super storm

Chapter 241 Opportunity

Ajax beat PSV Eindhoven [-]-[-] in the away game, and Ajax shocked the entire Dutch football world.

After nine rounds of the league, Ajax has risen rapidly with their recent two-game winning streak, jumping directly to the sixth position, scoring [-] points, and only seven points away from Eindhoven, which is second in the league.

Feyenoord won another four to zero this round, reversing PSV Eindhoven and leading the Eredivisie standings with 25 points.

At the same time, Feyenoord's two strikers, Kalou and Dirk, were the top two scorers with nine goals and eight goals.

Players such as Heerenveen's center Huntelaar and Hesse Linke all tied for third with six goals.

Yang Yang has scored four goals so far this season and performed better than last season, but he still ranks outside the top ten in the scorer list.

Even so, in addition to the four goals, Yang Yang also had four assists, one goal and one assist in the Champions League, and one goal in the UEFA Super Cup. So far this season, he is Ajax's top scorer in all competitions, with a total of six goals, which has exceeded the total number of goals in the first half of last season.

Although the data cannot fully reflect the performance of the players, it proves Yang Yang's progress to some extent.

More importantly, Yang Yang's goals directly brought Ajax five victories, and every goal is very important.

With his brace against PSV Eindhoven, Yang Yang once again made everyone aware of his importance to Ajax, and pushed his fame and influence to a new level.

On the morning of the second day after playing Eindhoven, before the training session, De Tokmoster gathered 11 or [-] Ajax fans. Many of them were wearing Yang Yang's NO.[-] jersey, holding banners, and watching the training outside the barbed wire of the training ground.

It was the first time for Yang Yang that fans came to support him.

It is also the first time after the two star players Van der Vaart and Ibrahimovic left the team.

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Ali van Eiden, managing director of the board of directors of Ajax, accompanied the Dutch national team coach Van Basten all the way from the Amsterdam Arena to De Tokmoorster.

As the coach of the national team, Van Basten's coaching performance is quite good.

In the German World Cup qualifiers, the Netherlands first defeated the Czech Republic [-]-[-], then drew with Macedonia [-]-[-] away, and won Finland [-]-[-] at home. It can be said that Van Basten's national team coaching journey has delivered a satisfactory answer.

And today, he came to De Tokmoster just to inspect the status of Ajax players.

Accompanied by Van Eiden, when Van Basten stepped into De Tokmost, he happened to see this group of enthusiastic fans.

This somewhat surprised both Van Basten and Van Eyden.

"Unexpectedly, Yang Yang gradually began to be loved by fans."

When mentioning Yang Yang, Van Basten couldn't help thinking of the scene when he saw Yang Yang for the first time last summer.

Van Basten is still very concerned about this young player who once performed very eye-catching under his command.

"The team really needs such a person now." Ali Van Eden said with a smile.

Van Basten nodded slightly.

"What we are more worried about is the recognition of him by the local fans. You know, over the years, our leaders have always been local players from our youth training."

According to UEFA rules, Yang Yang is of course regarded as Ajax's youth training, but if strictly defined, he is not counted at all.

Even Yang Yang is not considered a youth player in Almere.

The reason is simple, he has only been in the Netherlands for two years so far.

Ajax's standard-bearers have always been from the direct line of youth training, from Cruyff to Bergkamp to Kluivert.

Before, in the battle for the captain of Ajax, Van der Vaart and Ibrahimovic were in a stalemate, and the club management did not hesitate to choose Van der Vaart because he was his own.

But now the situation is completely different from before.

Today's Ajax has more and more foreign players. Although local players still dominate the locker room, they have been weakened a lot. Especially after Van der Vaart left the team, there is no new generation of standard-bearers.

Sneijder would have been a suitable fit, but his character and position on the pitch limited him.

And Ryan Babel, whom many people were optimistic about, has now been completely overshadowed by Yang Yang's light.

"Times have changed. Van Gaal's change has changed many things and brought a new development direction to our team. At the same time, it also allows us to see clearly the development of the European professional league in the new era."

Van Basten smiled softly, "Over the years, Chivu, Litmanen, Escuder and Garasek have all served as captains of the team, and they have all led the team well. This proves that it is a good thing to keep up with the trend of the times and make some appropriate changes."

Ali van Eyden obviously agrees with that statement, but...

"This kind of thing still has to be done slowly."

Van Basten frowned, and quickly figured it out.

Like all giant teams, Ajax has a strong foundation. There are countless stars and legends that have emerged in history, and many of them have certain influence in the media field.

The most typical example is the war of words between Van Gaal and Cruyff last season. The former controlled the power of the club, while the latter controlled public opinion.

"That's right, take your time. It won't happen overnight if you want to be a good standard bearer. At the very least, he has to prove that he has such strength, has such a responsible partner, and most importantly, he has to have such leadership."

The leader of a team is not something you can just say you want to be. If you don’t have enough strength, you absolutely can’t do it. If you have enough strength, you can’t have no one’s support.

Just like Van Bommel, the captain of Eindhoven, may not be the strongest in the team, but his leadership is definitely recognized.

This is also due to Eindhoven's long-term training of him, which has allowed him to form a leading player's temperament.

"Judging from the current situation, I'm afraid I will contact Raiola again soon." Van Eden said bitterly.

Last time for Yang Yang's contract renewal, he had to deal with Mino Raiola a lot, it was a nightmare.

Judging from the current situation, with Yang Yang's performance, Ajax may really have to put the renewal of the contract on the agenda again.

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"Why did you arrange a five-on-five small-scale group confrontation at the end of the training?"

On the sidelines of the training field, Van Basten curiously asked Ronald Koeman and Luther Carroll on the sidelines of the training field.

He is new to coaching and interested in many things.

Generally speaking, in the middle of the season, the team will not arrange fierce group confrontations, mainly because of fear of injury.

It is true to train with actual combat standards, but the premise is to effectively prevent players from being injured.

There are more than 20 players in the first team, and there are two or three competitors for each position. In this kind of small-scale group confrontation, one person may be injured if he is not careful, and who will say clearly what is going on at that time?
So, Van Basten was curious about it.

"The atmosphere in the locker room is very good. Although there is competition among the players, it is well controlled. The local players and foreign players get along very well. The atmosphere in the team is even better than last season, and the players have a good sense of trust among each other." Ronald Koeman explained.

"Yang Yang did not participate in the pre-season training camp, and our team has many new players. Small-scale group confrontation can effectively increase the tacit cooperation of the players, and the players responded well to this."

Van Basten nodded again and again, but vaguely figured out another meaning.

The confrontation between Ibrahimovic and Van der Vaart has been a hidden danger in the team's locker room in the past two seasons. Even at that time, the locker room was divided into the local faction headed by Van der Vaart and the foreign faction headed by Ibrahimovic.

But with the departure of the two stars, the interior of the Ajax locker room has become more harmonious.

As early as last season, Van Basten heard that Yang Yang is a foreign player who is close friends with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and others, but also has a good relationship with local players such as Van der Vaart and Sneijder. Now it seems that the current situation is of great benefit to Yang Yang.

"This kid's basic skills have become very solid, and his strength has improved a lot." Van Basten praised with a smile.

Luther Carroll said with a smile: "He also recently offered to strengthen his strength training and arrive at the gym an hour earlier every day."

"Oh?" Van Basten's face showed a strange look, which is a test of the player's perseverance and determination.

Pity.

If Yang Yang hadn't already played for the Chinese national team, Van Basten would really consider recruiting him into the Dutch national team. When the time comes to form wings with Robben, the Dutch frontcourt offense will be greatly improved compared to now.

Unfortunately, he chose his own country.

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When the team's training ended and Yang Yang walked off the field panting, he saw Van Basten smiling and waving at him from the sidelines.

"Hey, Marco, long time no see." Yang Yang walked over immediately.

"Yeah, I haven't seen you for a while." Van Basten looked at Yang Yang's body with interest, nodded and said: "Well, there has been progress, but it is not enough. A strong body can make you more comfortable on the court."

"I know, I've been working hard." Yang Yang smiled.

"I heard that, work hard, there is a very good opportunity in front of you now, you have to work hard to seize it."

Yang Yang vaguely heard what Van Basten meant, and he also knew his situation in the team and the current situation of Ajax.

In fact, he really didn't think about it so much, but if he really got to that point, it would be quite good for him.

Then Yang Yang chatted with Van Basten about some things and asked some questions about training and competitions. Van Basten also knew everything and talked endlessly.

As a legendary star in the past, many times he can solve the problems that have plagued Yang Yang for a long time with a single sentence.

After bidding farewell to Van Basten, Yang Yang did not go directly to the locker room, but walked to the wall in the corner for half an hour of basic training alone.

When he returned to the locker room, it was already empty.

Yang Yang is also accustomed to this. When he came out of the shower and opened the cabinet to change clothes, he found an unread text message in his mobile phone, which was obviously Su Xiaomei from China.

"Happy birthday, Yang Yang!"

After Yang Yang read it, his heart warmed up, and then he remembered that today is his birthday.

He couldn't help laughing.

(End of this chapter)