I AM the Football Star-Chapter 508 - 139: Serie B Opener (The New Season Bursts with Passion)
Reporter: Regarding Lu Yang and Morici’s omission from the recent selection, what are your thoughts?
Sotu: They are still young, and indeed, now is not the best time for them to join the Italy National Team.
Reporter: What do you mean by timing? After next year’s European Cup? After Maniero takes over the national team?
Sotu: That’s just your speculation; I never said such a thing.
National team match days, a period fans love and hate.
Each year, there are several days of concentrated national team matches.
For clubs, players earn salaries from the club and play for the national team for free.
Besides draining players’ energy, if they get injured, the club suffers quite a loss.
And such cases are not uncommon.
Some players might rest for a week if punctured by a toothpick at a club, but they’re willing to play through pain injections for the national team, making it difficult for clubs to favor national team matches.
On the other hand, national team performances can boost a player’s value and abilities, which is quite real.
Consider James Rodriguez’s stellar World Cup performance, where his value soared by forty million euros, nearly reaching the young player’s ceiling of eighty million euros!
This is also a huge earn for clubs.
So, despite disliking national team matches, clubs still hope their players get selected for the national team.
This is extremely favorable.
Lu Yang and Morici being omitted was expected.
Among the entire Italy National Youth Team, only Sevajos and Pompey were called up for the national team, and... they’re likely substitutes.
They might not even get the chance to play, especially Pompey, as it’s his first time being selected for the national team.
Italy’s striking problem is severe, so it’s no surprise to recruit two wingers.
But Lu Yang and Morici are midfielders; getting into the national team isn’t easy. Unless Lu Yang returns to the defensive midfield position, he might have some competitiveness.
September 1st, 7 PM.
The first round of the Italian Second Division commences.
San Remo versus Serie B’s relegation team, Chitadella.
Relegation team means weak.
Chitadella is not doing great this year.
As a weak team, they had a salary dispute this summer.
Reportedly, the team hadn’t fully settled players’ wages previously.
Meanwhile, several of their key players were sold off, including the dressing room leader.
And the newly bought players all want to become future team leaders, causing a weird team atmosphere with cliques everywhere.
What does ’a small temple with fierce winds, shallow pool with many turtles’ mean?
That’s exactly Chitadella nowadays.
The whistle sounds, the match begins.
San Remo plays at home, with great momentum; players are running tirelessly, igniting continuous applause from the fans.
Under Morici’s operation, the first five minutes saw Chitadella barely touching the ball.
In the fifth minute, Morici controlled the ball and moved laterally; the opponents didn’t press timely, allowing Morici to find a perfect route.
Bam!
Morici made a direct through ball, connecting Sogel.
Sogel received the ball; the nearby defenders were almost two meters away and couldn’t affect him.
Bam!
Sogel took a shot.
The ball flew towards the goal but suddenly changed direction airborne and eventually flew past the baseline.
Sogel was emotionally charged, raising his right hand high and repeatedly slapping the right elbow with his left hand.
"Handball! He handballed it! It’s a handball!" Sogel pursued the main referee tirelessly.
Meanwhile, Chitadella’s players quickly surrounded, telling the referee it wasn’t a handball.
However, the sideline referee raised the flag.
This indeed was a blatant handball.
Chitadella’s player almost palmed the ball.
The main referee decisively showed the center-back a yellow card and pointed to the penalty spot.
Penalty awarded!
Suddenly, the atmosphere at San Remo’s stadium surged.
Getting a penalty within five minutes of starting is definitely a joyful surprise.
Morici approached the ball and picked it up.
Believe it or not, he’s San Remo’s top penalty taker.
Even... for free kicks and corner kicks, he’s the primary taker.
Naturally, because Lu Yang often scored impressive penalties and free kicks, without this background knowledge, many might think San Remo’s top penalty and free-kick taker is Lu Yang.
"Calm down, fellas; we have the whole match ahead." Lu Yang saw Chitadella players surrounding the main referee and helped relieve the pressure, as the referee made a fair decision.
Yet Lu Yang’s actions seemed to anger Chitadella’s players, especially their new captain and goalkeeper.
"You, don’t think you’ll win just because you got a penalty. If you’re man enough, take the penalty; I’ll surely save it! You hypocrite! Trash!" Chitadella’s goalkeeper seemed to snap, targeting Lu Yang aggressively.
Lu Yang was baffled.
What’s with the sudden surge of emotions?
We have no feud, and the handball was plain to everyone just now.
This...
"Friend, you should clean up your language; I haven’t disrespected you in any way." Lu Yang spread his hands, indicating he felt wronged.
