"In three weeks, Blue Lock will face the U20 National Team led by Itoshi Sae."
"If you win, you will replace the U20 National Team. If you lose, Blue Lock will cease to exist."
"This is a life-or-death battle for every player, a showdown between 11 wild-card players and the orthodox national team," Ego Jinpachi said with a light tone, as if he didn't take the U20 National Team seriously at all.
At this moment, everyone's emotions were fluctuating, as a battle against the national team was something no one had expected, and most importantly, it concerned their fate.
Undoubtedly, when Ego Jinpachi uttered these crazy words, everyone was plunged into shock, excitement, surprise... and various other emotions.
No matter how you looked at it, this match was a pipe dream.
These high school students were actually going to compete against the national team...
At this point, Ego Jinpachi calmly continued, "For this, I have re-evaluated the plan. The fourth selection round will use the following seven players as the core for a player screening. Don't worry... there's a reason for me doing this."
"These seven are the best players selected through comprehensive evaluation."
"The goal is to build a perfect team within three weeks."
"The first is Ye Liangqiu, the second Itoshi Rin, the third Shidou Ryusei, the fourth Otoya Eita, the fifth Otoya Eita, the sixth Yukimiya Kenyu, and the seventh Bachira Meguru."
At this moment, Yukimiya Kenyu raised his hand and slowly asked, "Why am I ranked sixth? Also, where can you see the gap between me and the first-ranked Ye Liangqiu?"
"And how did you compare the differences?"
"How can you even rank them?"
After all, everyone had already figured out Ego Jinpachi's rankings, from the hunger effect when they first entered to the current re-ranking; some people were still unconvinced.
Of course, Yukimiya Kenyu was just expressing his opinion.
Many others also looked at Ego Jinpachi, anticipating his answer.
Ego Jinpachi smiled slightly, "A gap? Then let me tell you, so you don't have too many discussions and accuse me of favoritism."
"I believe you all should be clear that every player who came here has played against world-class players. In the last round, they were the evaluators, assessing your true strength and scoring you accordingly."
"Among them, the first-ranked Ye Liangqiu scored two goals against such top players."
"The second-ranked Itoshi Rin scored one goal."
"The third-ranked Shidou Ryusei scored one goal."
"As for all the players after you, not a single goal was scored."
As he spoke, Ego Jinpachi's mouth curved into a strange arc. "Do you know? Out of all the players in Blue Lock, only these three managed to directly defeat professional players and even almost defeat world-class teams to get here."
"The other 32 players merely went through the motions on that field."
"Now, do you still have complaints?"
"Do you have any opinions on this ranking?"
For a moment, everyone fell silent...
["So... all the teams couldn't even score a single goal against professional teams? Only Qiu Bao's team almost defeated a professional team, while the others were completely crushed?"]
["Oh my god? I was so naive. I don't know if it's because I've watched Qiu Bao's team play too much, or what, but I subconsciously thought other teams should have been able to score a few goals, more or less?"]
["But looking at it this way... it seems my perception was a bit off."]
["These people... are not on the same level as Qiu Bao's team at all!"]
["Nonsense, Qiu Bao's team is Blue Lock's top lineup! Although Shidou Ryusei's ranking was very low before, Qiu Bao must have chosen this guy to win the game. Otherwise, why would he give up Bachira?"]
When he chose players back then, Ye Liangqiu abandoning Bachira wasn't just for Bachira's own growth, but also in preparation for future matches. Otherwise, who would choose a madman like Shidou Ryusei?
Although the result wasn't ideal, it was enough to show off in front of this group of people.
At this moment, Ego Jinpachi raised his hand. "For this, I will divide these seven people into four groups: A, B, C, and D. Team A will consist of only Ye Liangqiu, while B, C, and D will be two-person teams formed from the remaining six."
"The remaining twenty-eight people can decide for themselves which team to join."
"Ye Liangqiu's team is not allowed to be joined."
"Because as the top-ranked player, he can choose to join any team for adaptive training, which means... he will exist as a ghost on your field."
"A ghost?" ∑(っ°Д°;)っ Ye Liangqiu himself was dumbfounded. What was this supposed to mean?
Seeing that some people were confused, Ego continued, "Because his presence breaks the balance. That's why I call him a ghost. What I need is not for you to defeat your current opponents, but to find 11 players who can truly express themselves on the field."
"This is the key to adaptive training."
"So I've decided that Ye Liangqiu will participate in every match."
"And he will decide which team to join and which match to participate in."
Everyone looked at Ye Liangqiu and gasped. Undoubtedly, Ego's meaning was that if Ye Liangqiu joined any team, the other side would be 100% guaranteed to lose. Ego simply wanted to find a team that could be centered around him through this adaptive training.
This was the hidden meaning.
But... it was also an open strategy.
Indeed... these few sentences undoubtedly ignited everyone's emotions. What kind of player could make the usually expressionless Ego admire him so much?
And what about his previous record against professional players?
Clearly... Ye Liangqiu was now the strongest existence in all of Blue Lock.
As long as they could defeat him, they could participate in the match!
Ye Liangqiu rubbed his head, a bit speechless... Ego played a good move, using himself as a shield, huh?
To motivate these players who had just been in a slump.
Truly ruthless...
Ego's mouth curved upwards. "After the teams are formed, it will still be a 5-on-5 match, similar to the previous selection rounds."
Yoichi Isagi, who had just been in shock, understood.
This adaptive training might be the fastest way to find the Top 7 offensive system players.
But undoubtedly... it also screened out all 28 players who weren't on the list.
They only had one chance. If they failed, they wouldn't be able to play and could only watch from the sidelines as substitutes.