Originally, Chen Yu had come to the World Cup with the attitude that it was all about the experience, that participation was what mattered most.

But after unexpectedly taking on three patients, things suddenly got much busier.

He had to get Ballack and Reimer healthy and back to their team before June 5th.

Then there was Zidane, who also needed to be taken care of before the 6th.

At a time like this, if any players on the United States Team also had problems, Chen Yu would be in a real bind.

Fortunately, nothing of the sort happened.

After all, the exertion on the United States Team’s players wasn’t that great. For those playing domestically, the league pressure was low. The United States had even withdrawn from the Copa America, so there wasn’t much pressure from international competitions either.

And those playing abroad were generally not starters for their clubs, so the wear and tear was relatively light.

Injuries really are closely related to the number of games played.

Even the strongest body can’t withstand the toll of a heavy match schedule.

This made Chen Yu think of Yao Ming.

Brian had mentioned before that one thing he was particularly unhappy about was a requirement from the Chinese Basketball Association that forced Yao Ming to return to China for various National Team games.

This wasn’t just an issue for Yao Ming; it was the same for many players from Europe. In any case, NBA teams didn’t want their players participating in National Team games.

After all, the NBA was a commercial league. If a player got injured playing for their national team, what then? The national team would just wash their hands of the matter, and the club would be the one to suffer the loss.

Far away in Japan, Chen Yu had no idea how the negotiations between Brian and the Chinese Basketball Association were progressing back in the United States.

It was already June, and the draft wasn’t far off.

Besides having no injured players, the United States Team, unlike other teams, didn’t have any warm-up matches before the start of the World Cup proper.

Other teams weren’t willing to play against them, seeing little value in such a match.

So, everything was focused on training.

Chen Yu could offer limited help in this area. While his Sports Training skill had an effect, it was hard to say how much a last-minute effort would accomplish.

Most importantly, Chen Yu felt the United States Team had no pressure to perform. It was all about participation, after all.

Early in the morning, Chen Yu arranged for a car and went with Zidane to the medical center.

As for Ballack and Reimer, the Germany Team would arrange to send them over.

The entire day’s treatment would take place there.

In the car, Zidane was quiet, sitting silently and gazing out the window.

From their interactions the day before, Chen Yu had discovered that the man was quite introverted.

Chen Yu, for his part, was engrossed in reviewing the examination reports.

He had arranged for Zidane to have them done yesterday afternoon. Treatment was one thing, but since medication would be needed later, all the necessary tests had to be performed.

When he saw the blood report, Chen Yu noticed some abnormalities.

Zidane had a high red blood cell count, but his hemoglobin was low. Chen Yu did a quick mental calculation and turned to look at Zidane.

Zidane noticed his gaze and responded with a slight smile and a nod.

"Zinedine, are you anemic?" Chen Yu asked, puzzled.

Logically, a top-tier professional athlete who maintained high-intensity training for years, with a fully supported nutritional regimen and no shortage of supplements to maintain his physical condition, should not be anemic under any circumstances.

But according to the report, he was indeed showing some symptoms of anemia.

Furthermore, it didn’t present the typical characteristics of iron-deficiency anemia, which was quite unusual.

Before Zidane could answer, Chen Yu’s eyes fell on his noticeably thinning hair. A thought suddenly struck him, and he realized a possibility.

Thalassemia!

Although France wasn’t a high-incidence area for thalassemia, the disease was first discovered near the Mediterranean Sea.

Zidane looked a bit surprised, but he nodded without hiding anything. "That’s right. I have a mild form of thalassemia. It was diagnosed a long time ago."

’Just as I thought.’

However, Chen Yu glanced again at the sparse hair on top of his head. ’It’s probably not as simple as just "mild,"’ he thought.

A mild case of thalassemia has almost no specific symptoms, but in a slightly more severe case, the reduction of red blood cells in the peripheral blood has a certain probability of decreasing blood supply to the scalp. This leads to insufficient nutrition for the hair follicles, resulting in a receding hairline and hair loss.

Of course, it wasn’t an absolute certainty.

But Chen Yu felt that for someone like Zidane, who was balding so severely at the age of 30, it was highly likely related to his thalassemia.

"Are you experiencing any physical fatigue right now?" Chen Yu asked.

For mild thalassemia, if there were any symptoms to speak of, the most common would be physical fatigue. For a top-tier professional athlete like Zidane, the impact should be even more significant.

Zidane shook his head and answered formally, "I haven’t experienced that for the time being."

Chen Yu nodded. It was clear Zidane knew about his condition, had sought treatment for it before, and understood it quite well.

"In that case, you should pay close attention to getting enough rest and nutrition," Chen Yu said, patting Zidane’s shoulder as a reminder.

Thalassemia is a genetic disease. There are no specific treatments, and it cannot be completely cured.

In Western medicine, the typical treatments are blood transfusions and iron chelation therapy. In more severe cases, a splenectomy or bone marrow transplant might be considered, but there aren’t many other treatment options.

So, what about Traditional Chinese Medicine?

Having been involved with TCM for so long, Chen Yu had always felt that it had many merits.

After all, it had developed over thousands of years, representing the medical wisdom of an ancient and great nation; it was bound to have its quintessential strengths.

Chen Yu silently recalled the TCM information from the system.

After returning from China, Chen Yu had brought back many classic TCM texts and had also found some materials in the United States. He would study them in his spare time to expand his knowledge.

’Besides, it also increased his mastery of the system’s knowledge, so why not?’

However, there was no description of thalassemia in these materials.

But if categorized by symptoms, thalassemia would fall under the TCM categories of blood disorders, blood deficiency, internal masses, and childhood consumptive strain.

A complete cure was something Chen Yu wouldn’t even consider.

’If TCM could cure thalassemia, I feel like I could snag a Nobel Prize in Medicine.’

But since a cure was impossible, he could treat the symptoms and use it as a form of supplementary therapy.

In any case, Zidane’s case was mild with few symptoms. If symptoms appeared, he would simply treat the symptoms.

Thinking from this angle, since it was anemia, the logical approach would be to focus on replenishing the blood. But after further thought, Chen Yu felt that wasn’t right.

Thalassemia was a genetic problem; simply replenishing blood would certainly have limited effects.

As he thought, an idea began to form.

The Su Wen of the Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor states that when Qi is constrained, there is no Blood, and when Blood is constrained, there is no Qi. In the human body, between blood and qi, qi is yang and blood is yin. In terms of yin and yang, they have a relationship of contradictory opposition, but also one of mutual dependence and generation.

Therefore, simply replenishing the blood wouldn’t be enough; he also needed to replenish the qi.

As the yang qi rises, the yin blood will increase along with it.

In that case, he should use Danggui Blood-Replenishing Soup, with Astragalus Root as the primary ingredient to replenish qi, and Danggui to supplementarily replenish blood.

He had a plan, but getting Zidane to accept a traditional Chinese medicinal soup would not be an easy task.

Look at Physical Fitness No.1. It was only after it was made into a health supplement with improved palatability that Hardaway and the others started drinking it with some enthusiasm.

But on second thought, Chen Yu decided it wasn’t a big deal.

’Who am I? I’m the authority here. If you won’t listen to me, you can just walk out that door and find someone else.’

And speaking of which, he should also have Zidane practice the Five Animals Qigong more often.

It also has the effect of replenishing qi and raising yang energy.

And meditation.

Chen Yu suddenly recalled that irritability was also a common symptom for thalassemia patients.

The man before him had a reputation for a bad temper on the field and had received his fair share of red cards in his career. It was hard to say whether that was unrelated to his thalassemia.

So, using meditation to control his emotions was actually a very good option.

Of course, the most important issue at hand was still resolving his muscle strain.

On May 31st, it was the World Cup opening ceremony and the inaugural match.

The team didn’t go, but Chen Yu did.

He attended the opening ceremony as an invited guest along with Contiguglia and the others.

Lexi joined in on the fun and went with them.

’Since she was here as a tourist, how could she miss the opening ceremony?’

The tickets were expensive and hard to get, but by going with Chen Yu, she didn’t have to pay and even got the best seats. It was an amazing deal.

That afternoon, the group arrived at the Shangyan World Cup Stadium in Seoul.

With their work credentials, they could enter early and wander around freely.

Chen Yu took Lexi around and bought some souvenirs. There were a lot of people on the team to buy for, and he was afraid he wouldn’t get another chance after today.

After buying bags big and small, the two of them regrouped with Contiguglia and the others.

In the meantime, Lemerre, who was waiting for the opening match, made a point to find Chen Yu and ask about Zidane’s recovery.

"Don’t worry. I said he’ll rejoin the team on the 5th, and he’ll rejoin the team on the 5th."

Chen Yu’s words were a great reassurance to Lemerre. They chatted a bit more before Lemerre departed with a broad smile.

"Good luck," Chen Yu added thoughtfully.

Lemerre chuckled and gave a thumbs-up, his expression full of confidence.

Just then, Alina chimed in inopportunely, "By convention, the heavy favorites often crash and burn. Besides, Senegal is no pushover. They’re practically the France B-team. Their coach, Mei Chu, has been coaching in Ligue 1 for a long time and knows the France Team inside and out. And they’re missing Zidane for this match."

Alina had always believed that the current France Team could afford to be missing anyone except Zidane.

The assistant coach standing behind him, Andy Dunbar, added gloomily, "And didn’t the media report the day before yesterday that Pele predicted France and Argentina would win the cup?"

Pele’s jinx had been proven right time and time again. Whoever he picked was doomed.

"Surely not," Chen Yu said, shaking his head. "It’s Senegal, their first time in the World Cup. The France Team are the defending champions. They can’t possibly lose, can they?"

Their raw talent was undeniable. It would be like a basketball team with all-stars at all five positions losing to a team that barely scraped into the playoffs.

Impossible!

The opening ceremony was unremarkable. Chen Yu didn’t recognize the pop stars who sang, nor did he understand the traditional cultural displays. He was just there for the spectacle.

As for the invited dignitaries, a bunch of presidents and so on, Chen Yu had just met the President of the United States, so he wasn’t particularly impressed.

He also saw Zheng Mengjun. Before the ceremony, Zheng had made a point of coming over to chat with Contiguglia for a bit, and while he was at it, he also exchanged a few words with Chen Yu.

Just like before, he was all smiles, as if the bribery incident had never happened.

Chen Yu, of course, wouldn’t bring it up either.

Before coming, Chen Yu had told Contiguglia and the others that they absolutely must not mention the bribery, especially in front of Lexi.

Bribery was one thing, but a South Korean starlet knocking on his door in the middle of the night... now *that* would be a huge problem.

After he walked away, Contiguglia curled his lip, his face full of disgust.

Alina also asked with a somber look, "Robert, did he have anything to do with Blatter’s re-election?"

Just the day before yesterday, FIFA had elected its new president at the Hilton Hotel, South Korea, and Blatter had been successfully re-elected.

Contiguglia snorted coldly. "What do you think?"

He knew more of the inside story. If it weren’t for Zheng Mengjun switching sides at the last minute, how could Blatter possibly have been re-elected?

But Contiguglia couldn’t be bothered with this kind of crap. As long as it didn’t affect the United States Team, he didn’t care.

When the opening ceremony ended, it was time for the inaugural match.

To everyone’s surprise, Chen Yu was wrong, and so was Alina.

The France Team didn’t crush Senegal, but they didn’t suffer an upset loss either.

It was a minor upset, in a way. A 1-1 draw. The mighty defending champions had actually tied with Senegal, a World Cup newcomer.

Simply unbelievable!