“No, no… his technique is too poor!”
“He can’t even control the ball properly.”
“He hasn’t practiced the fundamentals at all…”
“With this kind of technique, it’s impossible for him to be selected for the Lazio Youth Team.”
“He has no training value whatsoever.”
In Italy, Rome, at the training base of Lazio’s youth academy.
Verdi, the head coach of the Lazio U19 Youth Team, shook his head like a rattle-drum.
“His advantage is headers, you should let him try headers!”
Esposito stood beside him, insisting that Verdi give Ye Cheng another chance.
“His headers are excellent, very, very, very excellent!”
To emphasize his point, Esposito used three “very” in a row.
“Buddy, being good at headers isn’t much. There are many players in this world who are good at headers. It’s impossible to establish oneself in professional football by relying solely on headers. If he’s only good at headers, he has no training value at all!”
Verdi said.
“That’s because you haven’t seen how good his headers truly are. I dare say… just on headers alone, he’s already up to the standard of a Serie A starting center forward!” Esposito said anxiously.
Verdi chuckled.
“Buddy, I know you’re eager to show results, but… you can’t just casually find a player who can’t even pass the basic skill test and say his heading ability is comparable to a Serie A level forward? What kind of joke is this?”
Esposito thought to himself that saying his heading ability was only at the level of a Serie A starting forward was being conservative.
He had just watched Ye Cheng score three consecutive headers over the Japanese National Youth Team in ten minutes.
“Then you should at least evaluate his headers.”
“There’s no time, buddy. Our time is precious, and it’s not worth wasting it on a Great Xia person. They don’t play football.”
Verdi shrugged and said.
Esposito frowned.
He knew that Verdi had some racist tendencies.
This was normal in Italy.
Italy was a severely affected area by racial discrimination.
Esposito glanced at Ye Cheng. Fortunately, this kid didn’t understand Italian yet…
Around them, the Lazio Youth Team players were also watching the show.
“Hahaha, can that kid even play?”
“This level, and he dares to come to Lazio for a tryout?”
“He’s as clumsy as a gorilla…”
“Hahahahaha…”
The Lazio U19 youth players burst into laughter.
Ye Cheng’s expression was a bit grim.
Even without understanding Italian, he knew that these Italians weren’t saying anything good.
“Let’s go, Mr. Esposito.”
He said in English.
“We have a saying in Great Xia: ‘If one place doesn’t keep a man, another place will.’ I want to try other clubs.”
Lazio’s unwillingness to evaluate his heading ability, in his opinion, was not his loss, but Lazio’s loss.
He had nothing to regret.
Verdi seemed to be irritated by Ye Cheng’s indifferent attitude.
This Great Xia kid’s tone actually subtly showed disdain for Lazio’s youth training.
He snorted coldly and said in English: “I advise you not to go for any more tryouts. With your level, no team will want you.”
“Why don’t you Great Xia people just stick to playing table tennis? Football isn’t something you can handle. Understand? Qin Qiang poor?”
Ye Cheng frowned, stepped forward, and stood directly in front of Verdi: “Italian, say that again if you dare!”
“You… I…” Verdi didn’t expect Ye Cheng to react so strongly. “Qin Qiang poor” was a derogatory term for Great Xia people.
It slipped out, and if Ye Cheng held onto that, in the current climate where opposing “racial discrimination” was politically correct, he would get into a lot of trouble.
Ye Cheng glanced at Verdi: “I thought you had more guts.”
He looked at the now quiet Lazio Youth Team players: “With these trash under you, I can easily dominate them in the air!”
The mockery on Ye Cheng’s lips made Verdi somewhat frantic.
This Great Xia person actually looked down on them?
“I’d like to see how good your headers are. Dare to compete, Great Xia person?”
Verdi said coldly.
“Oh? How do we compete?”
“I’ll send one center-back to defend you, and we’ll just compare corner kick offense and defense!” Verdi extended a finger.
“One?” Ye Cheng shook his head.
“What, scared?”
“Scared? If you send one defender to guard me, how is that different from letting me score?” Ye Cheng said, spreading his hands.
“Damn it! This kid is too arrogant.”
“I can’t take it anymore, let me go on the field, I’ll teach him a lesson!”
The Lazio Youth Team players, who were watching, exploded.
“How about two against one then.” Esposito’s heart filled with joy.
It was time to test Ye Cheng’s heading ability.
Verdi, on the other hand, scrutinized Ye Cheng from head to toe.
He snorted coldly: “Since you’re looking for death, then come on!”
“Marco, Lorenzo, you two go play with him!”
“Oh…”
There was a collective sigh of regret from the Lazio youth players.
They saw this as a game.
A game where they could enjoy watching an overconfident Great Xia player turn into a clown.
Great Xia football?
Did they even have football?
Under the playful gazes of everyone, two players, both over 1.9 meters tall, stepped forward.
They both looked taller than Ye Cheng.
They were definitely defenders skilled in aerial defense.
Verdi glanced at Ye Cheng. If it weren’t for Esposito’s insistence, he wouldn’t even have given this Great Xia person a tryout opportunity.
However… since this Great Xia person insisted on being humiliated, what reason did he have to refuse?
Marco and Lorenzo, his two starting center-backs, one 1.92 meters tall, the other 1.95 meters tall.
Ye Cheng, on the other hand, was only 1.89 meters tall.
Furthermore… Marco and Lorenzo were already capable of trying to play professional football.
What about Ye Cheng?
What skills did he have?
Two against one, Verdi really couldn’t imagine how Ye Cheng could win.
“Three chances. If you score one goal, you win.”
Verdi snorted coldly and said.
Ye Cheng nodded.
Just then, in his mind, the system’s voice rang out.
“Ding! Activating side quest: Heading Duel!”
“Quest objective: Score a goal over the heads of the two starting center-backs of the Lazio Youth Team.”
As the system’s voice sounded, Ye Cheng opened the system.
These past few days, he hadn’t been idle.
Instead, he had been studying the system’s functions.
He discovered that he could also gain experience points through training.
However, the speed of gaining experience points was far slower than completing system quests or playing matches—which was normal, after all, for players of this age, matches were the fastest way to improve.
He glanced at the two Lazio Youth Team center-backs and walked onto the field.
The two Lazio center-backs looked at each other and also entered the field together.
In front of the goal, there was a goalkeeper, a player responsible for taking corner kicks, and two defenders.
And the attacking player was only Ye Cheng.