Xia Ruofei and Zhou Leiyun walked to the sidelines together, and the match between the teams officially began.
However, after witnessing Xia Ruofei's amazing free kick performance, everyone was somewhat absent-minded. When the assistant managers were dividing into groups, they even mispronounced two names.
If it had been a well-known star player who showed such footwork, everyone would have been amazed, but the shock would not have been so great. However, Xia Ruofei had not even played professional football for a day. Now, he was one of the owners of the club, but his footwork was better than the core of the team's main midfield. How could anyone live with this?
Ruby stood on the sidelines with Xia Ruofei and Zhou Leiyun, while Jiang Xiaochen acted as their translator.
Zhou Leiyun said to Xia Ruofei, "Boss Xia, I didn't expect this! Your football skills are so good! Why didn't you play professional football in the first place? "
Xia Ruofei waved his hand and said with a smile, "I just played for fun. I can't compare to professionals. And the domestic football environment back then … You know, there were not many people who were willing to play football professionally. "
Zhou Leiyun said with emotion, "Yes! Although the Chinese Super League players are making a lot of money now, there is a serious gap in our country's football talent. After a series of dark secrets were exposed, there were not many parents who were willing to send their children to learn how to play football. This is equivalent to a generation being cut off! "
Xia Ruofei smiled and said, "It's okay, we can afford to wait! Aren't there more and more children playing football now? And there are many children participating in youth training abroad. Now that the RCD Espanyol club is becoming more and more famous in the country, it will also drive the development of football. The children who are learning to play football now are the future of Huaxia's football! "
Zhou Leiyun nodded and said, "Our club is also planning to cooperate with the domestic youth training. We hope to select some talented seedlings to enter the RCD Espanyol echelon from a young age and train them completely according to the mature European youth training methods."
"If Huaxia wants to develop soccer, we still have to rely on youth training and the league tournament. Now, the league tournament has a false sense of prosperity, but the youth training has to be done well." Xia Ruofei said, "I think it's a good idea to use Europe's mature youth training system to cultivate a group of football talents for our country. It doesn't matter even if we have to pay a little money."
"Yes!" Zhou Leiyun nodded.
The two of them chatted softly, and the match on the field finally began, so everyone turned their attention to the field.
Today's intra-team competition was not strictly divided into groups according to the main force and substitutes. Basically, both sides had about the same number of main forces and substitutes. Wu Lei was assigned to the team that wore yellow training vests. Their opponents wore training jerseys without vests.
With the whistle of the assistant coach, who was acting as the referee, the match began.
Ruby and the other coaches also focused on the field. In addition to keeping the players in the game, this kind of match was also a good opportunity for the coaches to observe the players' competitive state.
After the game began, the competition between the two sides was quite fierce, especially for some of the peripheral players. Many of them aimed to get into the main roster and play as substitutes first. Whether they could get into the main roster naturally depended on their state in training. This kind of match was a good opportunity to perform.
Not to mention, the two major shareholders of the club were present today, so they had to perform well.
Wu Lei was still playing on the familiar right flank, but he did not have many opportunities to get the ball. His teammates still did not trust him, and his lack of defensive ability was exposed in the last game.
Sometimes, Wu Lei ran into good gaps, but his teammates chose to pass the ball in the other direction. He only played the role of pulling the defensive line.
However, Wu Lei did not slack off because he did not have many opportunities to touch the ball. He still ran with all his strength. As long as there was a chance, he would rush into the gaps with all his strength.
Ruby saw this scene on the sidelines and could not help but secretly nod.
Through these days of observation, Ruby actually had a better understanding of Wu Lei's characteristics. The Huaxia striker might not have a position in a powerhouse team, but in a club like RCD Espanyol, he was still valuable. It was not like the mainstream opinion that the transfer was only for commercial purposes.
Ruby's only concern was Wu Lei's physical fitness and defensive ability.
In terms of physical fitness, Wu Lei's physical fitness was not bad when he was in the Chinese Super League, but he came directly to La Liga after playing in the Chinese Super League. The cycle of the two leagues was different. The European leagues were cross-year, which meant that Wu Lei played a lot more games than other players. His physical reserves were certainly not as good as other players. Moreover, the pace of La Liga itself was much faster than that of the Chinese Super League, so the physical requirements were naturally higher.
Based on Wu Lei's physical data in the team, his current physical fitness was not enough to support the entire game.
Needless to say, Wu Lei was the best striker in Huaxia. However, because the overall training and management level of Huaxia's football was not as good as Europe's, even a striker like Wu Lei's muscle strength was still not up to standard by the standards of European professional football clubs.
This was obvious in Wu Lei's first game yesterday.
But in any case, Wu Lei's attitude in the game was good, and his awareness was very good. He spared no effort to run like this, and he was sure to get good opportunities in the game. As long as his ability to grasp opportunities in front of the goal improved, scoring goals would not be a problem.
As for his physical fitness, he could slowly train. He could play in the starting lineup for sixty minutes, or he could simply come on as a substitute at the start of the second half. In short, there were many choices.
Ruby was still very satisfied with this transfer. Compared to Wu Lei's transfer fee and his tactical role in the team, Wu Lei's transfer was indeed a bargain.
The game on the field continued.
Finally, Wu Lei got a chance to take the ball. It was a precise straight ball from Mark Roca in the backfield.
However, the gap was not big this time. When Wu Lei got the ball and cut inside, the opponent's center back, Naldo, had already closed in.
Naldo was RCD Espanyol's main center back. The black center back did not look very strong, but he was actually very strong. His positioning was very accurate, and he was the iron gate of RCD Espanyol's backfield.
If it was in the past, Wu Lei would definitely transfer the ball away when he encountered such a situation, and his teammates next to him would already be in position to support him.
But this time, Wu Lei's choice was beyond everyone's expectations. They saw Wu Lei protect the ball on his side, and then his shoulder leaned in the direction of Naldo. He actually took the initiative to seek a physical confrontation.
Wu Lei's choice was exactly what Naldo wanted. He also leaned heavily with his shoulder. It was a reasonable collision. Even in an official game, the referee would not whistle for a foul.
Naldo thought that with Wu Lei's small body, he would be knocked away and it would be impossible for him to stabilize.
However, just as the two people's bodies touched, Naldo felt as if he had been hit by a cow. His body was out of control, and he fell to the ground.
Several players could not help but be stunned when they saw this scene. Naldo's posture when he fell was too exaggerated, especially when he was confronting Wu Lei. It was a bit too fake to fall like this, right?
Moreover, the two people collided with each other on their shoulders. Wu Lei did not make any additional moves. Even in an official game, such a confrontation was absolutely in accordance with the rules. No referee would blow the whistle, and it was impossible to cheat a foul!
Wu Lei was not stunned. After he knocked Naldo away, he took advantage of the momentum to dribble the ball into the penalty area. Before the second defender woke up from his daze to cover, he directly pulled out his leg and shot.
The football was like a cannonball that went straight to the top left corner of the goal. Everyone only felt a blur in front of their eyes, and then they heard a swish. After that, they saw that the ball had already spun in the net.
This shot was very powerful, so the speed of the ball was very fast, and the shooting distance was so close that even the goalkeeper almost did not have any reaction. He just subconsciously stretched out his hand and did not make a save at all.
After the goal, Wu Lei waved his arms excitedly.
Although it was a goal during training, the confrontation with Naldo made Wu Lei clearly feel his progress.
It could be said that his current body was fully able to meet the requirements of the La Liga competition, and if he insisted on practicing that set of body-building movements, it would be basically impossible for the La Liga defenders to rely on their bodies to eat him alive in the future.
What made Wu Lei even happier was that he felt that his progress was not only in terms of physical strength. Just now, from receiving the ball, stopping the ball, breaking through, confronting, and shooting. Throughout the process, he clearly felt that his body's flexibility and coordination had also been improved to varying degrees.
When he dribbled the ball at high speed, changed direction, and shot with great force, his control of his strength was also obviously better than before. It was precisely because of this that this beautiful goal was created.
In the past, when Wu Lei often had a chance, the first series of operations would be as fierce as a tiger, and the last shot would hit the anti-aircraft gun. There were many reasons for this, including the lack of physical strength and the deformation of his movements, as well as the poor psychological quality, and so on.
But this time, he completed it almost perfectly. On the one hand, his physical fitness had been improved in all aspects. On the other hand, his self-confidence had naturally increased a lot at the same time as the improvement.
It was no exaggeration to say that because he had practiced the body-building movements of the Golden Man, Wu Lei had gone from a second-rate or third-rate striker who could barely stand in the top European leagues to a whole new level. There was still a lot of room for development in the future.
As Wu Lei ran toward the circle, he turned his head to look at the sidelines. He saw Xia Ruofei applauding with a smile on his face. He could not help but cast a grateful look at Xia Ruofei.
Manager Ruby also felt a little surprised. He was also a little surprised by Wu Lei's goal, but he did not think too much about it. He just thought that Naldo might have lost his footing because of the field. In any case, he certainly would not have thought that Wu Lei's current physical fitness was already able to confront Naldo head-on — that was simply unimaginable.
Only Naldo himself stood up and rubbed his aching shoulders while looking at Wu Lei's back in confusion.
He did not know if he was possessed. How could he not even be able to withstand Wu Lei's small body?
At this time, the assistant manager blew the whistle again to kick off. Naldo shook his head and focused his attention on the game.
After the restart of the game, Wu Lei's chances to take the ball gradually increased.
Everyone felt that Wu Lei was in good condition today. Most importantly, Wu Lei finally dared to take the ball and no longer immediately sent it out after receiving it.
With Wu Lei as a receiving point in the front field, their side gradually took the initiative.
Although Wu Lei did not succeed every time he took the ball, it was a big improvement compared to before. Moreover, his awareness was very good and his vision was wider. Even if he did not have a good chance, he could hold off the opponent's defenders in time and then send the ball to a more threatening position.
Naldo intentionally looked for opportunities to fight against Wu Lei a few more times, but none of them were good. He had almost never succeeded in defending against Wu Lei's head-on attacks. Furthermore, he felt pain all over his body, and he reckoned that many places were bruised.
Naldo could not help but feel depressed. He could not help but look at Wu Lei, who was still active. He thought to himself, Is this guy on steroids today? Why is he so fierce?
At first, Naldo thought that it was because it wasn't an official match, so he wasn't very excited. However, later on, he was obviously competitive. Moreover, he knew that Wu Lei was very fierce today. Every time he tried his best to defend, he still couldn't take advantage of him. This made him a little depressed.
Ruby only let Wu Lei play half of the game, and half of the game was only thirty minutes. Thirty minutes was enough to test a player's condition.
Obviously, Wu Lei's condition was hot.
In addition, Wu Lei kept running up and down from the beginning of the game. His figure could be seen on both sides of the offense and defense. Ruby was also worried that he would fight too hard during the team confrontation and cause physical problems or injuries. The gains would not make up for the losses.
In fact, Wu Lei felt that he was at ease. He was replaced in the half, but he still wanted to continue, even if he scored a goal, assisted a goal, and created a penalty kick in the 30 minutes.
This penalty kick was also when he was playing one-on-one with Naldo. He used a fast pace in the penalty area to poke the ball away in an instant before Naldo could snatch it. Naldo's snatch directly tripped Wu Lei's leg.
"Lei Zi! Well done! "Xia Ruofei said to Wu Lei with a smile.
Wu Lei smiled a little shyly and said, "This is just a team confrontation. The intensity is not that high."
"I see that everyone is working hard, but they can't defend against you!" Xia Ruofei said with a laugh. "The improvement is very obvious! Keep it up! "
"Yes, yes!" Wu Lei said with a heavy nod.
"Okay, hurry up and wash up and change into dry clothes. Don't catch a cold!" Xia Ruofei said, "General Manager Zhou and I should also go!"
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