The perfect center forward: Becoming a soccer king from the corner of Chuanu Chapter 172

To be or not to be, that’s the question!

Shakespeare’s famous quote flashed through Ancelotti’s mind. He had just said he wanted to coach Lucia, and now the opportunity was right in front of him.

But was it unwise for him, still in his prime, to directly switch to a national team?

Napoli had offered him a very good deal. Compared to the more relaxed national team, Ancelotti preferred the challenge of a club position.

Carlo, caught in a dilemma, smoked only a single pipe of cigarettes before making his final decision.

Leaving a national team to coach a club was not unprecedented; Aragones and Capello had both done it.

Moreover, his current action was a selfless act of firefighting. With his prestige and ability to adapt, if he achieved good results, would he fear not having opportunities to move on?

“Chloe, could you please give me Lucia’s number? I think I’ll be his boss very soon~”

“Woah, congratulations, Carlo~”

“Do I need to keep this news confidential?”

“It’s fine, everyone will know soon.” Ancelotti saved the number, accepted the Italian Football Federation’s invitation, and then called the national team’s star player.

Chloe, meanwhile, immediately exposed the news to the media. Riding a wave of spring wind could elevate her own visibility to the next level.

She’d just compensate Lucia well next time; after all, Italians were very generous when it came to leveraging traffic.

Coupled with the Qatari consortium’s acquisition maneuvers, a well-structured news report emerged:

Lucia and Ancelotti to Partner, Both Possibly Heading to Paris Saint-Germain!

The former PSG coach might be returning for a second stint, and Lucia would also join PSG to form an LMN alphabet combination.

With a 320 million transfer fee bid, the French giants aimed to assemble a super trident valued at over 600 million.

All eyes in the football world were instantly drawn to Paris, France, and Manchester, England.

Excited Red Devils fans and curious onlookers furiously commented on Paris Saint-Germain’s social media:

-[A desecration of football. Can you really buy honor just by spending money?]

-[Manchester United talks about spending money? Didn’t they dominate the Premier League in the early 2000s purely by revenue?]

-[Fake news at a glance. He just renewed his contract recently, how could he transfer to PSG?!]

-[What happened to bringing seven or eight trophies to Manchester United?]

The brief transfer speculation subsided only after Ancelotti and the Italian Football Federation officially announced the news.

Veteran coach Ventura, due to health reasons, was unable to lead Italy to the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

After friendly negotiations, the Italian Football Federation appointed Ancelotti as a temporary caretaker coach.

“Hi, Lucia, I’m Carlo, Chloe’s stepfather.”

“When are you returning to Italy? Come over to my place then, and we can discuss your role in the national team.”

Ancelotti was also a master of locker room management. Faced with strong star players, he would proactively extend goodwill, making him a very thoughtful person.

“Coach, you’re too kind. Remember to get my father a signed jersey when you come. He absolutely loves your Christmas Tree formation~”

Through friendly greetings and a mutual connection over Milan, the two hit it off immediately. The new general-and-commander duo for the Azzurri was a perfect match.

Having concluded his friendly meeting with Lucia, Ancelotti was already envisioning himself replicating the legendary journey of the Silver Fox, Lippi.

Speaking of Ancelotti’s appointment as the Azzurri coach, the strong support of the Silver Fox, Lippi, was indispensable.

After the 2016 European Championship, Lippi had already resigned from Guangzhou Evergrande and was enjoying his retirement at home.

At that time, the Italian Football Federation intended to bring Lippi back into action. The Silver Fox agreed without hesitation, even without a formal contract.

Lippi’s position was manager of the FA’s technical department, overseeing the selection, utilization, and tactical planning of national youth teams at all levels, effectively acting as a head coach for the youth system. He had no direct power to interfere with the national team’s player selection or tactics but could advise and communicate fully with the senior coach to collectively build the national team’s future.

Upon taking office, Lippi’s primary task was to select a coach for the national team.

The Italian FA initially had many choices: Capello, Montella, De Biasi, Ventura.

The FA’s first choice was De Biasi. It could be said that without Lippi’s intervention, the former Albanian coach would now be in Ventura’s position.

The one who opposed De Biasi was Lippi. In his eyes, Montella was even a more suitable candidate.

Of course, Lippi’s first choice was still Ventura, because he was cheaper than Capello, and they were old friends, having been teammates in Sampdoria’s youth team. It would also be easy to implement his tactics and philosophy.

At the time, Lippi’s plan was perfect: Ventura would become the head coach, and his protégé Cannavaro would serve as assistant coach for the Italian national team.

A perfect trident.

Ventura also gave Lippi face. Despite Torino president Cairo’s repeated attempts to keep him, he resigned from his head coach position and accepted the Italian FA’s contract: a 2-year deal with an annual salary of 1.3 million euros, no bonuses.

An unexpected issue arose. Because Lippi’s son was an agent, the Italian FA believed that such a relationship would create a conflict of interest with Lippi’s work, and ultimately, they did not hire Lippi as the national team’s technical director.

Even more embarrassing was that on the very day the notification was received, Ventura had just delivered his inaugural speech.

Lippi was furious and publicly blasted the Italian FA. Later, the FA relented, willing to amend the rules for him.

But it was no use; Lippi ultimately chose to sign with China. Cannavaro also left Italy and signed with Tianjin Quanjian.

In the end, Ventura had to shoulder the responsibility of head coach for the Azzurri alone. As a result, the aging coach recently felt unwell and voluntarily applied to step down.

So, if it hadn’t been for the selection of Ventura, an elderly candidate, Ancelotti wouldn’t have had the opportunity to receive an offer from the Italian FA after his dismissal.

However, Ancelotti’s contract was not for a long term; he only accepted the invitation as a caretaker coach out of national honor.

Similarly, the Italian FA highly valued this football legend. With sponsors sharing the salary, Ancelotti’s annual salary was three times that of Ventura’s.

Although still less than club salaries, it sufficiently showed the Italian FA’s regard for him.

Ancelotti did not disappoint Italian fans. His debut match was a friendly against France.

He directly shut out the opponent, letting Les Bleus experience the power of Italy’s catenaccio defense from the Great Inter era. The young Mbappé was helpless against the experienced “Three Old Demons.”

The Azzurri won 1- 0 against France, continuing their hot streak from the World Cup qualifiers.

Meanwhile, Manchester United’s star striker finally escaped the boring lawsuit and rejoined the team.

Being falsely accused of defaulting on cosmetic surgery fees seemed more fitting for Cristiano Ronaldo, who was known for his interest in aesthetics.

It was truly baffling how this Cheshire medical institution, in a desperate bid for publicity, would go to such lengths, even claiming Lucia owed them forty thousand pounds.

Firstly, Lucia, as a billionaire, would not do such a thing. Secondly, the good-looking Manchester United striker did not need cosmetic procedures to enhance his appearance.

Finally, having proven his innocence, Lucia traveled to Russia to rejoin his national teammates.

“Ciao~”

“Ciao ciao~”

Lucia, who had broken goal-scoring records and won the Champions League, proactively greeted Buffon.

The young goalkeeper, who had never won the Champions League, felt a bit envious and consecutively saved Lucia’s shots in training matches.

With Lucia’s return, the last friendly match before the World Cup began. Italy’s number 9, who hadn’t used his “friendly match mode” for a while, directly scored a quadruple.

He led Italy to a dominant 5- 0 victory over the Netherlands, who had failed to qualify for the World Cup.

Strong offensive firepower and solid defense were the impressions this Italian team left on everyone.

After the coaching change, the Azzurri were strong and well-balanced, with a good mix of veterans, players in their prime, and promising youngsters. Coupled with Ancelotti, a championship-winning coach, they immediately became the top favorites to win the World Cup.

In contrast, Spain was in a bleak situation, also having changed coaches.

With head coach Lopetegui poached by Real Madrid, the Spanish team had to temporarily find Hierro as a caretaker.

Moreover, the defensive cornerstone Ramos had just recovered from injury, barely making it for the World Cup journey.

Things looked grim, and Spanish fans were not in a good mood…

Also in a somewhat sour mood was Italy’s new core, Lucia. This friendly match not counting towards his progress was truly a loss.

Otherwise, with his outstanding performance against the Netherlands, Henry’s “ball shielding like mine” could have been upgraded to 100%, and his “Only Superstar” ability could have gained another 2% or so in strength.

That way, he could be even more ferocious against their first group stage opponent, the Korean sticks!

Looking at the World Cup group arrangements and schedule, Lucia recalled the advice from his old father and his friends.

“Don’t hold back at all. Give 120% effort and let those Korean bastards know our strength!”

“If it weren’t for the biased refereeing by the Koreans in 2002, Italy would definitely have lifted the World Cup!”

Amidst widespread anticipation, time quickly advanced to June 14, 2018.

The quadrennial football carnival’s opening ceremony was held at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.

This grand structure, once known as the Lenin Stadium, became the fourth Olympic main stadium to host both a World Cup final and a Champions League final, following Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, London’s Wembley Stadium, and Munich’s Olympiastadion.

Sunlight streamed over the top of Moscow University’s buildings, pouring down from Sparrow Hills onto Luzhniki, painting this ancient and magnificent stadium with new colors.

Over a hundred countries’ television stations had begun live broadcasts. The short and concise opening ceremony started from outer space.

Astronauts on the space station slowly tossed down a football named “TV Star,” which cut through the sky and fell straight towards Moscow.

Accompanied by Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto, young Russian players on the square broke through obstacles, traversing Moscow’s oldest Red Square.

The camera then shifted to the Motherland Calls statue in Volgograd, single-handedly wielding a sword, praying for a prosperous era.

Subsequently, the young players crossed the turbulent Moskva River, dribbling towards Luzhniki Stadium. Inside the stadium, they were greeted by World Cup ambassador Ronaldo.

At this moment, Russian soprano Garifullina was singing loudly in the stadium, her vehicle resembling a phoenix, or rather, the familiar Western firebird, symbolizing the birth of a miracle.

Ronaldo wasn’t just there for a walk-on; he also showed off some moves on the pitch. R 9 performed a realistic feint, and then the young player beside him passed the ball to Zabivaka, the Siberian plain wolf mascot.

The camera then switched to Ronaldinho, surrounded by a group of beauties, truly the “King of 3 AM,” casually tapping a hand drum to play music.

At the same time, Spanish football legend Iker Casillas entered the stadium with the World Cup trophy.

The more than 100, 000 fans in the stadium were instantly ignited by the fervent atmosphere.

Finally, after speeches by FIFA President Gianni Infantino and the host country’s president, the 2018 World Cup opening match was about to kick off.

The World Cup flag was carried to the center of the pitch by flag bearers. Domestic fans also tuned in on time to enjoy this global sporting event.

Although the Chinese team was still absent, many Chinese enterprises were present.

Moreover, this opening ceremony featured Chinese flag bearers for the first time in ninety years.

Not only did six flag bearers from Danzhai, Guizhou, escort the flag onto the field, but Chinese child mascots also appeared with the Russian players.

This gave Chinese fans, just across a river, a sense of familiarity, allowing them to boast a few words about China’s economic and strength rise at barbecue stalls.

“Hey, the first match is a clash of weaklings. I bet 2000 on Russia. With the home advantage, they’ll definitely win as underdogs.”

Taking a bite of skewer and a sip of beer, with food, drink, and a game, and being able to chat with friends, it was truly delightful~

“Makes sense. Too bad the Chinese team was a bit short on points, otherwise I would have gone to Russia to watch the games live!”

“Sigh, I hope Lippi can lead the national team to the World Cup in the next cycle. I thought 2002 was the beginning, but it turned out to be the peak.”

“Enough of that, enough of that. Drink, drink. Who do you think will win the World Cup?”

“England or Argentina, maybe~”

“I’m backing Portugal. I hope Ronaldo can win the World Cup and be crowned a legend!”

“Italy is also very strong. Ancelotti plus Lucia in explosive form, I support the Azzurri to win!”

“Hehe, I support them too. Who told him to donate a new stadium to us here~”

The opening match at Luzhniki Stadium was in full swing.

Although one team was ranked 70th internationally and the other 66th, the game was open and very exciting.

Soon after the match began, Russia’s Golovin made a 45-degree diagonal pass from the left, and Gazinsky headed it in at the far post, scoring the first goal of this World Cup.

Then Golovin passed it horizontally from the right side of the box, Zobnin played it to Cheryshev in the middle, who chipped the ball over a defender and unleashed a left-footed shot into the net, giving Russia a 2- 0 lead at halftime.

In the second half, key player Golovin crossed, and substitute striker Dzyuba headed it in, extending the lead to 3- 0.

Just ten minutes later, Dzyuba flicked it on, and Cheryshev broke into the box and scored with an outside-of-the-foot shot with his left foot.

Finally, in injury time, it was Dzyuba who won a free-kick, and Golovin directly converted it, sealing the score at 5- 0.

“Congratulations to Russia on their opening victory. The big striker’s pivot role was fully utilized by the host nation.”

“This is the World Cup. Although the tactics are relatively simple, the excitement is not diminished in the slightest.”

The thrilling victory, and the performance of tall striker Dzyuba with a goal, an assist, and winning a free-kick in just twenty minutes, made spectators eager to see what kind of performance top European striker Lucia would deliver at the World Cup.

However, this buzz didn’t last long, as Cristiano Ronaldo successfully stole the headlines on June 16, 2018.

Dramatic! Portugal Draws 3- 3 with Spain, Ronaldo’s Hat-trick Saves the Day, Costa Scores Twice!

Graceful as a Swan, Agile as a Dragon, the Portuguese King’s Magnificent Free-kick Equalizes Against Spain!

Just one day later, the Argentine football king also made news, though it was negative.

Agüero Scores, Messi Misses Penalty as Argentina Draws 1- 1 with Iceland

I am Leo Messi, and I’m panicking right now~

I wasn’t born strong, I’m just 80% screwed

The two football veterans had already enjoyed the spotlight. Lucia was also poised and ready to take revenge on the Koreans for his father.