Chapter 762 - 139: World-Class Goal! Golden Ball Award Ranking! The Value of a Superstar! Wang Shuo: Golden Ball Award? I Don’t Care Anymore!

"My job is to do everything I can to keep the team focused and stable. I will give my absolute best to my team!"

Looking ahead to the league’s prospects, Wenger stated, "Based on my years of coaching experience, teams that can maintain stability will ultimately stand out.

"So far, we are one of the most stable teams out there!"

Wenger also brought up their offense. "Strong teams always need to score more goals. Look at this round—scoring three, four, or even five goals is completely normal. That’s just how the Premier League is!"

Wenger also singled out Wang Shuo for praise.

"He only scored one goal?

"I don’t see that as a sign of a dip in performance. He also had an assist in the match, along with many brilliant passes.

"Wigan Athletic put a lot of pressure on him during the game, making it difficult for him to face the goal directly. But he remains the most important member of our team and was involved in almost every single attack.

"That is incredibly important to us!"

The British media also universally praised Arsenal’s winning streak.

"When a sheep turns into a lion, the entire Premier League is shaken!"

Most importantly, the Gunners’ performance in heavyweight clashes this season was worlds apart from their past weakness.

This was exactly what Wenger had always hoped for—the element of iron-blooded grit that Wang Shuo had injected into the team.

***

While Arsenal was thrashing Wigan Athletic 5-0 on the road, over at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, Blatter sat in his presidential office. He took a list handed to him by Secretary General Jerome Valcke and Chief Operating Officer Harold Mayne-Nichols.

It was a list that, if leaked, would inevitably spark feverish discussions among football fans worldwide.

It was the voting rankings for the 23-man shortlist of the 2011 FIFA Golden Ball Award.

"These are the latest results we just finished tallying," Jerome Valcke reported.

Seeing the solemn expression on Valcke’s face, Blatter’s heart sank, a sliver of an ominous premonition creeping into his mind.

Flipping it open, he shockingly discovered that the name sitting at the very top was the one he least wanted to see.

Name: Wang Shuo. Country: China. Overall voting rank: 1!

Below Wang Shuo were Messi and Ronaldo.

These were the top three for the 2011 FIFA Golden Ball Award.

Seeing this list, Blatter actually wasn’t all that surprised.

It was somewhat expected.

For instance, in the Best Coach rankings, Dortmund’s Klopp ranked first, beating out Guardiola and Ferguson.

However, he didn’t want to see this reality play out.

"Is the vote share high?" Blatter asked with concern.

"It’s an overwhelming advantage. Roughly double the combined votes of Messi and Ronaldo," Valcke replied somewhat powerlessly.

What did this mean?

It meant that even if you wanted to rig it, you couldn’t!

You couldn’t even tamper with it.

Because the statistical gap was far too vast.

Forcefully trying to pull strings with such a massive disparity would be pure fantasy.

The resulting public backlash would be even more outrageous.

"But why?" Blatter couldn’t quite fathom it.

Valcke and Nichols kept their eyes averted and maintained a stony silence.

Yet, in his mind, Nichols couldn’t help but inwardly criticize his boss. "Why? Because there are 209 representatives under FIFA, yet only 32 teams participate in the World Cup. Didn’t you ever stop to think how many people you offended when you made those remarks?"

"In previous years, weren’t there always people who made voting errors and wanted to change them? Are there any this year?" Blatter asked Nichols.

The latter was the Chief Operating Officer and had always been in charge of media relations previously.

"There are, but..." Nichols looked troubled, hesitating to speak.

"But what?"

"They are all early voters who originally didn’t vote for Wang Shuo, or placed him lower on their ballots. Now, they all want to change their votes to Wang Shuo."

Blatter was visibly stunned for a moment.

He wondered if that was even possible.

"But rest assured, I have already rejected them. According to the rules, once a vote is received, they are not allowed to change it arbitrarily," Nichols hurriedly explained.

Blatter felt a bitter frustration.

In other words, even without those people changing their ballots, Wang Shuo was already leading by a mile. If those people were allowed to amend their votes, Wang Shuo’s lead would grow even larger.

Wasn’t this getting way too ridiculous?

"Is there anything else?" Blatter asked impatiently.

Lately, he felt like nothing was going his way. It was incredibly irritating!

"The 55-man shortlist for the FIFA FIFPro World11 is also out, and Wang Shuo has been nominated.

"There’s also the Puskás Award. Wang Shuo’s vote count is more than the combined total of the other nine nominees."

Blatter clicked his tongue, strenuously rubbing his brow.

This meant that Wang Shuo had practically locked down a spot in the World11 and the Puskás Award.

If the FIFA Golden Ball Award was added to that, it would be a sweep of three major awards!

"Do you guys have any way to solve this immediate trouble?" Blatter asked urgently.

There was only one month left until the Golden Ball Award ceremony.

It might seem like a long time, but it was also very short.

Especially when considering that itineraries needed to be confirmed.

However, after the so-called emperor of football asked this question, Valcke and Nichols unexpectedly fell silent once again.

This made the air in the entire office turn awkward.

Although both men were Blatter’s confidants, as their boss, Blatter had caused them his fair share of trouble.

Especially with that big mouth of his.

Just like before—why drag the Premier League into this for no reason? Did he feel like he hadn’t offended the British enough? Or was it that, having grown accustomed to acting tyrannically and doing whatever he pleased in the football world, he genuinely believed he could manipulate the UK government?

Well, look at it now. The matter had blown completely out of proportion.