"One, two, three. Start."
"Hello everyone, I'm contestant No. 13. My name is Chen Jian. I'm nineteen years old and I'm from the Chengdu division of Sichuan." A dark-skinned teenager, standing in front of the camera lens, grinned and introduced himself, revealing a mouthful of striking white teeth. At this point, he habitually turned his head to look at the side. Someone was gesturing to him.
"Shout a slogan and strike a pose!" That was what the person next to him meant by mouthing.
The teenager, who called himself "Chen Jian," turned back and thought for a moment. There was a brief silence on the camera's monitor.
"I want to play professional football. I hope everyone can … like me." He chuckled. He had wanted to say "I hope everyone can vote for me." But he quickly thought that there was no audience voting in this talent show. It was useless for the audience to support him, so he had to change his words at the last minute. So, he was happy at the thought.
"Okay!" The cameraman put down the camera on his shoulder and muttered, "Fortunately it's not a live broadcast …"
"Next!" The man who had just been gesturing to Chen Jian and mouthing waved to another teenager waiting next to him, motioning him to come up and introduce himself.
Chen Jian left the camera and returned to a group of teenagers of similar age.
This was the training camp for the finals of "The Football Guy" talent show jointly organized by Hunan TV Station and a number of domestic and foreign media and enterprises.
The auditions for the six divisions across the country had ended, and fourteen lucky contestants were selected from the six divisions. Now they were gathered in Changsha, the capital of Hunan, to participate in a three-and-a-half-month training, to undergo a variety of assessments and competitions, and be eliminated one by one. Finally, the three contestants who made it to the finals were decided by three judges on a live television program to score the three contestants based on all their performances over the past three and a half months. The top two contestants would be rewarded with a one-year trial at a top English league team. For these Chinese teenagers who liked football and looked forward to professional football, this was a dream come true. It was more exciting than a direct reward of one million yuan.
Chen Jian was one of them. Watching him stand in front of the camera lens and introduce himself with a smile, how many viewers watching TV in the future would know the story behind this smile?
※ ※ ※
The nineteen-year-old teenager, who spoke Mandarin with a slight Sichuan accent, first participated in the auditions for the Beijing division because he was studying at the judicial police school in Tianjin. Beijing and Tianjin were close. But he was eliminated. There were no dirty inside stories or behind-the-scenes deals. The reason for being eliminated was simple — insufficient strength.
Among the 10,000 participants from the Beijing division, his strength … let alone the top, he might not even be able to enter the top 100.
Most of the teenagers who participated in the audition were able to enter the top 100 and face the British coach's personal assessment. They were either professionally trained, from a sports school, or from the third team of a professional football club. Chen Jian, on the other hand, had never received even a single day of professional training. He came into contact with football and played it purely out of interest. In terms of hobbies, he could be considered one of the best. Ever since he was a child, he had been a key player in the school team of his school. Even when he was at the Tianjin Judicial Police Academy, he was a key player in the National University Football League, representing this university. This was also the reason why he had the confidence and motivation to participate in this talent show.
However, compared to his peers who had received professional training, he was not good enough. After barely making it into the top 100, he was ridiculed by the British coach.
Generally, after being eliminated, people would be depressed and go home dejectedly. Chen Jian was not an ordinary person. He was depressed for only one night. When he heard that people who were eliminated in this division could still freely choose to participate in the audition in other divisions, his hope was rekindled. He felt that it was not that he was not strong enough, but that he was just unlucky. In the next division, he would definitely be able to play his best and impress the British coach.
Therefore, the next day, he called the counselor to ask for leave, packed his luggage, and transferred from Beijing to Wuhan alone.
This time, he stopped in the top 50 — not even in the top 50 compared to the first time. But what was the use? He was still eliminated.
Chen Jian was not willing to admit defeat. He continued to ask for leave and went to Changsha to participate in the audition of the Changsha division. The top 30.
As the Changsha division was where the organizer was located, there was a little preferential policy. Other divisions only had two contestants who could enter the finals training camp, but Changsha allowed four. Compared to the other divisions, these two extra slots might be enough for some people to get what they wanted. But if they couldn't even get into this division, there was basically no hope left for the last division, Chengdu …
Chen Jian still did not pass the assessment. Did he give up?
No. This time, Chen Jian did not even ask for leave. He skipped classes and took the train to Chengdu.
Anyway, it was the last chance. He might as well try again. If he could not pass, he might as well give up. He would go back to his studies, become a police officer, work to support his family, find a decent girl and start a family. As for his passion for football … At least he could still play football and watch football games in his spare time.
The road to happiness was strewn with setbacks. Chen Jian did not buy a train ticket for a suitable date. The train he bought arrived in Chengdu on the afternoon of the audition. He did not even have time to rest before he had to participate in the audition.
To make matters worse, the continuous travel and mental stress made him have a fever. He ate unhygienic food on the train and also had diarrhea.
When the train arrived in Chengdu, he was dizzy and his legs were weak when he got off the train. He did not know how he arrived at the audition venue — the Sichuan Provincial Sports Center.
Anyway, when he arrived outside the stadium, he was dizzy when he saw the sea of people at the audition scene.
After signing up and getting a number, he found a shady place to sit down and rest. It was 2: 30 in the afternoon. He did not eat breakfast or lunch. Although he was hungry, he had no appetite at all. His fever had not subsided. His limbs were sore and weak. He felt dizzy and cold all over …
There was no contestant more unlucky than him.
Most people who encountered such a situation would go to the hospital for an IV drip and go back after the illness was cured. Anyway, it was not my wish to encounter such a terrible situation. It seemed that even God did not want me to pass. Why should I waste my effort?
Basically, many people would think so.
But Chen Jian was not an ordinary person. He was stubborn and stubborn. He wasn't willing to lose here. He had to finish this last chance at the very least …
He leaned against the concrete platform of the flower bed. The competitors around him were either eating a simple lunch to replenish their energy or doing warm-up exercises to familiarize themselves with football. Only he leaned there lazily and did not do anything. It was not that he did not want to warm up. He did not have the energy to warm up. He could only use this method to recover his energy and save it for the most critical moment.
He sat there until he heard the loudspeaker in the square announce that the contestants with numbers between 9500 and 9550 had entered the stadium. Then he stood up with the help of the platform and staggered into the crowd.
Later, he did not know how he persevered, nor did he know how he passed one test after another. He only knew that when the sky darkened, the bustling crowd outside had all dispersed, leaving only a pile of rubbish on the ground. The buzzing noise no longer rang in his mind. Standing in the grassy field, apart from the five coaches, three TV cameramen and reporters, there were only ten people of his age wearing training vests.
And he, Chen Jian, stood among these ten people.
Chengdu division, top ten. This was the best result he had obtained in the four divisions he had participated in.
Among the five coaches, who were also the chief examiners, there was a face that Chen Jian was very familiar with. It was the British coach who had eliminated him in the Beijing division. Later, in the Wuhan division and the Changsha division, he met this person twice. Until now, Chen Jian did not remember this person's name. Anyway, it was useless to know. Passing the test depended on one's own strength, not on making friends with the chief examiners.
He looked at him a few more times, then withdrew his gaze and stood in the queue, waiting for the next assessment. Although he had not eaten all day and could barely stand, he secretly gritted his teeth and persevered. On the surface, he smiled and looked confident, but behind his pursed lips, his teeth were clenched tightly.
Kenny Sansem, one of the chief examiners, glanced at the ten lucky people standing in front of him and found a familiar face. It was the smiling number 9527, with dark skin and a strong body. If he had only seen him once in the Beijing division, Sansem would not have remembered such a young man. But he had seen this dark smiling face four times: in Beijing, Wuhan, Changsha, and Chengdu.
This smile left a deep impression on him. Because he could see that this kid was forcing himself to hold on.
The Chinese coach next to him looked at him, and he nodded to these colleagues who were cooperating with him.
The Chengdu local coach stood up and said to the ten lucky people, "Being able to break into the top ten of the Chengdu division shows your strength. I know that many of the players who come here to participate are not locals in Chengdu or Sichuan. Some people are even eliminated in other divisions and are unwilling to give up, so they come here to fight for the last time. So, I can say without exaggeration that the Chengdu division is the strongest, most competitive, and most brutal division among the six divisions in the country! "
He raised his voice, and the ten teenagers in front of him clapped cooperatively.
"So, being able to enter the top ten is enough to show how strong you are. However, according to the rules, only the last two players in this division can advance to the finals training camp, so … eight of you must be eliminated. But regardless of whether you win in the end, don't give up your love of football. " The coach, who was transferred by the Chengdu local club to cooperate with the work, had a bit of eloquence. His words made everyone's blood boil.
"Now …" He looked back at the British coach and other colleagues behind him, then turned back and continued, "There is no final test."
As soon as these words came out, there was a surprised look on the faces of the ten people. Originally, these people thought that there must be the cruelest and most rigorous test waiting for them at the end, and they had to give 200% of their ability to pass. Unexpectedly …
"This is the end. There will be no assessment or test. The final two places will be scored based on the performance of the ten of you throughout the selection process. The two people with the highest scores will get tickets to Changsha. "He raised his hand, and two envelopes appeared out of nowhere.
Everyone knew what was inside — it was not a ticket to Changsha, but a ticket to Dream Country.
After saying this, he stopped talking and just stood aside. The Englishman, Kenny Sansom, stood up. His job was very simple, but it was the most eye-catching — he only needed to read out the number posted on the back of the two winners' chests. He was indeed the one who announced the fate of the people.
Sansom looked at the ten China teenagers in front of him. After staying in China for a few months, following up on the selection of various divisions and coming into contact with all kinds of people, from the officials of the China Football Association and the media to ordinary fans and these young players, he had already clearly realized that football was different in China than in the United Kingdom. But there was one thing that was the same: passion and love for football.
In an interview with a reporter from the British BBC television station, he had said that because of factors such as the poor performance of the China men's national football team in the Asian Cup, their early elimination from the World Cup qualifiers in South Africa, China's football continued to be in a slump, he originally thought that the event might not get as good a response as he had expected. He did not expect that the auditions in the six divisions would be crowded every time. Not to mention the attention of the media, he did not know how high the ratings of the program would be in the future. At the very least, seeing so many young faces with dreams appearing in front of him, he felt … how should he put it? It was incredible. It was hard to understand why the level of football was so low when there were so many young people in this country who loved football.
"Children, among you … only two can advance. I wish you good luck." He said some nonsense in English and then reported the two numbers. "3084."
The teenager standing on the right of Chen Jian raised his arms and screamed. Everyone turned to look at him. The number on his chest was "3084."
Some people congratulated him, but more people were looking forward to it with worry. There was still one last place. Who would it go to?
For the remaining nine people, the cruelest moment had come. This was the last chance. It was not like the previous five divisions. If they were eliminated, they could still move on to the next division and continue to fight for victory. If they were eliminated here … there would be no "next time."
Although Hunan TV said in the publicity that there might be a second season, it would depend on the impact and revenue of the first season in China. Who could say for sure?
Chen Jian still kept smiling. He did not want others to see his nervousness.
Sansom looked at the still cheering teenager with a smile on his face. He beckoned the lucky man to come out and stand to the side. His excitement was too out of place with the other nine people's nervousness.
"And … 9527."
The lucky boy, "9527," fell to the ground. It was not because of excitement, but because he was too tired. Chen Jian, who had not eaten for a day and had a high fever, felt dizzy and his legs were trembling, could no longer hold on and fainted after hearing the results.
※ ※ ※
Chen Jian had a dream. It was short but wonderful. He dreamed that Sister Qiuxiang, who was as beautiful as a fairy, hugged him very concernedly and anxiously called his name —
“9527？ What's wrong with you? "
“9527？ Wake up! "
"Pinch him, pinch him! Quick! "
"9527 … Chen Jian, Chen Jian … Wake up, wake up!"
He was shaken awake. After a moment of haziness, he saw clearly the person in front of him. Where was the fairy-like Sister Qiuxiang? There was only a Caucasian face. When he turned his head, there were more concerned faces around him.
"You're awake." The Caucasian's face showed a reassuring smile.
Chen Jian did not understand. He turned his head and looked at the people around him in confusion.
"You fainted just after we announced the results of your advancement." The Chengdu coach who first came out to speak squatted down and said. Chen Jian found himself lying on the ground. There were nine other people of the same age next to him. They were also concerned about him.
"Your forehead is very hot. Do you have a fever?" The Englishman asked quickly. When he found that Chen Jian looked confused, he remembered to ask the person next to him to translate for him.
After understanding the translation, Chen Jian nodded. "I had a fever when I took the train here. I also ate something bad and had diarrhea. I didn't eat all day because I was worried that something would go wrong during today's test. "
Sansom was moved when he heard the translated answer.
Not to mention the British coach, even the Chinese coaches who had just learned about it and his competitors were surprised. It turned out that this man competed with them in such a physical condition and became the winner.
"Hey, buddy." A young man next to him with a Beijing accent came over. He also came from another division. "I'm convinced." He patted Chen Jian on the shoulder and gave him a thumbs up. "You're great!"
Chen Jian had an impression of this person because he was also eliminated from the Beijing division. However, this person had entered the top ten in the Beijing division before being eliminated. He had been trained in the youth team of the Beijing Guoan Club and could be considered a professional. He had always thought highly of himself and felt that his elimination was a matter of luck, not strength, so he came to Chengdu to prove himself again. He did not expect to lose to Chen Jian this time.
At first, he was a little unwilling. Why would a professional like him lose to an amateur? Now he was convinced. He was convinced. Because he believed that he could not even pass the preliminary selection in such a physical condition.
In fact, this was a good idea. Most people would not participate in the selection. They would give up before the competition because they had a reason that no one could criticize them — they were not in the right state.
Sansom laughed and said, "Okay, boy. Now you can go eat a good meal, take a hot bath, and sleep. When you wake up the next day, all the discomfort will be gone. Of course, don't forget to take your medicine. "He stretched out his hand to congratulate Chen Jian.
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