Stadium of Light, stands.
"Portugal has produced too few talented players in the past two years. They're already far behind the Netherlands."
"After Simão and Quaresma, there's clearly a talent gap at Sporting Lisbon."
"Chris is already the best among the younger generation, but the gap between him and those players is obvious. Apart from his speed, there's nothing particularly impressive."
"Finishing? Who can't shoot? Give anyone as many chances as him and they'd score too."
This was a discussion among several scouts. They knew every player's background and characteristics on the pitch.
"Sporting Lisbon's goalkeeper, Christopher Pilar, has good reflexes on the goal line, but his biggest weakness is his height. Some clubs have already set strict requirements — goalkeepers must be at least 1.90 meters tall."
"There will be more and more clubs like that in the future. Pilar clearly won't reach 1.90 meters, and even 1.85 would be difficult."
"Pedro Araújo, Micael Ângelo, Carlos Manuel, Ricardo Duarte — Sporting Lisbon's back line. I bet not a single one of them will become an international in the future."
"Even if some of them make the Portuguese youth teams, it'll only be because they benefit from the youth systems of big clubs. Their talent is mediocre."
"Paulo Sérgio, José Semedo — one attacking midfielder, one defensive midfielder who can also play centre-back. Sérgio was originally the core of this team's midfield, but once Kai arrived, the gap between them became obvious."
"Kai's passing is already professional-level. Sérgio is useless except for being physically stronger. At best, his future is stabilising himself in the Primeira Liga."
"Semedo's chances of playing professionally are twice as high as others — not because he's good, but because he can play both defensive midfield and centre-back."
"Centre-forward Lourenço and right winger Edgar Marcelino… honestly, neither of them impressed me."
"They're bigger than Chris, but much slower. Even their close control isn't better than Chris's — and that's supposed to be Chris's weakness."
The shortcomings of a genius are already the ceiling for ordinary people.
That's how cruel the word talent is.
In the scouts' eyes, the entire Sporting Lisbon U15 squad was like shopping for potatoes and cabbage in a market — nothing exciting at all.
Only players like Chris and Kai were worth betting on, like gambling on raw imperial jade.
And even then, experts believed the chances of finding true jade in those stones were slim — most would collapse.
Chris had outstanding strengths, but also many flaws.
Kai had many advantages too, but his weaknesses were equally obvious.
With the referee's whistle, the match officially began.
To support their youth team, Benfica even invited first-team stars João Pinto and Nuno Gomes to watch from the stands.
Both were representatives of Portugal's golden generation.
Nuno Gomes was younger. Although he didn't fully belong to the golden generation, his peak overlapped with it.
He was currently the hottest striker in the Primeira Liga. He had helped Boavista win the league title against Porto and Benfica two seasons ago, then was immediately snapped up by Benfica. He was clearly on his way to becoming their main man.
In the upcoming European Championship qualifiers, both of them would certainly be called up — possibly even as starters.
Their presence seemed to show the youth players what their own future might look like.
From the first minute, Benfica's youngsters played aggressively.
Strong and relentless, they pushed Sporting Lisbon deep into their own half.
Benfica's midfield pressing was terrifying. Even when Sporting Lisbon won the ball, they couldn't get past the midfield line.
Cristiano Ronaldo waved his arms several times, but still couldn't get the ball.
In Sporting Lisbon's setup, Sérgio played on the left, Kai on the right.
Because Kai was right-footed.
At that time, positioning was strict — you played on the side of your dominant foot.
Even wingers were set up this way, because wide players were expected to deliver crosses from deep.
The 4-4-2 formation was dominant then, with wide midfielders whose main task was crossing.
Ronaldo was originally placed on the left to hide his weak passing and limited overall vision.
Unexpectedly, this inverted-foot winger exploded in the youth league.
Sérgio, behind Ronaldo, was indeed the midfield core, but he preferred driving forward after releasing the ball and lacked true organisational ability.
Portugal never lacked this type of midfielder — including future players like Beto.
This meant Sérgio couldn't reliably supply Ronaldo today.
The only player capable of delivering consistent passes forward was Kai.
But the problem was that the only one who could consistently receive Kai's passes was Cristiano Ronaldo.
And Benfica had completely locked Ronaldo down.
Right-back João Pereira stuck to him like glue.
As Kai had predicted, right midfielder Amorim and defensive midfielder Alexander took turns double-teaming Ronaldo.
Sporting Lisbon's patterns were completely read by Benfica.
Unless someone went berserk, there was no way to break through.
That was why Benfica U15's unbeaten run made perfect sense.
Their players were strong, and their coaching was just as sharp.
This tactical setup fully lived up to the word derby.
By contrast, on Marquesa's side… he probably didn't even understand what Benfica were doing.
—
In the 11th minute, Amorim used his physical advantage to shoulder Kai off the ball, took possession, and immediately launched an attack.
Kai chased him down, but Amorim released the pass.
Only then did Kai get the chance to complain to the referee about the foul.
The referee shook his head — his standard today was clearly more lenient.
After all, it was a derby.
Twenty seconds later, Amorim fired a long-range shot from outside the box.
Goal.
Benfica led 1–0.
The 40,000 fans erupted.
Benfica supporters even sang their club anthem — as if it were the first team crushing Porto.
The camera deliberately zoomed in on Kai.
After all, the turnover had started with him losing the ball.
It was as if the director wanted to tell everyone: Lisbon's "Caesar" isn't that impressive either.
While Benfica celebrated, Marquesa stopped Kai, intending to encourage him.
After all, Marquesa didn't understand tactics — all he could offer was motivational nonsense.
But Kai suddenly looked at him and said calmly:
"Coach, if we keep playing like this, we'll be completely passive. They're targeting all our strengths."
"When there's a gap in ability, we can only rely on tactics — like Tian Ji racing horses."
Marquesa understood.
"You mean sacrificing ordinary players to neutralise their strongest ones?"
Kai shook his head.
"They're all strong players — you can't trade them."
"But we can use ordinary players to free our own strengths and disrupt their system."
"Coach, let Ronaldo move to centre-forward."
Marquesa met Kai's determined gaze and, for once, didn't have the confidence to refuse.
"Alright. Don't worry — I'll handle it."
He patted Kai on the shoulder.
After Kai left, Marquesa kept muttering to himself.
The assistant coach thought he was praying — after all, that was usually Marquesa's only tactic.
But he still underestimated how shameless Marquesa could be.
"It's a pity we didn't get a good result today, but I don't blame the players. Even Kai making his own decision and asking Chris to play centrally shows his adaptability and tactical thinking as a midfield core…"
"Rui Costa's free-flowing passing and Figo's support play came from exactly this kind of thinking…"
"As a youth coach, I wasn't fully prepared. I failed to provide the best tactical options. But compared to results, I value the growth of young players more. I will never sacrifice their imagination for a single match. I would rather lose than kill their future…"
The assistant coach didn't fully understand — but he was deeply shocked.
With so many bootlickers in the club, how did this guy climb to U15 head coach?
Amazing.
There were still eighty minutes left in the match — and instead of studying the opponent, he was already drafting his post-match interview after losing.
A coach with no shame, no conscience, and masterful blame-shifting…
Honestly?
This guy really might become a world-class coach someday.
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