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

Pre-match training was simple, focusing mainly on warm-ups with some specialized drills.

Under Captain Bread's lead, the entire team started with a 10-minute slow jog.

Gu Ran naturally followed along.

Back in school training, he had almost struggled to keep up with these unstoppable stallions of teammates.

But now, his stamina attribute had increased from 56 to 58 points—the equivalent of 200 extra hours of training.

Now, he could keep up perfectly with the team's warm-up pace.

Of course, there was a difference between pre-game warm-ups and regular training warm-ups.

In daily training, warm-up runs lasted 15 minutes and were significantly faster than today's pace.

But pre-game warm-ups focused on maintaining energy.

Overdoing it would not only waste stamina but also push the body into premature exhaustion, ruining match readiness.

After 10 minutes of jogging, Bread led the team through a 5-minute stretching routine to loosen up their muscles for optimal performance.

Once stretching was complete, the players split into their respective position groups for targeted drills.

Forwards practiced sprint runs. Midfielders worked on passing and receiving. Defenders trained pressing and long passes.

Naturally, Gu Ran joined the defender group for training.

Meanwhile, Coach Carter walked around, stopping occasionally to unleash verbal hell on players who weren't up to standard.

15 minutes later, at exactly 2:30 PM, specialized training concluded.

Coach Carter then gathered everyone to announce the starting lineup.

As expected, Gu Ran was on the bench.

This came as no surprise to him.

In reality, joining the team just three days ago and already making it to the national tournament as a substitute was an incredible achievement.

However, something did surprise him—the starting forward, Pretty Boy, wasn't in the lineup either.

Instead, Carter had chosen a defensive midfielder from the practice squad as a starter.

Was this a new tactical adjustment?

Was Old Carter planning a formation change right from the first game?

Gu Ran glanced at Pretty Boy and noticed that he wasn't shocked at all—clearly, Carter had discussed it with him beforehand.

Gu Ran was incredibly curious to see what formation Carter would use against the stronger Pirate Ship team.

With the lineup announced, the Southampton Stags left for the visiting team locker room to prepare.

As soon as they stepped into the away locker room, everyone wrinkled their noses in disgust.

It was tiny, cramped, and smelled like urine.

Upon opening the rusty lockers, they found dead rats, dirty socks, and other disgusting garbage.

On the locker room walls, someone had spray-painted a massive red "5:1" graffiti.

—The last time these two teams faced each other five years ago, Manchester's Pirate Ship team had crushed Southampton 5-1.

"F*ck!"

The players cursed furiously:

"I thought these Manchester bastards had some class! Turns out they're playing dirty!"

"I was just about to say their lunch wasn't bad—now I realize they wanted us to puke it out here!"

"Pirate Ship is absolute trash! This is too much!"

Rusty was fuming, kicking a locker hard. "These Manchester sh*theads did this on purpose!"

Coach Carter glared at him coldly. "If you know it's intentional, why the f*ck are you losing your temper?"

Rusty immediately shut up, and the other players quickly silenced their complaints.

In the locker room, Coach Carter was the absolute authority.

No one in the Southampton Stags dared to disobey him.

Despite being the weakest team in Group E, Carter's control over the squad was godfather-level—no one questioned his orders.

With a dark expression, Carter said, "What did you expect from an away game? A fcking vacation resort? You think away games are like what you see on TV? That sht only happens when you're professional players! This is the f*cking reality of high school nationals. Stop acting like little princesses and get changed. We're heading out to warm up."

"Yes, Coach!"

The players held their breath, quickly changed into their kits, and rushed outside.

According to the match schedule, both teams had around 20 minutes to warm up on the field before kickoff.

This was also when fans entered, the DJ played warm-up music, and cheerleaders hyped up the crowd.

Even though Gu Ran was a substitute, he could join the starting players for warm-ups.

Lacing up his Messi signature boots, he stepped onto Pirate Ship's home field, feeling his pulse quicken with excitement.

The stands were packed—filled with Manchester students and Pirate Ship die-hard fans.

With over 700 students in attendance, nearly the entire school had turned up to support their team.

The simple wooden stands were completely full—just a sea of heads as far as the eye could see.

But what stood out the most was on the east side of the field:

A row of stunning, long-legged cheerleaders.

They wore matching red sports bras, their slender waists wrapped in short, white miniskirts.

No stockings.

Just black garter belts.

As the stadium DJ blasted hype music, the cheerleaders moved rhythmically, swaying their hips to the beat and occasionally lifting their legs high into the air.

Rusty kept sneaking glances at the cheerleaders.

Captain Bread snapped at him, "Rusty! You act like you've never seen a woman before!"

Rusty wiped his mouth. "It's not that. It's just… our cheerleading squad is so damn embarrassing."

Gu Ran looked around curiously. "Wait… we have a cheerleading squad? I don't remember them coming with us."

As soon as he finished speaking, Drummer suddenly pulled out a giant snare drum from his bag.

With fierce determination, he grabbed his drumsticks and started beating the drum wildly.

At the same time, he shouted, "Southampton Stags! Hey hey! Unstoppable!"

Gu Ran: "…."

Okay.

So, we do have a cheer squad.

But holy sh*t, it sucks.

For a brief moment, Gu Ran considered transferring schools.

Meanwhile, the Manchester students started booing Southampton loudly, flashing the 5:1 hand gesture to mock them.

The cheerleaders even turned their backs on the Stags and shook their hips provocatively, performing the Poznań dance.

The entire Southampton team was fuming.

Rusty, however, was still staring at the butts.

Suddenly, the stadium DJ shouted excitedly:

"Ladies and gentlemen! Give a warm welcome to your Pirate Ship heroes!"

As the home team entered, majestic marching music played, filling the air.

The Manchester crowd erupted, forming a human wave.

The wooden stands shook as fans jumped and roared.

Students screamed every home player's name at the top of their lungs.

Some boys stood in the aisles, waving massive red Pirate Ship flags.

Some girls threw off their school blazers and jumped wildly on the stands.

The cheerleaders followed the DJ's rhythm, dancing even harder.

The match hadn't even started, yet the atmosphere was already on fire.

Drummer drummed with all his might, but his beats were drowned out by Manchester's roaring fans.

Standing on the pitch, Gu Ran felt his eardrums shaking from the deafening noise.

This was the madness of English football.

And this was only a high school match.

The title of "Football Nation" was well-earned.

For the next 20 minutes, they trained under the hostile jeers of the Manchester crowd.

Then, both teams returned to their locker rooms for final pre-match preparations.