章節 73: The Call of the National Team
After the end of the seventh round of matches, the Bundesliga took a temporary break, and the fire of the national team was reignited.
This season, Werder Bremen's performance in the Bundesliga is good, and many of their players have been called up to the national team.
For Werder Bremen, this has its pros and cons. More players reporting to the national team helps raise the club's profile.
However, players running between the national team and the club not only affects their fitness but also increases the risk of injuries, affecting the club's performance.
However, clubs cannot stop players from playing for the national team; for many professional players, representing their country is their highest pursuit.
Lin thought he would report to the Spain U-21 team as before.
But to his surprise, the call did not come from the U-21 team but from the Spain national team.
To overcome the lack of forwards in the team, Vicente del Bosque's national team recruited a large number of forwards for this round of matches, and Lin was among them.
"Haha, the reporters must not expect that we recruited 7 forwards in one go, all just to cover for that kid!"
Del Bosque and assistant coach Toni exchanged a glance and burst into laughter.
If only Lin had been recruited, he would definitely have received the spotlight from the media.
But with the Spain national team recruiting 7 new forwards in one go, including Lin as a newcomer, the reporters' focus would not be solely on Lin, reducing the pressure on him from public opinion.
"Hope that kid doesn't disappoint us; otherwise, we might still face a storm of criticism from the reporters!"
Del Bosque sighed; the team's forward line problem had become so severe that they needed to rely on a young player under 17, which was truly a headache.
He couldn't understand why Spain's midfield was so strong while the forward line was so weak?
If they moved half of the midfield stars to the front line, Spain would have been invincible long ago!
Their speculation was correct. After the announcement of the new national team roster, the media's attention was indeed not on Lin.
"The national team summons seven forwards, aiming to solve the striker's weakness!"
"Can the seven forwards solve Spain's chronic problem, who is the unstoppable fleet's missile head?"
"The young national team talent is favored, the 16-year-old Barcelona young player may break the national team's youngest record!"
The Spanish media knew well where their national team's weakness lay, so they focused on Del Bosque's recruitment of 7 forwards.
Some believed it was the coach's desperation as he couldn't find a solution, so he resorted to drastic measures.
Otherwise, why would 35-year-old Raul also be recruited, simply to make up the numbers?
Others thought it was Del Bosque's bold move to recruit new players to inject fresh blood into the team.
Supporters and detractors argued endlessly, and the day of the Spain national team gathering quickly arrived amidst these debates.
On October 8th, Lin arrived at the Spain national team's training base.
Located in the outskirts of Madrid, Las Rozas belonged to Real Madrid.
As soon as he arrived at the national team, before even entering, he was greeted with jeers from fans watching nearby.
Lin never expected this kind of treatment and, surprised, he looked towards the fans.
Huh?
They weren't jeering at him?
Following the fans' gaze, he saw a luxury sports car parked behind him, and a stylish man wearing sunglasses stepped out of the car.
At that moment, Lin couldn't recognize him until he took off his sunglasses, revealing himself to be Barcelona's main defender Gerard Pique.
With his trendy outfit and avant-garde style, one could mistake him for a model walking the runway!
"Are you Lin?"
After getting out of the car, Pique paused, seeing the young player in front of him and then recognized him.
Lin had intended to leave directly, never expecting to be recognized, so he could only awkwardly smile in response politely.
Internally, he didn't want to interact with Pique; the guy had a questionable character, with his share of credit for Guardiola leaving Barcelona. There were even rumors of his involvement in Messi's departure from Barcelona.
Ignoring whether the rumors were true or false, Lin decided to keep his distance from Pique.
Seemingly unaware of Lin's aloofness, Pique thought the young player was just not very talkative. So, he opened his arms warmly and gave Lin a hug.
"Don't let these guys outside scare you; they're just jealous of our Barcelona's achievements!"
As the onlookers noticed that Lin was also a Barcelona player, the jeers grew louder.
Lin was speechless. It had nothing to do with him in the first place but now, even Real Madrid fans were booing him.
"Thank you, Pique!"
Under Pique's guidance, Lin quickly became acquainted with the Barcelona teammates in the national team. The Spain national team didn't seem as united as it appeared. There was a clear division between the Barcelona and Real Madrid players.
These two teams had many national team players, and despite being fierce rivals in the league, they didn't communicate much in the national team, and their relationship was not good.
However, there were exceptions. When Morata, a young player from Real Madrid, saw Lin at the base, he ran over to greet him.
"Hey, Lin, didn't expect you'd also be called up to the national team. I thought I was the only lucky one!"
Morata had been Lin's teammate in the U-21 national team a few weeks ago, and now they were teammates again in the national team.
As both rose from the U-21 team, their relationship was much better compared to other players.
"I didn't expect it either. Probably because there's a problem with the team's forward line, right?"
Lin Quan glanced at the coaching staff, indicating that Del Bosque probably wanted to address the forward line issue before the Confederations Cup.
Spain's aging team had begun to show signs of aging, and if they were to fail in next year's Confederations Cup, the 2014 World Cup would be in jeopardy.
That was probably the reason he recruited young players like Morata and himself!
"Hehe, I also think so!"
Morata nudged Lin and whispered, "Do you think we'll have a chance to play in the matches?"
Being named in the national team's squad was just the first step. Getting a chance to play after being named would be the real takeoff!
"I don't know. If there's a warm-up match, we should have a chance to play. If not, it's going to be tough!"
Morata looked disappointed. "The team is about to play a World Cup qualifier in Belarus, and there are no friendlies before that."
"When is the World Cup qualifier?"
"On October 13th?"
Morata looked at Lin curiously, thinking, "You've come to report to the national team and don't even know what matches the national team is playing?"
"The 13th is the actual match. It's only the 8th now, there's four or five days in between, enough time for a warm-up match!"
Lin Quan propped up his chin and stared at Morata for a while.
Morata felt uncomfortable under Lin's gaze and couldn't help but ask, "What are you staring at me for? We haven't even reached out to arrange a warm-up match, how can we make it in time?"
"Isn't Real Madrid your team? Talk to your senior teammates in the team, ask Real Madrid to play a match with us, isn't that enough?"
Morata shook his head, "Coach Mourinho won't agree, besides, most of the first team players have gone to the national team; there aren't many players left in Real Madrid to make up a team."
"What about Real Madrid's second team?"
"Playing against the second team would be unfair."
"If it's not unfair, would young players like us get a chance to play?"
Uh...
Morata was stumped for a moment; this guy made some sense!
"Okay, I'll go back and talk to the team captains and see if they can ask the club president."
Morata quickly found Ramos and Casillas, the two leaders in the team, and proposed the warm-up match to them.
Casillas and Ramos didn't mind. If it was with the second team, most of them as main players wouldn't play anyway.
But giving the young players in the team a chance to perform, they were happy to secure the match.
So the two of them contacted Real Madrid president Florentino, and the president agreed without thinking.
On the national team's side, Lin explained to Barca captain Puyol and asked him to approach Del Bosque for the warm-up match.
After listening to Puyol, Del Bosque deliberated. He had recruited several young forwards, and the key was to examine Lin's playing status.
A warm-up match would also help in a more direct understanding of the opponent's characteristics, allowing more confident and bold use in the actual matches.
So he agreed as well.
In this way, the warm-up match between the Spain national team and the Real Madrid second team was confirmed.
And Lin and Morata finally got the chance to play as they had wanted.
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