Chapter 18 Choice

Zhang Jun looked at his childhood friend and asked, "Yang Pan, tell me, was my choice back then wrong?"

Yang Pan sat on the bed, his back to Zhang Jun. "Zhang Jun, to be honest, I can't do that kind of passing drill from this afternoon either. Maybe only Kaka has that kind of ability." Then he turned his head, looked at Zhang Jun, and said, "So there's no need to be discouraged. We're not professional players yet, and even professional players might not be able to do that kind of two-touch play. We still have time. Let's give the coach a surprise next time! Also, we've already chosen this path, so don't regret the choice we made. Regret won't do any good. Just keep walking down this path. Life isn't a game where you can save and start over. Don't think too much. The teacher will be here soon. If you're in a bad mood, you won't be able to learn. The most important thing for us right now is the language problem. We can't lose focus in class!"

"Even you can't do it?" Zhang Jun was still surprised by Yang Pan's first sentence.

"Silly!" Yang Pan smiled, got up, and went to get his Dutch textbook.

"I thought I was the worst..." Zhang Jun scratched his head.

Yang Pan waved the book in his hand. "Idiot! If you're the worst, then what about those who have been defeated by you? Liu Peng, Yuan Gang, Sima Hongxin... what about all those people? Don't belittle yourself so easily. You have to know that if you belittle yourself, you'll be dragging down a whole bunch of people!"

Zhang Jun laughed too. "That's right, haha! I almost forgot about them!"

Mr. Wang, who had been eavesdropping at the door, finally breathed a sigh of relief. He straightened his back and tiptoed downstairs.

From then on, Satchi, the old gatekeeper of the Volendam training base, could always see the two young men from China running around on the field, passing the ball to each other, long after the youth team had finished training. Translator Mr. Wang would stand by the side, without the slightest hint of impatience. Even on weekend rest days, these two young men would come to the club's gym to do some strength training.

Don't they rest? Don't they date? The old man, who had been guarding the team's training base for twenty years, really couldn't understand the Chinese.

While Zhang Jun and Yang Pan were still strengthening their own abilities in the youth team, the 2002-2003 season of the Dutch Football Eredivisie had already begun.

Although the Eredivisie can only be considered a second-rate league in Europe, that doesn't prevent it from producing excellent young players. Davids, Kluivert, van Nistelrooy... Now these world-renowned football stars all grew up and became famous on this land. Therefore, although it is only a second-rate league, it is never short of attention from wealthy clubs and the top five leagues. Almost as soon as a new star emerges, he will immediately be pursued by several wealthy clubs. This is the unique charm of the Eredivisie.

The Dutch Football Eredivisie is basically a three-way standoff. Ajax, PSV Eindhoven, and Feyenoord are well-known teams not only in the Netherlands, but also in European football. Ajax has won the European Champions League four times in its history; Feyenoord has just won the UEFA Cup last season; PSV Eindhoven is not as famous as Ajax in Europe, but it is an expert in domestic warfare. It has won the league title 27 times in its history, and in recent years, it has suppressed Ajax in the domestic league. The annual Eredivisie champion is basically contested among these three teams, and other teams are basically supporting roles.

Volendam, where Zhang Jun and Yang Pan are located, is an out-and-out mid-to-lower-level team. Founded in 1920, it had always been in the middle of the then Dutch top football league in the 1980s and 1990s. The best result was sixth place in the league. It was promoted to the Eredivisie through the playoffs last season. Currently, it has no famous players. The only feature is that the players are relatively young, relying on a group of "born in the eighties" young players to make a name for themselves. In the past, the famous Dutch football coach Leo Beenhakker had coached here. This year, it was another famous coach's turn.

However, even though Adriaanse is a famous coach, the goal of such a team can only be to avoid relegation.

In the first round of the league, Volendam lost 0:2 to Feyenoord in the away game, ushering in a bad start to the league.

In the second round, they were held to a 0:0 draw by Den Haag at home.

In the third round, they fought fiercely with FC Utrecht for 90 minutes in the away game, but were scored on by their opponents in the last minute, losing 0:1.

After three rounds of the league, Volendam ranked second to last with one point from two losses and one draw.

Three goals conceded in three rounds, an average of one goal per game. This number is already very good for a promoted team whose season goal is to avoid relegation. What makes Adriaanse most headache is still the striker problem. Including the warm-up matches, a total of five games, the strikers scored zero goals, which is really unreasonable. He changed four striker combinations, and even transferred midfielders to the front line, but this is not a long-term solution after all. Adriaanse has already seen the dangerous tide rolling towards him. The warm-up match with Willem II provided a reference for all super teams. It is actually very simple to win Volendam: mark their attacking midfielder - the attacking core, Buys, and Volendam will have no chance. In the case of weak attack, the defense will inevitably suffer an incomparably strong pressure. Judging from these three league games, Volendam's defense has performed fairly well. At least in the game against Utrecht, they persevered until the very end before conceding a goal.

In the First Division, Volendam obtained the qualification to participate in the playoffs through defense. In the playoffs, they also relied on tenacious defense to be promoted to the Super League. But the Super League is obviously another level.

Adriaanse formulated a 5-3-2 defensive counterattack tactic for Volendam's characteristics. This tactic requires the two forwards to have outstanding personal abilities, be fast, have good skills, and be able to seize the few counterattack opportunities to give the opponent a fatal blow. Unfortunately, Volendam does not currently have such a striker.

With a weak forward line, the defense will naturally be under greater threat. Therefore, the root cause of the team's current predicament is the forward line. The 1.3 million euros given by the club were all spent on the defense. The newly joined forwards are only those two Chinese teenagers who are still training in the youth team. It has been almost a month. I don't know how much they have improved. Recently, he has been so overwhelmed by the team's results that he has no time to go down and take a look.

Adriaanse decided to go to the youth team to see the situation tomorrow when the first team is resting.

Les could see the changes in Zhang Jun and Yang Pan, especially Zhang Jun. Since he was severely scolded that time, he has been executing his every instruction meticulously during training, and then giving himself extra training every day. After the foundation of physical fitness and awareness has been laid, their progress in the youth team is definitely high speed. If they continue to develop at this speed, perhaps he should send these two to the first team before the originally scheduled two months to receive tactical awareness improvement and professional competition training. He has finished his own hundred meters and should hand over the baton to his old friend.

At this moment, Adriaanse called Les's office and told him that he would be coming down tomorrow. So Les began to consider how to give this old friend a surprise.

Yang Pan and Zhang Jun came to the training ground in Mr. Wang's car as usual, but found a trace of abnormality. The youth team teammates were all actively warming up. Mr. Wang also felt a little strange. He looked at his watch: "Not late!"

Sharp-eyed Yang Pan tugged at Zhang Jun's clothes and quietly pointed to the tall man standing on the sidelines talking and laughing with Les: "It's Adriaanse!"

The first team coach is here. No wonder everyone is so excited. He must be here to pick players for the first team. If they can perform well in front of him, they can enter the first team and their dream of becoming professional players will come true.

Today's training should be more appropriately called a talent show.

After all the players jogged two laps, Les ordered them to gather and then announced the content to be carried out next: "Except for the two goalkeepers, everyone in groups of two, I will designate partners, and then in that field..." He pointed to an area on the training ground surrounded by white lines that was about a quarter of the size of a regular field, "Carry out two-on-two offensive and defensive confrontation. One goalkeeper will jointly guard a goal for both sides. The attacking team advances towards the goal from the starting line, and the defending team is responsible for defending them. The confrontation between the two groups will be carried out in five rounds, implementing a best-of-five system. The winner enters the next round, and the loser is eliminated. Requirements: The defending side has no requirements, as long as they can successfully stop the attacking side without fouling. But the attacking side must advance by passing the ball to each other, and each person can only touch the ball twice when passing and receiving the ball, once to receive the ball, and once to pass the ball. Those who touch the ball three times will be judged to have lost a round, and the ball will be handed over to the defending side, who will be responsible for defending. If the attacking side's shot is saved by the goalkeeper, the first to grab the ball is the defending side, then the defending side will be judged to have won a round. If the shot goes out of bounds, the attacking side will also be judged to have lost a round. Do you understand?"

Almost everyone looked at each other. There was no problem with the coach's expression, but they did not understand why the coach arranged such a confrontation. Only Yang Pan and Zhang Jun looked at each other and saw the surprise on each other's faces. They did not expect it to be such a test. It was simply a godsend! But then, they began to worry that the two would be assigned to different groups. However, Les immediately dispelled their concerns. He pointed his hand, and Zhang Jun and Yang Pan were assigned to a group.

Adriaanse watched with interest as Les divided the players into groups. He understood Les's good intentions. The team currently lacks forwards the most, and the rules formulated by Les are obviously beneficial to the defending side. It is said that the two sides have offense and defense, but in fact, the focus is on examining the forwards. Only those who can win under such harsh conditions can bring unlimited surprises to people on the Super League field.

The confrontation started quickly. Because the field was not large and there were few people, the game progressed quite quickly. 24 people were divided into 12 groups, facing off in pairs. Everyone was very uncomfortable with this harsh rule, so the result was predictable. In the first five games, all the defending side won and advanced, because the attacking side always gave up three victories due to their own mistakes in controlling the ball. The eliminated players were very unconvinced, but Les did not care about their feelings at this time, because all this was arranged for those two people, and this was not a fair game. I hope those two people will not let me down. Les said in his heart.

Zhang Jun and Yang Pan stood in front of the ball. Everyone knew what it meant for the first team coach to come to the youth team. Today's game was the first key battle related to their future. The two looked at each other without a trace of hesitation or fear. After all, they had never lost a match when the two of them teamed up.

The assistant coach blew the whistle. Zhang Jun gently bumped the ball forward, then tapped it to Yang Pan on the right, and he rushed forward quickly.

Yang Pan stopped the ball forward, and the opponent immediately pounced on him aggressively. He wanted to score a point first. In the first five games, the defending side won and advanced. They hoped to become the sixth group.

But Yang Pan's foot was a little faster than his. He poked his toe, and the football passed between the opponent's legs and passed to Zhang Jun. After passing the ball, Yang Pan accelerated and threw the opponent, who was still in a daze, behind him. Yang Pan's speed was well utilized. When Zhang Jun touched the ball for the first time to catch it, Yang Pan had already rushed to a position parallel to him. The opponent's second player stepped forward to block Zhang Jun's passing route, but Zhang Jun did not repeat the situation of the last battle with Les. He rubbed the inside of his left foot, and the football just went around the opponent's outstretched toe and passed to Yang Pan's feet!

Adriaanse softly called out, "Beautiful!" Les just smiled slightly and continued to focus on the field.

Yang Pan stopped the ball and passed it to the left front again. Zhang Jun really appeared in this position. He stopped the ball and passed it to Yang Pan who had already moved forward. At this time, the two defenders could no longer keep up with the speed of the two, and their passing was too smooth! Now, all they have to do is pass the ball to each other to advance and choose the right time to shoot.

The goalkeeper nervously watched Zhang and Yang passing the ball to each other, not knowing who would shoot in the end. In fact, after training together for so many days, he knew that Yang Pan's shots were mainly based on power. No matter where he was, he would swing his legs and shoot, while Zhang Jun was good at angles. No matter who shot, it was difficult to deal with.

Yang Pan received the ball again and passed the ball horizontally to the front of the goal. Zhang Jun ran to meet the ball, and then, before the goalkeeper, used the arch of his left foot to bounce the ball into the goal!

A burst of admiration came from outside the field. This was the first goal of the attacking side, the first victory!

Adriaanse looked surprised and turned his head to look at Les, but Les just smiled and pointed to the field: "Keep watching!"

Zhang Jun and Yang Pan on defense easily forced the opponent to fail to touch the ball three times, leading 2:0.

It was Zhang Jun and Yang Pan's turn to attack again. The two once again defeated the defending side with non-stop passing, ending the battle early with 3:0 and advancing to the next round.

In the second round, Zhang Jun and Yang Pan lost a round due to an active mistake, but still defeated their opponent with 3:1 and advanced to the final round robin.

In the end, a single round robin was held between the three teams. The winner got 3 points, and the loser got 0 points. The one with the highest score at the end won the championship of this confrontation. As for what the reward for the championship was, everyone knew it well by looking at Adriaanse, who was standing on the sidelines and concentrating.

With the lessons of the first two rounds, Zhang Jun's opponents were even more ferocious. There were some flying tackles and hand pulls that were similar to fouls. After all, winning could enter the first team, which was related to their personal interests and future. Everyone put the friendship of the usual teammates aside. Besides, the two Chinese, who had only trained together for a month, had not much friendship with them.

Les, who was afraid that the players—actually afraid that Zhang Jun and Yang Pan would be injured—had to use the power of the coach to temporarily modify the rules: Anyone who fouls would be awarded a penalty kick to the other side. This stopped the increasingly fierce scene.

However, in this way, no one could stop Zhang Jun and Yang Pan from reaching the top. They relied on tacit cooperation and hard training in peacetime to win both battles and win the championship of this small confrontation.

When the game was over, Les announced that today's training was over, and everyone could go home, but Zhang Jun and Yang Pan had to stay.

Everyone knew what was going on. Now that there was nothing for them to do, they had to watch the two Chinese walk towards the first team coach with great envy, and then left helplessly. At the same time, they secretly vowed in their hearts that they must master this passing.

When only Les, Adriaanse, Zhang Jun, Yang Pan, and their translator Mr. Wang were left on the training field, Les pointed to Adriaanse next to him: "This is the coach of the first team. He wants to meet you."