Chapter 67

Putting down the phone, Dan Rao asked Bian Xuedao, "Can you play soccer?"

Bian Xuedao nodded and said, "A little."

Dan Rao said, "Just now, the chairman of our college called me and asked if I knew you well. He said he wants to invite you to be an outside player for our college team."

Bian Xuedao shook his head and said, "Your college has already approached me, but I don't want to play anymore. It's too tiring."

Dan Rao suddenly smiled mischievously and said, "The chairman just said on the phone that our college leadership has decided to use the charm of the Student Union girls to get good results in the first Dongsen Cup. I, as the head of the girls' department, can't avoid it. If you don't go, I'll find someone else to use the charm. What do you think?"

Bian Xuedao, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, jumped up and hurriedly grabbed the phone from Dan Rao, "What's the chairman's name? I'll agree right away. I need to tell him clearly that I'll take care of your charm, and you can't be assigned to find other outside players."

Seeing Bian Xuedao's reaction and hearing his words, Dan Rao laughed so hard she couldn't straighten up for a long time.

"I want to use the computer," Dan Rao said to Bian Xuedao.

"Come on."

Bian Xuedao led Dan Rao into the study and turned on a computer. Thinking Dan Rao needed to handle something online, he was about to step aside, but Dan Rao stopped him, "Don't go, give me some advice."

Bian Xuedao moved a stool over and sat beside her. Dan Rao logged into her QQ and opened her profile. In 2003, QQ didn't have the signature feature yet, so everyone wrote their moods in the personal description section.

Dan Rao's personal description read: "The world is vast, always climbing."

Bian Xuedao watched as Dan Rao deleted this sentence, placed her fingers on the keyboard, and turned to ask him, "I want to change it. What do you think would be appropriate?"

Bian Xuedao's mind was slow to catch up with Dan Rao, and he shook his head in confusion.

Dan Rao's fingers flew over the keyboard, and she typed in four words: "Flower has a master."

Then she asked Bian Xuedao, "What do you think of this?"

Bian Xuedao leaned over, took the mouse, and clicked save, saying, "Perfect."

Since he had already agreed to Dan Rao, Bian Xuedao did everything he could, contacting Du Yifan. It turned out that Du Yifan had already agreed to play for the Mechanical and Electrical team.

Tong Chao joined the Media team with Bian Xuedao.

When they went to find Cheng Daqi, Duan Qifeng and Xu Zhiyou told Bian Xuedao that they also wanted to try out.

Bian Xuedao didn't want to promise in advance and said he could help ask.

Out of respect for Bian Xuedao and Dan Rao, Duan Qifeng and Xu Zhiyou also joined the team, but they were clearly bench players. The Media team already had good players in the forward and midfield positions.

On June 7, Saturday, the "Dongsen Cup" 1/4 final day, it was slightly warm and windless.

At 8:30 AM, half an hour before the match, the stadium was already quite crowded.

The morning match was between the first-place Transportation team and the second-place International Students team from Group 2.

Since the school had lifted the lockdown, rumors spread that the International Students team had brought in several strong outside players from other schools.

Sitting on the sidelines with Dan Rao, Bian Xuedao unexpectedly saw a person he knew from the English Salon in the International Students team, a British student named Harry from Songjiang University.

Harry played as a left winger.

During the match, Harry was very fast, with sharp breakthroughs. His ball control and vision were clearly superior to the Transportation team's players. He and a black African right-back worked together to tear apart the Transportation team's right side, leaving them breathless.

The International Students team's forward was a Croatian international student, who was agile, strong, and active. He scored the first goal in the sixth minute.

Despite the Transportation team forming a decent team through internal transfers, they were no match for the powerful attacking force of the International Students team, losing 1-5 and becoming the first team to be eliminated.

The other six teams in the quarterfinals, after seeing the International Students team's performance in the morning, were all sweating.

The Civil Engineering team, which had faced the International Students team in the group stage, had the most to say. The team leader believed that the four new outside players had raised the International Students team's level by at least two tiers. The 5-1 score in the morning was the result of the International Students team easing off in the second half.

In the afternoon of June 7, the first-place Mechanical and Electrical team faced the second-place Media team from Group 4.

The Mechanical and Electrical team's formation was 4-5-1, while the Media team's formation was 4-4-1-1.

Before the match, the team leader wanted Bian Xuedao to play as a center forward, but seeing that the Media team's center forward looked unwell, Bian Xuedao volunteered to play as a second striker.

Bian Xuedao also preferred the second striker position.

Among the students watching the game, a significant proportion believed that scoring was the job of the player at the front of the formation, and the further the game progressed, the harder it was to score. As an outside player, Bian Xuedao didn't want to put too much pressure on himself.

In the Media team's lineup, Tong Chao was still a wing-back, and Cheng Daqi was still the goalkeeper.

Du Yifan played as a defensive midfielder for the Mechanical and Electrical team.

Since Zhou Hai heard that the Media team had recruited the college's flower, Bian Xuedao, and Cheng Daqi, he couldn't sleep for half the night, determined to lead his team into the semifinals.

Zhou Hai knew that his team's defenders had already developed a fear of Bian Xuedao, so he took a risk by placing Du Yifan, who had played with Bian Xuedao before, as a defensive midfielder, hoping to use his understanding of Bian Xuedao to neutralize his impact.

Bian Xuedao and Du Yifan's positions overlapped, and both team leaders were a bit worried that they might go easy on each other. However, in reality, both players were very professional, and their several confrontations were intense and exciting.

The Media team's side of the stands was clearly more attractive than the Mechanical and Electrical team's side.

The International Students team players who had just finished their match and their outside players intentionally sat on the Media team's side, occasionally whispering in English about the pretty girls in the Media team.

Harry, sitting in the stands, also noticed Bian Xuedao on the field.

Meeting a friend from the English Salon here made Harry very happy, and he immediately decided to talk to Bian Xuedao during halftime.

Bian Xuedao's roommate from room 909 and the girls from room 603 came to watch the game, Yu Heng came to watch the game, Liao Liao and her roommate came to watch the game, and even Professor Yan appeared in a corner of the stands.

Xu Shangxiu and Tao Qing were mixed in with the students from other colleges watching the game. Both only realized that Bian Xuedao had become an outside player for the Media team after the match started.

From the time they entered the stadium until the match began, Bian Xuedao and Dan Rao did not interact or speak, but during the warm-up, Bian Xuedao quickly found Dan Rao in the stands, and she also saw him. From a distance, they both smiled, and at that moment, they understood each other.

Before the match, Zhou Hai had already identified two key players to focus on, and Bian Xuedao was one of them.

The match began.

Unlike the mutual probing at the start of a professional soccer match, the student players, influenced by the packed stadium, lacked the mental fortitude of professional players. Some were tense and couldn't perform well, while others were full of adrenaline, running and fighting with all their might, trying to show off.

The team leaders quickly realized the problem but found that shouting from the sidelines had little effect. They couldn't control the excited players, so they resorted to shouting:

"Don't focus on the ball, focus on the player! Don't focus on the ball, focus on the player!"

"Pay attention to the formation, pay attention to the layers!"

"XX, get back to your position, quickly!"

In the first 30 minutes of the first half, the two teams had rapid transitions between attack and defense, with several shots on goal, but no goals were scored, either due to missed shots or saves by the goalkeeper.

Cheng Daqi's performance on the field was much more composed and experienced than in the previous match. It was clear that he had carefully reflected on the reasons for the three goals he had conceded and had an impressive ability to summarize and improve.

Although no goals were scored, the game was not dull.

In the first half, Bian Xuedao created three opportunities for his team's center forward, but the forward lacked technique and agility, needing about five steps to adjust before each shot. Once the opposing defender got close, he had no other option but to use his physical strength.

It was easy to imagine that in casual matches and group stage games, this forward could show some attacking ability due to the lack of skill and awareness of the opposing defenders. However, once faced with defenders of similar level, he was immediately at a loss.

In the first 40 minutes, Bian Xuedao did not have any outstanding performances. For some reason, he did not get into the game for a long time.

He was closely marked, which made him a bit uncomfortable, and many of his teammates wanted to be the star, so they did not support him enough. Therefore, Bian Xuedao's performance could only be described as average, falling short of the Media team leader's expectations.

As the first half was about to end, the rapid transitions between attack and defense left both teams' players a bit exhausted. The two defenders who were closely marking Bian Xuedao, with their inferior endurance, could no longer keep up with him, and Bian Xuedao's game sense began to return.