“Beep!”
With a long whistle from the manager, the forty-five-minute scrimmage quickly ended.
The final score was two to two.
Team A, fielding all starters, was forced to a draw by Team B, whose overall strength was slightly inferior!
And in just forty-five minutes, Ling Feng’s outstanding performance in midfield conquered the first team’s coaches and teammates.
On the defensive end, although he was easily bypassed by Team A’s midfielders and forwards multiple times, he also used excellent anticipation to establish defensive positions in advance and intercept opponent passes several times.
On the attacking end, relying solely on his own strength, he linked the entire Team B into a relative unit, firmly grasping the attacking tempo in his own hands.
Moreover, with his broad vision and active running, he created space and delivered multiple highly threatening passes.
Every attack, as long as he participated, was as smooth as flowing water.
If it weren’t for the substitute forwards having much worse finishing abilities than the starting forwards, the score of this scrimmage would definitely not be just this.
It is worth mentioning that after the scrimmage ended, other first-team teammates couldn’t help but step forward to high-five Ling Feng:
“Ling, great game!”
“Mate, your passing was awesome!”
Facing his teammates’ praises and compliments, Ling Feng showed not the slightest bit of arrogance, but simply returned a smile neither haughtily nor humbly and high-fived them.
His steady demeanor was entirely unlike a rookie who had just been promoted to the first team.
His excellent performance on the pitch and modest attitude off the pitch made his teammates feel even better about him.
“This kid is really not bad…”
And so, Ling Feng’s first training session in the first team was considered over.
Returning indoors, he took a hot shower, changed clothes, and came to the base cafeteria.
Just as he received a portion of chicken breast and kale salad from the chef, he heard a shout from behind him:
“Ling, over here!”
Looking towards the voice, he saw Mahrez sitting at a table by the floor-to-ceiling window, waving at him.
Raising an eyebrow, Ling Feng did not refuse Mahrez’s invitation.
He went to the table and generously pulled out a chair to sit down.
“Hey, Riyad.”
Having just transferred from Ligue 2, twenty-two-year-old Mahrez was just a young man who had left his hometown to venture into English football.
Therefore, he hoped to communicate more with his teammates so as to integrate into the Leicester City group as soon as possible.
And Ling Feng, who actively struck up a conversation with him on the eve of his debut in the previous match, was, in his opinion, a very good choice.
And Ling Feng was also very willing to make friends with Mahrez. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
Although Ling Feng couldn’t speak French and Mahrez’s English was very poor.
However, the two could still communicate normally through simple English words and hand gestures.
Just as the two were talking about exchanging contact information, Captain Wes Morgan came over to their table holding a mobile phone and asked Ling Feng:
“Boys, I need your numbers to pull you into the team’s group chat…”
“Oh, okay.
My number is…”
After pulling Ling Feng and Mahrez into the team’s group chat, Morgan didn’t forget to care about how the newly transferred Mahrez was adapting to his new life in the UK.
The dribbling and bypassing opponents Mahrez showed on the pitch were eye-catching.
Morgan was very certain that Mahrez would definitely become an indispensable and important player for Leicester City.
For the team’s results and future, as the team captain, he should also help the newly transferred Mahrez integrate into the team as soon as possible.
This is the responsibility of a team captain!
And after Captain Morgan left, the team’s striker, the future “Soul of the Blue Foxes” Vardy, also holding a salad, suddenly came to their table:
“Hey, guys, mind if I sit here?”
Hearing this, Ling Feng just shrugged, and then pulled out the chair beside him, “Of course not!”
Last season, Vardy, who had just set the transfer fee record for a non-league player, came to Leicester City.
However, perhaps due to adaptation issues, he made twenty-six appearances in his first Championship season but scored only four goals.
And in the second season, which was this year, after adapting to the intensity and defenders of the Championship, his goal tally began to skyrocket.
In just the first half of the season, he had already scored eight goals!
Doubled!
And the dual-striker partnership he formed with Nugent became two sharp blades for Leicester City to conquer cities and seize strongholds.
However, for Vardy, who had grand dreams, he wanted to score more goals!
Therefore, having witnessed Ling Feng’s superior vision and passing, and having tasted the sweetness in the FA Cup, Vardy knew very well in his heart that if he wanted to score more goals and overpower the other main striker Nugent, he could only rely on this eighteen-year-old genius who had just been promoted to the first team!
If their relationship was good, Ling Feng could pass the ball to him more during matches.
Then his chances of scoring goals would be even greater.
So, getting along well with Ling Feng was very necessary!
And toward Vardy’s friendly gestures, Ling Feng kept his expression calm, but ripples were already rising in his heart.
He was somewhat overwhelmed by the unexpected favor.
But, thinking it over carefully, Ling Feng felt relieved.
Possessing super vision and passing, he could be called a budget version of De Bruyne.
And any striker would want such a pie-making master behind them, able to deliver delicious and fragrant pies right to their mouths!
So, it was very normal for Vardy to want to get on good terms with him.
The world of competitive sports is just this realistic.
The strong will always gain respect!
After a brief rest period in the cafeteria, the first team members went to the gym for strength training.
However, excepting Ling Feng and Mahrez.
Following the manager’s instructions, the two temporarily didn’t need to undergo strength training, but followed the tactical coach to the team’s video room.
This was to allow the two to adapt to the first team’s tactical play style as quickly as possible.
Over the next few days, Ling Feng systematically participated in training and quickly mingled with his first-team teammates.
And after daily training sessions ended, he would go to the video room with Mahrez, and then under the tactical coach’s explanations, deeply understand the first team’s tactical play style by watching match videos.
For instance, how to run on the pitch, how to organize and support in the front court, how to execute attacking routines, etc.
Although he had merged with his predecessor’s memories and had a certain understanding of basic football tactics and knowledge.
However, the complexity of tactics between the youth team and the first team was simply not on the same level.
After the tactical sessions, returning to the players’ dorm, Ling Feng still had to take out his densely written notebook and review it.
Even with a cheat, to become stronger himself, he equally needed to put in corresponding hard work!
…
Just as Ling Feng was silently leveling up at the Belvoir Drive base, the FA Cup upset started to brew, also bringing Ling Feng much attention from the media.
The FA Cup, with over a century of history, has always been a hotbed for brewing “upsets.”
In this historic cup competition, besides various powerhouses dedicating countless classic battles, many lower-league teams also shone brightly on this stage.
They played the role of “giant killers” multiple times, unhorsing many top giants.
These examples of the weak defeating the strong fully proved to the world the charm of football.
A Championship team defeating a Premier League team was not a first in FA Cup history.
Compared to the super massive upset two years ago in the FA Cup when Premier League team Wigan Athletic was eliminated by League Two team Swindon Town, Leicester City coming from behind to eliminate Stoke City couldn’t be considered too surprising.
However, this match was exceptionally different because of one player.
Because the one who led Leicester City to a comeback victory was an eighteen-year-old youngster who emerged out of nowhere!
After all the third-round matches of the FA Cup concluded, newspapers such as “Daily Mail”, “The Times”, “Daily Mirror”, and “The Guardian” all mentioned this moderately sized upset in their sports sections.
For no other reason than that the British media have always loved discovering and hyping up youth prodigies emerging out of nowhere.
Beckham, Rooney, Owen…
For them, this was their traffic code to increase sales!
(END CHAPTER)