The Babe
Part 3 | Yanbian FC | 延边足球俱乐部 | 연변축구 | FM23 Hardcore Mode
On A Roll
Beijing Renhe was no problem for us.
I thought we might have a slow start, but then our attacking left winger Han Jin scored in the 9th minute, and it was all downhill from there.
Our recently signed 21-year-old North Korean striker Kim Kuk-Jin scored a goal in the 37th minute, and had an excellent debut in general, including several crucial passes that really opened up the game for his teammates.
We wound up running away with a 4-0 victory, the second in a row by the same margin.
We dominated every single aspect of the match. Wu Ping’s lack of confidence in himself was no handicap whatsoever, as we gave up only 4 shots in total all game long. It looked like men against boys out there — even though our squad was younger on average.
Winning always feels good.
Babe
I’ll never figure Charlotte out, and it’s not just because of those strange, mystical powers that she has.
One moment she’s the embodiment of some long-forgotten Taoist deity, and the next, well, she’s like a schoolgirl.
“Why didn’t you start my 어빠?!” she demanded of me in Chinese as I walked in the door that evening. Her Korean pronunciation of the term of endearment — technically “older brother,” but often indicating a crush more than an actual family tie — was like something straight out of a bad Korean drama.
“Your what?” I asked, stunned and hoping that I had misheard some other word.
“You know,” she said. “Defensive midfield. You’ve got two slots, and you didn’t start my Lee?”
Lee Jin-Yong — that’s who it was. The baby faced 21-year-old — the one we signed for 5.5 million RMB from Daegu. I didn’t think much of giving him the day off. I wanted to see how Cong Zhen, another new defensive midfield signing, would work in that role.
Lee hails from Daegu, down in the south-central part of South Korea, and a considerable distance from Yanji. We had to offer him a number of enticements to leave his hometown team to come north. Most importantly, we were forced into promising improved training facilities, though we did weasel our way out of promising to bring in another South Korean player to help him settle in.
Of course, we wound up signing Kwon Hyeok-Kyu a week later, so I guess we would have been okay with that second point.
Lee really shouldn’t be playing on a team of our stature, if you ask my opinion. He’s already playing at a China Super League level, and will likely be a big star for us if we can keep him happy.
His contract does come with a 6 million RMB release clause for domestic clubs in a higher division. If we do have to sell him, we’ll make a small profit, I suppose. However, my guess is that we’ll win the league this year and will sign him to a better contract before next season even starts.
And now the only trick is keeping Charlotte away from him.
Jiangsu
We’re up against the reformed Jiangsu Football Club in our next match.
You might have heard that Jiangsu Suning was dissolved in early 2021 due to financial difficulties. Actually, Jiangsu had won the league only a few months earlier, leading to widespread questions about the financial stability of Chinese football.
I don’t know what happened to those questions. All that I know is that Jiangsu is back, and they’re in the same division that we are. And now I’ve got a plane to catch to Nanjing.