At that time, there were very few people who could run 3,200 meters, and some teams didn’t have a single player who could reach that mark. Some players with poor fitness would be drooling and crying after running just 2,800 meters, and some even collapsed right on the track—like sharks smelling blood, the media would swarm over, snapping photos nonstop, while the poor “loser” could only curl up under a blanket and sob. As a result, the “twelve-minute run” became synonymous with hell, striking fear into many professional players, and leaving coaches quite helpless. In 2002, after unanimous opposition from players and coaches, this fitness test—which had been officially linked to competition results since 1992—was canceled after ten years. Chinese professional players no longer had to wake up in the middle of the night from nightmares about it. But the good times didn’t last long; they soon discovered that the YOYO fitness test was no more pleasant than the twelve-minute run… Anyway, for those players with poor fitness and bad attitudes, no matter how scientific the fitness test, it would still be a painful ordeal.

As for Ethan Brooks, the result he achieved today even surpassed the record set by Cassiano in the Jia-A twelve-minute run test—Cassiano had run 4,400 meters back then. Legend has it that Cassiano didn’t even go all out at the time, and some say it was his first time taking such a fitness test, with no translator, so he just ran blindly.

With this comparison, you can see just how impressive Ethan Brooks’s fitness level is.

Of course, in China, the twelve-minute run is a life-or-death test for whether a player can get their license for the new season. Here at Zenit, it’s just a simple fitness test to get a sense of Ethan Brooks’s endurance; it doesn’t determine whether he can join Zenit.

After a short rest, the coaching staff finished their preparations. The team accompanying Ethan Brooks for the test was the club’s under-18 youth team, just like yesterday at CSKA Moscow.

A coach with a whistle hanging from his neck walked up to Ethan Brooks and said, “Are you ready, kid?”

Ethan Brooks nodded.

“The match will be fifty minutes, with two halves of twenty-five minutes each, and a ten-minute break at halftime.” From this test, you could see the difference between Zenit Saint Petersburg and CSKA Moscow. A proper match is obviously more formal and respectful than just finding four people to gang up on one.

The coach handed a yellow vest to Ethan Brooks and told him to put it on.

Watching his son put on the vest and walk onto the field, Owen Brooks couldn’t help but get nervous…

Chapter 7 Header: Header!

Zenit Saint Petersburg’s youth training director, Kennedy Popovich (Gennady_Popovich), shook his head.

“I don’t see anything special about him… His level is quite mediocre. Did Ruslan misjudge him?” he commented.

Just like countless times before, Ethan Brooks’s performance on the field was very average. He didn’t have good chemistry with his new teammates, and there was nothing remarkable about his own abilities.

“He’s got a great physique, but his footwork is too rough. As soon as he’s pressed, he can’t even control the ball…” Another coach, Nikolai Verobchov (Nikolay_Vorobjov), also shook his head. “His shooting technique isn’t great either… I think this is a waste of time…”

※※※

Owen Brooks watched the coaches’ expressions from a distance, and when he saw several of them shaking their heads, his heart tightened…

It was only after coming to Europe that he realized what his son’s true level was, despite always being proud of him before. Just because you can play matches in China doesn’t mean you can make it in Europe. After all, European football is on a whole different level compared to China, and his son was still a nobody even in China…

Although he knew his son’s level might not meet European standards, what else could he do besides play football?

Because of this, he gritted his teeth and insisted on letting his son tour around Europe—maybe some club would take a liking to him? He believed that the reason his son wasn’t good enough wasn’t due to a lack of talent, but because the training he received as a child in China was too low-level. As long as he could stay in Europe and receive high-level training, his son’s skills would surely improve by leaps and bounds.

But this father, who didn’t really understand football, didn’t know that eighteen-year-old Ethan Brooks had already missed the best period for development. Many of his technical habits were already set, and the bad habits he’d picked up playing in China were deeply ingrained and hard to change. In the eyes of those professional coaches, it was a real pity that Ethan Brooks had such a big frame but couldn’t fully utilize his physical potential.

※※※

The scout who brought Ethan Brooks and his father to Saint Petersburg, Ruslan Panchenko, was also watching from the sidelines. So far, Ethan Brooks’s performance had been unimpressive. If it was just based on this, there was no way he could convince the club’s chief scout, Panchenko.

He even started to doubt himself—maybe he’d misjudged the kid, and that header yesterday was just luck… Wait! Header?

That’s right, the header!

He walked over to the coaches.