Chapter 86 Being Strange
“Eh? Be careful! Be careful!!”

“oops!!”

“Ugh–“

When the Tyne fans in the stands saw Kerten break into the penalty area, they all exclaimed.

When the football really flew into the goal, they sighed and many people fell silent.

It feels terrible to be tied after taking the lead, even worse than falling behind directly.

After all, being tied after taking the lead means that what you have gained is lost again, and the psychological gap is even greater – which is more painful, never having had it in the past, or having it and then having it taken away from you?
Obviously the latter.

Robbie Dixie yelled to the sky, then put his head in his hands and looked at the Hackney Knights players who were celebrating on the field. Some people around him were cursing, while others were silent like him, not in the mood to talk.

But before long, a shout came from the stands:
“Tain! Tain! Tain! Tain!!”

The sound spread from far away to the stands, and everyone including Dixie waved their fists and shouted loudly:
“Tain! Tain!!”

Such shouts were like throwing a stone into a pool of stagnant water, causing ripples that soon spread to the entire surface of the water.

Unlike before when they would feel pain for a long time, curse loudly, and then feel despair and numbness after losing the ball, now Tyne fans, although they are also in pain and disappointed after losing the ball, they will quickly cheer up and tell the players on the field with shouts:

Don’t give up, we are with you!
The shouts grew louder and louder, and finally turned into singing:

“…The Tyne, the Tyne, the ever-flowing Tyne, the chimneys that line the streets, and the flames that dance in the furnaces. This is my hometown, Newcastle! Newcastle on the Tyne!!”

The singing of tens of thousands of fans at the home stadium completely drowned out the chorus of the visiting fans.

By the time the game restarted, the Hackney Knights players could no longer hear the sounds of their own fans.

※※※

Perhaps they drew strength from the shouts and singing of the fans, or perhaps the team had expected to be scored by the league-leading Hackney Knights before the game… In any case, when the game resumed, the Tyne players did not panic.

They first consolidated their defense to prevent the Hackney Knights from taking another victory in a short period of time – with the strength of the Hackney Knights, they can definitely do this.

Moreover, after losing the ball, due to the change in mentality, the players are very likely to lose concentration on the field and make mistakes.

There are only a few minutes left in the first half of the game, and even if injury time is included, it will be less than ten minutes.

As long as we can maintain this score, the head coach will naturally make corresponding adjustments after the half-time break.

There’s no need to rush now.

Sure enough, after the game resumed, Hackney Knights continued to play in the same way as they did in the period before the goal and launched a fierce attack on Tyne’s goal.

However, because Tyne was well prepared, the whole team retreated and maintained a stable formation, and did not give Hackney Knights players the opportunity to threaten the goal like when they lost the ball.

The score did not change until the referee blew the whistle to end the first half.

“The first half of the game is over! After 1 minutes of fierce fighting! Tyne is temporarily tied 1: with Hackney Knights at home!”

“To be honest, although we were not able to maintain the lead before the end of the first half, I think the score and the scene were enough to surprise everyone… You know, in the first half of the season, Tyne was almost beaten without any chance to fight back when facing Hackney Knights. But today they can tie with the top team in the league! In the past two months, Tyne has really undergone a complete transformation…”

Although Hackney Knights equalized the score in the last minute of the first half, Tyne fans still gave encouragement and applause to the team.

When they walked to the player tunnel, the Tyne fans there cheered loudly for them and praised their performance:
“Well done, boys!”

“Come on, Tyne!”

“It doesn’t matter! Let’s do it in the second half!”

When Wang Lie walked to the entrance and heard the fans’ shouts, he raised his hands and applauded the fans in the stands.

He then received more cheers from the Tyne fans:

“Come on, Wang! You’re the best!”

“GOAT! Wang! You are the real GOAT!!” (Note 1)

Wang heard the fans praising him, smiled and waved to them, then walked into the player tunnel.

※※※

“… We had expected that Tyne’s home ground would be difficult to play before the game, and the facts proved it. But I have to say that you performed very well after conceding the goal! We were able to equalize the score in the first half, which is a reflection of this good performance!”

Hackney Knights head coach Paul Neves shouted encouragement and praise to his players in the locker room for their performance in the first half.

“This goal proves that we can still score goals even with a method we are not familiar with! Since we can score goals, we can win! Tyne’s defense is not that good. Katic can never cover the entire area in front of the penalty area by himself, and he also participated in the national team competition.”

Neves placed magnetic chess pieces on the tactical board to let the players understand what they should do in the second half in the most intuitive way.

“In the second half, you have to continue to create chaos near their penalty area. When Bock is in the frontcourt, both Kerten and Jack have to get closer to him so that they can make full use of the opportunities he grabs to launch a second attack. Not only these two people, but everyone has to get closer to each other when attacking into the Tyne half…”

After placing the chess pieces, he slapped the tactical board hard.

“There are still 45 minutes left in the game. We have already equalized the score. The next step is to overtake! Do you remember our goal here? To win! To win the game! To get three points!! The fight for the league championship starts right here and now!”

※※※

“It’s a pity to be tied, but we all know that it’s difficult to prevent them from scoring. Instead of putting all our energy into defense, we might as well think about how to score more goals, right?”

McNeill asked his players in the locker room.

He did not intend to really let the players answer this kind of free-point question. He continued: “We have a huge advantage in offense, so offense is what we should do. But on defense, we don’t do nothing. When defending, everyone must increase their concentration, cheer up, and always pay attention to the situation around them. In fact, the reason we lost the ball was because we were not focused enough on defense, which allowed Kerten to take advantage of the opportunity…

“It’s obvious that they intend to use Bok to create chaos near our penalty area. So we can’t make a mess ourselves. If the ball falls into the dangerous area, don’t think too much, just kick the ball forward with a big foot. Wang, if the ball flies over, you have to pay attention to control the landing point in front.”

Wang Lie nodded to show that he understood.

“When they attack, we don’t press, we hold our own defense and make sure there are no loopholes. In any case, the defensive formation cannot be messed up… Without Pope, their ability to break through dense defense is not as good as before. As long as we don’t give them opportunities, they can only rely on long shots and crosses from the wing to find opportunities. We have enough advantages in header defense, as long as we don’t let them get the second landing point…”

McNeill made very detailed arrangements based on the characteristics of the Hackney Knights.

Then he encouraged the players in the end: “Although Hackney Knights are first in the league, judging from the first half, the gap in strength between us and them is not that big. In fact, we are even stronger than them in some aspects! So why can’t we beat them at home? We have already defeated the Scouse people here, now let’s add the Knights to our list of losers!”

Then he asked Wang Lie: “Wang, do you have anything to say?”

Wang Lie shook his head and waved his hands: “No, Boss, you said it very well. I have nothing to say.”

※※※

As the players walked out of the locker room one after another, McNeill left Wang Lie alone.

When they were the only two left in the locker room, McNeill asked, “Wang, does your national team have any particularly good physical trainers?”

Wang Lie was very surprised: “Why do you ask this, Sam?”

“Because your physical condition is obviously better than before you joined the national team. So I wonder if it’s because the Chinese team’s physical trainer is very good…”

Wang Lie actually already had a premonition that he would not be able to hide the changes in his body functions from everyone, and he couldn’t just pretend to be 38 years old in order to conceal the situation – wouldn’t his cheat be in vain then?
So he had already thought of some excuses to deal with questions like McNeil’s.

He shook his head: “Of course our national team’s physical trainer is very good, but my physical condition has little to do with him. On the one hand, it is because I have my own physical recovery method, and on the other hand, it may be my own talent…”

He used this ambiguous statement to explain, which made it more convincing without having to go into too much detail.

His “unique” recovery method is his own “secret weapon”, so of course he couldn’t explain it in too much detail. If everyone knew how he recovered from fatigue, wouldn’t it lose its “unique” nature? This is human nature. When he said this, everyone understood and would not continue to ask what the specific recovery method was.

What? Are you saying that this “unique recovery method for Wang Lie” is some kind of magical “little pill”? Then you really underestimated Wang Lie, who has been enjoying the top-level doping control treatment for so many years… If he took drugs, given the prejudiced views of the world sports world on Chinese athletes, he would have been overturned in his eight lifetimes. How could he wait until he was 38 years old?

Then adding the “talent theory” can make his argument more persuasive.

Because Wang Lie possesses very special physical talents, this has long been no secret in the world of football – after all, it is a fact that he has not suffered a major injury since the two serious injuries he suffered when he was nineteen or twenty years old.

Since he has never been seriously injured in his 18-year professional career, it means that his body must be different from that of an ordinary person. So it is not surprising that his body recovers quickly and he is more vigorous than his actual age…

As for why there didn’t seem to be such a recovery effect before… that was of course because Wang Lie had only recently acquired this “unique skill”.

Sure enough, after listening to Wang Lie’s explanation, McNeill nodded to show his acceptance: “Okay. I was worried about your physical condition before, and wanted to ask if I should replace you in advance…”

Wang Lie shook his head: “No, don’t replace me early, I can definitely play the whole game.”

“Your task will be heavier in the second half… You have to keep retreating to support and move forward. There will be more anaerobic exercises such as shuttle runs and sprints…” McNeill reminded him.

Wang Lie still shook his head: “That’s great, I’m full of energy now.”

McNeill laughed and patted him on the shoulder: “Okay, go out there!”

※※※

Kang Dong-hoon was very dissatisfied with his performance in the first half.

Although the head coach didn’t say it, he knew very well that the goal loss had something to do with him – if he could have snatched the ball from Wang Lie’s feet at that time, or if Wang Lie hadn’t accelerated away from him, there might not have been a corner kick later, and Wang Lie wouldn’t have used that tactical corner kick to score with a header…

And he knew that most of the time he seemed to have disappeared from the game, without any outstanding performance. The goal that tied the score had nothing to do with him.

So during halftime, he was always worried that the head coach would replace him.

Until the second half was about to begin and the players were about to return to the field, the head coach still did not announce any substitutions.

Only then did he secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

However, when he was about to leave the locker room, he was stopped by head coach Neves.

Jiang Dongxun’s heart almost stopped beating – was it finally time to replace him?

Neves looked at the obviously nervous Kang Dongxun, and his first words struck the latter as if struck by lightning: “Luke Milne just posted an X-text online, saying that I should remove you from the starting lineup before the game to avoid angering Wang. Do you think he is right, Jack?”

“Jack” is Kang Dong-hoon’s name in the UK. In the Korean team he is called “Kang Dong-hoon”, and in Hackney Knights he is called “Jack Kang”.

Kang Dong-hoon, who was very rebellious in front of his national team teammates, acted like a good boy in front of the club coach. He bowed his head and admitted his mistakes with a good attitude: “Sorry, boss, I was wrong…”

Although he didn’t know what he had done wrong, facing the coach with a bad expression, he let it go and quickly admitted his mistake. There was nothing wrong with that, right?
“I don’t care whether you are right or wrong. I just want to ask you, do you think I should replace you before the game?” Neves stared at Jiang Dongxun and repeated his question.

Jiang Dongxun guessed what his head coach was thinking, and then said stubbornly, “No, boss, I will prove that you were right to keep me on the court in the second half!”

Neves didn’t say anything, but continued to stare at Jiang Dongxun.

Under his gaze, Jiang Dongxun’s breathing gradually became heavy, and under his tightly pursed lips, his teeth were clenched tightly.

Just when he was about to be unable to bear the boss’s gaze, Neves finally smiled, nodded, and said to him: “Well, don’t let me be laughed at, Jack.”

Jiang Dongxun felt relieved. He clenched his fist and said in a firm and powerful tone: “Don’t worry, boss. I will do my best for the team!”

“Well, now go out there.”

Jiang Dongxun turned around and ran out of the locker room as if he had been pardoned.

Because he was kept in the locker room by the head coach to talk a few more words, his teammates had already returned to the court.

So, in the player tunnel, Kang Dong-hoon unexpectedly bumped into the home team Tayen players who were coming out of the locker room – they were not in a hurry to go out, but stood in the tunnel in twos and threes, chatting, daydreaming… as if they were waiting for someone.

As soon as Jiang Dongxun saw the all-dark blue backs, he instinctively wanted to hide.

But he quickly came to his senses – why should I hide? I haven’t done anything wrong!

So he walked past the group of Tyne players with his head held high and his eyes straight ahead towards the exit of the tunnel.

When he appeared in the tunnel, he immediately attracted the attention of the Tyne players.

Kang Dong-hoon could feel the undisguised malice in the eyes of Taean players.

Especially that Vitini, the way he looked at me, it was as if he wanted to tear my flesh off – his mouth was indeed moving, and I didn’t know if he was secretly cursing me…

This “malice” that could almost become a physical entity seemed to solidify the air in the passage, and Jiang Dongxun had to exert a lot of effort to take every step.

It was obviously not a long distance, but he now felt that the exit was out of reach.

But he couldn’t run – that would make him look scared.

Unless he ran into the passage in the first place, and now he is halfway there and running again, it really looks like he is fleeing…

Suddenly, the gazes that seemed to weigh on Jiang Dongxun disappeared, and the malice disappeared with them.

Jiang Dongxun felt as if he could breathe normally again.

Before he could figure out what was going on, he heard a familiar voice behind him.

“Are you all here? Very good, go on stage!”

After this sentence, the sound of intensive studs hitting each other rang out in the player tunnel.

A man walked past Jiang Dongxun first. He glanced at the figure out of the corner of his eye, and it was indeed… Wang Lie!
Wang Lie looked straight at him and walked past him as if he were air.

Behind him were the other Tyne players, who were surrounding Wang Lie and walking forward. It seemed that they were waiting for captain Wang Lie in the passage just now.

Some of these people turned their eyes to him, but quickly looked away and followed Wang Lie’s steps towards the entrance.

Jiang Dongxun, who was at the end, finally came to his senses and found that he had stopped without knowing when…

I was actually shocked by Wang Lie’s appearance just now!

He almost semi-publicly mocked Wang Lie online, but when he was really offline and Wang Lie was right next to him, he was so scared that he couldn’t even take a step…

He was both ashamed and angry, and he quickly lowered his head, trotted out of the tunnel and onto the field behind the entire Tyne team.

When he came out the Tyne fans were singing:
“…London is full of tall buildings, Liverpool is full of whistles, and Manchester is full of traffic. When I walk alone in these cities, the only thing I miss in my heart is Newcastle upon the Tyne——”

“Oh, Tyne, the Tyne, the Tyne that never stops flowing. Life and death, joy and sorrow, the ever-changing world, only the Tyne that never stops flowing will never change. This is my hometown, Newcastle! Newcastle on the Tyne!”

“The Tyne, the Tyne, the ever-flowing Tyne, the chimneys, the fires dancing in the furnaces. This is my hometown, Newcastle! Newcastle on the Tyne!”

They were singing to warm up for the second half.

This was not the first time that Jiang Dongxun came to play at Li Ze Park Stadium, but this time, he felt that the stadium was a little unfamiliar…

※※※

Note 1: GOAT, originally means goat, but it is also the abbreviation of “Greatest Of All Time”, meaning “the best in history”.

(End of this chapter)