Chapter 180: The Country of Football
Vienna.
Along the Danube, in the food industry park.
Workers were everywhere on the construction site, busy with their tasks. Two paved roads stretched outward from the park toward Vienna's city center and its port facilities.
"Everyone, let's aim to finish these last fifty meters today, and then you can all go rest," the foreman said to the workers as the sky began to darken.
Having worked hard all day, the workers—hearing that the end was near—unconsciously sped up so they could grab a hot meal a bit earlier.
…
In East Africa.
Nairobi City, Andaluo Village.
"Figo, pass the ball over here!" Mars shouted to his teammate.
Hearing the call, Figo made a quick turn and a flying kick, sending a leather-stitched soccer ball backward.
"Catch!"
A sturdy figure charged toward the ball. Mars trapped it with his foot and, spotting an unguarded opening to the right, sprinted toward the opposing team's defense.
"Damn it, stop him now!" Antonio shouted to his teammates.
Three players from the Jacob Village team scrambled to cover the gap, but they were too late. Mars raced through, as though there were no defenders. A feint tricked all three who had rushed in to block him. He even looked back, jeering, "See you later, sweethearts!"
With that, he dribbled the ball straight toward the opposing goal.
The goalkeeper, seeing Mars barreling down on him, had already started guessing which way Mars would shoot. None of Jacob Village's other players could get back in time; they could only watch helplessly as Mars launched a solo attack on their goal.
Mars came to a sudden stop, deftly switching direction. At that moment, the ball hung in midair for an instant due to momentum. Spotting his chance, Mars leaped up and fired off a soaring volley aimed at the right side of the net.
Everyone on and off the field held their breath, wondering whether the shot would succeed.
In the blink of an eye, the ball streaked toward the goal, and Jacob Village's goalkeeper, Soles, dove to the right at the exact moment Mars struck the ball. The ball slammed hard into Soles's arms.
"Argh!" Mars let out a frustrated roar, clenching his teeth as he saw his shot blocked.
"Another failed shot. This is Mars's third attempt today, but his luck's not great. All of them were blocked by Soles," commented a villager from Andaluo Village.
"I thought it was a decent shot—almost no mistakes, and it was heading right for the goal, didn't go out of bounds. The main issue is the damp weather lately, and this ball is made from wild boar leather. It's soaked up a lot of moisture and gotten heavy. That's why Mars's shots haven't posed much of a threat to Soles," another villager chimed in.
"That's true. We haven't set this ball out to dry recently. I'd guess it's at least a third heavier than it was a month ago. If it had been properly dried in the sun, it would've flown faster, and the goalkeeper wouldn't have had time to defend."
Men, women, and children from both Andaluo Village and Jacob Village had turned out to watch the match. Nearly everyone could offer a comment or two about soccer. As the number-one sport in the East African colony, soccer was widespread in nearly every village.
During the off-season, a lively soccer match is a rare treat for people lacking many other forms of entertainment. Consequently, soccer has practically become a national pastime in East Africa.
Several factors contribute to soccer's popularity. East Africa has no shortage of land, meaning lots of open space for fields, and the soft ground helps minimize injuries. Goals are easy to assemble—stones or a pair of lines will do the job. The balls in East Africa are made by stitching various animal hides stuffed with a soft filling. Hides are abundant there, donated generously by native wildlife, and many are even exported to Europe—high-quality lion and crocodile skins are very popular there, fetching high prices and profits.
Additionally, soccer is a team sport with intense competition and plenty of action, making it entertaining to watch. In East Africa, there are barely any standardized rules, which allows players a lot of freedom. Many come up with their own moves and tricks. Matches feature all sorts of fancy kicking styles, creating many memorable and talked-about plays. Of course, if East African soccer were shown in Europe, you might see dozens of errors per match—but in East Africa, there really aren't any formal rules. People play more for fun than for competition.
Villagers, for the most part, just enjoy a bit of excitement and try not to play rough. Carrying the ball with your hands if you like isn't frowned upon. Even the number of players has no strict limit, as long as both sides match in number; in theory, you could have a hundred-person duel.
Most regions in East Africa have their own informal soccer guidelines, all agreed upon by locals. When neighboring villages want to hold a friendly match, they typically devise a temporary set of mutually acceptable rules beforehand. Some European immigrants in East Africa have come into contact with formal soccer, but they're few in number, mostly because these immigrants came from rural areas. Also, at this point in time, soccer was primarily popular in England, and not many commoners elsewhere paid attention to sports.
East Africa's soccer boom received significant backing from Ernst, who consistently focused on managing settlers' schedules, making sure they weren't idle and found new activities to stay occupied. Soccer was perfect for promotion—materials and fields were readily available, and each region could simply hold a few matches every week at set times. As people grew more familiar with the game, the settlers naturally started playing in their free time, joined by men, women, and children alike. Most immigrants to East Africa were fairly young; even the older ones weren't too old to play.
For children in mandatory education, soccer was taught in schools, where sports took up a significant portion of the curriculum. Textbooks, teaching materials, and equipment all cost money, and East African children didn't have a large volume of academic content to learn. In some places, sports lessons made up nearly one-third of their class hours and ended up being the easiest to standardize. Compared to dull activities like running or long jump, soccer clearly held far greater appeal.
With the sound of the final whistle, the friendly match between Andaluo Village and Jacob Village ended. Andaluo Village emerged victorious with a narrow 6–5 win. By local custom, the two teams shook hands in farewell.
"Soles, you'd better watch out next time. I wasn't on form today, but next time, I'll score three," Mars said, shaking Soles's hand.
"Heh, I'll be waiting to see that," Soles replied with a light laugh.
"You rascal!" Mars gave Soles a playful pat on the shoulder, and the two of them burst into laughter.
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