Chapter 271: Wonder Goal

Chapter 271: Chapter 264: Wonder Goal

Although Yang Yang and Van Gaal had a relaxed chat on the phone, back in the Netherlands, the match between Ajax and Alkmaar was a top-of-the-table clash in this season’s Eredivisie.

Currently, Alkmaar led the league table with fifty-six points, with Eindhoven close behind at fifty-five, and Ajax in third with fifty-four. Fourth-place Feyenoord was far behind with only forty-four points.

Looking at the standings, it was clear that the other teams, including Feyenoord, had little chance of shaking up the top three. The champion would be decided among these three teams.

Based on their results this season, all three teams had been remarkably consistent, winning the points they were expected to. This made their head-to-head encounters absolutely crucial, especially in the second half of the season.

The match between Ajax and Alkmaar could, in a way, even decide the fate of the league title.

For that reason, both sides were taking it extremely seriously.

Ronald Koeman had rotated several players in the Dutch Cup, with the clear intention of focusing preparations on the Alkmaar match.

Van Gaal’s return to the Amsterdam Arena, this time as the away team’s manager, undoubtedly added another layer of drama to the match. With Alkmaar currently at the top of the table, they certainly weren’t going to surrender their lead without a fight.

Both teams were determined to win, and it felt as if the entire Netherlands had its eyes on this game.

On match day, the Amsterdam Arena was packed to the rafters. In addition to the Ajax fans, a considerable number of away supporters had made the short trip from Alkmaar to Amsterdam.

As the players from both teams emerged from the tunnel and stepped onto the pitch, the stadium erupted in a deafening mix of cheers and boos.

The sheer scale of the reception took even the Ajax players by surprise.

Given the proximity of Alkmaar and Amsterdam, there was a long history of players moving between the two clubs. For example, Vlaar, currently on the Ajax bench, had come from Alkmaar.

In this match, Yang Yang’s direct opponent, Alkmaar’s left-back Tim Deklerk, was a product of the Ajax youth academy.

Tim Deklerk, twenty-five years old, was having an excellent season at Alkmaar, and there were strong calls for his inclusion in the Dutch National Team. He was a young academy player promoted by Co Adriaanse during his time coaching Ajax, but he wasn’t favored by Ronald Koeman and was eventually poached by Adriance for Alkmaar.

The left-back was solid in both attack and defense, a well-balanced player. He had been a stalwart on the left flank that Van Gaal relied on all season. If one had to find a weakness, it would be that De Klerk lacked top-end speed and agility.

And this very player was a key part of Van Gaal’s plan to neutralize Yang Yang tonight.

…

…

Although Yang Yang had spent much of the previous night in the Super Training ground simulating a match against De Klerk and the entire Alkmaar backline, he found his opponent much tougher to handle in a real game.

A simulation was, after all, just a simulation; a real match was a completely different beast.

Especially after Van Gaal’s specific tactical drills, the Alkmaar players had seemingly constructed an iron cage in the left half of their own defensive third. Each player was like a bar in that cage, and Yang Yang was the little bird trapped inside.

Just as he had anticipated before the match, Van Gaal didn’t assign a specific player to man-mark Yang Yang. Instead, he used a zonal marking system to contain him, cutting off his connections with the forwards and midfielders.

Alkmaar’s tailored defensive tactic effectively nullified Yang Yang’s performance in the opening minutes. In the first ten minutes, he received the ball very few times, feeling isolated from the rest of his team.

Yang Yang quickly realized this and immediately began to expand his area of movement.

After Van Gaal arrived at Alkmaar, he had instilled a sense of discipline into a team that Co Adriaanse had once coached to be fanatically attack-minded. Their defensive level had improved significantly, mainly reflected in their collective movement as a unit.

The moment Yang Yang entered a dangerous area on the right wing, Alkmaar would immediately tighten their cage around him.

Moreover, this cage would shift as a whole, following Yang Yang’s movements.

This left Yang Yang quite frustrated, forced to stay on the flank or drop much deeper to receive the ball in non-threatening areas.

Far from the goal, his threat was greatly diminished.

Yang Yang had to admit, Alkmaar’s defense was indeed very good.

It wasn’t a passive defense, but an active, pressing style built on collective movement, much like Ajax’s own.

He glanced at Van Gaal in front of the away team’s dugout and thought with a private smile, ‘This old fox really knows his stuff.’

‘But if he thinks this is enough to trap me, he’s seriously underestimating me!’

…

…

Ten minutes in, Yang Yang had been silent on the right wing, failing to create any threat the few times he received the ball. This left Van Gaal quite satisfied.

The assistants sitting in the away team’s dugout also breathed a collective sigh of relief that their specific tactic was working.

Still, Van Gaal couldn’t help but feel a little sentimental.

At this time last year, he was still at Ajax, thinking that if he ever managed Alkmaar, he would bring Yang Yang to the team to personally nurture and develop him. He was eager to see just how far Yang Yang could go.

But unexpectedly, Yang Yang shot to fame in the second half of the season, even scoring the winning goal in the Champions League final.

The Yang Yang of today was no longer the rookie from last year. He now had a Champions League title to his name, had won the Eredivisie, was the winner of the second European Golden Boy award, and was a young genius renowned throughout European Football.

Now, he was Ajax’s top goalscorer, with the ability to challenge the famous Dutch striker Kuyt for the Top Scorer title.

Everything had developed so quickly, so fast that even Van Gaal found it a bit overwhelming.

Even what was happening on the pitch right now was something Van Gaal found hard to believe.

‘Is Yang Yang really being contained just like this?’

‘Is he the kind of player who can be shut down so easily?’

Just as this ominous thought surfaced in his mind, Van Gaal saw Yang Yang on the pitch look over in his direction, a smirk on his face, as if to say, ‘You’re underestimating me!’

This suddenly filled Van Gaal with a strong sense of unease.

…

…

When Yang Yang saw the ball passed back into their own half to Maicon on the right, he quickly pulled wide, running back along the touchline and raising his hand to call for the ball.

Tim Deklerk immediately moved to follow him, but his reaction was a step too slow, and he lacked Yang Yang’s pace. By the time he caught up, Maicon’s pass had already arrived in front of Yang Yang.

The Alkmaar left-back opted to position himself behind Yang Yang to block him off.

But Yang Yang had already anticipated his move. Before De Klerk could get close, he took a step forward and stopped the ball sideways with his left foot.

The ball immediately slid to Yang Yang’s right. He instantly turned, his side now to De Klerk, and quickly dribbled as he cut inside.

The midfielder, Barry van Gaal, was right behind De Klerk, but because they had both been moving quickly, a gap had opened up between them. By the time Yang Yang turned and cut inside, Van Gaal was only just getting back into his defensive position.

Facing the hastily approaching opponent, Yang Yang feinted as if to cut into the box through the half-space. Van Gaal immediately fell for it, moving to block the path. But in reality, it was just a feint. Yang Yang executed a Pendulum Move, shook past Van Gaal, and continued to cut inside horizontally.

Yang Yang’s original plan was to dribble into the center and then, depending on the situation, link up with a teammate or pass the ball.

But as he cut inside all the way to the right side of the penalty arc, he saw that Alkmaar’s deep-lying midfielder had dropped back too far in his haste, partially screening his own center-backs, and a gap had appeared between the two central defenders.

In that instant, he saw what looked like a clear path to the goal.

From behind the holding midfielder, between the two center-backs, the ball had a direct line to the left side of the goal.

Seeing this channel, Yang Yang was suddenly overcome with a powerful, irrepressible urge.

From his position, he was at least twenty-some meters away from the goal. He had never attempted a shot from this far out, because his shooting power had never been sufficient for such a long-range effort.

This kind of shot required not just angle, but power.

But right at this moment, Yang Yang had a strong feeling. He felt he could do it. And with his left foot, no less.

The left foot he had been painstakingly training for nearly two years!

And the strength training he had been grinding at for the past six months had to show for something!

In that very instant, Yang Yang made his decision. He swung his left leg and unleashed a thunderous shot.

The crowd heard a loud THWACK.

The ball flew off Yang Yang’s left foot at a speed that was a blur to the naked eye. It streaked past the defenders in a graceful arc, practically scraping the left post as it crashed into the back of the net!

“GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!”

“A WORLDIE! A WORLDIE!!!!!”

Along with the commentator’s astonished cry, the entire Amsterdam Arena erupted.

Countless Ajax fans excitedly surged from their seats, rushing to the railings and chanting Yang Yang’s name at the top of their lungs.

After unleashing that shot, Yang Yang quickly turned and sprinted towards the sideline, heading straight for the stands of the Ajax supporters. He threw his arms wide, as if to embrace the torrent of cheers and applause raining down from above.

“My goodness, the nineteenth minute! Nineteen minutes into the game, Yang Yang cuts in from the right and suddenly unleashes a worldie!”

“That was an absolutely stunning long-range shot, from a full twenty-five meters out!”

“Absolutely brilliant!”

“This is definitely a world-class goal that everyone will be talking about for a long time!”

“No one expected Yang Yang to suddenly shoot from distance, and to produce a world-class strike of such high quality.”

“In Alkmaar’s tight defensive formation, there was only the tiniest of gaps, but Yang Yang seized it and broke the deadlock with a magnificent worldie!”