i want to be king

Chapter 39 This is a sad story
Perhaps because he had just been to the rest area of ​​the second team, Su Dong had a particularly strong feeling for the locker room of the first team.

That is depression.

The rest area of ​​the second team was as lively as a disco. The players gathered together in small groups and chatted about various topics. Jose Semedo and others chatted vigorously, and even let out that very YD magic laugh.

But all of this cannot be seen in the locker room of the first team.

Everyone sat in front of their cabinets, packed their things, or sat there listening to headphones, or did nothing, closed their eyes and meditated, and some simply looked around and looked at other people.

The only thing is that no one speaks.

That feeling is very strange, as if this group of people is not a team at all, but like strangers who don't know each other.

It was the first time for Su Dong to step into this locker room. For him, these players made him stand up high. His heart was full of excitement, but at the same time he couldn't help being a little nervous. Seeing that others were silent, he didn't say anything, and moved closer to Ronnie.

As soon as he got closer, he found that the boy from Madeira was not much better, and he was also nervous.

The two teenagers who had just arrived and were also nervous and at a loss, looked at each other and smiled wryly at the same time.

"Hi Ronnie."

Finally someone broke the silence and came over to greet Ronnie softly.

"Hey, Ugo." Ronnie bumped his shoulder after high-fiving him, "This is our new teammate, Su Dong."

"Su, this is Ugo Viana."

Of course, Su Dong has heard of him. The player with the most potential under Mendes' command is also the talented midfielder that Mendes attaches the most importance to now. He is known as Rui Costa II.

Perhaps because they were all players under Mendes' command, Ugo Viana was also very friendly to Su Dong. After high-fiving and shoulder bumping, he sat down between Su Dong and Ronnie.

"Why don't you talk?" Su Dong asked a little strangely.

Ugo Viana smiled, "It's always been like this, slowly, you will get used to it."

After a pause, seeing the puzzled expressions on the faces of Su Dong and Ronnie, Ugo Viana explained with a smile.

"The youth team and the first team are two completely different worlds. Although the youth team has some competitive pressure, it is not that big, but it is different when it comes to the first team. Everyone here has a kind of worry in their hearts, and they are full of worries about their own future, because no one knows what they will perform in the next game? No one can guarantee what will happen next?"

Su Dong nodded, feeling a little understanding in his heart.

This kind of existential crisis will indeed make everyone vigilant at all times, and dare not be careless at any time.

It's like Quaresma.

In the first game of the season against Porto, the player shined and was immediately touted as Sporting Lisbon's number one talent, Portugal's hope for the next ten years, and then he was reused by the club.

But who would have thought that after a few rounds, he would still be hovering between the main force and the rotation.

What was even more unexpected was that starting from October, Ugo Viana, promoted by the youth team, occupied the main position in the team's midfield in one fell swoop, becoming the number one hopeful star in the team and firmly controlling the starting lineup.

There are many reasons for all this, including the opponent's factors, the team's own reasons, and the head coach's change.

Who can figure this out?Who could have predicted it?
It's easy to become anxious about an existential crisis, but it also keeps everyone in awe.

Only with awe in mind can we do our best in every game and every training session.

Apart from this, they have no other thoughts to do any unnecessary and unnecessary things, including chatting in the locker room.

Su Dong still has no way to feel the pressure from the first-team competition, but he has already seen some.

…………

…………

The composition of the Sporting Lisbon first team is actually quite interesting.

Including Su Dong, there were thirty players in total.

These players are mainly divided into two parts, either mature players around 30 years old or above, such as Jadl, who is 28 years old, and Sa Pinto, who is 29 years old, and veterans Barbosa and Cruise and so on.

They all have one thing in common. They all have experience in the four major leagues. They either retired after success or were eliminated from the competition after encountering various problems. However, in the Portuguese Super League, these players are still quite capable.

There are also some players who are young teenagers, such as Quaresma, Marcelino, Viana, Ronnie and so on.

These players are either from their own youth training, or they are rookies with high hopes, such as the fellow coach Boloni, the 20-year-old Romanian center Nikule, who is the scorer that Boloni advocated to introduce.

It can be said that these two groups of players almost occupy the vast majority of the lineup, and there are only a handful of players who are really around 25 years old and at the golden age of their careers.

What caught Sudong's attention was a high center forward introduced during the winter break, the 25-year-old center Dimitris Nalicis from Greece. This center forward first transferred from Thessaloniki in Greece to Udinese in Serie A in July, then to Perugia in October, and then to Sporting Lisbon during the winter break.

In just a few months, he has moved to three teams.

During his time in Serie A, he only played three games, two of which were in the league and one in the cup.

Anyone can see that this is because Boloni is not satisfied with the team's striker configuration. Gisvi and Lorenzo are still relatively young, so Nalicis, who is in his prime, was brought in as a substitute for Jardl and Nikule.

The reason why Su Dong noticed him was not only because he was one of the few young players in the team, but also because he would be one of his competitors, even if for the time being he was far from seeing the hope of playing in the first team.

It is not difficult to see from the first-team lineup configuration of Sporting Lisbon that this team is still the same as other teams in the Portuguese Super League.

The reason why there is a lack of core players in their prime is because the core players who performed better have been sold.

This is the status quo of the Portuguese Super League.

Sporting Portugal will not be able to keep players, and Sporting Lisbon will not be able to retain them either.

Of course, the premise is that the players have to perform well enough.

……

Captain Barbosa broke the silence in the dressing room.

He introduced the three new teammates who had just joined to everyone present. Su Dong, Ronnie, and Nalicis stood up to greet the teammates one by one under the captain's roll call, but there were very few responders.

More people looked at them with guarded eyes, apparently worried about competition.

Like Marcelino.

This player, who also has African descent, is very powerful in the youth team. He is also known as the Three Musketeers of the Sports Tower along with Quaresma and Ronnie.

So far, he has not played even a minute for the first team.

This is another very sad story.

"I heard the news that his performance in the first team was terrible." Ronnie leaned into Su Dong's ear and said softly.

Su Dong frowned, "Why?"

"I heard it's because I'm not used to it, who knows?" Ronnie shrugged.

Marcelino's performance in the youth team was no worse than that of Quaresma, but after entering the first team, the two were very different.

This is indeed very puzzling.

The vast majority of adult players, including the top players in the team like Jardl, look at Su Dong and others with cold eyes. It feels like they are not looking at their teammates at all, but looking at passers-by on the street.

Su Dong understood that in their eyes, he hadn't been recognized by them at all, and he wasn't qualified to be their teammate.

Each of them should be guessing in their hearts, how long can these new guys stay?
Not only the players, but also the head coach Boloni.

Unlike the coach of the second team, Jean James, who specially received Su Dong and had a long talk, the coach of the first team, Boloni, did not have time to talk to the three of Su Dong. He just had a brief conversation on the sidelines before the training started.

The content of the conversation was very simple, even perfunctory.

Boloni encouraged Su Dong, Ronnie and Nalicis to work hard to improve their strength and show their best state in training.

"I will pay close attention to your performance in training. At the right time and in the right game, I will arrange for you to play the game as appropriate. I hope you can show a satisfactory performance by then."

Su Dong couldn't help but nodded, but in fact, he knew very well in his heart that if he said this, he didn't say it.

Boloni will not give them a chance easily, just like Marcelino.

This player entered the first team at the beginning of the season, but so far, he has not even played a minute.

Also lacking opportunities are Gisvi and Lorenzo, but Nikule. The Romanian center is a fellow that Boloni has mainly introduced, and has always been reused and trusted by Boloni.

Even if Nikulei's performance is not as good as Jadr.

Boloni was perfunctory, and the three of them also didn't take it too seriously.

After the pre-training talk, the head coach introduced the three of Su and Dong to everyone, hoping that everyone can help them and try to help them integrate into the team.

Responses remained scant.

Neither Su Dong nor Ronnie cared about it.

The two looked at each other, and they both saw the dissatisfaction and stubbornness in each other's eyes.

There is never a lack of indifference and cold eyes around them, but they will always use performance to prove themselves.

It was so before, and it is so now.

Therefore, they performed very hard in the subsequent training.

In the first warm-up and recovery training, they could keep up with the big team, which made them think that the training of the first team seemed to be nothing.

But when they really entered the high-intensity training, the two felt tremendous pressure, especially when they entered the team training, they couldn't keep up with the rhythm at all.

Body, technology, consciousness...

Everything can't keep up.

Su Dong felt as if he had returned to the bad situation when he first participated in the Portuguese Athletic training, and it was even worse than it was then.

　During the new book period, beg for rewards, collections and recommendation tickets!Thank you!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)