In early August, Qin Xiong joined Arsenal after reaching the top of Asia. Everything seemed to be going well.
But on the last day of August, everything seemed to be developing on a different track.
Due to pre-season preparations and his physical condition, he was sidelined for more than half a month. He left the field in the first minute of his debut in the England game due to injury.
The media must be adding insult to injury.
There were even football pundits who labeled Qin Xiong as a second-rate product and thought that Arsenal made a bad acquisition.
They blindly believed in the young rookie who had a "magical" performance in Ajax.
Maybe his magic was just luck, a light that occasionally bloomed.
When he came to the England game, his true colors were revealed.
.....
Qin Xiong returned to his apartment, where his private team was waiting for him. The fitness coach re-planned the content of his future training while injured. The physiotherapist was China. In addition to his knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine, he began to study sports medicine after coming to the United Kingdom with Qin Xiong. He formulated cooling herbs to be applied to the wound to help Qin Xiong recover faster.
Qin Xiong called Ali Khan to inform him that he could not return to China to play in the fourth group stage match of the world's qualifiers.
Ali Khan was very concerned about his injury. He was relieved to know that it was just a contusion and he would recover in a week.
Fortunately, China's opponent in the fourth round was not strong. It was Malaysia, who had scored eight goals to China at the beginning of June. The only difficulty was that China was a guest in this game.
Qin Xiong changed into casual clothes and went for dinner after doing this.
Living in a high-end community in North London, Qin Xiong would regularly patronize a mid-to-high-end restaurant outside the community.
He liked the quiet environment there. Every time he ate, the restaurant was not full. He could sit alone in the corner without being disturbed.
Today, he held his fork and did not eat.
He was recalling the game and thinking about English football.
He was indeed a little arrogant before the injury and thought that he understood English football. Even after Vieira reminded him before, in fact, that reminder did not represent any substantial advice.
Be careful?
What exactly should he be careful of?
Now that he thought about it, this injury made Qin Xiong roughly understand the difficulty of establishing a foothold in English football for technical players.
Why was it that a midfield master like Juan, who could thrive in the world's top league, Serie A, could not survive in the Premier League?
Perhaps it was the English Premier League's overly aggressive nature that made it impossible to determine whether the opponent was rushing for the ball or rushing for the player!
The defense in the Italian stadium was not focused on the ball, which allowed technical players to have space to control the ball. As for whether they could break through, it was a battle between the sword and the shield.
But in England, the overall tempo was faster and the players ran to cover a larger area of the field. Coupled with the aggressiveness of taking the initiative to snatch the ball, there was less time left for you to deal with the ball.
But if it was a competition that was absolutely within the rules, Veron or Qin Xiong should be more at home.
Because if the opponent tries to snatch it from you, you can get rid of them in an instant!
Qin Xiong thought so too.
Until the moment he was kicked by Neil Harrison!
Yes, the opponent here would easily lose his body's center of gravity to snatch the ball. Ideally, as long as he controlled the ball and turned around, it would be easy to get rid of the opponent in an instant.
But the opponent was aiming at you, not the ball at your feet. Then you could ensure that the opponent could not touch the ball, but you could not prevent your body from being violated by the opponent!
Of course, not all opponents would do this.
But how did you know that the opponent in front of you would definitely rush for the ball?
With such worries, the mentality would subconsciously protect.
It was very dangerous in the English stadium to stop the attack with inaction and gain the initiative after the attack. You might pay the price of being violated by the opponent and getting injured.
The knuckles of his left index finger tapped rhythmically on his forehead. Qin Xiong still did not touch the food on his plate. He told himself the conclusion of his thinking.
It was time to change his playing habits.
The habit of waiting for the opponent to snatch the ball and exposing a defensive flaw before breaking through had to be changed.
Or refer to the successful midfielders here.
Manchester United's Paul Scholes, Liverpool's Gerard, Chelsea's Lampard.
Their style of play was wide open and they rarely did delicate control and breakthrough changes. Why?
Because they knew to avoid getting entangled with the opponent.
Don't wait for the opponent to stand in front of you to snatch the ball. Before that, you should decisively break through in advance if you want to break through. If you want to pass the ball, you should immediately pass the ball and then move into position.
Never, never give the opponent a chance to get close. Otherwise, what awaited you would be unknown. It was not that you could get past the opponent just because you had outstanding ball skills.
"Sir, are you not satisfied with the dinner?"
Qin Xiong's thoughts were suddenly interrupted. He turned his head to look at the person who spoke.
He saw a black waiter.
The reason he liked this restaurant was not only because of the quiet environment and good food, but also because of the service here.
The waiters here were uniformly dressed in spotless waistcoats and neat bow ties. They had the style of a classical British butler.
The black man looked to be in his forties. He had a soft face and the first impression he gave was that he was courteous and considerate.
Qin Xiong shook his head slightly. It was not that he was not satisfied with the dinner.
The black waiter smiled and said, "I noticed that your leg is injured. Is it because of this that your mood for the meal is affected?"
Qin Xiong looked down at his left calf and said softly, "Mood? It should be very complicated. When you experience a morning full of expectations, but in the afternoon, you are ridiculed, humiliated, and racially abused by thousands of people. Then you fail to live up to expectations and get injured in front of everyone. Hahaha … "
Qin Xiong saw that the black waiter stopped smiling. Instead, his face became serious and there was a trace of respect in his eyes.
He could hear that Qin Xiong did not take the experience he said to heart. It was a kind of optimistic and positive black humor.
Qin Xiong stared at him and asked, "Your expression seems to tell me that you know who I am."
The black waiter nodded and said, "When I was a child, I illegally came to East London with my family. It is a place where immigrants gather. I became a fan when I was a teenager. I support the Charlton Athletic Club. I saw the news and know that you are an Arsenal player, but I don't know what happened in the game this afternoon. I apologize for what happened to you, but I can see that your mentality is very good and admirable. As the saying goes, life always leaves us bruised and battered, but in the end, those wounded places will become our strongest places! "
The corners of Qin Xiong's mouth curled up into a smile as he carefully recalled the last sentence the black waiter had said.
He asked curiously, "That's a great sentence! Who said it? "
"Hemingway."
The black waiter smiled and replied.
Qin Xiong stood up and extended his hand to the black waiter. He introduced himself, "Qin Xiong, nice to meet you."
"Huck Dean, nice to serve you."
Qin Xiong sat down again and said with a smile, "Huck, your temperament makes people feel that you should be a teacher."
Dean smiled and shook his head. "As someone who has been in prison, I can't teach others, and I don't have a very high level of cultural accomplishment."
Qin Xiong's expression was slightly surprised. He immediately said, "Your mentality is also very good. There shouldn't be many people who can calmly say that they have been in prison." Dean nodded.
Dean nodded and said, "Yes, but I don't care what others think of me. I once went to prison for burglary. When I was in prison, I received the bad news of my mother's death. Her last words were for me to be a good person. From then on, I began to study in prison, hoping that I could let my mother rest in peace in heaven. Studying calmed me down and made me re-examine myself every day. I wanted to be a man worthy of my mother's pride. As for what others think of me, I don't care. Just like the saying goes, being better than others is not noble. True nobility should be being better than your past self."
Qin Xiong's eyes twinkled as he once again recalled Dean's words.
"Hemingway?"
Dean smiled. "I suggest that you eat dinner. Athletes have very high requirements for food. Then, I'll tell you the answer."
Qin Xiong couldn't help but laugh. He picked up the tray and handed it to Dean. "You just need to heat it up."
Dean gracefully took the tray. Before leaving, he said to Qin Xiong, "You guessed right. These are the words written by Hemingway in 'True Nobility.' I like his book very much. If you're willing, I can share my thoughts with you."
Qin Xiong nodded. "It would be my pleasure."
Seeing Dean walk away with steady steps, Qin Xiong's mood, which was originally not low, suddenly seemed to become better.
He kept muttering to himself.
"Where you are hurt, become the strongest. True nobility, surpass your past self! "
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