Chapter 84: Learning Free Kicks from Mihajlovic
After the Italian Super Cup, the new season of Serie A is getting closer.
With only one week left before the league kicks off, the entire Inter Milan team is making final preparations.
Lin Feng lives not far from the team's training base, which gives him time to go out for a run after getting up in the morning.
After running, go home, take a shower, and go out feeling refreshed.
Because they come very early every day, and the yellow race is so easily recognizable.
So the security guard at the base quickly remembered Lin Feng's name.
"Good morning, Oriental boy, you are always so punctual!"
"Good morning, Uncle Giupese. There is an old saying in our country that the early bird catches the worm."
It has been almost a month since Lin Feng joined Inter Milan, and his Italian has improved significantly.
Now he has no problem having simple conversations with locals in Italian, but Lin Feng is not satisfied with this.
He began to try to broaden his vocabulary and learn more professional terms about football so that he could communicate better with his teammates on the court.
"Haha, then I hope you, little bird, can catch more bugs!"
Lin Feng smiled and responded: "Thank you for your blessing, and I wish you a wonderful day!"
Walking into the training base, Lin Feng saw an old man riding a bicycle on the track outside the training ground.
This made him very curious. Inter Milan's training base is not open to the public. How did this old man on a bicycle get in?
"Hi, Lin, good morning!"
Before Lin Feng could figure out the problem, the old man on the bicycle spotted him and waved and greeted him from a distance.
Only then did Lin Feng see clearly who the other person was. It was Inter Milan’s owner Massimo Moratti.
"Good morning, boss!"
After saying hello to the boss, Lin Feng did not stay outside.
After changing into my jersey in the locker room, I returned to the training ground carrying the training equipment and football.
After completing the warm-up preparation before training, Lin Feng began to train seriously.
Since his teammates haven’t arrived yet, Lin Feng’s training today is to practice shooting alone.
As an attacking player, scoring goals is their main responsibility.
Therefore, you must not be careless in shooting. Only by practicing more in daily life can you master the feeling of shooting.
Morati rode slowly in circles along the track outside the training ground, without disturbing Lin Feng's training.
But from his obviously slowed down pace, it can be seen that he was observing Lin Feng's every move.
Lin Feng completed shots from multiple directions including the front, side, and zero angle.
The distance ranges from outside the penalty area to inside the penalty area.
After practicing shooting, Lin Feng started practicing free kicks.
His current free kicks mainly use Ballack's heavy artillery to shoot at the goal. This kind of free kick is very domineering, but it requires extremely high strength.
However, the football changes little in the air. If encountering a goalkeeper who is more experienced in defending heavy artillery shots, the threat of this shot will drop sharply.
And every time he used this shooting method, Lin Feng felt a tingling sensation in his legs.
Obviously, this shooting method is quite damaging to the legs. I don't know how Ballack has been able to persist for so many years.
Lin Feng is still young and doesn't want to harm his health by using this shooting method.
So he tried to expand his free kick arsenal, or make some improvements based on Ballack's heavy artillery, to add some changes to it and reduce the damage to the body.
But obviously, it's not that easy.
Compared with the results of his shooting training, Lin Feng’s free kick training results can be described as terrible.
Even Moratti, who was watching the fun on the side, couldn't stand it anymore.
"Lin, you seem to be practicing free kicks?"
After Lin Feng missed the free kick again, Moratti finally couldn't help but speak.
"Yes, Mr. Moratti."
Lin Feng paused for a moment, answered the question and continued training.
"Why didn't you use that free kick trick you used in the previous game?"
Morati asked curiously.
In the previous game, Lin Feng scored 3 goals with free kicks, which not only helped Inter Milan enter the Champions League, but also helped them defeat Juventus and snatch a championship trophy from the old lady.
In Moratti's opinion, Lin Feng's free kicks are already very powerful, so why should he give up his current free kicks and practice other free kick techniques?
Faced with the boss's questions, Lin Feng did not hide anything, but chose to tell the truth.
After listening to Lin Feng's explanation, Morati was silent for a while.
Then he said, “You can ask Miha for advice on this matter. He is an expert in this area, a top-notch free kick expert. I once saw him score three goals with free kicks in a game, completing an incredible free kick hat trick.”
Even after many years, Moratti still remembers the feat accomplished by Mihajlovic.
So far, Mihajlovic has scored more than 40 free kicks, and he is also the player with the most free kick goals in the history of Serie A.
Before joining Inter Milan, Lin Feng had already heard of Mihajlovic's name.
For Lin Feng, being able to learn free kicks from such a top free kick master is something he has always wanted.
Moratti didn't like to rely on others to do things, so he stayed behind to wait for Mihajlovic.
After the opponent arrived at the training base, Moratti personally stepped in and persuaded Mihajlovic to teach Lin Feng how to take free kicks.
"Lin is a genius in free kicks. You have seen his performance on the field. Now he is learning free kicks from you. This is also a good thing for you. After all, you don't want your free kick technique to be lost, right?"
After listening to this, Lin Feng just wanted to laugh. He felt that Boss Moratti was using PUA on the other party.
They were clearly the ones asking for help, but why did it feel like the other party owed them a favor?
As expected of a big businessman, he is able to confuse right and wrong with ease.
Mihajlovic thought seriously for a while, nodded, and agreed:
"Okay, I can promise to teach him free kicks, but whether he can learn it depends on his understanding."
Mihajlovic is a man of his word. Since he promised his boss to teach Lin Feng free kicks, he naturally would not hold back and really took out all his best skills.
"My free kicks are known for being hidden and accurate, and to do this, you need to control your own strength to a meticulous degree."
After Mihajlovic finished speaking, he took a penalty kick from 35 meters away from the goal.
"I'll hit the ball into the upper left corner of the goal!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the football flew into the goal from the upper left corner.
"For this ball, I will hit the top right corner!"
Mihajlovic took another penalty kick, and the ball flew into the net accurately from the upper right corner.
The football under his feet was like a precision-guided missile, hitting exactly where he pointed it.
Lin Feng was watching from the side with his eyes wide open, as if he had seen some miracle.
The other teammates on the training ground were also attracted by Mihajlovic's superb free kick and all ran over to watch.
"This free kick is amazing!" "You are worthy of being recognized as the free kick master in the football world!"
"It would be great if I could have such superb footwork!"
"Isn't Mihajlovic teaching Lin Feng? You can also learn along with him!"
"Haha, my qualifications are limited. I can't learn it. Goodbye!"
……
Mihajlovic ignored the noise and discussions around him and continued to explain to Lin Feng seriously.
"If you want to confuse the opponent's goalkeeper and reduce his reaction time, you can't make your shooting action too obvious so that the opponent can see the clues in advance."
"Come, let me demonstrate it to you, and tell me what method I used!"
After Mihajlovic finished speaking, he took another free throw in front of Lin Feng.
The football still flew steadily into the net, and it was of no avail even if they called on substitute goalkeeper Cesar to guard the goal this time.
Cesar climbed up from the lawn in embarrassment and scratched his head in annoyance and shame.
With no interference from the wall or opposing players, he was still unable to do anything about the opponent's free kick.
This made him doubt his own abilities: Was he not suitable to be a goalkeeper?
I can't get out without any interference. If there is interference, wouldn't it be even more hopeless?
Neither Mihajlovic nor Lin Feng paid much attention to Cesar's mental activities. After completing the demonstration, Mihajlovic signaled Lin Feng to give it a try.
Lin Feng just listened carefully to Mihajlovic's explanation and observed the other party's movements carefully.
His conclusion is that the secret of Mihajlovic's free kicks lies in the way he exerts force.
While ensuring the power of the shot, try to make your force movement hidden and difficult to detect.
Closing his eyes and thinking about the other party's way of exerting force, Lin Feng seemed to be thinking about something.
Before shooting, the opponent should stretch his body as completely as possible and open the arm on one side of the body as wide as possible. This will allow him to exert better force while maintaining his body balance.
From the moment he raised his arms, he was already exerting force.
The force is transmitted from the arms to the torso, and then from the torso along the thighs to the calves.
It seemed that he only used the strength of his calves, but in fact he used the strength of his whole body.
This is why his free kicks are still extremely threatening even at a very long distance of 40 meters.
If he didn't have enough strength, he wouldn't be able to hit it that far.
Lin Feng understood very well and learned very quickly.
The way he exerted force was exactly the same as Mihajlovic's. His thighs did not move at all and his calves swung only slightly.
But the penalty kick was powerful, even a little too powerful!
The football whizzed over the crossbar and flew into the sky.
Following Master Mi's first kick, he fired an anti-aircraft gun, which made Lin Feng a little embarrassed.
"Not bad!"
He thought he would be criticized by Mihajlovic, but unexpectedly, not only did the other party not criticize him, but he also praised him.
"You've learned very well. There are still some minor flaws in the way you exert force, but overall it's fine."
When Mihajlovic saw Lin Feng's free kick, he was quite shocked deep down.
Moratti didn't lie to me. This kid is really talented in free kicks.
The most difficult part about his free kicks is controlling the way he exerts force.
Many people have trouble learning this because it is completely different from the way they are used to shooting and completely subverts their cognition.
For those who have undergone more than ten years of training and have already developed muscle memory, it is extremely difficult, or even impossible, to change the way they exert force.
But this kid did it, and he did it after only explaining and demonstrating it once.
If this isn’t genius, then what is?
He began to believe Moratti's words. This kid might really be able to take over his legacy and let the M-style free kick continue to be active on the field.
As for the off-target shot, Mihajlovic didn't care much about it.
These can all be corrected little by little through practice.
Moreover, Lin Feng himself has a very good foundation in free kicks. Although his free kick style is different from his own, if he knows one thing, he will know a hundred things.
As long as he finds the right method, his free kick accuracy will soon improve.
Mihajlovic's vision was indeed sharp. After Lin Feng had initially mastered the way Mihajlovic used to attack free kicks, he gradually became adept at controlling the landing point of free kicks.
As he kept trying and practicing, his free kicks became more and more accurate.
In the end, just like Mihajlovic, even the substitute goalkeeper Cesar couldn't save his free kick.
The teammates who were watching around looked at Lin Feng as if he were a monster.
Especially Cambiasso and Adriano.
The former is simple jealousy, while the latter is complete envy.
Adriano also wanted to learn free kicks, but he was a bit stupid and couldn't even learn the hidden way of exerting force.
Therefore, he was really envious of Lin Feng who had learned Mihajlovic's free kick skills in such a short time.
"Yes, I have 80% of my ability. The remaining 20% is a process of hard work. I need to learn it slowly. There is no rush!"
Mihajlovic was also very pleased. He originally thought that even if the opponent was a free kick genius, it would take at least ten days or half a month for him to learn his special skills.
But unexpectedly, the other party learned it in just one day!
Although due to reasons such as experience and skills, the opponent's free kicks are not yet at my level.
But as the opponent accumulates game experience and takes more free kicks on the field, his growth will be faster.
I'm afraid it's only a matter of time before he catches up with or even surpasses me.
The thought that after he retires, there will be someone in the Inter Milan team who will inherit his legacy and continue to wear the blue and black jersey and use his favorite free kick skills to help the team capture the city.
Mihajlovic couldn't help but smile.
After learning free kicks from Mihajlovic for a few days, Lin Feng felt that he was incredibly strong.
He couldn't wait to find someone to experiment with on the court!
And before the start of Serie A, Inter Milan actually had such a game.
That is the second leg of the Champions League play-offs, Inter Milan will play against Shakhtar Donetsk at home.
It's true that someone gave me a pillow when I was dozing off. Sorry, miners!
(End of this chapter)
