The journey to the King's Ranch in the afternoon was a magical journey - he was recognized by some enthusiastic Wimbledon fans on the way, some greeted him, some cheered him on in the car, and others simply accompanied him for a while, chatting with the big hero who eliminated Wimbledon and praising him for his performance in the game. Wimbledon and Wimbledon have a feud, so fans are always in favor of players who helped the team beat Wimbledon, like a player who has just joined the team and performed well in the local derby and helped the team beat the opponent, then he will be immediately accepted by those fans, such as Kaka, who joined AC Milan, and he started his career in Milan when he scored his first goal in the Milan derby, against Inter Milan.

He arrived at the stadium a little later than expected due to the delay caused by these people on the way. When he ran outside the King's Ranch, he was horrified by what he saw—the small parking lot was crowded with cars, and the gate was constantly filled with reporters running in and out. And as he approached the gate, the reporters who had been busy spotted him and picked up their cameras and video cameras.

Seeing that those long guns and short cannons were all aimed at him for a while, Chu Zhongtian even reflexively raised his hands...... Soon he realized that he was too ashamed to do so, so he quickly put his hand down.

When he lowered his hand and walked towards the door, the photographers pressed the shutter in their hands, and the sound of clicks came and went. His every step is frozen on the camera screen.

Chu Zhongtian tried his best to keep himself calm and passed this "photography array".

When he walked into the locker room, his teammates, who had been chatting and changing clothes, suddenly fell silent and turned their heads to look at him in unison.

Chu Zhongtian felt that everything was very strange today, from the beginning of going to school to the present. The classmates who are usually very familiar with him have asked him to sign autographs, and he was blocked by reporters at the door to take pictures, and now he finally entered the locker room, and everyone looked at him with a very strange look...... Is this what makes you famous?

Chu Zhongtian stood at the door, not daring to go in.

It was at this time that Joe. Shirin walked out of the crowd and slapped him. Sullivan followed his friend in applauding Chu Zhongtian. And then Kevin. Cooper, Gavin. Borger, Sim. Johnston, Andy. Bel...... One by one, everyone applauded.

Before Chu Zhongtian could react, why should they applaud themselves, they heard the boss's voice ring behind him: "Congratulations, kid." You're a star now, ha! ”

He looked back at his boss.

"Go in and change your clothes. Even though you're a star, you still have to train. Eames waved at him.

※※※ Chu Zhongtian, who changed his clothes and ran onto the court, still thought it was incredible.

The stadium was surrounded by media from all over England, with cameras and camcorders, busy filming, and reporters surrounding Wimbledon Athletic's president, Chris Brown. Stuart conducts the interview.

Wimbledon knocked out League One side Wimbledon to reach the fourth round, making the team nationally famous, although the third-division side Shrewsbury also eliminated Premier League side Everton, they are still a professional team after all, and Wimbledon Athletic is an out-and-out amateur team, they are the biggest dark horse in this FA Cup.

Their opponents have not yet been drawn, and the draw will be held after the play-offs in midweek, when they will know who their opponents are. There is a good chance that they will face a super team, and then they will not face any opponents who have come before them. And their progress may have come to an end, but no one will regret it, because they have made club history and earned the respect of all over England - except for Pete. Winckelmann.

Head Coach John Terry. Eames announced to the media that they would have to be invited out when the time came, and the gates of the King's Ranch would be closed for the first time during training.

But Eames believes few of these reporters will leave, and they will wait until after the team's training session to catch him and the players for interviews. England have a special affection for the FA Cup, and they have a soft spot for stories of the weak beating the strong, and Wimbledon fits everything they can say about the FA Cup and the beating of the strong – an amateur team, obscure, hard-beaten, strong opponents, and many miracles.

Once again, the BBC is producing a feature film for Wimbledon. This morning, the greater London area was shrouded in thick fog, and as soon as I went out, the BBC location reporter had a flash of inspiration and asked the cameraman to start shooting immediately. I took pictures of this white fog for a while before I was satisfied with the work.

The cameraman asked him what it was for. He smirked: "Don't you think Wimbledon is like coming out of this thick fog?" From blurry to gradual clarity, and finally in front of all of us. ”

He is right, Wimbledon Athletic's image in the hearts of the majority of spectators and fans is exactly like this, from the initial blur to the current clarity, one game at a time to outline their image, and the game with Wimbledon is the color stage, making their image plump and three-dimensional.

"So, we're going to get to know this brand new team again!"

※※※ The reporter interview is left until the end of the training, and the players can only complete today's training task first, even if they are excited.

Eames warned them before training began: "If anyone doesn't perform well in training, they won't want to play in the fourth round of the FA Cup." I think we have a good chance of playing a Premier League team, maybe there will be a live TV broadcast for the whole of England, do you imagine Chu becoming famous overnight? Then give me a good performance in training and try to get a ticket to the competition! ”

Chu Zhongtian was voted the best of the match after the last round of FA Cup matches, and has now been promoted by Eames as a role model for the team.

And Eames is not just mentally trying to set him up as an example for the team, he has a deeper mind.

When the players went to warm up, Eames hooked his hand at Chu Zhongtian: "Chu, you came here again today, right?" ”

Chu Zhongtian nodded: "Then you don't have to warm up today, I have something I want to talk to you about." ”

The players looked at Chu Zhongtian with envy, just the best in a game, his status in the team is different now, he was only the core of the defense before, but he did not enjoy such privileges. Now, not only can you skip the warm-up, but you can also talk to the manager individually...... As long as the IQ is normal and the eyes are not blind, everyone can see that Boss Eames has a good impression of Chu.

Chu Zhongtian looked at everyone, then turned his head and left the team and walked towards the head coach.

"Actually, I found out something after the Wimbledon game...... Eames said as he walked aside. The players were very happy with the result. What do you think? ”

"What do you think of the outcome, boss?"

"Uh-huh." Eames nodded.

"I'm happy, I'm happy to win, boss."

"So let me ask you, do you have any plans for the fourth round of the FA Cup?" Eames stared at Chu Zhongtian and threw out this question.

Chu Zhongtian thought for a while: "If I can, I want to win, boss." ”

When Eames heard this, a smile spread across his face.

"Ha, I knew it! Ha! You're going to answer like that, haha! You know what, Chu? I made a bet with your assistant coach Nicky and I said if I asked you what you were going to do in the next round of the FA Cup, you would say you wanted to win, and he and I disagreed. Thank you, I've got the 100 pounds again, haha! ”

Assistant coach Ingrid was blowing the whistle and leading the team to warm up by running in circles, and he had just blown a quick whistle for everyone to sprint and run, when he saw Eames laughing, he turned his head to look and found that Eames was patting Chu Zhongtian on the shoulder. It looks like we're having a good conversation.

He also thought about the previous gamble, could he lose another hundred pounds? In a trance, he forgot to blow the whistle to finish the sprint. The players didn't hear the coach's whistle signal, so they naturally didn't dare to stop the pace of sprinting, for fear of being lazy once and being punished for running more laps.

So, the poor players sprinted for a lap and a half because of a distraction by the assistant coach before they heard the whistle for help.

On the other side, Eames continued to say to Chu Zhongtian, who was standing in front of him: "Do you know why I called you out alone, not because you won the title of best player in last Saturday's game, but because I think you are not quite like them. The manager gestured to the team that was running laps. After our win at Wimbledon, the whole team was full of joy and it was normal. But I saw a little bit of a not-so-good sign there – our players were losing their fighting spirit. They think the top goal has been accomplished and it doesn't matter what the outcome of the next game is......"

"But we're still training very hard, boss......" Chu Zhongtian felt that he should explain a few words to the head coach for his teammates, he didn't want the head coach to have bad thoughts about the team, because he was also a member of the team, even if he was called out by the boss alone to talk now.

'It's just that they want to get a chance to play through their positive performance in training so that they can play against a superteam and be on TV again. As for the final result, they didn't really care. For many of them, being able to make it to the fourth round is already an unimaginable ending. Eames said.

"But as the head coach of the team, I don't want to stop there...... I always thought why don't we try to go further? Or rather...... Why don't we put on a good performance against the big teams and maybe we can win? Eames said to Chu Zhongtian.

"But I can only control off the field, but not on the field, and my will needs someone to help me carry it out on the court." Eames stared at Chu Zhongtian and said.

Looking at the head coach's eyes, Chu Zhongtian suddenly understood why the boss wanted to talk to him alone, but ......, "Shouldn't this be the responsibility of captain Coopers, boss?" ”

"Coopers is a good captain, but he doesn't have as strong a desire to win as you, Chu."

"Do you really think I'm suitable, boss?" Chu Zhongtian still had some doubts.

Eames smiled: "You are very confident on the court, why do you doubt yourself so much when you come down?" ”

"That's because there are things on the pitch that I can do well, boss." Chu Zhongtian replied honestly. Yes, he is confident in what he is good at, but why should he be confident in what he is not good at?

"But I noticed a problem. You're confident on defense, you're not confident on offense. ”

"I've been playing defense for 10 years, boss, but I've never been involved in offense."

"But I've found that you're getting more and more confident in your offense now, why is that?" Eames smiled at him.

Chu Zhongtian didn't think about it, and blurted out the answer: "I've been practicing offensive techniques since last year, boss." ”

Then he noticed that Eames didn't answer, just looked at him and smiled.

He thought about it for a while, and then he understood—he was not confident because he was unfamiliar, and now he was confident because he was slowly becoming familiar.

"Everything goes from unfamiliar to familiar, do you know how to defend when you first start playing football? It's like that for defense, it's like that, it's like that, it's still like that for leading the team to win. Eames put his hand on Chu Zhongtian's shoulder. I liked your fighting spirit and the level of skill and tactics you showed in that game. I don't know how many things you wrote with in the summer, but it's clear that those things are working right now. Let's be honest, since Russell left, we've lacked someone who can organize the attack. The team's current tactic is not to organize the core, but simply play two wings. This works well in the ninth tier because our opponents are not very strong, and it works in the FA Cup because our opponents are light and ...... Well, it's really not strong enough. Eames nodded at this point.

"I don't know who our next opponent will be yet, but I don't think it's going to be weaker than the previous three, and no matter how lucky we are, we can't get to that point. The FA is not owned by my family, ha! ”

"I want you to be the core, mentally and tactically of the team. It's not just that FA Cup, it's from now until ...... Until you leave the team. ”

Eames said something that shocked Chu Zhongtian.

"The team will build tactics around your characteristics, you are like the sun, the team is like a planet around you. You have to control this team, whether it's offensive or defensive, you have to take over. I'll tell you the tactics, and you go and implement them for me. ”

Every word that Eames said hit Chu Zhongtian's chest hard, shaking him a little overwhelmed.

Let me be the core? Command the team? Dominate offense and defense? Complete the coach's tactical requirements?

But I'm just a defensive midfielder......" ...... So your position on the field has to be premised. Eames's voice penetrated Chu Zhongtian's ears again. Don't settle for a midfielder, try to be a central midfielder, and I would even like you to be a midfielder if necessary! ”

Chu Zhongtian was completely stupid.

Mid-midfield? Front waist? He's played goalkeeper and centre-back before, and he's even played as a centre-forward, so if you add in centre-back and midfielder, wouldn't he have played all the positions on the central axis?

Almighty warrior?

That's an exaggeration...... Right?

"But I can only defend ......"

"It's okay, we can practice, what do you think training is for? Just running and shooting? Eames said confidently, "You have a strong ability to learn, Chu." I've known this from the beginning, and I've arranged for you and Russell to be punished, but you've been able to learn and improve your skills from the punishment, so I'm sure you will. ”

'There's 20 days left until the next round of the FA Cup, so we're going to practice three times a week, so I know it's probably not good for me to say that. But I want you to come every time you train, because we're doing tactical training, and you can't train if you're not there. ”

Chu Zhongtian frowned slightly: "Do you have to be like this all the time?" "Of course it's okay for the Christmas holidays, but school ...... started" "Hmm...... It only takes time before the fourth round of the FA Cup, of course...... If we accidentally win the fourth round and break into the fifth round, I'm afraid it will last for a while. ”

Chu Zhongtian thought about it in his mind. There are only five days of classes a week, and there are three days of afternoon training, and only two days of classes, which is basically equivalent to only taking morning classes for a week. What to do with the homework that has been pulled down? It shouldn't be a big problem to have Lao Yang, only to work harder on my own...... In his heart, the temptation of football is increasing little by little, and he is slowly surpassing the obsession with insisting on learning.

He nodded, "No problem, boss." Anyway, I want to win, and if I want to win, I have to pay a price. ”

Eames was satisfied with his answer and smiled: "That's right, if you want to win, you have to pay the price, ha!" Let's go back to training and I'll make an announcement in a moment. I believe that with your popularity in the team, there should be no objections, right? ”

On the team's side, the warm-up has ended.

Chu Zhongtian ran back and was assigned to a group with Steve. Gibson was the pull-up – he was originally in the same group as Russell, but when Russell retired, the vacancy was filled by right-back Gibson, who joined the team last summer.

"What did the boss tell you, Chu?" Gibson asked in a whisper as he did the pull.

In fact, this is also a question that everyone is concerned about, and when they ran in circles, they talked about it in a whisper, and in the end they did not come up with a clear answer.

"You'll soon find out, Gibbo (Gibson's nickname for the team)." Chu Zhongtian felt that one or two sentences were not clear.

Sure enough, when the whole team warmed up and was ready to officially start training, Eames announced that he would cultivate Chu Zhongtian as the tactical core of the team, and the offense and defense should be formulated around his characteristics.

Everyone turned their heads to look at Chu Zhongtian standing in the crowd with surprise and envy, but there was absolutely no "jealousy" in it.

Joe. Schilling whistled and then led the applause, followed by a round of applause from the rest of the team in support of the manager's decision.

Andy. Sullivan patted Chu Zhongtian, who was standing next to him: "I'll just say you can do it, Chu." ”

Listening to the second applause that the players gave him today, Chu Zhongtian pursed his lips tightly, not that he was deliberately pretending to be cool, but that if he didn't control it, he was afraid that he would lose his temper. Now his nose is sour - he is touched by the camaraderie and trust of his teammates. He was glad he had listened to Emily and chose this team, otherwise he wouldn't have met so many teammates who believed in him. They fought side by side and struggled to reach the fourth round of the FA Cup, and while his team-mates began to slacken, it was his task to reinvigorate them and lead them to victory, even if it was an almost impossible victory.

It seemed like an impossible task for him, but could he do it successfully?

(To be continued)