.
Lin Quan was speechless. This matter had nothing to do with him originally, but now, thanks to Piqué, even Real Madrid fans were booing at him.
Thank you, Piqué!
With Piqué's guidance, Lin Quan quickly befriended the Spanish national team players from Barcelona.
The Spanish national team wasn't as united as it appeared on the surface; there was a clear divide between the Barcelona and Real Madrid factions.
Many players from both teams were called up to the national team, and since they were rivals in the league, they didn't interact much even in the national team camp, and their relationship wasn't great.
However, there were exceptions. When Morata, a young player from Real Madrid, saw Lin Quan arrive at the base, he came over to greet him.
"Hey, Lin, didn't expect you to be called up to the national team too. I thought I was the only lucky one!"
Just a few weeks ago, Morata and Lin Quan were teammates in the U-21 national team, and now they were teammates again in the senior national team.
As both were promoted from the U-21 team, their relationship was much better than with other players.
"I didn't expect it either. Probably because there are problems with the team's forward line, right?"
Lin Quan glanced at the coaching staff. Del Bosque probably wanted to address the team's forward line issues before the Confederations Cup.
Spain's aging squad was starting to show cracks, and if they failed in next year's Confederations Cup, their chances in the 2014 World Cup would be in jeopardy.
That's probably why he recruited young players like Morata and himself!
"Hehe, I think so too!"
Morata bumped Lin Quan with his elbow and whispered to him:
"Do you think we'll get a chance to play in the matches?"
Being named to the national team squad was just the first step. If they could get playing time after making the squad, that would be a real breakthrough!
"I don't know. If there are warm-up matches, we should have a chance to play. But if there are no warm-up matches, it's uncertain!"
Morata looked disappointed: "The team is going to Belarus for the World Cup qualifier on the 13th. There are no friendly matches scheduled before that..."
"When is the World Cup qualifier?"
"On the 13th of October?"
Morata looked at Lin Quan curiously, thinking, "You're reporting to the national team, and you don't even know what matches the national team is playing?"
"The 13th is the main match. It's only the 8th today, so there are four or five days in between. That should be enough time for a warm-up match!"
Lin Quan leaned on his chin, staring at Morata for a while.
Morata felt a bit uncomfortable under his gaze and couldn't help asking:
"Why are you staring at me like that? We don't even have an opponent lined up for a warm-up match. How do you expect us to arrange one in time?"
"If you're with Real Madrid, can't you discuss it with your team's seniors and have Real Madrid play against us?"
Morata shook his head like a rattle: "Coach Mourinho won't agree to that. Besides, most of the first team players are with the national team now. Real Madrid doesn't have enough players left to form a team."
"What about Real Madrid Castilla?"
"Playing against the reserve team would be like bullying them."
"If we don't bully them, how can young players like us get a chance to play?"
Uh...
Morata was speechless for a moment. This guy actually makes sense!
"Alright, I'll go back and discuss with the team captain and see if they can approach Florentino to make a request."
Morata quickly found Ramos and Casillas, the two leaders of the team, and proposed the idea of playing a warm-up match.
Casillas and Ramos didn't mind. If it was against the reserve team, most of the first-team players wouldn't play anyway.
But if it gave the young players in the team a chance to shine, they were happy to facilitate it.
So the two of them contacted Real Madrid's president, Florentino. The president agreed without hesitation.
On the national team side, Lin Quan talked to Puyol, the captain of Barcelona, and asked him to apply to Del Bosque for a warm-up match.
After listening to Puyol's words, Del Bosque pondered for a moment. He had recruited many young forwards, and the main focus was to assess Lin Quan's match fitness.
A warm-up match would provide a more direct understanding of the opponent's characteristics, giving them confidence to use him in the main matches in the future.
So he agreed.
That's how the warm-up match between the Spanish national team and Real Madrid Castilla was arranged.
And Lin Quan and Morata both got the opportunity they wanted to play.
(End of this chapter)