Football: My AI System Provides Max-Level Predictions-Chapter 673 - 467: Reversing the Heavenly Gang! Chiwo Explores White Whale Counterattack, Tang Long Teaches, The Disciple Turns into the Master!

Chapter 673: Chapter 467: Reversing the Heavenly Gang! Chiwo Explores White Whale Counterattack, Tang Long Teaches, The Disciple Turns into the Master!

In the early hours of that night, the news that Icardi and Eevee were detained by the police for fighting on the plane, severely threatening flight safety, exploded onto the headlines of all media like a bombshell!

For a moment, the surge of interest from this news hit like a tidal wave, completely overshadowing Tang Long’s White Whale Counterattack.

"Shocking! Manchester United players brawling on a plane!"

"An unexpected victory return brawl - what unspeakable secrets lie behind it?"

"An extremely adverse impact, the flight narrowly escaped disaster!"

"Victory can’t hide the huge hidden danger, Manchester United trapped in the quagmire of a locker room crisis!"

Among all the colorful descriptions by the media, The Sun’s fabrication was the most romantic in a literary sense.

They earnestly claimed, "It wasn’t De Bruyne who cuckolded Icardi, but Eevee. The two erupted into a violent conflict on the plane over Wanda..."

Tang Long saw the report from The Sun, frowned with an "eh" sound, and then shared the link in a private group chat of Manchester City players.

Among all the colorful descriptions by the media, The Sun’s fabrication could be described as having the most absurd and bizarre romanticism.

They earnestly claimed, "It wasn’t De Bruyne who cuckolded Icardi, but Eevee. The two erupted into an intense conflict on the plane over Wanda, nearly spiraling out of control..."

[Ranocchia]: ???

[Kolarov]: Poor Mauro, being played like a puppet by Wanda!

[Bonazzoli]: Haha, it’s true, when Eevee was with Wanda, I was there in person, I witnessed the whole thing myself!

[Agüero]: Eevee interested in Wanda? Even if that woman was given to me for free, I’d be so scared I’d run away. Scares a person to death, right?

[Stones]: Who is Wanda, and is she beautiful enough for Eevee and Icardi to fight over her?

"Ranocchia patted Stones’ head"

[Ranocchia]: Stones, you’re still young, don’t always think about women, just focus on playing football well!

... 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

With strong PR skills, Manchester United only had Icardi and Eevee in the police station for two hours before they were released.

However, due to the serious nature of the incident, Manchester United imposed an internal ban on the two, suspending them for one match, and docked a week’s salary.

The management also demanded that everyone in the Manchester United team keep their mouths shut and absolutely not reveal a word to external media, especially to The Sun.

The other Manchester United players found the matter ridiculously funny and privately mocked that Icardi must have had the guts of a bear and a leopard to provoke Eevee. If not for the four or five teammates desperately holding Eevee back, Icardi might have met his doom mid-air.

However, De Bruyne ignored the whole incident.

The next morning, at 7:30, he rushed into the training field like a madman.

He practiced alone, with a bag of about ten footballs, targeting the edge of the penalty area, mimicking Tang Long’s White Whale Counterattack style pass, repeatedly using the inside of his foot to scoop the bottom of the ball.

Not only did he mimic Tang Long’s replayed moves from the video, but he also placed the ball in exactly the same spot as Tang Long did in the previous match against Borussia Mönchengladbach.

De Bruyne, gifted in passing with a delicate sense of the ball, had an exquisite mastery of foot technique so precise it left people aghast. Being fond of playing ping pong in his spare time, after a dozen attempts, he gradually stumbled upon the technique similar to a sliced ping pong hit.

Yet, despite passing the ball seventy or eighty times in a row, not a single pass met the standard that Tang Long had displayed!

Either the ball had spin, but not enough force, just slightly bouncing back;

Or the ball bounced back with increased power, but the passing strength grew as well, forcing the ball to skip uncontrollably into the penalty area and then out again. This easily fell within the goalie’s control, rendering the pass meaningless.

By the end, his leg muscles were sore and weak, still clueless.

De Bruyne, exhausted, sweated profusely, thinking, "Why can Tang do it so easily in one shot, achieving an effect I can’t in seventy or eighty attempts? Is his talent really greater than mine? I refuse to believe it!"

After that day’s regular training, De Bruyne spent an extra hour training, focusing solely on practicing Tang Long’s White Whale Counterattack style pass.

With deeper practice, although his passing visibly improved, it was still miles away from Tang Long’s level.

De Bruyne sighed deeply at the sky, drove home, unable to even swallow lunch.

"Kevin, don’t be discouraged, there must be a trick you haven’t mastered. With more practice, you can definitely do it!"

Unconvinced, De Bruyne picked up his phone, logged into a fake account pretending to be Icardi, and sought advice from Chiwo.

Having just had lunch, Chiwo was now napping in bed, snoring loudly, when a phone vibration woke him.

He picked it up and saw Icardi asking for advice on how Tang Long executed that pass in the match, claiming he had practiced many times during the day, but couldn’t grasp it.

Chiwo carefully read the text sent by Icardi and couldn’t help but be secretly amazed.

Because, based on the written description, he concluded that Icardi surely practiced this pass specially, otherwise, he wouldn’t possibly present his difficulties combined with some details.

"This Mauro is quite something, it seems like he hasn’t been affected by those off-field factors and is eager to learn."

However, in Chiwo’s player days, although he played midfield for Ajax and the Romanian national team, he never managed to kick a spinning ball with such dramatic rebound.

He pondered for a moment, then sent a message to Icardi: "Mauro, this issue is complex, and I can’t answer you immediately. I’ll go to the training ground tomorrow, ask Tang about it in person, and then get back to you!"

De Bruyne quickly replied: "Mr. Chiwo, please don’t tell Tang that I asked, or I’m afraid he won’t want to share with you."

"Haha, alright, I know what to do."

After the chat ended, Chiwo felt a mix of bemusement and exasperation.

He thought to himself, Mauro, Mauro, with your current level of passing skill, you haven’t learned to walk yet, and you’re already trying to run?

Let alone you, Mauro Icardi, even if Tang Long were to stand in front of your teammate De Bruyne and explain step-by-step, he wouldn’t necessarily grasp the essence of it!

...

After training the next day, Chiwo pulled Tang Long aside to inquire about that White Whale Counterattack pass.

It’s not only De Bruyne who’s stumped over this; even Chiwo himself is deeply curious about how such a ball is kicked. After all, he had only seen it in tennis manga, never in real football matches.

Before training started, Chiwo even went to the field early, recalling Tang Long’s moves from the match, and attempted several kicks himself.

However, even top football passer De Bruyne couldn’t pull it off, so how could Chiwo manage it?

He was a midfielder during his playing days, and his long passes weren’t bad, but in terms of technique precision compared to De Bruyne, he was still lacking.

And what’s more, De Bruyne, in his career peak, had practiced seventy to eighty kicks just to touch the edge of ball control;

having retired, Chiwo only practiced five or six kicks and naturally found it even harder to grasp the mystery of the White Whale Counterattack.

"Hold on, let me demonstrate, and you point out my shortcomings," said Chiwo. After speaking, he stepped back and prepared himself.

Though Chiwo is Manchester City’s assistant coach, as someone born in 1980, he’s only in his 30s, age-wise not much older than many active players. Given his familiarity with Tang Long, being both mentor and friend, he didn’t feel it was embarrassing for Tang Long to point out his technical shortcomings.

Tang Long watched Chiwo kick and knew he couldn’t keep it from Chiwo.

Tang Long rarely watched tennis matches and hadn’t read tennis manga either; he was only vaguely aware of the name White Whale Counterattack.

But he did watch table tennis.

Once, he saw a professional table tennis player using chopping techniques, where the spinning ball bounced unpredictably on the table, and suddenly had a realization. He thought:

"If you replace the table tennis ball with a soccer ball, and the table with a football field, the principle should be the same."

Then Tang Long entered the AI Cloud Training Ground.

After watching a great deal about world-class passing masters and the application of curveball techniques, Tang Long modeled in the Cloud Training Ground, sketching a forward and a goalkeeper, practicing passing techniques repeatedly.

The AI Cloud Training Ground, using big data, analyzed Tang Long’s body posture and the trajectory of the ball and continuously revised and improved, ultimately presenting an optimum plan for executing the "White Whale Counterattack," which Tang Long adopted.

Tang Long said: "Mr. Chiwo, you’ve already grasped the underlying principle. Actually, the key to this pass lies in a detail that few pay attention to. To sum it up, it’s — the ankle inward angle at the moment of touching the ball and the rhythm of the lower leg’s swing."

"Simply put like that?" Chiwo was somewhat doubtful, having expected an extremely complex technique.

"Though it appears simple, it’s actually hard to master," Tang Long explained, "General players emphasize strength and direction more when passing and neglect the subtle movements at the moment of touching the ball."

"At the instant of touching the ball, my ankle quickly turns inward, about 15 degrees more than in a normal pass; this is key for inducing strong backspin."

"Moreover, the lower leg’s swing isn’t an instantaneous exertion; it starts slow then accelerates, akin to drawing a bow and shooting an arrow, first accumulating force, then suddenly exerting it. Thus, the ball can fly out with just the right amount of spin and power."

"But how does this relate to the ball’s rebound?" Chiwo began to ask guiding questions.

Tang Long said: "This involves a physics principle — the Magnus effect and its intricate collaboration with ground friction."

He further explained that due to the complicated spin of the soccer ball in the air, at the moment it touches the ground, the Magnus effect interacts with ground friction.

Under the special spinning and ball-touching method, when the football hits the ground, there’s a clever conversion of friction into an upward and backward force. This force makes the football rebound like being pushed by an invisible hand, and both direction and force of the rebound are under control.

"Also, the position of touching the ball is critical; it should be at the bottom central part of the ball, with discrepancies of no more than one centimeter, to find a balance between height and spin force."

Chiwo scratched his head, starting to absorb Tang Long’s explanation.

Ankle inward angle, lower leg rhythm, touch point...

Bang!

Chiwo kicked a long pass!

After his foot tapped the ball, he raised his head and nervously watched the ball’s posture in the air, wanting to see clearly what it looked like when it hit the ground.

(Another Chapter to be released at around one o’clock)