I AM the Football Star

On this, different people make different choices.

No one can say for sure what the future holds.

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On August 23rd, the Italian Super Cup was held in Shanghai.

The two sides were last season’s Serie A champions Juventus and last season’s Italian Cup winners San Remo.

But this match ended up disappointing a lot of people.

Because star players like Lu Yang, Morici, Bernulin, Canyes, Talista and others all didn’t play.

Bernulin and Canyes hadn’t even rejoined the team yet; they were completely exhausted by this summer.

And as for Morici, if it weren’t for the importance of the China market, and if this weren’t Brother Lu’s hometown, he probably wouldn’t have come either.

All of this had to do with the league finishing too late last season.

Most players could enjoy a two‑month off‑season, while San Remo’s players barely got a month of vacation. Those who played in the European Cup didn’t even get half a month off.

The team still had to report early for training camp—how is that not killing them?

So this season, given the huge challenge of Serie A, San Remo made corresponding adjustments in their training and match schedule.

They didn’t start their training camp early in mid‑August; instead, players were only required to report on August 18th, and they didn’t fully assemble until August 20th.

And ”fully” still didn’t include the players mentioned above.

They would only join the team even later.

Lu Yang and Morici did appear on the bench for this match, but that was mainly for the fans; in fact, today was also their first day with the team.

Talista and a few others wouldn’t even arrive on the mainland until tomorrow.

Under this kind of schedule, San Remo clearly treated this Italian Super Cup as a warm‑up, a preseason friendly.

Maybe they’d lose something because of that.

But they already have the Italian Cup.

It’s a trophy, it has a certain amount of value and meaning.

For a team that hasn’t won it, it’s very precious.

But for a team that’s already won it, it becomes somewhat dispensable.

This is way too similar to how rich people and ordinary people view a million bucks.

Ordinary people feel a million is really hard to earn; having a million would be amazing.

But in the eyes of many rich people, a million is no different from a hundred.

Whereas a league title like Serie A...no matter if you’re ordinary or rich, you value it immensely.

San Remo’s target this season is not the league title, but they have to put in title‑challenger level effort just to have a shot at a really good finish.

They’re not being arrogant.

You could say this Italian Super Cup is a microcosm of San Remo’s goals for the season.

If San Remo went all‑out with their full squad, most Serie A teams would be relieved.

Because an opponent that only ever throws punches isn’t that scary.

But after this match, San Remo using an Italian Cup‑level trophy to blood their squad made the whole of Serie A feel uneasy.

What kind of haymaker is this San Remo, that’s pulling its punches and storing power, actually trying to throw?

The Serie A title?

Top four in Serie A?

Serie A’s European Competition Zone?

People were starting to find San Remo hard to read.

And in this match, San Remo indeed sacrificed a lot.

Because their opponent’s squad depth was just insane!

Juventus also rotated appropriately for this match; veterans like Ancelotti, Audi, Chiavich and other European Cup participants likewise didn’t play.

But what level of team is Juventus?

Four‑time consecutive Serie A champions!

For a team like that, even the guys on the bench are at least rated above 80!

There are even subs rated 85+!

How are you supposed to play against that?

Not to mention the lineup San Remo put out included quite a few new signings.

On San Remo’s side, the front three were Bai Zhami, Calafiori, and Fernandez.

Left midfielder Delarre, right midfielder Kaint, central midfielders Moriba and Alme.

The back three were Camihong, Palacios, and Naji.

Goalkeeper Woodman!

This was basically a San Remo XI of pure backups plus new faces.

If they could win, that’d be the real miracle.

And many of them weren’t even playing in their best positions.

Take Kaint for example, playing as a right midfielder—this arrangement is like ”absurd knocking on the door and asking mom to open up—absurd all the way home”!

Right midfield is absolutely a position that needs to attack.

And Kaint’s attacking game is, to put it mildly, hard to describe.

But under Lu Yang’s instructions, Sotu still went with this setup.

Because they wanted to confirm whether Kaint was truly incapable of being developed offensively.

If a player like Kaint could also contribute in attack, that would be a massive boost to the team, especially against strong opponents.

This isn’t something easy; you have to pay a lot of tuition for it.

But the potential payoff could also far exceed expectations.

Of course, judging just from this match, Kaint’s performance in attack was pretty awful.

Then there’s Alme, a center‑back; Sotu played him as a defensive midfielder, wanting to see if he could swing between center‑back and holding mid. After all, he’s a Barça player; his passing is definitely decent.

But Alme isn’t Lam; it turned out he doesn’t have that swing ability—his speed and playing habits are both issues.

His position is basically fixed at center‑back.

Still, there were aspects where he did very well.

Alme’s physical duels, anticipation, defensive reading, even his defensive vision were all good.

Moriba, playing in midfield, habitually pushed high and liked risky passes.

He wasn’t steady enough, got hit by Juventus counters a few times, directly causing two goals conceded.

But with his rich imagination, he also pierced Juventus’s back line several times and created goals.