Chapter 7: Facing the Brazil Team!
After the Football Association issued a salary cap order in 2005, the highest individual annual salary for Chinese Super League players was limited to within 1 million.
Even before the salary cap order was issued, Li Jinyu, who had the highest annual salary in the Chinese Super League in 2004, only made 3.2 million RMB a year.
Who is Li Jinyu?
He is the top scorer in the Chinese Super League, the number one player in the League!
Compared to Li Jinyu, Dong Fangzhuo had a huge gap in both personal ability and experience.
But his annual salary was actually higher than Li Jinyu's!
Is there still justice?
Is there still law?
No wonder everyone's eyes turned red after hearing about Dong Fangzhuo's annual salary.
Let alone them, even Chen Tao's heart was stirred, and his desire to play abroad became even stronger.
"Oh, right, isn't Lin Feng also playing football in Germany? Why don't you ask him about his annual salary!"
Dong Fangzhuo turned his head to look at Lin Feng, and the other teammates also turned their gazes towards Lin Feng.
Lin Feng couldn't help but give Dong Fangzhuo a thumbs up in his heart; it was truly like someone handing you a pillow when you're sleepy!
When Dong Fangzhuo introduced his annual salary just now, Lin Feng had already observed the changes in everyone's emotions.
With Dong Fangzhuo's example, what he needed to do now was to further deepen the impression in everyone's minds that 'playing football abroad means high salaries'.
So he decided to go with the flow and add fuel to their fire.
"My China Team is not a giant, just an ordinary German Second Division team, so my annual salary isn't as high as Brother Dong's."
Everyone calmed down quite a bit upon hearing this. Yes, the China Team Dong Fangzhuo played for was Manchester United; it couldn't be judged by normal standards.
But Lin Feng's next words made their breathing quicken.
"My annual salary is only about 300,000 euro!"
300,000 euro!
Only?
Are you humble-bragging?
At the current euro exchange rate, 300,000 euro converted to RMB is almost 2.9 million!
This is nearly 3 times higher than the annual salary of the top player in the Chinese Super League after the salary cap!
And this is only the annual salary of an ordinary German Second Division team!
Thinking of this, everyone's breathing quickened.
They couldn't go to a giant like Manchester United, but with some effort, they could still find a way to join a team of German Second Division level.
Even if they couldn't get as high an annual salary as Lin Feng, even half of it would be several times better than playing domestically, wouldn't it?
What's more, there are the Premier League in Europe, offering even higher ceilings for career development.
If they perform well in lower-tier Leagues and are noticed by teams from the Premier League, then they could truly soar.
Currently, the top player in Chinese Football is Sun Jihai, who plays in the Premier League. It is said his weekly salary is 12,500 pounds, which converts to an annual salary of nearly 10 million RMB.
This annual salary is basically ten times the top salary of domestic players!
Playing for one year is equivalent to domestic players playing for ten years; it's clear where playing football is more promising!
As soon as they thought of this, regardless of whether they had previously considered playing abroad.
Now, almost everyone, without exception, was eager to transfer and join a Europe team immediately to start their overseas career.
"Brother Dong, Brother Lin, I want to play abroad. Do you have any connections?"
Hao Junmin, whose family background was relatively poor, was the first to speak up, eagerly asking Dong Fangzhuo and Lin Feng, two veterans who had played in the Europe League, for help.
If possible, he even wanted to finalize the transfer this summer.
"No problem, I'll talk to my agent later and ask him to help you find a suitable China Team."
Dong Fangzhuo's agent, Gao Qi, had some influence in the industry.
His transfer to Manchester United was facilitated by him.
So, upon hearing Dong Fangzhuo's promise, Hao Junmin immediately felt relieved.
Seeing that Hao Junmin had received a promise, others also spoke up, asking Dong Fangzhuo for help.
Everyone kept calling Dong Fangzhuo 'Brother Dong,' making him incredibly comfortable, so he was filled with a sense of responsibility and readily agreed to help everyone.
Chen Tao frowned slightly from the side, seemingly wanting to say something, but in the end, he didn't speak.
He was the rising star of this World Youth Championship, and with his strength and reputation, he naturally didn't need to rely on Dong Fangzhuo's connections to find a China Team.
In fact, before going to Netherlands for the World Youth Championship, he had already received offers from many Europe teams.
However, at the beginning of the year, his relationship with Shenyang Ginde became quite unpleasant due to contract issues, which created significant obstacles for him to play abroad, arguably the biggest among everyone.
...
It is said that when people have a clear goal, their entire spirit and energy change.
This was profoundly reflected in the National Youth Team players!
When everyone made playing abroad their goal, they deeply realized that it wasn't easy to play abroad, otherwise, the number of domestic players playing abroad wouldn't be so small.
Due to the limitations of the Chinese Super League's level, Europe scouts rarely pay attention to the Chinese Super League.
To attract the attention of Europe teams, they must seize the opportunity of this World Youth Championship.
Playing well in an international arena on European soil is far more important than playing ten good games in their domestic League.
So almost everyone was fully motivated, wanting to perform well in the upcoming matches to prove their strength and value, hoping to impress their future employers.
The National Youth Team players' highly motivated training attitude made the coaches very confused:
"Could it be that Coach Klaus Toppmöller's holiday truly has such a magical effect? How did the players change so much after playing for a day?"
Several Chinese coaches gathered together, whispering.
Not only did they not understand, even Klaus Toppmöller himself was a bit bewildered:
How did these guys become so diligent, so hardworking, and so full of drive?
If he couldn't figure it out, he wouldn't think about it anymore. At least, this change in the players was a good thing, wasn't it?
...
Four days passed in a flash.
Soon it was the day of the National Youth Team's match against the Brazil Team.
Compared to the previous match against Germany, even more Chinese fans came to watch this game live.
The entire stands were almost completely covered in red, with Chinese people waving the five-star red flag visible everywhere in the stands.
And in China, although the match time was already close to 3:00 AM.
Countless fans still stayed in front of their televisions, enduring dark circles under their eyes, yawning, and fighting off sleepiness, waiting to watch this crucial match.
Although everyone knew in their hearts that the National Youth Team's chances of defeating the powerful Brazil Team were slim.
But they still chose to stand firmly with the National Youth Team, accompanying them until the end, never abandoning them.
"China Team!"
"Go!"
"China Team!"
"Go!"
Seeing the National Youth Team players enter the field, the fans in the stands, led by a burly man, let out synchronized cheers.
This powerful sound immediately attracted the attention of both teams' players.
"Damn! So many people came?"
"This treatment is almost on par with the National Team!"
The National Youth Team players were very surprised and excited.
They had never enjoyed such treatment before.
"I wonder if they'll curse even louder if we lose later!"
"Shut up!"
Someone, perhaps with a loose tongue, said something that made everyone laugh.
After laughing, everyone's eyes became determined.
Even for these fans who supported them, they had to go all out in this match and fight the Samba people!
The Brazil Team on the side was also surprised by the commotion in the stands, but this only increased their disdain.
What level?
Do you dare to fantasize about defeating our mighty Samba Football?
A football desert should look like a football desert!
As the absolute king of the football world in this era, the Brazil Team's name alone possessed immense deterrent power.
If it were in the past, these young players from the National Youth Team would probably have been intimidated before the match even started.
But this time was clearly different; with their adrenaline pumping, the players looked at the Brazil players not with fear, but with intense fighting spirit.
Even if the King of Heaven himself came today, they would go all out and break a few of his teeth!
At 20:30, the Referee blew the whistle to start the match.
The 2005 World Youth Championship Quarter-Final, National Youth Team VS Brazil Team, officially began.