Friendly Match Against the Olympic National Team (2)
Friendly Match Against the Olympic National Team (2)
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A look that says, "I'm in big trouble."
Huh? Is there really something going on here?
"Do you know something? About the national team, I mean."
"No, no, no. Absolutely not. It's not like that... It's just, I thought maybe the national team would call up Min-jun-ssi soon~. Hehe."
"Hmm. Do you know someone on the national team~?"
"...Hiccup!"
"...Seriously?"
The woman, who had been rolling her eyes around, let out a deep sigh.
"Ugh, my big mouth. This is a super-duper secret. You can't tell anyone. Absolutely not!"
"Of course."
"So... my dad, no, my father... is the Chief Coach of the U23 National Team."
"Ah. Then, am I really going to the national team...?"
A national team chief coach, huh.
Isn't this practically official? Ha, as expected, a national team coach knows how to recognize my skills.
"It's not confirmed yet. I've been working hard showing my dad, no, my father, videos of Min-jun-ssi and trying to get him to recruit you, but..."
She glances at me cautiously.
Huh? If this goes well...?
"Oh my~ our So-young-nim! Thank you!"
"Hehe. Ayy~ I'm not doing this to be thanked~"
"Come on! Thanks is thanks. Thanks to So-young-nim filming me, I caught the eye of the national team coach. Wow~ you're my savior, my savior."
"Ehehehe~"
She glanced around and said quietly.
"But... did the coach... say anything? Any comments?"
"Ah... well, he did."
"Ahem. If our analyst So-young-nim could let me know~"
"A-analyst? Me?"
"Of course, an analyst. My personal analyst?"
"Oh my~ an analyst~ I've never even studied it professionally~"
...What is this? She likes it more than I thought.
So I gave her plenty of praise.
"Ehet, ehehe. Then I'll tell you as Min-jun-ssi's analyst!"
"Of course! I'm all ears for any advice from our analyst So-young-nim!"
"So~ you can definitely make it into the current Olympic national team roster. But... the final tournament is what matters, right? No matter how well you do in the qualifiers, if you don't make the final roster, you're screwed."
"Right, right."
"But... our country has the most depth in the second line. They'll definitely pick 3 wild cards out of the 18, right? Probably one or two from the second line, don't you think?"
"I... guess?"
"Then Min-jun-ssi's spot..."
"...Ah."
Indeed... I hadn't thought of that.
The Olympic soccer team roster is unusually small compared to other tournaments. Only 18 players.
Compared to the 23-player system for the World Cup, that's a whopping 5 spots fewer.
What's even more maddening is that 3 of those 18 spots are for goalkeepers. So, only 15 field players can participate... and 3 of those are Wild Card spots.
The Olympic national team is also called the U23 national team, and the 'U' stands for 'Under'. It's the Under-23 national team.
In other words, the Olympic team is composed of players 23 and under, and the 3 Wild Cards granted upon qualifying for the final tournament are hidden cards that ignore the age limit.
Since our country's Olympic team's goal is to win a medal—specifically for the military service exemption (technically it's a special exemption, not a full exemption)—it's natural that they'd use all 3 Wild Cards because experienced players are better than young players under 23.
In the end, there are only 12 spots on the Olympic team I can compete for.
I don't know how many attackers they'll pick, but at most 4 or 5.
They'll probably pick one scorer as a Wild Card to put the ball in the net, and one from the deep pool of second-line attackers. And since the current U23 ace, a young 22-year-old winger who starts for Pohang in the K-League, will also take a spot, that's already 3 spots filled.
I have to compete for the remaining 1 or 2 spots... can I really get picked?
I can't compete against the Wild Cards who will definitely be called up from the European leagues... and the attacker who is the coach's favorite and the current Olympic team ace will likely be a guaranteed starter.
At best, I might be a rotation member.
Just thinking about it makes me sigh.
"Honestly... the second line will be tough. In my personal opinion, if Min-jun-ssi just makes a few improvements, you could perfectly fill the national team's weakness."
My eyes widened at that.
There's something like that!?
As expected of my analyst!!
"If Min-jun-ssi just improves your off-the-ball movement and passing ability... if you show the potential of a playmaker, which is pointed out as the national team's weakness, you can definitely play as a starter."
"P-playmaker? Me?"
That's a role that doesn't fit my playstyle at all.
But this isn't coming from some random armchair expert; it's from the close associate of the national team's chief coach, his own daughter, no less.
"Hmm... I'll think about it."
That was what happened a few days ago.
And now.
"Attention! We have some good news for our team."
The coach, who walked in smiling brightly from the morning, made a surprise announcement.
"A friendly match with the U23 team has been scheduled for next week. Surprised?"
"The, the national team!?"
"A friendly match with our team!?"
Amidst the players who were buzzing with surprise, I was lost in deep thought.
'This is different from what So-young-ssi said? It's not a national team call-up, but a friendly match... Are they trying to check my skills?'
The national team cannot call up players at any time.
Players belong to club teams, so the national team just borrows players from their clubs for a certain period through a 'call-up' process.
To put it crudely, the club team is your job, and the national team is just a temporary assignment with only honor.
Naturally, being a 'national representative' is an honor for the individual player, but for the club team that suddenly has their player taken away by the country, it's bound to be unpleasant.
Of course, depending on the situation, there are club teams that like national team call-ups.
Typically, teams with low status or selling clubs.
The former can raise the team's status by producing national players, and the latter can increase the player's value and raise their transfer fee, so they are favorable to national team call-ups.
However, this conversely means that teams that already have high status or have no interest in selling players are negative about national team call-ups.
And these teams are the leading clubs that drive the football world, so-called prestigious clubs with world-class reputations.
Isn't that why there's often a tug-of-war between FIFA and prestigious club teams?
Well... this is all just talk about professional teams.
Then what about university soccer teams... naturally, they love it, or rather, they go crazy over it.
What is the goal of a university soccer team in the first place?
Good results? Of course, that's true too. But the ultimate reason university soccer teams want good results is to help more players advance to the pros.
Naturally, a national team career is a very, very positive factor for advancing to the pros, and even if you aren't called up, just having a friendly match against the national team is a huge boon.
Although the Olympic national team often has friendly matches with university soccer teams for training, they don't just play against any team.
From the perspective of the national team, which needs to maximize their organizational power during a limited call-up period, why would they want to play against some lousy team?
Naturally, being selected as a sparring partner for the national team gives you the evaluation that you are a decent team worthy of being chosen by the national team for a friendly match, the ability to naturally introduce players to national team officials, and above all, the unquantifiable benefit of individual player motivation.
And after the match against the Olympic national team was confirmed, our team was all excited and full of motivation, looking forward to the match day... and we entered into intensive training for 2 weeks according to the national team's call-up schedule.
Although I was actually lost in deep thought.
'How should I use my points?'
Usually, I would use my points as soon as I gathered them... but since I'm already dominating the university league and have grown so rapidly lately that I'm self-conscious, I had been saving them up, and that's when I met Han So-young, the operator of Football in Love.
The problem is how much I should trust Han So-young's advice.
It's clear she's not just some random armchair expert given her background, and her analytical skills are quite good... but in any case, strictly speaking, isn't Han So-young an outsider?
Her father is the national team's chief coach, not Han So-young herself.
The chief coach wouldn't tell her every little detail. And I don't even know the intentions of the head coach, who is the actual decision-maker.
Should I just keep maximizing my strengths as I've been doing?
Or should I follow Han So-young's advice and supplement the parts pointed out as weaknesses to acquire the abilities of a playmaker?
If I maximize my strengths, can I really acquire the skills to overwhelm the Wild Cards or the current national team ace? If I'm just similar, they'll use the existing members, not me... Since my stats are over 70, it costs 2 points to raise 1 stat, so can I create stats that can overwhelm the European-based players with this?
Or if I supplement my weaknesses, what should I supplement?
Honestly, I'm a player with many weaknesses. I've just been dominating the university league by maximizing my strengths; if you count my weaknesses, there's no end to them.
Naturally, I can't supplement everything, so to acquire the abilities of a playmaker as per Han So-young's advice... that also has no end.
Being a playmaker isn't just a normal role.
Passing ability, vision, press resistance, keeping ability... there are one or two things I need to have.
Can I acquire all of that with my current points? What if I run out of points and my playmaker ability becomes mediocre?
As I agonized over the endless, unanswerable questions, the day of the friendly match approached.
'...Ah, fuck it, I don't know. Let's just play the game and decide.'
Before the match started, seeing the national team players warming up on the field felt new.
When I was in middle school, I was a regular starter called up to the youth national team, but after entering high school and going through a long slump, the Taegeuk mark naturally drifted away.
Back then, national team call-ups were so annoying... but seeing the Taegeuk mark now, why am I so envious?
While bouncing the ball and thinking about the past, Yoon-hyeok-sunbae's face caught my eye.
'That sunbae is so calm even against the national team.'
It's truly amazing that he's scanning the power analysis sheet for the national team given by the coaching staff. Is that what it means to have a high soccer IQ?
"The match will now begin. Both teams, take your positions."