Chapter 251 The Starting Point of Career

In the Asian Olympic Qualifiers on the second day, the Chinese Olympic team faced the challenge of the Qatar Olympic team at home.

Four of the five little dragons all started.

In their home court, the Four Tigers performed well and led the Chinese Olympic team to defeat the Qatar Olympic team 1:0.

After winning two consecutive games, the Chinese Olympic team ranked second with six points, only one point behind the Korean team with seven points. In the last match day, the Korean Olympic team had an away game of 1: 1 ended in a draw with the Qatar Olympic team.

In this way, the gap between the two teams is not so obvious.

The rules of the Olympic qualifying competition are that the first place in the three groups will directly qualify for the Olympics, while the second place in the three groups will fight against each other, and the team with the best final score will get the last place.

If the Chinese team wants to qualify for the Olympic finals, it must at least finish second in its own group.

However, in the minds of the Four Little Dragons, second place in the group is not a goal. For the four of them, it would be a waste of time if they had to compete with the second-placed players from the other two groups.

It is impossible for them to have so much time and energy to frequently fly back to Asia from Europe to compete.

So there is really only one choice, and that is to get first place in the group and go straight to London. As for the Korean team?

Let them compete with the second place finishers from the other two groups for the last spot.

On February 22 next year, the Chinese Olympic team will welcome the Korean Olympic team at home. This game will determine who is the leader in this group.

As long as the Chinese team can defeat the South Korean team, it can complete the lead.

※※※

After the Olympic team game ended, the Four Tigers returned to their respective clubs from China to prepare for their league games.

On the other side, Zhou Yi's Dortmund also rose to first place in the league after winning the Ruhr Derby.

Because in the same round of the league, Bayern Munich lost to Mainz 2:3 away from home.

The two teams are now three points apart.

In fact, from another perspective, it can be seen that Schalke 04 sent their mortal enemy to the top of the league.

Schalke 04 head coach Stevens has a newspaper on his desk.

It was the local media "Gelsenkirchen", which published the content of the just-concluded Ruhr Derby in an important position.

The accompanying picture shows the frustrated expressions of the Schalke 04 players after losing the ball, while the background is the scene of the Dortmund players celebrating happily.

The title is a bit scary: "Complete Defeat!" 》

The subtitle is "Our midfielder was completely suppressed and had no power to fight back!"

Stevens rested his chin on his hands, and his eyes fell on another small photo in the newspaper.

The small photo is next to the main text and is a close-up photo of Zhou Yi.

The article next to the photo read: "...As the core of Dortmund's midfield, Zhou Yi did not encounter much trouble during the game. Our midfielder could not contain him at all. I think this is the key to the defeat of this game. The reason... Jones worked very hard in the game, but he seemed to have nothing but hard work. A yellow card in the first half ruined his second half. He was too reckless... Of course, Zhou Yi is a very good player, but is it true? Is he invincible? I don't believe that's the case, it's just that we haven't found a suitable way to deal with him..."

※※※

After Yang Muge returned to Schalke, the first thing he did was to call Zhou Yi: "Zhou Yi, I think maybe it would be better for me to leave Schalke 04."

Zhou Yi was not surprised, but said half-jokingly: "That's a pity, we can't have a Chinese derby in the Ruhr area." Then he said, "But actually I don't really recommend that you leave now."

"Huh?" Yang Muge was surprised when he heard Zhou Yi say this on the phone. Because Zhou Yi had always suggested that he go out on loan to look for opportunities to play stably, but at that time he never made up his mind.

Now that he finally made up his mind, Zhou Yi didn't expect him to leave.

"Why?" he asked.

Zhou Yi patiently explained to Yang Muge on the phone. "If there hadn't been this Ruhr derby, Yang, I really suggest you go out on loan during the winter break. But after the Ruhr derby, many things have changed. The weaknesses of Schalke 04's midfield were exposed Wuwei, do you know what it is, Lao Yang?"

"Defense?" Yang Muge guessed.

"Bingo. Why did Schalke 04 lose to Dortmund? Isn't it because they didn't guard me in the midfield?" What Zhou Yi said was really brazen, but Yang Muge didn't tease Zhou Yi because it was a fact. "This is actually your chance, Lao Yang. Everyone realizes that your midfield defense has problems, and you defend in the midfield. Do you think this is your chance now? I think as long as your head coach Steven If there is nothing wrong with Si's brain, he will go to you, there is no need for you to go to him."

※※※

Yang Muge was still a little skeptical about Zhou Yi's firm judgment. He always felt that things would not be that simple - in the Ruhr Derby, if Schalke 04 lost, would he get a chance?

Doesn't that mean, as Zhou Yi said before, that he should still hope that Schalke 04 loses?

But the very next day, when he returned to team training, he was called to the office alone by head coach Stevens!

When he heard that the head coach was looking for him, Yang Muge was stunned.

I never expected Zhou Yi to be so amazing, he was so good at predicting things...

But does the head coach definitely want to find him because of the game? Yang Muge was not sure.

He knocked on Stevens' door with various speculations.

As soon as he entered the door, he saw the head coach sitting behind the desk and motioned to him: "Sit down, young man."

Yang Muge sat on the chair and looked at the head coach.

"How's it going? Are you tired? I know, China is very far away."

Seeing the head coach talking to him in a pleasant manner, Yang Muge was thinking about what Zhou Yi said to him yesterday.

This kind of care is considered...attention, right?

"After resting yesterday, I'm not tired anymore, sir." Yang Muge replied politely.

"I heard you won both games. What position do you play on the Olympic team?"

"Also a midfielder."

"Defense?"

"While defending, we also have to take care of some offensive organizing tasks..."

Stevens seemed to be very interested in Yang Muge's playing style in the Olympic team and asked in detail. Yang Muge also told all the questions and answered all the head coach's questions in detail.

After asking the questions, the two people exchanged a few words, and Stevens asked Yang Muge to leave.

From beginning to end, Schalke 04 was not mentioned, nor was Yang Muge made any first-team commitment.

It seemed like he was just curious.

※※※

But in the fifteenth round of the league, before Schalke 04 faced Augsburg at home, Yang Muge learned that he had been put into the starting lineup for this game...

He called Zhou Yi in surprise and joy: "Zhou Yi! I'm starting!"

"Isn't that great, Lao Yang? Seize this opportunity!" Zhou Yi laughed on the phone.

Hearing what Zhou Yi said, Yang Muge thought of Hao Junmin's advice.

"If an opportunity arises, take it."

"Yes, Zhou Yi, I will definitely catch it!" Yang Muge said.

That night, the group also learned about Yang Muge's starting appearance, and everyone congratulated Yang Muge.

However, Yang Muge did not respond to them. He was not online at all.

"I guess Lao Yang was so nervous that he went to bed very early, so he wasn't online..." Guo Nu guessed.

"Shit, if you were really nervous, you shouldn't be able to sleep!" Sun Pan refuted Guo Nu's speculation.

"If he can't sleep, why doesn't he join the group?"

"The devil knows..."

※※※

In fact, Yang Muge was indeed a little nervous, so he didn't fall asleep, but he was not in the mood to chat and fart with everyone online.

He tossed and turned in bed for a long time before falling asleep.

When he woke up the next day, Raul, who lived in the same room with him, smiled at him: "Young man, are you okay if you didn't sleep at night?"

"Well……"

"The movement of turning over is a bit loud."

Yang Muge quickly apologized to Raoul: "I'm sorry, Raoul, for disturbing you..."

"Are you nervous?" Raul smiled and shook his head, then asked.

Yang Muge scratched his head.

"It's normal to be nervous about the first professional game in your life." Raul waved his hand and said to Yang Muge with a smile: "I was also very nervous before my first professional game."

Yang Muge looked at Raul in surprise. He was familiar with Raul's story. He was selected into the starting lineup in the game against Zaragoza, which was his first appearance on behalf of the Real Madrid first team.

And before the game, when he knew from Valdano that he would start in this game, he still acted very confident and calm.

But that was all news he had seen through other channels. He was not Valdano or Raul Gonzalez, and he did not know every detail of what happened.

Maybe that information was made up by others?

Yang Muge himself didn't know.

"Yes, I was quite calm at the time, but the night before the game I was tossing and turning like you. Thank you for reminding me of my youth again, haha!" Raul laughed.

Yang Muge also laughed. He didn't know if Raoul was really as nervous as him and couldn't sleep, but he was very grateful to Raoer now, because his words made him less nervous.

"Thank you, Raul. I feel better."

"You're welcome, young man. Today's game is the starting point of your career. I wish you good luck in the future." (To be continued.)