Chapter 158 151: Replace Yang Yang?

The evening of April 21st, at the Amsterdam Arena.

Both teams had fought hard through successive battles to reach the UEFA Champions League semifinals, and both placed immense importance on this match.

The two Young Marshals, Ronald Koeman and Deschamps, both deployed highly targeted starting tactics.

The visiting team, Monaco, launched the first offensive, leveraging the speed and individual skill of their forward, Jouli, to create frequent threats right from the start. They created two consecutive dangerous situations in the second and fourth minutes; one of them, from a through ball, nearly resulted in a one-on-one, but Escude made a decisive sliding tackle in the box to clear the danger at the critical moment.

Ajax soon steadied themselves, using their home-field advantage and superiority in passing and possession to control the tempo. They effectively set up their defense against Monaco's wings, making it difficult for the visitors' subsequent attacks to pose a threat.

Molentes and Jouli were each caught offside twice afterward, a clear sign that the offside trap Ajax had specifically practiced before the match was proving effective.

In the first ten minutes, Ajax had only one shot on goal, which came from Van der Vaart, but it failed to pose a real threat.

However, under Talabesi's tight marking, Monaco's left-winger, Roten, was also neutralized and lost his menace. This meant that the trident of Roten, Molentes, and Jouli, on which Deschamps heavily relied, was unable to create any danger.

Both teams had set up highly specific tactics that proved effective, making it difficult for either side to break through the other's defense. As a result, the match, though intense, felt somewhat dull.

Both sides were fully committed, tirelessly trying to breach the opponent's defensive line while also doing their utmost to avoid making any mistakes.

But then, in the thirty-first minute, Ajax launched a counter-attack.

Left-back Maxwell carried the ball past the halfway line and passed it to Van der Vaart in the center.

The Ajax captain dribbled forward before suddenly distributing the ball to the left flank for Wesley Sonck. The Belgian player received the ball on the left wing under tight marking from the opposing right-back, Ibarra. When he attempted a cross, the ball accidentally deflected off Ibarra's foot. It failed to reach Ibrahimovic in the box, instead falling to the left side of the penalty area.

Van der Vaart quickly followed up from behind, getting to the ball before anyone else. After bringing it under control, he immediately blasted a shot with his left foot.

The ball shot into Monaco's goal at lightning speed, and Ajax broke the deadlock.

All the fans in the stadium erupted in wild cheers, endlessly chanting Van der Vaart's name.

All the Ajax players rushed off the pitch to mob Van der Vaart, celebrating the hard-earned goal together.

Yang Yang, watching from the bench, saw Van der Vaart score and leaped to his feet, applauding vigorously.

"That was beautiful!" Yang Yang exclaimed in genuine admiration.

It might have seemed like the goal came from a mistake by Monaco, but in reality, Van der Vaart's individual skill was crucial.

There was only a tiny bit of space in Monaco's defense at that moment. If Van der Vaart's first touch hadn't been perfect, he wouldn't have had time to adjust before a defender closed in. But his handling was brilliant; he shot immediately after controlling the ball, giving the Monaco center-backs no time to react or cover.

"What a first touch, truly amazing!" Yang Yang said with an envious smile.

Van der Vaart was widely recognized as the player on the Ajax Team with the best fundamentals and first touch. At his level, he was definitely among the very best, even in all of European Football.

"Don't be envious. If you keep training hard, you can get that good too," Vermaelen said with a chuckle from beside him.

Yang Yang nodded. He also felt he should start strengthening his first-touch training as soon as possible.

Over a month ago, Old Ice from the Super Training facility had upgraded the defender who trained with him every night to the Eredivisie level. This was to further help Yang Yang familiarize himself with the gameplay and rhythm of the Eredivisie.

Since joining Ajax in August, Yang Yang had been training relentlessly in [Ronaldo's Rush] and [Beckham's Crossing], doing everything he could to improve the two Star Skills. But now, he had a faint feeling that his progress was slowing down.

Of course, this was normal. After all, his fundamentals used to be very weak, so his improvement was naturally rapid. But with his relentless effort and the constant tempering of matches, his current skill level at least met the requirements of the Eredivisie. To make further progress now would certainly be much more difficult.

It was like a student who used to score zero on tests; getting a passing grade wasn't hard. But getting an excellent score of eighty was clearly much harder, and aiming for ninety, or even a perfect one hundred, was undoubtedly harder still.

Now, Yang Yang's progress was the same—the further he went, the harder it became.

Furthermore, both of his Star Skills had been honed in the UEFA Champions League and, thanks to the team's overall tactics, had performed quite well. Yang Yang felt it was necessary to work on another one of his weaknesses: his first touch.

Of course, both [Ronaldo's Rush] and [Beckham's Crossing] were the foundation of his career. He definitely couldn't neglect them or slack off in his training.

As the saying goes: a day of practice is a day of progress, but a day without practice is ten days of regress.

Yang Yang knew very well that what he needed most right now was to continue training hard and improving himself.

...

...

With a one-goal lead, Ajax headed into the halftime break.

Ronald Koeman gave the team high praise for their first-half performance. He believed everyone had executed what they had painstakingly practiced, putting considerable pressure on the opponent. At the same time, he encouraged the players, telling them they must keep up the effort.

The left flank had been very active in the first half, but the right flank was somewhat sluggish. This was the problem Ronald Koeman pointed out at halftime.

The main issue on the right flank was Talabesi's responsibility to mark Roten. Besides Jouli, Roten was Monaco's most dangerous weapon. Molentes's strength lay in his poaching ability inside the box, but without service from Jouli and Roten, he was completely neutralized in the first half. Therefore, containing Roten was Talabesi's top priority.

However, the right-winger, Victor Skora, seemed to lack drive. With Monaco's left-back, Evra, frequently pushing forward to support Roten, Skora failed to keenly seize the opportunity to exploit the space left behind him with a counter-attack.

Although Ronald Koeman didn't criticize him by name, he proposed a solution for improvement, which served as a warning to Skora.

After switching sides for the second half, Monaco, despite being a goal down away from home, remained patient and composed. Unable to break through up front, their left-back, Evra, began frequently pushing forward to join the attack. On the right, Ibarra, having been on the field for the goal they conceded, had clearly been reminded by Deschamps to focus more on defense in the second half.

Wesley Sonck and Van der Vaart were both active on that side, and with the addition of the highly attack-minded Maxwell, the defensive pressure on Monaco's right flank was already immense. How could Ibarra possibly afford to make frequent overlapping runs?

In the fifty-sixth minute, Monaco launched an attack. Their left-back, Evra, made a quick overlapping run and sent a diagonal cross into the box from the left.

Ajax's center-back Heitinga mishit his initial clearance, failing to get the ball far away and causing a scramble in the penalty area. Fortunately, Monaco's center-forward, Molentes, was a bit slow to react, and his subsequent shot was blocked out for a corner by Heitinga's body.

Although they didn't score, Monaco's close-range shot sent a cold sweat down the spines of everyone at Ajax.

Ultimately, Evra's sudden forward runs were proving to be a significant threat.

Just four minutes later, Monaco came surging back again. Once more, it was Evra pushing up on the left, playing a one-two with left-winger Roten. From the edge of the penalty area, Roten sent a diagonal cross into the box. Molentes battled with Heitinga for the header, heading the ball at goal from ten meters out.

This time, the ball grazed the post and went out for a goal kick.

Creating dangerous chances with two consecutive attacks, it was clear to anyone that Ajax's defense now had a problem.

The combination of Ibarra and Jouli on the right was supposed to be the most dangerous, but they had been contained by Ajax's defense. Instead, it was Evra on the left who was starting to become lively.

"We have to pin Evra back!" Ronald Koeman said, shaking his head.

Luther Carroll nodded in deep agreement.

Sometimes, football matches follow a certain pattern. If Monaco were allowed to keep attacking down the left flank like this, it was only a matter of time before they scored. Moreover, no one could guarantee they could defend the next attack successfully.

Only by suppressing Evra again could Ajax's defense stabilize.

"Bring on Yang Yang?" Luther Carroll asked with concern.

Ronald Koeman glanced at Victor Skora on the pitch and finally nodded.

Victor Skora started his career at the Eerste Divisie club Go Ahead Eagles, transferring to Vitesse in 1999. Then, in January 2000, Ronald Koeman took his first step into independent management, taking over Vitesse mid-season to save them from a crisis. Victor Skora performed quite well under him, and for two seasons, he was the sharpest right-winger in the Eredivisie.

In December 2001, Ronald Koeman took over at Ajax mid-season, replacing Adriance. In the summer of '02, he spent a considerable sum to bring Victor Skora to Amsterdam. However, in his first season, he was mostly a substitute for Van der Meede, and his performances when he did play were far from the dazzling displays he had shown at Go Ahead Eagles and Vitesse.

After Van der Meede was sold this season, Ronald Koeman had placed high hopes on his former favorite. But unfortunately, Victor Skora could never recapture his old form, and his performances were hardly satisfactory. On the contrary, in the second half of the season, the seventeen-year-old starlet Yang Yang burst onto the scene, making the Dutch winger's position in the team even more awkward.

A few days ago, he had proactively approached Ronald Koeman to express his desire to leave Ajax. Ronald Koeman didn't agree on the spot, only saying that he would consider it and would also need to consult with the technical department.

But based on his performance in the past hour of tonight's match, Skora was still disappointing.

In the sixty-fifth minute, after an in-depth discussion with Luther Carroll, Yang Yang stood on the sideline and once again replaced Victor Skora. The fans in the Amsterdam Arena gave him a thunderous round of applause.

The young Chinese starlet appeared full of fighting spirit and confidence, while Victor Skora, in contrast, looked utterly dejected.

'Perhaps if I hadn't poached him for Ajax back then, he would have played better at Vitesse and continued to be the core of their attack.'

'But now...'

Ronald Koeman quickly composed himself and turned his gaze back to the pitch. He hoped that after coming on as a substitute, Yang Yang would be able to suppress Evra and create a threat on the right flank.

And the seventeen-year-old starlet did not disappoint his high hopes; he created a dangerous situation almost immediately after stepping onto the field.