Chapter 306: Chapter 253: Carrying Brazil Forward

The alarm clock rang. Chen Yu opened his eyes, his head feeling a little heavy.

But thankfully, he had been restrained last night and hadn’t overdone the celebrations.

He got up, quickly washed up, and pulled open the curtains.

Dazzling sunlight spilled into the room.

It was bright and sunny, another clear day.

Stretching, Chen Yu sat down at his desk, opened his laptop, and started by handling some emails.

Due to the time difference, matters concerning his clinic in the United States, his sports lab, and the Chicago clinic were all sent to Chen Yu via email, making it perfect to deal with them after waking up.

Most of it was just reviewing and confirming things. It took him a little over twenty minutes to finish all the emails and close his inbox.

The coffee machine had finished brewing. Chen Yu took a couple of sips, then casually opened a web browser and started scrolling through the news.

BBC: "2-4, a dream mercilessly crushed by the Brazilians."

The Mirror: "A loss to Brazil, but England can hold their heads high."

Sky Television: "Tears may fall, but the dream is not dead. They can start all over again."

Bild: "England’s first-half brilliance couldn’t hide their second-half collapse. Ronaldo’s hat trick shattered all of the Englishmen’s confidence."

Folha de S.Paulo: "The Alien has landed. Ronaldo carries Brazil forward."

Having watched the match live, Chen Yu wasn’t interested in these reports.

England was a strong team and played to their strengths. If you took Ronaldo out of the equation, their on-field performance was even more impressive than Brazil’s.

Their offensive strategy was simple and direct, but its strength was in its effectiveness.

Brazil, on the other hand, was a complete mess, both in their defensive line and their midfield. It was utter chaos.

You could say that England lost to Ronaldo, not to Brazil.

It was just as the Folha de S.Paulo said: Ronaldo carried Brazil into the semi-finals.

Chen Yu continued scrolling, looking for reports on the Germany versus Italy match.

Later yesterday, at 8:30 PM, another quarter-final match had been held in Ulsan, South Korea.

Germany versus Italy.

A clash of titans, like a comet hitting the Earth.

Chen Yu had actually wanted to watch this match, but at the time, Ronaldo and the others had dragged him out to celebrate, so he didn’t get the chance.

He had gone straight to sleep after getting back and didn’t even know the result.

Bild: "Kane’s tears, a silent rebuke of Wolle’s incompetence."

The accompanying photo showed the legendary German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn holding the football in both hands, head bowed to kiss it, the tear tracks on his face clearly visible.

He was already 33 years old. This was very likely his last World Cup as the starting goalkeeper.

Kicker: "The young Buffon saved Italy. Victory should have been ours."

Deutsche Presse-Agentur: "A 0-1 loss. Midfield dominance can’t hide a weak front line."

Chen Yu’s heart skipped a beat. He clicked on the Deutsche Presse-Agentur report.

Relatively speaking, the official news agency’s report would be more objective.

As for the result, it was, in a way, within Chen Yu’s expectations.

He had chatted with Alina and the others before, and they had all agreed that this year’s Germany could only be considered a strong team, but not a top-tier one.

Although they had completed a major squad overhaul and were no longer an aging team, and the midfield trio of Desler, Ballack, and Scholl inspired endless anticipation, they still seemed to lack the experience needed for tough battles.

The first half ended in a draw for both teams.

The Germany Team, relying on midfield distribution and aerial bombardments up front, managed to create two threatening attacks. However, one was stopped by the post, and the other, a header from Klose, was miraculously tipped away by Buffon.

As for Italy, they focused on defense for the entire first half, executing their concrete-like Catenaccio to perfection and keeping a clean sheet.

In the second half, to quote the Deutsche Presse-Agentur’s commentary, the Germany Team was too hasty in its eagerness to break through the Italy Team’s defense. This gave Italy an opportunity. In the 81st minute, Italy took a tactical free kick in the attacking half. Totti booted it in front of the goal, and in the chaos, Vieri swept it in with a shot that found the corner of the net.

Prior to that, Kane had already made two heroic consecutive saves against Vieri’s shots.

While Vieri was celebrating wildly, a stark contrast was formed by the moving scene of Kane picking the ball out of the net and kissing it.

And right up until the end of the match, Germany still had a chance to equalize.

Desler suddenly sent a killer through ball, and Neuville successfully beat the offside trap, creating a one-on-one opportunity.

But Buffon came out calmly and buried the Germany Team’s hope of equalizing.

0-1. The Germany Team was defeated.

Chen Yu skimmed through reports from other media outlets and even found some videos to watch.

All he could say was that the Germany Team was a bit unlucky. In terms of play, they had nearly sixty percent of the ball possession and created some threats. They just had bad luck, being denied by the post and by Buffon’s miraculous saves.

As for Italy, you could only say they didn’t live up to their name.

Their star-studded forward line didn’t perform as expected, their midfield was chaotic, and their offensive organization was a total mess. They only managed to scrape by with a win thanks to their defense and Vieri’s individual skill. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Their midfield problems had plagued them since the group stage. They had been stumbling along, not at all like a team with a stacked roster that could steamroll opponents.

And to Chen Yu’s slight regret, Baggio still hadn’t made an appearance in this match.

But a win is a win. On the World Cup stage, being able to do even one thing well is actually quite good.

Just as he was thinking about this, a knock sounded at the door.

He got up and opened the door. It was Ronaldo.

Dean stood at the door like a guardian deity. Chen Yu had no idea when he’d arrived.

"When are we starting?" Ronaldo was in his training gear, jogging excitedly in place.

After the match yesterday, Scolari had pulled Chen Yu aside and earnestly requested his help, asking him to temporarily become the Brazil Team’s special team doctor, specifically responsible for maintaining Ronaldo’s condition.

After watching yesterday’s match, he had realized that if the Brazil Team wanted to go further, it all depended on Ronaldo’s condition.

It was just the last few days of the tournament. Anyway, the United States Team had already been sent home, so Chen Yu had the time.

Chen Yu had agreed.

They had also negotiated the fee: 20,000 US dollars per day, starting from today. If Brazil made it to the final on the 30th, that would be eight days, for a total fee of 160,000.

This was basically a friends-and-family discount.

"Let’s go."

Chen Yu called to Dean and led Ronaldo to the gym.

He had just played a match yesterday, so today’s session would mainly focus on recovery.

The Brazil Team wasn’t in a hurry to leave Shizuoka. They would rest for the day and set off for Saitama tomorrow to prepare for the semi-finals.

So Chen Yu arranged the recovery session in their hotel’s gym.

It was quite large. When the three of them arrived, there were already other people inside.

It was Kaka, whom he’d met before, and Juliano Belletti. He seemed to be Cafu’s backup.

Both were young and were substitutes with almost no playing time. But because of that, they were all the more diligent.

Chen Yu remembered that during the celebration, although Scolari had allowed the players to let loose and have a few drinks, Kaka hadn’t drunk anything, as far as he recalled.

As for Ronaldo, he had wanted to drink, but Chen Yu stopped him.

’During the tournament, alcohol can really affect your performance. It’s best to stay away from it.’

After exchanging greetings, Chen Yu led Ronaldo to one side and had him take off his outer clothes, leaving just his shorts on.

Then, Chen Yu took out the high-proof baijiu he had made a detour to get from the hotel’s front desk.

The alcohol from Japan had too low a proof to work, but since they were close to China, high-proof baijiu was available for sale.

Ronaldo, now shirtless, revealed a muscular physique, but bruises were clearly visible in several places all over his body.

For a forward like him, the absolute core of the team who relies on his physique, it was no exaggeration to say he was "taken care of" by defenders for the entire game. Coming out of a match with some contusions and bruises was par for the course.

Massage could provide relief, but "alcohol fire" was an even better option.

’This is also a good chance to see if I can combine it with acupressure massage.’

Westerners had a limited tolerance for the "alcohol fire" technique, so after he was able to generate significant recovery effects through other means, Chen Yu had rarely used it.

So, this was Ronaldo’s first time seeing it. He watched as Chen Yu poured out the baijiu, lit it, then scooped up a handful of it. His hand was engulfed in flames, startling Ronaldo.

Before he could shout a warning, Chen Yu had already slapped him on the back—fast, precise, and hard.

Ronaldo shuddered, nearly lunging forward.

"Don’t move!"

Chen Yu snapped, his hands never stopping as he repeatedly rubbed the area around the bruise. "Relax, this stuff doesn’t hurt. It won’t burn you."

Ronaldo’s eye twitched violently. If he didn’t have one hundred percent trust in Chen Yu, he really would have screamed.

Dean’s eyes widened. He could clearly see that as Chen Yu’s hand slid across Ronaldo’s back, faint blue flames were left lingering on the skin.

He turned his head to look at the bowl of liquor, which was still burning, and curiously reached out to touch it. He snatched his hand back like it was struck by lightning. Seeing his fingertip was still on fire, his face went pale with fright. He frantically tried to blow it out, but couldn’t, and quickly wiped it on his clothes to extinguish the flame.

Chen Yu shot an exasperated glare at Dean. ’Can’t keep your hands to yourself, can you?’

"It doesn’t hurt, right?" Chen Yu asked as he continued to scoop up the liquor, skillfully massaging with slapping, pressing, and other techniques.

Ronaldo stiffly turned his neck, nodded with an unnatural smile, and thought, ’Whatever you say, man.’

"Relax," Chen Yu reminded him again.

Ronaldo watched the flames dance across his own body, his face nearly twitching into a spasm. He just nodded, his body still too stiff to move.

Meanwhile, Chen Yu’s procedure had already attracted the attention of Kaka and Belletti from across the room.

The two watched from a distance, their scalps tingling.

"Does he know Magic?" Belletti muttered under his breath.

Kaka shook his head, dumbfounded.

A few minutes later, Chen Yu stopped.

Ronaldo’s body was bright red, but the purple bruises were already visibly much lighter.

On the system’s end, his experience had definitely increased, but only by 1 point. So Chen Yu didn’t know if 1 point of experience was a lot or a little, let alone whether doing this could accelerate the improvement of his massage skills.

’But doing it is better than not doing it.’ After having the idea, Chen Yu had thought it over carefully and even looked up some research materials. He was sure it had to be beneficial.

’So, I’ll just stick with it.’