legendary midfielder

Chapter 20 The Burning Flames of War

Today is a special day for Zhang Xu.

At 6 o'clock in the morning, he was about to get up, put on his clothes and shoes, and start his routine morning run as usual.

When he came to the living room, he was startled by what he saw.

Not counting the inside of the big living room, strips of colored lights and colored papers were hung, and in the middle of these colored lights and colored papers was hung a ----- five-star red flag!
Under the red flag, there is a line of red words, which is actually in Chinese: Celebrate the 62nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China!

"This, this, this is James and his wife." At this moment, Zhang Xu was moved. He did not expect that an ordinary Belgian family would spend the night resting for him, a Chinese player from the far east, and specially arranged this scene in the living room to celebrate the 62nd anniversary of the founding of China!
After the morning run, Zhang Xu had breakfast with James and his wife.

"Thank you!" Zhang Xu bowed sincerely to James and his wife: "Thank you!"

"Haha," old James laughed, "You're welcome! We're a family, kid! Your holiday is also my holiday!"

"Yes, child," Mrs. James said with a kind face, "You have been in our house for almost three months. You have brought us happiness and victory for our team. This is just a way for us to thank you."

After finishing speaking, she took a package from the table in the living room and handed it to Zhang Xu: "This is your Chinese national flag. There will be a league match today. I hope you will have the opportunity to show it to all the White Star fans!"

"There must be a chance!" The corners of Zhang Xu's eyes were a little moist, and he solemnly wrapped up the package with a firm and forceful tone.

Since the away game against Antwerp in the eighth round of the league will be held at 7:[-] in the evening, the team's training in the morning is very simple, just some recovery training.

After lunch, after a brief rest, the team boarded the bus and headed to Antwerp.

Speaking of Antwerp, Zhang Xu's mood is a bit complicated.

Antwerp is actually just a small Belgian club, not very famous in Europe, but most Chinese are familiar with it.

The reason is simple: there was once a Chinese player who joined on loan, and he was Dong Fangzhuo.It is a pity that Dong Fangzhuo failed to succeed here and returned to China sadly.

Zhang Xu also had a trial training in Antwerp. In his opinion, with Dong Fangzhuo in front, Antwerp might be able to make an exception and give himself a chance.

It's a pity that the truth is cruel, he failed and was kicked out on the first day!

And today, he will represent the White Star team against Antwerp, perhaps an opportunity to prove the Chinese!
He secretly clenched his hands, determined to continue his success in this game!

However, Antwerp is not easy to play. It is a satellite club of the world football giant Manchester United. There are two players on loan from Manchester United in the team.At the same time, Antwerp also loaned four players from the French giants Lyon.

These six players have firmly occupied Antwerp's positions from the midfield to the backcourt, and even to the goalkeeper, greatly enhancing the strength of Antwerp's midfield.

Among these six players, there is another player who makes Zhang Xu feel more pressure. He is the midfielder on loan from Manchester United-Paul Pogba.

Paul Pogba (French: Paul Pogba, born on March 1993, 3), a Guinean-born French professional football player, was born in the suburbs of Paris, received youth training in the French second division Le Havre, and became the captain of the French U15 youth team. Paul Pogba has always been known as one of the most promising young stars in the world.

After Pogba joined Manchester United in 2009, some people predicted that he would become one of the best players in the world in the future.But under the brilliant stars of Manchester United, he did not get any chance to play, and spent most of his time in the Antwerp club.

Pogba is an attacking and defensive midfielder who is the heart of Antwerp.He has comprehensive abilities, tall and flexible movement, passing, ball protection and long-range shooting ability, and his playing characteristics are known as similar to Vieira.

Facing such a strong opponent, it would be a lie to say that Zhang Xu has no pressure, but it would be a lie to say that Zhang Xu is afraid.In Zhang Xu's dictionary, there is never the word fear, but only the excitement and excitement of meeting an opponent.

At 06:30 in the afternoon, the White Star team came to the venue - the Bosur Stadium in Antwerp.The Bosur Stadium is much larger than the White Stars' Stade Stadium, with more than 16000 seats alone.However, Bosul Stadium, while large, is dilapidated.

When Zhang Xu followed the team to the locker room, what caught his eye was the rusty wardrobes and the damaged and potholed floor. Even the tables and chairs were as old as antiques.

After changing his clothes, Zhang Xu and his teammates walked out of the locker room and came to the court to prepare for adaptive training before the game.

"Hey, Zhang, look there!" At this moment, forward Henry suddenly pointed to a direction and shouted to Zhang Xu.

Zhang Xu turned his head to look, and immediately froze.

It turned out that the stands in that direction were full of red.Red clothes, red hats, red scarves, red banners, and the most dazzling red five-star red flag!
Under the red ocean, there was a big drum that Zhang Xu was very familiar with. Two shirtless men waved huge drumsticks and beat the drum hard.

This is a Belgian Chinese fan group. After hearing that a player from China, Zhang Xu, participated in the game, they came to the Bosur stadium under the leadership of the Chinese organization in Chinatown to cheer for Zhang Xu.

"Zhang Xu! Come on! Zhang Xu! Come on! Zhang Xu! Come on!"

The red square is not very big, but the neat shouts, and it is in Mandarin, makes Zhang Xu sound so clear and pleasing to the ear.

The delighted Zhang Xu immediately ignored the adaptive training. He hurried to the red square and waved to all the Chinese fans.

When he got closer, Zhang Xu discovered that the banner read: "Warmly celebrate the 62nd anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China!" Another one read: "Zhang Xu, come on!"

Some other small banners read "Zhang Xu, Xiongqi!" "Chinese football, Xiongqi!" and other words to cheer for Zhang Xu and Chinese football.

The arrival of Zhang Xu immediately made all the Chinese fans excited. They waved the flags and scarves in their hands more enthusiastically, jumped and shouted loudly, and even the drums became rapid and intense.

At this time, the other teammates of the White Star team were naturally not polite. They also followed Zhang Xu to the front of the red team and interacted with the fans with Zhang Xu.

Pogba is in a particularly bad mood today.

Although he has joined Manchester United, he has never played for Manchester United. In order to ensure his future, he entrusted his agent to discuss his contract with Manchester United's head coach Sir Alex Ferguson to see if he can ensure his playing opportunities and events.

Pogba told his agent that he would rather leave Manchester United, which made him sad, if he could not guarantee a chance to play.

However, last night, his agent told him that the negotiations had not made any substantive progress. Ferguson, like before, did not guarantee his number of appearances and events, and still said in an official tone that his appearance would depend on his personal status.

Fuck the status!
Pogba is angry!Does my status still matter?As long as you check the data, you can know how brave you are in various competitions!
Pogba, who is already determined to leave, naturally lacks interest in the Belgian Second Division.So, when he saw Zhang Xu and his teammates interacting with the fans on the court, he cocked his mouth and said, "Hmph, a bunch of jumping clowns!"

Then, seeing the waving flag and a yellow-skinned, black-haired young man in the White Star team, he continued to mutter: "Chinese? Chih, can the Chinese play football? What a joke!"

Zhang Xu naturally didn't know that he had been called the jumping beam clown by the main opponent of this game. After he and his teammates waved goodbye to the red phalanx with a smile on his face, he began routine adaptive training.

At this time, he saw Pogba.

Pogba is so easy to recognize, black skin is already very rare, plus a famous cockscomb head, who doesn't recognize it?

This is the new star with the most potential in the world?It looks a little too awkward!Looking at the cockscomb head, Zhang Xu wanted to laugh.

Pogba noticed that someone was staring at him, so he followed his eyes and found that it was the Chinese player. Displeased, he naturally threw a contemptuous expression over.

Uh, what's the situation?Zhang Xu was a little confused seeing this contemptuous expression. Is this guy sick?Well, stay away from him, don't get infected.

The time points to 7:15, and all players return to the locker room to obey the coach's last tactical arrangement.

"Today we continue the 3-5-2 double midfielder formation. The starting players are: goalkeeper Kevin, defenders Alexandre, Vincent Dries, Henry, Zhang." After Mazu announced the starting list, he began to explain the tactics.

"The opponent is very strong. This can be seen from their current ranking. They are ranked third, and we are No.14. Their strongest point is the midfielder, especially the midfielder. This midfielder is called Pogba, who is on loan from Manchester United in Antwerp."

"This player is very strong and is the core of Antwerp. He is excellent both offensively and defensively. Therefore, the key to winning this game is whether Pogba can be restrained!"

"In order to limit this Pogba, my plan is to join forces with Dries and Zhang. Is there any problem?"

"No!" Dries and Zhang Xu replied in unison.

"Okay, let's continue"

At 7:30, the game time is up, and players from both sides enter the field in turn.

Zhang Xu happened to be walking side by side with Pogba. The two looked at each other and separated immediately. Pogba's eyes showed disdain, while Zhang Xu's eyes were full of flames of war!
(End of this chapter)