Ender's Football

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When the coach Mr. Heyman read the starting list in the locker room, everyone's eyes were almost focused on Sieghard, who was not named.Even his starting competitor, another goalkeeper in the team, Nicholas, looked over in surprise, his eyes lingering on the coach and Sieghard several times, as if he wanted to make sure that he heard correctly.

Compared to them, Sieghard didn't show anything special. Although everyone was looking at him, he was as quiet as ever, didn't speak, and didn't have any dissatisfaction, doubt or disappointment. He responded lightly, Then he stood there silently, like an indestructible cedar tree.

Of course, Mr. Heyman knew why everyone was surprised. He patted Nichols on the shoulder with a smile, and said to the boys in the locker room: "That's the arrangement, everyone, our first winter break This game, you have to work hard!"

So Nicholas just stood on the court, and Sieghard followed the other substitute teammates out of the locker room and sat on the bench beside the court.

Everyone thought that he had already known the result in advance, or that he had a very strong psychological quality, so he behaved so calmly.

But only Sieghard himself knows that he has lost the ability to think now, and the chaotic voices in his head can add up to a thousand mosquitoes, and every mosquito is still gnawing at him, and he is standing in his head In the shadows in the corner, I stared blankly at them, as if I didn't understand why these things appeared here.

Sieghard's state lasted for 45 minutes, until the half-time whistle blew, and the sharp whistle pierced the field, and he returned to reality from the nightmare buzz like a dream world.

***

Loel's complexion was not very good.

Or it can be said that it is very bad.

Definitely.

He was the first person to suggest that Sighard transfer to Red Bull. At that time, he was full of confidence, thinking that although Sighard lost his main position due to a serious injury, his strength and prestige were far superior to those of his peers. It can be reused in another club.

——Red Bull really attaches great importance to Sighard. Mr. Ahlbeck personally took care of Sighard's signing process with a sincere attitude, which made Loel a solid sigh of relief.

However, soon, the reality made this uncle, who was quite proud of his nephew's level, stagger when he was approaching the "professional player" exit, and almost fell to the ground.

This was the first time that Loel showed a slightly embarrassed look in front of Ender.

When the game progressed to the opening 10 minutes, he couldn't sit still anymore, stood up, and seemed to want to go in another direction.

Ender was startled by his sudden standing up, he collected himself, and quickly stopped Loel.

"Uncle Loel!" Ender originally wanted to ask him what he was going to do, but he changed his question in a tactful way, "Are you going somewhere nearby? I'm familiar with this place, and I'll take Go ahead."

Loel looked at him. At this moment, the man pursed his lips tightly. Compared with his smile and his usual easy-going amiability when they were in the restaurant a few hours ago, his expression now showed a certain A special kind of coldness.

"I'm going to Mr. Albeck's office."

He lowered his eyes and involuntarily glanced at Sieghard who was sitting on the bench on the sidelines.

After Loel said so, Ender couldn't stop him.

He knows that many agents will negotiate with the club on behalf of their players. He has also heard that some agents will discuss the issue of players' appearances before signing the contract, but those who can do this are generally star agents. Well, Ender himself has never seen this kind of contract, and it is even more difficult to imagine what Loel is going to say to Mr. Albeck.

He rubbed his hands together in embarrassment: "Is that so..."

Loel nodded, his expression gradually softened. He didn't say much about what he was going to do, but asked Ender: "When the game is over, you can talk to Sig, can you two go back to the dormitory directly?"

"...Okay." Ender nodded quickly in response.

The corners of Loel's pursed lips loosened, and he quickly turned around and left.

Ander didn't have much interest in watching the next game. He sat in the audience, but looked at Sieghard on the bench frequently. When the 90 minutes of the game ended, Loel didn't come back, and Sieghard Gerhard had also stood up and walked back to the locker room with his teammates.

Ender quickly jumped down from the stands and ran towards the locker room of the stadium.

He and Sieghard have lived here for almost a month, and the staff in the base know him, so when he ran to the door of the U19 locker room, no one stopped him, and everyone rushed to the footsteps with a smile The boy nodded in greeting, and an equipment management uncle enthusiastically asked him what he was going to do and whether he had forgotten anything in the cabinet.

Ander didn't have time to answer, he nodded roughly, and passed the uncle like the wind, and ran to the door of the locker room.

The door of the locker room was ajar, and the mess inside could be heard talking and laughing from the boys.

Ender put his hand on the door, but he hesitated for a moment. In the end, he didn't push the door open. Instead, he turned and leaned back against the wall next to him. He took a couple of breaths to calm down the heavy breathing from just running.

"Locking room culture" has a long history in the football world. In many cases, this is a private circle. Players who belong to a specific team exclusively, it is not good for outsiders to break free.

So he waited outside for a while, and not long after, Sieghard walked out of the room with his bag.

Seeing Ander leaning against the wall at the door of the locker room, Sieghard was slightly taken aback, then walked up to him as if nothing had happened and said to him, "Let's go."

Ender followed him and whispered, "Uncle Loel has gone to the coaching staff. He asked me to tell you to go back to the dormitory first."

Sieghard paused.

He turned around.

It was only then that Ender saw what he looked like now.

To his surprise, Sighard's expression was very calm at this moment, and he could not see any disappointment, doubts and anger in the starting lineup. When Sighard stepped out of the locker room just now, he even heard him Saying goodbye to a few teammates -- a somewhat rare occurrence for Sieghard this month.

"Sig..." he opened his mouth after deliberation, "Do you want to go back to the dormitory with me?"

Sieghard asked him: "Did my uncle tell you that he was going to the coaching staff?"

Ender shook his head: "He said to find Mr. Albeck..."

Sieghard thought for a while: "Then I won't go back to the dormitory, I'll go find them."

"You..." Ender wanted to persuade, but he didn't know what to persuade.

Although in many cases, in many teams, the head coach does not have absolute authority, and their employment arrangements are likely to be subject to various interference from the outside world, from the boss, and even from the fans. The more famous the star , the head coach will be under more pressure when they are pressed on the bench; but for young players, they do not have such a high degree of attention, and in many cases there is no agent who can turn the tide, so in the eyes of the boys, The head coach is still the most uncompromising adult in the entire team.

The most important thing is, even if Loel can persuade Albeck to directly interfere with the selection of the U19 coach, wouldn't the coach be resentful?

However, Ander is not easy to speculate about what Loel wants to do. Compared with the experience of playing in big clubs, he is far inferior to Sieghard, and persuasion is even more out of the question.

So he froze here, his lips opened and closed, and he didn't say a word in a daze.

Seeing him standing there blankly, Sieghard finally showed a fleeting smile on his face.

"It's nothing," he said. "Although Loel is usually very kind, he is a very experienced agent. He just went to talk to Mr. Albeck, not to the coaching staff to force him to play."

When he said that, Ender breathed a sigh of relief, and blushed in bewildering embarrassment.

"I... I didn't mean that, Sig, not that uh, there's something wrong, but—" he explained intermittently.

"I know." Sieghard put his arms around his shoulders. He seemed to have something to say, but considering that this was a public place, he simply patted Ender's shoulder, "Don't worry, you can go back first. , remember to bring me a burrito."

***

What Loel and Sieghard had talked to Mr. Albeck, Ender didn't know.

All he knew was that on the second day, in addition to their daily routine, Sieghard began to practice saving moves.

He and Sieghard's "Inseparable" team was also forced to dismantle, because when Sieghard practiced on the training ground, Ender had to go back to his room to do his homework, and after he transferred to the new school, he joined the team again. He took a geography class, plus the few courses he had originally. During this period of time, the homework was very heavy, and he had to set aside a period of time every day to study.

Ender began to feel a little uncomfortable.

Obviously, he and Sieghard have only lived in the same dormitory for more than a month, but he seems to be used to having such a person by his side when doing anything.The two of them went to school together in the morning, made an appointment for lunch outside the classroom, and walked back to the youth training center together after school; the training grounds of U16 and U19 were not far away, and every time during training, Ender could look up. Going to the golden shadow on another field, and they will always wait for each other outside each other's locker room, and then go to the restaurant to eat together, chat about football and life, chat about the game, and then go back to the dormitory together.Sieghard's academic performance is very good, and Ender doesn't even need the tutors hired by the youth training center. He always holds his own grammar class homework and pats Sieghard on the shoulder, and then hands the notebook to him. In the past, he obediently waited for Sieghard to help him correct his homework.

They will talk a lot, and despite the aura, Sieghard is just an 18-year-old boy. Like all boys of this age, he likes to play games, listen to pop songs, and do things that he thinks are cool. matter.

Maybe I'm too dependent on Sig.

Ender thought.

He is now lying on the window of his dormitory. Their dormitory is just on the side of the building facing the training ground. Looking out from the window, there is a vague figure on the training ground, constantly falling and standing up. , and then fell down.

He knew that it was Sieghard.