The National Youth Team Didn't Want Me, but I Won the World Cup

On the final day of the national youth team selection camp, the team leader came in. First, some good news: his name was on the roster, and near the top, too. He was first in the camp at creating clear-cut chances. Then came the catch: training in Europe would cost one million. The authorities would cover 800,000, and his family would have to pay the remaining 200,000.

That night, his father crouched in the yard until dawn. The lighter clicked once, then again. His father earned 4,200 a month at the boiler factory; his mother held down two jobs for 1,800.

The roster was posted on Friday, with twenty-five names. He looked from the first line to the last, three times. He knew he wasn't on it, but he still wanted to see for himself.

Nobody knew that the boy could see something extraordinary: before the ball arrived, he was already standing where it was going to be. Others chased the ball. He chased the place it hadn't reached yet.

For three years, a silver-haired old Spaniard had watched him from the riverside stands, over a hundred matches without missing one. On the last page of his notebook, one line of crooked Chinese read: If this kid can't make it, I'll accept that.

At dawn on the fifth day, the old man spoke. “Come with me to Spain. I won't charge you a cent. There's nothing in my place with a price tag, either.”

Over the next ten years, he reached the summit of La Liga, won the Champions League, and later claimed the Ballon d'Or. One coach studied him for three years, then finally wrote on the tactics board: Don't let him get a running start.

Back in the old family home in Longguo, his father recorded every match on videotape and tucked the tapes into a shoebox. The newest one was labeled: Today was pretty good, too.

He had made a promise to that old man. He had also made one to his grandfather, who hadn't lived to see it.

This time, he would lead the Longguo team onto the pitch for the World Cup final.

The ball hadn't arrived yet. He was already there.