Ender's Football

Helena seems to take the adjective "little genius" well.

She not only nodded reservedly in agreement with Ender's opinion, but even called him "Ender" for the first time—even though it was "Ender" instead of "brother", this was beyond Ender's own expectations. up.

"So your sister can speak Spanish, and you can speak the magic language," sighed Nathan the little curly, "a magical family."

"Correct me, he and Mr. Lotnikov speak Russian, which is currently the official language of Russia and the fourth largest language in the world. It is used daily by about 5.7% of the world's people." Helena said to the Mexican roll Mao Dao.

"Can you understand?" Nathan asked her.

Helena said with a serious face: "I still can't fully understand it, but I will learn it soon."

Helena's joining allowed Nathan to finally get rid of the embarrassment of being unable to say anything. In the current food chain of the four, this Miss Schneider has undoubtedly occupied the highest position.

Little Curly even started to tell Mexican jokes that weren't funny, trying to make her laugh, but Helena sternly refused: "It's not funny."

In short, the three boys finally chatted stumblingly with the help of Helena from time to time.

When the game progressed to halftime, the score between Germany and Argentina remained at 0:0, and the atmosphere of the game was as tense as the score. Both sides got some chances, but they failed to score.Higuain's one-handed goal once made the Germans cover their chests, and the scene where Kramer was knocked down also caused boos in the stadium.

Ender and the others watched intently, and no one was willing to look away.Helena was bored, she retreated back to her mother, leaving three boys who could not understand the language lying on the railing, sometimes excitedly raising their arms and cheering, sometimes raising their hands and shouting nervously.

Li Mei held her little daughter in her arms, but she kept staring at Ander, who became lively in front of her, with a smile in her eyes.

"Mom?" Helena pouted in dissatisfaction, and Li Mei's eyes fell on herself again.

She touched the braid she had tied into her daughter before going out today, and asked, "What's the matter, Helena?"

The little girl turned her back to her and pouted, but said nothing.

Li Mei ran her hands gently along Helena's hair, and sometimes she could understand the awkward little thoughts between children, but she didn't intend to expose these, but said to Helena: "I was I've been worrying about my brother... He's new here, doesn't understand German, can't communicate with the kids in the youth training team, and is always alone... I didn't expect our Helena's language talent to help my brother, let him communicate Good friend, thank you, Miss Helena."

Helena snatched back her braids from her mother, muttering, "Shouldn't he be the one to thank me?"

"Tonight, I will remind my brother to thank you," Li Mei promised, "I can also reward you with a little wish... um... want to eat ice cream? How about giving you two ice cream coupons?"

"Three!" Helena bargained.

"Yes." Li Mei agreed.

Fearing that the child would get upset if she ate too much cold drink, she set a quota for Helena's ice cream supply at home, which could only be eaten in summer, and only once a week. Ice cream can be changed once.Therefore, there is no pressure on Li Mei to give Helena three extra bonuses at this moment.

Helena was satisfied, she nodded, and then walked to Ender's side.

Ander didn't notice what kind of deal Helena and Li Mei had reached. Since the start of the second half of the game, he has been integrated into the game along with other spectators in the stadium.In the Maracana Stadium, the Argentine team in blue and the German team in white are still fighting anxiously. The spectators on both sides clenched their fists. Every time they miss a good opportunity, they appear to be stronger than the players on the field. nervous.

The score of 0:0 was maintained until 89 minutes. Everyone knows that if one side can score a goal at this moment, it will be a decisive goal.

The little curly hair beside Ender and Alexei was even more nervous than Ender could see, and kept biting his fingers.

"Which side do you think will score?" Alexei asked Ender in Russian.

Ender shook his head: "I don't know, but I'm sure..."

His voice stopped when the next rebroadcast came to the auditorium.

Alexei asked strangely: "What's the matter? Why didn't you continue? Are you watching...? Is there anything special in the auditorium?"

There is something special about being in the audience.

An Asian-faced fan, wearing an Argentina jersey and holding a red flag, flashed across the broadcast footage.

Ender was a little dazed.

Alexei and Nathan beside him didn't recognize what it was, but he recognized it at a glance. It was a flag from his motherland and belonging to New China, the five-star red flag.

This scene was a bit amusing—Ander wanted to smile at first—even though Argentina and Germany were playing, Chinese fans came to the scene holding five-star red flags.

But what followed was endless loss.

In this World Cup in Brazil, the Chinese team failed to break through the siege, and won a ticket to Brazil to participate in the football event in the World Cup qualifiers.Chinese fans who came from afar can only hold a banner that has nothing to do with this game on the field.

Ander thought of An Guoqing in his memory.

It was the young and vigorous An Guoqing, who had just been bought by a Moscow team, a team that could play in the Champions League!For many years, the Chinese team has not been able to produce a player who can stand in the Champions League!Anguoqing was proud and self-satisfied. He pressed Ander's shoulder and said happily to him: "I will be the first Chinese to score in the Champions League! Then lead the national team to the World Cup!"

He also imagined the future ambitiously: "In the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, we only lost three games in the group stage, leaving nothing behind. If I can go to the World Cup in South Africa, at least I will replace our country in the group stage." The team left something—"

However, Anguoqing obviously failed to do so. In Moscow, he began to fall rapidly. In the Champions League game when he came off the bench, he performed mediocrely and failed to score even a single goal.

And the Chinese team did not enter the World Cup in South Africa. In the 2008 top [-] match, the Chinese team was divided into the death group with Australia, Qatar, and Iraq. In the end, they were ranked fourth in the group and were eliminated. They failed to qualify for the top ten. of two places.

As time passed, An Guoqing's name was removed from the list of the locomotive, and then from the list of the Chinese team. Finally, the name turned completely gray and was posted on the candy box of the funeral home. Ended his ambitious and mediocre life.

Contrary to what he once imagined, he failed to leave a mark in the history of Chinese football, and was even forgotten long ago.

"Ender?" Alexey called to him again.

Only then did Ander pull away from his complicated thoughts, and he returned to reality. The match between the German team and the Argentine team was still going on. No team had scored a goal yet, and the score remained at 0:0.

"What's wrong with you?" The Russian boy looked at him worriedly.

Ender shook his head, didn't say anything about seeing his own national flag just now, but said: "It's nothing, the stadium was too loud, I might not have heard you just now."

Alexei didn't know whether to believe his explanation or not, but he didn't get entangled in this matter, and quickly said: "It's time for overtime!"

The World Cup final has been carried out to 93 minutes, the referee Rizzoli decisively blew the whistle, no more stoppage time for the two teams.Since there is no winner, the two sides will play another overtime game.

"The overtime match will last three to ten minutes," Ender explained to Helena beside him. "If there is still no result, the game will finally enter a penalty shootout."

Helena nodded.

At this moment, many people in the stadium have stood up. Some of them bought wine, and some even bought snacks. Some tension and worry could be seen on their faces.

Ender could understand their feelings very well.

When their home team falls into this situation, the fans will inevitably have to worry about one or two things: the 10-minute game consumes a lot of energy and attention of the players. Many movements have become difficult to control. It is often seen that some players cramp and fall to the ground during overtime, or are unable to continue the game due to lack of physical fitness, and some players may even deform their movements, increasing the risk of injury.

At this time, what the team has to fight is not only skills and tactics, but also willpower, concentration and ability to withstand pressure.

Especially in a game that attracts national attention like the World Cup, the ability to withstand pressure is the most critical.Think about it, if you make a mistake in front of the national audience in such a game, you may become a national sinner. Not only will you be mentioned repeatedly in the future, you may even be retaliated by crazy fans .

——This is not alarmist talk. In the 1994 World Cup, a defender of the Colombian team accidentally kicked the ball into his own goal against the US team, causing the Colombian team to be out of the game. Then the player returned to China and was arrested. The gangster fired twelve shots and killed him in the bar, shocking the whole world.

Although this is only a rare case, and this situation rarely occurs in other countries, in the World Cup, the pressure faced by players from various countries is not small.

The German and Argentine players on the court are going all out, and the extra time has come to the 112th minute.

Suddenly, Schurrle accelerated the ball on the left and passed the ball to the goal. The player who was replaced in the second half, Mario Gotze, stopped the ball with his chest, and then kicked the ball into the net!

The fans in the audience are boiling!

The commentator was still guessing the list of penalty shootouts just now, but at this moment he has already cheered Gotze's name in his almost broken tone!What a goal worth a thousand dollars!

The cheers resounded in the night sky in Uwensburg Center Stadium. These Germans were completely excited. Both Nathan and Alexei had been swept in by the cheering crowd. Everyone hugged each other to celebrate, as if they had seen the shining Hercules Cup!

In stark contrast to them are the Argentines, and tears have begun to accumulate in the eyes of some fans.This scene of sadness and joy was staged in the Maracanã Stadium, which was a collision of emotions brought about by the most primitive blood of human beings!

The German fans celebrated like crazy!They have been waiting for two hours for this goal!Waited eight years!Waiting for 24 years!

The young forward who scored the goal ran and cheered with open arms. At that moment, he was the darling of the world and the hero of Germany. All the flowers and applause surrounded him. The figure was shining brightly at that moment.

Standing in the stands, surrounded by cheering crowd and singing songs celebrating victory, he stared fixedly at the smiling faces of the young players on the screen, and suddenly reached out to cover his beating heart.

He had to admit that he was dazzled by such glory.

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