San Remo Head Coach’s office.
"It’s no use, Fernandez can’t play anymore. He hasn’t said anything, but fortunately, Lu Yang suggested that we give the whole team a medical check-up." Tom was relieved.
He has greatly underestimated the spirit of the San Remo team.
This is both a good thing and a bad thing.
During training, Lu Yang noticed Fernandez’s not-so-great speed had dropped even further.
He asked Fernandez, but the latter said he had no problem.
To protect the young man’s pride, Lu Yang didn’t expose him, and instead suggested to Sotu that they conduct a comprehensive routine check-up on the players after training.
This check confirmed that some players were in a bad state.
They were indeed overly exhausted.
And when the team doctor pressed several times, Fernandez managed to hold back his pain without crying out, but anyone could see he was actually in pain.
He had a thigh strain.
Not serious, but still needed a few weeks of rest.
This winter break, he can take time to adjust his state.
However, his winter holiday would start early.
He will not be on the roster for San Remo’s last match.
Similarly, Bai Zhami has also been given an early holiday.
His condition isn’t much better than Fernandez’s.
Papers can’t cover fire, and San Remo didn’t intend to hide anything either.
So after the roster for the last Italian Third Division match of the year was announced, many media outlets noticed San Remo’s list.
Both main wingers were absent!
Furthermore, according to some insider news, San Remo’s right winger Fernandez might be injured.
This is absolutely terrible news for San Remo fans.
They will not forget the reason they failed to advance to the Third Division two seasons ago, when defensive core Rondo was absent, causing them to miss promotion narrowly, once making people think they’d never return to the Third Division arena.
Similarly, there started to be many reports about San Remo’s winter window signings in the market.
"Belletti? San Remo inquiring about Serie B’s 31-year-old veteran, might sign him during the winter window?"
"San Remo joins the battle to acquire Becher’s! Italian Third Division Imolese star likely to leave during the winter window, after Rome, Brescia, and Sampdoria, San Remo joins too?"
"Rome is selling right winger Aguirre, San Remo might acquire this former genius forward?"
"Looking overseas, Riverbed’s left winger Maximiliano Ferreira becomes a key target for San Remo?"
"Eyeing the Premier League, San Remo intends to loan Liverpool’s youth training forward?"
These rumors, half-true, half-false, undoubtedly brought great trouble to San Remo at this stage.
At least, their frontline players would consider these.
From the team’s perspective, it’s best if the bench is filled with top stars who are ready to play.
But for players, unless they’ve reached the age, no one wants to sit on the bench.
Even among starters, some compete for more ball handling.
Fernandez, recovering in the player dormitory, was reading these news articles, feeling extremely upset.
He couldn’t calm down at all.
He silently took out a football from under the bed and juggled it in a way that didn’t cause him pain.
He doesn’t want to be eliminated.
He comes from Benevento, but clearly there’s no place for him at Benevento— even the seventh player only had the chance to play due to other reasons, let alone other forwards at Benevento.
Moreover, Benevento has a great chance to be promoted this year.
If they really move up, Fernandez would have even fewer chances to play.
He clearly doesn’t possess the ability to compete in a top league.
If San Remo doesn’t buy out Fernandez now, then he will be stuck on the bench at Benevento.
Likewise, Bai Zhami hasn’t rested well either.
He didn’t have a strain, so he went straight to the training field and started training.
These young lads were determined to face the upcoming challenges in a better state.
...
December 30th.
The last round of matches before the winter break in the Italian Third Division. After this round, everyone will have more than half a month of rest, and the winter window will open.
San Remo’s match, at home vs Pentreda.
This match, San Remo’s performance was exceptionally flat.
Almost no threatening shots were created throughout the match.
Even Lu Yang felt the rare fatigue.
The Perpetual Motion Machine indeed allows Lu Yang to be infinitely energetic in terms of stamina.
But what about mental strength?
The densely packed schedule made Lu Yang miss the mark in this match, and inevitably caused inaccuracies.
Most of his shots were outside the goal area.
Similarly, another exhausted attacker, Sogel, might have already used up his energy from the first half of the season last match, frequently making mistakes this match.
Things like the ball stopping three meters away, failing to hook, shooting off-target, getting knocked over.
Until the 79th minute of the second half, it was still Lu Yang who created a corner kick opportunity.
Versachi took the penalty.
Naji leaped high, heading a powerful shot.
The opposing goalkeeper chose a good position, blocking the ball with his body.
But similarly, Lu Yang was right in front of this ball.
To reach this half-high ball, Lu Yang had to choose a sort of kneeling motion, then use his forehead to direct the ball towards the goal again.
It’s hard for the goalkeeper to block two shots in succession.
The football landed in the net.
San Remo finally took the lead.
The score held until the end of the match.