Football: The immortal legend on the green field

Chapter 1 Waiter

It was an ordinary day in midsummer 2003.

The hot sun painted everything bathed in sunlight a glaring pale color.

It also dried up the water that had accumulated from the brief rainstorm this morning.

Coupled with the light and heat reflected by the flat concrete ground and the rising water vapor, the entire city immediately turned into a huge steaming basket on a stove.

Not far from the intersection of Wenhua Road and Tiyu Road, there is a platform that houses many routes. There are already quite a few people standing on the platform, and everyone is waiting anxiously.

A bus slowly drove into the platform. Across the street, a tanned boy of fourteen or fifteen years old looked around, crossed the street, and hurriedly ran towards the Olympic Center.

Several people waiting for the bus were surprised to see that the boy was not just running, but was dribbling a football under his feet. The ball seemed to be stuck to his feet and did not affect his speed at all. He quickly disappeared in the shade of the trees on the long street.

People all saw two words on the back of the boy's dark blue sweatshirt, but they were badly faded and only faint traces could be made out of the two words: the name of the city and a big "8" underneath them.

People were immediately relieved. There was no doubt that this little guy must be a football player, and his legs, which were thicker than those of ordinary teenagers, were a good proof of this.

The boy's name is Shen Bin. He didn't know that others have already regarded him as a young football player. In fact, he himself has not mentioned to others that he was once a football player for more than a year. As he could not afford the annual training fee of 5 yuan, he was dismissed from the Jia Jia U15 team of the provincial Class B last year.

Shen Bin has completely gotten rid of the title that once brought him and his father some glory and pride.

In Shen Bin's mind, football player! That seemed to be a long time ago.

He has now become an ordinary student like those children who stayed in this city.

After turning the corner and walking a short distance, he returned to a store located at the east gate of the Provincial Gymnasium, which consisted of two connected shops. This store had a very ordinary name, "Aoyuan Sporting Goods".

Because of the temperature, there was no customer in the store. There was only a waitress with a ponytail who was listlessly arranging the clothes on the hangers.

"My dad isn't here?" Shen Bin asked in a low voice across the clothes hanger.

The waiter nodded at him as a response to Shen Bin's question.

Shen Bin walked to the sink next to the door, bent down and drank the tap water "gulp, gulp..."

"Xiaobin," someone called him.

The person who called him was Old Yang, who was guarding the stadium gate. Shen Bin raised his wet face, with a sip of tap water in his mouth. He rinsed his mouth and answered incoherently. He looked at Uncle Yang who walked into the store with confusion and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Your dad told you to go to the stadium when you come back. Another team is coming to the stadium today, and he probably wants to take you for a try. Your dad has been waiting for you at the stadium early in the morning, alas!" After saying this, Old Yang shook his head, sighed, and turned away without waiting for Shen Bin to agree.

I guess he also doesn't approve of Shen Yuanchao's blind cat catching dead mice everywhere.

In the stadium, Wan Anlong, the leader of the A-B Liao Province Tianlun U17 team, was talking to old coach Guo Jiangping on the sidelines of the football field.

"The car went to the airport to wait at noon, and I guess by now..." Wan Anlong looked at his watch and said affirmatively, "They are almost on their way back now.

"Don't worry, I'm more anxious about the left forward than you are. I've already contacted Lu Feng yesterday and am waiting for him to bring Wang Dong over."

Seeing the old coach open his mouth to say something, he added that as long as his family didn't think too highly of themselves, they would temporarily agree to any conditions they put forward.

Wan Anlong was already getting anxious from the loud old man. He pushed the old coach Guo Jiangping to his seat and said, "Coach Guo, you should sit down. It's not a good idea to keep following me around. Isn't it because of the tight budget? Otherwise, I wouldn't have brought four midfielders to participate in the game."

Guo Jiangping was so angry that his face turned red when he heard him say that. He thought that if you bastards hadn't raised the training fee from 5 to 8 per year, it would be impossible for only four players in the midfield to pay the fee.

Now the midfield, which already had no substitutes, got one injured during morning drill. How can we play this game?

Shen Yuanchao stood at the edge of the stands closest to the coaching seats, looking anxiously at the two people arguing below. He had some impression of the old coach with white hair. He had seen him at the U13 A and B youth team championships two years ago.

The Hanjiang team of the A-B League where my son played was beaten badly by the Liaoning Province team led by this old coach, and almost broke the shameful record of the highest score in the history of the provincial team.

He was deeply impressed by this old coach who often called players who performed poorly to his front and gave them a kick.

At this time, the team leader Wan Anlong came towards him with a mobile phone. Shen Yuanchao thought this was an opportunity, and regardless of the security guards' obstruction, he shouted loudly, "Is your team still recruiting people?"

Wan Anlong was so focused on the call with Lu Feng that he didn't hear clearly what Shen Yuanchao called out, nor did he pay any attention to the yelling middle-aged man.

He looked at Guo Jiangping who was still sitting under the parasol. He probably knew he was too far away for him to hear him, so he spoke out his thoughts. "I'm afraid you'll agree to everything his parents ask for, not a penny less of the 8 yuan training fee. You can promise him that he can become a main player of the team when he comes.

If you agree to reduce the training fee, what about the other children who have paid? Anyway, I and the people above me can't lose a cent. If they ask for a refund, you will pay it alone.

Lu Feng, you can't make such a low-level mistake. Besides, the kid hasn't played football for half a year. How can he still be in good shape?

You can't listen to what old man Guo said. Can't you throw in a defender or a forward to replace the midfielder? If we don't count the injured Xiao Sun, don't we still have 16 players? How come we can't play the game?

There are several guys in the team who are like this. They are lazy when it comes to training and their physical fitness can't keep up. Old Guo is still giving these kids physical fitness lessons. It's already this late, and there are still a few days before the game!

I know, I know. I know even if you don't tell me that Guo Jiangping has been calling you.

I'm here and he's been around me all day, so I still have to stand up to him!

You know the situation of the A-B team this year. Everyone charges 8 yuan for training. The A-A team charges 15 yuan a year. We can't take the lead in breaking the rules. Do you want to stay in the domestic football circle?

It's okay, the game is just a few days away, and if the players don't come, Guo will still use forwards or defenders to fill in. "

Wan Anlong raised his face, bulged his eyes and grinned, then hung up the phone. "Fuck it, those idiots in the adult team don't know how to fight for their dignity. If they work hard and get promoted to the A-League, won't I be able to make twice as much dirty money?"

"Pooh, pooh, pooh." It's the training fee. How can we use the words of those people in society to say about ourselves?

unlucky.

At this time, Shen Yuan was clinging to the railing of the stands anxiously, looking at everything in the stadium with expectant eyes, when he suddenly heard his son Shen Bin's voice behind him, "Dad! I knew you couldn't even get into the stadium."

Shen Yuanchao turned around and saw his son coming to him carrying a bottle of Wahaha purified water.

"We can just pretend to be water deliverymen and get in." Shen Bin winked at his father.

Shen Yuanchao's eyes lit up, and he and his son carried 24 bottles of Wahaha and negotiated with the security guard, and were then let in.

In fact, the security guard knew the purpose of the father and son, and let them in just to find an excuse for himself.

The young players who were jogging on the field saw someone bringing water and ran to the parasols to get some water.

Guo Jiangping was asking Wan Anlong for help again. The young players laughed as they saw Wan Anlong making a gesture with his fingers hooked in excitement. This look of a man who was desperate for money was really a vivid description.

"Nowadays, these kids are just like the clay Buddhas in Mount Wutai, spoiled beyond belief, and hard to hire. I would like to hire some people who can run and jump, but where can we find such people now? The kind of people you want cannot be hired. We are not the only team in our province. Dagang Qianda is in the A-League, and all the good seedlings have gone there."

Guo Jiangping sighed! Yes, he knew that Wan Anlong was telling the truth. This was not the time to be picky. He could only do his best to bring the team to the best results.

He sat down on the small plastic chair that Shen Bin handed to him, and suddenly saw that the child who handed him the chair was not from his team.

Only then did he carefully observe this sturdy child, from his tanned body, to his strong legs, and finally the professional sneakers on his feet.

He casually asked, "Which team are you from and what position do you play?"

Wan Anlong, who was handing him a cigarette, was stunned for a moment, and then he realized that the old coach had made a mistake. He quickly said, "This kid is a stadium attendant."

"Back."

One was a casual question, the other was a casual answer.

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Shen Bin was stunned. Not only was he stunned, but everyone present was stunned.

Only Wan Anlong, whose mind had not yet come to its senses, continued to speak: "It's to bring us water."

He turned his head and saw old coach Guo Jiangping using his hand to stop him from speaking, so he suddenly stopped talking.

"Which team are you from?" Guo Jiangping asked again, as if he didn't hear Wan Anlong.

"It's from the Longjiang team of this province."

"Why didn't you play anymore? Are you injured?" Guo Jiangping frowned and looked at Shen Bin carefully as if he was looking at an animal.

Shen Bin would never say in such an occasion that he was kicked out of the Longjiang team because he could not pay the training fees. After all, these are things that cannot be made public.

"The team had been unsuccessful in achieving results, so they started to reduce the number of players. Since I was short, I was dismissed."

"how old are you?"

"Born on August 8, 1988, I will be fifteen years old in a little over a month." Shen Bin squeezed out these words from between his teeth.