Chapter 384: Chapter 384
Tang Long became fascinated by Ronaldo’s dribbling style.
During the morning training, he asked Manchester City’s technical analyst to film him specifically.
After returning, he repeatedly observed his own pendulum dribbling posture in the footage.
Using 0.1x speed replay.
He watched almost frame by frame.
After watching, Tang Long pulled out the video of Ronaldo’s pendulum dribbling that he had long collected on his phone.
These two pendulum dribbling videos, spanning nearly 20 years apart, were continuously compared in Tang Long’s mind.
Through comparison, Tang Long found it wasn’t difficult to notice that although his pendulum dribble was very similar to Ronaldo’s, there seemed to be something that wasn’t quite right, as if it was missing that certain something.
It’s not just the pendulum; other dribbling methods, like the common single-leg feint, Matthews, and even the simplest flicks, still lacked Ronaldo’s charm and were not as deceptive.
Especially those few body shakes.
Ronaldo’s movement linkage was obviously stronger than his own!
The rhythm was also better, just like a skilled dancer performing beautiful steps on stage.
Though during the match against Liverpool, he used the pendulum to get past the goalkeeper Mignolet at the last moment and scored a brilliant goal;
But that was just Tang Long at his best performance, as he couldn’t get past Stones from Everton with a few swings.
Tang Long got up, wearing slippers, and in the living room, imitated Ronaldo’s moves from the phone screen.
He would watch the video for a while and then look at his own foot movements.
Squeak, squeak, squeak!
Squeak, squeak, squeak!
The sound of slippers rubbing against the wooden floor was very jarring.
After fiddling for a long time, with sweat on his forehead, Tang Long was still dissatisfied!
"Compared to Ronaldo’s movements, my swings are much stiffer, but I don’t know where the root of the problem lies."
"Unfortunately, there is too little material available to feed the AI system, especially the pendulum. After leaving Inter, Ronaldo, whose knee was ruined, hardly used this signature move."
Tang Long had already tried to personally ask Ronaldo for advice, but Ronaldo had been retired for many years now, grown fat like a basketball; forget dribbling, even running a few steps would make him sweat, making it impossible to reproduce the moves from almost twenty years ago, instead almost injuring himself in the process.
Tang Long opened the door and found it was the nearby courier.
"Is it Mr. Tang Long? There is a package from Milan for you to sign for!"
"A package from Milan? I haven’t bought anything recently?"
After signing, Tang Long looked at the white parcel in his hand.
At first, he thought.
This package from Milan.
Might be something sent by Bonazzoli, because he asked Bonazzoli a few days ago if he could buy some local Milan coffee beans for him, as the coffee in the United Kingdom was still a bit lacking in taste.
But this package didn’t feel very heavy, it was light, and didn’t seem like it was food.
With curiosity, he opened it and inside was a DVD disc!
Tang Long was puzzled.
It’s almost 2015, who still uses disks these days?
Moreover, I didn’t buy any disks!
A note slipped out from the box containing the disc and fell to the ground.
Tang Long bent down to pick it up, and on the note, some words were hastily written.
[My former colleague from Inter’s video analysis group, while cleaning the video analysis room warehouse, accidentally found a disc pressed at the bottom of a cardboard corner]
[The content was dribbling videos recorded for Ronaldo during training in the summer of 1997, after he transferred from Barça to Inter]
[In this video, there are slow-motion breakdowns of his dribbling, and he talks about some dribbling methods I like to use]
[Additionally, Ronaldo used several of Inter’s top defensive players as practical objects, including Sane蒂, Bergomi, Simeone, and Ferrari, explaining in detail how to use different dribbling methods against defenders with different characteristics]
[I know you always like to learn football techniques by watching videos, so I got it, hoping this copied disc will help you grow faster on the field!]
[Always cheering for you, your good friend, Chiwo]
Tang Long stood there, stunned.
He held the letter from Chiwo in his left hand, repeatedly confirming that indeed this was Chiwo’s handwriting.
With his right hand holding the disc.
For a moment he was dazed.
He looked at the mundane disc in his hand.
A small paper note about the size of a fingertip was stuck on it.
With [1997.Inter.Ronaldo] written on it.
The small paper note was somewhat yellowed.
The handwriting was indistinct, barely recognizable.
In Tang Long’s house, there wasn’t that old-fashioned DVD machine.
He hurriedly went out.
Asked around everywhere, spending an entire afternoon.
Finally, he found a usable DVD machine at the Parma flea market!
He inserted the disc into the machine.
Then fully closed the curtains of the house windows.
With a heart full of nervous anticipation.
Pressed the play button!
The disc spun in the DVD drive, making an old electronic mechanical sound.
The TV screen gradually brightened from black.
Illuminating Tang Long’s facial features.
Also illuminating the dimly lit living room with curtains drawn and no lights turned on.
A line of Italian appeared on the screen.
[Internal data, strictly prohibited from being shared]
[Video copyright holder: Inter Milan Club]
What caught Tang Long’s eyes was none other than Ronaldo from 1997!