Chapter 73

It's the Shandong Luneng's home ground — the Luneng Stadium, which is equipped with excellent lighting facilities.

Liu Hao came to the stadium today to adapt to the venue, even though the match is scheduled for tomorrow.

The host of "Ruyu Youyue" is naturally Chen Luyu.

Although Liu Hao knew that Chen Luyu was an older woman, he still felt a bit uncomfortable when he met her.

Chen Luyu was extremely thin, even thinner than she appeared on TV, and her head was still as large as ever. Standing in the center circle, Liu Hao felt that her body might not be able to support the weight of her head...

The center circle of the stadium served as the stage, where a white sofa contrasted sharply with the green grass. A soccer ball was placed on the grass.

About ten meters away, hundreds of chairs were temporarily set up, apparently for the audience. People were already entering through the gates.

Whose idea was this? Liu Hao was quite satisfied with the stage setup.

However, to shoot such a program, turning on all the lights in the entire stadium seemed a bit extravagant.

But Luneng could lack many things, except for money and electricity.

Would Luneng be worried about wasting electricity? That would be a joke, as they specialize in electricity and real estate.

Liu Hao couldn't figure out why the program was being recorded in Jinan instead of Qingdao.

Am I recording this program under the watchful eyes of Luneng fans? Isn't that a bit too dangerous?

Looking at everyone's gazes, they seemed subtly unfriendly. And then, Chen Luyu asked a very tricky question right from the start.

"Who do you think will win tomorrow's match?" Is Chen Luyu a soccer fan too? Does she know there's a FA Cup match tomorrow?

"Ha ha, it's hard to say. Both teams are very strong; it all depends on who has better luck," Liu Hao replied diplomatically.

Of course, our Chen Luyu wouldn't really ask so many low-level questions. The purpose of this program is to tell your story.

So the next questions were more professional. Liu Hao vividly recounted his story, embellishing it a bit to make it sound like he had received a lot of support from his superiors.

He had actually come to play soccer secretly, but he said it was with the encouragement and support of his superiors. This would definitely please his superiors.

Now that his identity had been exposed, he had to be careful about what he said in public, as he was a civil servant representing the party.

"Once, my unit was working overtime, but my leader took over my work so I could catch the weekend league match..."

If Pan Zhi, who had been transferred to the position of traffic police chief, saw Liu Hao say this on TV, he would surely feel embarrassed, as he didn't even let Liu Hao play in the amateur league.

And his father-in-law, Zhang Nan, who had originally been the most opposed to Liu Hao's lack of focus on his career, now had a new perspective on Liu Hao due to the special circumstances.

Zhang Nan even wondered if Liu Hao wasn't cut out for being a civil servant and should have been a soccer player instead. Of course, that would have been when he was younger.

If China's national team had a player like Liu Hao, they might have made it to the last two World Cups. He had such thoughts, but he wouldn't tell anyone... it turns out that his son-in-law had his moments of pride.

"Do you think Luneng can win the league championship this year?" At the end of the program, Chen Luyu dropped a small bomb.

Liu Hao was speechless. This woman was really bad, trying to stir things up.

"Well... personally, I support Marcello Lippi, and Luneng has a good chance, but to be honest, they are a bit behind Guangzhou Evergrande..." Sigh, I just can't lie, why am I so honest?

Despite the boos from the audience, Liu Hao still spoke from the heart.

"Who is your favorite player on the Luneng team?"

"Um..." Liu Hao scratched his head; this was a tough one to answer.

"Actually, I'm a pseudo-fan of Chinese soccer... Can you tell me who the players on the Luneng team are? I vaguely remember a player named Wang Yongbo, but I don't really like him. I haven't been following the CSL much in recent years. I used to pay more attention when Li Jinyu and others were around."

Why am I so honest today, especially about likes and dislikes?

If you like someone, you like them; if you don't, you don't. Besides, I really don't know them...

But he also had to consider the feelings of the Shandong fans present. It was embarrassing to say that he couldn't even name the players of a top CSL team.

Chen Luyu didn't expect Liu Hao to answer like that, and the atmosphere became a bit awkward.

By the time the program ended, the audience was already thinning out, clearly dissatisfied with Liu Hao.

This might be the least popular episode ever.

Liu Hao paid a price for his words that night.

Not knowing the names of the Luneng players? How embarrassing?

Major online media outlets widely reprinted Liu Hao's words, and Luneng fans online vowed to give Liu Hao a "warm welcome" during the match.

Some fans even posted on forums that it would be easy to stop Liu Hao's free kicks by shining laser pointers at him, making it impossible for him to focus.

Why not just take him out directly? Some even left such comments.

Drawing Shandong Luneng in the first round of the FA Cup was a tough draw for Qingdao Zhongneng. On paper, Qingdao Zhongneng was no match for Shandong Luneng.

However, Li Xiaopeng didn't give up on this match.

The players he brought with him showed that he was aiming for a result, as all the starters were present.

FA Cup matches usually don't attract many fans, but this being a Shandong Derby, the atmosphere was different.

The fans of both teams already had a hostile relationship, so the stadium was exceptionally lively.

A large number of fans from Qingdao also came, at least occupying a third of the stadium, making it almost a home ground for Qingdao Zhongneng.

Even before the match started, the fans were already interacting.

But this interaction was a bit scary, with the police forcibly separating the fans from both sides to prevent any extreme fans from escalating the tension.

The Luneng Stadium is quite large, and the seats weren't full, but they liked to "gather" in one area...

In the Zhongneng fans' section, there was a huge banner with Liu Hao's face.

A prominent line of text floated in the air: "Shandong has only one star — Liu Hao."

Was this in response to what Liu Hao said last night? (I have to visit my father-in-law's grave, drive to Beihai, and can only owe two chapters today.)

Page flip AD starts

Page flip AD ends