I Just Wanted to Play Soccer, But I Became a Hollywood Heartthrob

The intra-squad match officially began.

On the field, the red bibs were the starting lineup, while the green bibs were the reserves.

The practice squad kicked off first.

Both teams lined up in a 4-4-2 formation, the most balanced system in football. For high school players, this setup offered clear positional awareness and flexibility in adjustments during the match.

Just a few minutes into the game, a misplaced pass from the practice squad's midfield gave an opening to the starters.

Watergate, playing attacking midfield, immediately seized the opportunity, using his physical strength to shield the ball from the pressing defender before slotting a simple pass to the advancing Ximei.

Ximei charged down the left flank at full speed.

His pace was blistering, leaving the defenders trailing behind.

Faced with the high pressing center-backs, Ximei didn't try to force his way through but instead carried the ball horizontally toward the right side of the penalty area.

Gu Ran: …

Classic Ximei moment.

If it were Messi, his signature diagonal run would start from the right side, cutting into a comfortable shooting position.

But Ximei? A left-footed player, was doing the exact opposite, dribbling from the left toward the right—a complete reverse maneuver.

The defensive pair of the practice squad had already anticipated his movement, closing him down with a trap-style defense.

Ximei, however, refused to pass, determined to cut inside.

It seemed like the more defenders there were, the more excited he became.

A second later, he was brought down.

Lying on the grass, Ximei raised his hands in protest to the temporary referee, Drummer.

Drummer simply shrugged and walked away.

On the sideline, Coach Carter's expression darkened, his lips pressed into a firm line.

Ding!

"Coach Lamar Carter has generated a negative emotion value of 35 points. System bubble forming…"

Gu Ran's eyebrows twitched slightly.

Even the veteran PUA Carter was dropping white bubbles now?!

This had to be a training bubble.

As a coach, any bubble from him would logically be higher quality than the players'.

But then again…

What if it wasn't defensive training or stamina drills?

What if it was trash-talking lessons?

Wouldn't that be a waste of collection progress?

Now that Gu Ran was officially on the team, bubbles were everywhere. He had to be selective.

It was different from before, where any progress was valuable.

Now, he had plenty of opportunities, so he could afford to be picky.

The only frustrating part was that his rating was still D-level, meaning he couldn't preview the contents of the bubbles before collecting them.

If he could just collect five more talent points, he'd reach C-level—then he'd be able to see the bubble contents before picking them.

Gu Ran continued watching the match, silently weighing whether to collect Carter's bubble or not.

Ultimately, he decided to wait it out.

Three minutes later, Carter's bubble faded away.

Meanwhile, the match continued at a furious pace.

Both teams were pushing hard, the game was highly physical, and mistakes were frequent.

That said, Gu Ran couldn't help but marvel—

Even an amateur high school team in the UK played at an incredibly high level.

Back in his previous life, he had played with semi-pros and retired professionals, but even those teams weren't as well-organized or intense as these British high schoolers.

Compared to this, pickup games felt like casual jogging sessions.

Here? It felt like a battle.

The players were constantly running, never stopping, and each challenge was aggressive and physical.

Gu Ran silently noted—

At this intensity, his current stamina wouldn't last an entire match.

At best, he could play half a game before needing several days of recovery.

By the 24th minute, the starters created a golden opportunity just outside the penalty area.

Under heavy pressure from two defenders, Watergate managed to thread a perfect through ball—

A pass worthy of an elite U19 academy player.

Their towering 1.9-meter striker, Glide, timed his run perfectly, charging in for a diving header!

The goalkeeper dived, arms outstretched—

The ball sailed over the crossbar.

A wasted opportunity.

Coach Carter couldn't hold back anymore.

"GLIDE! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"

"That was a perfect chance, and you blew it!"

"And you, Ximei! If you keep hogging the ball instead of passing, I'll bench you immediately!"

"And Watergate! Don't think I won't yell at you just because that was a decent pass. Your overall performance has been garbage!"

"The starters' attacks are completely disorganized! If you can't even break through the backups, you think you can win at Nationals?!"

Carter pointed at the ground, furious.

"If I dug up my grandma and my great-grandma, they'd still play better than you!"

The starting players looked completely dejected, hanging their heads.

Gu Ran sighed internally.

At this very moment, the field must be dropping tons of bubbles.

But anything beyond a five-meter radius wasn't visible.

It didn't matter—once the first half ended, and the players came off, there would be fresh bubbles waiting.

The game continued.

Both teams kept making mistakes and fouls,

Though there were a few brilliant moments of high-level play, neither side managed to score.

The first half ended in a 0-0 draw.

The backup squad cheered, celebrating like they had won a trophy.

The starters looked miserable, dragging their feet toward the sideline.

They already knew what was coming.

Carter hurled the tactics board onto the ground before unleashing hell.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"

"0-0?! The starters couldn't even beat the backups?!"

"And YOU!" Carter pointed at one of the subs.

"Are you here to play football or watch it like a fan?! Are you a spectator?! You didn't contribute anything to defense or attack! 45 minutes, and you touched the ball TWICE! One of those was out of bounds! ARE YOU A DOUBLE AGENT FOR THE OTHER TEAM?!"

"GLIDE! Do you just bring your head to the game for height advantage?! Where the hell is your header ability?! Eight touches, two shots, ZERO on target! HOW THE HELL DID YOU MANAGE THAT?!"

"And YOU, BREAD! You're the captain! If you can't attack, at least drop back and control possession! You should be launching long balls for Glide and Softie to challenge! Even if they can't win, at least Watergate can pick up the second ball!"

"THIS IS BASIC LONG-BALL STRATEGY! IF I DUG UP MY GRANDMA, SHE'D UNDERSTAND IT BETTER THAN YOU!"

"YOU IDIOTS!"

"DO YOU KNOW WHY THE TITANIC SANK?! BECAUSE YOUR BRAIN POWER DRAGGED IT DOWN!"

Gu Ran: …

Holy sh*t.

Carter's trash talk was INSANE.

At least Level 6!

As the system notifications flooded in, signaling wave after wave of new bubbles, Gu Ran's eyes gleamed with excitement.

It was like free shopping at a market—and he even got to pick and choose.

He immediately locked onto the bubbles from Rust, Bread, Watergate, and Painter.

These four had solid defensive and stamina training, and Gu Ran had already borrowed from them once.

Might as well collect another round!

Casually walking past them, he brushed against their bubbles, activating them one by one.

Ding!

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