Milan Sports Newspaper, Italy: Milan youth academy’s Sogel leads the starting lineup, with Purple Lily’s youngster Versachi as the attacking midfielder, and Sotu’s favorite anchoring the defensive midfielder position. This lineup might become a reality in five years!
Turin Sports Paper, Italy: Italy’s dual core returns, Little Maniero and Little Sotu spark the revival of Italian football! Italian Football Association, hurry up and naturalize Morici!
The "Italy National Team’s dual core" concept quickly gained widespread recognition, but simultaneously, a problem emerged.
Sun Newspaper, England: Chinese, Croatian, Senegalese... Italians forming an international mercenary team challenge England U19, but England U19 will still achieve the final victory!
See, the problem lies with... Star of Italy Team having several players who aren’t of Italian nationality.
For instance, Bai Zhami, he is a Senegalese player.
Then there’s Morici, he is Croatian.
Of course, even Lu Yang, a Chinese Italian, has options. He might not necessarily join the Italy National Team in the future. His Chinese heritage gives him a chance to obtain a Chinese passport someday.
So, the Sun Newspaper’s label of Star of Italy Team as an international mercenary is a form of mockery.
But actually... comparing Star of Italy Team with England U19 is somewhat unfair.
How long has Star of Italy Team practiced together?
Moreover, they aren’t the best youth players in Italy; they are just one of them.
Many more outstanding youth players have already entered the national team or played for famous clubs; naturally, they don’t need to participate in this exposure-increasing show.
So in reality, Star of Italy Team only counts as Italy U19’s second team and doesn’t represent the truly top-notch group.
However, the England U19 team has many players playing in major leagues.
Parrot, Sevajos, with such experience and strength, are top-level in Star of Italy Team, while in England U19, they are common; otherwise, how can you be selected into the national team?
With the heated debate outside, the pressure on Star of Italy Team naturally intensified.
Unknowingly, they shouldered the mission of the glory of Italian football.
Originally, the show’s three matches were purely for publicity, with wins and losses actually not so important.
But now... Star of Italy Team can’t afford to lose.
If they lose, they will make Italian football look down upon.
The consequences are too severe.
Coupled with the decline of the Serie A in recent years, Italians are even more unwilling to accept the reality that Italian football is still declining.
Since Maniero and Sotu left the national team, Italian football has not won for a long time.
This time, even though it’s not a match of Italy National Team, all Italians view it as if it were a national team game.
They don’t want to lose.
In the dormitory.
Lu Yang and the four are still staying in the same room.
Before sleeping, Versachi suddenly asked, "So Lu Yang, will you play for Italy?"
Lu Yang thought about it, "I don’t know. I’m not at the level to consider these things yet. Of course, some hope I play in Italy, while others wish for me to play in my hometown, it’s a tough choice."
"But I think even if I play for Italy now, later, I would play for my hometown."
Versachi smiled, "There’s no such good thing! Youth matches are okay, but once you represent Italy in the senior national team, you can’t play for your hometown anymore."
Lu Yang said, "FIFA is revising the rules about national team eligibility. There’s a high chance of changing this one. After an eight-year cooling-off period, players might be able to play for another country after changing nationality."
Sogel laughed, "Eight years? Who can wait? That’s unrealistic."
Lu Yang didn’t say much, maybe things will change later; perhaps when I’m in my thirties or even nearing forty, I may still have the ability to serve the country?
After all, regarding the National Team, to put it bluntly, even a forty-year-old first-class European star could be a mainstay or even a core of the National Team!
Calculating like that, Lu Yang’s career might span three or even four eight-year periods.
Everything is possible.
But everything is unknown.
"What about you, Bai Zhami?" Sogel looked at Bai Zhami.
"Of course, I’d rather play for Italy!" Bai Zhami spoke his inner thoughts; his place is not affluent, coming to Italy means he never considered going back.
"Morici, what about you?" Sogel asked again.
His behavior today was a bit odd.
It was as if someone was making him ask these questions.
"I want to go back." Morici thought for a while, "My family is in Croatia; they miss me, and I miss them."
Morici’s situation is different again.
"But Croatia... isn’t peaceful recently." Lu Yang, with a broad perspective, said, "Saw the news a while ago, mentioned your country might... wage war, if the war erupts, Croatia won’t be able to participate in international events."
Momentarily speechless, Morici, thinking for a while, said, "I’ll bring them over as soon as possible. By then, perhaps the only thing I can do for my country is donate more money. I should earn more money!"
Lu Yang nodded.
Sogel gradually smiled.
Likewise, after hearing from Sogel that Morici and Lu Yang weren’t against playing for Italy National Team, Maniero also smiled happily all day.
There truly might be a chance for Italy’s midfield dual core to reemerge in the football world.
Although at present the term is just a media hype, who can guarantee Morici won’t reach Maniero’s level or Lu Yang surpass Sotu in several years?
At least Maniero believes Lu Yang has a chance to exceed Sotu!
...
On July 7, Millwall team arrived at Juventus Stadium.
Two days later, Star of Italy’s ultimate three-match series is set to kick off.
The entire Turin City seemed like it was entering New Year’s Eve; everyone was unusually excited.
The upcoming three matches will be broadcast across all of Europe!
Practically everyone will be able to watch.
Many football legends from Italy and England declared they wouldn’t miss these matches.
And the people from Millwall also expressed their high fighting spirit, "We are a Championship Team, a strong team in England’s second-tier league. We are not here to play children’s shows; we are here for preseason training exercises."
"We will treat the opponents as real adversaries, take it seriously, and won’t go easy, even if the opponents are a bunch of kids!"
Millwall’s head coach, during the interview, directly stated, "The most important part of a car is the engine. Our engine comes from the Premier League, was once selected multiple times for England National Team, and is undoubtedly a star player!"
"As for the kids’ engine, sorry, it comes from Italian D League, Italy’s fourth-tier league. I can’t imagine how great a player from such a league could be born."
"We will win the match, as for the score, I’ll let the players relax in the second half."
Arrogant and exuberant character, aligning with the impression of English football.
Rough yet strong.
To this, Little Morici expressed his opinion.
Morici: "Although I am an engine from a lower-tier league, my horsepower is strong. I hope Millwall can keep up with our attacking momentum and not claim we’re bullying the elderly!"
"Being a team restructured from fragments, I don’t see how Millwall is any different from us. They might have more game experience, be physically stronger, but our players possess more talent and brilliance. We are eager to defeat Millwall; we possess a winning belief, while Millwall is just training pre-season; our beliefs in the game differ, leading to different levels of strength eruption."
"To all the fans, using my good friend Lu Yang’s phrase, I’ve seen the match, we won!"
Morici’s response made the media especially excited; they had more topics to hype.
So in the next two days, various football media across Europe became abuzz, lively.
The heated debates continued until... the Star of Italy Team VS Millwall match officially started!