Chapter 179 172: Yang Yang's Strength

"Haha, that was awesome! I can't believe we won our first match three-nil."

"You guys should have seen it. The international student fans in the stands were going crazy. They were so pumped."

"Tell me about it! Our opponent was Colombia, a powerhouse from South America."

"I really didn't expect it. I feel like Colombia wasn't as strong as I'd imagined."

"Yeah, I think so too. Especially in the last twenty or thirty minutes, they barely had any chances."

...

After securing a three-nil victory over Colombia, a complete win in their first match, the players of the National Youth Team were all incredibly excited. Back in the locker room, they were still buzzing as they discussed the game, unable to get enough of it.

The team had arranged for Head Coach Tie Sheng and Yang Yang to give post-match interviews to the domestic media, so neither of them was in the locker room. Gradually, the conversation shifted to the debut performance of the National Youth Team's star player.

"Hey, Chen Tao, that assist of yours was brilliant."

"Yeah, if you hadn't chased it down in time, Colombia probably would've stolen that ball."

"Now that you mention it, Yang didn't seem particularly fired up. His performance was pretty average. Only that one assist to Hao Junmin was any good."

"He didn't seem that strong to me either. His first touch is pretty average, and we didn't see any of the solo dribbles the media was hyping up. Based on this game, I'd say he wasn't even as good as Chen Tao."

"Yeah, I wonder if he's just not in good form?"

"Could be. He did just play in the Champions League final, after all."

"I watched the Champions League final live. He played really well then. But tonight..."

The players chimed in one after another, discussing Yang Yang's performance in the match.

Although no one said it outright, it was clear that most of them felt Yang Yang's performance didn't live up to his massive reputation.

Wei Zhen, a reporter from National Television traveling with the team, sat silently to one side of the locker room. Listening to the National Youth Team players' discussion, he didn't say a word, not even to defend his friend, Yang Yang.

'Everyone's understanding of soccer is different. Some people only see what's on the surface, not the deeper mechanics. Naturally, they would think Yang Yang's performance was average. But if you have a deep enough understanding of the game, it's easy to see that the reason the National Youth Team played so smoothly in the final stages was precisely because of Yang Yang's influence.'

'Colombia is no pushover. If Yang Yang hadn't drawn the defenders' attention and sent that pass to Chen Tao, would Chen Tao have been able to run up and deliver a cross?'

'Let's not even talk about the second goal, which Yang Yang assisted directly—with his left foot, no less. The third goal also came from Yang Yang pulling defenders out of position and distributing the ball, which is what allowed Chen Tao and Liu Yu to link up on the wing.'

'If you just look at it superficially, of course Yang Yang's performance seemed average. Even for the second goal he assisted, Hao Junmin's shot would get the primary credit, to say nothing of the first and third goals, which he wasn't directly involved in.'

But Wei Zhen couldn't say these things. It was an internal team matter, and he was an outsider.

Just then, Chen Tao, who had just been showered with praise by his teammates, suddenly looked embarrassed.

"Actually, I don't think Yang Yang is as simple as he looks on the surface."

Everyone was stunned. "What do you mean?"

"That pass of his didn't feel like a mistake. It felt like he intentionally wanted me to chase it."

The players exchanged glances. 'There's a thought.'

"He took the ball and immediately drew the defenders away—three of them marking just him. I was thinking whether I should move up to support him, and then he immediately passed the ball into the space ahead of me. Of course, my first instinct was to chase it, and all the defenders around me were a step behind."

After hearing this, the captain and right back, Liu Yu, nodded in sudden realization. "Now that you say that, I thought it was strange, too. We were originally in a two-on-three on the right wing, at a disadvantage. But then Yang Yang suddenly came over to receive the ball, shook off one of their players, and drew another one to him. By the time the ball was passed back, we were in a two-on-one."

Everyone listened in disbelief. 'Could it be that we really misunderstood him?'

"Believe it or not, that pass from Yang Yang was incredibly comfortable to receive. It was as if he had already calculated my speed, my stride, and where my feet would land, setting me up to take a shot right after I caught up to it."

Hao Junmin was also frowning, completely baffled.

If it had just been one person saying this, it could be dismissed as a personal feeling. But with two, then three people saying the same thing, the others couldn't help but analyze it more closely. The more they thought about it, the stranger it seemed.

Everyone began to realize that all the players who had received a pass from Yang Yang shared a common impression: it was comfortable.

Comfortable to receive, comfortable to make a move with, comfortable to do anything.

And it wasn't just receiving his passes that was comfortable; passing to him was comfortable, too. Everyone who had passed to him felt like he always seemed to appear in areas that were easy to pass to. The moment they saw him, they could get the ball to him easily, without worrying about it being intercepted.

"You mean... this is Yang Yang's real skill?"

That one question from center-back Feng Xiaoting silenced the entire locker room. The few players who had just been doubting Yang Yang were particularly embarrassed, feeling like they couldn't even look anyone in the eye.

'It wasn't that he lacked skill; it was that we had been blind to his greatness.'

Wei Zhen still sat silently to the side, but he couldn't help feeling a little pleased. 'At least Yang Yang's contributions are being recognized. Players like Chen Tao, Hao Junmin, and Feng Xiaoting are pretty perceptive.'

Just as everyone was rendered speechless, Head Coach Tie Sheng and Yang Yang pushed open the locker room door and walked in.

The moment Yang Yang entered, he saw all his teammates staring at him wide-eyed and felt a bit puzzled.

"What's up?" Yang Yang asked, confused.

Head Coach Tie Sheng, standing beside him, also found it strange. 'Did something happen?'

The players looked at each other, until finally, Liu Yu gave Chen Tao a hard shove, pushing him forward.

"Uh, well, I have a question I'd like to ask you, if that's okay?" Chen Tao said, scratching his head awkwardly.

"No need to be so formal," Yang Yang said, shaking his head.

The atmosphere in the locker room tensed up for a moment, but then Yang Yang chuckled. "Just ask whatever you want. We can all discuss it together. I'll tell you everything I know."

They were all young men, and hearing this, they all broke into relieved laughter.

"I wanted to ask, that pass you sent me... was that on purpose?"

"Yeah. There was no one up front, and I saw you wanted to run toward the center for support, so I passed it there."

"Then how did you know I was going to run there?"

"Trust. I trusted that you would see it and go for it. And next time, you should trust that I can make the pass."

Trust.

The players of the National Youth Team couldn't help but mull over that familiar, yet strangely foreign, word.

"What about me?" Hao Junmin also came forward. "That pass you gave me, did you calculate it?"

"I calculated it, but the pass wasn't good," Yang Yang said, shaking his head in embarrassment.

"Huh? You call that *not* a good pass?"

Everyone in the locker room was speechless.

"First, I don't know you that well yet. I just watched your sprints in the first half from the sidelines and made a rough estimate of your sprint speed after your stamina dropped to a certain point, and your stride. My idea was for you to catch up to it and shoot immediately, but I'm right-footed, and my left foot isn't well-trained yet."

Everyone in the locker room audibly gasped. It was only at this moment that they all realized—hadn't Yang Yang made that pass to Hao Junmin with his left foot?

'A right-footed player who could deliver a pass like that with his left foot, and he still called it a bad pass?'

"I've seen Van der Vaart make the same kind of pass, so I wanted to give it a try. But I'm still a long way from his level."

Yang Yang looked a little embarrassed, but everyone else was dumbfounded.

Van der Vaart, the first-ever winner of the European Golden Boy award, a top-tier genius midfielder known throughout the world, who had sparked a bidding war this summer among many powerhouse clubs, including Real Madrid and Barcelona.

'Right, the media did report that. I heard Yang Yang is on pretty good terms with him.'

"I want to ask, do you calculate every single pass you make?"

"Pretty much. I calculate all of them. I'll make a rough guess about what you want to do next, and I try my best to pass the ball to a more advantageous spot for you, to make it easier to receive and make your next move. You have to give it enough lead."

"What about your runs? Are those carefully calculated too?"

"Of course. I have to consider things like whether the player marking me is left-footed or right-footed, and which area I should run into to receive a pass where he'll have a harder time stealing it. You have to calculate all of that."

"But how do you calculate so many things during a match?"

"Uh... how should I put it? It's a habit, I guess. It's complicated to explain, and it's difficult at first. But if you really dig in, understand it, and master it, it gradually becomes a kind of instinct when you play. It's not a hassle."

After a pause, Yang Yang shook his head again in embarrassment. "To be honest, I'm just an amateur passer. Wesley Sneijder is the best passer I've ever seen. His powers of observation are incredible. Before he even receives a pass, he's already planned his next move, the move after that, and maybe even more. It's like playing chess."

It wasn't just the National Youth Team players who were listening with their jaws on the floor; even Tie Sheng found it hard to believe.

They had never imagined that professional soccer could be played like this. Yet, they had no reason to doubt Yang Yang's words, not only because he was a newly-crowned Champions League winner, but also because many foreign coaches had said similar things before.

'So this is what it means to play with your brain.'

Tie Sheng suddenly realized that Yang Yang's arrival brought a wave of fresh inspiration to him and his team. His valuable experience and the lessons learned from playing in Europe could have a profound impact on him and this group of young players.

Because Yang Yang's club was Ajax, the best in the World at developing young players.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but walk into the middle of the group of players.

"Everyone, I have a suggestion. Why don't we set aside one session tomorrow morning and have Yang Yang give us a proper introduction to his experiences and insights from playing in Europe? He can also answer everyone's questions and clear up any doubts. What do you all think?"

As soon as he said it, everyone immediately nodded in agreement.

Yang Yang, however, waved his hands repeatedly. He didn't feel he was qualified to be his teammates' teacher. But in the end, he couldn't refuse and had to reluctantly agree to an exchange of ideas with everyone.