Whether the dinner invitation was effective was still up in the air. In daily training, in order to give Chen Yingxiong more time to get used to the team and increase their tacit understanding, Popovich even made Chen Yingxiong the core and designed a set of tactics for him to bring out his strengths.
Although he only planned to give Chen Yingxiong twenty minutes of playing time, these twenty minutes might be crucial for Chen Yingxiong.
During training, Chen Yingxiong was still fully committed and never hesitated to exert his strength when necessary, often knocking his teammates off their feet.
But as time went on, Popovich found that his guards had improved their defence and physical confrontation abilities. It wasn't obvious now, maybe they don't even feel it, but that's because Chen Yingxiong has only been with the team for a short time. If he stays takes longer, the results will be significant...
…
Time passed quickly, and a week of training passed in a blink of an eye.
Chen Yingxiong worked hard, but Popovich thought it was not enough.
Because the tacit understanding between him and the team could not be developed in just one week of training. The language barrier made it difficult for them to communicate on the field. Sometimes Chen Yingxiong turned and ran to the middle, but his teammates passed the ball to the position where he was before. Sometimes his teammates pulled to the side, and Chen Yingxiong thought they were going to pass the ball, so he rushed into the penalty area, but his teammates hesitated when passing the ball, and he was offside... There were many similar situations.
If he had a choice, Popovich would rather the first-team coaches "forget" Chen Yingxiong for another two months. During these two months,
Popovich would try his best to let Chen Yingxiong get used to the team, training and playing at the same time.
But it was obvious that Advocaat and his assistant coach couldn't wait.
Popovich guessed that Advocaat was planning to carry out a purge within the team. Although Chen Yingxiong was considered a young player, the contract he signed was a professional contract, so he was naturally within the scope of the purge.
If he doesn't perform well... it would be too easy to clean out such a powerless player with no influence or background.
…
The night before the game was very peaceful for Chen Yingxiong. There were still no entertainment facilities in his dormitory, so he followed the habit he had developed over the past few weeks. He washed up at 10:30, lay down on the bed at 11:00, listened to music for half an hour, and then fell asleep with his headphones still on.
Of course, he was thinking about tomorrow's game, but it was just a thought, not to the point where he tossed and turned and couldn't sleep.
He didn't know that the head coach and assistant coach of the first team would come to watch tomorrow's game. He just simply thought that if he performed well in the game, he would attract the attention of the head coach of the youth team and his status in the team would be higher, which would make his time in Zenit St. Petersburg smoother.
He seemed so calm about the game that he did not even call his parents in China to tell them that he was about to play his first official game in Zenit.
They couldn't watch the game anyway, so they didn't have to worry about it.
…
The home stadium of Zenit St. Petersburg Youth Team is not in the Yudeni Park training base but in the Smina Football School in the city. There is an indoor football field, which is their home stadium.
It was Chen Yingxiong's first time playing football on such an indoor football field. It was a square building that looked like a large warehouse from the outside, but when he walked in, he found that there was a different world inside.
There were stands, billboards and courts, but the grass here was not natural grass, but artificial grass.
There were many such indoor football fields in Russia. Since most of Russia was located at high latitudes, outdoor sports were almost impossible to carry out in winter.
Football, a sport that was very dependent on the weather, could only be carried out indoors. In cold weather, natural grass is difficult to grow, and the cost of maintenance is too high. Even many Russian Premier League teams' outdoor stadiums are paved with artificial turf, so it is not surprising that indoor football fields are paved with artificial turf as well.
It's not that Chen Yingxiong had never played on artificial turf before. Nowadays, many high schools and universities in China had begun to lay green artificial turf, which looked very beautiful. However, compared with domestic artificial turf, Smina's artificial turf is much better and is closer to the feeling of real grass.
There were some people sitting in the stands, all of them fans who had come to watch the game. There was also a group of children wearing the same jerseys, probably students from the Smina Football School.
This football school provided many excellent talents for Zenit St. Petersburg, among which the most famous one is Andrey Arshavin, a midfielder currently playing for Zenit's first team. These children obviously regarded Arshavin as their goal and idol.
In addition to these children, there were many other people, some of whom were holding posters of certain young players and signs with their names written on them.
Chen Yingxiong took a quick look and found that there were still quite a few people sitting in the stands, perhaps several hundred spectators. He didn't expect that there were so many loyal fans in this kind of league... He was a little moved.
When playing youth team games in domestic clubs, the stands were empty, which made the players lose their spirit. The stadium was so quiet that only their own shouts and the dull sound of the football hitting their feet could be heard.
If Chen Yingxiong could read and understand Russian, he would find that many of these people were not die-hard fans, but relatives and friends of the young players on the field...
In addition to these spectators, there were several people who were obviously reporters on the sidelines. They were holding cameras and notebooks and also sitting in the stands.
If I could score a goal in the game, maybe I could become a news figure!
Chen Yingxiong thought as he looked at these reporters.
Becoming a news figure and increasing media exposure may attract the attention of domestic media, and then my parents in my hometown in China will also be able to see news about me... When Chen Yingxiong thought about it this way, he felt it made sense.
Suddenly he saw the reporters change their target, they got up from their seats and ran towards the entrance.
Chen Yingxiong looked over there... and he saw two more people at the entrance.
He didn't know those two people, so he turned to look at his teammates, who were also looking at the two people with confusion on their faces.
Instead, their head coach Popovich came over and talked to the two visitors.
Club official?
Or... a thought flashed through Chen Yingxiong's mind, and he was excited about his idea - the first team's head coach!
Although he watched the World Cup, he had not seen the South Korean team's games, so he did not know Advocaat, the then-head coach of the South Korean team. As for his assistant coach Coul Porter, he knew him even less.
If he was really the head coach of the team, what does that mean? If I can score more goals in the game, I will be appreciated by the head coach! Maybe I will even have a chance to be transferred to the first team!
Chen Yingxiong agreed that he should go to the first team. The youth team was just a stepping stone for him to get familiar with the new team. After he got familiar with the team and gradually showed his strength, he should go to the first team. He didn't come to Zenit to be a youth player.
He didn't know if his teammates had guessed it, but he was ready.
Seize every opportunity to climb up. Play in a real professional league! Become a real professional player! Score goals! Become famous! Win! Become a champion! Become a hero on the field!
Just like I promised my father.
Let my name be known to the world!
He turned around and started warming up, no longer paying attention to the mysterious visitor.
He did not see that when his back was turned, Advocaat and Porter turned their eyes upon him.
…
Advocaat and Porter made no attempt to conceal their identities, so they were not surprised at all when reporters surrounded them.
They came to see Chen Yingxiong's performance.
"Which one is he?" he asked Popovich.
Popovich pointed behind him. "He is easy to recognize, the tallest one, with black hair and yellow skin."
The two men looked at Chen Yingxiong.
Judging from his body shape alone, he does look like a powerful type.
"How tall is he?" Potter asked.
"1.92 meters tall and 93 kilograms," Popovich replied.
Porter was shocked by the data, which was indeed a bit exaggerated.
After Popovich showed Chen Yingxiong to them, he said goodbye because he still had to arrange tactics.
Advocaat and Porter were quickly surrounded by reporters.
"Excuse me, Mr Advocaat, you came to the youth team's game because you have your eyes on a player from the youth team?"
"No, no...we are just here for a routine check..." Assistant coach Porter blocked the way for Advocaat.
"What do you think about taking over Zenit midway?"
"You brought three Korean players to Zenit when you first arrived. Will the team continue to recruit players this summer?"
"By bringing in three Koreans at once, aren't you worried about nepotism?"
All kinds of questions were thrown at Advocat. These media reporters were originally here to report on the youth team league. This match was not worth reporting on, so they were just here for routine work. So there were only five reporters in total. Two of them were from Zenit's official website.
Because of Advocaat's arrival, these reporters surrounded him like a pack of hungry wolves. They had an opportunity that others didn't have. You know, many media wanted to interview Advocat during this period, but he declined because he was too busy with work. Now that the man was blocked at the edge of the court, could he still run away?
Advocaat reluctantly answered a few questions, then told reporters that the game was about to start and he was going to watch the game. If they had any questions, they could ask him after the game, but now they should give him some quiet space...
The reporters then let him go.
…
Today, Zenit St. Petersburg's opponent was the Tomsk Youth Team. In the Youth League, Zenit is currently first, Dinamo Makhachkala is second, and Tomsk is third. The points of the three teams are 42 points, 41 points, and 39 points respectively.
Chen Yingxiong stood on the sidelines and formed a circle with his teammates, surrounding head coach Popovich in the middle.
Borovickia and Petzera were standing next to the coaching booth, and behind them were reporters sniffing around for news.
They all knew that the head coach of the first team suddenly came to the sidelines of the youth team's game for a reason. Maybe he took a fancy to a player in the youth team? He was going to make an in-depth investigation. Who in the youth team was worth mobilizing so many troops for?
With the first-team head coach nearby, all the players stood straight and listened carefully to Popovich's tactical arrangements.
Popovich was writing and drawing on the tactical board, explaining the tactics of the game to the players.
The tactics of youth games are relatively simple, mainly based on encouraging everyone to play at their normal level and fully display their talents and abilities. Unlike adult team games, there are not so many tactical confrontations.
The results of youth competitions are more dependent on the brilliant performance of a talented player. The media pays attention to youth competitions and will never praise the coach of a youth team for his superb tactics. Instead, they will praise how well a young player performed in the weekend game. Because of the appearance of Advocaat and Porter in this game, the players of the youth teams were definitely going to show their best in the game.
While Popovich was arranging tactics, he looked up at Chen Yingxiong and found that the boy seemed very excited and eager to try.
This guy doesn't seem nervous at all...