Frenzy [football]

Perhaps the Brazilian team is indeed very strong, winning honors again and again in the World Cup.

But here is still just the third world of football.

In this world, there are hundreds of millions of fans, but the eyes of the fans are not gathered here.Most of them will not follow the Brazilian league, nor will they follow the club competitions in South America.

Although, there are many good teams here.

And the players playing in Brazil are the busiest players in the world, they almost never rest from January to December.

But most people don't even know which one is more heavyweight, the South American Club Cup or the South American Libertadores Cup.

Most people also don't know anything about the annual South American champions.

More people only care about the five major leagues in Europe, and only pay attention to the European Champions Cup every season.

The top three Ballon d'Or awards are only awarded to players who play in Europe every year.

If there's anything more frustrating it's... when a player who's only played in South America is confronted by a player who's played for a big club in Europe, the commentator will lament that the player didn't even play in Europe Even kicked the ball for 1 minute on the ground.And in every word, he revealed that he thinks that the two are not at the same level of players.

People seem to think that if a player hasn't played in Europe's top leagues, then... he can't be called a world-class player.

All of this is completely different from the world that Lei Yi thinks.

That made Lei Yi feel as if he was blindfolded and diving from high altitude.Falling at high speed in the air but not knowing when it will be hit on the water, until...all that comes.

"boom,,!!!!"

Just like that, he was smashed into the water surface as hard as cement.Suddenly, at a loss.

[From the spring of next year, I will play for Inter Milan in Serie A.Hurry up and grow up, I'll be waiting for you in Europe.If possible, I hope we will have the opportunity to play for the same team again. ] These were the last words Domingos said to Lei Yi before he left.

That made Lei Yi unable to recover for a long time until he walked into his own house.

"My son is back! Mom made a lot of dishes today! Come and see, they are all your favorites!!"

When Lei Yi walked into the house, he smelled the aroma of food that made him feel relaxed.His mom made him a lot of big dinners that he never would have cooked when he was alone in São Paulo.But Lei Yi didn't feel hungry at all, he looked at his mother in confusion, as if he wanted to get answers to many questions from her.

"Your third uncle, aunt, and many relatives at home called me long-distance yesterday! And I praised you for playing football well! They praised you for being a good person! They also said that after winning this game, You will be able to represent the national team in the World Cup next year! You see, my mother specially cooked small rib soup for you today! There are fried shrimp in oil!"

Lei Yi's mother wiped her hands, then took off her apron, and brought out the dishes in a very good mood.Seeing Lei Yi's sullen look, Lei's mother thought that the stingy child she had slapped Lei Yi earlier had not forgotten.So after Lei Yi helped arrange the dishes and chopsticks, he smiled and said, "Is Xiaoyi still angry with mom? Mom admits to you that you are already busy with training. I shouldn't always let you teach I speak Portuguese. I ask you a question many times. If you explain slowly, you will say that you have a bad attitude and scold you. Maybe your friend in the team is right. Mom should find the Chinese in Sao Paulo. clubs, go to them to sign up for classes to learn Portuguese."

"I... I'm not mad at you. Dominguez said that people are social animals. It's not good to keep you at home all the time. You have to find friends here to be happy." said Then, Lei Yi sat down, and after a long silence, he raised his head and asked: "Mom, tell me... How about going to Europe to play football?"

Lei Yi's mother's eyes lit up when she heard this question, and she asked anxiously, "Is there any European team that wants to buy our little wing?"

"No, it wasn't. It was Dominguez, my friend. He said he was going to play in Europe in the spring."

"Oh..." Lei's mother elongated her tone, which was like a sigh.Then she said: "Then you have to congratulate him. Of course it is a good thing to be able to play football in Europe. This shows that people really think he plays well."

[This shows that people really think he plays well. 】

It was similar words again, Lei Yi's mother's words certainly made Lei Yi understand, and his mother also believed that the players playing in Brazil would be much worse than those in Europe.Lei Yi didn't continue to ask, but picked up the meal thoughtfully, not even listening to what his mother told him to ask him to go shopping with him tomorrow.

It is now the end of November, and only two weeks later, this season's Brazilian Serie A is over.And Dominguez also officially left Sao Paulo, Brazil, and moved to Inter Milan in the Italian Serie A.

He is not the first Brazilian player to leave his hometown to play in Europe.

Of course, he won't be the last.

And he is also an extremely lucky one among Brazilian players, because he can go directly to the Italian Serie A and play for the top three giants in the north of the Serie A.In addition to him, there are too many players who play football for a living, struggling with dreams in leagues that will not receive the attention of world football.

When Domingos boarded the plane to Europe, Lei Yi went to the airport to see him off.And Lei Yi also brought mung bean cakes bought by his mother from Chinatown to Dominguez, so that he could taste the pastries from China on the plane.Of course, Lei Yi was not the only one who came to the airport to see Dominguez off.

But compared to Lei Yi's sadness, Dominguez's other club teammates had smiles on their faces.They laughed and hugged Dominguez, and conveyed their blessings to the player who was in charge of the midfielder on the field, without the slightest parting.

This made the silent Lei Yi look too quiet.

So Dominguez looked at Lei Yi, the youngest in the Sao Paulo team, and paused before leaving the country.

"Aren't you going to give me a hug before I leave, Leiy?"

Lei Yi, who was holding mung bean cakes, looked a little silly at this moment.He had a lot of questions in his mind, but he didn't know where to ask them.So he just handed the mung bean cake to the teammate next to him, and then gave Domingos a solid hug.

"Play well, your future will be very broad. Remember, no matter when, don't forget your dreams."

When the two embraced, Domingos whispered this sentence in Lei Yi's ear.That touched Lei Yi's heart in an indescribable way.

That night, he was in his room, sitting on the table watching the night view of Sao Paulo outside the window, and in his hand, he was holding the set that Pele gave him, worn by Garrincha in the last century. , Botafogo's No. 11 jersey.He thought about what Domingos had said to him, what his mother had said to him, and... the looks on the faces of his teammates when Domingos left.

Lei Yi's football world was once very simple.

Returning to Botafogo once again, wearing the number 11 jersey with Garrincha's name on it, winning every game he could.Then, before he is too old to play football anymore, he will be crowned the king of the ball!

But this era is completely different from the era he knew.The current world football is brand new and unfamiliar to him.

He sat on his desk that night, looking at the night scene outside the window until three o'clock in the middle of the night, unable to figure out what his future should be.And he couldn't figure out what path he should choose for his career.

He couldn't figure it out, so he chose to make an appointment with Bailey to meet on the next rest day.

"I train hard and I always listen to the coach."

"I don't go to nightclubs, I don't drink, I don't even drink a drop of beer."

"I try to win every game I can for my team."

"But...my friend told me that if it was just like this, I would never be able to achieve my dream."

At Bailey's home in Santos, Sao Paulo, Lei Yi said this sentence by sentence, and he said it very seriously.And he has no reservations about Bailey's confusion at this time.

When he said this, Bailey was sitting on a deck chair placed in the yard, feeling the warm sunshine that God bestowed on Brazil.

"I always thought that Brazil was the football player's paradise. But now someone tells me that this paradise is forgotten, the third world of football. Here, even though I have become the strongest person, People don't think I'm the all-powerful football king."

"I feel confused from your words, child." Bailey put his hand on the armrest of the recliner, and he moved his fingers lightly, then opened his eyes and turned to Lei Yi, and continued: "And, I also feel curiosity in your words. You are curious about European football."

Obviously, Bailey's sentence is different from what Lei Yi thought before, and any answer he might get is different.He froze for a moment, then thought quietly for a moment, smiled a little embarrassedly, but also bravely admitted: "Yes, I am curious about that world."

"Well, since you're curious, why don't you go and have a look?"

Bailey's words were taken for granted, and he didn't even understand what was bothering the kid in front of him whose playing style was exactly the same as Manuel's.