Super Wingstorm

March 10th was destined to be a restless day for England’s football fans.

On the evening of the 9th, the Red Devils Manchester United, long considered the vanguard of the Premier League in the European War, drew one-to-one at home against Portuguese Super League’s Porto.

This powerful Portuguese Super League team, led by the young Young Marshal José Mourinho, had already overturned Manchester United two-to-one in the first leg. The Red Devils even paid the price of a red card for their captain, Keane. However, after returning to Old Trafford Stadium, Manchester United’s performance showed no improvement.

Faced with Porto’s solid defense, Scholes opened the scoring for Manchester United not long after the match began. But in the final moments of stoppage time, Porto tenaciously equalized. They ultimately left Old Trafford Stadium with a one-to-one draw, knocking the Red Devils Manchester United out with an aggregate score of three-to-two.

The pain of the Red Devils’ elimination had not yet subsided when more bad news arrived.

On the evening of the 10th, at London Highbury Stadium, Ajax, after conceding the first goal, managed to equalize in the eighty-seventh minute. Ibrahimovic assisted Van der Vaart to level the score, and the match ended one-to-one.

The final aggregate score was four-to-three. Ajax had pulled off an upset, eliminating Arsenal.

In two consecutive days, two major Premier League powerhouses were tragically eliminated, sending shockwaves throughout the entirety of English football.

Whether it was Ajax or Porto, their overall strength was considered inferior to Arsenal and Manchester United. But these two teams from the Eredivisie and the Portuguese Super League capitalized on their home-field advantage to win their matches and then fought hard to secure draws away from home.

Overnight, the entire British media and its fans erupted.

Countless television programs began to reflect on the disastrous defeats of the two giants. Introducing a winter break to the Premier League was once again put on the agenda, and the clamor to cancel the League Cup to reduce pressure on the teams resurfaced. But these were all worn-out arguments.

The two Young Marshals, Ronald Koeman and José Mourinho, both captured the attention of mainstream European media. They had successfully led Ajax and Porto into the quarterfinals. This was especially true for Ronald Koeman, as it was his second consecutive season reaching the Champions League quarterfinals, a clear testament to his coaching ability.

In contrast to the widespread misery among the British media and fans, the Netherlands was celebrating as a nation.

In this season’s UEFA Champions League, Eredivisie teams had generally performed poorly. Only Ajax had made it to the knockout stage. Now, they had even eliminated the powerhouse Arsenal to advance to the quarterfinals, earning immense praise from the Dutch domestic media and fans.

Even more exciting was the goal from Ibrahimovic’s assist to Van der Vaart, and the handshake between the two on the pitch. It was something countless Ajax fans had been hoping for. Everyone believed that their partnership would make Ajax even stronger and more competitive.

Under the glare of the two superstars, Ibrahimovic and Van der Vaart, the performance of the young number 99, Yang Yang, also drew considerable attention. The team’s equalizing goal was the result of an attack he and Talabesi orchestrated on the right flank.

Golden Substitute. This was the recognition Ajax fans gave Yang Yang.

At some point, everyone had come to realize that almost every time Yang Yang took the field, he changed the game’s momentum. In every match, he would bring unexpected surprises to the fans and the team.

Everyone wanted to know: just how much more potential did he have left to uncover?

In a post-match interview with the Dutch Telegraaf, head coach Ronald Koeman said that he didn’t know either.

”He’s always surprising people. The speed of his progress is always unexpected. No one knows just how far he can develop, but I personally believe that he is constantly creating surprises for us and is gradually becoming an increasingly important and crucial member of the team.”

In the first leg, Yang Yang orchestrated three goals to defeat Arsenal at home. In the second leg, after coming on as a substitute, he engineered the equalizing goal. And then there was the final group stage match against Bruges...

Who could possibly question Ronald Koeman’s words?

However, even though Ajax had eliminated Arsenal to enter the quarterfinals, outsiders were still not optimistic about the team’s prospects.

Besides Ajax and Porto, the other six teams that made it to the quarterfinals were Chelsea from the Premier League, AC Milan from Serie A, Real Madrid and Deportivo La Coruña from La Liga, and Monaco and Lyon from Ligue 1.

With the exception of Bayern Munich and Stuttgart from the Bundesliga, who were stopped in the round of sixteen, six of Europe’s seven major leagues had teams in the quarterfinals. This was an extremely rare sight since the UEFA Champions League was restructured.

Since this year was also a year of reform for the Champions League, UEFA changed the format from two group stages to a single group stage followed directly by a round of sixteen knockout tournament. Many people felt that the round of sixteen format greatly increased the probability of upsets, which contributed to the constant surprises in this year’s UEFA Champions League.

But regardless, any team that could make it to the Champions League quarterfinals was full of competitive spirit.

For Ajax, which had long been absent from the ranks of Europe’s top teams, it would be an uphill battle no matter who they faced next.

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While the entire Dutch media was fervently hyping up Ajax’s upset entry into the Champions League quarterfinals, the reconciliation between Ibrahimovic and Van der Vaart, and Yang Yang’s ”Golden Substitute” status, Yang Yang himself was just finishing a night of special training in the Super Training.

He had already reviewed the match on the plane back from London to Amsterdam. As soon as he got home, he dove into his training regimen, which mainly consisted of basic drills, [Ronaldo’s Rush], [Beckham’s Crossing], as well as his usual left-foot practice. His special training session didn’t end until dawn.

Sitting on the soft, plush, and seemingly indestructible turf of the Super Training, Yang Yang stared blankly at the goal opposite him.

”What are you thinking about?” Old Ice’s faint voice sounded beside his ear.

Yang Yang kept his gaze forward, a faint smile playing on his lips. ”About my time in Almere.”

’I don’t know why, but whenever I get so tired I want to give up, I can’t help but think back to that time. Back then, on the youth team, I was toyed with like a monkey every day, ridiculed by the watching fans. I thought about quitting countless times, but in the end, I gritted my teeth and persevered.’

’Ever since then, whenever I can’t stop myself from wanting to quit, whenever I’m on the verge of breaking down, I always ask myself: I’ve endured something so painful, what is there that I can’t persevere through now?’

After hearing Yang Yang’s answer, Old Ice fell silent.

The vast Super Training was empty and devoid of any sound. It was so quiet you could almost hear your own heartbeat.

After a long while, Old Ice’s voice slowly sounded by Yang Yang’s ear again.

”You know, according to scientific research, human potential is limitless.”

”What do you mean?”

”Research institutions have shown that human behavior is controlled by the brain, and the brain, in turn, is driven by human willpower. In other words, as long as a person’s willpower is strong enough, they can push their brain to command their body to continuously surpass its own limits.”

”Wouldn’t that make you a superman?” Yang Yang retorted with a laugh.

’That seems impossible,’ he thought. ’It’s like in a match, a player might get back up and run after getting a cramp, but there’s always a moment when they will eventually collapse.’

”You misunderstand me. I don’t mean within a single match or a short period of time, but over the long term. Take the Pele Era, for example. Back then, a professional running seven or eight kilometers was already considered an iron man. For people of that time, running ten kilometers in a single match was simply unimaginable.”

”But now, running ten kilometers in a single game happens often. And in a 2001 World Cup qualifier, the match between England and Greece, Beckham ran 16.1 kilometers in one game, setting a world record. He surpassed the limits of this era.”

”Perhaps in ten years, running ten kilometers in a single game will be the norm. And at that time, more and more people will emerge who can run thirteen or fourteen kilometers in a game. Someone might even be able to break Beckham’s record.”

”Do you understand what I mean? In every era, there will always be some people with incredibly strong willpower who push their brains, command their bodies, and constantly surpass their limits, turning what everyone thought was impossible into reality.”

Yang Yang understood Old Ice’s meaning. He himself felt it deeply.

’It’s just like last night’s match against Arsenal. I kept running, kept looking for opportunities, failed time and again, and got back up time and again. If I hadn’t used my willpower to push myself, to force myself to keep trying, how could there have been that final comeback?’

”Thank you, Old Ice.” Yang Yang stood up from the grass.

In truth, his body hadn’t felt tired at all, only his mind.

But now, he wasn’t tired anymore.

”Don’t thank me. Even here, you still have to rely on yourself.”

Yang Yang smiled faintly and nodded.

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The mornings in the Netherlands were still quite chilly in March.

Yang Yang, dressed in warm athletic wear, came out of his house and did a full warm-up routine at his doorstep. After his body had warmed up, he saw the door of the house across the street open as well.

The tall and sturdy Ibrahimovic was grinning and waving at him, then jogged over quickly.

”Training alone must be boring. I’ll join you.”

As he spoke, he had already snatched the ball at Yang Yang’s feet and quickly dribbled it forward.

Yang Yang stood there stunned, wondering if he was still dreaming.

’This guy is out for a morning run this early?’

’This is completely out of character for him.’

But when he looked again, the guy was waving at him from a distance, gesturing for him to hurry up.

”My God, is the sun going to rise in the west today?” Yang Yang wondered, craning his neck to look at the not-yet-risen sun with suspicion.

”Hey, the ball’s coming!”

A shout from Ibrahimovic snapped Yang Yang out of his daze. He looked up just in time to see the ball flying toward him. He instinctively chested it down, knocked it forward with his head, and quickly chased after it.

”I’m coming! You bastard, you trying to kill me with that much force?”

”I was just afraid you weren’t awake yet!”

”Even if I wasn’t, seeing you would have scared me awake!”

”Haha, aren’t you pleasantly surprised?”

”Surprised? More like horrified.”

”Hey, is that any way to treat a buddy who’s kindly helping you out?”

”So I guess that means I owe you one?”

”You’re only just realizing that?”

”Could you be any more shameless?”

”Can’t be helped. You said it yourself, I don’t need my pride!”

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