Chapter 7 The Devil’s Credit ()

Since taking up Giovani on the first day of taking office, Chen Chao has not been challenged anymore. No matter how hard the training plan arranged by physical coach Lopez is, the players of Benfica's first team have gritted their teeth and completed it one by one. The scene of Giovani as if he would die at any time will appear in front of them from time to time. Chen Chao, who just stands on the side of the training ground to learn from Celsillon every day, always reminds them how close the distance between them and the god of death is.

Before the new season started in early August, Fatty Ka received good news from physical coach Lopez at the team's weekly coaching staff meeting.

"According to the current training situation, the young men's physical reserves this year will far exceed last year. The 25 players in the first team have made progress in physical fitness without exception!"

Alberto Bastos Lopez is a 50-year-old Portuguese man. He has been working in Benfica for almost twenty years and has been responsible for the team's physical training. His work ability is undoubtedly, but this year it is a bit special. The physical condition of Benfica players has shown a comprehensive and good momentum. He is naturally very proud of being a physical coach.

While still sitting at the conference table, Fatty Ka praised Chen Chao without any concealment: "Ha, it seems that the team's pre-season training this year is quite excellent! Everyone should know whose credit is this? Lopez's training plan is worthy of recognition, but I believe everyone will not ignore the credit of another person, right?"

"Hahaha..."

"Ha ha ha ha……"

The conference room was full of laughter, and everyone's eyes floated to the youngest one in the conference room... Chen Chao.

"Chan, it seems that you must remember your merits once in your work resume! Don't worry, it's not a verbal blank check, you will get more bonuses from our coaching staff!"

Chen Chao laughed and said, "Is it a credit? I don't think I have any credit! If I have to say that I have punished Giovani as a credit, then I have no objection."

"Hahaha! Chen, you are so modest!"

"Oh my God! Chen, Giovani is nothing, but you shocked all the bad guys in the first team to allow them to complete the training plan with high quality. This is a great achievement!"

"Chan, you can't be too humble! I've been in Benfica for twenty years, and I've never seen all the players be so afraid of one person! Do you know what they call you behind your back? They call you the devil god of war! Hahaha!"

The team is in good condition, and the coaches in the coaching staff are all in a good mood and are full of hope for the upcoming new season. It seems that Benfica, a veteran Portuguese Super League team, has been revitalized, and all this is obviously the credit of the young man in front of him.

Since everyone said that, Chen Chao would not deny his contribution. Although he taught Giovani a lesson, he really didn't think that was a big deal. He immediately curled his lips and shrugged and smiled: "Actually, I am a beginner. Everyone knows that I have never been involved in the coaching industry before. Everyone here is my senior. I have learned a lot in the half month of coming here, and I don't ask for more bonuses. As long as everyone here can continue to teach with all their heart and strength in the future, I will be satisfied!"

Chen Chao's words won a lot of praise. Even the master of the family, Ka Fatty, looked admiring: "Tsk tsk! Listen to everyone, how sincere what Chen said is. From the first time I came into contact with him, my intuition told me that this young man is a very good disciple. He has the talent to be a football coach. In the future, everyone will teach him all our abilities with me!"

"Oh-Jose, do you need to say this? We have already started teaching Chen what we know!"

"Chan's learning speed is quite fast. I believe that it won't take long to become a qualified football coach!"

"You are right, Chen will soon become a qualified football coach!" Fatty Ka nodded with gratitude. Seeing that Chen Chao was recognized by others, he, as the leader, felt very honored: "But... Chen, you still have to apply for a coaching qualification certificate. Although I think that thing is useless at all, you have to know that it is like a work permit, and it is not possible without it!"

"I see!"

Chen Chao nodded with a smile. He had consulted the relevant information of the coaching qualification certificate and knew that this certificate was divided into many levels. However, as Kafai said, this thing is not very useful. The level of the certificate and the coaching ability are absolutely not necessarily related to it. Just like the domestic chef certificate, the dishes made by the third-level chef may not be more unpalatable than those made by the first-level chef.

Now, everyone in Benfica's coaching staff has accepted Chen Chao's joining, not only because of the hard work and studious young man's performance, but also because Chen Chao and them have no conflict of interest. After all, according to Fatty Ka, Chen Chao is just his personal assistant, and even Benfica's chairman Vieira has no right to fire him, because the assistant coach of this team is still Celsillon. Although Chen Chao's work is carried out in the team, he is only responsible for Fat Ka.

Moreover, Chen Chao's current work scope is limited to punishing players who violate discipline. No one likes to do this offensive task. Chen Chao's doing this is equivalent to the fat man doing it himself. It is natural to say that.

The combination of many reasons makes Chen Chao's current position in Benfica team very special. He has neither conflicts of interest with the coaches nor the club's control. However, the players are afraid of him. He is like lubricant on the engine, which has had an impact on all aspects of the team in just half a month.

The first round of the Portuguese Premier League this year is August 10. Before that, Benfica will test the player's status through six friendly matches and the role of some tactical changes in the team.

What puzzled Chen Chao was that as a veteran team, Benfica's performance in six warm-up matches was really lacking. It can even be said that the level of this team's performance is not as good as usual training level. Facing six opponents who are far weaker than themselves, they only scored 1 win, 1 draw and 4 losses. Can such Benfica team compete with Porto and Sporting Lisbon in the Portuguese Super League?

Even if Benfica team used up to rotate in six games including the first team and the second team to test the players' status, the results of such warm-up matches are really a bit terrible, right?

You should know that among Benfica's six warm-up opponents, except for the first two, domestic professional teams from Portugal, the four teams behind are all amateur teams they found when they went to Germany to practice!

As friendly matches progress, the Portuguese Super League in the new season is getting closer and closer, and Chen Chao's questions are getting deeper and deeper. But this guy Ka Fatty actually smiles with several people in the coaching staff all day long. They seem to be not caring about the team's performance in the warm-up match, and they seem to be very satisfied.

Why...is this?

Chen Chao knew that there must be factors that he didn't understand. He knew that as long as he opened his mouth to ask, he would definitely get the answers he wanted from Fatty Ka, but Chen Chao always wanted to rely on his own abilities to find the answer. However, his time in professional football was too short, and the pitiful football knowledge he had mastered could not be found at all, and the more he thought about it, the more confused he became.

Finally, on the plane back to Portugal with the team, Chen Chao couldn't help but find Kafat: "Kafat, can you tell me why the team's warm-up match was very poor, but you are not in a hurry? In this state of the team, can they really compete with Porto and Sporting Lisbon in the Portuguese Super League?"

Fatty Ka laughed and hugged Chen Chao: "Chen, I thought you had figured it out, but I didn't expect you to understand it at all! But you could endure it until now to ask me this question. Your tolerance really surprised me!"

"Oh! Damn it! Kafat, don't go around in circles, explain it to me quickly!" Chen Chao couldn't help but whisper. In Benfica team, he was the only one who could treat Kafat with this attitude. If it were someone else, I would be punished by Kafat.

"Okay okay!" Fatty Ka was quite indulging in the disciple Chen Chao and said with a smile: "Chen, in fact, you just need to think about it carefully and you will understand! What is a friendly match? It's just for warm-ups for the players!"

If Chen Chao doesn’t understand such a simple truth, he will be a brain-dead person. At that moment, Chen Chao hummed unhappily: “Well, I understand this! Let’s talk about the key points!”

"Hey, I thought you were very patient just now!" Fatty Ka smiled and shook his head, but then he stopped keeping it: "Since we are for warming up the players, we don't need to add any restrictions to the players as long as they can show their own state in the game, so we did not stipulate tactics for the team in these six games. Because the players are very unfamiliar partners, there is basically no cooperation. The victory or defeat result cannot reflect the team's strength at all! Moreover, our focus should not be here, but should see what state each player has shown in the warm-up matches, whether it is getting better or better, up or down, or worse. As long as you can see these, the purpose of the warm-up match will be achieved."

After hearing what Ka Fatty said, Chen Chao understood completely. After thinking about it, he found the root cause. If he now uses the eyes of fans to measure a team, the result will be quite depressed. However, if he uses a football coach to observe the team, the conclusions he will get will be completely different.

Seeing Chen Chao nodding thoughtfully, Fatty Ka smiled happily: "And... Chen, what satisfyes me and the coaching staff the most is actually the team's performance in physical fitness. The schedule of six games in the past twelve days is very frequent. We even ran from Portugal to Germany during this period, but the players' physical fitness has no problem at all. These kids can run away as soon as they come on the court. These... are all the credits of you, the devil god of war! Hahaha, Chen, keep working hard!"
Chapter completed!