super storm

Chapter 247 The Group of Death

Yang Yang originally thought he had no fans in Japan, because the Japanese have always looked down on Chinese football.

But what he didn't expect was that when Ajax took a flight, crossed half the world, and arrived at Narita Airport in Tokyo, Japan, a large number of Japanese fans came to the airport to pick them up.

Many of them were wearing Ajax NO.11 jerseys, under the banner of welcoming Yang Yang. When they saw the appearance of Ajax players, they were very enthusiastic and rushed towards Ajax, especially the most eye-catching Yang Yang.

The Toyota Cup is held in East Asia, Ajax is the champion of the Champions League, Yang Yang is the only Asian player in the Ajax team, and he has just won the European Golden Boy Award, known as the most talented and outstanding young player under the age of 21.

Coupled with the lore goal in the Champions League final before the first half of the year, and the outstanding performance in the Asian Cup.

All the past events have made Yang Yang extremely attractive in Asia, and his popularity has long overshadowed the international footballers from Korea and Japan.

The Ajax players have just leapt half of the world and are already exhausted and exhausted. On the contrary, Yang Yang is still full of energy. Faced with the autograph requests of Japanese fans, he will always come.

Soon, he saw Wei Zhen from China in the crowd.

Wei Zhen managed to squeeze the fans and colleagues away and came to Yang Yang, which made his image quite embarrassing.

"Brother Wei, I'm so sorry, I didn't expect there to be so many Japanese fans." Yang Yang looked at him and laughed.

Wei Zhen shrugged depressingly, he really couldn't help it, "They have always worshiped the strong."

Yang Yang raised his eyebrows, am I considered strong?

Well, it's good to be a strong man.

"This is the last Toyota Cup. It has little international influence, but the domestic media and fans attach great importance to this Toyota Cup. There will be many Chinese fans watching the game. The TV station also specially arranged for me to follow up and report."

Yang Yang nodded, "Okay, but I'm afraid it won't work tonight. Tomorrow, I'll apply with the team to accept your interview."

"Okay, the time has been confirmed, contact me."

After sending Wei Zhen away, Yang Yang was soon surrounded by enthusiastic Japanese fans, and there were also many girl fans. They all shouted Yang Yang's name and stretched out their hands vigorously, trying to hold Yang Yang.

That passionate appearance made Yang Yang feel a little embarrassed.

Fortunately, the airport ground staff and security guards were well prepared, and they quickly came forward to rescue Yang Yang, and escorted Yang Yang all the way to the bus that had been prepared in advance and parked at the door.

…………

…………

"Hey, Yang, didn't you say that you and Japan are sworn enemies?" Heitinga asked curiously.

"Yeah, what's the matter?" Yang Yang turned around and asked with a smile.

"Then why do they still like you so much?"

Yang Yang chuckled, and suddenly remembered what Wei Zhen said, "They have always worshiped the strong."

"What? A strong man?" Heitinga showed an incredulous expression, "Are you talking about you?"

As he said that, the captain of Ajax deliberately unzipped his coat, revealing his strong chest and abdominal muscles outlined by a close-fitting training suit, and showed off to Yang Yang.

There was a burst of laughter on the bus.

"It makes sense for you to say that, you are indeed very strong." Yang Yang nodded in praise.

But just when Heitinga was about to show off his muscles, Yang Yang changed the subject, "However, generally speaking, female fans pursue players either because he is stronger or because he is handsome. Since I am not as strong as you, it can only prove that I..."

Heitinga didn't wait for him to finish, and immediately zipped up his coat, "No, no, you are better."

The crowd roared with laughter again.

Between strong and handsome, Heitinga chose handsome without hesitation.

…………

…………

For the Toyota Cup, Ajax does not take it very seriously, because this time the opponent is Caldas, the dark horse of the Libertadores Cup from Colombia, and its strength is not strong.

As long as the team makes some adjustments and plays normally, there is no problem in defeating the opponent.

What really surprised Ajax was that Yang Yang was so favored in Japan.

If it is said that on the day of the team's arrival, enthusiastic fans went to the airport to pick up the plane, which made everyone in Ajax feel Yang Yang's influence in Asia, then the next day, the team's first training session in Yokohama was packed with fans and reporters outside, which surprised everyone.

There is no doubt that they are all here for Yang Yang.

For this situation, Yang Yang himself was a little flattered.

After the restorative training, the team specially arranged for him, Sneijder and Maxwell to interact with the fans at the scene, and also made an exception to arrange for Yang Yang to be interviewed by the media reporters on the scene.

This group of reporters is not only from Japan, but also from several Chinese and Korean media.

It can be said that so far, Yang Yang almost represents the highest level of Asian players studying abroad. The Champions League lore goal and the European Golden Boy Award are honors that all Asian players studying abroad have never received in the past.

In this regard, Yang Yang modestly stated that his career has just begun, which is more of an encouragement.

Ajax's performance this season is not very satisfactory, but Yang Yang firmly believes that the team will improve in the second half, and also said that he will work hard to play a higher competitive state in the second half.

There were also Japanese reporters at the scene who asked Yang Yang about the results of the draw for the Asian Quarterfinals of the World Cup qualifiers that just ended a few days ago. They wanted to know Yang Yang's opinion on the results of the draw.

After the Chinese team defeated Kuwait, the national football team successfully qualified from the group and advanced to the quarterfinals.

The draw rules for the quarter-finals are based on the results of the [-] World Cup qualifiers. South Korea and Japan were placed in the first tier, China and Saudi Arabia were placed in the second tier, Iran and Uzbekistan were placed in the third tier, and Bahrain and North Korea were placed in the fourth tier.

Since November, all the teams that are expected to enter the quarter-finals have been conducting public relations in the AFC. They are all eager to avoid the Iranian team in the third tier, because everyone knows that drawing Iran is equivalent to being drawn into the death group.

But there are only two groups in the quarterfinals, either Japan will draw or South Korea will draw.

The final result was that in the draw ceremony held in Kuala Lumpur on December [-], South Korea drew Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and Bahrain, and Japan drew China, Iran and North Korea.

In other words, China has been drawn into the group of death.

As early as after the lottery results came out, Wei Zhen had already passed the news to Yang Yang as soon as possible.

"This is indeed not a lucky draw. We were drawn into the same group as the two most powerful teams in Asia. North Korea is also very competitive. The situation in this group is indeed very bad."

Yang Yang answered the media's questions solemnly, "But I want to say that we have the confidence to face all difficulties and challenges."

"Whether it is Japan or Iran, we are no strangers. We have competed with these two teams in the Asian Cup. I think we have the strength to win. Of course, this requires everyone to work together and work together."

And when the Japanese media asked Yang Yang to guess the final situation of this group, Yang Yang said with a smile, "I hope to see China, Japan and Iran join hands to qualify."

This is a very clever answer.

According to the rules of the group stage, the top two in the group will advance directly, and the two No.3 teams will play a play-off. The winning team will compete with the No.4 in Central and North America for a ticket to the World Cup in Germany.

Yang Yang's answer won him warm applause from the scene.

But soon some Japanese reporters picked on him and asked him about his behavior of actively intimidating the referee in the Asian Cup final, which made the originally relaxed atmosphere at the scene very awkward.

Yang Yang also suppressed his smile, and said righteously, "Even now, I still insist that it was a handball, and it was intentional. I can understand that Japanese players did not admit this fact for the sake of the national interest, but I can't understand that today, in the face of indisputable facts, there are still people who are unwilling to accept the truth."

The Japanese reporter who asked the question did not expect Yang Yang to be so tit-for-tat all of a sudden, and instead made a very embarrassing mess.

Yang Yang was also not interested in accepting interviews. After politely apologizing to the fans and media reporters, he turned and left.

As for the reporter who disrupted the situation, he ran away in despair under the hostility of many colleagues.

…………

…………

On the third night after the team arrived in Yokohama, at the Yokohama Stadium of the World Cup final, under the witness of nearly [-] fans, the last Toyota Cup officially kicked off.

Caldas faced the European giants with a defensive and counterattack attitude.

This Colombian team arrived in Japan ahead of schedule on December [-], and spent half a month of training and preparation here. It can be said that they are in the best condition to face Ajax.

On the other hand, Ajax, not to mention the long journey, just played the game four days ago, and the physical exertion was huge.

Ronald Koeman also knew in his heart that the team's physical fitness was at a disadvantage and they had to kill their opponents in the first half.

Therefore, from the very beginning of the game, Ajax put on an active attacking posture, firmly suppressing Caldas.

Only 4 minutes into the game, Yang Yang made a cross from the right, and Charisteas headed the goal from close range and hit the crossbar.

Although he failed to score a goal, he also shocked the opponent into a cold sweat.

Then there was another attack planned from the right side. Maicon made a cross from the right, and Wesley Songk volleyed from the back point, but it hit the post and rebounded out of the baseline again.

But when everyone was worried about Ajax’s unsatisfactory luck and state at the center post twice in a row, Yang Yang stepped forward. When Charisteas leaned on the opponent’s central defender with his body and stopped the diagonal pass from the left to Yang Yang, Yang Yang dunked a defensive player of the opponent and hit a left-footed volley, breaking the deadlock on the field.

The goal was broken, and Caldas could no longer hold on.

Colombia's dark horse could only take the initiative to attack in the second half. On the one hand, Ajax took advantage of the situation to control the enemy, and on the other hand, their physical fitness declined so badly that they had to retreat and concentrate on defensive counterattacks.

In a quick counterattack at the 604th minute of the second half, Yang Yang used the pendulum to sway the opponent's two players, and then crossed to the left. Wesley Songke quickly followed up with a push and hit, extending the score to [-]-[-].

In the end, Ajax defeated Caldas with one pass and one shot by Yang Yang, and successfully won the last Toyota Cup.

Yang Yang also won the best player by virtue of his outstanding performance in this game and got a Toyota.

(End of this chapter)