Chapter 0 “Western League Giants Eye Chinese Double Stars!”

Chapter 0 “Juventus: Who Said We Wanted to Buy Players?”

Chapter 0 “Eredivisie Top Three, No Action in Winter Transfer Window.”

Chapter 0 “Milan Clubs: Not Considering Chinese Players for Now!”

Qiu Suhui pushed aside a pile of newspapers. As soon as the winter transfer window opened, the Chinese media became lively, and in this season of flying transfer rumors, the "performance" of two Chinese rising stars was naturally indispensable—even though they were forced.

Although it was winter, the climate in Yunnan was vastly different from that in Henan. The U21 league, which started at this time, could only be arranged in this kind of place. The players were conducting pre-match training under the leadership of Hu Li, while he took the opportunity to sneak into the room to read recent newspapers and learn about some international and domestic football news. Zhang Jun and Yang Pan's names were still appearing every issue, feeding so many reporters with just the two of them!

This year's U21, the Central Plains Club gave the task of breaking into the top eight, and Qiu Suhui set his own goal as the national championship. This youth team is a defense-oriented team, with no outstanding players in attack, so Qiu Suhui emphasized the overall offensive and increased the number of attacking points. At the same time, he found that Liu Peng himself had good scoring ability, especially in set pieces. His height of 1.89 meters and outstanding jumping ability were a great threat to the enemy.

In usual training, Qiu Suhui attached great importance to set-piece training, and Liu Peng had already become the core of the team. A defense-oriented team, if they can grasp the counter-attack and set pieces, will be very threatening.

In U21, Qiu Suhui's personal task was not only to lead the team in matches, but more importantly to observe whether the youth teams of various regional clubs participating in the competition had diamonds to be polished, like Liu Peng. Therefore, he handed over almost all of the training during this period to Hu Li, who had now become his capable assistant, and the two had established a very good understanding. Qiu Suhui had a plan that when he successfully became the head coach of the national Olympic team, he must bring Hu Li over to be his assistant coach. Hu Li was the first person he worked with after returning to China, and the understanding between the two would greatly speed up his work progress. Now, for Chinese football, time is life.

Yesterday was a brief opening ceremony, and the appearance of Qiu Suhui, this legendary figure, really excited the few reporters at the sidelines. After the opening ceremony, he naturally became the object of many reporters' siege. Many reporters were concerned about the goal of the Central Plains team led by Qiu Suhui. In front of the reporters, Qiu Suhui appeared very low-key. He didn't talk much, just repeated the club's meaning, and for other questions, he just perfunctorily dealt with them with a few words. He really was a coach who was not good at dealing with reporters.

When the team finished training and returned to the hotel, Qiu Suhui was sitting alone in the lobby drinking coffee when he saw Liu Peng walk in, so he waved him over. Liu Peng has now been promoted by Qiu Suhui to be the captain of the team, and he has also used his own practical actions to prove how correct his mentor's decision was.

"How was the training?" Qiu Suhui took a sip of coffee.

"Very good, we adapted to the venue and practiced set pieces." Liu Peng honestly replied, he had great respect for the coach in front of him who demanded strictness from him.

"Hmm, how many did you score?"

"Five goals."

"Good condition, do you have confidence in tomorrow's game?"

"No problem!" Liu Peng replied confidently.

"Okay, go up and change your clothes." Qiu Suhui saw Hu Li coming too, so he patted Liu Peng on the shoulder and let him leave.

After Liu Peng disappeared around the corner, Qiu Suhui asked Hu Li: "How was the training?"

"The players are generally excited and looking forward to tomorrow's game."

"That's good. Lao Hu, work hard! From tomorrow onwards, we will be creating an era!"

Hu Li didn't understand, it was just an ordinary U21, so what if they won the national championship? To elevate it to the height of an era was too far-fetched, right?

In the second day's match, the Henan Central Plains Club team narrowly defeated their opponent, the Gansu Baima team, by a score of 1:0. It can be said that Qiu Suhui and the Henan team's start was very low-key. Facing a not-so-strong opponent, they only relied on a set piece in the seventeenth minute of the second half to let Liu Peng score with a header. Hu Li couldn't see at all how the era Qiu Suhui spoke of would be created. Only Qiu Suhui went to other match venues to watch the matches without caring. Hu Li didn't understand, to research opponents, you only needed to research opponents in the same group, and opponents you might encounter, but looking at Qiu Suhui's room, it was almost filled with the information of all participating teams and players. Could it be that all teams could become his opponents?

Two days later, the Central Plains team still defeated the Yunnan Honghe team with the same score of 1:0. Qiu Suhui still ran around every day. The names he wrote down in his notebook were increasing, and he felt that he was getting closer and closer to that goal.

In the newly restarted Eredivisie league, Zhang Jun did not score goals as easily as people expected. In the first two rounds, he performed mediocrely and did not score. Volendam's one win and one draw only came from Yang Pan's stable performance and the team's efforts.

Adrianse was not worried about Zhang Jun, because he was still frequently scoring goals in training, but he was just a bit unlucky in the matches. In two games, he hit the goal post three times, and one shot was even incredibly saved by the opponent's goalkeeper, otherwise he would already be sitting in the top four of the scorer list.

The next away game against Feyenoord (feyenoord) will be a tough battle. In the first half of the season, they lost to them at home, and Adrianse had nothing to say. But this time they meet again, even if it is an away game, Adrianse wants to cause an upset.

Since they are a dark horse, they must have the look of a dark horse, so that they can be worthy of the fans who bought tickets.

This match was even called the "East Asian Derby" by the Asian media—mainly the media of China, Japan, and South Korea—because there were two Chinese players in the Volendam team, and one Japanese and one Korean player in the Feyenoord team: Shinji Ono (ono) and Song Chong-gug (soogjong-kook). However, some media predicted that Song Chong-gug might have fewer opportunities to play in this match, because since transferring to Feyenoord after the Korea-Japan World Cup, he has not had many opportunities to play, and has gradually become a substitute.

It is more appropriate to say that it is a "Sino-Japanese confrontation" rather than an "East Asian Derby." However, I wonder if two against one counts as bullying Shinji Ono?

"I think it will be a very interesting match, and I look forward to playing against them on the field. Two against one? I don't agree, after all, everyone is Asian. No matter who performs well, it is for the glory of Asian football... If I have to predict the result of the match, of course we will win!" Shinji Ono said with a smile to a large group of East Asian reporters. As a firm main player in the team, he was also able to deal with reporters with ease.

"As a left winger, you will be facing Yang Pan, who is on the right wing. Do you have anything to say?" a Chinese reporter asked.

"Yang is a very powerful opponent, but I will not admit defeat either."

"Zhang Jun has not been in good condition in the last two rounds..." a Japanese reporter said, but his words were interrupted by Shinji Ono.

"That's just bad luck, we won't underestimate them. Volendam is a dark horse, and they have the strength. But Feyenoord's goal this season is the league championship, and we will not lose points to Volendam."

"Yang! Pass the ball!" Adrianse shouted loudly.

Yang Pan made a sliding tackle pass, and the football flew towards the front of the goal. The attacking players wearing red vests and the defending players wearing yellow vests were entangled in front of the goal. Zhang Jun jumped up, and Louis Linke, who was defending him, was not to be outdone, and jumped up to compete with him for the header.

But Zhang Jun's judgment on the landing point and route of the ball was obviously better. He made a powerful header in front of Louis Linke! The football flew straight into the goal, and Westerveld watched the ball fly into the net, with no way to stop it.

"Hey! Gijs (Louis Linke)! This is the third time! You let Zhang Jun get the ball over your head again!" Westerveld shouted angrily, "You are 1.87 meters tall, can't you even compete with Zhang Jun who is 1.83 meters?"

"Nonsense! You try it, that kid jumps too high, besides, don't you look at who passed the ball to him! If it was Heuvel, I would definitely head it out!"

Heuvel came and kicked Louis Linke in the butt: "Gijs, are you saying my crosses are too bad?"

Everyone laughed.

Adrianse blew his whistle and told everyone to return to the starting position of the training: "Next, we will increase the number of defensive players, and at the same time, the defenders must start pressing from the midfield. I don't limit the offensive methods. A few of you can play freely. The training will restart if it is intercepted, or goes out of bounds or a goal is scored. Except for the three situations I just mentioned, the training cannot be stopped without my whistle, if you understand, then start again!"

"Volendam is very motivated!"

"Hmm, maybe this match is promising!"

"What do you mean maybe? With Yang Pan and Zhang Jun, taking down Feyenoord is a sure thing!"

The surrounding reporters were talking about it. They were all waiting for the training to end so they could go up and directly interview the two "focus figures."

When the training ended, Zhang Jun and Yang Pan saw the reporters crowding towards the door. They smiled wryly. Otschau patted them on the shoulders and laughed: "Haha! You can't leave yet!"

"Zhang Jun, Yang Pan! Talk about your thoughts! About Sunday's match against Feyenoord!" Before the two of them could get close, someone began to shout impatiently.

"Feyenoord is a strong team, but we have confidence." Yang Pan replied very simply.

The reporters were obviously not satisfied, and turned their attention to Zhang Jun again. Zhang Jun thought for a while: "Feyenoord is one of the traditional top three, but I have only heard of Shinji Ono and Song Chong-gug in their team, and I don't know the others..."

"Zhang Jun underestimates Feyenoord! Only recognizes Asian players..."

"Pa!" A newspaper was thrown on the table, and van Hooijdonk muttered dissatisfiedly: "Too underestimated! Too arrogant!"

Some people say that football is a war in peacetime, it concentrates and releases humanity's—mainly men's—aggressive side in this area that is 110 yards long and 65 yards wide. No one will doubt the truth of this sentence, because football is indeed war.

The match held at De Kuip Stadium was unexpectedly heated. Only ten minutes into the match, the referee had already called three fouls. Perhaps it was because of that newspaper that made the Feyenoord players act like bulls seeing red.

Adrianse obviously did not expect this situation—he had not seen that newspaper—Volendam was very passive on the field due to Feyenoord's full-court press, and Zhang Jun had become the target of the opponent's defenders' "enthusiastic hospitality."

Yang Pan finally got rid of the entanglement of the opponent's midfielder Bosvelt and passed the ball to Zhang Jun. Zhang Jun successfully received the ball and rushed forward, but before he could run two steps, he was pulled to the ground by Feyenoord's captain van Wonderen. The referee's whistle sounded again, but he did not show a card, he just signaled Volendam to take a free kick. To this, the Volendam fans who came with the team expressed their dissatisfaction with boos, but what was the use of booing? The opponent was the home team, and one of the traditional top three, so the referee would definitely take care of them a bit.

After the match, some media criticized the referee of this match for being too soft, and for not decisively showing a yellow card at the time of this foul to suppress the home team's temper and control the situation on the field. This ultimately led to constant fouls in this match. However, now in the match, the referee is the boss, who would dare not listen to his orders?

Heuvel passed the ball into the penalty area, Zhang Jun flicked his right hand, got rid of van Wonderen's close marking, and made a very difficult turn and shot, but the ball went high. This time, it was the home team fans' turn to boo him: What a stinky shot!

Paauwe easily dribbled past Paauwe, the 26-year-old had been selected for the Dutch national team five times. As a defensive midfielder, he had excellent dribbling skills and strong scoring ability, and was the initiator of the team's attack.

Kozel closely followed up to defend, but Paauwe did not entangle with him and directly passed the ball to Shinji Ono.

Shinji Ono got the ball, and Yang Pan immediately leaned up as the media hoped. The photographers became excited and took a series of shots. This photo was still very meaningful: "The historic first confrontation between Chinese and Japanese players on the Dutch field!"

Shinji Ono made a feint, swayed his upper body, and then quickly poked the ball with his foot, and the football passed between Yang Pan's legs, a nutmeg!

Feyenoord fans and those Japanese who were only cheering for Shinji Ono cheered loudly. But Yang Pan did not intend to let these people be proud for long. He quickly turned around and squeezed Shinji Ono towards the sideline, using his own amazing speed, to gradually push Shinji Ono behind him amidst the exclamations of the home team fans, and then passed the ball back to captain Holverda. Yang Pan won the first confrontation.

Shinji Ono wanted to protest to the referee that Yang Pan had pushed him just now, but the referee turned his back to him and ignored him.

Kozel made a long pass to the front field, launching a counterattack. Zhang Jun used his speed to run to the left side of the penalty area to receive the ball, but he was forced to the sideline by van Wonderen and could not cut inside. Zhang Jun first stabilized the ball and waited for his teammates to come up to support him. But someone immediately surrounded him again. The two formed a pincer attack against him, attempting to force him out of bounds. Zhang Jun pushed van Wonderen next to him with his hands, protecting the ball with his feet.

The Feyenoord player behind him went to steal the ball, but kicked Zhang Jun's left ankle. Zhang Jun cried out and fell to the ground. van Wonderen took the opportunity to hook the ball over, preparing to pass it to Paauwe, but the referee's whistle sounded, a foul!

van Wonderen was very dissatisfied with the referee's penalty. He shouted at the referee, but even so, the referee only gave him a few verbal warnings.

Zhang Jun was pulled up by Heuvel: "Are you okay?"

Zhang Jun jumped: "I'm fine."

The free kick was taken, but it was cleared by the opponent, and Volendam's attack was fruitless.

Thirty-seven minutes had passed in the first half, and the score was still 0:0. No one had scored a goal. Volendam's offense was ineffective due to the opponent's killing tactics. Feyenoord's offensive organizing core Paauwe was also receiving the "enthusiastic greetings" of Kozel and Paauwe whenever he got the ball, and Shinji Ono was completely suppressed by Yang Pan.

"Whistles, constant whistles; fouls, frequent fouls, because of the referee's weakness and incompetence, the match that should have been exciting has become boring. We only saw Zhang Jun being pushed down by the opponent's defenders time and time again, and Paauwe was overwhelmed by the double teaming of Kozel and Paauwe. The players on both sides have become barbaric butchers. Shinji Ono also had a conflict with Volendam under the influence of the match atmosphere."

This was the comment of a certain media after the match. The conflict he mentioned occurred near the end of the first half.

At that time, Yang Pan successfully intercepted the ball that Paauwe passed to Shinji Ono, and then dribbled the ball along the sideline, but he did not expect that Shinji Ono, who had been intercepted by him several times in the match, reached out and pushed him down when he was returning to defense. Yang Pan fell head over heels and slid a long way before stopping.

This foul aroused the public outrage of the Volendam players. Kozel and Paauwe, who were closest to the scene, immediately rushed up to question Shinji Ono. The Feyenoord players were also unwilling to let their teammates be bullied, and they all surrounded them to argue, and the scene was chaotic.

It can be said that this conflict was an outbreak of the anger of both sides. Volendam was angered by Feyenoord's frequent fouls, while Feyenoord was angry because of the report before the match that Zhang Jun underestimated them.

In the end, the referee separated the two sides with the help of the linesman, and then extended his hand to Shinji Ono, who committed the foul, and Kozel, who was the first to rush up and cause the conflict: one yellow card for each person, each side was punished equally. However, the referee's penalty did not satisfy everyone, which can be seen from the fact that the situation on the field in the second half still did not improve.

Zhang Jun did not go up to participate in the conflict from beginning to end. At this time, he was moving his left ankle, and the feeling when moving it was different from usual, which made him a little worried.

The first half ended hastily a few minutes after the conflict. The two sides drew 0:0. If it hadn't been for that conflict, the first half of this match would have been so dull that it could have put people to sleep. Neither side had even a single brilliant shot, so many fans booed in dissatisfaction as the players from both sides left the field.

During the halftime break, Adrianse criticized Kozel for getting a card, and then told everyone to stay calm, or they would fall into their trap.

The two sides changed sides to fight again in the second half, but Volendam's restraint only lasted for a little more than ten minutes. Paauwe fell to the ground in a scramble with Kozel. When Paauwe got up, he said a word to Kozel, and as a result, Kozel, who was still lying on the ground, punched back, hitting Paauwe in the face. Paauwe screamed and fell to the ground, covering his face with his hands, rolling painfully.

A sharp whistle sounded, a crowd of people poured in, and the scene was chaotic again. The referee had a hard time separating the two sides, and then he waved and called Kozel out, his hand reaching into his pocket, revealing one yellow and one red. He first showed Kozel a yellow card, and then showed a red card, pointing to the outside of the field with his left hand.

A red card!

Adrianse kicked the mineral water bottle on the sidelines five meters away with a livid face. After the match, a reporter joked: "Adrianse's kick is enough to make those professional players on the field blush." Of course, Adrianse did not want to demonstrate how to play football to the players on the field, he was angry at Kozel's impulsiveness. During the halftime break, he had repeatedly emphasized to be calm, calm, fucking calm!

As a result, Kozel showed him a red card, how could he not be angry?

Captain Holverda comforted Kozel a few words, then patted him on the shoulder and let him leave the field. Kozel's departure caused boos from the home team fans, who used this method to "send off" Kozel.

Zhang Jun ran two steps to stop Kozel, who was about to leave the field: "Which number 7 said something to you? To make you so angry."

"*ingshit!" Kozel walked off the field expressionlessly and went straight into the locker room amidst the boos.

Zhang Jun looked back at the Feyenoord fans in the stands, "*ingshit!" He spat on the grass.

This red card finally calmed down the Volendam players. After all, they were on the opponent's home field, and there would be no good results if they opposed the referee.

Without Kozel, Volendam's defense was frequently stretched. Paauwe was lively and active in the front field, trampling on Volendam's defense, and there was no sign that he had just covered his face with his hands and rolled around on the ground in pain.

Feyenoord's activity made the fans very excited. The match had been going on for sixty minutes, and it was still 0:0. They all hoped that the home team would break the deadlock as soon as possible, but Baise's breakthrough made the entire De Kuip Stadium silent.

The referee stood on the penalty spot, waving his hands to disperse the Feyenoord players who came up to argue. On the other side, the excited Volendam players were surrounded by Baise. A penalty!

Arguing was useless, protests were invalid, and the Feyenoord players could only helplessly accept this fact. They retreated to outside the penalty area, waiting for the opponent to take the penalty.

Zhang Jun stood in front of the ball. Since he scored his first hat-trick and took the football from the captain to take the penalty, Adrianse found that Zhang Jun had a very high accuracy rate in penalties. So after consulting Qiu Suhui and the original penalty taker captain Holverda, he decided to hand over the first penalty taking right in the team to Zhang Jun. As long as Zhang Jun was on the field at the time, the penalty would be taken by him.

Just like in usual training, Zhang Jun took a deep breath, ran up, swung his leg, and shot!

The goalkeeper pounced to the right, but the football rolled into the goal from where he was just standing. The ball went in!

Volendam took a 1:0 lead over Feyenoord on the road!

After scoring the goal, Zhang Jun ran to the Feyenoord fans' stand. He put his index finger to his lips, signaling to those fans who had just been booing: "It's time to shut up!" But Zhang Jun's move not only did not make them shut up, but instead drew even louder boos.

"Hey! Chinese, what are you?"

"Damn, don't be arrogant!"

"Don't think you can win just by scoring a goal!"

...

Regardless of how strong the fans' reactions were, Zhang Jun turned his back to them, then opened his arms and greeted the teammates who had already swarmed over.

Volendam, playing away from home and with one player sent off, took a 1:0 lead instead, and these young people had every reason to celebrate to their heart's content.

Zhang Jun also scored his tenth goal in the Eredivisie, ranking sixth in the scorer list, only one goal less than Ajax's Mido, who was fifth.

In the sixty-third minute, Volendam took a 1:0 lead over strong team Feyenoord on the road thanks to Zhang Jun's penalty.