The scene returns to Blue Lock.
Ego Jinpachi and Anri Teieri were the two main people in charge of the Blue Lock project. The former was responsible for providing professional knowledge and developing the players. The latter was responsible for resolving funding, external pressure, and many other matters. The two had a clear division of labor; if a problem arose on either side, the entire project would go down the drain.
"Get ready, you uncut gems of strikers."
"What comes next is the real first selection!"
Hearing this, the players' hearts couldn't help but sink. Yesterday had already shown them the cruelty of this Blue Lock. If the game of tag was just "playing around," then what about this first selection? How many people would be eliminated this time?
The answer was that in one building, only two teams, a total of 22 people, would be able to advance.
"In the first selection, the 55 of you in Building 5, a total of five teams, will conduct a round-robin tournament."
"Only the two teams with the most points can advance to the second selection. This is a life-or-death battle."
What?
The very first selection would eliminate three teams.
"One team has 11 people, so three teams is 33 people. That means only 22 people will advance."
"165 people!"
The members of Team Z were greatly shocked. That four-eyed guy really wasn't joking. In just the first official selection, he planned to eliminate half of the players.
"I don't need to explain the rules, right? I trust you've all seen this year's World Cup."
"And now, I'll repeat it once more: football is a sport where you score more goals than your opponent."
"The on-field positions and tactics that are deeply ingrained in your minds are nothing more than roles that have evolved during the course of football's evolution."
"But in the very beginning, football was a sport where all the players on the field were forwards."
"You must return to the origin point of football! Create football from zero."
Create football from zero?
The players of Team Z carefully mulled over Ego Jinpachi's words. The sport of football has a long history of development, and people's impressions of it are already deeply ingrained. To create football from zero was easier said than done; at least, they couldn't do it. Let alone them, not even the manga's author had that kind of ability.
So this so-called "create from zero" was just an exaggeration.
The real meaning was: to forge an unfamiliar team into an effective fighting force. Find the cornerstone of the team, then execute tactics around that core to seize victory in the match. This was the true meaning of Ego Jinpachi's words. The real difficulty lay in the fact that all 11 people here were forwards, and every single one of them longed to be this core.
In other words, the biggest test was actually the internal struggle.
Tendou's mind was as clear as a mirror, and he was already prepared to take control of this team.
"Let's begin, you uncut gems of strikers." Ego Jinpachi spread his hands in front of the screen. "The first selection officially begins now."
...
Ego Jinpachi disappeared from the screen.
Everyone immediately opened their lockers and put on their Team Z jerseys.
Isagi Yoichi's heart was clearly heavy; he hadn't smiled at all since the announcement.
"Isagi, you look really nervous." Bachira Meguru noticed his tension and comforted him with a smile. "You should be excited. After all, we're about to play a match."
"Ha..."
Isagi let out a dry laugh, his mood not improving in the slightest. He turned to look at Tendou next to him, who was as calm as ever.
"Tendou, aren't you nervous at all?"
"As long as we win, there's no need to think too much."
"But... our Team Z is the weakest in overall strength among the five buildings."
This was what Isagi was most worried about. In his mind, Tendou was already a very strong player, yet he was only ranked first within Team Z. How strong must the other teams be?
"You actually believe that four-eyed guy's nonsense?"
"Huh?"
"If it were really as he said, that Building 1 houses the 5 teams with the strongest overall strength, then after this selection, 3 teams, a total of 33 people, will be eliminated."
Tendou put on his number 7 jersey and said flatly, "If it were you, would you set it up like that?"
"Are you saying..."
"This ranking isn't the real ranking yet. Its purpose is to stir up the players' competitiveness and sense of tension. The strength of all the teams' lineups is equal."
Not bad, very smart.
Behind the scenes, Ego Jinpachi smiled faintly, not caring that his little trick had been seen through by Tendou.
...
In fact, if one thought about it carefully, one could find the漏洞 in his words. It was just that most of the players were bewildered by his "pressure-filled" elimination mechanism. All the players were currently thinking about was winning the match and staying in the experiment.
Those who could notice the flaw in his words were either the type who were very good at thinking or players who were extremely confident in themselves.
Tendou seemed to be both.
"Don't let me down, you soccer prodigy!"
When Tendou appeared, Ego Jinpachi had stayed up all night gathering information about that Norwegian demon child. Then he discovered that Tendou indeed had many similarities with him, and he began to form a general direction for Tendou's development.
...
But how to implement it specifically would depend on Tendou's performance on the field.
...
Rumble...
The gate opened, and the members of Team Z arrived at the designated field.
At this time, their opponents for the first match were already prepared.
Team X!
The person leading them was none other than the self-proclaimed "King," Barou Shouei. Standing at 187cm tall, he was the main center forward for Akudo High School. He was exceptionally good at scoring from long range, able to score from a distance of 30 meters from the goal.
"They're here, Team X!"
The members of Team Z all turned their gazes to the 11 people in front of them.
At this moment, Team Z could be said to have their own ulterior motives. Because in the first selection, besides the top two teams with the most points advancing smoothly, Ego Jinpachi had also provided another condition for advancement. That was the team's top scorer, the person with the most goals. Even if the team was eliminated, they could still advance.
This was to maximize the internal struggle.
The reason why Kuon Wataru in the original story took the initiative to make a deal with the opponents was also for this reason. He wasn't confident in Team Z and believed that the bottom-ranked team was bound to be eliminated, so he chose to make a deal with the opponents. The content of the deal was that the other team had to let Kuon complete a hat-trick, giving him the most goals on the team, and in return, Kuon would help the opponents win the match.
Sacrifice the whole team in exchange for his own advancement.
It was a pity that Kuon was eliminated by Tendou right at the start; otherwise, there would have been a good show to watch.
...
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