Manchester United's heir apparent, but can't play football.

Chapter 87, a transitional chapter, pre-match warm-up (Chinese national football team storyline).

early morning.

There is no fog.

As the morning sun slanted in, the eucalyptus trees emitted a faint fragrance, and the chirping of the kingfisher broke the tranquility.

Li Luo walked out of the hyperbaric oxygen chamber and headed to the training ground, which was far from the accommodation area.

He was followed by a group of assistant coaches, strength and conditioning coaches, team doctors, assistants, and technical analysts.

slap~
slap~
Snapped!
Nearby paparazzi began taking photos secretly through the green wire fence.

"Li warms up alone, but there are always so many people following him around?"

"They're all from Wolfsburg and Manchester United."

"What a grand procession the Crown Prince is making to go on his campaign."

"I heard he can lock in the Golden Boy award if he wins the Asian Cup? That's impossible, right? Would the European judging panel value the Asian Cup?"

"Because of traffic and popularity, commercial value! Of course, the most important reason is Li's talent. Stop talking nonsense, take good photos and study Li's outfit. I'm referring to those sneakers without laces."

"Hurry up, we can't film his training session with the Chinese team later, security will definitely spot us."

Forty minutes later.

Li Luo and the others returned to the national team's training ground to rejoin the main group.

Good morning, Li.

Good morning, Mr. Perrin.

After a brief greeting, the training began.

Perrin stood silently on the sidelines with a smile on his face.

For a long time before the Asian Cup, he had been thinking about how to get along well with Li Luo.

Looking at it now, I realize I don't need to worry about this at all.

Perrin has traveled to many places over the years, coaching in Ligue 1 and the Premier League, and has some stereotypes about the talents who have grown up in the English and French youth training systems.

He even had a very intense conflict with Ben Arfa, one of the "Four Little Swans" of France, who was 19 years old at the time.

At the time, Perrin made it clear to the club's management: "Either keep me, or sell him."

Ultimately, Lyon chose to renew his contract and sold Ben Arfa to Marseille in the summer of 2008 for €1200 million.

'Li, who was the center of attention, completely lacked the character flaws of those bad boys.'

'His private life is very healthy and clean; he doesn't date young models or actresses indiscriminately. He doesn't seem like a talent cultivated by England's youth academy at all, which is incredible.'

'During the Asian Cup, he was very disciplined and worked very hard.'

'Perfect! Our Chinese hero, Li.'

Perrin was all smiles, believing that coaching the national football team was perhaps the most correct and fortunate choice he had ever made.

Even though his salary was less than half of what his predecessor, a foreign coach, received, and his coaching contract stipulated that he would not participate in the team's bonus distribution.

This has led to further cuts in actual income, making it even less than that of some Spanish Second Division club coaches.

What's amazing is that before Li Luo emerged, the number of sponsors and the amount of sponsorship for the national football team saw a leapfrog growth as soon as Perrin took over!
The Chinese national football team's commercial revenue increased by 60 million yuan in a short period of time.

The money earned could hire ten Perrins.

He was nicknamed "the best value foreign heartthrob".

not far away.

Teaching Assistant Li looked preoccupied.

Zhao, the translator wearing a wide-brimmed khaki hat, was teaching Tom and the Manchester United/Wolfsburg technical team how to eat sunflower seeds. "I'll tell you a secret in a private moment."

"The night Li Luo defeated the Japanese team and led the Chinese team to advance to the Asian Cup semi-finals."

His expression grew increasingly mysterious. He poked the air with his index finger and lowered his voice: "Many positions are vacant, many, many."

Tom was immediately filled with envy and gave a thumbs up: "Oh God, well done! It's such a righteous act to prevent those bad people from sharing the fruits of the plums. I hope Europe will carry out similar activities."

Zhao, the translator, asked in confusion, "I've only heard that the South American and African football associations have done all sorts of bad things, I've never heard of any major problems in Europe?"

Tom gestured wildly and said, "The management positions at UEFA are heavily monopolized. Do you watch cartoons? Celestial Dragons, Grandpa, Dad, and Son, that's what they mean."

Translator Zhao shook his head: "No, there's a difference. People over there don't just do bad things; they do good things too."

Australian campsite.

The Kangaroo team studied the China vs. Japan match video over and over again.

Head coach Ang Postcoglou twirled a lighter in his hand.

Many years ago, his father took him to a cricket match. When he tried to light a cigarette, he accidentally dropped the lighter. Just then, the Australian team scored the only three goals of the day, so he laughed and joked: "The lighter brought me good luck."

"Perrin's Chinese team has a certain physical advantage."

"But their advantage won't be too obvious in front of us."

The regular starting lineup for this Australian team consists of eleven players who have played overseas.

Hard as a rock.

The team includes Crystal Palace's starting defensive midfielder, Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion's two starting full-backs, Bayer Leverkusen's winger, and a host of strong and muscular players from the Russian Premier League, Turkish Super League, and Dutch Eredivisie.

It's more like a European team playing in the Asian Cup.

What's frightening is that the team also has a veteran superstar - Tim Cahill.

Angpostoglu kept dragging the progress bar to watch the details of Li Luo's ball handling.

His furrowed brows slowly relaxed.

"We need to learn from the tactics that the Chinese team used against the Japanese team to deal with the Chinese team."

"The Chinese team has come all the way to this point in the Asian Cup. In the end, all of their previous opponents fell because of Li Luo's transition attacks and counter-attacks."

"Then, we Australians can play a more pragmatic game."

The distant land of China.

The buzz surrounding Li Luo's victory over Japan's full-strength lineup hasn't died down; on the contrary, it's grown even stronger as the news spreads, creating a long-tail effect.

Landmark buildings in first-tier cities, small towns with a long history of resistance against Japanese aggression, and streets and alleys.

The people expressed their love for "Anti-Japanese Hero - Li Luo" in the simplest way.

CCTV's "News Broadcast" dedicated a record-breaking three minutes to reporting on the victory, switching from slow-motion replay of Li Luo's goal to scenes of celebration by domestic fans. The host described the match as "Li Luo delivering a Spring Festival gift to the people of the whole country," far exceeding the reporting scale of the team's three-game winning streak in the group stage.

Local TV stations made last-minute adjustments to their programming, turning entertainment galas into special "Football Carnival Night" programs, producing a personal documentary about Li Luo overnight, and even provincial sports channels started a 24-hour replay cycle of matches.

Social media buzz exploded exponentially.

The topic "Li Luo dribbles past five players and scores a goal for the people of his motherland" has garnered over 120 billion views in 48 hours, with topics such as "Li Luo's technique overwhelms the Japanese midfielder" and "Li Luo defeats the full strength of the Japanese team playing in Europe" continuing to dominate the trending searches.

Some netizens were a bit confused: 120 billion times? Where did all those people come from?

When they clicked into the video highlights, they instantly understood: view counts don't equal unique user counts. Li Luo's explosive and memorable scenes were just too impactful! They're endlessly watchable!
Social media feeds were flooded with screenshots of the match, celebration videos, and emotional posts. Even users who don't usually follow football were sharing close-up photos of Li Luo.

Topics related to "Li Luo winning glory for the country" have been included in the winter vacation homework of primary and secondary school students.

(End of this chapter)