Happy Birthday

This is a secluded house on the edge of Qinghu Lake. Facing the lake, behind the main courtyard wall of the house is a large manor covering an area of ​​about ten acres. M

Qinghu, a tourist attraction in this heavy industrial city in the north.

When the weather is good, many people go boating on this lake, and many people gather and play in the surrounding farmhouses.

But that's the south shore of the lake.

Crossing the wide lake, it is much quieter on the north shore of the lake.

The mansion sits on the north shore of the lake.

There is a road extending directly from Ring City High School to the gate of this mansion.

Usually, there are not many cars coming here, and most of this house is as quiet as the north shore of Qinghu Lake.

Dense forests radiate from both sides of the road to the surroundings.

The huge tree canopy covers the sky and the sun, covering this two-way, two-lane road well. If you just look at it from a distance, it is difficult to find that there is still a road here.

The entrance of this road is also very hidden. A dense forest suddenly splits from the middle, and there is a "tunnel" formed by the forest. This is the entrance of the highway, there is no sign, and you will not see any road signs on the high highway and the four-lane highway that will indicate such a road.

When the car comes in from here, it has to go through a full four or five kilometers of winding tree-lined roads before the vision suddenly becomes clear.

You will see the sparkling, wide Qinghu Lake, and a high-walled compound.

On weekdays, there is no one here at all.

But today is different. The lawn in front of the house is full of luxury cars, and there are cars coming from far away from the road.

Coming down from the high road around the city ten kilometers away, there are traffic policemen along the road responsible for maintaining order.

It was the same at the gate of the house. Several traffic police officers turned into security guards in the parking lot, directing the guests to park.

Such lively scenes rarely appear here.

Fortunately, this place is far away from the south bank where tourists gather, otherwise it will definitely attract a large number of tourists to watch - just those expensive luxury cars on the parking lot are enough to cause a sensation.

Outside a house hidden by the lake in the woods Why are there so many luxury cars parked?

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If it's just the car that surprises people,

Then the people who got out of the car surprised everyone even more.

This is the border of China, but many people who got off the car looked like foreigners!

So many foreigners gathered in a country house in a second-tier city in China... Why?

There are too many doubts.

These foreigners seemed to be familiar with each other, and they greeted each other warmly after getting off the car.

The gate of the house is open, and there are two red lanterns hanging at the gate.

Very strong Chinese taste.

The guests greeted each other outside the gate, and then walked through the gate in groups of three and four to the courtyard.

In addition to these foreigners, there are also many Chinese people. Some of them are dressed casually, while others are wearing suits and leather shoes.

There are people of all ages. There are young people in their thirties, and there are also people in their sixties and seventies.

These people from different countries, speaking different languages, different ages, and different identities are gathered here. What are they here for?

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In fact, it has attracted the attention of many media.

Because they couldn't get close to the house, most of the media reporters gathered at the entrance where the road turned into a fork, where they took pictures of the vehicles entering.

Through the windows, they could more or less see who was sitting inside.

Whenever a car passed by, they would exclaim: "My God! It's Gao Hongbo!"

"Gotze is here too? Isn't he leading the team to play?"

"It is said that I have asked for a day off, and I guess I will fly back overnight tonight..."

"Look! Ji Ming! The president of the AFC is here..."

"What's so surprising about that? Isn't that pretty normal?"

"A lot of big-name coaches... really blinded me..."

"Who is this? Such a dazzling bald head... Fuck! Guardiola!"

When Guardiola appeared in everyone's field of vision, the reporters were extremely excited.

As a very successful head coach in international football, Guardiola is also very famous.

Although he always wins less and loses more in the confrontation with Chang Sheng, but this does not prevent him from being the world's top coach. He also won three Champions League titles.

This is a very remarkable achievement.

Of course, if you are far behind Chang Sheng, people like Chang Sheng are exceptions and must be listed separately.

A coach who can win three Champions League titles in his coaching career is already very good and can be regarded as a legend.

For example, former Liverpool legendary head coach Bob Paisley won three Champions League titles, and he has thus become an eternal legend.

So it's not hard to understand why these reporters were thrilled after seeing Guardiola.

In world football, Guardiola has long been a big shot.

Even if he has retired, his influence in international football is still huge.

In other words, peaches and plums are everywhere.

That is power!

After Guardiola passed, another bald head appeared.

This bald head is as big as Roberto Di Matteo! !

The famous coach who has won two Champions League titles in his coaching career has now been rested.

Now he serves as a senior technical adviser to the Italian Football Association, which is basically an idle job.

In addition to the retired old men such as Guardiola and Di Matteo, there are many active head coaches. They are either well-known in their own leagues, or they have proven themselves with championships in the entire European arena.

There is no lack of those super famous marshals who would occupy the entire newspaper page if they appeared alone.

But today they appeared in groups.

Why?

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Walking under the two red lanterns hanging above the gate, and passing through the courtyard gate, there is an open lawn.

On the lawn, there are some temporary tents.

Under the tent, some people were busy setting up the dining table, while others were busy preparing ingredients, as if they were about to hold a picnic meeting.

Most of the people gathered on this lawn, chatting in groups of three or four.

Behind the lawn there is a small two-story villa.

People kept running in and out through the open gate.

When Guardiola and Di Matteo appeared at the gate of the courtyard one after the other, it attracted the attention of everyone inside.

Everyone rushed over to pay respect and greetings to the two legendary European marshals.

The two greeted everyone, but they didn't stop, but walked side by side slowly towards the gate of the villa through the path.

While walking, they greet each other's bodies.

The person who came up to say hello did not follow them, but retreated.

The two walked through the open door, and after entering, the busyness outside was left behind.

Sixty-year-old Jose Passarella was standing inside. After seeing two people, he went up to them: "You are late, Pep, Robert."

"Hi, traffic jam!"

The two spoke in unison, then looked at each other and smiled.

Then Jose Passarella led the way and they mounted the steps.

The three of them are not walking fast. Jose Passarella is walking slowly on purpose, while Guardiola and Di Matteo are not walking fast because of their age.

When they finally reached the second floor and turned a corner, they heard bursts of laughter coming from the front door.

Jose Passarella led them to the door and shouted inside: "Pep and Roberto!"

Laughter gap.

Guardiola and Di Matteo appeared at the door, the people in the house saw them, and they saw the people in the house.

In the huge study room, there were people sitting on the chairs, on the sofa, and even on the ground.

All of these people were familiar faces.

However, the eyes of the two people quickly passed them, and landed on the table in the middle of the study... the person behind.

That age was about the same as them, an old man with gray hair.

Although the face is full of ravines and interlaced wrinkles, this face is still very familiar.

Now the eyes on this face are bulging and staring at them wide, with a sense of self-importance: "Those who are late, consciously order three glasses of wine!"

The voice is hoarse, but it can be heard that he is in good spirits.

Guardiola spread his hands: "I have stomach bleeding."

Di Matteo pointed to his belly: "I have a bad liver."

The wrinkles on that face squeezed further into the middle, almost hiding the eyes in the wrinkles.

"Hey, I said, don't rely on the old to sell the old!"

"Okay, stop pretending, you're the only one here who is selling the old!" Guardiola walked up, walked around the table, and opened his arms to the people behind the table.

The wrinkles on that calm and self-imposing face were originally shrunk together, but after hearing what the other party said, they bloomed instantly.

Then he also opened his arms and hugged Guardiola, followed by Di Matteo.

"It's nice to see you're all alive!" The man behind the table, Chang Sheng, hugged them and patted them on the back.

Guardiola also patted him on the back and said: "You are our boss, you are not dead, how dare we die before you? Even Rudy is almost ninety, he is still alive Are you doing well? It’s just that you can’t take the plane, so you can’t come, he asked me to bring you a message……Happy 80th birthday to you!”

Chang Sheng smiled. He scanned the audience and looked at the people in the room. They were all players who had played under him. Some of them became coaches after retiring. related work.

But Chang Sheng looked at them, all of them still remembered their names, everyone, everyone remembered.

"Yeah, I'm already eighty years old...the time flies so fast..."

He murmured with a smile.

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Yes, that's right. So many people gathered in such an ordinary Chinese house just to celebrate Chang Sheng's birthday.

Today is September 27, 252, the 80th birthday of Chang Sheng, the most legendary and greatest head coach in world football.

Chang Sheng became the head coach of Getafe at the age of 27 and retired at the age of 75. In his 48 years of coaching career, he has won countless championships, trained countless players, and cultivated a large number of talents. coach.

This may be his greatest contribution to world football. !

He didn't leave any tactical system behind, because the tactical system is constantly changing. What you leave today may be outdated and useless tomorrow, just like the free men back then.

In terms of tactical thinking, Chang Sheng did not leave anything worthy of praise.

However, he has trained countless excellent coaches for the world football world, which is probably more remarkable than leaving behind one or two tactical ideas.

And these excellent coaches also inherited the tradition of their teachers and continued to train apprentices.

Just like this, from generation to generation, there are endless disciples and grandchildren.

Today's European football is basically dominated by the ever-victorious department.

It was said before that Guardiola has peaches and plums all over the world, which is far from Chang Sheng.

These coaches in the Changsheng Department either serve as head coaches for the first team or devote themselves to youth training.

China, as a victorious motherland, has also benefited a lot.

Today's Chinese football has long stood in the forest of world football.

This is all thanks to the talents cultivated by Chang Sheng, the introduction of advanced Chinese football concepts, and his huge influence as a Chinese in world football...

Some media once said that Chang Sheng is the emperor of world football. He is not the president of FIFA or UEFA, but his words carry more weight than these two presidents.

For such a great person, on his birthday, not to mention the chairman of the Chinese Football Association, FIFA, UEFA, AFC and other prominent figures also have to come to congratulate him!

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More and more people came to Chang Sheng's study, and finally there was no room for him to sit on the floor.

His wife, Avril Lavigne, who is already a gorgeous old woman, appeared at the door: "Gentlemen, if you squeeze my house here again, it will burst!"

Chang Sheng also felt a little embarrassed. Everyone had been chatting too happily before and completely ignored this matter—these famous coaches and officials who are well-known in the international football world sat on the ground in a disfigured manner!

This is not the way of hospitality.

So he got up and beckoned everyone to go downstairs, to the lawn, where the air was good.

Everyone roared out.

When Chang Sheng walked to the door, he found that Avril was still waiting for him outside the door.

At the age of 68, she has long lost the beautiful face and smooth skin of her youth. Time has also carved deep wrinkles on her face, and age spots appeared on her face.

Chang Sheng saw her offer his hand.

With Avril leading the way, the two of them turned around the corner and walked down the stairs slowly step by step.

The wooden stairs creaked with every step.

The lawn outside the house was very lively and full of voices.

But the time in the house seems to have become very slow and quiet.

It seems that every step down takes a long time.

When he reached the corner of the stairs, Chang Sheng stopped as if to take a rest.

He gently pulled his palm out of Avril Lavigne's hand, reached into the pocket of his clothes, and fumbled.

Then he took out a small green thing from inside and handed it to Avril Lavigne.

"It's so lively today. Everyone came from all over the world to celebrate my birthday. But they don't know that today is also your birthday. But I haven't forgotten, happy birthday, dear."

Avril looked down at the birthday present that Chang Sheng was holding in his hand, it was a ring made of straw.

She smiled: "What a coincidence."

After finishing speaking, she also took out something from her pocket, which was also a ring made of grass.

"I made one for you too! Happy birthday, my...uncle!"

The two put the ring on each other, then looked up and smiled at each other.

Chang Sheng handed Avril the hand again, and Avril took it and continued to help her husband go downstairs.

In the process of going downstairs, Avril felt that Chang Sheng's hand was tightly holding her hand.

This feeling made her suddenly nostalgic.

Because when she first met her uncle, she followed him from Spain to China, and she was very nervous all the way because she was afraid of flying.

At that time, the uncle held his hand like this, squeezed it hard, and told her, don't be afraid, there is nothing to worry about.

Perhaps it was from that moment on that I fell in love with this uncle who was twelve years older than me...

The two of them just held each other and walked down the stairs slowly.

Although there are many people waiting for him outside, he is not in a hurry.

On his 80th birthday, what made him happy was not that so many people came to see him, but that it was his wife who helped him down the stairs instead of a cane and a nanny.

How happy it is to be accompanied by loved ones in old age...

The sunlight that slanted in from the gate shone on them as they stepped down the stairs, dragging long shadows behind them.

"The sun is so nice... What is happiness? Happiness is being able to go downstairs to bask in the sun when you are old, ha!"

Facing the bright sunshine, Chang Sheng opened his eyes and murmured.

(End of the book)