It was already mid-June, and the release schedules for July and August were probably going to be difficult to secure.
After that, the calendar gradually opened up, but the competition between films also became fiercer.
However, if they didn't ride this wave of hype now, Americans would feel uncomfortable.
How could Americans—arguably the second-best businesspeople in the world—tolerate wasting such a valuable opportunity?
Director Marshall still didn't know the film's final fate.
But as soon as he landed back in the United States, he received a notice from the studio.
They told him to speed up the filming while maintaining quality, and to begin editing immediately after shooting wrapped.
According to the executives, the film was tentatively scheduled to be released before November.
If the opening box office performed well, the movie could dominate the entire November market.
Then it could also benefit from the early Christmas season in December.
Once that cycle was completed, it would be almost impossible for the film's box office results to be poor.
For the sake of protecting his golden reputation, Marshall naturally agreed without hesitation.
Meanwhile, after Kai's interview was released, quite a few people came looking to give him trouble.
One of them was Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo was annoyed about Kai's comment in the interview suggesting he wasn't suitable to play as a center forward.
But after Kai explained the situation, Ronaldo gradually calmed down.
"So you were trying to trick the Germans?"
Kai nodded.
"Exactly."
Ronaldo scratched his head.
"Fine… but next time you say something like I can't do something, at least add a bit of bullshit to soften it."
"Otherwise friendly fire might accidentally blow me to pieces. I almost pulled out the entire Italian artillery just now."
Meanwhile, the Spain U16 team, who had also reached the semi-finals of the European Youth Championship, did not draw Portugal.
Their opponent was the host nation, Czech Republic.
Portugal's semi-final opponent, however, was Germany.
During their tactical preparation, Spain U16 invited a famous international footballer and Barcelona midfielder, Pep Guardiola, to assist with their analysis.
Guardiola spoke bluntly to the Spanish coaching staff.
"That kid is throwing out smoke bombs. What a sneaky little thief."
"He had just finished the match when he gave that interview. Portugal barely beat the Netherlands, yet instead of celebrating, he buried a bunch of traps in his words."
The Spanish coaches looked puzzled.
Guardiola continued explaining.
"Here, he expresses regret over Viana's injury and hopes for his recovery. That shows high emotional intelligence. It's basic human decency."
"But he's definitely not just some noble kid who doesn't care about fame. His real goal is to hide his own strength."
"As the Chinese say—pretending to be a pig while eating the tiger."
"He constantly emphasizes Viana's importance to the team. On one hand, it reduces the focus opponents will place on him. On the other hand, it makes people underestimate Portugal as a whole."
"But ask yourselves—was Viana truly irreplaceable for Portugal?"
Guardiola suddenly posed the question.
Andrés Iniesta, who had been invited to join the discussion, immediately understood.
"Portugal traditionally plays with a single attacking midfielder," Iniesta said.
"After Viana's injury, their double-playmaker system loses an important player. But if they return to a single attacking midfielder system, Kai is fully capable of filling that role. The team won't feel uncomfortable at all."
"So… although it sounds unbelievable, the conclusion is that Viana's injury won't significantly weaken Portugal's core strength. Even if it does, the impact will be limited."
Guardiola nodded.
"Exactly."
"And Kai's praise of Ricardo Quaresma in the interview serves the same purpose—hiding his own threat."
"Everyone knows Quaresma is the biggest star on Portugal's U16 team, so naturally opponents will focus their defensive efforts on him."
"But in a single attacking midfielder system, who is the true core of the team?"
"It's not Quaresma."
"It's Kai."
Guardiola continued.
"As for Ronaldo not being suited to play center forward—that's also a smoke bomb."
"That kid can absolutely play striker."
"If I were coaching a team, I'd call him up immediately—even if he were 36 or 37 years old."
"His explosiveness, his shooting technique, and especially his goal-scoring instinct…"
"When it comes to Ronaldo, I can only say that my English isn't good enough to describe him."
Iniesta raised his hand.
"But… we're all Spanish here. Why are you suddenly speaking English?"
Guardiola was speechless.
"It's just a way of expressing my opinion."
"I admit that Cristiano Ronaldo doesn't look particularly gifted at first glance. He doesn't immediately make people believe he'll become a superstar."
"But at this age, his performances are simply overwhelming."
"Quaresma attracts defensive attention. Kai controls the midfield as the core playmaker. Ronaldo provides impact as the center forward."
"On the left wing, if they add a player capable of delivering good crosses—someone like a solid midfielder such as Raúl Meireles—"
"Even though they have fewer players committed to the attack, their overall threat doesn't decrease at all."
"Hiss—!"
Everyone in the room sucked in a deep breath, collectively contributing to global warming.
Iniesta was stunned.
"Then should we expose him? Should we go to the media and reveal what Kai is actually doing?"
Guardiola smiled mysteriously.
"Why should we help the Germans?"
"In any case, Portugal being short-handed is a fact."
"The stronger Portugal appears, the higher the price Germany will have to pay to beat them."
"And if Portugal somehow pulls off a miracle and defeats Germany…"
"Then their already weakened squad will only become more exhausted."
"Either way, Spain benefits."
"This time, the advantage is ours. It will be difficult to lose."
Guardiola looked at the young players.
"Kids, finish your semi-final properly."
"Then get ready to become European champions."
"Understand? Applause!"
"Wow!"
The Spanish U16 coaching staff immediately burst into applause.
Impressive.
He truly was a midfield master.
Why didn't Guardiola go into sales?
…No, wait.
Why didn't he become a coach?
What a waste of talent if he only played football!
Only Iniesta remained deep in thought.
"Excuse me… what were those four-syllable phrases you used earlier?"
Guardiola replied seriously:
"Those are Chinese idioms."
"They represent the essence of Chinese language and contain five thousand years of wisdom."
"Kai recommended an idiom dictionary to me. It opened a whole new world for me. Many of my tactical ideas actually correspond with those expressions."
"If you have time, you should study them as well. It might help you become a better midfielder."
Iniesta immediately wrote it down.
That very night, Iniesta asked his family to buy him the book that would become his secret weapon for improvement.
The book was called:
Xinhua Dictionary.
As Guardiola mentioned, Portugal's semi-final opponent was Germany U16.
There were quite a few familiar faces in that team for Kai.
For example: Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Hitzlsperger, and others.
However, this Germany U16 squad was much stronger than the Bayern U15 team Kai had previously faced.
Because the core structure of the team actually came from Bayern's U17 squad.
In addition, they had one Dortmund player and three Stuttgart players.
In Germany, if you weren't from Bayern but still got called up to the national youth team, it usually meant one thing:
You were really damn good, and Bayern's contract offer was probably already on the way.
But after observing the team carefully, Kai didn't think they were particularly terrifying.
The only real difference between this squad and Bayern's U15 team was that they had one more striker:
Kevin Kurányi.
Kurányi was a traditional German center forward.
However, his career development would never quite match expectations.
His personal ability was solid, and in Germany—where elite strikers were relatively scarce—Kurányi once became one of the most reliable domestic goal scorers.
But his career took a tragic turn after he encountered Germany's future coach Joachim Löw.
Löw's arrival brought a fundamental tactical transformation to the German national team.
Forwards like Kurányi—who lacked delicate ball control and ground-based combination play—became casualties of that change.
In Kai's opinion, however, Germany U16 posed far less pressure than the Netherlands U16 team.
At least on paper.
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