Chapter 62

In the previous few editions of the free-kick competition, the rules were as follows:

According to the rules, each player gets seven attempts per performance, with two attempts each from 18 meters, 21 meters, and 25 meters, and one attempt from 30 meters. The points for scoring a goal are 10 points, 15 points, 20 points, and 30 points, respectively.

Shen Si's good performance was certainly not undeserved.

"Oops, he scored an own goal. Shen Si is still in prison; he can't participate!" Duan Xuan slapped his thigh and said shakily, getting so excited that his thigh was exposed under the table.

This guy was hosting the show in his big shorts again! The fierce leg hair on his white thigh was particularly noticeable.

"Shen Si was sentenced to six years in 2012. Only two years have passed; he can't possibly be out of prison." Duan Xuan said firmly, finally recalling the distant memories of the last Jia-A League.

Shen Si, Qi Hong, Jiang Jin, and a batch of former national team players took a different turn in their lives due to match-fixing...

"Then he won't need this invitation card. This is an invitation card specifically designated by FIFA, not something we can decide. I wonder who Shen Si will give this card to. His best friend, Qi Hong, is also in prison with him. Who could he give it to?" Duan Xuan speculated about the归属 of the invitation card.

FIFA definitely didn't expect Shen Si to end up in prison. It's rare for players to go to prison for match-fixing, especially in China, where it happens so frequently, which is indeed embarrassing...

※※※※

The next day, Liu Hao opened the website and was stunned.

He thought he had a sure win and was far ahead of his opponents, but when he looked, his name wasn't even there!

The first place was... Gao Lin? Gao Lin can take free-kicks? Ten thousand votes!

The second place was Zheng Zhi? Zheng Zhi's footwork is decent, but shouldn't he be ahead of Gao Lin? What are the Guangdong fans up to?

The third place was Zeng Cheng! Brother, it's fine for the first two, but Zeng Cheng is going to participate in the free-kick competition? Maybe he can play as a substitute goalkeeper...

The fourth place was Zhang Linpeng. His footwork and assisting skills are good, but taking free-kicks seems a bit of a stretch.

On the contrary, the fifth place, Sun Xiang, had the best free-kick skills, but the gap with the first place was quite large.

The sixth place was Huang Bowen, another player from Guangzhou Evergrande.

Players from Guangzhou Evergrande occupied the top six places. Regardless of their free-kick skills, this shows how large and united the Guangzhou fans are.

As Chairman Mao said, unity is strength!

The... 19th place was Liu Xiaopang. Finally, he found his name. The support from Qingdao wasn't enough to get him to the top, but he barely made it into the top twenty.

It seems that winning through the vote is impossible.

"Black! Really black!" Yu Baojin and Liu Hao were at the same computer, sighing, "Zeng Cheng is clearly being boosted by Guangdong fans, or everyone wants to see the joke in Chinese football. Otherwise, how could Zeng Cheng be at the top? The FA is slapping its own face. They didn't expect a fan vote to turn into a prank. Now, if Zeng Cheng really participates, it will be a big joke."

"Should we boost it a bit?" Yu Baojin suggested.

"Boost what... If everything relies on boosting, what's real in Chinese football? Being 19th is good enough for me. This shows that besides the fake, there's still some real!" Although Liu Hao was somewhat annoyed, he was more comforting himself.

"Shouldn't we create some buzz? What about your agent, Lai? Isn't she capable? Why isn't she making a fuss? The prize for the free-kick competition champion is 1 million US dollars!"

"1 million US dollars?" Why is 1 million always coming up these days? Liu Hao sucked in a breath, feeling uneasy, "Do you think it's a tennis tournament? It's impossible to have such a high prize."

"It was 1 million US dollars in 2012. Check Baidu. With the high inflation over the past two years, the prize must have increased." Yu Baojin was very sure, as he had seen it on Baidu.

"Okay, then we have no choice. We have to see what the public opinion is. Clearly, the public supports the Guangzhou Evergrande players."

"Public opinion... In China, public opinion is the least valuable. It's just a joke. The FA can issue an order, and you can participate directly. Why do they need public opinion? Over the years, has the FA ever cared about public opinion? Just think about how much money Camacho got from the FA. Public opinion is just a joke." Yu Baojin spoke confidently, not taking it seriously.

In his view, public opinion is all fake; only the official word counts.

The two argued for a long time, and then the website refreshed automatically.

A string of red text suddenly appeared.

"Congratulations to Xiao Shen Si Song Bo for obtaining a ticket to participate in the World Free-Kick Masters." The flashing red text on the screen was like getting an epic item in a game, blindingly bright.

"Song Bo?! What's going on... How did this guy get the ticket? It's too outrageous to pull strings like this. Can you even pull strings for something like this? He shouldn't even be in line." Liu Hao was surprised. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn't figure out how Song Bo got the ticket. If Zeng Cheng's second place in the online vote seemed fake, Song Bo's was even more so.

"Didn't I tell you to lose weight? Your brain is getting more like Pigsy's. They said Xiao Shen Si. Shen Si is in prison, so it's normal for him to give the ticket to Xiao Shen Si." Yu Baojin looked down on him, saying that it's common for sons to take over their fathers' jobs or apprentices to take over from their masters.

"Family first, I understand that. Although Song Bo's free-kicks are good, I've seen him a few times, and they're just okay..."

Now, even his club teammate can participate. It seems so easy?

According to Yu Baojin's reasoning, it's almost certain.

That means there are only two tickets left.

Trying to get a ticket by sending text messages? That's like looking for a needle in a haystack.

As for the online vote? Although Liu Hao was grateful to the Qingdao fans, their small support couldn't get him to the top.

After much thought, he felt there was no hope.

This is for the whole country, not just Yinzhou. If it were Yinzhou, we could post the news in the football group, and with a hundred or so Yinzhou teams, we could achieve anything.

"Go to bed. It's not your lucky day!"

...

As he expected, he had no chance of getting the ticket. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't get to the top, and his luck wasn't good enough to get a ticket by sending text messages, although he did secretly send a dozen messages...

There must be many others sending messages, especially professional players.

Anyone who knows about the huge prize wouldn't miss such an opportunity to get rich.

However, in China, everyone knows that the lottery isn't equal for everyone...

On Wednesday morning, the second and third spots were finally determined.

The online vote champion wasn't really taken by Gao Lin. Zheng Zhi came from behind, saving the FA's face.

The fans' prank didn't succeed, but it's unclear if the vote was genuine.

Apparently, until the last hour, Zheng Zhi was in third place, while Zeng Cheng's votes were close to first...

In just one hour, Zheng Zhi climbed to the top, looking down on the other players.

As for the online comments, they were all over the place. Many people believed that the FA secretly boosted the votes, or that Zheng Zhi paid for them...

The person who won the lucky draw by text message was even more surprising.

Peng Weiguo!

A former star of Chinese football, known as the "Young Coach of the Midfield," he was part of the "Southern Peng, Northern Cao" duo, with Southern Peng referring to Peng Weiguo and Northern Cao to another midfield soul, Cao Xiandong.

Heaven, why did Peng Weiguo win out of millions of Chinese fans sending messages?

Peng Weiguo must have forgotten to wash his hands after using the toilet, worn his underwear backwards, burned incense to his ancestors, stepped on dog poop, and used his right hand for masturbation...

It's really inexplicable.

If it's inexplicable, there's no need to explain. Anyway, no one had any objections to Peng Weiguo going, as his "banana ball" is quite impressive.

Who is more suitable to participate than Peng Weiguo? Although everyone knows that the text message draw is even less reliable than the online vote, there's no one more suitable than Peng Weiguo. Let's just say it's for entertainment for three days.

But how much did the FA, CCTV, and the mobile company make?!

Sigh... Only Liu Hao was sighing.

Song Bo, Peng Weiguo, and Zheng Zhi ultimately represented China in the 2014 World Free-Kick Masters.

Cinderella doesn't always meet the prince, and sparrows don't often turn into phoenixes.

However, even so, life is always full of opportunities, as long as you are always prepared or do your best.

He didn't know that there was a commercial activity called... sponsorship.

Yes, with sponsorship, anything is possible...

Many Chinese players can play abroad not because of their outstanding abilities but because a domestic sponsor pays for their transfer to a foreign club...

Although this sounds hurtful, it's not uncommon, and I won't list them all.

And the sponsor who sponsored Liu Hao?

It was none other than Nike, the arch-rival of Adidas!

Lai Yuxin didn't disappoint Liu Hao. When she acts, it's earth-shattering.

The last time in Qingdao, the cold treatment from Adidas made Lai Yuxin very unhappy.

So this time, she decided to approach Nike.

Nike had also been interested in Liu Hao for some time.

The two parties were like dry wood and fire, a perfect match.

It's just an invitation card, just a free-kick competition.

As one of the biggest sponsors in football, getting a player to participate is a piece of cake...

"Is this the ticket?" Liu Hao waved the light blue English ticket in his hand, not seeing anything special about it, "This is the ticket to Brazil for gold mining!"

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