I AM the Football Star

”As expected! Three players have walked out from Italy’s bench and started warming up. They are Morici, Canyes, and Lam, all of them from next season’s newly promoted Serie A side San Remo!”

”This is the first national team call-up for Lam and Canyes. Morici has only played once for the Italy Team before, also as a substitute, but in that match he and Lu Yang combined to orchestrate Italy’s miraculous comeback.”

”Among these three, Canyes has the biggest chance of coming on.”

In a match, substitute players are often called out by the Head Coach to warm up.

On the one hand, it’s to maintain their physical state so that when they’re needed, their bodies are already warmed up.

On the other hand, it’s also to put pressure on certain players on the pitch, making them play better and not forget the Head Coach’s arrangements.

Generally speaking, even if only one player is going to come on, the coaching staff will send three to warm up to make it look more imposing.

It’s almost never the case that three players warm up and all three get subbed on.

Because any coach with a bit of prudence will keep one substitution in hand for unexpected situations.

Otherwise, once you’ve used up all your substitutions, if someone gets injured or cramps up, you can only fight with ten men. How is that different from surrender?

”France Team launch a ferocious attack, they’re clearly not backing down. This is their home turf, they’re the Host, and also a seeded team. Facing a non-seeded Italy, they have no reason to turtle up.”

”France Team want to win beautifully to live up to this grand opening match! Of course, this also gives Italy a certain opportunity!”

”But France Team’s offense is really overwhelming, the phrase ’the best defense is a good offense’ fits this situation perfectly.”

”Zidane threads a through ball, Nelka is one-on-one with the keeper... ah! Brilliant! Audi comes up big! Audi saves Nelka’s one-on-one! Nelka holds his face in his hands, but honestly he’s already played well enough in this match.”

”It’s Zidane again, he links up with Robben on the left. A backheel to the off-the-ball inside cut from Robben, Robben Shooting... Bernulin makes a last-ditch clearance on the goal line! With Audi failing to reach the ball, he somehow manages to block what should have been a sure goal with his foot!”

”Plazza makes a late run, very sudden! Dele reacts too slowly, Plazza shoots from distance... oh, he scuffs it! The ball flies past the byline! It’s Lu Yang, he rushed back from the side and behind to put Plazza under pressure!”

France Team’s relentless bombardment has almost beaten Italy senseless.

Honestly, if Italy Team hadn’t been so lucky, France Team would probably have scored two more already.

Especially on Robben’s flank, it’s been completely ripped open.

The combination of Feng Ge and Scamacca just can’t get the attack going. Even with Lu Yang providing a link, they’ve been intercepted multiple times.

The players aren’t used to playing this way.

Scamacca can’t shoulder such a heavy attacking load.

But the problem is that France Team are all playing like they’ve been injected with chicken blood; even Robben is tracking back to press, the pressure is immense.

Finally, in the sixty‑ninth minute, Maniero began making substitutions.

Canyes replaced Scamacca. Italy went all-in, determined to go wing-to-wing against France Team.

You guys only need two Wingers to take off.

We’ll use both full-backs plus both central midfielders plus an attacking midfielder to take off.

It’s harder, but as long as it works, the effect is still there.

But seeing two more players on the touchline, many people were stunned.

They hadn’t expected Maniero to be this bold.

”Oh! Maniero’s substitutions are razor sharp! I don’t think anyone anticipated this, did they?”

”Maniero makes a triple substitution! Morici comes on for Finger, Lam comes on for Dele in a like-for-like change.”

”The latter is risky but understandable. Last season Lam was converted into a holding midfielder with good effect; his Speed is his biggest asset in that position.”

”But Morici... why take Finger off for him? Offensively this youngster might have some positives, but defensively Morici is clearly not stronger than Finger.”

”Oh! Finger’s face has gone dark, he clearly doesn’t understand this substitution!”

”And none of the coaching staff go over to explain anything to Finger. Finger sits down on the bench and kicks the bottle of mineral water at his feet.”

”This substitution is indeed debatable.”

If someone were to ask Maniero right now why he made those substitutions,

then Maniero would tell them it’s because Lu Yang prefers to link up with Morici.

At the same time, France Team also chose to make a substitution, but theirs was more conservative.

They brought on their backup Central Forward Alpha for Nelka.

This had a lot to do with Nelka’s obvious drop in stamina.

In these years of cashing in in the Turkish Super League, Nelka hasn’t really played many high-intensity matches, and his fitness has quietly regressed quite a bit.

To get back to the level where he can handle a full fierce ninety minutes, he’ll probably need a lot of game time.

If Professor Winter wants Nelka to play a key role at Arsenal, he’ll probably need to put together some special fitness programs for him.

Six minutes after the substitutions, the score changed again.

In the seventy‑fifth minute, Robben once again cut inside from the left.

Canyes’s defending is even worse than Scamacca’s.

But although Canyes’s clumsy tackle was easily evaded by a little lofted touch from Robben, it did create a brief moment of separation between man and ball.

Lam, with his blistering Speed, charged in at the first opportunity hoping to nick the ball away early.

But he immediately realized he was wrong.

Because as soon as Robben landed, he went full throttle. The turf was instantly plowed to pieces, chunks of dirt flying.

By Lu Yang’s estimation, Lam’s Speed is around eighty‑five or eighty‑six, which is genuinely quick, comparable to an average forward.

Whereas a typical central defender’s Speed is usually around seventy‑five, with some older, slower ones rated around sixty‑five.

Even most midfielders are generally in the seventy‑five to eighty‑two range.

So there’s nothing wrong with calling Lam fast.

But Robben... as the world’s best left Winger, there’s no way he’s slow.

Even though he isn’t primarily known for his Speed, Lu Yang estimates his Speed to be at least ninety‑two or ninety‑three.

His Eruption is easily above ninety‑five!

How is Lam supposed to compete with that?

He can’t!

Robben, despite starting later, reached the ball first, nudged it forward, and easily went past the misjudging Lam.

At the edge of the penalty area, Robben carried the ball with no pressure.

And the consequence?

Chiavich was the closest to Robben and immediately rushed over.

But Robben just nudged the ball to the left and hit the byline inside the box, going past Chiavich.

The next moment, Robben took a touch and shaped to shoot, the movements all in one fluid motion.

Audi covered the near post, Bernulin used his body to help with Blocking the far post beside Audi.

There’s no doubt that a player like Robben can Shooting from even the tightest of angles.

As long as it’s not literally zero angle, you have to execute perfect Blocking on his Shooting.

This is something all defenders agree on.

Bang!

Robben struck the ball with his right foot, a shot... no, not a shot!

It was a cutback pass!

Alpha arrived right on cue and, facing a goal that seemed one size bigger, calmly side-footed the ball into the net.

3–1!

France Team restored their two-goal lead!

If Italy think they can take points off them, they’re probably kidding themselves.

The next two matches are the ones Italy should really be throwing everything into.

As for this one... even throwing everything in won’t help.

”GOAL! Young Alpha scores on his debut off the bench in his first call-up to the national team. A new star is rising!”

”The France Team fans are chanting Robben’s name! Yes, even though Alpha got the goal, the biggest credit for it must go to Ribeiro. He dribbled past Canyes, Lam, and Chiavich on his own, then used a fake shot to deceive both Audi and Bernulin!”

”He’s absolutely unstoppable!”

”A goal and an assist, Robben has completely dominated this match! He’s also a strong contender for this year’s Golden Ball Award and World Footballer of the Year!”

”The other main contender is Izalelt!”

”Although Robben lost in their direct duel in the Champions League, Bayern have the advantage in the league standings. If he can also win this year’s European Cup, Robben could very well leapfrog Izalelt and become Bayern’s first World Footballer of the Year and Golden Ball Award winner in thirty years, maybe even the first in Bundesliga history!”

”Robben...”

Out on the pitch, countless French fans roared in unison: ”Invincible!”

France Team were bursting with swagger.