I Want to Be the King of Football

On the evening of August 14, 2002, the Alvalade Stadium in Lisbon.

Wearing dry casual clothes, Su Dong sat in the stands of the stadium with all the teammates of the first team who were not on the roster, watching the game in full swing.

It was Sporting Lisbon's first game of the season.

The head coach Boloni arranged a three-four-three formation, with a small diamond in the midfield, and the new aids Tonito, Nikule and Quaresma in the frontcourt.

Yes, the two forwards who performed best last season, Jardel sat on the bench, and Su Dong simply sat directly in the stands.

It is not difficult to see from this, Nikulei's status in Boloni's mind.

Don't look at Jardel's majesty last season, but as long as there is a chance, Nikulei will replace him every minute.

He is the center that coach Boloni values ​​most and trusts the most.

Su Dong was somewhat envious of Nikulei.

Looking at the preparations and warm-ups throughout the summer, it looked more like Boloni was preparing to help Nicule fit into the team.

At the end of last season, Boloni focused on the tridents Ronnie, Sudong and Quaresma, but now it has become Tonito, Nikule and Quaresma, and Ronnie sat on the bench. superior.

Clearly, Nikolai took Sudong's place in Boloni's tactical puzzle.

In addition to envy, Su Dong is more dissatisfied.

Because Nikolai's performance is not ideal, it can even be said that he is not suitable for playing a single center.

In the face of Materazzi and Cordoba, a high-ranking and fast-paced central defender, Nikulei couldn't even hold the ball.

Tonito and Quaresma on the two wings were also frozen under the freezing of Inter Milan's two full-backs, Koko and Zanetti, and did not perform well, which led to Sporting Lisbon's stalemate on the pitch.

The formation of three-four-three looks like it is going to attack, but the attack is actually a mess.

Not long after the second half, Boloni replaced Tonito with Ronnie.

As a result, the tactical intentions of the Romanian coach are more obvious.

He just wanted to use the trident, just to turn Su Dong into Nikulei.

But the effect is still poor.

Until the 70th minute, Jardel replaced Quaresma on the field, but the attack still did not improve.

Fortunately, Inter Milan also did not perform well, and Vieri and Cuaron did not play a big enough threat. In the end, the two sides shook hands zero-to-zero at the Alvalade Stadium.

Failing to score a goal at home, Sporting Lisbon is not at all happy.

Especially when the team's offense is lackluster.

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I'm not saying that, that guy plays on a completely different channel from us.

After the game, back home, Ronnie was so angry that he yelled at Nikulei in front of Su Dong.

There have been times where I've made obvious enough hints and shoutouts, but he hasn't given me any feedback, Quaresma and I have absolutely no idea what he's thinking, and he never tells us what he's thinking, Tony So does Toto.

It was like we didn't know anything about him and the most ridiculous thing was that the manager asked us to pass the ball to him.

Then the question is, with Materazzi and Cordoba flanking, how do we pass him the ball? What ball? Can he catch the ball?

In the face of Ronnie's soul three questions, Su Dong could only sigh in return.

He knew early on that what Boloni valued most was Nikulei, and he was mentally prepared.

But in fact, when he fell out of the roster, he was in a really bad mood.

He clearly realized that the reason why Boloni valued him at the end of last season was only because Boloni was not selected and his most trusted Nikulei was injured.

Now that Nikolai is back, Su Dong is naturally no longer his first choice.

It was also at this moment that Su Dong really realized the indifference and cruelty of professional football.

There is really no warmth at all!

However, today's Su Dong is no longer the previous Su Dong.

Even if he doesn't mention his impression among Sporting Lisbon fans, even if it is a contract, Boloni can't throw him on the stand or on the bench, so Su Dong is holding a lot of energy in his heart now, just wait and see, when will Boloni let him go? him on.

He's never been a loser.

As long as he is given a chance to play, he will do everything in his power to take advantage of it.

Su Dong believed that as long as he performed well, even if Boloni wanted to suppress him, it would be difficult to suppress him.

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In midweek, the Portuguese Super Cup is held at the Bofim Stadium in Setubal.

Defending double champions Sporting Lisbon face Jose Mourinho's Porto.

Boloni adopted a two-forward tactic this time, Jardel and Nikulei started together, and the team returned to the four-four-two formation.

Obviously, Boloni hopes the team can continue the performance of last season, continue to suppress Porto, and get a good start for the new season.

Su Dong entered the roster this time and sat on the bench.

The game was very bumpy, especially at the end of the first half, center defender Beto fouled and was directly sent off with a red card, causing Sporting Lisbon to have to fight with one less person in the second half.

Porto launched a fierce attack on Sporting Lisbon in the next 45 minutes, and finally defeated Sporting Lisbon 2-0 with goals from Delle and Postiga.

...

After the game, Sporting Lisbon, which had two poor performances in a row, was slammed.

Bear the brunt of the head coach Boloni.

The Romanian coach said in an interview with the media after the game that the season has just begun and the team is still running in.

Sudong? Yes, he played very well against Porto in the Portuguese Cup final last season, but I have to take into account that he is only seventeen years old and we have one less player on the field than our opponents. We need stability more than ever.”

But Boloni's claims are unconvincing.

Su Dong's agent Mendes said in an interview with the Morning Post that Su Dong is ready for the new season.

Since he played the Portuguese Cup final in May, Sudong has been training secretly in Madeira. He works harder than anyone else to improve his strength, and the coaching staff has a high evaluation of him. He has made great progress. He is eager to get the chance to play and show his training to the fans.

Mendes also mentioned the current state of Sporting Lisbon, and he believes there are real problems with the team's offense.

Proposal? I will propose, why not consider Su Dong?

Mendez's remarks were more euphemistic, but he also vaguely pointed out the problems of Sporting Lisbon.

That is two consecutive games, Su Dong did not get a minute of playing time, but Nikulei, who played for 180 minutes, performed in a mess, so how did he serve as the starter?

After the Morning Post published Mendez's interview, Boloni found Su Dong right away.

The Romanian coach didn't mention anything about the news reports. He just told Su Dong that he had been paying attention to Su Dong's training and recognized his progress.

You know, whether it's against Inter Milan or against Porto, it's a crucial game of the season and there's no room for losses, so I want to use a more mature lineup and style of play.

Su Dong couldn't make a face-to-face evaluation of the coach's formation, he just solemnly said that he was ready.

I feel that my state is well adjusted. As long as I can play, I will definitely not let you down!

But even so, Boloni still did not make a promise, but said that he would arrange for Su Dong to play at the right time.

Obviously, he still believes in Nikolai.

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This weekend, the second leg of the Champions League third-round qualifiers.

Sporting Lisbon once again made a three-four-three lineup to face Inter Milan away.

Boloni doesn't play conservatively, he wants to attack because he knows that in a zero-to-zero first-leg situation, Inter Milan will be passive as long as an away goal is scored.

But sometimes things are just so weird.

The more eager to score, the greater the pressure, the farther away from scoring.

Recoba, the super-talented from Uruguay, put on a superb first-half performance, one pass and one shot to give Inter a two-goal lead.

Boloni had no way to retreat. He replaced Jardel early in the second half and tried to attack wildly, but it did not achieve any effect. Instead, he made his goal in a hurry several times, and finally had to give up the risk.

In the end, the away game ended with 0-2.

With a total score of 0-2, Sporting Lisbon was eliminated by Inter Milan and was forced to play the UEFA Cup.

When the news came back from Milan to Lisbon, the whole of Portugal was in mourning.

This season, the Portuguese Super League has two teams competing in the Champions League, Sporting Lisbon and Boavista.

As a result, both teams failed in the third round of qualifiers and failed to enter the first round of the group stage.

Among them, Boavista lost his troops in the summer transfer and lost to Auxerre in Ligue 1. It is understandable, and as the defending champion of the Portuguese Super League, Sporting Lisbon faces Inter Milan, and it is also natural to lose.

The crux of the matter is that Sporting Lisbon is too weak.

Especially the team's offense.

Why Nikulei?

This time, not only the Portuguese media and Sporting Lisbon fans could not sit still, but even several veteran players in the team were faintly dissatisfied.

Captain Barbosa said in an interview that the team's offense is very problematic, which needs to be solved as soon as possible, because the Portuguese Super League is about to start.

Albertini, who has just joined, also publicly stated in an interview with the media that the main reason for Sporting Lisbon's failure of the Super Cup and the Champions League qualifiers is the disadvantage of the offense.

It was a huge blow to the morale of the team.

Everyone knows that Albertini joined Sporting Lisbon because he wanted to play in the Champions League, but now he has stopped in the qualifiers, which really makes him a little unacceptable.

More importantly, after playing Inter Milan, the team's top star Jardel angrily criticized coach Boloni for using cronyism, and publicly stated that he would leave Sporting Lisbon and switch to Premier League Bolton.

Maybe it's not a good time, but I want more credit.

In an instant, Sporting Lisbon, the defending champions, fell apart.