Chapter 287: The Boy Who Blows the Wind (Hint: This is the beginning of the national football team)

After the match with Liverpool, Chelsea still has two warm-up matches to play in the United States. Their opponents are Real Madrid of La Liga and AC Milan of Serie A. However, Jiang Yuan is destined to have nothing to do with these two games.

After the game, Jiang Yuan rushed to Los Angeles International Airport as soon as possible. He needed to take an Airbus A330 here, and the destination of the plane was Chengdu, China.

"Mr. Jiang, right, here is your passport"

Under the protection of airport security personnel, Jiang Yuan boarded the plane. There were many American fans around him shouting his name. Jiang Yuan responded briefly, stopped casually, and signed autographs for the nearest fans.

Of course, because there were so many people at the scene and the plane was about to take off, it was definitely unrealistic to give signatures to everyone one by one.

Soon, Jiang Yuan boarded the plane. There were 8 seats in Sichuan Airlines' first-class cabin, but the tickets seemed to have not been sold. Including Jiang Yuan, there were only 5 people in the first-class cabin.

The passengers around him all had things to do, so Jiang Yuan walked straight to his seat, pulled the door curtain, signaled to the flight attendant not to disturb him, and then took out his cell phone.

It was 12: am New York time, and it was lunch time in China. Jiang Yuan noticed that in the National Olympic Team player group, which was the WeChat group chat created by Liu Binbin and did not include any coaches, many players were dissatisfied with Li Yi.

The environment has a strong influence on people. Even Zhang Yuning and Liao Lisheng, who respected Li Yi at the beginning, have now started to speak ill of Li Yi.

[Wang Dalei: I am a little confused. Isn't Li Yi a complete idiot? Lin Peng didn't do anything, why did he have to run? If he likes running so much, why doesn't he run himself?]

[Liu Binbin: To be honest, I feel Tie Ge is not very good and is not as good as Coach Fu]

[Wu Lei: The main thing is promotion to the Chinese Super League. The Football Association believes in Li Yi's level. You have to know that Li Yi not only led the team to promotion to the Chinese Super League, if you look at the Chinese Super League standings, Hebei China Fortune is now 6th]

[Wang Dalei: I played against Hebei China Fortune this season. They are not strong, but they are not easy to play against.]

[Liao Lisheng: Da Lei, I remember your team won 2:1, we were not so bad, 2:0, it was a comfortable game]

[Shi Ke: Aren’t Guangzhou and Taishan at about the same level? Why do you feel different when playing against Hebei? I also think Hebei is not easy to play against.]

[Zhang Yuning: Now I think of a question, Hebei China Fortune is so strong, but why don’t we have Hebei players?]

[Zhang Linpeng: Tiege told the leadership that he wanted to use his own players, that is, to get Hebei China Fortune players into the National Olympic Team. I felt that was not appropriate, so I told the leadership]

【Wu Lei: Okay, so this is why you were sent off. If you don’t curse back, Li Yi is a fool! 】

[Liu Binbin: WK, what's going on with Brother Lei? Why is he so resentful?]

[Wu Lei: It’s okay, I’m not very happy. I felt weird when we played against Hebei. It wasn’t the opponent that was weird, it was my teammates. I won’t say more.]

[Zhang Linpeng: Forget it, there’s no need to argue about this. We still have training in the afternoon. After all, Tie Ge is the boss.]

Well!
Watching the National Olympic Team members chatting, Jiang Yuan's sleepiness that had just come up disappeared instantly. The players had already sensed that there was something wrong with Li Yi, but they had never said it out loud.

Now that I think about it, it was really smart for Liu Binbin to set up a group without a coach. Without the coach, teammates can express their true feelings without any worries.

After only 20 days together, Li Yi has already caused dissatisfaction among many fans, but the domestic media has not reported on this matter at all. It can only be said that Li Yi's level is still very high.

After careful consideration, Jiang Yuan moved his two thumbs on the screen and joined the chat.

[Jiang Yuan: Running as punishment, what running as punishment?]

【Zhang Yuning: Damn, capture Brother Yuan! 】

[Liu Binbin: I checked, it's past 12 o'clock in the United States now, isn't Brother Yuan sleeping? ]

[Wu Lei: On the plane, right? Brother Yuan, can you add me as a friend?]

[Jiang Yuan: Just add them directly. I don’t have many WeChat friends, so my WeChat account is quite empty.]

"Stone Power Stage 3 applies to add you as a friend"

"Sinful Taotie wants to add you as a friend"

Jiang Yuan took a look at the notes and found that this "sinful glutton" should be Zhang Linpeng.

Zhang Linpeng is a real contrast, with tattoos on his arms and neck. People who don't know him would think he is a gangster. But if you really know him, you will find that he is a good guy. At least, compared with Jiang Yuan and Wu Lei, Zhang Linpeng's temper is really good.

During the chat in the group, Jiang Yuan learned that Zhang Linpeng was punished to run 5km.

[Zhang Yuning: I think Peng Ge was really forced to run away out of necessity. I was so optimistic about him before. I am really impressed.]

[Zhang Linpeng: It’s okay, it’s okay. We should respect our coach.]

【Liu Binbin: Brother Yuan, what do you think? 】

I think?
Jiang Yuan was a little confused about what to do after hearing Liu Binbin's question.

First of all, according to common sense, players should respect the coach's decision, which is what professional players should do.

But now, the head coach of the National Olympic Team is Li Yi, so should this matter be treated according to common sense?

In other words, should we treat Li Yi as a human being?
Because he didn't know Li Yi's current status in the hearts of the Football Association leaders, Jiang Yuan could only choose to sit back and do nothing for the time being. Finally, Jiang Yuan gave a rather vague reply.

[Jiang Yuan: I will be in Chengdu tomorrow, let’s talk in person]

【Wu Lei: Brother Yuan, I'm waiting for you! 】

【Zhang Yuning: Waiting for you! 】

"call……"

Jiang Yuan placed a hand on his forehead, feeling somewhat mixed emotions.

"Hello sir!"

There was a voice outside. Jiang Yuan looked at the door curtain and saw that it was the flight attendant of this flight: "Excuse me, is there anything you need?"

"1 cup of blood orange juice, room temperature, and then don't bother me anymore"

The entire flight lasted more than 20 hours, and not sleeping was no different from being in prison, especially for Jiang Yuan, who had just finished the game against Liverpool three hours ago and his thigh muscles were still tense.

……

On the evening of July 7, Jiang Yuan arrived in Chengdu. He had originally planned to arrive in the afternoon of the 29th, but because of the schedule of the International Champions Cup, Chelsea had some exchanges with the National Olympic Committee, and finally the committee compromised.

"Um, Brother Lei!"

Jiang Yuan opened the door of the dormitory and his roommate Wu Lei had been waiting inside for a long time.

"Brother Yuan!"

Wu Lei jumped off the bed without even putting on his slippers and started to get the luggage for Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan looked around. This was the dormitory of the provincial track and field team. The conditions were average, but because they were preparing for the Olympics, everyone's accommodation was funded by the state, so even Jiang Yuan did not receive any preferential treatment.

Wu Lei noticed Jiang Yuan looking around the room and said awkwardly: "Brother Yuan...there is really no other way. You can stay here for a day. The Football Association may provide a special subsidy tomorrow. There are still many good hotels around the Sports Center."

"It's okay, I'll stay here."

Jiang Yuan is not a particular person. He lived in the dormitory when he was playing football for Porto.

When training at Chengdu Sports Center, I take showers at the training center, and there are special people to take care of clothes. In this case, to be honest, as long as I have a bed and an air conditioner, other things don't matter.

As for the so-called comfort and luxury, Jiang Yuan came here to prepare for war, not to travel.

"Well!"

Jiang Yuan put on his slippers and sat down on the bed. Wu Lei, who was sitting opposite him, handed him a bottle of Yibao. "Brother Yuan, it takes a long time to fly from Los Angeles to Chengdu, right?"

"It's OK, 28 hours. Anyway, that's what happened on my flight. I slept for 15 hours straight and felt dizzy when I woke up."

Jiang Yuan was right. When he slept, his muscles and mind were tense. It seemed that he had slept for 15 hours, but in fact he did not get the sleep effect that 15 hours of sleep should have.

"correct!"

Jiang Yuan looked at Wu Lei and asked, "When are we going to Brazil? I haven't been to Brazil yet."

"We will take off on the morning of August 8nd and arrive on August 2rd, together with athletes from other events. But...didn't Tie Ge tell you about the itinerary?"

"no"

Jiang Yuan shook his head: "After I added him on WeChat, we just talked about when he would come back for training, and nothing else."

Jiang Yuan saw that Wu Lei seemed a little unconvinced, so he simply took out his mobile phone to show him. Indeed, Jiang Yuan and Li Yi had only spoken less than 20 sentences in total, but they had been WeChat friends for 2 months.

This……

Wu Lei's tongue wrapped around his mouth half a circle. He was a little surprised, but considering that Li Yi didn't really like chatting, he didn't think it was a big deal.

"Dong dong!"

There was a knock on the door. Jiang Yuan was about to stand up and open the door, but Wu Lei got there first.

The door opened, revealing eight big heads. Because there was someone to meet him at the airport, when Jiang Yuan arrived at the dormitory, his teammates from the National Olympic Team all got the news, and they ran out of their rooms one by one, heading straight to Wu Lei and Jiang Yuan's dormitory.

Zhang Yuning, Liu Binbin, Liao Lisheng, and Li Yuanyi... Seeing these familiar faces, Jiang Yuan smiled and took out his phone: "Come on, let's take a group photo!"

Jiang Yuan stretched out his arms, and his teammates took the initiative to stand on both sides of him, but there were too many people and the mobile phone could not capture everyone in the picture.

"Let me do it!"

Wang Dalei took Jiang Yuan's phone and said, "I have a long arm span, you can try it."

Sure enough, this was exactly what was missing. When Wang Dalei took out his mobile phone, the 10 people could be captured in the photo.

"Is this okay?"

Wang Dalei handed the phone back to Jiang Yuan, who looked at it carefully and shook his head. "If you want to take pictures of the players, it's best if all of them are here. What about the others? Are they asleep?"

"How could they sleep if they knew you were coming tonight?"

Liu Binbin laughed: "Because there are too many people, some of them live on the first floor of the female athletes' dormitory, so it will take some time for them to get here."

"Ha ha"

The sudden change in training conditions made Jiang Yuan feel as if he was back in high school. Plus, he was surrounded by Chinese teammates, and he suddenly felt an indescribable sense of familiarity.

After everyone arrived, Jiang Yuan asked an 800m athlete downstairs to help take a photo.

I posted on three platforms at the same time: Weibo, Twitter, and Instagram. The captions were all the same, the only difference was the language used.

【I’m back home! 】

Four hours later, the entry #Jiang Yuan goes home with a total popularity of 4 million, surpassing #Wang Baoqiang and Ma Rong divorce to become the number one.

……

The European Cup just ended on July 7th. Recently there has been a wave of football fan enthusiasm in China. Real fans are having fun and fake fans are joining in the fun.

A Kun came to Wanda Plaza in the center of CD City. Because of Jiang Yuan's popularity, there are some changes in his job now.

Originally a Happy Beans anchor + player, now his main job is a football blogger and a part-time Happy Beans anchor. The reason is simple, based on A Kun's live broadcast effect, he will definitely make more money as a video blogger than as a Happy Beans anchor.

"Hello, beautiful lady, let me interview you."

A Kun took the microphone and randomly interviewed a young lady who was shopping outside the square: "Who is better in men's football in this Olympics, China or the United States?"

The young lady thought for a moment, then replied: "China...right?"

"why?"

Seeing that the young lady had taken the bait, A Kun quickly asked more questions.

"Didn't the internet say Jiang Yuan was going to participate in the Olympics? Didn't Jiang Yuan win the Golden Boot during the European Championship a few weeks ago?"

"So you think Jiang Yuan will lead the Chinese team to defeat Vietnam and win the gold medal in the men's football event at the Olympics, is that right?"

"Uh... probably!"

The young lady covered her mouth and laughed. It seemed that A Kun’s interview made her a little uncomfortable.

"Ok, last question"

A Kun pulled the microphone to his mouth: "National Olympic Men's Football Team, who do you think will perform best in the team?
"That must be Jiang Yuan. People on the Internet say he's amazing."

The young lady is obviously a frequent internet surfer and knows that there is a very good football athlete in China, just like everyone knows that there is a great track and field athlete in China, Liu Xiang.

Although I have never watched Jiang Yuan’s game, I still shout “Jiang Yuan is awesome”.

"Besides Jiang Yuan, besides Jiang Yuan, can you name a few other possible best players?"

hiss--

The young lady took a deep breath: "Ma Long, or...Lin Dan?"

……

The next day's training is about to begin. The provincial team dormitory and the training center are less than 50 meters apart, so everyone will walk there after getting up in the morning.

Three meals a day are taken care of at the training center, which can be considered as semi-closed training.

The Chengdu Sports Center is currently in a closed state, and the official location of the training camp has not been announced to the public. However, the truth cannot be hidden. Fans have obtained the training location of the Chinese men's football team in the Rio Olympics through various channels that the Olympic Committee did not expect. Combined with the Weibo post by Jiang Yuan last night, there are at least 5 to 600 people outside the sports center now.

The most amazing thing is, it’s not even 7 o’clock yet!
Jiang Yuan looked out through the window of the dormitory building and saw a dense crowd of people outside the sports center. There was even a group of people holding a super banner that was dozens of meters long.

"Brother Lei, it seems like we can't get through..."

Wu Lei walked by and stuck his head out to look outside: "Damn, it's a good thing they don't know where we live, otherwise we wouldn't even be able to get out."

However, the players seemed to have a special way to deal with this situation. Wu Lei took Jiang Yuan to the second floor of the dormitory, where the players of the National Olympic Team gathered. Zhang Yuning handed Jiang Yuan a package.

When I opened it, I saw the clothes, hats and masks of the Chinese team's fans.

As Jiang Yuan put on his clothes, he wanted to laugh: "Hey, you guys didn't always do this before, did you?"

“There weren’t so many people the past two days.”

Liu Binbin looked at the dense crowd of fans outside the window and said, "But since you are here, brother Yuan, there should be this many people here today. It's not a big problem. We can just pretend to be fans and go in."

"Is this really possible?"

Jiang Yuan adjusted his mask and was skeptical.

"Of course it will work!"

Zhang Yuning patted Jiang Yuan on the shoulder and said, "Everyone is wearing red clothes, no one will react."

Fine.

Jiang Yuan nodded. It sounded quite feasible, but he didn't know what would happen next.

At this moment, a strange voice came from the corridor: "Are you ready? We can set off now."

?

Jiang Yuan realized something and turned his head to look.

Damn, isn’t this a fucking boy with a hair dryer?
"Xiaoyuan, you're here!"

When Li Yi saw Jiang Yuan, he looked very surprised, walked over quickly and put a hand on Jiang Yuan's shoulder.

Jiang Yuan reached out his hand and shook hands with Li Yi: "Brother Tie"

Both of them have been reported by the media many times, but this is the first time they have met offline.

To be honest, Jiang Yuan was a little surprised to see Li Yi in the dormitory, because he didn't expect that Li Yi would live in the dormitory with them. He was indeed very honest.

"Xiaoyuan, your muscles are amazing!"

Li Yi's hands were rubbing Jiang Yuan's body: "As expected of the Premier League Golden Boot, this physique is wow~"

"Brother Tie, you are joking. You are an Everton legend. We played against Everton last season. Everton is really strong."

Jiang Yuan smiled. He was right. The Wind Chaser was also a Premier League player back then, and one of the first Chinese players to go abroad. Otherwise, he would not have received so much attention from the Football Association leaders.

"What you said, how can Everton and Chelsea be compared"

Li Yi waved his hand: "Don't talk about the team, there is still a big gap between you and me. I am just a substitute, and you are the real core of the team."

"The club is the core, and the national team is also the core!"

Li Yi looked around at all the players and finally looked into Jiang Yuan's eyes: "Well, we'll play the way you say we should play!"

Jiang Yuan was stunned for a moment, then took a deep breath and said slowly: "Really... is it really possible?"

Li Yi:?
"Hahaha, no no, I was just kidding."

Jiang Yuan grabbed Li Yi's shoulders and said, "The coach has to make decisions on tactics. Coach Li, you'll have to work hard in this Olympics!"

"Hey, what you said!"

Li Yi turned his head away, smiled, and then turned back: "Everyone is working hard, the same as before!"

"Come on, we're ready to go. Let's go our separate ways and meet in the equipment room at 7:25!"

After saying that, Li Yi put on a mask and a hat and left.

When he turned around, Li Yi's cell phone lit up. Someone must have sent him a message. However, Jiang Yuan's attention was not on the content of the message, but on Li Yi's cell phone screen saver. The content of the screen saver was very monotonous, with a few large black words written on it.

【Be a down-to-earth person】

……

On the other side, A Kun's street interview continued.

After interviewing a group of fake fans and entertaining the fans in the live broadcast room, A Kun decided to interview real fans.

The interview location for this true fan is naturally the sports center in CD City. Not only can he interview a true fan of the national football team, but he can also find a chance to sneak in and watch Jiang Yuan play football. Isn't this killing two birds with one stone?
Soon, A Kun found a target in the crowd. It was a woman who looked to be about 30 years old, with brown hair tied up in a bun. She was obviously at an age where she should be mature, but she exuded vitality all over her body.

"Hello, beautiful lady. I see you are wearing the Chinese team's jersey. Are you a fan of the Chinese national football team?"

"what?"

Seeing the microphone in A Kun's hand and the camera in the photographer's hand, the woman was a little surprised, but soon, the surprise was replaced by a smile.

"It's like this, there was news online that the National Olympic Team was training here, and I happened to be from Chengdu, so I came here."

"Um"

A Kun nodded: "So you mainly come to watch the players train, right?"

"You can't say that, I'm a fan of Jiang Yuan, haha!"

The woman's upper body fell back, with a self-deprecating look, but it was obvious that she did not feel embarrassed about being a fan. After all, there were at least hundreds of people at the scene who were Jiang Yuan's fans.

“Okay, thanks for the interview!”

After simply saying thank you, A Kun began to look for his next target.

Just at this moment, a man wearing a mask and a hat stepped on the zebra crossing and ran towards this side stealthily across the street. If he hadn't been wearing football fan's clothes, A Kun might have mistaken him for a thief.

"It's him!"

A Kun greeted the cameraman and ran towards the masked man with the microphone.

"Hey, brother!"

!

The masked man's first reaction when he saw A Kun was to run away, but he seemed to have thought of something and stopped as soon as he took a step with his right foot.

"Brother, uh, you're so tall, can I interview you?"

A Kun looked up and down the man in front of him. He had to admit that this guy was really unique. He wore square-framed glasses and a mask that was so high that it almost covered his lower eyelids.

"Interview? Uh, okay, go ahead."

The masked man placed his hands on his chest, his left hand holding his right wrist, looking a little restrained.

"Excuse me, are you a fan of the Chinese team?"

"Um……"

The masked man thought about it carefully for a while, and then gave an ambiguous answer: "I guess so."

That’s right?
A Kun was stunned for a moment, frowned and asked his next question: "Then may I ask if you are here to see the players of the National Olympic Team?"

"You can say that"

You can say that?
A Kun shook his head, always feeling something was wrong, because he always had a familiar feeling when looking at the masked man in front of him.

So he changed the question: "Brother, you are half a head taller than me, can you tell me your height?"

"A little over 180, around 182 or 183"

A Kun nodded: "This height is quite good in the south."

……

(End of this chapter)