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Chapter 11 Hu Lai's Personal Honor

 Hulay's goal helped Leeds City re-extend its lead to two goals.

After leading 3:1, the Leeds City players still remember what coach Clark said to them at halftime:

"Attack! In addition to attacking, attack!"

So they continued their attack.

Seven minutes later, Leeds City launched a counterattack.

Kamara dribbled the ball straight through the middle. When the Helmer players came up to surround him, he pushed the football through the gap.

Passed to Hu Lai who was pulled to the ribs.

"There's a chance!" He Feng couldn't wait to shout out loud when he saw the football being passed to Hu Lai.

Then he saw Hu Lai start to adjust his pace and the direction of his body while running.

When the adjustment was completed, the football rolled right in front of him.

He didn't stop the ball, but raised his right leg and shot directly with the inside of his foot!

The football flew in an arc, bypassing the legs of the Helmer defender who came up to block the shot, then bypassing the fingers of Helmer goalkeeper Arnett, grazing the inside of the far post and flying into the goal!

"Beautiful!! Hu Lai! Shoot directly without stopping, beautiful!! Scored twice! Three goals in two games! Hu Lai! Aha!" He Feng laughed happily.

No matter what happens to Zhang Qinghuan, Luo Kai, Chen Xingyi, Xia Xiaoyu and Wang Guangwei, Hu Lai is the one who retains the program...

At this stage, Chinese fans can still only place their feelings on Hu Lai.

And at the same time, because of Hu Lai, everyone will not feel that the time is too difficult while waiting for the other few people to grow up.

How can you not love such nonsense?

※※※

After Hulei scored twice, Leeds City has led Helmer by three goals.

However, after subsequent substitutions and adjustments, Helmer's performance improved, and he scored two goals in five minutes in the 72nd and 77th minutes.

The score was tied at 3:4.

Helmer's morale was boosted after pulling back two goals, and he seemed to want to overthrow the defending champion in the away game.

But Leeds City finally maintained its one-goal lead until the end of the game, winning with a score of 4:3 and taking all three points.

After the game, commentator Matthew Cox joked: "This fully illustrates how correct Coach Clark's theory is: as long as we score enough goals, we can guarantee to win the game in the end! The best defense is to score more goals than the opponent.

More balls! Impeccable logic!”

As if to echo Cox's words, Clark first criticized the team's defense at the post-match press conference: "After we took the lead, we failed to stay focused... This is because we lost three

The reason for the ball.”

Then he changed the subject: "But fortunately, we scored four goals in the game, so in the end we won..."

Cox later forwarded the news from the post-game press conference on his social media, adding a smiley face with tears in his eyes.

But no matter what, Leeds City did win this game and get three points.

After two rounds of league games, they are in second place with six points.

The first place belongs to Wijston, who are tied with six points. Their goal difference is one more than Leeds City, so they are ranked first.

After two rounds of league games, seven teams in the Premier League now have six points, and their ranking is determined entirely by goal difference or number of goals scored.

Of course, the league rankings at the beginning of the season are actually meaningless.

For example, teams like Wijston, Liverpool United, and Sydenham are currently ranked in the top seven, but it does not mean that they will definitely be ranked in the top seven in the end.

Although Leeds City won the Premier League championship last season, they have gradually calmed down from the initial excitement and excitement. After looking back, it will be clear that Leeds City's championship is a "miracle" of this era.

Since it is a "miracle", it cannot be repeated, or it cannot be easily repeated.

Not to mention mid-table teams like Wijston and Liverpool United.

Even for Leeds City, there is a high probability that they will not be able to reproduce the glory of last season this season.

For a civilian team like Leeds City, it is the greatest honor to have a Premier League championship trophy in the club's honor room.

Some media once commented:

"...Leeds City Club should put the Premier League Championship Trophy in the most conspicuous and important position in their honor room, so that every visitor to their honor room can see this trophy at a glance no matter where they are. After all, it is theirs

The only honor that can be achieved..."

Someone else drew a cartoon like this, titled "Leeds City's Room of Honor":

A room called the "Leeds City Honor Room" is full of Premier League championship trophies. At first glance, you would think that Leeds City is a wealthy team that has won many Premier League championships. But on a second look, each trophy says "

2025-2026" words.

This cartoon is obviously used to satirize Leeds City for using a Premier League title to enrich themselves.

Although Leeds City did have a strong presence around the world after winning the championship last season, media from various countries rushed to report their inspirational story, which touched many people. Some people also called on Hollywood to adapt Leeds City's story into a movie.

.

But to be honest, Leeds City Club did not use this Premier League championship to "pretend".

There are quite a few Leeds City fans who are quite complacent.

Perhaps these complacent Leeds City fans have angered a lot of people, after all, "one pink and ten black".

But fans are such a fanatical and unreasonable group. Of course, when you win the championship, you have to vent your emotions to your heart's content and praise your team to the sky.

This applies to any team's fan base.

If you use this as a reason to attack Leeds City Club, you have to be careful that one day the team supported by these people will get carried away after winning the championship, and others will attack it with the same reason...

In fact, there is another reason why not everyone thinks it is a good thing for Leeds City to win the Premier League championship last season. Supporters of those wealthy clubs and traditional powers will certainly not miss any opportunity to attack Leeds City.

Writing articles in the media to speak ill of Leeds City, drawing cartoons to satirize Leeds City... are all part of their routine operations.

Of course, they can only make a fuss about Leeds City at the moment.

For Leeds City's most important player Hu Lai, it seems that there is no way to do anything.

After all, Hu Lai's performance so far has no dark spots. After only two rounds of the Premier League in the new season, Hu Lai has scored three goals, ranking first in the league's scorer list.

What else can be said about such a performance?

And there are even more exciting ones behind:

Both the British media and the Chinese media began to hype a piece of news.

That is... Hulay is very likely to win the Best Young Player Award in Europe in the 2025-2026 season!

※※※

"...'Europe's Best Young Player Award' is one of a series of awards held by France's "Ballon d'Or" magazine at the beginning of the new season every summer. It is only awarded to all players playing in European football clubs.

Players under the age of 23. This award is also affectionately called the 'Youth Golden Globe Award' by fans. You can know the gold content and importance of this award from the nickname... Since the establishment of this award in 2000, there have been two

Fifteen players have won this honor, and among these twenty-five players, ten more European Ballon d'Or winners have been born... Therefore, if you win the Best Young Player Award in Europe, you have a high chance of winning the award representing the best player in Europe.

Golden Globe Awards…

"Hulay, who will be 23 years old on September 9 this year, this year is his only and last chance to win this award... Last year, during the selection of the 25th European Best Young Player Award,

, he has just joined Leeds City for half a season. Although he scored 11 goals in his Premier League debut in half a season and helped the team avoid relegation, his performance is also very impressive, but this obviously does not allow him to enter the list of the best young players in Europe.

Ten-man candidate list... Last season, Hulay scored 32 goals in the Premier League. He won the top scorer in the Premier League and also helped Leeds City, a little-known relegation team, unexpectedly win the Premier League championship. Again

In addition, in the World Cup in the United States and Canada, he scored five goals and won the World Cup Golden Boot... This performance is enough to make him stand out among the young players of all European clubs.

"In the just-announced list of ten candidates for the best young player in Europe this year, Hulay's name is clearly on the list... and his competitors really have no competitiveness in the face of Hulay's superb performance and results last season.

...It can be said that as long as there are no factors other than football, it should be a sure thing that Hu Lai will win the most important personal award in his career, there is no chance..."

Xie Lan, who was standing in the "Son's Honor Room", put down his cell phone and looked around at the glass cabinets.

The 2024 Chinese Footballer Trophy, the 2025 Chinese Footballer Trophy, the 2024 Chinese Super League Top Scorer Trophy, the 2024 Chinese Super League Best Player Trophy... These glittering gold or silver trophies are lined up in the display cabinet.

These are the personal honor trophies Hu Lai received at different times.

Even the national championship gold medals, best player and top scorer trophies he won in high school are all there.

In addition, there are the championship gold medal and Golden Boot trophy Hulay won in the Premier League last season, as well as the Player of the Season Award and the Best Young Player Award awarded by the Premier League Players Association and the Premier League official.

The most conspicuous trophy in this honor room now is the "Top Scorer Trophy of the 23rd World Cup in the United States and Canada in 2026", a gold-made sneaker-shaped trophy.

This is the most important personal honor her son Hulay has ever received.

Although more professional senior fans may think that the best player in the Premier League has a higher gold content, after all, the World Cup Golden Boot is not always won by the player with the best performance. The World Cup Golden Boot every four years is more like a short-lived reward.

The best players in the Premier League each season can better reflect the level and ability of the award-winning players.

But in Xie Lan's view, all honors in the World Cup are higher, after all, this is the World Cup!

The best player in the Premier League is born every year, but it takes four years to get the World Cup Golden Boot!

Things are more valuable when they are scarce, so there is nothing wrong with the World Cup Golden Boot being more awesome than the Premier League Golden Boot.

Of course, Xie Lan also knows that the trophy for the best player in the World Cup is better than the trophy for the World Cup Golden Boot. It's a pity that her son didn't get it... and there's nothing she can do about it.

After Song Jiajia helped Hu Lai deliver the trophy to Hu Lai's home in Dongchuan, Xie Lan invited the best Premier League trophy from the cabinet and put the World Cup Golden Boot trophy in.

But now...

Xie Lan was already thinking about moving the World Cup Golden Boot trophy from the cabinet in the center of the room to make room for the trophy that the media said was the best player in the world under the age of 23.

"What are you looking at?" Hu Lixin passed by the door and saw his wife's figure, so he asked curiously.

"Look at the trophy!" Xie Lan didn't look back, but Hu Lixin could tell from his voice that his wife must be smiling.

He shook his head, really like a dragon patrolling his treasure house.

But this time he didn't say anything. After all, he was also looking forward to it...

※※※

Attached:

All honors Hulay has received in his football career so far:

2019 Andong Provincial Middle School Football Championship Anton Cup High School Group Champion;

2020 Andong Provincial Middle School Football Championship Anton Cup High School Group Champion;

Top scorer and best player in the Anton Cup high school group of the 2020 Anton Provincial Middle School Football Championship;

The 7th National High School Football Championship Champion in 2021;

Top scorer and best player in the 7th National High School Football Championship 2021;

Best Rookie of the Chinese League A in the 2022 season;

2023 East Asian Cup Champion;

2023 East Asian Cup top scorer and best player;

2023 Chinese League Championship;

The top scorer, the best local scorer, the most popular player, and the best player in the Chinese League A in the 2023 season;

2023 Chinese Football Association Cup Champion;

Top scorer and best player in the Chinese Football Association Cup in the 2023 season;

2024 U23 Asian Cup Champion;

Top scorer and best player in the 2024 U23 Asian Cup;

2024 Chinese Super League champion;

The 2024 Chinese Super League top scorer, best local scorer, most popular player, best player;

Top scorer in the AFC Champions League in the 2024 season;

2024 Chinese Footballer of the Year;

2025 Chinese Footballer of the Year;

2025-2026 Premier League champion;

2025-2026 Premier League top scorer, official best player, best goal (the goal that beat Tramed in the 37th round), PFA (Players Association) best player, PFA best young player;

Top scorer in the 23rd World Cup between the United States and Canada in 2026;

Note: Personal honors such as Premier League Player of the Month and Best of the Match are not included because there are too many.

In addition, since there is no "top scorer" award in Olympic football matches, the so-called top scorer in the Olympic Games is just the name given by fans to the player with the most goals in the Olympic football matches, so it is not included in the official honor statistics.


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