Old rival, old friend

  Remember in one second

  June 1, 2014, there were still 13 days before the opening match of the World Cup in Brazil. In Buenos Aires, Argentina, a red bus was slowly moving on the highway. On board were members of China's national men's football team led by Fu Bo, including 23 players and nearly ten coaching staff and personnel.

  This is their fourth day in Argentina and also the day they play a friendly match with the Argentine national team.

  Other teams are sharpening their knives as World Cup participants. The Chinese team is not strong enough and can only watch from the sidelines, becoming a warm-up match for others, Argentina's whetstone.

  Wu Yu sat in the seat by the window, next to Gao Wei. The two of them, whether in the club or the national team, always sat like this on the bus.

  Wu Yu looked at the scenery around him and found that the capital of Argentina was not more prosperous than Guangzhou, and even a bit dilapidated. However, from the blue and white Argentine flags flying everywhere on the buildings by the roadside, he could feel the passionate love of this nation for their motherland.

  The bus moved slowly forward, and before long, a huge stadium appeared in Wu Yu's line of sight.

  The white exterior walls with a slight yellowish tint, the old-fashioned architectural design shows the history of this stadium, Estadio Candy Box, home of Boca Juniors youth team and also today's Argentina national team.

  This white outer wall, sky blue inner field stadium was built in 1940 and has a history of 74 years so far. It can accommodate more than 560,000 people. The stadium's three sides are ring-shaped three-tiered stands, while the other side is a vertical building, giving people a fresh feeling.

  At this time, outside the stadium, a number of Argentine fans wearing blue and white jerseys have gathered. This is their home field, facing an Asian team, even China's national team that couldn't enter the World Cup, so naturally their fans are full of confidence, wanting to boost their morale before the start of the World Cup with a big win.

  After getting off the bus, Wu Yun only discovered that this stadium was completely different from the stadiums of the top three teams in Portugal. Although they are all large stadiums that can accommodate more than 50,000 people, neither the Estádio do Drag?o, the Estádio Alvalade nor the Estádio da Luz have the historical charm hidden in the Stadium of Light.

  This takes time to settle down. The three stadiums in Portugal have a history of over 10 years, while the Candy Box Stadium has stood on this land for nearly three-quarters of a century, making it one of the oldest stadiums on earth.

  The inside and outside of the Bombonera stadium are full of marks left by time, but Wu Yu found that the facilities inside are not much different from those of the new stadiums of the top three superpowers. After all, this is the home stadium of Boca Juniors, one of the two big clubs in Argentina and also a world-renowned team.

  Here, a generation of ball kings like Maradona was cultivated, and the rest, such as Battistuta, Bellone, Riquelme, etc., all came out of this stadium and became famous in the world.

  Wu Yu thought that although he wasn't a die-hard fan of Maradona, thinking about the footprints left behind by the king of football on this field made his heart race with excitement.

  。

  "Wow! Xiao Yu, this is the Boca Juniors youth team's locker room! I wonder which position Maradona sat in?" Gao Wei exclaimed as soon as he entered the locker room.

  Wu Yu looked at Gao Wei's naive expression and covered his face, unable to bear looking at him.

  "Dawei, you don't have to touch it, Maradona has never sat in any position, this is the visiting team's locker room." Shibo Yun reminded from behind.

  "Oh." Gao Wei heard this and couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

  Everyone present burst out laughing at the sight.

  Fu Bo couldn't help but laugh out loud when he saw this scene behind him. The reason they could be so relaxed was that in this away game, facing Argentina, they didn't have a chance of winning, and were just there with an attitude of learning, to experience the strong team's playing style.

  So in these few days, during training, every player has been very relaxed and there hasn't been any pressure on them.

  The equipment was changed, the warm-up and the pep talk were all carried out in an orderly manner. The Sugar Box Stadium was gradually filled with spectators, passionate Argentine fans sang songs early in the stadium, waiting for their heroes to take the field. In this World Cup, Argentina is the second favorite to win the championship, only after the host Brazil. The team's first star Messi is also the number one player in the football world today, if he can lead Argentina to win the championship in this tournament, he will undoubtedly be crowned the king of football and become the third king of football in history.

  Fu Bo started all six returnees in this match, with Zeng Cheng as the goalkeeper, Wu Xi as the left-back, Feng Xiaoting and Gao Wei as centre-backs, Zhang Linpeng of Sampdoria as right-back; Huang Bowen partnered captain Zheng Zhi as defensive midfielders, Wu Lei as attacking midfielder, Wu Lei on the left wing, Wen Junhui on the right wing, and Shi Bojian as a lone striker.

  This lineup is Fu Bo's first arrangement, and every player in each position can be said to be the best player in China at present. Six returning players from overseas all occupy main positions in the club, and have performed outstandingly in the past season.

  Wu Yu's outstanding performance in the Portuguese Super League caught Fu Bo's attention, and he arranged Wu Yu as the core of the midfield in training. The ball rights in the midfield were all allocated by him, giving Wu Yu enough trust.

  "Everyone listen up, this match is against Argentina, although it's just a warm-up game, I still hope you all take it seriously and don't slack off at all."

  Fu Bo made a pre-match pep talk in the locker room.

  He stood in front of the tactics board, swept his eyes over each player, and then took a deep breath, saying: "However, the opponent invited us to play a warm-up match in order to prepare for the World Cup. While we are playing seriously, we need to pay attention to the degree of our tackles, so as not to injure their players. If we injured Messi, I'm afraid none of us would be able to leave Argentina."

  In the end, Fu Bo had some joking intention.

  The originally tense locker room immediately relaxed a lot, with only some players intentionally or unintentionally looking at captain Zheng Zhi.

  ……

  In the player tunnel, Chinese players led by Zheng Zhi have been waiting in line, and the referee team members are also waiting ahead. Zheng Zhi is communicating with the on-duty referee.

  After a while, Argentine players followed their captain Messi and walked to the player channel, lining up next to Chinese players.

  "Hey, Wu Yun, we meet again." A voice came from Wu Yun's right side.

  Wu Yu, who was talking to Shi Bo Yun, turned around and found a short man of about 170 cm tall smiling at him. It was Gai Tan.

  "Hey, Nicholas, long time no see." Wu Yun also responded immediately and gave Gatan a light hug.

  In Portugal, Wu Yu and Gaitan had two encounters, each with a win and a loss. He took the league cup championship from Gaitan, while Gaitan snatched third place in the league back from his feet, and finally Wu Yu lost to his opponent in the competition for the best midfielder in the league. Although they were rivals on the field, when Wu Yu saw him now, he didn't have any sense of rivalry, but rather looked like old friends meeting again.

  Perhaps this is what they mean by birds of a feather flocking together.

  "Today I won't let you win again." Gaitan said with a smile.

  His sentence was a double-edged sword, Argentina's strength was originally above the Chinese team, and naturally wanted the team to win the game, and he could also win again in his conversation with Wu Yu.

  "It's not that easy, you have to ask my brother if he agrees first."

  "Your brother?" Gatan was somewhat confused.

  "Hmm, this is my brother"

  Wu Yu pointed at his own feet.

  "Haha, my brother is no worse than you." Gaitan suddenly understood and burst out laughing.

  Then, Jia Lei and Gao Wei also joined the conversation. Ge Tan originally greeted Wen Yingxiong, who had a fight with him before, but Wen Yingxiong only responded briefly and didn't join their conversation.

  It seems that there is some estrangement between Wen Yinghuang and Wu Yuhao, which makes Gaitan and Galley puzzled. As players in the same league, they should have a good relationship, but why are they like this? He didn't understand and had no time to think about it, as the game was about to start.

  The chief referee looked at his watch and found that the match time was almost up, so he shouted to the players of both sides behind him, holding the ball high and walking into the court with his head held high.

  As soon as Wu Yong entered the stadium, he was startled by the blue and white jerseys and flags all around him. The three-tiered stands, without a roof, were packed with Argentine jersey-clad fans, surrounded by fluttering blue and white flags, and some balloons floating in the air.

  It's not just 560,000 people, it's no exaggeration to say there were 800,000 or 900,000.

  Every time Wu Yun enters a new stadium, he gets particularly excited. Because every time he steps into the stadium, there is always a fresh feeling. Some stadiums will give people an inner shock, such as the Dragon Stadium; some stadiums will make people feel tremendous pressure, such as the Bright Stadium. And now, the Candy Box Stadium has both.

  When the two teams took to the field, fans in the stands separated by iron wire simultaneously set off firecrackers, and blue and white paper scraps floated in the air, almost enveloping the entire stadium.

  This atmosphere is something Wu Yu has never seen before in the Portuguese Super League. In just a warm-up match, he can already feel the fervent atmosphere of Argentine fans.

  It's imaginable that when the game is heating up, fireworks are lit around the stands, accompanied by the frenzied cheers of fans, waving flags in unison, and red flames flashing all around, what a magnificent scene it is.

  The match hadn't started yet, but Wu Yong could feel a sense of eagerness in his heart. No wonder the matches between Boca Juniors and River Plate were known as the most explosive derbies on earth. In such an atmosphere, under the encouragement of the fans, it was probably impossible for the players to calm down, their bodies already beyond control.

  Beep——

  The referee blows his whistle and the game begins!

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