Chapter 143: Others Are the Butchers and I Am the Meat

Almost every year, the debate about the World Footballer of the Year continues.

Not only that, there is always a competition between FIFA's World Footballer of the Year and French football's European Golden Ball Award, which is not only a competition of market appeal, but also a competition of authority.

But it is obvious that at least in the award ceremony, FIFA did a better job. They are so rich that they almost want to turn this annual FIFA awards ceremony into a Hollywood Oscars awards ceremony to increase the influence of the awards ceremony. The red carpet is naturally an inevitable link.

Therefore, starting from the afternoon, outside the gate of the Zurich Television Center, many fans from Europe and even all over the world gathered here. They gathered here just to get a glimpse of their idols.

This is a stage dedicated to celebrities. Stars and former stars, even popular head coaches, are the protagonists on this stage, but obviously, Ye Qiu is not included.

Perhaps in the Netherlands, Ye Qiu is well-known and is regarded by many as an up-and-coming star in the Dutch football circle that cannot be ignored. However, in the European football world, this head coach who only coached Ajax to win the UEFA Cup has no influence at all. He is the kind of passerby who can't make waves even if thrown into the crowd.

Because Ye Qiu was the only one in Ajax who accepted the invitation, he and Eliza were the only acquaintances present.

"It can be seen that our only gain tonight is to let this group of reporters take a few photos!" Ye Qiu actually had a bit of fun in the midst of suffering, because he was destined to gain nothing.

If he remembered correctly, this year's World Footballer of the Year should be Figo, but relatively speaking, Figo's best performance should be last year, but last year it was given to Zidane, and this year many players performed better than Figo, such as Beckham of Manchester United and even Owen of Liverpool, who performed very well.

Sometimes, awards are hard to say, and they can be regarded as the product of various aspects of the game.

Ye Qiu didn't really care about whether he won the award or not, but he didn't like being looked down upon, so he seemed to care.

As a head coach, Ye Qiu felt that no matter whether it was a player or a coach, what could really conquer the fans was the performance on the field and the results of leading the team. Without solid results on the football field, how could the fame be so great?

"That person, it seems to be looking for you!" Eliza, wearing a sexy evening dress, stood beside Ye Qiu, noticed a person walking in the distance, and gently bumped Ye Qiu's arm.

Ye Qiu looked over and the person had already approached. It was Bayern Munich's head coach Hitzfeld.

"Hello, young Ajax head coach!" Hitzfeld smiled and took the initiative to extend his hand.

After winning the UEFA's best coach of the season, everyone knew that he was the FIFA's best coach of the year. Hitzfeld was able to lead Dortmund and Bayern Munich to win the Champions League successively, and he performed so well in 1999 and almost won the Champions League. Just for this achievement and strength, he is a world-famous coach.

"Hello, Mr. Hitzfeld!" Ye Qiu was still a little polite to his senior.

"I have always hoped to have a chance to talk to you." Hitzfeld said with a smile. As early as after the game at the Arena Stadium, Hitzfeld mentioned this matter. Now he mentioned it again, looked around and laughed, "I didn't expect that we would meet in such an occasion."

"It's really uncomfortable. It always gives me a feeling that you are the winner and I am the loser. Little did I know that I am still undefeated!" Ye Qiu laughed and retorted. He always felt that he was very depressed to let Hitzfeld win all the awards.

Hitzfeld naturally understood what Ye Qiu meant. Bayern Munich encountered Ajax twice, one loss and one draw. Such a result is not a good result for Bayern Munich, and it can even be said to be a bit bad.

"Mr. Ye Qiu, I actually want to talk to you about Lucio!" Hitzfeld said.

Ye Qiu's heart was clenched. This was what he was most afraid of happening, but he didn't expect it to happen.

In the eyes of many people, Lucio, the central defender, is worthless. It can even be said that he will be criticized by many people as an unqualified central defender. But the problem is that in the eyes of many people who know the goods, Lucio is a treasure, a treasure of inestimable value. The key is how you use him.

After joining Ajax for a year and a half, Lucio's impetuous and reckless habits have been corrected a lot, and his understanding of the game, reading of the situation, and his overall view are constantly improving. This makes Lucio, although now only the core of Ajax's defense, more and more like a general.

A central defender with a stable defense, super one-on-one defense ability, and the ability to suddenly carry the ball forward for more than 10 meters, how great is this tactical value, real coaches can understand.

Bayern Munich is now short of central defenders, especially those with height and air control. Judging from the characteristics shown by Lucio, he and this group of central defenders of Bayern Munich can form a good complementary combination.

"There's nothing to talk about!" Ye Qiu refused with a smile, "He is the core of our defense, we won't sell him!"

After hearing this, Heathfield was not angry, but laughed. His smile gave people a feeling that Ye Qiu was too young and too presumptuous, because since the Bosman Act, has Ajax ever had any non-saleable players?

This is a very sad thing. When a club sells people as a habit, it is easy to give people the feeling that there are no non-saleable players and anyone can sell them at will. Today's Ajax is such a player supermarket.

"Think about it again. I think we will talk to Mr. Van Praag at the right time!"

After Heathfield finished speaking, he turned around and walked away.

"It seems that they are eyeing Lucio!" Eliza heard from beginning to end, and she felt that Heathfield was serious.

Ye Qiu smiled bitterly. Before he could say anything, Eliza bumped his arm again, and saw another person approaching, who was Ferguson with a red face.

Interestingly, Bayern Munich, Manchester United and Ajax were in the same group in the Champions League group stage, and both Bayern Munich and Manchester United were interested in Ajax's central defender Lucio. Ferguson came to Ye Qiu this time for Lucio.

Do they really want this player? Or is it for psychological warfare in the Champions League group stage? Or both?

After sending Ferguson away, Ye Qiu couldn't help but think of Dutch central defender Stam.

A large number of fans believe that Manchester United's sale of Stam was a mediocre move by Ferguson. In fact, Ye Qiu thinks that Ferguson's sale of Stam is not a big problem in itself, because Stam's state has declined greatly after helping Manchester United win the treble.

From the data, Stam averaged 48 tackles per game in the 98/99 season, and played 15 times in total last season, averaging 15 times per game, while the number of tackles dropped from 13 to 8 and then to 4.7. Overall, his performance at Manchester United has been declining year by year, because he has won the treble and needs new stimulation.

Therefore, we cannot judge from his performance after transferring to Serie A that he can have the same outstanding performance in the Premier League.

Of course, Ferguson must have made a mistake in selling Stam, but the mistake was not in selling people, but in not replenishing Manchester United's defense in time after selling Stam. This is Ferguson's biggest mistake.

After selling Stam, Ferguson once said that Manchester United would not rush to recruit players. He wanted to find a young and outstanding central defender to fill the gap in the defense line and make plans for long-term development. Obviously, Lucio has become one of his goals.

And because of Lucio's Brazilian international status, Ferguson agreed to let Lucio stay in Amsterdam for half a year for the Premier League's work permit, that is, until the summer of 2002, after the work permit is met, he will join Manchester United.

The specific price was not discussed, but Ye Qiu fully felt the depression of being at the mercy of others from the tone of Hitzfeld and Ferguson, but he was strange, I don't want to sell, who can dig people from my mouth?

"One by one, don't think of taking even one player from me, I will fight them to the end!" Ye Qiu said to Eliza viciously after Ferguson walked away.

He didn't mind his players being targeted. On the contrary, Lucio was targeted by Bayern Munich and Manchester United at the same time. His strength and talent are beyond doubt, which just proves Ye Qiu's vision and training level.

What Ye Qiu really cares about is the kind of high-handedness and domineering attitude of this group of giants.

Psychologically, Ye Qiu could understand that it was impossible to get these big bosses to bend over. They were probably relatively polite to Ajax. If they were to treat weaker teams, they would not talk to you at all. They would just throw an offer over and get the players. You had to agree even if you didn't agree.

But understanding is one thing, and whether you can accept it is another.

…………

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It was the first time for Ye Qiu to attend the FIFA awards ceremony. He was not very interested in it, but was completely ruined by Ferguson and Hitzfeld. This directly led to Ye Qiu's mood being very depressed, especially when he saw Hitzfeld won the World's Best Club Head Coach Award again. He was full of complaints.

Hitzfeld got a super high score of 228 points, and Ye Qiu once again became the second place for a thousand years, only getting a little more than half of his, 115 points. Ye Qiu was so angry that he cursed the judges below that they must be blind. The score gap was so big, how could it be only half of Hitzfeld's?

These days, people are really frustrated by comparison.

The best coach of the national team was given to Bielsa. The performance of the Argentine head coach in the World Cup qualifiers was indeed amazing. But if it were based on Ye Qiu's previous life, who could have thought that this favorite Argentina would not even qualify from the group?

The World Footballer of the Year was finally given to Figo. This was also a very controversial selection, but no one could change it.

"Sooner or later, I will definitely get it!"

Before leaving, Ye Qiu did not forget to leave such a harsh word. He did not believe that he would have a chance at such a young age.

Coming with excitement, but leaving with disappointment, Ye Qiu did not seem to be excited enough for the skiing vacation in Switzerland. He was depressed for several days in a row. It was not until he learned to ski that he began to find interest and fun again.

A group of three people started from Switzerland, skied for a few days, and then went to Northern Europe to thoroughly experience the extremely cold and alternative scenery of Northern Europe in the cold winter. Finally, they went to Sweden to see the aurora.

Starting from Kiruna, they went north to Lake Torne.

At this time, Lake Torne has become a good place for tourists to experience the fun of dog sledding and snowmobiling. There are some settlements and camps around the lake. Every year, many people come here to wait for the aurora. The arrival of Ye Qiu and the other two did not attract any attention. No one knew who they were under the thick down jackets, which saved a lot of trouble.

The aurora in Sweden is often very short, sometimes a few seconds, more than ten seconds, sometimes longer than half an hour, and longer ones are more rare, usually lasting for several hours.

At that moment, it was gorgeous and beautiful, especially with the winter scenery of Lake Torne, which looked like an ink painting. Huang Chu and Eliza were both stunned and excited when they saw it for the first time. They stood by the lake and shouted like other tourists to vent their excitement of seeing the aurora.

Ye Qiu was also very excited. The green aurora was so bright and dazzling in the dark night sky, but it was so short-lived.

Perhaps it was because of its shortness that the tourists were so excited. On the contrary, the tour guides and Swedish locals were used to it and thought it was common.

Surprisingly, after watching the aurora, they returned to the hotel. The three of them sat in front of the big window of the hotel and stared at the stars outside the window. The aurora changed from flakes at the beginning to vertical strips later, and then disappeared later, but only the stars stayed in the sky from beginning to end.

Perhaps when the aurora is at its brightest, they are covered by the starlight, but although the aurora is beautiful, it is very short-lived. When the aurora blooms its last brilliance, they will become the brightest master in the night sky again.

This is like life. Most of life is ordinary. Only a very few people can shine brightly at some time in their short life. But after that, the light of even fewer people may be covered occasionally, but they are eternal.

But the question is, after experiencing the brilliance of the aurora, who will still think that the stars are beautiful?

"What are you thinking about?" Feeling a little dull, no one wanted to talk, so Eliza broke the silence.

Ye Qiu sat on her right side. After listening, he smiled slightly, "I suddenly thought, if a person dies in this world, will it be the beginning of another world?"

"Why do you suddenly think so?" Huang Chu was not very interested in this topic.

"Nothing, I suddenly thought of it." Ye Qiu certainly couldn't say that he remembered the fact that he was a time traveler and was exploring the reason.

Sometimes he himself was also very strange, because he knew very well that this was a question that could not have an answer, just as if no one could answer you what it would be like after you died, and you could only feel it after you died.

Eliza showed a thoughtful expression, "Your statement is very fascinating. If death in this world is the beginning of another world, then what will you be in this world in another world? Will the three of us continue to be friends in another world?"

"Too complicated!" Huang Chu didn't like this kind of deep and complicated thoughts, she liked simplicity.

Ye Qiu shook his head and smiled, "I can guarantee that in another world, we won't know each other, and we may not even have met each other. We don't know each other's existence at all, and we are all working hard to live for our own lives."

"Why are you so sure?" Eliza was very curious.

"Because, if another world is exactly the same as our world, then is life still meaningful?"

After listening to Ye Qiu's words, Eliza nodded.

"I think life is like the aurora, beautiful but short-lived. We should cherish life and the present, do whatever we want, and do whatever we want. Everyone should live out their own splendor, just like the aurora, short-lived but brilliant, and even able to cover the stars and the moon, becoming the master of the night sky."

"Although it is short, it is a wonderful life, isn't it?"

After listening to Ye Qiu's words, Eliza was very touched, because she could hear that Ye Qiu's splendor must be on the football field, because he was destined to devote his whole life to football.

Sometimes Eliza envied those who had hobbies, because only with hobbies could they pursue, and only with pursuits could they persist.

She knew a lot of things, but she could never find what she liked.

There was a time when she thought she had found it, but she didn't expect that she was wrong!

After being with Ye Qiu for so long, she knew this man very well. He had great ambitions and fighting spirit, and was always full of confidence. He would never give up easily even if he encountered great difficulties. More importantly, he knew his pursuit very clearly from beginning to end.

The most terrifying thing for a person is to have no direction. Even now, Eliza feels like a lost lamb. She doesn't know which direction she should go or where to go, so she can only take one step at a time.

Now, she really thinks that if she can help Ye Qiu live the wonderful life he wants, it should be a very good thing. At least it can give her something to do, so that she won't live a mediocre life like a walking corpse.

Isn't it?