Chapter 7 — Preseason Training Camp
Time flies!
England met old rivals Italy in the Euro quarterfinals.
The sides were evenly matched and played 120 minutes to a 0–0 draw, going to penalties.
Neither team has great penalty luck historically, but this time the Azzurri had the ageless Gianluigi Buffon.
England missed one penalty and then had another saved by Buffon, finally losing 2–4 — old grudges freshly added.
After the match, Mario Balotelli swaggered over to "apologize" to Xia Qi.
"Xia, I'm really sorry — I knocked England out.
During regular time I didn't dare go full force. If I can't give Joe Hart any face, at least I had to give you face. I wanted England to live through the full 120 minutes."
Xia Qi curtly replied: "Pfft!"
Hearing he'd successfully annoyed the other guy, Balotelli was even more pleased:
"At the penalty shootout I smiled at Hart, hinted I'd shoot bottom-left, but he… man, I'm speechless — T-Rex! T-Rex!…"
A snide remark!
An insult, really!
Is this the well-known Prince Mario?
"I sincerely wish you can't win the title."
"How can you say that? I treated you like a brother and even gave you a truckload of fish…"
Speaking of fish… friendship over!
Although Romelu Lukaku's reputation wasn't yet prominent, the system's reward had no shortage of quality.
"Mario, I wish you beat Germany in the semis and score in open play. In the end, congrats on getting the runner-up you wanted."
"Haha, thanks… holy shit! That's savage!"
"Xia, I'm breaking off our friendship!"
…
The Euros and Copa América both finished in succession; Spain and Argentina became the ultimate winners.
The transfer market came alive again.
Roberto Mancini finally signed Maicon as desired and bought Bryan Cristante? Garcia? to strengthen midfield — after these moves bookmakers slightly raised Manchester City's title retention chances.
But soon Sir Alex Ferguson smashed the Asian transfer record by buying Shinji Kagawa for £17 million, patching the last shortcoming and reclaiming top spot on the bookmakers' Premier League predictions.
City followed closely, third was Chelsea — although they bought the marquee Eden Hazard, odd squad structure made bookmakers rate them third-string.
By the way: Didier Drogba went to Shanghai Shenhua, Kevin De Bruyne was loaned to Werder Bremen, and Romelu Lukaku was loaned to West Bromwich Albion.
Fourth was not Arsenal but Liverpool. The Reds did little this summer like Arsenal, but without bleeding talent away their overall strength remained solid.
Arsenal, the perennial top-four chasers, were different — they lost captain Robin van Persie and slipped down to seventh in the predictions.
Many Arsenal fans in front of the media and outside the Colney training base urged the club to buy a plug-and-play striker.
Wenger obliged and thoughtfully did a two-for-one: Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud arrived at once, placating fans and lifting Arsenal one place in the predictions.
Time passed and the London Olympics concluded.
With the shine of the Beijing Games before them, the London Games were criticized left and right — many media didn't realize there's no such thing as the worst Olympics, only worse ones.
Eight years later, Tokyo would be chilly…
One sentence:
After Beijing, no Olympics compare.
After the Games ended, the Premier League called players back.
In the near three-month off-season, Xia Qi grew 2 cm to 187 cm and bulked up from 75 kg to 80 kg.
Xia Qi suspected much of the weight landed on his thighs.
His thighs visibly thickened, like if Roberto Carlos's legs had been grafted onto his body.
Fortunately, Xia Qi's height saved him from looking like a stout short-legged bruiser — instead it gave him a secure, masculine appeal.
But his greatest gains weren't those: he learned five football skills:
Yang Chen Dribbling Sprint, Gao Hongbo Lazy Pick, Bale Jaguar Speed, Gattuso Octopus Defense, and Robin van Persie's Non-Stop Volley Finish.
His overall ability rose from 70 to 78 — roughly the peak level of Wu Lei.
He was that much closer to his small goals.
After the Olympics, Colney slowly awoke and players returned.
On the first day of reporting, as usual, came medical checks.
This year's checks weren't optimistic.
The usual body-management excesses were almost nonexistent.
But muscle fatigue had become normal; three players were given red warnings by the medical staff and advised to rest for a week.
Before long,
the gloom left by Van Persie's departure still lingered,
and now there were injury warnings — the dressing room atmosphere was predictably tense.
Players were all downcast,
and Xia Qi dared not speak loudly.
After putting on his protective gear he quietly sized up his new teammates.
The most noticeable thing in the dressing room was Olivier Giroud's hair — he fussed with his big slicked-back style, polished and shiny, not a fly could land on it.
Heads may fall, but style must not falter.
Very individual!
But Arsenal's injury luck was notoriously bad; boys here needed to look after themselves.
Xia Qi thought he'd give Giroud a tip once they were closer: spend more time on protection and less on hair — this is the Premier League's injury central.
The next guy Xia Qi focused on was Aaron Ramsey — Death's man, in Xia Qi's joking mind.
Every goal Ramsey scored seemed to coincide with celebrity deaths the next day.
May 1, 2011: Arsenal beat Manchester United 1–0, Ramsey scored; May 2 — Osama bin Laden dies.
October 2, 2011: Arsenal lost 1–2 to Spurs but Ramsey scored; October 5 — Steve Jobs dies.
October 20, 2011: Arsenal beat Marseille 1–0 with Ramsey's winner; soon after Muammar Gaddafi was killed.
February 11, 2012: Arsenal beat Sunderland 2–1, Ramsey scored; soon Whitney Houston died.
Xia Qi knew these were coincidences, but he still instinctively kept his distance.
Brother,
for the safety of the celebrities,
I'll take Arsenal's goals!
Xia Qi was about to continue observing, but captain Thomas Vermaelen clapped him on the shoulder.
"Quiet, everyone. I've brought a few new friends this season — let them introduce themselves."
"Xia, you first."
"Hi everyone, I'm Xia Qi, 18, from Manchester City's academy. I'm glad to join Arsenal.
My looks and name make it clear I'm of Chinese descent. I play forward. I only have one Premier League goal so far, but I still believe I can help this season."
"I like midfielders to give me a bit more lead when passing because my speed is high, and I can defend on the spot as well…"
"I hope to realize my talent this season, because I want to tell another person: the championship is here — it belongs to Arsenal."
"Xia, you're right! The title belongs to invincible Arsenal."
"Xia, men shouldn't move too fast…"
"Ha ha…"
(END CHAPTER)
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