Dominating Football with Perfect Ball Control

Chapter 178: 178. Lukaku was fooled

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Template Equipped: Nagi Seishiro (Fusion Value 100%)

— — Skill: Perfect Ball Control

— — Skill: Hardcore Shot

— — Skill: Mirror Learning

Rage Value: 85%

Support Character: Bachira Meguru - S (Fusion Value 45%)

Support Status: On

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In just a few World Cup matches, Lance’s Fusion Value had risen from 25 to 45!

Both personally and professionally, he didn’t want his World Cup journey to end so soon.

For Belgium, with a luxurious lineup valued at nearly 400 million, they were known as the ”Belgian Golden Generation.”

Stopping at the quarterfinals would be a bit disappointing, even if it met expectations.

But who could refuse to advance to the semifinals?

For Lance personally, the further the competition went, whether it was the semifinals or the finals, it would significantly increase his Fusion Value!

After playing Portugal, his Fusion Value increased by over 10% in one go!

If he could defeat Argentina... A 20% increase in Fusion Value in one match wasn’t a dream!

With Bachira Meguru’s Skill 3 almost unlocked, and getting closer to unlocking a new hero, how could Lance refuse the World Cup, this super ”experience room”?

Even for personal grudges, Lance couldn’t lose to Messi.

Ever since Lance’s divine performance eliminated Barcelona in the Champions League knockout stage last season, Messi’s extreme fans had been hounding him, sending him hateful private messages on Twitter every day, spewing nonsense.

It was clear they were uncultured.

”Be careful in the World Cup, we’ll make you cry!”

”You’re just a piece of X, go back to your XXX!”

”XXX, Fucking XXX!”

Unfortunately, the attack power of foreign netizens was still too weak.

Lance wasn’t affected at all, and even felt like mocking the haters’ limited vocabulary.

What was most frustrating was that on both Weibo and Twitter, there were many Chinese private messages and comments slandering him.

Both simplified and traditional characters were present.

The traditional ones were understandable; some individuals had extreme ideologies and had been brainwashed by the West.

The simplified ones clearly belonged to Messi’s fans, whose Messi ’dad’ had lost, and they had held a grudge against Lance ever since.

In China, besides the vast majority of normal people or fans who genuinely liked Lance, there was indeed a small portion of sycophants who worshipped Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi, and vehemently disparaged Lance.

When a group’s base is large enough, you see all kinds of people.

Lance didn’t take this to heart.

But that didn’t mean he had no temper!

Didn’t they want to see Messi crush him?

Then if he crushed Messi instead, wouldn’t they be furious?

The result...

”Oh great, I’m about to be crushed by King Messi, damn it.”

Watching Messi, wearing Argentina’s classic blue and white striped jersey with the number 10, sprint across the pitch, and the Argentine players celebrate passionately, embracing each other.

Lance could only carry the ball to the center circle and place it, waiting for the kickoff with Lukaku.

Lukaku looked like a tall, strong, and fierce black man.

But in reality, he was quite silly and adorable on the inside.

He looked at Lance with a long face.

”Lance, what should we do? Are we going to lose today?”

”Romelu, come here for a moment.”

”What?”

Lukaku innocently leaned closer.

Lance noticed that the camera lenses were all capturing Messi, capturing Argentina.

The screens must be showing Messi’s celebration, showing Argentina’s brilliant goals; no one was paying attention to him for now.

Lance slapped Lukaku on the back of his head, a crisp sound emanating from his shiny, bald head.

Lukaku rubbed the back of his head, looking wronged:

”Why did you hit me?”

”Buddy, the game isn’t over yet! Can you pull yourself together? Are you willing to lose like this?”

”No... I, I’m not willing.”

”There you go.”

”But, the first half...”

”Don’t think about it.”

Lance noticed that Lukaku often made some basic errors on the field, always missing goals by a hair in crucial moments.

This was largely because he was easily affected by previous mistakes.

His mind would constantly replay past errors, causing him to react slowly at critical moments, and his rushed decisions would be terrible, leading to a continuous cycle of mistakes.

Why could Lukaku easily dominate weaker teams in the league, like a War God?

He still had the ability; what he lacked was confidence.

Lance needed him to step up and help him; he needed him to pull himself together.

”Romelu, you are a world-class player. Believe it or not, your value will definitely exceed 100 million euros in the future!”

”What? Impossible, how could I be worth that much...?”

Lukaku thought his maximum value was 50 million euros; there was no reason to be worth 100 million.

Currently, only Bale’s transfer fee had exceeded 100 million; Neymar might also break 100 million if he transferred.

Why should he be compared to the world’s top players?

Lance, however, looked seriously at Lukaku’s bald face.

”Trust me, have I ever lied in the team?”

”Uh... no.”

”Exactly, I said you’re worth 100 million, and you will definitely be worth 100 million in the future!”

Lance had often inadvertently revealed future predictions before, and his accuracy rate was 100% so far!

Lukaku had always thought Lance belonged to ”Oriental Mysticism” and worshipped him immensely.

Since Lance said so, would he really be a world-class striker in the future?

Watching, the big man’s bewildered eyes regained their sparkle!

Lance breathed a sigh of relief, secretly finding it amusing.

The future football market was too inflated; anyone could be worth over 100 million, and this was enough to fool Lukaku.

But none of that mattered, as long as his teammates could get their act together, this game could still be turned around!

...

The game resumed, and Argentina indeed retreated to their own half, starting to defend.

It was Belgium’s turn to launch an offensive, breaking through Argentina’s solid defense and low-block strangulation.

Their defense was very similar to Atlético Madrid, the Champions League winner of the 2013-2014 season, and the Champions League runner-up in the original timeline.

Active running formed a ”low-block strangulation”; their mad-dog-like man-marking made Belgium’s offense very difficult to deal with.

At the same time, the counter-attacking system, centered around Messi, was highly efficient.

Messi, with his unsolvable ball-carrying advantage in midfield, could always find opportunities to advance.

While Belgium attacked, they also had to constantly guard against threats from behind, suddenly finding themselves unable to cope with both ends.

1-0 was still manageable, but if Argentina made it 2-0, even a god couldn’t turn the game around.

The question was, how to turn it around?

After Lance’s calm observation, he found that what was evaluated by global football experts, professional players, and commentators as ”unsolvable Argentina,” actually still had weaknesses.

Offensive end: Over-reliance on Messi.

Messi held an extraordinary position within Argentina, possessing absolute tactical privileges.

Coach Sabella deployed his tactics around Messi; whenever there was a ball, it was prioritized to Messi, resulting in Messi having at least 70% of the team’s possession, and over 70% of his touches concentrated in the attacking 30-meter zone.

Di María, Higuaín, Lavezzi, and others made runs around Messi; no matter how they passed, the ball always had to reach Messi’s feet.

Everyone else was a feint.

This made Messi’s position very easy to target.

He could dribble past countless players, but what if he was dispossessed? That would be a golden opportunity for a counter-attack!

Furthermore, on the defensive end, Messi’s status allowed him to ”not participate in deep defensive tracking,” at most, he would symbolically chase for a bit; if he couldn’t catch up, he would just stop and walk around.

When Argentina’s backline was under the most pressure, it was as if only 9 players were participating in defense.

This was not even the biggest weakness.

Argentina’s biggest weakness was actually their seemingly strict discipline and high defensive intensity, but in reality, their defensive tactics were very formulaic and rigid.

As long as an unexpected offensive combination was played, Argentine defensive players, Demichelis, Otamendi, and others, would show a lack of attention.

The most classic goal was in the World Cup final, when Germany scored in the 113th minute of extra time.

Schürrle’s pass was unexpected by the Argentine defenders.

Otamendi failed to mark G?tze immediately, and Demichelis also made a positioning error, allowing G?tze to easily shoot inside the penalty area, a single shot that won the World Cup.

Their defensive line usually coordinated well, but in crucial moments, huge gaps would appear!

While the whole world was immersed in the invincible facade of Argentina, only Lance, using his advantage of ”peering into the future,” saw through Argentina’s shortcomings from a God’s perspective!

He looked up at the big screen.

There were only 20 minutes left in the match!

20 minutes to score two goals!

The difficulty was very high, but looking at his 98% Rage Value and his grasp of Argentina, Lance clenched his fists.

His confidence erupted like a Saiyan, his whole body burning with the belief of victory!

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