January 4, 2014.
England, on the River Trent.
Stoke.
The Britannia Stadium, which can accommodate 28,000 spectators, was already filled with the loud singing of Stoke City fans.
This is the scene of the third round of the English FA Cup.
The game time has reached seventy-five minutes.
The score still remains 1:0, with the home team Stoke City leading the visiting team Leicester City by one goal.
At this time, Leicester City is still competing in the British Championship, and there is still a clear gap between the team's strength and the Premier League team Stoke City.
Therefore, the situation on the field was basically Stoke City suppressing Leicester City in the half and bombarding them wildly.
The difficult situation on the field made the coaching staff headed by Leicester City head coach Nigel Pearson and the players on the bench wear serious expressions.
On the bench of the visiting team Leicester City, a handsome black-haired young man was staring at the court with all his concentration, and he did not forget to whisper in Chinese that no one could understand:
"If there's room, you can hit it straight!"
"Oops, the pass is too slow and has no lethality at all..."
"Why is Nugent such a bad guy? Get off the field immediately. If I were to play in my place, I would definitely be able to have a wonderful collaboration with Vardy..."
The other substitute players in Leicester City would never have imagined that their teammate would be sitting on the bench and giving crazy advice, as if he could immediately change the situation if he came on the field.
After twenty-four rounds of the English Championship, Leicester City occupies the top spot and has a good chance of winning the English Championship this year and thus being promoted to the Premier League.
And three days ago, the main players of the team just played a league game.
Considering the physical fitness of the main players and the importance of the game, Leicester City head coach Nigel Pearson whispered a few words to the assistant coach Steve Walsh next to him and decided to Strategically abandon this irrelevant cup match and focus on the league championship.
Turning his head and looking at the young and eager faces on the bench, head coach Pearson's eyes paused on the black-haired young man for a moment, and relevant information about him suddenly emerged:
Ling Feng, an English-Chinese, 18-year-old, midfielder for Leicester City's U21 youth team.
This young man has solid basic skills and is basically above the average level of the youth team.
What impressed the youth team coaches the most was his diligence!
In addition to completing the team's daily training, he will also perform additional training on each individual event himself.
However, his talent is limited to this.
As a midfielder, his vision is average and he cannot pass a penetrating and fatal pass; he does not have excellent dribbling ability and cannot dribble past people and attract defenses.
There is no strong physical confrontation and defense, nor excellent running positions, nor the ability to shoot long distances from behind.
The only thing worthy of praise is his abundant physical fitness and his ability to run all over the field.
In short, this is a young man with mediocre talent and no outstanding characteristics, but who tries hard to get closer to the geniuses.
In the field of sports competition, no matter which coach he is, he likes hard-working players.
Pearson is no exception.
Therefore, in order to reward him for his hard work in training and to allow the main players to take a rest in this cup match, Pearson decided to put him and another well-trained U21 player into the ten-game match against Stoke City. Among the eight-man roster.
Since we chose to give up this cup strategically, winning or losing doesn't matter anymore.
Then let the young man make his first team debut!
Thinking of this, he made a decision:
"Jamal!"
"Mahrez!"
"Ling!"
"Get up and warm up!"
Hearing this, a handsome African boy and an old-looking black man on the bench immediately stood up.
The black-haired young man was stunned when his name was called.
"Huh? I actually have a chance to play?!"
No one knew that inside this young body of eighteen years old, there was a soul from ten years later.
Three days ago, 2024 Ling Feng had a car accident.
When he opened his eyes again, he found that he had returned to ten years ago and had become a Chinese-English mixed-race young man who played for Leicester City's U21 youth team and had the same name as him!
What he didn't expect was that there would also be a green legend system!
Just when he was included in the first team's eighteen-man roster for the away game against Stoke City, the system awakened and presented him with a novice treasure box.
The treasure chest revealed a star card of [Peak De Bruyne], allowing Ling Feng to obtain an attribute and a talent of Peak De Bruyne.
Ling Feng didn't expect that he just got the cheat yesterday and would have the opportunity to come on as a substitute today!
"Isn't this God helping me?!"
In an instant, Ling Feng thought of countless scripts for becoming famous with one goal, emerging in his mind.
Stunned for a moment, he jumped up from his seat and ran to the sidelines to warm up.
A few minutes later, Ling Feng completed his warm-up exercise, put on a No. 23 jersey with "LING" printed on the back, and stood on the sidelines with his two teammates.
Glancing at the handsome African guy on the right, Ling Feng's relevant information suddenly appeared in his mind:
One of the creators of the Blue Fox miracle, the first African to win the Premier League MVP, Riyad Mahrez, nicknamed the "Polo King"!
At this time, Mahrez had just transferred from Le Havre in French Second Division and had not yet played for Leicester City.
It can be said that this FA Cup match is not only Ling Feng's professional debut, but also Mahrez's Leicester City debut!
At this moment, perhaps seeing Mahrez rubbing his hands and looking a little nervous, Ling Feng suddenly took the initiative and patted his shoulder, smiling and saying:
"Hey mate, welcome to England."
Turning to look at the Asian black-haired young man beside him, Mahrez was stunned for a moment, and then there was a ripple in his heart.
This was his first time playing for Leicester City, and the opponent he faced was a Premier League team, so he was somewhat nervous.
Ling Feng's smile actually made him relax a little.
In addition, both of them were of mixed race and their skin color was even closer. Mahrez couldn't help but feel a sense of affinity towards the black-haired young man who spoke to him.
Nodding to Ling Feng, Mahrez replied in less fluent English: "Thank you."
Smiling, Ling Feng did not forget to high-five the black midfielder of his more familiar U21 teammate beside him, encouraging each other.
"Come on, Jamal!"
"You too, Ling."
Seeing this, head coach Pearson, who was not far away, couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
"This guy looks like a general..."
However, he didn't know that Ling Feng seemed very calm on the surface, but he was already turbulent in his heart.
Standing next to future Premier League MVP Mahrez, with the chorus of Stoke City fans and the shouts of the players on the field echoing in his ears, Ling Feng was completely infected by the warm atmosphere of the scene.
Even if the earthy smell of natural turf drifted into his nose, his heartbeat could not help but accelerate, and he was mixed with excitement.
Once upon a time, he fantasized about becoming a professional player, standing on the green fields of the five major leagues, and enjoying the cheers of the audience.
Now, I am standing on the stage of the century-old English FA Cup, facing the Premier League team!
This thing is really cool!
The assistant coach on the side pulled the three of them and briefly explained the tactics to each of them.
In short, just go up and play freely!
After waiting on the sidelines for a while, a dead ball finally appeared on the court.
At this time, the referee, who had been waiting for a long time, picked up the substitution card.
The voice of the on-site commentator also spread throughout the stadium through the radio:
"The time is up to eighty minutes, and Leicester City is ready to replace three people at once..."
"No. 26 Riyad Mahrez replaces No. 35 David Nugent..."
"No. 26 Mahrez is a new player that Leicester City just bought from Ligue 2 for 500,000 euros. And the two young players No. 23 and 37 were both recently picked up by Leicester City's youth team. ..”
"It seems that Leicester City is giving up..."
Amid the singing of the Stoke City fans at the scene, Ling Feng stepped onto the turf of the stadium with his right leg with excitement on his face.
Leicester City's main lineup is 442.
However, after replacing the main forward Nugent, there was only one forward forward left on the field, the future "Soul of the Blue Foxes" Jamie Vardy!
Therefore, under the command of the head coach, the team changed to 4231, with Ling Feng as the team's midfielder.
Mahrez came to the right winger position, and another black guy, who was also promoted from U21, came to the defensive midfielder position.
"Come on guys, don't give up!"
Seeing Vardy at the front raising his arms to encourage his teammates, Ling Feng suddenly felt like he was in another world.
In the past, he could only control these real-life stars in various football games.
But at this moment, he has really become teammates fighting side by side with Vardy and Mahrez on the field!
The high-pitched singing of the Stoke fans, the voice of the commentator and the shouts of the players on the field were all clearly audible and extremely real.
In an instant, Ling Feng subconsciously clenched his fists, his expression and eyes became firm.
What was once a football dream has now become a reality, right in front of me.
And what you have to do is never let it slip away, and firmly grasp this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in your own hands!
Perhaps it was because Leicester City changed three people at once and the score was leading again, Stoke City also replaced three main players to take a rest.
Even so, the stronger Stoke City suppressed Leicester City in the half, trying to score another goal and completely kill the game.
However, with Vardy's encouragement, the Leicester City players were united and retreated to their own half.
Ling Feng is no exception.
Because the defensive formation was too crowded and there was not much space for passing passes to penetrate, Stoke City midfielder Charlie Adam could not resist his inner desire to attack and made a sudden shot from the front of the penalty area.
However, the football shot out, but was blocked by Jamal, the black midfielder who had just entered the field, with his body and bounced up.
Then Leicester City center back Vasilski jumped up and hit a powerful header, pushing the football out of the penalty area.
Seeing the football flying towards him, Ling Feng's eyes sharpened, he took a step forward and stopped with his chest, then stopped the ball firmly at his feet.
The attention of everyone in the Britannia Stadium was attracted.
Looking at the football at his feet, several passing options popped up in Ling Feng's mind.
The next second, he made a decision:
Fight back, starting now!
The black-haired young man wearing the No. 23 blue jersey gently moved his right foot and moved the football to his right front.
Then, without raising his head or hesitating at all, he swung his right leg back hard and pushed forward with the arch of his foot.
A through ball from the ground that was as deadly as a scalpel was sent out!
The football flew across the turf quickly, crossed a distance of 60 meters near the center circle, passed directly between the two remaining defenders of Stoke City, and arrived at Stoke City's penalty area accurately. outside.
And a blue figure wearing No. 9 rushed over!
It's Leicester City's forward striker, Jamie Vardy!
