Chapter 9: My Body, My Decision
Descartes stood in the middle of the court, rubbing his palms together excitedly.
Although the league has been played for four rounds, every game has left him with a fluctuating heart, perhaps because being able to get back on the pitch after his illness has given him some deeper understanding.
Learning to give his best in every game is one of the biggest differences when he comes back on the field.
The match was played at Milan's Vesmara Sports Centre, with AC Milan at home and many relatives of the young Milan players standing around the pitch.
Although these young players come from all over the world, Milan will find some host families for them in the city of Milan so that they can adapt to local life more quickly, which is very different from the concentration camp-style dormitory life in China.
Of course, these families come from Milan fans, so they will also come to watch the games of those boarding players as much as possible, on the one hand, to have fun, and on the other hand, to make them feel the warmth of the Milan family.
Although the Milan Juniors only led 1-0 in the first half, everyone could see that Milan had completely dominated the first half, although a large part of these spectators did not understand why Evani would adopt such conservative tactics, but they thought the same as Evani, in any case, it is impossible for a behemoth like Milan to capsize in a small ditch like Pavia.
The only thing to worry about is whether it will drag down Milan's goal difference if Pavia Juniors continue to adopt such a stubborn strategy in the second half.
You know, their main opponent, Inter Juniors, have scored 31 goals in the last four games, and the number of goals has reached a terrifying 29, which is simply invincible.
Don't be surprised, in a game like the junior team, it is normal for a big score to have a game, once a British youth football club, in a game set a record of 11 players on the field all scored, even the goalkeeper scored a hat trick, and in the end they won 24-0 in this game.
Even this little-known small team called Blue Rangers can stage such a shocking score in the junior game, not to mention the Inter junior team, which was originally played professionally and amateurly?
Compared to their neighbours, Milan's junior team is a cut short of that, following the 'glorious tradition' of the Milan academy that produces almost only good defenders, they have only scored 18 goals in their previous four games, and although they have conceded zero goals, they have a full 11 fewer goal difference than Inter.
If they can't win this game against Pavia Juniors, the gap between them and Inter Milan will probably widen further, which will directly affect their chances of winning the title.
So after the start of the second half, the Milan fans on the sidelines began to cheer loudly for the Milan junior team, they firmly believed that as long as Milan strengthened their attack, Pavia's crumbling backline would not be able to withstand the ferocious firepower of the Milan teenagers.
However, all their self-confidence lasted only three minutes, and just three minutes into the second half, Descartes gave them a blow in the face.
It was a show of individual heroism.
Taking advantage of the fact that the young players of the Milan junior team had not yet fully focused their attention after a dull first half, Descartes completed a counter-attack in the frontcourt.
After the steal, he saw that there were no teammates around him, and like the Milan Juniors players, it was only three minutes into the game, and the young players of the Pavia Juniors team had not yet been able to concentrate, so Descartes decided to take the ball himself.
He made the tackle on Milan's left flank, and the Milan left-back's return pass was mistaken by the centre-back, who intercepted the ball halfway. The opposing left-back was also quick to react, quickly launching a press and not leaving much time for Descartes to react.
Descartes then moved a few steps down the middle with the ball and then saw the gap between the opposition's centre-back and left-back.
Normally, in order to avoid colliding with each other, two players will leave a little gap between each other, and in football, such a gap often becomes a natural breakthrough for attacking players, and we can see in many games that an attacking player suddenly drills between two defenders, like a gap in a solid wall, and then passes or shoots to become the highlight of the game.
Although there are not too many opportunities like this in a game, just one capture is often enough to deal a fatal blow.
And Descartes sees such an opportunity now.
He makes the ball swing back and forth between the left and right feet while the body sways left and right, which is a basic way of shaking so that the opposing defender can't determine the direction of your breakthrough.
The two Milan defenders were obviously bewildered by his swing, and their bodies kept changing their center of gravity with the shaking of Descartes, and finally the crack in the middle grew bigger and more obvious.
At this moment, Descartes suddenly moved forward, and then forcibly overtook the two of them!
The two Milan defenders were not in the middle at this time, and could only watch him leap between the two and then ......
There were loud cheers from outside the stadium, mixed with a few small boos.
For the Milan fans who came to watch the game, the junior team played a completely different game from the senior team, and they did not insult their opponents because they knew that the opponents who performed well were likely to be in their own team in the next round.
And it's just a bunch of teenage kids on the pitch, how could they have the cheekiness to insult them like an official game?
On the contrary, they will give the same encouragement to the players who have performed well on both sides, because children's football is fun, there is no interest here, only love.
Descartes equalised for Pavia Juniors just three minutes into the second half, cheering him on from the pitchside and regaining the confidence of his team-mates.
So the Pavia Junior Team moved the formation forward a little bit on their own, especially the striker Liverard, who was completely pressed into his own half in the first half, he quietly appeared next to Descartes and covered for him.
To be honest, Liviald is not a talented football teenager, and the reason why he was able to become a positive striker for the Pavia Junior Team is only because the outstanding seedlings of this age group are basically monopolized by those professional football clubs.
And he has always been a supporting role by Descartes' side.
In Mr. Mancard's tactics, Riverard is responsible for pulling open space for Descartes, pinning down opposing defenders, acting as a catch-up point, and even launching counter-attacks in the front court.
He did all these tasks dutifully and without complaining.
So in both Mr. Mancald and in Descartes' heart, Liverard has always been a diligent partner, a trustworthy partner.
With the assistance of Liverard, Descartes is more comfortable in the frontcourt, due to the strength, the Pavia Juniors have always used a 532 formation, and two of their three midfielders are mainly responsible for defense, so the real offensive responsibility has always been completed by two strikers and a striker.
Prior to that, the Pavia Junior team was Descartes' nemesis Aguinari at the front, and the trio was also well-known in Lombardy.
However, when Aguinari moved to Milan Juniors, the midfield position was temporarily replaced by another young player, and the attacking burden of Pavia Juniors fell more to Descartes and Liverard.
That's why Mr. Mankaard asked Descartes to run with all his might: there were already very few people in the frontcourt, and if he didn't run again, how could he win the ball?
In fact, at this time, the Pavia junior team and the AC Milan senior team are quite similar: they are also heavily deployed at the back, ensuring defense, and then handing the ball to the core players in the front court to let them play freely.
The difference is that the Pavia Juniors team only has a reliable player like Descartes, while the Milan senior team has a troika of Boban, Bierhoff and Shepchenko.
But in the junior team game, having such a strong point as Descartes seems to be enough.
Just ten minutes after the first goal, and 13 minutes into the second half, Pavia Juniors scored again.
This time it was Liverard who scored the goal, and it was Descartes who assisted.
Because Descartes was so active on the pitch, Milan had to turn their defensive focus to him, with De Sciglio and left-back Namcel always following Descartes' side, guarding him tightly.
But Descartes is back on the pitch and is no longer what he used to be, running far beyond his age group, from the opposition penalty area to his own half, which has also caused problems for the less experienced Milan backline.
To chase, or not to chase?
This caused a certain amount of confusion at the back of Milan, so in the 13th minute, Descartes received the ball in the middle and sprinted diagonally towards the opposition left-back Namichell.
Lacking confidence in his left-back, De Sciglio moved early to help him in his defence, but at that moment, Riverard slipped like a loach from where he left off and into the Milan penalty area, and then Descartes' pass followed, and Riverard easily faced the Milan goalkeeper and scored.
The two goals were like two hammer blows that knocked the Milan juniors to the ground, and even though Evani yelled on the sidelines to keep them focused, it didn't bring the kids back to their senses.
But fortunately, at this time, Milan's frontcourt players also scored goals, and it was Paloski, a new striker who was poached from the ** junior football club by them this season, who saved Milan from the predicament in time.
This is a young star who has been hailed as the new Gilardino and is physically strong and well-rounded, and is an important attacking heart for the Milan youth team up front.
Paloski, who was his age, was not convinced by Descartes' impressive performance on the pitch, so he quickly returned the color in an attack organized by Milan.
The ball came from a cross from the side of Milan, and Paloski, who was only 10 years old, had already shown exceptional talent, unloading the ball between the two central defenders of Pavia before slotting a shot over the head of the Pavia goalkeeper into the empty net.
The swiftly equalising goal was a great relief to Milan, but it also caused them to paralyze: you see, it was just a small accident that we were scored in succession, we still had the advantage on the pitch and the victory was still ours.
So they were punished by Descartes.
With 78 minutes played, Descartes scored his second goal of the game, which was also the winning one.
It was a long-range shot from the edge of the penalty area, not very powerful, but very tricky, and after the ball got into the net, Descartes suddenly rushed to the sideline and shouted at Evani: "Do you see, I can still play, I'm still the best!" ”
This was akin to venting, and Mr. Evani was stunned.
But Descartes knew in his heart that this was his most powerful counterattack.
What is anemia? My body, my way!