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"So fierce?"
"Amazing!! Oh my god!"
"Perfect performance!"
"Lance! You're too strong!"
1-0. Lance, who came on as a substitute, scored the only goal of the match in his first minute on the field.
Belgium narrowly defeated Côte d'Ivoire in a friendly match.
Initially, Lance's Belgian teammates already had some belief that he, who had been dominating the Bundesliga, might have an outstanding performance.
They never expected Lance to be even more surprising than they imagined!
With such a dark horse on the national team, everyone was even more excited for the upcoming 2014 World Cup.
They hoped that Marc Wilmots would continue to choose Lance and take him to Brazil.
After the match, teammates gathered around Lance to celebrate.
Even Eden Hazard looked at Lance differently.
Lance was also very happy to have won his national team debut.
Joining the national team at 16 years old is enough to shock the football world.
Only Lamine Yamal joining the Spain national team 10 years later could compare to this.
Lance shook hands and hugged his teammates when he was suddenly blocked by a shadow.
He thought it was a cloud obscuring the sun, but when he looked up, the towering black strongman, Didier Drogba, stood before him.
"Lance, jersey swap?"
To Lance's surprise, Didier Drogba was speaking in oddly accented Chinese.
It seemed he had learned a lot during his year playing for Shanghai Shenhua.
"No problem."
After all, he was also a Chelsea legend, a Shanghai Shenhua legend, an African Footballer of the Year, and a key player in a Champions League-winning team.
Didier Drogba was considered a successful veteran.
Lance, back when he watched Arsenal matches, was often 'arrested' by Didier Drogba-led Chelsea.
He would panic whenever he saw Didier Drogba get the ball in the attacking third.
For this player, who fought for a Champions League title late in his career and used football to stop the civil war in Côte d'Ivoire, Lance still held sufficient respect.
Respect!
Didier Drogba was quite interested in Lance, and they chatted briefly when exchanging jerseys.
Due to the complex Flemish, German, French, and English language environment in Belgium, Lance could speak most of these languages.
Communicating with Didier Drogba in French was effortless.
"Have you been through youth training in the Chinese Super League before?"
"No, I'm Belgian. I haven't been to the Chinese Super League."
"No wonder… I hope we get a chance to play again in the future."
Didier Drogba draped Lance's jersey over his shoulder and turned to leave.
Unfortunately, he was currently playing for Galatasaray in the Turkish Super Lig, and there would be no chance to play in the Champions League this season.
It would be difficult for them to meet at the club level on the field.
At most, they might run into each other at the World Cup.
...
Lance originally thought he would be bored during the winter break.
He didn't expect national team training and friendly matches to help him pass the time, seamlessly transitioning into the pre-season training for the second half of the Bundesliga after the national team camp ended.
Returning to Bayer Leverkusen, he didn't rest for more than two days.
At the Bayer Leverkusen training ground, Lance was as energetic as if he had just finished his winter vacation and returned to school after an enriching winter training camp.
He could see his good brothers from the club again and prepare for matches!
Aside from Lance, the other players in the locker room looked nervous.
Clearly, they had indulged quite a bit during the winter break.
Especially Julian Brandt; he wished he could hide behind Lance.
"Lance, when they measure body fat and weigh us later, how about you go up for me?"
Lance didn't speak; he just reached out and touched Julian Brandt's forehead.
"You don't have a fever, so your brain must be broken."
"What do you mean?!"
"Are you stupid?! Or do you think the coaching staff is stupid?"
It wasn't like roll call in school, answering for a classmate, nor was it cheating for a classmate on an exam.
The coaching staff and staff would definitely be present and watching during the physical tests.
They weren't blind; how could they let the two of them fool around?
"Ah! You're right! What do I do? I'm going to be stuck on the bench."
"Serves you right, who told you not to control yourself during the winter break," Stefan Kiessling chuckled, teasing him from the side.
Julian Brandt was usually a prankster, and everyone enjoyed watching him make a fool of himself.
Fortunately, Lance was a good friend and kindly comforted him.
"Don't worry, Julian."
"Really?" Julian Brandt looked at Lance with anticipation, thinking he had a good idea.
But Lance simply said:
"Anyway, you're not going to be a starter, so it makes no difference."
"Damn it!"
Julian Brandt was crushed, and laughter filled the locker room.
"Oh? Everyone's so happy, ladies, did you have a good holiday?"
"Then let me see, who exactly failed their physical test?"
"Let me make this clear, I told you before the holiday that if you were too outrageous, you'd be warming the bench. Don't blame me for being impolite!"
The two coaches, Sascha Lewandowski and Sami Hyypiä, Sascha was always the bad cop.
His fierce expression made the Bayer Leverkusen players' hearts sink, and they couldn't help but swallow.
Perhaps only Lance was clean; everyone else had indulged a bit.
Sure enough, after half a day of physical tests, Lance's 7% body fat and perfect various indicators topped the entire team.
He didn't need any adjustments and could directly participate in the next day's match.
Everyone else was slightly overweight.
Left winger Andrés Guardado even completely failed his physical test.
It was clear he had spent a lot of time at nightclubs and indulged in food and drink during the winter break.
The result naturally infuriated Sascha.
"You don't need to train anything else today. All of you go run laps! Each of you gets an extra 20 laps! Now! Immediately!"
"No!!"
Normally, the daily warm-up was 20 laps, but these 20 penalty laps were not ordinary slow jogging.
Instead, they were variable-speed runs mixed with high-knees; as soon as the coach's whistle blew, they had to sprint.
Variable-speed running was the most physically demanding.
The 20 laps were not on a standard stadium track but around the training ground.
In short, after this penalty run, the players on the field would be half-dead.
Only one lucky person was exempt from punishment.
"Lance, you stay here and just juggle the ball… They are being punished, but you performed well for the national team and maintained excellent condition during the holiday, so you don't need to train for now."
Sascha truly looked at Lance with new eyes.
From the initial distrust when he joined the team to now treating him like a treasure.
Sascha truly felt he hadn't been this lucky even when scratching lottery tickets; he had met the coach's favorite player.
He had talent, self-discipline, effort, ambition, and his own football philosophy.
It was said that Lance's rapid rise in half a season in the Bundesliga had some element of luck.
In reality, such a player could never be buried!
Watching his teammates run penalty laps with pained expressions, Lance leisurely juggled the ball on the sidelines and dribbled around cones by himself.
His teammates all cast envious glances.
Lance happily watched the show.
At the same time, he was also paying attention to his system!
After the last national team friendly match, the [Fusion Value] had reached 97%!
The final 3%, could it be…
That he would awaken a new template right at the beginning of the second half of the season?
The [S-rank - Nagi Seishiro] template was already strong enough! What template would come next?
Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Neymar, Zinedine Zidane, Kaká… Lance didn't expect any of these conventional templates at all.
Given the system's usual behavior, it would definitely be unconventional.
"If it were the Hulk, that would be great."
Lance juggled the ball while his thoughts drifted.
He currently lacked in physical confrontation, passing organization, and dribbling penetration, and his shooting skills also needed improvement.
If it were a Cristiano Ronaldo template, combined with Perfect Ball Control, it could definitely create a huge threat!
If it were a Hulk template, he wouldn't lack speed, physical confrontation, or explosiveness.
Lance would definitely be able to walk all over the field!
As the Bayer Leverkusen players ran their penalty laps, frothing at the mouth, the second half of the 2013-2014 Bundesliga season, and the Champions League knockout stage matchups were getting closer!